M' ^Ivcological ftminaijj, PRINCETON, N. J. ^A No. Case, r ; k::^^-^ BR A 5 .B3 5 1806 Hampton lectures SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, IN THE YEAR MDCCCVI. AT THE LECTURE FOUNDED BY THE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. LATE CANON OF SALISBURY. BY JOHN BROWNE, M. A. LATE FELLOW OF C. C. C» OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR: Sold by J. Parker, Oxford; and F.C. and J. Rivinoton, London. I8O9. PROPffffjf i > EXTRAC FROM THE LAST WILL AND TLSTAMENT OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY « I give and bequeath my Lands and « Eftates to the Chancellor, Mafl-ers, and Scholars '' of the Unlverfity of Oxford for ever, to have *' and to hold all and fmgular the faid Lands or «^ Eftates upon truft, and to the intents and pur- ^^ pofes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to fay, I *' will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of " the Univerfity of Oxford for the time being fhall ^' take and receive all the rents, ifTues, and pro- *' fits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and " neceffary dedu6lions made) that he pay all the <^ remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity '' Ledlure Sermons, to be eftablilhed for ever in '' the faid Univerfity, and to be performed in the ^^ manner following : <« I direct and appoint, that, upon the firft '* Tuefday in Eafler Term, a Ledurer be yearly " chofen [ xiv ] ^^ chofen by the Heads of Colleges only, and by ^^ no others, in the room adjoining to the Print- *^ ing-Houfe^ between the hours of ten in the " morning and two in the afternoon, to preach ^^ eight Divinity Ledlure Sermons, the year fol- *' lowing, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the ^^ commencement of the laffc month in Lent Term^ " and the end of the third week in A61 Term. ^^ Alfo I diredt and appoint, that the eight Di- '^ vinity Ledlure Sermons fhall be preached upon " either of the following Subjedls-^to confirm '^ and eftablifh the Chriflian Faith, and to con- " fute all heretics and fchifmatics — upon the di- *^ vine authority of the holy Scriptures — upon ** the authority of the writings of the primitive " Fathers, as to the faith and pradlice of the pri- '^ mitive Church — upon the Divinity of our " Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift — upon the Di- *^ vinity of the Holy Ghoft — upon the Articles " of the Chrillian Faith^ as comprehended in the " Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds. •* Alfo I dircdl, that thirty copies of the eight ^' Divinity Ledlure Sermons fhall be always *' printed, within two months after they are •' preached, and one copy fhall be given to the ^^ Chancellor of the Univerlity, and one copy to *^ the Head of every College, and one copy to the " Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one copy tq " be put into the Bodleian Library j and the ex- *^ pence [ ^v ] ^' pence of printing them fhall be paid out of the *^ revenue of the Land or Eflates given for efta- *' blifhing the Divinity Ledure Sermons ; and *^ the Preacher fhall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are printed. (( *^ Alfo I dired and appoint, that no perfon ** fhall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lec- *' ture Sermons, unlefs he hath taken the Degree " of Mafter of Arts at leaft, in one of the two *^ Univerfities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that ^* the fame perfon fhall never preach the Divi- *^ nity Ledure Sermons twice." ADVERTISEMENT. Much and fevere illnefs is the only apo- logy which the Author has to offer for the late appearance of thefe Ledures : but he is juftly apprehenfive that the fame apo- logy will not be admitted for the imperfect ftate in which they are now prefented to the public. SERMON I. Rev. L 8. J ^;« Alpha and Omega^ the beginning and the ending, faith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Alniighfj, 1 HESE words have been ufuallj produced as a llriking and irrefragable proof of the eternity, and confequently the divinity of the perfon of Jefus Chrill. They are evi- dently fpoken by him, and of himfelf, and their meaning is fo obvious, and at the fame time fo dired: to this point, that every dif- paffionate and unprejudiced enquirer mult, on reading them, feel their force, and acqui- efce in their tefiimony. ** I cannot forbear ^' recording it," fays a diflenting Divine, eminent for his candour and erudition, '* that *' this text has done more than any other in 2 SERMON I. '^ the Bible towards preventing me from ^' oivinp; into that fcheme which would *' make our Lord Jefus Chrift no more than ^' a deified creature." Indeed it is difficult to conceive how any religious fjllem, which derogates from the eternal glory and god- head of our blelfed Redeemer, can ftand for a moment before fo plain and authoritative a declaration of holy Scripture. The Soci- nian writers have in general either avoided taking any notice of the pallage at all ; or, when it has been urged againfl; them, have refufed to underftand it in its moft literal and legitimate fenfe, but have attempted to fix a new meaning upon it, lefs contradic- tory to their own preconceived opinions ; and fome few, more adventurous than their fellows, have gone the daring length of de- nying the genuinenefs of the book in which it is to be found. Again, they are ufed to denote the infinite duration of the kingdom of Chrift, confi- dered in his peculiar characSer of the Re- deemer of mankind. All power over this world, together with the inhabitants there- of, was given to him, whilft it exifted only as SERMON I. 3 as an idea (fo to fpeak) in the Divine mind, and he will continue to exert this power to all eternity. The context more particularly points to that tremendous exercife of the kingly authority of Chriil, when he fliall come in his glory to judge the world at the laft day. The text is therefore a preparatory declaration of his ability in that day to re- ward his faithful fubjedls, and to puniih the difobedient and rebellious. Thirdly, thefe w^ords have been made ufe of to illultrate the general uniformity and conlilLcnce of the Divine government. Chriti the power, the wifdom, and the goodnefs of God, is from everlalting to ever- lafting. Thefe attributes have been invari- ably exercifed fince the beginning of the world for the improvement and the happi- nefs of mankind ; in a w\ay moft confident with themfelves, molt fuitable to the pecu- liar circumliances of the human race, and moft conducive to the furtherance of the purpofes of God, w^hen he firft called man into exiftence. Whatfoever is done on earth, he doeth it himfelf. All his dealings with his creatures, however various they B 2 might 4 SERMON I. might be in their manner and circumftances, vet as proceeding from him '' who changeth '' not," who is '' Alpha and Omega, the be- *' ginning and the ending," are referable to one fixed and immutable principle, and di- reded to the fame beneficial end. He teas in the Patriarchal and Mofaic revelations ; he is in tlie Chrifl:ian ; he ivill he in every future difpenfation of grace and mercy to the final confummation of all things. Thefe three feveral applications of this in- terefting pafllige are neither contradictory to, nor indeed much dilFerent from, one an- other. They eafily unite, and flow towards the fame point. For if we believe in the eternity of the perfon of Jefus Chriil, it will readilv follow, that his kinp'dom alfo over his creatures endureth for ever, and that the government of his kingdom is ever uniform and confident, as being adminifiered bv that unchangeable Wifdom, w^hich feeth and knoweth all things, to which the pafi; and the future are as the prelent; by that Good- nefs which has an univerfe for its fphere of adion, and that Power which nothing in heaven or in earth can withftand. When SERMON I. 5 When we furvey the works of God in the vilible creation, our attention is immediately and forcibly arretted by the vaft variety of fcenes which nature prefents to our view. We behold matter infinitely diverfiiied as to form, and endued with various powers, from man, who connects the material with the fpiritual world, down to that clafs of beings which indiltin6lly marks the traniition from animal to vegetable life. On obferving more accurately the feveral functions of the difier- ent orders of creatures, we perceive them all harmonizing to one great end, the general good of the whole ; an end which demon- llrates that all things are ordered by an infi- nitely wife Intelligence. Thus we fee the wifdom of the Creator exhibited in various manners; its appearances are diveriificd, but it is the diverfitv of wifdom. Amid the end- lefs varietv of the Creator's works, the dif- ferent manners in which he has treated the feveral objects of his creation, the different powers with which he has entrulted them, and the different laws by which he has willed their energies to be reflrained — every thing is adminittered according to the moll B 3 per- 6 S E R M O N I. perfed: order and confiftency : the harmony of his operations is never for a moment in- terrupted ; and, however dilTimilar in other reipeds, bear equally impreffed upon them the ftamp of perfefl and infinite wifdom. So that whilft we exclaim with the Pfalmift, ^^ O Lord, how manifold are thy v/orks !" we are conltrained with him alio to ac- knowledge, '' in wifdom haft thou made '' them all." The fame uniformity of wifdom, in as great a diverfity of operation, muft alfo cha- radlerize the Divine government, when ex- ercifed over the moral and political world. But the conclulion in this cafe does not open upon us fo eafily and direftly as in the other : the m.eans by which we arrive at it are lefs obvious and certain ; and our con- viction is frequently lefs obvious and com- plete. The eye of the common obferver may take in the beauty and order of the vi- fible creation, and remark the traces of a wife and benevolent defign fo evident in every part of it. Thefe are palpable things ; they ftand prominent, and force themfelves upon the notice of the moft hafty and fuper- ficial SERMON I. 7 ficlal enquirer. That a defign equally wife and benevolent adluates the moral p'overn- ment of God, it were a want of piety to doubt : but this is in general only difcover- able by long and painful inveliigation : it is feen lefs clearly and diftind:ly : in fome cafes and by many comprehenfions it is not dif- coverable at all : and though we conclude that '^ the Lord is righteous in all his ways, '' and holy in all his works," yet in fuch in- flances the conclufion is drawn rather from the analogy of the natural world, than from any fafts difcoverable by us in the moral. Here, to the unenlightened reafon of man, the greateft irregularities and diforders will ap- pear to prevail. We fhall difcover, upon a curfory and confined view, very little of that harmony, and order, and confillence, which we are enjoined to conned: with all the ope- rations of the will and power of God. On the contrary, the hillory of mankind pre- fents, with a continued pid:ure of conflicS: and confufion, an unceafing repetition of ilruggle and oppofition between principles apparently heterogeneous and hollile. We behold empires riling into height and fplen- B 4 dor. 8 SERMON I. doi% and again finking into decay and ruin : *' like waves in the ocean, they fucceffively '' rife and difappear ; one for a moment hfts *' lip its head and towers above the reft, but '' is fuddenly overwhehned and abforbed by " the fuperior force of another, which per- '' haps ftays but for a fliort time, then falls, *' and is feen no more." And all this, to mortal views, appears neither to proceed from adequate caufes, nor to have any ob- vious tendency to ends worthy of the wif- dom and goodnefs of Him who made and who governs the univerfe. At fome particular periods, mere elpecial- ly thofe which it is the province of ancient hiftory to defcribe, the political liate of the world feems to be haftily verging to an uni- verfal monarchy: but thefe mighty empires, which threaten to fwallow up all the reft, are fuddenly broken to pieces themfelves ; and thefe changes are fhldom or never ef- fected without great and ftgnal defolation, nor ufually unaccompanied with heavy and lafting calamities : and the common reader, on furveying the fcerie of havoc and deftruc- tion which the hiftory of mankind prefents • him SERMON I. ' 9 him with, the crimes which feem to be al- mofl neceflary to the eieftion of great and extenlive empires, and the evils which for a time at lead are the confequences of their difmemberment, will het inclined to confider the world, inftead of being governed and di- rected by a fupreme Intelligence, as being left rather to become the fport of the paf- iions and caprices of men. And as in the revolutions of Itates and empires, fo in the lefs prominent and lefs linking features of the hiftory of mankind, a diftribution equally if not more confufcd and irregular is apparent. We continually mark the progrefs and the triumph of evil, we regret the late appearance, and, to our feeble comprehenfion, the fcanty difpenfa- tion of good; and, in Ihort, whoever furveys with merely human eyes the confulions and diforders of which the hiftory as well as the life of man is fo full, will be fometimes tempted to imagine either that the Deity is infenlible to the miferies of his creatures, or, like the gods of Epicurus, he is totally indif- ferent to their monil condu6l. We read that Alphonlb X. of Caltile, who was lo SERMON I. was a prince much addicted to the ftiidy of alironomy, at a time when the true fyftem of the heavens was not at all underilood, found himfelf fo much embarralled by the endlefs complications of the Ptolomaic Al- mageft, and lb little able to reconcile the manv contradictions between that and the vifible order of the heavenly^ motions, that he prefumptuoully declared, '' had the AI- ^' mighty confulted him before he laid the *' foundations of the univerfe, he could have '' taught him a much more limple and con- ^' venient mode of conftrudlion." The child- ilh arrogance and daring impiety of this fpeech are fufRciently evident and difguft- ing : and yet when men take upon them- felves to arraign the moral government of God. on account of fome irregularities and diforders which they feem to have difco- vered both in the manner and the meafure of his dealings with mankind, their prefump- tion will be found hardly inferior to that of Alphonfo. He blindly transferred to the works of God thofe perplexities and contra- dicT:ions which were alone chargeable upon his own imperfed; views, and the erroneous ijftem SERMON I. II lyftem which then prevailed, and continued to prevail for a confiderable time afterv^ards. Had he lived in times more favourable to the growth and cultivation of every branch of natural fcience, and had he been able to furvey the limplicity and order of this part of the Almighty's works, as they are ex- plained in a more excellent fyllem, it is but common charity to hope that fo daring a fentiment would never have efcaped his lips, nor had place for a moment in his thoughts; that he would have been as pious and as hum.ble, as he certainly fhewed himfelf to be prefum.ptuous and profane. And in like manner it requires the illumination of re- vealed wifdom to enable men to take in all the excellence and beauty of the moral dif- tributions of God ; otherwife they will ap- pear to them as confufed and diforderly as the Ptolomaic conftruAion of the heavens did to him. From the earlieft periods of time, when the human mind, abitradcd from the imme- diate cares and concerns of life, began to in- veftigate theologicifl queftions, thefe appa- rent irregularities and diforders in the moral govern- 12 SERMON I. government of God have occafioned much perplexity and error. The common expe- rience of men could not but aflure them both of the exiftence and of the extenfive prevalence of evil. The original idea of an almighty Creator had been handed down to them by tradition ; and to this it was eafy and natural for them to add the ideas of fu- preme goodnefs and wifdom. But they could not look around them without obferv- ing a diftribution more irregular than they could well connect with thofe ideas. Nor were they at any time without fome no- tions, however vague and unrefined, of the effential and necellary difference of human adions, and of the unalterable obligation to do good, and to abltain from doing evil : and hence they were obviouily led to hope that a correfponding difference would be made in the diftribution of worldly pains and pleafures, according to the different cha- rafter of men's moral conduct. But, on the contrary, they obferved the good and the evil things of life to be indifcriminately fcat- tered about without any diredl and imme- diate reference to the merits or demerits of thofe SERMON I. 13 thofe to whofe lot they fell : the rudefl and moll: haily fketch they could draw of human life, fliewed them virtue languifhing in a dungeon, and vice wantoning in the lap of profperity, or feated on the throne of power. Mankind were as yet too much children in underftanding to connedl a wide and com- prehenfive furvey of the purpofes and ope- rations of God : their attention was confined to the objects immediately before them, and according to the complexion of thefe, with- out going any farther, their conclulions were determined. It would have been to very little purpofe to tell them, that the evils obfervable in the general appointment of worldly things were fuch in appearance only; that they were mercies in difguite, and that they were intended and really calcu- lated to produce a greater portion of good than could, according to the ellabliflied or- der of things, have been produced in an 7 other manner. Such a doftrine would hard- ly have been intelligible to them ; the evils of which they complained were immediate and fenfible, but the good was remote and indiftinft. From their notions of a future ftatc. 14 SERMON I. ftate, if any fuch they had, they might have concluded, that fuch a ftate was intended to re<9:ify the diforders and irregularities of the prefent ; to reward the fufFerings of virtue upon the earth, and to puniffi the exceiles of vice. But ftill this did not efFedtuallv re- move every uneafy fcruple of the fpecula- tive enquirer; and, to be completely fatisfied, he had to learn a leffbn which the mind of man was not then fufficiently ftrengthened to bear, the expedience and neceffity of thefe feeming evils, their conformity to the wifdom of God, and their ibid; fubfervience to the eternal purpofes of his goodnefs. " Shall a man receive good at the hands '^ of God, and fliall he not receive evil alfo r" was the pious exclamation of the fuffering and patient Job. But this topic of confola- tion, taken by itfelf, is defeftive, inafmuch as it is drawn from the power only of God, without applying to his other attributes of wifdom and goodnefs, which are equally ef- fential to his nature, and equally if not more interefting to our comforts. Knowing as we do the immenfe diftance at which we are placed from our Almighty Creator, and our SERMON I. 15 our nothingnefs in his eyelight, we are con- Itrained to acquiefce in any exercife of that unlimited power w^hich he poflefles over his creatures. " Shall a man contend with God, *' or the fon of man, which is but duft and *' allies, ftand before him ?" By fuch reafon- ing, founded only upon one attribute of the divine Being, his power, and their utter ina- bihtv to wathftand it, men mav learn to pradlife refignation, a fullen and Stoical re- lignation to thofe operations of the Divine will which interrupt or interfere with their own earthly gratifications. But how differ- ent from fuch a difpofition is the pious and grateful refignation of the Chriftian under afflictions. Living at a more mature period of the human intellect, and having his mind •enlightened by the cheering fplendor of a more excellent fyllem of religious know- ledge, he can difcern the wifdom and the goodnefs of God, conliantly and invariably attending the works of his power. Being given to know thoroughly the nature and intention of his prefent flate of exiftence, he readily fubmits himfelf to every trial with which his Almis-hty Father fliall fee fit to vilit i6 SERMON I. vilit him. He endures afflidions with firm« nefs, yea even with cheerfulnefs, as well knowing the wife and gracious purpofes for which thefe afflictions are fent unto him ; to wean him from a world which is not to be his reft, but to which he is by nature and habit too much attached ; to purify his mind from all grofs and fenfual afFeftions ; to quicken in him thofe graces which are the peculiar ornaments of the Chriftian cha- raAer, and to call into vigorous action the many excellent virtues which alone can ren- der him a worthy inhabitant of thofe blelTed regions, where pain and forrow fhall be re- membered no more, and where " this his *' light afflidion, which is but for a moment, '' fliall work out for him a far more exceed- ^' ing and eternal weight of glory." The diforders and irregularities apparent in the moral government of the world, whether afFedling the fortunes of ftates or the condition of individuals, were obferved before they could be clearly explained or fa- tisfa(ftorily accounted for. The unaffifted reafon of men could not account for them conlifiently with the idea of one fupremely power- SERMON I. 17 powerful, wife, and good Being. They ob- ferved in their own minds a continued ftruggle and conteft between good and evil principles, and transferred that idea to the univerfe. And hence arofe the ftrange and degrading do6lrine of two powerful and in- dependent Beings, who feparately exercifed their contradiftory influence over the natu- ral and moral world ; the one the author of order and happinefs to the human race, the other delighting to promote confufion and unhappinefs. In the earlier ages of the world, and during the infantine imbecility of the powers of the human mind, we are not furprifed that fuch an expedient fliould be reforted to. The idea was the moft ob- vious, perhaps, of any which could then prefent itfelf to them upon the fnbjed: ; and it feemed, according to the narrow views they had as yet been able to take of the di- vine operations, to oiFer the readiell folution of a difficulty with which they had begun to be embarrafled. That it fhould have been adopted by men in after ages, whom expe- rience had fupplied with a larger flock of materials to work upon, who had fuch infi- C nitely i8 SERMON I. nitely greater advantages from the more ex- panded ftate of the mental faculties, and who had been admitted to behold the mani- fold wifdom of God in the Gofpel of his Son, is a circumftance much more extraor- dinary, and much lefs excufable. But this fcheme, like all other attempts to explain, on human principles, the nature, attributes, and government of God, intro- duces greater ditHculties than thofe which it pretends to folve. This is no place to com- bat at large a doctrine fo often and fo ably refuted. Suffice it to obferve, l. that it was derogating from the perfeftions of the Di- vine Being, to fuppofe that there was any power independent of his dominion, capable of difturbing his counfels and impeding his operations. Such a docSrine mull neceflarily tend to weaken the reverence of the pious beUever, and to deftroy the confidence which he repofes in the powerful protection of his heavenly Creator : it muft therefore, if adopted, have an unfavourable efFe6l upon his moral character, and confequently it cannot be true. Again, it bears a contradic- tion upon the face of it ; and, 3. it is con- futed SERMON I. 10 futed by the order of the natural world. We fee there an apparent conteft between good and evil : but the evil never predomi- nates ; it is only an inflrument in the hand of God for the promotion of the general good ; and by its agency thus directed is the ufual courfe of the world maintained. The defolating ftorms of winter prepare the way for the more fruitful feafons of the year ; in fliort, every natural evil is more than counterbalanced by its confequent pro- duction of good ; like the difcords in a mu- fical compofition, which are only fo far dif- tinguifliabje, as they heighten the general efFeCh, and render it more gratifying and complete. The inference then is obvious : if God fo dired: the viciffitudes of the natu- ral world, as that they fhall ferve to the continual advantage of his creatures, how much more muft his power be thus benefi- cially exercifed in directing the revolutions of the moral and political world ! This is a point indeed, as we have ihen already, not fo eafily afcertained as the other; but when- ever it can be afcertained, in ever fo few in- liances, and even with an inferior degree of c 2 cer- 20 SERMON I. certainty, we cannot but feel an increafe of reverence and gratitude towards the Al- mighty Governor of all things. For though every ad: of Omnipotence is performed with equal facility, and the Almighty can call an univerfe into exiftence, as eafily as he can aiTign its proper place and office to the fmalleft particle of matter, yet to human ap- prehenfion the power and the wifdom of God will appear to be much more wonder- fully difplayed in caufing the different views, the jarring interelb, and the difcord- ant paffions of men to work together to ef- fed: his eternal purpofes, than in governing the inanimate or the brute creation. That the wifdom and the goodnefs of God have been thus continually employed fince the creation of the world, that they will be thus employed as long as the world endureth, is an awful and important truth, which Revelation, and Revelation alone, could have unfolded to us. This is the only key which opens to us the internal fprings that govern the great machine of the uni- verfe ; and this to the candid and impartial reafoner furnillies no mean argument of its authority SERMON I. 21 authority and divine origin. When we ex- amine the hiftory of the world without a reference to the purpofes of God, as they are to be collected from Revelation, we per- ceive nothing but a confufed heap of events, intereiting perhaps to the lj[)eculative poli- tician, who loves to inveftigate the immedi- ate caufes of the rife and fall of empires, but which prefent not the progrefs of any regu- lar and uniform plan for the amehoration of mankind, nor any well-conne6led view of the purpofes of that Being who created the w^orld, and whofe power is therefore con- ceived to be continually employ^'J in pro- moting its welfare and improvement. The heathen hiftorians, whom we admire fo much and fo juftly for the beauty and brilliancy of their language, the acutenefs of their remarks, the profundity of their re- fle(3:ions, and the accurate minutencfs with which they have inveftigated the fources of national profperity and greatnefs, or the caufes which more or lefs direcftly contri- buted to the downfall of Hates and king- doms, yet prefent us with no views of this fort. It is the work of man which they de- c 3 fcribe, 2% SERMON I. fcribe, and not the work of God ; the ope- ration of human caufes and for human pur- pofes, and not the agency of divine wifdom and power for the general benefit of man- kind. Their details may be ufeful in a hu- man point of view, as we may learn from them what mode of human conduct has moft frequently contributed to the advance- ment of nations, and what have been the ufual immediate occalions of their downfall ; and as long as human nature continues in its prefent ftate, the inftrumentality of thefe will ever be the fame. But we mull fearch farther, we mull afcend up higher to a much purer fource of inftru6lion, to learn that all thefe things are under the fuperin- tendance, and in the appointment of God, the all- wife Governor of the univerfe; that the changes and accidents of the world are in his hands ; and that " he doth difpofe ^^ and turn them as it feemeth bed to his '' godly wifdom," for the furtherance of his original purpofes of mercy towards man- kind. In the Scriptures of revealed wifdom alone is the Almighty difplayed in this moll amiable and interelling relation to his crea- tures : SERMON I. ^3 tures : we can hardly open a page without feeUng our reverence, our gratitude, and our hope, awakened by the important dcclara- tioB, that '^ He is the Governor among na- *' tions. He ruleth in the kingdoms of men, ^^ He maketh poor and maketh rich. He re- '^ moveth kings and fetteth up kings. He *' putteth up and phicketh down : of Him, ^^ and to Him, and through Him, are all " things." Every portion of the hiilory of mankind, and more efpecially the important changes with which Hates and kingdoms have from time to time been afFefted, are therefore to be reckoned amongft the operations of di- vine ' government, and fubfervient to the eternal purpofes of divine wifdom and good- nefs. The hillories of particular ages or of particular nations, like the feparate parts of fome complex defign, if furveyed fingly, and not as relative and conftituent parts of a whole, will appear to us inelegant in their conftruclion, becaufe we fliall be ignorant of their jull application and ufe. Perhaps there is nothing which has been fo injurious to the caufe of Revelation as thefe imperfed c 4 and 24 SERMON I. and unconnedled furveys of the hiftory of the world : nothing which has afforded a more plaufible triumph to the infidel, or been a more heavy ftumblingblock in the way of the unlearned believer. But when we conlider them in their jufl: light, and apply them as Revelation teaches us, we lliall difcover the outlines of a great and be- nevolent plan, for the improvement of man- kind, which has been carrying on from the creation to the prefent time. Such a furvey would furnifli us with the beft and moil powerful arguments to repel the objeftions of the unbeliever, founded upon the appa- rent diforders of the moral world, the dif- ferent manner of God's deahngs with man- kind, and the feemingly fortuitous dillribu- tion of the bleffings and miferies of life. Such a furvey, neceffary at all times to ena- ble us to make a right judgment of the Di- vine operations, would be more particularly expedient at the prefent period, when the moral and the political world feem to be in as great a ftate of confufion as in any of the ages pall, and when, to ufe the Pfalmill's ex- preffion, " All the foundations of the earth '' are SERMON I. as ^' are out of courfe." A review of the pall difpenfations of Providence w^ill fcrve to convince us that the prefent are alfo con- duced by him, and direfted in conformity to his original defign in calling man into exilftence : that as in the natural world the ftorms and tempefts fulfil his word and exe- cute his commandments, fo in the moral world the angry paffions of men and the madnefs of the people, more infenfate than '' the raging of the fea," are yet in his rule and governance, and ferve to the accom- plifliment of his all-merciful purpofes. We read, that when the barbarous nations defo- lated the Roman empire, the Chriftians ima- gined, from the dreadful calamities of the times, that the end of the world was at hand : they could not forefee that thefe convulfions would ultimately tend to the more general difFufion and elhiblifliment of Chriftianity : and we know not what a glo- rious and happy Hate of things may refult from the prefent diforders, nor how clofely they may be found connected with the greateft and molt incalculable bleffings to our delcendants. lo 26 SERMON I. To jultify the ways of God, and to vindi- cate them from the wicked afperfions which the folly and prefumption of man have at times call upon them, is to the Chriltian a moll engaging and profitable talk ; it is the moll honourable employment of thole facul- ties, which w^ere given him to fet forth the glory and to advance the welfare of man. Thefe two ends have a llrong alBnity to one another; and we bell anfwer the latter of them, by endeavouring to promote the for- mer. It is an employment peculiarly adapt- ed to us on whom the ends of the world are come, who can look back through fo long a fucceflion of ages upon the diverfilied opera- tion of the divine perfeftions, and, guided by the light of Revelation, are enabled to difcern, in all their diverlities of form and manner, a conftant and uniform reference to one great end, worthy of the wifdom and benevolence of the Moll High. Indeed it will not be furpriling if, after all our re- fearches, there fliould be fome difficulties which we are not yet enabled to folve, and fome links of the golden chain fufpended from his footflool, which are Hill invilible to us. SERMON I. 27 us, and will continue to be fo till we lliall be admitted into his prefence, and fliall fee and know him even as we are known. But we iliall be able to difcover enough to know that his operations are always in harmony with his perfe6lions, and to learn a cheerful and pious fubmiffion to every difpenfation of his providence. In the vaft field of the hiftory of God's dealings with his creatures, amid the count- lefs variety of objects which are there pre- fented to our view, there are fome which claim a more particular attention on ac- count of their more immediate connection with the prefervation and eftablifliment of true religion : and to exhibit thefe in their connection with, and their fubfervicncy to, fuch an exalted and benevolent purpofe, will be the bufinefs of the following Lec- tures. The Almiglity has made ufe of a variety of means for the effecting of this purpofe : but that variety is the variety of \^'ifdom, and Itriftly reconcileable with the uni- formity of his defign ; which was by no hafty a8 SERMON I. hafty and extraordinary methods, by no vio- lations of the order of things which he had previoully eftabUihed, but by continued dif- cipline, and through progreffive ftages of improvement, to lead the human race gra- dually forward to the great end of their cre- ation : and the fpiritual nutriment with which he fupplied them was varied, accord- ing as they advanced from the weaknefs of childhood to the ftrength and ftature of the full-grown man. Accordingly as he ad- dreffed his people at fundry times, fo we read that it was alfo in divers manners, fuit- able to the progrellive ftate of their moral and intellectual faculties at each particular period. And hence we obferve a very great and ftriking difference in the doctrines which he revealed to his people in different ages, in the moral duties which he prefcribed to them, in the mode of w^orfhip which he ex- aAed of them, and in the evidences on which their belief in him was to be founded : and it would be. no very difficult talk to prove, that in every inftance the means which he made ufe of were in their kind and SERMON I. 29 and in their degree moft fitted to produce the effecft intended, agreeably to the original plan by which all his dealings with his crea- tures appear to have been governed. It is evidently requifite that fpeculative truths Ihould be proportioned to the facul- ties of thofe by whom they are enjoined ; and that modes of condudl fliould have a fi- milar adaptation to the moral powers of thofe to whom they are enjoined. This is a rule which is never violated in any part of the divine difpenfations. Chriftians under the Gofpel have more fublime do6lrines re- vealed to them than any that are to be found in the Patriarchal or Mofaic A liems ; they are farther advanced in the fcale of in- tellectual improvement : and if we are re- quired to make greater facrifices of worldly inclination than were exadled of the ancient people of God, let it be remembered, that the Gofpel holds out more animating mo- tives to our obedience, and promifes us much higher and nobler rewards, than they either knew or could duly eftimate. The frequent and familiar intercourfe which the Patriarchs appear to have had with so SERMON I. with their Maker, and the copious detail and minute fpecification of duties enjoined to the Ifraehtes, have been the occalion of much farcaftic remark and profane derilion to the unbehever, who has neglected to con* lider the many exigences of human nature at that early period, the peculiar character of the people to whom thefe revelations wxre made, and the extenlive purpofes of benevolence to be anfwered by them. Infidel writers leem in general to have fallen into the miftake, that mankind in the earlier ages of the world were upon the -fame level, in point of intelleftual ftrength, with their defcendants in thefe latter times, without confidering the advantages which thefe mull have over the former, in confe- quence of long experience, and a variety of other caiifes. Were they juftified in fuch a fuppofition, their objections to many parts of the Bible hiiiory would have a degree of force not eafy to be withftood. But when we have learned that there has been an in- fancy of the fpecies analogous to that of the individuals of whom it is compofed, and that' the infancy of human Nature required a dif- SERMON I. 31 a different mode of treatment from that which was fuitable to its advanced Hate, all caiife of objection ceafes, and we have only to admire the goodnefs and wifdom of God in thus gracioully accommodating his go- vernment in all ages to the wants and capa- cities of his creatures. I pretend not to much novelty of defign, nor perhaps will the want of it appear to be compenfated by a more judicious feledion, or a more linking difplay of the materials which the fubjed: Ihall be found to fupply. My choice has been determined by a wifh to contribute to the improvement of the younger part of my hearers, to whom alone any thing of mine can be fuppoied to be ad- drefled ; following in this refped:, but at a humble diftance, the Heps of one of the moil learned of my predeceffors, who, with abi- lities equal to the difcuffion of almoft any fubjeft, chofe on this occafion to accommo- date himfelf to the charader and the wants of thofe whofe improvement is the principal objed: of this inflitution. But what in him refulted from the benevolent condefcenfion of fuperior talents, muft in me be imputed to 32 SERMON I. to a confcious inability of treating, as they deferve, fubjec^ls of a more remote and diffi- cult nature. The fubje6l however before us can never be unimportant as long as Chrif- tianity Ihall laft : it w^ill admit of many in- tereffing details : not much of new, per- haps, remains to be faid upon this, any more than upon moft other fubjeAs of theological difcullion. But confidering to whom I ad- drefs myfelf, it may be fufficient if the in- formation upon this point, which is fcat- tered through the works of other writers, fliould be exhibited in a new and more con- nected form : and great indeed will the re- ward be, if, in addition to the other means of religious 'Improvement which the inftitu- tions of this place fo liberally fupply, thefe Leftures fhall in any degree contribute to their becoming wife unto falvation — a part of wifdom which fliall be their comfort and their glory when human wifdom ftiall no longer profit any thing. SERMON SERMON II. Isaiah xli. 8. But thou, Ifrael, art my Jervant, Jacob luhom I havt chofetiy the feed of Abraham my friend, XT is not given to man to know his end, nor the number of his days. On this obvi- ous truth are founded the moft animating and molt eftecftual exhortations of our reU- ^'ion to daily circumfpedlnefs of condud:, and unwearied continuance in well-doing. And it is prob:\ble, that a greater quantity of virtue and moral obedience is thus pro- duced, than would have been the confe- quence of man's being certified how long he has to Uve. But this uncertaintv, as it contributes to the growth of religion in individuals, ferves alfo in its confcquences to promote the pur- * D pofcs 34 SERMON li. pofes of God for the general improvement of mankind. It has a clofe and neceflary conneffion with the love of life, W'hich is one of the moft active and moft ufeful prin- ciples implanted in our nature. As we are enjoined, in regard to the things of eternity, to be ready to meet our Judge to-day, not knowing that we fhall be alive on the mor- row ; fo in regard to the things of this life, hoping that we fliall live on the morrow, we are impelled to exert ourfelves to-day, that w^e might in fome degree provide for the wants thereof. The day of our death being thus impenetrably concealed from our eyes, we apply ourfelves to our temporal concerns as though it w ere never to arrive. And thus the bufmefs of the world conti- nually goes on, and the eternal purpofes of God are advancing by the inftrumentality of his creatures. The time allotted for the ope- ration of each in his feparate capacity is fhort indeed, compared with the w^hole time which the Almighty has made requilite for the perfecting of his defigns : nay, the con- tributions of an age to this effecl are fome- times too minute to be readily ditlinguilhed. And SERMON n. 35 And yet infignificant as fuch infiruments leem, however inadequate their operations, yet it is by their immediate means that-the everlafting counfels of Ahiiighty wifdom, and power, and goodnefs^ are carried into effect. And whilll men have thought them- felves entirely occupied in the narrow fphere of their own concerns, they have been in reahty contributing, in a greater or lefs de^ gree, to the furtherance of thofe defigns, in the accomphfliment of which all the nations of the earth were ultimately to be bleiled. Such reflexions will naturally occur to us when we direct our attention backwards, through a fpace of nearly fix thoufand years, upon the wide fcene of God's dealings with man from the creation of the world to the prefent time, and obferve by what llow and gradual fteps, by what agency of caufes apparently weak and infufficient, his great purpofes have been carried on. It has been frequently alked by thofe who furveyed Chrillianity with no very fa- vourable afpedl, why it fliould pleafe the Almighty, that, in a cafe which concerned fo nearly the beft interells and truell happinefs D 2 of ^6 SERMON IL of his creatures, his proceedings fhould be thus characterized ; and why, as he certain- ly had the power, he had not the will alio to adopt other methods lets flow and cir- cuitous, which might have laved them from much painful difcipline, and a long prepara- tory inliitution. But we contend that the method which he has adopted is the one moft exactly fuited to man's earthly condi- tion, and moft agreeable to the functions which are here given him to exercife. No other method more expeditious could have been ufed by the Almighty, without requir- ing him to mould afrefli the conftitution of man, and to give him a new nature and new faculties : and why he has not done this is a queftion which the iniidel has no right to afk, and which we are no wife concerned to anfvver. It might as well be afked, why it has pleafed the Almighty to create a mate- rial world or material beings at all. Quef- tions of this fort are arguments only of the folly and prefumption of him by whom they are propofed. The pious Chriffian, in de- termining the propriety and wifdom of the divine operations, is cautious of afcending too SERMON II. 37 too high : he aiks not of his Creator, why hall thou made me thus ? but is rather thankful that he has been called into any form of exiltence : and when he conliders the means which his heavenly Father has appointed, fubfequent to the iirll creation of man, for advancing him to everlalting life and gloiy, all other feelings arc abibrbed in reverence and gratitude. Before we come to take a particular and fpecific furvey of the dealings of God with mankind, in regard to the feveral articles mentioned in the preceding Difcourfe, viz, the doArines imparted to them at different periods, the mode of worfhip prefcribed to them, the moral duties enjoined to them, and the evidences on which their faith in him was founded, and Ihew that thefe were duly proportioned to their condition at thofe periods ; it will be proper to take a general fketch of the hillory of man from the ear- liell: ages to the coming of Chrift, according to the information which is to be gathered from Holy Scripture. We Ihall thus be bet- ter prepared to enter upon the details into w^hich the confideration of thofe articles will D 3 ne- 38 SERMON 11. neceflarily lead us, and better able to con- ne6l the condition of man at different pe- riods, with the meafure of divine Revelation then vouchfafed to him. Agreeably to the leading idea of the preceding Lecture, we lliall difcover the outlines at leaft of a regu- lar and progreffiye plan for the improvement of man ; and w^ould our limits admit luch an extenlion of the enquiry, we might, by turning the luftre of Revelation upon the dark and intricate picture of human affairs, make out fatisfadlorily, that the manj' appa- rent irregularities and diforders in God's moral government of the world not only were no impediments to fuch a plan, but were more or lefs diredily real and effeftive inftruments of its advancement. At the creation of man the Almighty gra- cioufly condefcended to become his inftruc- tor ; and what our reafon concludes to have been neceflary. Revelation allures us was true. The condition of the Father of man- kind was in a moft eminent degree diftin- guiflied from that of all his defcendants. They are born to advantages in the prefence and attentions of parents which he muft ^ have SERMON IL 39 have been deftitute of; nor could he have learned lufficiently early the means of im- mediate fiibliftence, but from the inliruclion of his Creator. How that knowledge was conveyed to him, as it is not eafy for us to imagine, fo it is hardly neceflary to enquire. It is fufficient for our prefent purpofe that the fad: was fo, and could not have been otherwife. Without referring to the divine influence, it is impoffible to conceive bow- man Ihould have acquired the faculty of fpeech, or the power of reafon. The Al- mighty therefore muft have both fitted him for the reception of knowledge, and com- municated to him fuch a meafiire of it as was neceflary to the Hate of trial in which he was placed. Rabbinical writers have given us fome very extraordinary accounts of the great perfedions enjoyed by the Father of the human race whiUl he remained in _Paradile ; but they are fuch as the Scriptures will hard- ly be found to warrant, and Ciirillians are now in general inclined to look upon them as vifionary and unfounded. AVe fliall give a more probable account, and one much D 4 more 40 ' S E R M O N IL more confiftent with Scriptural declarations, if we place him at a great diftance both in a moral and intelled:ual point of view below many of his remote defcendants. Befide the information which we have juft fuppofed to have been conveyed to him, as being necef- fary towards the means of his immediate fubiiftence, the quantity of knowledge which his condition could then require or be able to receive muft appear to be very fmall. As a firft and neceflarily preparatory Rep, he is made acquainted with the nature of his own dependant and relative fituation : that he was not the author of his own be- ing, but received it from one much more mighty and powerful than himfelf; to whom alfo the exiftence of every thing about him was to be afcribed ; and confe- quently that it v^as in the power of him who created him to increafe or diminifli the number of things within his reach, and which he had already found were directly fubfervient to the pleafures, the comforts, and even the continuance of his life. And ^his is fuppoling as much as the concifenefs q£ the Mofaic records, in this moll early and motl SERMON II. 41 moft interefting period of the hiftory of our fpecies, and the nature of the cafe itfeh', particularly when taken in reference to the fubfequent conduct of Adam, will in any wife be found to jullify. AV^ith regard to the moral inftrudion conveyed to him, this feems to be equally fcanty, and confcquent- ]y argues the narrow capacity of him who was to be the fubjeft of it. The Almighty in this refped evidently treats Adam as what he really was in underftanding — a child : one only duty of obedience feems to have been exacted of him, contained in that prohibitory precept, " The tree of know- '' ledge of good and evil, which is in the *' midll of the garden, thou flialt not eat '* thereof." And Adam, like a mere cliild, to gratify a prefent and improper inclina- tion, too readily feduced to lillen to perni- cious counfels, and regardlefs of future con- lequences, difobeys the commandment, and fubjedls himfelf and his defcendants to the penalty of his difobedience. Thus was broken the firll covenant into which the Almighty entered with man at his creation : but as his wifdom forefa\v the frailty 41 SERMON II. frailty of Adam, fo had his mercy provided a fecond covenant, that of grace, w hich was calculated to reftore mankind to that im- mortality, v/hich through the tranfgreffion of their iirlt parent they had forfeited. This covenant was obfcurely hinted to Adam immediately after his fall, and mio:ht have contributed in fome meafure to comfort him under the affliction which the confequence of his difobedience had occafioned : though he was unable, nor did the divine purpofe allow him at the time to imderftand clearly the nature of its bene- ficial operation. To prepare mankind for 'its more full and explicit promulgation, by fuch means and by fuch degrees as their fa- culties at different periods would admit of, was the object of all the fubfequent revela- tions which God made of himfelf, till the time came that he faw fit to make a bright and perfect diiplay of his gracious purpofes by the miniltry of his Son Jefus Chrift: and his moral government of the world both has been, and continually will be, directed to this one great end, to eftablifli more firmly the knowledge and to difFufe more generally the SERMON II. 43 the bleffings of this fecond covenant, whole operation fliall extend backward to the cre- ation of the world, and forward far beyond the reach of time. Though the crime of Adam had jullly fubjeded him to the fentence pronounced againft tranlgrcllion, and though one part of that fentence, viz. his difmillal from Para- dife, was immediately executed, yet it ap- pears that he was not deprived of that com- munication with the Almighty, which he had enjoyed during the ftate of his innocen- cy. And indeed, as fuch a communication was then neceifary to direct him to his fub- fiftence, amid the various fruits which the earth poured forth fpontaneoully, it vv'as be- come much more fo now, when the ground was curfed for his fake, and refufed to vield the neceliaries of human life, except in re- turn for human labour. A new fcene was now opened to Adam, and new ideas added to his llock of religious knowledge : what- ever he had known before of the power of his heavenly Father, he was now experi- mentally convinced of the certain exercife of it in the punifhment of difobedience. Pre- 44 SERMON JL Previous to the fall of Adam, the whole of his devotion, it is probable, confifted of tim- ple expreffions of praife and gratitude to- wards his Creator : but afterwards a new and molt important addition was made to his code of religious obfervance ; the inlli- tution of animal facrifice, which evidently began at this time, and cannot well be con- fidered as being of human device. It mull have been the appointment of God, and de- signed, among other purpofes, for keeping continually alive in him the remembrance of his tranlgreffion, and of the dreadful na- ture of that penalty to which he had be- come fabjecl ; and at the fame time to prefigure that great and ultimate facrifice which lliould one day be offered up as a fufficient atonement for the fins of Adam and of all his defcendants. The days of Adam, fays the facred Hifto- rian, were nine hundred and twenty years : fo long a time was he exhibited to the world as an awful example of the power and the jufl:ice as well as of the mercies of God. The mofi; remarkable circumftances in the life of Adam were thofe which took place SERMON IL 45 place in the earlier part of it ; and thefc were too important to him in their eonfe- quences to be forgotten ; they mull have continually employed his refledlions, and been the frequent fubjecl of his converfation with his numerous defcendants : and thus would fome ideas of the exilience of Cod, as well as of his principal attributes, form- ing the tirll: outline of religious knowledge, be difFufed and continued among them. But befide the knowledge w^hich would thus be traditionally conveyed to mankind, it pleafed tlie Almighty, who is not more ready to fupply the animal than the fpiritual wants of his creatures, to impart to them immedi- ately from himfelf fuch inllruftion, at va- rious times and in a variety of ways, as they appeared to ftand in need of. Thus we find him at a very early period in the hiltory of the world interfering in a manner fufficient- ly intelligible to tellify his approbation oi the piety of Abel, and to punifli the wicked- nefs of his murderer. It will not, I trult, be confidcred as refin- ing too much, if we endeavour to llievv from the different manner in which the Almighty received 46 SERMON IL received the offerings of Cain and Abel^ and the greater refpect which he had to thofe of the latter, which was the occafion of the crime of Cain^ that from this circumftance a new and important piece of inftruclion was intended to be imprefled upon mankind. It does not appear that there was any eflential difference in the value of their refpective of- ferings, limply confidered, which occalioned this difference in the manner of their recep- tion ; each brought according to his ability of the fruits of his feveral occupation. But a very different difpofition of mind in each accompanied the prefentation of their offer- ings : w^hat the one performed unwillingly as a painful talk, was to the other a delight- ful fervice ; and hence, lay many writers, the Lord refpcAed the offering of Abel, but unto Cain and his offering he had not re- fpecl. Might not then this difference of procedure to each have been intended to teach man a leflbn, which is not to be col- leded from any previous account of his dealings wnth him ; not only that the in- w-ard feelings of the heart muft accompany the outward works of men's hands in the fervice SERMON II. 47 fervice of their Maker, but that he feeth and knoweth what man cannot do, whether fuch feehngs accompany his fervices or no. Man had been made to know before that the eye of his Creator furveved all his outward ac- tions ; and this was perhaps the firft time that he was given to underlland that all his inward thoughts and intentions were alike open to his infped:ion. And the expedience of teaching him fuch a leflbn as early as his faculties could be made to comnrehend it, will readily be allowed by every one who conliders how nearly it is connedled with men's moral improvement, and how much of the wickednefs of mankind at this day is afcribable to their habitual forgetfulnefs of this omnifcience of God, unto whom, in the fublime language of our Liturgy, '' all hearts *' be open, all defires known, and from " whom no fecrets are hid." A very beautiful pidure of the efFecl of rehgious knowledge thus diffufed amongfl men in the firft ages of the world is given in the fliort accounts preferved of one of the moft illuftrious of the defcendants of Adam. Enoch, we are told, after having walked be- fore 48 SERMON IT. fore God upwards of three hundred years, was tranllated that he fliould not fee death. This event niuft have produced a very ftrik- ing efFecl upon the minds of men at the time, w^ho, having already learned that God is, and that he is a punildier of difobedience, had now the additional and much nobler motive to their obedience, the conviction that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him. But luch w^as ftill the weaknefs of men's moral and intelleftual faculties, that the cafe of Enoch mull be confidered as a moft rare and brilliant example of uniform obedience to the laws of God ; and it fliines with a brighter luftre in proportion to the gloom with which it is furrounded. As mankind became more numerous, the evil propenlities of their corrupt nature dif- played themfelves with increafed activity in a greater variety of forms, and teemed to difdain the control which Religion had hi- therto been able to lay upon them. Of the nature of their offences againft the Divine laws the Scripture has not minutely in- formed us ; but how far and how generally they SERMON II. 49 they were fallen from that ftate of inno- cence and obedience, which could alone en- fure the favour of their Creator, is evident from the tremendous judgments with which he now vifited them. It was foimd expe- dient that the whole race of mankind Ihould be cut off, with the exception of one family- alone, which might ferve to re-people the earth, to become the depofitaries of divine knowledge, and to perpetuate to future ages the remembrance of an event fo ftrongly de- claratory of the infinite power of God, and the certain exercife of it in the puniiliment of difobedience. Under the Patriarchal, and more efpecially under the Jewifli difpenlation, temporal in- flidlions of God's wrath were the ulual and oftentimes the immediate confequences of any general deviation from his laws. And fome are unable to reconcile with this cir- cumftance the repeated tranfgreffions re- corded of mankind at thefe periods. When the judgments of God were fo frequent and fo vilible in the earth, they are furprifcd that men were fo flow in learning from them to praclifcrighteoufnefs; and hence they would £ infinuate 50 SERMON II. infinuate an objeftion^ which, according to them, admits of no eafy Iblution, againll the credibility of the ISIofaic records. But let us recur to our lirft principle, and the propofed objection will no longer feem formidable. Is a froward child eafily and at once reclaimed from the error of his ways ? does the recoUedlion of punifliment long outlive the fmart of it ? or is it in ge- neral fufRciently powerful to keep him from yielding to the very next temptation by which he may be allailed ? Nay more, in re* garding the condud: of a great many men, convinced as they are by repeated experi- ence, that vicious indulgences are clofely and neceflarily connedied with temporal fufFerings, how feldom do we find them ufe that conviction to the adoption of fettled habits of temperance and felf-denial ! From Adam to Noah were but two gene- rations : the knowledge of God therefore, and the beft means of rendering him fervice, cannot well be fuppofed to have been loft during that time amongft any defcription of mankind. The world was ftill but in a ftate of infancy, and the Almighty feems to have watched SERMON II. 51 watched over the gradual improvement of his creatures even as a father watcheth over his children ; to have given them from time to time fuch inftrudions, and to have fup- pUed fuch chaftifements and fuch encou- ragements, as were fuitable to the exigencies of their fituation, and adapted to the level of their underftandings. Another covenant, more diftindl in its im- port and more extenlive in its conditions, is again propofed by the Almighty to Noah and his family, after the reft of the world had been fwept away. A moft awful and afFedling leflbn had been given them of the danger of awakening his anger by their own difobedience ; and, notwithftanding the yet infantile ftate of the human charader, we may reafonably fuppofe, that the impreffions which the fcene they had fo lately witneflcd had made upon their minds would not foon be obliterated ; that they would continue, for a confiderable time at leaft, ftedfaft in exe- cuting their part of the conditions of that co- venant which God had vouchfafed to them: and therefore, according to our leading prin- ciple, the knowledge of God, and the prac- K 2 tice 52 SERMON II. tice of man's duty towards him, would ftill continue in a llate of progreffive advance- ment. It is the remark of an intelligent writer, fpeaking of the ufual progrefs of any true doctrine, that it has three remarkable peri- ods; 1. its promulgation, 2. its corruption, and, 3. its relioration, when it is more firmly eftablilhed, and flnnes more brightly than at its firlt promulgation. In furveying the w hole fcheme of divine w^fdom delivered to mankind at different periods, we fliould have frequent opportunities of applying and illuf* trating this remark. The firft religious truth conveyed to man- kind, and wdiich forms the very foundation of all the reft, is the exiftence of God, the fiipreme and only Governor of the univerfe ; whofe power is through all and above all, and who fliares not with another in the pof- feffion of this fupreme jurifdiftion. In -the earlier ages of the world, though mankind might not have underfto'od this important truth in its full extent, and though the knowledge of it by no means ferved to fe- cure their uniform obedience to the laws of God, SERMON II. God, yet they did not corrupt its fimplicity. It was refer vcd for the depravity of their re- moter defcendants to introduce new obje6ls of rehgious adoration, and even to pay to them exclulively thofe honours which were due to the Ahiiighty Creator alone. In what llrange perverfion of human fentiment thefe corruptions originated, and by what means they v^^ere introduced into general practice, the Scripture has not informed us, and it is not our bulinefs at this time to enquire. It is fufficient to obferve, that in the days of Peleg, the fifth in de- fcent from Noah, idolatry had in a great meafure overfpread the earth ; and that, in the opinion of fome, it was to ftay its alarming progrefs that the Divine intcrpo- fition took place at the tower of Babel, of which the name of Peleg is futhciently de- fcriptive. The Scriptures do not give us any dircA information of the religious Hate of mankind during the long period of years which elapled from the difperfion to tlie call of Abraham. We are enabled however to col- E 3 loci. 54 SERMON IL led, that none of the ufual means for the' improvement of the world in knowledge and virtue were difcontinued : amongft others, the great longevity of the Patriarchs, which connefted them together as contem- poraries with their defcendants of feveral generations, was admirably well calculated to continue among them the knowledge of the only true God, and the effential princi- ples of religious morality. And here we cannot but obferve, that in the different periods which the Almighty has at different times allotted to human ex- iftence, the uniformity of his wifdom in a diverfity of operation is obvious and Uriking. A confiderable length of days feems necef- fary to the forefathers of the human race, both for the purpofe jufl mentioned, and for the more Ipeedy peopling of the earth. But when this necelTity no longer prefled, when the evils ariling from the extended age of mankind began to preponderate, and cor- ruptions of every kind appeared to be more firmly rooted in confequence of it, the Cre- ator adopts a very different plan : the lives of SERMON II. 55 of mankind are fucceffively lliortened, till, at no great diltance of time, they were re- duced within their prefent hmits. But ftill mankind at large, like wayw^ard children, were with difficulty, and, for the moll part, not at all, to he kept in the faith and fear of God ; a great portion of the world continued funk in idolatrv, and de- voted to thofe corrupt practices, N\'hich are its invariable attendants ; and at length the Almighty, in his wifdom, found it expedient to difcontinue any direcl and immediate in- terference in the concerns of the generality of mankind, and to feleci a chofen genera- tion, who Ihould be his peculiar people, to whom his oracles fliould for a time be ex- clufively entrufted, amidft the approaching corruptions of the world, and who lliould in after ages become the means of the more general diifiition of true Religion. Nothing feems to have more offended the pious fcruples of thofe w ho, in their fiiperior jealoufy for the honour of God, affecl. to conlider the Mofaic records as derogating from his perfeftions, than this part of the Divine economy. They are extremely E 4 Ihocked, 56 SERMON II. fhocked, forfooth, at fuch an inftance of ar- bitrary partiality, afcribed to a Being of in- finite wifdom and goodnefs ; whofe revealed mercies, they contend, had the Almighty ever vouchfafed any, would have been at once communicated to the whole race of mankind, and not been kept Ihut up for fo confiderable a period in the pofleflion of fo fmall a portion of them. Nor can they re- concile with their notions of God, his bear- ing with them fo long, and continuing to them his favours, even after they had julily offended him by their difobedience and apo- ftafy : '' But who hath known the mind of '' the Lord, or who hath been his counfel- '' lor ?" How often muft men be told of the unfairnefs of reafoning upon fingle and feparate parts of the Divine operations, without recurring to his general purpofc, and obferving the connection of thefe with the advancement of that purpofe, in that manner and by fuch degrees as is moll con- fiftent with his ufual form of proceeding ? And fuch a connection, as often as it can be traced, (whether immediate or remote, is nothing to the purpoie,) is a fatisfaclory juf- tiiication SERMON II. 57 tificatlon of thofe dealings of the Almighty which, to lleftily eyes, feem lefs confiftcnt with his wifdom and goodnefs. As to the purpofe itfelf, that was never meant to be the fubjed: of our animadverfion : it is fuf- ficient that we know what it is, and that all things are made to work together in its ad- vancement. Againft the charge of partiality, in God's feledling the defcendants of Abraham as de- pofitaries of the true religion, it may be fair- ly urged, that the experiment had ah'cady been tried, in two inliances, how far man- kind could continue in the knowledoe and worfliip of the only true God, without an efpecial and limited revelation. Adam, as we have feen, left this knowledge to his de- fcendants ; and the Almighty revealed him- felf alfo to particular perfons, fuch as Enoch, Lamech, and others, and by them to man- kind in general. Yet in the courfe of lOoo years from the creation of the world, \\'c find all correal notions of religion and mo- rality confined to Noah and his family, the reft of the world being funk into idolatry and wickednefs. Noah preferved the know- ledge 58 SERMON II. ledge of God, and left it to his defcendants, and by their means was it diffufed through- out the world: in a httle more than too years every veftige of it had again ahnoll entirely difappeared. Thus the feledlion of fome particular family for this important purpofe was not an iniiance of arbitrary par- tiality ; the meafure was, humanly fpeaking, neceflary ; and no jull reafon can be given why Abraham and his defcendants fliould not have been felecled, as well as any other people, from the great mafs of mankind. Nay, if any credit be due to the Jewilli tra- ditions, Abraham feems in fome meafure to have entitled himfelf to fome particular marks of the Divine notice. He had refiit- ed the reigning corruptions : in the ftruggle between the dictates of confcience and pa- ternal authority, he had nobly obeyed the former, and forfook his own nation and his father's houfe, rather than join in their ido- latrous ceremonies. And further, after the Almighty had promifed to Abraham, that in his feed fliould all the nations of the earth be blelled ; as it was his primary and unal- terable purpofe, that of his lineage, as con- cerning SERMON II. 55 cerning the flefli, Ihould fpring the future Redeemer of mankind ; it was to be ex- peded that his defcendants fliould have a remarkable portion of divine favour fliewn to them ; that to them fliould all farther communications be made relative to this great event; that they fliould be, for the mofl: part, a mighty and powerful nation, and advanced before the reft in the arts of civilized life ; circumftances which, in a great degree, feem neceflary to promote the ends for which they were defigned. As to the many inftances of the Ifraelites rebelling againft God, their almighty Sove- reign, and their frequent apoftafies from the pure dodlrines which he taught them, be- fore we can argue from thefe againft the propriety of the feleftion, it muft be demon- ftrated, that any other portion of mankind, enjoying the fame advantages, would have walked more uniformly and unerringly, ac- cording to the meafure of the light imparted to them. Nor Vv'as it a blind, a weak, and human partiality which the Almighty flievved to the Ifraelites. He treated them as his chil- dren. 6o SERMON 11. dren, who continually flood in need of the chaftening hand of their father : he punilh- ed them for their offences with a feverity proportioned to their means and opportuni- ties of ading in a w^ay more pleafing to him : fo that, as a good writer has ob- ferved, it has been a matter of wonder to fome, that the Almighty lliould fuffer his people to be fo often afflided by temporal evils : but objedors of either kind do not feem to confider, that he had higher and nobler objects in view than the profperity and adverlity of the Ifraelites, who were merely the inftruments in his hands for the production of events, infinitely more im- portant to the univcrfal interells of man- kind, than the happinefs of that particular people. But even after the feleftion of this re- markable family, we do not find, from the accounts which are preferved of the charac- ters and hiilory of its fucceffive heads, that any alteration was made in the human com- pofition, that any new and more forcing methods were adopted by the Almighty for accelerating the growth of pure religion among SERMON II. 6i among them. Abraham himfelf and his two immediate defcendants, in their fcveral compadis with their heavenly Leader, feem to ftipulate, as it were, for a greater portion of temporal bleffings, as the reward of their adhering faithfully to their part of the con- ditions ; and are apparently ignorant of, or not concerned about, thofe more diliant, but more excellent rewards, which were to be the confcquences of obedience to them and to all the generations after them. And even after the defcendants of Abra- ham had become a feparate and eftablifhed people, and had a place given to them among the nations of the earth ; yet after the variety of moral and religious inllrudtion imparted to them, the Almighty thought proper to appoint earthly and temporal fancftions to the laws which he enjoined them, as being moft fuitable to their narrow capacities and fenfual habits, and moft likely to influence their moral and religious con- dud:. So that the character of the whole Jewifli people appears to be much fimilar to that of the dregs of mankind at prefent, on whom fpiritual motives have no manner of ctTcd, 6z SERMON 11. efFed, and whom the fword of the magif- trate alone can keep in any tolerable fub- jection to the regulations of civil fociety. It is a moil ftrange and furprifing circum* fiance, not to be otherwife accounted for but by confidering the moral world as being yet in its infancy, the very ftrong hold which idolatry feems to have had upon the minds of the Jews in the earlier part of their hifto- ry. It was their moft darling fin, from which they were weaned with the utmoft difficulty, and into which they moft readily relapfed. This faiUng, common to all na- tions at the time, w^as lefs excufable in the Jews, as they had the true objedl of their devotion fo exprefsly pointed out to them, and had been witnefles of the many great and wonderful things which he had done in their behalf. Nor was the certainty of the inflicftion of temporal evils fufficient to cure them of this favourite propenfity. Their crime, indeed, in general was not fo much an abfolute rejecflion of the only true God, as their taking the gods of the heathen into community with him, and making them alfo the objeds of their religious adoration. But SERMON IL 6^ But this was a crime alike ofFenfive to the purity of the Moft High ; it was aUke for- bidden by the law of Mofes, and repugnant to every notion which enlightened reafon is competent to form of the Unity of the fu- preme Being. Throughout the far greater part of the Jewifli hiftory, we find them, by the adoption of the idolatrous practices and impure celebrations of the neighbouring na- tions, perpetually incurring the anger of their heavenly Sovereign, and undergoing the efFeAs of his vengeance, oppreffion in their own, or fervitude in their enemy's country ; and it was not till after the laft great captivity in Babylon, after long and repeated experience of the certain confe- quences of their difobedience, that their moral conftitution gathered ftrength enough to throw off thofe impurities which had io long been attached to it. But ftill the purpofes of God were ad* vancing, and the improvement of mankind went on by fure, though oftentimes imper- ceptible degrees. Separated as the Jews were, as a peculiar people, from the reft of mankind, yet we obfervc that their fates and 64 SERMON II. and fortunes were never unimportant in their confequences to the inftru6tion of other nations. In a very early part of their hifto- ry, they were fent down into Egypt for this wife and benevolent purpofe ; and a very ftriking difpolition was previoully made, by efiablilliing the dynafty of " fliepherd kings," to enfure them a favourable reception ; and when the time came for them to remove from thence to take poflellion of the land promifed to their forefathers, the native princes are reltored, who, from their hatred of fliepherds, perfecuted and opprelTed the Ifraelites : and this made them willing to quit a land which abundantly fupplied them with the means of fenfual gratification, and to which therefore they were fo much at- tached, that nothing fliort of the heavieft oppreffion could have inclined them to leave it. In the more advanced periods of their hiftory, their frequent captivities were of undoubted fervice in difFufing more gene- rally the feeds of true religion. It is true, they borrowed many of the corruptions of the people among whom they were ; but at the fame time they were of fervice in giving SERMON II. 65 giving them fonie notions of a purer faith in return. The Greeks, when fubdued by the Romans, imparted to their conquerors their literature and refinements ; and when the Romans themfelves became in their turn a prey to nations more hardy and uncivihzed than themfelves, their literary improvements were among the moll precious fpoils v^hich their fubduers received from them. But the Jews, whether conquered or conquering, amidll every variety of their political condi- tion, contributed to the improvement of the people with whom they were moft immedi- ately concerned. The more acute and intel- ligent among them w^ould be naturally in- quifitive to know fomething of the religious creed of a nation fo different from them- felves, and fubjeded to fuch extraordinary difpenfations : and thus would many of the Gentiles be admitted to the knowledge of the only true God, the God of Ifrael ; they would be taught to reverence him in confe- quence of witneffing his power and juftice in rewarding their allegiance, or in punilh- ing their defertion. And it is well worthy of remark, that their Gentile neighbours were by no means ignorant of the nature f and v^ 66 SERMON IL and conditions of that covenant, into which the Almighty had vouchfafed to enter with the Ilraelites : and they are introduced by the Prophets as juftifying themfelves in commencing hoftilities againft Ifrael, from the circumllance of their being inftruments in his hands for the punilhment of his re- bellious people. But the Jewifli iyftem was not intended to laft for ever; it was temporary in its con- tinuance, confined in its comprehenfion, and imperfedl in its very conftitution. It was, perhaps, the moft effectual plan which the All-wife could adopt for the execution of his defigns, confiftently with the rules to which he had fubjefted the ufual courfe of earthly circumftances. When it had ef- - fecfted the purpofes for which it was infti- tuted, it waxed old, and began to vaniili away. When the fulnefs of time was come ; when, by the efficacy of previous re- velations, every thing was prepared for this fublime difplay of the mercy of God, which was promifed from the beginning of time, and determined upon before the foundation of the world ; when the improvement of the human faculties could bear fuch a mea- fure SERMON ir. 67 lure of divine inftrudlion ; and, in fliort, when every neceflhry dilpofition had been made ; God fent his only-begotten Son into the w^orld to become the author of another and more excellent fyftem, not temporary, but eternal ; not calculated for one particu- lar portion of mankind, but of univerfal in- tereft and importance ; not confined to the level of children in underftanding, but fuited to the faculties of the full-grown man, in the moft expanded ftate of the human intel- lect, the admiration of glorified fpirits, and the fubjed: of the fongs of angels. V 2 SERMo::^- SERMON III. John xvi. i^, ' 1 have yet many things to fay untoyou^ but ye cannot bear them now, IT has been frequent!}^ made a queffion, whether man, unenlightened by revealed wifdom, could ever have arrived at a know- ledge of his Creator. They who have de- cided in the negative feem to have taken that part which is attended with the i^w^ik. difficulties. For there is nothing to be urged a priori againll: the probability that the Almighty Ihould inlirucl the being whom he had created ; and a knowledge of his Creator would be among the firll and moll neceflary parts of the inflrudlion thus communicated to him. It were no eafv tafk to prove, that man, in as early a period of his hillory as we find the notion of God F 3 exilting, 70 SERMON III. exifting, polTefled a fufficient lliare of intel- lectual ftrength to enable him to difcover a truth which at this day he can readily demonftrate. The argument in favour of fuch a fuppofition is drawn from the powers of man's mind in an advanced ftate of civili- zation ; but it is not remembered how long a period of time muft elapfe before man, unaffifted, (if ever^) would become civilized and enlightened, and that fome knowledge of religion was more likely to precede fuch a ftate, than to have been a confequence of it. Proofs and illuftrations of this vmiverfal tenet may readily be fuppofed to have fprung up out of civilization; but the origi- nal idea itielf, we contend, muft be traced up to a higher fource. But fafts are ftrongly againft fuch a fup- pofition, according to the earliell and moft authentic hiftory of mankind. Adam was not left for a day to colled:, by reafoning upon the objects about him, the being of his Creator, but was convinced of this ne- ceffary truth by immediate and ftriking ap- peals to his fenfes. So important a leflbn, once taught, could hardly ever be entirely loft, whatever corrupt additions might be made SERMON III. 71 made to it; however it might be diftorted in paffing through the depraved conceptions of men. The original idea v^as retained by the founders and legiilators of nations ; and when men became advanced in intelleftual exercife, they might then reafon about what had certainly never been taught them by reafon, and prove, by a reference to the magnificent llruclure and harmonious ar- rangement of the feveral parts of the uni- verfe, the truth of what had been handed down to them by tradition from the fither of mankind. If language be the gift of God, and we cannot account for its origin other- wife, fo did he fupply alfo the noblefl: fub- jed: of language, the being and the perfec- tions of him who created all things, and in whofe good pleafure alone they Hill conti- nue to exift. "The world," faith the Apoflle, "by " wifdom knew not God ;" which might mean either that men wxre not indebted to the hi«chell exertion of tlieir intelle6tual powers for the difcovery of a Creator ; or that, having that information, they cor- rupted its purity and weakened its efFeds by incorporating with it the devices of human F 4 and 72 SERMON III. and carnal wifdom. And the impurity which had mingled itfelf with their religion became ahke attached to their moral prac- tice. The errors and abliirdities into which the heathen nations fell, even they who had been permitted to make the moll aftoniihing advances in human arts and fciences, are a fufficient proof not only of the inability of human reafon, when unaffifted, to attain re- ligious truth, but even of preferving it, for any confiderable time, pure and undefiled, without frequent and continued communi- cation of divine inllrucf ion. And this per- haps might be one amongfl; many other be- neficial purpofes of the Almighty, in with- drawing himfelf fo long from fo great a por- tion of mankind, and leaving them to their own inventions in religion, viz. to aiFord to us, on whom the ends of the world are come, a lirong; conviction of the neceffitv of that farther revelation of the divine nature and will which was made to mankind in the Gofpel, and which the partial difpenfa- tion made to the Jews ferved to prepare and introduce. The great orator and philofopher of Rome has left us a treatife, which contains a fum- mary SERMON III. 73 mary of the various opinions of the ancient fages concerning the divine nature, and alfo of the arguments by w hich the princi- pal feds, which then divided the philofo- phical world, endeavoured to ellablifli their dogmas. It exhibits a comprehenfive view of the progrefs which the wifefl: heathens had made towards the difcovery of God, be- fore '^ the Sun of righteoufnefs arofe," '' a ^^ light to lighten the Gentiles." From it we learn that their reafonings produced only uncertainty, contradiction, and abfurdity. Some denied the exiitence of an intelligent Firft Caufe, the greater part doubted of it, and many of thofe who allowed it, yet ex- cluded the Deity from any fliare in the formation and government of the world ; and thus, whilft they pretended to believe in the being of a God, abfurdly denied the neceffity of it. Cicero himfelf, w^ho has ex^ pofed and refuted the irrational notions of the more ancient philofophers, refpecling the being and attributes of the Deity, could not eftablifli more certain and juft notions in their ftead. He complains of the diffi- culty and obfcurity of the fubjecl, and chal- lenges any perfon to prove that the truth had 74 SERMON III. had been difcovered. He argues warmly in favour of the dodlrine of a divine Providence in the chara6ler of the Stoic ; but finks at laft into the gloomy and cheerlefs doubts of the Academic : and the difcuffion is clofed with a vague and inconclufive opinion^ which attributes a nearly equal degree of weight to the arguments for and againft the exiftence and providence of God. How juftly might the reafonings of the moll il- luftrious heathens upon this intereliing fub- jeft be characterized, in the language of the Apoftle, as '' vain babblings, and oppofitions ^' of fcience, falfely fo called/' One verv remarkable difference between the religious books of the Jews and the phi- lofophical works of the ancients, is, that whilft the latter were not able, by their me- taphyfical difquiHtions, to acquire true and correct notions of God, we have the mofl jufl defcriptions of the nature of the Su- preme Being in the Hebrew Scriptures, without the fmalleft trace of any previous train of reafoning, by which fuch conclu- fions might have been gained. We do not find Mofes, or any of the Prophets, endea- vouring, like the heathen philofophers, to prove SERMON III. 75 prove the being and attributes of God, from the order and harmony of the univerfe, or from the necellity of a firll intelhgent caufe: but the reprefentations which they give us of the Deity are founded upon certain knowledge of his exiftence, and a fenlible experience of his providence. Nor do we find thofe gradual advances in the difcovery of God, or that variety of opi- nions concerning his nature, which would be obfervable, if their notions concerning this fubjeft were merely the refult of rea- fon. But whilil the heathen philofophers endeavoured to improve upon or to refute the theological dogmas of thofe who went before them, the laft writers in the Jewifli Canon give us no other reprefentations of the nature of God than are given by Moies : and we obferve, from the beginning to the end of their facred code^ that uniformity of doftrine refpedling the Supreme Being which is not to be found in the writings of the ancient heathens. This remark, however, muffc be confidered as ftridlly confined to that great fundamental truth of all religion, the exifl:ence of an Al- mighty Creator and Governor of the world, and 76 SERMON III. and his ability and will to punilh the difo- bedience and to reward the obedience of his creatures ; for on taking a more minute furvey than we can do of the hiftorj of the Jews, from their eftablifliment as a nation to the coming of Chrift, we ihall find, that as they advanced in intelleclual ftrength, a proportionably greater degree of light was imparted, and a more full and explicit deve- lopement of the eternal purpofes of God made to them by the miniftry of the fuccef- fors of Mofes. In the primeval and patriarchal ages of the world, as we have obferved before, fuch a knowledge only of the divine Being feems to have been communicated to man, as his faculties were competent to receive, and as was neceffary for his immediate diredion. That he was capable of receiving no more may be urged ex converfo, becaufe no more appears to have been granted him : and the goodnefs of the Almighty was concerned in his revealing himfelf to his creatures as fully at leaft as their condition could bear. Their notions of God were therefore narrow and grofs ; and the fervices which they rendered him were didated not fo much by that love of SERMON III. ^7 of God, which we are now given to under- lland can alone render them acceptable to him, as by an earthly attachment to their own immediate intereft. We might be fur- prifed at the faintnefs of their curioiity, and their appearing fo little folicitous to know more of their heavenly Creator : but the time was not yet, when men could remove their attention from the cares of life, to the confideration of abftradi quefiions. Their daily labours, which were neceflary as the means of procuring their daily fuftenance, would not allow them leifure, or infpire them with inclination or abilities, for the attainment of higher knowledge. And when it pleafed the Almighty to fe- parate the defcendants of Abraham as a chofen inheritance^ to himfelf, who Ihould be the depofitaries of his religion, and the future teachers of all mankind ; yet they themfclves are fubje6ted to that progreffive difcipline which had been eiiablilhed from the beginning. '' The Law," faith St. Paul, fpeaking of the Molaic difpenfation, " is our fchoolmaf- ^' ter, to bring us to Chrift." This expref- lion. 78 SERMON III. Hon, agreeably to the idea upon which we have hitherto proceeded, teaches us to con- fider the religious llate of the Jews as bear- ing the fame analogy to Chriftianity, that the ftate of childhood does to that of the full- grown man. In conformity therefore with this circumftance, the knowledge communi- cated to them by INIofes was far inferior to that which is revealed to us. They were taught, like children, only the firfl; principles of religion ; they were inllructed in thofe doclrines only, without which religion could not poffibly fubfift. Their religious know- ledge feems to have been confined to the exiltence and unity of God, a general idea of his attributes, and their dependence upon him as their national Lawgiver and Sove- reign. Thefe certainly were the only im- portant doclrines explicitly taught in the jSIofaic law ; and though others might be inferred from it, yet they were concealed from general view by a veil of types and figures. Proceeding from the WTi tings of Mofes to the prophecies, and from them to the GoC- pel revelation, we fee the facred roll of truth gradually SERMON IIL 79 gradually unfolded, till He at laft appears, *' who has power fully to open the book, " and to loofen the feals thereof." In thefe various degrees of religious know- ledge, imparted from God to man, we per- ceive the fame wifdom difplayed in a diver- fity of operation. We have before obferved, that all the Creator's dealings with mankind are charac- terized by one general principle of propor- tion and order : that w hen he adts as a Teacher towards them, the knowledge which he imparts is always adapted to their pro- grefs in intelledlual improvement ; as a Law- giver, he regards in the fame manner their moral powers ; when in any other charac- ter, his difpenfations are conftantly propor- tioned to their faculties as well as their wants at the time, and are thus rendered fubfervient to the eternal purpofes of his mercy. Had he therefore at any time communi- cated to them truths which, in their nature, were unfuitable to the condition of their in- tellectual faculties, and which, from a mif- conception of them, might have become the means of their plunging into dangerous er- rors go SERMON III. rors and delufions, it is evident that the principle of order would have been violated, and the progreffive improvement of man- kind v^ould not have been confulted. The religious truths conveyed by Mofes to the Jews were, as we have jull remarked^ of the moft limple and elementary kind, and are little more than a republication of the knowledge which had been delivered to their fathers in times paft, and preferved in the world by tradition. That knowledge, however, continued not long in its original purity ; it was gradually deformed and cor- rupted by the admixture of human fancies. More efpecially, the doctrine of the divine Unity feems at the time of Mofes to have been almoft entirely loll ; and mankind had long been in the habit of paying divine ho- nours to a multitude of iiftitious deities. The Jewifh lawgiver, in the doclrinal part of his religious code, reeftabliflies, in their prilline fimplicity, the ideas which had before been given to man of the nature and perfections of his Creator. The unity of God is more diftinctly ftated, and a heavy pe- nalty is denounced againft the people of Ifrael, fliould they either forfake the wor- fliip SERMON III. 8i fliip of the only true God, or (what thev were the rather inchned to do) fliould they aflbciate with him in equal honour the ob- jects of idolatrous veneration. And this de- nunciation feems the more peculiarly necef- fary, when we conlider for how long a time the Jewilh people had been " mingled ^' among the heathen,'* and had *' learned ** their w^orks." If w^e regard the charafter and condition of the Jews at the time of their deliverance from Egypt, we fliall readily allow% that the wdfdom of God was eminentlj' difplayed in thus treating them as children in under- Itanding. Brought up, as they had been, in the '^ houfe of bondas:e," and fentenced bv their imperious talkmallers to occupations of the lowed and moll laborious kind, even from their earlieft years — thefe were cir- cumftances which had an obvious and ne- ceffary tendency to debilitate their intellec- tual powers : thofe powers had not been exercifed and ftrengthened by education ; and they were from habit addifted to the grofs idolatry of the country in which they had lived. So debafed indeed were their minds, fo intent were they upon fenfual G gra- 82 SERMON III. gratifications, that even after God had re- vealed himfelf to them, they v^ere v^ ilUng to renounce his fervice, and to return to their former flavery for the fake of enjoying the plenty of Egypt. So far were they from being able to receive the full light of Chriftianity, that they would not perhaps have been capable of attaining a jufi: notion of thofe fublime reprefentations of the Deity, which their own prophets afterwards com- municated to their defcendants. God might indeed have enabled them to rife fuperior to thefe moral and phyfical impediments to their religious improvement ; he might have new formed their underftandings purpofely to receive thefe truths : but this, as we have remarked already, would not have been con- fiftent with the original purpofe of the Al- mighty, which was gradually to improve and refine man's nature, by the continued and increafing exercife of thofe faculties with which he was fent into the world. The method w^hich he really did adopt w^as in perfeft harmony with that purpofe : he gracioully condefcended to the infirmities of his creatures, and accommodated his difpen- fations to their capacities ; and therefore revealed . SERMON III. S^ revealed himfelf to them in fuch a manner only, and to fuch a degree, as their intellec- tual powers could fufficientlj comprehend. Again, the more refined and abllract doc- trines of the Gofpel would have borne a ftill greater difproportion to the moral and in- telledlual liate of the Jews at the time of Mofes, as well as for many ages after- wards. Had the humble condition and the fufFerings of the Meffiah been as plainly foretold by the Prophets, as they are nar- rated by the Evangelifts ; had they been taught to look forward to a crucified Re- deemer, one who fliould undergo the fe- vereft degradation and the bittereil perfe- cutions before he ihould enter into his p:1o- ry ; fuch a reprefentation of the object of their hope v»"ould have alike offended their underltanding and their feehngs, and, fo far from attaching them to the fervice of God, would probably have caufed them to defert it for the idolatrous worfhip of fome other nation, more intelhgible to them, more fuited to their carnal views and fenfual dif- pofitions. The text gives us another and finu'lar iu- ilance of the conduct of the all-wife God in G 2 con- 84 SERMON III. concealing certain important doftrines for a feafon, till the perlbns to whom they were to be revealed were duly qualified to receive them. And this inllance may ferve to con- firm the reafon which has been fuggefted, why the Jews were kept in ignorance of manv of the efTential dodlrines of Chrifii- anity. '' I have yet many things to fay '' unto you,'* faith Chrift to his Difciples, when he was about to leave them ; '' but ye '* cannot bear them now." Had he revealed thofe truths of which he fpake, before their national prejudices were removed, and their views and conceptions enlarged, they would have proved ferious liumbling-blocks in their way, and perhaps have endangered the fla- bility of their faith. The Difciples had not as yet fo thoroughly learned Chrift, as to have entirely unlearned the Jew. Notwith- ftanding their Mafter's declaration, that his kingdom was not of this world, they ftill cheriflied the fond expedlation of his ap- pearing as a temporal Redeemer, who fliould break the bonds of Judcca in funder, and place her foot upon the neck of the haughty miftrefs of the world. This expectation, though it muft have been wofully damped at SERMON III. Sj at his crucifixion, revived with his refurrec- tion ; and it was this alone which prompted them to aik on the dav of his afcenfion, *' Lord, wilt thoii at this time rellore the ** kingdom to lirael ?'* They could not yet therefore underftand that their Mailer's kingdom was of a fpiritual and not of a temporal nature, and that the obje6l of his coming was to fave the fouls of men, ra- ther than to advance their earthly interells. They were therefore fufFered to remain un- informed of thefe important truths, till their minds were duly fitted to receive them by the influence of the Holy Spirit. To keep them ftedfaft in the belief of the divine unity and fpirituality, was as much perhaps as was intended by all the revela- tions of fpeculative doftrines made to the Ifraelites : nor will this purpole appear im- worthy of all the means w^hich the Almigh- ty made ufe of in efFed:ing it, whether we conlider their ufual pronenefs to idolatry and polytheifm, or the deleterious effects in practice which have been uniformly found accompanying thefe errors in belief. This has been fuggefted by an excellent Divine, as a reafon why the doftrine of the Trinity, G 3 w^iich S6 SERMON IIL which forms fo interefting and eflential a part of the orthodox Creed, was not re- vealed to the Jews, or at leaft is not to be fo readily collefted from the fcriptures of the Old Teftaraent, as it is from the uniform te- nor of the Gofpel. That the people of If- rael, while they fojourned in Egypt, were inclined to idolatrous celebrations, and in- dulged polytheiftic opinions, is a fact per- fedly unqueftion^ble. Their worihip of the golden calf, during a temporary abfence of their lawgiver, proves how deeply they had been tainted with thefe errors, how hardly they could be brought to renounce them, and how eafily they relapfed into them on the firft occafion that offered. Perhaps in no country, dillinguiilied by any progrefs in civilization, had the rage of polytheifm been carried to a greater extent than amongft the Egyptians, who had been accuftomed to pay divine honours to fome of the lower and meaner parts of the creation. Had the Jews therefore been taught by Mofes, as Chrif- tians have been fince in the Gofpel, that in the Divine ElTence were three diftincS: Per- fons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, it is evident, that, circumftanced as they SERMON IIL they were, this doctrine would have quickly been corrupted to fandlion the molt perni- cious errors. ^' If," fays the writer above alkided to, '' they fo often fell into the no- " tion of a plurahty of Gods, in fpite of all '^ the precautions which Mofes ufed to pre- *' ferve them from it, what would have been " the cafe, had their religion itfelf feemed to *' their grofs and undiftinguifliing minds to " fan(3:ion fo fatal an error ?" It is however contended by fome, that the more learned Jews in later times were not unacquainted with this dodlrine ; and it is certain, that Chriltians, affifted by the light of the Gofpel, are enabled to collect fome very ftrong proofs of it from the writings of Mofes and the Prophets. But that the people at large were entirely without the notion of a Trinity is evident enough ; and in the fcheme of the divine nature dehvered to them, they were not cautioned againft confounding the Perfons in the Godhead, left, from the na- tural tendency of weak minds, they ftiould fall into the oppolite extreme of dividing the fubftance, which, according to their moral ^nd intellectual ftate at the time, would G 4 have 83 SERMON III. have proved to them the far more dangerous delulion. The ufual and neceflary confequences of idolatry are juftly and beautifully defcribed in the Book of Wifdom, attributed to Solo- mon : '' Moreover, this was not enough for ^^ them that they erred in the knowledge of ^' God ; but whereas they lived in the great ^' war of ignorance, thofe fo great plagues^ " called they peace. For whilft they flew ''^ their children in facrifices, or ufed fecret *' ceremonies, or made revelHngs of ftrange '^ rites ; they kept neither lives nor mar- '^ riages any longer undefiled, but either one ^^ flew another traitoroufly, or grieved him ^^ by adultery. So that there reigned in all '^ men, without exception, blood, man- *^ flaughter, theft and difllmulation, corrup- *' tion, unfaithfulnefs, tumults, perjury, dif- '' quieting of good men, forgetfulnefs of ^* good turns, defiling of fouls^ changing of '^' kind, diforder in marriages, adultery, and ^^ fhamelefs uncleannefs. For the worfliip- *' ping of idols not to be named is the be- '' ginning, the caufe, and the end of all <' evil." (Wifd. Sol. xiv. 22.) Such SERMON IIL 89 Such is the chara Chriftian philofophers at this day feem to be convinced, that the only true foundation of moral obligation is the will of God* No other foundation can man lay, which fhall be able to fecure the permanence of the fu- perftru(?ture. We have feen already that the origin of religious knowledge is of necefTity to be afcribed to the immediate revelation of God : and to what other fource can we fo well and fo fatisfa6lorily trace up, not merely the fan6lions, but the firft exiftence of moral regulations, which are foclofely and necelTarilv interwoven with the idea of a Supreme SERMON V. 145 Supreme Creator. All inftrucfhion delivered to man in his prefent ftate muft neceflarily be of a pradlical nature, and calculated to influence and direct his moral conduct:. The firft revelation, which the Almighty made of himfelf to his creatures, vras attended v^ith a precife and pofltive moral precept; and in proportion as he vouchfafed further commu- nications of himfelf to them, he inftrufted them more fully in the nature of the obedi- ence which he expected from them, accord- ing; as the exi2:encies of their fituation feem- ed to require, or the improvement of their faculties could bear fuch inftruftion. Men may talk as much as they pleale of the beauty of virtue, of its conformity to the litnefs of things, to reafon, to nature, to truth, or its tendency tq promote the public and individual good : all this is well ; but it is not enough to eftablifh a fufficient foun- dation of moral obedience, nor to account fatisfacSorily for the origin of moral regula- tions. We have reafon to believe that rules of condudl exifted long before men were fufliciently advanced in intelle(3:ual improve- ment, to be able to difcern that beauty, that conformity, and that beneficial tendency, of L which SERMON V. which we have been fpeaking : they muft therefore have been dehvered from fome fuperior power. Allowing the firft principles of morality to have originated in a divine revelation, (and we contend for nothing elfe,) it was eafy enough for men, as their faculties im- proved, and the forms of life were multi- plied, to modify and extend the principles thus handed down to them, to apply them to the infinite variety of new cafes conti- nually occurring, and to prove their excel- lence and utility by abftrad: arguments, or by a reference to general experience. But be it always remembered, that there is a great deal of difference between proving the juftnefs of any particular pofition by rea- Ibning^ and being able by the fame mode of reafoning to have difcovered it originally. The heathen philofophers, who were '^ without God in the world," i. e. who were ignorant of the only true God, could only recommend the practice of virtue by elegant defcriptions of its intrinfic excellence, or elaborate arguments in proof of its general ufefulnefs. It is true, they fometimes fpake of virtuous adions as being pleafing to the gods : SERMON V. 147 gods : but this was but little infilled on as a conftraining principle of moral obedience ; and thus not having that argument which a long experience of human nature has iliewn to be the only effeftual one in awakening the feelings, and governing the actions, of the great bulk of mankind, it is not to be wondered at if their moral difcourfes were of little efFedl in ameliorating the manners of men in general ; or if the utmoft degree of moral turpitude, and the almoft univerfal prevalence of the moft abominable exceflCvS are recorded of nations, which have pro- duced the mofl beautiful defcriptions of vir- tue, and fome of the ftrongeft incitements to the practice of it, founded upon the tem- poral interefts of mankind. In the late convulfions of Europe, which have fhaken the moral and political w^orld to its very centre, many have been the at- tempts made by the modern philofophifts to deftroy the credibility, by fetting afide the neceffity, of revelation. One of the moft fa- vourite means, to which they have reforted, has been to fet forth elaborate defcriptions and minute fpecifications of human duty, without any fort of reference to religion ; L 2 the 148 SERMON V. the pureft of their lyftems contain httle elfe than the Gofpel precepts, divefted of the Gofpel fanftions. Thefe were attempts to feparate rehgion from morahty ; and the at- tempts regularly failed, becaufe thefe are two things which the Almighty has willed fliall not by man be put afander. The Catechifm of Yolney, for inliance, contains as excellent a fyftem of morals as ever was prefented to the w^orld. We need not fay from whence the beft parts of it have been borrowed : but what fandlions to moral precept are here given, what rewards and puniihments are announced as the means of quickening the hopes, and alarming the fears of men ? Why, truly, none but of a merely temporal kind, and fuch too as can have but little to do in influencing the conduct of the great mafs of mankind, to whofe feelings and comprehen- lions every moral fyftem, to be good for any thing, muft necelTarily be accommodated. It is therefore much to be regretted, that many excellent men, whofe attachment to Chrillianity it were hereiy to fufpecft, have employed fo much of their talents and eru- dition in difplaying the inferior reafons of moral obligation, without noticing, as was proper. SERMON V. 149 proper, the pofitive will of God, as the only- real and generally efFeftive one. When this principle is primarily adopted, and con- tinually referred to as the proper ground of every moral fyftem, it is delightful to ob- ferve the conllant harmony and correlpon- dence between the commandments of God, and the trueii interefts of man : that our Creator requires nothing of us, which tends not to promote our trueft happinefs, and is not fandlioned by the pureft and moft un- corrupted feelings of our nature. But for want of connefting all their reafonings oa ethical fubje6ts with this, as a leading and fundamental pofition, it is to be feared that thefe writers, without intending it, have given fome aid to the opinion, that human duty is determinable by human reafonings, and human feelings : a pofition full as dan- gerous to the interefts of true piety, as that the being and attributes of God were pri- marily difcoverable by man's unaffifted rea- fon. Religious knowledge is clofely and di- rectly connected with moral obligation ; and the ideas of a fupreme Creator and Governor of the world lead in regular confequence L 3 to ISO SERMON V. to the neceffity of men's conciliating the favour of fo powerful a Being, by adopting fuch habits and rules of conduft, as fhall be moll pleafing and acceptable to him. The influence of religion upon man's moral cha- racter has at all times been ftriking and determinate : we have feen already how clofe and invariable an union has always fubfifted between errors in religious belief and corruptions in moral practice ; and the juftice of the claims of the Gofpel to divine origin is in no fmall degree evinced by the purity and excellence of its moral precepts. And indeed it is not eafy for us, according to our notions of the Almighty, to conceive that he fhould make a revelation of his exiftence and nature to man, wdthout de- claring to him fome part, at leall, of his will concerning him. That he did the former of thefe we have feen before : we have the account from the earlieft and moft authentic hiftory of the human fpecies ; and that ac- count is abundantly confirmed by conlidera- tions of the utter incapacity of man, at his firfl creation, to have acquired any know- ledge of the means of his fubfiftence, much lefs of the nature of his Creator : and from the SERMON V. la the fame fource of information we learn, that the knowledge of man's duties was of divine origin, and that they are divinely fandlioned. All the dealings of God with mankind have an evident reference to the direction and improvement of their moral condu6l : and he has at all times, and in all places, with moft adorable wifdom and goodnefs, proportioned the nature and the extent of his requifitions to the chara6ler and faculties of his creatures at each relpedlive period. Human nature in regard to its elTential character has continued precifely the fame throughout all ages, from the creation of Adam to the prefent day. The only dif- ference confifts in the progrellive improve- ment which it has undergone through the gradual operation of feveral fucceilive fyf- tems of divine revelation. The father of the human race differed not in this refpecft from his later defcendants. We fee in him precifely the fame character which a general furvey of mankind prefents to us at this time ; a being given to know the nature of his dependence upon his Creator, the will of that Creator refpeding his moral con- L 4 dud* 152 SERMON V. du6t, and his own obligations to obey that will ; befet with a variety of temptations to tranlgreffion, ariling out of his very confti- tution, and engaged in a perpetual ftruggle between the obligations of duty, and the folicitations.of pafEon. The difference con- fifts only in the more accurate knowledge of his dependent condition, which he enjoya at prefent, in the greater facrifices of fen- fual inclination, which he is required to make, and the more exalted motives to mo- ral obedience with which he is now fur- niflied. The object of the feveral divine dif- penfations was rather, we prelume, to im- prove gradually than radically to alter tho moral and intelleftual condition of man- kind. It were abfurd therefore to imagine that, human nature being always fundamentally the fame, any new foundations of morality fliould be laid, or that the obligations to re- ligious and moral obedience, arifing out of the love and the fear of God, Ihould ever be changed. Accordingly we obferve that the morality in the feveral fucceflive difpenfa- tions of God is at all times the fame in re- gard to the great and primary principles of moral SERMON V. ^53 moral obligation : but that a very ftriking diiFerence is obfervable in regard to the ap- plication and extenfion of thofe principles, and the various fubdivifions of human duty refulting from them. That men fliould love God for his goodnefs fo plenteoully flied abroad through every part of the creation, that they Ihould reverence him on account of his wifdom and power, has always been required of them as the firmell: and moft juil grounds of their obedience to his laws. The union of thefe two principles conftitutes at this day the moll powerful motives to vir- tuous action to the fincere and enlightened Chrillian, as it did to men under the Patri- archal and Mofaic difpenfations. But under each of thefe difpenfations, men are not informed precifely in the fame way what modes of conduct fhall ferve as the bell: expreffions of their thankfulnefs for the goodnefs of God, or their reverential apprehenfions of his wifdom and powder. They mull neceflarily be varied in propor- tion as their minds become gradually ftrengthened, as they become more fully acquainted with thefe moll; prominent at- tributes 154 SERMON V. tributes of the divine nature, as they were taught more worthily to appreciate the ob- jects of their prefent exiftence, and the end for which they were fent into the world. We fliould err mofi; egregioufly, were we to exped: of the child that degree of exalted and fpiritual attachment to his fuperiors and benefactors which we have a right to expe6l from the full-grown man ; were we to de- mand of the one thofe denials of habit and inclination which may not unreafonably be demanded of the other : but in both cafes regard and reverence are undoubtedly due, and may in both be exhibited, though not precifely in the fame meafure. Apply this to the condition and charader of mankind under the different economies of divine re- velation. God at all times propofed himfelf to mankind as the objedl of their warmed love, and their moft awful reverence ; but it would have been unreafonable in him to require the fame teftimonies of love and reverence from men in the earlier ages of the world, when their ideas of his perfec- tions were yet faint and imperfeft, that he does at prefent, when their minds have been enlightened SERMON V. 155 enlightened by that magnificent difplay which he has made of himfelf in the Gofpel of his Son Jefus Chrift. The bufinefs of man's prefent exiflence is to prepare for another and more perfe6l form of Hfe after death ; to acquire fuch ha- bits of hoUnefs and virtue as are indifpenf- ably neceffary, not only to his being worthy of entering into the kingdom of heaven, but alfo capable of relifliing the nature of that happinefs, which is there provided for the faithful children of men. To the further- ance of this benevolent defign, all the pro- ceedings of God with his creatures have been uniformly made fubfervient. It is unnecef- fary to repeat, that he willed the execution of this defign to be gradual, that it fhould be perfected by no violent and hafty methods, by no alterations of the order of things, which he had previouily eftablifhed ; but by progrellive advances, and by the operation of caufes nicely adapted to produce the de- gree of improvement required. As therefore a more full and complete re- velation of religious knowledge to mankind accompanied their progrefs in intelledlual ftrength ; 156 SERMON V. ftrength ; fo the code of morality enjoined to them was rendered more pure and defi- nite. A variety of caufes had contributed to bring the human intelled: into a fufEcient ftate of maturity to receive the fubhme doc- trines and holy precepts of Chriftianity, which, if propofed to them at any earlier period, would have been evidently difpro- portioned to their faculties: thefe would have been things much too high for their comprehenfion ; and the one would have been rejected as incredible, and the other as impolTible, or unwife. But the progrefs of civilization, the gradual difcovery and the fucceffive improvement of the various arts by which life is comforted and adorned, the cultivation of abftra6l fcience, the accumula- tion of literature in the greater monarchies, and its diffufion at their fall — all thefe things had contributed to advance the intellectual chara&er of man, to exercife and improve the reafoning faculties, to extend his views beyond prefent objects, and thus to prepare him for the reception and digeliion of the ftrong meat of the Gofpel, a fyftem as ne- ceiTary for his intelledlual manhood, as the Patriarchal SERMON V. 157 Patriarchal and Jewifli fyftems had been, when as yet he had hardly grown up out of the infancy of his underftanding. And as the duties impofed on mankind under the Gofpel were of a higher and feverer nature, as they enjoined a more ac^ tive and uniform obedience, a more peremp- tory control of fleflily paffions and appe- tites, and a greater alienation of the affec- tions from fenfible objecls, than any that were prefcribed to them under previous dif- penfations ; fo were the fan6tions of this new moral code of a different and fuperior kind, and the rewards and punifliments held out to encourage the obedient, and to ter- rify the difobedient, proportioned to the feelings of mankind in a ftate of greater in- tellectual improvement. i,^ A very elegant writer, who, to the dif- grace of his genius and abilities, has been among the foremoft of the modern alTailants of Chriftianity, makes it a complaint, that any fort of reward fliould be propofed to excite men to the pradlice of virtue. He maintains that the native and intrinsic ex- cellence of virtue is fufEcient of itfelf to fa- tisfy every one who fliall be fo fortunate as to 158 SERMON V. to attain unto her ; and that we derogate from that excellence, when we would offer a dowry with her, to render her more ac- ceptable to mankind. But this fublime de- gree of difintereftednefs, whatever attrac- tions it might have for a few vifionary phi- lofophers, is not by any means adapted to the feelings of the great body of mankind. To influence their conduct in any remark- able degree, it is neceflary that they be ex- cited by the hope of reward to that which is required of them, and deterred by the fear of punilhment from doing that which is for- bidden them . The great Teacher of morality to mankind has proceeded upon a very dif- ferent principle : he, knowing what was in man, has accommodated the fandions of his moral p:ecepts to the condition of man. He has not thought proper, becaufe he well knew it was to nopurpofe, to recommend the pure and excellent morality which he taught, by abftrad: and defultory declamations on the beauty of virtue, and the conformity of good adions to the eternal fitnefs of things ; but has applied himfelf in a manner the mofl: awful and impreffive to the hopes and fears of frail and mortal men : the en- couragements SERMON V. 159 couragements to virtue, and difluafives from vice, which he has propofed, are of a nature fuiEciently intelligible to all ranks and con- ditions of mankind, from the enlightened philofopher to the illiterate peafant ; and thus are the wifdom and the juffice of God magnified, who has in the Golpel fet before men incitements to thepradlice of their duty fufficientto animate the energies of every one, and has left no room for the palliation and excufe of wilful tranfgreffion. But to return : — the fancftions, by which the duties of Chriftianity are recommended, are as much fuperior to the fanclions of the Mofaic and Patriarchal fchemes, as the pre- cepts which it enjoins are of a higher and lefs earthly kind ; and both the precepts themfelves, and their fancftions, require a . greater meafure of intellectual advancement to render them intelligible and effective. It has been julily confidered as a moft import- ant point gained in the inilitution of chil- dren, when we fliall have once made the future to predominate over the prefent in their minds, when they fliall have been once difpofed willingly to refign an immediate gratification, for the fake of one which is more i6o SERMON V. more diftant and lefs certain : no matter how much fuperior this expelled gratifica- tion might be to the one which immediately fohcits their enjoyment : this weakens not the argument at all : it rather fhews the dawn of reafon in infantine minds ; that they begin to calculate and compare, and are able for the firft time to determine their conduct according to the profpe6l of the greater good, however ftrong the temp- tation might be, which is prefented by the opportunity of immediate gratification. When they are grown up into manhood, the tafk is unfpeakably more eafy : fo much of human life is fpent in prefent felf-denial for the fake of future enjoyment, that it is no difficult matter to engage them then to fub- mit to the one, for the fake of being after- wards recompenfed with the other : nay, it is what they often and readily do of their own accord ; and it is not unfrequently found, that, whilft their expeftations are con- fined to mere earthly bleffings, their real en- joyment is greater whilft they are engaged in the expedlation, than Vvhen their wifhes are crowned with fuccefs. Now the condition of men at the date of the SERMON V. i6i the date of the Patriarchal and Mofaic reve- lations may be confidered as bearing the fame analogy to their condition at the com- ing of Chrill, that the llateof childhood does to that of adult years ; and therefore we obferve that the motives to religious obe- dience offered to men in the former cafe were different from thofe in the latter ; but ftill exactly proportioned to the feelings and chara(9;er of mankind at either period. The ancient people of God, being as yet but mere children in underftanding, were to be worked upon by mere temporal motives, and the promife of immediate protection and advantage ; and this they fometimes appear to have claimed from the Almighty, as a ffipulated condition, upon which their ac- knowledgment of him, and their obedience to his laws, Ihould be continued. '' If God, fays Jacob, ^' wdll be with me, and will keep *' me in the way that I go, and will give me '* bread to eat, and raiment to put on, fo ^' that I come again to my father's houfe in '' peace, then ftiall the Lord be my God :*' q. d. if he will preferve and profper me in my temporal undertakings, then will I obey him, and keep his flatutes and command- M ments. i62 SERMON V. ments. And it appears not to have been till after many fuch inftances of divine fa- vour and protection vouchfafed to him, that he fet himfelf in good earneft to reform the religion of his family, and to put an autho- ritative ftop to the idolatrous impurities which had hitherto made a part of their daily praftice. *' Put away the llrange gods *^ that are among you, and be clean, and " change your garments, and let us arife and '* go up to Bethel : and I will make there *' an altar unto God, w^ho anfwered me in '' the day of my diftrefs, and was with me '' in the way which I went." The religious character of mankind, even the moft civilized and enlightened, in the Patriarchal times, may hence be eafily de- termined : and in this manner did Almighty ' wifdom judge it expedient to deal with them ; to fall in, for a time at leaft, with their narrow views and carnal apprehen- fions ; to engage them in his fervice by the promife of immediate and temporal rewards; till at length they Ihould become capable of underftanding, and eftimating as they ought, thofe higher hopes and better promifes, which were afterwards held out to them as the SERMON V. 163 thie means of exciting their attention, and animating their obedience. In fucceeding periods of the hiftory of God's dealings with his chofen people, we find them not yet fufficiently ftrengthened and enlightened to obey his laws, without the fandlion of temporal rewards and pu- nifliments. Earthly bleffings, health and riches, peace at home, or vi^lory abroad, were the moft animating encouragements to moral obedience which could afFed: the grofs conceptions and narrow views of the Ifrael- ites ; and it w^as therefore by means of thefe that they were retained in the fervice of God, and kept from the fafcinating pollu- tions of idolatry ; and earthly evils, famine and peiiilence, defeat and captivity, were, by that equal providence under which they were governed, the uniform punifhment of their negled; or their tranfgreflion of the commandments of their Almighty Creator and King. But Chriftianity addrelTes itfelf to the hu- man race, as being no longer children in underllanding, but men ; whom it is not ne- cefTary to influence by immediate and tem- poral motives, but who are old enough, as it M 2 were. i64 SERMON V. were, to abftraft themfelves from the things about them, and to look forward by faith to things as yet unfeen. The certain evi- dence of a Hfe to come, the awful profpeft of a future judgment, and an eternity of happinefs or mifery as the recompenfe of men's earthly condud:, according as they have done good or evil in this life ; thefe are the motives, by which the obedience of the difciple of Chrift to the moral prefcrip- tions of his heavenly mafter is beft to be fecured. A greater abundance of the real comforts of the world, though well enough compatible with the profellion of Chriftiani- ty, and certainly as much if not more at- tainable under the difcipline of the Gofpel, than any other form of religious practice, are yet by no means annexed as neceflary confequences to the moft careful and con- fcientious difcharge of Chriliian duty : the Chriftian is commanded to fet an inferior value upon thefe things, and even wilhngly and cheerfully to refign them, whenfoever it fhould fo happen that they cannot be re- tained conliftently with the nature of his profeffion : and he is comforted under every deprivation of this kind that can befall him, under SERMON V. 165 Under the very heavieft and fevereft afflic- tions with which human hfe can be vifited, by the promife of a great and eternal recom- penfe in heaven ; when amid the profulion of bhfsful enjoyment, which Ihall then be his portion, all the mifery and all the happi- nefs even of this life fhall be remembered no more. Such different motives were reforted to by the Almighty Creator at different periods, to fecure the obedience of his creatures to the laws which he gave them ; and thus clearly is marked their gradual advancement from the infancy to the manhood of intelle<3:ual growth. But it is proper to fay fomething of the different degrees of moral ftrid:nefs obferv- able in the laws themfelves, which the Almighty enjoined to his creatures under different difpenfations. We remarked, a IhorMime fince, that the fundamental prin- ciples of morality in every divine difpenfa- tion are precifely the fame ; that there nei- ther is, nor can be, confiftently with the divine perfections, any real difference be- tween them ; but that the only difference difcoverable is in the further concluHons M 3 drawD i66 SERMON V. drawn from them, and their more minute appUcation under the Gofpel of Chrift, than under preceding difpenfations. It is a favourite opinion with fome writers, that there is no one precept which has been generally confidered as peculiar to Chrilii- anity, the principle of which is not to be found in the Decalogue ; and, to prove this, they maintain, that in each of the prohibi- tions contained in that code, not only the crime there precifely and fpecifically men- tioned is forbidden, but every ad: and every feeling, which can tend, however remotely, to the commiffion of that crime. In this fenfe it may mofl: truly be faid, that the principles of morality in either fyftem are precifely the fame, and that they are agreed in the minuter fubdivifions of human duty. But before the Gofpel was added as a com- mentary to the Decalogue, I much queilion whether this extenfive application of its pre- cepts was generally adopted. It is more probable that the Jews received and regarded them in their plain and literal fenfe, with- out extending their prohibitory operation to other lefs open and glaring violations of moral rcditude. The forgivenefs of injuries, for SERMON V. 167 for inftance, and the injundlion not to ren- der evil for evil, may be fuppofed to be con- tained in the fixth commandment ; becaufe a vindidiive difpofition, if allowed and che- rifhed, has a manifeft tendency to produce the crime of murder ; and therefore we can- not more lafely fecure ourfelves from com- mitting the greater crime, than by carefully abftaining from the lelTer, which is too often the parent of the other. But this was a greater degree of refinement than could rea- fonably be expelled of the Jewilh nation ; and any individual might conceive himfelf blamelefs, though he cheriflied fentiments of hatred againll his offender, provided he fuiFered not thofe fentiments to flame out in any violent attack upon his comforts or his exillence. The moft beautiful and engaging feature in the morality of the Gofpel, is that fpirit of love and benevolence which pervades every part of it: '* Behold, a new command- *' ment," fays Chrift to his difciples, '' I give *^ unto you, that ye love one another." By the epithet ** new," prefixed to the com- mandment of loving one another, it is not to be fuppofed that our Lord is prefcribing a duty unknown to mankind, and never en- Tvj 4 joined l68 SERMON V. joined before, fo much as giving to a former commandment a new and more extenfive application. For the dyty of benevolence is certainly not left out of the Mofaic code, and makes a frequent fubjedl of prophetic exhortation. To relieve the diftrefled, and to comfort the afflidled, which are the moft amiable offices of humanity, are often in- terellingly defcribed, and powerfully recom- mended, in the Old Teftament. It was a por- tion of the true fpirit of benevolence which didated the ordinance, that the man, who bad left a fbeaf of corn in the field inadver- tently, ihould not return to fetch it, but that it fhould be the property of the poor gleaner. Many alfo of the Jewifh celebrations are either connecfted with, or were exprefsly in- tended to ferve the purpofes of benevolence. Thus, among the partakers of the feaft of tabernacles, the ftranger, the fatherlefs, and the widow, are particularly enumerated. The Sabbatical year alfo, and the inftitution of the Jubilee, are evident proofs of the exift- ence of a benevolent fpirit in the laws of Mofes. But, agreeably to what was advanced be- fore, a duty the fame in principle is enjoined )>y the teacher of a more perfed: form of ethics^ SERMON V. 169 ethics, but in a new and more interefting form; free from the felfifh Umitations under which it was to be exercifed by the Jews, and extended to a greater variety of objects* The good offices and kind feelings of the Jew were confined to thofe of his own na- tion ; toward all befide he was allowed to entertain fentiments of contempt and ha- tred; and this perhaps with a political view, to preferve the chofen depofitaries of true religion more free from Gentile contamina- tion. But the Chriftian is forbidden to cir- cumfcribe his love to his fellow-creatures by any fuch narrow confiderations : he is com- manded to extend the difpofition and feel- ings of charity to all mankind, to ftrangers, vea even to enemies. Hear the divine Teacher himfelf; ''Ye have heard that it has been " faid. Thou fhalt love thy neighbour, and *' hate thine enemy : but I fay unto you, " Love your enemies, blefs them that curie '' you, do good to them that hate you, and " pray for them that defp'tefully ufe you ^' and perfecute you ; that ye may be the '' children of your Father which is in hea- *' ven : for he maketh his fun to rife on the '* evil and on the good, and fendeth rain on '' the 170 SERMON V. " the juft and on the unjuft. Be ye there- *' fore perfed:, even as your Father which is *' in heaven is perfect," The duty of chaf- tity w^as alfo another inftance of this kind : that fuch a duty was enjoined, both under the Patriarchal and Jewilh difpenfations, is evident to every one who confiders the very heavy penalties denounced againft adultery, the high degree of difreputablenefs attached to the profeffion of a harlot, and the practice of fornication, independent of the criminal- ity of idolatrous celebrations, w^hich were not unfrequently connected with thefe im- purities. But the obfervance of the duty of chaftity was conceived to be very compati- ble with polygamy, and even concubinage in the one difpenfation ; and with the frequency of divorce, for flight and trivial reafons, per- mitted to the Jews on account of the hard- nefs of their hearts, in the other. But, when adopted into the Gofpel ot Chrift, this duty, like every other, receives an additional degree of purity and preciiion. The penalties againft adultery are continued unrepealed, and very heavy woes are pro- nounced againft every fort of impurit}^, not only in deed, but in thought alfo : a frefh reft rain t SERMON V. 171 reftraint is laid upon the wanton caprice of carnal appetite, by the prohibition of di- vorce, for the fame reafons that it had been tolerated by the law of Mofes ; and the bonds of matrimonial union are drawn ftili clofer by the awful declaration, that whofo- ever Ihall put away his wife, except for a crime which muft necefTarily poifon the fountain of connubial happinefs, is himfelf guilty of that crime. It were ealy to produce a variety of other inliances ; but thefe are fufficient to prove the truth of our leading pofition, viz. that the morality of every divine revelation is in principle exadlly the fame; but that the Chriftian fyltem, as being addrefled to man- kind at a later and more improved period of their intellectual charafter, has proportion- ally improved upon the morality of Mofes and the Patriarchs, and extended the origi- nal principles to a greater variety of objed:s, and enforced the obfervance of them under an increafed number of forms, by freih mo- tives and more powerful fancSions. It were devoutly to be wifhed, that thefe confiderations, as often as they occur, could have their due weight upon our minds, and enable 172 SERMON V. enable us to walk more worthy of the high vocation whereunto we are called. We are in the condition of thofe to whom much has been given, and of whom therefore much will be required. We are called upon to make greater facrifices of earthly feeling, to pra6life a greater mortification of fieihly ap- petites, and to burn with a warmer degree of zeal in the fervice of God, than was re- quired of his ancient people : but let us re- colled: too, that our powers, and faculties, and opportunities, are much greater and more numerous than theirs ; that we have a greater degree of religious knowledge im- parted to us, which neceflarily brings with it a more awful refponfibility ; we have clearer views opened to us of a future ftate of exiftence ; and, above all, we have a mofl: powerful motive, which they could not have had, to the love of God, which is the only fource of real obedience to his laws, in that he lb loved us, that he fent his only-begot- ten Son into the world to be the propitia- tion for our fins. How then fliall we efcape, if we neglect the means of fo great a falva- tion ! The times of ignorance, at which God winked, are paft, ami he now calleth upon SERMON V. 173 upon all men every where to repent. Let us hear and obey the call — let us be ftedfaft, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forafmuch as we well know that our labour in him will not be in vain* *"■ ■! '. ■—— Pi>i » ^Wg» l ]l. l ■!! ■ I m^tmmtflm^mi^mmtmmm^^ mKa^l^ap^l SERMON VI. Exodus xiv, 31. jind all Ifrael faw thai great worh which the Lord did upon the Egyptians ; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord ^and his fervant Mofes, One of the moft ufeful and intereffing ap- plications of the invention of letters, has been to record the hiftory of man ; and that natural curiofity, which we have to know the fates and fortunes of our fpecies in pall ages, becomes, under due regulations, a moft effed:ive inftrument of our intelledtual and moral improvement. But the bare knowledge of facts, however it may ferve to amufe the childifli and unreflecting, will hardly be^fufEcient to fatisfy the ftudious and inquifitive mind. The advantage of ftudying hiftory confifts in the information which is there liberally aifbrded, of the pro- per 176 SERMON VI. per tendency of human aftions ; atid the additional motives which are thus prefented to us, from the examples of our predeceflbrs to follow good, and to abliain from evil. But to obtain this advantage in its com- plete degree, and to preferve us from a va- riety of errors in judging of the conducl of men, which we fliould otherwife be fure to run into, it is neceflary that we extend our enquiries much farther, that we acquaint ourfelves not merely with the adlions of men, nor yet only with the motives which naturally produced them, but alfo with the peculiar charaAer of the human fpecies at that time, and in that place ; the progrefs of religious knowledge and civilization among them ; the peculiar circumftances and op- portunities of the individual a^lors them- felves. Without doing this, our views of human condud: at different periods will of neceility be crude and imperfect ; the prin- ciples which we eftablilDh will be unfound, and our reafonings deduced from them will confequently be of little value. We Ihall pronounce too haftily and rafhly upon men's moral merits and demerits, if we neglect to take into the account, as far as may be done, the SERMON VI. 177 the many circumftances, which, if julily effimated, would tend, in a greater or lefs degree, to detract from the one, and to foften and palhate the other. Above all, we might be apt to conclude of fome degrees of moral merit recorded in ancient hiftory, that they are too high and difficult for us to at- tain ; and, what is worfe, we fliall be too eafily led to excufe defects and errors in our- felves, from the examples of mankind in the earlier ages of the world, unlefs we bear it fteadily in mind, that, as we have at leaft the fame helps and advantages which they had, it will not be pardonable in us, if we come behind them in any good thing : and that if it can be proved, which we prefume may fatisfa6torily be done, that we are fuperior to them in the former refped:, fo a propor- tionate degree of fuperiority is required of us in the latter. Thefe reflections were excited by a confi- deration of that remarkable interference of Divine Providence, to which the words of the text refer. We read, that, after one of the moft aftonilhing difplays of divine power that was ever made to mankind, and by which the Ifraelites were preferved from N immediate 178 SERMON VI. immediate and total deftrudlion, whilfi: their enemies were fwallowed up before their eves ; when Ifrael faw this great work which the Lord WTought, then they *' feared the *^ Lordj and beheved the Lord, and his fer- '' vant Mofes." Was it neceflary, we Ihould be tempted to afk, to record with fuch pe- culiar minutenefs, as a circumftance which could otherwife be fupplied from a general view of the fubjed: of the hiftory, what our feelings would reprefent as a mere matter of courfe, or at leaft as a thing fo little remark- able, as hardly to have deferved to be Ipe- cifically mentioned ? What, we might be tempted to cry out, were the many mira- cles, which were wrought previous to their departure from Egypt, each of which we Ihould conceive fufficient to animate the faith, and fecure the obedience, of the moft fceptical of mankind— were thefe infufficient to produce any fuch effed: upon the Jewifh nation, who were witnefles of their w^orking, and in whofe favour they were wrought ? And w^hen we read further in their hiftory, and find that the conviction which was pro- duced by fuch incontrovertible evidence w^as too weak to endure the trial of even the SERMON VI. 179 the commoneft inconveniences of life; that, when preflcd with hunger and third, they murmured againfl: their Almighty Proteftor, as if he, who had fo miraculouily refcued them from the grafp of the Egyptians, was unable or im willing to fupply them with the means of fobfiftence — -when we obferve them thus fickle and inconfiftent, we are at a lofs what to think of this very fingular people, whofe conduct appears to us as being at utter variance with the common and ac- knowledged courfe of all human feelings. And this very circumftance has been to the unbelievers of modern times a ground of plaufible objeftion to the truth of the mira- culous events narrated in the Mofaic hiftory. For, fome of them contend, if fuch mira- cles actually took place, it is impoffible but that their efFedts upon the minds and man- ners of thofe who witneffed them would have been more deep and permanent : the fubfequent perverfenefs and difobedience of the Jews, after the Almighty had made his power known to them in fo intelligible and wonderful a manner, is, according to them^ a miracle in morals, as great as any of the N 2 recorded iSo SERMON VL recorded phyfical ones, and by their con- trary adlion they deftroy one another. Another clafs of objedors, reafoning in a different way from the fame premifes, are pleafed to confider the whole Jewifh difpen- fation as derogating from the goodnefs and impartiaHty of God, and therefore utterly imworthy of credit. They are unable to reconcile with the divine perfections, the feleftion of one particular people as the ob- jefts of divine favour, nor the continuance of that favour to them, after they had fliewn themfelves fo entirely undeferving of it ; whofe hearts were too hard to yield to the moft afFedtionate calls, and their feelings too fullen to be animated into regular obedience by the moft tremendous difplays of Omni- potence. But by adverting to the principle upon which we have hitherto proceeded, we Ihall be able to obviate every objection of this fort, and to adjuft every apparent irregular- ity in the dealings of the Almighty with his creatures. We muft be cautious of fup- pofing that the people of the Jews poflefled the fame degree of intelleftual ftrength, the fame SERMON VI. i8i fame tenacity of thought, the fame power of abftraAion from prefent objefts, which are the property of fome men in thefe more enhghtened days. We muft always remem- ber that the benevolent purpofes of God for the improvement of man were deftined to operate by flow and hardly perceptible de- grees ; that the felecftion of the children of Abraham, as the only depofitaries of true religion for a time, was an eifential part of fuch a defign, as we have feen already ; and that it was not on their account, or from any arbitrary partiality towards them, that they were chofen, but with views of much more extenfive benevolence, as is evident from their being deprived of that exclufive fliare of divine communication, when they had fulfilled the purpofe for which they had been originally feledled. The Jews, like the reft of mankind at that early period, were children in underftanding ; and therefore the Almighty gracioufly condefcended to deal with them as with children, accommodat- ing his inftruftions to their comprehenfion, ufmg fuch proofs, and fuch encouragements, as applied moft diredlly to their outward N 3 fenfes. i82 SERMON VI. fenfes, and bearing with their continued frowardnefs and perverfenefs. The order of our enquiries leads us now to confider the different degrees of evidence, upon which the Ahnighty willed that the faith of his Church fliould in different ages be founded. The proofs of divine inter- ference in the inftrudlion and direction of mankind may be confidered in three feveral points of view : 1 . Senfible appearances of the Almighty, and his heavenly miniflers ; 2. Miracles ; and, 3. The completion of pro- phecy. 1 . Senfible appearances of the Almighty and his heavenly minifters. This w^as a mode of evidence peculiarly well adapted to the earlier ages of the world, and bell fuited to the infantine imbeciUty of the human intelledl. From the creation of the world to the miffion of Moles, we read of very frequent appearances of the Deity, and communications of his will to man : but w^e meet with very few miracles, ftricftly fo called, if we except the tranllation of Enoch, the deluge, and the birth of Ifaac. And the reafon of this feems to have been, that it was SERMON VI. 183 was neceflary for mankind to have had ex- perience of the regular operation of the ellabUflied laws of nature, for a confiderable fpace of time, before a miracle could be re- ceived as a decifive proof of a fupernatural interpofition to alter that regular operation. If, for example, the waters of the fea had been divided, or the fun and moon ftayed in their courfe, within a fhort period after the creation, thefe events perhaps would have hardly been confidered as miraculous, but have been attributed to fome particular law of nature operating at certain times and un- der certain circumftances : and the fame might h^ve been fuppofed of fimilar events, whenever they occurred in future. It feems neceflary therefore, in order to give mira- cles their full force, that a period of fome continuance fhould elapfe from the creation, before they could be introduced as fufficient proofs of divine interpofition. The w^ant of this Ipecies of evidence was amply fupplied by the frequent fenfible communications ot God in his own perfon, or by the miniftry of angels, and by his evidently conducting the Patriarchs in all their changes of fitua- tion. But this evidence varied both in the N 4 degree i84 SERMON VL degree of its plainnefs, and of the frequency with which it was vouchfafed, according as the circumftances and the faculties of men were altered or improved ; and after a time it was entirely taken away, when they were fufSciently exercifed to be able to receive and comprehend other evidences of the ex- iftence and the power of the Moft High. When the Almighty, at the firfl: formation of man, placed him in Paradife, furrounded with every thing requifite for his fubfillence and comfort, it was neceflary that he fliould exhibit himfelf perfonally to his creatures, in order to bring them to the knowledge of him. Without fuch a condefcenfion on the part of his Maker, Adam muft have conti- nued in ignorance of this important truth, the firfl; principle and foundation of all mo- ral and intellectual improvement. For how- ever loudly the goodly frame of the univerfe, and the beauty, and order, and harmonious adaptation of its feveral parts, might pro- claim the exiflence of a moft wife, and mighty, and benevolent firft caufe, to the ftudious and reflecling mind of the philofo- pher in after ages ; yet their voices would have been loll upon our firft parent, their words SERMON VI. 185 words to him would have been hardly in- telligible. Therefore another mode of proof, better adapted to the condition of the father of the human race, was prefented to him by his all-benevolent Inftruclor. From the very concife accounts which are preferved of this moll interefting period of human exiftence, we are yet enabled to collect with fufficient certainty, that the Creator defigned to hold a very frequent and familiar intercourfe with his creatures ; that he manifefted himfelf to them perfonally, and converfed with them ; and thus were they convinced that ^^ he was," by means the moft certain and une- quivocal, by dire6l appeals to their outward fenfes. In what manner, or under what par- ticular form, he dilplayed himfelf to them, we are not explicitly told, neither does it at all concern us to enquire : it was fuffi- cient for the purpofes intended by thofe parental communications, that they were enabled to know when their Creator was perfonally with them, and to diftinguiili his voice when he deigned to hold converfe with them. And this is evident from the prohibitive injunction laid upon them when they were placed in the garden of Eden ; and i86 SERMON VI. and alfo from the readinefs with which Adam diftinguifhed the voice of God, after his own dreadful lapfe from innocence ; a voice which had before conveyed to him inftruftion and confolation ; but which he now dreaded, through fear of the awful {en- tence which it was about to pronounce upon him. As we read further, we find that fimilar communications were made to Cain alfo, and that the Almighty both appeared to him, and talked with him before and after the murder of Abel ; in the former cafe to remonftrate with him on the commence- ment of his enmit)^ to his more righteous brother, and in the latter to denounce the punifhment due to the crime of which he had been guilty. And when he complains of the punifhment as being greater than he could bear, he makes one part of it particu- larly the fubjecl of regret and defpair, that he fliould be hid from the face of the Lord, and be no longer admitted to enjoy his per- fonal prefence and communication : fo that at that very early period man had begun to eftimate the value of being thus diftinguifhed by an intercourfe with his Maker, however infufticient SERMON VI. 187 infufRcient it had been in the cafe of Cain, to reftrain him from imbruing his hands in the blood of his brother. The fuperior righteoufnefs and piety of Enoch appear to have been rewarded by a much greater portion of divine favour, and a more clofe and intimate connexion with his Maker : and by this means, as being the chofen depolitary of divine truth, he was eminently well quaUfied to become a preacher of righteoufnefs to his brethren, and to con- vey the knowledge of God to others lefs favoured in this refped: than himfelf. For when mankind began to increafe, it does not appear that the divine appearance was exhi- bited to them univerfally, but confined to a few individuals, whofe age, or ftation, or ac- know^ledged fandity of life, had made them objects of general regard and reverence: and this, 110 doubt, was to many a very prevailing motive to a general and uniform obedience to the commandments of God, that they might humbly afpire to the fame marks of heavenly diftiniftion that were conferred upon their teachers. And this method of difpenfation anfwered the benevolent pur- pofe of the Almighty, as well as if he had made i88 SERMON VI. made a particular and perfonal communica- tion of himfelf to every feparate individual ; for the time was not yet, when human de- pravity branching into new forms, according to the increafed ftrength of the human in- tellect, began to take advantage of the hopes and fears of mankind, and to boaft of fancied revelations from the Moft High, when men became wicked and fubtle enough to pre- tend a divine commiflion for the furtherance of their own interefted and ambitious views. Continuing the order of the INIofaic hif- tory — -when it pleafed the Almighty to fe- parate the Patriarch Abraham by an efpecial call from the reft of the world, the fame means of confirming his faith, and awaken- ing his hopes, were applied by divine wif- dom. The chara6ler of Abraham, when fully and juftly confidered, may perhaps be found one of the moft perfed: of any which are pourtrayed by the hand of Mofes. We read of no ftubborn refiftance to the will of his heavenly leader, no fullen and reluctant compliance with his commands, nor any defponding and incredulous murmurings againft his appointments. We difcover in him none of that abfurd vanity, no ligns of that SERMON VI. 189 that contemptuous fplrit towards his neigh- bours apparently forfaken of God, which we are told is not unufually characfterillic of thofe who conceive themfelves admitted to extraordinary participations of divine favour : far lefs do we obferve in him any traces of a difpofition to take the vengeance of God into his own hands, and to fcatter havoc and deftruftion among the nations, who either did not worfhip God in his way, or refufed to acknowledge the God whom he wor- fhipped. On the contrary, we find him yielding a moft ready and humble fubmif- fion to the injunctions of his heavenly Sove- reign, even at the expence of the deareft and moft powerful afFecftions of human nature. We behold him interceding with God (with a degree of what the prefent feelings of men might term prefumptuous boldnefs) for the prefervation of a people, no wife connected with him, except by the common tie of hu- manity, and whofe fliocking enormities and univerfal depravity had cried aloud for their deftrucSion, to the Supreme Governor of the univerfe. And to what caufe can we fo well afcribe the fuperior amiablenefs and excellence of the 190 SERMON VI. the character of Abraham, as to the circurn- ftance we have mentioned before, the fre- quency of his communications with him who is the fource of all holinefs and be- nevolence? It is a common obfervation amongft men, that they become pure or im* pure, virtuous or wricked, according to the chara6ler of thofe with whom they are moft frequently aflbciated : and when we read that Abraham enjoyed the moft frequent and familiar intercourfe with the Parent of every good and benevolent feeling, how are we to wonder that his conduft was every thing which obedience to his heavenly Inftrud:or could make it ? We have already obferved, that all the changes of lituation, which Abraham and his defcendants underwent fubfequent to the primary felecftion of that family, for pur- pofes of univerfal benevolence, were ap- pointed by the Almighty, and intended to keep them perpetually in mind of their de- pendence upon him : we are now to rernark that all thofe changes were efFe^led by fome very fenfible communication of the Deity with them ; and their ready obedience can alone be referred to the ftriking and imme- diate SERMON VI. 191 diate operation of that powerful kind of evidence, which was then necelTarily pre- fented to the feehngs and fenfes of men at that very early Hage of their hiftory* Without particularizing any farther, Vve may obferve, that immediate coi;nmunica- tions from the Deity were uniformly vouch- fafed to mankind precifely in that meafure and degree, that their peculiar circumftances at the time rendered expedient. They were therefore much more frequent and obvious in the very earlieft ages of the human race^ than they were afterwards, becaufe, agree- ably to our leading pofition, they were then more peculiarly requifite than in fucceeding ages, when new evidences and arguments of faith were fupplied to command the obe- dience of mankind. The Almighty appears to have withdrawn himfelf perfonally from mankind, in proportion as they were enabled by the progrefs of knowledge to eftimate and accept of other proofs of his being and attributes. And this want of evidence was fupplied by particular revelations made to individuals, and by miracles which he al- lowed them to work in his name, as often as X92 SERMON VI. as any great purpofe worthy of fucli a fuper- natural interpofition was to be executed. We read but of two inftances of divine interpofition made generally to a colledive body of mankind, in the fubfequent courfe of the hillory of revelation ; and thefe were upon occafions which fully juftified their being made : the firft was on fandlioning the law of Mofes from Mount Sinai, by a tre- mendous convuliion of the elements of na- ture ; and the other lefs tremendous, but equally authoritative, to fandlion the miffion of Chrift by an audible and intelligible voice from heaven. Whoever conliders the im- portance of Chriftianity to man's beft inter- efts, and the necelTary fubfervience of the Mofaic difpenfation to the introduction of Chriftianity, will not be furprifed if fuch ex- traordinary circumftances attended the pro- mulgation of either of them. We conclude therefore, that the evidence, upon which the faith of the Church was founded in the very earlieft ages of the hu- man fpecies, was ^' an immediate interfe- *' rence of the Almighty, and an evident ** difplay of himfelf to the outward fenfes of '^ men. SERMON VI. 193 *' men." With our prefent notions and feelings, we conceive that fuch communica- tions coulii not but have been efFe6lual in ]nfluencin