^:^'^ 
 
 
 
 y. 
 
 / / / 1 
 
 T / / r 
 /. / / / 
 / / / / / 
 ' / / / / 
 
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 3lienirg M. Sage 
 
 1891 
 
 A..j^.^j:.z :^V5^f 
 
BR45 .Bil'TsiT'""' '■'""^ 
 °'''tellffilll1ja«a!.n!;!9/XScrMMreasser 
 
 oHn 
 
 3 1924 029 180 789 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029180789 
 
THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 
 
 ASSERTED, FROM ITS ADAPTATION TO THE 
 
 REAL STATE OF HUMAN NATURE, 
 
 EIGHT SERMONS 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 
 
 IN THE YEAR MDCCCXyil, 
 
 LECTURE 
 
 FOUNDED BT 
 
 THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A. 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MILLER, M.A. 
 
 FELLOW OF WORCESTER COLLEGE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BAXTER .'. 
 
 SOLD BY J.PARKER, OXFORD; MESSRS. RItlNGTON, ST. PAUl's 
 
 CHURCH YARD; AND J. HATCHAHD, PICCADILLY, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 1819. 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 hardly possible for any loss or injury to fall 
 elsewhere, than upon himself singly. It is 
 probable, that in reality nothing can be 
 said (of that which is sound or valuable) 
 which has not been said before ; the pre- 
 sumption against any thing perfectly novel 
 would be, in the first instance, that it was 
 either weak or erroneous. Yet, while this 
 acknowledgment ought certainly to exempt 
 him from the charge of being a despiser of 
 authorities, he cannot but think, that 
 much is lost to the cause of true religion 
 by mere following of authorities ; and that 
 a too scrupulous fear of going counter to 
 established opinion (which fear he con- 
 ceives to be a natural result of much, and 
 the deepest rieading) tends to restrain in- 
 dfepfendent thought ; and leads insensibly 
 to the error of identifying Scripture itself 
 with human interpretations of it, a/ * 
 
 ^ Under such impressions he has been led 
 to think, that one of the hesX: chances (hu-' 
 manly speaking) of contributing — not new, 
 but /res A support to the cause of truth, is 
 likely to he found — in the confessions (if 
 this term has not been too much dese- 
 crated by some irreverent applications of 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 it) of a believer, who after following, with 
 only his original clew given him, a track 
 and progress of his own, so far as to have 
 gained his convictions by reflection, rather 
 than by much study, has in, the end found 
 himself in the highway where others are, 
 and where he believes established truth lo 
 be. In such light, as to its substance, is 
 the present Work to be regarded. The 
 Author entered upon it, in chief part, for 
 this very reason, that he was able to write 
 while his thoughts were fresh ; and while 
 the result of them might both be proposed 
 to judgmeijt, and judged of, independently, 
 without protection or favour. He does 
 not speak thus boastfully ; but in humility, 
 and fairness. Should the matter of his 
 Lectures be considered unprofitable, it 
 is his desire that they should perish at 
 once in their own obscurity. On the 
 other hand, if it should be esteemed dif- 
 ferently, the greater correspondence with 
 confirmed opinions which can then be 
 pointed out in them will be the greater 
 testimony in their favour. Being con- 
 scious that he is no wilful plagiarist, the 
 writer himself is unambitious of any other 
 
 a 3 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 praise, than that of a sincere advocate of 
 what is holy, and just, and good. He is, 
 indeed, rejoiced to acknowledge obligation 
 to some very near and dear friends, for as- 
 sistances in his Work, of many kinds : but 
 he knows of none, on account of which any 
 apology is due from him to the general 
 reader. 
 
 In deference to the kind and disinter- 
 ested counsel of some friends in the Uni- 
 versity, whose judgment he esteems most 
 highly, he has omitted some passages of 
 considerable length, which were delivered 
 frdm the pulpit ; and thrown others into 
 the form of " notes," which may be either 
 read, or passed over, without much inter- 
 ruption to the general subject. A very 
 few passages have been inserted here, 
 which were omitted in delivery on account 
 of time ; but scarcely a word has been 
 added to the manuscript from which the 
 Lectures were preached. Such verbal and 
 other corrections also have been made, as 
 might prevent the charge of wilful care- 
 lessness. With these exceptions, the Lec- 
 tures now presented come forth as they 
 were spoken. 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 The Author only desires to express far- 
 ther, his grateful sense of that good opi- 
 nion of his intentions, which procured him 
 his appointment; and of all personal kind- 
 ness experienced by him during the dis- 
 charge of his office. 
 
 a4 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM 
 
 I 
 
 THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 or THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates 
 
 " to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the 
 " University of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold 
 " all and singular the said Lands or Estates upon 
 " trust, and to the intents and purposes hereinafter 
 ". mentioned ; that is to say, I will and appoint that 
 " the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford for 
 " the time being shall take and receive all the rents, 
 " issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, repa- 
 " rations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay 
 " all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity 
 " Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever in the 
 " said University, and to be performed in the manner 
 " following : 
 
 " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday 
 "in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by t&e 
 " Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the 
 " room adjoining to the Printing-House, between the 
 '-^ hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon^ 
 " to preach eight Divinity .Lecture Sermons, the year 
 
X EXTRACT, &c. 
 
 " following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the com- 
 " mencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the 
 '' end of the third week in A^ct Term, 
 
 " Also I direct iind appoint, that the eight Divinity 
 " Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the 
 " following Subjects— to confirm and establish the 
 " Christian Fsith, and to confute all heretics and schis- 
 " matics — upon the divine authority of the holy Scrip- 
 " tures — upon the authority of the writings of the pri- 
 " mitive Fathers, as to the faitli and practice of the. 
 " primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord 
 " and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the 
 " Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian 
 " Faith, as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene 
 " Creeds. 
 
 " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divi- 
 " nity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within 
 " twa months after they are preached, and one copy 
 *' shall be given to the Chancellor of the University, 
 " *nd one copy to the Head of every College, and one 
 " copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one 
 ^ eqpy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; and the 
 " expence of printing them shall be paid out of the re- 
 '* venue of the Land or Estates given for establishing 
 " the Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher 
 ^'^ shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, be- 
 " fore they are printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be 
 "qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, 
 « unless he hath taken the degree of Master of Artfe, at 
 " least, in one of the two Universities of Oxford or 
 " Cambridge ; and that the same person shall never 
 *' preach the Disunity Lecture Sermons twice." 
 
Thefoll&wmg List of Lecturers, "with their subjects, lahich 
 •was Jlrst given in Mr. Falconer's Lecture for 1810, ap- 
 pearing to have its use and interest, is here reprinted 
 verbatim from that Work, as far as it tJien went, and 
 fiVied up to the present date. 
 
 1780. James Bandinei,, D. D. of Jesus College; Public 
 Orator of the University. The Author first establishes 
 " the truth and authority of the Scriptures ; — for the 
 " authenticity of the history being acknowledged, and 
 " the facts which are therein recorded being granted, 
 " the testimony of miracles and prophecies, joined to 
 " the "excellence of the doctrines, is a clear and complete 
 " demonstration of our Saviour's divine commission." 
 P. 37. 
 
 1781. Timothy Neve, D. D. Chaplain of Merton College. 
 " The great point which the Author has principally at- 
 " tempted to illustrate is, that well known, but too 
 " much neglected truth, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour 
 " of the world, and the Redeemer of mankind." 
 
 1782. Robert Holmes, M. A. Fellow of New College. 
 " On the prophecies and testimony of John the Baptist, 
 " and the parallel prophecies of Jesus Christ." 
 
 1783. John Cobb, D. D. Fellow of St. John's College. The 
 subjects discussed are ; " an inquiry after happiness ; 
 " natural religion ; the Gospel ; repentance ; faith ; pro- 
 " fessional faith j practical faith ; tiie Christian's privi- 
 " leges," 
 
 1784. Joseph White, B. B. Fellow of Wadham College. 
 " A comparison of Mahometism and Christianity in 
 " their history, their evidtnce, and their efiFccts." 
 
xii NAMES OF LECTURERS. 
 
 1785. Ralph Churton, M. A. Fellow of Erase Nose Col- 
 lege. " On the prophecies respecting the destruction of 
 " Jerusalem." 
 
 1786. George Croft, M. A. late Fellow of University 
 College. " The use and abuse of reason ; objections 
 "against inspiration considered; the authority of the 
 " ancient Fathers examined ; on the conduct of the 
 " first Reformers ; the charge of intolerance in the 
 " Church of England refuted ; objections against the 
 " Liturgy answered ; on the evils of separation ; con- 
 " jectural remarks upon prophecies to be fulfilled here- 
 " after." 
 
 1787. William Hawkins, M. A. late Fellow of Pembroke 
 College. "■ On Scripture mysteries!" 
 
 1788. Richard Shepherd, D. D. of Corpus Christi College. 
 "The ground and credibility of the Christian Reli- 
 " gion." 
 
 1789. Edward Tatham, D. D. of Lincoln College. " The 
 " chart and scale of truth." 
 
 1790. Henry Kett, M. A. Fellow of Trinity College. 
 " The object" of these Lectures is " to rectify the mis- 
 " representations of Mr. Gibbon and Dr. Priestley with 
 " respect to the history of the primitive Church." 
 
 1791. Robert Morkes, M. A. late Fellow of Erase Nose 
 College. On " faith in general ; faith in divine testi- 
 " mony no subject of question j internal evidence of the 
 " Gospel ; effects of faith ; religious establishments j 
 " heresies." 
 
 1792. John Eveleigh, D. D. Provost of Oriel College^ 
 " I shall endeavour," says the learned Author, " first to 
 '■'■ state regularly the substance of our religion from its 
 " earliest declarations in the Scriptures of both the 
 
NAMES OF LECTURERS. xiii 
 
 " Old and New Testament to its complete publication 
 " after the resurrection of Christ ; secondly, to give a 
 "■ sketch of the history of our religion from its complete 
 " publication after the resurrection of Christ 16 the 
 " present times, confining however this sketch, towards 
 " the conclusion, to the particular history of our own 
 " Church ; thirdly, to state in a summary manner the 
 "arguments adducible in proof of the truth of our re- 
 " ligion ; and fourthly, to point out the general sources 
 " of objection against it." 
 
 1793. JamesWii,liamson,B.D. of Queen's College, "The 
 " truth. Inspiration, authority, and evidence of the 
 " Scriptures considered and defended." 
 
 1794. Thomas WiNTLE,B.D. of Pembroke College.^ "The 
 "expediency, prediction, and accomplishment. of the 
 " Christian redemption illustrated." 
 
 1795. Daniel Veysie,B.D. Fellow of Oriel College. "The 
 " doctrine of Atonement illustrated and defended." 
 
 1796. Robert Gray, M. A. late of St, Mary Hall. "On 
 " the principles upon which the Reformation of the 
 " Church of England was established." 
 
 1797. William Finch, LL. D. late Fellow^ of St. John's 
 College. " The objections of infidel historians and 
 " other writers against Christianity considered." 
 
 1798. Charles Hen'ry Hall, B. D. late Student of Christ 
 Church. " It is the purpose of these discourses to con- 
 " sider at large what is meant by the scriptural ex- 
 " pression, ' fulness of time ;' or, in other words, to 
 " point out the previous steps by which God Almighty 
 " gradually prepared the way for the introduction and 
 " promulgation of the Gospel." See the Preface, 
 
 1799. William Barkow, LL. D. of Querti's College, These 
 
xiv NAMES OF LECTURERS. 
 
 Lectures contain " answers to some popular oVjjections 
 " against the necessity or the credibility of the Chris- 
 "■ tian revelation." 
 
 tSOO. George Richards, M. A. late Fellow of Oriel Col- 
 lege. " The divine origin of Prophecy illustrated and 
 " defended." 
 
 1801. George Stani,ey Fa,ber, M. A. Fellow of Lincoln 
 College. " Horae Mosaicse ; or, a view of the Mosaical 
 ''records with respect to their coincidence with profane 
 " antiquity, their internal credibility, and their connec* 
 " tion with Christianity." 
 
 1802. George Frederic Nott, B. D. Fellow of All Souls' 
 College. " Religjous Enthusiasm, conaiderfid," 
 
 1803. JohnFaerer.M. A. of Queen's College. "Onthemis- 
 ", sion and character of Christ, and on the Beatitudes." 
 
 1804. Richard Laurence, LL. D. of University College, 
 " An attempt to illustrate those Articles of the Church 
 " of England which the Calvinists improperly consider 
 "■ as Calvinistical." 
 
 1805. Edward Nares, M. A. late Fellow of Merton Col- 
 ■ lege. " A view of the evidences of Christianity at the 
 
 " close of the pretended age of reason." 
 
 1806. John Browne, M. A. late Fellow of Corpus Christi 
 College. In these Lectures the following principle is 
 variously applied in the vindication of religion; that 
 " there has been an infancy of the species, analogous to 
 " that of the individuals of whom it is composed, and 
 " that thie infancy of human nature required a different 
 " modeof treatment from that which was suitable to 
 " it^ atlvanced state." 
 
 1807. Thomas le Mesurier, M. A. late Fellow of New 
 
NAMES OF LECTURERS. xv 
 
 Cotlgge, *' The Mi3itnr^ and guilt of Schism considered 
 ■" witb a particttl£^^ reference to the principles gf the 
 *' Reformation." 
 
 1808. John Pbnkose, M. A. qf Coppus Christi College. 
 " An attempt to prove the truth of Christianity from 
 " the wisdom displayed in its original establishment, 
 " and from the. history of false and corrupted systems 
 " of religion." 
 
 1809. John Bayley Somers Cakwithen, M. A. of St. 
 Mary Hall. " A view of the Brahminical religion in 
 " its confirmation of the truth of the sacred history, and 
 " in its influence on the moral character." 
 
 1810. Thomas Falconer, M. A. of Corpus Christi College. 
 " Certain principles in Evanson's ' Dissonance of the 
 " four generally received 'Evangelists,' &c. examined." 
 
 1811. John Bidlake, D. D. of Christ Church. " The 
 " truth and consistency of divine revelation ; with some 
 " remarks on the contrary extremes of Infidelity and 
 " Enthusiasm." 
 
 1812. Richard Mant, M. A. late Fellow of Oriel College, 
 " An appeal to the Gospel ; or an inquiry into the jus- 
 " tice of the charge, alleged by Methodists and other 
 -" objectors, that the Gospel is not preached by the Na- 
 " tional Clergy." 
 
 1813. John Collinson, M. A. of Queen's College. " A 
 " key to the writings of the principal Fathers of the 
 " Christian Church, who flourished during the first 
 " three centuries." 
 
 1814. William VaW Mildert, D. D, Regius Professor of 
 Divinity, and Canon of Christ Church. " An inquiry, 
 "into the general - principles of Scripture-interpreta- 
 " tion." 
 
xvi NAMES OF LECTURERS. 
 
 1815. Reginald Hebek, M. A. late Fellow of All Souls' 
 College. " The personality and office of the Christian 
 " Comforter asserted and explain'ed," 
 
 1816. John Hume Spry, M. A- of Oriel College. " Chris- 
 " tian Unity doctrinally and historically considered." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 Page 1. 
 
 Introductory View of the Condition of a native 
 Christian. 
 
 2 Timothy iii. 14, 15. 
 Sut continue thou in the things •which thou hast learned 
 and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast 
 learned them ; and that Jrom a child thou hast known 
 the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise 
 unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Prefatory considerations on the fact, that Scripture is 
 committed to us as the guide unto salvation, in con- 
 nection with the state of men's average capacity for re- 
 ceiving its external evidences. Picture from real life 
 hereupon. Necessity of some general conviction, to 
 over-rule the importunities of " inquiry." Illustration 
 of " implicit faith." Arguments for it from the need of 
 the case. Objections to it. Vindication of it. Sub- 
 ject of the Lectures proposed. External evidences pre- 
 supposed to be complete. Topic of the Lectures not 
 unsuitable even to the learned. Importance of looking 
 to the whole Scripture itself in its continuity. Plan 
 of the following Discourses. 
 
 b 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 Page 27. 
 
 View of Ghristianity as the Dispensation of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Galatians iii. 24. 
 The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. 
 
 Modal differences of the Law and the Gospel, but sub- 
 stantial unity. This illustrated — -from the essentials of 
 both dispensations; — from their outward conduct; — 
 from the aspects of the moral world, in respect of apo- 
 stasy — and of improvement; — from the junction of the 
 two covenants. Inference from the whole, that the 
 present trial of man is in his spirit. Manner in which 
 this should dispose us towards holy Scriptuiie. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Page 51. 
 
 Deductions from the foregoing Lecture. 
 
 2 COKINTHIANS V, 7. 
 
 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 
 
 1. Necessity of faith, as a primary and distinct prac- 
 ticar principle. 2. True estimate of the condition qf 
 unbelievers. 3. Right apprehension of the Old, as 
 well as of the New Testament. 4. Consistent under- 
 standing of the present agency of Providence in the 
 events of the world around us. Contrast between sp?' 
 c«lative and religious views of human improvement. 
 Disposition prepared for the general subject. 
 
G0NT;'ENTS. xix 
 
 LECTURE 1% 
 
 Page 75. 
 
 General Adaptation o£ Scripture ifi. Human 
 Nature, 
 
 John ii, 25. 
 For he knew what was in man. 
 
 Situation of the believer implicitly confiding in Scrip- 
 ture. Comprehensiveness of Scripturej contrasted with 
 its size. Whence this property of it. Coincidence of 
 the matter of Scripture with familiar experience. The 
 temptation incident to knowledge. The moral sub- 
 stance of the Bible the very picture of man as he is. 
 Its unwelcome parts not reconcileable with our notions 
 of a diyine rjevel^tion on any other supposition. Argu- 
 ment, in consequence, from the different reception of 
 these by the believer and unbeliever. All such repre- 
 sentajjions made clear by the doctrine of kedemption ; 
 and this illustrated, in its turn, by them. Necessity 
 that such things should be found in Scripture, for the 
 believer's satisfaction. Consequence of his so finding 
 them. 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 Page lOS. 
 
 Illustration in detail of the geperal Position 
 from the matter of Sjcripture. 
 
 John ii. 2^. 
 Fqr he Jcfieva what was in man. 
 
 Prefatory thoughts concerning original sin, ^p;nsi- 
 dered dootrinally. Examples of the gfeneral position 
 from 4;he Old Testament. From its historical — ^legal^ — 
 ppetical — -prophetic parts. Examples from the New 
 
 b2 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Testament* Consideration interposed concerning the 
 perpetuity of evil in the world. General features of 
 distinction between the Old Testament examples and 
 the New. The proposition exemplified out of the lat- 
 ter, from its narratives— practical doctrines — parables — 
 epistles. Inference from the whole. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Page 141. 
 
 Illustration in detail of the general Position 
 from the manner of Scripture. 
 
 John ii. 25. 
 For he knew what tmas in man. 
 
 ' Characteristic differences of manner to be expected, 
 according to the general argument. Character, and man- 
 ner of the Prophets— -of our Lbrd — of the Apostles. 
 Adaptation of each, in order, to the tenor of their re- 
 spective missions, and to the necessities of man. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Page 173. 
 
 Sufficiency of Scripture, considered in the fore- 
 going Light, to the Wants and Wishes of an 
 individual Christian. 
 
 2 Timothy iii. 16, 17. 
 All Scripture is given hy inspiration of God ; and is profit- 
 able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instrtic- 
 " tion in righteousness : that the man of God may be per- 
 fect, throughly furnished unto all good 'works. 
 
 Preliminary recapitulation of the true state of the 
 question concerning the reception or rejection of a re- 
 
CONTENTS. xxi 
 
 velation, where such has been offered. Thoughts in- 
 terposed upon then: case who disallow the " atone- 
 " ment." Nothing can excuse unbelief, but proof that 
 Scripture is either hurtful or insufficient. Christian 
 doctrines not mischievous. Instanced in that of na- 
 tural corruption. Christian doctrines the only really 
 adequate provision for the wants of the spirit of man. 
 Continuous view of Christian edification. Siense of sin- 
 fiilness. Reconciliation through Christ's death. Mo- 
 tivie to the love of God hence resulting. Encourage- 
 ment to active virtue through his resurrection. Motive 
 to the lave of our neighbour. Consolation, under a 
 . sense of imperfection, through his ascension, and send- 
 ing of the Holy Spiri't, and continued intercession. 
 Power and beauty of the sacramenfs, as instituted 
 means of grace. Reasonableness of this whole view. 
 Wherein Scripture might yet be thought defective. I(s 
 fulness here also. Why not now exempli^ed. Indul- 
 gence of Scripture. Caution on the particular point of 
 a death-bed repentance. Conclusion. 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Page 209. 
 
 Sufficiency of Scripture as a Guide amidst social 
 Intercourse. 
 
 Romans xii. 5. 
 
 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one 
 
 members one of another. 
 
 Recapitulation of the plan of the Lectures. In what 
 respect the purpose of the present one is in great mea- 
 sure anticipated. Influence of Christianity on political 
 questions. Why itot here dwelt upon. Power of a 
 
xxii CONTENTS. 
 
 ^pesct social Chflstiaii principle- in more femiliar cases 
 of contact and interoourse. This principle, '* a sense 
 "of real' brotherhood." Its influence as a. corrective of 
 ■worldly pride and- injustice — of seliisHness and hard- 
 he&rtedness— of spiritual pride and censoriousness^-r-of 
 positiveness and uncharitable interpretations. These 
 topics severally illustrated by familiar instances. Mas- 
 ters and servants. Rich- and poor. Humbler intellect, 
 and unfashionable simplicity-. Useful vocations of life. 
 Religious schism and conformity. Possible objections 
 to the view here taken. Answered. Power of a second 
 Christian principle in society; — " the sense of respon- 
 " sibility in the matter of example." Objection answered. 
 Plan here oomjpletedv External evidences yet in store; 
 as was assumed in the beginning. Conclusion of the 
 whole. 
 
LECTUftE I. 
 
 2 Timothy iii. 14, 15. 
 
 3ut continue thou in the things which thou hast learned 
 and hast been .assured of, knowing of whom thou hast 
 learned them ,• and that from a child thou hast known 
 the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise 
 unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 In whatever manner we may be disposed to inr 
 tecpret these words of St. Paul, with respect to 
 verbal or circumstantial differences *, their general 
 precept must surely be pronounced, in these our 
 own days, of universal application. Neither can 
 the passage, as now belonging to ourselves, be 
 understood otherwise than of the whole volume of 
 canonical Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, 
 of which we have virtually learnt so great a portion 
 from St. Paul himself, as well as Timothy did ; 
 and ali from the same source from whence that 
 portion was derived to him, — the Spirit of wisdom 
 and of truth . 
 
 In the Scriptures, then, we have received a so- 
 lemn trust committed to us ; and here is an apo- 
 
 • Macknight renders the verb la-js-w^ns, "with which thou 
 " hast been intrusted." See also Benson, on this place, 
 
 B 
 
2 LECTURE I. 
 
 stolical exhortation directing us to hold fast by 
 them. The very tenor of the exhortation implies 
 that we may let slip our hold : but the inference is 
 equally clear, that we can only do so under peril of 
 an awful penalty,— no less, than the loss of that 
 wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation. 
 
 Now looking at this passage of divine writ in 
 this manner, and then glancing to the real, exist- 
 ing state of men and things around us, a y^ry fa- 
 miliar picture presents itself to the mind, of .no 
 small interest. - , 
 
 It is manifest, that thi^ our hereditary posses- 
 sion is bequeathed to a vast diversity and inequa- 
 lity,' as well of tempers and moral dispositions, as 
 of intellectual faculties, and consequent attain- 
 ments in human knowledge.. . In connection with 
 which remark the thought will naturally suggest 
 Matth.xix. itself, — that the Bible contemplates and* recog- 
 1 Cor. iii. 2.'nizes such a diversity, and provides, for all ac- 
 
 Heb. V. 12, ,. , 
 
 14. cordingiy. 
 
 It does. And in our further progress, when we 
 come to search into. the fulness of holy Scripture, 
 once received as a law of life, we shall have occa- 
 sion to perceive what a support is here to its divine 
 authority. 
 
 But while it does, and while we rejoice in it, 
 and give thanks unto the Giver of all good that the 
 case is so ; there is yet an earlier point to be con- 
 sidered,, of very, vital importance, to which this 
 comfortable thought; does, not extend. 
 
LECTUHE h 8 
 
 We, at this day, cannot produce any present 
 visible attestation of a Deity, in confirmation of 
 our faith. The greati 'mystery of our faith and 
 hope has been confided to. a written volume. Chris- 
 tianity has long beeome, in this respect, only a re- 
 cord of historical tfansmission. And, by natural 
 consequence, lapse of ti'tne, and change of lan- 
 guages, — in short, all tlje common outward wear- 
 ing of the world's progress, have so wrought upon 
 its' external evidences, that to digest and handle 
 these properly has come to require a very consi- 
 derable portion indeed of ability and learning. The 
 point, therefore, just above referred to is involved 
 in this question ; What, effect may this inequaEty 
 of powers be likely to produce, (under certain very 
 supposable circumstances ;) not, in respect of the 
 interpretation of truth once admitted-; but in re- 
 spect of the reception jof Christianity, as a divine 
 revelation, in the first instance.'' And a point of 
 especial interest this isj at a time when so much 
 boast is made oi knowledge, as an universal pos- 
 session :• so much, that piety which cannot speak 
 is often forced to sit down alniost abashed before . 
 a many»-worded tyranny, of ; mere perishable human 
 wisdom ; andthe homage of assent, which is due only 
 to the majesty of eternal truth, is yielded to a phan- 
 tom of assumed superiority, whos^e arguments may 
 justly be characterizedsas admitting of no answer], 
 and yet producing no conviction. 
 
 It is desirable, with reference to this point, to 
 B 2 
 
4 LECTURE I. 
 
 assume, upon the most admissible grounds we 
 may, something like an average of men's capacity : 
 not by taking a speculative mean between profound 
 ignorance and transcendent ability ; but from ob- 
 servation and recollection of familiar cases, such as 
 any of ourselves have actually seen and known, 
 among those members of an enlightened Christian 
 community, who have et^oyed the benefit of an 
 ordinary discipline, such as the customs of the day 
 prescribe. 
 
 Now what judgment can we, in sincerity, form 
 upon such estimate as this ? 
 
 I am persuaded it must be, that the average of 
 solid capacity and knowledge is not to be set high ; 
 that the true strength of man is not to be sought 
 in any intellectual, but in a moral excellence ; that 
 neither in the one, however, nor in the other, can 
 he hope to escape through all the difficulties where- 
 with he is encompassed, without possession of 
 some sure refuge, in the season of pressing dan- 
 ger-, which refuge is only to be found in some one 
 simple and unreserved submission to the com- 
 mands of an infallible guide. 
 
 That picture, then, which was affirmed to pre- 
 sent itself to the mind, as of so great interest, upon 
 comparison of the precept in the text with the ap- 
 pearances of real life, is now before us. It is to 
 be seen — in the condition of an educated person, 
 and more especially one that has enjoyed the be- 
 nefit of a religious discipline, under the care of be- 
 
LECTURE I. 5 
 
 lieving parents, now arrived at the season of more 
 independent thought, in a Christian kingdom. 
 
 Before he was born, there was extant in that 
 country a book, professing to be an authentic reve- 
 lation from the true God ; — a book, the possession 
 of which is regarded as a special inheritance, and 
 the kingdoms possessing it as highly exalted, by that 
 very single circumstance, above the level of other 
 nations. That book made up the faith of his fa- 
 thers. In obedience to its appointment, he was 
 himself baptized, in his infancy, unto belief and 
 acceptance of the same. He has been instructed 
 in it ever since. He has .been taught of all things 
 to respect and reverence it. Out of this he has 
 been bidden to take his principles, his hopes, and 
 his fears : dreading that Ae//j which it denounces 
 as a final punishment ; aspiring tO' that heaven^ 
 which it promises as a final reward. iTWough this 
 he has been accustomed, from his childhood, to 
 bow at the name'of Jesus Christ, as a Saviour who 
 came to redeem him and all mankind; and to 
 pray, daily and habitually, for (protection and as- 
 sistance from on high. In short, reverence for 
 THE Bible has grown with his growth j. and 
 strengthened with his strength. That holy book 
 has been so long an engjafted part of all his know- 
 ledge, that it has become as it were his native 
 stock. It is mixed up with: all his ideas, so that 
 he can no longer separate them from its influence. 
 He has had, as yet, no notion of despising or re- 
 
 b3 
 
6 LECTURE I. 
 
 jeoting the Bible ; no conception of any such ap- 
 palling possibility, as » that it may be false, and he 
 himself be but a poor deluded bigot, and his be- 
 lief, after all, nothing but deception? If her has 
 heard or read of infidels and heifetics, it has been 
 but with youthful unconcern : %bile> any thing he 
 may have noticed of offence ahd'^ictual wickedness, 
 during^the progress of a fewijyears comparatively 
 innocent, must have teiid^^d to convince him; of the 
 truth oi all that he has been taught totbelieve. 
 For even a child may understand that wickedness, 
 ih others, want's odrrectioni And this is some- 
 thing he has always learnt; that the Bible is 
 against wickedtiess ; and religion given to man to 
 lioot it out. iir* i ■ ■ ^,-a 
 
 But as years advance, and he goes forth among 
 his fellows with more of the opening faculties of 
 man, his condition is beset with strange perplexi- 
 ties. Inquirers are every where around him ; and 
 he finds, that this book, which he has been always 
 taught with such scrupulous care to believe, and 
 reverence, and obey, as being the sure word of 
 God, is the subject of all manner of disputings, 
 and disquiet, and gainsayings. He; finds some, for 
 example, doubting its historical evidence, and some 
 offended at its matter ; some, again, busied in cur- 
 tailing its doctrines, and others i in extending tkem 
 too far. In short, scarcely a conceivable form of 
 scepticism or of heresy can be imagined, which he 
 does not now find actually prevailing, under an 
 
LECTURE I. 7 
 
 avowed general reception of that holy record, of 
 which he himself still finds no reason to think 
 otherwise, than as he has been taught to think 
 before. 
 
 Yet all disputants would claim him, as a hearer, 
 to their several pretensions ; and every one would 
 gladly gain him, as a proselyte, to . his particular 
 cause. AH, too, appeal with apparently equal con- 
 fidence to the ordeal of inquiry I By which I mean, 
 an examination throughout, and in detail, not only 
 of the credentials of every outward kind, with which 
 Christianity, as a revelation, is provided ; but also, 
 of all rhetaphysical and speculative objections, of 
 whatever description, which the spirit of resistance 
 has advanced, or may' advance, against it. What, 
 therefore, shall he do.'' 
 
 If be be himself a person of a keen and ardent 
 temperament; inquisitive in other things ; of a 
 mind impatient under partial information, and sen- 
 .sitive to objection ; rendered uneasy by it; and 
 not quite prepared, after all, when the trial comes, 
 to overrule it at once within , himself, by the 
 strength of individual conviction ; — if he be of this 
 temper, and, at the same time, stored (as it is then 
 probable he will be) with a sufficient share of: abi- 
 lity and learning to unravel the intricacies of argu- 
 ment, and to balance the weightier against the 
 weaker teason ;— ^all will be well. In this case, 
 there is no need of milch perplexity. This temper 
 will boldly fight its way iChuough all the subtleties 
 
 b4 
 
S LECTURE I. 
 
 0f proof, and all the evasions of sophistry. It will 
 accept the challenge, and inquire ; and if it but re- 
 serve to itself (which we suppose) a foundation in 
 its early impressions, doubtless it will itself be 
 strengthened by inquiry, and truth will be bene- 
 fited. It is not for this temper that so much 
 anxiety is wanted, and so. much sympathy. 
 
 But suppose the Christian, now for the first time 
 entangled, by himselfj in all these difficulties, to be 
 of anothej frame ; of a disposition, meek and 
 pious ; of attainments, at most only respectable^ 
 or, more probably, inferior ; not blind, neverthe- 
 less, to the pretensions and deserts of others, 
 though wishing to remain at ease amidst his own 
 possessions, if without weakness or intolerance he 
 may : — suppose him to be one, that has so far 
 tasted of the fruits of practical holiness, as to have 
 no quick sense of subordinate objections ; not dis- 
 posed to deny an objector's claim to reasonable sa- 
 tisfaction, if properly demanded,, but altogether in- 
 disposed himself to argue upon points to which he 
 feels not fully competent, in the detail, and which 
 have never caused himself any uneasiness :— sup- 
 pose the Christian's disposition, I say, to be of this 
 sort : what shall be done here ? And surely there are 
 many, very many such, among the partakers even 
 of a learned education ; nor is it unreasonable to 
 believe and hope, that the equal mercy of a good 
 Providence hath so fenced the wants of a less ac- 
 tive intellectual power with a stronger principle of 
 
LECTURE r. 9 
 
 faith ! Let it be considered how the case stands 
 with such a person. Shall all the watchfulness of 
 parents and instructors, throughout the*progress 
 of his early discipline, all that he has been taught, 
 and all his obedience hitherto in the greatest of all 
 concernments, profit 'him nothing? If it even be 
 admissible, as a sound opinion, that the maais 
 first proceeding may allowedly be, to doubt, or to 
 unlearn, (or even wilfully, to provoke the hazard of 
 unlearning,) all that the boy has been assured of, — 
 what advantage is there, or can there be, in a 
 Christian education ? It was not so that St. Paul 
 estimated the care of Lois and Eunice for the child 2 Tim. i. s. 
 Timothy, Wherefore let such a one, as we have 
 been describing, not be ashamed of an Apostle's 
 counsel ; but resolve, at all events, in the first in-, 
 stance, to continue in the things which he has 
 learned, knoming from whom he hath learned 
 them; and that from, a child he has known the 
 holy. Scriptures, which are able to make him wise 
 unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ 
 Jesus. If but in hypothesis only, out of deference Lect. m. 
 to conflicting human opinions, he be once beguiled 
 to part from this anchor of the soul, sure and 
 stedfast, what shall bring'him afterwards, through 
 all the storms wherewith he will find himself en- 
 compassed, unto the haven where he should be ! 
 
 It miay probably be objected ; that this looks 
 more like a blind and indolent credulity, than a 
 reasondble faith. 
 
10 LECTURE I, 
 
 But the case represented is one, that is either 
 not feelingly enough considered, or else too studi- 
 ously concealed, and therefore not properly treated; 
 And it is the sense of its being indeed a real case, 
 of the very highest practical importance, and well 
 deserving express attention ;• strengthened by per- 
 suasion that aln humble and impartial view of it 
 must be recognized with welcome in many hearts, 
 Zech. viii. such as iovv tke truth and peace ioT its ovi^n sake 
 only; that has led to the present undertaking. 
 Excusable, nay necessary, as it is, to set the mark 
 of praiseworthy attainment at its highest, when we 
 would eil.her develop the true loftiness of human 
 intellect, or exhort to the utmost beneficial use of 
 rare advantages, that never can recur ; and impos- 
 sible as it is, on these and other frequent occasions, 
 not to appeal to the very highest measure of capa- 
 city which man possesses j-^-tbere is always danger 
 that such exhortations may too much discourage 
 conscious ' mediocrity, or inferiority of talent, by 
 making it feel, to what an immeasurable distance 
 it is thrown behind in the race, as there repre- 
 sented. For it is infinitely painful to be overlooked 
 beforehand, simply on account, of a disqualification 
 ' which we cannot avoid ; nor are there many pro- 
 vocations more likely to render average capacities 
 narrow in spirit; as well as in extent, than that of 
 being compelled; to perceive themselves thus neg- 
 lected. Wherever, therefore, it becomes at once 
 both possible and expedient to take part with them. 
 
LECTURE I. 11 
 
 (and sorely such a ease occurs, when wc come to 
 speak concerning a prize at Stake, of universal 
 compelation and unspeakable importance "too!) 
 these, which have been described, are the very dis- 
 positions and capacities to be most respected, en- 
 couraged, and comforted. 
 
 Before, then, we concede the point, that what we 
 thus encourage is not " faith," but " credulity," 
 let us see how it appears under the light of an il- 
 lustration. 
 
 Suppose that of a company of men called to the 
 possession of a temporal inheritance, any one be- 
 comes disquieted by an imagination, that he can- 
 not live therein, in safety and security, except in a 
 mansion of his own building ; let him set to work, 
 and build. He has the property ; and it is open 
 to him so to do. His own right of inclination 
 justifies the act, where nothing interferes to forbid 
 it. But if there be fit houses in that heritage al- 
 readyj and more of his less enterprising brethren 
 finding these ready to their hand, and pleasant 
 places to dwell in ; homses full of M good ihingsnevt. vi. 
 wMeh they filled not, and welts- digged which they 
 digged not ; shall be willing and desirous to take 
 up their abode here, and enter into the labours of 
 other men; — shall he that builded for himselfJoiinjv. 38. 
 therefore justly charge them with sloth, or coward- 
 ice, or lukewarm zeal .'' And if these latter, enter- 
 ing in to such prepared heritage, shall honestly 
 fofhish and make clean their dwelling ; shall keep 
 
xxxu. 
 
 12 LECTURE I. 
 
 the fire alive and blazing on the hearth to heat and 
 to enlighten it; shall dispense around them the 
 contributions of a generous hospitality, every man 
 to the best of his ability : — if, again, receiving their 
 Numb. portion thus, like the children of Reuben and: of 
 Gad, they are yet willing to go forth, to build, or 
 to war, if their captain shall call for them ; — what 
 shall forbid that these be pronounced to act neither 
 an unwise, nor' an unreasonable, nor an unsafe 
 part ? 
 
 To pass, then, from illustration to a plain state- 
 ment of real life. 
 
 If a devout reception of the Bible, as the word 
 of God, in the first instance, for no other reason 
 than because it was presented as such ; if a hearty 
 submission to that word, and to the will, of God, 
 and a fear of offending him.; if a confession ofj 
 and a reliance upon, the name of Jesus Christ, 
 and on the help of divine grace ; if these, received 
 implicitly in the beginning, and then pursued, be- 
 cause they were found to supply the spirit with sa- 
 tisfaction and consolation in its performance of 
 daily duty ; if these do notj even in their lowest 
 and weakest proportion, make up an intelligible, 
 and real, and saving form of Christian faith ; then, 
 where and what is the belief of thousands, and tens 
 of thousands, of our simpler brethren, inheritors, 
 we trust, no less than ourselves of the hope of 
 salvation ? Or wherein are they better than the 
 heathen, except in that theyi live under a happier 
 
LECTURE I. 13 
 
 light of human knowledge, and of civil govern- 
 ment ? It is a blessing to be enabled to inquire : 
 and God give unto tis, as many as erijdy the ability, 
 grace to profit by it ! But to insist upon inquiry, 
 (I mean, inquiry more or less sceptical,) indiscri- 
 minately • or in any manner, which the Spirit of 
 grace, manifested by its fruits, has not itself sug- 
 gested to the believer's own. heart ; this, be the 
 portion of ability vouchsafed what it may, is neither 
 the way to discover truth, nor to promote unity. - 
 
 Nevertheless, I am well aware how startling any 
 proposition is, in these present days of widely cir- 
 culated information, which may awaken, though 
 but on its first utterance, the thought of implicit 
 faith ; even th9.ugh it be demanded to no human 
 interpretations, but only to the word of God itself. 
 It is obvious, with what recoil a variety of tempers 
 and attainments will shrink back from it. 
 
 1. For example; to the man of" liberality," 
 of speculative turn, and geiieral attainments, af- 
 fable atid accorriplished ; not conversant,- from any 
 immediate cause, with divine things in particular ; 
 and accustomed, himself, to require and to give a 
 reason in those human matters with which he has 
 to doj and where it may well' be given ; — to him, 
 such a thoxight will very probably awaken others, of 
 ignorslnce, prejudice, and darkness. 
 
 2. Much more, then, if such liberality of sen- 
 tinient be extended into " free- thinking," will the 
 unbeliever so pronounce upon a faith, which he 
 
J4 LECTURE I. 
 
 himself esteems so lightly : or the half-believer, 
 who will naturally rejoice in contributing, by its 
 rejection, to the increase of that wavering spirit, 
 which is so favourable to his own views. 
 
 3; Again ; to the man of learning and compre- 
 hensive ability united together : to whom thp laby- 
 rinths of research are easy ; and who has a sort of 
 proprietor's' delight in showing forth the treasures 
 of antiquity, as a possession of his own; it. will 
 appear like indolence and wejijcness.^ 
 
 4. Again; to the man well versed in alt the 
 ways of theological controversy, and all the me- 
 lancholy errors recorded in Church history ; and 
 tremblingly alive, in consequence, to the corrup- 
 tions flowing from a servile superstition; who is 
 thereby made habitiially, and prudently, jealous, of 
 a credulity, so evidently capable of gross abuse; 
 it runs the hazard of appearing in the light either 
 of unmanly timidity,, or of dangerous fanaticism. 
 
 But however these things may be, the question 
 of faith is one, in which there are souls at issue. 
 While, therefore, we respect the claims of all, 
 and would, desire, in humility, to exercise true 
 candour and liberality towards all men ; while we 
 honour learning, and bless the gracious order of an 
 all-wise Providence, by which a few are so enriched 
 and endowed with more excellent ability, for the 
 benefit of the many ; while with gratitude we re- 
 verence as well the courage, as the circumspection, 
 of orthodoxy; — we must not, through an over- 
 
ILECTURE I. 15 
 
 willingness- to 'allow theiu' due to others, forego, to 
 the soul's, peril, that: whichis oui" own. By which I 
 mean,, (forbearihgi for ther moment, all considera>- 
 tion of positive' cfeii'^^), that; individual right which 
 we possess, as candidates for Christ's kingdom of 
 glory, of resting our faith and: hope, not upon any 
 proof,., or series of proofs, which scepticism has 
 made it customary to^ insist upon, to show the 
 truth of our reli^ibn; but, upon^, that which best 
 attests the divine authority of hofy Scripttere to 
 our own hearts, according to the proportion of 
 means and oppdrtunities, of personal dispositions 
 and abilities, with which it has been the pleasure 
 of the Almighty severally to invest us ^ 
 
 There being, then, according to commonly re- 
 ceived language and opinion, two ' general divisions 
 
 '■ Provided only, that we do not confound Christianity it- 
 self with any form only of professing it, lest we fall into the 
 error of taking up positions,' wTiich cannot be maintained ;• and 
 expose ourselves, besides, to a yoke of oppression, in particu- 
 lars, which^might not well bfr borne. Nevertheless, I do not 
 hesitate to > express a persuasion, that our own case happily 
 iSiSUchjin the established Church of England, that we may 
 rightly, and are bound to, receive the faith of our fore- 
 fathers, as delivered to us in its authorized form, by the same 
 measure of acceptance, in kind, as we receive Scripture itself : 
 not hastily, taking part against/it (as; so many do) on ac- 
 count of incideo.tal or subordinate objections;, but accept- 
 ing it, in Christian duty, as it is, and abiding by it, until, 
 after experiment of holy living, it shall be proved perilous, or 
 at least inadequate, to the soul's welfare, according to the 
 very terms of Scripture. 
 
16 LECTURE I. 
 
 of the evidences by which the religion of Jesus 
 Christ is commended to men's aQceptancer-^ex- 
 ternal and internal ; it is my intention, in further- 
 ance of the end just now proposed, to advance a 
 familiar argument of the latter kind: not with a 
 purpose to confute any who are disposed, or deter- 
 mined, to object ; but with a desire, under the 
 blessing of Providence, to furnish consolation to 
 many such as are disposed to believe on broad and 
 simple grounds : to those, who see, intuitively, the 
 fearful portion of the infidel, and are sure that he is 
 wrong; and who yet, in the midst of a perverse 
 generation, may want sympathy, in secret, to justify 
 their faith to their own Judgments, as well as to 
 their hearts. For they must not be uncandid and 
 Lect. Hi. uncharitable to the unbeliever : this, they see, is at 
 
 §.8. . . . 
 
 once hurtful to their own cause, and unavailing 
 with him : yet, for various reasons, they cannot 
 fully strive with him with his own weapons ; and 
 he will not admit theirs. 
 
 God forbid I should be thought desiroiis either 
 of suppressing, or of shunning, any right inquiry 
 into the most momentous' of all subjects ! (though, 
 undoubtedly, there are abstruser branches of that 
 search, which but very few are competent to set in 
 order properly.) I would only suggest a disposi- 
 tion, and a kind, of research, apparently more fit 
 for the majority of those who seek to be true 
 Christians ; a dispositiqn, not wantonly bent to 
 discover doubts, and by discussion to provoke dif- 
 
LECTtJRE I. 17 
 
 ficulties; but to perceive and comprehend the 
 troth, through a real desire of obtaining, and an 
 expectation of finding it. 
 
 The proposition which will form the topic of the 
 ensuing Lectures- will bCj in substance, this : that, 
 looking at the religion proposed to our acceptance 
 in holy iScripture, as we there finif it ; accepting 
 it, first, by the courtesy oj good mil, as true, for 
 the very faefsiake^ that it is presented to us 
 under such circunnstanees as it is ; and weighing 
 its pretensions, not by any conformity, or non~ 
 eotifdrmity, with preconceived abstract principles, 
 but by its correspondence with the actual pheno- 
 mena of moral nature, and with the history of 
 man; there is an evidence of truth and authority 
 in holy writ itself, which will thevh constrain us to 
 abide by< it : which evidence is to be seen in its 
 sufficient and admirable adaptation to all our 
 wants and Weaknesses, our hopes and desires ; in 
 its vomprehensive knowledge of human nature ; in 
 its inherent, elastic, and perpetual appKmbility to 
 all the just demands of man, the creature made 
 subject to its jurisdiction, for ever. 
 
 Such being the declared object of the Lectures, 
 in order that we may not be supposed to proceed 
 blindly, without respect of necessary conditions, let 
 it be acknowledged, that such an argument (how- 
 ever plausible a case might be made out upon it) 
 could not be admitted to avail at all, if it were not, 
 beforehand, really the judgment of wise, and learned, 
 
18 LECTURE I. 
 
 and honest men, that external and historical proofs 
 of Christianity have been abundantly and reason- 
 ably established. For though internal evidence 
 may be and is, in sterling weight, as much supe- 
 rior to external, as a saving faith is to a mere his- 
 torical assent ; yet there is an introductory cha- 
 racter and office belonging to the latter, which 
 renders it absolutely indispensable. External and 
 historical proofs form, as it were, the title deeds of 
 our inheritance. To these, therefore, we must at 
 least always be able to have recourse : we must 
 know where they are ; whether, in particular in- 
 stances, we can then interpret them fully for our- 
 selves, or only through assistance of others. But 
 the possession and safe keeping of them some- 
 where, '\% essential. 
 
 This being acknowledged, I forbear to lengthen 
 a Lecture, merely prefetory, by urging consider- 
 ations which might well commend a ready making 
 of the admission hereupon demanded. It shall 
 suffice, at present, briefly to vindicate the choice of 
 such. an argument before such an audience; and 
 to state the method after which the inquiry will be 
 pursued. 
 
 If, then, (notwithstanding what has been ad- 
 vanced,) it be objected, that a learned audience 
 does not properly admit of an appeal to that found- 
 ation of belief, which is the foundation of the 
 faith of the vulgar: I reply by asking even the 
 most learned to search out of his own heart, ho- • 
 
LECTURE I. 19 
 
 nestly, whether, in reality, his faith does ultimately 
 rest upon any diiferent foundation from theirs ? or 
 whether it be possible, until we exercise it under 
 the dominion of an unreserved and unfeigned faith, 
 to apply the learning which is here acquired to its 
 most effectual purpose ? For should the labours 
 of a learned, but a wavering mind even prove effi- 
 cacious (through! appointment of an all-wise Pro- 
 vidence, educing good from whatever source it 
 pleases) to the benefit of others ; still, is it pos- 
 sible for them to ensure an equal benefit to the 
 indecisive spirit itself, from whence they proceed ?■ 
 This is a question for great learning or superior 
 talent to consider ; lest haply, after having proved 
 an instrument of general good, it should itself 5e i Cor. ix. 
 found a cast-away. 
 
 But I think it will appear sufficiently as we go 
 dn, that no discouragement is hereby offered either 
 to. learning or to irrdustry: wherefore I am per- Lectt. iv. v. 
 suaded, that such elementary faith does really con- 
 tain in it the true strength of the very strongest, 
 as well as of the weakest among us all ; so much 
 so, that, in fact, without it all our seeming acquired 
 strength becomes only our greatest danger. 
 
 For it must be by suffering themselves precipi- 
 
 I tately to be challenged as learned or as reasonable 
 
 men, that so many are ensnared, through these 
 
 temptations insidiously offered to their vainity, to 
 
 forget their only invulnerable character — of be- 
 
 '/Jieving Christians ; or that some are even shamed 
 
 c 2 
 
20 LECTURE I. 
 
 1 Tim. vL out of it. Perverse oppositions of science falsely 
 so called tempting us to yield to an affected 
 candour points, never perhaps to be recovered ; 
 to contend with objectors on their own ground 
 albne; in short, to submit spiritual things to 
 
 1 Cor. ii. the vain measure of natural ; — ^these have be- 
 guiled us. The. aspects of a great portion of the 
 professed literary and scientific world in particular ; 
 the cases that may be seen of so many of our own 
 most promising students, almost as soon as they 
 are once detached from what is represented as the 
 thraldom of early; prejudices, allow no other inter- 
 pretation'^. 
 
 I know what may be said of this ; and it must 
 take its course. But it being no matter of- doubtful 
 speculation, that both as a Nation and a Church 
 we stand, at this hour, in a posture of much jeo- 
 pardy, it becomes too oppressive a conviction to be 
 withheld, that if we would indeed have God for 
 our Protector, with Christ for our Saviour, and 
 the Holy Spirit for our Comforter, we must re- 
 turn to a more primitive and healthful state of 
 mind, and r receive him first unequivocally as our 
 Lawgiver. Thus only shall acquired knowliedge 
 
 •^ Does not the same truth appear, even ^et more seriously, 
 through' the failures of several eminent writers in their argu- 
 ments for Natural Religion, where, by giving up point after 
 point to meet the Deist on his own ground, they have ceded 
 him a fair advantage ? See Ellis's " Knowledge of Divine 
 " Things from Revelation, &c." 
 
LECTURE I. 21 
 
 become truly profitable ; and it is on this ground 
 that implicit, fmth appears amongst the most rea- 
 sonable, because amongst the most indispensable, 
 of all things. 
 
 This being said in vindication of the principle 
 on which the present inquiry will proceed, I would 
 subjoin the mention of a hope, which, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, has led to the selection of a 
 general, in preference to a confined^ subject. 
 
 That all real believers in the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ, but more especially, that all we who belong 
 to the same venerable Church, must be of one 
 mind in our estimate of what the Christian state 
 truly desirable is, can admit of no doubt. We 
 must place it in a piety, at once fervent and 
 practical, yet chastised, sober, and. reasonable ; at 
 once spiritual, and regulated ; lasting, and obe- 
 dient. 
 
 That there must be a way (for such as will be- 
 come teachers) of setting forth the scheme revealed 
 in holy Scripture, agreeably to such estimate ; so 
 as to convey real^ and spiritual, and undisguised 
 truth, without either suppressing or exaggerating 
 peculiar doctrines beyond their just proportion, as 
 vital, yet still relative, parts oi a consistent whole ; 
 — this also must be certain, how few soever may 
 attain to it. 
 
 Nevertheless, that, as things are, all do not fpl- 
 low the most excellent way, can admit of no doubt 
 
 c3 
 
22 LECTURE I. 
 
 either. We cannot be following the best way, 
 either of teaching or of learning, so long as parfy 
 differences are suffered to break down respectively 
 the fences o\ forbearance and of duty ; and an al- 
 most exclusive attention to special points of con- 
 troverted doctrine usurps that first place in our 
 contemplations, and in our affections too, which 
 ought to be devoted to the whole revelation of di- 
 vine mercy ; — to universal Christianity. 
 
 By which expression of " universal Christianity," 
 I do not mean Christianity divested of its mysteries, 
 or peculiar doctrines, or precepts, to render it a 
 vapid object of universal acceptation, or rather 
 non-resistance ; God forbid ! But entire Christi- 
 anity ; that one continuous dispensation of divine 
 mercy, which is the subject of both Testaments ; 
 which, as the method of restoring fallen man to 
 his Maker's favour, is adapted to the state and na- 
 ture of man ; which, therefore, to study at the 
 fountain head, and in its continuity, must needs 
 Matth. vii. instruct us best in the mode of administering its 
 Luke vi. 39. truths to Others, since it will teach us best to know 
 ourselves. 
 
 Herein, then, lies a hope, by such view of Scrip- 
 ture as that now to be offered of withdrawing at- 
 tention for a while from subordinate arguments, 
 and from a morbid thirst for too literal definition 
 in things manifestly and mercifully undefined, to 
 a quiet and uncontentious examination of the in- 
 
LECTURE I. 23 
 
 ternal excellence and character of holy Writ itself. 
 And the intention must stand or fall by its own 
 merits '^^ 
 
 * If it may be done without breach of duty, (as I trust it 
 may,) I would awaken attention to the inconsisicwcy, following 
 in the train of too close definition, of too rigid adherence to 
 the code either of one fixed school of interpretation, or another, 
 as it may be traced through this circumstance ; that, in their 
 practical labours, the disciples of the two great rival systems, 
 which so much divide the Christian world, do virtually 
 change positions ; and either, in eflFeet, maintains the other's 
 conflict. For when they, as many as espouse the gloomier 
 creed, in their invitation and entreaty to sinners throw open 
 the gates of mercy wide as the east is from the west, (even 
 going the length, sometimes, of systematically representing 
 the greater load of loathesomeness and guilt as the greates 
 recommendation to divine favour^) what do they, but eic- 
 knowledge, in despite df themselves, the universality of re- 
 deeming grace; what do they but pursue a narrow and con- 
 fined end, through something almost more than open means ? 
 Again ; when they, of livelier hope, whose joy and consola- 
 tion it is to magnify tiie universal end, do still so narrow and 
 constrain the path to it, as to leave it manifest that only very 
 few can reach the prize of glory ; not simply by representing 
 it as strait, (we have full authority for that,) but by so dwelt-, 
 ing on particular duties, as almost to pass the bounds of 
 possible compliance with them ; what do thei/i, in turn, but 
 virtually confess the solemn truth of a strict predestination • 
 (so far, at least, as such doctrine may be involved in our 
 Lord's own saying, that many are called, but few chosen,) pur-, 
 suing an open end through restricted means ?'■ 
 
 I make no comment upon these appearances j only sug-. 
 gesting them as matter fdr reflection. But if-they exist, and 
 if the above thought concerning them be at all just, it should' 
 surely read us a strong lesson against too eager and basty an. 
 
 c4 
 
24 LECTURE I. 
 
 The inquiry will be pursued after' the following 
 method. 
 
 We shall first state what we conceive to be the 
 manner of appeal now made by the Most High to 
 us his reasonable creatures, by presenting a view of 
 
 Lect. ii. Christianity, as the dispensation of the Spirit^ 
 Certain important deductions, arising from this 
 
 Lect. iii. view, wiU then b^ considered, and proposed for ac- 
 ceptaince as Christian axioms. 
 
 By this process, foundation being laid for viewT 
 ing holy Scripture connectedly, as was proposed, 
 we shall go on to assert its divine authority from 
 
 Lect.iv. its wonderful, intuitive correspondence with the 
 general state of human nature. Which assertion 
 
 Lectt. V. vi. being, in tvvo following Lectures, practically, ex- 
 hibited to the reader's own impartial judgment, in 
 a selection of examples ; we shall, in the seventh 
 
 Lectvii. Lccturc, consider the fulness of holy Scripture to 
 satisfy the wants and wishes of an individual Chris- 
 
 Lect. viu. tian ; and in the last, its adaptation to his condi- 
 tion, as a traveller, in company, through an imper- 
 fect world. 
 
 If these propositions be made good, the argu- 
 ment from them will not be inconsiderable. And 
 if (where every thing is meant to be spoken in hu- 
 
 adoption of partial prejudices. It should make us careful, 
 that we do not exceed, while we do not suppress, any part of 
 our commissioa ; and that we be careful both to receive and 
 to explain God's promises, " in such wise as they be generally 
 " set forth to us in holy Scripture." 
 
LECTURE I. 25 
 
 mility, and in the faith and fear of God) any thing, 
 however simple, shall reach the conscience, or con- 
 vince the judgment, so as either to strengthen and 
 confirm good principles, or to awaken charitable 
 ones ; let that atone, in some part, for defects of 
 execution, and rejoice against censure. Whatever 
 may be said in error, let it be avoided ; only let it 
 be treated with candour. But whatever shall 
 strictly correspond with acknowledged soundness 
 of interpretation, let that be received, not as a tale 
 often told, and undeserving of further attention; 
 but as an unconscious addition to the evidence, 
 that truth is one, and uniform r and let us pray 
 for grace, that all Christian people may rejoice 
 daily more and more in the knowledge and confes- 
 sion of it ! • 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 Galatians iii. 24. 
 The law "was our schoolmaster to bring its unto Christ. 
 
 J HE connection here represented as subsisting 
 between the Law and the Gospel, involves a view of 
 Christianity, which, by more full expansion and 
 contemplation^ appears highly ca;pable of strength- 
 ening in the truth, such brethren as have already 
 implicitly received it. 
 
 Such expansion will accordingly be the object, of 
 thfi present Lecture : in which it will be endea- 
 voured to illustrate this proposition ; that the ap- 
 peal made by the Almighty to his rational crea- 
 tures, to bring theni to a knowledge of himselfj 
 has been progressive ; progressive, after an order 
 of which the character cannot be more distinctly 
 expressed than in words used by St. Paul, to de- 
 scribe the different;, stages of human existence ; I 
 mean in that passage wherein he says, There is a i Cor. xv. 
 
 natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 
 
 Howheit that ivas not first which is spiritual^ but 
 that which is natural ; and afterward that which 
 is spiritual. 
 
28 LECTURE II. 
 
 Such is the relation between the characters of 
 the two great divine dispensations, and such the 
 order of their succession. The mosaic, or natu- 
 ral, came first ; and the evangelical, or spi- 
 ritual, followed. When I use these terms, I 
 mean by " natural," that which in its character and 
 conduct is more palpable and visible, and in its ap- 
 plication directed more to the present motives of 
 the creatures who were called to obey it : and by 
 " spiritual," that which is more refined- in its own 
 features and character, and addressed to man^ as to 
 a spiritual and immortal being. 
 
 For the more full comprehension of this view dt 
 reveilation in all its branches, and for positive au- 
 thority to sanction that which will be now pursued 
 as a method of inquiry ; let reference be made to 
 those storehouses of meditation on the subject — 
 the : chapter from whence the text is taken, and 
 that' which follows it; the general tenor of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews ; and that comparison be- 
 tween the Law and the Gospel held out in the third 
 chapter of St. Paul's second Epistle to the Go- 
 2C»r.iii. rinthiaus ; If the ministration of death, written 
 and engraven on stones was glorious,"-— how 
 shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather 
 glorious ? and T;he context. 
 
 -I shall not however enter here into any detailed 
 Gomiparison of "glory" between the Law and the 
 Gospel * ; ' nor into any consideration of the Law, 
 
 =" I meaiij comparisons of essential glory : such (e. g.) as 
 
LECTURE IL 29 
 
 as typical of the Gospel ; neither will regard be 
 had to any earlier, less definite, and more obscure 
 dispensations of the Almighty towards men, pre- 
 vious to the delivery of the Mosaic covenant. 
 These are topics that have been frequently and 
 ably illustrated by ingenious and learned writers ; 
 and they do not strictly concern our present pur- 
 pose. The present Lecture will be confined to its 
 own peculiar object ; viz. an examination of the 
 manner of appeal made td mankind, under the two 
 great and explicit, and specially recorded dis- 
 pensations, which make up the chief sum pf 
 the Oracles of God. 
 
 What then is it, which we think may be dis- 
 covered in this manner, calculated to dispose our 
 understanding and affections favourably towards 
 the divine authority of holy Scripture .'' 
 
 We assume that the Bible is what it professes to 
 be: — the statute-book of an everlasting kingdom ; 
 and that both of the two very different parts into 
 which it is divided proceed, and have always been 
 understood to proceed, from the same common 
 Author. Now this being so, a very little consi- 
 deration may persuade us to accept the statement 
 of our. seventh Article ; that " the Old Testament 
 " is not contrary to the New ; but that both in the 
 
 might arise from contrasting their respective efficacy, as 
 methods of obtaining the divine favour ; or the measure of 
 L promise vouchsafed to each i or the character and persons, of 
 their respective Promulgators. 
 
30 LECTURE IL 
 
 " Old and New Testament everlasting life is oiFered 
 " to mankind through one only Mediator." 
 
 For we cannot suppose the Divine Mind to have 
 set forth two several schemes of moral government, 
 dissimilar from the very foundation. The sub- 
 stance of the divine counsels must be indestructi- 
 ble. The appointment, for a season, of institu- 
 tions, adapted to the state and necessities of man ; 
 and their abrogation in the fulness of time, when 
 they had fulfilled a purpose intended ; this is con- 
 sistent with every notion we can form of perfect 
 wisdom. But the fundamental will of the Al- 
 mighty we cannot suppose subject to change ; 
 neither can any voice that has once proceeded out 
 of the mouth of God, for the general moral guid- 
 ance of his creatures, ever sink into a dead let- 
 ter''; so sink, I mean, as to lose all force of obli- 
 gation upon subjects on whose conscience an eter- 
 nal law is written, (as it is called, " of nature ;") 
 with which such moral word of revelation is in 
 Matt. xxiv. harmony. Heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 but the word which God hath spoken shall not pass 
 away. Admitting the latter Testament therefore 
 to be true, and embracing it as such ; it appears 
 hardly optional to do otherwise than admit, as a 
 truth involved in this, that the substance of the 
 
 ■> Compare with this, and with the whole scope of the 
 Lecture, the first chapter of St. Peter's . first Epistle; par- 
 ticularly towards the end of the chapter. Compare also what 
 is said in Lecture V. concerning our Lord's parables. 
 
LECTURE II. 31 
 
 elder dispensation must, in effect be one and the 
 same with that of the later. Wherein then do the 
 two differ ; and wherein do they agree ? 
 
 An illustration may hie borrowed on this point 
 from comparing our Saviour's declaration, that he 
 gave to his disciples a new commandment, with jobn xih. 
 St. John's language in the seventh and eighth 
 verses of the second chapter of his first Epistle ". 
 It was a new commandment ; but how ? Not new 
 in letter or in effect, but in extent and sanction ; 
 new in revealed motives ; for it was Jbunded, now, 
 upon better promises; new in respect of the ex-Heb.vm.s. 
 ample set for its fulfilment, and the encourage- 
 ment offered to the keeping of it : new also, (or 
 comparatively become so,) by reason of the practi- 
 cal degradation and disuse into which it had fallen. 
 But in purpose and effect it was old ; in respect of 
 its inherent tendency to bring man into present see Note 
 ease and comfort, (and as w6 now know — of a fu-a. 7, g. 
 ture and glorious enjoyment also,) it was the same H^^r.^n 
 
 r.7 /■ ti L ' • 'he Family 
 
 which was from, the beginning. BiWe. 
 
 So is it, we think, with the great realities of the 
 plan of salvation. 
 
 From the first utterance of the gracious promise 
 concerninffthe^e^flfo/Me woman. Redemption has Pascal's 
 
 Thoughts. 
 
 = John xiii. 34. A new commandment I give unto you, 
 that ye. love one another. 
 
 1 John ii. 7j 8. Brethren, I write no new commandment 
 unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the 
 beginning, &c. 
 
Lect. VI. 
 
 32 LECTURE II. 
 
 been one uniform and abiding scheme, under what- 
 ever varieties of circumstance. The chief corner 
 stone of the temple of believers has been one and 
 
 Heb.xiii. 8. immoveable^ — Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
 and to day, and for ever. The real sacrifice and 
 atonement for sin has been the same from the be- 
 
 Rev. xffi. 8, ginning— ^Ae Lamb slain from the foundation^ 
 the world. That all acceptable obedience must 
 have been under every form of dispensation a work 
 
 fleber's of dvvine grace, is a proposition which cannot be 
 
 Bampton i ■ • ii • 
 
 Lectures, denied, without involvmg virtually some portion 
 of Pelagian lieresy, as to the power of man's un- 
 assisted strength,; ^ Consequently,: there must in 
 effect always have been an operation of one and 
 the same Divine Spirit, under both covenants. 
 Lastly, the real end and crown of faithful obecB- 
 ence must have been always the same ; I mean, 
 the resurrection unto life eternal, and an invisible 
 future state of immortal glory ^. 
 
 ^ On this last great point, the resurrection nnto life etSrnal, 
 I cannot forbear referring, as to an example peculiarly jlius- 
 trative of the whole position of this Lecture, to that memo- 
 rable argument of our Saviour ; (Matt. xxii. 32, &C.)' As 
 touching the resurrection of tlie dead, have ye not read that 
 which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of 
 Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God 
 is not the God of the dead, but of the livirig : because this 
 passage seems to contain a sort of argument, exactly fitted at 
 once to prove the real existence of the doctrine at the time re- 
 ferred to, and at the same time to account for its obscurity. 
 To us, with the Scriptures of the New Testament in our 
 
LECTUKE II. 33 
 
 These realities^ thbnl of the gi'eat pllan of salva^ 
 tion have always bden the same. 
 
 We add, that this great counsel of divine love 
 has been not only uniform an^d' one in its own •sub- 
 stance,. hut that \t has been uniformly working its 
 way through the same subs^tanliaK state of outward 
 things; I mean, thi"ough the same furtherances, 
 (in- kind,) and the sarhe impediments. It has had 
 to operate upon the same moral constitution O'f 
 human nature ; to travel onward through the same 
 order of natural providences. God has hot altered 
 (a& fkr as is apparent to us) any of thei courses pf 
 the mere physical woi'W by the deathj or since the 
 death of his Son. Day untq day uttereth speech, ps. xix. 2. 
 and night . unto night cettifieth knowledge ; the 
 
 lights of heaven rule in the firmament ; and seed- Gen. ym. 
 . 22. 
 
 time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and 
 
 winter return, just as they have ever done. Man, 
 
 too, continues the: same as ever ; born with the 
 
 same nature ; tempited by the same passions, if 
 
 hands, and with an assi/ired knowledge of the great truth of 
 everlasting life derived abundantly from later sources, it is an 
 easy thing to fill lip the blanks of this defective /orjn of argii- 
 rftent; To the Jews, however, it could not but be involved 
 in much obscurity ; and >' indeed, even now it is a sort of pas- 
 sage that is by uo means plja^ly ita 0^11 interpreter, I think 
 it ip rather one which we ourselves $hpuld probably pass by, 
 as proclaiming merely a solemn appellation of the Deity, arid 
 not look Ho' as the vehicle of so chief a doctrine, h^d it hot 
 been rendered so pfbmifleht to a Christian's eye, by our Lord's 
 cnliiove-mentioiiedlaippiUcatiDn of it. 
 
 D 
 
34 LECTURE II. 
 
 unrestrained ; liable to fall through the same li- 
 centiousness of an obstinate will. We do not fail 
 to hear sometimes, among the infinite perversities 
 of contradiction, a voice of unbelief, not differing 
 in spirit from the taunt of the scoffers in St. Pe- 
 2 Pet iii.4. ter's days ; Where is the promise of Ms coming ? 
 for since the fathers fell asleep, all things con- 
 tinue as they were from the beginning of the cre- 
 ation. And, accepting this challenge in the gross, 
 let us reply; True: and for that very reason we 
 beheve with the more assured certainty, that the 
 same Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and hath 
 reigned always. Had it been otherwise, and had 
 the laws, whether of physical or moral nature, ap- 
 peared subject to nautability or caprice, we might 
 have doubted. As things are, we are willing to 
 believe thus far, for the very fact's sake— of their 
 consistency. 
 
 Thus, then, do both Testaments contain but one 
 continuous plan. For that cainnot be otherwise 
 than one, of which all the realities are the same. 
 And indeed, besides all other thoughts which may 
 persuade us, that the groundwork aud realities of 
 salvation have always been the same ; that it is 
 the manner of appeal that is changed, and not the 
 substance of the plan; this one consideration re- 
 mains, which should in itself be convincing and 
 conclusive with all who claim the hope pf believers 
 now ; that, if it were not so, how does the Al- 
 mighty .call himself by the name of the God of 
 
LECTURE II. 35 
 
 Abraham^ and of Isaac, and of Jacob, for an 
 everlasting covenant? how indeed havp the fa- 
 thers fallen asleep ? and what must be the hope of 
 the most believing and obedient Israelites? of 
 whom not any eould see life through their own 
 law alone; and to whom therefore, in this melan- 
 choly case, a special revelation were but a worse 
 mockery of their infirmity ! 
 
 And yet, while the agreement is thus great be- 
 tween the two dispensations, the difference \s so 
 great also, that much in the same way as our Sa- 
 •vLflur's commandment just referred to was both 
 old and new ; so may these, which are but one in 
 substance, be most naturally and properly ac- 
 counted, in common apprehension and language, 
 two. Wherein, then, is it that they differ ? 
 
 Much in many ways. — But our present inquiry see above, 
 is limited to the different manner of their appeals gg! ^ ^' ^" 
 to man. 
 
 In proceeding to consider which point, let it be 
 borne in mind, that the futility has been mostHeber, 
 satisfactorily exposed of that cavil against the di- 
 vine authority of Scripture, by which it is objected, 
 that the Almighty therein condescends to per- 
 suade his creatures to obedience, rather than by a 
 sovereign act compel them to obey " : and let the 
 
 = I^or, indeed, is this cavil only futile ; but in one respect 
 it becomes even valuable to the cause vrhich it assails, inas- 
 much as it recoils upon the objector ; a fresh exemplification, 
 among many, of the manner in which extremes meet, . For 
 
 d2 
 
36 LECTURE II. 
 
 thought which fiolldW^s be proposed for impartial 
 consideration. 
 
 Supposfe that we, possessed as we uriaOubtedij'^ 
 are of certain attributes of wisdotn and justice, of 
 compassion and beneVoletiCe, could set about thfe 
 work of persuading men to piety and vittue, by an 
 authority of our oivti ; feeling that we really had 
 it in our power to make them adequate athendis 
 for their obedience, and means of convincing them 
 to this effect ; — I ask, hoiv shbtild we naturally set 
 about the work, in the first instance .'* What in- 
 duceniients should We first offer ? Would not our 
 attempt begin with holditig out^ a^ encouragements 
 to well-dding, those advantages on which ' we Sefe 
 the ambition and desire of man to be most keehly 
 set ? those rewards, of which we may pCfCeive all 
 to be so covetous ; — ascertainable, measurable re- 
 wards ? 
 
 I apprehend, that an answer to such question is 
 provided, iri an appeal to the character and sanctions 
 of all human laWs : wherein that to which alorte 
 their povper can reach (namely, punishi3ient)h 
 strictly of this visible sort. From whence no room 
 was left for dbubt, of what nature any enactments 
 of such laws would be for the encouragement ' of 
 
 what can we imagine the proposer of this objection to think 
 of an implicit faith iii Revelatibh ? And yet in this his ob- 
 jection, we find him actually complaining of the absence of 
 a compulsory force, which must have made all belief merely 
 mechanical ! Such is the inconsistency of error. 
 
I^ECTURE II. 37 
 
 virtue, were it 3s mmch in the power of limited 
 means to recompense, as it is to pviif^ish> But the 
 Almighty, it shoH)4 seem, has provided us a les- 
 son, in this very feebleness, that he hath in every 
 case reserved the kingdom of recompense to hini- see Luke 
 self alone: whether \ve regard that present vice- 
 royalty of it, which is found in the testimony of a 
 good conscience, or that future reality of glory, to 
 be revealed in his own good time. 
 
 If then we fii'e making a right estimate of the 
 manner in which hvmnan providence wonld set 
 ahout convincing mankind, and establishing them 
 in virtue 3nd goodness of living ; let it serve tO 
 ^hew us, lipvY indulgently the dispensations of Om^ 
 nipotence appear to have proceeded with the crea- 
 tures of its two peculiar covenants, agreeably to 
 this natural expectation ofqyix own huiTian reason, 
 I speak this with reverence. God forbid that it 
 should be thought to compromise or to degrade 
 the jngfFable and incomprehensible majesty of the 
 djvine perfections ! But if we, who now live in the 
 light, can here or elsewhere trace, without impipty, 
 a fiondespension, asking for our love, and ^topping 
 for our happiness ; what an argutpent is it for 
 Christian submission, upon the principle of loye 
 to jjod ! what a motive fpr yielding cheerfully and 
 wholly tp Him, who hath bojiptifuUy left us so 
 inyqh for our own, that whiqh alone he qlainis as 
 an offering in return, of all that he has lent us ; 
 n^niely, a simple and, single ^urr^nder qf th§ 
 
 d3 
 
38 LECTURE 11. 
 
 heart ; and, a sacrifice of the perverseness only, 
 not of the real freedom, of the will ! 
 
 I enter not into the question of a partial reve- 
 lation. It is sufficient for the present purpose to 
 perceive, that when it did please the Almighty to 
 confine his presence and the true knowledge of 
 himself to one especial people, he then graciously 
 ordered his dealings with that people after a me- 
 thod, of which, though the ordinances were strict, 
 and cumbrous, and multiplied, yet the manner was 
 familiar and natural. Temporal blessings and 
 Joshua V. 6. temporal curses; a land flowing with milk and 
 
 ExocLxxiii. i- . /• i i-f i i •- • 
 
 25, 26, &c. honey ; truitiul seasons ; prolific herds ; exemption 
 from sickness ; bread to the full ; and security in 
 their possessions ; — are not these, and the like things 
 with these, (accompanied by a denunciation of their 
 opposites, in case of disobedience and rebellion,) 
 the things which we should first of all pronounce 
 most likely, by our intuitive judgment, at once to 
 reconcile the persons to" whom they were offered 
 to a strict yoke of positive institutions, and to se- 
 cure them in moral obedience ? 
 
 Let the question be referred to the analogy im- 
 plied in the text. 7%e laiv, says the Apostle, was 
 our schoolmaster ; and therefbre had to do with 
 children. Do its conditions, then, appear to have 
 been significantly proportioned and adapted to the 
 natures with which it had to do ? I fear it must 
 be admitted to be at least the general nature of 
 children, to be influenced only by present motives. 
 
LECTURE II. 39 
 
 With them, the immediate gift of a mere bauble 
 will outweigh the most impressive assurance of 
 reward, ten times as great, at a remote period. 
 Nor will the power of any pure moral satisfaction 
 (such, for example, as the consciousness of a pa- 
 rent's approbation) be, often found of equal effect 
 with immediate tangible indulgence. Such ap- 
 peals must be reserved for the maturer period, 
 when the ehild, grown up to the intelligence and 
 advanced to the title of a son, becomes a fit depo- 
 sitary of the spirit of his father's counsels ; capable 
 of apprehending the grounds and reasons of that 
 obedience, in the exercise of which he was before 
 retained by inferior motives. But I forbear to 
 dwell upon this topic ; since to apply it would only 
 be to weaken, by transplanting, the very reasoning Gaiat.iv. 
 of St. Paul himself. To return therefore to our 
 own purpose. 
 
 Such, as has been represented, we conceive to 
 be the manner of appeal made under the Law. 
 .That, however, while it was so made, through the 
 influence of temporal encouragements and present 
 rewards, a real and enduring rest was prepared 
 in heaven for the faithful, appears most sure. . 
 That many of the Fathers, and of the Jews, both 
 before and after the delivery of the Mosaic reve- 
 lation, had respect unto this eternal recompenses 
 and lived by faith in it, is most sure also '. 
 
 ^ See the exprtts argument of Hebrews, chap. iv. v. and 
 d4 
 
§.1. 
 
 40 LECTURE II. 
 
 But however this «ia\y have been,' and to what- 
 ever extent the hope of everlasting; life may then 
 have been entertained, or at what period and from 
 wJjenoesoeVer the error of the Sadducees may have 
 arisen ; I cannot but think it is to be maintained, 
 as well from the whole general scope of teaching 
 Lect. vi. under the Law and the Prophets, as from whafcthe 
 Gospel has subseqiaently shown to have beea'; the 
 necessity of the case 5 that the full doctrine of the 
 resurrection had no ^place among mankind, as a 
 sure and authoritative argument of persuasion 
 unto holy living, before ^e first-frtiits of the great 
 harvest that shall be had risen from the dead, in 
 the person of our Saviour. 
 
 While we now believe, and are assured, that a 
 permanent existence is, and always has been in- 
 tended as man's final destiny, we perceive, at the 
 same time, how the knowledge of this great truth 
 has been revealeJonly gradually, and not developed 
 in its full pcaetical power, until it hadfii^t seemed 
 good to the Divine Wisdom to .prepare reasonable 
 creatures, thr^Mgh other means, for a full per- 
 ception of its value, as a motive to true holiness. 
 It seems to have been, throughout, the method of 
 the Deity, to offer pei'suasions to his thinking 
 
 chap. Ki. and, by way of comment, several of Bishofi Bull's 
 Sermons ; With whom it seems to have been a favourite sub- 
 ject: also a Sermon of Jones of Nayland, entitled, " Eter- 
 " nal Life the great Promise of the Law." 
 
LECTURE II. 41 
 
 creatures by little and little : in no case ever with- 
 hold^g- that which was sufficient, according to 
 the proportion expected in return ; but neither ex- 
 hibiting at jany time more than was sufficient, nor 
 exerting a power subversive of the essential freedom Ecc1us.xv. 
 of man's choice between good and evil. 
 
 Thus, under the Mosaic covenant, he tried man 
 
 first in hi&.more mixed or senmtive nature : or, to 
 speak more simply, in that expression of the 
 Apostle before refea-red to, (for I would not rashly 
 intermeddJevwith metaphysical distinctions and 
 
 f!iaiJ?etifis,)':thiit jtHal xJarae the first, which was 
 natural. The fulness of time was not yet come, 
 when z, -funther, trial might be made, with! a^/ 
 things remit/) ior its probable success. An. appeal 
 directed whoUy to ithe, better part, to the spirit oi 
 man;; to motives, and hopes, jand faculties of a 
 character aUogethie* spiritual, refined, and unseen ; 
 appears to have hebn reserved, until the »/iffl«*^a- 
 tioii of death and condemnation, put to proof and 
 fotmd . wanting, \> might itself stand forth, in its 
 wreck, and insgfficiency, an additional and most 
 cgfl^incing argumentj, that to live by sight is not 
 the way to conquer the perverse will, nor to bring 
 
 ,ljie heart of man unto that extent of obedience and 
 of purity, of. which, even in this present life, God 
 is plga^e4 to make it cjipable^ 
 
 When ,the: history; of: the Jews, then, had thus 
 wprke4 its fwefiatory way ; when all the induce- 
 «erits,l which we should most naturdly think 
 
42 LECTURE II. 
 
 would lead to stedfast obedience, had been offered 
 Ps. ixxviii. ineffectually; when, while the meat was yet in 
 their mouths, the fathers sinned still •, when the 
 single-&di^&A sword of temporal visitation fell 
 blunted from hearts of stone ; then came the dis- 
 pensation OF THE Spirit, for keener and more 
 exclusive trial of the *om/. 
 
 The appeal was now made to man, as a spiritual 
 and immortal being ; the armour was flung aside, 
 with which he that called himself the servant of 
 the true God had been furnished before ; and that 
 armour put on, which is described by St. Paul in 
 Eph. vi. the sixth chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians, 
 and characterized as the whole armour of God: 
 the allurement of present recompense, in such 
 sense as it had been employed before, was over. 
 We look no longer for an earthly rest ; for it has 
 been made sure, that this is not our rest. While 
 we trust still, (as we think it is so often permitted 
 to us through the bounty of our heavenly Father 
 to perceive,) that there is both a positive and 
 tangible, as well as a moral sense, in which godli- 
 1 Tim. iv. ness has the promise of both worlds ; we no longer 
 lay our account by temporal enjoyment, but are 
 prepared, if it be God's will, to encounter, in its 
 stead, afflictions, or present burdens. We expect 
 no visible interference of Almighty power to di- 
 rect and strengthen us : it is enough to know, 
 that he hath promised, and will surely give, to 
 them that ask it faithfully, the secret and illumi- 
 
/ LECTURE 11. 43 
 
 natihg influence of the Spirit, to ■ sanctify their 
 hearts. For that which is natural has passed 
 away; and that which is spiritual is now come, 
 and belongs to us and to our children for ever. 
 
 Agreeably to this view of the respective cha- 
 racters of the two dispensations, we interpret the 
 conduct of them, in respect oi means and external 
 particulars. We see the earlier one distinguished 
 by many splendid outward manifestations, (as the 
 holy garments of Aaron were for glory and for Exodus 
 beauty i) by visible symbols of the divine pre- 
 sence ; by means of guidance and protection held 
 forth to the very eyesight of the subjects whom it 
 called to obey. But only a temporary end was 
 fully declared ; the real and enduring end was 
 hidden, as it were, behind a veil. 
 
 Under the Gospel, this order is reversed. In- 
 finitely surpassing as the glory of the latter reve- 
 lation is beyond that of the former, yet it is greater 
 only' by a 6;;oinV«fl!/ greatness^. Our business, 
 however, is only so far to compare, as that we may 
 unite the two : that, looking at both thoughtfully 
 together, we may rejoice the rather in perceiving 
 how either covenant was best adapted to the. season 
 in which it was revealed; and in ascertaining, from 
 such thought, more fully, and then pondering 
 
 8. As may be illijgliratetJjby the proportions of the former 
 and the latter temples. ^ Compare^ Ezra iii. 12. withHaggai 
 ii. 9. 
 
44 LECTUBE II. 
 
 more devoutly, wherein surely lies (he trial unto 
 which we ourselves are cedUed; and what respon- 
 sibility belongs to us, for the use we may make of 
 that fulness of light, which is vouchsafed in the 
 complete knowledge of both dispensations. 
 
 Thus, then, (if our view he justified by sound 
 reason, and not forbidden by Scripture,) the com- 
 parison appears to stand in a sort of reciprocated 
 position. The Law had its end, veiled; its means 
 of appeal, outward and visible : the Gospel ha§ it§ 
 means, tacit and inward; but its end, fully re^ 
 vealed. 
 
 Correspondent, we think, to this view which has 
 been taken, have been, and are, the appearances of 
 the moral world. 
 
 The subjects of either dispensation have been 
 found (would that so many of the latter were not 
 still found !) overtaken and seduced by apostasies, 
 anialogous to the quality and bearing of their re- 
 spective trials. The apostasy of the Jews became 
 IDOLATRY ; a gross, palpable crime : the apostasy 
 of modern times appears to be a spiritual and 
 INTELLECTUAL REJECTION of the Deity; either 
 wholly, or at least in part, as now predicated in 
 his mysterious essence. A portentoiis form of 
 infidelity! resulting from the ?^buse of "liberty" 
 into " licentiousness ;" from the pruriency of that 
 more subtle part of the constitution of human na- 
 ture, to which the Gospel addresses its appeal. 
 
LECTURE II. 4S 
 
 uniilfluenced and unrestrained by that funda* 
 mental submission of the vfill^ which it indulcat^s 
 and insists Upon. .<f. 
 
 Nof is it, I think, fairly to be objected here, 
 that idolatry, even in a praetical shape, has been 
 exhibited under the Christiian covenant. !> 
 
 It seems not, in very strictness, true, so to af*- 
 lirnii. For those later outrages of atheism and 
 blasphemy, which may here suggest themselves 
 to recollection, partake more of the nature of ex- 
 ception than of general rule ''. And think as we 
 tftay fconGerning such offences as the imagee 
 worship, and other connected errors, into which 
 some Christians have been betrayed; or true as it 
 is, in regard of its effect hereafter to the beguiled 
 soul, that he, who loves the perishable treasures of 
 this life more than the hope of life eternal, makes 
 his worldly prosperity his God ; yet there is not, 
 in either of these two cases, that intentional and 
 conscious dereliction of the true God for another ;-^ 
 for a stock, or a stone, or a molten image ; — which 
 appears to constitute the crime of idolatry, in itsseeJerem. 
 more strict and primitive^ import ; and which lEzeklxx! 
 e^nnot but conceive, from simple and unbiassed 
 impression/ to have bee« the full offence, under 
 the elder covenant. The k'pplication of the. term 
 to covetousness, is obviously made in a sense alto> 
 gether spiFituai^ and is therefore .confiitinative, 
 
 , '■ The esccesses of the Erench Revolution are here alkided 
 to. 
 
XXll. 
 
 46 LECTURE 11. 
 
 rather, of our proposition, than at variance with it. 
 And the offence of image-worship will, I think, 
 (when impartially considered,) be admitted to be 
 an error, more nearly allied to superstition, than 
 to any general mistrust of the Almighty. Nor 
 does it appear to be expressly characterized by our 
 Article Church as more than " a fond thing vainly in- 
 " vented, and grounded upon no warranty, of 
 " Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of 
 " God." I would not wilUngly be thought an 
 apologist of error: but there is quite eno,ugh of 
 real deformity in the one now before us, to render 
 exaggeration of it unnecessary. 
 
 There are other points which might be dwelt 
 upon, in fuller explanation of our general view. 
 
 For example : the error of modern times within 
 the pale of faith is a spiritual error, as well as that 
 without ; I mean, enthusiasm'. So clearly is this 
 such, that we are continually suffering our jealousy 
 and fear of it to keep our tempers back from that 
 spirituality, to which belongs the kingdom of 
 heaven: — a spirituality, which cannot, indeed, 
 with truth be said to be an opposite to enthu- 
 siasm; yet which is as far removed from it as any 
 other excellence is removed from its. lesser and 
 kindred extreme ; or the use of a blessing from 
 the abuse of it. 
 
 Again : we might contemplate, in the same 
 
 ' As the word is popularly employed to designate fanatical 
 excess in religion, not in its philosophical sense. 
 
LECTURE II. 47 
 
 light, the aspects of the world (where revelation 
 has been vouchsafed) in respect of improvement, 
 as well as of iapostasy. There might be traced in 
 these, I think, exaictly that sort of change, which is 
 in proportion and in harmony with the existing 
 dispensation : no violent convulsion, or total unr 
 likeness of latter times to formiar : but a change, 
 general and indefinite in its operation,' rather than 
 specific and measurable ; a tacit, yet most in- 
 fluential, progress of refinement, not eradicating 
 evil, but at once subliming virtue, and softening 
 crime. But to this, the dawn of which seems 
 perceptible almost as soon as ever we enter on the 
 New Testament, we shall have occasion to refer Lect. v 
 
 . part 2. 
 
 agam. 
 
 We might refer also (which will serve beauti- 
 fully to explain, as it appears to have been a pre- 
 paration for, this change) to that which may be 
 very intelligibly represented as the twilight of the 
 earlier dispensation. We might observe how the 
 old seems gradually to have been modified, until it 
 might melt into the new ; the new to have taken 
 an aspect scarcely its own, as it were, in the be- 
 ginning, to engraft itself upon the old. Witness, on 
 the one hand, the remarkable cessation of idolatry 
 amongst the Jews,' subsequently to the captivity of 
 Babyltfft ; and the increasing expectation of a future 
 state among them, as the advent of the great Deli- 
 verer dre\^ nearer and nearer. On the other, advert 
 to the Baptist's intermediate ministry ; to the pal- 
 
48 LECTURE II. 
 
 pably miraculous beginnings of Christianity, and 
 its various reverence for established thingSff-for 
 existing customs and iristitutions. The afipear- 
 ance of consisterbcy prevailing through all these 
 several processes and preparative accommodations 
 is something far too subtle for any compass of im- 
 posture, which could (by any possibility) have been 
 devised by the first human authors of th« Gospel. 
 If we consider them as the connecting links bej- 
 tween a natiural dispensation and a spiritual, pro- 
 ceeding from the same divine mind ;i there is then 
 to be perceived, in all, an exquisite and most ap- 
 propriate grace of uniformity. 
 
 But enough has been said to explain that which 
 it has been our purpose to represent; and iit is 
 expedient to bring the su/bject to a conclusion. . . 
 
 Such, then, is that general view of theagreemeait 
 and difference between the Old and NewrTesta- 
 ments, for the description of which we haveibo&7 
 rowed (diverting it from its original application) 
 the Apostle's language ; howbeit^ that was not 
 first, which is spiritual, but that which was na- 
 tural ; and afterward that which is spiritmil; and 
 which ajjpears so eminently capable of being enter- 
 tained with advantage, towards a dutiful and subr 
 missive reception of the Gosipel, as the rule and 
 law of life. Certain consequences, from hence re- 
 sulting, which I am anxious to point out i as worthy 
 of attention, must be reserved for another Lec- 
 ture. 
 
LECTURE II. 49 
 
 Let it be permitted, at present, briefly to subjoin 
 tbese inferences : — ^how such view goes to invest 
 the Gospel with the character and weight oisi final 
 dispensation, from which there is no appeal ; — how 
 it implies, that in order to receive it efFectuallyi we 
 must receive it in that inner man, to which it is 
 so pointedly offered ; — how -mahifestly it requires 
 of us, that we rise superior to the grossness of 
 mere sensible things; as things whose value. has 
 been ascertained and fixed by positive experiment, 
 and which are now to be regarded as belonging 
 only to a step gone by in the order of Providence ; 
 — how it warns us, by consequence, to live hence- 
 forth by faith, and not by sight, for the life of% Cor. v. 7. 
 sight is over ; watching the wanderings of the in- Lect. iv. 
 iellectual will, as well as of the moral, lest it^ 
 should tempt us ta strive against our Maker; 
 being aware, that God hath placed therein a very 
 main portion of our danger ; and that while he has 
 promised us the sure help of an omnipotent grace, 
 if we are but willing to receive it, he has left it 
 quite open to a diseased nature to refuse the 
 means of health ; — ^lastly, how it awakens us to 
 ponder, very thoughtfully and very honestly, 
 whether even mere reason should not persuade us 
 to perceive and to acknowledge this ; namely, that 
 if no one submission of our natural will or private 
 judgment be demanded of us by religion ; then 
 not only' was the dispensation of the Spirit, and 
 the revelation of Jesus Christ, unnecessary ; but 
 
 E 
 
so LECTURE II. 
 
 all revelation was, and is, unnecessary ; nay, the 
 existence of one only wise and supreme Governor 
 of all things is unnecessary : for man, thus unbe- 
 lieving, insubordinate, land independent, is, as it 
 were, a God unto himself! 
 
 Now unto that true and only God, who of his 
 infinite mercy hath called us out of such gross 
 darkness as this into his marvellous light, to Fa- 
 ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as is most 
 justly dup, all honour, and praise, and glory, now 
 and for ever. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 2 Corinthians v. 7. 
 For toe inalk by faith, not by sight. 
 
 We paused, in the last Lecture, at a point of 
 comparison between the Mosaic and Evangelical 
 dispensations, in contemplatioti of which it was 
 suggested, that the prevalent apostasy under the 
 later and more spiritual covenant, was an apostasy 
 of that nature which might have been expected 
 from analogy. It was represented (in contradis- 
 tinction to the grosser sin of idolatry among the 
 Jews) to be a more spiritual and intellectual re- 
 jection of the Deity ; either wholly, or else in re- 
 spect of his mysterious essence, as now revealed 
 through the Gospel : which, of course, includes a 
 rejection, to a corresponding extent in either ease, 
 of his existing special revelation. 
 
 We now proceed to consider certain deduclabns 
 from the view thus taken of Christianity, as the 
 dispensation of the Spirit, which were alluded to 
 in the opening Lecture. And let the first be thus 
 stated. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 LECTURE III. 
 
 I. That " by thus habitually contemplating the 
 Gospel, we shall come to perceive, through our 
 own very reason, the absolute necessity of faith, 
 as a primary and distinct practical principle in 
 man ; and of an inward spiritual assistance of 
 divine grace to direct us unto acceptable obe- 
 dience." 
 
 For we affirm, that the Gospel now makes its 
 appeal to us as spiritual beings ; that is to say, as 
 beings, of a capacity and a destiny, beyond and 
 superior to the things, even the very best things, 
 which we now see, and amongst which we live ; as 
 beings that have really and assuredly souls that 
 shall live for ever • and a destiny, by which, if we 
 will fitly cherish these souls, and prepare them by 
 a certain course of discipline, only for a season, 
 we shall, as surely, be admitted in due time into 
 ijohniii. the fulness of all knowledge, and shall even see 
 God as he is. 
 
 Suspend, then, the thought of revelation for a 
 moment ; and consider whether or no these of its 
 propositions that follow, correspond with positive 
 experience. 
 
 Is it, then, or is it not, a matter of positive ex- 
 perience, (by which I mean, here, an existing re^ 
 ality^ immediately perceptible, and to be judged of 
 by ourselves, independently of all testimony,) that 
 we have souls ? At least, that we have a principle 
 within us, of which we know not the full account, 
 nor how it is united with the body ; but of which 
 
LECTURE III. S3 
 
 we do know, and may continually feel, that it is 
 the power which moves us to think, and meditate, 
 and understand ; of which we may know, that it is 
 curious and restless ; and that it is susceptible of 
 pain or pleasure, unconnected with the body ; at 
 least so far as that it can rejoice, when the body is 
 in suffering, or be grieved, when that is revelling 
 in every apparent outward comfort. Is this, or is 
 it not, a matter of positive experience ; percep- 
 tible, and to be judged of, by ourselves ? 
 
 Again : is it not matter of experience also, 
 (though of another kind, and dependent upon 
 other testimony,) that the nature of this lively and 
 incorporeal principle has, of old, been the most 
 ^interesting subject of their highest knowledge and 
 inquiry, to men of the loftiest views, and most 
 enlarged measures of unassisted human reason? 
 and that, after all balancing of doubts and difficul- 
 ties, the wisest among these have come to the con- 
 clusion, (conleotural, indeed, but still their conclu- 
 sion,) that it is an immortal principle, having its 
 home elsewhere than in the body, where it is only 
 a lodger for a season ? And has not an accompa- 
 nying object of the same spirit of research been, to 
 ascertain the first Great Cause, and the constitu- 
 tion of all things ? in fact, (under whatever title,) 
 to comprehend the arrangements and perfections 
 of the Deity ? 
 
 That such inquiries have failed, (as reason must 
 isurely be pronounced still likely to fail in them, 
 
 E 3 
 
54 LECTURE III. 
 
 seeking in its own strength alone,) does not con- 
 cern our present question. What concerns this, 
 is simply the fact of their' having existed ; of their 
 having sprung naturally, as it were, out of the dis- 
 position of man. 
 
 When Scripture, therefore, comes, and posi- 
 tively reveals to us, that these aspirations ^nd con- 
 jectures, as far as they can go, are right and true ; 
 Heb. xiii. that we are the citizens of another state ; that our 
 
 14. xi. 10, 
 
 16. home is distant and invisible ; that we shall here- 
 
 a Cor. V. 1. ,, , . , . 
 
 1 Cor. xiii. after know all things, whatever we desire to know; — 
 
 I'johniii. does it Call us to the belief of strslnge or unreason- 
 
 p'hii. iii. 12. able things ? 
 
 16. '' Surely, in regard to these main points themselves, 
 it must be admitted, that it does not ! 
 
 Neither does it, (I venture to advance a step, 
 and affirm further,) neither does it offer violence 
 to our reason, when, in connection with the po- 
 sitive knowledge, of these great doctrines, it calls 
 us to belief of others with them, of a kindred 
 clKiracter : such as our hereditary proneness to 
 sin, and Christ's atonement ; our continual need, 
 as well of illuminating as of sanctifying grace; 
 and the necessity of watchfulness against unseen^ 
 spiritual enemies. 
 
 Mysterious such doctrines are, it were unavail- 
 ing not to acknowledge : yet are they (if the ex- 
 pression be allowable) rationally mysteriotts. 
 
 For seeing that the great elementary point itself 
 (namely, that we are the subjects of an 'everlasting 
 
LECTURE IIL §3 
 
 dektitiyi and only ttavdlers and pilgrims thiomgh 
 this present state of existence) is not only not re- 
 f)tigh&nt to reason, but its vely own loftiest con- 
 clusion ; it appears no longer a disproportionate 
 claim, either upon wisdom Of consistency, to ask 
 this further concession < that travellt?rs should 
 surely be provided with, and know where to look 
 for, strength and refreshment upon their journey^ 
 sufficient to support them through it ; and that 
 they must derive that strength from the repository, 
 Where is really their home. 
 
 It is from " home" we take our means of pro- 
 vision, when we enter on an earthly journey. And 
 the chapter from whencd the text is taken seems 
 abundantly to justify the spirit of the ahalGgy^-^ 
 that so must our supply be sought. from a like 
 quarter, for the way wherein ive lualk by faith, 
 and not by sight. 
 
 Now, 5Ve think, that he who has placed the souls 
 of those whom he has called unto belief, in thii? 
 present life, as in a scene of trial, has vouchsafed 
 unto them a Certain knowledge of mysterious and 
 transcendent things, as their proper sustenance and 
 Consolation. Is this unreasonable, on the one 
 part ? On the other, is it My more unreasonable, 
 that mysterious arid transcendent things should 
 require corresponding capacities and strength to 
 apprehend them ? We behold, then, in the i)is- 
 PENSAtiolf OF THE SpiRlTj the HeCessity of tAiTH 
 displayed, as a festtlt of the deepest and best re- 
 
 E 4 
 
56 LECTURE III. 
 
 searches of pure reason ; and learn at once, to- 
 gether with our faith, to acknowledge the indis- 
 pensahle necessity of prayer, and of a simple 
 dependence upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
 as that which alone can continue with us, as a sure 
 defence, in all our temptations. By parity of rea- 
 son, we shall hereby learn also to admit, upon a 
 broad ground of rational conviction, that which we 
 can never account for in detail, and which still ap- 
 pears a stumbling-block of so great offence to 
 many ; the reality, and literal construction of 
 what the New Testament so clearly teaches con- 
 cerning the devil, and our spiritual enemies. To 
 allegorize whatever we do not understand, is a 
 method, which, as far as concerns the theory of 
 our religion, will silence no objector, and only de- 
 ceive ourselves : as far as relates to its spirit and 
 practice, surely it is most unwise, by doubting the 
 personal reality of an enemy, whose effects, at least, 
 (as attributed in the same record which describes 
 himself,) we y^e/ to be real, to cast away the only 
 sword and shield with which we may prevail 
 against him. 
 
 II. But let us proceed to a second consequence 
 of this same view of revealed truth ; viz. " that it 
 " will assist us to reconcile to ourselves (with a re- 
 " signed, though melancholy, comprehension) the 
 " afflicting sight which is so continually presented 
 " to us in either of two ways : first, by the practi- 
 " cally unbelieving- ; the disobedient and rebellious, 
 
LECTURE III. 51 
 
 " whpm we still see devoted to the world, and 
 " sense, and all perishable things, in the midst of 
 " a spiritual and holy dispensation ; and again by 
 " those, whom our present topic more concerns, 
 " and whose case, is even yet more painful, — by 
 " more subtle and intellectual unbelievers, or, as 
 " we fear, dangerous perverters of Scripture, 
 "whom we behold morally good:; perhaps, inseeLect. 
 
 ,, , I'l "i • 1 vii. adinit. 
 
 some cases, almost like the young man in the see Luke 
 " Gospel, (though in another senscj) wanting ' only Matth. xix. 
 
 21 
 
 " one thing' to make them perfect partakers of 
 "the kingdom of heaven." It will enable us to 
 bear this painful sight, by convincing us inwardly 
 of what we must be prepared to know, for our own 
 security ; namely, the hopelessneiss of expecting to 
 convert, or convince, by merely human means, 
 those who will persist in strengthening themselves 
 in the might and pride of the unassisted underT 
 standing. It is a work not to be done. 
 * The thought must not come in bitterness, (still 
 less, may the word be spoken in hypocrisy;) but 
 there is only one safe confession concerning such 
 persons; that, somehow or other, a veil lies yetacor. iu. 
 upon their hearts, and though truth is around Rom. x. 6, 
 them, and at hand, they cannot see it. I do notreference 
 use this expression undesignedly,; but with full Deut.*^x. 
 consciousness that it is a figure which fanaticism ^^' ''^' ^*" 
 may readily misapply ; which, doubtless, often al- 
 ready it has misapplied ; and will often misapply 
 again. I use it, in part, for this very reason ; be- 
 
58 LECTURE III. 
 
 cause there is too great a readiness, in matiy, to 
 abandon scriptural truths ih their original and 
 most convincing form of expression, as soon as 
 their language, either from suspected or from too 
 familiar employment, has become offensive to fas- 
 tidious taste* Nov^ it is time for us to learn not 
 to be deterred from the use of that which is bur 
 safety, by lookirtg fearfully at its abuse only. And 
 the point before us is one, above all others, which 
 calls forth the heart's utmost earnestness ; it is of 
 such delicate and perilous importance ! 
 
 If it be true, (as we believe it to be,) that the 
 best advocates of the Christian faith have mani- 
 fested superiority of argument, and learning, and 
 sound conclusion, (in short, of all human wisdorti,) 
 in their reasonings with the infidel ; and the; in- 
 fidel continues yet unsubdued; — it follows, from 
 ,that one conviction only, that some powef of pelr^ 
 suasio?i not of man, yet using something which 
 is in man, is the thing required to make the un- 
 believei" bow to the truth of revelatiori. 
 
 But, what is more than this, if any of ourselves 
 do now stafJd in the true faith of Christ, and hope 
 in reality for the blessings of the life to come ; so 
 many, I am sure, must feel a living witness in thdir 
 hearts, that it is not by their own strength only 
 that they stand, but by the grace and blessirig of 
 God upon a disposition to receive his wilK Thei'6 
 2Cor. V. s.is no practical meaning in such a phrase as the 
 earnest of the Spirit, if the ease be not so. 
 
LECTURE III. 59 
 
 Wherefore, this eontinual regarding of ourselves 
 as subjects of the dispensation of the Spirit will 
 enable us to comprehend, and to endure dutifully, 
 both of these painful sights ; viz. that of practical 
 unboliness in the perverse and ignorant ; and that 
 of speculative unbelief in moral dispositions which 
 we cannot but love. It will teach us lalso, (where- 
 ever occasion is,) how to behave towards persons 
 manifesting either of these alienations from the 
 Gospel ; namely, that while we must keep fast to 
 our own convictions, as we value our immortal souls; 
 it behoves us, at the same time, to prove the since- 
 rity and power of those convictions, by the fruits 
 they bring forth in us ; by patience and forbearance, 
 by meekness and gentleness. We feel ourselves 
 to be within the pale of security and comfort ; — it 
 is well : let us give God the glory. But we have 
 neither power to eontpel gainsayers to come in, 
 nor right to judge them that are without. Our i Cor. v. 
 strength lies in internal confidence, not in outward 
 debate and strife. All are not,^ in this latter re- 
 spect, warriors and champions in the Israel of God. 
 Many cannot go with thp armour of disputation ;i sam.xvii. 
 foT they have not proved it. But all, who surely 
 trust in the protection of that God who hath pre- 
 served the heritage and flock of their fathers, may 
 wield successfully the sling and the stone of a 
 simple and charitable conversation. And that 
 which is prescribed to Christians in the aggregate 
 in this matter is ; to be ready to give a reason of\ Pet. m. 
 
 15. ii. 15. 
 
60 LECTURE III. 
 
 the hope that is in themselves, with meekness and 
 fear ; and that ivith well-doing they put to silence 
 the ignorance of foolish men. 
 
 There is no promise that confirms to believers 
 any universal intellectual superiority ". The 
 shrewdness of reasoning in an infidel antagonist 
 may surpass that of many a true Christian. And, 
 therefore, as far as we possess the weaker cause in 
 this respect ; that we may feel ourselves unequal 
 to literal discussions of truths which are to be 
 defended more by the heart than by the tongue, 
 and to be silent by constraint is always accounted, 
 more or less, a sign of weakness ; so far we must 
 
 Psalms be content to bear the shame, if shame it be ! 
 
 go. xxxvm.No keener intellect was ever yet persuaded merely 
 
 13 13 14 ... . 
 
 is! ' 'by arguments which it thinks weaker in degree 
 than .its own ; nor was any cavil ever silenced by 
 peremptory and uncharitable condemnation, or 
 without some proof that the voice of authority, 
 which ventured to denounce it, proceeded out of a 
 heart at least sincere, and reasonably enlightened. 
 
 » I mean, in respect of argumentation, or of any matters 
 confessedly within the reach of unassisted human powers. 
 We believe it to be the /act, (as just now observed,) that the 
 hest Christian advocates have gained even the human victory 
 over their antagonists. But this is another question. Taking 
 the mass of believers and unbelievers, it is probable that no 
 great diiBference of general powers is to be found on either 
 side. See hereafter. Lectures IV. and V. j towards the end 
 of each. 
 
LECTURE III. 61 
 
 But almost every nature is susceptible of personal 
 candour and kindness. These therefore, which 
 are due to all men, let us render unto all ; but if, 
 by divine blessing, we ourselves are stedfast in the 
 hope of a peculiar prize and calling, let us keep 
 onx faith, as best we may ; and never be ensnared 
 rashly to handle it, otherwise than according to 
 the accompanying gifts which God has given us. 
 
 III. A third effect of thus regarding ourselves 
 as the children of a more advanced and perfect 
 stage of one continuous revelation will be found, 
 " in the disposition which it will produce towards 
 " the treatment and apprehension, of the whole 
 " word of God, in both of its great divisions." 
 
 The very circumstance (if there were no other 
 causes operatingto the same effect) of its being a 
 popular and prevailing practice among Christians, 
 to separate the one volume of the Bible from the 
 other, and (what is in a certain sense and measure 
 undoubtedly right) frequently to consider the latter 
 portion, the New Testament, all that is either 
 necessary, or proper, to be regarded by more 
 simple and uneducated brethren ; this single 
 circumstance has in itself a tendency, more or less 
 direct, to depreciate the volume of the Old. 
 
 Now the view under contemplation will beget a 
 worthy and devout reverence for the volume of the 
 Old Testament, on the surest and safest grounds : 
 not merely as an invaluable record of primitive 
 antiquity ; not as the most ancient book in all the 
 
62 LECTURE III. 
 
 world ; not as that which was once a revelation of 
 the Almighty, and a law to his chosen people, but 
 is now such no more : — these are honourable, but 
 not adequate characteristics of it : — not therefore, 
 as any of these ; but as that which, being in itself 
 the word of God, and now illustrated in all its 
 purposes, and bearings, -and sanctions," by the 
 Lect. iv. ad superior brightness of the Gospel, is light and 
 Lect. V. 11. jfjaJnV still : — as a book, of which all the portions 
 vi. I. §. i.' that unfold the counsels and the attributes of the 
 Most High, and the services he permanently ex- 
 pects from his moral creatures, now subjected to 
 the pure control of Christian principles, are be- 
 come (as it were) Gospel to ourselves. Of which, 
 coioss. iL even the parts that have perished with the using— 
 the local ceremonies and carnal ordinances, — even 
 these claim a tribute, not other than of reverent 
 thankfulness, when we reflect, that there is a 
 sense in which it may be said of them, as it is 
 said of Him who was the real substance of them 
 all, that they now appear (in part) to have been 
 g Cor. viii. thus Ordained, that we through, their poverty 
 might, in due season, become rich^. Again, as 
 a book, all whose memorials of another kind are 
 entitled to a very different reception from that 
 which unbelief, or too nice taste, or levity, some- 
 
 ^ I mean "poverty" so understood, as was explained in 
 the preceding Lecture, comparing the Law and the Gospel, 
 p. 43, 
 
LECTURE III. 63 
 
 times bestows upon them ; I mean such memo- 
 rials as record the rude practices of nations dif- 
 fering from our own in time and knowledge, in 
 climate and customs ; or the grosser (and as we 
 think now, repulsive) permissions therein con- 
 tained ; in respect of polygamy, (for instance) or 
 the union of near kindred, and such things ; or 
 again, the crimes and palpable offences which dis- 
 grace many of the individual characters, even of 
 God's chosen family and people :— there are not 
 any of these things which may not be turned to 
 profit, when digested properly ; that is to say, by 
 the humble thoughtfulness of a believing spirit, 
 bearing in remembrance, that whatsoever things ^om.xv. 4,. 
 were written aforetime were written for our learn- 
 ing, that we through patience and comfort of the 
 Scriptures might have hope : provided only we 
 have once learnt to distinguish between what they 
 really do teach, and what they do not ; to under- 
 stand, by help of faith, what things are written for 
 our imitation, and what for our admonition. But 
 to dwell on this point here would be to anticipate 
 too much of the subject of another Lecture. Lectiv. 
 
 IV. At present, therefore, we will pass on to a 
 fourth general consideration resulting from the 
 view here taken of holy Scripture. 
 
 There needs no argument to prove, of what 
 infinite importance it is to ourselves,, the subjects 
 of a spiritual covenant with the Almighty^ and only 
 of a tacit appeal made by Him to our more inward 
 
64 LECTURE in. 
 
 facultiesj that we should be convinced of the real 
 agency of a Divine power in the affairs of men, 
 and of his displeasure against evil-doing: con- 
 vinced as surely, (if it may be possible,)' as if we 
 had seen that agency visibly displayed before our 
 natural eyes. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, then, let it be inquired ; 
 Does not the view in which we are now contem- 
 plating the continuous proceedings of the Deity 
 with man, lead to these thoughts that follow ? 
 
 That the one same God, and Ruler, and Pre- 
 server of all men, (having created man for hap- 
 piness in the beginning, and having ever since 
 been tenderly anxious to bring him at last into 
 the same, in despite of man's unworthiness,) has 
 progressively revealed the knowledge of himself 
 unto his creatures, that in every manner he might 
 try them, if as free, accountable, moral agents, 
 they would hearken to his counsels. And once 
 he tried them (that is, our fathers of the elder 
 covenant) by a dispensation of more visible means, 
 making a show openly of his title to obedience: 
 and now he tries them (that is, ourselves, as many 
 as enjoy the Gospel) by a more gentle, yet more 
 perfect trial ; by a dispensation of the Spirit. 
 Once, he has revealed himself to man, in positive 
 actual agency and interference in the concerns of 
 this lower world ; has displayed in part (if I may 
 so speak, and be forgiven) the machinery oi his 
 Pfovidetiee ; and now he has withdrawn that proof 
 
LECTURE III. 65 
 
 of immediate interposition, and is not traced as the 
 Supreme Governor of the world, except through 
 silent and ordinary processes. 
 
 Yet can we doubt that he is the same real 
 Ruler now, as ever .'' Surely we may perceive 
 most reasonably, that the more naked manifesta- 
 tions of the Old Testament seem to have been 
 made once, for the greater universal benefit: as , 
 far as we, individually, are concerned, for the ^^?*- ^''- "• 
 more full instruction of our own souls in all ne- 
 cessary knowledge ; for the more lively awakening 
 of our fears ; for the surer trial of our patience; 
 for the higher test of our belief; for the more re- 
 sistless subjugation of our pride, and of the per- 
 verseness of our natural will. 
 
 Which if it be so, let us consider how this 
 train of thought and faith, continued, may serve 
 us as a guiding principle, in contemplation of the 
 .►general moral aspects of the world, as now in- 
 fluenced and directed by silent and secondary 
 means. 
 
 We are satisfied by various evidences coinciding 
 to the same purpose, that the hand of Providence 
 is still over us in every thing, as certainly and 
 fully how, when it is nie.ver openly exhibited, as it 
 was of old, when the arm of might was bared jn 
 palpable visitations. And what shall be the con- 
 sequence .-' 
 
 Shall it be, that, when we have this great 
 security for our unspeakable comfort, we must 
 
 F 
 
66 LECTURE III. 
 
 needs go hand in hand with an overheated piety, 
 in referring to it with an indiscriminate forward- 
 ness, and an unholy familiarity ? in appealing to 
 the first Great Cause for interpretation of every 
 ordinary case that happens, not by any appoint- 
 ment specially and perceptibly providential, but 
 only mediately, and in the order of things ? in 
 Lect. vu. drawine out our whole store, and last resource, 
 
 ad fin. 
 
 on common occasions ? in fixing, uncharitably, 
 judgments that cannot stand ; and passing sen- 
 tences which an hour may reverse ? or in despair- 
 ing, indolently, of good things which may yet pos- 
 sibly be accomplished by a larger exertion of 
 Christian faith, and hope, and perseverance ? 
 
 Not so : but understanding, deeply and habi- 
 tually, that, while the doctrine itself is sure for 
 ever, we have no rule for partial interpretations 
 of it ; that the hand of God is indeed prevailing 
 in every event which we behold around us, yet 
 that he speaks, through these, only in a general 
 manner, to our spirits and our consciences ; to 
 our implanted sense of good and evil, of right and 
 wrong, purified (as it now is) by revealed know- 
 2 Pet 52. ledge of a heaven — wherein dwelleth rightieous- 
 ness, and of a grace, which we and all Christians 
 must seek, and may obtain, to prepare us for that 
 immortality ; we shall rather learn to cast all the 
 . present sights which strike or perplex us ; all the 
 warnings which awaken our fears, all the preserv- 
 ations which tolall forth our gratitude, into store- 
 
LECTURE III. 67 
 
 houses of faith, wherein to lay up living principles 
 oi self-examination, and improvement of our owraps. iv.4. 
 hearts, personally and privately : being (of course) 
 observant of all marked events, which we cannot 
 help interpreting as lessons; but neither drt'ellingPs.iviii. 
 on such to the detriment of charity, nor rashly Luke xiii. 
 proclaiming our inferences from them, whatevet ' 
 they may be ; for the mind almost immediately 
 passes from such process into a perilous appro- 
 bation of itself. Above all things, never referring 
 to any individuars final portion, but drawing 
 general conclusions, as to the sure effects of obe- 
 dience, or disobedience; of belief, or unbelief; of 
 practical religion, or the want of it, accd)rding to 
 what the Scriptures of divine truth have declared 
 concerning such dispositions at all times, and 
 under every dispensation, from the very beginning: 
 by consequence, learning and resolving to cleave 
 to that which is holy, and just, and good, for our 
 own portion individually ; to uphold that which is 
 good, with all the authority of our respective sta- 
 tions ; to recommend that which is good to othei^s, 
 by the light of personal example : that so, they 
 who will not listen to the words, may be brought 
 to reverence the Works of the Spirit ; and led at 
 last to glorify our Father which is in heaven. Matt. v. is. 
 
 I am anxious to awaken reflection to this point 
 particularly, because there appear to be fou^nd 
 among us two very opposite tempers, genietat^ 
 
 f2 
 
68 LECTURE III. 
 
 by the prevalence of evil in the world, both very 
 dangerous. 
 
 The one is a temper, (the more dangerous, if 
 found united, as it sometimes is, with a stronger 
 piety,) which if too much listened to would tend 
 ultimately to destroy the essential love of right 
 that is in man, and detestation of wrong; and to 
 stiperinduce a species of fatalism. It is to be 
 Lect V. traced, in a too eager readiness to look upon 
 Isl ~ prevailing evil in the light of an impediment, 
 which, because we ourselves can certainly neither 
 see nor expect its end, is hardly to be considered 
 as surrnoiintable ; but almost as a subject of de- 
 spair. From which subjection to the powier -of 
 wrong, merely by reason of its immensity, or 
 seeming permanency, the descent may often prove 
 only a single step to the toleration of abstract evil 
 by deliberate choice ; either as a thing in which 
 we must acquiesce, and shall therefore do wisely 
 to become reconciled to ; or (in some particular 
 cases) as a burden even preferable to certain 
 other possible conditions, upon a balance of ex- 
 pediency ■ . 
 
 *= I cannot forbear adverting (in illustration of' this last 
 position) to that most inconsistent favour shown towards 
 BuoNAPAHTE, Tby many pious people ; arising, I suppose, 
 from calculation with themselves^ that the dominion even pf 
 such a man were a less evil than the restoration oiPop^ty. 
 Possibly, meditation -upou the deeper parts of Scripture may 
 
LECTURE III. 69 
 
 Now we admit the existence and the prevalence, 
 of much and monstrous wickedness ; we observe 
 its progress with grief; we expect its consequences 
 with fear and trembling. It does not come upon 
 us unprepared. Our Saviour has forewarned us 
 of it, and of its present calamitous effects ; 5e-Matt. xxiv. 
 cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many 
 ^hall wax cold. We cannot even hope, therefote, 
 to witness its suppression ; and yet we must con- 
 tend against it, and contend perseveringly ! Strange 
 seeming contrariety ! and yet perfect consistent 
 truth! in itself a sufficient and conclusive argu- 
 ment, that the moral certainty, however great, of 
 an end which rests in other hands, does not dis^ 
 pense with the diligent employment of such rtghn 
 
 have become the cause of this preference, by pointing to thq 
 tyrant as an instrument likely to fulfil yet unaccomplished ' 
 prophecies. But if so, then, surely, speculations of that sort 
 are highly dangerous. For •dMfuiJilled Scripturej all the 
 light of conscience within us, all the experience of past ages, 
 concur, in persuading, us to abhorrence and resistance of such 
 a monster, at the hazard of any consequences. The voice 
 of God, I am persuaded, is clear on this point ; be the inten- 
 tions of unsearchable Providence concerning that man really 
 what they may. But it is far from' cleai', that we are justiT 
 fled in so interpreting the deep things of the Spirit yet to be- 
 fall, as to let them obliterate all qoijvictions generated by 
 the past fpr our xfior^l preservation, Such convictions, too, 
 axe common property ; which no person, holding only a joini 
 share, has a right thus to adventure. 
 
 f3 
 
70 LECTURE III. 
 
 teous means, conducive to it, as are entrusted to 
 our own. 
 
 But here the second dangerous temper, just now 
 mentioned, presents itself to view, — in the im- 
 patience of a self-complacent philosophy, which 
 because it does not see religion operating to the 
 extinction of evil, with a speed and power an- 
 swerable tp its own estimate of necessary and 
 possible reform, rejects the divine counsel in this 
 matter altogether, and, passing it by, springs for- 
 ward, in its own strength, to the amendment of 
 the world at once. As though it actually saw, 
 and could measure both the source arjd the 
 extent of evil, more surely than Scripture; and 
 eovild bring a better hope to the desire of sub- 
 duing it. 
 
 Now clearly there is a mistake here, either on 
 the one side or the other. And we think it is 
 on the side of the philosopher, and not of the be- 
 liever, for such reasons as these. 
 
 Christian faith certainly desires, nay, demands 
 the perfection of man, as much as the most san- 
 guine philosophy can do. Religion sees and la- 
 ments the domination of wrong, as keenly as the 
 purest reason can. It is true, that reason and re- 
 ligion, philosophy and faith, presently part com.- 
 pany, when a closer analysis of evil begins, in order 
 to ascertain the means of cure. And we may ad- 
 mit, that the extent of immediate visible relief ari- 
 
LECTURE III. 71 
 
 ticipated by the theorist, is greater than any upon 
 which the believer presumes to reckon with per- 
 emptory confidence ''. 
 
 Which if it be so, it may perhaps be objected, — 
 that then, surely, the philosopher appears to have 
 this manifest and great advantage ; that as he sets 
 to work under a brighter hope, he; will proceed 
 with a more lively courage ; since he himself con- 
 siders his desire possible, his energies will be the 
 more persevering, in proportion as his prospect of 
 success is greater and nobler. Whereas the 
 Christian, being sure beforehand that his success 
 will not be more than partial, will be likely soon 
 to retreat into bis reserved hold of wipossibiliti/, 
 and cease from his endeavour. 
 
 I answer, no : the very reverse of this appears 
 the true case. It is the believer who is most 
 likely to persevere ; and the philosopher that will 
 most commonly falter. 
 
 For to the eye of faith it is clear as demon- 
 stration^ that the theorist, starting in the outset 
 on deficient principles, pursues an end which 
 actually is unattainable, whether he think it so 
 or not. As it has been said, h'owever, he himself 
 thinks otherwise of it. The sun shines upott the 
 mojning of his journey, and h? sets to work in 
 
 * This was written before the Plan lately proposed by Mr. 
 Owen was brought before the public. That plan, and the 
 previous publications of Mr. Owen, may serve to illustrate 
 the observations here made. 
 
 r4 
 
72 LECTURE III. 
 
 cheerfulness. I will jiot say, that he may hot 
 work iintil his Ufe's evening. There is a cold 
 and watery sun, that shines through many a day 
 with the appearance of splendour, when the earth 
 is little heated with its beams, and nature Uttle 
 invigorated. When we look for the real growth 
 it has produced, there is none ; for its heat was 
 not a vital one. So may it fare with the philoso- 
 pher, in plans of human perfectibility without 
 religion. ■ The splendour of talent may cheer him 
 on his way ; partial success in private instances, or 
 even general (apparent) success, under the first 
 impulses of novelty, may encourage and assure 
 him ; and the deceptions glare of a posthumous 
 celebrity may shed a lustre on his dying hour; 
 I do not say, but that all this is possible : though 
 even this is only possible in the rarer instances of 
 really powerful native minds amongst unbelievers. 
 But disappointed vanity would benumb the efforts 
 of a far greater proportion : for supposing their 
 perseverance' to relax upon discouragement, and 
 they incline to leave the world after all such as ■ 
 they found it, what shall hinder them ? They are 
 answerable at no "tribunal ; they have no account 
 to give. Is not this likely to be the end of the 
 matter ; to conclude, that they offered the world a 
 boon, and the world would not accept it; they 
 would have rejoiced to labour more, but the world 
 was not worthy ? 
 
 The believer enters on his task under very dif- 
 
LECTURE III. 73 
 
 ferent auspices. He does not look, positively, fof 
 any visible issue to his labours here ; it is not 
 that, to which it is his duty to look. He casts Eccies. ». 
 his bread upon the waters only in the sure hope 
 df seeitig it again after many days. It may 
 be in the mercy of God, that he shall find it in 
 this life as well ; but he reckons upon it only in 
 another. He does not look towards the visible 
 sum of other people's account ; but to that which 
 serves towards the positive increase, the required 
 amount of his own. His appointed work is — to 
 work out his own salvation ; and he may attain F^p* "• 
 Me* object in full. 
 
 But the way of this ,lies (in its practical part) 
 through the very employment of advancing the 
 happiness of his fellow-creatures. On this, there- Lect. via. 
 fore, his attention will always he set ; to this ob- 
 ject he will be pregsirig forward. Not by looking 
 to any extravagant picture he may have fancied to 
 himself of an universal reformation ; but by mak- 
 ing sure of contributing his own share towards 
 an event, which he is satisfied to leave in the hs(nds 
 of Omniscience. He will be always abounding^ ^<^-vf 
 in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as he knows 
 that his labour will not be in vain in the Lord. 
 
 This is the believfer's prospect. I do not say 
 
 he is not subject, in his course, to vacillations of 
 
 ^ spirit, and to disappointments ; but he knows 
 
 that he is destined to be tried every way ; and 
 
 therefore, perhaps, more keenly in this way than 
 
74 LECTURE III. 
 
 in any other. What, however, is it reaUy to him, 
 when all comes to all, though his labours should 
 not exhibit on the surface any present fruit ? 
 Has he therefore in himself no hope ? Rather is 
 the Prophet's confidence then his, in unexhausted 
 Habak. iii. consolation ; Although the jig tree shall not blos- 
 som, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; yet 
 
 will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God 
 of my salvation. 
 
 Such are some important deductions resulting 
 from the previous view here taken of God's two 
 great dispensations, which appear worthy of grave 
 attention ; the connection of which with the main 
 purpose of the subsequent inquiry will appear, 
 incidentally, throughout. A disposition being thus 
 prepared for receiving it with thoughtfulness, the 
 next Lecture will proceed to assert the general 
 correspondence of the Bible with the aspects of 
 human nature. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 John ii. 25. 
 Tor lie kne'w ixihat was in man- 
 
 J HESE are words spoken of our Saviour, during 
 his abode on earth : but they are true also of that 
 holy record* whereby he is made known to us, 
 now that the day of his Gospel is far spent, and 
 the Comforter has long been reigning in his stead. 
 In pirosecution, therefore, of our subject, I propose 
 to apply them, generally, to Holy Scripture ; and 
 to seiek an argument of its divine authority from 
 the consideration, that it knew what was in man. 
 At the crisis at which we contemplate the be- 
 liever now, it signifies but little by what portal 
 he has entered in to the temple of truth. We 
 contemplate him, as having made the simple 
 surrender of his own will to that of God ; and, 
 therefore, whether mercy brought him thither by 
 
 ^ Thus Scripture is personified and identified with its Au- 
 thor by St. Paul, Galatians iii. 8. H^tiiSric 3i i •y^»p>i &e. 
 And 9gMn> ibid. ver. 32. 'AXfufTumiMnn i v^itk^dir*, &o. 
 
16 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the shorter path of intuitive assent, or whether he 
 
 Psai. xiviu.has entered in after having first gone round about 
 
 the towers of Zion, and numbered all the bul- 
 
 ivarks thereof, need* no longer be matter of 
 
 anxietv. He has arrived now, in either case, at 
 
 a condition, which may be compared to that of 
 
 the disciples, Peter and James and John, after 
 
 our Lord's transfiguration ; when the glory had 
 
 vanished, and the voice of celestial proclamation 
 
 Matth.xvii. ceased; and looking round, they saw no man any 
 
 Markix.8. more, savc Jesus only with themselves. 
 
 So fares it with the Christian — ^left in company 
 with the Scripture only and his own faith and con-, 
 science, in this world. And when in this posture 
 of things he shall look around, what shall he ex- 
 pect — what is he entitled to expect- — (in regard to 
 internal qualification,) in that which he has thus 
 chosen for a guide and lasting companion ? 
 
 I do not mean in this Lecture to speak more 
 than generally. 
 
 Generally, then, he may with reason expect to 
 find in an authentic record, purporting to be th^ 
 full and final disclosure of the Divine will toward? 
 reasanable creatures ; the abiding treaty between 
 Ijeaven and earth ; the delegated voice of God, 
 summoning believers to happiness, and alone able 
 to conduct them to it ; such correspondence with 
 the existing state of his own positive experience, 
 and so much, at ^least, of appeal to faculties; with 
 which he finds himself endowed, as may leave him 
 
LECTURE IV* 77 
 
 •no room to doubt, that he and such as he are the 
 persons to whom the. record is addressed. 
 
 Does Scripture meet this expectation ? We 
 think it doe$. 
 
 It. may hejpus in our search, and will present 
 the question in an , interesting point of view, to 
 consider what sort of a material volume the Book 
 of Inspiration is. , ; 
 
 -It is a volume* then, such as a child may carry 
 in his .hand ; and even of this small substance a 
 -large portion is taken up with "History;" a good 
 deal by the provisions of a " Ceremonial Law," 
 now abrogated ; a large share, again, by " Pro- 
 " phecy ;" and a good deal also by " controversial 
 " reasoning," mixed up with the exhortations .of 
 the .Apostolical Epistles. There remains, of po- 
 sitive law, and matter directly preceptive, a sum 
 extraordinarily small : and yet the volume Js ade- 
 quate (in the believer's apprehension) to meet all 
 the contingent variety of cases which may arise in 
 human actlons.- 
 
 Now if this be so, if Scripture be indeed found 
 such a sure and, comprehensive guide, we contend 
 for this inference ; that it never could have been 
 within the grasp of any mind, such as we have 
 seen and known men ;like ourselves to bear, so to 
 enclose, all the licentiousnesis of man's practice 
 within the fence of so very narrow a prescription. 
 It isrthe character'df human legislation to multiply 
 -Statutes and iprohibitieii^.: whieh indeed (when 
 
78 LECTUliE IV. 
 
 we come to reflect upon the matter) appears to be 
 of necessity the character of a kgislation that is 
 in fact retrospective ; whose ordinances are built 
 upon experience only ; and whose fulness and ac- 
 curacy must depend upon the sum of knowledge 
 in the legislators, at the period of enacting their 
 statutes. The ordinances of the divine mind are 
 of a very different character ; founded on a thd- 
 toiigh previous acquaintance with the very secrets 
 of all hearts, which ever have been, are, or are to' 
 come. They are simple and ptospeclive : their 
 foundation is not experience, but something ante* 
 Cedent to experience ; a full, perfect, and unerring 
 insight into all the possibilities of nature. Human 
 statutes, therefore may be multiplied almost to 
 infinity^ and yet be very imperfect. The statutes 
 of God are few and brief ; and yet can no extra- 
 vagance of conduct, arising from the most rebel- 
 lious free-will, prove itself diversified enough to 
 escape them. Were the Bible not divine, it 
 would have failed by excess of precept. It would 
 have attempted too much. We should discover 
 the weakness of a secondary mind, through the 
 very pains that would be taken to prove itself an 
 nU-^siMcient one. " Artis est celare artem :" and 
 We believe that none, except the first and great 
 Artificer, he that fashioned man in the beginning, 
 and all the structure of the universe, could have 
 devised such a code as that of Scripture, cohtaifi- 
 ing with so much simplicity in so very small a 
 
LECTURE IV. 79 
 
 compass, such treasure of \visdom, as appears the 
 more inexhaustible, in proportion as it is the more 
 scrutinized. 
 
 But, then, We do not looli, in this vieWj to direct 
 precept alone. For the book of God's law neither 
 conveys its force to the heart of the believer by 
 direct precept only, nor by inference from direct 
 precept only ; but the whole matter of it is life 
 tend Spirit. It addresses itself to spiritual facul- Lect. iL 
 
 PP. 41 ^S. 
 
 ties. By the light of its principles, its " history" 
 becomes precept ; its " prophetic denunciations," 
 counsel ; its very " controversies," rick lessons of 
 practical instruction. It is an appeal to huma^ 
 nature. It stoops to meet man as he is, in order 
 to conduct him where he ought to be. Altering 
 only a single woi-d of the quotation, we may find 
 a lively picture of its method and its end, in two 
 lines of the Poet ; 
 
 " Parva qnidem prime ; mox sese attollit ad auras ; VirgU, 
 " Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit." 175, 7. 
 
 Our business, then, is to ascertain how far the 
 general matter of Scripture does or does not co- 
 incide with familiar positive experience''. 
 
 '' It is obvious that a topic of inqairy like this (its main 
 scope once stated) can only be illustrated in detail, by a fettr 
 selected examples, such as may be sufficient to elucidate the 
 manner In which they have affected one mind. It must then 
 be left entirely to the reader's own thoughtful judgment (if 
 he be disposed to listen to the hind of evidence) to select 
 other, or more numerous, or better instances for himself. 
 
80 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Before we come, however, to the main and 
 direct point of our proposition,' namely, that the 
 practical and moral records of the Bible are the 
 very picture of man ; I cannot forbear adverting 
 to what appears a most valuable indirect evidence 
 of its having proceeded from a thorough knowledge 
 of man's nature : I mean an evidence resulting 
 from the manner in which it appears to be pro- 
 vided, in its very foundation, with an anticipative 
 answer to all difficulties merely philosophical or 
 speculative; an answer, not palpably and artifi- 
 cially inserted with any view to repel objection ; 
 but arising naturally out of the substance of its 
 historical detail. 
 
 When we consider, on the one hand, the nature 
 of the Book ; its end and object, namely, human 
 happiness ; its evidently restricted limits, and a^ 
 most exclusive attention paid to its own proper end 
 alone,; its disregard, apparently intentional, of all 
 subordinate subjects ; (affording on all such only 
 the scantiest and shortest notices which the ne- 
 cessity of the case demanded;) when we consider 
 this, I say, on the one hand, and on the other, the 
 comparatively unimportant and subsidiary influ- 
 ence only, which either physical or abstract know- 
 ledge has, or ever can have, by itself, on man's 
 real essential happiness ; I think it may well ap- 
 pear, with respect to physical difficulties in par- 
 ticular, a matter even of astonishment — that a 
 perishable philosophy should attempt to undermine 
 
I.ECTURE IV. 81 
 
 the rock of moral tvath, through dje medium of 
 objections purely scientific. 
 
 Let the authenticity of the elder Scriptures be 
 disproved in other ways ; let the " facts" be other- 
 wise accounted for, or disproved, on which the 
 excellent Leslie has so triumphantly insisted in sbort and 
 their favour ; let the credibility of t/wy revelation thod with 
 be disproved; or, at least, the credibility of the 
 Bible, as one, upon /air moral grounds, and by 
 better evidence of a like character, than that by 
 which it is supported : let this be done, and phi- 
 losophical objections may then join in, to swell 
 the shout of triumph, raiseif by other conquerors 
 over their falling victim. But till that be done, I 
 have no power to understand how such objections 
 are admissible as valid, in such a question. They 
 are objections of a wrong kind.: Carry them to 
 their utmost height ; suppose them in possession 
 of the field 5 to what conclusion do they com^ ? 
 They only terminate in a gulph of fathomless un- 
 certainty, even in their own sphere. Receive them, 
 (to the rejection of Scripture,) and they leave un- 
 provided for, and unexplained, a mass of rnoral 
 difficulty, of which but to think, in sober serious- 
 ness, without the Bible to explain it, appears to 
 be. treading on the very verge of madness. The 
 inference, however, favourable to the divine au- 
 thority of Scripture, which we think is to be drawn 
 from its reserve upon all physical or abstract ques- 
 tions, extends equally to both classes of objection, 
 
 6 
 
82 LECTURE IV. 
 
 whether scientific or speculative. And it is de- 
 rived from the following general consideration. 
 
 Knowledge, it would appear, has been the 
 deadly snare to man from the very beginning. 
 The temptation of Paradise surely cannot present 
 itself to the unbiassed understanding, as having 
 been other than an inward and spiritual tempta- 
 tion, operating through the intellect. 
 
 Now, let the question be put, whether, under 
 this view, it be or be not every reflecting man's 
 own honest experience, that this inheritance — of 
 being liable to peculiar temptation through the in- 
 tellect, has descended from our fii'st parent unto 
 his children of this day ? 
 
 If we take our station among the gloomier in- 
 terpreters of human nature, we shall not for a 
 moment doubt it. If we prefer being the advo- 
 cates of its dignity ; then, in proportion as we 
 lay the greater claim of inheritance to man's 
 loftiest capacities, so will the liability of those 
 capacities to abuse fasten itself upon us, as a 
 c&nsequence unavoidable : unless indeed it can be 
 proved, either that experience does not lead us to 
 acknowledge the present state as a state of trial ; 
 or, that knowledge ^uniformly carries its own cor- 
 rectives with it ; or, that learning is always 
 humble ; or science universally distinguished by 
 exemption from petulance or tyranny : — which who 
 will undertake to prove ? 
 
 From the very indistinctness, then, and inde- 
 
LECTURE IV. 83 
 
 finiteness of holy Scripture on the points in ques- 
 tion, (points, on which increase of years haS^ 
 shown, with an increased conviction, the necessity 
 of some general restraint to man,) we derive our 
 indirect evidence of the proposition which we 
 maintain from the text ; viz. that " Scripture is the 
 " record of that wisdom, which alone knoiveth 
 " truly what man is, and needeth not that any 
 " should testify qf him, for its better information:'' 
 which treats him accordingly, even as such a one 
 as from the beginning it knfew him to be ; not al- 
 lowing him, indeed, to become a rebel, y^t still 
 not wishing him td be & slave ; resisting (it is 
 most true) the usurpations of knovvledge ; yet, 
 surely, neither condemning its just rule, nor en- 
 couraging ignorance. 
 
 The human intellect is still a sott of pai'adise'. 
 Its extent is wide as the extent of the created uni- 
 verse ; within its grasp is eixery thing that is plea-Lect. vii. 
 sant to the sight, and good /'or wholesome Jood, 
 The sun and the moon shining in their courses ; 
 the earth in all its beauty ; the sea with all its 
 wonders ; every art and every science that can 
 either adorn or benefit life; evel-y detailed branch 
 of morals or of politics ; every lofty flight of poetry ; 
 every thing, in short, that imagination can devise, 
 or research into treasures inexhaustible discover ; 
 all are open to its power. From all these sources 
 flows a stream to ivater the garden, parting itself. Gen. ii. 
 not vcAofour, but into innumerable heads. 
 
 G 2 
 
84. LECTURE IV. 
 
 But there is still a tree, of which it may not 
 taste ; there is some one spiritual temptation to be 
 resisted and overcome ; there is one restriction. 
 We say to him who is intrusted as the lord of this 
 extensive sovereignty ; " All these things are 
 " thine ; but only take heed, that thou be not, 
 " wise against thy Maker. When thou comest 
 " to suspect concerning Him, he sure that thou 
 " art fallen into thy time of trial. Be not thou 
 " rebellious, like to that rebellious house, which 
 " fell from heaven. There is but one thing keris 
 " demanded of thee. Take that, when thou shalt 
 "find it, in humility; digest it in faith; and it 
 Ezek. iii. " shall tum within thy taste as honey for 
 " sweetness^ 
 
 It may perhaps "be objected, that one restriction, 
 though it be but one, really circumscribes human 
 happiness. 
 
 But purely it does not, unless it can be proved, 
 that arbitrary choice and peevish discontent are 
 |;he just and unalienable privileges of natural man. 
 If the Almi^ty, having gifted his creature with 
 curiosity and intellect, had, at the same time, left 
 him no sufficient channels for its proportionate 
 graftificatiop ; (nay, let us go much farther, and 
 allow, even for its utmost restlessness ;) there 
 might have been some ground of complaint. As 
 things are, we cannot but be persuaded, that no 
 Eccius.iii. cause of just complaint exists. For surely none 
 will think, that there is defect of occupation for 
 
LECTURE IV. 85 
 
 the mind ; or that the whole compass of permis- 
 sible knowledge has yet been searched by miy 
 man ! 
 
 Wherefore, (to close this part of our consider- 
 ation,) let attehtiort be requested to what appears 
 an accessory sign, in this same point,' of the adapt- 
 ation of all our heavenly Father's dealings to that 
 which he knows to be i?i man ; I mean, his mer- 
 ciful shortening of the term of this present natural 
 life, after that all-seeing justice had been once 
 compelled to destroy the world for its disobedience. 
 
 I call it merciful ; because, though we can con^ 
 ceive no length of days, which could enable man, 
 with his present faculties, to exhaust all that is 
 made subject to his intellect ; yet observirtg the 
 scarcely credible rapidity of some minds, and the 
 no less wonderful retention of others ; we may 
 well conceive a far severer, nay, too severe a test 
 of resignation and patiience to arise from length of 
 years, To learn, is pleasant : but to be ever learn- t» itt»»»^»u» 
 ing, and never able to come to the knowledge of miet. b. l 
 ihe truth, (I mean merely in matters of lawful, ' 
 and curious, and ardent speculation,) is a con- 
 dition, which we may well imagine to grow wea- 
 risome by too great length of time. Hope de- 
 layed might well make the heart sick, in such 
 matters. We may find an infidel amusing him^ 
 self on the brink of the grave with imaginary 
 wishes for a little longer respite, and a little yet, 
 that he might witness the result of this or that 
 
 g3 
 
86 LjECTURE IV. 
 
 speculation ■=; but I am persuaded, that the heart 
 which really loves knowledge most truly and most 
 tvisely will be affected very differently. From 
 every fresh addition to its store (as far as concerns 
 itself) it will only derive increase to that desire, 
 wherewith it longs to become disentangled altoge- 
 ther from a state of imperfection ; and to be pre- 
 xoor. stiii. gent in the fulness of that light, wherein every 
 thing that is in part shall be done away. Here, 
 then, in one of the most interesting and important 
 of all points, (I mean, the shortening of human 
 life,) we find a representation of Scripture, which 
 may be accounted favourable to its credibility and 
 divine authority on the safest grounds of reason 
 and experience. For certainly, as to the bare 
 flatter of fact, such representation corresponds, in 
 the strictest manner, (as far as we khow and have 
 seen,) with the state of life as at present existing : 
 and, accepting it as true, we can perceive at once 
 a satisfactory ewplanation of it, by referring it, as 
 a provision, to the wisdom and mercy of an Om- 
 nipotent Spirit, who knew, and knows, what isr in 
 man. 
 
 ■^ This refeJ-s to the account of Mr. Hume's death given 
 in the " Letter from Dr. Adam Smith to Mr. Strahan," pre^ 
 fixed to " Heme's History of Englaftd." I am well aware, 
 that quite a contrary inference to that here implied may be 
 drawn by many, with respect to Mr. Hume's own case, from 
 the particular passage here alluded to. Let this speak for 
 itself. I have only to disclaim the intention of throwing 
 out insinuations unjustly or uncharitably. 
 
LECTURE IV. 87 
 
 To return. This train of thought has drawn 
 us aside to an application of the text somewhat 
 different from that on which we wish to lay our 
 stress, and which is this: not only, that the Bible 
 thus discovers a previous contemplation of the 
 habits and faculties of man, and an adequate pro- 
 vision for their wholesome direction ; but " that 
 " its substance is the very likeness of man :" I 
 mean its moral substance, as it appears through 
 all its historical details, its exhortations, and its 
 prohibitions . 
 
 I enter on this topic with great reverence : for 
 it is not to be expected, but that the light in which 
 the sacred Volume will, in what follows, be 
 pointed out to contemplation, in order to arrive at 
 a clear understanding of the point before us, is 
 such as may startle and disturb, if not offend, 
 many pious sensibilities. If it be a wrong light, 
 may He, who is the divine Author of that holy 
 book, mercifully forgive a mistaken apprehension ! 
 pnd may the care of his watchful servants guard it 
 from pernicious effect \ 
 
 For myself, then, loving and reverencing the 
 Bible with an unreserved affection and homage, 
 I have, nevertheless, been often painfully compelled 
 to think, that, in very many case§, (after accepting 
 '\% upon the strength of various evidences, and 
 being more th^n unwilling either tp dispute or to 
 hear it disputed,) we do not allow ourselves ,to 
 meet its internal difficulties with sufficient cou- 
 
 g4 
 
88 LECTURE IV. 
 
 rage and honesty. We condemn the unbeliever 
 severely and peremptorily ; but if the case be that 
 (and it is undoubtedly possible) of a respectful un- 
 believer, we do not estimate the solid weight of his 
 scruples with that fit measure of candour towards 
 him, and of severity towards ourselves, which may 
 at once render us merciful to a condition in which 
 we would not stand for worlds, and most truly 
 thankful to that heavenly Comforter whose grace 
 hath saved tis from it ! We rest our own assur- 
 ance, under perplexities, far too much upon de- 
 tached explanations and partial solutions ; (nay, 
 I do not fear to say, upon explanations, ingenious 
 and conclusive enough, where we are willing to 
 accept the best that can be given, but decidedly 
 and necessarily imperfect ;) instead of facing the 
 Hebr. iii. wholc body of enticements tempting to an evil 
 heart of unbelief, and accouftting for them to our 
 consciences upon broad general principles ; I 
 mean the whole body of such temptation, as it 
 arises, not out of the reiterated, and (we believe) 
 refuted, objections of our adversaries ; but out of 
 the very volume of Scripture itself. 
 
 Is it, then, acknowledging more than is true, 
 -or than piety and prudence can justify, to ac- 
 knowledge, that the Bible, as a whole, is not ex- ' 
 actly the sort of record, which our first involun- 
 tary impulse makes us ivish to find, as the reve- 
 lation ori a perfect Being, and the law of perfect 
 purity ? 
 
LECTURE IV. 89 
 
 If it be not, it is certainly desirable that we 
 should be enabled to account for this ; and espe- 
 cially at a season when the holy Volume is disse- 
 minated with such general earnestness : for it 
 must unavoidably fall into the hands of many, to 
 whom no rigorous and partial explanations of high 
 doctrines alone can render it acceptable, or make 
 it that instrument of grace unto repentance and 
 holiness, which it ought everywhere to be. 
 
 Let an impartial attention, therefore, be bestowed 
 on the following considerations. 
 
 And first ; as far as we can bring ourselves to 
 form any speculative notion or conception of a 
 record of revelation, by itself i (which, however, it 
 is not very easy, on several accounts, to do ;) shall 
 we not invest it with something of a character 
 •immixedly noble ; free from the taint, and possible 
 approach, of fleshly impurities ; as bright in mo- 
 rals, as the sun is bright in the firmament; mag- 
 nificent, elevated, refined ? Is not this the sort 
 of character which any one would try to give it, 
 who invented a book, which he desired to pass off 
 for an original revelation .'' 
 
 I speak of a case purely speculative, and ab- 
 stracted from all comparison with that which we 
 believe to he revelation ; because, the Bible having 
 once prescribed a pattern, by which we are now 
 fully aware what such a record positively is, our 
 thoughts upon the subject are no longer absolutely 
 our own. It is not likely, that any subsequent 
 
90 LECTURE IV. 
 
 imposture, in any manner grafted upon Scripture, 
 (as the Koran,) would assume a tone essentially 
 opposed to that of its prototype. Imposture will 
 always take its clew from antecedent reality : its 
 work is that of distortion, not of invention. We 
 are supposing here (if it be within our grasp of 
 supposition) a case oi first invention. 
 
 I conceive, then, that the abstract thought of 
 revelation is, a thought of something both directly 
 and indirectly free from any recognition of the 
 painful and repulsive ; of something pure and 
 noble, in all its parts and bearings equally ; and 
 without any constitutional sign of imperfectioo 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Analogous to which thought is another, which 
 suggests itself with regard to history : where 
 (speaking generally and fairly) may it not be as- 
 s^umed to be something like a principh with the 
 liistorian, to refine, rather than to expose, gross- 
 ness .'' Not so to refine, as altogether to suppress 
 truth ; but sttidiously (as far as abilities and op- 
 portunity allow) to make the best, and most be- 
 coming, and least offensive arrangement of his ma- 
 terials ? I mean, as a matter of art and skill. I^ 
 there be no particular purpose to be served by a 
 more distressful tone of colouring ; but especially 
 if it be the writer's object to render prominent the 
 characters and fortunes of his own countiymen ; 
 ' — surely it is so ! The mantle of history is, in- 
 deed, at best but a stately pall, which covers only 
 
LECTURE IV. 91 
 
 dead men's bones, and real uncleanness ; but, like 
 a pall, it covers them gracefully. The principle 
 of the historian, standing over the grave of king- 
 doms and of society, seems, in its proportion, no^ 
 unlike to that of the merciful man, beside the 
 grave of a frail and fallen individual, — to speak 
 nothing of the dead but good. 
 
 Nor will.it be sufficient, when we shall endea- 
 vour presently to draw an inference from some of Lect v. 
 
 , . . P o . partl.§.l. 
 
 the histories of Scripture, as connected with this 
 thought, favourable to the authority of the earlier 
 Testament, as a revelation of truth, to attribute 
 all their harshness and ungracefulness merely to 
 earlier times and ruder circumstances, or oriental SeeHome'a 
 
 . Letters on 
 
 figures of speech. It has been well contended, in infidelity, 
 tJie first place, that such rudeness and barbarjty, 
 in the times when much of the earlier Scripture 
 was committed to writing, are too c^r^lessly as- 
 sumed: and, secondly, we think there is a pecu- 
 liarity of essential character in the tone of the Old 
 Testament history, which separates it from all 
 others, by a difference greater than merely acci- 
 dental circumstances can reasonably account for. 
 
 But (to proceed with our argument) the ab- 
 stract notion of a revelation is now difficult even 
 to be conqeived ; because the revelation of the 
 Bible, which has so grown up with us and insi- 
 nuated its influence throughout all our faoultigs, 
 has so completely undeceived us, in regard to any 
 
92 LECTURi; IV. 
 
 such preconception as we think might be naturally 
 formed. 
 
 Not that the revelation of the Bible, as it is, 
 (taking both Testaments together,) is not of an 
 exalted character. Lofty it is, in its declared end, 
 beyond man's utmost thoughts of loftiness ; pro- 
 
 icor.ii.9. mising blessings, which e?/e hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive. Lofty, too, it is, in its now 
 assured, though silent means, beyond all human 
 thoughts of loftiness ; when it offers the help of a 
 supernatural grace ; even though the operation of 
 
 Hoseaxiv. that grace, in ordinary, be more gentle than the 
 
 John iu. 8. fall of dcw upoH the grass, and incomptehensible 
 as the breathing of the wind. 
 
 But I mean, it has undeceived us so completely, 
 in regard to its effect as a whole ; with respect to 
 those features of its exhibition, which display bur 
 own present selves ; with respect to the tempers 
 and affections pleasing or displeasing in the sight 
 of our Creator. Man's natural desire would be to 
 
 £ect. vii. scale the heavens by his own excellence : it is the 
 will of God, that he should first stoop, even to the 
 very dust from whence he was taken. Now it is 
 at least a paradox, on the first sight, that the book 
 of life, the oracles of God, should (as a whole) be 
 found to present a record and a representation the 
 most humiliating : perhaps, of all records, the one 
 most unfavourably stated for the honour of its own 
 
LECTURE lY. 93 
 
 subjects ; an almost uniform picture of disobedi- 
 ence ; a most afflicting catalogue of guilt ! that 
 almost everywhere in it, when we would look ybrissiahv.f. 
 Judgment, we behold oppression ; for righteous- 
 ness, we behold a cry ! « 
 
 I do not speak thus; even of the Old Testament, 
 indiscriminately ; neither is any serious account 
 meant to be taken of what may be esteemed mere 
 painfulnesses of /a«!g"Mffl^e''. But, with respect to 
 its matter only, (under certain qualifications here- 
 after to be mentioned,) will it be disputed, that the Lect v. aa 
 picture of man contained in holy Scripture is one 
 of the least acceptable, and least prepossessing, that 
 can well be imagined ? 
 
 For is it not the shrinking of a sensitive deli'- 
 cacy ; a consciousness of innate propensity to 
 wrong ; a fear of the subtle and contagious poison of 
 impurity ; that distressing, lively, recurrence of the 
 primeval sense of shame. How hnewest thou thatGea.in.\\. 
 thou wast naked?- — that makes so many jealous 
 of disseminating the Bible, as being even a danger- 
 ous book ? — Or, again : is it not the melancholy 
 detail of wickedness ; and that, not amongst the 
 depraved alone, but mixed up with the conduct of 
 the very men recorded there, as favoured children 
 of thei Most High ; is it not this, much more than 
 local difficulties, or verbal obscurities, which has 
 
 ■'' These, it is probable, (as, for "example, 1 Kings sxi. 21. 
 or 2 Kings x^'iii. 27.) are to be attributed chiefly to our iraJAs- 
 lalors, and to the changes of our own vernacular idioms. 
 
<J4 LECTURE IV. 
 
 led good and pious persons to recornmend curtails 
 ments^ and abridgments of it ? or to fence it 
 round so carefully with comments ? — which, again, 
 has given rise to so many rash and irreverent criti- 
 » cisms ? to imprudent freedom of concession, on 
 the particular point of inspiration ? and to that far 
 too great reserve (in some time past) on the great 
 subject of original , depravity, as vitally necessary 
 to illustrate the Gospel, which seems now to have 
 produced (in part) in our own Church, an over- 
 whelming violence of re-action, such as threatens 
 to confound all men alike in a vague and general 
 See Lect.v, spirit of sclf-criniination, — not convincing, because 
 
 actinit. ... 
 
 not intelligible^ 9 
 
 " For example : What general tone of feeling must we 
 conceive to have dictated a passage such as this ; written by 
 a learned and express advocate of the truth of Christianity ? 
 '■ Out of sixty-six bo.oks which form the contents of the Old 
 " and New Testament, not above seven in the Old, nor above 
 " eleven in the New, appear to be calculated for the study ot 
 "comprehension of the unlearned." Maltby, "Thoughts 
 on the Bible Society," p. 12. London, 1812. 
 
 ' I beg, to be understood, as not intending to speak disre- 
 spectfully of that scrupulous concern about the Bible just 
 now alluded to: far otherwise. Under very many supposable 
 circumstances; where we really accept aZi, thoughtfully, as 
 Christians ought to do, to prefer some portions of holy Writ 
 to others, either for private use, (as it may happen,) or for 
 our own almost exclusive personal meditation, seems a thing 
 much unlike the conduct subjected to that awful threat, 
 which closes the Revelation of St. John. (chap, xxii, 19.) To 
 insist, systematically, upon the reading of aZZ Scripture alike. 
 
LECTtRE IV. 95 
 
 I assume it to be true, that some such sensitive 
 misgivings as these on account of Scripture, and 
 for some such reasons, <fo exist. 
 
 Keeping in mind, then, that the holy Scriptures 
 approve themselves to our acceptance, as a revela- 
 tion from the only true God, by ah accumulated 
 weight of other evidences ; let us now look at them,' 
 internally, with a regard to these foregoing con- 
 siderations. 
 
 And if the first be capable of being understood, 
 and be not disallowed, the inference from that vvill 
 be, that the pervading tone of Scripture, as a whole 
 purporting to be a divine revelation, is quite at va- 
 riance with our original and natural conception of 
 what a pretended revelation would be likely to be. 
 It appears to me to be altogether improbable; 
 contrary, at once, to the main scope and tenor of 
 all the writings of classical antiquity ; to the 
 thoughts and wishes of sober-minded, but specula- 
 tive Christians themselves ; and to the conclusions 
 of modern unbelievers, the theorists of an ideal 
 perfectibility s ; (and let it be well considered, what 
 
 (with more respect to an artificial order of chapters, thau 
 to the real state of individual cases,) appears an error, not 
 different in kind from that tyranny, which we so strongly de- 
 precate, (Lect. 1.) of iiisisting'upon a search after difficulties, 
 where the heart is satisfied already. 
 
 s I mean by this to express an opinion, that it is the pre- 
 vailing tendency of all these respective classes of writei^ 
 rather to exalt, than to depress, our estimate of human na- 
 ture. Even the Satirists of antiquity do not leave an impres- 
 
96 LECTURE IV. 
 
 the force of that improbability must be, in which the 
 sentiments of three such varieties of persons as 
 these unite :) that man, writing for his own pur- 
 poses, and from the dictation of his own faculties 
 only, should, originaUy, either have conceived the 
 prohibitions, or ventured on the proposal of a law, 
 involving such a representation of man and human 
 nature, as the code of the Old Testament exhibits, 
 with a view to the conviction, or control, of any 
 persons whatsoever. True, certain, as the repre- 
 sentations are, man could not have dared to give 
 them utterance, depending on his own strength 
 alone ; even if we can suppose it possible, that, at 
 so early a period, he should have had such insight 
 into truth. 
 
 Again : it would appear, considering the records 
 of Scripture in the light of a history only, that it 
 is scarcely conceivable, (if I have not mistaken the 
 common sentiments of mankind in such matters,) 
 that an original historian, narrating, in so great 
 part, the chronicles of his own ancestors, would, by 
 guidance of his own feelings only, have selected 
 such an assemblage of topics as the earlier Scrip- 
 ture history (in particular) details ; or brought 
 
 sion on the mind of such debasement, as results from the so- 
 lemn denunciations of the Bible. And I think it needs no 
 proof, that all more modern speculative reformers, whether 
 they convey their sentiments in the form of professed ro- 
 mance, or serious theory, assume the existence of a race of 
 beings, much better than men actually are. 
 
LECTURE .IV. 97 
 
 them forward in so prominent a manner. For it 
 is no, incidental mention of delinquency,. occurring 
 here and there, that disturbs us in the narratives 
 of the Old Testament ; but a pervading gloominess 
 of colouring, so unlike the apparent ordinary, tenor 
 of history, as seems inexplicable, unless attributed 
 to the guidance of no ordinary spirit. 
 
 In explanation of which, need we be afraid to 
 ask, whether, divesting holy Scripture of its autho^ 
 rity, and of that undefinable reverence with which 
 it is now encompassed in, the believer's heart, we 
 should peculiarly desire, to possess it, as a mere 
 volume; or to commend it,j as such, to universal 
 circulation at this day ? 
 
 In this, or any light, the impression severally 
 niade by the Old and New Testaments, would be 
 very distinct ; those made by different parts of 
 either would be very distinct also. But this is not 
 the question. We must remember, that our faith 
 is demanded alike, to all. If taken in the mass, 
 therefore, would not the admiration of most minds 
 towards it, as a niere volume, be very circum- 
 scribed .'' while many (for. the reasons above given) 
 would shrink from it. with an irrepressible aversion. 
 Parents, at least, would not be j anxious then to 
 make it an early study of their children : and how- 
 ever much it might be afterwards enjoyed by minds 
 of matured learning and critical taste, or valued as 
 a curious storehouse of : antiquarian research ; 
 (which are attractions of a nature to captivate but' 
 
 H 
 
US ^ LECTURE IV. 
 
 few mindsj among very many 5) it is certainly a 
 volumie, which, unless supported by a general and 
 pious confidence, that the Most High will prosper 
 isa. iv. iL his o^d ^ord in the thing whereto he sends it, and 
 accomplish what he pleakea by it, the instructed 
 could not desire to see> commonly, in the hetnds of 
 the uninstructfcd I 
 
 I am well aware, that different minds, and con- 
 stitution's, and habitSi, will be affected by very dif- 
 ferent evidences : wherefoi'e, it is to be Expected, 
 that the argument now offered will be regarded 
 with very unequal measures of respect. Yet I can- 
 not but think, that a sincere attention to this in- 
 ternal character of Scripture may be profitable ; and, 
 when surveyed in all its bearings^ may affect many 
 disjiositions, as one of the very surest proofs of its 
 Original authority. 
 
 For bring the collected body of the pietilrei 
 hereby presented, to the mind's eye, at once ; and 
 look at these familiar sights within our own expe* 
 rience. 
 
 A thing unpalatable in itself, distasteful, nay, re- 
 pulsive, is, with one consent, pronounced by ail, 
 who have once, in sincerity, accepted it, to be 
 their very health, and strength, and most exquisite 
 relish. A simplicity, open to the bitterest scorn, 
 appeai-s at once transmuted into an enlightened 
 candour ; a nakedness, so unconcealed, is at once 
 covered with a veil of modesty ; a plainness of 
 speech, nvanifestly exposed to ridicule, comes to ap- 
 
LECTURE IV. 99 
 
 pear the very evidence of reality and truth ; difii* 
 culties, and subjects of cavil, (in number, almost as 
 many, as in substance they are unimportant ;) all 
 at once present themselves as fit subjects only for 
 a temper of silent reverence, and more severe self- 
 introspection i-^these are phenomena, in the 
 believer's case, whiph we shall observe, and must 
 secretly account for to ourselves. 
 
 Again : uhiie this is so, ther6 is evidently no 
 miracle at work. We see tlie g)'os6 and " natural" 
 impressions of the book still exerting their own in» 
 fluence upon the mind of the unbeliever. The 
 voices of scorn and laughter are still levelled at 
 those very things, in which we perceive no room 
 for ridicule. We can clearly trace the swellings of 
 an intellectual pride within the breast of the 
 scorner; as though he had found a purer justice 
 for himself, and a nobler wisdom; and saw and 
 could expose weakijess and injustice there, where 
 his fellow man no longer doubts that there is both 
 equity and power •.'^these are appearances, in 
 the opposing case, which must be accounted for, 
 too. 
 
 But there is only pne way of accounting for 
 both. 
 
 If we try the siuppo^ition of a general intellectual 
 debasement, or origifial weakness of understanding, Lect. jif. 
 among the communion of believers, or of decided 
 intellectual superiority, characterizing the average 
 of their antagonists, it helps us nothirjg; for (as it 
 
 h2 
 
IGO LECTURE IV. 
 
 has been said .already) such hypothesis is not borne 
 out by. facts. < 
 
 If we could discover, concerning a reasojiable' 
 individual, (hitherto accounted an; enlightened man 
 in his generation, as .well by enemies, as friends, 
 but not hitherto spiritually minded^ that, from the 
 moment he became. a sincere, practical Christian, 
 his intellectual powers dried up, and. withered;, and: 
 he .became, narrow-minded, and lost his attainments 
 of former knowledge; this might . explain much. 
 But neither. is this. so. 
 
 Christians are no .less capable, of all the duties 
 of men of sciejnce,i or of good citizens, than those 
 who differ from them. They are no : less . capable 
 of threading all th& mazes of perplexed reasoning;, 
 of establishing the just canons of reasoning; of 
 weighing evidence, by canons established, , : 
 
 Of course we are speaking thus only of the i: 
 higher capacities, both among believers and. iin- 
 believers. Let an , ej'Ma/^Vy, therefore, in all na-, 
 jf«ra/ points be admitted between, these, generally;, 
 and he who first transgresses the limit, to de-' 
 mand more than such equality, shall be pro-. 
 Note a. nounced.the less candid man, and the less impartial 
 
 LecLiii. ' '^ 
 
 judge. 
 
 Is it, possible, then, to doubt, as a mere ques- 
 tion ;Pf fact and of experience, .that there is not. 
 essentially in the, human understanding itseii. any 
 invincible resistance to a revelation .^ nor even to 
 a revelation encompassed, as the Bible. is, with all 
 
LECTURE IV. 101 
 
 those avenues to subordinate dbjection, which 
 prove a stumbling block to so very many? — 
 which (I am quite willing' to admit) it may be, Lect.u. 
 
 1 . . . , . , pp. 49— J5. 
 
 and iSj a severe spiritual temptation to overcome, 
 in the outset j but' still a temptation not in- 
 superable. 
 
 Is it possible to doubt this, on the one hand "? 
 and' on the other, can it be denied, (as the cor- 
 relative of the same proposition,) that then there 
 is, there must positively be, a yet higher and more 
 discerning power still, than the utmost compass of Pascal, 
 mere intellect ? a power which can subdue the xiv?if 
 human understanding, without destroying it;""* 
 which can tame, vi\\k\ovX enslaving it; which can 
 enlarge it, by a new and additional branch of ap- 
 prehension altogether, without demanding, in ex- Lect. v. 
 chainge, the sacrifice ai any of its former posses- ^"' *" ^' ^" 
 sions ? 
 
 Look at these things, I say, and the impression 
 arising from that internal character of Scripture^ 
 which has been here described, must appear likely 
 to have proved to many^ and likely yet to prove, 
 among the strongest witnesses of its divine autho- 
 rity. If, indeed, we have not been attributing, 
 throughout, an imaginary character to Scripture 
 altogether ;— if it be true, that while these painful 
 things are matter of offence to unbelieving minds ; 
 while to niatural apprehension in itself, and; by it- 
 self, such countenance of a divine record presents 
 
 h3 
 
102 LECTURE IV. 
 
 features allogether undiscei'nible ; no such offendc 
 takes place in minda rooted in the belief of Christ. 
 What, then, is it which has removed the obstacle ? 
 Southey's ..^« The talisman is FAitH." 
 
 Thalaba, 
 
 Y.ssi, Place the light of redemption at the boun* 
 
 dary of these darker views and records : let it be 
 seen, that the sufferings and death of JeSus 
 CHRist, THE Son of the most high God, were 
 the realities to which all former shadows^ and 
 dispertsations, and preparations led : let it bfe 
 thought, what a sum and character of guiltiness 
 nlust have been in man, at once to require and 
 to justify this transcendent mystery: let it bfe 
 considered, thatj as the comprehension of all na- 
 tions within the saving benefits of that awful 
 sacrifice was, and is, the divine purpose, there- 
 fire his own recorded Word must be of a ten- 
 dency and power, not calculated to flatter human 
 pride, but to abase it ; that man may come through 
 trial of his spirit into heaven : let it be perceived 
 and felt that the picture of ourselves, which the 
 Bible exhibits, is a real one ; that the original 
 Inspirer of that holy volume assuredly knew what 
 was in man, from the vfery beginning; that he 
 there teUs man truth,, for itian's own good ; that 
 teian's ha^jpitiess is his desire : — 'place the light «rf 
 ihese considerations, as a beacon, at the end t>f 
 the ihcjuiry, &ndthe word of God becomes indeed 
 
 fos*™' ® ^«f"P ^^f^ our/eeli and a ligkt unto our pafhs. 
 
LECTUHE IV. aos 
 
 The waters of Marah are sweetened, now; theExo4. xv. 
 
 23 24 25* 
 
 death that was, before, in the pottage, is turrjed 2 King's iv' 
 into life! ^^- 
 
 For reflecting thus, and being convinced al- 
 ready that the Bible is a booli wherein alone he 
 may lools for sure ancf unerring truth ; the be- 
 liever speedily perceives, that two cases might 
 have been submitted to him, in eitlier of whidi 
 he might much more easily have been led to 
 doubt the authority -of a volume, purporting to be 
 the depositary of authentic truth : namely ; either 
 if it were found recording crimes, of which man 
 was never known to be capable ; or, leaving out 
 all mention of others, of which he is known to 
 have been, guilty^ 
 
 For it were strange indeed, tha?t an Omniscient 
 Spirit should not know even the very inmost 
 :thoughts of his own creature, and raise the voice 
 of prohibition and of warning against every sort 
 of crime. Wherefore this fearful, naked, exposure 
 of man's woi^t and most hidden Ji'ices, which 
 holy Writ displays, becomes one of the most pre- 
 vailing arguments, with an awakened conscienccj 
 to persuade to a like thought, concerning it, with 
 that which the woman of Saimaria had of Christ ; 
 Come, see a book, wMch tells me all things that Jobaiy. 
 ever J did : is not this the Lord's ? 
 
 But the sequel of this thought, and the illus- 
 tration, in detail, of our whole position, wil] be 
 found in the two ensuing Lectures. 
 
 h4 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 John ii. 25. 
 For he knew what was in man. 
 
 ▼ rE paused in the last Lecture, in considering the 
 volume of holy Scnpture as a picture of human 
 nature. The argument then maintained is now to 
 be exemplified by a series of illustrative passages; 
 from which it may appear to every hearer's own 
 judgment, how far the position taken is, or is not, 
 supported by the appearances from which it is de- 
 duced. 
 
 It may be remembered, that the argument was 
 rested, upon the gloomier representations of Scrip- 
 ture. That very picture ' of depravity which- it ejfr- 
 hibits, and which (it is conceived) "must form so 
 strong a source of< objection and dislike to the Old 
 Testament, in' the mind of the naiurai man, was 
 considered to be in itself a most convincing evi- 
 dence of its' divine authority and truth. 
 
 Nevertheless, though it was argued that Scrip- 
 ture presettts' the rhost humiliating portraiture" of 
 human nature, and that intentionally, to lead man 
 
106 LECTURE V. 
 
 into knowledge of himself, as the subject of its 
 operation ; it should be added, that the Bible does 
 not exhibit an unmixed image of evil ; because if it 
 did, it would not be that exact resemblance which 
 'we maintain it is, of the character of man. 
 
 In subjoining which qualification, we do not feel 
 the consciousness eitherof having carried the main 
 proposition unreasonably far, to countenance a 
 partial construction ; or of having added any such 
 inconsistent exception, as may neutralize or destroy 
 its force. 
 
 The representation of evil was inteinded, and is 
 necessary, for the analysis of doctrine. We hold 
 Art, ix. ijine opinion, that man is a being " very far gone 
 " from an original righteousness," in which he was 
 created. And it is maintained, that the whole 
 substance of Scripture so fully justifies this doctrine, 
 as to be utterly inexplicable, and thereforre as a rcr 
 cord of divine wisdom inadmissible, without it. 
 
 It is, however, contended also, that with this 
 doctrine, found to be involved in the substance of 
 lis historieSi a-nd to be in harmony with the end of 
 its great provisions. Scripture poramends itself in ^ 
 peculiar manner to our belief and aeeeptation ; as 
 a Record which, while it extends to the very rpot d 
 our disease, and so alone points out the true me- 
 thod of recovery from it, falls in thereby witli the 
 observations of our own personal experience. 
 
 These two things jjben, which we have affirmed 
 of holy Wfit, nameJly, that it- oaiatains the aaost 
 
LECTURE V. 107 
 
 humlliatmg view of man, and yet not one of 
 unmixed evil, are not only not inconsistent, but 
 explanatory one of the other. It is necessary for 
 us to trace our elementary principles up to their 
 source, through the very worst symptoms of a 
 moral disorder which man exhibits. For how, we 
 may ask, except through scrutiny of deeds which 
 man has done, qan that which is in man be fully 
 developed, or rightly inferred ? Nevertheless, the 
 aspect of embodied evi\, as existing in real life, as 
 displayed practically in its concrete form in the 
 subject to whom it belongs, will differ materially 
 from the cast of its own intrinsic quality, :a,s seen 
 uncovered and delineated in, the abstract. The 
 practical appearances of evil will show much 
 gradation, and be found susceptible of many com- 
 parisons, according to the condition of different 
 individuals. The doctrinal statement concerning 
 it will be but one ; baving for its purpose, to 
 affirm the original unsoundness that lies in the 
 constitution of human nature : not to fix the 
 measure of this or that mein's guilt, or to make 
 continued comparisons of good and evll^ but to 
 pronounce a general judgment upon all^' — the 
 result of comparisons already made. 
 
 While, therefore^ not to ; discover a full and in- 
 timate acquaintance wi^h the^quality and compass 
 of evil itself, would be — not to have a perfect in- 
 sight injtp, the truth; and yet, to display the 
 power of that evil otherwise than a$ it is seen 
 
32, 
 
 108 LECTURE V. 
 
 practically existing in its effects, would be-^nbt'to 
 give that real likeness of ourselves which we seek 
 and expect; it becomes evident, that in narrations 
 (or records of whatever kind) which set forth the 
 lives and actions of men in every varied stage of 
 moral responsibility, (and that, under the influence 
 riot' only of rational motives^ but of a supernatural 
 Lect. ii. p. grace also, more or less, from the veiy beginning ;) 
 we cannot look for any other representation, than 
 of sortie such mixture of good and evil conduct as 
 the corresponding varieties of man, diversely in- 
 fluenced, present to our own sight' at this day. 
 We think that both the descriptions given by the 
 earlier Scripture, and the principles to be inferred 
 from them, are exactly vvhat they need to be. 
 
 And, here, it will not be disputed by believers, 
 that Scripture itself must offer to us at once the 
 best method of describing, and likewise of ad- 
 dressing accountable moraL beings. Wherefore, 
 since' the natural current of reflection has thus led 
 to the mention of a doctrine, which has perhaps suf- 
 fered almost more than any other under the anato- 
 ihizing cruelty of disputation; it seems not an im- 
 proper place to interpose what may prove to some, 
 in their )orac/2Cff/ handling of the Article of "Ori- 
 ginal Sin," a reason for discrieet forbearance^ as to 
 the special question of its measure m any given 
 individual. 
 
 It is' a poitit which must itself be admitted on 
 ' all hands by reasonable men, (although so veiy 
 
LECTURE y. 109 
 
 few in the .heat of argument truly abide by it,)' 
 that; a right faith and apprehension of holy Scrip- 
 ture is to be formed, rather bylooking to its end 
 and general , scope, than by any, inference. from 
 detached passages,, however. strong towards a par- 
 ticular effect. Neither can it be doubted that the 
 Jjacts pi Scripture and its doctrines must be 
 essentially in harmony. 
 
 Is it, then, possible, to. settle, or to give, a just 
 practical understanding of, any doctrine", without 
 an impartial! estimate of the _/ac/* of Scripture, 
 (wherever these properly belong to the . questioni) 
 as well as of its positive texts ? 
 
 With respect, therefore, to original .depravity, 
 (seeing that a conviction, of the doctrine itself, and 
 not.of its degrees, is that which it concerns our 
 everlasting peace to feel, in order to apprehend 
 the method i of ,our restoration ;) I ask, whether it 
 be,re£isonable, to, convey, an impression, in popular 
 addresses, that the power of this primitive disease 
 is, every where and equally unmixed and unlimited 
 j*— under an impartial balance of Scripture history? 
 And if the facts of Scripture history be (as we 
 contend they are) the facts of human . nature ; if 
 neither in our forefathers, nor in. ourselves, we, can 
 
 ? I mean, any doctrine, that is in any degree s commen- 
 surable with reason and experience, as well as declared in 
 pxpress revelation. To such subjects of pure revelation as the 
 mystery of the Trinity (e. g.) the present considerations can- 
 not apply; 
 
no LECTURE V. 
 
 honestly discover other features than those be- 
 longing to a race of accountable and improveable 
 Lect-ii. pp.]jgjngs_ljoth passing us sojourners and pilgrims 
 through the same scene of moral discipline, the 
 same positive impediments ; if we perceive that 
 both they were very wicked, and so are we ; but 
 if neither in them, nor in ourselves, we can pre- 
 cisely unfold the operations of grace, as distinct 
 from those of our natural faculties ; if we cannot, 
 among either, detect and satisfactorily show (ex- 
 cept it be in a few cases avowedly miraculous) 
 the influence of any irresistible control ; if a 
 faith, of which we trust and dare to say that it 
 must be a true and living faith, can without any 
 such interpretation approve itself to the consciences 
 alike and understandings of men evidently wise 
 and learned, and by their lives proved to be spi- 
 ritually minded ; what shall forbid that the evi- 
 dence oi facts be received at once, in arbitration, 
 to restrain our confidence of assertion, as to the 
 specific point, of the measure and degree of this 
 oiiginal taint, among persons now very unequally 
 advanced in the progress of their moral probation ? 
 
 For if we admit the doctrine, as affirmed gene- 
 rally, to be true of all men, what (after all) can its 
 precise admeasurement profit unto edifving ? If a 
 Christian man be quite convinced that there Ls no 
 hopeof heaven but through the sufferings and medi- 
 ation of Jesus Christ, nor without transformation 
 and renewal of the heart after that image of holi- 
 
LECTURE V. Ill 
 
 fles& which he has enjoined ; what can it benefit to 
 
 dwell upon depravity, as though the Redeemer 
 
 could be thereby honoured ? If the believer be 
 
 already grafted into the true vine, the test whereby 
 
 to glorify his Father, afterwards is, that he bear John x^. 9. 
 
 much fruit. Let the facts of Scripture, then, be 
 
 weighed under this impression : not to confirm in 
 
 any man a contumacious and unspiritual pride ; 
 
 (if weighed impartially, this is a thing which they 
 
 can never do ;) but to remove from the tabernacle 
 
 of the faithful . that supposititious cloud which 
 
 sometimes broods upon it ; and to deliver the 
 
 truly humble and self-abased spirit from the yoke^|='-"- p- 
 
 of an unimaginable degradation. 
 
 I. With this explanatory provision, then, let us 
 now go on to the proposed adduction of parti- 
 culars : of which, if any b& thought not so well 
 selected as they might have been, and yet the 
 mind be favourably affected towards the general - 
 view which has .been already presented, it will not 
 suffer any mere unskilful selection to invalidate theLect. iv. 
 
 ■' . , (Note c.) 
 
 argument, but will supply better instances for itself. 
 I. 1 . An early instance theui illustrative at once 
 of all the considerations upon which our argumettt 
 proceeds, is to be found (I think) in the case of 
 Noah and his sons,. as related in the end of thecen. ix. 
 
 go g7_ 
 
 ninth chapter of the Book of Genesis. A melan- 
 choly specimen, indeed, of human frailty, consider 
 it in what point of view we will ! It is a narration 
 altogether at variance with every notion which we 
 
112 LECTURE V. 
 
 ehtertairi (speaking critically) of seeinliness or 
 dignity. It is an event, which no historian, as 
 such, would naturally have recorded, even though 
 he recorded the consequences. It is a detail of 
 twofold painfulhess ; the painfulness of infirmity, 
 in the patriarch ; and that of guilt, in his son. It 
 is manifestly a tale, from which the ear and eye of 
 refined female delicacy at least would .involun- 
 tarily shrink. In what various and easy ways it 
 stands exposed to the derision and scorn of infi- 
 delity, need not to be pointed out. 
 
 But how does it appear to a Christian, looking 
 at it only through the light of humility and faith ? 
 Is it human nature, or is it not .'' Is it striking, 
 or is it not ? What, if we glance in pity from the 
 -patriarch's infirmity to our Redeemer's solemn 
 
 Lukexxi. admonition. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any 
 
 time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting 
 
 ^ and drunkenness ? and from the curse pronounced 
 
 upon Canaan,, the son of the undutiful Ham, to 
 
 Prov. XXX. the fearfully lively warning of the Wise Man, The 
 eye that mocketh at his father— —the ravens of 
 the valley shall pick it out, and the young, eagles 
 shall eat it ? And then, for a double purpose, let 
 us direct our thoughts to the patriarch's conse- 
 quent prophecy; popdering, first, whether ex- 
 perience cannot find an echo to the curse , of 
 Canaan in the general fortune .of undutiful 
 children ; and, secondly, whether the wonderful 
 accomplishments of the prophecy itself may not. 
 
LECTURE V. 118 
 
 at once, discover its true Author, and the special 
 providence of the whole transaction ''. 
 
 Now if there be absurdity in any of these views, 
 or violence offered though but to language, or 
 possibility of misleading either a soulto evil, or 
 even a critical judgment into weakness, let them 
 be rejected. But if not, there is at least an ad- 
 vantage on the side of faith and piety, in the con- 
 templation of such a passage : and this advantage 
 the Satirist shall, unintentionally, express for us : 
 
 — — ^— " e c<Kfo descendit FvalSi a-eauTov, Juv. Sat. 
 
 ■^ xi '27 28 
 
 " Figendutn et memori tractandum pectore." " ' 
 
 I. 2. To take another instance — it is scarcely 
 possible to read, without distress and shame, the 
 much more painful relations of the nineteenth 
 chapter of the same bookl Yet at this day, when 
 the holier influence of Christianity has been work- 
 ing its way in the affections and hearts of men for 
 eighteen hundred years, can we repel even these 
 revolting records, as a libel on our nature? as an 
 exposure which we can pronounce unnecessary, 
 from its incongruity with experience ? and there- 
 
 ■ '' It khay be noted, further, (with regard to our explana- 
 tory. observatioiij) that here is, in this very first (and most 
 distressing) example, an instance of not unmixed depravity. 
 And what abundant reason have we ourselves, as. the de- 
 scendants of Japheth; to adore the mercy of an all-wise 
 Lord, who hath- surely annexed exiceedrng great reward, 
 either present or to come, to the right performance of every 
 duty. ; ' !i 
 
 I 
 
114 LECTURE V. 
 
 fore reject, as an imagination of evil, on the score 
 of gratuitous impurity ? 
 
 I. 3. But let us refer-both these and the preced- 
 ing examples to such a chapter as the eighteenth 
 chapter of Leviticus ; and by that comparison, 
 learn to see how each cons^pires to explain the 
 other, and how all speak for themselves (as specir 
 mens of human nature) in vindication, at once, 
 and in proof of -their original recording. It will 
 be perceived how the facts of history bear out the 
 
 ^^'ioa' ^^^ °^ Moses, in its m,ost offensive ^prohibitions ; 
 
 103. and, by consequence, how imperfect in its know- 
 
 ledge of man's nature a law, designed for .the 
 extinction of abominations and for the promotion 
 of purity, must have appeared now, had the legis- 
 lator forborne (from deference to human preposses- 
 sions, whether past, present, or to come) to pro- 
 claim penalties and judgments for crimes avowedly 
 existirig. It is most true, that very many of the 
 prohibitions of the Levitipal law tell us of things, 
 such as we do not like to hear ; of things, which 
 it is most perplexing, at first sight, to meet with 
 in the pure word of God. But when we consider, 
 -for what thousands; of reasonable creatures, for 
 what varieties of condition and of knowledge, the 
 Bible is the sole independent mental and moral 
 
 ^ect. VI. . pj.pyj5J(j„ . Jo ^ijgy ^gjj yg gjjy \][^\^[^g which it is 
 
 not expedient for man to know, in order that he 
 may abhor? 
 
 There is, moreover, a circumstance connected 
 
LECTURE V. 115 
 
 with all these more afflictive narrations, of the 
 very grealtest importance ; and which (in its full 
 compass, at any rate) I conceive to be dlt'ogether 
 peculiar to the records and the prohibitions of 
 Scripture. 
 
 I mean, that whether it be the express edict of 
 a law that is before us, to bring it to our observd* 
 " tioM, or only the chronicle of a too real history, ; 
 " gross offence is never represented to us but in 
 " connection with the divine displeasure." The 
 sin of Scripture uniformly ^«<fe its perpetrator om/. See Numb. 
 If there be not a penalty by law difefitly dehouncedi 
 there is divine justice visibly executed ; or if not 
 this immediately, and on the itistant, yet indirectly 
 it is sure to appear in the sequel of the offender's 
 history; either simply in the shape of suffering^ 
 or more pointedly, in some congenerous retalia- =? 
 
 tion. ff'^itk the froward, we shall discover the Psai. xviii. 
 Almighty always froward; we shall always meet 
 ttte curse of the Lord in the house of ttie wicked; p™"- ™* 
 Witness only, as a familiar instance, the femorseoen. xiii. 
 of Joseph's brethren^ as expressed- by themselvesi 
 And let it be remarked, that it may probably be 
 by help of ^is consideration, that we shall best 
 unders>tand, to spiritual and moral benefit, some of 
 thef particulars of the perplexing history of the 
 patriarch Jacob. I dO not sp^ak of the unsearch- 
 able counsel of the Mdst High in respect of Ja- 
 eob's " electidn," in preference to Esau: there is 
 a day, when that will be fully explained ; and till 
 
 i2 
 
116 -LECTURE V. 
 
 I 
 
 then we may be well satisfied to leave it. But 
 if it be questioned, whether all the moral transac- 
 tions of that patriarch's life were either approVable, 
 or approved by Him who chose him, there is an 
 
 Gen. xivii. answcr out of Jacob's own mouth ; Few and evil 
 have the days of the years of my life been: and 
 there is a melancholy tale of intermediate wretched- 
 ness among his family, to prove this the patriarch's 
 assertion true. 
 
 Now in this naked exposure of the most hateful 
 criminality; and iti this uniform and unreserved 
 reprobation of it coupled together^ there' is, I 
 think, the very strongest testimony to the authority 
 of Scripture, on both grounds. 
 
 ■ I. 4. But to take a somewhat different exempli- 
 fication of that which is our immediate subject. 
 The hardening of Pharaoh's heart seems to have 
 supplied always a favourite topic of reproach 
 against the divine perfections. But let us con- 
 
 Lect. iii. template it under that view of the apparent dealing 
 
 §■ 4j. pp.' 
 
 63, 64. of the Almighty with his creatures, which has^ been 
 already suggested ; as a voluntary delinquency on 
 the .offender's part, of which the manner only of 
 its being permitted to take effect is laid open for 
 our sakes : how will it appear then ? It isj doubt- 
 less, a picture of, extreme jdepravity in its peculiar 
 point of obstinacy : yet (making only the natural 
 allowances for difference in the form of present 
 dispensation) surely the picture itself is justified as 
 real, by abundant experience. It is a picture 
 
LECTURE V. 117 
 
 which only takes the aspect of a most sound and 
 pvovident admonition. Compare it with the e^ect 
 of our Saviour's, saying to the Jews, Ye wi/r not joim \. 4^, 
 come unto me, thai ye might have life. Compare compare 
 it with: the pains continually vvasted, with the^ainMatt 
 motives ineffectually urged, with the terrors un-'™^'"^" 
 profitably revealed, to persuade Christians to 
 obedience! at this day. If any quarrel any longer 
 with such merciful warning, so as to make it a 
 stumbling-block, for which to i gainsay the Bible; 
 what is- to be said, but thati. by such; very offence 
 taken, they prove its truth ? proving, themselves, 
 that such calamitjous hardness of. heart does exist 
 in human nature; Else, why do they cling to any 
 vain pretence, rather than accept the medicine 
 meant to heal them, because they do not choose 
 to take it as it is prescribed of bitter ingredients, 
 by the great and only Physician that has any real 
 power to cure? 
 
 I. 3. I turn, with pleasure, to a more conso- 
 latory example, not less confirmative of our ge- 
 neral proposition ; and appeal to the book of 
 Psalms,, (when viewed in the reflected light of the 
 Christian revelation,)- as an abiding testimony of 
 what is in man, as well as of what man needs to 
 be. If ; these divine compositions deserve >thp 
 eulogy of Hooker, they I supply (of course) an ex- 
 ample applicable to our purpose, though reach- 
 ing very far beyond it; It is he that shall speak 
 their praise and character, notwithstanding it be 
 
 I 3 
 
118 LECTURE V. 
 
 Eccies.Poi.to rfepeat a passage so well known: "What is 
 b. V. 37. ,( i\if>fQ necessary for man to know, which the 
 " Psalms are not able to teach ? They are to 
 " beginners an easy and familiar introduction ; a 
 " mighty augmentation of all virtue and know- 
 " ledge, in such as are entered before ; a strong 
 " confirmation of the most perfect among others, 
 " Her'oical magnanimity; exquisite justice; grave 
 " moderation ; exact wisdom ; repentance un- 
 " feigned; unwearied patience; the mysteries of 
 "God; the sufferings of Christ; the terrors of 
 " wrath ; the comforts of grace ; the works of 
 " Providence over this world ; and the promised 
 " j-oys of that world which is to come ; all good 
 '' necessarily to be either known, or done, or had, 
 " this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there 
 "■ be any grief or disease, incident unto the soul 
 " of man, any wound or sickness named, for whiqh 
 " there is not in this treasure-house a present 
 " eomfoi'table remedy at all times ready to be found. 
 " Hereof it is, that we covet to make the Psalms 
 " especially familiar to all." This, indeed, is eulogy: 
 but is it undeserved eulogy ? We believe that it is 
 quite true. But let us consider, and we shall per- 
 ceive that it cannot he true, unless, that book pro- 
 ceeded from a knowledge, both retrospective and 
 prospective of the whole of thai which is in man. 
 I. 6. I cannot forbear to notice, with regard' to 
 the same point, the Book of Ecclesiastes. It has, 
 undoubtedly, its difficulties : but that its authority 
 
LECTURE Vi 119 
 
 should ever have been questioned on the scord of 
 itnthorality, or impiety, appears to argue unreason- 
 able misapprehension. It is a book in every point 
 of view remarkable. To the Jew^s, without express 
 revelation of a hfe to come, it must have been, as 
 it were, alight shining in a duTk place, which ^^e2Pet.i. 19. 
 dathness couldnot adequately comprehend : but td John i. 5. 
 us, on whom the light hath shined, it appears very 
 differently. As a buttress to the Gospel, resting 
 on the sure ground of human nature ; as an anti- 
 cipative deference of the perfection of human wis- 
 dom and human experience to the pure simplicity 
 of the wisdom to come ; it seems to deserve a rank 
 amo-ngst the most extraordinary possessions which 
 the will of God hath caused to be preserved, fop 
 the full establishment and consolation of his ex- 
 isting Church . Concerning the specimen of frailty, 
 which it exposes (or rather,' confesses) in thes 
 person of its human author, we may, with very 
 reasonable faith, acquiesce contentedly in the pious 
 remark of Bishop Patrick: "And perhaps," hecommen. 
 says, " as God suffered St. Thomas to doubt of book. 
 " our Saviour's resurrection, for the greater confirm- 
 " ation of our faith, by the satisfaction he at last 
 " received ; so he kt this great man go astray, that 
 " by his dear-bought experience he might teach us 
 " this wisdom— ^to keep the closer to God in faith- 
 " ful obedience." 
 
 ° See the iutrodaction to this Book in Poole's English 
 Annotatidns : also, the same in the Faffiily Bible. 
 
 i4 
 
120 LECTURE V. 
 
 I. 7 . As multiplication of detached passages is al- 
 ways tedious, and -the New Testament as yet lies 
 untouched; I will subjoin only one example more 
 from the Old Testament, from the writings of the 
 Prophets'' . 
 
 Does it, then, amount to exaggeration to con- 
 tend, that, looking at the general tenor of the 
 writings of the prophets, in their lower capacity, 
 of reproof, warning, or exhortation, we may al- 
 most suppose them to look upon our own very 
 selves ? to address their particular regard to the 
 things which we daily witness with our own eyes ? 
 Shall not a warning voice like this, be truly re- 
 garded as belonging to words that never pass 
 away ? as a possession appertaining to believers, 
 Is. V. 8, 9. in its full force, for ever ? Tf^oe unto them that 
 join house to house, that lay field to field, till -■ 
 there be no place, that th'ey may be placed alone 
 in the midst of the earth 1 In mine ears said the 
 
 "* I refer to them, here, not as prophets, in the peculiar and 
 highest import of the word ; but as expositors and preachers 
 of divine truth to corrupted man. And let a caution be exi 
 pressed, generally, (with reference to this distinction,) that 
 it behoves all prudent persons to give good attention that 
 they do not handle the prophetic writings, so frequently the 
 utterances of a peculiar inspiration, rashly : that they neither 
 assert the specific dignity of prophecy for that which is pror 
 phetic pnly as the divine enunciation of everlasting truth ; nor 
 (on the other hand) insist upon a general application of that, 
 which either may, be shown with fairer reason to be limited; 
 pr which through metaphor and figure may mislead, 
 
LECTURE V. 121 
 
 Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be 
 desolate^ even great and fair, without inhabitant. 
 Are not nature and experiencehere ? 
 
 Again : ff^oe unto them that call evil good, andvex. 20, 21. 
 good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light 
 for darkness ; that put bitter for^ sweet, and 
 sweet for bitter ! Jf^oe unto them that are wise 
 in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 
 Again : Tf^oe unto them that are mighty to drinkyec. 22, as. 
 wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink : 
 which justify the tvicked for reward, atid take 
 away the righteousness of the righteous from 
 him I 
 
 Are not these the voices of a Spirit that ^wow^s 
 what is ifi man to the uttermost ? I forbear to 
 point any special application of them: it might 
 seem uncharitable, and cannot be necessary on 
 an occasion like the present. But I am sure, that 
 thetshaft of them pierces deeply into that human 
 nature which we know: the curse of tljem must 
 enter into many houses, even in this Christian 
 land, and consume them with the timber thereof ^^'^'^- ^- '^ 
 and the stones thereof Particular chapters of 
 the Bible (we are told) have so affected, as almost 
 lay themselves to convert; particular persons, to 
 belief of Christianity. I could say of this fifth 
 chapter of Isaiah alone, " Almost it persuadeth 
 " me to believe that holy Scripture is the voice of 
 « God !" 
 
 II, But our position, as depending on the evi- 
 
129 LECTURE V. 
 
 dence of the Old Testament, must, with these 
 examples, be sufficiently illustrated ; and it ih 
 time to see hbw it will appear under a purer dis- 
 pensation. 
 
 Do we, then, meet in the New Testament with 
 a recognition, and (if I may so speafe) acceptance, 
 of this same condition of human nature? that is 
 to Say, of a ebnditioni at once harmonizing, in its 
 real features, with the delineations of the Old, 
 and with our experience of ourselves ? It is con- 
 tended that we do. 
 
 But here will be a proper place, under this 
 position, (and especially with reference to one of 
 PB^ 68— M. the propositions advanced in the third Lecture, 
 concerning the permanence of evil in the world,) 
 to digress somewhat from the natural course of the 
 argument, in order to meet in advance an objec- 
 tion, which may present itself, to this effect. If 
 the Gospel be an everlasting covenant, and a final, 
 revelation, and yet under thai we persist in preach- 
 ing man falle'n, and the world corrupt, does not 
 this difficulty follow ; that then Christianity has 
 within itself an intrinsic impediment to bar its vpay 
 to universal reception ; to which nevertheless it 
 aspires ? For either eventual success in the improye>^ 
 ment of mankind must nullify a great portion o{ 
 Scripture ; or else, evil must be systematically re- 
 tained, I do not mean, by ordinance and authority,' 
 but in the believer's religious speculations ahd 
 wishes, in order that its existence may be appealed 
 
LECTURE V. 123 
 
 to for the proof and for the accomplishment of 
 that which is good. 
 
 It is to be answered, that such objection pro- 
 ceeds upon a partial view of things. It virtually 
 assumes that the experience of the future must 
 remain the; same, and the same only, with that 
 which has already been. Thus it overlooks who 
 are the parties in this matter ; and thereby esti- 
 mates the power of the Holy Spirit by the power 
 of weak and fallible man. 
 
 It may not be in us: yet let it not be feiared, 
 but that God will give an answer of peace con- Gen. sJi. 
 cerning such a question to as many as shall truly 
 believe, and put their trust in him for it. In the 
 mean time, one part of sufch an answer we may 
 perceive now. It will be everlastingly true, that 
 the nature of man is guilty and corrupt ; and his 
 past history, one of depravity and crimes. And 
 as to the rest, shall it be doubted, that (to what- 
 ever excellence man may arrive by more diligent 
 use of the revealed means of grace) He, who shall 
 have visited us with that ~ blessing of increased 
 knowledge, unto holiness, will keep pace with his 
 own mercies, in our apprehensions and in our 
 h«arts,. by some proportionate increase of illumi- 
 nation, through his Holy Spirit ? Nay, is a con- 
 dition any way supposable by us (as many as bcr 
 lieve) in which we could help perceiving at once 
 the tiTJth and certainty of both these things : — that 
 surely it was so with us once as the word of God 
 
Ig4 I.ECTURE V. 
 
 hath spoken: yet though it were so no longer, we 
 should understand that record to be not the less 
 Isaiah iv. true : we should see that it had not returned void 
 unto Him that sent it ? It was through experience 
 of evil that we found our way unto knowledge 
 of the truth; yet evil cannot be, inseparably, the 
 bulwark of truth. For it would be matter of 
 positive,' sensible conviction to us, that^ while 
 somehow or other m/' had disappeared, the truth 
 stood. 
 
 Such objection, therefore, is no real one, if the 
 view of truth be taken from the right point. But 
 to stand without the gates of a cityj and to refuse 
 to enter in, and yet still to persevere in denying 
 the existence of an internal economy, of things 
 within it, which we have never tried ; this is as- 
 suredly a partial sight. And "all doubt resulting 
 from it is to be rejected unreservedly and confi- 
 dently, as not consistent with the most advanced 
 state of apprehension and of reason, which man 
 has it in his power to attain to, even in this pre- 
 sent world. But to return to our detail^. 
 
 In entering upon the ,qontinued contempla- 
 tion of the same picture of man and human; na- 
 ture, as displayed in the New Testament; there 
 is to be noticed, what appears a very perceptible 
 general change of surrounding impression ; such 
 
 « Let this reasoning be broUglU to coiflparisoft with the 
 firgument;of Hohi. iii, S^^8, r 
 
LECTURE V. 125 
 
 as might have been expected (and as we have be- Lect. a. p, 
 fore affirmed to be discoverable) in passing from 
 a dispensation of the " flesh" to a dispensation of 
 the " Spirit." It is, as when a trav^eller has passed 
 the gloom of a huge forest, and entered on a fair 
 and champaign country. There are the same 
 people as before, and the same passions ; but a 
 freer light, and a purer air ; a soil more suitable 
 to cultivation, and a less rugged surface; inter- 
 course, ■ and civilization ; — causes such as these 
 seem to have conspired to give them a more 
 cheerful tone, through an increased knowledge. 
 As the path becomes gradually smoother, so does 
 the journey become pleasanter. 
 
 II. L Yet we have not changed realities. Let 
 a first evidence be sought from' the narratives of 
 the New Testament. ': ■ 
 
 When the voice of the Son of man is heard, 
 exclainiing ; Whereunto shall L liken this gene- Matt. xi. 
 ration ? It is like unto children sitting in the 
 y^arkets, and calling unto their follows, and sat/- 
 ing, We have piped unto you, and ye have not 
 danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have 
 not lamented. Or again : O Jerusalem, J erusa- Luke xiii. 
 
 • 34. 
 
 lem, which killest the prophets^ and stonest them 
 that are sent unto thee ; how. often would I have 
 gathered thy children together, as a hen- doth 
 gather her brood under her wings, and ye would 
 not ! Or again : How hardly shall they that have Luke xviii. 
 riches enter into the kingdom of God ! — we can- 
 
126 LECTtTRE V. 
 
 not but perceive the dispositions we have khowti 
 before under the earlier covenant. 
 
 But these are only general correspondences of 
 character, and looking backwards : let us be as- 
 sured,; from more specific instances, that the de- 
 scriptions harmonize equally with daily passing 
 experience. 
 
 ' 1 . Here, then, let a first example be taken from 
 those traits of human nature incidentally appear- 
 ing throughout the story of the woman taken in 
 John viii. adultery, as related in the Gospel of' St. John. 
 What can be more like the behaviour of that race^ 
 with whom we are ourselves acquainted, than- the 
 insidious temptation of our Saviour by the Scribes 
 and Pharisees ? the endeavour to ensnare a re- 
 prover, whom they could not put to shame ? the 
 ostentatious^ but unreal, severity against that de- 
 tected sin in others, of which they had overlooked 
 the principle within themselves ? What (on the 
 other hand) more wisely consolatory to a spirit of 
 sincere and contrite self-conviction, than the mer- 
 ciful indulgence of our Saviour r 
 
 He that abuses this affecting passage of divine 
 Writ into a cloke for sin, abuses truth to his 
 own undoing. But this is not a plaee to vindi- 
 cate its tendency. It has been taken for a pre- 
 sent example, not as affording any preeniihent 
 illustration of our general position ; butbecause^ 
 having maintained its station in the canon of 
 Scripture through severe <juestionbg, it exhiKts, 
 
I.ECTURE V, 127 
 
 itx this very circumstance, so good a contrast be-' 
 tween the ways and thoughts of man, in such par- 
 ticulars, and the rf«V?«« ways and thoughts. Which 
 shall we think knew best the natm'e and the w^iOts 
 of.man,-r-the timidity, which, arguing from abuse, 
 would havfi excluded this detail from its post pf 
 authority ; or He, that said to the convicted sinner, 
 Neither do I eoi^dewn ihee^ go, fl^d sin no 
 more ?..... 
 
 2. Again: to. take an instance of a different 
 bearing :T-7-it is real life that is deiscvibed in the 
 behaviour of the wife of Zebedee, in her request, 
 Grant thai thessi my two, sons mdy si^, the one on Matt. xx. 
 thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy 
 kingdom. Nor does it make material difference, 
 whethejf we suppose the sons applying for theifMarki. 
 own advancement, or the mother ;sp^gaking for 
 t^em. There is such a reality in the whole picr 
 ture, that to draw forth the various points of its 
 application closely must be forborne, from feel- 
 ings of revel;enc6.^ It would mak^ Scripture sound 
 almost like satire. 
 
 . 3. A like feeling forbids more than just the 
 mention of a third, still quite different, example, 
 to be found in that most natural and getijuine d&- 
 scriptipn of the conduct^ throughout, «f the rioljers , 
 at Ephesus, as narrated itii the ninietept^th chapter Acts xiz. 
 -of the Acts, of the Apostles. 
 
 But it, -may be said; the chairaqtpr of a t^- 
 multupus pop.ula,r assemblage's, a very palpable 
 
128 LECTURE V. 
 
 one ; and it needs no preternatural spirit to de- 
 scribe this. 
 
 Most certainly it does not ; nor do we main- 
 tain any such position. The position before us 
 is, that we ourselves, and such as we, are the 
 very persons whom Scripture speaks of; and to 
 whom, as men, in every variety of persuasive form, 
 it rriakes its condescending, though celestial, ap- 
 peal. The point worthy of observation is, to note 
 how a book of the description and the compass 
 which we have represented Scripture to be, pos- 
 sesses this versatility of power, — this eye, like that 
 of a portrait, uniformly fixed upon us, turn where 
 we will ; to perceive how that very simplicity of 
 form, for which in the pride of iheori/.we should be 
 disposed to reject it, becomes capable, of being 
 changed by the humility of practice into one of 
 the surest sources of conviction. The thing to be 
 digested, in faith, is this ; — ^that in this singular 
 volume, spoken, as it has been, at sundry times 
 and in divers manners, by Prophets, Evangelists, 
 Apostles, " there is nothing said of moral man, 
 ^' inconsistent with proved experience ; nothing to 
 " which he; the subject of its trial, may not either 
 " from his lighter or more solemn observation of 
 " himselif, bear testimony." 
 
 II. 2. This has been illustrated from . its nar- 
 ratives. The tendency of all its practical </oc- 
 7W«^* points the same way'. 
 
 ' Perhaps it might be more correct to say, of its doctrinal 
 
LECTURE Y. 129 
 
 And here it may be proper to notice (as it ap- 
 pears from the point of view at which we now 
 are) an error of too pious zeal, which has , occa- 
 sioned offence to unbelievers. I mean that,' by 
 which too much has often been claimed for the 
 morality of Christianity^. 
 
 I would not be understood to imply, that Chris- 
 tian morality has nothing distinctive and peculiar 
 in it, even independently of its sanctions. But the 
 
 precepts : but whatever phrase may be accepted as best ex- 
 pressing what is intended, I mean those precepts which are 
 considered to be, and which certainly are, peculiar to Chris- 
 tianity, the " renouncing of the world," the " preference of 
 '" humility to honour," the "forgiveness and love of enemies," 
 and such like : which are peculiar to Christianity in this 
 sense, — that, though their truth, and excellence, and ad- 
 vantage, may be demonstrated by reason alone to every can- 
 did man's sufficient conviction, yet are they so difficult in 
 execution, and so essentially, interwoven with the whole 
 frame and spirit of the Gospel, that they cannot be accepted 
 as priactical principles of conduct, without the belief and in- 
 ward consolation of Gospel doctrines. 
 
 s An error, which has, I believe, been carried so far by 
 some^, as to induce them to claim, as a principle of conduct 
 unknown before, the Christian maxim of doing unto others as 
 we taould have them do unto us. A claim this, which ' (with- 
 out i-eferring to other authorities) may be invalidated by 
 Uiese simple words of Isocrates ; "A isnie-jioyTis i^' Wi^m 
 Igyi^iT^i, r»urti T«is «AAws fivi iTttii'n. (Nicocles. vol. i. p. 116. 
 edit. Battle. 1749.) I am not aware what writer has ad- 
 vanced this injudicious demand, but mention it because it 
 has been made a matter of complaint against the fairness of 
 Christian advocates, within my own personal knowledge. 
 
 K 
 
130 LECTURE V. 
 
 cause of truth is not injured, or deserted, by fore- 
 going a degree of claim which cannot be main- 
 tained. And it appears to me to be not only hot 
 disadvantageous to the evidence of Christianity, 
 but altogether the contrary, that in its mere moral 
 code it should have fallen in so muCh, as it has 
 done, with preestablished authorities. It was 
 better that so, in all admissible things, existing 
 rights should have "^ been respected by it ; that the 
 philosopher of the Gentiles should have been ena- 
 See Rom. i, l)led (notwithstanding the sentence passed upon 
 icor. i. 19, his •' wisdom") to recognize himself among the 
 guests invited to the Christian feast ; if he were 
 but willing to come to it^ It was better that he 
 should have had the means of perceiving that He, 
 who knows what is in man, was ready to acc6j)t 
 both him, and all men, in Jesus Christ, «/ the 
 point at which he foun^ them. The , event has 
 proved that (after accepfing the alliance of such 
 human wisdom as is essentially imperishable) there 
 is yet quite enough remaihingj in the sanctions 
 and spiritual requisitions of the Gospel, to esta- 
 blish its separate and superior authority ; — quite 
 enough to prove it divine ; quite enough to con- 
 vince the very strength of human reason of its 
 ultimate wealiness, without denying it its real pos- 
 session of that, which surely it possessed before ; — 
 namely, much admirable sagacity ; much that me- 
 Phfl. iv. 8. rited to be engrafted and preserved among the 
 stock that is to last for ever : of which, therefore, 
 
tEX3TURE V. 131 
 
 indeed it could pot have been deprived, without 
 impeaching the jufstice of its Author. 
 
 Let the case be estimated, in this manner: we 
 renounce the philosopher (I mean the philosophic 
 unbeliever) of our own times, as a brothef under 
 our pemtlmr, inheritelnce. If he set up his own 
 wi^om as sufficient to happiness, without the 
 Gospel, it is clear hie disinherits himself. But we 
 do not, for this, renounce his wisdom in its ster- 
 ling and appropriate' value. He has as much 
 title, under our general inheritance, as we, or 
 any man. It were vain to deny him to be lord 
 of the very extremest compass of that wisdom, Lect. iv. p. 
 which recorded facts prove it to be possible for 
 man, (I will not say, for I do not,believe. without hect.u. p. 
 
 • 32. 
 
 the help of grace, but for man,) at least u?icon- 
 sciotis of grace and revelation, to have attained 
 to, and rejoiced in. As vain were it, as to deny . 
 that he possesses, bodily, " the discerning head, ^^^'j"? 
 " and the servile feet ; the thinking heart, and 
 "the working hand." We will travel with him, 
 on our way, as far as we- can ; as far as he will 
 go. It is not his stock of real knowledge that we 
 reijuire of him to surrender. If he will but sub- 
 mit to take our principles, we will gladly, thank- 
 fully, give him the right hand of fellowship al- 
 together. We desire hot to rob him of that pro- 
 perty which, as it was the gift of God when first 
 he came to us, so is it at the same Almighty dis- 
 posal still. That shall be continued to his sole 
 
 k2 
 
132 LECTURE V. 
 
 account. He, indeed, who will then have showed 
 mercy, will purify and transform it into a talent 
 fitted for his own use. But let not the man, who 
 is thus freely called, therefore fear to trust his 
 Maker! Much shall be added to his treasure, 
 but nothing taken away. He shall receive his 
 own with usury. If I may dare so to apply tfie 
 Apostle's language, Christianity does not ask of 
 g Cor. V. 4. human knowledge that it should be unclothed, 
 but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed 
 up of life; — the human, exalted and enlarged by 
 the divine. 
 
 But to return to the question of those practical 
 doctrines, which are peculiar to Christianity. Will 
 not (it may be objected) our great argument, that 
 the revelation of the Gospel is adapted to the state 
 of human nature, be thus invalidated by the 
 counter-argument, that its most important, be- 
 cause peculiar, precepts, are contrary to human 
 nature ? 
 
 No : the being contrary to human nature,*^ in 
 its unrenewed state, does not necessarily imply 
 that human nature is incapaible of complying with 
 them under any assistance whatever. And the 
 very fact of their unwelcomeness proves as much 
 as is absolutely needed to support the consistency 
 of our proposition. We do not say that hurhan 
 nature will not be a//'CT*e</ by acceptance of, and 
 conformity to, these precepts ; interwoven inse- 
 parably as that acceptance and conformity will 
 
LECTURE V. 133 
 
 and must be with spiritual blessings : but we say, 
 that the oiFer of them— the challenge to accept 
 them — is made to human nature as it is. And 
 this is enough to justify an argument, that there 
 is perceptible, : in every point of revelation, the 
 hand and wisdom of a Revealer, who knew what 
 was in man. , 
 
 II. 3. We seek a further exemplification of our 
 argument from our Saviour's parables : and as 
 the proposition is more certain with respect to 
 others, and will probably be admitted at first 
 sight /Aere, it shall the rather be grounded upon 
 those which may be in part considered as pro- 
 phetical, hy reason of their describing the exact 
 progress, or treatment, of the Gospel in the 
 world. 
 
 But are these, predictions of the historical 
 march and sufferance of the truth, only ? records 
 merely of the past, which have spent their strength 
 ' in a solitary effort, and remain now but as heralds 
 thiat have told their message ? Or does not ex- 
 perience even constrain us to invest them with that 
 perennial life, which- heathen piety could attach to 
 only supposed divine utterances .'* 
 
 And again, - ' Theb.S84. 
 
 O > V ». . \ . e^ Blom- 
 
 Tuh.aiei field. 
 
 i<o»rx ■srBOiicorS.Txi. Soph. (E- 
 
 ^ dip, Tyr. 
 
 Surely they are a sort oi standing prophecy — ^nck!''' 
 permanent chronicles of human nature! The *[**?•»*"• 
 
 k3 
 
134 LECTUKE V. 
 
 field, the good seed, the te|res, the mixture suf- 
 fered to remain unto the harvest — ^these are no 
 ordinary likenesses — no definite enunciations, 
 once appointed to be verified, but since daily 
 Matt. xxii. fulfilled only by accident ! Again : the marriage 
 Luke'xiv. feast, the general invitation, not given until all 
 ' things were now ready, the shifting and hypocri- 
 
 tical excuses, and finally the intrusion of unfit 
 guests after all — these cannot be mere . protects, 
 and; records of condemnation, against the Jews; 
 but genial, and recurring, and pregnant te&tL- 
 monies of the case between the Almighty a^d 
 his people, through all the generations of those, 
 who, on the faihng of t,he natural branches through 
 ^"^0^ unbelief, were grafted in by faith ''. 
 
 ^ If it were not so, if we found ourselves prohibited from 
 using these very significant and tbuchidg represefitattotis to 
 the better understanding and the improving of our spiritual 
 condition, and were told that we had no bu^ness with them 
 in that way, though they served a general purpose in our fa-, 
 vour ; we might well adapt to our feelings the pathetic ap- 
 peal of the poet, in his " Complaint" on a different subject: 
 
 " Now, for this consecrated Fount, 
 "■ Of murm'ring, sparkling, living love, 
 " What have I ? shall I dare to tell ? 
 " A comfortless, and hidden well. 
 
 " A well of love — it may be deep— f - 
 
 " I trust it is, and never dry : 
 
 " What matter ? if the waters sleep 
 
 " In silence and obscurity. 
 
 " Such change, and at the very door 
 
 " Of Iny fond heart, hath made me poor." 
 
LECTURE V. J,35 
 
 II. 4. To proceed to another part of Scrip- 
 ture — consider the profound insight into human 
 nature perceptible throughout' the Epistles of St. 
 Paul. But let our more especial reference be 
 made, here, to such passages as describe the va- 
 rious abuses under which the Church should^ in 
 succeeding ages, suffer, through corruptions of 
 its disciples and teachers. I do not refer to such 
 a passage as that wherein he says, The Spirit iTaa.iv.i. 
 speaketh eaopressly, but to those which seem to 
 have Ei general aspect; as where he regrets the 
 /necessity of Aerme*, or mentions the impatience i Cor.xi. 
 of sound doctrine, which should arise; or de-2Tim.iv.3. 
 jBcribes the sort of teachers, which should cre^ 2 Tim. m. 
 into houses, and lead captive silly women laden 
 with sins, led away with divers lusts : these are 
 not merely things which we have heard with our 
 ears, and our fathers have told us, — they are 
 true, in that respect as well as in every otherjt — 
 but because we have seen, we have believed 
 them. 
 
 Now what answer shaH be made to this ?— 
 That St. Paul was a subtle rhetorician, brought up 
 at the feet of Gamaliel, and therefore knew all 
 artificial modes of attack and defence; and so, 
 fortified his system by anticipating evils in them- 
 
 And Ipt our quotation of this be. received as a testi^mony 
 with what compni^nity of spirit we embrace all subsidiary 
 processfes of natural wisdom, power, and beauty, and apply 
 them to the illustration and joint establishment of truth. 
 
 k4 
 
136 LECTURE V.' 
 
 selves not unlikely to befall? — ^The supposition 
 implies that, in regard to Christianity, he was an 
 impostor. Wherefore, tits refutation may safely 
 be referred to the general state of the argument 
 on this point. What other interpretation, theh, 
 besides the true, shall be put upon it ? There is 
 none. St. Paul's anticipation of darker times is 
 only to be accounted for, rationally, by the belief 
 that he spoke under influence and direction of a 
 Spirit that knew, really, xvhat was in man. 
 
 One further example only shall be brought, 
 from a circumstance which conveys a most af- 
 fecting evidence of truth to the heart, and which 
 is so little like the manner of men ; from that 
 beautiful and merciful acceptance of divers con- 
 
 Lect. viii. I. ditions and capacities in the cause of God, which 
 ' ' is so marked a feature of the New Testament. 
 In proof of which let present appeal be made 
 only to the tenor of St. Paul's language in the 
 twelfth chapter of the first* Epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians : since it is upon the recognition of so 
 
 Lect.i. p. much -difFference of capacity, rather than of con- 
 dition, that the inference shall be grounded. 
 
 : It may be said, perhaps, that this twelfth chap- 
 ter of Corinthians only concerns certain varieties 
 of miraculous power in the primitive Church. 
 
 Be it so, that in its first and strict applica- 
 tion it does. But when I see that in the Church 
 miraculous powers of every sort have long since 
 ceased altogether; that an equable and propor- 
 
 7— 10,&c. 
 
LECTURE y: : isir 
 
 tionate change has happened to its whole body, 
 something analogous, in its eflfect, to the soften- 
 ing of a picture ; that learning has thus stepped 
 in, to supply, in such measure as it may, the- 
 place of inspiration ; (whence^ at this day, they 
 within the Church that are mighty in learning 
 are accounted and honoured as its foremost de- 
 fenders ;) that some are rich in eloquence, and in 
 the might of touching the affections ; that others, 
 again, abound in cool and sober judgment, and 
 have their access to good through the under- 
 standing ; that some can only prevail by simpli- 
 city and fervent piety, seeing they are debarred 
 from all outward advantages ; that every minister 
 of Christ (in short) at this day, has his own 
 measure of ability; and one has this gift, and 
 another that; when I see tljings like these, I 
 look to Scripture for a clew to unravel the ap- 
 pearance ; of, them, and seem to find it here : j4lli Coiv xa 
 these things worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, 
 dividing to every man severally as he will. . . 
 
 But when, beyond this point, I look again on 
 this same present Church, and see, in instances 
 almost innumerable, (as of old,) these gifts set in 
 invidious an-ay, one against another; learning 
 much too apt to spealc contemptuously oi piety, 
 and piety as much too ready to r pass censorious 
 verdict upon , learning ; those, whose strength is 
 in the understanding charging such as appeal to 
 
138 LECTURE Vr 
 
 the affections with enthusiasm; and these re- 
 torting, in their turn, a hasty reproach of luke- 
 warmness and indifference ; all (as it would ap- 
 pear) from want of duly appreciating and ho- 
 nouring the necessity and assistance of either 
 to other ; and when, at the close of such a chap- 
 icor.xii. ter, I hear the Apostle sayinsr, Yet show I unto 
 
 31. andch. , i , 
 
 xjii. you a more excellent way, — and that way is cha- 
 
 rity ; then it becomes sure, that the chapter is 
 for uS, and for our children, of some power to- 
 wards effectual holiness ; though we were neither 
 Apostles, nor workers of signs and wonders, but 
 
 Ps. ixxxiv. only doorkeepers in the house of our God. 
 
 But it is necessary to pause upon a theme, 
 which is inexhaustible. If the position taken in 
 the outset has been, thus far, made good ; if the 
 exemplifications of it do really and fairly sei-ve to 
 tljeir intended purpose ; if Scripture does indeed 
 thus show us to ourselves, and we cannot deny 
 the truth of the resemblance ; if it neither con- 
 ceals deformity, to tempt us, nor yet drives us 
 into extremity, so as to overwhelm us ; if it nei- 
 ther threatens, nor promises too much ; could it 
 have proceeded either from one that did not 
 know us, or from one that did not love us ? 
 . There is yet another general view of its adapt- 
 ation to the real state of human nature re- 
 maining to be taken, before we come to speak of 
 its sufficiency for individual cases ; which view 
 
LECTURE V. isD 
 
 is to be seen in the characteristic speech and con- 
 duct of its successive ambassadors, both under 
 the elder and the later dispensation. This, which 
 offers a topic of much interesting reflection, will 
 form the subject of the next Lecture. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 John ii. S5. 
 
 For he knew ixihat teas in man. 
 
 We proceed to' the last exemplification proposed 
 of this particular position in the text ; as it is to 
 be inferred, concerning hbly Scripture, "from the 
 " manner af speech and general character of its 
 " successive ambassadors both under the elder 
 " and the later covenant." 
 
 If the preceding statements, which have beea 
 advanced, be in any measure sound and just ; if 
 holy Scripture be truly represented as one con- 
 tinuous appeal from the Almighty to his crea- 
 tures, made at sundry times and in divers man" 
 ners to the same human nature ; we shall expect, 
 according to that harmony of colouring, that pr€(- 
 portion which may reasonably be looked for, in a 
 volume of inspired and everlasting truth, to find a 
 suitable difference perceptible in the points above 
 mentioned. We shall not look for exactly the 
 same character and manner of address to their 
 hearers, in the ," Prophets," in " our Lord," and 
 
142 LECTURE VI. 
 
 in his "Apostles." We shall look, indeed, for 
 
 consistency of spirit in all ; and expect all to have 
 
 See Luke their fttccs Set the same way, as though they would 
 
 Hebr.'xii. go towurds Jerusalem ; (agreeably to that which 
 
 go 
 
 johniv.37,our Saviour has himself represented ; And herein 
 is that saying true, One soweth, and another 
 reapeth ; the field of labour must, be one ;) but, 
 with this, we may reckon upon finding their re- 
 spective methods of procedure influenced by the 
 consciousness of delegated power in each, and by 
 the extent of their entrusted commissions. 
 
 For examjrle ; when Elijah called down fire from 
 
 a Kings i. heaven upoti the messengers of Ahaziah, he knew 
 
 ' '^' well that his appeal would be answered from on 
 
 high. He acted suitably to his commission ; and 
 
 the effect he desired was produced. But when the 
 
 Luke ix. Apostles James and John would have had recourse 
 
 54, 55, 56. '^ , , 
 
 to a like demonstration, it stan<is on record, mat 
 they knew not the Spirit of the dispensation where- 
 uhto they were called. How much less could we 
 exjtect to convince others, by a^pcialihg now to 
 powefs, which we could not command ! or hoW 
 could Scripture commend itself effectually to the 
 reason and the conscience at once, if we found it 
 eduntenahcihg any reference to present visible 
 terrors, which we know, from the analogy of sifittled 
 ex:perience, to be no longer executed ! A laWi 
 which should thiis invalidate its own authority, 
 would certainly fail of proof, that it kniew what was 
 TO him, for ^Tiom it was intended. 
 
LECTURE VI. 143 
 
 Do, then, the suceessive commissioners of the 
 divine purpose for man's redemption (that is to 
 say, the Prophets, as its harbingers ; owv Lord 
 himself, as its Author and Finisher ; the Apo- 
 stles, whose writings have descended to us, as its 
 inspired Inierpreiters) severally speak, and con- 
 duct themselves in such manner and proportion, 
 as seems consistent and > reasonable ? like teachers 
 taking men as :they were at the season of their 
 respective ministries; directing their efforts ac- 
 eording to the power and commission with which 
 they felt themselves invested ; and leaving pro- 
 vision for things to come, with reference to prac- 
 tical possibilities ? — That they should do so, seems 
 to be nature ; and nature (in such sense) may 
 be pronounced one evidence of wisdom and of 
 truth. 
 
 We will first, then, state what appears to 6e the* 
 characteristic manner of address, severally, of the 
 I^-ophets ; of our Lord, and of the Apostles ; and 
 secondly, consider each with refei'ence to the 
 position of the present Lecture. 
 • I. 1. The characteristic manner of the PrJophets 
 (that is to say, of all the expressly commissioned 
 teachers under the Old Testament) may be dis- 
 missed very briefly. That in iheiv prophetic affice 
 they spake as men unto whom it was revealed, i Pet. i. 12, 
 that not unto themselves, but unto us they did 
 minister the things which they testified, will not 
 be disallowed. It is, however, their didactic manner 
 
144 LECTURE VI. 
 
 which more concerns the present question. And 
 as to this, they spake and taught always like men 
 personally conscious of direct influence, and strong 
 only by virtue of recurring communication with 
 the power whose instruments they were. With- 
 out distinction and special i-evelation, they seem 
 not to have spoken at alP. Their tone is rather 
 abrupt and minatory, than gentle and persuasive. 
 They speak like preachers under a system of more 
 immediate and visible impressions. Their ap- 
 peal is more to " fear," than to " love." Not that 
 there are no exceptions ; but this is their prevaUk 
 ing manner. Fear is unqu'estionably the motive 
 of the Old Testament. It seems as though the 
 constitution of human natm'e required that it should/ 
 be so. It was necessary, to the illustration in due 
 season of the dispensation of love. It is not ex- 
 
 iJohniv. tinguished, even under that, until love h^ perfect. 
 As we spoke before of a reciprocation between 
 
 l-ect. ji. p. the Law and the Gospel, in respect of their " end" 
 and. " means ;" so may a like interchange be dis-. 
 covered here, between the " rule" and the " ex- 
 *' ception" of their severally prevailing manners 
 of address. In the Old Testame-nt, /error forms 
 
 .'■ This might be inferred frona what is said in the third 
 chapter of the first book of Samuel. The word of the Lord 
 vms precious in those days; there was no open vision, (v. 1.) 
 But it is only necessary to refer to their express formal intro- 
 ductions; as. Thus saith the Lord : or. The ward of the Lord 
 vhich came, &c. and auch like phrases. ' 
 
LECTURE VI. 145 
 
 the rule, and tenderness the exception ; in the 
 New, it is terror which appears to be the exeep-^ 
 tian, and tenderness the ruler 
 
 I; 2. The case of our Lord himself, on earth, is 
 quite peculiar; and as before it none was ever 
 like unto it, neither shall be any hereafter, we 
 might be perplexed, if a corresponding peculiarity 
 were not discernible in his manner and character. 
 
 For he came not as a minister and ambassa- 
 dor alone ; these do not complete his pretensions, 
 even as a teacher : (setting aside, for a whiles his 
 included purpose, to be " an ensample of godly CoUect for 
 
 second 
 
 " life."-) He was not merely the herald, but (if Sunday 
 I may so speak) himself the evident ^orojonV^or of Easter. 
 a more perfect commission ; announced by his 
 forerunner, in terms as distinctive and express as 
 the following. He that cometh frark above e* John Hi. 
 above all ; he that is of the earth is earthly, and 
 speaketh of the earth : he that comethfrom heaven 
 is above all. For he whom God hath sent speak- • 
 eth the words of God : for God giveth not the 
 Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth 
 the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 
 Here is evidently the character of a person of 
 more perfect " authority;" of one, who (how 
 .strictly soever he might unite with his unequal 
 yoke-fellows in- all concern for man's conviction ; 
 and so far speak, persuade, and admonish, as they 
 had done, and were to do) yet stands distinguished 
 
146 LECTURE VL 
 
 above ' all, by a mmlhsiMiQn of conscious indc' 
 pmdmee belonging to himself alone, . 
 
 Now that our Loyd was distinguished in .char 
 racter and rpanner from the " Prophets," as it 
 needs no proof, and is not of so njuch weight to- 
 wards the object of the wh^Je comparison, is a 
 point tljat shall not be dwelt upon. But the quality 
 of distinction here meant between himself and bis 
 chosen servants in tfie Gospel, demands a furtJier 
 illustration ; which shall be given, first, from itj'- 
 stances wherein they have spoken of the same 
 thing. 
 Matt, xxui. 1. Co^npare, then, our Saviour, saying, ff^oe 
 33. ' ' unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! Ye 
 be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the chil- 
 dren of them which killed the prophets, MU ye 
 tip then the measure of your fathers. Ye seri- 
 pents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape 
 the damnation qf heU9 with St. Paul, writing— 
 1 Thess.ii. y%g Jews, who both killed the hord Jesus, and 
 
 14, 15, 16. . 
 
 their own prophets, and have persecuted us ; and 
 th^y please not God, and are contrary to all mm : 
 favMdding us to speak to the Gentiles that they 
 might be saved, to fill up their own sins alwuy : 
 for (he wrath is come upon them to the 'uttermost. 
 That tone, which is judicial in the one passage, 
 seems rather sorrowful and patlietic in the other. 
 Nor does St. Stephen (though much nearer the 
 judicial spirit than St Paul) go the full length of 
 
LECTURE Vl. 147 
 
 d6dai*hig ttie cohclusioH to which his Protest led, Acts vii. 
 
 ° . . , T . 1 M SI, Sg, 53. 
 
 in his defence before the Jem.^h council *=. 
 
 2. hook, next, at an instance of personal beha- 
 viour. 
 
 Pilate said unto our Savioiir, S^ewke'st thou ^o/J<^n3cix. 
 iinto me ? knowest thou not that 1 hitve potv^f to 
 Crucify thee, arid htt'De power to r^leds'6 thee 9 
 Jesus answered. Thou couldest have no power at 
 alt ttgaitii^ me, except it were given thee from, 
 above -; therefore ^e that delivered me unto thee 
 hath the greater sin. After which, hear St. ¥ka], 
 before Festuis ; If I be an offkndetj or have earn- Acts xxv. 
 wdtteA any thing worthy of death, I rtfuse i^ot to 
 die : but if there bie none of these things whereof 
 thdse accuse me, nb man m«y Oliver me unto them. 
 •I appeal unto Cttsari Th^rte is, perhaps, no more 
 fear of death in one of these cases, than in the 
 "Other ; bv»4; there is a, very .different consciousness 
 of power implied in the respective answers ''. 
 
 ' "Compare, again, our Lord's . description of the- day of 
 Judgment, (Matt. xxv. 31—^46.) with St. Paul'slanguage, in 
 2 Cor. V. 10,11 5 or with St. Peter's, (2 tipist. iii.) or with 
 St. Jude, (which is, ptirbapS, the most peremptory in its cha- 
 racter, of any apostolic writing in the Canon ;) there will be 
 perceivable, I think, an air of authority in the original de- 
 claration, very different from the features of those <^TgA&its, 
 which rest Lttt upon its sanction. 
 
 ^ Or, agaia, compare John xi. 8, 9. with St. Paul's manner 
 of speaking in 1 Thess. ii. 18. TKe language of Philippiatts 
 i. ^5. may seem to militate agaifl^ the inf^fene@ h«re in- 
 tended ; and therefore deserves to be referred to. But I 
 
 1.2 
 
us LECTURE VI. 
 
 3. Let another exemplification or two of our 
 Lord's peculiar character be taken, without any 
 comparison ; as it is incidentally pourtrayed only, 
 not with any seeming design. 
 
 And first, as to his absolute and perfect intui- 
 tion : look at his interview with Nathanael. When 
 John i. 49, Nathanael (convinced by what had passed bet^ween 
 them before) had made confession : TAou art the 
 Son of God; thou art the King of Israel ; Jesus 
 answered and said unto him ; because I said 
 unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest 
 thou ? thou shah see greater things than these. 
 He speaks of that knowledge, which impressed his 
 hearer with so much astonishment, as a merely 
 familiar" and natural possession of his^ own : npr 
 only that ; but as an inferior and ordinary part of 
 his abundant store. 
 
 thinkj when considered attentively, it will be found to be of 
 no dissimilar character; either the confidence which the 
 Apostle there feels of abiding with his Philippian flock \s, in 
 fact, conditional, though peremptorily expressed ; (in which 
 case it seems built en the persuasion of its being advantage^- 
 ous to them that he should so abide, mixed up with a general 
 
 -interpretation of the will of God ;) or that conjecture must 
 be just, which attributes it to a particular revelation. See 
 Doddridge on the place. 
 
 = Pascal,^ Thoughts, xiv. " Jesus Christ speaks of the sub- 
 " limest subjects in a manner as simple as if he had never con- 
 
 • " sidered thepa j but nevertheless his expressions are so exact, 
 " as to show that he had thoroughly weighed them. Such 
 
 -" accuracy, with such simplicity, is admirable." (" Cette 
 " clartd jointe ^ cette naioeU est admirable.") ' 
 
LECTURE VI. 149 
 
 Observe a like evidence of the -natural fulness 
 of all power in our Saviour, as it appears through 
 the cure of the man sick of the palsy, as related in 
 the ninth chapter of St, Matthew's Goispel. Our 
 Lord had chosen to convey his ^cure in the words, 
 Son^ be of good cheer i thy sins beforgiven.thee.Sessiao 
 But when certain of the Scribes began to sat/s—is. 
 within themselves. This man blasphemeth ; ■ Jesus is—as! 
 knowing their thoughts said; Wherefore think 
 y>e evil in your hearts ? for whether is easier to 
 say. Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Arise, 
 and walk ? But that ye may know that the Son 
 0f man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then 
 saith he to the sick of the palsy. Arise, take up 
 thy bed, and go unto thine house. I think it is im- 
 possible not to be struck with this narrative. He 
 not only shows his power here, but he shows an 
 unrivalled, an infinite ease in the exertion of it. 
 For he lets his enemies themselves, as it were, 
 choose the way in which it should be manifested ; 
 signifying, that with him this made no difference. 
 
 To a somewhat different operation of the same 
 inward confidence, (still discovering itself naturally,) 
 why should we not attribute that singular action, 
 related in the chapter from whence the text is 
 taken ? I mean, the driving out the buyers and 
 sellers from the temple ^ Our Saviour's sense of 
 
 * This action of our Saviour has been much and irreverently 
 calunaniated. As to its probable motive, 1 do hot see why 
 the explanation of it implied in the Homily, «' On the right 
 
 l3 
 
ISO LECTURE VI, 
 
 right and proprietvrsMp in the ternpl§ may be 
 Matt. xvii. inferred from the incident of the tribute money, as 
 
 21—27. ^ . 
 
 it befel at Capernaum. Consider the transaction 
 now before us in the light proposed ; and it is, at 
 least, an instructive (and consolatory) instance of 
 worldly strength abashed and confounded before the 
 simple m%bt of spiritual authority, not blindly ex- 
 ceeding its commission, but estimating rightly its 
 own resources,^ and knowing what is in man^. 
 
 Such, we think, is the scriptural deU»e»>tionL (ia 
 part) of our Saviour's character, as the Founder 
 and Lord of the Gospel dispensation. Let it not 
 be forgotten, because (as will appear) it is of inse- 
 parable importance in measuring the propriety: of 
 his wfhole character, that he is nevertheless repre- 
 sented, all the while, in the form and likeness qJ 
 perfect man. 
 
 "■ use pf the Church," should not be eheerfuHy acquiesced 
 in 5 especially as it is justified by the quotation. The zeal of 
 thine house hath eaten me up. May it, not at, once illustrate, 
 and stand illustrated by St. Paul's precept to the Ephesians 
 (iv. 26.) Be yk angry, and sin not ? 
 
 s Perhaps we may refer to this same head (for a still 
 further elucidation, over and above all of other kinds that 
 have been advanced for their correct development) those 
 iqiracles of our blessed Lord, " the destruction of the herd of 
 " swine," and " the cursing of the barren fig tree ;" by con- 
 sidering them as acts of plenary power, exercised absolutely, 
 but, not wantonly, by one, who felt all nature to be at. bis 
 command ; and knew lyjiat diversities of proof man needed, 
 to his full conviction, for his.greatest and eternal good. ; 
 
LECTURE VI. 151 
 
 i. 3. W^come, thirdlyj. to the characteristics of 
 the Apostles, as they ai'e to be collected from the 
 Mew Testament. 
 
 And what is it we meet with here ? Taking our 
 ^iew from simple apprehension and general im- 
 pression, I think it must be answered ; something 
 quite distinct from- either precedent, in the form of 
 thteir a'pipeSil to us ; though in exact ilnison a'i to 
 the aim' — of bringing us to be holy, and just, and' 
 good. There is neither the denunciatory tone of 
 the Prophets, nor yet the pecaliar, ttneqiiivmal aU- 
 t'honty of their divine Master. They speak, in 
 gveaf^r degree than either, as teachers, giving 
 reasons for what they recomtoend : not like men 
 holding out immediate terrors, or liooking for in- 
 stant and palpable effects ; but as the stewards of a 
 rtnMer dispensation might be expected to speafe ; 
 more under the influence of a general hope, and 
 with more variety of manner ; vehemently or pa- 
 tiently, earnestly or sorrowfully, as the occasion 
 iftay require : not temporizing '', (as we use the 
 word, in a;bad sense,) or betraying fear, or com- 
 promising their commission ; no : strong and con- 
 fident of truth, in- the spirit, as strength and confi- 
 dence can be ; but still, like persons presuming 
 that they s|)oke to hearers possessed of a spiritual 
 diScertlrtvent also. I do not mean, in such man- 
 
 •> "The . various reading of Romans xii. 11. xa/ga (for Kvg/a 
 ^UXiiioMi, will' hardly be objected here. Even SuiJposiBg'it 
 to 6e the true r-eadlng, it has evld«!nti-y aaother force. ■■ 
 
 l4 
 
1j2 lecture VI. 
 
 Numb. xvi. ner or degree, as to justify an inference, th?itj seeing 
 all the congregation are holy, every one of them, 
 and the Lord is among them; therefore, all 
 spiritual subordination is to be rejected. Very far 
 otherwise. But they appear to respect the personal 
 rights of their disciples, as fit subjects to be strictly 
 put upon their own responsibility ; and therefore 
 they seem (we presume, by permission ar^d, in- 
 fluence of the Divine Comforter) to condescend, 
 and to entreat, more than any who had taught 
 
 2Cor. i. 24 before them : not as if they had dominion over 
 
 1 Pet. V. 3. . , . ■ . ^ 
 
 1 Cor. iv. their disciples' faith, hut were helpers of their joy. 
 
 They speak like persons unwilling to proceed to se- 
 verities. Witness that tender language of St. Paul, 
 even where compelled to hold out threatening; 
 Ver. 21. TfHiat will ye ? shall I come unto you with a rod, 
 or in love, and in the spirit of meekness : and 
 
 2 Cor. X. 2. again ; / beseech you, that I may not be bold, 
 
 when I am present, with that confidence where- 
 with I think to be bold against some, which think 
 
 2 Cor. vi. of US, as if we walked according to the flesh. 
 They indicate a full sense of being themselves ex- 
 posed to scrutiny ; not concealing (or rather, openly 
 confessing, as though they never thought. any thing 
 else) their natural fellowship in human weakness \ 
 and, by consequence, exercising an appropriate 
 modesty, and prudent discretion. I repeat, they 
 seem quite sure of their divine commission ; fully 
 prepared to give account of their stewardship ; and 
 
 1 qor. iv, 3. declaring it to be a small thing, that they shoy,ld 
 
LECTURE VI. 153 
 
 be judged, of man^s judgment : and yet, they treat 
 
 the reasonable consciences of men, under grace, as 
 
 fit subjects unto which to make appeal.. / speak,icox.x.is. 
 
 says St. Paul, as to wise men ; judge ye what I 
 
 say. 
 
 II. I forbear to multiply characteristics. Our 
 groundwork being thus sufficiently prepared, let 
 us proceed to consider the distinctions thus deli- 
 neated with reference to the position of the present 
 Lecture. Let us examine, whether these pecu- 
 liarities, severally attributed to a succession of in- 
 spired ministers, the stewards all of one continuous 
 scheme, do indeed appear so well adapted to the 
 quality and spirit of their respective dispensation's, 
 as to support our inference, that there appears, 
 through them, the progressive nlethod of a wisdom, 
 which knew what was in man. 
 
 Now, the plan I shall adopt for ascertaining 
 whether the characters of these successive adminis- 
 trators of revelation were suited to their purpose, 
 shall be, not to suppose ourselves in the place of 
 Jews who lived three thousand years ago ; or of 
 Christians, in the days when they were so called k<As^i.%%. 
 ■first at Ant'ioch : and so, to imagine fictitious Lect. vii. 
 
 , , ' ■ - » , pp. 17S-6. 
 
 cases, for persons whom we cannot personate ; but 
 to review these several particularities, as they-pre~ 
 sent themselves to us, and to our own spiritual 
 faculties, (wherein our trial lies,) at this day. Lect. ii, 
 
 II. 1 . Consider, then, in this light, the manner 
 of thie Old Testament, first. Dismiss the parts 
 
134 LECTURE VI. 
 
 that are really obsolete ; the national ancf Levitical 
 proprieties, and the mere locaEties ; and refer only 
 to the features that are permanent ; to the quali- 
 ties of omr foreftcthers as men ; to the heairt, the 
 spirit, and the passions, speaking through their 
 personal conduct; and thus (for we have already 
 
 Lectt. iv. V. seen that the same heart, and spirit^ and passions 
 are our oum} consider it as addressing our own 
 state of religious infancy. 
 
 I do not mean a state through which we have all 
 actually and Kttjradly passed, or of which we are 
 likely to obtain an apprehension, iu equal degrees. 
 In fiact, any aspprehension of it is an attainment 
 altogether spiritual ; and bheBefore will (of course) 
 depend on many varieties of circnmstance ;. upon 
 
 John vii.n. the manner in which we have kept or broken our 
 baptistnal covenant ; nporu the extent, (in conse- 
 quence,) and length of tinae, dhritif which we have 
 distinctly- understood our deUiverance from such a 
 conditiopy by having personally and heartily ae- 
 cepied of the faith and understanding that come 
 l^ Jesus Christ. Not, therefore, (I say,) a state, 
 through which we have passed actually and lite- 
 rally ; but bi/ proxy y as it were, and spiritually, : 
 of which, if we fifo stand firnni in the faith, and hope^ 
 and knowledge that come by the revelation of the 
 Gospel, an apprehension will be present, and re- 
 main with us oi this nature ; that it is a condition 
 from whose essential bohdagfe? we now stafnd ex- 
 etrtpted by virtue of that purer faith, aad better 
 
LECTURE Vi. U5 
 
 hope, and fuller knowledge only. A state, now 
 become representative for ever, of thh predica- 
 ment :— of man, possessed of a perfect knowledge 
 that God is, and demands obedience, and is angry 
 against sin ; without an equally certain knowledge 
 of a life to come, and of an atonement, or szire 
 channel of reconciliation, for offences incurring 
 that displeasure. A state likewise declarative for 
 ever, — of the extent of natural corruptness, under 
 control of iiaa^perfect motives ; and of the absolute 
 iaalwfBty of wrath and terror, and of all immediate, 
 visible manifestations to effect that change in it, 
 which, by our mere natural apprehension, we can-Lect.it. 
 not but suppose they 7nust have effected. A state, 
 of which the last and best, and highest confession 
 comes to the acknowledgment; O wrsltrhed man'&om.\a. 
 that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death? 
 
 I will add', a condition^ in which (or in some- 
 thing equivalent to which) as many as are not men 
 in Christ, and. have not put away childish things, i Cor. xiu. 
 must yet continue ; and towards which the very 
 strongest must at least be conscious of a natural 
 gravitation, so often as. their passions triumph, and 
 their, faith is for aseason obscured. I will not say, 
 that by such failings any are thrown back iwto it, 
 out «3^ the protecting pale of their own happier 
 privileges, unless the failure happen by deliberate 
 choice ; neither would I affirm that any may not he. 
 thrown- backinto it, or into a worse estate, entirely. Heb. vi. 4, 
 
 5, 6, 
 
156 LECTURE VI. 
 
 But (which is enough at present) I contend, that 
 believers must feel themselves acquainted with the 
 
 Psalm XXV. Secret of such a state ; they will comprehend what 
 is meant by it ; the descriptions of it will find en- 
 trance into their own bosoms. 
 
 Consider, then, the manner of the Law and of 
 the Prophets with this personal interest ; and then 
 put it on its trial, as adapted to the nature of man. 
 And as there is nothing in the matter of the earlier 
 
 i.ect. V. p. Scripture which we would now desire to find 
 
 114. and , ^ 
 
 Lect. iv. omitted, seeing to what awfully important purposes 
 all is subservient ; so, we think, it will be acknow- 
 ledged of its manner of instruction, that nothing 
 can be better calculated for its purpose, than this 
 is. While there is enough of love and mercy 
 found in it to forbid despair, and to point at inter- 
 
 Heb. i. 1. vals to better things to come ; we may rejoice, 
 that its prevailing tone is of another character ; of 
 
 Lect. ui. a character, that clearly shows the offended, more 
 
 §• 3- §• *• , _ 
 
 than the returning Father ; that makes us indeed 
 hate sin, and fear its consequences, and tremble for 
 ourselves. For, would we be deceived in our cal- 
 
 Rom. vii. culatiou of the anger of the Almighty against sin ? 
 would we wish to think that it is not exceeding 
 sinful? is there not something within, which,, 
 sooner or later in the question, must bring us to 
 
 Ps.cxxxix. the Psalmist's reflection: Surely thou wilt slay, 
 the wicked, O God ? When it is the most obvious 
 (and, if just, would be a fatal) objection to the 
 more merciful dis^pensation of the Gospel, that 
 
LECTURE VI. 157 
 
 through faith the law of dtity is made t;o?c?;Eom.iii.3i. 
 when, as it is, many are unhappily led into the 
 error of continuing in sin, that grace may abound; vi. i. 
 how shall we think it might be, if there were no 
 severer authorized language of denunciation against 
 sin, to which we might refer in the cases of obsti- 
 nate and rebelliotis children, under the covenant of 
 grace ! 
 
 I pray, that we may never be ensnared to think 
 so of the Gospel, as that "justice" is therein 
 superseded by " mercy." It is the union of the 
 two together, which the Gospel manifests ; not the 
 substitution of the one for the other. Let the 
 Psalmist's words be kept in perpetual rem'embrance 
 as a true character of it; Mercy and truth «/•<? Psai. ixxiv. 
 met 'together ; righteousness and peace ; have 
 kissed each other. As David, a true Israelite? 
 under the " dispensation of fear" thus argued ; 
 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? -^wcf ipsai.ixxva. 
 said, This is my infirmity : but I will remember ' 
 the years of the right hand of the Most High ; 
 so may a true Christian check the current of pre- 
 sumptuous thought under the " ministry of love ;" 
 Hath God forgotten to be Just, that I should con- 
 tinue in sin ? No ; an enemy hath raised this 
 thought: but I will remember the things of old 
 time, which were written for my admonition. iCor.i.ii. 
 
 We have to consider, whether, under this view, 
 the manner of the " Law and the Prophets" indi- 
 cates ^knowledge nf man. - 
 
158 LECTURE VI. 
 
 II. 2. But to come t6 our Saviour's manner 
 and character, as connected with our positidn. 
 Do these, as represented in the Gospel, (or rather 
 I should say, as here conceived and assumed to be 
 represented in the Gospel,) come home to our ex- 
 perience also, as being suitable, according to the 
 terms proposed ? 
 
 In entering upon this consideration, let it be 
 again remarked, that, to estimate the points in 
 question properly, we must have recourse to the 
 same sort of contemplation as before. We must 
 contemplate them only for our own satisfaction, 
 and with our own knowledge, from that elevated 
 ■point of light and evidence, at which Christians 
 now stand. If we look to the immediate appre- 
 hensions which seem to have prevailed among 
 the very people to whom our Saviour spake, we 
 shall obtain a very inadequate conception of the 
 fitness for its end, either of his instruction, or of his 
 See as ex- example. His manner of speech was frequently 
 Btotf xvi. misapprehended ; his character was not then fully 
 John viii. dcvclopfed. All that language of the Gospels, in 
 end!" *^ itself apparently at variance, which is now to Us 
 fdmiliarly reconciled by the doctrine of two natures 
 in our Lord, must of necessity have worn a very 
 mysterious (not to say, unintelligible) aspect then 
 john-vii. when the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because 
 that Jesus was not yet glorified. We cannot, 
 however, for a moment doubt, that evidence enough 
 was offered for conviction, to a generation who be- 
 
 39, 
 
LECTURE VI,! 159 
 
 b^l4 thp Hgns md wonders of the gveat Deliverer 
 wi|J» ■tbtiir own ^yes, The question for mUrnelms 
 to weigh is this : whether cootennplating our 
 Saviour wnder both those vi<»ws,. j»i which xpq ntusi 
 contemplate hijn, in order to appreciate his claims 
 worthily, (that is to Sfvy, both ns the Minister and 
 Proprietor at once of a ^ew difipensfttion, and also 
 ^:S a friend and brother, himself the great exemplar 
 of lifo and pondu«t to all his foilowers; for ever,) 
 thif ;*/jr/f of l\is teaching j (in the first V(\^VfS»^ 
 ^nd hi^ pergonal behavipwr,{^iL\ the second,) appear 
 adftplied to the ei>d8 of hi* sojourn upon earth, -ta 
 uSj )iyitng now In the fjjl^esg of light ? 
 
 \. With respect to his naanner of speaking and 
 teaching, it cannot be necessary to say much. If 
 the eharacterii^tijc jtraits by which he stands distiw- 
 g,i?i^hed as a teacher iver« correctly displayed in app-i45-isi. 
 former p^rt of this Jl^ecture, a conclusion of |h« 
 suitableness oi tki^ to its proposed object follows 
 almost spontaneously, Surely, hi? way of sipeech 
 is perceptibly the very voictj of the l/ridegroam John m. 
 himself. His precepts a,iMl J^phoiiems are unem- 
 barrassed, clear, and po^j^i^e ; his discoveries are 
 what we wanted ; -enough, m^ no inore. He has 
 rebul^e for ^he hypocrite ^nd, the oppressor, and 
 comfort for the penitent. To those fvho saw him, John xiv. 
 his works bore witness to hj^ wo^d^^ w4ie» he called 
 them tp, a saving i^\th- For ourselves, and all, $s 
 naawy as have never e?iten a,i?d 4^-*ink.in his personal Lui^e xiu. 
 presence, ^d jn whose, streets he neyer taught, he 
 
160 LECTURE VI. 
 
 has left a comprehensivcj artd sufficient, and perpe- 
 Johnxx.89. tually descending consolation; Blessed are they 
 
 that have not seen, and yet have believed. 
 
 But I forbear to tarry on this topic. Let it be 
 
 referred, rather, to the thoughts suggested con- 
 Paiey, vol. ceming it by a powerful advocate for the truth of 
 
 ii. ch, «, 3, f . , *^ 
 
 4, 5. Christianity, in some of his chapters on its " aux- 
 iliary evidences." Surely, every thing there set 
 forth' relative to Christ, when honestly compared 
 "with our own experience, bespeaks him to be one. 
 Matt. XXV. Qjj ivhom vve may rely with perfect security ; the 
 very " lord now gone for a season into a far coun- 
 " try," who has portioned out his goods among 
 us, and will one day come and reckon with us ! 
 And is not this the very precise conviction which it 
 most concerns our happpiness to feel ? 
 
 2. A question of greater doubt and difficulty' is, 
 whether the second and subordinate object of his 
 incarnation (namely, the exhibiting a perfect hunlan 
 example for our imitation) is accomplished with 
 equal appropriateness ? 
 
 I call it a question of greater doubt and diffi- 
 culty, because it is quite impossible, in sincere 
 seeking after truth, and of our duty as resulting 
 from truth, not to be sensible of this perplexity ; — 
 that the pattern thus propounded for our imitation,, 
 and declared to be the likeness we must aspire 
 after, is one that neither is, nor ever has been per- 
 1 Kings fectly imitated. For there is no man that stn- 
 
 Viii. 46. / ..,,., . . 
 
 neth not : whereas it is both evident tnadentally. 
 
LECTURE VI. 161 
 
 concerning Christ, as well as affipmed positively,. 
 that he was withfiitt sin. Hence it becomes a feel-Heb.iv. is. 
 ing of unsubdued nature, or of premature despair, 
 that Christ's example is not imitable. An insu- 
 perable objection, if it were a sound one, -to the 
 present argument ! since an example,; really not 
 imitable, could never have been held out, as this is, 
 in Scripture, if Scripture be (as we contend) the 
 work of a spirit and a, wisdom that knows man 
 thoroughly '. - ■ , •: 
 
 But a true understanding of revealed' religiori 
 seems to include (not to say, consist in) the honest 
 reconciling — Imean, the reconciling not through 
 dotage or self-imposition, but in reason and in con- 
 sciences—of certain parado2(es of this description ; 
 namely, of which either part separately so cogently 
 approves itself to the natural reason, as not to be 
 gainsaid without violence thereto offered : of which, 
 again, both parts are found to .coexist, practically, 
 without (the least contradiction ; in which, never- 
 
 ' This difficulty might ,lje met and obviated by an inquiry, 
 in what tiie imitation of, our Saviour truly consists; UndCf 
 which head. I* take for granted that no fair and^ reasonable 
 person will. refuse to allow, that it must consist, not in t}\e 
 performance of' specific actions, corresponding with the 
 actions, of Christ; b.ut in a general conformity to his temper 
 and spirit, to be exercised in that condition of life, in which 
 it has pleased God to place us. Not however to stand upon 
 this ground, it seems better to"'acknpwledge the perplexity 
 above represented, that it is a realone; and to meet it as 
 such. 
 
 M 
 
im LiECtURE VI. 
 
 theless, there is so much seeming contrariety, when 
 submitted to the mere intellect as abstract propo- 
 sitions, that the acceptance of, and hearty acqui-' 
 escence in them ias certain and consistent truths, 
 is i work of faith alone. And of these paradoxes 
 it appears to be one,— that an example found by 
 experience never to have been imitated, in any de- 
 gree Approaching to strict accuracyj is yet presented 
 as the only true st&,ndard of universal imitation ^. 
 
 Nor, when this is so affirmed, does the burden 
 rest with the Christian preacher to explaiti and 
 
 '' Perhaps the greatest of all these paradoxes is that which 
 relates to the subject of the source and'possession of faith, to 
 the propositions, severally and conjointly, that faithis " a gift 
 "'of God alone," and yet "a fticulty within every Christian's 
 "■ power of attaiinment, to whom Christ is preached faith- 
 f fully ;" in effect, the compatibility of grace and free-will. 
 It is not within the scope of the present work to discuss any 
 sucii question ; but as it is a rock of offence, upon which (as 
 it appears to me) every honest estimate of our condition, as 
 responsible' subjects of the Christian revelation, must pain- 
 fully fall, sooner or later, I take this opportunity of remark- 
 ing, with reference by anticipation to the topic of tha suc- 
 ceeding Lecture, that I should not venture upon the assump- 
 tion therein made,^ — I should not think that holy Scripture 
 did meet, and satisfy the wants and wishes of every individuul 
 ■iVhom ^t calls unto obedience^ if he could hot, from the above 
 considerations, reconcile comfortably to his own heart, such 
 appareint inconsistencies, although in words he cannot do so. 
 We may reconcile any thing after a precise and formal pat- 
 tern of man's prescription, by settling decrees, and calling 
 'them divine; arid thus imagine that all jjerpliexity. is ended : 
 but then, what becomes of the universality of Scripture ? 
 
LECTURE VI. 163 
 
 ac^ptint'ibi' all that manifold ioberration from its 
 standard, wMdh the Christian world displays ; but it 
 rists with the objector, to point out any pal'ticulars, 
 in which the merely Human conduct of our Lord uio> 
 is not imitable, under Assistance of the Spirit of 
 grace. i ' 
 
 Look at any of the more familiar and less strictly 
 'dfifici^l, actions of our Lord : can any tHng be more 
 evident, in point of fact, than that he accepts men 
 AS his " brethren," speaks to them as such, treats 
 them as such? '•■ But a single text may suffice for 
 •present illustration ; John came neither eati^^ nor Matt. xi. 
 drinking, and they say. He hath a devil: Jhe Son^^' ^^' 
 <of'inii^ came eatirig emd drinking, and they say, 
 -Beheld a man gluttonous, and a wineSibber, a 
 ftiend of publicans and sinners ■: but tvisdom &• 
 justified of her children. What kind Of character 
 isfl^i6tedherefp ■ >',aVto .■'.•• 
 
 -nSo complet^jHndesed; is our Lord's tkmn,aMa,ty-^&t- 
 ^^fiieed' in the 'Oospelsj' as ■ otie minde like 'unto his Heb. ji. I7 
 brethr-fin, thatj as We read^ sfee cannot help, in comr 
 hion Bbiatters, joining otfi'selves. to him. in that cha- 
 Tacter. Smrile uridefinaMe impression may grow 
 ujp'fin'otir hfearts^ cklculated to prepare us for Insider 
 ^dfititkehts % ^»rf%,'Wheri further ligh* is siiper- 
 afldied'"; but hearts may burn within us '6m. M^Luke xxiv. 
 way ; yet do we proceed' and' converse with him as 
 niwo^anihWi'^it\- his melrely* human cbnduct, as 
 freelyas' the disciples journeying' to Emmaus did, 
 before he becarftie known totheiiiasVAe Lord, by 
 
 M 2 
 
mon. 
 
 16+ LECTURE VI. 
 
 a religious act. If I may be allowed so to employ 
 
 an expression rendered more sacred by a different 
 
 Office for usaee, for a season we quite feel ourselves to be 
 
 the Holy . . . 
 
 commu- " one with him, and he with us." 
 
 We must, therefore, seek interpretation of the me- 
 lancholy fact, that such an example is not worthily 
 ittiitated, from other sources than those of incon- 
 sistency or failure of truth in Scripture. Our Lord's 
 example, as represented there, (in relation to the 
 points now before us,) is not only strictly human, 
 and therefore strictly ??w?Vffl^/e ; but it displays a 
 m^del, in the precise points where a model was 
 wanted ; in the union of humanity with holiness ; 
 of tenderness and indulgence towards frailty, with 
 thje maintenance of unerring righteousnesis ; in de- 
 fining every excellence that is real, beneficial, and 
 permanent^ as contradistinguished from such as are 
 only artificial, selfish, and contingent. Let the 
 question only be proposed fairly ; — Would we dc' 
 sire to have a character exhibited to us, for such 
 purpose and under such circumstances, less perfect 
 than this is .''—Infinitely removed as a disciple must 
 feel himself, at the very uttermost and highest stage 
 of his progression, from the fulness of . his Lord's 
 perfection ; still would he accept or admit the 
 pattern, as one adapted to universal use, if it were 
 tinctured with any infirmity .'' 
 
 II. 3. Contemplate, then, the position wherein 
 we now stand, in approaching to view the character 
 and manner of the apostolical writings. 
 
LECTURE VI. 165 
 
 We have arrived at this posture of religious 
 knowledge. The wound of our nature hdis been 
 laid bare ; the hatefulness of sin, and the weight of 
 divine wrath against- it, fearfully revealed. The 
 sacrifice of reconciliation also i^ offered; the cfer- 
 tainty of a life to come established ; a general in- 
 vitation of mercy' is given ; the " new command- 
 " ment" of " love," delivered ; and a pattern of re- 
 stored nature set before us, as our object of imi- 
 tation, and our guide. Let it be presumed that 
 we assent td the likenesfe of ourselves, in all that is 
 past ; that we acknowledge the Law to be meaint 
 for ourselves ; that we cannot deliy the example 
 set before us, though so pure, to be still an human 
 one ; and though it has never been attained to, yet 
 to be attainable by man. 
 
 Yet what are we? creatures fearing and ab- 
 horring sih ? obedient children, and like unto our 
 Saviour? — I would we were! But if we be not, 
 either we do hot yet rightly apprehend pur calling, 
 through some delusion or other; or else, if we be 
 indeed sincere, and do know our calling, and desire 
 to abide by it, there is some further allowance, di- 
 rect or indirect, to be made for our infirmity stilh 
 The mystery of reconciliation remains a mastery, 
 if henceforward Hothitig shall be implied or recog- Above, pp. 
 nized (in the writings of its inspired interpreters) 
 as acceptable obedience, s,hort of that perfect trans- 
 formation into the likeness of the new Lawgiver, 
 which oiight, under his revelation, to-prevail. 
 M 3 
 
166 LECTURE VL 
 
 Of wfeat importance, therefor^, ^t is to fee^ that 
 the Successors of Christ also are writing to our oiprv^ 
 real selves, and not to a race of imaginary bei|tigs, 
 it becomes a matter of too selfish concern to us, 
 not to perceive. Is, then, the manner of th^; apo- 
 stolical epistles that which is adapted to the ^-eal 
 state of hyman, nature, under tl^e existing circum- 
 stances of revelation ? ,, . 
 
 Lect. 11. : ■y^g jjjjyp already represented the existing state 
 of Christian man, with relation to his lyiaker £(nd 
 Judge, to be a condition (generally) pf spiritual 
 trial. Those outward signs which bore witpess to, 
 and' supported, the infant state of Christi^ity, (nor 
 only this, but connected it, naturally, with a system 
 of visible demonstrations altogether,) have long 
 since ceased. iv / ; 
 
 • Consider the Apostles, then, as (wh^t they truly 
 are) final arid permanent interpreters qf the divine 
 counsel; as the intercommunicators betw^rL;the 
 incarnate Deity himself, and the successors o% 
 themselves in office, who should presently become 
 subjects of the Spirit's ordinary infliience only ; 
 persons, therefore, who should have (in course of 
 time) to uphold the same great cause of everlasting 
 truth with themselvejS, not, as thc^ upheld it, by 
 signs and demonstration of power, but by merely 
 human and outward means ; when they should be 
 left simply as men among men ; not, indeied, with- 
 out the' Gomforter, but without his open warrant ; 
 
 Eph.vi,iT,and mth nothing but that swore/ of the Spirit, 
 
LECTURE VI. 167 
 
 whie/i is the word of Go^^ and the invyard confi-. 
 dence vouchsafed to personal integrity and perse-, 
 verance, in, the midst of gainsaying and disobe- 
 dience. Consider the Epistles, as written under a 
 foreknowledge, existing somewhere, how t;hese 
 things' would be, and how will they appear then? 
 Is the tenor of their teaching suitable to the exist- 
 ing situation of Christ's Church, as now " militanlj 
 " -upon earth ?" Is it suitable to the condition in 
 which, we ourselves, at this day, stand: Is the 
 physical and moral constitution which we feel our- 
 selves possessed of^ and by which we are influenced' 
 that to which the Apostles make appeal ? - ::.•■ 
 
 With regard to general manner, then, I think it 
 is impossible not to perceive, throughout the 
 Epistles of the New Testament, (find in those of 
 St. Paul even most particularly,) that they address 
 a race of persons under a silent and spiritual dis- 
 pensation—persons, to whom a fulness of all ne- 
 cessary knowledge is youchs^ifed, and to whom no 
 further sign remains in store to be given, Tf'heir 
 authors write as interpreters, and not aa legis- 
 lators. Wherefore, thoug1[) from the singulaj^ity 
 of the case their interpretatio[|is have now the force 
 of laWs and are evidently intended to be l^ande^ 
 down, as such, they'add' nothing to the prigins^l 
 preparation upon which they proceed, as afiepting 
 man's salvation. Do they oot seiem to proceed 
 upon the supposition of ^\\ essential , terms 
 being settled and complete ? of a perfect cure pro- 
 
 M 4 
 
168 LECTURE VI. 
 
 vided for the worst extent of man's misery ; but of 
 a perfect liberty, at the same time, in the stibjects 
 to whom it should be dffered, to avail or not avail 
 themselves of its preserving power ? They assume 
 the fall and restoration of man in the most com- 
 
 2 Cor. T. 17. plete manner. Old things are passed away, and 
 all things are become new, if any man be in 
 Christ. Nothing is now of consequence but this. 
 And the outward acceptation of that holy name 
 being once rightly and duly completed, the subse- 
 quent test of a sincere union is the simplest ima- 
 
 Gai. V, 19, ginable : These, and these, are the works of the 
 flesh — and these, the worJcs of the Spirit : and 
 they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh 
 with the affections and lusts. If we live, there- 
 fore, in the Spirit, let us ivalk in the Spirit. 
 
 Thus, as though they concluded the proportion 
 between obedience asked of the believer, and grace 
 promised to him, to be effectually and intelligibly 
 established, all the practical details of their Epistles, 
 their exhortation^ their dissuasions, are the very 
 simplest appeals to common understanding and real 
 life. They do not flatter, but neither do they 
 frighten. They speak the very language of simple 
 honesty and unsuspicious truth. They desire to 
 lead, but not to compel^ While there breathes 
 through these sacred compositions a spirit that be- 
 
 icor.ix. comes all things to all men, that it may by all 
 means save some, not a vestige is to be traced of that 
 
 Matt, xxiii. indiscriminate and spurious zeal which would com- 
 
 15, ^ 
 
LECTURE VI. 169 
 
 pass sea and land to make one proselyte. There 
 IS' no mistake, in them, of vulgarity for humility; 
 but true condescension and true dignity meet toge- 
 ther. Their general manner is, accordingly, that 
 of persuasive and calm appeal — ^the manner (as 
 we think) proportionate and congenial with the 
 character of the present existing form of the divine 
 dispensation. 
 
 For is not this exactly what our case requires ? 
 Suppose we felt- ourselves to be addressed now, 
 through 2l voice minatory 2>n& peremptory ; to be 
 threatened with immediate retributions and visible 
 avengings: — should we believe as readily, as now 
 we do ? I am persuaded we should be ensnared to 
 demand the sign? of corresponding, visible power ; 
 and so, by resistance, to abuse that liberty, of which 
 we cannot but be conscious. 
 
 Suppose, again, that the Epistles carried this their 
 mildness beyond a certain point ; that they were 
 wavering and indecisive in their tone :— we might 
 suspect the source of their authority. 
 
 Suppose that they wandered into flights of mys- 
 ticism, or were wholly taken tip with general and 
 indefinite things ' ; we should deny that they de- 
 scribed and addressed ourselves. 
 
 ' Compare Bishop Taylor's Advice to his Clergy, Rule 42. 
 " Do.not spend your sermons in general and indefinite things; 
 " as in exhortations to the people to get Christ, to be united 
 " to Christ, and things of the like unlimited signification . . . 
 " .... for generals not explicated do but fill the people's 
 
17q LECTURE Vi: 
 
 But tempering (as they do) firmness with can- 
 doui;; faith with reason; modesty with power; 
 justifying and enforcing the peculiar motives ^vhich 
 Jire above unassisted nature, by strength of the con- 
 clusions which lie within it ; being indulgent, and 
 yet impartial ; not imprudently refraining from 
 fear, yet speaking evidently, by general preference, 
 as under a dispensation of love ; they meet human 
 nature as now existing in an awakened and enlight- 
 ened conscience, in every point. Truly they do 
 indeed know what, is iti man ; and they treat him 
 accordingly. 
 
 Their condescension to every variety of station ; 
 their addresses to every age, and relative condition 5 
 in short, the infinitely diversified reality^ of their 
 appeals ; all are as fresh, as applicable to the exi- 
 gencies of our own existing nature, as if they were 
 fruits gathered into the storehouse of truth only 
 yesterday. What is Ephesus, or Corinth, now "i 
 Where is-Philippi, or Colosse ? How little does it 
 matter what, or where ! Their spiritual possessions 
 all are here. The wives and husbands ; fathers 
 and children ; masters and servants ; all the ac- 
 countable stewards of God's g^ace to them com- 
 mitted ; these are with us. The letters, which in- 
 structed them, are ours ; and shall remain for ever 
 
 ':' heads with empty notions, a,f^d their mouths, with perpetual 
 " unintelligible talk ; but their hearts remain empty, and 
 " themselves are not edified." Clergyman's Instructor, p. 104, 
 edit, 1807. . 
 
LECTURE VL 171 
 
 the light unto salvation of Christian brethren, even Acts u. 39. 
 as many as the Lord our God shall call. 
 
 Whereon our individual confidence may rest, in 
 writings thus generally characterized, will be the 
 next subject of our thoughts. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 S TrMOTHY iii. 16, 17 . 
 
 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is pro- 
 stable for doQ-trine, for reproof, for correction, for in- 
 struction in righteousness .- that the' man of God tnay be 
 perfect, throughly furnishM unto all good works. 
 
 TrEihave arrived at ^ the consideration of Scripr 
 ture, " as a rule and law of life adequate to the 
 " wishes and the wants of the individual hsliever" 
 In taking the words of the text as an introduction 
 to this subject, it is not necessary to perplex rthe 
 question by entering into any critical niceties. It 
 will he sufficient to repeat what was assumed con- 
 cerning, the two immediately preceding verses in 
 the opening Lecture ; namely, that they cannot Lect.i. p. i. 
 reasonably be. understood otherwise, than of the 
 whole volume of canonical :Scripture,- as it is now Hooker, 
 presented to ourselves; and that, in their mostu^y'bTOkT 
 important application, every individual Christian §" ^*" 
 has certainly a share in them. . Whatever difference 
 might arise from setting forth their, peculiar appli- 
 cation to teachers, is, comparatively, of little conse- 
 quence. 
 
174 LECTURE VII. 
 
 One remark may be added, concerning the 
 verses of the text, with reference to the general ar- 
 gument of the foregoing Lectures ; yia.^that, how- 
 ever understood, they justify the weight therein at- 
 tached to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, as 
 essentially connected with the -New. And this con- 
 firmation is most valuable. For though the New 
 Testament without, the Old nfiight possess a much 
 more popular attraction, as a code of morals only ; 
 it ivould.not "be (as we contend it is) so profitable 
 for doctrine. And thus losing its foundation, 
 where it rests in the very depth q/' the individual 
 conscience, its consequent peculiar power of satisfy- 
 ing to the full the existingasieCessitves of man Would 
 decay arid fall. -(t! ' ;>l!n ■ ' ,, s 
 
 NtjW, in proceeding to the inquiry before uV, 
 theire is a prelimihai-y' point which I :would,jdesire, 
 at all hazards, to state (or recapitulate) distinctly. 
 It r^hites^ to the true posture of every! question 
 -60ncerning Ood's goodness, ih respect of ; his 
 dispensations to ma'iij' among persons living in 
 the light, and called to the obedience of an ab- 
 'kno\^ledged revelation from heaven.': ' 
 
 This question is,' unhappily, too X)ften mistaken. 
 Wfe are apt to treat it as an abstract question; 
 whereas it iS, really, a practical one. In other 
 W-ords, we are too readystb venture ort the morfe 
 abstract and hypothetical discussion of "it, b^ore 
 we have been thoroughly convinced in our own 
 hearts, by practical experiment, that God is good. 
 
LECTURE VIL 175 
 
 Hence we are ensnared frequently to travel beyond 
 our records We speculate, as it were, for the 
 Jaws ; we speculate for the Heathen. And somfe- 
 times (it is • to be feared) compassion betrays us 
 into shades of infidelity ; and oftener, a needless 
 exaggeration of our own blessings excludes the 
 comprehensive yearnings of charity. Sometimes 
 we are unjust to God ; sometitfles to man. I -ap- 
 prehend, that our true business, rd,ther, is (at least 
 in the first instance) to speculate neither for the 
 one nor for the other, (as wias suggested in the lastLect vl 
 Lecture ;) but to obsefte and estimate fot our- 
 selves. He that has given Us our portion, also 
 gave them theirs. If he is gddd and just to us, he 
 was good and just to them. We shall be tfied, 
 neither in the balance of the Jews, nor in that of 
 the Heathen : the wordwhich Christ hath spoken, John xu, 
 the same shall judge us in the last day. This 
 view of the divine goodness is of primary import- 
 ance in considerini'g the fulness of holy Scripture 
 to satisfy the *(^ants arid condition of an individual ; 
 because it strikes, in the outset, at the very root of 
 ail rebellious, or timorous, or peevish 'disodnte nt 
 grounded on 'the condition of other people. He 
 that' complains, and refuses to be 'Satisfiedi when he 
 himself has no m-ong to be redressed, may receive 
 his answer from our Saviour's parable; / do iheeTAait-xx. 
 
 . .13 &c. 
 
 no wrong Take that thinv is, and go thy way. 
 
 ■Is it not lawful for me to do 'ivhett I wilt with 
 mine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? 
 
176 LECTURE VII. 
 
 — and he may trace the features of his own dispo- 
 sition in the likeness of the jealous complainer. 
 He (on the contrary) who, through personal con- 
 viction, has learnt to assure himself that he may 
 with safety trust his Maker, has passed his main 
 difficulty in the beginning ; and instead of keeping 
 " doubt" as a phantom always before him, is ena- 
 
 Aets viii. blcdhonestlyto go o?i the rest of his way rejoicing. 
 Wherefore, looking to the state of our own know- 
 ledge, and the tenor of our own dispensation, the 
 important question seems to be ; " Is the Almighty, 
 ." as a supreme governor and lawgiver, good to,our- 
 " selves ?" Does he offer to ourselves terms, such 
 as we can comply with ? Does he vouchsafe unto 
 ourselves means and motives sufficient to. meet the 
 necessities of our condition ? 
 
 Proceeding, then, upon the same principles vvith 
 
 Lect. i. whiph we started in pur commencement, / assume, 
 that to us is certainly revealed a knowledge of 
 these influential doctrines : of the "perfect purity 
 ": and holiness of God ;" of the " original cor- 
 " ruption of man ;" of " atonement by the blood 
 '' of Jesus Christ;" of the " resurrection to eter^ 
 " nal life ;" of " sanctification by the Holy 
 " Spirit;" of the " necessity of yoe'M, as a prin- 
 '- ciple of living ;" of the " authenticated truth, 
 "that this our present state is by design left an 
 " imperfect one, inasmuch as it is a state of trial ; 
 " but that there is another state to come, wherein 
 "i all things will be made straight." 
 
LECTURl: VII. 177 
 
 Other points bi belief, not less impt6rt£lnt to a 
 right and adequate apprehertsid'n of the sacred 
 Volume, but of a complexion more Specifically 
 theological, I forbear to mention, as not strictly 
 falling in with the present purpose. Thesis now 
 enumerated are, as I conceive, the essential and in- 
 fluential forms, in which all Christian doctrines 
 come to action ; and therefore, thosie with which 
 we have to do. 
 
 For let it be remembered: what our Object is ; 
 viz. not to unfold or vindicate these ov any doctrines, 
 either originally, or in detail ; but viewing them as 
 establishtd, to maintain the authority of that 
 Volume, which contains them, as a " rule and law 
 " of life." 
 
 I would, that the natural arid lawful subjects of 
 Christian discipline did but consider more simply, 
 and more seriously, this great thing; that Yo Mrh Jmj^iy. 
 that knoiveth to do good, in an especial rheasure, 
 arid doeth it not, to him that vetf knowledge is sin. 
 We halve a rule arid law of life prescribed to us in 
 Scripture, which represents itself as a positive 
 talent given, of which a specific account must be 
 returned ; it challenges us, on our personal peril, 
 making appeal to a life to coriiie. Nay, (if I have 
 any just apprehension of what the spirit and power 
 of the Gospel is,) it challenges an acceptance of 
 itself, not vague ox partial, hul peculiar and entire : 
 neither will it be satisfied with any other; arid 
 neglect or refusal of this, alone, may prove a fatal 
 
 N 
 
178 LECTURE VII. 
 
 error in any steward's , declaration at the day of 
 reckoning, even where all else is fair. i 
 
 This is an awful subject, and demands fuller notice. 
 There is also more of human interpretation minced 
 with it ; therefore let it be weighed, with the greater 
 caution. But let us, reflect on this that follows. 
 
 We Christians live in the concentered light of all 
 knowledge, hunian and divine. Unto us are gathered 
 all ages, and people, and nations, and languages. 
 The Heathen have ministered to us : the Jews. have 
 ministered to us : God himself has made us the de- 
 positaries of his own word and will^ Again: we 
 ourselves are ever running, and have run, unto all 
 the uttermost parts of the earth, seeking more 
 knowledge, and finding it. 
 
 On the natural face of such a situation, it is no 
 wonder that we are inclined to be proud of our 
 possessions; or that we are unwilling to prune down 
 our flourishing tree of universal wisdom — :into the 
 ixia sTTijS- branches whereof come^ and lodge all the " winged 
 Lect. iv. " Utterances" of all people— to the simple stock of 
 ' one small volume, such as we have described Scrip- 
 ture to be. It is quite impossible not to have de- 
 light in the richness of many of our other treasures^ 
 We : cannot deny the excellence of very much of 
 heathen, or mere moral wisdom. 
 
 It is maintained, that neither need we do so. It 
 
 has been argued, that the fulness of the Gospel is 
 
 mare equitably and more truly glorified by thejoro- 
 
 Lect. V. ^^.per exaltation of uninspired knowledge, than by its 
 
LECTURE VII. 179 
 
 depression. We think that Scripture' by no means 
 wishes to disclaim all fellowship with Philosophy ; 
 but, on the contraiy, under proper limitation, to 
 establish an union with it. Scripture receives from 
 human wisdom gladly the ministry of illustration ; 
 it accepts from the same source, in a great mea- 
 sure, more detailed analyses 6f duty. Reserving 
 to itself the sole dispensing of principles, and dis- 
 tribution of motives, (as well it may, seeing it is the 
 very mystery which hath been hid from ages and Coiosa. u 
 
 * ' 26. 
 
 Jrom generations; and that *mcA gifts, by their 
 nature, appertain to the jurisdiction of a revealed 
 authoritative will alone,) it seems to proceed upon 
 an implied calculation, that its own sufficiency of 
 pra'cti'cal detail will be acknowledged, because capa- 
 ble of being shown from truths known before. ' 
 
 But, as it was said, in a former Lecture, in con-Lect.iv. 
 teinplating the volume of Scripture as a revelation,^' 
 that there is one great spiritual temptation to be 
 withstood, in respect of infidelity, as to the whole ; 
 so is it to be said here, that there seems a like trial 
 to be' undeVgone, in respect of its acceptance as 
 the rule. of faith and law of individual life. ' 
 
 !^or it is an obvious snare, that many, ou| of 
 such abundance of knowledge'j should be tempted 
 to forget, at times, this grand and simple point; 
 that " all vital truth is to be sought from Scripture 
 " alone." Hence, that they should be tempted 
 rather to combine systems for themselves, accord- 
 ing to a proportion and fancy of their o\<rn, t^n 
 
 v2 
 
180 LECTURE VIL 
 
 neither to sidd nor to diminish any thing from 
 that which Christ and his Apostles have enjoined; 
 to make up, as it were, a cento 6f doctrines and 
 of precepts ; to take from Christ what pleases 
 them, and fro'ta other stores what pleases them ; 
 (the best, of course, as appears td their judgment, 
 frofn each, so as to exhibit the most perfect 
 whblfe y) taking (for example) the blessed hope of 
 evferlasting life from Jesus of Nazareth, but reject- 
 ing his atonement ; or honouring highly his ex- 
 ample of humanity, but disrobing him of his divi- 
 nity ; or, accepting all the comfortsible things of 
 the dispensation of the Spirit, but refusing its 
 strictnesses and self-denials ; or, forming any other 
 combination whatsoever, to the exclusion of the 
 entire GdsPel : thus inviting Christian hearers, 
 
 Luke xiv. not to the supper of the king's son, but to a sort 
 of miscellaneous banquet, a ccena collatitia of their 
 
 ,Gaiatv.i3.own : using their liberty, in short, (we fear,) as an 
 occasion to' that " natural" disposition^ which ChnsI 
 came to correct and to restore. 
 
 Now, that by such methods^ enforced by edncar 
 tion, and strengthened by the best of secondary 
 motives, men may attain to an excellent pro- 
 ficiency in " morals," I am neither prepared rior 
 dispcised to disi)ute. I am not desirous of dis- 
 puting, that they ftiay possess therein ah excellent 
 " religion," as opposed to Mahometanism or Pa- 
 ganism. But, that they possess the true account 
 to be given of their stewardship of that one talent. 
 
LECTURE VII. 181 
 
 the GOSPEL itself, I do doubts in sorrow and in 
 fear. I do doubt, whether they live the life thatedat. a. 
 now is, as St. Paul lived it, bi/ the faith of the Son 
 of God; by true apprehension ai the things that 
 He suffered for us, and the right which he. hasicor. vi. 
 
 f 19, 20. 
 
 purchased in us, to command in us all exc^lleat 
 qualities and actions: and (further) of the invisible, 
 but real, assistance which he. gives us, towards the 
 performance of them. 
 
 Of all such persons — of all Christian persons 
 wherever found, living good moral Hves with an 
 Imperfect ereed, we cannot but think and speak 
 with tenderness ; perhaps, not without some con- 
 sciou$ shame. It is impossible not to love good 
 conduct, every where. It is natural to love it, in 
 the first place, because it always helps ourselves ; 
 it strengthens the hands of good against evil; it 
 liglitens oui' own labour : and it is right to love it, 
 in the second place, for his sake, uato whom it 
 truly belongs, although thje doers often be not 
 sensible of this proprietorship. It is, however, 
 equally Impossible to say of such persons as we 
 are now describing, when they are born and live 
 imd^r an approved religious establishment, and 
 have means and understanding to interpret rightly 
 the revealed word of God, that we think them in 
 a safe way, for the reason just now given ; her 
 cause it is impossible for us to think (vidthout.con> 
 fessing ourselves to be either misled, or else in<- 
 different to all distinctions of faith) that they Iwe 
 
 n3 j 
 
182 LECTURE VII. 
 
 the life which they noiv live in the flesh by the 
 
 faith of the Son of God. And if, when they come 
 
 to the door that openeth into glory .hereafter, and 
 
 knock, and ask £or admittance, it be indeed found, 
 
 John X. 9. (as we believe, and are persuaded,) that none but 
 
 23—27. Christ the Mediator openeth the door; how 
 shall they murmur, if it be not opened unto per- 
 sons who have persisted, all their lives, in not truly 
 receiving him ? 
 
 There are many such cases in the world ; but we 
 leave them all to the wise justice whereunto they be- 
 
 s^a's"'' ^°"S' "'*' presuming to judge Xhem, from our own 
 imperfect knowledge; yet earnestly warning them 
 of their great, and we think reasonable, efaa^er.'. , 
 ' For, the rule and law of life, which we have 
 in the Gospel prescribed to us, becomes impera- 
 tive only through connection with its peculiar 
 doctrines. If it be not true, that Christ our Sa- 
 
 iPet.L i9.viour has redeemed and purchased us with', his 
 most precious blood ; I do not see how it is 
 true, that, we are bound to /?W in particular, 
 as the New Testament commands us. The Gos- 
 pel stands, in such case, only on the quicksands 
 of " expediency" and " decency." It must be 
 
 Rom. i. 16. received all together, to become the power , of 
 God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 
 p.^88 '&c. ^ admit, that we may not like it all. This has 
 been acknowledged before. I do not think the 
 whole' is of a quality to be relished, until we have 
 accepted and digested all together. 
 
•LECTURE VII. 183 
 
 We may not, therefore, like it all ; or we may •, 
 wish that we did not know so'mtich; we may 
 even complain of our excess of light. ' The Spirit 
 who dictated the Book of Life foreknew this ; 
 was well aware that mm\y prefer darkness. But John Hi. 
 these are considerations past. The Gospel'^ is 
 here. It is among us: and we have no power to 
 get rid of our knowledge of it. The secret it 
 unfolds may be painful to know ; but it is ours, 
 and we can no longer fly from' its accompanying 
 responsibility. We cannot, at any rate, disprove 
 the truth of Christianity: the very utmost that 
 unbelief and wickedness together can dOj is to 
 make it doubtful^. But, if >we be faithful to our- 
 selves, we shall perceive, that the rejection of, it 
 now, because it is doubtful, is altogether inadmis- 
 sible: it amounts to an entire rejection of faith, 
 as a practical principle in religious matters. The 
 question to be considered rather is, " Can we live 
 " by the motives and the rule of holy Scripture, 
 " as revealed and commanded to us .p" Nothing 
 but a positive demonstration of its doctrines being 
 either mischievous, or else superfluous, and un- 
 suitable to their design, (and so, of course, in 
 either case inapplicable to our individual wants, 
 
 * If this be considered too sharply or uncandiMly stated, 
 let the train of thought be put to the lest of a comparison 
 with some of the concluding chapters of " Butler's Analogy," 
 (part ii. chap. 6. &c. and conclusionj) and let it only be sg 
 far received as it may be consistent with that, 
 
 Tl4 
 
184 LECTURE VU. 
 
 according to its own terms ;) nothing but a de- 
 monstration of one or other of these conclusion^, 
 will excuse the rejection or slighting of revelation. 
 
 I. Let it be asked first, then, according to this 
 order, " Are these great and influential doctrines, 
 " as before stated, and which are at least propose^ 
 " as the solace of our wretchedness, and the war- 
 " rant of our hope, justly to be accounted mis- 
 " chievvus^?" 
 
 No doubt it will be by some asserted that they 
 are. But where shall we be referred for proof 
 of this assertion ? Not to the use of these high docr 
 trines, but to the abuse of them ; not to the prac- 
 tice, but to the neglect of them. We shall be re- 
 ferred to the excesses of Fanaticism, or to the 
 torpor of Formality. And the inference from the 
 one will be, that they lead to madness ; from the 
 other, to hypocrisy. But what does this prove, 
 except the truth of what the pious and humble 
 Christian himself is^ of all persons, the foremost to 
 
 *" I do not mean to advance this as the proper ground upon 
 which to uphold the dispensations of the Deity, or as the 
 foundation of our gbedienCe. God be praised ! -the earnest 
 expectatim of his creatures looks forth from a «urer hold than 
 this! But it is stUI an outoorA; between our cause and the ob- 
 jector. For the point of the case now before us (w,e con- 
 tend) is one that does not admit oi indifference. We cannot^ 
 therefore, listen any longer to objections, that may arise on 
 the score of hardship only, or unpleasantness. It rests with 
 him who would condemn our faith to prove, that its doctrines 
 are positively mischievous. 
 
LECTUEE VII. 185 
 
 understand and to deplore; that as well Fana- 
 ticism, %s Formality, stands condemned by the 
 spirit of tme religion ? 
 
 The only fair appeal (if we are to look, in such 
 a case, to examples at all) would lie, not to the 
 abuse^' nor even to the average aspect, but to the 
 most perfect embodying of Christian belief in prac- 
 tice, which can any where be found. It is, how- 
 ever, better not to look to any extraneous in- 
 stances, in a question of this nature. It is the 
 individuals self in which its power is to be 
 proved. It is he, who is the aspirant to happi- 
 ness. It is he, whose everlasting salvation is at 
 stakp. Let examples therefore be deferred, till 
 they are wanted. We are contemplating a solitary 
 case now ; that of a man's own personal entrance 
 into holiness. It is only in its operation, that re- 
 ligion becomes social; its root and principle is 
 tf2«g-Ze and separate. The reason why so many 
 fall away is, that they have not root in themselves^ Matth. xiii. 
 They build upon fashion ; upon custom ; upon ' ' 
 prejcedent; upon abuse; upon corruption; and 
 by necessary consequence, they fall ; for their only 
 root has been— in othei^.' He that would at once 
 endure unto the end, and have peace with othisrs 
 also, must' have salt within himself. Markix. 
 
 Referring, then, to the satisfaction of an in- 
 dividual conscience, look what is. the genuine 
 and innate tendency of any of the great Christian 
 doctrines. 
 
186 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Look (for example) at the sense of natural 
 corruption', of original guiltiness in the sight 
 of a perfect and a holy Being, in whose sight the 
 
 Job XXV. 5, very stars are not pure. What objection shall be 
 made to this, as being of a mischievous tendency ? 
 That it destroys man's happiness ? his inward 
 comfort ? degrades him in his own eyes, and 
 paralyzes his efforts to attain excellence ? 
 
 If such were either its intention or necessary 
 result, the objection might be urged justly. But 
 the very reverse of such effect is its proper in- 
 fluence. It does degrade man (we admit) from 
 
 Leet.iv. the perilous height of an intemperate pride, down 
 to a true consciousness of his original; but why? 
 to put him on his guard ; to make him watchful 
 
 1 Tim. iii. and careful; lest being lifted up with pride he fall 
 into the condemnation of the devil. 
 
 Grant, however, that such knowledge is, by 
 itself, ever so dangerous : it comes not, it does 
 not stand alone. Its illustration and corrective 
 comes with it. The same record that unfolds to 
 us corruption, awakens us to renovation also. 
 Look at man how, either in his soul or in his 
 body ; the prospect is the same. The cure is at 
 least co-extensive with the wound and sickness of 
 eitlier. Whether we look to death and resurrec- 
 tion, or to sin and grace, there is one interpreta- 
 
 1 Cor. XV, tion ; jdts in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 
 22. 
 
 all be made alive. 
 Let any other of the doctrines of the Gospel 
 
LECTURE VII. 187 
 
 be ejcamined in the same way; If there be found 
 one, without that corresponding encouragement 
 which tends to inlist all on the side.a~nd.in the ser- 
 vice of the purest virtue, let it be rejected ! If not, 
 alas! for him, who (under other evidences so richly 
 supplied to him) shall run thejiazard oi treadi'&giieh.-a.tA. 
 underfoot the Son of God ; of counting the blood 
 of 'the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an 
 unholy thing ; and of doing despite unto the Spi- 
 rit of grace" ! ■ ' 
 ' II. But we speak thus far, as concerning re-i^ox.ii 
 preach only, as though we had been weak. An- 
 other tone more befits the~persuasiort — thfit we 
 have the revelation and the will of God. It 
 is to be contended, therefore, secondly, that 
 "not only are. the great Christian doctrines ;2o; 
 " hurtful ,in. their tendency ;" not only not su- 
 perfluous or unsuitable to their proposed object.; 
 but .they are indispensable. They fill up the 
 
 . ' I am well aware, how much may here appear to be 
 wanting to the argument, sis well in respect of a more full 
 vindication of the doctrine of original corruption, as of a 
 detailed examination of other doctrines. But it will be ob- 
 vious,- that the compass of the present work does not admit 
 of either extension. I have instanced the doctrine likely to 
 be most offensive to an objector : to esUmate the proper con- 
 sequences of those of the atonement and of spiritual influence 
 respectively, let reference be made to Paley's Sermotts. 
 ■(Serm. xx. arid xxv.) I can harijly conceive any. other of the 
 doctrines here mentioned (or implied} to be' made chargeable 
 with hurtful effect.. 
 
188 LECTURE VII. 
 
 very chasm that was void in the history and 
 philosophy of man. They are thejnselves the 
 pregnant evidences of their own truth. They 
 demand admission into our hearts, and find it 
 there, as in a proper home. There is nothing 
 but these that can satisfy the soul, to its convic- 
 tion and comfort. Deprive Christianity of the 
 atonement, and the salt has lost its savour. De- 
 prive the atonement of its explanatory cause and " 
 ^^'^i'oal. ^"*^<^^dent necessity, and not only is holy Scrip- 
 ture no longer honestly comprehensible, but we are 
 no longer comprehensible to our own selves. The 
 wants and consciousness of man are still unpro- 
 vided for. 
 
 For, no longer resting any thing on supposi- 
 tions, but on (what we conceive to be) facts ; I 
 presume, that the veriest enemy of Christianity 
 will not maintain, that man has retrograded in 
 morals since the introduction of the Gospel. If, 
 then, there be found among mankind that now 
 are, a leaning of the thoughts of the heart to evil ; 
 a general disposition to unrighteousness ; a natural 
 distaste for spiritual things, without discipline and 
 cultivation ; how are such phenomena to be ac- 
 counted for, and how judged of? 
 
 And here, let it not be idly taken for granted, 
 that the world is wicked, and man corrupt, merely 
 because we have often beard it said so ; and with- 
 out any thought or sincere persuasion in ourselves, 
 that the real truth is thereby spoken. We know 
 
LECTURE VII. 189 
 
 better than to expect a man in fuH health to be- 
 liete OS, if we tell him that he is desperately sick. 
 Let it be ascertained clearly, whether such a dis- 
 position does exist or not. 
 
 Now, in collecting such estimate, our first 
 thoughts will naturally tend toward^ atrocious 
 crimes, and the more shocking cases of human 
 depravity, which have either fallen within our own 
 experience aind recollection, of of which we have 
 heai'd from others. And truly, these its practical 
 and palpable, forms, in which the operation of sin 
 theets us, are its worst influences, arid those most 
 obvibusly dangerous in the eyes of society. Yet 
 let Us understand, that it is not, cannot be, for any 
 sum, or number of atrocious crimes actually com- 
 mitted, that the world in mass is called wicked (as 
 it is) either in Scripture, or by the good and wise. 
 It would be treating the virtudtis and the vicious 
 just alike, td pronounce judgment so \ 
 
 The wickedness fbf \vhieh the world stands 
 condemned has a much earlier arid deeper root. 
 We §hall discover it in that tvant of principle, by 
 which the rebellious will of the natural man rejects 
 the things of the Spirit of God ; by which it 
 ptasseS over the thought of " heaven," and of an 
 " incorruptible treasure" only, ais vanity and "fool- 
 ishness :" by Which (agairt) perjSons that are long 
 come tb ripeness of understanding, know not 
 whos^ they fite, nor whoifti they serve; arid (of 
 course) know rittt how they should think of their 
 
190 LECTURE VII. 
 
 fellow-servants, and behave to them, during their 
 passage and time of trust. What wonder, there- 
 fore, is it, if they begin to smite these, and evit 
 Lukexii. entreat them : and to eat and dr'mh, and to be 
 
 45. 
 
 drunken ? 
 
 Let the charge be denied, if it be not strictly 
 true: but is it not thus— that men^ even Christian 
 men, take lip the world in a spirit of contention, 
 as if «// lay there ? as if it were a man's sole busi- 
 ness to serve and provide for his own interest ; and' 
 (for this end) to overtake, or outstrip his neigh- 
 bours; and as if he only were the person to be 
 pitied or despised, who is quietest, or poorest; or 
 (in whatever manner it may so happen) hindmost 
 in the race ? If it be thus, I think it is quite clear, 
 that all such persons will serve the vspxXd, first, at 
 any" rate. Whether they will serve God after- 
 wards, or in what measure they will serve him, 
 will depend much upon circumstances ; as, " whe- 
 " ther they can ;" or, " it be quite convenient ;" or 
 considered " respectable" so to do. 
 
 And all these things they will do— wherefore .f* 
 Because they do not think of Gop, nor of Him, 
 whom God hath sent to reclaim and to -deliver 
 them! As was said before, they know not whose 
 they are, nor whom they serve. Men bear the 
 image and superscription of the King of kings 
 written in broad and'legible characters upon all the 
 powers of their body and mind, and yet will not 
 acknowledge him. They show it, in the cleverness 
 
LECTURE VII. 191 
 
 of their heads, and in the skill oT their hands ; in 
 the dignity of their upright attitude ; in the strength 
 of their manhood ; in the beauty of their under- 
 standing ; in the music of their tongue ; in the 
 thousand gifts and graces, that carry honou~r in the 
 sight of their fellows ; and yet they will not glorify 
 God, the Giver of all, either in their body or in 
 their, spirit; they will not accept Christ, as aicor.vi. 
 King, to reign over them ! Luu xix. 
 
 Now, even to omit mention, for a moment, of 
 the greatest and worst offence that is in this dispo- 
 sition ; (I mean its entire wrongness towards the 
 Almighty himself ;) let it be considered, (under 
 the subor^nate case only,) how absolutely impos- 
 sible it is with such a disposition to behave in any 
 thing like a right manner towards our fellow -crea- See hect. 
 tUres ; how certain it is, that all the pious and ten- §"2. " 
 der hearted must condemn it ! And indeed, if such 
 temper -were allowable ; if the want of charity, of 
 justice, and of mercy towards those around us, or 
 beneath us, could be thought even excusable ; 
 what comfort and satisfaction could such a state of 
 tilings as this world offers afford to the poor and 
 simple ? or hovv could they, thinking for themselves, 
 or how could others, thinking for them, ever 
 heartily agree to God's justice ? 
 
 Yet such (we think) as has be.en described, the 
 woi-ld is, without Christian love I not destitute of 
 a certain face of wisdom and of virtue ; (nay, and 
 that a very comely face, if it be but seen from a 
 
192 LECTURE Vll. 
 
 r 
 
 favourable point ;) but far removed from tbe clear 
 1 John iv. sight of endurifig truth and goodness ; not rightly 
 knowing even its own brethren, whom it hath seen ; 
 much less God, whom it hath not seen. 
 
 We have to judge, every man for himself, whe- 
 ther this sort of disposition is to be found in the 
 world, or not. Only let it be remembered, that 
 in whatever proportion ifr is found, in the same 
 does it show forth its own condemnation, and the 
 want of something further. If this be bad, there- 
 fore, as a state of things, must we not desire and 
 seek a better ? Can this satisfy the spirit of a man, 
 even when he thinks of men alone .'' How much 
 less, when he comes to consider sin, with reference, 
 not to nia7i, as he is injured, but to God, as he is 
 offended by it ? 
 
 We must, then, seek a better rule and law of 
 life than any that is to be found without the 
 Gospel : not from any conceit of oveji'-much 
 righteousness, or any wish to be th©«ght holier 
 than others ; but from an honest and simple dis- 
 cerning between right and wrong, between good 
 and evil. I say, not in overstrained conceit, or in 
 any want of charity; because the world, which 
 ] John V. stands condemned in Scripture as lyirig in ivicJced- 
 ness, is elsewhere in the same Scripture spoken of 
 with the tenderest regard : as when our Saviour 
 John xiL said, / come not to Judge the world, but to save 
 jobniiL 16. the world^ He that saves, loves. And again ; God 
 so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 
LJ^lOTUREi VII. im 
 
 S&lt, (.hfii tfJtJ^fisq^er b^liewihin, him should not 
 perishi but have everlasting life. What, therefore, 
 i§ Gpd'g work, and the object of his regard, it is 
 not for us to pvesumato set at nought rashly, or 
 lightly to condemn. But if there be one rule and 
 way of living, one aim ^nd understanding, to be 
 noted, for the condemnation of which there is both 
 plfiin authority and reason ; and (at the same time) 
 the}-e be found afiqther, by which an easy door is 
 opened into the way of using this same ■world a^l Cor. vu. 
 9\(4 abusing it ; wijl riot they, who understand 
 tjieir calling and condjtifan her,e,most efFeetuallyj 
 do, well: to cast away the wrong rule, and cleave to; 
 the right one .'' 
 
 Which rule (L demand that it be fairly /con-: 
 sadered) must really meet, most fully and con- 
 sistently, the necessities and aspirations of reflect- 
 ing man ? Suppose him to follow up his, estimate, 
 as just represented, with thge question ; then if 
 these things be so, as I perceive they are, with so 
 many of my fellow-creatures, who made me toJCor.iv.r. 
 differ fronj another ^ or what have I that I did not 
 ?:eceive ? — Aye, who indeed ! Time was, when 
 not only §|uch worldly spirits as thpse of which \ye 
 have been speaking, but the very worst offenders' 
 that have ever stood condemned by human justice, 
 were no worse tlhan ourselves '' ! when they camel 
 
 * " It was not an extravagance of humility, tJhe'refdre, I 
 " should think, but a sound calculation, of a natural feeling, 
 " which once made a distinguished mbfalist, when he saW 
 
 o 
 
194 LECTURE VII. 
 
 naked from their mothers' womb, with only the 
 furniture of natural hearts and human passions ! 
 The root of all their guilt was in them then : there 
 must have been a root: crime could not have 
 flourished to its height, without a stock whereon 
 temptation might fasten : and was not the same 
 root in us also ? was it not as much obnoxious to 
 divine displeasure; as much a barrier from his 
 Habak. i. presence, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil^ 
 in our own case, as in theirs ? ' 
 
 Let the sufficiencyj the indispensable necessity 
 of holy Scripture, as a storeof means adapted to 
 the wants of an individual human being, be 
 brought in sobriety to the test of thoughts' like 
 these. Various restraints may have, instrumentally, 
 preserved the Christian, who (at any given moment) 
 stands upright in his calling, from the overt act of 
 transgression among men. But, to say nothing of 
 all sins of infirmity ; all intermediate deviations 
 from holiness, which must in the very best man's 
 case have intervened between the season of his 
 birth and that of his matured reflection ; we must, 
 
 "^ one of his fellow-creatures under the extreme sentence of 
 '' law, express his thankfulness,. tha^he had escaped the fall 
 '^ and fate to which he was perhaps in himself as liable as the 
 " guilty sufferer." p. 13. Assize Sermon, ■preached h^ore the 
 University of Oxford, March 6, 1817. hy John Davison, M. A. 
 Fellow of Oriel College. 
 
 I take this opportunity of acknowledging with humble 
 delight several approximations of thought between this Ser- 
 mon and the present Lecture. 
 
LECTURE VII. 195 
 
 account, somehow or other, for the removal (if it 
 be removed) of this original uncleanness in the 
 sight of God. '''-•-' 
 
 It "is here, that Christianity so fully, so espe- » 
 cially meets, to restore and comfort us. It is here, 
 when we have sought in vain amongst all human 
 systems with the inquiry, Who will show us ant/ vaai.iy. 6. 
 good, in this respect ? that ihe Lord lifts up the 
 light of his countenance upon us, and gives us 
 peace. Here it is, when (as it were) our nursing 
 fathe'rs arid mothers— the schools of the philosophy Psai. xxxii. 
 of this world — ^have forsaken us, that the Lord 
 taketh us up. 
 
 Man did not want," before the Gospel, ingenious 
 and plausible theories of virtue, nor subtle analyses 
 of the powers of the mind, as far as the inyestiga-Lect o. ii. 
 tions of mere science can extend : but he failed in 
 application of the knc^^ledge which he possessedj 
 from want of a thorough discerning measure of his 
 own true natural spirit. He needed a clew to un- 
 ravel "this ; a standard to settle and enforce moral 
 obedience ; he needed to 'know himself, in relation 
 to. his Maker. These master-lights the Gospel 
 effectually supplies. Man is revealed-^— alienated 
 from God, by the waywardness of a corrupt and 
 rebellious j/jJnV; God is revealed— m "G^mif re-zcox.\.i9. 
 coneiling the world unto himself, through the 
 ordeal of amoral and spiritual probation. Thetect. a. 
 standard of conduct, which was needed, Js supplied 
 
 o2 
 
196 LECTURE VIL 
 
 also ; the standard of individual responsibility at 
 the bar of a future and unerring judgment. And 
 a just view of man. in relation to his feHow-crea- 
 
 2 Cor. V. tures, follows together ; because tve thus judge, 
 that if one died for all, then weve all dead .- and 
 that he died fur all, that they ivhich live should 
 not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him 
 which died for them, and rase again. 
 
 To me it seems, that to a thoughtful person, 
 born, by God's blessing, in a country where the 
 light of the Gospel is not hid, day unto day should 
 utter speech, and night unto night show the cer- 
 tainty of the word which Christ hath spoken, and 
 which hath been spoken concerning Christ.. Such 
 
 Ps. ir. 4 a one commteneth with his own heart what all that 
 mystery of wickedness maybe, of which he both 
 feels the elements existing within himself, inwardly ; 
 and the effect prevailing all around him, outwardly. 
 And no answer can satisfy his questionings ; no 
 answer speaks in a voice or manner worthy of rea- 
 
 Bom, v.i2.sonable acceptation, except the saying ; tbat^y okc 
 man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; 
 emd so death passed upon all men, for that all hcube 
 sinned. He accepts this answer, because it is, at 
 l«Kt, no matter of doubt or disputation, that sin and 
 <ieath are in the world; and it is a truth, to be de- 
 clared again and again, as of the very utmost import- 
 ance to man's welfare, that the heart which does not 
 acknowledge, in humility, its own natural propensity 
 
LECTURE VII. 197 
 
 to wrong, can have no true knowledge of itself, nor 
 (as yet) atiy just perception of the most ordinary 
 workings of experience. 
 
 With this conviction,; then, of sin, in the first 
 instance, testifying of the need of one that might 
 restore all things, let the awakened spirit come and 
 stand before the cross of Christ. May not two 
 voices, as it were, be heard from thence speaking 
 continually ? on the one side pf suffering, a mourn- 
 ful challenge ; Is it nothing to you, all ye that Lament, i. 
 pass by ? behold, and see if there be any sorrow 
 like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, luhere- 
 "with the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his 
 fierce anger i on the side of victory, a triumphant 
 stfain ; It is finished; — the work, which manifold John xrs:. 
 offiences had made it needful to do : but be of gooduaxt. ix. 2. 
 cheer now ; thy sins are forgiven thee ' Ajtjd the 
 refreshed spirit then departs, accordingly ; no longer i 
 believing only upon trust, because of any man's 
 saying ; but because it has itself heard, and knows, johniv.42. 
 that it has indeed found the Christ, the Saviour 
 of the world. 
 
 Observe, as we proceed, how the love of God — 
 that first, and best, and universal, and enduring 
 principle of action, thus arises oaturally, and with 
 understanding ; not from the pert lappetency of a 
 disproportionate and unholy familiarity ; but from 
 a sincere sense of conscious obligation, springing 
 ««t erf the fountain of deep hutniliiy. 
 
 o3 
 
198 - LECTURE VII. 
 
 Take another step, and contemplate the Re- 
 deemer rising from the grave, in victory. Is not this, 
 and the conclusion it involves, congenial to the 
 wants and wishes of man ? I forbear to dwell upon 
 a point so clear. But let it not be overlooked, 
 that a higher calling, thus laid open and made 
 sure before him, brings to the believer higher 
 views and stricter obligations with it. The Al- 
 
 Job X.3. mighty has neither depressed the work of his own 
 hands in capriciousness ; nor exalted him again to 
 any just pretence for pride. No : the Christian, 
 with the hope of glory thus surely made his own, 
 will now set about his proper work, as a thing in 
 natural order ; even the work of following the steps 
 of his blessed Master, in a life of personal holiness, 
 and of active good-will (in his degree) towards his 
 
 Lect.iii. pp. Christian brethren. 
 
 73 — 4. 
 
 Observe, again, how thus the second great com- 
 mandment hangs itself inseparably upon \he first ; 
 what is the harmony, order, and proportion between 
 the love of God, and the love of our neighbour. 
 
 Observe another thing; how clearly, now, the 
 
 exhoi'tation given at baptism to his sureties comes 
 
 round upon the believer himself, with a full and 
 
 oiffice for perfect understanding ; viz. " that Baptism doth 
 
 Exhorta- " represent unto us our profession ; which is, to 
 
 " follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to 
 
 Bom. Ti.4,<« be made like unto him ; that as he died and rose 
 
 oti;. 
 
 " again for us,. so should we who are baptized die 
 
LECTURE VII. 199 
 
 "from sin, and rise again unto .righteousness." O 
 beautiful and most aifecting watchfulness of. our 
 parent Church ; by which (as now we come to per- 
 ceive) she piously took care to place us in the arms 
 of God's mercy and of Christ's atonement, even 
 long before we ourselves could have the knowledge 
 who was accepting, or who restoring us ! And shall 
 we now say coldly, that she frustrated or made of 
 none effectthe grace of God, because we see that 
 so many have refused the health whei-euhto they 
 were reclaimed ? Forbid it faith, and hope, aiid 
 charity ! ' 
 
 But to proceed. Suppose a case to have ad- 
 vanced thus far : is this all that is wanting unto 
 man ? and does Christian doctrine leave us here .'' 
 ^-^God forbid I for who should then walk stedfast 
 unto the end, through all the weaknesses of his own 
 purpose, or through the unkindness and resistance 
 of thie world ! — -No : we have not been thus far 
 tempted by promises, only to find ourselves flattered 
 and betrayed, as difficulties might increase around us. 
 We serve one who knew us better ; who, as he /ow<f johnxiu. i. 
 Ais own in the beginning, so lovetA them unto the 
 end; and has not left us comfortless. The Spirit M-^y- is. 
 helpeth our infirmities ; and we know,i\\&tallthinss^om. via. 
 work together for good to them that love God, to ' 
 them who are the called according to his purpose ; 
 even that purpose, I believe, by which a merciful Cre- 
 ator deisireth not the death of any of his creatures, 
 but that all should come to everlasting life. Add to 
 
 o4 
 
eoo LECTURE VII. 
 
 this, the doctrine (with its inferences) of Christ's 
 intercession ; and the necessities and aspirations 
 of man are satisfied. It is no just objection, to 
 affirm, that there is much more which we imght 
 have, and have not ; the question is. What do we 
 want more*? 
 
 Let it be noticed, again^ how every thing thus 
 
 advances in perfect order. Let it be observed, how 
 
 we are thus able to perceive ourselves oonthiaBded 
 
 Matt. XXV. to watch and pray ; to seek out of the book of 
 
 41. the Lord, and read ; to take the whole armour 
 
 Is. xxxiv, f, , , , 
 
 16. of the Spirit: not arbitrarily, and as by a task- 
 
 is. master ; but as by a friend, whom we now dis- 
 
 Ps.L4.andtinctly feel to be a friend ; whose counsels we can 
 throughoutitiow oursclvcs discovcr to be justified. 
 
 And, if we be grateful, I think we shall hot fail 
 to notice, and to reverence with a corresponding 
 and proportionate affection, that consistency of love 
 and tenderness, with which our Church (still fol- 
 
 ' I have assumed^ as a point not to be disputed, that the 
 individual wants of man, proper to be considered in a ques- 
 tion of the present nature, are those of the spirit only, and not 
 the necessities of the body. It must be admitted further, that 
 the foregoing estimate has been made only from contempla- 
 tion of the remedies provided for such. But sarely> the 
 Creator knows be^ the complete franse of his own creature, 
 and has provided for him accordingly ! And it has been the 
 whole purpose of these Lectures to exemplify this ; to show, 
 "how he has condescended, in the volume of holy Writ, to re- 
 veal to man what his wants are; to discover him, as he is, 
 unto himself, in order to bring him to li'appiness. ' 
 
LiecftJRE vii. eoi 
 
 lowing, in desire, the Inbdel of Hrs progressive 
 care, under whose name she claims' ailthoi-ity) in- 
 vites us to come for rest and refreshment of our see the 
 
 , , manner in 
 
 souls to the Lord''s holy table, as to a special means which tws 
 
 j subject is 
 
 ofsrace. I will not here speak of the holV Sacra- treated by 
 
 ■' ° 1 . 1 M. I Hooker, 
 
 inent, as that most necessary means, which it surely Eccies. Po- 
 
 11. lity.bookv. 
 
 is, of mere ouiwkM unity ; but lodking to our ex- §.6T. 
 press object, to the w&nts and the desires only of 
 an individual heart, I say. Let us value thti Eucha- 
 rist, honestly, by thai test. Does it suit our ne- 
 cessity and our desire, or does it not ; that, as pil.* 
 gi^ms through a world like this, we may find such 
 access to a livinsr well, frbm whence our spirits may John iv. 14. 
 
 ° ' 5 ■' Ps.lxxxiv. 
 
 be filled with consolation ? What a bond, then, of 6. 
 something more than outward unity ; — of feal and 
 essential fellowship ; where many pilgrims rtieet tb^ 
 gether ; and all, to eat the same spiritual meat, 
 and drink the same spiritual dririJc ; even of the 
 S2im& spiritual Rock, that^till follows us, smdicor.x.3, 
 which Rock is Christ ! What if there be intrliders 
 here, a^ain, as there were sensualists and sluggards 
 befol-e ? I cannot trace froni that the insufficiency 
 of the ordinance, as a fchannel of personal blessing 
 tihto sanctification ! ' 
 
 A question remains ; — Is all this reasonable ? — 
 To which the fair answer turns upon a single and 
 Very simple point ; viz. whether the condition thus 
 described, and the positive application to it of the 
 remedies thus maintained to be at once suitable and 
 
202 L|:CTURE yii. 
 
 adequate, is conformable, or contradictory, to ra- 
 tional experience. 
 
 Now, I admit that the solution of ihis problem 
 must, in some degree, be partial-: for it must come, 
 in the first instance, from a beliqver; and next, 
 from the believer of a particular creed. But such 
 Loct-iv! p. a one (as we have seen, and know) is no less a sub- 
 ^' ject of experience, than his sceptical or dissentient 
 fellow-creature. If, therefore, it but agree with 
 his sense of man, and man's condition ; if it but 
 speak knowledge, and hope, and consolation to him ; 
 if he be sure, that God is good, and that they who 
 wilfully reject the Gospel will out of their own 
 mouths be condemned ; (since they refuse an inter- 
 pretation of things^ and a provision, which might 
 satisfy any man j) if, moreover, he himself be evi- 
 dently no madman, no enthusiast, no hypocrite ; if, 
 by virtue of this hope within him, he be found dis- 
 creet and humble, prudent and temperate, chaste 
 and pious, patient and charitable ; if he be one, 
 who understands all other knowledge as well as 
 they do, who believe not ; if he be an u^pright ruler 
 or a tender father, a dutiful son or an affectionate 
 husband, a faithful servant or an equitable master ; 
 — then I contend that all these things, of which we 
 have been speaking, are reasonable ; for they are 
 found accepted by the experience of a person— of 
 whom who will deny that he must be a reasonable 
 man ? 
 
LECTURE VII. 203 
 
 •Contrary to man's unassisted apprehension such 
 estimate, .of things' undoubtedly is ; " peculiar" it 
 undoubtedly is. We would not deny or conceal 
 that. Nay, it is the very security of the whole 
 case. If it were not so, the Gospel would nei- 
 ther materially diifer from, nor be superior to, 
 Other systems. Holy Scripture would not meet 
 human exigencies better than they do. It would 
 not satisfy all the thoughts and wants of an indivi- 
 dual, as now we think it does. We that are called 
 to the faith and rule of it. should not deserve to be 
 entitled a peculiar people. It is the " peculiarity" i Pet. ii.9. 
 joined to the " reality ;" the adaptation of myste- 
 ries to our familiar senses ; the union of faith with 
 reason ; which make up, together, (under the view 
 that has been now taken,) the proof of its DivnJE 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 In challenging attention, hbwever, to the. rule 
 and law of life proposed to us in holy Scripture, as 
 a law sufficient for the wants and wishes of every 
 individual person called unto obedience to it ; I am 
 aware, that this continuous view of personal reli- 
 gion, by itself, does not fulfil the variety of such a 
 challenge, in all its practical forms. There are 
 other views of this great subject, which must be 
 included, of a more detached and partial character. 
 It must present itself to our conviction, as the true 
 channel of security — not only when we thus trace 
 it from its fountain through its whole course ; but 
 alsoi in whatever j9om^ of its continuous progress 
 
204 LECTURE VII. 
 
 the uneasy spirit, weary of inferior hopes, may ap- 
 proach to the current of the river of /i/^janc?, de- 
 mand its passage over. We roust be prepared to 
 give an answer to others, as Well &s to (mrselves ; 
 for their reproof and correction ; for the strength- 
 ening of them that stand, and the raising up of 
 them that fall; for the instruction in righteous- 
 ness 'ol nil. If the Gospel be the great asylum 
 open to all, it must be found open to all conditions, 
 and at ail seasons. 
 
 And so we think it is. It might be difficult to 
 point out a diversity; whethei* of moral habit, or 
 natural disposition ; whether of accidental state, 
 or artiticial station ; whether of advancement, or 
 d^wlt in holiness ; for which a provision may 
 not be discovered (by a serious and sincere 
 inquirer) in holy Writ. But I forbear all spe- 
 cial examinations of this sort ; all reference, like- 
 wise, to the comprehensive nature of the Gospel 
 morality ; because the great personal doctrines of 
 that revelation added and applied to the Jhcts, which 
 the whole volume of the Bible displays of human 
 nature, seem to involve a general understanding , 
 which may best solve all particulars for itself, 
 
 I forbear also to dwell upon another very striking 
 featui^, which might be depicted as of very consi- 
 derable force; ihe freedom of the Gospel, That 
 law of liberty, which it leaves to its disciples, in all 
 lesser particulars, after it has once established its 
 dominion in the heart, by convincing believers ©f 
 
LECTURE VII. 205 
 
 sin, and righteousness, and Judgment, is some-Johiixvi.8. 
 thing, which the- condition of the world obviously Lectvi. 
 requires, yet which no human authority would dare 
 to give. 
 
 Before, however, we close the consideration of 
 those features whereby the Gospel is commended 
 to our consciences, as a sufficient provision for the 
 individual ; there is one, which perhaps ought not 
 to be passed over in silence : namely, that indul- 
 gence which it certainly shows (consistently withLect.vi.li. 
 all that has been heretofore affirmed concerning its 
 sense of justice) to sincere repentance, whenever 
 offered. 
 
 It cannot but be felt, that the enunciations of 
 Scripture are so conveyed, with regard to this point, 
 as in none, not even the extremest case — of a 
 death-bed repentance, positively to exclude all hope 
 to the awakened sinner. Bold, at least, should we 
 pronounce that human hand to be, which would 
 dare to close the gates of mercy, even at the very 
 last ! At the same time, so manifest is it, how pain- 
 fd, how severe a trial of disinterested liope and 
 universal charity this extremity of mercy must 
 'bring with it, (I mean, to children that have feared 
 their Maker, and endeavoured through their whole 
 piiobation to love and serve him with all diligence 
 and dutiful desire,) that there seems especial care 
 taken to fbirewarn us of the error of an envious 
 temper on such ground, by representing it in seve- 
 ral of the most tinamiahle portraits which the Gos- 
 
^06 LECTURE VII. 
 
 pel exhibits. Let it be enough to advert to th^ 
 Luke XV. behaviour of the elder brother, in the piarable of 
 
 28—30 
 
 the "Prodigal Son," And, in truth, when any 
 Christian may presume to hope, that he himself is 
 surely moving in the way to glory, is it not an en- 
 vious and an offensive thing, to grudge an entrance, 
 even to the guiltiest penitent, into a happiness that 
 is more than plentiful for all ? 
 
 Now, it is easy to see the force, the fitness, the 
 necessity, of giving room in our Lord's own re- 
 cords to such representations, as may provide even 
 for the very last emergency. But, when we ac* 
 knowledge this, let it be borne in mind what is the 
 lawful use of such intrusted treasure. It is not, 
 that all and every one of the examples of Scripture 
 are to be applied in every case, wherever they may 
 be forced or fancied to apply. If (for instance) bj 
 God's mercy there be found recorded, in a book 
 intended to be profitable for instruction in all 
 righteousness, a case like that of the penitent 
 j.uke xiiii. thief ; — Still, to apply this generally, or rashly, is 
 most unscriptural, and most dangerous. Most un- 
 becoming and unreasonable the want of a due dis- 
 crimination is, where such rare picture is only 
 loosely quoted and referred to as a pattern of 
 mercy ; but still more extravagant, when it is ad^ 
 vanced to support a preconceived opinion, of the 
 inefficiency of good works, in contributing towards 
 the end of salvation ! 
 To reason thus is not our wisdom ; nor is this 
 
LECTURE VII. 207 
 
 the " fulness" of Scripture. In rushing upon our 
 very last resources to meet what is no more than 
 a common demand, we expend, ruinously, upk)n or- 
 dinary cases, what the Spirit of truth has provi- 
 dentially supplied only for otherwise hopeless 
 emergencies. Hence, we naturally bring our ma- 
 terials into discredit, in several ways. The best 
 general way of teaching and interpreting is still 
 the natural one. Let extreme cases be reserved 
 in store for extreme demands. It is only so that 
 Scripture does meet the predicament of every indi- 
 vidual. It is so, that we shall best demonstrate 
 this ; best satisfy our own hearts ; least offend, 
 and most silence, gainsayers ; and most effec- 
 tually restore the penitent. I am persuaded the 
 inference is true, that with such discretion the Lect, vi. ii. 
 Apostles taught. I would that indeed we aimed ^"^ 
 at neither less nor more, than to shape the work- 
 ings of our zeal by the model of holy Writ itself ! 
 
 Another Lecture will maintain the excellence of 
 Scripture, as a guide " amidst the world's inter- 
 " course ;" and the design of the whole will be 
 completed. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Romans xii. 5. 
 
 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one 
 members one of another. 
 
 1 HE'object pursued through the preceding course 
 of Lectures has been^to assert the divine authority 
 of holy Scripture from its adaptation to the real 
 state of human nature. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that has been said and writ- 
 ten, in its behalf, with such various excellence and 
 power, and all that is professed and confidently 
 maintained by champions of every denomination ; 
 it is nevertheless most certain, that many appear* 
 ances are exhibited, among the subjects of the 
 Christian covenant, concerning which it were mere 
 deceiving of ourselves not to aclcnowledge, that 
 they show most unfavourably for its cause. There 
 are many aspects of life around us, from which it 
 must in fairness be allowed to be no unnatural 
 first impression; — either, that holy Scripture is 
 not that word of power, which we proclaim it to 
 be; or else, that man, as he now lives in the world, 
 can never be the person meant to be influenced by 
 it. Whence it would seem, as though, after all, 
 
 p 
 
210 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 " truth" and the real " rule of life" were things 
 yet to be settled: the acceptance, meanwhile, as 
 such, of holy Scripture in particular, being a mat- 
 ter of mere habit or courtesy ; and the curtailment 
 or rejection of it one of indifference and free 
 choice. Practical disobedience, partial conten- 
 tions, presumptuous questionings, have so stag- 
 gered the belief, perplexed the reason, or seduced 
 the hearts df nlany; that to acquiesce unequivo- 
 cally and unreservedly in the faith, as we have 
 learned and been assured of it, is to run great 
 hazard of encountering the reproach of prejudice 
 or weakness. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is a weakness wherein lies our 
 
 Lect. i. p. strength. And accordingly, it was taken as a 
 foundation, and enforced by some familiar appeals 
 
 Ibid. p. 11, to plain reason,-— -that a simple and implicit faith 
 
 13 13. . . . . . 
 
 in the divine word is not only permissible, but 
 necessary; the judgment, moreover, of a true 
 wisdom— since in the volume proposed to our ac- 
 ceptance may be found such consolatory evidence 
 of its own exceeding truth, in the respect of its 
 adaptation to our necessities, as, once perceived, 
 tvill afterwards almost constrain the obedient 
 spirit to continue in the faith. 
 
 In proceeding to exemplify this position, it ap- 
 peared advisable to begin with establishihg a fit 
 preparation of the heart for the simple reception 
 of the truth recommended. The present method 
 Led. u, of divine appeal to us was cojisidered, and a view 
 
LECTURE VIII. 211 
 
 taken of our condition^ as subjects of a dispensa- 
 tion of the Spirit. To this general statement Lectin, 
 were annexed certain detached considerations, cal- 
 culated to account for appearances of rebellion and 
 unfaithfulness, under a covenant so holy; to re- 
 concile the heart to the painful sight of them ; 
 and to give answer to some inward perplexities 
 concerning holy Writ itself, which might, and 
 very possibly may, disturb the meditations of the 
 faithful. 
 
 We were then prepared to enter on the view 
 proposed of the sacred volume ; under which, it^ 
 conformity with the existing state of human na- Lect. iv. 
 ture was first asserted in general, and then ex- Lect. v. 
 emplified in detail. A further argument of the 
 divine intention, that no method should be left 
 untried to bring reasonable creatures back into 
 obedience, was founded on the pi'oportion from Lect. vi. 
 time to time observable in the character and 
 manner of successive agents, who have ministered 
 to that effect. 
 
 Though not an overwhelming, it was yet no Lect. v. in- 
 
 <. 1.1 • .. ■ r 1 1 • 1 .1 troduction. 
 
 lavourable picture ot ourselves which vvas thus 
 presented. Wherefore, at its close, it became ex- 
 pedient to pause upon the question — of the suffi- 
 ciency and fitness of Scripture, so exhibited, to 
 pur. liidividual necessities and desires. This adapt- Lect. vu. 
 ation it was attempted to trace in the last Lec- 
 ture. It only remains of the. original intention, 
 to illustrate the excellence of Scripture, as a 
 
 p2 
 
212 LECTURE Vlll. 
 
 guide- through the complex relations of social 
 life. 
 
 In truth, however, not rnuch is necessary here 
 to be added to previous considerations; because, 
 as was suggested, and as increased and still in- 
 creasing reflection will surely make manifest — 
 
 Lect, vii. p. the sensc of personal responsibility before an uner- 
 
 19T-8. . '^ ... 
 
 ring judgment to come will, to an enlightened 
 
 conscience communing with itself under a spiritual 
 
 dispensation, include the principles of social duty. 
 
 In fact, it is in this very point, that the superiority 
 
 of Scripture, as the rule and law of social life, 
 
 shines forth so transcendently. While man, dazzled 
 
 by the brilliancy of visible and sensible effects, aims 
 
 Lect. iu. p. at the splendor of general improvements, and loves 
 70. n, 78. - f , . f !. <:, . . 
 
 to attack combmed aspects or error, bcnpture lays 
 
 the axe of reformation to the root of evil, chasing 
 
 it to the hold where it lies hid in the individual 
 
 spirit. It plants the seed of renewal in that soil, 
 
 from which alone it can so spring, as to bear fruit 
 
 effectually, let it branch forth to what extent it 
 
 may. AH other legislation and reform, however 
 
 excellent in its own theory, cannot at best be more 
 
 than expedient, and partial in its operation. It 
 
 Lect. i». may correct specific local abuses ; but it wants the 
 
 p. 77 78 
 
 79. ' ' element of universal applicability. It wants the 
 point /rom which to begin in every case alike. 
 
 To proceed, however, to the consideration of 
 Scripture, as it bears upon questions of civil and 
 social life. 
 
I.ECTURE VIII. 213 
 
 It appears often to be assumed, in vindicating 
 men's free right to prescribe in su(3fi questions 
 for themselves, that the Gospel does, not interfere 
 'with civil ordinances, or dictate in the arrange- 
 ments of social policy. True. Christ's kingdom Johaxyiiu 
 is not of this world.— But it may be doubted, whe- 
 ther all, as many as indulge such thought, consider 
 how Jar it is true, or wh?/ it is true. 
 
 It is not true, if the ' thought be so extended as 
 to involve an inference, that religion and our civil 
 relations are subjects separate and independent; 
 that " religion" is a thing by itself; a thing of 
 times arid seasons; a sort of robe, only to be worn 
 in set and public places, or on high and solemn 
 days ; while much lower considerations may suffice 
 to define the rules of ordinary conduct, in matters 
 of mere human policy. The acceptance and be- 
 lief, and pervadi?ig influence of the revealed will 
 of God, ought to be traceable through every senti- 
 ment and rule of a Christian community, whether 
 public or private. It need not be obtruded with 
 that jealous minuteness, which seems to fear that 
 nothing can be seen of the Creator, or Redeemer, 
 nothing referred to the authority of either, without 
 reiteration, in express words, of those holy names, 
 which too freely to pronounce is rather profanation 
 than reverence. But undoubtedly, a loftier prin- 
 ciple should be found master of all secondary wisr 
 dom ; unquestionably, every single fiat of the lesser 
 should be found resolvable into a first hiflaence of 
 
 p3 
 
214 ■ LECTURE VIII. 
 
 the greater ; and be seen to claim its strength by 
 correspondence with that alone. It is not true, 
 therefore, that Christ's religion does not interfere- 
 with even the most public of our actions or con- 
 cerns, if the affirmation be so made, as to imply an 
 entire lirie otdistinciion between it and them. 
 
 But if it be understood, that, inasmuch as the 
 Gospel has already made a far better provision for 
 all social, by purifying to the very inmost thought 
 all individual excellence, therefore it is silent upon 
 topics, upon which it was not necessary to speak ;-^ 
 this is very true. Though we believe that the won- 
 derful acquaintance with human nature displayed 
 in holy Scripture affords the surest treasure of wis- 
 dom and of foresight in every question, of every 
 kind ; (through deduction from experimental facts 
 of every kind therein recorded for ensamples ;) it 
 must be allowed, that the Gospel does not busily 
 and imperatively interfere with the details of hu- 
 man arrangement in matters purely civil. While 
 Rom. xiii. its codc IS Hot without spccific precepts bearing 
 1 Pet. ii. upon such questions; it nevertheless seems certain, 
 
 jg jv 
 
 that very much is left therein to the ministration 
 
 " of man's best assistant powers, subject to the test 
 
 of a strict spiritual self-examination, under a sense 
 
 of personal accountableness. It is congenial with 
 
 Lect. iii. the characteristic manner of the Gospel, as a divine 
 
 p. 66—68. ... 
 
 Lect. vi. II. dispensation, that it should do so. 
 
 The question, therefore,^ — whether holy Scrip- 
 ture supplies a Tuk and law of life atnidst the diiE- 
 
LECTURE VIII. 215 
 
 culties of public and economic questions on an ex- 
 tensive scale,— may be dismissed, as one answered 
 by anticipation. It is not our purpose, to. unravel 
 the abuses and perversities of man ; or to tombat, 
 in detail, objections having their foundation in 
 abuse only ; but to unfold the sufficiency of holy 
 Scripture as an universal guide to such as will, in 
 singleness of heart, receive, and live by it. 
 
 It will be more consistent with ihis object, to 
 consider, what direction Scripture may supply to 
 the believer, (as he will be affiacted by the conduct , 
 of others,) in certain cases of more familiar and 
 domestic occurrence ; under perplraiities, which 
 break in more upo,n our privacy, or jar more pain- 
 fully upon the meditations of secret thought. A 
 Jew examples must suffice for illustration of our 
 general meaning. 
 
 Let us endeavour, then, to estimate impartially 
 the legitimate effects of two Christian principles, 
 which shall be described. 
 
 I. The first is that resulting from the view of 
 social life, which appears to be conveyed through 
 the language of the text. So we, being many, are 
 one body in Christ, and every one member^ one tef 
 another. 
 
 Ispeak, as in a Christian kingdom ; and looking 
 at such passage, as it may be connected (in a prac- 
 tical sense only) with that affecting language of the 
 same Apostle elsewhere ; There is one body andEpbes. iv. 
 one Spirit, even as ye are tilled in one hope of 
 
 p4 
 
»V6 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 9/our calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 
 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and 
 through all, and in you all. Let the principle be 
 called — the " sense of real brotherhood ;" made of 
 force, as an obligatory principle of active duty, by 
 virtue of a real, though mysterious union of all 
 
 Ephes. iv. Christians with Christ, the head of all ; and let the 
 notion of it be brought (to ascertain what practical 
 meaning it will bear) to the test of that language 
 
 Matt. XXV. of our Saviour, in which he says. Inasmuch as ye 
 have done this, or that, unto one of the least of 
 these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 
 
 It is not to be denied, that all principles of faith 
 may be occasionally overpowered by the infirmities 
 of nature ; and so may this. Yet, where faith is 
 in its proper and healthful operation, the Christian, 
 with that sense of brotherhood, which we intend, 
 present to his mind, amidst the intercourse of daily 
 life, will no more dare to be unjust, or oppressive, 
 or malicious to another, than he would willingly 
 injure or offend the Head of all, in his own proper 
 person. The positive, practical reality of this 
 brotherhood of faith will have become one of his 
 familiar perceptions. He cannot account for, or 
 explain, either its extent, or the manner of its union, 
 any more than he can solve any other mystery. 
 Why should he .'' or why need he ? But he will 
 become deeply sensible of what importance to him^ 
 self\\\& behaviour towards fellow- members of the 
 game body is ; seeing that every social action of a 
 
LECTURE VIII. 217 
 
 Christian is a subject of his Lord's peculiar, per- 
 sonal interest ; and that therefore he must not give 
 offence to any brother wilfully, or by evil-doing, 
 l0st he should even do wrong unto the Lord that 
 bought him ! 
 
 Such representation may not at once be under- 
 stood. It requires much thought, and severe in- 
 ward calculation of the tenor of our spiritual calling. 
 It assumes an actual, present influence of a belief 
 in the high doctrine of the coMMU>fiON of saints; 
 and this is no easy point of faith to receive with 
 understanding : perhaps, because it is a doctrine 
 not commonly interpreted as a rule of practice ; 
 and therefore does not so readily as others approve 
 itself to the reason in respect of its mysterious 
 bearings, until Its living power has been felt, in 
 the operation by which it comes in contact with 
 the necessities of ddily life'^, 
 
 » I cannot "resist the gratification of transcribing here (I 
 hope, at once for illustration and support) the following 
 passage from a volume of Sermons lately published. The 
 subject is — The duty of attending the sick ; on which the 
 preacher having spoken, continues thus : " It is not merely 
 " the poor sufferer, whose distresses have awakened our pity, 
 " who is now relieved ; but, strange and mysterious transfer ! 
 " it is Christ who receives the benefit, and Christ who vouch- 
 " safes to acknowledge it. Hear his own words."— And then, 
 after having quoted froifl St. Matthew the verses just referred 
 to, (xxv.'40.) he concludes : " Whatever motives to deeds of 
 "pity, natural reason, or right feeling, as it is called, may 
 " suggest ; strong as they are, and many think that they are 
 " adequate to their end, they all fall^hort of this. For this. 
 
218 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Now it is manifest, that the representation of 
 Christian brotherhood involved in the text de- 
 scribes a real, existing state of things, as far as re- 
 lates to the mere outward frame of society. This 
 is what no person will deny ; in whatever measure 
 he may withhold assent from the doctrinal infer- 
 ences which we draw from it. The words evi- 
 dently acknowledge a variety of talent and of sta- 
 tion, such a^ the community of real life exhibits. 
 And we think, that, by such acknowledgment, the 
 passage recognizes and justifies a right use of any 
 corresponding artificial distinctions, which exper 
 rience may have proved to be the best preservatives 
 of social order. But what concerns us to inquire 
 into now regards its inward and effectual power ; 
 viz. how far it affords to Christian brethren, of 
 
 Lect vii. each several degree, a right estimate of themselves 
 and of their neighbours ; and, consequently, a just 
 rule and law of life in their passage through the 
 world . 
 
 There was instanced, in a former Lecture, what 
 we conceive to be a partial case, best understood by 
 reference to this estimate, having its result in 
 
 Lect. V. II." charity" when we spoke concerning the diversi- 
 ties of power and of talent among the ministers of 
 
 " we are indebted to Christianity alone j to him who is the 
 " head of the body, in which all his members, that is, all sincere 
 " Christians^ are joined in holy union." Sermons by W. H. 
 Darnell, B.D. Prebendary of Durham- London, 1816. Ser- 
 mon xiv. p, 285. 
 
LECTURE VIII. SI9 
 
 our own visible Church. Let the view be extended 
 now, to other, more general branches of society. 
 
 Let it be considered, then, what the world's 
 want, and consequent unhappiness, is, which prises 
 from MeVcause— that brethren of a common nature* 
 will not respect each other as they should ; that 
 they will not duly acknowledge the instrumentality 
 of all, under divine wisdom, towards accomplishing 
 general good ; nor feel the truth— ^that not one 
 single creature, redeemed unto a common hope, is 
 worthy to be trampled on, or despised. 
 
 I: §. 1. And first let us take an instance, where 
 such disorder arises from the want of consistent 
 Immility and justice. 
 
 1 will not here make appeal to acts of open vio- 
 lence and palpable oppression, hut consider some 
 of the consequences Only of that disposition so very 
 prevalent, which — 'while it will perhaps condemn 
 the doctrine of man's corruption, carried to any 
 height, as a vision of enthusiasm, will yet coldly 
 and systematically behave to fellow-creatures upon 
 the most positively implied calculation, that all are 
 profligate and worthless ; only to be kept in order 
 by severity and terror; or preserved in honesty, 
 only as they are removed out of the reach of 
 temptation. 
 
 1. To lake a case that is continually presenting 
 itself, and of which all, with common consent, 
 are ready to complain, as involving one of life's 
 
220 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 greatest weariness ; let an estimate be made, under 
 our present thought, of the manner in which so 
 niany Christian people discharge the relative duties 
 of *' mastership," and " servitude." Is it not so, 
 that want of principle produces, ott the one hand, 
 a heartless and unthinking tyranny ? such as can- 
 not possibly receive (in ordinary cases) more than 
 that corresponding eye-service, which alone it de- 
 serves : and on the other, a degenerate and servile 
 spirit of /ear ? a fear, whose subjects, being suf- 
 fered to forget the surpassing value of the soul, 
 and being never made sensible of their own strict 
 equality in spiritual right, and consequent re- 
 sponsibility, with the rulers whom they serve in 
 matters temporal, are led to barter every better 
 principle of fidelity in exchange for mere increase 
 of worldly advantage, and freer personal licence in 
 the seasons when their task of mechanical duty is 
 suspended 1 
 
 2. Again; let consideration be directed to the 
 far too common manner in which the great rela- 
 tions of " rich" and " poor" are mutually fulfilled : 
 in particular, to that painful sight, which (it is to 
 be feared) often checks the hand of bounty ;— the 
 acceptance of benefits followed by the grossest in- 
 gratitude. Yet, why does it befal thus ? It is not 
 to be thought, that the whole blame lies exclusively 
 at their door who are the objects of benevolence. 
 It is more probable, that unthankfulness thus comes 
 
LECTURE VIII. 221 
 
 to prevail, in such distressing measure, by reason 
 that benefits are so much more frequentFy conferred 
 in pride, than in affection and meekness ! 
 
 Nor is it marvellous, that discontented tempers, 
 thus hardened through all want of love, should lose 
 sight of thetrue root of evils, under whose shade 
 they pine and starve ; and seek a cure for them, 
 through violent alteration of those merely superr 
 ficial inequalities, with which (to the natural and 
 careless discernment) they are so palpably connected. 
 It is not surprising, that the real equality of men 
 should be mistaken or mis-stated ; and the perfect 
 jconsi&tency of this, with their unequal condition 
 among the perishable things of this life, overlooked 
 or denied. There is no Christian sense of bro- 
 therhood to be traced on either side, in all such 
 behaviour : and is it not likely that society becomes, 
 in these points, what it is, for want of it ? 
 
 I. §. 2. Let some evils next be noticed of an- 
 other class ; where the mischief arises from defect 
 of sympathy and tender-heartedness. 
 
 Let it be considered, what need there is of some 
 fundamental corrective for all such things as these ; 
 for the want of compassion so continually shown 
 by minds powerful in intellect for intellectual feeble- 
 ness in others • for the harsh rejection and unmanly 
 rudeness often exhibited towards a mere unpolished 
 awkwardness, because, .it does not satisfy certain 
 dictations of politer fashion ; (winch ruder outside 
 may nevertheless conceal the most excellent wis- 
 
222 . LECTURE Vm. 
 
 dotn :) again, for every species of that so general 
 destitution of what I know not how to make intel- 
 ligible, except by the term of "fairness;" under 
 which we see so many grasping always at the best 
 of every thing, yet never willing to take their turn 
 with the worst of any thing ; as if this world had 
 enough for all to take the best to their own share ; 
 and forbearance were a quality fit only to be made 
 advantage of ! All these must be familiar aspects of 
 the world's conduct : who has not felt, or seen 
 <them — sorrowfully ? and why are they not reme- 
 died ? — Because no remedy short of the true spirit 
 of Christian brotherhood is of power to effect their 
 reform. 
 
 But, let the Christian (of whatever degree) only 
 once by faith enter into the sense of his true mem- 
 bership in one common body, and he will have a 
 principle to guide him aright through all relations 
 of life. While the direct consequence of false 
 views of equality (that is, of views addressed but to 
 fluctuating differences, and to things that will 
 
 James iii. pciish with the usiug) is, to produce confusion and 
 ~ ' disorder, and every evil work ; that of the true (i. e, 
 views of an equality in guilt originally, by natural 
 corruption, and in all spiritual privileg-es and bene- 
 fits subsequently, by virtue of Christ's reconcilia- 
 tion,) is the diffusion and habitual exercise of 
 mutual respect, and love, and harmony. tJnder 
 
 James i. 9, such, the brother of low degree will rejoice in 
 that he is exalted to a noble hope : nor will he be 
 
LECTURE VIII. 223 
 
 tempted to despise his present station, and to covet 
 higher things ; for he will have learnt doncerning 
 that his own which he possesses already, that it is 
 itself sufficiently honourable, by reason of its sub- 
 stantial utility to others, and its joint fellowship in 
 Christ. Again ; the rich may surely rejoice at the 
 same time in that he is made low, to his own un- 
 speakable comfort ; I in that he has been taught to 
 see the true value of riches, so as to trust in vanity 
 no Iqriger. Sincere, social humility will thus be 
 formed within the higher, when they shall have 
 learned to respect all their brethren ; and a like 
 spirit in the lower, when they have thus appre- 
 hended, that to murmur and rebel is to wound the 
 very body of which themselves are members. The 
 man of intellect will no more scorn a simple bro- 
 ther, whom Christ designs to acknowledge; and 
 amidst fellowship of spirit, thus appreciated, will 
 'be no such character as that of mere politeness 
 without principle ; since all who join in the esti- 
 mate will have adopted (necessarily) the Apostle's 
 precept, JBe not conformed to this world. Rom. xil g. 
 
 Here, then, are legitimate influences of a 
 Christian (that is, a scripturml) principle, fitted to compare 
 give a moi$. healthful understanding of our social rfferenra 
 duties, and consequently to serve as a more co??j- 1 cor.'vo. ' 
 plete rule and law of life, during our passage with i Tim. 
 through a contentious world, than any which un-"' ' 
 assisted reason has power to prescribe. 
 
224 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 1.^3. Look at another comely branch of the 
 same stock, where an immense practical and social 
 evil is too apt to arise from a temper of censorious^ 
 ness, or spiritual pride. 
 
 Undoubtedly, there is found too great a forward- 
 ness in some minds avowedly and abstractedly reli- 
 gious, to look uncharitably upon dispositions less 
 spiritual than their own, (perhaps, even to condemn 
 in others what in reality are necessary duties,) as 
 such may sometimes appear distorted through a pe- 
 culiar medium. Now, it is not in that ^visible mi- 
 nistry before referred to, and in the province of 
 divine things alone, that man has need of charity 
 to understand in fit proportion the " talents" of his 
 fellow men. But in all other departments, in like 
 manner, there is the same necessity for a similar 
 estimate. For a merciful and bounteous Father 
 has intrusted to his rational children great diversity 
 in kind, as well as in degree, of means subsidiary 
 to reasonable happiness in this present life. Various 
 gifts are all at work, advancing more or less the 
 great purposes of general welfare — of a quality and 
 habit widely separated from the habit of occupa- 
 tions exclusively spiritual. And inasmuch as any 
 gift lends aid to innocent and lawful increase of 
 man's comfort, in subserviency to his one great, 
 GOOD ; we think it surely permissible — nay, it is 
 his I duty, that the Christian pay its fit respect to 
 every exertion, of which he himself enjoys the be- 
 nefit. 
 
LECTURE VIII. . 225 
 
 His principle of brotherhood will stand his friend 
 iq this case also. Let him consult this— he will 
 i\6t love to revile, or quarrel with a gift or station 
 really beneficial, merely because it differs from his 
 own in direction or character. Happiest of all the 
 brotherhood is he, that has for his own portion the 
 inestimable talent of religious wisdom, and fervent 
 piety ! whose especial field of exertion lies where 
 his de/ighi is also — beside the altar of God ! His; 
 surely, (if he use it worthily,) is the highest of all 
 gifts : let it be his abundant consolation, to pursue 
 the hope of its proportionate reward ! 
 
 But happy is he too, and not to be condemned 
 or censured by a brother, — who, being endowed 
 with excellence of another kind, shall yield the 
 fruit of that in simplicity and godly sincerity to iCoi.i. 12. 
 the great stock of human welfare. His reward Psalm ixu. 
 also is in the hand of an all^wise and righteous 
 Judge ; and doubtless, in the day of his appearing 
 it shall be found equitably measured and plentifully 
 conferred ! Meanwhile, let him be honoured by his 
 brethren according to the good which he has done 
 unto them I 
 
 I would not have this language misinterpreted 
 into a spurious and indiscriminate easiness. No. 
 If a word be spoken, or even a thought conceived, 
 which may tend to disipease with personal religious 
 obligation but to a single Christian, such thought 
 naust be conceived in ignorance, and such word is 
 spoken to be repented of! But an uniformity of 
 
296 LEGT'uRii vm. 
 
 spiritual advancement, or a fixed and forced equality 
 of devetibii to thoughts and things purely religious, 
 iieith^r seenis coriipatiblfe with the diversity Of 
 powers which make up the sum of social happiness, 
 hor doe^ it appear that Scripture itself either sup- 
 t)bseS or enjoins it. Yet (as was said) thei'e afe, 
 who would condemn too hastily very fnany useful 
 vocations ; it may b^, some of the sciences ar arts', 
 (l€t us take these for an examplei) by which life is 
 20*'^*' ^° rhuch benefitted. Now, Wbe to thOse, Whoever 
 shall set " science" in oppbsilien to " truth," or 
 make knowledge ministi^l" to evil! It heeds ho 
 proof, how thiy break through their bohd of fellow- 
 ship, and their allegiance to their Lord. But it is 
 a shatiie to piety, that knowledge and tr^e rfeligioh 
 should ever be described as necessarily at variance ! 
 lof'^'P'The teniptation of knowledge has been considered, 
 and admitted to be very great ; ytet is every gift of 
 divine goodness worthy to be esteemed in iis H^^t 
 use, on every ground of reason and of gtat9;irile. 
 i think, a practical sense of Christian brotherhbbd 
 rttaV give us this rule ; — that he best answei's the 
 purpose of his calling, (even though his calling be a 
 subordinate one,) who, in the gteat ^bbmhiUnity of 
 life, most diligently cultivates his own talent, in the 
 faith and fear of God ; ahd subscribes cheerfully 
 among his brethren the best amount of tkat.-^Kvyii 
 to exercise oiifselves in this manner accordihg to 
 tlie gifts vouchsafed to each-, and hot to measure or 
 despise a brOtheV's lawful occupatioh, is the best 
 
LECTURE Viri. 927 
 
 way to keep the unity of social spirit in the bond of 
 peace, 
 
 I. §. 4< I cannot forbear adverting to one healing 
 effect niore of this same spiritual estimate of life ; 
 where the evil to be deprecated arises either from 
 premature and too positive conclusions, or from 
 want of charitable interpretations. 
 
 It concerns a question upon which I would 
 thankfully forbear speaking, if silence on such a 
 point were honestly consistent with the proposition 
 now maintained : but to pass unnoticed what is 
 pethaps the very greatest of all social perplexities, 
 would not be honest: and I cannot think that 
 there is any point in which a master principle is so 
 much -needed, in the intercourse of life, to fix a 
 right judgment ; not any point, which must so 
 painfully distract the conscientious member of a 
 sound, i/et not infallible, Chmrch communion, as 
 the aspect of " religious dissent." 
 
 A double unity is broken here. What, then, 
 will be the operation of this principle of real bro- 
 therhood, first, — -in affording relief under such 
 harrassing perplexity to the sincere conformist 
 himself? and next,-^in disposing him to judge 
 fairly and charitably coneorning those, his fellow- 
 heirs in the same spiritual promises, who have 
 chosen to remove their tents, and dwell apart from 
 him ? 
 
 Susp^nding,v then, for the present, all other 
 claims of obedience to Church authority; fore- 
 
 a2 
 
u 
 
 228 JLECTURE VIII. 
 
 going all the rights and influence of possession and 
 of power ; and speaking only in popular ternis, and 
 on terms, in other respects, of equality ; is it un- 
 reasonable to affirm, (where theGospel is received 
 and acknowledged,) that an established commu- 
 nion — of a constitution agreeable to Scripture, 
 saving in doctrine, and neither corrupted by vain 
 .traditions nor overloaded with cumbrous ceremo- 
 nies, has a title to adherence, simply from the fact 
 Leot i. p. ^^^^ ^* ^^ established, of sufficient strength to set it 
 above all lesser objections ? 
 
 If this be not unreasonable, then certainly \kiQ 
 first and clearest counsel ofa sense of real brother- 
 hood (at least to all as yet happily abiding in the 
 courts of their proper temple) will be — to reconcile 
 them to a fixed spirit of dutiful conformity. 
 
 For let the offence of " schism" be put to trial, 
 as a question of Christian fairness, by a very sim- 
 ple and familiar test. Is not he (in iany case) the 
 person guilty of offence, who, being set to travel 
 on a common journey, first gives a brother need- 
 less (and not unreasonable) cause of sorrow, whera 
 that brother has given none to him ? 
 
 Without apology, then, I presume to call it a 
 thing quite unreasonable — that adherence to the 
 outward bond of our own excellent communion 
 should, by itself, give cause of pain to the feelings 
 of any considerate person acknowledging the vie-, 
 diation of Jesus Christ. Pain of the sort I mean 
 can only be caused justly by an apprehension of 
 
LECTURE VIII. 229 
 
 the soul's danger. False doctrine'',' in a visible 
 church, i« a legitimate cause of separation : per- 
 haps that entire looseness and indefiniteness of 
 interpretation which would follow from the want 
 of all prescribed forms of devotion^ or articles 
 of peace, may be another: but I hardly knolv 
 what else can be, unless it be a form of go- 
 vernment palpably and positively repugnant to , 
 Scripture. There are, however, many who think 
 otherwise. Yet surely it is not imaginable — that 
 any reflecting Christian can be really disquieted for 
 that brother's everlasting condition, whomsoever he 
 shall see walking faithfully accovAvagXo owr creed 
 and ordinances ! The disciple of such a church, 
 therefore, who essentially regulates his life accord- 
 ing to its terms, gives no just offence, or cause of 
 pain, to any man, by his religious conduct. 
 
 But how fares it in the other case .'' I believe it 
 not to be possible for the dutiful and conscientious 
 Conformist to kelp feeling pain and sorrow for 
 every single separation from it ; even though he" 
 regard the seceder, personally, with all respect and 
 candour, and know his life to be excellent and holy. 
 If, withdrawing himself, he still can preach 7io other 2 Got. li.^. 
 
 ' I do not mean by such expression to acknowledge any 
 individual's right to set himself up for an independent judge 
 of true or false, in high or doubtful questions, I mean only 
 — ^doctrine plainly ifalse, either according to all honest and 
 simple understanidirtgi of Scripture itselfj or to all justly re- 
 ceived canons of interpretation. 
 
 a3 
 
230 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Jesus, whom we have not preached', if he have 
 received no other Spirit, which we have not re- 
 ceived; no other Gospel, which we have not ac- 
 cepted .••^there is a pang produced.by the very act 
 itself of separation ; a blight fixed upon the heart's 
 affection, in consequence, which charitable thought, 
 indeed, may prevent from drying up the fountain 
 of love, but Hothing less than a" re-union can re- 
 move, as it ought to be removed. The separatist, 
 then, does cause grief to his brother ; he does in- 
 flict a wound. 
 
 To the conscientious spirit, tlierefore, of the con- 
 foruaist, almost bewildered by conflicting tumults 
 of religious opinion, and more humbly conscious of 
 t-he realiHiperfections of his own communion than 
 appears to be the case with any others among those 
 who difi'er from him j — the principle before us 
 brings with confidence the consolatory testimony, 
 tibat his conformity is right. 
 
 Must he then condemn the brother who has 
 caused him pain, and all others under like predi- 
 cament .? No: the principle which gave assurance 
 before, will counsel charitable constructiop there. 
 Be the guilt of schism what it may in sight oi him 
 who judgeth it, it cannot — must not — be deter- 
 mined by such knowledge as ours, that' essential 
 brotherhood is at an end with any, who still make 
 it evident, by faith and conversation that they hold 
 communion in spirit with the head, «ven Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
LECTURi: VIII. 231 
 
 I fear, we are too much afraid to trust ourselves 
 with such interpretation of charity, lest we shpuld 
 be charged with indifference, or unfaithfulness to 
 our own trust ; and our thoughts tal^e, rather, the 
 channel of hostility, or our lips the words of bitterr 
 ness. Him that is not with us, we pronounce Matt. xii. 
 
 30. 
 
 agaipst us, and are disposed to rank him as an 
 eneinif. And so, perhaps, in part, (the part that 
 belongs to this world only,) he may be. Yet we 
 must see with a wider view than that ; else, how 
 ehajl we receive that other sentence. He that \snot^^f^^M. 
 
 11 Hooker, 
 
 against us is on our part? Ot what shall weEccies.Poi. 
 think of the Apostle's judgment, even where he was es. or in ' 
 
 . njx ' . I 7 CoUinson's 
 
 reprovmg an insincere opposition r I\otwitnstqnqT Analysis, 
 
 J , . . " 7 p. 235. 
 
 tng, every watf, whether m pretence, or m trutn,f^\\. 1,19. 
 Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, 
 and ^m rejoice. 
 
 Cases like th,es«j offer perplexitiegT-rrr^al and sore 
 perplexities — in our lives' intercourse ; so great, as 
 that they might w^U overpower any in^perfect putr 
 ward judgment. He, however, who will live by 
 faith of a Christian brotherhood, and digest then^ 
 deeply in his spirit, vyill be enabled to overpower 
 themf Jloly Scripture will be a ^ur§ zt'or^ always isaiah "x- 
 behind hini- This will tell him which ' is the ^^' 
 sisaight way in this perilous wilderness, when he 
 shall turn to the r^ghi hand, f^nd ^i^^fn hf shall 
 turn to the left- 
 
 But it may bf; oibjected, — that all this i^. mere 
 passiveness. 
 
 a4 
 
232 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 And if humility of spirit and the love of peace 
 be passiveness, it surely is. But we do not think 
 the principle here recommended can deserve such 
 name in any culpable sense, when it is not possible 
 to apprehend it rightly, so as to be influenced by it, 
 without feeling ourselves bound by the closest ties 
 to a life of exertion; to serve our brethren, and 
 labour for their good, with activity and cheerfulness. 
 Or it may be contended, that the impression 
 which our reasoning would leave, calls on Christians 
 to go much beyond the measure of simplicity ; to 
 lose, sight of air distinction between the faithful 
 and unfaithful, between the righteous and the 
 wicked ; or to bow down and lay their bodies as 
 
 Isaiah K.83. the groutid, and as the street, to all that would go 
 over. 
 
 But neither is this so. The " simplicity" of 
 
 T Cor. xiv. Scripture is not simplicity of the understanding, 
 but of the heart. It denies not the use of pru- 
 dent circumspection. If it did, Christ had not 
 
 Matth. X. said to his disciples, Be ye wise as serpents ; 
 while he bade them, at the same time, to be as 
 
 s»e (e. g.) harmless as doves. The Gospel would fain pro- 
 
 17. " vide us in every case with our security beforehand. 
 'It would have us be careful of our company. It 
 
 Prov. xvii. would direct us, like the Wise Man, to leave off 
 contention, before it be meddled with ; to disallow 
 — 1^0 renounce the principle of it — to have nothing 
 to do with it. Since, however, it was to be fore- 
 seen, that none would perfectly escape so many 
 
LECTURE VIII. 233 
 
 snares as are in the world by such means alone ; 
 it forbids not, that we quit ourselves like men, i Cor. xvi. 
 stedfast and courageous, or wise and merciful, Compare 
 when difficulties have encompassed us. Not toMfa. ii. 
 flatter, however, it must be acknowledged, that, pm.' Ti*!' 
 after all, endurance is the Christian's plainest way f s^''^""' '^ 
 to conquest. He must expect to bear his share, ^g'^nd a! 
 and very much beyond his share, of burdens, But^^j^ 3^ 
 he will not therefore be discouraged. Through g^^-^*^- 
 this very pressure, he will come to perceive a beau-|'^™j";^' 
 tiful and affecting illustration of the very highest 
 doctrine of his religion. 
 
 For, review the course of human life, as it is to 
 be noted in its crookedness : how is it enabled to 
 proceed at all ? how comes it not to be verily 
 choked up, and stopped altogether ^ Is it not, in a 
 great measure, because the good and ivise submit 
 to bear those burdens which the selfish refuse to 
 (bear; and which must, otherwise, impede the 
 whole machine .'' It might be exemplified, in plenti- 
 ful instances, how this appears to be an ordinary 
 permission of Providence., Nor was it otherwise, — 
 except . as removed in infinite degree, — that He in 
 whom was no sin died for the sins of all men ; /Atf Eom.y. 6, 
 just for the unjust I 1'pet.iii. 
 
 Such, then, we think, might be the work of one 
 social principle, exclusively Christian, in condufcting 
 a believer through the world's warfare. Is it to be 
 denied, that such an outline, worthily filled up in 
 practical detail, would give a man much greater 
 
^34 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 peace with his fellow men, than any rule merely of 
 society, that can be named, divested of the love of 
 Christ ? 
 
 II. The power of this principle, however, would 
 be occupied in iveightier and graver matters ; in 
 questions of a positively moral and religious quar 
 lity : an accompanying (and as it were explanatory) 
 one might still be wanted, to decide in things in- 
 different. 
 
 And such a one is at hand ; much like the other, 
 
 and quite peculiar to holy Scripture : I mean, that 
 
 sense of future responsibility which the New Tesr 
 
 tament inculcates, in the special point of personal 
 
 example in all lesser things, before brethren for 
 
 1 Cor. viii, whom Christ died, 
 H. - ^ _ . 
 
 But it is not necessary to dilate upon the effect* 
 
 of a subordinate principle, so strictly congenial 
 with the other, of which we have been speaking. 
 To a mind contemplating, society under light and 
 gradance of the greater, it will illustrate and com- 
 mend itself 
 
 One thought only concerning it shall be sub- 
 joined, which may serve a twofold purpose. If it 
 shotfld be objected, — that the free sense of brother'- 
 hood and real equality, already insisted upon, may 
 tend to encourage too great freedom of behaviour, 
 in the Christian's daily conduct, or arjy degrading 
 tone of loose familiarity, calculated to throw down 
 important fences in society; this collateral sense of 
 the importance of " example" may prove the most 
 
LECTURE VIII. 235 
 
 salutary of fill correctives, even in matters purely 
 civil. 
 
 For it 4oes not follow, while in spirit we regard 
 the very meanest of our brethren as strict equals in 
 ^trmTcies of Christ, and as true members of his 
 body as ourselves, that we must therefore overlook 
 the sanctions, recognised and allowed by holy Scrip- 
 ture, under which an artificial inequality has been 
 adopted, — to the most salutary ends. Mere fami^ 
 lictrtty, as such, is not kindness ; nor is it the pro- 
 per fruit of that affection with which the Christian 
 will love his brethren. We may see most con- 
 vincing evidence of this in the world's ordinary fami- 
 liarity. What more common, there, than to per- 
 ceive the same person (under guidance of false 
 principles) at once haughty in demeanour, and con- 
 descending in vice .'' the tyrant over his inferiors in 
 all demands of outward hqmage; and yet, their 
 equal and exact associate in various acts of moral 
 degradation ? A Christian sense of the intjportance 
 of example would not permit such inconsistency. 
 7%2"* would teach jus, that to preserve the character 
 of our respective stations is of chief importance in 
 rendering those stations of their full utility ; — that 
 proportion and harmony cannot be violated with- 
 out injury, any more in things accidental and in- 
 different, than in things vital and permanent ;^that 
 to become degraded is to beti'ay onr trust, and (as 
 far as respects our own ppr^pnal ability) to undo 
 the very purpose af that diversity of talents, which 
 
236 LECTURE VIII, 
 
 God has ordained, and Christ accepted. It would 
 teach us, that to be good and effective stewards of 
 the grace committed to us, (be its proportions what 
 Jthey may,) we must be independent . I speak not 
 of that self-sufficiency, in perishable means, which 
 the world so denominates ; but of independence 
 such as that with which St. Paul appealed to the 
 
 scor. viL Corinthians; Receive us; we have wronged no 
 man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded 
 no man : of independence, as it is alone to be found 
 perfectly, in the dignity of Christian obedience ; and 
 
 Gal. V. 23. In the exercise of that conduct, against which 
 there is no law. 
 
 We have completed, then, the course of our pro- 
 posed inquiry, in such manner and measure as time 
 and abilities have permitted It to be done. If it 
 has been made in agreement with divine truth, I' 
 am willing to hope it may not be found without ar- 
 guments of consolation ; and that, to the believer, 
 the divine authority of holy Scripture may stand 
 thereby illustrated and confirmed. 
 
 Be this, however, as it may ; let it be -thankfully 
 and triumphantly remembered, in conclusion; — 
 that such argunfient does not, after all, even ap- 
 proach those bulwarks of the Christian faith,, by 
 which It stands defended from the unbeliever. The 
 external evidences of its divine authority abide un- 
 touched. In their strength and majesty. The glo- 
 rious light of PROPHECY there shines with undi- 
 minished brightness ; the miracles which the Re- 
 
LECTURE VIII. 237 
 
 d«emer wrought there testify, that he indeed spoke 
 his Father's words ; the sufferings and blood 
 OF THE APOSTLES and MARTYRS bear attestation 
 to the truth as heretofore. Again : the impossibiUty 
 of accounting honestly, whether for the doctrines 
 or progress of Christianity, if its own record and 
 pretensions be not true ; — the inability to substitute Lcct. iv. 
 any adequate rule of conduct in its stead; these 
 difficjilties, and the like, remain in full force with 
 the objector. Assuredly, we have not followed^ Pet. i. 16. 
 cunningly devised fables altogether, though we 
 should have followed a defective argument now. 
 These are points to be preserved in grateful remem- 
 brance. 
 
 The reasons for attempting an illustration of the 
 great subject most interesting to us all, of a quality 
 and nature like the present, removed from every 
 pretension of adding information to the store of 
 theological knowledge, or of supplying any relish Lect. i pp. 
 o the taste of the profound scholar, were repre- 
 sented in the beginning. 
 
 More, infinite,ly more, than ample satisfaction in 
 such an undertaking will it be, if those intentions 
 may be at all realized ! — if, while the m.ore honour- 
 able members of Christ's body, the defenders of the 
 Church mighty in learning, be found watching and 
 engaged upon their posts, such view may minister 
 to impartial thought and personal scrutiny among 
 far humbler brethren : if it may bear witness to the 
 spiritual workings of the reflecting heart, in soli- 
 
238 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 tude : if (without abating any of the real strictness 
 of a pure and peculiar covenant) it may cheer the 
 innocence of social intercourse, — while it rejects the 
 importunate tyranny of fashion, and the deceits of 
 criminal self-indulgence : if, without compromise 
 bf essential faith, it may conduce to charity : if, 
 without breach of any vowed allegiance, it may 
 check the hasty adoption of too partial and exclu- 
 sive opinions : if, finally, it may prevail with any 
 to persevere in loving the truth and peace ; and to 
 bring that last, and best, and greatest argument to 
 its sUpport-^the argument of good and holy 
 
 LIVES. 
 
 Eph.iv. 16. So shall the body best make increase unto the 
 Luke vii. edifying of itself in love ; and wisdom be justified 
 of all her children. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAXTEtt, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 

 ^ 
 
 S