:b7? ill r BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF .4 cj:/.«j.^^. J..%52i: Cornell University Library BR45 .B21 1783 olin 3 1924 029 180 581 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis 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/cu31924029180581 One hundred copies reprinted in typographic facsimile, page for page. No. // CHARLES HIGHAM, 27A, Farringdon Street, E.C. #«to iorfe : , E. P. BUTTON & CO. 1889. EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE JNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, In the year 1783, At the lecture founded by the Lev. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A. LATE CANON OF SALISBURY. By JOHN COBB, D. D. FELLOW OF ST. JOHn's COLLEGE. -yviiaiade rfiv i,\i)9eiav, xai 17 dX^Scia iKwBcpdiait v/iag. Jo. C. 8. V. 32. OXFORD, MINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS, AND SOLD BY MESS. FLETCHER IN THE TURLE. r; V / 2 h *1 - IMPRIMATUR, SAM. DENNIS, Vice-Can. Oxon. June 5. 1783. TO THE REVEREND THE HEADS OF COLLEGES, THE FOLLOWING SERMONS, PREACHED AT THEIR APPOINTMENT, ARE, WITH GREAT RESPECT, INSCRIBED. ExtraB/rom the laft Will andTefia- ment of the late Reverend ] OHN BAMPTON, Canon o/" Salifbury. " I give and bequeath my Lands " and Eftates to the Chancellor, Mafters, " and Scholars of the Univerfity of Oxford " for ever, to have and to hold all and fin- " gular the faid Lands or Eftates upon truft, " and to the intents and purpofes herein after- " mentioned ; that is to fay, I w^ill and ap- " point, that the Vice- Chancellor of the " Univerfity of Oxford for the time being " fhall take and receive all the rents, ifTues, " and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, " reparations, and neceffary deduftions made) " that he pay all the remainder to the en- " dowment of eight Divinity Ledture Ser- ** mons, to be eftabliftied for ever in the faid " Univerfity, and to be performed in the " manner foUov^ing : " I dired: and appoint, that, upon the firft " Tuefday in Eafter term, a Lecturer be " yearly chofen by the Heads of Colleges " only, and by no others, in the room ad- " joining to the Printing-Houfe, betw^een " the " the hours of ten in the morning and two " in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity " Lefture Sermons, the year following, at " St. Mary's in Oxford, between the com- " mencement of the laft month in Lent " Term, and the end of the third week in " A& Term. " Alfo I diredl and appoint, that the eight " Divinity Lefture Sermons fhall be preach- " ed upon either of the following fubjedts " — to confirm and eflablifh the Chriftian " Faith, and to confute all heretics and fchif- " matics — upon the divine authority of the " Holy Scriptures — upon the authority of " the writings of the primitive Fathers, as " to the faith and practice of the primitive " Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord " and Saviour Jefus Chrift — upon the Divi- " nity of the Holy Ghoft — upon the Articles " of the Chriftian Faith, as comprehended " in the Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds. " Alfo I diredt, that thirty copies of the " eight Divinity Ledture Sermons fhall be " always printed, within two months after " they are preached, and one copy fhall be " given to the Chancellor of the Univerfity, " and one copy to the Head of every Col- " lege, and one copy to the Mayor of the " City " City of Oxford, and one copy to be put " into the Bodleian Library; and the ex- " pence of printing them fhall be paid out " of the revenue of the Lands or Eftates " given for eftabliihing the Divinity Lefture " Sermons ; and the Preacher fhall not be " paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before " they are printed. " Alfo I direft and appoint, that no perfon " fhall be qualified to preach the Divinity " Lecture Sermons, unlefs he hath taken the " Degree of Mafler of Arts at leafl, in one " of the tw^o Univerfities of Oxford or Cam- " bridge ; and that the fame perfon fhall " never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons " twice." " T TOW may a man qualify himfelf, " fo as to be able to judge for him- " felf, of the other religions profeft in " the world ; to fettle his own opinions " in difputable matters ; and then to enjoy " tranquillity of mind, neither difturbing " others, nor being difturbed at what paffes " among them ? " Woolafton's third Queftion. See the Religion of Nature delineated. CONTENTS. SERMON I. An Inquiry after Happinefs. Matt. VI. 21. For where your treajure is there will your heart be aljb. — — P^^ge i. Tranquillity in life is not to be maintained without pru- dence ; nor' without the perfuafion of the being and provi- dence of God ; nor without religion. Rational happinefs is not found in riches, honour, pleafure, or in contemplation. It is only to be found in confcioufnefs ; yet not complete without the hope of immortality. SERMON II. Natural Religion. I C o R. I. 19. // is written : I will dejiroy the wifdom of the wije, and will bring to nothing the under- Jianding of the prudent. 27 Rational fyftematical religion is incompetent to the pur- pofes of the inquiry. Philofophy or rational fyftems being abftrufe and fpeculative, and alfo uncertain and various. Pru- dence is the only rational religion, truly fo called. This is competent as fuch, in itfelf) to a moral agent. But man is a tranfgreffor : and this religion is not adapted to fuch a cha- rafler. b SER- ii CONTENTS. SERMON III. The Gofpel. Matt. XI. 28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you reji. — 5 3 The gofpel is an a Cic. de Fin. can SERMON I. 3 can fail of obtaining happinefs, ^hich eludes the purfuit of all mankind befides. Such were the fentiments of that philofopher, whofe whole ftudy it was to exalt the en- joyments of life ; to preferve it, unincum- bered even with the obligations of religion : and who allowed, (not without reluctance) only thofe reftraints to voluptuous indul- gence, which experience taught him to be neceflary to fecure, to prolong the gratifi- cation. There is not therefore the autho- rity of Epicurus, and if not of him, of no fchool of philofophy certainly, to be pleaded in excufe for thofe, who lead their lives without prudence", without propofing to themfelves fome rational end to purfue, and taking pains to fall into the track that leads to it. Wherefore, as far as the argument taken from the common fenfe, reafon, and experience of all mankind is conclufive (which in queftions of expediency ought to have the firft weight) fo far is it inju- dicious, to tread the paths of life at random, to forfake the guidance of prudence; and as " herds of cattle, to wander without dis- cretion, not where a fpot of more tempting herbage invites them, but where fancy im- ' Seneca de Vita beata. * Vita beati. A 2 pels 4 SERMON I. pels them, that is to be reduced to no ra- tional principle whatever. But what is that philofophy, which ex- cludes the fupreme Being, from the care and diredtion of the univerfe ? ° It . breaks the bonds, 'tis true, of piety, fandlity and religion; and renders worftiip, devotion, and prayer, needlefs and unavailing fervices. But then it roots up at the fame time all the en- joyment of life : deftroying the fatisfadtion of a profperous ftate, by rendering the pos- feffion infecure, and depriving the miferable, of his only refuge and confolation. For a being, inconfiderable, as an individual man, in the univerfe, defirous above all things, by the law of his nature, to preferve his exiftence ; yet obnoxious, in an extreme, to injury and deftruftion from every quarter, is a moft forlorn and abjeft creature, with- out the proteftion of a governor of the world. On this fuppofition, the ftate of man is even worfe that that of every other fpecies in the animal world. They are all fubjedt alike to the law of felf prefervation, the firft law, the moft ruling paffion of their nature : and they are all individually weak, and infufficient for that purpofe. But the " Cic. de Nat. Deor. irrational SERMON I. 5 irrational fpecies feem neither to be tortured with the recolledlion of paft evils, nor the apprehenfion of thofe to come : while man's boafted reafon, and the faculty of prudence which diftinguifhes him, enable him to look forward to the confequences of things. By this forefight he perceives the approach of danger, and views the progrefs of calamities ftill remote ; thus anticipating evils, that are brought on him by natural or moral caufes, which neither his Ikill can elude, or his power control. Though the fupreme Being has fo amply furnifhed every habitable part of the globe with the neceflary accom- modations for human life ; yet is every clime, every feafon, and every ftation ob- noxious to its peculiar calamities. In fome countries earthquakes, in others tempefts, in others famine and peftilence defolate po- pulous regions, and fweep off the miferable inhabitants: in all, unfruitful feafons, and accidental calamities, at one time, blail; the fortunes of individuals ; at another, fpread a general misfortune. When the peafant, at the foot of Vefuvius, beholds the burning torrent defcending, or the havock made in the fertile lands of another hufbandman : why does he fecurely cultivate his own fields, which the next eruption may render de- A 3 folate; 6 SERMON I. folate; why not rather flee from this land of terror, and defert his precarious habita- tion ? The confidence that is neceflary to encourage him to perfiil in his courfe of in- duflry ; and to induce every man, in this ftate of uncertain tenure, not to defert every office in life that looks beyond the prefent moment, can only rationally be derived from the perfuafion, that the prefer vation of man, a creature formed not fufficient to himfelf, is, and mufl be, an objedt, by no means foreign from the attention of the author of his nature. Or, if the evils that fall on man, from natural caufes be not enough ; let thofe that fpring from the diforderly paffions of man- kind be taken alfo into the account. From man's ungoverned appetites, his luft of power, of wealth, of gratification, wars arife ; and tumults, rapine, murder, treafon, violence depopulate regions endowed with the richeft gifts of nature. And even abftradting public calamities, and the themes of the tragic mufe ' ; thofe perplexities, which have fur- nifhed fubjedis for comic entertainment, are not lefs baneful to the comfort of life : do- meftic jars, the ill offices of neighbours, * Harris on Happinefs. mortifi- SERMON I. 7 mortifications, jealoufies, fufpicions, which are produced, in confequence of the fame diforders, in private life. In fhort, the whole world is full of uncertainty, and pros- perous and untoward events are dealt pro- mifcuoufly for ever. Life, begun with the moft flattering omens, frequently clofes in calamity, and the faireft profped;s are quickly fhut in, by a dark and gloomy fucceffion of difafters. Under this impreffion of the pre- carious tenure on which the whole of man's portion here is pofleffed, the moft drfcon- folate reflexions muft arife in every confi- derate mind, the moft diipiriting prefages, the moft enervating terrors, but for reliance on the protection of that fupreme Being, who alone can be an efFedlual fupport to man through the paths of life, a fure guar- dian in dangers, and refuge in diftrefl"es. For it is an overruling providence alone^ which can preferve the frail bark that fails in a tempeftuous ocean ; even that provi- dence which can allay the ftorm, or com- mand the waves that threaten to daOi it in pieces, to waft it fafely to its port. But if the rational fecurity of life can only be derived from the perfuaiion of divine providence and from truft in God; the con- folation will belong to thofe, and thofe only, who 8 SERMON I. who ftudy to ferve and pleafe him and to do his will. The reft of mankind, from this principle, may find reafon for compunc- tion, for terror and apprehenfion ; but peace of mind can only follow a conformity to religion. For if the diftinftion between good and evil be really in the will of God : if^ that unfeen arbiter of human deftiny delight in virtue : if vice be abhorrent from his effential attributes ; he cannot exprefs his fentiments towards each refped:ively, without making a difcrimination between thofe who a6t agreeably to his will, and thofe who do the contrary. Rational tran- quillity is only therefore to be found in an habitual attention and conformity to reli- gion ; nor will any outward circumftances compenfate for a defed: in this reipedt, or furnifh permanent enjoyment without it. For though a man could command whatever is vulgarly efteemed, though riches, honour, pleafure (hould crown his labours ; ftill he " muft feek in religion, after all, for that fatis- fadtion of mind, without which, thefe are of no eftimation. When the author of nature ennobled man, above every other ipecies in the animal 8 Ariflot. Eth. ad Nicom. * Sophoc. Antigo. worldj^ SERMON I. 9 world, with the valuable endowments of the mind ; he gave him a duty and an in- tereft above them, to refult from the culti- vation and improvement and the due exercife of his rational powers : and moreover a fu- perior inftind:, that mere animal and fenfual gratifications ihould not fatisfy his natural defires. To every creature he has imparted appetites to impel them to adt as the purpofes of their creation, and their exigencies may require : but to man, together with fenfes and paffions, an intelled: befides ; that he alone of all the animal fpecies, fhould form a moral character. By this endowment man is conftituted the artificer of his own hap- pinefs ; made to purfue the natural objedls of defire, not as the brute fpecies, having reiped; only to prefent and animal gratifica- tions ; but conftrufting in his comprehenfive judgment, a plan for the condud; of the whole of his exiftence, and for fecuring the welfare not of that portion alone which is vifible; but, by a natural prefentiment, of an exiftence extending far beyond this pre- fent fcene, to indefinite if not eternal dura- tion. To this comprehenfive judgment it muft be attributed (for if not to this, it muft be to a divine impreffion) that not only natural good (whatever immediately con- duces lo SERMON I. duces to the welfare of the animal nature) becomes an objed: of defire, but alfo moral good: in fhort, it is owing to this diftin- guifhing faculty, that what becomes a man, is placed high in his eftimation not lefs than what is obvioufly advantageous to him. It is thus, by the application of his prudence, and his difcretion, that man is to com- plete his charadler, the outlines of which, as a painter's difciple, he has received from nature ; ' for ever looking to the copy that this his true wifdom as a mafter has given him to imitate. It is thus he guides his conduit by general principles, abftrafted it may be from prefent motives, and the fen- lible objefts of felfiih or immediate intereft : principles moreover that have regard to the whole period of his exiftence, and refpedt every relation in which he ftands, and by which he may be affedted. But what is ^ jfirft in nature, is not firft to man. For in nature the order of exiftences defcends from Genera, through Species to Particulars : but man receiving his firft conceptions through the medium of his fenfes, is long acquainted with particulars, before he abftradts himfelf ' Harris on Hap. Cic. de Fin. L. IV. § XIH. p. 304. banc intuens. ^ Harris's Hermes. Ariftotl. Phyf. fo SERMON I. II lo far as to afcend to generals, or take a compreheniive view of the fyftem in which he has a ftation. Hence it is, ' that, though it be the firft principle in human prudence to preferve itfelf in its beft ftate : yet in the infancy of the mind this principle is con- fufed, whilfl it is not afcertained, either what that prefervation implies, or what is the extent of the powers which are to be preferved, or what the nature be, that is the fubjed: from which the character is to be formed. It is by degrees the mind expands itfelf, to comprehend how outward things affeft it, and in what rank of importance, they ftand to it. From hence may be feen the reafon why riches, dignities, pleafure and contemplation captivate fo large a por- tion ' of mankind, while thefe objedls hold forth to view an obvious, palpable, and im- mediate gratification. Infnared by the mere- tricious arts of thefe allurements, a great part of our fpecies place their treafure " and their hearts in thefe purfuits, and flop fhort of the confultation of true ethic prudence, fatisfied with the gratifications, of which wealth, power, pleafure or contemplation promife to put them into immediate pos- * Cic. de Fin. L. V. §. IX. p. 369. " Matt. c. 6. v. 21. feflion. 12 SERMON I, feflion. But of all thefe, when eftimated truly, there is not one that deferves to be purfued for its own fake ; not one, that can fecure a ftate of enjoyment fui table to the excellent faculties of man:, though they all confefledly have fomething defirable, that they can lend in aid to this purpofe. Thefe, it is true, are grofs and vulgar deceptions ; yet grols and vulgar as they are, they not only prevail with a great part of our Ipecies ; but alfo, where a more refined fentiment is pretended, even amongft philofophers, and where a primary influence is, in words, denied them : when they are admitted as fecondary objedts, they too often encroach upon the more reafonable and primary, drawing away the largeft fhare of the affec- tions to themfelves. "Thus it is, that in a life of bufinefs, gain or glory are avowedly, or in fadl the ftimulating paffion, for the moft part ; or where leifure is cultivated, it is, in order that men may be vacant to the purpofes of pleafure, or of ipeculation. With refpedt to the lucrative life and to wealth its objedt : this is not the certain reward of induftry ; neither infallibly to be acquired, nor poffeffed with fecurity : and " Harris. as S E R M O N I. 13 as to the fatisfaction that riches can qonfer in themfelves, ""There is no good in them "to their owners, (as Solomon obferves) "faving the beholding of them with their " eyes." The fame obfervations are equally applicable to the political life, and to power its objedt : power is not to be obtained with certainty, nor fecurely to be enjoyed, as the hiftoric page abundantly exemplifies. And the fatisfadtion produced immediately by dignities, is to be fought in fplendor, attendance, the gaze and envy of beholders ; from all which, there is no fubftantial good to be derived, to iatisfy the natural wants or wifhes of mankind. „ " In the purfuit both of " wealth and power, want of opportunity, " or fuperior fkUl, and the craft and kna- " very of competitors, perpetually difap- " point and dupe thofe who wifh to attain " an eminent fhare of them ; and who even " have no objed:ion to barter honour and pub- " lie intereft for them. It is not fo in the paths " of virtue and religion : here, there is room " enough for all, and men may purfue their " good things without any inconvenience to " each other. But the vicious world is not " wide enough for thofe who would be emi- » Ecclef. c. 5. V. II. ' Jortin, V. III. Serm. 9. " nent 14 SERMON I. " nent in it : for the cravings of every one " are infatiable," and there is no boundary to felfifh wifhes. Thus the worldly are ever pufliing forward, like travellers over the mountains, while they fancy that the next point in view wUl terminate the labour of afcending : but when they feem to have reached the fummit, they find other emi- nences ftill rifing in fucceflion, to be fur- mounted with equal difficulty, and to re- ward their toil with equal diffatisfadtion. But turn in the next place to the pleafurable and let wealth and power be purfued, not for their own fakes, but for the conveni- ences and the fecure enjoyment they feem to command. And .let it be fuppofed alfo (in oppofition to conftant experience) that the worldly mind, when it has obtained a com- petency, '^fhall addrefs itfelf to enjoy in eafe, leifure and relaxation the only reward it feeks. Still how vain the purfuit ? " ' If, " in the acquifition of riches and honour, " health be forfeited or the efteem of man- " kind ; or if the acquifition be not com- " pleted till old age bring infirmities, de- " crepitude, lofs and decay of fenfes with " it : " in either cafe, eafe and relaxation 1 Luke c. 12. V. 19. ' Jortin. become SERMON I. 15 become the unfubftantial phantoms of ima- gination; and leifure brings no enjoyment; but difguft, fpleen and difcontent attend upon it, more fatiguing to the body and the mind, than the hardeft labour and moft ab- jed: drudgery. But let the gay voluptuary enter life in the moft enviable circumftances ; with an ample patrimony, fufficient to fur- nifti in great abundance a feftive and luxu- rious board ; and with a refolution to gratify every appetite, and forego no delight that this world affords. What will the fum total of his happinefs amount to, either in the purfuit or refult ? In the perception, the pleaflires of fenfe produce an exquifite grati- fication, like fome pungent odors : but the gratification is tranfient and momentary, fuc- ceeded.by laflitude and difguft. During his purfuit the voluptuary' is not to be feen in the public walks, where patriot virtue, in- duftry, credit, fortitude, juftice, manhood de- light to appear; but in the ftews, enervated by effeminate indulgence, furrounded with harlots, parafites, and the apparatus of glut- tony, luxury and intemperance ; ftretched on the foft beds of indolence, covered with perfumes, and ineffediually lulled to flum- ■> Cic. de Fin. L. II. bers i6 SERMON I. bers by the voice of mufiek. If this be the rational happinefs of man, who, but fools, are to take care of the public welfare ? But view the train that follows : ficknefs, racking pains, diforders in numberlefs frightful fhapes fucceed ; premature old age, fwift decay of fenfe and faculties, infatiable appetite, at- tended by Ipleen and loathing of every ful- fome pleafure. The fpeculative life remains, in which refinement of tafte, and an exquifite know- lege, feem to promife a more rational fatis- fadlion. But what are the pleafures of fpe- culation ? What are they in cultivation ? What in confummation ? In contemplation terminating in theory, men feek the plea- fures of tracing every branch of fcience, of purfuing truth beyond obvious and vulgar comprehenfion to her remote recelTes, of ab- ftracting, of compounding ideas, and framing fyftems and conceptions far exceeding what- ever the herd of mankind can imagine. From hence there may very poffibly refult to the vifionary Ipeculatift an exquifite com- placency, attended with an elation of mind, which reflexions, or an imagined intelledlual fuperiority over the reft of mankind, may produce. And to the man of contemplation moreover, in his clofet, this may appear a full SERMON I. 17 full recompenfe for all his labours. But change the fcene, and how fantaftic will this unfubftantial vifion then appear ? The world is not calculated to gratify the fpeculatift. The hours of contemplation are quickly fuc- ceeded by calls into common life. The na- tural wants, the neceflary cares of man's fta- tion here, break the fhort flumbers of vifio- nary enjoyment, and oblige the reclufe vo- tary of contemplative pleailire, to come out relud:antly, into the world. There he meets with the common accidents of life, but he meets them with a refolution debilitated by difufe, with nerves unftrung by inactivity of body, and with a mind too eafily ruffled by oppofition, from a vain conceit of its own excellence and fuperiority. Not one of thefe worldly objefts there- fore, thefe idols, which hold fo large a por- tion of mankind enflaved, is worthy to engrofs our hearts. " Happy is it for us " that the unworthineis is fo apparent, ' for " how fhould we dote upon the world, were " its imperfeftions lefs confpicuous, when " we love it ftill falfe and ungrateful as it " is ?" Though the hazard is fo apparent, *• O Munde, teneri vis pergens : quid faceres fi rema- neres? Qukm non deciperes dulcis : fi amarus Alimenta mentiris ? Auguftinus. B we i8 SERMON I. we can hardly turn our ear from the Siren's fong, or refufe the cup of the inchantrefs ", though we know, that however it may in- toxicate, it cannot fatisfy our natural defires. Strange eiFefl: of infatuation ! And yet in all this furvey, the courfe of events has been fuppofed to follow the wifhes and expecta- tions of men in an even train ; and life not to be ruffled by any untoward accident, or any intervening evil. But that man has a very poor chance for happinefs in life, whofe plan is only calcu- lated to give him pleafure in the fair and profperous feafons of it. No objedt of pur- fuit deferves to be placed in the firft rate of eftimation, that will not anfwer a de- fcription, fimilar to that given to the liberal arts, by Cicero. " "A principle that may^ " be adapted to all feafons, to every period " and every ftation : a principle that will " nourifh and bring up youth, and give plea- " fure in old age : that will add dignity and " ornament to profperous circumftances, and " afford refuge and confolation in adverfity : " that will furnifh delight to private life, " and prove no interruption in a public " ftation : that will fhed a grateful influence " Circe. " Pro Arch. PoetL on SERMON I. 19 " on our couch, our journeyings, our retire- " ment." But the objefts of worldly defire will in none of thefe refpefts anfwer the expedtation of their votary. On the con- trary, in youth they corrupt and debauch the mind, and poifon it in old age with fpleen and vexation ; adding befides, to the weight of its natural infirmities, a pungent forrow, that life muft be quitted fo foon. So far from giving dignity to fuccefs, they fill the mind with narrow paffions, produ- cing felf-conceit, pride and infolence, with various other unbecoming diipofitions; in adverfity they leave their votary to ftruggje unfupported, with the complicated mortifi- cations of difappointment and diftrefs with- out refource. To private life they annex fplendour indeed, and luxury, with thofe multiplied appetites of refined tafte that fill her fickly train; to public life, pomp with vulgar admiration : but to neither, fatisfac- tion or contentment. They banifli fleep, fill the road with apprehenfion, the retire- ment with terrour. Where then is the prin- ciple to be found worthy to be entrufted with the condudt of human life ? How fhall man form his ruling paflion ? Where fix his hopes, his wifhes and defires ? Or where can he find a happinefs adapted to his na- B 2 ture? 20 SERMON I. ture ? A happinefs, it muft be, fixed and permanent, unlike the fleeting gratifications of fenfe : a happinefs built on folid " and immoveable foundations, unlike the delufive hopes, the infecure pofi^efilons, with which thofe prevalent idols of the world beguile fo many of our fpecies. In all mechanical arts, and in all exer- tions of genius and tafte, the object is to produce fome work, perfed: and complete in its kind, to remain when finifhed, fubfer- vient to the convenience of the artift ; or, a fpecimen of his own fkill and a model for future artifts. But is the fame remark true of the exertions of prudence ? Is there a definite period or fummit of improvement, with which, when attained, the mind may fit down fatisfied, in the enjoyment or contem- plation of the exquifite character it has ex- hibited ? Surely the art of forming human life is not fuch. For (confidering it without any refpedt fave to what pafiTes here (every period of it requires a peculiar cultivation ; and the condudl of life is a tafk never fi- nifhed, till the clofe of it removes man from this, at leafl:, if not to another fphere. The happinefs of this life therefore, and prefent ^ Matt. c. 6. reward SERMON I. 21 reward of moral virtue (if fuch there be) as they are not evidently to be found in the finilhed vv^ork, muft lie in the continual im- provement, and thofe exertions by which the charadier is daily rendered more accom- plifhed. And as the punifhment of guilt lies" not in pain of body, or misfortune, both of which may happen to a good man ; but in the confcioufnels of crimes, with its train of depreffion of mind, and confufed, infatuated, diftempered underftanding : fo, on the contrary, the reward of prudence, lies in approbation of confcience, the upright mind, the ferene judgment that attend it. When the Decii devoted themfelves for their country, and when Mutius" exhibited that remarkable inftance of Roman fortitude before Porfenna : it was the confcioufiiefs of the value of the acftion, that fupported thofe patriots in the article of death; this lafl in the agony he fuflained. ^ Even Epi- curus found in confcioufiiefs, refource againft violent pain in the clofe of his life; and though he could not entertain any hopes of immortality, conliftently with the doctrines he had taught; yet in his letters, he pro- s' Cic. in Pifo. §. 20. vid. Not. ' Juvenal, Sat. I. L. V. » Scaevola. " Harris. Cic. de Fin. L. II. §• 30. p. 173- S 3 feffed 22 SERMON I. fefled himfelf fupported under his fufFerings, by the recolledrion of the fyftem he had framed. But what fhall we fay of Mr Hume ? Did a limilar confcioufnefs fupport this imitator of Epicurus, this modern foe to fuperftition ? He certainly poflefled it, if he was not without confolation in his laft moments. But it could not be. No habit, no prejudice will account for fuch a mon- ftrous fuppofition. For what intolerable con- ceit, what arrogance not to be endured, muft there have been in the man, who could derive fuch inward fupport from the reflec- tion that he had treated contemptuoufly a doftrine held facred, as a revelation of God's will, by the moft confiderate, the moft vir- tuous, the beft efteemed of mankind ? The happinefs of life then (if fuch there be) is placed in confcioufneis, confcioufnefs of con- ducting it by the beft principles, of per- forming every office, of praftifing virtue, of adhering to religion. And here a happinefs arifes fuited to all times, every ftation and every age : this alfo is capable of furnifhing delight equally to youth and to old age : it will give luftre to a proiperous ftation, dig- nity in adverfity : it is applicable equally to domeftic and public life : and will give balm to fleep, chearfulnefs in travel and re- tirement. SERMON 23 tirement. This is a reward alfo annexed invariably to moral virtue, and to that alone, a prize not in the pow^er of fortune to be- ftow indifcriminately. But it is impoffible neverthelefs to reft here. The bufinefs of human life is not condudted without labour. To bring the irregular appetites into fubjed:ion, to con- ftru6t a reafonable plan for the condudt of life, to purfue it through every period, through good and bad fortune, through all ftations, through perplexities, diftreffes, ob- ftruftions almoft irrefiftable : are not per- formed without painful application, and un- wearied afliduity. The hufbandman, the mechanic, the artift, have it each in view, that when they have finifhed the bufinefs of the day, the hours of diligence fhall be fucceeded by relaxation ; and their care be- ftowed, crowned with an equal recompenfe. But man, (if in this life only he has hope) has the labour without the reft: the morti- fication, when he has with infinite pain, formed his charad:er to virtuous habits, and fubdued in a great meafure the difficulties of his moral tafk : and when now at length, he hopes to find the fair guerdon of his " Mylton's Lycidas. labours. 24 SERMON I. labours, and enjoy a tranquil remainder of life in the praife and pradtice of virtue, the fates rufh in, and fnatch the delicious, well earned morfel from him. Epicurus fpake therefore but the language of nature, when he placed the recompenfe of wifdom, of prudence, of virtue, in tranquil peaceful en- joyment. But all nature ipeaks one language, that life is not the feafon of this enjoyment, and natural defire points out a future ftate to man, when the fupreme remunerator ftiall, in his allotment of his moral creatures, make a juft and equal difcrimination between them, according to their moral qualifications. For there is in our natural propenfities, an in- feparable love of exiftence, and an abhor- rence from the thought of parting Vith it. Paflions that' affedt "^ every individual of our fpecies in eveiy ftage of life, when fourfcore years have pafTed, not lefs, than before he has feen twenty revolutions. The reward of confcioufnefs is not therefore man's ultimate objedt. It is an earneft of the favour of his maker, a foretafte of future recompenfe. It is a prefent encouragement to do his duty, that though evils attend the practice of * Cic. deFin. L. V. §. ii. virtue. SERMON I. 25 virtue, "°the good man is fatisfied from " himfelf." Than this fatisfadtion no greater inducement to perfeverance can be found, no greater confolation under the preffure of real evils. Such are the intimations', by w^hich the will of our great mafter is natu- rally difcerned: and thus are we induced, by the comfort, the admonition, the exhor- tation of this his voice within us, to perform every office ; till it fhall pleafe him to trans- late us from this place to that unknown country, where his providence will ftill follow us, to recompenfe every man according to his works. It is this lafl: perfuafion that removes the gloom and every thing difconfolate from the profped: of impending diflblution : this too, renders the paffive virtues of obedience, a practicable, a reafonable, nay a* chearful fer- vice. It was this that made Socrates' ac- quiefce, unmoved, in the divine will, when he was called forward to fet an example of fuiFering ; and this induced him to think no period of life premature, that was or- dained by the fupreme difpofer of all things. The whole refult of our inquiries, there- fore, is: that it is from religion alone « Prov. c. 14. V. 14. ' Plato. Apol. man 26 SERMON I. man can obtain fatisfadtion in life, and de- rive peace and tranquillity of mind ; and from thence alone at the clofe of it, can quit this fcene in pofleffion of real repofe and efFedtual confolation. SER- ( 27 ) SERMON II. I. Cor. I. 19. It is written: I will dejiroy the Wifdom of the wife, and will bring to nothing the Underfanding of the prudent. THE friendfhip of the world, though attended, without doubt, with many conveniences, deferves not to be purfued as the moft material intereft of a human creature. A good anfwerable to the univerfal preconceptions of mankind in a far higher degree, is to be found in the confcioufnefs of virtue. But it is not even with this that the mind can reft fatisfied as its ultimate objed:: fince the natural defires of man carry him out of this period, to be folicitous for his well-being in a future ftate, a period of no limited duration. To point 28 S E R M O N IT. point out by what condudt this prefent and future welfare may be obtained, is the pro- vince of religion. But fince there are various fyftems which profefs to teach men the art of condudting life, the following feems to be a queftion of the firft importance. " How " a man may qualify himfelf, fo as to be " able to judge, for himfelf, of the religions " profefTed in the world ; to fettle his own " opinions in difputable matters ; and then " to enjoy tranquillity of mind, neither dis- " turbing others, nor being difturbed at " what pafTes among them." Such is, with very little variation, the third queftion propofed in Mr Woolafton's delineation of the religion of nature. A ques- tion which he never anfwered, and though the editor of his delineation informs the world that Mr Woolafton had made fome progrefs in colledting materials for this pur- pofe, when an accident haftened his death : I profefs myfelf convinced that the queftion never could have been aniwered, to the fatisfadtion of him, or any other rational enquirer, upon his principles. In the inveftigation of this point it is neceiTary that we adt as fkeptics, and fuffer * Preface. not SERMON II. 29 not ourfelves to be led away by names and popular prejudices. But on the other fide, liberal conftrudlion becomes us on this occa- fion, as men whofe objedts are realities, and not merely words and names. And let us avoid alfo the injudicious condud: of thofe who think that they cannot exprefs due ac- knowledgments, for the divine manifefta- tions : unlefs they " detradl " from the " native brightnefs of the lamp of reafon; " which was alfo given by God, to en- " lighten every man that cometh into the " world." Rational religion, as exhibited by fyile- matical writers, conveys the idea of an ab- ftrufe icience of fpeculation, rather than of the art of conducing life with prudence. It is termed phUofophy by learned writers, and St Paul" denominates it wifdom, and the wifdom of the world. But fuch an idea does not by any means come up to the notion of a fyftem of rational religion; which, as calculated to ferve to purpofes of general ufe, and univerfal moral informa- tion, fhould rather be plain, fimple, obvious and convincing, and employed to commu- " Squire, of the truth &c. of nat. and rev. religion, 12°. Sefl. 30. p. 60. ° I Cor. c. 2. nicate 30 SERMON II. nicate enlarged, corredt, and lively notions ^nd impreffions of the principles of common fenfe, of which the clown and the philo- fopher alike are partakers. For if rational religion be placed in an abftrufe fcience, to be comprehended only by men of deep refearch ; as the objedt of religion is to lead its profeffors, through the practice of duty, to the higheft ftate of enjoyment, of which their nature is capable ; and as no clafs of men, limit their wifhes to mere exiftence, but all afpire after well-being : the lot of the lower claffes, which include the majority, would be hard indeed, to be debarred of the advantages of religion, by their ftation in the ufeful and laborious fcenes of life. Yet no vulgar capacity is fufficient, no fmall fhare of education and leifure is requLfite for the comprehenfion of any philofophical fys- tem. In every fuch fyftem the firft point attempted to be fettled, was the leading objedt of rational defire, the ruling principle of condudl. And it juftly holds this place. For as religion is fought, to ihow the dis- tinction ^ of adtions, into good, evil and in- different ; the judgment on which this dis- tindlion is founded, muft be formed in the d Woolaflon. reafon SERMON II. 31 reafon of thofe whofe aftions are to follow this judgment : otherwife, if they cannot affign a reafon for their condud:, their reli- gion cannot be rational. In adjufling the leading obje evvotai. (fivaiKai ' ' Cic.de Off. L. I. §. 4- Here 32 SERMON II. Here the immenfe field of fpeculation opened. Firft, of the author of human being, what is the divine nature, what his will, his dis- penfations what, and his defigns with refpedt to man ? Then of man in himfelf, and aflbciated with his fellow creatures : his ftation with refpedt to himfelf, and his cir- cumftances with refpeft to them, make his obligations vary indefinitely. Such are the vaft regions of truth to be explored in fixing a rational fovereign good. It may be thought uncandid perhaps, as arguing from an abufe, to obferve ; that in every branch of this in- quiry, the temptations to deviate into inves- tigations of mere theory, are not to be re- fifted by men, devoted to phUofophizing by long fettled habits. However this be, upon this extenfive plan ^, this wide field of fpecu- lation, each fyftem of philofophy is founded : and may truly be called an eflay to afcertain the religion of man. But thefe fyftems are far too cumberfome for general ufe. The calls of bufinefs would not allow to every man leifure, the capacities of men would not qualify all, to go through thofe deduc- tions of reafon, from whence the principles of fuch a fyftem were drawn. To thefe « A mighty Maze, but not without a Plan. Pope's Eflay on Man, Line 6. men SERMON II. 33 men therefore, they could not be the prin- ciples of rational condudt, becaufe the reafon of them was not level with their concep- tions; but to be difcovered only, by an in- veftigation to which they were unequal: and becaufe it is as impofTible to underftand with the reafon of another man, as to fee with his eyes. Thus, while philofophy was calculated (as the proficients afferted) only for the wife man in each fchool relpec- tively, the laborious and induftrious were excluded from participation in this exquifite art of forming human life. But the philo- fophers, thus raifed to fo enviable a preemi- nence, have amply revenged the public quarrel on themfelves. For, in truth, great abftrac- tion cannot have place in the conduit of common life ; and could never enter, or long continue even with the theorift, when he applied himfelf to the management of his fecular affairs. Hence it was, that in their intercourfe with mankind the phUofophers themfelves were governed by the common rules of prudence, as other men; which (far different from abflract theory) whether engaged in conducing political or private concerns, was diredied by the maxims of experience, and influenced by contingent circumflances, and occafional expediency. C From 34 SERMON II. From the fo different principles that go- verned men of fpeculation an public life, and the clofet, it is amply accounted for. " That " pradtice " too often creeps where theory " can foar, and the philofopher proves as " w^eak as thofe whom he contemns." The philofophers indeed, in this refped:, afted in the fame manner precifely, as the culti- vators of every other fcience. Each follows the train of thought, and ufes the inftru- ments (if there be any) adapted to his own philofophical purpofe : but in the tranfadtion of public or domeftic bufinefs, conforms to the obvious rules of prudence, and to the common maxims of expediency. A fcience of fpeculation, fuch an intellediual fyftem, fo limited to men of great abftraction, and philofophic leifure, is not worthy of the appellation of natural or rational religion. Let it retain the title of philofophy, or affume the name of wifdom, the wifdom of the world : but let nothing pafs for rational religion, that will admit of any other limita- tions, than thofe which mark the definition of the fpecies. For this religion (as the name imports) in its obligations and its fanc- tions applies to every partaker of the faculty ^ Harris. of SERMON II. 35 of reafon ; and therefore ought to render the principles, the foundation, the means, the advantages and end of rehgion, level to the underftanding and capacity of the inquirer of every clafs and denomination. Were it not fo, this abfurdity w^ould follovvr : the religious qualifications of men would not be moral, but natural and intelledtual ; and every man's rank, in this refpedt, would bear proportion to his natural abilities, to his education, and fuch extraneous caufes, totally adventitious to him. Another objediion to rational religion, as exhibited by philofophy, arifes from the un- certainty of it. The principles; nay even the fovereign principle and criterion of duty, are differently conftrudled by various philo- fophers ; nor do any two agree exaftly even in the moft fundamental particular. The regions of truth are infinite, extending far beyond this vifible fyilem of the univerfe, as far as that eternal mind which made, diredts, and governs th^e whole. Of truth, the objed: of human knowledge, the regions are indefinite; for wherever one thing can be affirmed of another, there is truth. In this wide field, the philofophic mind expa- tiating, unable from the unbounded extent, to comprife the whole, as a fingle objed:, in C 2 one 36 SERMON II. one perception, fixes its attention, now upon one point of view, now on another : and particular truths, as different points in view, ftrike men differently, as their various tafle and judgment, their fancy aHb and acci- dental inducements feverally incline them. Hence truths are placed in a different rank of importance and diflindtion by men re- fpe6tively, and their opinions, their prin- ciples, their characters vary, as their fea- tures. Thus, while each philofopher, with a freedom of invefligation and inquiry, h^s judged for himfelf ; and, governed by private reafon, has placed the fame truths in dif- ferent lights, and different eftimation ; the fyflems they have framed have varied mate- rially, fo materially indeed, as to affedt the whole form and foundation of religion, by conflructing the ruling principle, and the ftandard of truth and virtue in a manner totally diflimilar. It was thus, that Epicurus on the one hand, taught his followers to purfue pleafure, and to cultivate the moral virtues in proportion to the degree in which they contributed to increafe and prolong vo- luptuous gratification : while Zeno, on the contrary, placing the fovereign good in truth and virtue, taught his Stoic to rejedt and defpife pleafure, as obnoxious to his purpofe. Such SERMON II. 37 Such oppofition in the principles of a Ici- ence, and that not in principles which are immaterial, but in thofe which hold the firft rank and are fundamental, muft of ne- ceffity create great confufion amongft the cultivators of it, and perplex in the higheft de- gree the candid and impartial inquirer. For were a man, not prepoffelTed in favour of any fedt, to apply to philofophy for moral and prudential informations: fuch a one would not willingly pay implicit deference to any fyftem; but would fearch for truth, where- ever he could find it through them all. This man, as he read one well connected fyftem, would find truths arranged in their refpec- tive degrees of diftindtion, as they bore re- lation, more or lefs remotely, to the leading principle of that philofophy. But from thence he would pafs on to its rival fyftem, urged not merely by curiofity, but by the defire of forming a judgment fo material to the peace of his mind, as the choice of his religion, upon the fulleft information. In this fecond delineation of moral truth, he would find the leading principle totally dif- ferent, and truths and virtues regarded through a diiferent medium : in fhort, no two things would appear fo totally unlike as the rational religion of man, according to one, and ac- C 3 cording 38 SERMON II. cording to the other fyftem. From hence, diftradlion and uncertainty muft arife in the mind of the inquirer ; the more increafing, the greater variety of fyftems he confulted : that muft terminate at laft in endlefs hefi- tation, fkepticifm, univerfal doubt, and irre- ligion ; or be determined by a preference, arbitrarily given to one fyftem, above all others, each in fome reipedts equally de- ferving of it. Such difficulties attend the expectation of finding the rational religion of man in any of the intelleftual fyftems, that ancient philofophy prefented to the world. Nor w^ill the more modern fyftems of ethics and morality anfw^er better the de- fcription of true and complete religion. It is not to be queftioned, but that it has been thought pradticable, to conftrudt a complete delineation of religion from the dedudtions of reafon. The philofophic mind, in fearch of truth, applying one day to one branch of inquiry, the next to another, expands itfelf without confinement, and wherever it pufhes its refearch, perceives the difficulties yield to inveftigation, and experiences no material obftrudiions to ftop its career. Hence, ac- cuftomed to contemplate wifdom in its bran- ches, and not perceiving any, that are eflen- tial, to lie out of its iphere; the mind is apt SERMON II. 39 apt to prefume, that it is as eafy to com- prehend the whole, as the parts in which it is contained: not duly weighing the im- menfe magnitude of the objeft, far more in- definitely extended than reafon itfelf. For confidering truth in the variety and extent of its views, what life is equal to the con- templation of the feveral parts of an object, that has no afcertainable limits ? Nay, even fuppofing that each might be viewed dif- tin6tly, in the days and hours of which hu- man life confifts, either by diligent invefti- gation, or in the lyftems in which they lie fcattered and difperfed: can the human ca- pacity comprife, arrange, methodize and comprehend that unmeafurable fyftem of moral truth ? The labours of philofophy are neverthelefs to be admired, and the li- beral, the extenfive, the refined judgment, dHplayed in ethic precepts, have done credit to the human underftanding : but to fuppofe any fyftem to exhibit a complete delineation of moral truth, would be to afcribe infinite comprehenfion to a finite mind, and pre- fumptuoufly to arrogate a wifdom, the in- communicable attribute of the fupreme Being. Let no man therefore feek the perfedlion of natural religion in any intelledtual fyftem. Philofophy 40 SERMON II. Philofophy or wifdom ; that is, the w^dom of the world is one thing ; but ethic pru- dence is another, and widely different. Obe- dience to the fupreme Being, his maker, was an implanted fenfe in the mind of man, before natural or moral evil had any exis- tence in the world. But when natural and moral evil gained admittance, then the dis- tinction of good and evil arofe in the mind, and the judgment of confcience was efta- blifhed, to continue, a common fenfe, for ever ; the teft of human condudt, the lamp to guide man to the will of God, and affert the obligation to truth and virtue. (If on this fubjedl, the moralift draws his intima- tions from the pages of iacred hiftory, let it never be made an objection to him : for fafts coeval with the earlieft age of man are recorded no where elfe). In this moral pru- dence', confifts the only true rational reli- gion, a religion extended to every poffible office, and to every moral agent univerfally. To this religion, accommodated, though it be, to all capacities, philofophy in none of its delineations, ever did juftice ; a religion when united with the maxims of experience, could it fairly be tranfcribed, competent to form SERMON II. 41 form an excellent moral charafter, and dis- play an exquifite model of the perfed:, fair and good, in pradtice. This alone has a title to the epithets of natural and rational religion: natural in a more obvious fenfe than the philofophical definition: inafmuch as it deduces its obligation from the im- planted difcrimination of right and wrong, of good and evil: and rational, as arifing from the ufe of reafon, and as exifting in common in every partaker of the faculty. It is a religion that has an inward teftimony of the approbation of the fupreme Being to coincide with it; and an inextinguifhable hope (for had no promife been given, afTu- rance had been prefumption) that the divine approbation would not be unattended with bleffings and rewards. Here then we have unqueftionably found a pure and holy reli- gion, a religion conveying to its obferver, of whatever clafs he be, an impreffion of his duty, and together with it, the prefent reward of confcioufnefs ; not without hope, that man's natural defire of immortality fhall be gratified, and that in the future ftate, the confcioufiiefs of virtuous condud: fhall re- main, a fource of eternal pleafure. May we then clofe our inquiries here, afiured 42 SERMON 11. affured that the gteat art " of life refides in this rehgion ? That man in every ftation wherein he can be placed, cannot fail of finding here, whatever he can defire of direc- tion in the arduous and the intricate ; with comfort in the painful and laborious feafons of life ? In fhort that this religion can affure him of peace of mind at all times ? But even in this cafe, fome defiderata may be regretted in the form and nature of this religion, fuch as may occafionally defeat thefe beneficial purpofes of it. In the firft place, this law is^ not fo fixed and precife as written laws are by their conftrudlion : and fecondly, the ftate of even rational hope of future reward, without affurance, does not amount to perfedt fatisfaftion. With refped: to the firft, though this may not feem a very material objection, fince rnan has within him a certain criterion of duty, a law, as Cicero ' afferts of felf prefervation, " to which we are not trained, but formed :" yet a very different opinion is not unfounded. In the contemplation of national charadter, a confiderable fluftuation appears in the no- tions and manners of men from time to ■= Nullum Numen abeft, fi fit Prudentia. Juvenal. 1 Pro Milo. time: SERMON II. 43 time : which, though it does not commonly rife fo high, as to obliterate any ftrong lines in the diftindiion of good and evU ; yet very commonly, in its changes, by the contagion of general practice, tends to relax the ftrift- nefs of virtue ; and fometimes, to give the authority of cuftom and example to condud: highly unbecoming. Befides, w^hen turbu- lent and libidinous affedlions exert their re- fiftlefs force, like boifterous vv^inds in a ftormy fea; the voice of prudence and confcience, like the pilots art, avails but little againft the raging elements. In both thefe cafes no fuch clear guide is to be found in human prudence, as exifts in w^ritten law^s. For thefe can never fluctuate; but how^ever ex- ample may fophifticate, or paflion impel, thefe conftantly exhibit the fame invariable teft of obligation. As to a future recompence of virtue; without a divine promife no greater afTurance indeed can be had, than rational hope founded on arguments drawn from the attributes of God. But then, though a full afTurance were certainly to be wiflied, in a point fo material as well to the virtue as happinefs of mankind; yet in default of this, the mind might well acquiefce in a hope founded on the beft evidence of which the queftion was capable. But 44 SERMON II. But alas ! far greater difficulties remain behind. Far more alarming confiderations muft occupy the mind of man, than doubts whether his virtue fhall meet with a future recompenfe. The fame divine juftice which warrants his hope of reward, at the fame time alarms his fears; his fear left trans- greffion alfo fhould meet its juft doom here- after ; and left divine vengeance, though not now inflifted in proportion to demerit, be only referved to a future day of reckoning, when every offence fliall be found accurately recorded, and receive its puniihment in an exadt retribution. It was the fallacy of the tempter, we are told, when he feduced our firft parents; that, by tranfgreffion, their eyes fhould be opened, and they fhould be as Gods, know- ing good and evil. What was here offered as a privilege, followed indeed as a confe- quence. They knew evil immediately, by experience, and by the contraft, perceived the value of that good from which they had fwerved. The diftinftion of moral good and evil, whether at that time divinely impreffed upon the human mind, or only then firft perceived, by the experience of evil, was °" Raro antecedentem fceleftum Deferuit Poena, Pede claudo. Horace. certainly SERMON II. 45 certainly a gracious gift, and neceffary to man in the ftate to which he was reduced. For, as the nature and will of God are un- changeable, the violations of moral truth, and the indulgence of impure afFedtions, muft be held by him in abomination, and render the criminal odious to him, and ob- noxious to his fevere diipleafure. When man was therefore in a capacity to commit every enormity, but more efpecially if he became ftrongly inclined and prone to evil ; it would have been inconfiftent with the mercy and the juftice of God, that he ihould incur the divine diipleafure, and his own condemnation at the fame time, without the coniciouihefs of offence. And yet, unlefs the dillindtion of good and evil had exifted in the human mind, to ferve as a law to him, by what teft could he have difcerned the moral or immoral tendency of his conduct ? Or by what power of divination could he have conceived, that thofe aftions to which the propenfities of his nature inclined him, were contrary to the will of his maker ? Thus by the law of reafon, arofe the know- ledge " of fin : it was a law, implanted to ferve as a check and caution againft the in- " Rom. c. 4. dulgence 46 SERMON II. dulgence of depraved appetites. This na- tural and rational religion, by no means, failed of giving to man full information of the beauty and defirable nature of virtue, as well as of the deformity of vicious condudt. But w^hile confcience enforced this rule by a decifive judgment in favour of the one and againft the other, a judgment w^hich no in- fluence or fedudtion could bend or fuppreis : man ever found himfelf flrongly influenced by another law, which St. Paul ° has named the law in his members. This perverfe in- clination and propenfity of the mind to evil, is a matter of fadt, which is equally true or falfe according to the evidence of it ; whe- ther the manner in which evil was intro- duced can either be accounted for rationally or not : or whether it can or cannot be re- conciled with the preconceptions which any one may have formed of divine providence, or the moral government of the fupreme Being. This depravity is a truth amply at- teflied by the fages " of ancient times, and acknowledged in their writings. In this ob- fervation, philofophers perfedtly agree with apofl:les. Thus, St Paul defcribes the fl:ate of man as truly defperate where he delivers Rom. c. 8. » Plato. Apol. Soc. de Repub. L. VI. Phsed. himfelf SERMON II. 47 himfelf in the charafter of a man led by the light of nature : " " I delight in the law " of God, after the inward man; but I fee " law in my members warring againft the " law of my mind, and bringing me into " captivity to the law of fin that is in my " members." And Cicero' in the terms of his defcription is not at all behind the apoftle. " If nature," fays he, " had fo fra- " med us, that we could look into and per- " ceive her, we might form our life under " her as our beft guide ; nor have recourfe " to reaibn and the cultivation of it. But " as it is, ftie has given us but little iparks " of light, which we quickly extinguifh by " corrupt manners and depraved opinions, " fo that the light of nature is no where " difcernable." — " Indeed whatever intima- " tions men receive, whethe;- from the fug- " geftions of nurfes in early age, the inflruc- " tions of parents, the precepts of mafters, " the authority of books, and of general " and popular opinions ; all, all confpire to " breed them up in error; fo that truth is " obliged to give place to vanity, and nature " herfelf to prejudice." Thus far the Ro- man philofopher. With the will of God, « Rom. c. 7. ' Tufc. Qusef. L. III. Pr»f. with 48 SERMON H. with the fuggeftions of reafon, with the dic- tates of natural confcience, the concupis- cence of depraved nature, the falfe opinions and prejudices of the world, were not to be reconciled. And hence, as the concurring teftimony of philofophers and infpired wri- ters uniformly defcribe the cafe of infatuated man, the whole fpecies whether taken col- lectively or individually, had all of them gone out of the way ' : they had fallen univerfally into a depravity of manners and opinions, and were altogether become abo- minable : and alfo there were none that did good, either uniformly or generally, no not one. The true and effeftual religion of perfons fo circumftanced, is not fufficiently defined, as the religion of rational beings, unlefs their cafe, as finners, be provided for. How then does the religion of reafon apply to this cafe ? How does it anfwer the exigencies of fuch perfons ? For the fake of argument, let us fuppofe the cafe of a man unconfcious of actual tranf- greffion. Even in this man (who however never exifted) the emotions of his mind muft frequently give him the experience of ^ Pfalm 14. Rom. c. 3 evil. SERMON II. 49 evil, together with the confcioufnefs of offence arifing from perverfe inclinations. Senfibilities thefe, which muft frequently invade his peace ; at leaft, till he had forti- fied and fecured his mind by virtuous habits. By what felf delufion then; or, let it be perfuafion, could even this man prefume that he poffeffed the original integrity, and unconfcious purity of mind, in which the author of his being at firft created him, and defigned him to fubfift? Such alTurance is not to be found in reafon, nor can any thing but a divine ad: of grace confer it. But the cafe of ad:ual tranfgrelTors is defperate. For fince by the law of reafon, enforced as it is by the awards of confcience, the Wrath' of God is plainly declared, as if revealed from heaven, againft all ungodlinefs and unrighteoufnefs of men ; whofe condudt foever amounted not to the purity and per- fection, which the didtates of his mind re- quired of him ; that is, whofqever " held " the truth perceived and acknowledged by " him," in unrighteoufnefs ; this man was referved under the curfe of the law, and condemnation of his own mind, without rational refource, to the final vindication of * Rom. c. I. V. i8. D God's 50 SERMON II. God's juftice, in the punifhment of of- fenders. Wretched ftate of man ! From whence could he derive confolation, to footh the an- guifh ° of his mind ? Would repentance or contrition reftore to him the ferene con- fcience, and peace of innocence ? " Go " to " any court of judicature and fee whether " the forrow and concern expreffed by the " convift, will refcue him from the uplifted " fword of civil juftice." Can they then reverfe the decrees of inviolable truth, and inflexible juftice ? If they can indeed, what is truth, what is juftice ? It is not in reafon therefore to conftrud: a religion for finners. " For* the fear of punifhment, branded on " guilt by the Almighty, being both natu- " ral and rational, it is impoffible that either " nature or reafon ftiould afford any aflif- " tance, or fufiicient remedy againft this " terror, unlefs indeed reafon and nature be " made up of contradidtions." To fum up the whole of this important argument. When we take a view of the ftate of man, under the guidance of reafon ; ° I cannot fee any rational expiation in facrifices, and therefore cannot admit them as a refource. ^ Bp Sherlock's Difc. Vol. II. ^ Vol. II. Difc. 13. p. 2. we SERMON II. 51 we find him bound to the performance of duties, fuggefted to him by moral prudence, and enforced by confcience. Thefe fugges- tions form the only true religion of nature and reafon, a religion not repofited in the writings of the wife ; but divinely engraven upon the hearts of men. A religion indefi- nable, like the fimpleft natural ideas : to which philofophy and Ipeculation added no- thing, but rather perplexed and involved it: perplexed it with intricacies and refine- ments, whereby it was rendered unfervice- able to the far greater part of mankind ; and involved the plainefl: dictates in the uncer- tainty of various dod:rines ; thereby bewil- dering the inquirer in doubts, that had he confulted only the occafional fuggeftions of his mind, never had arifen. But to this re- ligion, no man ever has paid a perfect obe- dience; yet reafon, a pure moral fenfe, an emanation from the confummate truth, pu- rity and perfed:ion of the fupreme Being; could apply no remedy for the deviations; but configned the offender, without refource, a prey to the fears and remorfe of confcience. And when, in the anguifh of a depreffed and perturbed ipirit he implored pardon, re- conciliation, hope, to reftore ferenity to his mind : when he anxioufly inquired whether D 2 there 52 SERMON II. there were no methods of expiation, no way to mercy, no door of hope for penitent fin- ners in the counfels of gracious heaven, no balm efficacious as that in Gilead to the re- pentant Ifraelite; his religion was filent and returned no answer. From hence it appears that natural reli- gion is not competent to anfwer to dege- nerate man the purpofes of religion. That it can neither enable him to pafs through life with peace of mind and the ferenity of confcioufnefs ; nor at the clofe of it, to quit the fcene, fupported by the pleafing hope of a bleiTed immortality. SER- ( 53 ) SERMON III. Matt. XI. 28. Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you reji. SUCH is the Invitation of the divine author of the chriilian rehgion. When rational religion w^as not able to afford reft and fatisfadtion to the burthened mind; nor all the powders of the underftanding, aided by all the refinements of the moft exquifite cultivation : w^hen w^ifdom, when philofophy had failed of conftrudling fuch a fyftem as was applicable to the ftate of man, or an- fwerable to his wants : the fupreme Being himfelf condefcended to the infirmities of his creatures, and gave them a new dilpen- fation every way fuited to the exigencies of their fituation. The religion of reafon is D 3 truly 54 SERMON III. truly reprefented, as a pure and holy law, fixed as the throne of God, and immutable, like that truth, that juftice, from whence it was tranfcribed. As fuch, it could neither bend to the weaknefs, nor accommodate itfelf to the wants of finners; but exadied obe- dience, or the penalty of tranfgreffion, with the ftern inflexibility of a lawgiver. In the deplorable ftate of man, ^when this law, through tranfgreffion, had become a miniftra- tion of condemnation ; divine mercy has ef- fected what the Law could not do, in that it was weak, through the flefh. The gofpel was fent from heaven, to be a remedy for finners, an aft of grace to proftrate convifts, a refource and confolation to the miferable and defperate. By this revelation our great Creator is reprefented, as a being, not indeed to be reconciled to fin ; but of inexpreflible compafllon to the finner. Here the bur- thened confcience finds an eflfeftual atone- ment for tranfgreflion, a lacrifice and vidim oifered to the efi!ential jufl:ice of the divine will ; and here, accepted means of propi- tiation. Thus, the fupreme afl"ertor of truth is reconciled to offenders, and divine love and favour are reflored to finful creatures ; thus * Rom. c. 8. V. 3. the SERMON III. 55 the burthen and oppreffion of guilt are re- moved, and the mind of man, now relieved, is gilded with an inward peace, enlivening as the confcioufnefs of virtue. Such is a juft eulogy of the chriftian covenant of re- demption; which is ever reprefented in the iacred writings, as an ad: of grace, and un- merited kindnels to the human fpecies. For when the ftate of "natural man is confidered, as the word of God and moral inquirers reprefent him; he appears wholly " given over to a reprobate and corrupted mind. ''And the law in his members war- ring fuccefsfuUy againft the law of his mind holds him captive, a flave to corruptions that the inward man abhors, a wretched example of infatuation, and ° monument of the fevere, but righteous judgment of God. Or (to exprefs the fame truths in the language of the natural man's confeffions) through defeft of the juft fubjeftion of animal and fenfual appetite to the control of the moral powers, the reafon, and the underftanding ; the bent of the human inclination, and his ruling paffion, are turned, greatly more than is fitting, to the gratification of the animal nature ; while the rational defires are ne- ^ I Cor. c. 2. V. 14. ° Mente captus. '^ Rom. c. i. V. 26, 28. c. 7. V. 22. " If. c. 29. V. 14. gled:ed. 56 SERMON III. gledted, the fober didtates of the diftin- guifhing faculties of man. , Hence fo great a degeneracy is produced, that were the de- fires to which man addidts himfelf, to be taken as the indications of what became him ; they would exhibit a religion (if it can be fo faid without proftituting a facred name) that would bear no refemblance, or conformity to reafon, to purity, or to moral truth. Through this afcendency of depraved appetite, man's underftanding alfo is per- verted, fo as to be rendered incapable of en- tertaining moral fentiment, anfwerable to the excellence of genuine rational didtate; and moreover not lefs incapable of enforcing thofe precepts of reafon eifedtually, which the mind clearly approves, by rational fanc- tions. For, by natural confequence, every moral delinquency, and much more, every habitual defertion of moral redtitude, ' dif- turb the foundnefs and integrity of the mind, and produce an infatuation, approaching much nearer in degree to infanity, than the word infatuation, in common ufe, exprefles. This confequence the heathen writers attri- buted to a judicial fentehce of the Gods : from whence the mimic poets borrowed the « Cic. Orat. in Pif. §. 23. tragic SERMON III. S7 tragic frenzy of Oreftes, and the burning torches of the Furies. ^Ifaiah alfo remarks this infatuation in that memorable paffage, urged by our Lord, and by St Paul, more than once, againft the unbelieving Jews : and his words would feem to confirm the notion of a judicial infatuation, ''were not this mode of fpeech ufual in the old tefta- ment, and in jewifh writings, where there appears to be no intention to exprefs any ju- dicial interpofition of fupernatural agency. Into fuch corruption and degeneracy, man- kind had fallen ; a ftate, which cannot be contrafted with the character fuggefted and prefcribed by the law of reafon, without fetting apoftate man in a light fo far different from an objedt of the benignity of a God of truth; as to make him appear vile and abominable, in the fight of that pure and holy being. And moreover, by the capti- vity and infatuation of his mind, he was become incapable of turning himfelf from the perverfe paths in which he trod, to cul- tivate a more perfect morality. In this for- lorn condition, whatever was done for his redemption, mufl be effedted without the 8 If. c. 6. V. 9. Jo. c. 12, 39. and its paral. paff. Afls c. 28. V. 25. Rom. c. II. V. 8. '' Whitby on Rom. c. 11. v. 8. cooperation 58 SERMON III. cooperation of infatuated man : and thus abandoned, there was no way, in reafon, open to him to recover the divine favour, or efcape the vengeance of divine juflice. Wherefore, the redemption of man is to be attributed folely to the immeafurable libe- rality of the beft and greateft of beings, and to be acknowledged with all gratitude, a moft feafonable adt of free grace, of un- deferved mercy. The gofpel therefore is the religion of Sinners. ' It is adapted to relieve the burthened and heavy laden ; '' to bind up thofe that are broken in heart, and give them medicine to heal their licknefs. Such the neceflities of man, fo abfolutely gracious the chriftian dHpenfation. But the gofpel is a fubjedl far exceeding the compre- henfion of any created being, a myftery, ' which even angels delire to look into. And fo great is " " the depth of the riches of the " goodnefs of God; that his doings are " unfearchable, and his ways paft finding " out." As to man, a creature, in his ut- mofl natural proficiency, removed at an in- finite diftance from the knowledge of the righteoufnefs of G o d : he can know no more of the difpenfations and the divine ' Matt. c. 22. V. II. c. 9. V. 10. * Pf. 147. V. 3. ' I Pet. c. I. V. 12. "■ Rom. c. 11. v. 33. economy SERMON III. 59 economy than is revealed : and even of that portion, the perception muft be fuch alone as he can derive immediately from the facred oracles themfelves. Yet, if accompanied w^ith an entire deference of judgment to the divine word, the contemplation of this ftu- pendous inftance of God's providence over the moral v\^orld, vv^ill ferve to many nfeful purpofes; the fubjed: being adapted to ele- vate and improve the mind of man, and to give him proper fentiments of himfelf and of the fupreme Being. Though the chriftian religion was fo en- tirely an ad: of grace; and though the Son of God freely offered himfelf, an atone- ment for tranfgreffion ; yet the redemption was not applied indifcriminately to all; but a faith, defcriptive of thofe fentiments, which are necefTary qualifications for perfons circumftanced as believers are, "was de- manded, as requifite to the divine accep- tance. When this is confidered, the infa- tuation which appears fo univerfally to have pervaded the fpecies, at the time when the golpel was delivered, may render the nume- rous converfions to the pure faith in Chrift hardly to be accounted for, without embra- " Matt. c. 20. V. 1 6. cing 6o SERMON III. cing the opinion of the fatalifts, which attri- butes them to a fupernatural overbearing in- fluence. But, without leffening the impref- iion of the power of God fo gracioufly ex- erted for the redemption of mankind ; there is the clearefl teflimony, in the writings of heathen moralifts, to prove, that though the depravity of the human mind fhed fo bane- ful an influence on his manners; it did not take from him the confcioufnefs that thofe manners were not fuch as became a rational agent : and though the infatuation was fo great as to occafion him continually to ° choofe bitter for fweet, and fweet for bit- ter; it did not proceed fo far, as to fatisfy him, that fo abfurd a choice was either jufl: in reafon, or conducive to his happinefs. Herein the gofpel was adapted to the fl:ate of man. The obedience of faith is an obedi- ence to prefcription, which conveys a far diff^erent idea, from perfedt redlitude of moral fentiment. Our Lord did not lay down a complete fyftem of ethic precept, and de- mand a conformity to it in fentiment and manners, as the conditional qualification for his favour. This mufl: have been demanded in vain of man constituted as he is. Inftead " If. C. 5. V. 20. of SERMON III. 6i of this, the requifites to admittance into the chriftian covenant, were fuch as man had full powers to exhibit : a fenfe of his wants and infirmity, a defire to recover a better flate, and a tradtable temper, to obey the plaftic hand of his new mafler. As the gofpel ordained fuch terms of acceptance it was truly a religion, and the duty required was ftridtly moral. It was the fame indeed, as had ever been acknowledged, by the name of obedience, paffive obedience, to be a be- coming expreffion of piety under natural evils; from the confideration of an over- ruling providence. But the chriftian reve- lation did not ftop here, it did not abandon the believer, when initiated, to follow the fame perverfe conduit, which marked his unregenerate charadter: but vindicated the effential purity of the divine will, by forming a difcipline for the improvement of the ac- cepted fervants, that fhould produce no mean accomplifhment of charadter, in principle and virtuous condudt. But whoever ftiall confider the gofpel only as a religion, will form a very inadequate idea of this grace of God. The redeemer of mankind is fet forth in two points of view by the prophet " Ifaiah in a pafTage cited by " St p If. c. 49. V. 6. « Adls c. 13. V. 47. Paul: 62 SERMON III. Paul : " It is a light thing," (fays the Al- mighty of him) " that thou fhouldefl be " my fervant, to raife up the tribes of Jacob, " and to reftore the preferved of Ifrael. I " will alfo give thee for a light to the gen- " tiles, that thou fhouldeft be my falvation " to the end of the earth." In this laft mentioned character, as the reftorer of man to the favour of his maker, and to the ratio- nal hope of acceptance by that fupreme ar- biter of human condud:, and human deftiny ; he left his father's throne : and laying aiide the refulgence of the divine image, took upon him the human form, and therein ex- piated, by a vicarious fuffering, the guilt of fin, and made an effectual atonement for tranfgreffion : of this mercy, unregenerate man is the objedt, who is made partaker of it, when he is taken into covenant with God. In the other charadler, 'as a light of the world, he is conlidered as a prophet and a lawgiver ; and the objed:s of this mi- niftry are men already taken into covenant: men, who are, by profeffion, hearers of his word ; and who are put under the difcipline of the gofpel, to learn in what manner to condud; themfelves, fo as to pleafe the fu- preme Being. ' If. c. 8. V. 12. PI. 112. V. 9, T05. When SERMON III. 63 When the gofpel is confidered as a doc- trine revealed for the inftrudlion of the be- liever, after his initiation; this circumftance will appear in it, as in rational religion. Its precepts are not delivered in a fyftem. For though revealed religion muft of neceffity be exhibited in writing to all, who live at a diftance of time and place from thofe, wherein the revelation was made; yet by none of the inspired writers, is the chriftian religion delivered in a regular formulary; but left in detached precepts, occafional pre- fcriptions, and determinations of moral cafes ; and moreover, its principles, for the moft part, are taught in parables. And as the phUofophers who have attempted to exhibit rational didlate in a fyftem, have never done juftice to a religion that had real pretenfions to a defcent from confummate intelligence ; fo (I ipeak under corre6tion) chriftian reli- gion has never received an adequate repre- fentation, where an attempt has been made to comprehend its principles in a fyftema- tical delineation. As it comes, under its own peculiar form, it is attended with fin- gular advantages. The chriftian is obliged hereby to be more verfed in the facred books ; while it is from fuch converfe, and not any occafional reference, that he can difcern the will 64 SERMON III. will of God, in cafes which he may wifh to refer to it. Under the iame idea, the gofpelis calculated to try the difpofition of the profefTor ; becaufe (as it does not abound in cafes of cafuiftry) it leaves him, for the moft part, under the guidance of his own difcretion ; though that difcretion be ftill regulated by the principles and general tenor of the chriftian doftrine. Of courfe, his condud: becomes the teft, as it is the fruit of his faith ; and thus, at his own infinite hazard, he receives the dodtrines of God with partial fubmiffion, and abides by the confequences of fubduing, whether partially or entirely, his own prejudices, to the obe- dience of faith. Thus alfo, every ftage of the chriftian pilgrimage through life, be- comes a ftate of difcipline, and a ftage of improvement ; while the convidtion, the pradiical affent, the reiburces of chriftianity open gradually upon his mind ; and remove, by degrees that bear proportion to his im- provement, the blindnefs of the natural man (as St Paul exprefles himfelf) or the infa- tuation and weaknefs of the animal diftates, and faculty of underftanding (as a heathen moralift would exprefs the fame idea). Upon the whole, the fcriptures are fufficiently in- flruftive ; and as they inform the under- ftanding SERMON III. 65 ftanding of the faithful, fuperfede the ufe of a fyftem, by reftoring him, as it were, to that original redtitude of difpofition ; when, without the diftindtion of good and evil, without any law of works and righ- teoufnefs, his ways were upright, his judg- ment found, and manners pleafing to his maker. Does the gofpel then, in prefcribing the obedience of faith, feek to lay mankind under a yoke of fuperftition ? It is rather to be embraced as a gracious fcheme calcu- lated to vindicate the rights of man to found judgment, and aiTert his claim to free fenti- ment : inafmuch as it removes all thofe im- pediments, by which the underftanding was obftrudted, and the moft defirable objedts of human knowledge were involved in clouds and thick darknefs. But in order that a true notion of the golpel, as a religion be entertained, let thefe oppofite impreffions be corredted with equal care. On the one fide, let it not be fuppofed that it removes the obligations to attend to the moral intimations of prudence, either as if it eftablifhed a new and more extended fyftem of ordinance, or made void the ordi- nances of reafon, in compaffion to the infir- mity of man. On the other fide let not the E idea 66 SERMON III. idea of it as the mere reftoratioh of natural religion be admitted, except it be with the moft precife limitation. For under this idea it forms a pretence, to the curious fkeptical chriftian for receiving the goipel incom- pletely; with avowed exception to every dodirine that he cannot reconcile with his prepofTeffions. Let not then the religion of Chrift be fup- pofed to require a more perfect righteoufnefs than the genuine religion of right reafon. But that we fall not into error, right reafon muft be underftood abftradtedly, as equiva- lent to moral truth cognizable by man. Had the gofpel laid additional burthens on man, inftead of a covenant of mercy, it had been a rigorous law indeed, a fentence of inevi- table wrath and condemnation. For as the religion of moral and rational didtate formed a rule fo pure and perfedt in its nature, that man could never follow it exaftly ; to what ufe could an extended moral obligation ferve to fuch a creature, but to confign him to wrath without remedy, to plunge him deeper in tranfgreffion, and afcertain his condemna- tion ? But in truth, as the line of moral didlate is commenfurate to the rational and moral powers of the agent, had the chriftian lawgiver extended it, thefe powers of com- prehenfion SERMON III. 67 prehenlion alfo muft have been enlarged. But had he done this, or in any refpedl al- tered the reprefentations of original natural diftate, it would feem as if the great Creator had made men, at firft, beings incompetent to the purpofes of religion, the end of their exiftence; and afterwards feeing the defeft, like fome human artift, had corredled and fupplied it by a fecond effort. A fuppofition that derogates from the wifdom of the fu- preme artificer. But if it were not the divine purpofe to introduce a more perfed: fyftem, much lefs could the intention be, to cancel the obli- gation to morality; or fuperfede that reli- gion, which has its foundation in the un- changeable will of God. For thofe devia- tions from moral truth, which at any time were diipleafing to the deity, could at no time ceafe to be fo, or alter their moral name and nature. In truth, that religion which arofe out of the implanted diftindtion of good and evil, muft ever retain its influence with man, while common fenfe remains, and that diftinction continues. It muft retain its in- fluence, while native judgment, while natu- ral confcience, reprefent the good an objedt of delire, of purfuit, of admiration ; the evil, in its nature, vile, pernicious and deteftable. E 2 No 68 SERMON III. No extraordinary interpofition of revelation can be fuppofed to fet afide a religion founded in the nature of things, however it may affift the moral agent in the performance of his duties ; or publifh an adt of grace, and confer pardon, on offenders. In oppofition to thefe notions, let the reli- gion of Chrift be confidered as a new reve- lation, indeed, of the will of God; but of that fame invariable will, from whence every genuine did:ate of nature, and every original intimation of right reafon are equally tran- fcribed. And let the difpenfation be efteemed as adapted to renew the advantages of reli- gion to mankind ; and give a clear light to their paths, who had deviated widely in fen- timent and manners from truth and recti- tude. That the difpeniation might anfwer thefe purpofes, Chrift has reftored the prin- ciples of reafon in points where they had been perverted. The law of 'Forbearance is an example of this, as it is oppofed to the ancient law of retaliation. He has in- dicated what is becoming and truly moral, more accurately than it had been ftated by ethic writers. Thus in the place of the prin- ciple of juftice ; the chriftian lawgiver ' fub- ' Matt. c. 5. V. 33. ' Matt. c. 5. v. 43. ftitutes SERMON III. 69 ftitutes the principle of charity, as a more focial principle, more becoming to man, more pleafing to his maker. He has pointed out the line of truth, and exalted virtue, where it was ill underftood before. Thus, in the inftance of the good " Samaritan, our mafter has cancelled the vulgar limits of philan- thropy, and made the objedts of the focial obligations as numerous as the human fpe- cies. He has inculcated the fundamental principles of morality by pofitive precept, thereby producing a written and unvarying teft of the adiions of men ; a teft, which no alterations of times, no fludluation of man- ners and opinions, no circumftances whatever can fophifticate or elude. But what is more : he has fettled a ruling paffion, that fhall cor- relpond with religion in every application, and unite the moft powerful inducements of defire, with the fuggeflions of moral pru- dence. Such is the "precept of our divine inftrudior to expedt the chief happinefs of man in the world to come ; and feek, in the firft place, to obtain an inheritance in the future kingdom of the Meffiah. Laftly : he has inforced the obligations of religion by additional and prevailing fandtions. Nor let "Luke c. 10. V. 36. "Matt. c. 27. v. 37, 39. ''Matt. c. 6. V. 19. E 3 it 70 SERMON III. it be doubted, whether the epithet of- addi- tional fandiions be not applied to the life and immortality promifed in the goipel ; with equal juftice as that of prevailing fanc- tions. Unqueflionably, thefe dodtrines re- ceive frefli light from the gofpel. The hopes of men are confirmed by the inviolable word and promife of God : fo that though life and immortality were ever fo much the dic- tates of natural defire, and the probable in- timations of reafon; ftill eternal life, and a glorious immortality as annexed to virtue by the word of God, are fandtions to reli- gion peculiar to the gofpel. So much aid given to the cultivation and pradlice of the moft refined morality, may feem to juftify the notion of thofe, who call our religion the reftoration of natural reli- gion. It is indeed fo ; inafmuch as it deli- vers precepts of moral truth, in an excellent ftrain of purity and energy : and, when fo embraced by faith, rather than apprehended, (at leaft in any vulgar ftage of proficiency) enforces them with more than rational fanc- tions. But, in this expreffion, natural reli- gion is an equivocal term, and requires a definition. Whenever it is faid that Chris- tianity is the reftoration of natural religion, nothing more can juftly be meant by the expreffion : SERMON III: 71 expreffion : than that, '' when the genuine didiates of nature had been extinguifhed or perverted, by corrupt lives and depraved opinions; the goipel has given precepts, whereby ' what is good and evil in the adtions of man, agreeably to the ftate in which he finds himfelf, may be accurately diftin- guifhed. But ftill, in no fenfe can the gofpel be termed the fame as natural religion. For how is the affertion to be proved ? Where is that model to be found of natural religion, by comparifon of which with the religion of Chrift, this affirmation may be efta- blifhed? Is natural religion to be found in any of the iyflems that philofophy has fra- med ? Chriftianity is greatly above them ; correfting their mifconceptions, and expref- fing a more chafte, more refined, more ex- quifite morality, than they do. Has natural religion, (as ^ Cicero has defined it) its foun- dation in appetite ; and is it diftindt from the didtates of reafon and learning ? As the appetites now exift in man, their didbates are found equally oppofite to the precepts of the chriftian and every other national and pure religion : does natural religion then refide in that perfedt mind, that accomplifhed rea- " Cicero. ^ Woolafton. " Tufc. Qusef. L. III. Praef. fon. 72 SERMON III. fon, that truth, on all fides, feparate from error ? How can chriftianity be compared with fo abftradt an idea, an exiilence con- ceived, tho inaccurately ; but never com- prehended by any finite mind, or mind in- corporated in matter ? Or is natural religion, the didtate of that ideal mind, by which the human nature was informed in its primeval ftate, 'ere fin defaced the image ? The chris- tian religion is widely different, it is the re- ligion of finners, it is formed on a know- ledge and experience of evil, which at that time had no place in the mind of man. What then ? Is this religion a tranfcript from ab- folute and confummate truth itfelf? From that truth which exifts not, but in the divine mind, which alone is perfedt, and which alone it defcribes ? If this be the definition of natural religion : it is granted that the chriftian religion, is indeed a ^ revelation of the mind of G o d ; of that mind which is invariably the fame for ever, conftant, uni- form, and immutable. But if the goipel be juftly named the reftoration of natural reli- gion only in this refpedt, the argument of its internal evidence vanifhes entirely, as a proof of the divine authority of the chriftian * I Cor. c. 2. V. i6. revelation SERMON III. 73 revelation, to infidels, or ikeptica. For, as thefe and every natural man, are ' incapable of receiving the things of the fpirit of God, what w^ould fuch an application be, but to bring a revelation of the mind of God to the bar of human judgment, for its trial ? The argument has been thus ftated ^ : " the " gofpel is credible, becaufe agreeable to " thofe notions which men naturally have, " of God, and of themfelves." But can the economy of the divine difpenfations be juftly brought to this tefl ? Are not thefe things of God" myfterious as that fupreme and perfed: mind, which lies far beyond the Teach of human comprehenfion ? With re- fped: to the moral precepts indeed, which chriftianity inculcates, human judgment will go farther; and it may be juftly faid of thefe, that they agree, to the fulleft amount of the uninfluenced dictates of the under- ftanding, with the moft general preconcep- tions of the perfect, fair, and good, as far as the mind is capable of ideas fo abftradted. But this coincidence will not juftify the ar- gument. For although no proof of it will be required by any proficient, or faithful drfciple : yet, before infidels, when it is ' I Cor. c. 2. V. 14. ^ Bradford. Boyle's Le6l. * I Cor. c. 2. V. 9. brought 74 SERMON III. brought to prove any thing, the agreement will not fo readily be allowed. And when the controverfy is put upon this iffue will it not be faid? If it be a good argument for receiving the chriftian religion, that it is approved by right reafon : fuppofe it could not be reconciled with right reafon ; would not that be fufficient ground for rejecting it ? And if one fide of the propofition be urged as conclufive, how can the other confiftently be rejedted ? Right reafon then becomes the arbitrator between the fupreme Being deli- vering his will, and his creatures ; whether they fhall pay any obedience, or not, to his injunftions. But right reafon is an eqxiivocal term alfo. My opinion is to me (without which indeed it would not be mine) what another man's is to him, and each man's to himfelf, with inconceivable variety : right reafon. For as no man can fee with the eye fight, fo neither can any man underftand with the reafon, or the faculties of another. As therefore no common fl:andard can be found, to which all men will fubfcribe ; every man's reafon is to him, right reafon : and according to this argument, fubmifllon to the word of God is irrational, nor is any man obliged to receive it, where his reafon does not clearly approve and comprehend it. If SERMON III. js If fo, not the word of God, but every man's reafon is to him the rule of his faith ; and then, by confequence. Manes, Arius, or any other Heretic, is as good a chriftian, and as much in the faith, as Chryfoftom or any of the champions of orthodoxy; and this, though it be allowed, at the fame time, that the profeffion of one man is agreeable to the word of God, and that of the other not fo. Nay, the very fame argument that juflifies the opinion of every man, may be pleaded alfo as conclufive in vindication of his prin- ciples and manners, and this even to the condud: of the vileft profligate. But if the general preconceptions be admitted, as the ftandard of right reafon, to which every man muft fubicribe that would not be branded as abfurd; yet the number of thefe is by far too fmall to ferve as the teft of any moral fyftem: But were they ever fo numerous, even the principles of common fenfe are human conceptions; and when the ravages made in the powers of men, by their devia- tions from truth be confidered, it cannot appear unreafonable that God fhould refufe to ' fubmit his manifeftations to be tried by a teft fo inadequate. I conclude therefore ' I Cor. c. 2. V. II. that 76 SERMON III. that the argument of internal evidence can only be applied with good efFedt, by the proficient in chriftian knowledge, for the fatisfadtion of his own mind, and the affu- rance of his own faith ; whUe he alone is pofleffed of the whole ^ of it, having a true conception of the chriftian principles, on the one fide ; and on the other, " the moft corredt judgment in natural and moral prin- ciples. But to infidels and fkeptics ; and alfo to novices, it is propofed to little pur- pofe. They are liable to mifconceptions on either hand ' : and moreover fhould they take up the argument negatively themfelves ; it would recoil, with a force hardly to be refifted, like elephants in battle, on the party that firft employed it. To conclude : had the Saviour of the world, only added to his charafter of a re- deemer by expiation, the office of a prophet to teach the will of God; much had ftill been wanting, to render the difpenfation ef- fedtual to his gracious purpofe. In the char- racter of a "^ high prieft, taken from among men, he became experienced in human in- firmities ; and being touched with fuch fym- pathetical feeling, he has conftrufted eifedtual 8 I Cor. c. 2. V. i6. ^ 1 Cor. c. 2. v. 15. ' i Cor. c. 2. '' Heb. c. 5. V. 2. methods SERMON III. -j^ methods of fandtification : appointing means to draw down divine aid and fpiritual fuc- cour, to renew to offenders the peace of con- fcioufnefs, and the upright mind of integrity. Finally, as an accepted latisfadtion, he has annexed to his gracious covenant, privileges equal to all that religion can beflow. Ac- ceptance with God producing peace of mind in this life, and to be followed by an eternal inheritance hereafter. In this peace the chriftian fpends his days, deriving confolation in every fortune, and at the clofe of life : or rather exulting in con- fident hope that in the future kingdom of his Lord, he fhall find eternal manfions of refty and peace, and blifs. ( 79 ) SERMON IV. Luke XIV. 33. Whofoever he be of you that forfaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my Dijciple. AFTER having taken ^ a general view of the gofpel, let us now approach nearer, and contemplate the ftupendous fcheme of redemption more clofely ; if per- ad venture we may grafp within our compre- henfion, a part of the immenfe ftru6ture. Though the fon of God, in condefcenfion to human infirmities, left his throne of glory to redeem mankind ; and though the human fpecies was not capable of doing any thing effedtual to its own falvation : yet thofe fen- timents are demanded, as qualifications, by the founder of our faith ; which are requifite to give a due eftimation of the divine mercy, as 8o SERMON IV. as well as to produce that acquiefcence of mind and judgment, without which no man can follow a prefcribed rule, or embrace a dodtrine delivered to him. When the human fpecies through the in- duced, not natural weaknefs of its moral powers, and an infatuation of underftanding, was become incapable of obtaining, by the aid of natural religion, the objefts of reli- gion : nay more, when natural religion itfelf, through the multiplied offences, into which mankind had fallen, had ^become a law of condemnation univerfally : in this deplorable ftate of man, the divine mercy, in the gofpel, revealed a gracious difpenfation of redemp- tion. A difpenfation, in which the greateft compaffion to the fpecies is manifefled, on the one hand; and on the other, the mofl jealous attention to the vindication of con- fummate truth and purity. But of the doc- trines fet forth in this divine manifeflation, the limited and low conceptions, that man can frame of perfed: moral qualities, will ever render human notions unworthy : un- worthy of the dignity of the fubjed: ; though they may at the fame time be fuch, as fhall do the highefl credit to himfelf, and refled * Pf. 14. V. I, 2, 3. Rom. c. 3. V. 9. a luflre SERMON IV. 8i a luftre on his individual capacity. For in no fcience are the gradations of improve- ment fo various and difcernible, as in this of ethics : w^here the conceptions that men form of the fubjed:s it contains, improve in equal proportion to the refinement and exaft dis- cernment they have attained. This pofition may be illuftrated, from what is very obfer- vable in the judgments of tafte. In mufick, for example, the vulgar ear is charmed w^ith harmonious founds, and difgufted by any grois diflbnance, or any greatly difcordant period. But the vulgar ear is alike infenfible to thoie delicate agreements, or thofe more minute inaccuracies in compofition, w^hich refpeftively delight or fhock the mafter, and critics of real tafte. So it is in morals : the diftinftion of right and wrong, of good and evil, is imprefled upon the moft vulgar minds; but the conceptions of moral qua- lities, as of juftice, fortitude, temperance and prudence ; and ftill more, of the more general ideas of the true, the becoming and the ufeful, admit of indefinite refinements, according to the cultivated difcernment, and the improved difcretion of the moralift. From hence it arifes, that of moral precepts alfo, wherever they are found, whether in chris- tian dodirine, or rational didtate, men form F concep- 82 SERMON IV. conceptions more or lefs juft and accurate, according to their moral tafte. But this tafte, is not produced, like refinements in fpeculative fcience, by elaborate difquifition ; in any degree fo certainly, as it is by virtuous condudl, and the cultivation of religious cha- rad:er. In this refpedt, the moralift, and the praftitioners of the fine arts are circum- ftanced alike. The theory may be cultivated \ery diligently, and yet not feconded by a proportionable execution : but it is from praftice, conftant practice alone, according to the beft rules, that the fkill, the delicacy of expreffion are to be attained, which dis- tinguifh the execution of the accomplifhed, artift. So alfo in ethics : the fcience may be cultivated in theory, without producing any excellent maxims, or laudable accom- plifhments ; it is from exercife alone that thofe refpedtable examples of virtuous con- dudt, from experience that thofe admirable maxims have been formed, that do real ho- nour to the fcience. In the gracious fcheme of redemption, divine compaffion has found an atonement for tranfgreffion, divine compaffion has ap- plied a remedy to the deep wounds made by former deviations, and " broken the rod of i" If. c. 9. V. 4. the SERMON IV. 83 the oppreffor, under which, in the hand of confcience man continually fmarted. But mercy and truth are equally attributes that coincide in the divine will; and they muft of neceffity meet alfo, and unite in every diipenfation that flows from thence. That a creature, though an offender, fliould be an object of the compaflion of his creator, is entirely confiftent with every idea of the di- vine goodnefs : that the puniihment and death even of the iinner, fhould grieve (to fpeak humanly) the universal father, excites no aftonifhment : that the judge of all the earth fhould " temper juftice with equity, and make every allowance, that the moft candid conftruftion of the cafe would admit, appears right, and agreeable to every moral attribute. But, that divine vengeance fhould ceafe to purfue the tranfgrefTor, that God fhould be reconciled to the offender, even when he was become fo degenerate as to have depraved his moral fenfe; herein con- lifls the myflery of divine compaflion, a myflery not explicable by any natural genius, any moral light, or refinement within the reach of human penetration. Yet flill, the effential purity of the divine nature, a purity <= Bp Sherlock, Vol. III. Difc. 8. F 2 never 84 SERMON IV. never to be reconciled to offence, in what- ever light the offender ftand allied, requires the fandlification of the objects of divine mercy and acceptance ; * that they fhould be redeemed from all iniquity, and fo puri- fied as to become a peculiar people unto God, zealous of good works. But upon contrafting the ftate of ° natural man with fuch a ftate of becoming fenti- ment ; much will appear requifite to be done, 'ere this apoftate can be rendered a fit objedt of the final acceptance of his maker. When God made man, at the beginning, and defigned him to be a rational and a moral creature ; befides the appetites with which he furnifhed him in common with the brute Ipecies, he endowed him with the faculties of the underftanding, that he might form the principles of his knowledge and condudt, by his judgment and difcretion. If the great creator did fo imprefs any ideas on the human mind, as that fuch ideas fhould become innate, thefe would be pre- poffeflions ; which, being derived from that fupreme and perfedt mind, muft be agreeable to truth and redtitude : and this conclufion would follow, that the natural prepofl^eflions ^ Tit. c. 2. « I Cor. c. 2. of SERMON IV. 85 of man, were to truth and reftitude. But it is much to be queflioned whether there be any fuch innate impreffions. Still how- ever if not, and if the mind be at firft totally uninformed, and a mere rafa tabula; yet, without queftion, there is in every ra- tional mind, an * accommodation to truth, with an aptitude to embrace it where it ap- pears, an admiration of it, and inherent defire to feek after, and difcover it. From this love of truth it is, that the infant no fooner opens his eyes, than, from every ob- jedt of perception, he colled:s fimple appre- henfions; and that, even before, by the ac- quifition of the faculty of fpeech, he can defcribe to others, the impreffions, which thefe perceptions have made upon his mind. Nor is the interval long, before, in obe- dience to thefe impreffions, he embraces thofe firft principles, the principles of com- mon fenfe ; which, as they are fcarcely re- moved from perception, are no more to be controverted, than the fimpleft apprehen- fions. Hitherto there is but little room for the exercife of the judgment or difcretion, the mind being accommodated, in fuch a manner, as to take its direction, as it were, * Locke. e Cic. de Offic. ^ Locke. F 3 neceffarily. 86 SERMON IV. neceflarily. So truly admirable are the dis- penfations of our great and good Creator ! Who has proportioned the moral tafk of man to his growing capacity, directing him by an influence almoft irrefiftible in his iirft conceptions ; which are, and muft be col- lected, long before his judgment could affift him in making any difcriminations. Hi- therto likewife of courfe all men think alike, and thefe principles are juftly denominated of common fenfe ; though they widely differ from the TrpoXrj^eLs of the philofophers, which are far more abftradted from perception, than thefe firft notions, the only univerfal prin- ciples and elements of knowledge. But at the principles of common fenfe no man ever flopped, not even one of thofe whofe lot in life confines them to daily labour, and whofe minds, for want of ufe and education, are incapable, not of any abflractions only ; but even of drawing a train of conclufions in detail, from obvious principles. Peculiar maxims of prudence, principles for the con- dud: of life, and a ruling pafhon ; with va- rious other notions and informations, are collected by all men (framed by combining the original notices) from the conclufions which ftrike each mind refpedtively, either in the progrefs or refult of its difquifitions. In SERMON IV. 87 In this important exercife of difcretion, though the firft principles on which it is condudled be fo univerfal ; yet the conclu- fions are not uniform, but the ruHng paflions of men, their charadiers, their maxims of prudence, and alfo their notions and opinions, vary as much as their features and complec- tions. Of every exercife of the underftanding, truth is the objeit; in which aflertion moral and prudential as well as philofophical and Speculative difquifitions are included : for virtue and truth are fo allied, that what in ipeculation is truth, is virtue in pradtice. Were the mind perfedl in its operations, it would embrace nothing but truth, in all its difquifitions ; thofe the moft abftradt, as well as the moft obvious. And though the re- gions of cognizable truth be indefinitely ex- tended, far beyond the comprehenfion of a finite mind ; yet whatever information ftruck upon the perfecSt underftanding, it would be received with the juft diftindtion it deferved. Wherefore, as truth is uniform, that obfer- vable diff^erence of opinion and charadier, by which the fame pofition is erroneous upon one fyftem, which is a principle of truth in another, muft arife from partial confidera- tion, and defedts in the operations of the mind. 88 SERMON IV. mind. From thefe defedls it proceeds, that truth and virtue in an abftradt fenfe, on the one fide; and the opinions and prudential charadlers of men on the other ; agree, by no means, in every feature, or perfectly in any. The origin of falfe notion and moral evil, or (allow me the expreffion) of Ipecu- lative and practical error, can never be fatis- fadtorily accounted for in reafon; becaufe it argues a degeneracy in the moral powers, and the faculty of underftanding ; which cannot be fuppofed originally incompetent to the perception of truth, or the attainment of knowledge; fince truth and knowledge are its natural objedts. That fuch a depravity exifls in fadt, the obfervation of writers of all ages, the examples recorded in hiftory, amply teftify. The facred page alone, in which the fall of man is recorded, and the confequences of that original tranfgreffion, affords a fatisfadtory account, how man has become a Have to fenflial appetites, and of courfe grofs and perverfe in his opinions. For ufing this account as a clew, no difficulty will arise from fuppofing the mind of man as little perfedt in the inveftigation of fpe- ' ^tas Parentum pejor avis, tulit Nos nequioi;es, mox daturos Progeniem vitiofiorem. culative SERMON IV. 89 culative and pradlical truth as we find it in fad;. For " truth is fimple and untainted, it needs only the fingle eye, the found mind, to apprehend it : it wants not any tedious ambages to explain it, but, on the contrary, ftrikes with a native fplendor. Yet the eye muft be open to receive it: and whatever prepoffeffions are there, will bar the percep- tion. For they will ad: as a byafs and in- fluence on the underftanding ; and wherever byafs be, deliberation is not equal, but the mind, deprived of the aid of its judgment, is neceffitated to an opinion ; unlefs the force of truth be greater than the byafs on the mind. Thus the evil eye is blinded, and led captive. There is a chafte veil, that fcreens true wifdom from unhallowed fight; and the evil eye feeks after her in vain, in- volved in the darknefs of error, and bewil- dered in its own perverfions. And thus it comes to pafs, that the mind of man, now depraved, is incapable of that exquifite dis- cernment, or the fimplicity of judgment, by which alone it could explore abfolute and perfed: truths ; or even embrace them if by any means, delivered in fuch perfedlion. To clear the human perception, it is requifite ^ Euripides. Cic. Off. L. I. §. 4. Matt. c. 6. v. 22. 1 therefore 90 SERMON IV. therefore that the perverfions of judgment be corrected ; and in order that man may be patient of fuch corredtion, he muft have a due fenfe of thefe perverfions ; how^ incom- plete his notions, how imperfedt his princi- ples are : in fhort how weak, how defective his reafoning, his moral powers. For if a philofopher take a difciple, who has adopted a falfe tafte, or falfe notions ; unlefs he can firft make him fenfible of the wrong impref- lion he has received, all the precepts of true fcience will be thrown away upon him : in like manner, if the difciple of Chrifl be not firft fenfible of the perverfenefs of his manners and opinions ; he will find it im- pofiible to embrace the purchafed redemp- tion with becoming gratitude ; or to conform himfelf to the means appointed for his fanc- tification. From hence the necefilty of re- pentance and mortification appears ; the ne- ceffity, that he who would receive the gofpel, fhould put off (in the language of St Paul ' ) and crucify the old man, before the work of regeneration can have a beginning. But the fame contraft, which has rendered the neceffity of repentance, of the mortifi- cation and denial of former fentiment fo * Gal. c. 5. V. 24. apparent. SERMON IV. 91 apparent, may poffibly feem to reprefent the duty as abfolute in its nature ; more abfolute, than in fadl, would be pradlicable. Had the golpel been a complete fyftem of perfect truth, and were it required, in the idea of chrtftian faith, that the underftanding fliould, at once receive it completely ; the mind's eye muft previoufly be rendered abfo- lutely fingle, and the difpenfation would exadt, under the idea of repentance, of man, fo infirmly conftituted as man is, the renun- ciation, in one adt, of every opinion, beyond the fimpleft apprehenfions of common fenfe. But how had this been poffible ? To re- nounce the honeft and heceffary arts of the world: thofe arts of induftry, which con- duce fo manifeftly to the enjoyment of life ; thofe liberal arts, the refined exercife of which diftinguifh an accomplifhed people; thofe arts of government, which are fo ne- ceffary in modes of civil policy, formed on models not of abftradt but of human wifdom, is a hard and mortifying tafk indeed. But it is necefiTary upon this fuppofition; for thefe arts of the world are not attained with- out diligent application, or praftrfed without conftant affiduity : whereby the mind is fe- cularized and diffipated; and the thoughts turned into various channels, which fhould be 92 SERMON IV. be applied intenfely to this one objedt, were a fyftem of perfedl truth to be received. And yet, were thefe arts of the world to be renounced, it would derange entirely, and throw into confufion the whole courfe of things below. Befides, could man forego every favourite idea, the innocent offspring of the mind, the darling child of fancy, the produdlion of imagined penetration ? To cut off a hand and pluck out an eye, are operations far, far eafier, than thus to reduce the mind once furnifhed, again to its unin- formed flate. Had this been expedted of mankind, by mere man it never could have been performed ; nor could any thing, fhort of an abfolute controlling influence, have effedied fo entire a change. But the difci- pline of the gofpel may fubiifl effectually without fo abfolute a felf denial. This gra- cious difpenfation takes men, infirm crea- tures, as it finds them : and, as they are fuch, does not require of them a perfedt mind either in fentiment or manners, at any period. A "■ zeal for truth and virtue is widely different from the poffeflion ; nor does this difqualify men, except in fome peculiar circumftances, from cultivating the ■" Tit. c. 2. innocent SERMON IV. 93 innocent and refined arts ; or render it lefs their duty to adorn their holy profeffion with the honourable and ufeful arts of this life. The limits fet to the purfuit of thefe truly valuable objedis (and the purfuit is certainly limited) are ever varying with the ftate of the profeffion of the gofpel. When God called the patriarch Abraham; "he took him away from his country and his kindred, that he might fpend his days entirely under divine direction, and fulfil, under the gui- dance of heaven the myfterious purpofes of providence. Throughout this patriarch's life, a continual manifeftation was interpofed for his protection, and amply to fupply the ufes of worldly connexions and political laws. In fuch circumftances, his abftraftion from the world, became as it were entire. Happy, thrice happy patriarch, fo peculiarly the friend of G o d ! Nor was the cafe of thofe widely different, to whom the promulgation of the gofpel was at firft committed. En- joined to be attentive only to the propaga- tion of the chriftian faith, divine protection was extended to them, in the moft unques- tionable interpofitions ; to fupply the want to them alfo, of thofe fecular relations and ° Adls. c. 7. V. 3. attentions. 94 SERMON IV. attentions, from which by the precept of their mafter, and the functions of their fa- cred office, they alfo, were fecluded and re- moved. And yet even to thefe, prudence, and the ° wifdom of ferpents were recom- mended by our Lord ; and indeed became them in their fituations : whether they were called to guide and rule the church, or to condudt themfelves amidft unbelievers and perfecutors. Since the times of the apoftles, the condition of the church has varied re- peatedly; and of courfe, the obligations of chriftians in this reiped:, have varied like- wife; and yet, though this precept of our lord appears fo plainly an abfolute law, to thofe only who are placed in particular cir- cumftances ; neverthelefs it has been inter- preted as if conclufive univerfally. But let '■ Simeon, or any other fanatic, ftand upon his pillar ; and if no miracle be interpofed to fatisfy his hunger, let him fubmit him- felf, as others, " " to labour " in fome honeft vocation, that he may render himfelf ufeful to the community, and "have to give to "him that needeth." Yet : though an abatement be made, from thofe abfolute interpretations of the precept "Matt. c. lo. V. i6. I" Stilites. Moiheim. Cent. 5. 1 Ephef. c. 4. V. 28. of SERMON IV. 95 of felf-denial, and the renunciation of the world: ftill no fmall fhare of repentance is requiiite in every ftation, previous to the ac- knowledgement of the truth of the gofpel : and in the progrefs to chriftian perfed:ion, an abftradtion continually increafing will ap- pear in thofe, who defire, with judgment, to advance from faith to faith. The nature of this repentance will be juftly difcerned, if confidered as implying a feparation from every thing that would prevent the mind, from devoting itfelf to a ftrid: attendance on the commands of G o d. Such are, in the firft place, the infatua- tions of any fenfual or worldly propenfity. Thefe are the ' thorns that choke the feed of faith as foon as it begins to germinate ; pre- judices, which as foon as the evidence of chriftianity has filenced oppofition; inter- pofe themfelves, to prevent the ingenious confeffions of the mind, to ftop the ears againft the truth, and deflroy the native force, and effedts of convidtion. Next to thele, but more fophiftical, are the infatua- tions of intelledlual vanity; which refufes inftrudtion in the full confidence of its own fufficiency : and laftly, the ftill more fubtle ' Matt. c. 13. V. 22. conceit 96 SERMON IV. conceit of moral excellence ; which rejedls corredlion, as not adapted to a character already accomplifhed. To perfons infatuated with thefe falfe notions, the gofpel is preached in vain. But in the prefent conftitution of man, it is not to be expected, that he fhall preferve himfelf clear, either in his principles of con- duct, or his opinions, from error and falfe notion. The objefts of fenfual defire, thofe prefent attractions which continually and forcibly excite the appetites of men, leave them not at liberty to form, by a difpaflionate judgment, the principles they adopt either of conduit or wifdom. Whatever may have been the pretences or delufions of philofophy, no felf denial ever was fo entire, as to ex- clude the world and the appetites of fenfe from a large fhare in fixing the character and the notions of the man. Nor these only, but his habits of thinking likewife, would ufurp a fhare ; and moreover thofe maxims of moral condudt, which he himfelf had devifed, and to which he was addicted. All thefe, not- withftanding his utmoft care, would give a bent to his inclination, and byafs to his judgment, over which native difcretion had but little influence. Hence the character of the fingle eye, or the mind untainted with falfe SERMON IV. 97 falfe notion is no where to be found. The obedience of faith may fubfift without it ; provided the obftinacy of falfe opinion be renounced. So then, the requifite felf denial is reftrained to the mortification of that pride, which gives to falfe opinion, and the wrong principles of perverted judgment, the eftablifhment and fecurity, of blind and fettled prejudice. The opinions which men had formed of the world, whether eftablifhed upon the au- thority of habitual preconception or ancient fyftem: the author of chriftianity required of his difciples to hold at a diilance ; and to deprive them of that fway, with which they ruled the mind ; an influence totally inconfiftent with fubmiflion to the doftrines and the difcipline of revealed religion. It was not required that all notions ihould be renounced, all thofe peculiar principles of condud:, which denominated the character of a man : for this had been impradiicable. But fuch a humility, mortification and refig- nation of fentiment and defire were to be exhibited, as were neceffary in thofe, who were called to fubmit themfelves to the gui- dance of a judgment, probably, very dif- ferent from their own. Whofoever applies to an advocate for counfel, or to a phyfician for advice, puts himfelf under the guidance G of 98 SERMON IV. of the praditioner ; giving up his own judg- ment, and following the diredtion he receives without waiting or expedting to be made to comprehend the reafon of it. The difciple of Chrift muft follow prefcription, in the fame manner : and in order thereto muft mortify all that obftinacy of fentiment or habit; in ftiort, all that conceit which op- pofes private opinion to divine direction. The repentance therefore required, is the mortification of prejudice, or the renuncia- tion of conceit of every kind. But it is a miftake, that many profeflbrs of chriftianity, from a very early period to the prefent times, have fallen into ; that the regeneration wrought in the mind at bap- tifm, whether divinely or by repentance, avails to the entire fuppreffion of every fen- fual defire. The confequence of which tenet was, that every emotion of fenfuality, after baptifm ; and alfo every erroneous opinion, have been conceived to be ad:s of apoftafy, a defertion of that holy calling, into which the chriftian has been initiated, a falling back again into perdition, and crucifying of the fon of G o D afrefh. For this reafon, in very early ages, men and princes, aware how impradlicable it was to fupprefs every irregular emotion, to think and adt rightly at all times, deferred baptifm till the period of SERMON IV. 99 of life; in hopes to pafs, by a quick tran- fition, from the point of regeneration to their final trial. Yet the very circumftance, that they found themfelves, after the initia tion of baptifm, obnoxious to the ' <^/3oi^/Aa o-apKos, or the infirmities of human frailty, fhould have taught them to form a jufter idea of chriftian renovation ; an opinion, which had they confulted the general tenor, inftead of a few^ detached paflages of the fa- cred fcriptures, they w^ould not have found it difficult to conceive. There is no charm in the rite of baptifm, that, at one inftant, fhall alter the nature and conftitution of man ; nor are his habits and fentiments to be rectified, by any fingle adt of the mind, however well conceived. When we read therefore that men become, by the chriftian regeneration, " ' dead to " fin ; " that they " " have crucified the world " with the affediions and lufts : " it is to be underftood, that by the ad: of repentance, all that attachment to the world is renounced, which would make it the principle of con- dudt, and the ruling paffion to purfue the gratification of the fenfes. Under the dis- cipline of the gofjjel, another objedl dired:s the ruling paffion : and of courfe as " " no ■ Art. 9. ' Rom. c. 6. v. 11. '' Gal. c. 5. v. 24. ^ Matt. c. 6. V. 24. G 2 "man loo SERMON IV. " man can ferve two mafters, and be under the dominion of two rival principles, at the fame time ; the gratification of fenfual and natural appetite, muft be poftponed to the objedt of the gofpel, now become the ruling '^ paffion. Befides the pride of heart, the pride of reafon alfo muft be renounced, as prejudicial in a degree but little inferior. The opinions that men have adopted, from their habits of thinking, appear to them eftabliflied prin- ciples of truth : not barely conformable to right reafon ; but right reafon itfelf : the ftandard and criterion of truth propofed to the mind. That men fhall retain no opi- nions, or that all fuch as they retain ihall be accurate, is not in fadt to be expedted. But that men {hall fubdue the pride of rea- fon, fuch attachment to thofe principles they have framed, as muft render them preju- diced, and indHpofed to receive further in- formation : this is highly reafonable, Nor can any thing be more fo, than that man now become truly fenfible, that in his mani- ^ In this diftindlion feems to lie the true notion of fins of infirmity. Thofe incidental deviations from virtuous fenti- ment, which, though they impede the work of reformation and incumber the mind, yet take it not entirely off from its courfe of mortification : thefe prove the regeneration truly imperfecfl j but argue no apoflafy. fold SERMON IV. loi fold wants, his own moral ftrength and the powers of his underftanding, cannot afford him effedtual aid ; when he comes to re- vealed religion for the refources of which he flands in need, fhould be ready to exhibit that fubmiflion to prefcription, which he fcruples not to pay, to the phylician he con- fults. But the moft fubtle pride remains : that of virtue. Allied to the former, inafmuch as this alfo is founded in reafon : yet is it far lefs fufpedled, becaufe it has more than the approbation of the principles of reafon, being fupported by the flrong recommenda- tion of the moral principles, fuch as the true, the becoming and the ufeful. But than this conceit hardly any other is more prejudicial. The gofpel is the religion of finners : the mind acquiefcent in its own worth appears to want it not. The word of God was written to convey inftruction : but to the felf complacent mind already con- fcious of its own dignity and' wifdom, no information feems requiiite. Shall the truly virtuous philofopher fubjedt thofe principles to the arbitration of any new dodirine, by which he has already accomplifhed every moral purpofe ? Or to what end fhould he fubmit to prefcription, who by his own fa- G 3 gacity I02 SERMON IV. gacity has attained to foundnefs of mind and integrity of manners ? Were the compla- cency well founded, the arguments and con- clufions would be juft. But being not well founded, it is truly an infatuation, how plaufible foever ; and deplorable is that infa- tuation, which precludes the ufe of thofe remedies the cafe requires. Are men then, to renounce their habits of virtue, in order to render themfelves qua- lified for the gofpel ? Muft they commit fin deliberately, for the purpofe that grace may abound ? God forbid ! Let the habits of virtue, like the principles of reafon be re- tained; but let the vanity, the arrogance of moral wifdom, the pride of virtue and the pride of reafon be taught equally to think thus : that the wifdom of man is, at befl:, but his opinion, his virtue but his habit ; neither of them complete, or forrned on principles of abfolute or perfed: truth. Un- der this conviction, let the practical and fpe- culative philofopher equally prepare them- felves, by the renunciation of felfconceit, to pay a juft fubmiffion to prefcription, and bend their ears with equal reverence, to the dictates of their common inftrud:or, re- deemer, faviour. When the pride of heart, the pride of reafon. SERMON IV. 103 reafon, and the pride of virtue are thus re- nounced, the way is open to an entire refor- mation. The old man, to adopt the expref- five language of St Paul, thus crucified, the work of regeneration may begin ; and the new man may be created, formed under the plaftick hand of chriftian difcipline. But let it not be thought, that the work of reformation is performed at once, by one fingle ad: of renunciation, or at any fingle period. Though the convert have adopted the propereft fentiments, though he come to the font of baptifm, with a mind, like the " infant, untainted with conceit ; ftill the work of renunciation is not finally ac- complifhed. The world and the flefh do not fo eafily loofe their influence, nor is the efficacy of chriftian grace (as it is called) displayed, as our Lord exhibited the power of his word : when by one fingle interpofi- tion, he cafi: out evil fpirits. The root of bitternefs, the depravity remains, a wound deeply infixed in the heart : and occafions will occur from time to time, to excite the latent iparks and renew the taflc, as the ne- ceffity of mortification. Thus, the whole period of man's abode in this earthly taber- y Matt. c. 18. V. 3. nacle 104 SERMON IV. nacle is appointed for trial and probation. The fingle eye is no more to be obtained than the conftitution without the feeds of latent malady. The influence of thefe de- fedls will from time to time be perceived equally in both, to be obviated by occafional remedies and applications. But here the re- femblance ceafes : the difficulty of reftoring bodily health, when attacked by conftitu- tional maladies, increafes with old age, till the tenement worn out with repeated fhocks, can be repaired no longer. The difficulty of preferving foundneis of mind decreafes, as the maladies which attack it are weakened by oppofition and denial: fo that the tafk, if diligently performed, becomes every day more eafy; the attacks are more and more feeble, the danger lefs and lefs imminent: till at the evening of life, the chriftian, ex- ulting in affiired hope, may fay with the confidence of St Paul : " I have fought a " good fight, I have finifhed my courfe, I " have kept the faith. Henceforth there is " laid up for me a crown of righteoufnefs, " which the Lord, the righteous judge, fliall " give me in that day," SER- ( I05 ) SERMON V. G A L A T. II. 20. The life I now live in the Jlejh, I live by the faith of the Jon of God, who loved me, and gave himfelf for me. FROM repentance let us proceed to confider the duty of faith, as of the virtue that is to mark the chriflian charadler : and in order that we may conceive rightly of the religion in which all our hopes con- centre ; let us take every precaution, that we fall not into low and narrow notions of that faith, fo much extolled by St Paul as the quality in Abraham, which the Almighty rewarded with all the favours, by which that patriarch was diftinguifhed. The mind accuftomed to confider the re- pentance required by the gofjpel, as the de- nial io6 SERMON V. nial and mortification of every conceit, that might create a prejudice againft the word of God; is led, of courfe, to view the virtue of faith, as the peculiar virtue of revelation : as that duty which arofe out of the new re- lation of man, that was produced when God was pleafed to manifeft his will, in precepts and intimations delivered at his command, and under attefted divine authority. Nor is fuch difcernment an inconfiderable privilege. For it is certain, that in all moral difquifi- tions, the greateft difficulty lies in the in- competency of words to convey precifely the fentiments of one man to another : becaufe, the ideas of moral virtues are combinations framed arbitrarily in the mind ; and, of courfe, varioufly compofed by different men : from whence it arrfes, that the words, being uniform, which are ufed to fignify them, by no means exprefs each man's peculiar idea; but become, in fuch application, in- definite and equivocal. It is indeed generally found, where moral queftions are made the fubjefts of controverfy, that a mifunder- flanding occafions the difpute ; becaufe the hearer and the ipeaker make ufe of terms in common, to which they have not affixed the fame precife meaning. This difficulty, with- out queflion, attended the promulgation of the SERMON V. 107 the gofpel. As its teachers (unlefs they had formed a language peculiar to themfelves) were obliged to exprefs chriftian virtues by thofe terms, which in common ufe came the neareft in fignification ; and as they ipake to perfons who had already framed ideas, to which they were accuftomed to apply thefe terms : unlefs the teacher accurately defined his meaning according to the principles of his own fyftem ; or unleis his hearers were diligent to colle6l his fenfe from the general tenor of his do6lrine, they could have no clear or juft perception of the principles or the precepts he inculcated. By not attending to this circumftance, the following ill con- fequence has arifen in the difcuffion of chris- tian dodtrine : that undifcerning teachers, drawing their inferences from the words of the facred writers, though they put an in- terpretation upon them, foreign, perhaps not confiftent with the fentiments of the apoftle ; have perpetually found themfelves involved in perplexing queftions, of which they could not difcover any folution. Nor indeed were fuch difficulties to be folved by any other method, than by reforming entirely the no- tions entertained of the apoflolic doftrine, by collating the palTage with other parts of fcrip- io8 SERMON V. fcripture, " comparing fpiritual things with ipiritual ; and thus copying the real fenti- ments of the teacher, and taking pains to tranfcribe his fpirit and his terms together. Indeed there is no doubt to be made, but that a great number of the queftions, con- troverfies and errors about chriftian dodtrine, have arifen from mifconception or falfe in- terpretation of the terms, ufed by the facred writers. With this in view, let us inquire what quality or difpofition was that faith in Abraham, which was " imputed to him for righteoufnefs ? The life of this patriarch is the mofl ex- traordinary of any recorded in the annals of the world. Commanded, by God, to re- move himfelf from one country to another, he gave an inftance of migration as Angular, as his prefervation through life was miracu- lous. There are inftances, in great abun- dance, of colonies, that by force of arms have eftablifhed themfelves in countries, after they had expelled, or elfe fubdued the for- mer inhabitants. There are alfo inftances in hiftory, where a " family having removed from one country to another, has eftablifhed itfelf in its new fettlement, by forming alli- * I Cor. c. 2. V. 13. " Gen. c. 15. v. 6. " Tarquin. ances SERMON V. 109 ances there, as Lot did in Sodam. But, for an individual to quit the place of his father's kindred, his father's houfe, and his father's fepulture ; and to drive his flocks into a dis- tant land, where he not only had no manner of eftablifhment, but alfo continually decli- ned every overture towards alliance; was in the eyes of natural prudence, the moft rafli and unaccountable procedure. Indeed it was manifeftly to expofe his perfon and his pro- perty to every infult and depredation; and that, both with, and without the form of law : thus to fojourn among a people, not included within the protection of their laws or the fecurity of their government ; not af- fociated with them, and without any viiible refource for his prefervation. But the com- mand of G o D was explicit ; and the patri- arch obeyed the voice, " " and went out, "not knowing whither he went." The conduct of the fame patriarch, when 'commanded to facrifice his fon, was expref- five of the fame difpofition of mind at that time alfo. Though Ifaac was the appointed heir of all the promifes that had been made to him, he fcrupled not to obey the divine command, and lifted up the knife, with a * Heb. c. II. V. 8. fixed no SERMON V. fixed refolution to flay his only begotten fon ; of whom it was faid: °In Ifaac fhall thy feed be called. In both thefe inftances the quality that diftinguifties the patriarch is obedience, or implicit fubmiflion to the word of God; according to the charafter given of him, when God repeated the promife to his fon Ifaac : " ^ In thy feed fhall all the " nations of the earth be blefled; becaufe " Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my " charge ; my commandment, my ftatutes " and my laws." But the faith, of which it is recorded, that " ^ it was counted to him for righteous- " nefs," prefents itfelf in a form fomewhat different. After the promife made to him, of refl and eflablifhment in the land where he then fojourned by the divine appoint- ment ; although he had no fon, and was now of fo advanced an age, that there appeared almofl a natural improbability that he fhould have iffue ; "" it was declared to him by the word of the Lord, that his poflerity fhould be numerous, as the flars of heaven. Con- fiding in the divine power and veracity, " ' he " flaggered not at the promife," becaufe of this improbability; but "believed God, * Heb. c. II. V. 17, 18. ' Gen. c. 26. v. 5. « Gen. c. 15. V. 6. " Gen. c. 15. v. 5. ' Rom. c. 4. v. 3. 'and « SERMON V. Ill " and it was imputed to him for righteous- " nefs." In this laft inftance, the patriarch's faith, was implicit behef of God, and truft and affiance in the divine word and promifes. But let not any man, from the different appearance made by the quality in thefe in- ftances of the faith of Abraham, be led haftily to conclude that the true notion of the virtue is indefinite ; or that it lies more in the one, than in the other interpretation. Rather let fome general principle be fought, inclufive and charadteriflic of them all. The circumftance, in the life of this pa- triarch, which renders it fo Angular, is this : that, detached from his family, and vifible connexions, he was called to ad: under im- mediate divine diredtion, and fo fulfil the pofitive commands of God: whofe pur- pofes were, for the moft part, myfterious to him, even while he contributed to ac- complifh them. And thus his virtue con- fifted in paying an implicit attention to every various intimation of the divine will, and conforming himfelf to it, as fuch. The providence of G o d is in fome re- Ipedis to every man, the fame indication of the divine will, as the word of G o d was to Abraham the father of the faithful. Since the fupreme Creator imprefi^ed thofe laws of order 112 SERMON V. order upon the material world, by which the whole fyftem is maintained : each body fub- fifting in its place, or revolving in the orbit affigned to it, is fubfervient to the will of him that formed it. In like manner, fince the fame fupreme Being has impreffed eter- nal rules of right and wrong on his rational and refledting creatures ; he has thereby pointed out the orbit to each of them, in which the governor of the univerfe has de- ^ figned that he fhould move, obedient to divine appointment : and fo likewife, the allotment of each perfon into his particular flation, marked by his qualifications, and the cir- cumftances of good or bad fortune (as they are called) that attend him, determine what part the great manager has affigned him to perform, on the theatre of the world. To bear a mind conformable to the will of God, howfoever thus indicated, is by ethic wri- ters denominated obedience in general : bran- ched out into a 123 to facrifice his beloved fon ? The fubjedtion of each darling paffion, defcribed by "''cut- " ting off the hand and plucking out the eye " that gives offence," is, by the unequivocal command of Chrift, incumbent on his dis- ciple. Had the patriarch, in any period of his life, taken an opportunity of " ' returning " to the country from whence he had re- " moved," he had apoftatized from his faith : juft fo, if the difciple of Chrift, having re- nounced the world " ^ fall back again and be " intangled therein ; his latter end is worfe " than the beginning." We find, in the beft writers on the fubje Matt. c. 7. v. 21. " Ephef. c. 2. V. 10. Chrift SERMON VII. 163 Chrift Jefus unto good works, which "God " hath before ordained that we fhould walk " in them." But if fome entire books of St Paul had been hard to be underftood in any moral fenfe ; others of his writings moft fully aflert the chriftian obligations to live according to the precepts, the moral precepts of the goipel. Nay if the whole of St Paul's writings had been confined to controverfy, and of courfe had been merely dod:rinal, and conveyed no moral inflrudlion ; flill, the writings of the other infpired teachers, ought fufficiently to have defended the chriftian doftrine againft any fuch interpretations as gave a defcription of the chriftian religion, different in idea, from a doftrine according to godlinefs. From the period of repentance the con- vert, juftified, by the grace of God, through faith, and regenerated by baptifm, proceeds to cultivate his faith, * inconfiderable though it be, in the beginning, as a grain of mus- tard feed: that, being watched with inces- fant care, and weeded by continual mortifi- cation, it may ° grow to maturity ; and bring forth "^j by perfeverance in the chriftian dis^ cipline, the fruits of the fpirit in abundance. ^ Matt. c. 13. V. 31. Matt. c. 17. v. 20. " Mark. c 4. V. 26, 27. ' ' Luke. c. 8. v. 15. L 2 Many i64 SERMON VII. Many perfons in the age neareft to that of the apoftles, having experienced the diffi- culty of ftruggling againft the temptations of the world, and fenfible that they were always in danger, by their intercourfe with it, of being again intangled in the affections, which they had denied, therefore renounced all fociety, and fled to deferts and folitude as an afylum. But, allowing that by fuch re- tirement they were enabled to obtain the true ideal philofophic freedom from paffion (which is not the cafe) their condudt is not to be approved. For, in the firfl place, they put it out of their power hereby to perform their part in life, and to adorn the ftation in which providence had placed them with the virtues of their chriftian profeffion. And, furthermore, fuch apprehenfions are not to be reconciled with a due attention and faith in thofe promifes of their mafter, by which they are taught to look for every aid, in return to the prayers of the faithful, which the exi- gencies of their fituation may at any time de- mand. Their motives therefore of precaution and expediency are by no means admiffible, and their condudl, upon this plea at leafl, is injudicious, if not cenfurable. To frame a compendium of chriftian ethics, from the laws and precepts as they lie fcat- tered SERMON VII. 165 tered in the word of God, is an attempt far beyond my ambition. That no fuch com- pendium was framed in the age of infpira- tion, is a proof (if a proof were neceffary) that the chriftian difpenfation was not de- figned entirely or principally to appear as a religion; no not though the end of God in the redemption of mankind, was " to purify " a peculiar people to himfelf, zealous of " good works." Yet, although the gofpel does not furnifh its difciples with a regular fyftem of ethics ; its precepts befpeak fo re- fined a fpirit of morality, and convey prin- ciples of fuch accompliflied virtue, in every branch of moral inftrudiion, as to leave no room to regret the abfence of a fyftematical religion. But who can catch the fpirit of confummate purity and truth ? Or what mortal can difpel thofe mifts which dim his prefent fight, fo as to difcern, on his charac- teriftic principles, the perfect fair and good completely? While the fon of God taught his chofen difciples in perfon, there were many, very many things that occurred to him in the courfe of his inftruftion, which yet he could not communicate, becaufe his followers were not able to bear, and could not receive them. So will it be, to the end of time: fuch incapacity, however remedied in i66 SERMON VII. in part by chriftian difcipline, will lie upon every fon of Adam, while he ftill bears the image of his earthly progenitor. Let us follow neverthelefs, at whatever diftance from the truth, the courfe of our meditations. St Paul has comprifed the moral precepts of his Lord in the exhortations, to live fo- berly, righteoufly and godly in this prefent world : following herein the ordinary dis- tindtions of moral virtue, into the private, the focial, and the religious. The exhortation to live foberly is rather a negative precept, if taken in a fenfe no more extended, than the words convey, according to the Englifh idiom ; for in its utmoft lati- tude it goes no farther, than to forbid all thofe exceffes, which diforder the mind or body. But in this fenfe it falls far fhort of the apoftle's meaning, and does not come up even to the philofophical idea of fobernefs. The term^ he ufes to exprefs the quality, has perhaps the moil comprehenfive fignifi- cation of any found in ethic writers ; and to live foberly (in St Paul's idea"") is to poflefs three of the cardinal virtues : prudence, for- titude, and temperance, and includes all thofe 8 2«)i^povci)s. ^ Mens fana. internal SERMON VII. 167 internal graces that become a found mind, attentive to the improvement, regulation and government of itfelf. Chriilian fobernefs is the fame excellent quality, as philofophic prudence; of which the improvement of the underftanding and the cultivation of knowledge, are effential parts : but the objedts of inquiry that philofo- phic prudence and chriftian fobernefs, equally, recommend, by no means terminate in unin- terefting theory ; for while the one employs the mind about whatever is true, becoming and ujfeful in the feveral relations of life; the other diredts the fearch to whatever in fentiment and condu6t becomes the gofpel of Chrift; and to the manner in which the faithful profeflbr fhould think and ad: at all times. Yet the tafk of ethic prudence and chriilian fobernefs is not ended in the culti- vation of the underftanding : for from hence the firft proceeds by the fubjedlion of the appetites, to keep the judgment free, dis- paflionate and coUedled ; that it may not be fwayed by any improper motive, that it may neither be deceived by appearances ; nor hurried into unbecoming determination and conduct by furprife and precipitancy. The fame is true of chriftian fobernefs : for though the moft diftinguiflied knowledge were at- tained ; i68 SERMON VII. tained; and the chriftian philofopher could inveftigate' with great acutenefs the moft abftrufe doftrines ; or define, with accuracy, upon the moft perplexing queftions, that occupy the vain and the unlearned to fo little . purpofe ; yet, unlefs an accomplifhed prac- tice refulted from all this knowledge, it would become an unfubftantial bafis of chris- tian hope, a vain fcience of unfruitful fpe- culation. But, if it prevail to the fuppres- fion of the fenfual and worldly appetites ; fo as to transfer the wifhes and defires of the redeemed, from things temporal to things eternal ; if it prevail to the fubjed:ion of all thofe worldly fears'', and worldly motives, which ftand in the way of undiftinguifhing obedience to the commands of God: then is it (incomplete though it be in this ftate of frailty) intitled to the honourable denomina- tion of chriftian fobernefs. What then is the moft charadteriftic feature of this refined, this excellent moral quality ? If, where the whole is in fome fenfe peculiar and appro- priate, inafmuch as the chriftian mind re- ceives its whole diredtion from the word of God, any line can indeed be called more eminently charafteriftic than another : per- ' I Cor. c. 13. V. I. ^ Matt. c. 10. v. 28. feverance SERMON VII. 169 feverance in that diipofition which at firft denominated the convert, feems the moft diftinguifliing feature of chriftian fobernefs. For the greater part of our mafter's bleffings are, in the ftridteft interpretation of the words, annexed to this temper : " ' bleffed " are the poor in fpirit, bleffed are they that " mourn, bleffed are the meek, bleffed are " they that hunger and thirft after righteous- " nefs." In which words, the mortified fpirit, the converted", fingle mind untainted with conceit, the diffident and modeft temper, and the anxious cultivator of every virtuous difpofition; in fhort the fpirits diipofed to follow an humble unaffuming faith, are moft eminently endowed, according to the divine word and promifes, with all the privileges of the gofpel. But neither a vain confidence and furious zeal for dogma, or opinion ; nor on the other hand a carelefs inattention to the repofitaries of facred do6trine, can be derived from this fource ; any more than pride, envy, wrath, voluptuoufnefs and fen- fuality ; to which they are moft commonly allied either as caufes or effefts. For how- ever any of thefe may carry before them, as a pretext, the love of truth, of God, and of ' Matt. c. 5. ™ Matt. c. 18. v. 3. religion ; 170 SERMON VII. religion ; or of peace and charity : ftill the expreffions will betray the origin of fuch difpofitions, and fhow them fprung from ob- ftinate and inveterate conceit, or unmortified ungodly lufts. Such the fource, and in fuch channel runs the firft branch of chriftian morality : the next fountain of duty, that occurs in this paffage of St Paul, is to live righteoufly. To render to all men what is due to them", and that, not only in queftions of property, but alfo of honour and refped: ; and perform befides, the offices of humanity, liberality, and good nature ; feem to comprehend every focial obligation. But if to follow the rule of right be confidered as a principle of be- haviour laid down, it is by far too vague and abftradted to ferve as a directory what condudl becomes a man at all times. For thoiigh that fenfe, which is common to all the partakers of reafon, points" out what is juft and equitable in the condudt of one man to another, to be alfo true becoming and ufeful in the higheft degree, whether a man be confidered fingly, or in his relative capa- city ; yet it is unqueftionable that by the in- tricate combinations of contingent circum- " Rom. c. 13. V. 7. Oif. L. I. § 10. Cic. de Leg. " Cic. de fiances. SERMON VII. 171 ftances, not only the appearances, but, in fome fenfe, the nature of things may be fo altered ; that the beft cafuift could not inva- riably define with precifion, what conducfl was becoming, according to the rrioft perfedt equity. The principle therefore is more vague than becomes the univerfal ftandard of civil and focial obligation : but were it more definite, while it is left to every man to in- terpret this rule for himfelf, it will be found dangerous, as an arbitrary ftandard, in the hands of man ; whofe felfifh paffions and affections are too ftrongly interefted in the intercourfe of life, to permit him to explain, with unbyafi!ed judgment, in his own cafe, the didiates of an abftrad: general precept. For this reafon, our divine mafter, even when he had fubftituted, in the precept of philan- thropy, his own peculiar principle of focial obligation ; did not fend his difciple to thofe focial affeftions implanted in man, to be taught how to apply this principle ; although thefe affedtions very forcibly incline him to fympathy and humanity : but adapted " felf- love to his purpofe, and left it in charge to his followers to love their neighbour as themfelves, and perform that part to others, 1 Matt. c. 7. V. 12. which 172 SERMON VII. which their own wiflies would lead them to expedl, in an exchange of circumftances. By the transformation of the principle of focial obligation from moral juftice to chriftian charity, the demands of one man upon ano- ther, wear a very different afpedt from that which appears upon the ftatings of lawgivers and philofophers. Under this new focial principk, forbearance and the forgivenefs of injuries, with all thofe virtues that befpeak a lowlinefs and meeknefs of difpofition, ap- pear in the foremoft rank of duties; and it muft be acknowledged, that however, by the ftandard of philofophic truth or felf eftima- tion, they may be condemned as ' the weak- nefs of timid or indolent men ; yet when they flow from this right principle, they are noble and amiable qualities, highly condu- cive to the peace and well ordering of fociety, allied to fortitude, and expreflive of no vulgar conqueft over the paflions. So comprehen- five is this principle of charity that under it every law of the fecond table is inculcated. ' For the commandments : thou fhalt not kill ; thou fhalt not commit adultery ; thou fhalt not fleal; thou fhalt not bear falfe witnefs ; thou fhalt not covet ; honour thy ■■ Cicero. ' Rom. c. 13. father SERMON VII. 173 father and mother: all thefe, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this faying : thou {halt love thy neighbour as thyfelf. For love v^orketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law: becaufe this amiable virtue of charity exercifed according to the ftandard of felf-love, and fubfifting jointly with that meek and modeft temper, the dic- tate of chriftian fobernefs, leaves no room for wrath, ftrife, feditions, envyings, and vain glory : while ' each is difpofed to efteem other better than himfelf ; and is taught to feek " not his own but the good of others. The third branch of duty, is to live godly in this prefcnt world. In this precept is comprifed the firft of all human obligations (both in its objeft and for its extenfive influence) the duty to the greateft and beft of beings. Thefe obligations, feem by equitable con- ftruftion to have received confiderable aug- mentation fince the redemption of the human race, the myfterious expiation of the offences of the Ipecies, and fatisfadtion by the blood of the great chriftian iacrifice. But what new expreffions of piety can be added to the ' Phil. c. 2. V. 3. ° I Cor. c. 10. v. 24. didlates 174 SERMON VII. didtates of natural light and natural con- fcience? Can fubmiffion and devotion be greater ? Can fear, and reverence be more full, than what was due, by the law of reafon, to the Creator the governor of the world, the remunerator of moral agents ? What pious fentiments of G o d , in fliort, can be now adopted, in addition to thofe before en- forced by former manifeftations of himfelf ? But though it be not poffible to think of God more highly than the light of nature difcovered him, man feeth himfelf in a far different light. He no longer appears a moral agent, ftanding high in the divine fa- vour by the preeminence of his ipecies, and the excellence of his moral accomplifhments : but as a being convidled of having depraved his moral fenfe ; by a mere aft of grace, reftored to the divine favour; and now fub- fifting in it by the continuance of that fame ceafelefs bounty. His confidence is not now the conceit of merit ; but the affiance of modeft faith in the divine promifes ; his as- furance is the afTurance of hope alone ; while even his virtue no longer redounds to the praife of a cultivated moral fenfe ; but fub- fifls in the pradtical profeffion of faith, the fubmiffive obedience to chriflian precept. Notwithflanding thefe peculiar fentiments of the SERMON VII. 175 the chriftian, the adts of' devotion may ftill be juftly viewed as formerly, and divided into thofe of a public nature, as worfhip and profeffion, and private expreffions, as prayer, fupplication and thankfgiving. There is no country fo favage, no nation fo barbarous (fays the Roman orator) in which an eftablifhment of public worfhip is not to be found. The modes of worfhip have ever been as different as the languages of nations : and the fame is true in chriftian countries, that their religious rites and cere- monies, and their public liturgies are pecu- liar to national churches : but times, perfons and places have been fet apart univerfally for the fervice of religion. Pafiing over thofe reafons for the inflitution of religious afTem- blies, as befide our purpofe, rational and cogent though they be, which arife from in- flinftive impreflions of the power and uni- verfal fovereignty of God: the zeal of men for the increafe and continuance of public welfare, whether the community be a poli- tical body, a corporate or flill narrower cir- cle, would feem of courfe to point out a fecial devotion, and fo would the interefl of the church of God, by religious affemblies, befl extended and advanced. But the divine nrecept by which focial worfhip is dired:ed, is 176 SERMON VII. is explicit : and the performance is encou- raged befides by the promife of our Lord himfelf : " that where his fervants are affem- " bled for this purpofe, he will be in the " midft of them," moft propitioufly to hear and anfwer their petitions. Add to this, that men by their regular ap- pearance in the congregations of their chris- tian brethren, make an open profeffion of their union with Chrift and with his church. This certainly was a reafon, as well as the inftruc- tion of the apoftles, why the difciples were fo continually " afTembled for religious pur- pofes, as they are reprefented to have been in the earlieft period of the church; for which duty, the large funds raifed by throw- ing all the property of chriftians into a com- mon ftock, and the conftant diftributions made out of it, gave them leifure, without any fecular interruption. The pradtices, as the circumftances of the church, have fince altered : yet the ufefulnefs of public exhor- tation, if not of public inftrudtion, as well as the honour of God, which is reflected by an univerfal profeffion of religion, renders a due attendance on public worfhip, a duty to which the prad:ice of the truly wife and ^ AcTts. c. 2. V. 42, 46. good SERMON VII. 177 good in every age, have given a better fanc- tion and teftimony, than that it fhould now be laboured, as a point of dodirine requiring new proof or confirmation. But profeffion is not confined to temples or the times of religious affembly: there muft occur to every man, frequent occafions befides, in which the concealment of his principles will be equivalent to a denial of them. An inftance of this is recorded by St John ' : " among the chief rulers, fays the " evangelift ; many believed on our Lord ; " but they did not confels him, left they " fhould be put out of the fynagogue." Had thefe men ftood forth in vindication of the Mefliah in the Sanhedrim, or had they given him their countenance with the people, they might have done the caufe of his faith efi!en- tial fervice ; but they were afraid of fliaring the fate of a devoted man ; and therefore by their filence, and acquiefcence, appeared to join in the fentence of his enemies. Such cold friends as thefe therefore are included, no lefs than adverfaries in this fentence of our Lord ^ : " whofoever fhall confefs me " before men, him fhall the fon of man con- " fefs, before the angels of God: but he * c. 12. V. 42. y Luke. c. 12. V. 8, 9. M " that 178 SERMON VII. " that denieth me before men, fhall be de- " nied before the angels of God," Thus is it declared to be not lefs a duty of chriftia- nity, than it is a fuggeftion of fortitude, to avow and defend what is right : infomuch that he is not more a chriftian, than he is a man of moral charadter, who from timidity or any fordid paffion, denies or adts againft his principles, or filently fuffers them to be condemned. Notwithftanding this : fome bounds are to be fet to profeffion. For a fervent zeal, fubfifting even with a fingle and good intention; yet, without know- ledge, will ever do more harm than good to the caufe that it elpoufes. In the firft perfe- cutions many warm men obtruded them- felves upon the magiflrates, defiring to be allowed to confefs and fufFer for their faith. The vulgar, taken with the appearance of refolution, and forward attachment to the caufe, highly applauded this condudl : not fo the wifer rulers of the church : thefe gave it as their advice, by no means to run need- lellly into danger. For it was proved, by many difgraceful examples, that a fervour of zeal might carry thofe into temptation, who, not having ftrength of mind to fupport them under the horrors of torture and a lingering death, in the hour of trial retradted their confeffion. SERMON VII. 179 confeffion, and bafely apoftatized from the faith. From public profeffion and fervice, godli- nefs willingly retires to private devotion; v^rhere, concealed from every mortal eye^, no temptation may intrude to prompt a fi- nifter motive, or call off its attention. To this iacred retreat, oftentation and hypocrify cannot approach. Not that devotion is confined to cloiffers, to folitude or to clofets. The holy fpirit, abiding continually in the heart of the true profcffor, confecrates it, to be a temple for himfelf : a temple in which every adi of de- votion is conftantly performed; but in a manner, perceivable by him alone, who feeth in fecret. Thus, his religion enters, with the man of bufinefs, even into the public vi^alks; not to diftraft his attention, not to check his induftry : but in fuccefs to govern him, to be a guide to him in difficulties, a |;'guardian in dangers, and a refuge in diftreffes. "' Yet not content with this habitual exer- cife, Chriftian godliness has alfo its feafons of private prayer; in which it may pour forth every affection that is confiftent with its habitual temper, its fears, its wifhes and ^ Matt. c. 6. V. 6. M 2 its i8o SERMON VII. its gratitude : when every offence and every folly may be acknowledged, when pardon, aid, and all improvement may be fuppli- cated, and every mercy received may be re- ferred to him thiat gave it. Thus does the doftrine of G o d our Sa- viour operate on the minds, and influence the whole conduct of his fervants : perva- ding their difpoiitions and diredling thofe fecret fprings of their aftions, by which their charadler in every relation is denomi- nated. All virtues like all fciences bear a near affinity to each other, and are linked together by a clofe and indiffoluble tie ; fo that if one be cultivated, it will introduce the reft ; or one be excluded, the reft muft follow. Thus without chriftian fobernefs, the focial virtues and charity fade, and even change their na- ture. What : though there be the moft un- referved beneficence, in fuch profufion as fhall pafs with the inconfiderate, for the higheft liberality : yet, unlefs it be guided by prudence and difcretion, it will drain to wafte the fources of real beneficence, and not leave fufficient to anfwer the claims of juftice and equity. Without fobernefs, god- linefs alfo lofes its venerable afpedt. It may be fuperftition or enthufiafm or fanaticifm, but SERMON VII. i8i but there can be no true profeffion where zeal and knowledge are not aflbciated. In like manner without charity, or chris- tian focial virtue, "fobernefs and prudence degenerate into mere felfifhnefs, a felfifhneis the more dangerous to fociety, the more coUedted it be within itfelf, the more corredt its meafures. And as to godlinefs : without charity it is the mere grimace of religion, a formal hypocritical profeffion, abominable in the fight of God: for God is not mocked; and himfelf hath commanded ""that he " who loveth God, fhould love his brother " alfo. Laftly ; without godlinefs there can be no true or ufeful religion whatever. Atheifts and Deifts may talk, as they pleafe, how conformable truth is to nature, and of the natural obligations to intrinfic virtue, inde- pendent of the confideration of the will of God. But what is to reftrain men from fol- lowing the moft pernicious appetites who live without God in the world ? Experience has fhown in every age, that neither the beauty of virtue, nor all thofe reafons, which in theory render it fo lovely and amiable, were ever able to form a barrier againft the * Cicero. ^ i Jo. c. 4. v. 21. M 3 violence 1 82 SERMON VII. violence of paffion and appetite: and that every additional iandtion of human lavs^s, of the reciprocal ties of honour, and the fears of an equitable retribution at the hand of the fupreme Being ; were requifite to enforce the virtues which are neceffary for the fub- fiftence of fociety. But in a confideration of pradtical faith, or chriftian morality, this method of reafoning upon expediency, is by far unequal to the argument it goes to con- firm. Our profeflion has for its induce- ments, a painful fenfe of natural depravity, and confequent eftrangement from God; and a fuitable pleafure in the affurance of re- demption from fuch a ftate, effected. A mind therefore ftill wandering in habitual eftrangement, entirely prone to the things of that world through which it is paffing, untouched with fentiments of piety, is to- tally inconfiftent with the fpiritual life of the believer. Such are the fruits of faith afting under chriftian difcipline. How complete and per- fed: the character in which chriftian fober- nefs, charity and godlinefs, are properly blended and united. Such are the fruits" alfo by which the tree may now be known, "= Matt. c. 7. V. 16. and SERMON VII. 183 and will be judged hereafter. When the author of our faith fliall take account of all the talents now Co varioufly diftributed, an improvement in a fmall degree fhall not lofe its juft praife; but the unprofitable fervant fhall be excluded from any participation in the joy of his Lord. ( i85 ) SERMON VIII. Matt. VI. 24. Whojbever heareth thefe fayings of mine, and doeth them I will liken him unto a wife man which built his houfe upon a rock. IN the acknowledgement of the fon of God as the author of our^alvation, and our hope, the faith of affent coniifts ; a qua- hty which as foon as it is produced, deno- minates a man a beUever, by virtue of which charafter, he is admitted to become a parta- ker of all the prefent privileges conferred by the grace of God. But as faith is the prin- ciple of the life of the believer, it exhibits various charafteriftic qualities, both profef- fional and practical. Thefe qualities are con- tinually improving, and produce by perfe- verance, and application to the fund:ions of his i86 SERMON _^VIII. his high calling, in his refpeftive ftation and capacity, the qualifications, which at the awful judgment of mankind will be de- manded of him, as the improvement requi- fite to his final acceptance. In this inveftigation, the duty has ap- peared moft naturally branched out into thefe two kinds, profeffional and pradtical, both gradual : the firft is abfolutely appropriate to the chriftian, though bearing a vifible ana- logy to the human obligations under every former difpenfation : the other is in fome fenfe common to all religions, though bearing in this, the ftrongeft charafteriftic marks of the profeffional principles with which it is united. Both of thefe are necefTary, both effential in true faith. Though this be fo evi- dent a truths yet there have ever been men, zealoufly addifted to an opinion in religion ; who have placed the whole duty of a chris- tian in receiving a particular fyftem, as the objedl of their firm attachment. This their fyftem, exclufively of all others, they have diftinguifhed with the appellation of chris- tian do6lrine, and fubmiffion to it, with the honourable denomination of faith. Like the Pharifees in the time of our Saviour, they have drawn up forms of confeffion, arbitrary in a great meafure, and then demanded that all SERMON VIIL 187 all Chriftendom fhould bow down to ^e idol which they had fet up. Moreover, in the warmth of their zeal on this occafion they ufually furpafs the Babylonian monarch himfelf, by denouncing death, not only tem- poral but eternal, againft every infidel, as they call him; or in other words, againft every man who thinks differently from them- felves. Were the tenets for which thefe zealotjs contend fo ftrenuoufly, the important doftrines of our falvation, thofe doftrines which muft of neceffity enter into the con- feffion of every believer; or were they the plain precepts upon which the chriftian dis- cipline is formed, and by which its pradlice is regulated : a profeffion of them, zealous in a degree, would be highly becoming ; and were the zeal even to exceed the bounds of ftridt difcretion fomewhat, it might be ex- cufable from the infirmity of human nature. But important dodlrines are too clearly ma- .nifefted, to require the enforcements of zeal to fupport them; which therefore, with a fury, more than barbarian, contends for te- nets, unimportant; points of dogma neither clearly afcertained in the word of God, nor intelligible in any conftruftion of them. Such conceit of opinion, or zeal fo deftruc- tive of peace and charity can by no means be i88 SERMON VIII. be reconciled with that meeknefs and mo- defty which moft ftrongly charaderize a true chriftian faith. And moreover, the confe- quences of placing the whole of a believer's obligations in confeffion, according to a par- ticular fyftem, are extremely fatal to chris- tian difcipline, by tending to produce a neg- ledt of the moral precepts, and of the dis- pofitions they are calculated to produce. Such a religion as this, which has no fupport in the teftimony of confcience, differs widely from the principles of St Paul, according to his own defcription ' : and though his au- thority is moft commonly alledged for it, he feems to reprobate expreflly in thefe words, all fuch interpretations of doftrine, as place faith and a good confcience in oppofition : ""this charge I commit unto thee fon Ti- " mothy, that thou mighteft war a good " warfare ; holding faith and a good con- " fcience : which fome having put away, " concerning faith have made fhipwreck. " Of whom are Hymeneus and Alexander, " whom I have delivered to Satan, that they " may learn not to blafpheme." Our Lord alfo himfelf has plainly made the condudl of the chriftian, the teft of his faith ; and * Afls. c. 24. V. 16. " I Tim. c. i. v. 18. declared SERMON VIII. 189 declared' that, in that awful day, when he will finally accept or rejedt thofe, who now profefs themfelves his difciples, it fhall not avail any one to call on him for falvation, whofe pradtice has not been confornnable to his precepts ; no not though he could juftly aflert, that he had prophecied, and wrought miracles in his name. But if it be an error of dangerous ten- dency thus to lay the whole ftrefs of religion upon Ipeculative affent and profeffion; the oppofite extreme has alfo a fatal tendency to defeat the purpofes of the gofpel, through defedt of principle. By thofe who drfapprove of the condudt of the Antinomians, and the zeal of all religionifts ; it feems to be adopted as a firft principle, that they need only con- cern themfelves to follow the moral did:ates of their underftanding : for as all zealots lay claim to the authority of fcripture, in fup- port of every dogma impofed by them as an article of confeffion, neceflary to falvation; thefe others, too carelefs to examine the au- thority of fuch a claim, lay afide and negledt to confult the gofpel as a religion ; as if it were only calculated to puzzle men with knotty queftions : and think they fully fa- ■■ Matt. c. 7. V. 21. tisfy igo SERMON VIII. tisfy their obligations, if they tranfgrefs not againft the laws of their country, and the cuftoms and expedtations of the world. It is very true, that a bad life is the worft of all herefies. It muft alfo be acknowledged, that inany queftions which have been repre- fented as important dodlrines, have very little real connedtion with chriftianity. Never- thelels it cannot in reafon be fuppofed unim- portant, whether a man be acquainted or not with the truths delivered by God for his inftrudtion ; nor are the difcourfes of the author of our falvation of fuch fmall confe- quence, that it fhould not fignify whether they were or were not attended to. For, in- attention to the means whereby the redemp- tion of mankind has been effedied, muft render every religious profeflion merely for- mal and inefficacious ; and alfo greatly ener- vate the principle of hope, which is fo ne- cefTary in the chriftian warfare. And more- over the want of acquaintance with the pre- cepts of Chrift and the infpired teachers, will be very inadequately compenfated by a ftrift attention to the demands of national laws, to the expectations of men of bufinefs in their intercourfe with each other, even though the obligations of honour and good nature, according to the general eftimation, be SERMON VIII. 191 be fuperadded. For (I fpeak as to wife men) the maxims of all, even the refined clafTes of mankind, have deviated from the purity of the gofpel, by length of time, and the" prevalence of iniquity; which at intervals has abounded in every part of Chriftendom : fo that in books ° no leis than in living cha- radters, they have fallen far fhort of the ftandard of original chriftian precept. It is therefore highly neceflary that diligent ap- plication and continual reference be made to the word of God: in order that the branch of Chrift may continue infeparably united to its true vine, in principle and fentiment; deriving his information perpetually, as the principles of his vegetation, from that root, and only genuine fource of fpiritual nourifh- ment. The truly chriftian charadter, the condud: of him whofe hopfis and religion are founded on a fubftantial bafis, lies therefore between thefe two extremes, where a religious and devout attention is paid to all the truths that are taught of God: an attention termi- nating in conformity. Our Saviour's defcrip- tion of the wife man who built his houfe upon a rock moft fully fpeaks this language : ^Matt. c. 24. V. 12. " Cic. Tufc. Queft. L. III. and 192 SERMON VIII. and St James' defcribes the believer's obli- gations in the fame manner : " receive w^ith " meeknefs the engrafted w^ord which is " able to fave your fouls. But be ye doers " of the word and not hearers only, deceiving " your own felves. For if any man be a " hearer of the word and not a doer, he is " like unto a man beholding his natural face " in a glafs : for he beholdeth himfelf, and " goeth his way, and ftraightway forgetteth " what manner of man he was. But whofo " looketh into the perfeft law of liberty and " continueth therein, he being not a for- " getful hearer but a doer of the work, this " man fhall be blefled in his deed." Were I qualified to fum up the character of perfedt faith ; of faith, in which what- ever is excellent in profeffion is blended with whatever in practice is accomplifhed, it would excite, as Cicero faid of virtue, could it be exemplified to our view, the moft aftonifhing admiration of itfelf. But as it exceeds the human capacity to frame a complete deli- neation of the principle, fo various, fo ex- cellent, fo on all fides feparate from error; in like manner the qualifications that contri- bute to make up the accomplifhed chriftian are SERMON VIII. 193 are too refined to enter the conception of any but a proficient in the word. Nay more, were even fuch a one to attempt himfelf to exprefs the character ; he would fail to ren- der it an objed: of general view, and adequate eftimation ; unlefs he could alfo, with a power equal to that which his mafter exer- cifed, give fight at the fame time to the blind. For while the Spiritual ^ man is ex- alted to fuch eminence, that from thence he can clearly fee and eftimate the principles of all other men ; he is himfelf a charadter fo fer abftradled from vulgar apprehenfion, as that he alone can be judged of no man. But if any novice in Ipiritual things fhould be led to give credit to the fugges- tions of prejudiced unbelievers, and fufpedt that this circumftance is owing to fomething vifionary or enthufiaftic in the chriftian's principles, fomething that will not bear the fcrutiny of the fevereft realbn ; St Paul's de- fcription of the whole armour of God, viewed attentively, will teach him to form a different opinion of the charadteriftic ac- complifhments of the believer. He will then perceive that the qualifications of fuch a man are exquifitely chafte and corredt, and that s I Cor. c. 2. N the 194 SERMON VIII. the only account to be given, why they are not generally underftood, comprehended, and admired, proceeds, as is no uncommon cafe, from the comparatively low and defedlive moral conceptions of thofe who pretend to eftimate them. " " Stand, fays the apx)ftle, " having your loins girt about with truth, " and having on the breaftplate of righ- " teoufnefs ; and your feet {hod with the " preparation of the gofpel of peace; above " all taking the ihield of faith, wherewith " ye ihall be able to quench all the ' fiery " darts of the wicked. And take the hel- " met of falvation, and the fword of the " Ipirit, which is the word of G o d : praying " always with all prayer and fupplication, " in the fpirit, and watching thereunto with " all perfeverance." In this defcription, the girdle of truth ftands in the foremoft rank of the chrftian's qualifications. What our Lord once faid to his followers may ferve to render this vague expreffion more determinate. " ' If ye con- " tinue in my word, then are ye my difci- " pies indeed; and ye fhall know the truth, " and the truth fhall make you free." To know the truth, implies to have an adequate " Ephef. c. 6. V. 14, 17. * Jo. c. 8. v. 31. perception SERMON VIII. 195 perception of the dodtrine of God; with a perfuafion of its certainty in every article, and an impreffion of the ufe and neceffity of the difpenfation. Such a pofleffion is the fruit of attentive confideration of God's word, its tenor, and its tendency. From fuch knowledge all chriftian principle is de- rived ; and as is the knowledge in degree of proficiency, fuch in proportion will be the principles, in excellence and accompliih- ment. The next qualification mentioned is " the breaftplate of righteoufnefs ; " which is converfant in all virtue, and emulates whatever is moft truly becoming in every moral relation. Let it therefore be confi- dered as a firm and manly refolution to ad- here to whatever in chriftian morals is juft, pure, lovely, and of good report. Thus, the character given by Horace " of the bravely juft man, and fteady to his purpofe, will not unaptly exprefs this part of the charadleriftic of the chriftian ; by exhibiting a man whom no feduftion can bend, no terror can fhake from his faithful and virtuous refolution. The next qualification is " the preparation " of the goipel of peace." There is an ob- fcurity in this phrafe from the ufe of the ^ Lib. III. Ode, 3. N 2 word 196 SERMON VIII. word preparation in a form not common. In the language of Chemiftry, a preparation of any thing implies its accommodation by a procefs to a particular purpofe: but even this fenfe, though it comes near, does not amount to the meaning of the Eroi/*ao-ia cvay- yekCov. Let the exhortation be placed by it- felf, and it will run thus : " be fhod with " the preparation of the gofpel of peace : " And the gofpel will be found reprefented as the furniture, the apparatus of the chriftian, wherewith' as with greaves of brafs he is guarded from annoyance ; an accommodation that refults from that peace and ferenity, that perfuafion of principle, and confidence, which flow from a well inftrudted profeflion of the gofpel. The next qualification is the " fhield of faith." On this occafion let faith be underftood generally as a deference to the word of God: which word, if applied as it was by our Saviour againft the afiaults or temptations of the enemy, ferves as a fhield for defence, and a fword for the vindication of the chrifl:ian caufe. Let faith then be confidered as an implicit paffive obedience to the word of God, and it becomes a prin- ciple by which the point of every weapon 1 Whitby. *' that SERMON VIII. 197 that is aimed againft the chriftian is re- ceived, while he remains fecure under its ftielter. The next qualification is " the hel- " met of falvation : " the hope of falvation, as St Paul "^ exprefles the fame fentiment ia another place. While the chriftian's trea- fure ", his hopes and ruling paffion concentre in the rewards of the goipel, every defire, that points to an objed: fhort of them, will fail to captivate and enfnare him. The laft weapon of his warfare mentioned is " the " fword of the Ipirit, which is the word of "Go D." By this he is qualified to become the affailant in his turn; for taught in this word the road to vid:ory, and by what exer- tions to acquire it, he is enabled to prefs for- ward, and obtain an eternal triumph, the prize of his high calling in Chrift Jefus. Such are the chriftian's qualifications, con- ftrudted of accomplifhed profeffional and pradtical qualities united. If rational reli- gion could fpeak her fimple genuine lan- guage, fhe would ftrive by precept and ex- hortation to produce the fame ends as our holy religion purfues : and even as to the means, ihe would extoll accomplifhments analogous to thefe as excellent, and recom- " I Thef. c. 5. V. 8. " Matt. c. 6. v. 21. N 1 mend 198 SERMON VIII. mend them as highly inftrumental, in culti- vating wifdom, virtue, prudence, with dis- cretion. But in the courfe of time the ftate and appearance of the profeffion of chriftianity have varied. In the age of the apoflles, thofe to whom the gofpel was propofed, and out of whom the converfions were made, were arrived at years of difcretion. When they embraced the chriftian profeffion, they were induced to it by their judgment or fenfe of its truth, its importance, its advan- tages. They entered the church therefore with faith in Chrift Jefus. But, notwith- ftanding, it is not to be imagined that the qualifications of the accomplifhed chriftian fprang up in them immediately in any great degree. The fenfe with which they were impreffed, the judgment they had formed, and by which they were influenced when they embraced the gofpel, were calculated to produce in them fpeedily a fhare of thefe qualifications ; which, as they made a chris- tian proficiency, would rife in proportion to ftill higher and higher accomplifhment. In the lively impreffion of the power of the word of Chrift, which every true convert felt, when he entered into the church ; in the mortified fpirit which went before, pre- diipofing SERMON VIII. 199 difpofing him to feek for refource, and point- ing out to him the neceffity of applying to Chrift for redemption, and an efFediual and fetisfadtory religion ; he found (to ufe a for- mer phrafe) a great preparation of mind to the cultivation and proficiency of faith. But even at that time there were not a few in- ftances of perfons, who having entered the lifts in the chriftian race, afterwards fwerved to contention and vain jangling, to the negledt of ° godly edifying, which is in faith. And other iad examples there were, of perfons, who denied the faith into which they had been baptized ; and became apoftates, to their final reprobation and perdition. Of thefe laft, fome" there were, whatever their pretences might be, who really never were poflefled of a true mortification, or were qualified to make a fincere profeffion, the previous re- quifites to chriftian regeneration. And more- over, St Paul " is not fpeaking of a cafe that never occurred, where he ftates it as impos- fible to renew again unto repentance a p^r- fon, who hath been once enlightened, and hath tafted of the heavenly gift, and been made partaker of the Holy Ghoft, and hath tafted the good word of God, and the powers " I Tim. c. I. V. 4. P Arts. c. 8. v. 18. ' Heb. c. 6. V. 4. of 200 SERMON VIII. of the world to come : if fuch a one fhould fall away. However, certain it is : that in the lively fenfe of the ufe and efficacy of the word of Chrift, which then preceded baptifm, the converts of thofe times had advantages ; which thofe have not, who are baptized in infancy, and in confequence of an ad: of faith, not their own, but of their chriftian parents. Wherefore, if it were true of them as Chrift declared ' it would be, that of the many called in thofe times few only were admitted : and alfo that of thofe who ex- prefled fome wifhes to enter at the ftrait gate, a fmall number found the narrow path that leadeth unto life ; while the majority feduced and perverted by fome or other of the manifold temptations to which they all were liable, failed of producing the requifite qualifications : much more reafon is there to fear ; that of the number now admitted without any choice of their own, ftill fewer arrive at the degree of profeffional and prac- tical faith required of them. For the infants, brought to baptifm by the faith and zeal of their parents, and received into the church through a charity, well warranted, are not ' Matt. c. 7. V. 13. certainly SERMON VIII. 201 certainly capable, at that time, of the pre- vious difpofitions of mind requifite to our high calling. And it is ftill with them a very poffible cafe, that though they continue all their life time nominal profefTors, they may never be properly qualified, even by the faith of aflent, for initiation into the chris- tian covenant. If indeed to inform them of certain truths w^ere all that w^as neceffary fo to qualify them, catcchifms, or any digefts that laid down the important dodtrines plainly and explicitly, would fully anfwer the pur- pofe of conveying fuch information. But as the goipel is not only to be afTented to as truth, but embraced as an objedt of defire, fome- thing more is neceffary than barely to inform the judgment. Mr. Locke Ipeaks very fully indeed to the fame purpofe, where he fays of moral virtue. " ' Let a man be never fo " well perfuaded of the advantages of it ; " that it is neceffary to a man, who has any " great aims in this world, or hopes in the " next, as food to life : yet till he hungers " and thirfls after righteoufnefs, till he feels " an uneafinefs in the want of it, his will " will not be determined to any adiion in " purfuit of this confefTed greater good ; » Effay, Vol. I. p. 206. but 202 SERMON VIII. " but any other uneafinefs he feels in him- " felf fliall take place, and carry his will " to other aftions." If this be true of vir- tue or moral truth, of which man in the midft of all his depravity had an inherent admiration naturally and indelibly imprefled ; how much more of a difpenfation, how gra- cious, how defirable foever it really be, to which man is not condudted by any inftindt ? Will books, will exhortation, will inftruc- tion infallibly pour perfuafion, imprefs con- vidtion on the mind ? Will they alfo give an inclination ferioufly to ponder, and confider the importance, the advantages of this reli- gion ? Will they give a tradtable temper to obey and conform to the precepts of it ? If not, they cannot be fufficient in themfelves to excite that uneafinefs of defire, by which alone the gofpel can be rendered an objedt of purfuit, of cultivation. At fuch diftance is the baptized infant behind the perfuaded convert of the apoftolic churches. His in- ftitution ihould of courfe be different. It fhould be his firft important care to acquire a juft moral fenfe, that he may fee the ne- ceffity of religion to that rational ferenity of mind which conftitutes man's trueft happi- nefs. After this let him ftudy to know him- felf, let him enter into the fevereft fcrutiny of SERMON VIII. 203 of his habitual, his conftitutional weakneffes and defedls, let him probe his deepeft wounds and drain the bittereft dregs of the fugges- tions of confcience; fearlefs of the pangs of forrow and remorfe. For the doftrine of the gofpel will afford him fpeedy confolation ; and with refource at hand fo availing as this, his' ibrrow will have an event fo different from the forrow of the world or of mere natural confcience; that while thefe, hope- lefs of remedy, end in death or defperation, the forrow of the chriftian worketh peace. Nor is the procefs long, by which fo defi- rable a cure will be effedted : for let the mind but be free from the prejudice of con- ceit, let the eye but be open to the truth, and the evidences of chriftianity will not fail to command the highefl affent. Thus the convert, like the infirm woman ", fatisfied by repeated teflimony that Chrifl is the power of God unto falvation, will make the expe- riment in faith, and affurance of fuccefs. And the event of fuch experiment will juflify that confidence, of which it is alfo the re- ward; for in the oblation of the Son of God, he will perceive a perfed: facrifice, ex- piation and fatisfaftion for all his offences. ^ 2 Cor. c. 7. V. 10. " Mark. c. 5. v. 28. When 204 SERMON VIII. When thus prepared he becomes efFedtually a believer, and by baptifm alfo truly regene- rate. But in leading the life of faith, the chriftian does not find himfelf difcharged from duty. There is nothing accomplifhed in arts and fciences, nothing excellent in virtuous habit, to be attained without pains and application. In like manner the accom- plifhed qualities, w^hich diftinguifli the man that is truly led by the fpirit of God, are not fo formed but by patience, watchfulnefs, diligence in the work of fandtification. Be- ginning therefore at that lively impreffion which denominated baptifmal faith, and made the profeffion an ad; of judgment, the convert proceeds to confider dtftindtly that word which contains the dodtrines to which he has fubfcribed. From fuch appli- cation, if made with due deference, arife a knowledge and perception of the various and important truth contained in the word of God. From fuch a . faith, thus affociated with knowledge, flow as from a perennial fpring, the qualifications of the chriftian. From hence that fteadinefs of principle, when the mind, perfuaded of the wifdom, the prudence of its feledtions, is neither to be beguiled nor forcibly turned from its vir- tuous purpofe. From thence the preparation of SERMON VIII. 205 of the chriftian to purfue the rugged and thorny path of virtue, in a hoftile country; preparation by the peace, and ferenity not to be embroiled, that infeparably attend the fteps of chriftian virtue. From this per- fuafion of the truth and efficacy of the w^ord of God, proceeds that implicit deference to its didates, the fhield of faith. From thence the aflured hope of falvation ; and from thence, in fhort, every weapon of the chris- tian warfare, by which the believer is ena- bled to become a conqueror in the hour of trial, and to wreftle with fuccefs, againft the utmoft powers of the Spiritual adverfary of his falvation. But though thefe qualifi- cations be, all of them, the fair progeny of that firft lively faith, they are not pro- duced all at once ; nor have they, at their firft appearance, either the firm texture, or the excellence which they afterwards acquire in the courfe of gradual improveinent. For (it is a truth never to be overlooked) the chriftian's renunciation of the world is not completed on a fudden : but in his noviciate, frequently feduced, and beguiled at intervals, he finds all the natural and fpiritual aids of his religion neceflary to reftore him, when occafionally eftranged, to his fpiritual mind ; and renew his ftrength from time to time. It 2o6 SERMON VIII. It is late in life, 'ere the prejudices of fenfe and appetite be fo far removed, as to fufFer the good feed to fpread and 'grow without interruption. When thefe thorns are effec- tually rooted out; or, if that be not to be expefted while man lives under the veil of human frailty, when they are deprived of a great {hare of their rank luxuriancy : then the excellent qualities that denominate the chriftian begin to diiplay an accomplifhed character ; then reafon, judgment, difcretion, are fet at liberty from the byafs that hung upon them, and then may a man both think and ad: freely, when no longer neceffitated and enflaved. > If therefore the declaration of our Lord, that the man is wife, who heareth and prac- tifeth his fayings, be underftood to have re- fpedt to the principles upon which he afts ; they are juftly denominated a foundation im- moveable as a rock. Such a man is in the only rational fenfe a free-thinker, and wife moreover, if fuch an attribute (in the philo- fophical interpretation) do juftly belong to man. For if to be at reft from the pertur- bations of fenfual appetite, if to poffefs the mind fequeftered from the turmoils of the world, the judgment fimple, and untinged with the jaundice of evil prejudice, if thefe be SERMON VIII. 207 be requifite to freedom of thought, who is there fo eminently qualified to exert it as the chriftian, prepared, as he is, by his repen- tance ? Nor is fuch freedom feparated from the trueft wifdom ; for if it be a juft defini- tion of wifdom, the poiTeflion of a perfect mind, feparate from error: then wifdom moft eminently belongs to the man, who poiTefles in an untainted mind, the principles that are derived from confummate truth, let down from heaven as a fure lamp, to guide mankind in the perception of truth". Nor let the inquirer ftart, deluded by the falla- cious imagination of judging for himfelf, when informed that the trueft wildom is to be fought by following prefcription. The cafe is the fame in all fcience as in chriftian philofophy. A true tafte, and accompliftied difcernment are always formed in the fame manner: the fame ftrift adherence to rule and precept being requifite in both, to the cultivation of a refined and accurate judg- ment. Let this diftinftion however be re- membered to the praife of chriftian difci- pline. No philofophy ever could juftly boaft fuch an afcendency as this, that the fpiritual man, by the fuperior principles of his di- " Jo. c. 16. V. 13. vine 2o8 SERMON VIII. vine philofophy, is exalted to an eminence, that fubjedls all things to his judgment ; while' he himfelf, a fuperior charader, is placed out of the reach of all ', that fupreme difcerner excepted, from whom his chafte principles are derived. But alas ! neither the perfeft free thinker, nor the abfolutely wife or Spiritual man, are ever realized in living charadlers. We be- lieve that fuch a one exifted in the perfon of our redeemer. And what was the confe- quence ? " " The light ihined in darknefs, " and the darknefs comprehended it not." The divine character, fo far from being held in deferved admiration, was too refined for the grofs conceptions of the beholders. And what wonder ? Even Socrates, whofe diftin- guifhing conception lay in difclaiming wis- dom, a fentiment expreffed in that golden fentence : "' God alone is wife," fo far from being heard with candour and favoura- ble attention, was perfecuted, derided, and at laft, to the eternal difgrace of Athens, facrificed to the fpleen of the fophifts, and the witlings of his age. The fame caufes operated in the fame manner, upon the per- fons, whofe ftation made them the judges == I Cor. c. 2. V. 15. y Jo. c. I. V. 5. ^ Plato Apol. of SERMON VIII. 209 of Chrift's commiffion. "Tor thefe infa- " tuated men, ignorant of God's righteous- " nefs and going about to eftablifh their own " righteoufnefs, were fo far from fubmitting " themfelves to the righteoufnefs that is of " God," that they fet at nought and cruci- fied the author of the common lalvation. And the fame caufes will produce the fame effefts to the end of time. But it may be faid : if the fincerity and freedom of thought be not to be attributed to man, if wifdom be taken from him, what real accomplifhment is there left him to pur- fue? Prudence remains, or chriflian fober- nefs ; eiFeidtual, if exercifed according to the precepts of our holy religion, to the purpofes of acquiring" prefent tranquillity, and the never failing confolation of affured hope. Here then is a charadler, at the fame time truly chriflian, and prudent in a philofbphical idea, according to the juflefl eflimate of hu- man condudt. But who can defcribe the va- rious qualities, attentions, fentiments, that conflitute chriflian fobernefs ? Words will ever fail in fuch attempts. For if the heart have no difpofition towards them, no pre- fentiment of them; it will not be touched » Rom. c. 10. V. 3. " Serm. I. O by 2IO SERMON VIII. by the defcription, which will appear through a falfe medium : but if the heart be already poffefled by them, words will fall far fhort of expreffing the excellencies of them as they are felt. The chriftian lives in the pro- feffion of a religion fent down from heaven, which to perceive accurately and diftindtly, and to draw to himfelf all the advantages of the difpenfation, in the fulleft degree he can, employ his moft earneft care. He ftudies therefore to know where to feek, and how to apply all the fpiritual aids promifed, and all the refources of his religion, that he may be prepared againft thofe occafions wherein the deceitfulnefs of falfe and erroneous ap- pearances may embarrafs and intangle him. He carefully forms his judgment and his manners by its precepts, and by conforming himfelf to them, ftrives to corred:, amend and improve daily his conftitution of mind, his temper, his habits of thinking and adting : that fo, he may be furnifhed in all circum- ftances, to every chriftian fentiment, and work emulous of his profeflion. He labours to acquaint himfelf with every peculiar doc- trine, that can prove to him a motive, an encouragement or confolation in the practice of his feveral offices. In fhort, he is diligent to form a mind and character truly and en- tirely SERMON VIII. 211 tirely chriftian. On either hand of the ar- ticles of his profeffion he finds many points of dogma introduced, ftrange, intricate, but unimportant : for thefe he has but Httle lei- fure and lefs incHnation; while fecured by his knowledge of the truth, he is already in pofTeffion of the aflurance of faith, the peace and firm perfuafion of principle. From thefe queftions however he experiences but fmall embarrafirnent, in comparifon of that which arifes daily in his intercourfe with the world. He is endued with a conftitution the appe- tites of which, he lives in a world the pre- valent and ruling objedrs of which, all con- fpire to diflradt his mind, to blind his judg- ment, fo that he may not fee at all times, attend to, and purfue his true intereft. Thefe delufions, at all times fuch, change their face and form of attack through every period of life ; a circumftance which increafes his difficulties, of adting a rational chriftian part, and renders the conflift perpetual, by which in all his judgments he ftrives to feparate himfelf from thefe fources of perverfe choice, and to conform himfelf to that word which he profeffes to follow. From the patient and perfevering exercife of fuch prudence, arife advantages equal to the utmoft exped:ations that man can form of a religion or rational O 2 fcheme 212 SERMON VIII. fcheme of happinefs. But were this obfer- vation founded only in theory, it might be liable to the common objedtion ; that even in the moft plaufible fyftems, through the omiffion probably of fome fniall, but neces- fary part of the qualification, the event has frequently failed, in fome degree, to confirm the hopes and expedtations of the theorift. But experience has confirmed this truth, and the hiftory of the chriftian church gives ample teftimony to it. From this vs^ell cul- tivated fobernefs, have arifen an afilirance and fteadinefs of principle not to be fhaken or deterred. From thence a peace of mind that pafleth all underftanding. From thence confolation in diftrefs : confolation do I fay ? Exultation rather, even in that hour of ex- tremefi: natural mifery, when the period of this prefent exiftence vifibly approaches. THE END.