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 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBHARY 
 
 3 1924 102 767 773 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924102767773 
 

PREFACE. 
 
 I OWE to the Society, with which it is my happi. 
 ness to be connected, some explanation of my delay 
 in complying with their request. The following 
 discourse was not originally designed, and does 
 not now seem to me well adapted for the press. 
 From the extent of the subject, the views which it 
 offers are unavoidably very general. The neces- 
 sity, also, of preserving, as far as might be, the 
 distinction between a sermon and a dissertation, 
 has occasioned a want of fullness in the reasoning 
 and illustrations, which — -though pardonable, per- 
 haps, in what is intended only to be spoken — riiay 
 not meet the same indulgence, when submitted to 
 the inspection of a reader. I had concluded, for 
 these and other obvious reasons, to decline to com- 
 ply with the wishes of my friends. This determi- 
 nation, however, has been changed by the informa- 
 tion I have recently received, that some parts of 
 tbis discourse have been much misapprehended, 
 
4< 
 
 and misstated. It is now published, as it was 
 originally delivered, except some verbal correct 
 tions, and a few unimportant additions. 
 
 I am sensible that it may appear presumptuous, 
 to have undertaken to speak in the name of my 
 brethren. The motive, which justified it, howe- 
 ver, was well known to those to whom the dis- 
 ^jourse was addressed; and if it should chance to 
 meet the eye of any others, they will of course 
 perceive,, that, though the plural form is used, 
 nothing more than the sentiments of an individual 
 are given. I have endeavoured, it is true, to 
 represent accurately the opinions pf that class of 
 christians, with which I habitually think ; but it is 
 propter distinctly to say, that no part of this dis- 
 course was communicated to any person before its 
 delivery ; and that, therefore, the writer is alone 
 responsible for the correctness of the statements 
 it contains. 
 
 In speaking of the principles advanced in this 
 discourse, as the characteristicks of particular 
 christians, it will not be supposed, that these 
 christians claim to be the exclusive adherers to 
 them. Nothing more is meant, than that these are 
 some of the general maxims, which they agree in 
 receiving, and which they adhere to, it may be^ 
 with something more of fidelity and consistency 
 than others. So far from arrogating an exclusive 
 
5 
 
 regard to them for any single body of christians^ 
 I take great pleasure in believing, that they are 
 held substantially by a large proportion of the 
 members of all Protestant communions; whether 
 adopting the distinctive names of Lutherans, Cal- 
 vMsts,* Episcopalians, or Arminians. There is no 
 general principle, indeed, taken in this discourse^ 
 
 * I am permitted, I fear, to claim the authority of those 
 christians, who are known by the name of High Calvinists', 
 or by the kindred name of Hopkinsians, for but few of the 
 principles, which I have advanced. Except in oar owii coun. 
 try, however, the number, I believe, is small of those, who 
 make the chief peculiarity of Calvin a fundamental article 
 of faith. I subjoin a quotation on this point from the Rev. 
 Robert Hall ; who will, I presume, be universally admitted to < 
 be the most distinguished ornament of what is called the 
 orthodox or evangelical party in Great Britain. In speakings 
 of the evangelical clergy, he remarks : '' we cannot dismiss 
 this part of the subject, without remarking their exemplary 
 moderation on .those intricate points, which unhappily divide 
 the christian church ; the questions, we mean, in relation to 
 predestination and freewill, on which, equally remote from 
 Pelagian- heresy and Antinomian licentiousness, they freely 
 tolerate and indulge a diversity of opinion, embracing CaN 
 vinists and Arminians with little distinction ; provided the 
 Calvinism of the former be practical and moderate, and the 
 Arminianism of the. latter be evangelical and devout. The 
 greater part of them, we believe, lean to the doctrine of gene- 
 ral redemption, and love to represent the gospel as bearing 
 a friendly aspect towards the eternal happiness of all to whom 
 it is addressed : but they are much less anxious to establish a 
 polemical accuracy, than to "win souls to Christ." Strictures 
 on a work entitled " Zeal without Innovation'' p. 35, 
 Lond. 1809. 
 
for which there may not be produced the authority 
 of persons of each of these churches, and those 
 too among the most illustrious for learning and 
 piety. 
 
 After these remarks, I need scarcely observe, 
 that, when the phrase " rational Christianity" is 
 used in the following discourse, it is by no means 
 to be considered as applicable merely to a compa- 
 ratively small number of christians, who hold par- 
 ticular opinions on the metaphysical nature of our 
 liord. Such an appropriation of that phrase I 
 conceive to be entirely unjust: and to breathe some- 
 thing of the same narrowness of spirit, which these 
 christians are not backward to censure in others. 
 
 But neither bigotry nor liberality are" exclusively 
 of any sect ; and all men ought to guard against 
 the tendency, which the pride of spiritual superi. 
 ority produces, to think that our own opinions are 
 identified with the conclusions of reason, the dic- 
 tates of conscience, and the commands of Grod. 
 
 The term "apology," in the title of this discourse, 
 is used in its original sense as nearly synonymous 
 with " defence" or " vindication." AnoAoriA, the 
 learned reader will recollect is employed by St. 
 Peter in the text. 
 
 Feb. 9, 1815. 
 
BISCOURSE. 
 
 1 PETER, III. 15. 
 
 BE READY ALWAYS TO GIVE AN ANSWER TO EVERY MAN THAT ASKETR YOU A 
 REASON OF THE HOPE, THAT IB IN YOU, WITH MEEKNESS AND EEAB. 
 
 Christianity is a religion addressed to the rea- 
 son of man. Look around you, my friends, on 
 this temple, which we have now assembled to 
 dedicate to the purposes of christian w:orship, and 
 see how every thing proclaims, that the religion, we 
 profess, makes its appeal only to our nobler natiire. 
 Here is no pomp of a gorgeous and imposing cere- 
 monial. Here no altar smokes with the blood of 
 victims ; no incense fills the air with its perfume. 
 No priest is here claiming a mysterious sanctity, 
 as the inspired depogjitary of the will of heaven^ 
 No daring hand has here attempted to represent to 
 the senses the awful person of the Being we adore; 
 or even to suggest through them to the imagination 
 the most distant image of his ineffable glory. All 
 here is siipple. All is intellectual. All announ- 
 ees, that the God, whom the christian worships, is 
 
a spirit, and is to be worshipped only in spirit and 
 in truth. The gospel, we see, disdains to owe its 
 influence to the fears of a superstitious temper, or 
 the enthusiasm of a heated fancy; It requires of 
 us only a reasonable service. It demands no tri- 
 bute, but the homage of the understanding. It 
 accepts no incense, but the secret sigh of the broken 
 and contrite heart. Our bodies, purified from all 
 guilty passions, are the only victims, it calls us to 
 present on its altars ; and it is the fire of divine 
 charity alone, which descends from heaven to con- 
 sume our spiritual holocaust. 
 
 Christianity, then, is a religion addressed solely 
 to the intellectual and moral nature of man. Our 
 text implies this truth, when it directs us never to 
 decline to submit the grounds of our christian hope 
 to the tribunal of enlightened reason. It teaches 
 also, that we are not to be indifferent to the man- 
 ner, in which our fellow men regard our religious 
 sentiments ; and this obligation, 1 conceive, ex- 
 tends not only from christians to unbelievers, but 
 from one christian to anotKer. There exist — it is 
 but too well known — among the different commu- 
 nities of christians, some peculiar modes of regard- 
 ing the truths of the gospel ; and it is fitting, 
 according to the spirit of our text, that we should 
 be ready to justify these modes of thinking to our 
 felloW-believers. The occasion of entering, for 
 thei first time, this sacred edifice, has seemed to me 
 a more appropriate one, than usually occurs, for 
 offering some explanations of what may be thought 
 the peculiarities of those, who worship here,, as 
 
well as of a large class of christians throughout 
 the world. They have heen, I am persuaded, not 
 a little misunderstood; and some observations — 
 though of course very general ones — on the lead- 
 ing features of them, may help to lessen, if not to 
 remove, some unhappy prejudices, and to enlarge 
 the mutual charity of christians. Nothing, howe- 
 ver, can be more remote from my intentions, than 
 to assail the conscientious belief of others, except 
 so far as this may seem to be necessarily done by 
 simply vindicating our own. Sorry indeed should 
 I be, if the sounds first heard within these walls 
 should be those of animosity ; or should seem to 
 breathe any note, which^^-however otherwise un- 
 worthy — might not accord with those celestial 
 strains, which first announced peace on earth and 
 good will to men. 
 
 I. Allow me then to make a preliminary obser- 
 vation; and it is this: that we humbly trust, that 
 we do agree with the great company of the disci- 
 Jiles of our Lord in every age, in resting on the 
 same foundation, on which all christian faith is 
 built. We believe — as they do — in one great Au- 
 thor, Supporter, and Controller of the universe, ia 
 his nature infinite, in all his attributes perfect; iu 
 nil his perfections harmonious — the object, the only 
 object, of the supreme worship, reverence^ grati- 
 tude, trust, love of all his, creatures. We believe— 
 ,as they do — that this glorious Being has sanctified 
 and sent into the world his beloved Son, to redeem 
 our race from iniquity ; to secure to them the hopQ 
 ef pardon ; to elevate the human mind by the infl% 
 
10 
 
 ence of truth jand virtue ; and t]bus to yipen it fot\ 
 higher powers and more exalted blessedness in 
 heaven. We believe, that on him the spirit of the 
 Almighty was poured without measure— th?it he 
 reiceived all that was necessary to make him 9ur 
 perfect guidp, our all-sufl5cient Saviour, and that 
 to all who repent, believe and obey, he is made of 
 Grod wisdom and righteousness and sanctiflcation 
 and redemption. His words are to us, as the words 
 of God; his commands, as the commands of God* 
 We honour the Son, as we honour the Father, who 
 sent him. The truths, which he taught, we believe 
 to be contained in the holy scriptures ; and we 
 take them as the authoritative record of. the facts, 
 principles, doctrines, precepts and sanctions of our 
 religion. We receive and freely rest our hopes of 
 salvation on what they teach us, as constituting 
 christian faith and practice. In professing this he-, 
 lief, as we do in. sincerity and withoUjt th§ smallest 
 reserve, we hope we may put in a humble claim to 
 the name of christians ; and may unpresumptuously 
 say with the apostle, if any. man trust to himself that 
 he is Christ's, let him of himself thiqk this again, 
 that as he is Christ's even so are we Christ's. We 
 doubtless may err — who may not err ? — in our in- 
 terpretations of the sacred volume ; but, if it be sq, 
 it is our understandings, we trust, not our hearts, 
 which are in fault. One thing, at least, will hardly 
 be denied, that however much the religious struc- 
 tures of jdifFerent communions of christians may 
 vary in form, proportion, congruity, harmony, and 
 beauty, the foundation and the materials^ot all that 
 
11 
 
 is serious and {jractical in their Christianity inust 
 be essentially the saihe) as that, which we have 
 adopted. 
 
 Undoubtedly howevet"— tholigh we hope we do 
 thus fundamentally agree with all the sincere dis- 
 ciples of our Lord in every nation and age — we 
 have some characteristick and not unimportant 
 modes of viewing the theory of our religion. Our 
 interpretations of the scriptures, any more than 
 those of any other single body of christians, do not 
 agree in all respects with those of all the rest. On 
 these peculiarities I proceed now to remark. 
 
 11. 1. I conceive, that the chief characteristick 
 of those christians, in whose name I now presume 
 to speak, arises from the viiew we take of the senti- 
 ment contained in our text and other similar passa- 
 ges of the scriptures. Christianity we believe to 
 be, in the truest sense, a rational religion.* The 
 truths it unfolds conform, we think, to the intellec- 
 tual and moral nature of man — are consistent each 
 with itself; with one another; with the dictates 
 of eonscieuce, and with the maxims of truth, which 
 the universal reason of man acknowledges and 
 respects. They harmonize, in one word, with the 
 best conclusions and results of those faculties, 
 which God has given us for discerning truth. — Let 
 not our meaning, however, be misunderstood. We 
 neither say, that the truths of christiaiiity were, or 
 ever would have been discovered by reason, unas- 
 isisted by revelation — nor that the objects, to which 
 these truths relate, can now all be comprehended 
 
 * Note "a. 
 
IS 
 
 Jby reason in all their extent — nor that ihfey are all 
 necessarily founded on facts, which conform to 
 analogies within our present knowledge. Least of 
 all does reason, in our view of it, advance any 
 claim in opposition to revelation. We say only, that 
 raason is, equally with revelation, the gift of God ; 
 and that both are given for purposes perffectly con- 
 sistent and harmonious.* We say, that — as reve- 
 lation continually appeals to reason for its proofs, 
 and its conformity to sound reason is an important 
 part of its evidence — a clear and decided Repug- 
 nance and contrariety to reason in any of its doc- 
 trines would be so far an argument against its truth. 
 We therefore believe, that the truths of the chris- 
 tian religion do contain and can contain nothing, 
 which enlightened reason after full and serious 
 inquiry does not approve. The gospel and a sound 
 philosophy, right reason and a revelation from God 
 must be in perfect harmony, can never really and 
 essentially disagree. h 
 
 It is difficult to conceive, how atiy one should, 
 fail to see that this must be s6, who considers the 
 nature and use of our rational faculties. They are 
 the organs for admitting all truth into the mind ; 
 and an intelligent belief of revelation is no more 
 possible without the use of reason, than sight is pos- 
 sible without the organ of vision. Religious faith, 
 then, instead of being opposed to reason, is in truth 
 the highest exercise of reason. This is practically 
 felt to be so true, that, when men profess to believe 
 what is opposed to reason j it is only by bringing 
 » Note B. 
 
13 
 
 themselves to imagine, that they have in some way 
 found a sufficient reason for renouncing the use 
 of reason. And thus we see the extreme of scepti- 
 cism and the extreme of credulity meet, and unite 
 in the common absurdity of using reason tp destroy 
 all confidence in reason. — But our Maker, we may 
 be sure, will never contradict himself in his own 
 works. Having given us reason, as the faculty for 
 discerning truth,, he will do nothing, which shall 
 confound and subvert the uses of his gift. He will 
 not say one thing to us in nature, and a different 
 thing in revelation ; but as the truths both of rea- 
 son and revelation flow ultimately from the same 
 source, they will be consistent with themselves and 
 with every other truth. 
 
 But indeed, my friends, to assert seriously, that 
 Christianity is not consistent with the best dictates 
 of reason, what is it but to offer to God's word the 
 deepest dishonour? It is to degrade its evidence 
 to a level with that of the religion of Mahomet, or 
 the dreams and fictions of the impostors and fana- 
 ticks of every age.* It is in effect to say, that its 
 proofs depend on the internal sensations of every 
 one who receives it ; a ground of belief — in which 
 we are always exposed to the grossest self-decep- 
 tion — which we certainly can never exhibit to other 
 men, and therefore can never obey the direction of 
 the apostle in the text — and whicli may be pleaded 
 alike, and is alike unansAverable, whether urged 
 by wisdom or folly, learning or ignorance, honesty 
 or fraud. — Such a representation was never learn- 
 -ed in the school of the Author and Finisher of our 
 
 » Note C. 
 
14 
 
 faith. The New Testament is full of appeals to 
 our perceptions of right and jwrong ; and every 
 argument it contains is in itself a distinct refutation 
 of the idea, that our faith is to supersede the uses 
 or falsify the conclusions of reason. Every mira- 
 cle our Lord performed, every prophecy to w^hich 
 he referred, was a call on those around him to 
 exercise their reason. No, The religion of Christ 
 is one, which not only permits, but requires us to 
 prove all things, and hold fast only what is true. 
 Let it not then be reproached with elevating itself 
 on the ruins of human reason. Libel it not, I 
 beseech you, by so unworthy a charge. Betray it 
 not into the hands of infidelity by throwing away 
 those arms, which the most exalted reason rejoices 
 to supply for its defence. 
 
 But do we then raise the authority of- reason so 
 high, as to deny our need of the aids and irradia- 
 tions of the holy spirit of God ? I trust, my friends, 
 that this is far from being true. Our principles 
 leave this doctrine unimpaired to be believed in 
 its most consolatory form. We say only, that these 
 gracious influences will be vouchsafed to us, in 
 consistency with the other gifts of God, by the in- 
 strumentality of regular means ; and that they will 
 guide and exalt, not supersede and confound our 
 rational faculties. — Do not object to us still, that 
 our views nourish a temper of pride and presump- 
 tuous confidence in human reason, fatal to a hum- 
 ble sense of our dependence on God. Our depen- 
 dence on God is absolute and entire. If any man 
 will show me in what way this sentiment can be 
 
15 
 
 more fally expressed, I will adopt his language 
 aad renounce my own. We diifer from those, 
 who make this objection — if we diifer from them 
 at all — only in going farther than thefr do in our 
 belief of this truth. — We believe, that we depend 
 entirely on God for ordinary as well as extraordi- 
 nary blessings ; not merely for the special influen- 
 ces of his spirit ; but also, quite as much, for every 
 momenfs use of the faculty of reason. — But, indeed^ 
 if* the comparison is forced on us, we may venture 
 to ask, which belief is most likely to enkindle a 
 spirit of presumption — that we have received the 
 gift of reason in common with our fellow beings, 
 and that the means and aids for enlightening and 
 elevating it, are alike open to all, who sincerely 
 seek and faithfully use them ? — or that belief, which 
 teaches a man, that he is the selected favourite of 
 heaven, and enjoys those miraculous infusions of 
 the divine spirit, which are denied to the honest and 
 Intelligent exertions and prayers of his fellow men ? 
 In truth, when I think of this latter opinion, I am 
 constrained to say, that it seems to me, that it may 
 claim any other praise sooner, than that of being 
 founded in or promoting the humility of the gospel.* 
 2. On grounds like these, and in the sense now 
 explained, we believe, that Christianity is a rational 
 religion; This belief produces an anxiety, that, in 
 all our statements and exhibitions of its doctrines, 
 their rationality should be made apparent. This 
 is, in part, the origin, of that difference of phrase- 
 ology and of those different moies of stating the 
 * Note D. 
 
16 
 
 same truths, which are often remarkedy and which 
 form perhaps the most striking difference, between 
 us and some of Our fellow christians, who feel this 
 anxiety less strongly, than we do. We vindicate 
 this peculiarity by the consideration, that it is re- 
 quired by the constant changes, which are taking 
 place in the force and meaning of all language, and 
 by that obscurityj with which time is ever incrusting 
 the words and illustrations of elder days. It is an 
 obsolete phraseology, we think, which causes many 
 sentiments, essentially true and perfectly simple^ 
 to be involved in a dark, scholastick, and, as it 
 seems to us, needless perplexity.* It is the cause 
 why many phrases are so often repeated with no 
 distinct ideas attached to them, and a complete 
 negation of meaning is often wrapped up and con- 
 cealed, even from ourselves, iu a consecrated dia- 
 lect. Besiile these considerations, however, we no 
 doubt think also, that many of the changes we make 
 in the mode of stating certain sentiments give a 
 more strictly correct = representation of the true 
 meaning of the scriptures. > And it would be 
 strange, if no improvemehts of this kind had been 
 suggested by all the lights which the learning and 
 piety, which have been employed on the sacred 
 volume for a century and a half, have >stpuck out. 
 It would indeed be passing strange, if it were true, 
 that it was in the middle of the seventeenth 
 century, amidst the tumult and extravagance of a 
 civil war, when every other branch of knowledge 
 was comparatively in its infancy — that this was 
 
 • Note E. 
 
17 
 
 the time, when the statement of every point in 
 tbieology received its filial improvement and per- 
 fection.* I freely own, that this assertion, which 
 implies that the human mind— instead of being 
 only in its twilight — then touched its highest point 
 of theological illumination, seems to me scarcely 
 less extravagant, than to say, that the period, when 
 the maxims of civil government were finally settled 
 for all , future .generations, was in the country and 
 at the height of that revolution, which has recently 
 convulsed the world to its centre. 
 
 3. But though the differences between us and 
 our fellow christians are chiefly verbal, there are 
 others, which may l^e thought to be more real. 
 There are some doctrines, on which many good 
 men lay a great stress, which we do not teach as 
 any essential part of christian faith. These doc- 
 trines relate to modes of the divine nature, and 
 divisions of the divine essence ; to the theory of 
 the divine attributes, and the grounds and extent 
 of the divine decrees ; to the origin and transmis- 
 sion of sin ; to the methods of God's operation on 
 the human mind ; to the final reasons of the oecouo- 
 my, and the ultimate results of the government of 
 God. Most of these speculations evidently involve 
 questions of the most abstruse metaphysicks — 
 questions on which mankind have for ages dis- 
 puted^^and in which the. most etherial spirit;s, 
 after vainly excruciating their understandings, 
 have '■' found no end in wandering mazes lost." 
 All that is any way practical with regard to these 
 • Note F. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 speculations we embrace and teach ; for it lies 
 obvious to the humblest mind.* For the rest, we 
 conscientiously think, that much of them will for 
 ever be beyond the reach of the human understand- 
 ing, till it is enlarged in a higher world ; and at any 
 rate, that the scriptures either decide nothing with 
 respect to them, or only indistinctly allude to 
 them, or else decide against such views of them 
 as are often received. We however certainly can 
 never think, that any thing essential to christian 
 faith or practice depends on the decision of these 
 questions. We think it a thing in itself most un- 
 likely, that a religion, designed, like the gospel, 
 to be preached to the poor, the humble and the 
 illiterate quite as much as to the metaphysical and 
 learned, would. have any of its fundamental princi- 
 ples connected with these bewildering inquiries. t 
 It seems to us the most beautiful feature of our 
 religion, that it is so perfectly simple, intelligible 
 and practical. We examine the, preaching of our 
 Saviour, and find that his addresses to mankind 
 weve all of the plainest character — and can we err 
 when we follow his divine example ? — We admit 
 in the fullest manner the perfect right of our fellow 
 ehristians to think otherwise on these points; but 
 we are not able to follow them in what seems to us 
 their perilous and unauthorized speculations. We 
 ask tbem to forgive us, when we say that the light 
 of revelation seems not to our eyes to extend its 
 guiding rays into these regions Of perplexity. We 
 beg them to permit us to £eniain on the open, plain 
 * Note G. + Note H. 
 
19 
 
 and illuminated ground of our common Christianity; 
 and rather to thank God with us, that we can go 
 on so far together, than to refuse us their charity, 
 because we advance beyond it more timidly and^ — 
 may it not be ? — more cautiously than they. 
 
 4. From this view of the practical charaister of 
 the gospel, and the consequent absence from our 
 preaching of these abstruse speculations, arises 
 what is esteemed another of our charaeteristieks. 
 We take the great end of all religion to be, simply, 
 to make men good ; to produce, in the language 
 of the apostle, charity out of a pure heart, a good 
 conscience, and faith unfeigned. The goodness here 
 meant is, indeed, of the most exalted character ; 
 including not only the duties of self-government 
 and social benevolence, but also, most assuredly, 
 our supreme duties to God. It is the goodness, 
 which was exemplified in its perfection by our 
 Lord; it is that goodness which is to fit man for 
 the communion of the spirits of the blessed through- 
 out eternity.* This moral influence on the human 
 character it is, which seems to us to be the end of 
 all religion. It is that, to which every thing, 
 which revelation unfolds, is only subsidiary and / 
 ministerial. The whole substance of Christianity, 
 therefore, seems to be contained in three words : 
 the nature of christian duty ; the means of per- 
 forming it ; our motives to use them. The whole 
 theory of christian preaching, then, must be to 
 exhort men to christian duties, in the use of chris- 
 tian means, and by the excitement of christian 
 * Note I. 
 
so 
 
 motives. We have no conception of the meaning 
 of teligion, if it mean any thing different from this. 
 We do confess, therefore, that we feel bound to 
 remember, in its plain sense, the solemn charge of 
 Paul to Timothy: ''it is a faithful saying, and 
 these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that 
 they that have believed in God might be careful to 
 maintain good works ; these things are good and 
 profitable unto men." — It is St. Paul, who is 
 speaking, my friends, not we ; and with his war- 
 rant, and with the example of a greater than Paul, 
 even his Master and our Master, we ought to think 
 it a, small thing to be judged of man's judgment. 
 We must consider the epithet, which is sometimes 
 applied to our discourses, that they are "moral 
 sermons," to be an epithet of honour, not of dis- 
 grace. They must share it in common with our 
 Lord^s own sermon on the mount. 
 
 5. It is another characteristick of our views of 
 religious truth, that they do not lead us to expect 
 single and instantaneous eflfects from its influence, 
 so much as a gradual and permanent operation. 
 We deny not, that there are real examples of 
 Sudden conversions from sin to holiness. We bless 
 God for them. But this is not, we think, the usual 
 history of mankind ; nor do the representations bf 
 the scriptures lead us to expect it will be so. We 
 do not doubt, that good effects have sometimes 
 been produced on particular persons, by throwing 
 them into a sudden spasm of terrour or agony of re- 
 morse. But in general we think, that men become 
 virtuous — as they become wise — by constant and 
 
SI 
 
 gradual accessions, and not by sudden impulse or 
 miraculous illumination. Our preaching, therefore, 
 does not aim, so much as that of some others, at 
 immediate excitement. We hope, by the blessing 
 of God, to produce a more calm and steady and 
 rational and — therefore, we think, more probably — 
 permanent influence on our hearers. Our manner 
 is consequently less impassioned ; in the sense, 
 that we do not so constantly touch the springs of 
 terrour in the human breast. We are not insensi- 
 ble, that this manner can never be so acceptable to 
 that class of hearers, who delight to be powerfully 
 moved ; who expect from a sermon the eflfect of a 
 tragedy; and are accustomed to think, that a 
 strong emotion is a great virtue. But though we 
 are sorry to be thought unprofitable preachers by 
 any of our fellow christians, we yet think, that 
 popularity may be purchased too dearly. We seri- 
 ously doubt the general and permanent good effects 
 of applying a constant stimulus to the stronger 
 passions of the soul. It is apt, v:e fear, to rouse 
 them at first to unnatural, and not always very 
 valuable exertions ; and at last to expend their 
 energy and wear out or palsy their power. It is, 
 however, a question of fact. We do not court, 
 but we certainly do not decline a comparison, as 
 to the practical efficacy of the two modes of preach- 
 ing, considered in their effects on the whole charac- 
 ter, through the whole of life, of all the different 
 classes of mankindi 
 
 We confess, them, that our principles lead us to 
 the exercise of caution in our addresses to the pas- 
 
3S 
 
 sions. If this were the place for speaking of our 
 individual failings, we should not hesitate to admit^ 
 also, that — from the diflBeulty of finding the exact 
 medium between extremes, which is the great task 
 of human life — this caution may sometimes be carri- 
 ed too far, and degenerate into a coldness and want 
 of becoming earnestness. May God - forgive us, 
 wherever this is in any degree the case. There is 
 nothing in our principles, however, which justifies 
 any want of zeal, or excludes at all the most affect- 
 ing appeals to the best feelings of the human heart. 
 Our views of it, we trust, do not rob religion of 
 any of its salutary power to move and raise , and 
 melt the soul. The character of Grod appears not 
 to us less merciful or less glorious, than to our 
 brethren. Christ seems not less endued with all- 
 sufficient power to enlighten, redeem, and exalt his 
 sincere disciples ; nor are his labours and his 
 sufferings for us less entitled to our most grateful 
 and affectionate remembrance The aids and con- 
 solations of the holy spirit of God seem not to us to 
 be less freely or less impartially offered to all who 
 sincerely and humbly ask them, than they do-to our 
 brethren. Sin appears not to us less opposed to 
 our nature, and to the benevolent designs of God; 
 nor does its connexion with misery in every stage of 
 our being seem less evidently to be the established 
 and eternal law of the divine government. He, 
 whom such motives and such views as we embrace 
 will not warm and excite to the love of holiness 
 and dread of sin, and to, ardent and persevering 
 efforts to produce that love and that dread in those, 
 
23 
 
 who are committed to his care — must be impas- 
 sive to the influences of all that is most animating 
 and awful, all that is most touching and sublime in 
 human conceptions. It surely does not follow, 
 because we think, that views of religion, ■ produced 
 and nourished by fear chiefly or alone, will be igno- 
 ble and degrading, that we are less — in truth we 
 ought to be more — induced to address the principles 
 of love, hope, gratitude, and, in its due degree, fear 
 itself, together with all the sympathies and affections 
 of our moral constitution. We regard it as a very 
 incomplete and erroneous view of human nature j 
 as well as of christian theology, to suppose, that 
 the best eflfeets of our religion are to be felt, or the 
 highest style of moral character to be produced, 
 without the use of the affections; The glory and 
 beauty and perfection of the christian character 
 will never be seen, except where all the faculties 
 of our moral and intellectual nature are called 
 into action to produce and adorn it — where reason 
 makes itself tributary to affection, where faith is 
 warmed in the heart, as well as enlightened in the 
 understanding — where a sense of duty and a sense 
 of interest, philosophy and sensibility, prudence 
 and enthusiasm — while they temper and regulate 
 each others tendencies — unite in prompting to sub- 
 lime and disinterested benevolence to man and 
 supreme love and devotion to God. 
 
 I might remark on some other and less peculiar 
 characteris ticks of those christians, in whose name 
 I have spoken, but it is necessary that I should 
 forbear, I will only repeat my hope, that the 
 
observations, wWeh have now been hazarded, will 
 be taken, as 1 am sure they are meant, in the ^spirit 
 of entire good will tow'ai'ds those, who differ from 
 us. I profess towards them a real respect. I see 
 among them very many bright and true exempli- 
 fications of the christian character. I bear them 
 witness, that they have a zeal towards God. I 
 doubt not, that their modes of representing truth 
 may have a real use to some classes of minds. It 
 may be one of the reasons, why the sacred writings 
 are not framed more systematically and technically, 
 that a provision is thus' made for such a diflference 
 in the niode of regarding some points of secondary 
 importance, as is adapted to the differences in the 
 mental constitution and habits of mankind. This 
 is a view, which 1 acknowledge to be refreshing 
 and consoling to my mind, when I consider the 
 different sects, into which the christian world is 
 divided. It enables me to see without pain the 
 success of those, whose views of christian truth 
 vary a good deal from my own ; regarding their 
 exertions, as I am thus permitted to regard them, 
 only as diversities of operation under the influ- 
 ence of the same spirit — At least, however, there is 
 nothing in the differences, which have been noticed 
 in this discourse^ which need to loosen, far less to 
 rupture the bonds of christian charity or christian 
 fellowship between us and our brethren. They 
 are such differences as might even be made sub- 
 servient to mutual improvement. If a spirit of 
 mutual candour and friendship could be cultivated, 
 if we would concede to each other the great Pro- 
 
•g5 
 
 testant right. of individual judgment, and if, while 
 contending earnestly for what we believe to be 
 truth, we would remember our own weakness and 
 fallibility, we might contribute to guard each other 
 from that tendency to rush into extremes, to which 
 we are all so liable. After all-— whatever may be 
 said or thought in the heat of controversy — it is 
 impossible, that any one should seriously doubt, 
 that all christians have ultimately the same object. 
 for have they not all the same interest, the same 
 eternal interest ; and what imaginable motive can 
 there be, with the immense majority of them, to 
 attempt to deceive others or themselves ? How can 
 it be thought, that men, acknowledged to be men of 
 integrity on every other subject, should wantonly 
 and madly desert their principles on that subject 
 only, which is of all the most momentous ? Would 
 to God that the time might at length come, when 
 christians would apply the same maxims in judging 
 of each other's motives and views in religion, that 
 they feel to be just in every other case ! 
 
 But with whatever feelings the views, which we 
 take of the nature and design of the gospel, are 
 regarded by others,, we are not at liberty to alter 
 them. We beg our brethren, who think hardly of 
 us for our opinions, to, believe, that we have adopt- 
 ed them in the honesty of our hearts. We consci- 
 entiously think, that a rational representation is 
 the true representation of God's word. We think, 
 the genius of the age requires, that it should be 
 made, if Christianity is. to retain any hold of the 
 greater part of thinking and cultivated niind^. It 
 
St) 
 
 will not do, . that, when every other department of 
 hiimaQ knowledge has been in constant progress, 
 the science of theology alone should remain with 
 only those statements and illustrations, which were 
 given it during the darkness of the middle ages. 
 It is not sufficient to reply, that the belief of many 
 good persons in some of the most important truth« 
 is so connected with long established prejudices, 
 that they will be in danger of abandoning these 
 truths along with these prejudices. This is an 
 argument for caution and modieration in our exer- 
 tions ; but it is no good, argument to relinquish 
 them. If Luther and his followers had listened to 
 it, the refol'mation would not have blessed the 
 world ; and the timid spirit of JSrasmus would 
 have purchased its repose at the expense of the 
 loss of the opportunity of emancipating mankind 
 (mm ignorance and errour, — But it is not right, 
 that our fears should be all on one side. While 
 we respect the prejudices of the unenlightened, we 
 ought not to despise the serious objections of the 
 thinking part of mankind. Thfc consequences of 
 presenting to them only such views of religion, as 
 revolt alike their nnd^rstanding and moral sense, 
 must be, a real, though, it toay be, a steeret aban- 
 donment of all faith in its authority. A dduble 
 doctrine will thus be Established, of thinking with 
 the initiated and talking with the vulgar — a sys- 
 tfent, Which, as has bebn finely and truly said, " is 
 beyd^d any pormanent condition fef human society 
 destrltetiVfe of ingeniiioueness, good faith and probi- 
 ty ; of iateltectual courage and manly character ; 
 
and of that respect fol* all human beings, without 
 which there can be no justice or hitmanity from the 
 powerful towards the humble."f 
 
 Having then such views of the importance of the 
 principles, which we have embraced, and believing^ 
 as we do, that they correspond with the results of 
 the researches of the ablest and most pious inquir. 
 ers after the truth as it is in Jesus, the path of our 
 duty is plain before us. We must follow it at any 
 hazard. If we did not, the holy confessors of our 
 faith in every age would disown us, the intrepid 
 genius of the reformers would disdain us, the 
 sacred shades of our fathers would reproach us for 
 shrinking from our duty and disgracing our illus- 
 trious origin; and where — oh where should we 
 appear, when called to give up our great and final 
 account ! 
 
 It is with these views of christian truth, that we 
 now enter this temple to dedicate it to Almighty 
 God. And may he grant that — -so far as they are 
 just^— they may here be preached and heard, till 
 this lofty spire bows under the hand of time, and 
 these massive walls crumble into their primitive 
 dust. 
 
 III. It would correspond, I believe, to a general 
 custom on occasions like the present, if we were 
 now to look back to the ancient history of this 
 church. But our church has no history, beyond "the 
 short and simple annals of the ministrations it has 
 regularly witnessed. When however I say, that it 
 affords no materials for publick history, I conceive 
 
 * Sir James Mackiotosh's review De L'Allemagne par 
 Mad. de Stael. 
 
that I give to it the highest praise. For history, 
 we know, records not on its blood-stained page the 
 peaceful trinmphs of religion in private life, but is 
 too often the register only of intrigue and warfare, 
 of the crimes and enterprises of bad ambition. It 
 is now nearly a century of years, since a temple 
 was first erected on this spot, which had been con- 
 secrated by the piety of our fathers from time 
 immemorial to this sacred use. It was not esta- 
 blished in the spirit of schism ; but was the result 
 of the regular overflow of other churches, many of 
 the members of which contributed towards the 
 expense of the undertaking. The progress of this 
 ^church has been as harmonious, as its origin was 
 peaceful. It has never been found in collision 
 with any other church. Its spirit has always been 
 liberal. Its terms of communion have never been 
 narrow and exclusive. Its ministers have always 
 been catFolick in their feelings. The list of them 
 is begun by the venerable Checkley, followed by 
 the affectionate Bo wen, the interesting and eloquent 
 Howe, the acute and profound Everett. I could 
 add another name, but my heart is forbidden to 
 otter its feelings. The house which was first 
 erected here, after having stood for ninety-seven 
 years, has now given place to that in which we 
 meet. Erected, as it has been, in most disastrous 
 times, I may be allowed to consider it as a noble 
 monument of the spirit of our citizens ; a pledge 
 that they consider religion as their best refuge in 
 calamity ; and that the last sentiment they are 
 willing to lose, is that of respect for her worship.* 
 * NoteK, 
 
Come, then, fathers, brethren, friends, christians, 
 let us again invoke the presence and blessing of 
 the most high God. We solemnly consecrate this 
 temple to Him — to the religion of his Son, who 
 died for us — to the spirit of evangelical piety, 
 charity and truth. Henceforth may the angels of 
 celestial love take up their dwelling in this sanc- 
 tuary, and ever may they carry from it to the mer, 
 cy seat of heaven the tribute of humble, grateful, 
 devoted hearts, the oiferings of sincere and ac- 
 ceptable worshippers ! — ^Ye holy walls ! hence- 
 fortli sacred to the religion of Jesus — peace be 
 within you I For my brethren and companions 
 sake, I will now say-— peace be within you ! Ne- 
 ver may ye be polluted by hypocritical prayers — 
 never may ye echo with heartless praises — ever 
 may the words of truth be dispensed within you 
 in their simplicity and uncorrupted purity — never 
 may ye witness the love of Christ commemorated 
 here with unthankful remembrance, or his' cause 
 dishonoured by faithless professions ! Here may 
 all the best influences of the gospel — all its rege- 
 nerating, sanctifying and elevating influences — 
 ever be felt! And long after the voice, which 
 now feebly sounds within you, is hushed in si- 
 lence — long after these worshippers shall all have 
 passed away from the earth — may their children 
 and their children's children to the latest genera- 
 tion here taste the joy and peace of believing, and 
 find that this is unto them, as it has been to their 
 fathers, none other than the house of God and the 
 gate of heaven ! 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The general principle of the conformity of Christianity to 
 the conclusions of enlightened reason will hardly be disputed 
 by intelligent Christians. It is a ground, which has always 
 been taken by the most able and judicious defenders of the 
 gospel. It was very fully surveyed and illustrated about the 
 middle of the last century, by Dr. Doddridge, Dr. Benson^ 
 Dr. Randolph, and Dr. Leland, in the controversy occasioiiied 
 by the deistical tract entitled Christianity not founded' on 
 Jrgument. 
 
 B. 
 
 " Reason is natural revelation, whereby the Eternal Father 
 of Light and Fountain of all Knowledge communicates to man- 
 kind that portion of truth, which he has laid within the reach 
 of their natural faculties. Revelation is natural reason en- 
 Targed by a new set of discoveries, communicated by God 
 immediately, which reason vouches the truth of by the testi- 
 mony and proofs it gives that they come from God. So that 
 he, that takes away reason to make way for revelation, puts 
 out the light of both ; and does much the same, as if he would 
 persuade a man to put out his eyes, the better to receive the 
 remote light of an invisible star by a telescope." 
 
 Locke's Essay, B, it. c» 19. 
 
 "To those especially, who seek for conviction in certain 
 inward feelings, which the warmth of their imaginations repre- 
 sents to them as divine, I would recommend the serious consi. 
 deration of this important fact : that the foundation, which 
 i^ey lay for the Bible, is no other than what the Mahometan is 
 accustomed to lay for the Koran. If you ask a Mahometan, 
 why he ascribes divine authority to the Koran, his answer is : 
 
33 
 
 because, wheu I read it, sensations are excited, which could 
 not have been produced by any work, that came not from God. 
 ***Butdo we not immediately perceive, when the Mahometan 
 thus argues from inward sensations, that he is merely raising a 
 phantom of his own imagination ?***The Christian, who thus 
 ary;ues, may answer, indeed, and answer with truth, that his 
 sensations are produced by a work, which is really divine, 
 while the sensations excited in the Mahometan are produced 
 by a work, which is only thought so. But this very truth will 
 involve the person, who thus uses it, in a glaring absurdity. 
 In the first place he appeals to a criterion, which puts the Bible 
 on a level with the Koran : and then to obviate this objection, 
 he endeavours to show the superiority of his own appeal, by 
 presupposing the fact, which he had undertaken to prove,^'— 
 Prof. Marsh's Lectures. P. II. L. III. p. 51 — 52. American 
 edition. 
 
 D. 
 
 I am anxious, that the principles, which have been advanced 
 under this head of the discourse, should be taken with the 
 explanations and limitations, which I have endeavoured stu. 
 diously to annex to them. I would particularly beg it to be 
 observed, that it is by no means denied, that the objects, to 
 which the truths of revelation relate, may contain many things 
 not fully comprehensible by reason. Indeed there is per- 
 haps no object presented to us either by nature or revelation, 
 which the human mind can be said entirely and perfectly to 
 comprehend in all its relations and properties- The humblest 
 flower,'that springs up under our feet, contains that, which the 
 most exalted philosophy can only teach us to wonder at and 
 admire. Still, however, so far as a true philosopher asserts 
 any thing with regard to its existence, structure, growth, or 
 any of its properties, powers, or connections, he perfectly 
 understands what he asserts, and employs language only in 
 such a sense as may be intelligible to others. In like man. 
 ner, all truth, intended to be conveyed to the human mind, 
 must be intelligible in itself, and conveyed in language Intel, 
 ligible by those to whom it: is addressed. The truths of reve. 
 
33 
 
 lation form no exception. They are expressed in wordi;,\Tlil/^jbL 
 are the signs of human ideas, and which, therefore, can qnly 
 lie employed to convey the ideas, which men have annexed to 
 them. We.may, of course, form ideas of all the proppsitions 
 contained in the scriptures. , But of that which is unintelligi. 
 ble, the mind can take po cognizance — can have no beliefs- 
 can give to it no assent. We may make, the /orm of a propo- 
 sition with respect to it ; but it cannot have the reality of one. 
 It is nothing — nothing but idle words. We need not scruple 
 to say, that to believe a proposition, which either includes a 
 contradiction, or else has no assignable, no intelligible meaning 
 whatever, is a thing, which is in its nature impossible. The 
 scriptures undoubtedly can contain no such proposition. 
 
 It is evidently very consistent with these remarks, to be. 
 lieve, that revelation may indulge us with only very limited 
 and imperfect views of many interesting truths. We now see 
 through a glass, darkly. But these intimations, we are to 
 remember, are all that revelation designs to give us, because 
 they are probably all we are now capable of understanding, 
 or all which can fitly be made known to us in a state of 
 probation. We are not permitted to consider them merely as 
 food for our conjectures, or materials from which we are to 
 construct our own precarious systems. I do not mean, that 
 we are bound, or that we are able wholly to repress the curi- 
 osity, which they so naturally excite; but we are to beware 
 how we place our conjectures on a level with the truths, which 
 the gospel unfolds. When treating of truths, as the doctrines 
 of scripture, and the fundamentals of Christian faith, we are 
 to stop where the scriptures stop. We are not to be wise 
 above what is written. 
 
 Let us take, as an example, what the scriptures declare as 
 to the efficacy of the death of our Saviour. There is perhaps 
 no proposition on this subject, in which so many Ghristians 
 would agree, as that of Paley;* "that o^ir Lord's death and 
 sufferings are spoken of in the scriptures in reference to human 
 salvation, as the death and sufferings of no other being are 
 spoken of j and that the full meaning of these passages cannot 
 
 • Paley's Works Vol. IV. Sermon XXIII passim. 
 5 
 
34 
 
 be satisfied without supposing, that these sufferings jind death 
 had a real and essential effect in procuring that salvation/* 
 It is not my purpose to inquire into the accuracy or complete, 
 ness of this statement. Granting that it is a correct repre. 
 sentation of what the scriptures teach on this subject, and of 
 ill that they clearly teach, it would follow, from what is re* 
 mai'ked in the preceding paragraph, that we are not at liberty 
 to declare from our own conjectures, or from a very few 
 and obscure texts of scripture, in what the efficacy of our 
 Lord's death consists^^r why so great a sacrifice was necessary 
 for the remission of sins. These are the secret things, which 
 belong unto the Lord our God ; and it is those things only 
 which are revealed, which belong unto us. 
 
 In the application to the interpretation of the Bible of these 
 principles with regard to the office of reason, which I have 
 now endeavoured to illustrate, there is need, I confess, of 
 great caution ; but also of great fidelity. They can never lead 
 us to reject a single article clearly revealed there, as an article 
 of Christian faith. They can never teach us to say, that the 
 scriptures err ; but they may and will sometimes lead us to 
 suspend our belief in the correctness of our own researches into 
 the scriptures, or to say, that we do not at once understand a 
 particular passage, or that some interpretation different from 
 the obvious and literal one is the true meaning. If then, in 
 the study jof the scriptures, we should find any thing apparently 
 self.contradictory and unintelligible, we ought to suppose the 
 defect to be in us, not in them. A longer study will show us, 
 that the difficulty was only apparent. But if this apparent 
 contradiction should still remain after all our inquiries, it ife 
 surely better to suppose, that we misunderstand the scripturesj 
 than that they are unworthy of God. 
 
 Every Protestant of every sect acknowledges these truths, 
 and acts upon them with more or less consistency. On what 
 grounds, for example, do wfe all reject the doctrine of tran- 
 substantiation. The Catholick may produce to us the words 
 of our Saviour: this is my body : and again: except ye eat 
 the jflesh of the Son of Man and drink his Mood, ye have 
 no life in you. It is not to be denied, that the plain and 
 
6d 
 
 literal meaning of all this is, that we do eat and dtink in the 
 Eucharist the actual body and blood of our Lord ; or as. 
 the Catholick has it, the body and blood of Almighty God 
 himself. But all Protestants, with united voice, exclaim, 
 that this interpretation is impossible | that it includes every 
 kind of absurdity and contradiction, and that the reason, which 
 God has given us, authorizes us to say, that no evidence could 
 render such a doctrine credible. We proceed then to show,' 
 from other passages of scripture, as well as from its general 
 Strain and spirit, that the language of our Saviour in this case is 
 merely a figure of speech authorized by the genius and idiom 
 of the languages of the east. 
 
 The zeal of some Christians, in vindicating the scriptures 
 from the reproach of containing any doctrine inconsistent with 
 reason, has undoubtedly sometimes led them to serious errours. 
 But while we steadily discountenance a rash and intemperate 
 criticism, we are bound not to despise too lightly their motives, 
 which may be respectable, or their learning and talents, which 
 may be great and splendid. We ought to be well assured, 
 that there are no circumstances, which may have innocently 
 led our brethren into what we esteem errour, and especially to 
 be certain, that for doctrines, which we believe and they deny, 
 there can be adduced passages of scripture equally and more 
 express and unequivocal, than those which the Catholick can 
 cite for the belief of the actual presence. 
 
 To the infidel, who triumphs in the belief, that the scrip, 
 tures are so loose and indeterminate as to admit of opposite 
 interpretations, I would briefly reply. It would be very 
 strange, if books, like the scriptures,— of such high antiquity, 
 written in languages so unlike our own, and now no longer 
 spoken, in countries too where habits, manners, taste, customs 
 and opinions, so diiferent from our own, prevailed — to say 
 nothing of the difficulties produced by the modern and unau. 
 thorized division of them into chapters and verses — it would 
 Indeed be strange, if such books should be as easy of compre- 
 hension in every part, as if they were written in our own 
 country, and in our vernacular tongue. The only inference, 
 
36 
 
 which can be admitted as a legitimate and necessary one from 
 the fact of the differences among serious and ' intelligent 
 Christians is simply this : that the doctrines in question be- 
 tween them can constitute no essential part of .Christianity. 
 
 The difficulties in the interpretation of the New Testament 
 are chiefly found in the epistles of St. Paul. On the causes of 
 this peculiar obscurity in his writings, I beg leave to refer to 
 a sermon on this subject by my ever.lamented friend, the late 
 ReT. J. S. BucKMiNSTER — Before it is concluded, that the 
 epistles do not admit of a perfectly consistent and rational 
 interpretation, the comments of Grotius and Locke should be 
 diligently studied. I refer to these great men the more readily, 
 because, as laymen, they were exempt from any professional 
 bias, and because their competency to these inquiries is above 
 all question. 
 
 E. 
 
 " You may have observed, that persons, in attributing fana- 
 ticism to evangelical teachers, often fix on the phrases, more 
 than the absolute substance of evangelical doctrines. Now 
 would it not be better to show them what these doctrines are, 
 as divested of these phrases, and exhibited clearly in that vehi- 
 cle, in which other important truths are presented, and thus at 
 least to repress their scorn ? If sometimes their approbation 
 might be gained, it were a still more desirable effect. Per- 
 sons, who had received unfavourable impressions of some of the 
 peciiliar ideas of the gospel, from having heard them advanced 
 almost exclusively in the modes of phrase on which I have 
 remarked, have acknowledged their prejudices to be diminish, 
 ed, after these ideas had been presented in the simple general 
 language of intellect. We cannot indeed so far forget the 
 lessons of experience, and the inspired declarations concerning 
 the dispositions of the buman mind, as to expect that any im- 
 provement in the mode of exhibiting christian truth will render 
 it irresistible. But it were to be wished, that every thing should 
 be done tobring reluctant minds into some degree of doubt, at 
 
37 
 
 least, whether if they cannot be evangelical, it is because they 
 are too rational." Foster's Essays, p. 210, 2d Am. edition. 
 
 I fear I shall grieve some excellent persons, when I say, 
 that I here allude to the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. 
 It will be observed, however, that these remarks do not deny, 
 that this compend has various and great merits, for the time,' 
 when it was made ; but are merely intended to suggest the inqui- 
 ry, whether it ought to be considered as the final result of all 
 that the human mind can do, in stating the doctrines of our 
 religion. Unless it have this perfection, it cannot be right to 
 speak of it as the standard by which " to try all doctrines;" 
 to use it as the text of sermons and to teach it to young and 
 old, as if it were an inspired digest of the scriptures themselves. 
 I make these observations with the more confidence, since 
 this catechism is confessedly ' so imperfect, that the General 
 Association of this state, composed of ministers, who appro, 
 priate to themselves the name of orthodox, cannot be brought 
 to subscribe this instrument without the qualifying clause, that 
 they receive it only "/or substance." When, in addition to 
 this, it is considered, that this work, after all, contains nothing 
 more than the sentiments of the majority of a body of men, in 
 an age not otherwise thought to be very enlightened, with no 
 peculiar exemption from errour, and certainly under many very 
 great disadvantages' for calm and dispassionate judgment, it will 
 not be considered as a forfeiture of one's Christianity to believe, 
 that some of its doctrines may now be stated in a manner more 
 conformable to the improvement of biblical science and the 
 general progress of the human mind. 
 
 It is almost needless to observe, that the comparison sug- 
 gested in the text is not meant to extend farther than to imply, 
 that, as times of extraordinary excitement and contention con. 
 cerning the principles of government are evidently unfavoura- 
 ble to wise decisions in politicks, a season of similar excite, 
 ment, with regard to religious, as well as political opinions, 
 cannot be the most friendly to the best decisions on points of 
 theology. 
 
38 
 
 G. 
 
 The distinction between \rhat is practical and what is specu- 
 lative in these subjects is a very clear one. Take for example the 
 discussion relating to the sinfulness of the human heart. The 
 gospel addresses all mankind as sinners ; it takes it for granted; 
 that there are deep and powerful, and, if indulged, ruinous 
 tendencies to evil in the human breast. There is no dispute on 
 this/isc^. All christians believe it. But what is the method^ 
 which the New Testament takes to convince us of this truth T 
 Is it by dissertations on the origin of sin, or thei manner in 
 which it was introduced into our constitution ? or by showing 
 that these propensities to evil have no antagonist principles 
 within us, but. that we are called on, at the peril of our sal- 
 vation, to contend against them without arms and without 
 strength ? 1 appeal to the unprejudiced readers of this sacred 
 volume to say, that this is 'ttot the mode in which our Lord or 
 his apostles address mankind. No : They think it enough to 
 call upon every man to look honestly and humbly into his own 
 character, to compare himself with God's law, and to let con< 
 science be faithful to its office. No man, who does not in> 
 stantly perceive, after such an examination, that in many things 
 he offends daily, and in all comes short of the glory of God, 
 will ever be convinced of this fact by ten thousand arguments 
 relating to original and imputed sin. A man can be humbled 
 for no sin, can repent of no sin, can be converted from no sin, 
 till he is made conscious, that he is personally guilty of it— 
 on the facts of the case, of the sinfulness of the human heart, 
 there can never be any doubt or dispute, in individual instances, 
 among serious and honest men. A similar practical agref. 
 ment, 1 apprehend, might be shown with regard to all the doc- 
 trines, to which I refer in this part of the discourse. 
 
 It will be remarked, that I have no where meant to imply, 
 that the christians, whose sentiments I defend, have no opi? 
 nions on these speculative questions; or that they entirely 
 agree in their judgments upon them; or that they attach 
 no importance to the different sentiments, which are embraced 
 
39 
 
 with respect to them. Undoubtedly among all thinking 
 men there will be varying opinions on all these difficult 
 points ; and there are not a few persons, whose claims to 
 the name of truly liberal as well as learned divines are not to 
 be disputed, whose views on some of these questions approach 
 towards those, which are embraced by christians of the most 
 rigid and exclusive character. The only point, in which they 
 would all agree is, in saying, that those practical prineipleSf 
 in which all christians unite, are of higher authority and 
 weightier importance than our metaphysical speculations can 
 be ; and in declining therefore to make a man's opinions with 
 regard to any of these disputed points the test of his christian 
 character or the term of christian and ministerial communion 
 with him. 
 
 H. 
 
 It is with religion, as it is with morals, nothing can be more 
 plain than its practice, nothing more difficult than many parts 
 of its theory. This, it should seem, ought to lead a christian 
 teacher to the same course, which a j-jdicious moralist pursues. 
 Who, that was desirous of impressing on mankind at large the 
 practice of the virtues of benevolence or gratitude, would 
 think of discussing before a miscellaneous audience the.contro. 
 Tcrsy with regard to the origin of our moral ideas, and con. 
 tending either for the theory of Cudworth, or Hutcheson, or 
 Butler, or Price ? Would he not rather appeal at once to our 
 sense of right and wrong, and call us to read those sacred and 
 indelible characters, in which God has written the obligation 
 of these virtues on the human heart ? — These diflferent theories 
 are, no doubt, in a philosophical point of view of great mo- 
 ment. But whether he embraces the one or the other of them, 
 does not 'every wise and good man acknowledge the supreme 
 authority and importance oi those facts, in which all good men 
 og'ree, and allow that his ultimate appeal must always be made 
 to the universal moral sentiments and emotions of the human 
 race? " Fortunately for mankind," says Mr. Stewart, " the 
 great rules of a virtuous conduct are confessedly of such a 
 nature, as to be obvious to every sincere and well disposed 
 
mind. And it is in a peculiar degree striking, tltat, -while tbe 
 theory of ethicks involves some of the most abstruse questions, 
 which have ever employed the human faculties, the moral judg. 
 ments and moral feelings of the most distant ages and nations 
 -with respect to all the most essential duties of life are one and 
 the same." Philosophy of the Mind, Vol. II. p. 392 — 3. 
 Best. edit. 
 
 I. 
 
 To avoid the possibility of misconstruction, I wish to repeat, 
 that by the moral influence of the gospel is meant its influence 
 in the production of inward, as well as external obedience ; the 
 holiness both of the heart and the life. " Repentance towards 
 God" of course must $tand in the foremost rank of christian 
 duties ; and " faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" must be the 
 origin, motive, principle, of that reformation, which is always 
 included in the " repentance, which is unto salvation.'' la 
 like manner, all of what are called the " doctrines" of the 
 gospel are, in our view of the subject, included under its 
 motives. There is no value in the mere belief of any of them, 
 except so far as that belief operates on us " in overcoming the 
 world," in "purifying the heart," and inducing " newness of 
 life and new obedience." 
 
 There is, perhaps, no one principle of such primary impor. 
 tance, both to the theological inquirer and the practical chris- 
 tian, as that this moral influence of the gospel is its great and 
 ultimate design, as far as it respects man. It is that grand 
 and luminous truth, around which all the other truths of the 
 religious system arrange themselves, and from which they 
 derive all their lustre and all their value to man. It is a prin- 
 ciple attended with a plenitude and clearness of evidence, which 
 no other possesses. Any thing really inconsistent with it, we 
 may be sure must be false. Tout ce qui tend i I'immoralite 
 n'est jamais qu'un sophisme. Let any one, who doubts the 
 extent and importance of this principle, attempt to state to 
 himself any other end of the christian revelation, than to fit 
 men for heaven by making them good, and he will at once 
 see, that he can assign no one, which must not ultimately be 
 
41 
 
 resolved into this. Who indeed can have any doubt on this 
 point, who considers how distinctly it is declared, that the 
 ultimate end of the death of our Saviour himself is its moral 
 influence on his disciples. " And this we are assured of,'' 
 saith Bp. Fowler, " by abundance of express scriptures, some 
 few of which we will here produce:" 
 
 Rom. vi. 6. Knowing this, (hat our old man is crucified with 
 him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
 we should not serve him. 
 
 2Cor. V. 15, He died for all, Ma; they which live should 
 not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died 
 for them and rose again. 
 
 Gal. i. 4. Who gare himself for our sins, that he might deli., 
 ver us from this present evil world (viz. from its corrupt prac- 
 tices) according to the will of God and our Father, 
 
 Ephes. T. 25, 26, 27. Christ loved the church and gave him- 
 self for it, thai he might sanctify and cleanse it with the wash, 
 ing of water by the word, that he might present it unto him. 
 self a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 
 
 Colos. i. 21, 22. And you that were sometime alienated and 
 enemies in your minds by wicked \yorks, hath he now reconciled 
 in the body of his llesh through death to present you holy un- 
 blamable and unrcprovable in his sight. 
 
 TituS) ii. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might re((§ein 
 us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people, 
 zealous of good works. 
 
 1 Peter, i. 18. For as much as ye know that ye were not 
 redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and go\d,from your 
 vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers ; 
 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish 
 and without spot. 
 
 1 Peter, iii. 18. For Christ also once suffered for sins, the 
 just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, &c. That 
 is, saith Calvin upon the place, that we might be so consecrated 
 to God as to live and die to him. 
 
 1 Peter, ii. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own 
 body on the tree, that we being dead to si"' should live to 
 
 6 
 
4S 
 
 righteousness ; by ■schose stripes ye were healed. Design of 
 Christianity, by Bp. Fowler, apud Watson Theological 
 Tracts, vol. vi. 339, 340. 
 
 The following chronological memoranda may perhaps be 
 valued by the members of the New South Society. 
 
 First meeting on record for the formation of the society, July 
 14, 17 1 5. New House dedicated : sermons by Dr. Cotton Ma- 
 ther and Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, January 8, 1716. Church 
 covenant signed, and the Rev. Samuel Checkley ordained Pastor, 
 April 15, 1719. Rev. Penuel Bowen ordained colleague 
 Pastor, April 30, 1766. Rev. Joseph Howe ordained Pastor, 
 May 19, 1773. Rev. Oliver Everett, do. January 2, 1782. 
 Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, do. February 5, 1794. In. 
 ducted President of Harvard College, November 3, 1810. 
 Present Pastor ordained. May 16, 1811. Old house taken 
 down, April, 1814. New house dedicated, Dec. 29, 1814. 
 
 I subjoin at the request of some highly valued friends the 
 following description of the New House, which first appeared 
 in the publick papers. 
 
 THE NEW STONE CHURCH. 
 
 The new Church on Church-green, at the easterly end of 
 Summer street, is built of the best Chelmsford granite, and of 
 the following dimensions. The body of the building is octa. 
 gonal, formed in a square of seventy-six feet diameter: four 
 sides being forty.seven feet, and four smaller sides twenty feet 
 each. Three large windows are in two of the principal sides, 
 and one in each of the angles and in the rear. The height from 
 the ground is thirty-four feet, and finished with a Dorick cor. 
 nice of bold projection. The porch is of equal extent with 
 
43 
 
 one of the sides, and advances sixteen feet, in front of which i^, 
 a portico of four fluted columns of Grecian Dorick ; this por- 
 tico is crowned with a pediment, surmounted by a plain Attick. 
 A tower rises from the centre of the attick which includes the 
 belfry. ' The first story of the steeple is an octagon, surround. 
 ed by eight columns, with a circular pedestal and entablature ; 
 an attick above this gradually diminishing by three steps or 
 gradins, supports a second range of Corinthian columns, with 
 entablature and balustrade ; hence the ascent, in a gradual 
 diminution, forms the base of the spire, crowned with a ball 
 and vane. The entire height is one hundred and ninety feet. 
 
 Inside of the house, the ceiling is supported by four lonick 
 columns, connected above their entablature by four arches of 
 moderate elevation ; in the angles, pendants or fans rise to 
 form a circular fiat ceiling, decorated with a centre flower : be. 
 tween the arches and the walls are groins springing from the 
 cornice, supported by lonick pilasters between the windows. 
 The galleries rest upon small columns, and are finished in front 
 with balustrades. The pulpit is richly built of mahogany, 
 supported by lonick and Corinthian columns. The floor of 
 the house contains one hundred and eighteen pews, and the gal- 
 leries thirty-two, besides the organ loft and seats for the 
 orphan children of the Female Asylum. 
 
 In constructing this house, an attempt has been made to 
 unite the massive simplicity of the Grecian temple, with the 
 conveniences of a christian church. The bold proportions of 
 the portico, cornices, and windows, and the simplicity of the 
 Attick, give the impression of classical antiquity ; while the 
 tower and steeple, inventions of comparatively modern date, 
 harmonize more agreeably with the antique architecture, than is 
 usual, where such different styles are blended. It is but jus- 
 tice to say, that this splendid temple does the highest honour io 
 the taste and science of the architect, Charles Bulfinch, Esq. 
 as well as of the committee, under whose superintendence it has 
 been planned and built, viz, Jonathan Hunnewell, George G. 
 tee, John Dorr, Stephen Higginson, and John Cotton, 
 Esquires. 
 
\