SpesasHereee? perraeteiaael pera PIPseors seeteierereress seseresestee = = 25c5 ; : - resaeristostoees es aoe ati teres : ; ny s EE SEREy sere a pee ape yiescae rapeeaes pe pisses 3 as a ES Fes st ‘* “S | Ae Sts rere Sra DUKE UNIVERSITY DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY FRANK BAKER COLLECTION OF WESLEYANA AND BRITISH METHODISM _ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2023 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/completeworks41 pale « -_ « —- J, 7 : — jo i * * . 9 ce = a ae] ae wat ar = TS ™ eee . —~ a pad § > a "- a — ~ C7 we = = ’ . — I - a 5 ” > ee > Seivereecennereee sn: Th} 00 . y 5 ‘ i: H . vo, ee Me !% “age ; a eae tf Oe ‘ b ’ > ae e a a ake, r - i ‘ .- * wy ne wan” . _ ve oF" fag reel ‘ Fa} sow yey a te | 4 “e ng re izes 5 ee age ve ney * * | 7 oy E } A Sat, BY et oH i) ie? A SEPM TGS a 4 ee, eet ' hy EAE Sh Bie . Mi ‘ GAT a 47% | er ” Wa ten heir: BY LORD iat Be Gee taint: Silis WN dibs ve: ANALG, eet] reo Med ‘aise Ly tees Aa Mey $ COREL y: HATO ARY yop) SON. PHCOREENER Y Pe eae ve tea} idiichieddk Tlkatsetalee Mine ean \ 7 Fey ty Green ey Oe. ths, ain. ve. shea: ra ati; X, DOW BEES: o ante: BTUCE: He ae RY da soebay AE, SETOBUL) RING Stes WL He ain ¥ MEO Y Fe Wiha Te ay, RAVE PE Pas EON Ne eA, ch stp We ates Alem AD yeah ieee THE COMPLETE WORKS WILLIAM PALEY, D.D. WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE: AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY THE REV. ROBERT LYNAM, A.M. ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN TO THE MAGDALEN HOSPITAL, IN FOUR VOLUMES.—VOL. IV. J. F. Dove, Printer to the United University Club. LONDON: PRINTED FOR GEORGE COWIE AND CO. POULTRY; SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. CORNHILL; HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY; RICHARD BAYNES, PATERNOSTER ROW; W. MASON, PICKETT STREET; J. HEARNE, STRAND ; HARDCASTLE, PIAZZA; J. ARNOULD, SPRING GARDENS; M. DOYLE, HIGH HOLBORN; H. STEEL, TOWER HILL; J. DOWDING, NEWGATE STREET; T. LESTER, FINSBURY PLACE; J. F. SETCHEL, KING STREET; W. BOOTH, DUKE STREET; P. WRIGHT, BROAD STREET; J. WHEATLEY, LEICESTER SQUARE; J. PARKER, OXFORD; J. DEIGHTON AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE ; MOZLEY, DERBY: CUMMING; KEENE; ARCHER; AND TIMS; DUBLIN. 1825 is} Ee , SOW. aa pre ‘ of Pt . P itiie “4 A Gy ‘ kee malas hg “OE. Yat WARS wel a2 é Fi , : 5 a 3 COM LMOTE OG EE WO WY | pee uae : : 1 a wl my) ili eee ahh yi? ‘ & UWA a : hi : ‘ oa WéiA MAWYI THEHOH BG: t 4 Att uN ie | "pi ae Og OU a a? pd Os Oded Me gta tiitey 22 44s ahRO9 anu ale S| gawvde OMAHOIN y Cite dod ane amen sTet Pen (KATO UO hg PRNTO 9K HIG MOEA Lwor oT oom Lous Abt00 Mg RAR OCG MUUOMES LE EAKRs'S ETRE shee RTADWAN WM wOK o 7b 4awOT 2912 soon We ; TRARTO COACH SETS. PSA Vaaeete AEROS MILEASNW Lg TERA diiena Tueay .1 . vaae . TERMED cece A HOT WORE. gAROTTO AIA 4 LAR AME OHS ‘wee YReISN (OnIMMTS 6 THNA hast hy! if #- wv rf ) \ * Si ee * + ay ey oak, oe) ae ‘ ae ay ae ee ee ee CE CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. 0 ®. / Bias C, d SERMONS ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS. — i SERMON I. SERIOUSNESS IN RELIGION A MOST INDISPENSABLE DISPOSITION. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.—1 Pet.iv.7. Page 3 SERMON Il. THE LOVE OF GOD. We love him, because he first loved us.—1 John iv. 19. Bi Maen lly) SERMON III. MEDITATING UPON RELIGION. Have I not remembered thee in my bed; and ponent pen thee when I was waking ?—Psalm Ixili. 7. - 25 SERMON IV. OF THE STATE AFTER DEATH. Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet ap- pear, what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall ap- alae we shall be like him; for we shall see nae as he is.—1 John rity oA By 1G . . . ° ulna INI Ce on " SERMON Wi ON PURITY OF THE HEART AND AFFECTIONS. Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in i areas pee even as he is pure.—1 John iii. 2, 3. : seas ott Re ATO OS SERMON VI. TASTE FOR DEVOTION. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father “in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Godisa Spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit an in truth. John iv. 23, 24..-. + 1h “HARA - ¥oudode «oN ee SERMON V. Dangers incidental to the Clerical Character stated, in a Sermon, reached before the University of Cambridge, at Great St. Mary’s Church, on Sunday, July 5, being Commencement Sunday - SERMON VI. ; A Sermon, preached at the Assizes at Durham, July 29, 1795; and published at the Request of the Lord Bishop, the Honour- ; able the Judges of Assize, and the Grand Jury + + + + 329 315 CONTENTS. ix THE CLERGYMAN’S COMPANION IN VISITING THE SICK. THE MANNER-OF VISITING THE SICK. Secr. I. Assistance that is to be given to'sick and dying Persons by the Ministry of the Clergy - + + + Page II. Rules for the Manner of Visiting the Sick-- - - III. Of instructing the sick Man in the Nature of Repentance and Confession of his Sins 9-0 ss > Arguments and Exhortations to move the sick Man to Repentance and Confession of his Sins - + + - Arguments and general Heads of Discourse, by way of Consideration, to awaken a bales Conspiente and the careless Sinner - - = IV. Of applying Spiritual crtes a the ae Fears and Dejections of the Sick - - - + + + Considerations to be offered to Persons under Ba we Melancholy SS a ee Yeo a be nds be An Exercise against Despair - = + + + + + V. Considerations against Presumption” - cet ope The Order for the Visitation OF LHS lek ce fhe ent oe Pata cet Fe The Communion of the Sick - - Dain Proper Collects that may be used with any “of the Prayers for the Stek ti poate eee ee eee i pt PRAYERS FOR THE SICK; Viz. A general Prayer for the Acceptance of our uepations for the Sick Particular Prayers for the Sick — Sit Re Pore A larger Form of Prayer forthe Sick - + + Ca ee Proper Psalms forthe Sick + + + = > A Declaration of Forgiveness - + + + * = = , OCCASIONAL PRAYERS FOR THE SICK; VIZ. A Prayer for a Person in the eine of his Sickness- + + For Thankfulness in Sickness +--+ os : For a Blessing on the Means used 5 a aa Person’ s Bower For asick Person when there appears some Hope of Recovery In behalf of the sick Eon, when he finds any Abatement of his Distenper =flb = oe) 4 Rao wal sabes" icAgenO ho For one who is Tee ill A OBA ete (eat La ae ae Fora sick Person, when Sickness continues long upon ee ab s For the Grace of Bageace or) a ~abeties kay t- : For spiritual Improvement by Ses : 5 rer dhe For a sick Person who is about to make his Will

Woman after Delivery, but still in Danger = oe oes Cpe sete melt lilt Titel th i ep x CONTENTS. Prayers forasick Child - + : + «+ «+ Page 418 A Prayer for a Person who, from a state of Health, is suddenly seized with the Symptomsof Death + + + + «+ + « 419 For a sick Person, when there appeareth small Hope of Recovery 420 A general Prayer for Preparation and Readiness todie- + + 421 A commendatory Prayer for a sick Person at the Point of De- parture . . ° ° . . ° ° * ° ° . . . + 422 A Litany for a sick Person at the Time of Departure + + + 423 Form of recommending the Soul to God in her Departure from the Body el olm Sees Soe roneud ri jept hen wel Fh jy deta nnnnnnonas A consolatory Form of Devotion, that may be used with the Friends or Relations of the Deceased + + + + + + + 426 OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND DEVOTIONS FOR THE SICK AND UNFORTUNATE IN EXTRAORDINARY CASES; VIZ. A Prayer for a Person, whose Illness is chiefly brought on him by some calamitous Disaster or Loss ; as of Estate, Relations, or Friends, &c. - + + +© + *© * «© «© © «© «© e 429 For a Person who, by any calamitous Disaster, hath broken any of his Bones, or is very much bruised and hurt in his Body - 430 For a Person who is afflicted with grievous Pains ofhis Body + 431 For one who is troubled with acute pains of the Gout, Stone, Colic, or any other bodily Distemper + + + + + © = For a Person who hath the Small- oe or any such like raging in- fectious Disease - - -; Meh eri Oe a For a Person ina Consumption, or any iRiaeonee Disease - + 434 For a Person who is lame in his Sickness+ + + + + + + ib. For one that is Bed-ridden oe els “Met Teh Sie Gme, es Semana For a Person troubled in Mind or Conscience - 2 « «© 436 For one under deep Melancholy or inejecson of Spirit» + + 437 Another Prayer for the same - + - oT ST RRRECeie ciemaies A Prayer for one under Fears and Doubts concerning his spiritual Condition ; or under renee heap: and Scruples about his Duty - - s 2 8 8 2 + 438 For one who is disturbed with area ad biacphecsna Thoughts 439 For a Person who is afflicted with a profane Mistrust of divine Truths, and blasphemous Thoughts - - + « + 440 For a Person under the Dread of God’s Wrath aud everlasting Damnation. “« weed ne ely et tiie o 2; ode Rae ae Fora Lunatic - - + © © « « « . «= (0°) Soh emeead For natural Fools or Madmen 2 ee oi Mel fe nag Proper Psalms for a sick Person atSea - - + + + « + 442 A Prayer forasick Seamen + © + © + © © © « © 444 For a sick Soldieror Seaman - - S60 © 0 +e 445 A Prayer to be used by a Person afflicted with a Distesixges of ong Continuance - + + + + * © + © © «© « 447 OTHER OCCASIONAL PRAYERS; VIZ. On the Death of aFriend - - © + + «= «+ - =» 448 For a Person troubled in Mind - + + + + + « « « 449 For an old Person - + - eet eet eet) ee A Prayer for a Person condemned to die 2 CO OD A Prayer of Preparation for Death + + + = | ee aoe The Ministration of Public Papaea of ie EL to te used in Churches - =: ° : . Re oe The Ministration of Private Seplist of Children i in Houses + « 459 ADVERTISEMENT. Tue Posthumous Sermons, immediately preceding the Six Sermons on Public Occasions in this volume, were first printed in the year 1806, by direction of Dr. Paley, who, in a codicil to his will, says, “If my life had been spared, it was my intention to have printed at Sunder- land a volume of Sermons—about 500 copies: and I had proceeded so far in the design as to have transcribed se- veral Sermons for that purpose, which are in a parcel by themselves. There is also a parcel from which I intended to transcribe others; but the whole is in an unfinished state, the arrangement is not settled, and there are many things which may be omitted, and others which may be altered or consolidated.” He then directs, that after such selection and disposition shall have been made, respecting the manuscripts, they should be printed at the expense of his executors, and distributed in his neighbourhood in the manner following: firstly, to those who frequented church; secondly, to farmers’ families in the country; and lastly, to those who had a person in their family who could read, and was likely to read them. Finally he adds, “ I would not have the said Sermons published for sale.” The following Sermons were therefore selected and re- vised by the Rev. Mr. Stephenson of Bishop Wearmouth, and distributed in the year 1806, aeconding As to the direc- tions of the testator. It was undoubtedly the Author’s wish that the collection should not be printed for public sale; but the distribution of so large a number destroyed his intention ; and accord- ingly, in 1808, the first public edition made its appearance ; since which time the volume has gone through several large impressions. VOL. IV, B Ny a. s v4 1 ¥ t SAK oy raw iv athe i: yh r % ' “1 ont amis Sian ot Ladolthee Seite “deritore HT de Raa OF Hide ovale 6 cork yd) OGL 3p Gael chad Hart, aifoyaa it y" ai allie nist Ob hig Sfobitnd: in babar Ce OV ar. oO} toi gpanetb { bad: 2 bits. saeq02 QQa sucde ANOUyye bodied, ath ob ee: epied |, Sek rag ig aE Sas dh eos) eid bad h bobseirn i shptadas pend byes ‘Eo ols al P* : hodaianiue ia yy 4 Hates ob dud 29a een i Svat but hala 4y page od iyert oie poiebaa anion, eh ibe rione “Pa us i aa hie fab eles “ak pei ing yaiiasqest, nhthedeschorsid liagldiucel Ww Gils) vit dite tal fring tc) Hyer ped ro oddoddaind, id oF bate dixiachy ite shuns Pel » helirenpen eri pen heal yel wee eae gyidas! Hit 4 aii Miia? vid iti woiiintst By ts dbase fAwoo ontiy tie st vigil) Girte hgh tb we a oe Abt te veh ay inte: “anid? , Deal, Os glee x) it botikiia re an ee. suds ser hae b ho loa otahoned 19 8/ axe Oey Gy ies hive ii iri Ve qad: i OP, Yo Oe: niggld.9 rie erie -qdg tbo: oes isou Set hy ) | 1 Sy uoidontlod amt dnsdtd helio anadisens id Boi | dtoltuds niet > Salt ghithegobae Silden, red beri nivay 1 {ehyyooos hits: nokta pic, ba ona odtumt 68 a“ Bo etsy: ad Sbed¥ 10; jibaoilcteh sett asli 08 } mayes. sayssersihd sar: ae anid atsisioy we ois ba er k wit, : ¥ “a ot Bae _xoina ra Pe Cape, Sage ee ery? Ae ye evs ee et SERMONS. I. SERIOUSNESS IN RELIGION INDISPENSABLE ABOVE ALL OTHER DISPOSITIONS. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.—1| Pet. iv. 7. Tue first requisite in religion is seriousness. No im- pression can be made without it. An orderly life, so far as others are able to observe, is now and then produced by prudential motives or by dint of habit ; but without se- riousness there can be no religious principle at the bottom, no course of conduct flowing from religious motives ; in a word, there can be no religion. This cannot exist without seriousness upon the subject. Perhaps a teacher of reli- gion has more difficulty in producing seriousness amongst his hearers, than in any other part of his office. Until he succeed in this, he loses his labour: and when once, from any cause whatever, a spirit of levity has taken hold of a mind, it is next to impossible to plant serious considerations in that mind. It is seldom to be done, except by some great shock or alarm, sufficient to make a radical change in the disposition ; and which is God’s own way of bring- ing about the business. One might have expected that events so awful and tremendous, as death and judgment ; that a question so deeply interesting, as whether we shall go to heaven or to hell, could in no possible case and in no constitution of mind whatever, fail of exciting the most serious apprehen- sionand concern. But this is not so.—In a thoughtless, a careless, a sensual world, many are always found, who can resist, and who do resist, the force and importance of all these reflections; that is to say, they suffer nothing of the kind to enter into their thoughts. There are grown men and women, nay, even middle-aged persons, who have not thought seriously about religion an hour, nor a-quarter of B2 4 SERMONS. an hour, in the whole course of their lives. This great object of human solicitude affects not them in any manner whatever. It cannot be without its use to inquire into the causes of a levity of temper, which so effectually obstructs the ad- mission of every religious influence, and which I should almost call unnatural. ist. Now there is a numerous class of mankind, who are wrought upon by nothing but what applies immediately to their senses ; by what they see or by what they feel; by pleasures or pains, or by the near prospect of pleasures and pains which they actually experience or actually observe. But it is the characteristic of religion to hold out to our consideration consequences which we do not perceive at the time. That is its very office and province. Therefore if men will restrict and confine all their regards and all their cares to things which they perceive with their outward senses ; if they will yield up their understandings to their senses both in what these senses are fitted to apprehend, and in what they are not fitted to apprehend, it is utterly im- possible for religion to settle in their hearts, or for them to entertain any serious concern about the matter. But surely this conduct is completely irrational, and can lead to no- thing but ruin. It proceeds upon the supposition, that there is nothing above us, about us, or future, by which we can be affected, but the things which we see with our eyes, or feel by our touch. All which is untrue. ‘ The im- visible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are seen; even his eternal power and Godhead ;” which means, that the order, contrivance and design displayed in the creation, prove with certainty that there is more in nature than what we really see; and that amongst the invisible things of the universe there is a Being, the author and origin of all this contrivance and design, and, by consequence, a Being of stupendous power, and of wisdom and knowledge, incom- parably exalted above any wisdom or knowledge, which we see in man, and that he stands in the same relation to us “SERMONS. 5 as the Maker does to the thing made. The things which are seen are not made of the things which do appear. This is plain: and this argument is independent of Scripture and revelation. What farther moral or religious consequences properly follow from it is another question, but the proposi- tion itself shews, that they who cannot, and they who will not, raise their minds above the mere information of their senses, are in a state of gross error as to the real truth of things, and are also in a state to which the faculties of man _ ought not to be degraded. A person of this sort may with respect to religion remain a child all his life. A child naturally has no concern but about the things which directly meet its senses; and the person we describe is in the same condition. Again. There is a race of giddy thoughtless men and women, of young men and young women more especially, who look no farther than the next day, the next week, the next month; seldom or ever so far as the next year. Present pleasure is every thing with them. The sports of the day, the amusements of the evening, entertainments and diversions, occupy all theirconcern ; and solongas these can be supplied in succession, so long as they can go from one diversion to another, their minds remain in a state of perfect indifference to every thing except their pleasures. Now what chance has religion with such dispositions as these? yet these dispositions begun in early life, and fa- voured by circumstances, that is by affluence and health, cleave toa man’s character much beyond the period of life in which they might seem to be excusable. Excusable, did I say; I ought rather to have said, that they are con- trary to reason and duty in every condition and at every _ period of life. Even in youth they are built upon false- hood and folly. Young persons, as well as old, find that things do actually come to pass. Evils and mischiefs, which they regarded as distant, as out of their view, as beyond the line and reach of their preparations or their concern, come, they find, to be actually felt. They find that nothing is done by slighting them beforehand; for 6 SERMONS. however neglected or despised, perhaps ridiculed and de- rided, they come not only to be things present, but the very things and the only things about which their anxiety is employed; become serious things indeed as being the things which now make them wretched and miserable. Therefore a man must learn to be affected by events which appear to lie at some distance, before he will be seriously affected by religion. Again. The general course of education is much against religious seriousness, even without those who conduct education foreseeing or intending any such effect. Many of us are brought up with this world set before us and no- thing else. Whatever promotes this world’s prosperity is praised ; whatever hurts and obstructs and prejudices this world’s prosperity is blamed: and there all praise and cen- sure end. We see mankind about us in motion and action, but all these motions and actions directed to worldly objects. We hear their conversation, but it is all the same way. And this is what we see and hear from the first. The views, which are continually placed before our eyes, regard this life alone and its interests. Can it then be wondered at that an early worldly-mindedness is bred in our hearts, so strong as to shut out heavenly-mindedness entirely? In the contest which is always carrying on be- tween this world and the next, it is no difficult thing to see what advantage this world has. One of the greatest of these advantages is that it occupies the mind ; it gets the first hold and the first possession. Childhood and youth left to themselves are necessarily guided by sense; and sense is all on the side of this world. Meditation brings us to look towards a future life ; but then meditation comes afterward ; it only comes when the mind is already filled and engaged, and occupied, nay, often crowded and surcharged with worldly ideas. It is not only therefore fair and right, but it is absolutely necessary, to give to religion all the advantage we can give it by dint of education: for all that can be done is too little to set reli- gion upon an equality with its rival; which rival is the SERMONS. : 7 world. A creature, which is to pass a small portion of its existence in one state, and that state to be preparatory to another, ought, no doubt, to have its attention constantly fixed upon its ulterior and permanent destination. And: this would be so, if the question between them came fairly’ before the mind. We should listen to the Scriptures ; we should embrace religion, we should enter into every thing which had relation to the subject with a concern and impression, even far more than the pursuits of this world, eager and ardent as they are, excite. But the question between religion and the world does not come fairly before us. What surrounds us is this world ; what addresses our senses and our passions is this world ; what is at hand; what is in contact with us; what acts upon us, what we act upon, is this world. Reason, faith and hope are the only principles to which religion applies, or possibly can apply; and it is religion, faith and hope striving with sense, striving with temptation, striving for things absent against things which are present. That religion therefore may not quite be excluded and overborne, may not quite sink under these powerful causes, every support ought to be given to it which can be given by education, by instruction, and, above all, by the example of those, to whom young persons look up, acting with a view to future life themselves. Again. It is the nature of worldly business of all kinds, especially of much hurry or over-employment, or over- anxiety in business, to shut out and keep out religion from the mind. The question is, whether the state of mind, which this cause produces, ought to be called a want of seriousness in religion. It becomes coldness and indifference towards religion ; but is it properly a want of seriousness upon the subject? I think it is; and in this way. We are never serious upon any matter which we regard as trifling. This isimpossible. And we are led to regard a thing as trifling, which engages no portion of our habitual thoughts, in comparison with what other things do. But farther. The world, even in its innocent pursuits 8 SERMONS. and pleasures, has a tendency unfayourable to the. reli- gious sentiment. But were these all it had to contend with, the strong application which’ religion makes to the thoughts, whenever we think of it all; the strong interest which it presents to us, might enable it to overcome and prevail in the contest. But there is another adversary, to oppose much more formidable, and that is sensuality; an addiction to sensual pleasures, It is the flesh which lusteth against the spirit ; that is the war which is waged within us. So it is, no matter what may be the cause, that sensual indulgences, over and above their proper criminality, as sins, as offences against God’s commands, havea specific effect upon the heart of man in destroying the religious principle within him: or still more surely in preventing the formation of that principle. It either induces an open profaneness of conversation and behaviour, which scorns and contemns religion: a kind of profligacy which rejects and sets at nought the whole thing : or it brings upon the heart an averseness to the subject, a fixed dislike and re- luctance to enter upon its concerns in any way whatever. That a resolved sinner should set himself against a religion, which tolerates no sin, is not to be wondered at. He is against religion, because religion is against the course of fife upon which he has entered, and which he does not feel himself willing to give up. But this is not the whole, nor is it the bottom of the matter. The effect we allude to is not so reasoning or argumentative as this. Itisa specific effect. upon the mind. The heart is rendered un- susceptible of religious impressions, incapable of a serious regard to religion: and this effect belongs to sins of sen- suality more than to other sins.’ It is a consequence which almost universally follows from them. We measure the importance of things, not by what or according to what they are in truth, but by and according to the space and room which they occupy in our minds. Now our busi- ness, our trade, our schemes, our pursuits, our gains, our losses, our fortunes, possessing so much of our minds SERMONS. 9 whether we regard the hours we expend in meditating upon them, or the earnestness with which we think about them; and religion possessing so little share of our thought either in time or earnestness; the consequence is, that worldly interest comes to be the serious thing with us ; religion comparatively the trifle. Men of business are na- turally serious; but all their seriousness is absorbed by their business, In religion they are no more serious than the most giddy characters are: than those characters are which betray levity in all things. Again. Thewant of due seriousness in religion is almost sure to be the consequence of the absence or disuse of reli- gious ordinances and exercises. I use twoterms; “absence” and “ disuse.” Some have never attended upon any religious ordinances, or practised any religious exercises, since the time they were born: some avery few times in their lives. With theseit is the “absence” of religious ordinances and exercises. There are others (and many we fear of this description), who, whilst under the guidance of their parents, have fre- quented religious ordinances, and been trained up to re- ligious exercises, but who, when they came into more public life, and to be their own masters, and to mix in the pleasures of the world, or to engage themselves in its business and pursuits, have forsaken these duties in whole or in a great degree. With these it is the “‘ disuse” of religious ordinances and exercises. But I must also explain what I mean by “ religious ordinances and ex- ercises.” By ‘¢ religious ordinances” I mean the being in- structed in our catechism in our youth, attending upon public worship at church, the keeping holy the Lord’s day regularly and most particularly, together with a few other days in the year, by which some very principal events and passages of the Christian history are commemorated, and at its proper season the more solemn office of receiving the Lord’s Supper. These are so many rites and ordinances of Christianity ; concerning all which it may be said, that with the greater part of mankind, especially that class of mankind which must or does give much of its time and care to worldly 10 SERMONS. concerns, they are little less than absolutely necessary; if we judge it to be necessary to maintain and uphold any sentiment, any impression, any seriousness about religion in the mind at all. They are necessary to preserve in the thoughts a place for the subject; they are necessary that the train of our thoughts may not even be closed up against it. Were all days of the week alike and employed alike ; was there no difference or distinction between Sunday and work-day ; was there not achurch in the nation ; were we never from one year’s end to another called together to participate in public worship; were there no set forms of public worship ; no particular persons appointed to minister and officiate, indeed no assemblies for public worship at all; no joint prayers; no preaching: still religion, in it- self, in its reality and importance, in its end and event, would be the same thing as what it is; we should still have to account for our conduct; there would still be heaven and hell; salvation and perdition: there would still be the laws of God both natural and revealed; all the obligation which the authority of a Creator can im- pose upon a creature ; all the gratitude which is due from a rational being to the Author and Giver of every blessing which he enjoys ; lastly, there would still be the redemp- tion of the world by Jesus Christ. All these things would, with or without religious ordinances, be equally real and existing and valid; but men would not think equally about them. Many would entirely and totally neglect them. Some there would always be of a more devout, or serious, or contemplative disposition, who would retain a lively sense of these things under all circumstances and all dis- advantages, who would never lose their veneration for them, never forget them. But from others; from the careless, the busy, the followers of pleasure, the pursuers of wealth or advancement, these things would slip away from the thoughts entirely. Together with religious ‘‘ ordinances” we mentioned religious ‘‘ exercises.” By the term religious ‘‘ exercises” I in particular mean private prayer ; whether it be at set SERMONS. 11 times, as in the morning and evening of each day, or whe- ther it be called forth by occasions, as when we are to form some momentous decision, or enter upon some great un- dertaking ; or when we are under some pressing difficulty or deep distress, some excruciating bodily pain, or heavy affliction ; or, on the other hand, and no less properly, when we have lately been receiving some signal benefit, - experiencing some signal mercy; such as preservation from danger, relief from difficulty or distress, abatement of pain, recovery from sickness: for by prayer let it be ob- served we mean devotion in general; and thanksgiving is devotion as much as prayer itself. I mean private prayer, as here described; and I also mean, what is perhaps the most natural form of private prayer, short ejaculatory ex- temporaneous addresses to God, as often as either the re- flections which rise up in our minds, let them come from what quarter they may, or the objects and incidents which seize our attention, prompt us to utter them; which, in a religiously disposed mind, will be the case, I may say, every hour, and which ejaculation may be offered up to God in any posture, in any place, or in any situation. Amongst religious exercises I also reckon family prayer, which unites many of the uses both of public worship and private prayer. The reading of religious books is likewise to be accounted a religious exercise. Religious meditation still more so ; and more so for this reason, that it implies and includes that most important duty, self-examination ; for I hold it to be next to impossible for a man to meditate upon religion without meditating at the same time upon his own present condition with respect to the tremendous alternative which is to take place upon him after his death. These are what we understand by religious exercises ; and they are all so far of the same nature with religious or- _ dinances, that they are aids and helps of religion itself; and I think that religious seriousness cannot be maintained in the soul without them. | But again. A cause which has a strong tendency to destroy religious seriousness, and which almost infallibly 12 SERMONS. prevents its formation and growth in young minds, is levity in conversation upon religious subjects, or upon subjects con- nected withreligion. Whether we regard the practice with respect to those who use it, or to those who hear it, it is highly to be blamed, and is productive of great mischief. In those who use it, it amounts almost to a proof that they are destitute of religious seriousness. The principle itself is destroyed in them, or was never formed in them. Upon those who hear, its effect is this. If they have concern about religion, and the disposition towards religion, which they ought to have, and which we signify by this word se- riousness, they will be inwardly shocked and offended by the leyity with which they hear it treated. They will, as it were, resent such treatment of a subject, which by them has always been thought upon with awe and dread and ve- neration. But the pain with which they were at first af- fected goes off by hearing frequently the same sort of Jan- guage ; and then they will be almost sure, if they examine the state of their minds as to religion, to feel a change in themselves for the worse. This is the danger to which those are exposed, who had before imbibed serious impres- sions. Those, who had not, will be prevented by such sort of conversation from ever imbibing them at all; so that its influence is in all cases pernicious. The turn which this levity usually takes, is in jests and raillery upon the opinions, or the peculiarities, or the per- sons of those, who happen to be more serious than our- selves. But against whomsoever it happens to be pointed, it has the bad effects both upon the speaker and the hearer which we have noticed. It tends to destroy our own se- riousness, together with the seriousness of those, who hear or join in such sort of conversation ; especially if they be young persons : and I am persuaded, that much mischief is actually done in this way. It has been objected, that so much regard, or, as the ob- jectors would call it, over-regard for religion, is inconsistent with the interest and welfare of our families, and with suc- cess and prosperity in our worldly affairs. I believe that SERMONS. 18 there is very little ground for this objection in fact, and even as the world goes; in reason and principle there is none. A good Christian divides his time between the duties of religion; the calls of business, and those quiet relaxations which may be innocently allowed to his circum- stances and condition, and which will be chiefly in his family or amongst a few friends. In this plan of life there is no confusion or interference in its parts; and unless a man be given to sloth and laziness, which are what re- ligion condemns, he will find time enough for them all. This calm system may not be sufficient for that unceasing eagerness, hurry and anxiety about worldly affairs, in which some men pass their lives, but it is sufficient for every thing which reasonable prudence requires: it is perfectly consistent with usefulness in our stations, which is a main point. Indeed, compare the hours which serious persons spend in religious exercises and meditations, with the hours which the thoughtless and irreligious spend in idleness and vice and expensive diversions, and you will perceive on which side of the comparison the advantage lies even in this view of the subject. Nor is there any thing in the nature of religion to sup- port the objection. Ina certain sense it is true, what has been sometimes said, that religion ought to be the rule of life, not the business: by which is meant that the subject matter even of religious duties lies in the common affairs and transactions of the world ; diligence in our calling is an example of this; which, however, keeps both a man’s head and hands at work upon business merely temporal, yet religion may be governing him here meanwhile ; God may be feared in the busiest scenes. Tn addition to the above there exists another prejudice against religious seriousness arising from a notion very commonly entertained, viz. that religion leads to gloom and melancholy. This notion, I am convinced, is a mis- take. Some persons are constitutionally subject to melan- choly, which is as much a disease in them as the ague is a disease ; and it may happen that such men’s melancholy 14 SERMONS. shall fall upon religious ideas, as it may upon any other subject which seizes their distempered imagination. But this is not religion leading to melancholy : for it sometimes is the case, that men are brought to a sense of religion by calamity and affliction, which produce at the same time depression of spirits. But neither here is religion the cause of this distress or dejection, or to be blamed for it. These cases being excepted, the very reverse of what is alleged against religion is the truth. No man’s spirits were ever hurt by doing his duty. On the contrary, one good action, one temptation resisted and overcome, one sacrifice of desire or interest, purely for conscience sake, will prove a cordial for weak and low spirits beyond what either indulgence or diversion or company can do for them. And a succession and course of such actions and self-de- nials, springing from a religious principle and manfully maintained, is the best possible course that can be followed as a remedy for sinkings and oppressions of this kind. Can it then be true that religion leads to melancholy? Oc- casions rise to every man living; to many very severe as well as repeated occasions, in which the hopes of religion are the only stay that is left him. Godly men have that within them which cheers and comforts them in their sad- dest hours; ungodly men have that which strikes their heart like a dagger, in their gayest moments. Godly men discover, what is very true, but what, by most men, is found out too late, namely, that a good conscience, and the hope of our Creator’s final favour and acceptance, are the only solid happiness to be attained in this world. Ex- perience corresponds with the reason of the thing. I take upon me to say that religious men are generally cheerful. If this be not observed, as might be expected, supposing it to be true, it is because the cheerfulness which religion in- spires does not shew itself in noise, or in fits and starts of merriment, but is calm and constant. Of this, the only true and valuable kind of cheerfulness, for all other kinds are hollow and unsatisfying, religious men possess not less but'a greater share than others. SERMONS. 15 Another destroyer of religious seriousness, and which is the last I shall mention, is a certain fatal turn which some minds take, namely, that when they find difficulties in or concerning religion, or any of the tenets of religion, they forthwith plunge into irreligion ; and make these dif- ficulties, or any degree of uncertainty, which seems to their apprehension to hang over the subject, a ground and oc- casion for giving full liberty to their inclinations, and for casting off the restraints of religion entirely. This is the -case with men, who, at the best, perhaps, were only ba- lancing between the sanctions of religion and the love of pleasure or of unjust gain ; but especially the former. In this precarious state, any objection, or appearance of ob- jection, which diminishes the force of religious impression, determines the balance against the side of virtue, and gives up the doubts to sensuality, to the world, and to the flesh. Now of all ways which a man can take, this is the surest way to destruction. And it is completely irra- tional. I say it is completely irrational ; for when we medi- tate upon the tremendous consequences which form the subject of religion, we cannot avoid this reflection, that any degree of probability whatever, I had almost said any degree of possibility whatever, of religion being true, ought to determine a rational creature so to act as to secure himself from punishment in a future state ; and the loss of that happiness which may be attained. Therefore he has no pretence for alleging uncertainty as an excuse for his conduct, because he does not act in con- formity with that in which there is no uncertainty at all. In the next place, it is giving to apparent difficulties more weight than they are entitled to. I only request any man to consider, first, the necessary allowances to be made for the short-sightedness and the weakness of the human un- derstanding ; secondly, the nature of those subjects con- cerning which religion treats, so remote from our senses, so different from our experience, so above and beyond the ordinary train and course of our ideas ; and then say, whe- ther difficulties, and great difficulties also, were not to be expected ; nay farther, whether they be not in some mea 16 SERMONS. sure subservient to the very purpose of religion. The re- ward of everlasting life, and the punishment or misery of which we know no end, if they were present and imme- diate, could not be withstood ; and would not leave any room for liberty or choice. But this sort of force upon the will is not what God designed; nor is suitable indeed to the nature of free, moral, and accountable agents. The truth is, and it was most likely before known that it would be so, that amidst some points which are dark, some which are dubious, there are many which are clear and certain. Now, I apprehend, that, if we act faithfully up to those points concerning which there is no question, most es- pecially, if we determine upon and choose our rule and course of life according to those principles of choice, which all men whatever allow to be wise and safe principles and the only principles which are so; and conduct ourselves steadfastly according to the rule thus chosen, the difficulties which remain in religion will not move or disturb us much ; and will, as we proceed, become gradually less and fewer. Whereas, if we begin with objections ; ifall we considerabout religion be its difficulties ; but, most especially, if we permit the suggestion of these difficulties to drive us into a practi- cal rejection of religion itself, and to afford us, which is what we wanted, an excuse to ourselves for casting off its restraints ; then the event will be, that its difficulties will multiply upon us ; its light grow more and more dim, and we shall settle in the worst and most hopeless of all conditions, the last condition, I will venture to say, in which any man living would wish his son, or any one whom he loved, and for whose happiness he was anxious, to be placed, a life of confirmed vice and dissoluteness ; founded in a formal re- nunciation of religion. He that has to preach Christianity to persons in this state has to preach to stones. He must not expect to be heard, either with complacency or seriousness, or patience, or even to escape contempt and derision. Habits of think- ing are fixed by habits of acting; and both too solidly fixed to be moved by human persuasion. God in his mercy, and by his providences, as well as by his Spirit, can SERMONS. 17 touch and soften the heart of stone. And it is seldom per- haps that without some strong, and, it may be, sudden im- pressions of this kind, and from this source, serious senti- ments ever penetrate dispositions, hardened in the manner which we have here described. SERMON II. THE LOVE OF GOD. We love him, because he first loved us.—1 JouN iv. 19. RELIG1oNn may, and it can hardly I think be questioned but that it sometimes does, spring from terror, from grief, from pain, from punishment, from the approach of death ; and provided it be sincere, that is, such as either actually produces, or as would produce a change of life, it is genuine religion, notwithstanding the bitterness, the violence, or if it must be so called, the baseness and unworthiness of the motive from which it proceeds. Weare not to narrow the promises of God ; and acceptance is promised to sincere penitence, without specifying the cause from which it ori- ginates, or confining it to one origin more than another. There are however higher and worthier and better motives, from which religion may begin in the heart; and on this account especially are they to be deemed better motives, that the religion, which issues from them, has a greater pro- bability of being sincere. I repeat again, that sincere re- ligion from any motive will be effectual; but there isa great deal of difference in the probability of its being sin- cere, according -to the different cause in the mind from which it sets out. The purest motive of human action is the love of God. There may be motives stronger and more general, but none — so pure. The religion, the virtue, which owes its birth in the soul to this motive, is always genuine religion ; always true virtue. Indeed, speaking of religion, I should call the love of God not so much the groundwork of religion, VOL. 1V.§ 3 c 18 SERMONS. as religion itself. So far as religion is disposition, it is religion itself. But though of religion it be more than the groundwork ; yet being a disposition of mind, like other dispositions, it is the groundwork of action. Well might our blessed Saviour preach up, as he did, the love of God. It is the source of every thing which is good in man. Ido not mean that it is the only source, or that goodness can proceed from no other, but that of all prin- ciples of conduct it is the safest, the best, the truest, the highest. Perhaps it is peculiar to the Jewish and Chris- tian dispensations (and, if it be, it is a peculiar excellency in them) to have formally and solemnly laid down this principle, as a ground of human action. I shall not deny, that elevated notions were entertained of the Deity by some wise and excellent heathens: but even these did not, that T can find, so inculcate the love of that Deity, or so pro- pose and state it to their followers, as tomake ita govern- ing, actuating principle of life amongst them. This did Moses, or rather God by the mouth of Moses, expressly, formally, solemnly. This did Christ, adopting, repeating, ratifying what the law had already declared; and not only ratifying, but singling it out from the body of precepts, which composed the old institution, and giving it a pre- eminence to every other. Now this love, so important to our religious character, and, by its effect upon that, to our salvation, which is the end of religion; this love, I say, is to be engendered in the soul, not so much by hearing the words of others, or by instruction from others, as by a secret and habitual contemplation of God Almighty’s bounty, and by a con- stant referring of our enjoyments and our hopes to his goodness. This is in a great degree a matter of habit; and, like all good habits, particularly mental -habits, is what every person must form in himself and for himself by endeavour and perseverance. In this great article, as well as in others which are less, every man must be the author to himself of his train of thinking, be it good or bad. I shall only observe, that when this habit, or, as SERMONS. 19 some would call it, this turn and course of thought, is once happily generated, occasions will continually arise to minister to its exercise and augmentation. A night’s rest, or a comfortable meal, will immediately direct our grati- tude to God. The use of our limbs, the posséssion of our sensés ; every degree of health, every hour of ease, every sort of satisfaction, which we enjoy, will carry our thoughts to the same object. But if our enjoyments raise our affections, still more will our hopes do the same; and, most of all beyond comparison, those’ hopes which religion inspires. Think of man, and think of heaven; think what lie is, and what it is in his’ power hereafter’ to be: _ eome. Think of this again and again: and it is impossi- ble, but that the prospect of being so rewarded for our poor labours, so resting’ from’ our past troubles, so for- given for our repented'sins, must fill our hearts with’ the deepest thankfulness; and thankfulness is love. Towards the author of an obligation which is infinite, thankfulness is the only species of love that can’ exist. But moreover, the love of God‘ is specifically represented in Seripture as one of the gifts’ of the Holy Ghost. The love’ of God shed abroad in’ the heart, is'described asone of the works of the Spirit upon the souls of Christians: Now whatever is represented in Scripture to’ be the gift. of the Spirit is to be sought for by earnest'and peculiar prayer. That’ is the practical use to be! made of, andthe practical - consequence to'be drawnrf* om, such representations: the very purpose probably for which they were’delivered); the mere point of doctrine b eing seldom that im which Scrip- ture declarations rest. Let us not fail! therefore; let us not cease to' éntreat the Father of mercies, that the love of him may be’ shed abroad‘in'our hearts continually. It is one of the things in which we are’sure that our prayers: are right in their object ; in which also we’ may’ humbly hope, that, unless’ obstructed’ by‘ ourselves, they will not be’in' vain! Nor let’ it'be said that'thisiaid is‘superfluous, forasmuch: as ‘natiirée herself had provided’ sufficient means for exciting Cc 2 20 SERMONS. this sentiment. This is true with respect to those, who are in the full, or in any thing near the full enjoyment of the gifts of nature. With them I do allow that nothing but a criminal stupefaction can hinder the love of God from being felt. But this is not the case with all, nor with any at all times. Afflictions, sickness, poverty, the mala- dies and misfortunes of life, will interrupt and damp this sensation, so far as it depends upon our actual experience of God’s bounty. I do not say that the evils of life ought to have this effect ; taken in connexion with a future state they certainly ought not; because, when viewed in that relation, afflictions and calamities become trials, warnings, chastisements ; and, when sanctified by their fruits, when made the means of weaning us from the world, bringmg us nearer to God, and of purging away that dross and de- filement which our souls have contracted, are in trath amongst the first of favours and of blessings : nevertheless, as an apostle himself confesses, they are for a season griev- ous: they are disheartening, and they are too apt, to pro- duce an unfavourable effect upon our gratitude. _Where- fore it is upon these occasions most especially, that the’ aid of God’s Spirit may be required to maintain in our pauls the love of God. Let those, therefore, who are conscious to. themselyes that they have not the love of God within’ them, as they ought. to -have it, endeavour to acquire and to increase this holy principle by seriousness of mind, by habitual meditation, by devout reading, devout conversation, devout society.. These are all aids and helps towards inducing upon the mind this most desirable, nay, rather let me call it, this blessed frame and temper, and of fixing us in it: and forasmuch as it is declared in Scripture to be shed abroad in the heart by the Spirit of God, let us labour in our prayers for this best gift. _ The next consideration upon the subject is the it and effect of this disposition upon our lives. If it be asked how does the law of God operate in the production’ of .virtuous conduct, I shall answer that it operates exactly in SERMONS. 21 the same manner as affection towards a parent or gratitude towards a human benefactor operates, by stirring up a strong rebuke in the mind upon the thought of offending him. This lays a constant check upon our conduct. And this sensation is the necessary accompaniment of love; it cannot, I think, be separated from it. But it is not the whole of its influence. Love and gratitude towards a benefactor not only fill us with remorse and with internal shame whenever, by our wilful misbehaviour, we have given cause to that benefactor to be displeased with us; but also prompts us with a desire upon all occasions of do- ing what we believe he wills to be done, which, with re- spect to God, is in other words a desire to serve him. Now this is not only a restraint from vice, but an incitement to action. Instructed as in Christian countries mankind generally are, in the main articles of human duty, this motive will seldom mislead them. In one important respect the love of God excels al! moral principles whatever ; and that is in its comprehensiveness. It reaches every action; it includes every duty: you can- not mention another moral principle which has this pro- perty in the same perfection. For instance, I can hardly name a better moral principle than humanity. It is a prin- ciple which every one commends, and justly ; yet in this very article of comprehensiveness it is deficient, when com- pared with the love of God. It will prompt us undoubtedly to do kind and generous and compassionate things towards our friends, our acquaintance, our neighbours, and towards the poor. In our relation to, and in our intercourse with, mankind, especially towards those who are dependent upon us, or over whom we have power, it will keep us from hardness and rigour and cruelty. In all this it is excellent. But it will not regulate us as we require to be regulated, in another great branch of Christian duty, self-govern- ment and self-restraint. We may be exceedingly immoral and licentious in sinful indulgences without violating’ our principle of humanity; at least without specifically viola- ting it, and without being sensible of violating it. “And 22 SERMONS. this is by no means an uncommon case or character, namely, humanity of temper subsisting along with the most criminal licentiousness and under a total want of per- sonal self-government. The reason is, that the principle of conduct, though excellent as far as it goes, fails in com- prehensiveness. Not so with the leve of God. He, who is influenced by that, feels its influence in all parts of duty, upon every occasion of action; throughout the whole course of conduct. The thing with most of us to be examined into and aseer- tained is, whether it indeed guide us at all: whether it be within us an efficient motive. I am far from taking upon me to say that it is essential to this principle to exclude all other principles of conduct, especially the dread of God’s wrath, and of its tremendous consequences: or that a person, who is de- terred from evil actions by the dread of God’s wrath, is obliged to conclude, that because he so much dreads God, he can- not love him. I will not venture to say any such thing. The Scripture, it is true, speaking of the love of God, hath said, that perfect love easteth out fear, but it hath not said that in the soul of man this love is ever perfect; what the Scripture hath thus declared of perfect love, is no more than what is just, The love of God, were it perfect, that is to say, were it such as his nature, his relation, his bounty to us deserves, were it adequate either to its objects or to our obligation, were it carried up as high as in a perfectly virtuous and rational soul it might be carried, would, I be- lieve, absorb every other motive and every other principle of action whatever, even the fear of God amongst the rest. This principle, by its nature, might gain a complete posses- sion of the heart and will, so that a person acting under its influence would take nothing else into the account, would reflect upon no other consequence or consideration whatever. Possibly, nay probably, this is the condition of some higher orders of spirits, and may become ours by future improvement and ina more exalted state of exis- tence; but it cannot, I am afraid, be said to be our con- dition now. The love of God subsists in the heart of SERMONS. 23 good men as a powerful principle of action: but it sub- sists there in conjunction with other principles, especially with the fear of him. All goodness is in a certain. degree comparative, and, I think, that he may be called a good man in whom this principle dwells and operates at all. Wherefore to obtain; when obtained, to cultivate, to cherish, to strengthen, to improve it, ought to form the most anxious concern of our spiritual life. He that loveth God keepeth his commandments, but still the love of God is something more than keeping the commandments: for which reason we must acquire, what many, it is to be feared, have even yet to begin, a habit of contemplating God in the bounties and blessings of his creation. I think that religion can hardly subsist in the soul without this habit in some degree. But the greater part of us, such is the natural dulness of our souls, require something more exciting and stimulating than the sensations which large and general views of nature or of Providence produce ; something more particular to ourselves, and which more - nearly touches our separate happiness. Now of examples of this kind, namely, of direct and special mercies towards himself, no one, who calls to mind the passages and pro- vidences of his life, can be destitute. There is one topic of gratitude falling under this head which almost every man, who is tolerably faithful and exact in his reflections, will find in events upon which he has to look back: and it is this. How often have we been spared, when we might have been overtaken and cut off in the midst of sin? Of all the attributes of God, forbearance, perhaps, is that which we have most to acknowledge. We cannot want occasions to bring the remembrance of it to our thoughts. Have there not been occasions, in which, when ensnared in vice, we might have been detected and exposed, have been crushed by punishment or shame, have been irre- coverably ruined! occasions in which we might have been suddenly stricken with death in a state of soul the most unfit for it that was possible? That we were none of these, that we have been preserved from these dangers, 24 SERMONS. that our sin was not our destruction, that instant judgment did not overtake us, is to be attributed to the long-suffering of God. Supposing, what is undoubtedly true, that the secrets of our conduct were known to him at the time, it can be attributed to no other cause. Now this is a topie which can never fail to supply subjects of thankfulness, and of a species of thankfulness which must bear with direct force upon the regulation of our conduct. We were not destroyed when we might have been destroyed, and when. we merited destruction. We have been preserved for far- ther trial. This is, or ought to be, a touching reflection. How deeply therefore does it behove us not to trifle with the patience of God, not to abuse this enlarged space, this respited, protracted season of repentance, by plunging afresh into the same crimes, or others, or greater crimes? It shews that we are not to be wrought upon by mercy ; that our gratitude is not moved; that things are wrong within us ; that there is a deplorable void and chasm in our religious principles, the love of God not being present in our hearts. But to return to that with which we set out. Religion may spring from various principles, begin in various mo- tives. It is not for us to narrow the promises of God which belong to sincere religion, from whatever cause it origi- nates. But of these principles, the purest, the surest, is the jové of God, forasmuch as the religion which proceeds from: it is sincere, constant, and universal. It will not, like fits of terror and alarm (which yet we do not despise), pro- duce a temporary religion. The love of God is an abiding principle. It will not like some other (and these also good and laudable principles of action, as far as they go), produce a partial religion. It is coextensive with all our obliga- tions. . Practical Christianity may be comprised in three words—devotion, self-government and benevolence. The love of God in the heart is a fountain, from which these three streams of virtue will not fail to issue. The love of God also is a guard against error in conduct, because it is a guard against those evil influences which mislead the un- derstanding in moral questions. Insome measure it sup- SERMONS. 25 plies the place of every rule.’ He, who has it truly within him, has little to learn. Look steadfastly to the will of God, which he who loves God necessarily does, practice what: you believe to be well pleasing to him, leave off what you believe to be displeasing to him ;. cherish, confirm, strengthen the principle itself, which sustains this course of external conduct, and you will not want many lessons, you need not listen to any other monitor. . SERMON III. MEDITATING UPON RELIGION. Have I not remembered thee in my bed: and thought upon thee when I was waking ?—Psat. Ixiii. 7. Tue life of God in the soul of man, or as it is sometimes emphatically called, the Christian life, that is, the pro- gress of Christianity in the heart of any particular person, is marked, amongst other things, by religion gradually gaining possession of the thoughts. It has been said, that if we thought about religion as it deserves, we should never think about any thing else; nor with strictness perhaps, can we deny the truth of this proposition. Religious con- cerns do so surpass and outweigh in value and importance all concerns beside, that, did they occupy a place in our minds proportioned to that importance, they would in truth exclude every other but themselves. Iam not therefore one of those who wonder when I see a man engrossed with reli- gion; the wonder with me is, that men care and think so little concerning it. With all the allowances which must be made for our employments, our activities, our anxieties about the interests and occurrences of the present life, it is still true, that our forgetfulness and negligence and indif- ference about religion are much greater than can be ex- cused, or can easily be accounted for by these causes. Few men are so busy, but that they contrive to find time for any gratification their heart is set upon, and thought for any subject in which they are interested: they want not leisure 26 SERMONS. for these, though they want leisure for religion. Notwith- standing therefore singular cases, if indeed there be any cases, of being over-religious, over-intent upon spiritual affairs, the real and true complaint is all on the other side, that men think not about them enough, as they ought, as is reasonable, as it is their duty to do. That is the malady and the mischief. The cast and turn of our infirm and fleshly nature lean all on that side. For first this nature is affected chiefly by what we see; though the things which concern us most deeply be not seen ; for this very reason that they are not seen, they do not affect us as they ought. Though these things ought to be meditated upon, and must be acted upon, one way or other, long before we come actually to experience them, yet in fact we do not meditate upon them, we do not act with a view to them, till some- thing gives us alarm, gives reason to believe that they are approaching fast upon us, that they are at hand, or shortly will be, that we shall indeed experience what they are. The world of spirits, the world for which we are des- tined, is invisible to us. Hear St. Paul’s account of this matter ; “ We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”—“‘ We walk by faith, not by sight: faith is the evidence of things not seen.” Some great invisible agent there must be in the universe; ‘‘ the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Now if the great author of all things be himself invisible to our senses, and if our relation to him must necessarily form the greatest interest and concern of our existence, then it fol- lows that our greatest interest and concern are with those things which are now invisible. ‘‘ We are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for; but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” The first in- firmity, therefore, which religion has to conquer within us, is that which binds down our attention to the things which we see. The natural man is immersed in sense: nothing SERMONS. 27 takes hold of his mind but what applies immediately to his sense ; but this disposition will not do for religion: the re- ligious character is founded in hope as contradistinguished from experience, in perceiving by the mind what is not pereeived by the eye; unless a man can do this, he cannot be religious ; and with many it isa great difficulty. This power of hope, which, as St. Paul observes of it, is that which places the invisible world before our view, is specifi- cally described in Scripture, as amongst the gifts of the Spirit, the natural man standing indeed much in need of it, being altogether of an opposite tendency. Hear St. Paul’s prayer for his Roman converts; ‘‘ The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Again, to the Galatians, how does he describe the state of mind of a Christian ? ‘‘ We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Again ; Another impediment to the thought of religion is the faculty and the habit we have acquired of regarding its concerns at a distance. A child is affected by nothing but what is present, and many thousands in this respect continue children all their lives ; ina degree this weakness cleaves to us all, or produces upon us the same effect under a different form, namely, in this way ; when we find our- selves necessarily disturbed by near or approaching evil, we have the means of forgetting the nearness of the approach of that, which must bring with it the greatest evil or the greatest good we are capable of, our change at death. Though we cannot exactly offer any argu- ments to shew that it is either certainly or probably ata distance, yet we have the means of regarding it in our minds as though it were at a distance; and this even in cases in which it cannot possibly be so. Do we prepare for it? no; why? because we practically regard it in our ima- ginations as at a distance; we cannot prove that it is at a distance: nay, the contrary may be proved against us : but still we regard it so in our imaginations, and regard it so practically ; for imagination is with most men the practical 28 SERMONS. principle. But however strong and general this delusion be, has it any foundation in reason? Can that be thought at a distance which may come to-morrow, which must come in a few years? In avery few years to most of us, in a few years to all, it will be fixed and decided, whether we are to be in heaven or hell; yet we go on without thinking of it, without preparing for it, and it is exceedingly observable, _that it is only in religion we thus put away the thought from us. In the settlement of our worldly affairs after our deaths, which exactly depend upon the same event, com- mence at the same time, are equally distant, if either were distant, equally liable to uncertainty, as to when the dispo- sition will take place; in these I say, men are not usually negligent, or think that by reason of its distance it can be neglected, or by reason of the uncertainty when it may happen, left unprovided for. This is a flagrant inconsistency, and proves decisively that religion possesses a small portion of our concern, in proportion with what it ought to do. For instead. of giving to it that superiority which is due to immortal concerns, above those which are transitory, pe- rishable, and perishing, it is not even put upon an equality with them; nor with those, which, in respect to time, and the uncertainty of time, are under the same circumstances with itself. Thirdly ; The spiritual character of religion isanother great impediment to its entering our thoughts. All religion, which is effectual, is and must be spiritual. Offices and ordinances are the handmaids and instruments of the spiritual religion, calculated to generate, to promote, to maintain, to uphold it in the heart, but the thing itself is purely spiritual. Now the flesh weigheth down the spirit, as with a load and bur- den. It is difficult to rouse the human constitution to a sense and perception of what is purely spiritual. They who are addicted, not only to vice, but to gratifications and pleasures ; they who know no other rule than to go with the crowd in their career of dissipation and amusement ; they whose attentions are all fixed and engrossed by busi- ness, whose minds from morning to night are counting and SERMONS. 29 computing ; the weak and foolish and stupid; lastly, which comprehends a class of mankind deplorably numerous, the indolent and slothful : none of these can bring themselves to meditate upon religion. The last class slumber over its interests and concerns: perhaps they cannot be said to forget it absolutely, but they slumber over the subject, in which state nothing as to their salvation gets done, no de- cision, no practice. There are, therefore, we see, various. obstacles and infirmities in our constitutions, which ob- struct the reception of religious ideas in our mind, still more, such a voluntary entertainment of them, as may bring forth fruit. It ought therefore to be our constant prayer to God, that he will open our hearts to the influ- ence of his word, by which is meant that he will so quicken and actuate the sensibility and vigour of our minds, as to enable us to attend to the things which really and truly belong to our peace. So soon as religion gains that hold and that possession of the heart, which it must do to become the means of our salvation, things change within us, as in many other, re- spects, so especially in this. Wethink a great deal more frequently about it, we think of it for a longer continuance, and our thoughts of it have much more of vivacity and impressiveness. First, We begin to think of religion more frequently than we did. Heretofore we never thought of it at all, except’ when some melancholy incident had sunk our spirits, or had terrified our apprehensions ;-it was either from lowness or from fright that we thought of re- ligion at all. Whilst things went smoothly and prosper- ously and gaily with us, whilst all was well and safe in our health and circumstances, religion was the last thing we wished to turn our minds to: we did not want to have our pleasure disturbed by it. But it is not so with us now: there isa change in our minds in this respect. It enters our thoughts very often, both by day and by night; “ HaveI not remembered thee in my bed, and thought upon thee when { was waking?” This change is one of the prognostications 30 SERMONS. of the religious principle forming within us. Secondly, These thoughts settle themselves upon our minds. They were formerly fleeting and transitory, as the cloud which passes along the sky; and they were so for two reasons: first, they found no congenial temper and disposition to rest upon, no seriousness, no posture of mind proper for their reception : and secondly, because we of our own’ ac= cord, by a positive exertion and endeavour of our will, put them away from us; we disliked their presence, we rejected and cast them out. But it is not so now: we entertain and retain religious meditations, as being in fact those which concern us most deeply. I do not speak of the'solid comfort which is to be found in them, because that belongs to a more advanced state of Christian: life than I am now considering: that will come afterward; and, when: it does‘come, will form the support and consolation and hap- piness of our lives. But whilst the religious principle’ is forming, at least during the first steps of that formation, we are induced to think about religion chiefly from a sense of its: vast consequences, and this reason is enough to make wise men think about it both long and closely. Lastly, our religious thoughts come to have a vivacity and impres- siveness. in' them: which they had not hitherto: that is to say, they interest us much more'than they did. There‘is a wonderful difference ‘in the light in which we'see the same thing, im the force and strength with’ which it rises up: be= fore our view, in the/degree with which we are affected by it. This difference is experienced! in no’ one thing more than in religion, not only between‘different persons, but by the same person: at different times,.the same personiin dife ferent stages: of the Christiam: progress;. the: same: — under different measures of divine grace. Finally: Would: we know whether we have made, or are makmg any advances: in: Christianity or not? These are the marksiwhich will tell us.. Do:wethink more frequently about religion‘than we used to:'do:?’ Do we -cherish‘and‘en- tertain these:thoughts fora longer continuance thamwedid? SERMONS. 31 Do they interest us more than formerly? Do they impress us more, do they strike us more forcibly, do they sink deeper ? If we perceive this, then we perceive a change, upon which we may ground our hopes and expectations : if we, perceive it not, we have cause for very afflicting ap- prehensions, that the power of religion hath not yet visited us ; cause for deep and fervent intercession with God foe the much wanted succour of his Holy Spirit. SERMON IV, OF THE STATE AFTER DEATH. Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.— 1 JOHN iii. 2. One of the most natural solicitudes of the human mind is, to know what will become of us after death, what is already become of those friends, who are gone. I donot so much mean the great question, whether we and they shall be happy or miserable ; as I mean the question, what is the nature and condition. of that state, which we are so soon to try. - This solicitude, which is both natural and strong, is sometimes however carried too far: and thisis the case when it renders us uneasy or dissatisfied, or impatient under the obscurity, in which the subject is placed : and placed, not only in regard to us, or in regard to common men, but in regard even to the apostles themselves of our Lord, who were taught from his mouth, as well as immediately in- structed by his Spirit. St. John, the author of the text which I have read to you, was one of these; not only an apostle, but of all the apostles, perhaps, the most closely connected with his Master, and admitted to the most inti- mate familiarity with him. What it was.allowed therefore for man to know, St. John knew. Yet this very St. John 32 SERMONS. acknowledges “that it doth not yet appear what we. shall be;” the exact nature and condition and circumstances of our future state are yet hidden from us. I think it credible, that this may in a very great degrue arise from the nature of the human understanding itself. Our Saviour said to Nicodemus, ‘If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” It is evident from the strain of this extraordinary conversation, that the disbelief, on the part of Nicodemus, to which our Saviour refers, was that _ which arose from the difficulty of comprehending the sub- ject. Therefore our Saviour’s words to him may be con- struedthus. If what I have said just now concerning the new birth, concerning being born again, concerning being born of the Spirit, concerning the agency of the Spirit, which are all ‘‘ earthly things,” that is, are all things that pass in the hearts of Christians in this their present life, and upon this earth: if this information prove so difficult, that you cannot bring yourself to believe it, by reason of the diffi- culty of apprehending it, ‘‘ how shall ye believe?” How would ye be able to conquer the much greater difficulties, which would attend my discourse, “ if I told you of heavenly things ;” that is to say, if I speak to you of, those things, which are passing, or which will pass in heaven, in a totally different state and stage of existence, amongst natures and beings unlike yours? The truth seems to be, that the human understanding, constituted ‘as it is, though fitted for the purposes for which we want it, that is, though ca- pable of receiving the instruction and knowledge, which are necessary for our conduct and the discharge of our duty, has a native original incapacity for the reception of any distinct knowledge of our future condition. The reason is, that all our conceptions and ideas are drawn from experience (not perhaps all immediately from experience, but experience lies at the bottom of them all), and no lan- guage, no information, no instruction can do more for us, than teach us the relation of the ideas which we have. Therefore, so far as we can judge, no words whatever that SERMONS. 33 could have been used, no account or description that could have been written down, would have been able to convey to us a conception of our future state, constituted as our understandings now are. I am far from saying, that it was not in the power of God, by immediate inspiration, to have struck light and ideas into our minds, of which naturally we have no conception. I am far from saying, that he could not, by an act of his power, have assumed a human being, or the soul of a human being, into heaven, and have shewn to him or it, the nature and the glories of that kingdom : but it is evident, that, unless the whole order of our pre- sent world be changed, such revelations as these must be rare; must be limited to very extraordinary persons and very extraordinary occasions. And even then, with re- spect to others, it is to be observed, that the ordinary modes of communication by speech or writing are inade- quate to the transmitting of any knowledge or information of this sort, and from a cause, which has already been no- ticed, namely, that language deals only with the ideas which we have; that these ideas are all founded in expe- rience; that probably, most probably indeed, the things of the next world are very remote from any experience which we. have in this ; the consequence of which is, that, though the inspired person might himself possess this supernatural knowledge, he could not impart it to any other person not in like manner inspired. When, therefore, the nature and constitution of the human understanding is considered, it can excite no surprise, it ought to excite no complaint, it is no fair objection to Christianity, that “it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” I do not say that the imper- fection of our understanding forbids it (for in strictness of speech, that is not imperfect, which answers the purpose designed by it), but the present constitution of our under- standing forbids it. *« It doth not yet appear,” saith the apostle, “ what we shall be, but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shail be like him.” Ass if he had said, Though we be far from understanding the subject either accurately or clearly, VOL. Iv. D 34 SERMONS. or from having conceptions and notions adequate to the truth and reality of the case, yet we know something: this, for instance, we know, that, ‘‘ when he shall appear, we shall be like him.” The best commentary upon this last sentence of St. John’s text may be drawn from the words of St. Paul. His words state the same proposition more fully, when he tells us, (Phil. iii. 21.) that “* Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be like his glorious body.” From the two passages together, we may lay down the following points; first, that we shall have bodies. One apostle informs us, that we shall be like him; the other, that our vile body shall be like his glorious body : therefore we shall have bodies. Secondly, that these bo- dies shall be greatly changed from what they are at present. If we had had nothing but St. John’s text to have gone upon, this would have been implied. ‘ When he shall appear, we shall be like him.” We are not like him now, we shall be | like him ; we shall hereafter be like him, namely, when he shall appear. St. John’s words plainly regard this similitude, as a future thing, as what we shall acquire, as belonging to what we shall become, in contradistinction to what we are. Therefore they imply a change, which must take place in our bodily constitution. But what St. John’s words aeactede St. Paul’s declare. ‘‘ He shall change our vile bodies.” That point therefore may be considered as placed out of question. That such a change i iS necessary, that sud a sinned is to be expected, is agreeable even to the established order of nature. Throughout.the universe this rule holds, viz. that the body of every animal is suited to its state, nay more ; when an animal changes its state, it changes its body. When animals, which lived under water, afterward live in air, their bodies are changed almost entirely, so as hardly to be known by any one mark of resemblance to their former figure ; as, for example, from worms and caterpillars to flies and moths. These are common trans- formations; and the like happens, when an animal changes its element from the water to the earth, or an insect from SERMONS. 39 living under ground to flying abroad in the air. And these changes take place in consequence of that unalterable rule, that the body be fitted to the state; which rule obtains throughout every region of nature, with which we are. ac- quainted. Now our present bodies are by no means fitted for heaven. So saith St. Paul expressly, <‘ Flesh and blood can- not inherit the kingdom of God; corruption doth not inherit incorruption.” Between our bodies as they are now con- stituted, and the state into which we shall come then, there isa physical, necessary, and invincible incongruity. There- fore they must undergo a change, and that change will first be universal, at least as to those who shall be saved; secondly, it will be sudden ; thirdly, it will bevery great. First, it will be universal. St. Paul's words in the fifteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians are, “ we shall all be changed:”~ I do however admit, that this whole chapter of St. Paul’s relates only to those who shall be saved ; of no othersdid he intend to speak. This, I think, has been satis- factorily made out ; but the argument is too long to enter upon at present. If so, the expression of the aposile, ‘‘ we shall be changed,” proves only that we who are saved, who are admissible into thiskingdom, shall be changed. Second- ly, the change will be instantaneous. So St. Paul describes it; “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible;” and therefore their nature must have undergone the change. Thirdly, it will be very great. No change which we experience or see, can: bear any assignable proportion to it in degree or importance. It is this corruptible putting on incorruption; it is this mortal putting on immortality. Now it has often been made a question, whether, after so great a change, the bodies, with which we shall be clothed, are to be deemed new. bodies, or the same bodies under a new form. © This is a question which has often been agitated ; but the truth is, it is of no moment or importance. We continue the same to all intents and purposes, so long as we are sensible and conscious that we are so. In this life our bodies are continually changing. Much, no doubt, and greatly, ‘is D 2 36 SERMONS. the body of every human being changed from his birth to his maturity: yet, because we are nevertheless sensible of what we are, sensible to ourselves that we are the same, we are in reality the same. Alterations, in the size or form of our visible persons, make no change in that respect. Nor would they, if they were much greater, as in some animals they are; or even if they were total. Vast, there- fore, as that change must be, or rather, as the difference must be between our present and our future bodies, as to their substance, their nature, or their form, it will not hm- der us from remaining the same, any more than the alte- rations which our bodies undergo in this life, hmder us from remaining the same. We know within ourselves that we are the same; and that is sufficient: and this knowledge or consciousness we shall rise with from the grave, whatever be the bodies with which we be clothed. The two apostles go one step farther, when they tell us, that we shall be like Christ himself; and that this likeness will consist in a resemblance to his glorified body. Now of the glorified body of Christ all that we know is this. At the transfiguration upon the mount, the three apostles saw the person of our Lord in a very different state from its ordinary state. ‘‘ He was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” St. Luke describes it thus: “ The - fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering: and, behold, there talked with him two men, who appeared in glory.” Then he adds, ‘* that the apostles, when they awaked, saw his glory.” Now I consider this transaction as a specimen of the change of which a glorified body is susceptible. St. Ste- phen, at his martyrdom, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. St. Paul, at his con-. version saw a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about him ; and in this light Christ then was. These instances, like the former, only shew the changes and the appearances of which a glorified body is susceptible, not the form or condition in which it must " SERMONS. 37 necessarily be found, or must always continue. You will observe that it was necessary that the body of our Lord at his transfiguration, at his appearance after his resurrection, at his ascension into heaven, at his appearance to Stephen, should preserve a resemblance to his human person upon earth, because it was by that resemblance alone he could be known to his disciples, at least by any means of know- ledge naturally belonging to them in that human state. But this was not always necessary, nor continues to be necessary. Nor is there any sufficient reason to suppose, that this resemblance to our present bodies will be retained in our future bodies, or be at all wanted. Upon the whole, the conclusions, which we seem authorized to draw from these intimations of Scripture, are, First, That we shall have bodies. Secondly, That we will be so far different from our present bodies, as to be suited, by that difference, to the state and life into which they are to enter, agreeably to that rule which prevails throughout universal nature; that the body of every being is suited to its state, and that, when it changes its state, it changes its body. Thirdly, That it is a question by which we need not at all be disturbed, whether the bodies with which we shall arise be new bodies, or the same bodies under a new form ; for, Fourthly, No alteration will hinder us from remaining the same, provided we are sensible and conscious that we are so, any more than the changes which our visible person undergoes even in this life, and which from infancy to manhood are undoubtedly very great, hinder us from being the same, to ourselves and in ourselves, and to all intents and purposes whatsoever. Lastly, That though, from the imperfection of our facul- ties, we neither are, nor, without aconstant miracle upon our minds, could be made, able to conceive or compre- hend the nature of our future bodies; yet we are assured, that the change will be infinitely beneficial ; that our new bodies will be infinitely superior to those which we carry about with us in our present state; in a word, that, whereas 38 SERMONS. our bodies are now comparatively vile (and are so denomi- nated), they will so far rise in glory, as to be made like unto his glorious body ; that whereas, through our pilgrimage here, we have borne, that which we inherited, the image of the earthy, of our parent the first Adam, created for a life upon this earth; we shall, in our future state, bear another image, a new resemblance, that of the heavenly inhabitant, the second man, the second nature, even that of the Lord from heaven. r SERMON V. ON PURITY OF THE HEART AND AFFECTIONS. Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it. doth not yet appear what we shall le: lut we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him asheis. And every man that hath this hope in him, pu- rifieth himself, even as he is pure.—1 JOHN iil. 2, 3. WueEN the text tells us, ‘‘ that every man that hath this ~ hope in him, purifieth himself,” it must be understood as in- tending to describe the natural, proper, and genuine effects of this hope, rather perhaps than the actual effects, or at least as effects, which, in point of experience, universally follow from it. As hath already been observed, the whole text relates to sincere Christians, and to these alone: the word we, in the preceding part of it, comprises sincere Christians and no others. Therefore the word every man must be limited to the same sort of men, of whom he was speaking before. It is not probable, that in the same sen- tence he would change the persons and characters con- cerning whom he discoursed; so that if it had been ob- jected to St. John, that, in point of fact, every man did not purify himself who had this hope in him, he would have replied, I believe, that these were not the kind of persons he had in his view; that, throughout the whole of the text, he had in contemplation the religious condition SERMONS. 39 and character of sincere Christians, and no other. When, in the former part of the text, he talked of we being the sons of God, of we being like Christ, he undoubtedly meant sincere Christians alone: and it would be strange if he meant any other in this latter part of the text, which is in fact a continuation of the same discourse, of the same subject, nay, a portion of the same sentence. I have said thus much in order to obviate the contrariety which there seems to be between St. John’s assertion and experience. Experience, I acknowledge, proves the in- efficacy in numerous cases of religious hope and religious motives ; and it must be so: for if religious motives ope- rated certainly and necessarily ; if they produced their effect by an infallible power over the mind, we should only be machines necessarily actuated ; and that certainly is not the thing, which a moral agent, a religious agent, was in- tended to be. It was intended that we should have the power of doing right, and consequently, of doing wrong: for he who cannot do wrong, cannot do right by choice; he is a mere tool and instrument, or rather a machine, whichever he does. Therefore all moral motives, and alk religious motives, unless they went to deprive man of his liberty entirely, which they most certainly were not meant to do, must:depend for their entices anc success upon the man himself. This success, therefore, is various, but, when it fails, it is owing to some vice and corruption in the mind itself. Some men are very little affected by religious exhortation of any kind, either by hearing or reading. That is a vice and corruption in the mind itself. Some men, though affected, are not affected sufficiently to influence their lives. That. is a vice and corruption in the mind, or rather in the heart; and so it will always be found: but I do not so. much wonder at persons being unaffected by what others tell them, be those others who they may, preachers or. teachers, or friends, or parents, as I wonder at seeing men: not.aftected by their own thoughts, their own medi- tations: yet it is so; and when it is so, it argues a deep 40 SERMONS. corruption of mind indeed. We can think upon the most serious, the most solemn subjects, without any sort of con- sequence upon our lives. Shall we call this seared insen- sibility? shall we call it a fatal inefficiency of the rational principle within us? shall we confess, that the mind has lost its government over the man? These are observations upon the state of morals and reli- gion, as we see them in the world; but whatever these observations be, it is still true, and this is St. John’s asser- tion, that the proper, natural, and genuine effect of reli- gious hope is to cause us to strive “to purify ourselves, even as he is pure.” St. John strongly fixes our attention, I mean as he means, such of us as are sincere Christians; upon what we are to be hereafter. This, as to particu- lars, is veiled from us, as we have observed, by our present nature, but as to generals, as to what is of real impor- tance and concern for us to know (I do not mean but that it might be highly gratifying and satisfactory to know more, but as to what is of the first importance and con- cern for us to know), we have a glorious assurance, we have an assurance that we shall undergo a change in our nature infinitely for the better ; that when he shall appear glorified as he is, we shall be like him. Then the point is, what we are to do, how we are to act under this expec- tation, having this hope, with this prospect placed before our eyes. St. apes tells us, “ we are to purify ones even as he is pure.” Now what is the scriptural meaning of purifying. our- selves can be made out thus. The contrary of purity is defilement, that is evident; but our Saviour himself hath told us what the things which defile a man are, and this is the enumeration: evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murderers, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasci- viousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; and the reason given why these are the real proper defilements of our nature, is, that they proceed from within, out of the heart: these evil things come from within, and defile the man. The seat, therefore, of moral defilement, according SERMONS. 4} to our Saviour, is the heart ; by which we know, that he always meant the affections and the disposition : the seat, therefore, of moral purity must necessarily be the same ; for purity is the reverse of defilement; consequently, to purify ourselves, is to cleanse our hearts from the presence and pollution of sin; of those sins particularly, which re- side in, and continue in the heart. This is the purgation intended in our text. This is the task of purgation en- joined upon us. It is to be noticed, that it goes beyond the mere control of our actions. It adds a farther duty, the purifying of our thoughts and affections. Nothing can be more cer- tain, than that it was the design of our Saviour, in the passage here referred to, to direct the attention of his dis- ciples to the heart, to that which is within a man, in con- tradistinction to that which is external. Now he, who only strives to control his outward action, but lets his thoughts and passions indulge themselves without check or restraint, does not attend to that which is within him, in contradis- tinction to that which is external. Secondly, the instances which our Saviour has given, though, like all instances in Scripture, and, to say the truth, in all ancient writings, they be specimens and illustrations of his meaning, as to the kind and nature of the duties or the vices which he had in view, rather than complete catalogues, including all such duties or vices by name, so that no other but what are thus named and specified were intended: though this qualified way of understanding the enumerations be right, yet even this enumeration itself shews, that our Saviour’s lesson went beyond the mere external action. Not only are adulteries and fornications mentioned, but evil thoughts and lasciviousness; not only murders, but an evil eye; not only thefts, but covetousness or covetings. Thus by laying the axe to the root, not by lopping off the branches, but by laying the axe to the root, our Saviour fixed the only rule which can ever produce good morals. Merely controlling the actions, without governing. the 42 SERMONS. thoughts and affections, will not do.. In point of. fact it is never successful. It is certainly not a compliance with our Saviour’s command, nor is it what St. John meant in the text by purifying ourselves. ‘* Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth him- self, even as he (namely, Christ himself) is pure.” It is a. doctrine and lesson of the New Testament, not once, but repeatedly inculcated, that if we hope to resemble Christ in his glorified state, we must resemble him in his human state. And it is a part, and a most significant part of this doctrine, that the.resemblance must consist in purity from sin, especially from those sins which cleave and attach to the heart. It is by St. Paul usually put thus: “ If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” ‘** Dead with Christ ;” what can that mean ? for the apostle speaks to those who had not yet undergone natural death. He explains: ‘“ Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin ;” that, you hear, is the death he means... *‘ He that is dead, is freed from sin ;” that is St. Paul’s own ex- position of his cwn words ; and then, keeping the sense of the words in his thoughts, he adds; ‘‘ If we be dead with Christ, we believe. that we shal] also liye with him.” Again, still keeping the same sense in view, and no other sense: ‘‘ If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness. of his resur- rection.” Once more, but still observe in the same sense, “We are buried with. him by baptism unto death ; our old man is crucified with him.” The burden of the whole passage is, that if we. hope to resemble what Christ is in heaven, we must resemble what he was upon earth ; and that this resemblance must consist specifically in the radi- cal casting off of our sins. The expressions of the apostle are very strong; ‘‘ that the body of sin may be destroyed. Let not sin reign in your mortal body; obey it not in the lusts thereof ;” not only in its practices, bart in_ its desires. “« Sin shall not have dominion over you.” In another epistle, that to the Colossians, St. Paul SERMONS. 43 speaks of an emancipation from sin, as a virtual rising from the dead, like as Christ rose from the dead. “ If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God: set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth ; for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” In this way is the comparison carried on. And what is the practical exhortation which it suggests? ‘* Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, unclean- ness, evil concupiscence, and covetousness :” which is an: equivalent exhortation, and drawn from the same premises as that of the text; ‘ Purify yourselves, even as he is pure.” ‘ The Scriptures then teach, that we are to make ourselves like Christ upon earth, that we may become like him in heaven, and this likeness is to consist in purity. Now there is a class of Christians, and, I am ready to allow, real Christians, to whom this admonition of the text is peculiarly necessary. They are not those who set aside religion ; they are not those who disregard the will of their Maker, but they are those who endeavour to obey him partially, and in this way : finding it an easier thing to do good than to expel their sins, especially those. which cleave to their hearts, their affections, or their imaginations, they set their endeavours more towards beneficence than purjty. You say we ought not to speak disparagingly of doing good; by no means ; but we affirm, that it is not the whole of our duty, nor the most difficult part of it; in particular, it is not that part of it, which is insisted upon in the text, and in those other scriptures that have been mentioned. The text, enjoining the imitation of Christ upon earth, in order that we may become like him in heaven, does not say, do good even as he went about doing good, but it says, “ Purify yourselves even as he is pure: so saith St. John. ‘* Mortify the 44 SERMONS. deeds of the body, let not sin reign in you; die with Christ unto sin; be baptized unto Jesus Christ, that is, unto his death ; be buried with him by baptism unto death; beplanted together in the likeness of his death; crucify the old man, and destroy the body of sin; as death hath no more domi- nion over him, so let sin no more reign in your mortal bodies” so St. Paul. All these strong and significant metaphors are for. the purpose of impressing more forcibly upon us this great lesson: that to participate with Christ in his glory, we must participate with him in his humilia- tion ; and that this participation consists in divesting our- selves of those sins, of the heart especially, and affections, whether they break out into action or not, which are in- consistent with that purity, of which he left us an exam- ple, and to the attainment and preservation of which pu- rity, we are most solemnly enjoined to direct our first, strongest, and our most sincere endeavours. SERMON VI. TASTE FOR DEVOTION. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, must yay him in spirit and in truth.—JoHN iv. 23, 24. A tasve and relish for religions exercise, or the want of it, is one of the marks and tokens by which we may judge whether our heart be right towards God or not. God is unquestionably an object of devotion to every creature which he has made capable of devotion ; consequently, our minds can never be right towards him, unless they be ina devotional frame. It cannot be disputed, but that the Author and Giver of all things, upon whose will, and whose mercy, we depend for every thing we have, and for every thing we look for, ought to live in the thoughts and affec- SERMONS. 45 tions of his rational creatures. ‘‘ Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: thou art he that took me from my mother’s womb: my praise shall be al- ways of thee.” If there be such things as first sentiments towards God, these words of the Psalmist express them. That devotion to God is a duty, stands upon the same proof as that God exists. But devotion is an act of the mind strictly. In a certain sense, duty to a fellow-creature may be discharged, if the outward act be performed, be- cause the benefit to him depends upon the act. Not so with devotion. It is altogether the operation of the mind. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit, that is, in mind and thought. The devotion of the mind may be, will be, ought to be, testified and accompanied by outward performances and expressions ; but, without the mind go- ing along with it, no form, no solemnity can avail, as a ser- vice to God. It isnot so mucha question under what mode men worship their Maker; but this is the question, whether their mind, and thoughts, and affections, accompany the mode which they adopt or not. I do not say, that modes of worship are indifferent things ; for certainly one mode may be more rational, more edifying, more pure than another; but they are indifferent in comparison with the question, whether the heart attend the worship, or be estranged from it. These two points then being true; first, that devotion is a duty; secondly, that the heart must participate to make any thing we do devotion ; it follows, that the heart cannot be right towards God, unless it be possessed with a taste and relish for his service, and for what. relates to it. . Men may, and many undoubtedly do, attend upon acts of religious worship, and even from religious motives, yet, at the same time, without this taste and relish, of which we are speaking. Religion has no savour forthem. I do not allude to the case of those who attend upon the public wor- ship of the church, or of their communion, from com- pliance with custom, out of regard to station, for ex- 46 SERMONS. ample’s sake merely, from habit merely; still less to the case of those, who have particular worldly views in so do- ing. I lay the case of such persons, for the present, out of the question, and I consider only the case of those, who, knowing and believing the worship of God to be a duty, and that the wilful neglect of this, as of other duties, must look forward to future punishment, do join in worship from a principle of obedience, from « consideration of those con- sequences which will follow disobedience ; from the fear indeed of God, and the dread of his judgments (and so far from motives of religion), yet without any taste or relish for religious exercise itself. That is the case I am consi- dering. It is not for us to presume to speak harshly of any conduct, which proceeds, in any manner, from a regard to God, and the expectation of a future judgment. God, in his Scriptures, holds out to man terrors as well as promises ; punishment after death as well as reward. Undoubtedly, he intended those motives, which he himself proposes, to operate and have their influence. Wherever they operate, good ensues; very great and important good, compared with the cases in which they do not operate; yet not all the good we would desire, not all which is attainable, not all which we ought to aim at, in our Christian course. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but calling it the beginning implies that we ought to proceed farther ; namely, from his fear to his love. To apply this distinction to the subject before us: the man, who serves. God from a dread of his displeasure, and, therefore, in a certain sense by constraint, is, beyond all comparison, in a better situation, as touching his salvation, than he, who defies this dread, and breaks through this constraint. . He, in a word, who obeys, from whatever mo- tive his obedience springs, provided it be a religious motive, is of a character, as well as in a condition, infinitely prefer- able to the character and condition of the man whom no motives whatever can induce to perform his duty. Still it is true that, if he feels not within himself a taste and relish for the service which he performs (to say nothing of the SERMONS. A7 consideration, how much less acceptable his service may be), and for devotion itself, he wants one satisfactory evi- dence of his heart being ‘right: towards God.