■■■■■-■■■■■■ - ■ mi m - " ■'*■■■■■ - §rom f0e fciBtarg of (professor ^Jatnuef (JttitfPer in QJlemorg of 3ubge ^amuef (gttfPer QBrecftmribge (presented 6g J&amuef (JJXtflPer QSrecftinrtbge feong to f0e fcifirarg of (prtnceton £0eofogicaf ^Jemtnarg sec /0 3<9 &c~\cX/f y By JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, LL.D. F.R.S. Whom \\. ft. ChriftJ we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man, in allwifdom, that we may prefent every man perfect in Chrift Jefus. Col.i. 28. BIRMINGHAM, PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY PEARSON AND ROLLASOK ; AND SOLD BY J. JOHNSON, NO. 72, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, LONDON. MDCCLXXXVII. THE PREFACE. rr^HE greater part of the following dif- courfes have been published feparately, having been compofed for particular occa- fjons ; but feveral of them being now out of print, and others nearly fo, I have thought proper to reprint them all, and to add a few others, in order to complete a volume. Thefe are fuch as I have been frequently defired to publiih, as the fentiments they contain are not commonly infilled upon. Some of them, though not adapted to every capacity, are in the higheft degree fraftical ; they illuftrate fome parts of Drf Hartley's excellent theory of the human A 2 affections ; iV PREFACE., affections ; and will, I hope, approve them- felves to thofe who accuftom themfelves to take no fuperficial views of human nature and human life. It is poffible that, if my life be fpared, I may, fome time hence, publifh a volume of plainer difcourfes, adapted to readers of the loweft capacity (for fuch are moft of all wanted) but atprefent I have not been able to pleafe myfelf with the feleclion. Though I think it my duty to give my hearers the clearer!: views that I have been able to get for myfelf of the doctrines of chriftianity, efpecially fuch of them as have fuffered the moft by thofe corruptions and abufes to which it has pleafed divine provi- dence that the religion of his fon mould have been fubjecl, they will bear witnefs for me that I always reprefent every thing of a. fpecu- PREFACE. v fpeculative nature as fubfervient to practice, and indeed of little or no life in any other view. But, in order to make chriftianity of ufe to the fenfible part of mankind, as well as to recommend it to unbelievers, Mahome- tans, and Jews, it mud: be exhibited in fuch a light as to be at leafl credible -, and alfo the more rational, and amiable, it can be repre- fen ted, confiftently with truth, the more probable it is that it will be cordially em- braced, and its moral precepts complied with. Speculative and practical confidera- tions ought therefore to go hand in hand ; fince they have intimate connexions with each other, and cannot be feparated without injury to both, efpecially the latter. The great object of all the doctrines of chriftianity is to lead us to confider A 3 our- vi PREFACE, ourfelves as the fubjedts of the moral government of God, a being of infinite wifdom, power, and goodnefs, hating ini- quity, but placable to the truly penitent, who has formed man for a ftate of immor- tality after death ; and who has fully ap- prized us of thefe particulars, fo unfpeak- ^bly interefting to us, by men who proved their divine miffion by fuch works as God only could perform. In all this there is nothing (hocking to the reaion of any man j and the confideration of thefe important truths cannot but make a favourable im- preflion on our hearts, and infpire the wor- thier!: refolutions. They lead us to love God above all, and our fellow creatures as our- felves, as (landing in the fame relation to our common God and Father, the care of the fame indulgent providence, and heirs together of the fame hope of eternal life revealed to us in the gofpel. By giving us a pro* PREFACE. vii a profpect of a future and better. ftate, and teaching us to conceive of ourfelves as de- fined to a higher fphere of action, to which the various fcenes of this life are prepara- tory, they enable us to raife our hearts above the world, and all the gratifications and pur- fuits of it, and they animate us to acquit ourfelves in the beft manner we poflibly can here, in order to qualify us for fomething greater and happier hereafter. A due attention to the nature and cir- cumftances of this life, as it refpects an- other, cannot fail to infpire a temper of habitual devotion, and lead us to regard obe- dience to the will of God as the great and joyful bufinefs of our lives, and every thing elfe refpecting our condition here as a matter of comparative indifference. To conduct ourfelves with propriety, in what- ever fituation it mall pleafe divine provi- A 4 dence viii PREFACE, dcncc to place us, we mall confider as being our principal concern, as that which alone can make us truly happy while we live, and give us hope in the hour of death. The great defign of the following dif- courfes, though fome of them relate to mat- ters of fpeculation, is to inculcate fuch prac- tical principles as thefe. If any other fpe- culative principles will inculcate them more effectually, I mail readily give them the preference to my own. But I am not more fatisfied that the doctrines for which I have contended in my controverfial writings are mofr, confonant to truth, and the genuine fenfe offcrlpture, than I am that they have fuperior power to enoble the minds, to mend the hearts, and reform the livesdbf men ; which we mutt all acknowledge to be the great object and end of religion, and efpe- cially of the million of Chrift; who was fent PREFACE. fx fent to blefs men in turning them from their iniquities , and to purify to himfelf a peculiar people zealous of good works. %. While I am continued in the capacity of a public teacher of chriftianity (which I deem to be the moft truly honourable of any character, office, or employment, in this world) I {hall endeavour to make my hearers both to understand, and value, their religion, and alfo to exemplify it by a fuitable conduct in life. Let others think, and fpeak, as they pleafe of my zeal for particular opinions, the only tefl of true difciplemip to Jefus, which I inculcate upon the chriftian fociety that I ferve, is that which our Lord himfelf has given, By their fruits ye flail know them ; and I am willing to hope that, if tried by this teft, we mail not be found to be fingu- larly defective. Faults we all have. It is the part of humility to acknowledge them in x PREFACE, in ourfelves, and to make allowance for them in others. And in this refpect I only defire the fame candid treatment from others that all others (hall have from me. I mall even be well content with much lefs. The greater!: ambition of chriilian ml- nifters mould be to render their refpettive churches examples to others, in regularity of difcipline, and in the moR effectual modes of inflruction, adapted to every age, and efpecially to perfons in younger life, in which one of thefe difcourfes will fhew that inflruction will have infinitely more effect than in any other. In the Introduction to my Inflitutes of Natural and Revealed Re- ligion, I have laid down what I thought the bed method of accomplifhing one of thefe great ends in chriflian focieties. Since that was written, I have improved my methods, and mail perhaps take fome opportunity of explain- PREFACE. xi explaining them more at large. Let others give due attention to the fame important fubjeclj and by comparing different experi- ments, and the remits of them, we may hope, in time, to perfect ourfelves in this moft important art, viz. that of religious in- jlruttion. Much practice (which I can aflure my younger friends in the chriftian miniftry, makes the bufinefs continually more pleafing to myfelf, as well as more ufeful to thofe under my care) has led me, as I have ob- ferved, to enlarge and improve the plan I have referred to. But I mall here only mention an article to which I had not given much attention when I wrote the EfTay above-mentioned. It is the expounding of the Jcriptures in the ufual courfe of reading them in public worfhip. Bcfides the im- mediate object of this mode of inftruction, viz. xii PREFACE, viz. enabling our readers to diftinguifh the true fenfe of the fcriptures, and to relifh them in their own private reading, it affords the minifter an opportunity of giving them much ufeful information of various kinds, and efpecially illuftrating the evidences of revelation, fuch as might never occur in the courfe of regular fermons. I have now, in the fpace of about iix years, gone through all the books of the New Teftament ; and when I mall have gone over the fame ground a fecond time, I mall probably publifh the notes I have drawn up for this purpofe, for the ufe of unitarian focieties of laymen, and alfo of private perfons, and families. But in the mean time, I wifh to recommend the fame method to other miniilers, as an exercife in which they will find more (atisfa£tion, and advantage, than they may be aware of. It is PREFACE. xiii is indeed no new thing ; but X\\lz- catcchifingy and other good cuftoms, in confequence of having been improperly conducted, it has unhappily grown into difufe. Befides earneftly contending for the true faith of the gofpe!> let us all confder one an- other, to provoke unto love, and to good works. N. B. The difcourfes that have not been printed before begin with that on the Danger oj bad Habits, page 358. As the difcourfes which are here re- printed will not be printed again fepa- rately, the original prefaces, and every thing annexed to them, are given with them. For this reafon the Reflexions on the fubjeel of Free Inquiry are fubjoined to the Sermon en the §th of November. The other pieces annexed to that Sermon, relating to the 3 doctrine xlv PREFACE, doctrine of the trinity, will be reprinted, if I mould ever collect, and republic, all the tracts relating to my controverfy on that fubjedt, which I probably mail do when ihe whole is completed. THE THE CONTENTS. A Sermon preached before tide Congregation •Si of Protejlant Difenters, at Mil!- Hill Chapel, in Leeds, May 16, 1773, on ®c~ cafion of refigning the pa floral Office among them - Page l A Sermon preached December 31, 1780, at the New Meetings in Birmingham, on un- dertaking the pajloral Office in that Place 5 r The proper Confiitution of a Chrijlian Church, confidered in a Sermon preached at the New Meeting, in Birmingham, November 3, 1782; to which is prefixed, a Prefatory Difcourfe, relating to the prefint State of thofe who are called rational Dijfenters 9 1 The Importance and Extent of Free Inquiry in Matters of Religion ; a Sermon preached before the Congregations of the Old and New xvi CONTENTS. New Meeting of Prote/Iant Dijfenters at Birmingham, November 5, 1785 147 The Dodlrine cf Divine Influence on the hu- man Mind -, conjidcred in a Sermon preached at the Ordination of the Rev. Thomas and John Jervis, in 1779 " 201 Two Difcourfes. I. On Habitual Devotion. II. On the Duty of not Living to Ourfelves. Both preached to Affemblies of P rot eft ant Diffenting Minifters, and publiftjed at their Requefl - - 245 Of the Danger of bad Habits - 358 The Duty of not being afhamed of the Gofpel 383 Glorying in the Crofs of Chrift - 402 Taking the Crofs and following Chrift 42 1 The Evidence of Chriftianity from the Per- fection of Chriftians - 444 A SER- S E R M O N, Preached before the Congregation of PROTESTANT DISSENTERS, A T MILL-HILL-CHAPEL, in LEEDS MAY 16, 1773. Pn Occasion of refigning the Pastoral Office amonp; them. B THE P R E F A C E. * HAVING been induced to publifh the fol- lowing difcourfe, by the requcft of the fo- ciety to whom it was addrefTed, and to whom I owe the happinefs of fome years of my lif. , I have thought proper to prefix to it a copy of my letter of rejignation, and of the cwfwcr t j it, though, when they were written, there was far from being any dclign of making this ufe of them. This, how- ever, 1 have done, becaufe I prefumed that they would be equally agreeable to the congregation with the Sermon itfelf, as a memorial of our p aft intircGurfcy and mutual efteem ; and alio becaufe, if the Sermon be calculated to have any good ciTect, with refpect to other minifters or congregations, thefe pieces mult have the fame tendency ; fhew- ing, more efpecially, what liberties a candid and generous minded people, who are fatisfied of the good intention of their minifter, will bear from him, and receive with thankfulnefs. I own that I had alio a farther view, viz. to give a more juft idea than the Sermon alone could give, of the terms on which I have lived with the congre- B 2 gation iv PREFACE. tion at Leeds j which, to ferve the bafe purpofts of a party, has been grofsly mifreprefented, as the account of it has been induftrioufly propagated. The reafon why the letter of reflation con- tains more than a fimple notice of my intention, was that I then had no defign of making any other addrefs to the people upon the occafion ; and though, by this means, fome of the fenjiments came to be repeated in the fubfequent difcourfe, they appear to me to be of fo much importance^ as to bear that repetition. I call my fituation at Leeds a happy one. It has been fo on feveral accounts ; but what I have chiefly valued it for is, that, without the molt dif- tant apprehenfion of giving offence to a very greaf majority of the congregation, I have been at full liberty to /peak, write, or do, whatever I have judged that the interefls of that particular focietyj, or of chriftianity in general required. I do not know many congregations of diirenters in Eng- land, fo numerous as that of Leeds, where I could have been fo happy in this refpeft ; and it is a fpe- cies of happinefs without which 1 ihould have had little enjoyment of any fituation, how advan- tageous foever it had been on other accounts. I mail take the opportunity of this preface to recommend to the ferious consideration both of the fociety at Mill-hill, and of all perfons in o whofe FREFACtf. v Wh'oYe hands this difcourfe of mine may fall, that exccll nt fermon of Mr. Graham's, intitled Re- pentance the only condition of final acceptance (which Was alfo preached at Mill-hill chapel) as having the fame general tendency with this fermon, and alfo his Letters on the dotlrine of atonement, la th. fe pieces the reader will find what I think to be a fair and undifguifed account of what is mod eflential in the religion of the gofpel, exprefTed with a plainnefs and energy almoft peculiar to the author. To the Congregation of Proteftant Diffenters, at Mill-hill, Leeds* My chrifiian brethren, A Lively fenfe of the happinefs I have enjoyed during the continuance of my relation to you, as your paitor, makes it truly painful to me to inform you, that this agreeable relation muft foon ceafe, and that I now give you notice to provide yourfeif with a fucceffor to me. My reafon for this ftep is by nb means any fort of diflatisfacYion with refpec"t to you. On the contrary, there is no fituation in life of which I TR 3 fhal! vi P R E F A C E. (hall ever expert to have more real enjoyment, or which I fhall confider as more truly reputable to me. Other profpects, however, have opened to me, by purfuing which, I flatter myfclf, that it will be in my power to be more ufeful both to my family, and the world. Painful as my reparation from ycu will be, I hope I (hall have the fatisfa£tion to leave upon your minds a teflimony to the fidelity with which I have acted as your fervant, and the fervant of our common Lord and mafter Jefus Chrift. The purity of his gofpel, as far as God has enabled me to underftand it myfelf, I have, without fear, but I hope, alfo, without any great or hurtful impru- dence, endeavoured to explain to you ; free, I truit, in a great meafure, from that impure mixture of the doctrines and traditions of men, which, in the paft ages of darknefs and ignorance, had greatly debafed its fpirit, and obftructed its effect, and to which the providence cf God feems to be now, in a more efpecial manner, opening the eyes of the chriftian world ; in order, we may hope, to its re- covering its original luftrc, and thereby recom- mending kfclfto the univeiuil acceptance of Jews and Gentiles. With refpect to this object I have only followed the fteps of fome of my worthy predeceffors ; and it will be your true glory, and my happinefs, that 3 y°u PREFACE. vii you make choice of a fucceiTor to me who will carry on this great and neceflary work. As much, however, as I have had this important work at heart, I have been careful to keep the pulpit almoft entirely facred to the ftill more im- portant bufinefs of inculcating juft maxims of con- duct, and recommending a life and converfation becoming the purity of the gofpel. If I or you have foiled in this great point, to which all truth is but fubfervient, it will be my grief, and your aggravated blame j and better had it been for you to have been P..piits, or Pagans, than even luke- warm, and much more than profligate profeiTors of genuine chriftianity. I undertook the charge of :his congregation after having been feveral years engaged in a very dif- ferent employment, under many difadvantages, and with great diffidence, and I am fenfible of va- rious imperfections with which the performance of my minifterial duty has been attended 3 but your candour, I have reafon to think, has been fuch, as to think that not ill done, which was well intended. Alfo, notwithftanding fome of the fchemes which I have formed, and endeavoured to carry into exe- cution, have not been attended with all thefuccefs that I or you could have wifhed, I flatter myfelf that my fervices and behaviour have, upon the whole, been fuch, as have produced fome good B 4 effect, VJ11 PREFACE. effect, both in making the religion we profefs ap- pear more intelligible and amiable, and in enforc- ing a life and converfation fuitable to it. In this cafe, even the recollection of our pad intercourfe will always contribute to anfwer the fame great end ; and then, though our relation as pajlor and people fhall ceafe, that of fellow '-christians will never be dhTolved ; and we may be looking forward to that more intimate and lafting union which fhall take place hereafter, and which fhall for ever fubfift among the upright and good ; when all other relations, and all other things, will appear to be, what they really are, in comparifon with this, tranfitory and infignificant. "With my fincere prayers that the wife provi- dence of God may direct your choice of my fuc- cefTor, and eftablifh you in every thing that is good. and exemplary, I am, with increafed affection, My chriftian brethren, Your fervant, In the gofpel of Jefus Chrift, *$!%%% JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, The PREFACE. IX The Congregation of Proteftant Dijfenters, at Mill- Hill, to their Pa/tor, The Rev. Dr. Prieftley. . Rev. Sir, V7 OUR letter, advifing your intention of a rc- fignation of your paftoral charge over us, to take place in a fliort time, has been communi- cated, and openly read. We have been too intimately, and too happily connected with you, to receive fuch a notice with indifference. We know too well your genuine worth and real merit, to be infenfible of the great lofs we may fuftain by fuch a change in our con- gregational and individual connexions with you. But at the fame time our fincere friendship for you difpofes us to rejoice with you in any change that may materially affect the intereft of yourfelf and family, for whofe mutual welfare our good wifhes will always accompany you. We mould think ourfelves wanting to our own feelings, as well as to your deferts, if, on this oc- cafion, and in this public congregational manner, we did not acknowledge to you the very grateful fentiments we feel for all your fincere and faithful I fervices x PREFACE. fervices to us as a people i and particularly, as parents, to blefs you for thofe affectionate and earneit endeavours which you have fteadily pur- sued, in order to infill knowledge, and inculcate good principles on the minds of our children ; and we are defirous to bear our tefcimony, that as we received you in harmony and peace, fo has love and friendfhip mutually prevailed between us, and we truft will ever prevail. That the God of peace may attend and blefs you, is the fincere prayer of your ever affectionate friends. (Signed by order of the congregation) Dear Sir, Your moft obedient fervanfi and well-wifher, GEORGE OATES, LEEDS, MILL-HILL, Dec. 27, 177a. SERMON. i Peter i. 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be (ober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the reve- lation ofjefus Chrift. My chrifiian brethren, ID O not think that I can take my leave of you, with whom I have been very happily connected, either with more pro- priety, or fatisfa&ion, than by recommending to your attention the pafiage which I have now read to you from the epiftle of the apoftle Peter; as it contains a general view of the obligations and hopes of chriftians, which arc neceflarily the chief object, of attention to every chriftian minifter, and to dl chrifiian people. It J 2 Of a ferious Attention Jt has been my duty, whether I have properly attended to it or not, to explain and confirm to you, and thereby frequently to remind you, of the great principles of chriliian faith ; and it has been your duty to bear the word cf exhortation, to give proper attention to the fubjcft,- and, being; convinced of the truth of chriitianity, to apply yourfelves diligently to the obfervance of its precepts, in expectation of its glorious rewards -, or, in the language of my text (as it may be more properly rendered, or paraphrafed) to gird up the loins of your mind, and, being vigilant, to entertain the moji un- doubting afjurance of tie happinefs which awaits you at the coming of Jefus Chrijl. Such, my brethren, is the importance of religion (being, in facl:, the great bufmefs of human life) and fuch the faicination of the cares of this world, that it behoves us to be continually upon our guard, left the fcenes through which we muft necerTarily pafs, draw off" our attention from things of in- finitely more moment, though more diftant 3 and thus the great end and purpofe of our being to Chrijlian Duties, 13 being be Sacrificed to what is merely acci- dental or initrumental to it. It is oiir confolation, however, that al- moft all our difficulties in the conduct of life, as it refpects futurity, have no other iburce than want of attention of mind to the fubject. For fo abfolutely inconiiderable are the things of this life, in comparifon with that which is to fucceed it, that even an imperfect apprehenfion of the nature of our fituation (if, in confequence of being fuffi- ciently imprelTed and attended to, it be allowed to have its proper influence on our minds) would be furricient to keep us in the path of our duty. But without attention and confideration, no motives, however juft and weighty, can have any effect. In reality, men mifcarry, and mifs the great end of their being, only in confe- quence of acting precipitately, and without attending to the neceilary confequences of their actions. In other words, it is when they act irrationally, like brute beaiTs, governed by mere appetite and paflion. And when they act in this manner, is it to be won- dered at, that they do not attain the pro- per 1 4. Of a ferious Attention per happinefs of rational and intelligent beings ? It is with great propriety, therefore, that faith is reprefented in the fcriptures as the great principle of the chriftian life, that it was by faith, or in confequence of a firm belief in futurity, depending upon the pro- mife of God, that all the worthies of the Old Teftament were enabled to diftinguifh themfelves as they did, and that it is ftill by faith that we chriftian s are to overcome the world. Now this efficacious faith is not a fingle aB, or effort of the mind, or a fimplc con- viction that a future event will take place (for then every man who, if he were in- terrogated, would anfwer that he was a chriftian, would be a good man) but it is fuch a full perfuafion of mind, and fuch a lively apprehenfion of a diftant event, as fhall give it its juft influence, the fame that it would have near at hand; and this can only be acquired by frequent attention to it, and meditation upon it. Could this great end be attained, were truly chriftian principles and profpe&s fuf- ficiently to Chrijlian Duties, 15 ficiently imprefled on our minds, it would be impomble for us to be guilty of any bafe or criminal action ; and the great motives to the love of God, and of our fellow crea- tures not being counteracted by any foreign influence, but having their natural and un- controuled effect upon the mind, we fhould love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and our neighbour as our/elves. And when thefe governing principles had taken deep root in our minds, they would lead to the practice of the whole of our duty; and, our hearts and affections being engaged, every thing right and good would be eaiy and pleafant to us. If thefe maxims be true, a great deal rnuil be done by a man before he can be a chriftian in the proper fenfe of the word, that is, not in name and profejjion only, but in deed and in truth; becaufe a habit and temper is to be formed, which can. only be produced by the long continuance of proper actions. A truly chriftian character is not to be formed but by a courfe of difcipline and exercife, calculated to keep the mind continually 1 6 Of a ferious Attention continually impreffed with a lively fenfe of the great truths of chriftianity j fo as to overpower the influence of the objects which furround us, and which are continually fo- liciting our attention. If there be any one error in religion more dangerous in its tendency than others, it is the opinion which, in fome form or other (and it is capable of endlefs modifications) has exifted almofl from the commencement of chriftianity, viz. that religion properly fo called, or that which renders a man ac- ceptable in the fight of God, and fits him for heaven, is not a habit or dijpofition of mind, fuch as I have now mentioned, which evidently requires time and care to form ; but fome Jingle act, or effort, whether pro- ceeding from a man's felf, or from God. If this be the cafe, the whole may com- mence and terminate in the fhorteft fpace of time, and it may as well take place at the lafVhour of life, as at any other. Con- sequently, in the proipect of this, men may continue tojjive in fin, fecretly flattering themfelves with the hope of a late but ef- fectual to Chrijlian Duties: 17 fectual repentance. But if repentance confift of a cfiaage of dijpojhion and conduBl, it is not even pofnble that a late, or what we call a death- bed repentance, can be an effectual one. For true repentance 'can only take place in confequence of jud views of things, furliciently impreffed upon the mind by careful reflection ; and iince it is not a momentary operation, but a fixed characlcr that is wanted, it is, in reality, but very little that can be done at any one particular time. A man, for inflance, may at any time refolve to change his conduct, but that does- not amount to an actual change. He may perforin any finglc action ; but a fingle action, though it may lead to, does not con- fiitute an habit ; and even a habit, or courfe of actions, mud be continued a conliderable time before it can be quite eafy and familiar to him, lb that his heart and affeclions mail be engaged in it; and then only is the characlcr properly formed. Again, this character, arifing .from a fixed attachment of mind to our duty, admits of degrees -, for C it 1 8 Of a ferious Attention it may be a very weak or a very ftrong attachment ; and our future reward will be in proportion to the ftrength and confirmed ftate of all our good habits and difpofitions. For as great as is the diverfity of human characters in this life, it is probable that the juftice and wifdom of God will provide as great a diverfity in their future retri- bution. Bufides the opinion that the great bufinefs of religion is the work of a moment, un- avoidably fubjects men to the groflcft and moft fatal delufions. Indeed, how can it be otherwife, when the thing to be attained paries wholly within a man's own breaft, and is generally fpoken of as a thing that is incapable of verbal defcription ; the confe- quence of which mull: be, that perfons of a warm imagination will prefume, on any infignificant emotion, that they have ex- perienced this happy change, and, valuing themfelves upon it, will be apt to condemn and defpife the reft of the world -, while per- fons of a timid difpofition will be tormented with doubts and difpair. Not being con- 2 tent to Chrijilan D title-. 19 tent to judge of their hearts by their lives> they will be perpetually feeking for fome- thing that no man in his fober fenfes ever imagined he had found. All the reprefentations which are given by our Saviour of the effect of the gofpel, either in the hearts of individuals, or in the world at large (which correfpond to one another) give us the idea of fomething that has a gradual progrefs, and no where of a fudden inflantaneous effeft. Thus we find it compared to feed /own in the ground, to a fmall quantity of leaven, to labouring in a vineyard, &c. all of which require a conliderable time before a fenfible effect is produced. The doctrines of the gofpel, though edablifhed by miracles, did not produce their effect on the minds of men by a mira* culous, but by a natural power. Indeed, ex- ternal miracles would have been fuperfluous upon this fcheme; lince God by internal miracles only might have converted the whole world. The gofpel had that effect, and that only, which the ground on wThich C 2 it 20 Of a ferious Attention it was fown admitted. The new views which it opened to mankind induced mod of thofe who were convinced that it was of God to come to a refolution to change their former conduct; but neither could their mere belief of chriftianity, nor their con- fequent refolution actually profit them, till it had time to bring forth the proper fruits of it, viz. good .works; and a change of character. And when men did thus be- come christians, itill the apoftles never ceafe urging them, not only to act up to their profeffion, but to go on to perfection, com- paring the chriftian courfe to a race, or other exercife, which required the greateft, and moft. unremitted exertion of all their powers. If I be afked how this end is to be at- tained, or, in the language of the apoftle, how we muft gird up the kins of our minds, by what means is this lively and efficacious faith in the great practical principles of religion to be acquired. I anfwer, with Paul, that faith comes by hearing, fup- pofing the confequence of hearing to be 3 believing, to Chrijl'ian Duties. 21 believing, and that believing operates as it ought to do. For it naturally arifes from giving fufficient attention of mind to the evidence on which our faith refts, and from frequent meditation on the objects of our faith; and it cannot be produced by any other means. A man, therefore, who means to be a chriftian in earneit, muft, in a more efpecial manner, make himfelf acquainted with the books of fcripture, and meditate upon their contents ; becaufe thefe books, and thefe books alone, contain the proper materials for this excellent and neceffary difcipline of the mitid, viz. a genuine view of the prin- ciples of chriftian faith, hope, and practice. It is in thefe books only that we have an authentic account of the feveral difpenfations of God to mankind. Here we have the original inftructions of men fent of God, that is, of God himfelf; refpecting our conduct here, and our expectations here- after. Here we meet with a diftinct account of the lives of the prophets, and efpecially of the great prophet of God Jefus Chrifr, C 3 by 22 Of a ferious Attention by whofe miracles, death, and refurreclion, all the promifes of God are confirmed to us. In thefe books alfo we fee, and are thereby made to participate of, the genuine effects of religious principles on the hearts of men, in the piety and benevolence with which the facred writers were apparently actuated* fo that we enter into their excellent fenti- ments, as well as view their exemplary Jives. If, my brethren, we would confult our real improvement and happinefs, as chrif- tians, we muft be fenfible that we cannot be too minutely acquainted with fuch par- ticulars as thefe, or meditate too much upon them. No other exercife can be ef- ficacious to form the heart and guide the life. We therefore find the greateft ftrefs laid uoon this employment in the books of fcripture. Mofes ftrongly inculcates it upon the Jews, Deut. vi. 6. Thefe words, which I command thee this day, fall be in thine heart, and thou fhalt teach them dili- gently unto thy children, and fait talk of them when thou ftuf in thy houfe, and when thou, to Chriftian Duties. 23 thou walkejl by the way, and when thou lyefi down, and when thou rifeft up, &c. The pfalmift repeatedly exprefTes the fatisfadtion which he had in his meditation upon the word of God, Pf. i. 1. Blejfed is the man that walketh not in the counfel of the ungodly, nor Jiandeth in the way of finnefs, nor fitteth in the feat of the fcornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. See alfo, Pf. xix. 7, &c. and cxix. 97. The apoftle Paul likewife fays of Timothy (2 Tim, iii. 15, 16.) From a child thou haft known the holy fcrip* tures, which are able to make thee wife unto falvation, through faith which is in Chrift J efts. All fcripture, given by infpiration of God, is profitable for doctrine ', for reproof, for correction, for inftruElion in right eoufnefs, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fumi/Ijed unto all good works. Theie injunctions and exhortations cer- tainly authorize us to conclude, that the frequent reading of the fcriptures, the talv- ing pleafure in them, and meditation upon (heir contents, are abfolutcly neceftary in C 4 order 24. Of a ferious Attention order to gird up the loins of our'vundsy and to form a truly chriftian character r.nd con- duel. The fcriptures will not be neglected by any perfon, but in confequence of his not apprehending himfclf to be fufficiently interefted in their contents -, and without this apprehenlion it is impoffible that truly religious principles can be implanted, and take root in the mind. Without this aid the temptations of the world will be too frrong for a man. He will not be fuffi- ciently upon his guard, fo as to have the perfect command of himfelf, and not be iurprifed into improper fentiments and un- worthy actions, I mention a conftant attention to the fcriptures not as the only means of girding up the loins of our minds, and flrengthen- ing religious principles, but as that which is of eminent ufe to recommend and en- force the reft, fuch as prayer, an attendance upon public worfhip, and other means of religion. All thefe things have a natural connexion, and they introduce and affifl one another. It to Chrijlian Duties. 2$ It may be faid, that thefe things being only the means of religion, fo much ftrefs mould not be laid upon them. But I would obferve that they are the evidences as well as the means of genuine religion ; and alfo that no end can be gained without the ufe of the proper means. Belides, my immediate ob- ject at prefent is to in lift chiefly upon thofe things which feem to be the moft neglected, whatever be their relative importance ; and if it was the error of the laft age to lay too .much ftrefs upon the means of religion, it is evidently the error of many in the prefent age, at lead fuch as you whom I am now addreffing, to pay too little attention to them; and if the former error produced a fpurious kind of religion, the tendency of our prefent lentiments and conduct is to leave us no re- ligion at all. Having given this account of the import- ance of attending to the means of religion in general, and to the ftudy of the fcriptures in particular, as being of the moft eminent ufe to generate and ftrensrthen the great priri- ciple of chriftian faith, which is the foun- dation 2-6 Of a ferious Attention dation of all religion, I (hall add a few ob- fervations concerning two other outward means of chriftian improvement, and which are alfo marks of our attention to the pro- feffion of chriftianity, viz. public worjhip, and the Lord's /upper y the neglect of which is not the fault of this congregation in par- ticular (though this is the only reafon why I chufe to fpeak of them at all on this occafion) tut of the prefent age in general. I mall fay nothing of the defign, or ufe, cither of public worfhip, or of the Lord's fupper, becaufe you will agree with me in your ideas of them ; but, my brethren, I wi(h to make ypu more fenfible of the obli- gation you are under to act agreeably to your own convictions. If one day in feven be appointed to be a feafon of reft from labour, and for ferious recollection of mind, by that Being who has made us capable both of labour and of re- flection, let us confcientioufly appropriate this, as well as every other portion of our time, to the ufe for which it was intended, and for which, we may therefore prefume, it is to Chriflian Duties. 27 is really wanted ; and let us not, out of too great a dread of fuperftition (which ought certainly to be guarded againft, in this as well as in every thing elfe) pafs into the con- trary extreme, of a grofs abufe of a divine ordinance, and a fcandalous licentioufnefs of conduct. Works of necejfity and mercy are allowed to be a fufficient reafon for fetting afide the diftincUon of the Lord's day from the reft; but that journey, for inftance, cannot be faid to be necejary, for which nothing but conve- nience can be pleaded ; neither can it be ne- ceilary to confine yourfelves at home by tak- ing a medicine on that day, when your health would not fuffer by its being taken on the day before, or the day after. Alfo a cold, or other flight indifpofition, is with a very ill grace pleaded as an excufe for ab fence from public worfhip, by thofe who are known to run much greater rifques on other accounts. I wifh it were merely a matter of doubt > whether, in many cafes, the plea of neceflity be juftly alleged, and that it could be 28 Of a ferious Attention be fuppofed that perfons acted according to their judgments, though biafled by their in- clinations. But alas, fo generally, and fo manifeftly, is buiinefs of a nature altogether foreign to the proper defign of the Lord's day, thrown into it, by many perfons, that it cannot be accounted for but by fuppofing it to be the effect of particular defign and contrivance ; which, being a wilful neglect of an acknowledged duty, certainly argues a want of the fear of God, and the abfence of religious principle, properly fo called. Again, you will agree with me, my bre- thren, that our Lord Jefus Chrift exprefsly commanded his difciples to commemorate his death (which was the greater!: proof of his love to us) by a chearful, but at the fame time a folemn and ferious rite, and that this memorial is to continue in his church till his fecond coming. This rite, therefore, is, in fact, one of the ftanding proofs of the truth of chriftianity ; and confequently by joining in it, we not only acknowledge that truth, but bear our tcftimony to it,- and like the apof- tles to Chrijlian Duties, 29 ties themfelves, are both the difciples, and in fome meafure, the initnejfes of Chrift, even to the end of time. You are fenfible that the command to join in the celebration of this inftitution extends to all who bear the chriftian name, and who are qualified to join in any other part of chriftian wormip. To what then, my bre- thren, can your neglect of this ordinance be owing: ? It muft be either fome latent fu- perftition, a criminal want of attention to the fubjedt, or a more criminal indifference to the thing itfelf, arifing from a want of refpect to the authority that enjoins it. I wifh it were even poftible to fuggeft any other reafon for your conduct. The moral ufes of the very few pofitive inftitution s in the chriftian religion are'fuf* ficiently obvious ; but admitting that they were not fo, it ought to fuffice us, that they are enjoined by a competent authority ; and the man who can knowingly tranfgrefs any one acknowledged command, though, to his apprehenfion, ever fo unmeaning, is certainly deftitute of refpect to the authority by which it go Of a fen'ous Attention it is enjoined, and of a principle of obedience in general ; which, with refpect to God, is, in the higheft degree, criminal and dan- gerous. You do not yourfelves always give to a fervant, or a child, the reafons of your commands j and yet you juftly expect, im- plicit obedience j and you would confider their peremptory dijobedience as defer ving of the fevereft punimment, though the thing itfelf mould be ever fo trifling. As I cannot take my leave of you, my brethren, without expreffing my earneft. wifhes that the feveral fchemes I have form- ed, and endeavoured to carry into execution, for your benefit (and at the fame time, that of diflenting congregations in general) may have their effect after my departure from you-; and as a fummary and connected view of them may poflibly be of fome ufe for that purpofe, i mail, on this occafion, briefly re- mind you of them, and alfo inform you what I mould have wifhei to have done farther, in purfuance of the fame general defign. Perceiving, upon my firfr. coming among you, that very few, in proportion to the number to Chrijlian Duties. 3 1 number of the congregation, received the Lord's /upper, I published A Free Addrefs to you upon the fubjecl, calculated, as I thought, to explain the nature of that infti- tution, to anfwer the objections you might have to the celebration of it, efpecially thofe which remained from the ignorance and fu- perftition of the dark ages of chriftianity, and to fet the advantage and obligation of communicating in a clear and ftrong light. I have had the fatisfaction to find that my endeavours in this refpect have not been wholly without effecl:, though by no means fo great as I wifhed, or indeed expected. In this Addrefs I gave my opinion very ftrongly, and I have repeated it upon feveral occalions fince, againft that fervice which is called the preparation for the Lord's /upper, as altogether unfcriptural, and fuperftitious ; but I thought it, upon the whole, moft ex- pedient, to content myfelf with thofe decla- rations i and I did not chufe to give offence to any well-meaning perfons by difcontinu- ing that fervice. I meant, however, very foon, ^2 Of a ferious Attention foon, to have made the proposal, and mould have been glad if you had chearfully acceded to it. Being fenuble how much is incumbent upon maflers of families, and how much is in their power, with refpect to the care of their children and fervants, in inftructing them, attending to their morals, and keeping up the worfhip of God in their families, I publi filed a plain and earneft Addrefs to you on this fubject alfo, together with (hovt forms of prayer for all the ufual occafions of a fa- mily; and I took what care I could to have it put into the hands of every m after of a fa- mily among you. Whether this attempt has had any good effect, is known to God and your own confeiences. Ob-ferving that, in confequence of the happy tranquillity which Difienters have of late years enjoyed, but little attention has been given by them to the true principles of their diffent, which has neceifarily been ac- companied with a declenfion of juft zeal for the intereft, as the caufe of religious liberty, I endeavoured to make the principles of our diffent to Cbrijlian Duties. 33 diflent better underftood, and more efpecially to imprefs the minds of thofe who main- tained them with ajuft fenfeof their import- ance and obligation, in a Free Addrefs to Protejlant Dlffenters as J'uch. But as this Addrefs appeared to me to be lefs neceffary in this congregation, and indeed in this part of the country, than in many other places, I took no particular care to make it known to you ; and to avoid giving offence by the ne- ceffary freedom of it, I published it without my name. The great profligacy of the prefent age be- ing manifestly owing to a want of moral anci religious principles, imbibed in early years, and it being impoffible to inculcate thefe principles with fufficient force and effect by difcourfes from the pulpit, which are almofl neceflarily mifcellaneous and unconnected. I formed, and have carried into execution a pretty extenfive plan of religious inJlruEllon, advancing, in a regular progrefs, from in- fancy, to years of perfect manhood. For this purpofe I thought it convenient to divide the younger part of my hearers into D three 34 Of a ferhns Attention three dalles. The firft confided of children, for whofe ufe I printed a fhort and very plain catechlfm, containing fuch a view of the principles of religion, as I think the youngeft children, that have attained to the ufe of fpeech, may be made to underftand. The fecond confided of young perfons more advanced in years, for whom I drew up an- other catechifm, confiding of a fet of quef- tions only, peculiarly calculated, as I think, to bring them very early, and pretty tho- roughly acquainted with the fcriptures, the genuine fource of all religious knowledge. The third clafs confided of young men, from the age of fixteen or eighteen, to about thirty, for whofe ufe I compofed a fet of letlures, which I delivered in the way of con- verfation, in which I endeavoured to demon- ftrate to them in a regular manner, the prin- ciples of natural religion, the evidences, and the doctrines of revelation, and which I con- cluded with a view of the corruptions of chxif- tianity, hidorically deduced. By this means, I am fatisfied, from the trial that I have now made of it, that young perfons may moil to Chrifian Duties. 35 moft eafily be brought to underftand their religion, as Christians, Proteftants, and Dif- fenters. The peculiar advantages of this mode of instruction, and a more diftincl: account of the nature of it, I explained in an Effay on the befl method of communicating religions knowledge to the members of chrijlian focieties. Part of this courfe of lectures I have already published, under the title of Infinites of na* iural and revealed religion, and I intend, God willing, to publish the remainder in due time. In part, to avoid obvious inconveniences, and partly for want of a room fufficiently large for the purpofe, I confined thefe lec- tures, for the firft time of reading them, to young men ; but I mould have been glad, if, at the fecond time of reading them, I could have contrived to inftrucl: the young women, either at the fame time, or feparately. It is with great fatisfaclion that I can fay, with refpect to moll of the young men of this congregation, that they have given due attendance on thefe lectures ; and I flatter D 2 myfelf 3 6 Of a ferlous Attention myfelf that by the attention which they gave to them when they were delivered, and which I hope they will ftill continue to give to them when they are printed, they will find their time and pains not ill beftowed. With reipecl: to children of the firft clafs, I mud: own that I had not all the encourage- ment that I wifhed, and (till lefs with re- fpec~l to the fecond ; owing, perhaps, to the parents not fufficiently entering into the na- ture of a thing fo new to them as this was. For I am unwilling to fuppofe that they were averfe to taking the pains, which they muft, at leaft at the firft, have neceffarily done, to prepare their children for this kind of exercife. It is acknowledged by all, that the gene- ral plan and difcipline of our focieties has de- viated very far indeed from that of the pri- mitive churches, which confided of perfons whole object it was to watch over and edify one another, and efpecially that a very un- equal part of the burden is now thrown upon the minifter; fince he is generally fo' fituatcd/that he cannot, with the leaft pro- 3 bability to Cbrijlian Duties. 37 bability of fuccefs, interpofe his advice or admonition where it may be moil wanted. I therefore wrote and published an -Addrefs to you, and other christian focieties, upon that fubjecl:, propofing what appeared to me a better conftitution of a chriftian church, by means of which the original and proper ends of chriftian focieties might be more e ftc ct u al ly a n f vv e r c d . I am afraid we are gone too far from the primitive inilitutions of chriftianity to ex- pect a revival of them in this age; but I hope that the idea I then endeavoured to give you of the obligation that naturally lies upon every member of a chriftian fociety, who, on any account whatever, has influence in it (without any formal nomination to an office) to contribute all that may be in his power to the real benefit of it, by induc- tion, reproof, or any other way, will not be wholly without effect; and that you will in general be more attentive to the impor- tant chriftian duty of provoking to love and to good ivorks, exhorting one another daily D 3 while 38 Of a ferious Attention while it is called to-day, left any be hardened by the deceitfulnejs of Jin. Laftly, perceiving in this neighbourhood, and, in fome meafure, among yourfelves, the progrefs of what appears to me to be a fpu- rious and mifchievous fet of notions in re- ligion, infpiring very unworthy ideas of the divine being, and the maxims of his govern- ment, which cannot but have an unfavour- able effecl: upon the difpofition of men's minds, and confequently upon their con- duel: in life, I pu ;limed, in the cheapeft form that 1 could, and, in order to give as little offence as poffible, without my name, a ferious Appeal to the profeflbrs of chrif- tianity upon the fubjecl. This, and other fmall pieces, written in purfuance of the fame defign, I have had the fatisfadtion to find, have been the inftrument, in the hands of divine providence, of enlightening the minds of many in the knowledge of what I believe to be his truth, and I hope they will flill continue to produce the fame effecT:. I was to Chrijlian Duties. 39 I was the more willing to publifh iome- thing of this kind, as it has always been my opinion, and my practice has been agreeable to it, to keep all fubjects of religious con- troverfy, as much as poffible, out of the pul- pit ; and yet it was to be wifhed, that per- fons of plain unde.rftandings, who were dif- pofed to read and inquire for themfelves, might have an opportunity of feeing the foundation, in reafon and the fcriptures, of thofe do&rines, which alone can render the divine being the object of filial reverence, love, and confidence ; and likewife be able to anfwer thofe who alledge detached paf- fages of fcripture, in favour of long efta- blifhed corruptions, paflages often ill tranf- lated, but more often wretchedly inter- preted. Allow me to fay without offence to any who may be otherwife minded, if any fuch mould be prefent, that fpeculative principles , efpecially thofe which relate to the nature, character, and moral government of God, are by no means a matter of indifference with refpect to practice -, and therefore that D 4 great 40 Of a ferious Attention great care ought to be taken to form juft ideas of thefe fubjects. If the divine being be confidered as cap- able of punifhing men for a crime which they did not commit, of fentencing fome to everlafting happinefs, and others to everlaft- ing mifery, from mere arbitrary will -, and ■ of fhewing no mercy to any of his offending, though truly penitent creatures (whom, for wife ends, he made imperfect) till a full fa- tisfaction was made to his infinite juftice (even fo far as to take it of the innocent, if the guilty were not able to pay) which is in fact to have no proper principle of mercy or forgivenefs [at all, it is not in human nature to look up to him with reverence, love, or confidence. Alfo the doctrine of the divine unity is a fubject of practical, as well as of ipeculative confideration, and indeed for no other reafon could fo much ftrefs be laid upon it in the books of the Old and New Teftament, in which we are required to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, foul, ftrength, and mind. This certainly requires that all our affections to Chrijlian Duties, 41 affe&ions center in one great object. But three ferfons are three objcffis, which will neceffarily be conlidered in different lights, having different attributes, as well as dif- ferent names. For the difference between perfons and beings is merely verbal, and not real. It is even acknowledged that the difference is not comprchenfible by us, and therefore with refpect to us, and our fenti- ments and feelings, it mnft be the fame as if there was no difference at all; and con- fequently the worfhip of three different per- fons mud: neceffarily be the worihip of three different gods. But, my brethren, if thefe things be of a practical nature, fee that you make a practical ufe of them, by giving fufficient attention to them, as I explained in tliQ firffc part of this difcourfe, and let them have their natural influence upon your minds ; and alio fee that you do not difgrace and difcredit a rational faith- by an unworthy conduct:. Better had it been for you to have believed in three, or three hundred eods, and thofe of wood and (lone, than to believe in 42 Of a ferious Attention in the one only living and true God, and at the fame time live as without him in the world, intirely thoughtlefs of his being, character, and government, as if you were not accountable to him for your conduct. Infinitely better were it for you to believe whatever the mod ftupid of mankind have believed concerning God, than difregard his laws, profane his name, or neglect his "worfhip. Better were it for you to have believed in a revengeful implacable object of worfhip, than to believe in a God truly merciful and gracious, who freely, andy^r his goodnefs fake only, forgives all the fincerely penitent, and has fent his fon to live and die, in order to bring men to repentance, and at the fame time not to be folicitous to become the proper objects of his mercy, or not to imi- tate fuch an amiable pattern, and be merciful as your father who is in. heaven is merciful '; freely, and without any fatisfaction, for- giving, as you yourfelves hope to be for- given. In fhort, better were it for you to believe all the abfurdities of the church of Rome, to Chrijlian Duties, 43 Rome, than not to add purity of heart ana* life to purity of doctrine and worfliip. Grofs ignorance and fuperfiition ftill prevail among the generality of profefling chriftians, efpecially the unlearned; and it would be unreafonable to expect that opini- ons which have prevailed, and which have been held facred by almoft the whole chrif- tian world, for many ages (in which our excellent religion was fuffered, by the un- fearchable wifdom of God, to lie under a cloud) mould not retain their influence with fome more ingenuous mtnds, and even that fome degree of learning and ability fhould be employed in their defence. This is the cafe with refpect to the groflefl ab- furdities of popery, which, it cannot be denied, have had, and probably fiill have, their defenders among the moft learned and the beft of mankind. It is evident, however, and the friends of chriftianity will rejoice in the profpeil of it, that the truth is* making its way by degrees, and in a manner that promifes its general prevalence, viz. with men of real learning, 44 Of a ferious Attention learning, and efpecially thofe men of letters who give moft of their time to the ftudy of the fcriptures -, and alfo with other perfons of good fenfe and good difpofitions, who are capable of inquiring and thinking for themfelves ; and the number of thefe per- fons is increasing every day. A very remarkable and happy change has, in the courfe of divine providence, been gradually brought about among yourfelves in this refpect, in the fpace of a century, which period of time is now elapfed fince the erection of the building in which we are now afTembled, Indeed, the whole of the change has taken place in the memory of very many of you who are now prefent. I fhall think myfelf happy if I have been, in any refpect, the means, in the hands of God, of advancing this great work of re- formation among you ; but much more fo, if, together with the principles of found knowledge, 1 have, in. any meafure, fuccefT- fully inculcated what is ftill more needful, that integrity of heart and life, that genuine love of God and of mankind, without which all to Chrifiian Duties, 45 all knowledge is but as founding brafs and a tinkling cymbal. The times of our anceftors were times of laudable zeaj, but of very limited knowledge. It were pity if an increafe of knowledge fhould be attended with a decreafe of zeal. You cannot be fufficiently thankful to God for bringing you out of darknefs into his marvellous light-, but fee that you walk worthy of that light, and that you bring no diigrace upon rational chriflianity by your unworthy conduct. In the prefent flate of human nature it cannot be expected but that fuch offences as thefe will come, but wo unto them by whom they come. I truft, my brethren, that you do not need any exhortation to continue ftedfafl in your principles as Diffenters, and upon this fubje£t I have nothing to add to what I have laid in my Addrefs to P rot eft ant Diffenters as fuch. I mail only remind you at prefent, that to be a DifTenter, in the prefent flate of things, in this country, is to bear our teftimony againft the authority and imposi- tion of men in matters of religion, and alfo again ft 4 6 Of <* ftrious Attention againft: the many abufes and corruptions in christian doctrine, difcipline, and worfhip, which had their fource in the antichriftian church of Rome, and which yet remain in our eftablifhed church. A caufe like this wants not the counte- nance of numbers, or of wealth, to make it refpectable. It is true, my brethren, our profeffion excludes us from many of the honours and emoluments of this world, and even fubjects us to many grievous pains and penalties, whenever the malice of our ene- mies mall break through the reftraints of humanity and natural juftice, by taking advantage of feveral laws, which are as dif- graceful to our country and free conftitution, as they are injurious to us. But I truft that, confidering the nature of our profeffion, and our expectations as chrijlians, we fllall not be furprifed, or difcouraged by this circum- ftance, as if fome jlrange, and extraordinary thins: had happened to us; when our mafter himfelf, not being of the world, was hated by the world, and his religion was from the very beginning ajebi that was every where fpokeri againjl. *n to Chrijlian Duties. 47 In fact, what you and I, my brethren, call genuine chriftianity, has hardly ever been fo much as tolerated by the laws of any chriftian country, at leaft in Europe, and what is called chriftendom. I truft, how- ever, from a view of the prefent face of things, compared with the writings of the prophets ^which were certainly intended to apprize us of very important events re- flecting the chriftian church) that the time is fall: approaching, when an end will be put to all antichriftian tyranny, and when the kingdoms cf the world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrijl. All who are interested in the fupport of thefe antichrijlian eftablifments, which ufurp an undue authority over the confeiences of men, and whofe wealth and power are ad- vanced by them, are at this very time in a flate of general confternation, both at home and abroad ; feeing their principles and mixims univerfally decried, and their unjuft claims afTailed from a great variety of quar- ters, fo that their kingdom is now full oj darknefsy and they are gnawing their tongues fir j S Of a ferious Attention for pain, .but without repenting of their deeds, Rev. xvi. 10. And we are authorized, my brethren, by the fpirit which foretold both this corruption of chriftianity, and the reftoration of it from this deplorably cor- rupted ftate, to enjoy their confufion and diftrefs -, and, together with the powers of heaven, and the holy apojlles and prophets, to rejoice at the fall of this myjlical Baby Ion * iince it is God that avengeth us of her. Rev. xviii. 20. But who /hall abide this day of our Lord's coming, to plead his caufe in the world ; when thofe princes and Hates which would not have him to reign over them, and who have perfecuted and oppreffed his faithful witneffes, mall be broken in pieces like a pot- ter s veffeh THE CONCLUSION. I think myfelf happy, my brethren, and I {hall reflect upon it with pleafure as long as I am capable of reflection, that, as our connexion has fubfiiled with perfect har- mony, to Chrijlian Duties, 49 mony, it is diflblved with mutual gratitude and efteem. I am confcious, indeed, of many imperfections, and of fome neglects in the difcharge of my duty, but you have had the candour to overlook them. I would obferve, however, that it is not by the opi- nion which we may entertain of each other that we muft ftand or fall, at the tribunal of the great Jhepherd and bifhof of fouls, Chrift Jefus. He, being endued by God with a perfect knowledge of our characters (though, having a fellow feeling of our in- firmities, he will be difpofed to make all reafonable allowances for us) may acquit where we condemn, and condemn where we acquit. To this decifive judgment let us have refpect. Happy will it be for us if 1 have fo preached, and you fo heard, that we need not be a/fjamed before him at his coming. It is another ground of fatisfaction to me, that I leave the congregation in fo good a ftate, in a variety of refpects, efpecially fo harmonious in your general fentiments and views, on which account you cannot fail to appear highly refpectable wherever the E DifTenting 50 Of a ferious Attention, &c. DifTenting intereft is known ; and you have given a very important proof of your pru- dence and judgment, as well as of your harmony, in the perfect unanimity with which you have acted in the choice of my fucceflbr; a choice in which I fincerely concur, and on which I congratulate you. May you continue to be a pattern to other congregations, in this and in every thing elfe in which a chriftian fociety can be worthy of imitation, and may you reap the proper and happy fruits of what has been fo truly praife-worthy in your difpofitions ana1 conduct. And now, brethren, in the words of the apoftle Paul, Acts xx. 32. I commend you to Cod, and the word of his grace, which is able to build you upr and to give you an inheritance among them who arefanffified. To Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to prefent you fault lefs before the prefence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wife God, our Saviour, be glory and majejly, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen ! A SERMON, SERMON, PREACHED December the 31ft, 1780, AT THE NEW MEETING, IN BIRMINGHAM, ON UNDERTAKING THE PASTORAL OFFICE IN THAT PLACE. E 2 THE PREFACE. TH E requeft that has been made to me to publifh this fermon has been fuch, that it is with great pleafure that I comply with it. But my principal motive is to exhibit what I hope will not long be fo remarkable a thing as it is at pre- fent in this country, viz. the concurrence of a numerous and refpectable fociety of chriftians in the proper unitarian principles; thinking, for the reafons mentioned in the Sermon itfelf, that it cannot be too generally known, that there are chriftian focieties who hold thefe principles. Thofe who are acquainted with the ftate of the DifTenters will be fatisfied, that, notwithstanding the great advances that have been made of late years in juft and liberal fentiments, there are few io ieties among them who would even bear fuch. an addrefs as that which is now before the public. But the congreguion of the New Meeting, at Birmingham, have had uncommon advantages, in the inftruclions of the late excellent Mr. Bourn, thofe of my worthy colleague, and of the Reverend Mr. Hawkes, whom I have the honour to fuccejd. E 3 The 54 PREFACE. The fame fimplicity of conduct, and the fame fearlefs integrity in the caufe of truth, would, I doubt not, be every where, in due time, crowned with the fame fuccefs. And, certainly, this is a caufe which well deferves that we mould be willing to run fome rifk for. In promoting genuine chriftianity, it mult be expected by us, that we exert not only fortitude, but likewife patience, before we fee the happy fruits of our labours. I hope that my own example, as far as it is known, will operate to encourage fome. There are few who have of late years fuffered more from bigotry than myfelf. So extremely unpopular was I for fome years after my firit fettlement as a minifter, though I had never preached a contro- versial fermon, or done any thing that I thought could irritate (and 1 do not know that I was charged with any thing in my conduct unbecoming a chriftian, or a chriilian minifter) that, befides lofing the greateft part of my hearers, when I printed and circulated Propojals for opening a School, for which I was not thought to be un- qualified, I never got a fingle fcholar. I did not want friends to folicit for mej but to all that could be faid in my favour, it was replied, cc What ! fend my fon to an Arian ?" For fuch I then was, and did not conceal it. When PREFACE. 55 When I look back upon this trying fituation, I confiuer myfclf more indebted to it, on feveral accounts, than to any other of the fcenes through which it has pleafed Divine Providence to lead me. And I hope I am equally thankful to that Being who difpofes of all things, both for leading me into ir, and bringing me out of it. From lb diicouraging an outfet, I thank God, that, having perfiftcd in my inquiries after truth, and in the mofl unreferved profefllon of whatever I have apprehended to be fuch (notwithftanding, in the courfe of it, I have been led to maintain opinions the moft ofFenfive that were ever advanced among chriftians) I have been brought, though with very different views, within the call of a chriftian fociety who are liberal enough to think me capable of ferving them in the character of their paftor. Nor is this the only congregation where I have had reafon to think my fervices would have been acceptable. Even thofe opinions which occafioned fo great an outcry at firft, I can already perceive not to give fuch alarm at prefentj and I am perfuaded that, in due time, they will not only wear a ftill lefs frightful afpecl, but be generally received by chriftians, and be valued by them as one of the greateft bulwarks of the proteftant caufe, againft E 4 trje 56 PREFACE. the moft fundamental corruptions of the true chris- tian fyftem. Having been favoured with fo mu.h more en- couragement than I had reafon to expect (far more than moft others who have trod the fame unpro- mifing path) I hope I mail not, in a more advan- tageous fituation, purfue any other courfe than that which I have hitherto held, and that I fhall chear- fully exert my beft endeavours in the fervice of the fociety I have the happinefs to be connected with, and whofe candour and indulgence I fhall, on feveral accounts, have fo much need of. Notwithstanding the attention that I hope I fhall always give to thefe fuperior duties, and to theo- logical ftudies, I propofe not to remit any of my application to philofophical purfuits, which alfo I entered upon under many difadvantages, and which I am now much better fituatcd for profecuting. Thefe purfuits, different as they are, are far from being at variance. On the contrary, they perfectly harmonize with, and promote each other. I fhall fubjoin a copy of the nqiiefl of the congre- gation to print this fermon, and {hall add, that the reader will find fome of the. moft important fenti- ments in this difcourfe farther urged in the Sermon on my re/ignition of the f aft oral office at Leeds, but- more largely in an excellent piece juft publifhed., entitled PREFACF. 57 entitled, A free and Jcrious addrefs to the chrifiian laity, efpccially fucb as, embracing unitarian fentiments, conform to trinitarian worfhip, &c. The doctrine of the proper cbjetl of religious worfhip is of fuch importance, that it behoves all who are impreffed with a juft fenfe of it to cry aJoud and not f pare \ efpecially now that the atten- tion of the chriftian World is awake to it, and the orpofition to the great doctrine of the divine unity, may be expected, from the evident agreeablenefs of it to reafon and the fcriptures, to be more and more impotent. I rejoice to fee fo feafonable a publication as that above-mentioned on the fubject, and wifli it may have all the effect it deferves. I will alfo now inform the reader, that on this fubject I addreffed the public in an anonymous piece, entitled A letter to a layman on the fubjetl of Mr. Lindfeys propofal for a reformed Englifh church, in the year 1774. Alfo a confiderable part of my Free addrefs to proteflant diffenters as fuch relates to this fubject. B IR- 58 PREFACE. BIRMINGHAM, 28th Jan. i78i. Rev. and dear Sir, TJ/'E. fubfcribing members of the congregation of Protejlant Dijfenters ajftmbling at the New- Meeting in Birmingham, being now met upon congre- gational affairs, are happy in embracing this oppor- tunity of presenting ycu with cur united thanks for the honour you have done us in accepting our unani- mous invitation to take, in connexion with the Rev. Mr. Blythe, the pajioral care of this church. Per- mit us alfo to thank you for the introductory dif- courfejyow delivered us, and to requeft its publication. As we heard it with much fatisfaclion and pleafure, fo we cannot but wijh to have it in our power more deliberately to review the important fentiments it incul- cated, and alfo be the means of giving others an oppor- tunity of profiting by them. Trufting to your candour, we make no difficulty in imparting thefe wijhes to you, and with the moft cordial rejpetl we remain, Rev. and dear Sir, Tour affeclionate and very humble Servants, WILLIAM RUSSELL, Signed at the requeft, and on the behalf 7 of the fubicribers prefent. J John [ 59 1 John xvii. 16. ''T/jty are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. My Chrijlian Brethren, 1 N thefe words of our Saviour we have a view given us of the great object of the chriftian religion, from which we may col- lect a general, but juft idea, of the proper end and ufe of chriftian focieties, with the duties of the feverai members of them ; and for this reafon 1 wiili to call your attention to them on my acceptance of your invitation to the paftoral office among you. Our Lord anfwered with truth, when, in his reply to Pilate, he faid, My kingdom is not of this world. For the power exercifed in his kingdom is not over men's perfons and property, the honours of it are not worldly honours and diftinctions ; and the advan- tages 60 The Ufes of tages of it, to the prince or the fubject, are not fuch as are fought for by earthly fove- reigns and their adherents. So far are either from any pretenlions to worldly power, wealth, pleafure, or even fecurity, that, in confequence of not -being of the world, but having a difpofition of mind unfuited to it, and looking beyond it, they are the objects of hatred and perfecution to men of mere worldly views, and who by divine permifiion have the powers of this world at their com- mand. This was fully experienced by our Lord himfelf, who when he was on earth was re- jected and defpifed of men, a man of for rows and acquainted with grief (Ifaiah liii. 3.) and who terminated a laborious life with a pain- ful and ignominious death upon the crofs. His followers alfo, and generally in propor- tion to their being animated with the fame fpirit, and actuated by the fame views (open- ly profemng the truth of his gofpel in its purity, and making light of what the world could do in oppofition to it) have found the truth of what he himfelf apprized them, 3 viz. Chrijlian Societies. 61 viz. that the fervant is not greater than his Lord, and that as the world had hated him, fo it would hate them alfo. But then, as the apoftle fays, as they juffered with him, fuf- fered m his caufe, in the caufe of truth and a good conscience, they will affuredly reign with him, and be glorified together (2 Tim. ii. 12.) If then, we call ourfelves chriftians, we mull: ever bear in mind, that, though we live in the world, that is with men who have no views or profpecls beyond it, whofe chief purfuits are riches, honours, or pleafures, thefe are but fecondary things for us. We are to receive them thankfully, and above all to improve them properly, if, in the courfe of divine providence, they fall to our lot ; but we are, at the fame time, to be al- ways looking beyond them, to a more en- during fubfiance, to a treafure in heaven, to honours that are unfading, which come from God and not from man, and to that pleafure which is at his right hand for evermore, ac- companied with that inward fatisfaclion of mind, which always attends the pofTefTion of 62 The Ufes of of a good confcience. And we ought ever to be ready even to renounce all the advan- tages, honours, and pleafures of the world, when they come in competition with our duty, and our obedience to the commands of Chrift. We muft not hold even life itfelf fo dear to us, as that we mould not be ready to part with it (and in whatever manner thofe who in this world have the power over life mall pleafe) rather than make Jhlp- wreck of faith and a good confcience. If in the hour of trial we deny Chrift, he will alfo deny us. It is much eafier to preferve thefe jufr. views of the object and end of our profeilion in an openly hoftile, than in a feemingly friendly world, from the confiant oppofition of principles and objects in the former cir- cumflances. In this cafe, that is, in a ftate of perfecution, whether we voluntarily at- tend to it or not, we cannot help feeing, and reflecting continually, that this world is not our home. While we preferve the profeffion of our faith uncorrupted, and while we re- tain our integrity, in afTerting that faith, without C/jriftian Societies. 63 without any of thofe unworthy artifices, whereby too many evade the confequences of a frank and open declaration of their real principles, we fee there is no ftate of enjoy- ment or repofe to be looked for here j and we therefore naturally, and indeed necefla- rily, look forward to that reft which yet re* mainetb for the people of God (Heb. iv. 9.) where alone the wicked ceafe from troubling (Job iii. \y.) In this lituation we want no motives to cultivate that temper and difpo- fition of mind, which alone can qualify us for the happinefs of that heavenly ftate. But when the world is not apparently hoftile to us, it is moft of all truly fo. For then it is, that, not being molefled by the world, at the fame time that we are fubject to the influence of it ; being men of like paf- fions with others, the fame things that ftrike others ftrike us. By mixing with the world, and fharing the emoluments of it, we natu- rally become fond of them, and attached to them ; and within certain limits this is un- avoidable, and notamifs. But is it in hu- man nature, without particular efforts with ourfelves, 64 The Ufes of ourfelves, to which the bulk of mankind are much averfe, to keep within the bounds of moderation, and not to become too much attached to the world, and thofe things of it which are foreign to our main object and ul- timate views ? Living with the world, we naturally live as the world does, and become gradually, in all refpects, like the world; and the great objects of our chriftian pro- feffion, being too long kept out of light, lofe their influence, and we are in danger of aban- doning the purfuit of them altogether. Now the ufe of chrillian focieties is to counteract the influence of the world around us, to keep up the idea of our being fepa- rate from the world, .and of the importance of being on our guard againft the infection of it. It is a provifion for regular inftruc- tion in the doctrines of the gofpel, and for meditation upon the nature and excellence of it, in order to eflablifh, ftrerigthen, and fettle us in our mojl holy faith ( 1 Peter v. i o.) and thus to prepare us for encountering the frowns or the fmiles of the world around us. In Chrijllan Societies. 65 In christian aflemblies, the fcriptures, Which contain the hiftory of all the difpen- fations of God to mankind, the pious fenti- ments of men devoted to God and honoured by him, efpecially the hiftory of our Savi- our,his doctrines, miracles, and converfation, with the labours and writings of the apoftles who fucceeded him (abounding with excel- lent inftruction, and mod animating exam- ples of virtue and piety, adapted to every age and condition in life) are conftantly read and explained. It is in confequence of being in a habit of attending to thefe things at leafl on one day in feven, and being led thereby to give more particular attention to them at our leifure hours, in our families, in our clofets, and in the intervals of our daily oc- cupations, that, amidft the bufinefs of this life (which muft be attended to, having for its object our well being here) thofe things which relate to our well being hereafter are not forgotten. Thus are we ftriving for the bread that periffjes, and, at the fame time, more earneftly ftill for that which endureth to ever Lifting life, (John vi. 27.) F The 66 The Ufes of The very forms of chriftian focieties, when they are properly kept up, the very meeting of one another, not as common friends and acquaintance, but as chriftians, and joining together in acts of chriftian wor- fhip, hearing the fame inftruftions and pro- felling the fame faith, have great efficacy in promoting a chriftian temper, and is a powerful motive to chriftian conduct. All habits of fociety are reftraints upon men; and as it is confefTedly difficult to break the chains of bad company, fo it would not be eafy to a man to frequent a chriftian fociety, and continue a courfe of life manifeftly in- confiftent with the profeffion of chriftianity. He would feel himfelf reproved by the con- fcioufnefs of the difefteem in which he was held by thofe whofe efteem, from habits of friendfhip and fociety, he could not but va- lue, and would imagine even the ftlent coun- tenance to mean more than it really did. Confequently, this fociety, if (for what- ever reafon, whether of convenience, or the mere fhame of quitting it) it was actually kept up, would conftrain him at leaft to keep Chrijlian Societies. 6y keep up an outward decent appearance ; and then, if the foreign corrupt influence w$s not very ftrong, it would, in time produce a greater conformity of life, and of heart alfo, to his profefTion, and he would at length perfectly afiimilate with thofe with whom he afTbciated. Alfo the admonitions of his chriftian friends, which, while he fre- quented their fociety, he would be more in the way of receiving, would ftrongly operate to the fame end. If the foreign corrupt influence was too flrong, he would abandon the fociety altoge- ther ; and this is the next good confequencc to be defired, as it would tend to mark the diftin&ion between the members of chriftian focieties and the reft of the world. All thefe happy confcquences would be more manifeft, if chriftian focieties, in times of eafe and indulgence, were more truly chriftian, that is, if chriftian zeal did not too naturally cool in fuch circumftances. It is very evident, from this general view of the object of chriftian focieties, that the bufinefs of them may be confidered as three- F 2 fold, 68 The Ujes of fold, viz. joint devotion, regular injlruftion, and -particular admonition. And the bed provision was made for all thefe ends in the conftitution of the primitive churches 5 in which, befides a number of perfons who un- dertook the management of the fecular con- cerns of the fociety, and were called deacons, there were feveral others who bore the com- mon title of prejbytcrs, or bijjjops, and who were all pajiors or teachers, distributing the work among them according to their feveral capacities, and at the fame time giving par- ticular attention to the conduct of all the members of the fociety; preventing irregu- larities by feafonable admonition or reproof, and reporting particular cafes to the whole church, if their private admonitions, and thofe of a few more of their brethren, had no effect. By this means chriflian churches were kept more pure, and free from unworthy members, and confequently every perfon had more reftraints to break through before he could act in a manner unbecoming a chriftian, or reject the profeffion of chrif- tianity. This Chrifrian Societies* 69 This excellent inftitution was kept up, and had its full effect during fome centuries, and long after the time when one of thefe prefbyters more eminently qualified for his office than the reft, having been carefully- educated with a view to it, and giving his whole time and attention to. the duties of it (a dillinclion which for obvious reafons could not generally have taken place in the very primitive times) had the ftylc and rank of bi/Jjop appropriated to himfeif, leading the de- votions of the congregation, being prepared , to give them regular inftruclion, efpecially expounding the fcriptures every Lord's day, or at lean: as often as occafion required. But at the requeft, or with the confent of the bifhop, the preibyters difcharged every part of his office, and they were fufficiently qualified to ferve the churches of inferior rank, that were dependent on the principal church. Unfortunately, as every thing that bears the name of power is liable to abufe, this has been the cafe with refpect to the office of elder in our churches, and now the very name is F 3 loft 70 ¥he UJes of loft among us ; but with it we have likewife loft theufes of a valuable inftitution. The minifter, or public teacher, befides being a fingle perfon, is, from his fituation, and general circumftances, altogether inade- quate to the work of private admonition or advice, and much more to that of cenfure, which requires the prudence and influence of a perfon of equal rank, and living in ha- bits of fociety and friendship with the objetr. of thofe acts of the trueft friendfTiip. The minifter has no opportunity for thefe offices more than any other perfon, and therefore they cannot be expected of him. Befides, being too often entirely dependent upon his people for his fubfiftence, he cannot always be fuppofed to have that courage and inde- pendence of mind, which is requifite for the faithful difcharge of thofe moft difficult duties. Unfortunately, alfo, the times have gene- rally been fuch, that this circumftance has operated to prevent even the inftructions of the minifter from having that extent and effect which they might otherwife have tadj Chriflian Societies, Ji had; being in a manner limited to difcourfes from the pulpit, which are addreffed chiefly to perfons of ibme years and experience ; whilft children, young perfons, and thole who are advancing to a Hate of manhood, have been lefs attended to, the time and la- bour of the minifters being employed on other objects. Having, in a former fituation, given par- ticular attention to this evil, and having the advantage of fome experience, I mall, with your approbation (having already the con- currence of my worthy colleague) attempt to remedy it. Happy (hall we think ourfelves, if judging as I hope you always will do, for yourfelves, we mall have your hearty con- currence to do what we mall think conducive to your own bed interefts, as members of a christian fociety. With refpec"l to particular admonition, which we fee in theepiftles of Paul was more efpecially the bufinefs of the prefbyters or elders, as it is likewife a duty incumbent upon all chriftians ; till it be thought pro- per to new model our focieties (which will F 4 require y2 The Ufes of require the greateft confideration, in order to guard againft the abufes of former times) you muft all hold yourfelves in duty bound to do that as relations, friends, neighbours, and acquaintance, which you are not bound to do as officers in a regularly conftituted chriftian church. And thofe who have need of it muft receive, and be thankful for, every admonition proceeding from real friendfhip, as they value that moral improvement which is the end of it. It would be happy if mankind could do without any forms of government, civil or eccleiiaftical, and if all pains and penalties could be fafely aboliilied, as well as church cenfures. But if every man were allowed, without fear, and without cenfure, to do that which was right in his own eyes, both them- felves and others would foon find the incon- venience of it. However, with prudence in thofe whofe place it is to give admoni- tion, and docility in thofe who ftand in need of it, fomething may be done to re- medy the evils to which we are now ex- pofedo Befides Chriftian Societies, 73 Beiides the duties that are incumbent on the minifters and | eople of particular chrif- tian focieties, with refpect to their own im- provement and edification, we ought not to forget, that every chriftian fociety, and every individual chriftian, bears a relation to, and is part of, the whole chriftian church ; and therefore ought to confult what will be for its honour, and favour its propagation in thofe countries in which chriftianity is not yet received. Our Saviour and the apoftles never fail to enforce the practice even of ordinary moral duties, from confiderations which refpect the edification of others as well as a man's felf. We are to let our light Jhine before men, in order that others may fee our good works, and thereby glorify our father who is in heaven (Matt. v. 26). We are alfo to do no- thing by which our brother mall be offended (Rom.xiv. 21) that is, made to offend; and that the knowledge of chriftianity may be propagated in the world, no man mull keep the belief of it to himfelf, but, if called upon, 74 The Ufes of upon, muft, at all hazards, make public profeffion of his faith in Chrift. Now whatever it be that makes any per- fon think injurioufly of the chriftian reli- gion, fo as to prevent his embracing it, pre- vents all that good which would arife from the reception of it. Everyman, therefore, who holds opinions that are irrational and abfurd, under the name of chriftianity, opi- nions at which the common fenfe of Jews, Mahometans, and Heathens is known to to revolt, and on account of which they ac- tually reject the chriftian revelation, does his part towards this evil, fo that a certain portion of it lies at his door. If unbelievers take unreafonable offence, as the Jews at a fuffering Mefliah, and the Gentiles of old at a religion founded by a man who died upon a crofs, they alone are anfwerable for their unjuftifiable prepofferTi- ons ; and the chriftian, who exhibits his religion fairly, and fuggefts what ought to give fatisfaction to thofe who require a reafon of his faith) ftands acquitted. He will Chrijlian Societies. 75 will alfo be free from blame, if he take due pains to inform himklf concerning the ge- nuine doctrines of chriftianity, and yet, through invincible prejudice, ariiing from his lituation and circumftances, holds any errors, even thofe at which men ftumble, and are offended, mod of all. But wo unto him by whom the ojfence cometb, if it has arifen from any thing morally wrong in his difpo- fition, as from negligence in his inquiries, or from his obftinacy in holding offenfive errors, after reafonable means of conviction. You need not be informed, that it has pleafed divine providence, which brings good out of all evil, to furter our holy religion to be grofsly corrupted, chiefly by a mixture of opinions and maxims derived from the philcfophy of the heathen world. Thefe heathen doctrines, utterly unfuitable to the genius and fpirit of chriftianity, and leading to a temper of mind the very reverfe of it, have given the greateft countenance and fup- port to that antichriftian fyftem, which has fo long fubjected this part of chriltendom \o the ufurpations of the court of Rome. A fyftem 76 The Ufes of A fyftem of opinions, abufes, and habits, which had been taking root, and extending themfelves, for more than a thoufand years, cannot be expected to be reformed at once. Thofe who are more eminently itiled Re~ formers cannot, therefore, be fuppofed to have done more than a part, though a glo- rious and diftinguifhed part, in this great and necefftry work. And it behoves us, who come after them, not to keep the very ground which they occupied, but rather to be following their example, and advancing the work which they began. Few men in a private ftation of life are juftly entitled to a greater ihare of praife in this refpect than your late excellent minifter Mr. Bourn ; who with the integrity, zeal, activity, and perfeverance of an apoftle, ftood forth early the champion of gofpel truth, and boldly oppofed the progrefs of whatever he apprehended to be error. His light, my brethren, you now enjoy and rejoice in. Let us then purfue the path in which he led the way, efpecially as by his invaluable labours, and thofe of others before us, the talk Cbrijlian Societies. yj tafk is much eafier, and lefs hazardous, now than it was in his time. Like him, let us rejoice if we be counted worthy to Juffer Jhame, reproach and abufe, or even more than this, in i'o noble a caufe [a). Of thefe corrupt doctrines, the feeds of which were fown in a very early age, none gives fo much juft caufe of alarm, and there- fa) Mr. Samuel Bourn, father of the Rev. Mr. Bourn of Norwich, was born at Calne in Wiltfhire, and was one of the firft minifters at the New Meeting in Birmingham to which he removed from Chorley in Lancashire, in l 732. He was fucceedcd by my immediate predeceflbr the Rev. Mr. Hawkes, the Rev. Mr. Blythe having been pafior along with him. He greatly diftinguifhed himfelf by his zeal againfr the doctrines that are generally termed Calvin'ijlical, and by his firmnefs in encountering great oppofition from the bigotry of his time. He was indefatigable in the difcharge of his duty as a minifter, efpecially in his attention to the younger part of his congregation, and he was alfo un- wearied in his endeavours to ferve the induftrious poor wherever he lived. He was attacked with a paralytic diforder In the pulpit, on the 17th of March 1754, and died on the Friday fol- lowing. See a (hort account of his life prefixed to his Tiventy Sermons, publifhed by his Son. May my courfe and latter end be like his ! % fore ?S The U/es of fore ought more to excite the zeal of the truly enlightened friends of purechriftianity, and who wifh well to its propagation among Jews and Mahometans, than that relapfe into idolatry, with which many who call themfelves chriftians are juftly chargeable; an idolatry fimilar to that which it was the great object of the Jewifh and chriilian reli- gions to overturn. For, in confequence of the worfhip of faints and angels in the church of Rome, the true God is almoft as much loft fight of as he was in the heathen world, who worshipped ftocks and ftones, under the notion of their being emblems or reprefentatives of the divinity. Though this idolatry proceeded till it came to the worfhip of a piece of bread, as fuppofed to be the real body and blood of Chrift, it began with paying divine honours to Chrift himfelf; who though the moft diftinguifhed mefTenger of God to man, him- felf uniformly afTerted the proper unity of the divine nature, and fpake of his Father, exclufively of all other perfons, or beings, as the only true God (John xvii. 3) his father as Cbriftian Societies. 79 as well as our father, and his God as well as our Gcd (John xx. 17) and whofe higheft: title is the mediator between God and man, the man Chrifr. Jefus. 1 Tim. ii. 5. Obferve the apoftle fays the man, not the God, or the God-man, or fuper-angelic being, but limply the man Chrijl Jefus. Though he reigns, he only reigns in fubordination to that great Being who put all things under his feet, and to whom he muft at length refign his delegated authority, that God, the only living and true God, even the Father, may be all in all. 1 Cor. xv. 28. In agreement with this, and with no other idea concerning Chrift, the author of the epiftle to the Hebrews fpeaks of our Lord as being, in all refpecls, like unto his brethren-. and he is elfewhere fliled our elder brother. In agreement with this we alfo read that as by man came death, by 7?ian came alfo the rc- furreclion of the dead. 1 Cor. xv. 21. Our Saviour, therefore, differs from us not with refpect to his proper nature, but only in the great perfection of his character, and in divine communications. Agreeably to So The Ufes of to which, he himfelf expreffly difclaims all power originating with himfelf; faying that the words which he fpake were not his own but the Father s that fent him, and that it was the Father within him that did the works, (John xiv. 10) that is the miracles which he wrought. Now what truth could there have been in this, if he had done thefe things by any proper divinity, or indeed any extraordinary power of his ownt inde- pendent of that of his father ? After the worfliip of Chrift, the worfhip of his virgin mother was a very eafy confe- quencej and then, {o wide a breach being once made in the doctrine of the divine unity, there entered an innumerable hoft of men and angels, and, in times of ignorance and fuperflition, many names of mere hea- thens, and fome abfolute nonentities. It is well known that it is this doctrine of a multiplicity of per Jons in the deity, or, which is the very fame thing, a multiplicity of Gods, at which Jews and Mahometans chiefly ftumble. It is the doctrine of the proper divine unity that they are continually upbraiding Chriflian Societies. Si upbraiding the chriftian world with depart- ing from ; and while they confider chriftians as idolaters, it is no wonder that the chriftian name is held in abhorrence by them, and that their converfion is effectually prevented. For thefe important considerations, though it has been, and will be my general practice, to confine my addrefTes from the pulpit to the enforcing of fuch doctrines and duties as all chriftians are agreed in acknowledging, and which are certainly of the greateft im- portance to the happinefs of individuals in this life, and the next; I mail not fail, on all proper cccafions, to hold up to your view, with its proper evidence, and as much energy as I can give to it, this great doctrine of the proper unity of God\ and alfo fome others nearly connected with it. I mean fuch as exhibit the moral character and government of God in fuch a light as mail make us rejoice in the confideration of our being the fubjects of it; in oppofition to fuch opinions concerning the divine nature, and his government over us, as tend to make us regard him as an object: of horror. G It 82 The Ufes of It cannot be too generally known, that there are chriftians, and focieties of chrifti- ans, by whom fuch doctrines are reprobated, with whom the one only living and true God is the fole object of worfhip, and who con- iider him in a character that they would refpect and love in a parent, a judge, or a fovereign. It is our duty, not only to fearch for the truth in matters of fuch confequence as this, but to bear the moft public teftimony to it. In God's time, that teftimony will have its weight ; and they who uniformly and ftea- dily hold it forth, will hereafter be con- fidered as preachers of the gofpel, and pro- pagators of it, even to the ends of the earth. For it is only to be expected, and indeed it is only to be wiflied, that chriftianity mould become the religion of the whole earth, when it fhall be purged from the corruptions which at prefent deform and difgrace it. In this cafe, much more may be expected from us DifTenters, than from the members of any civil eftablifhment of religion in the world ; Chriflian Societies, 83 world; becaufe we are in more favourable circumftances, both for the difcovery of truth, and the open profeflion of it. We, tny brethren, are happily free from that vaft weight of prejudice, in which every mem- ber of an old eftablifhment is necefTarily educated. And if, in uncommonly favour- able circumitances, their minds mould be enlightened, their tefiimony in favour of fuch a truth as this can have but little weight, while they continue where they are. The conviction of even the majority of fuch members might be far from procur- ing a change in creeds and forms of worfhip, which had been fixed by public authority, in the time of their remote anceftors. On this account 1 hold it a point Gf duty and confeience, not to attend, except in the character of a ftranger, any worfhip in which any other than the one true God, the father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, is the object of religious homage. It is, in fact, the fame conlideration that makes all religious pro- teftants fcruple to join in the celebration of G 2 the 84 Tbi Ufes of the mafs. It is paying divine honours to a creature. And whether this be done to a wafer, or to a man, the difference is not in kind-y and with refpect to degree, all crea- tures are equally as nothing when held up in competition with the great creator of all things, who alone is infinite and fupreme. For thefe reafons when, of late years, I was without any miniflierial charge, in pre- ference to ail other focieties, feveral of which 1 could have attended with great fatisfaction, I joined myfelf as a member of, I believe, the only chriftian church in this country, and in our times, that was exprefsly, and originally, formed on unitarian principles. And in every lituation I ihall confider it as my glory, to have been in fellowship with that fociety, and ftill to keep up an occafional communion with it (/>). (b) All who are acquainted with me will know that I mean the Unitarian congregation, formed by the Rev. Mr. Lijidfey (quo mihi non deyin&hr alter) in EfTex-ftreet. Louden. 1 (hall add nothing farther concerning him, or his undertaking, left I mould be fufpecleJ of exaggeration. I chufe Chrijlian Societies. 8 c I chufe to deliver myfelf in this explicit manner, at this time, with refpect to the pro- per unity of God, and the proper humanity of Chrift, both on account of the great import- ance of the fubjecl:, and as a fpecimen of the perfect freedom with which I mall always lay before you my real fentiments concerning any article of doctrine that I mail think of importance to propofe to you. I do this both that you may not be deceived in me, and that I may not be deceived in you, but that I may know in time on what ground I ftand. But I am confident that with refpect to the objeel ofworjjjip, in which it certainly behoves all who perform their devotions together, to be agreed, we mall not differ; and all other matters are of far inferior con- fequence. Think not, however, my brethren, that the molt fervent zeal for what is apprehended to be the genuine doctrines of the gofpel, is at all inconfiftent with true chriftian charity, which always judges of particular perfons according to the advantages they have en- G 3 joyed, 86 The Ufes of joyed, and of the final ftate of men by their Jincerity only. And for my own part, 1 have no doubt, but that, though the church of Rome be the proper antic hrlji of the apof- tles, not only innumerable zealous papifts, but even fome popes themfelves, and fince the time of the reformation, will fit down with Luther, with Calvin, and with Socinus, in the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift. Known unto God alone are the hearts of men ; and the man who honeftly purfues truth, and who acts according to the beft lights that God gives him an opportu- nity of acquiring, will be he whom the God of truth and uprightnefs will approve ; and none will furTer a greater or more juft con- demnation, than thofe who bold the truth in unrighteoujnefs. Much rather would I be in the cafe of many worthy perfons in the church of Eng- land, or the church of Rome, who at the fame time that they are fully fenfible of the corruptions and errors of the fyftem in which they are entangled, are not able to break 3 their Chrijlian Societies, 87 their chains ; than, from a fpirit the reverfe of that of the gofpel, make an improper ufe of my own liberty, by infulting them. Many, very many, it cannot be doubted, would have the courage to die at a flake, in times of ferious perfecution, who in fuch times as ours, have not the mental fortitude to act the part of a Robertfon, a Jebb, an Evanfon, or efpecially a Lindfey. No perfon educated a dilfenter can pretend to fuch merit as this, becaufe none of us have been in their cir- cumftances ; and I hope there may be great merit in human characters far (hort of theirs. On this account, the confiderations which I urged in the beginning of this difcourfe, on the ufes of chriftian focieties, as a means of preferving purity of manners, are of infinitely more importance than any thing that refpects the mere profefiion of the truth, on which I have now been infilling. Indeed, it is the former alone that can give much weight to the latter. In many matters of fpeculation, you and I, my chriftian brethren, may judge very differently, as you will from one another, G4 if 83 Tbe Ufes of if you judge for yourfelves at all. But this circumftance, inftead of quenching chriftian charity, ought to be confidered as a proper trial and exercife of that moft valuable chriftian virtue, I fhall, as I truft I have hitherto done, devote myfelf to the purfuit of truth -y and I fhall not fail to lay before you, with the beft evidence that I can collect, every thing that fhall appear to me to be of any moment to you, as members of a chrif- tian fociety ; and I (hall chearfully rely on your candour with refpect to any articles in which you may think me to be miftaken. I truft that, notwithstanding every poffible difference, we mail live in love and peace, provoking to love and to good works, a pattern to other focieties of a zeal for truth, but of a greater zeal for virtue ; walking in every ftatute and ordinance of the Lord, if not blamelefily, at leaft honeftly , that the God of love and peace may be with us, and that when our prefent relation to each other fhall ceafe, we mail have fo acquitted ourfelves during the continuance of it, that we your minifters fhall be able to prefent many of you, Chrijilan Societies, 89 you, together with ourfelves, before the coming of his glory with exceeding joy ; and that we mall then make part of that church of Chrift, which mail be gathered from all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, compleat in Chrift their head. May his name be honoured, may his church be purged from all the corruptions which at prefent defile, difgrace, and con- fine it; and then may the Jews, together with the fulnefs of the Gentiles, flow into it; that all the kingdoms of the world may become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrift, and he may reign till that time (hall come, when he (hall give up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. To him, as fupreme over all, be glory for ever, Amen. The 'The proper Conjlitution of a Chrijiian Cburch% conjidered in SERMON, PREACHED AT THE NEW MEETING, IN BIRMINGHAM, November 3, 1782. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A PREFATORY DISCOURSE, Relating tq the prefent State of thofe who are called RATIONAL DISSENTERS. PREFATORY DISCOURSE, TTHOUGH I formerly publifhed an EJfay -*• on Church T)ifcifline, yet, as I wifh to draw more attention to the fubject, I willingly comply with the fubjoined requeftof the fociety I have the happinefs to ferve, to publim this Sermon, which has the fame general object. I cannot help thinking that an attention to the original conftU tution of chriftian churches, and the bufinefs proper to them, would greatly contribute to fupply what is wanting to the flourifhing ftate of what I muft confider as the moll refpeclable part of the body of profcfiing chriftians : for fuch I ought to efteem thofe with whom I chufe to rank myfelf. It has long been complained of, that, notwith- standing the converts, which it cannot be denied, are continually making to the principles of the rational, 9[ A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. rational, or Unitarian Dijfenters*, both from Dif- fenters of various denominations, and alfo from the eftablilhed church -, yet their ibcieties do not flourifh, their members have but a flight attach- ment to them, and eafily defert them, though it is never imagined that they defert their principles. The cafe is no where fo ftriking as it is in Lon- don, though it is fufficiently fo in many parts of the country. A fact fo remarkable as this cannot efcape ob- fervation* and perfons of a fpeculative turn cannot help forming fome conjecture or other concerning the caufe of it j efpecially as this is not the cafe, at leaft, not in fo great a degree^ with thofe who profefs any other form of religion. Jews gene- rally continue Jews, and Mahometans continue Mahometans -, Quakers feldom defert their friends^ and neither the Independents nor the Baptifts leave the focieties to which they belong, unlefs they change their opinions. And yet, though it * Though I ufe the term rational and Unitarian Diflenters as fynonymous, moft of the obfervations in this difcourfe relate to thofe Diflenters who have only rejected the do&rines of Calvini/m, as well as to thofe who have rejected the doctrine of the divinity o/CbriJi. Indeed, whole congregations who would not fcruple to avow themfelves Unitarians are not many. But as a few years ago there were hardly any, it may be hoped that fome years hence there will be more, both in London, and in the country. is A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 95 is no vanity to fay that the Unitarian DifTenters confift, for the mod part, of men of reading and reflection, they have not that attachment to each other, or to their refpective focieties, that chrif- tians of other denominations have. One caufe certainly is, that though Unitarian DifTenters are not apt to entertain any doubt of the truth of their principles, they do not lay fo much ftrefs upon them as other chriftians do upon theirs. Nor, indeed, is there any reafon why they mould, when they do not confider the hold- ing of them to be at all necejfary tojalvaticny which other chriftians often do with refpect to theirs. They, therefore, take much lefs pains to make profelyres, and are lefs concerned to inculcate their principles upon their children, their fervants, and their dependents in general. Befides, it cannot be denied that many of thofe who judge fo truly concerning particular tenets in religion, have attained to that cool unbiafTed temper of mind, in confeqnence of becoming more indifferent to religion in general, and to all the modes and doctrines of it. Though, therefore, they are in a more favourable fituation for diftinguifhing between truth and falfehood, they are not likely to acquire a zeal for what they conceive to be the truth. Confequently, when they are fatisfied with refpect to any controverted quefiion, §5 A PREFATORY DISCOURSE, queftion, concerning which they may have had th? curiofity to make fome enquiry, they prefently difmifs the fubjecT from their thoughts; and thus never reading or thinking about it, except when it is cafually mentioned, they are not in the way of being interefted in it, and cannot be expected to make any great facrifices to it; From this principle it is, that great numbers becoming Unitarians in the church of England, and even among the clergy, do not feel the im- propriety and abfurdity, to fay nothing more harfh, of continuing to countenance a mode of worihip, which, if they were queftioned about it, they could not deny to be, according to their own principles, idolatrous and blafphemous. Such perfons, alio, having no zeal for fpeculative reli- gion, merely becaufe they have no zeal for religion in general, their moral conduct, though decent, is not what is deemed ftrict and exemplary. From a juft averfion to every thing that looks like hypocrify, and precifertefs, they rather lean to the extreme of freedom and fafhionable difli- pation. They are not altogether deftitute of re- ligion, but they do not value themfelves upon it, and do not wifh to become the fubjects of con- verfation, or to draw any particular notice upon themfelves on that account. They would be afliamed to abandon their religion, but they neither A PREFATORY DISCOURSE* 97 neither themfelves think, nor do they wi fh others to think much about it. To perfona who con-fid er human nature, and what uiually takes place in fimilar circumftances, this cannot be thought at all extraordinary. It may eafily be conceived, that perfons who trouble themfelves very little about religion or chrif- tianity, and therefore on whom the principles of it can have little practical influence, may yet have the good fenfe, if they fhould be led to turn their thoughts to the fubjedt, to perceive that Chrilt, who had nothing in his external appearance dif- ferent from that of any other man, who always difebimed any fuperior powers of his own, and who exprefsly aiTerted that his Father was the only true God (which might be feen on a very flight infpection of the gofpel hiftory) could not be the fupreme God himfelf, or the maker of the. world in any fenfe of the word. The connexion be- tween this fimple truth, and a regular chriftian life is very flight. It requires very particular attention to the doc- trines of the gofpel, and the great object of it, viz. the revelation of a future life, before it can, in the nature of things, imprefs the heart, and change the life. And men of the world, though of good underftandins, and fome reading, may well be fuppofed to Hop at the mere fpeculative H truth. 9S A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. truth. There mull, no doubt, be great numbers- in this fituation in DiiTenting congregations as well as elfewhere. Were all the fpeculative Uni- tarians in the church of England to become fe- rious chriftians, and confequently think it their duty to leave it, the defertion would be very confpicuous and alarming. In fact, there is no greater reafon to complain of the lukewarmnefs of the generality of Unita- rians, than there is of the generality of chriflians of all denominations. There are few perfons in comparifon in this country, and indeed in- Europe, but who are nominally believers in chriftianity, and who would be affronted if their faith mould be called in queftion ; and yet the bulk of thefe profefling chriftians are nothing more than chriftians in name.- In the courfe of their lives they give very little attention to their principles, and whatever virtue or good conduct they may have, it is the mere effect of habit, and of the general influences to which they are expofed, derived ultimately, I doubt not, from the chiiftianity of their parents, and that of pre- ceding generations, but not immediately from any chiiftianity of their own. We (hall the lcfs wonder at this being the cafe at prefent, when, if we look back into hiftory, we fhall rind that it was the fame even at the firft promulgation A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 99 promulgation of chriftianity, when every pre- ferring chriftian was fo from himfelf, and without having been educated one. In our Saviour's own life time, great numbers, probably the bulk of the people of the Jews, were fatisfied that he was a real prophet, and after his refurrection, that he was the Median, and therefore ought to have ranked with chriftians ; but yet, through fer.r, fhame, or fome other finifter influence, did not openly do it. Alio, in thofe who did join them- felves to the fociety of chriftians, there were all degrees of faith and of firmnefs ; and probably- few of them, in comparifon, would have had the courage to be martyrs. In order, therefore, to form a juft eftimate of the number of thofe whom we mould now call chriftians, or who believed the refurreclion of Chrift, we mult, in the firft place, make great allowance for thofe who would not bear much fullering, or perfecution, for the fake of Chriftj which in thofe times was almofl unavoidable) and a ftill greater allowance for the numbers of thofe who, in fuch perilous times, contented themf Ives with thinking well of the chriftian caufe, without ever joining it at all. At the time of the reformation, many perfons were fufficiently convinced of the abfurdity of the popifll fyftem, and of the tyranny of the church of II 2 Rome, too A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. Rome, who yet acqukfced in ir, without finding themfelves difpofed either to d) or to fvffer much for the fake of a reform. Many, who had the courage to join the reformers, where they could do it with little danger, were only men of good underftanding, but immerfed in all the vices of the times, and were a difgrace to the reformation. Of this, Erafmus made great, and probably juft complaint. " We have been ftunned long *f enough," he faid, " with the cry of gofpel, " gofpel, gofpel. We want gofpel manners." Jortin's life of him, p. 442. It is, therefore, nothing extraordinary, if a great number of the Unitarians of the prefent age be only men of good fenfe, and without much prac- tical religion, while others of them who do give proper attention to their principles, as chriftians and Unitarians, are, as their enemies muft ac- knowledge, the moft exemplary of men. Upon the whole, confidering the great mixture of fpi- ritual pride and bigotry in fome of the molt zealous trinitarians, I think the moral character of the Unitarians in general, allowing tru«t there is in them a greater apparent conformity to the world than is obfervable in the others, approaches more nearly to the proper temper of chriflianity. It is more chearful, more benevolent, and more 3 candid. A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 101 candid. The former have probably lefs, and the latter, I hope, Cometh ing more, oC a real principle of religion than they Cecm to have. Thefe Unitarians, however, wanting a Cufficient decree of zeal Cor their principles, and not valuing themCelves upon them, cannot be CuppcCed to have much attachment to the chriftian Cocieties to which they nominally belong, or to inculcate their principles with much earneitneCs upon their children. Thefe, therefore, having never heard much upon the CubjecT:, and much lefs than their parents, will not be Co well eftablifhed in their principles as their parents are, and will be ftiil leCs attached to chriftian Cocieties. In theCe circum- ftances, a marriage into a Camily in which other principles are proCeflcd with more zeal, or Cuch an increaCe oC Cortune as (hall raiCe a man above the level oC his Cellow wormippers, and thereby lead him into other connexions, will be Cufficient to carry him, Unitarian as he may be in principle, into the eftablifhed church, or make him neglect public worfhip intirely. As to thoCe Unitarians who both underftand their principles, and feci the importance of them, there is no danger of their ever forfaking them, or the Cocieties oC proCefTed Unitarians to which they belong. This being, I apprehend, the ftate of the fac"b, two things feem to me to be wanting to the good H 3 and loss A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. and permanent state of our focieties. The first is, that care be taken to instruct our children in the principles that we profefs, and to bring the fubject frequently before them j which alone can beget an attachment to them, like to that which we perceive in the children of Mahometans^ Jews, Papists, and the foreign Protestants. We must contrive to introduce thefe things into the daily or frequent employment of our children; and though this may be fometimes eyen irkfome to them, yet, within certain bounds, it will con- tribute to make them lefs able to do without their religion. It will in time be of fo much import- ance'to them, that nothing elfe will be able to, fupply its place. But to expect this effect with- out the necefiary preparation for it, in the preT vious instruction and habits of their lives, is to fit ftill and look for miracles. Now, we can never reaibnably expect that this careful instruction of youth, though it be the proper duty of parents, will ever be fufficicntly attended to by all parents, unlels it be an exprefs object in the chriftian focieties tc which they be- long. But when once it is well understood to be the standing rule of any chriftian fociety, that all the children belonging to it are to be instructed, and regularly examined in the principles of chrii- Canity, the parents will be aihamed of their de» ficienciesj A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 103 ficiencics, and will be reminded to exert them- felves in order to prevent that reproacli ; becaufe it will, in fact, fall upon themfelves. However, let the parents be ever fo remifs, the bufinefs will be done in fome degree or other, even indepea- dently of them. In this obvioufly important bufinefs, the ra- tional or Unitarian Difienters have been itrangely negligent ; and yet a tolerable apology may be made for the pad conduct of the minifters, as far as the neglect has been theirs. Till very lately, few of them have been at liberty to make ufe of any other forms of inftruction, than fuch as have contained principles which they could not incul- cate with a good confcience, and therefore when the bufinefs was not abfolutely infilled upon, they chofe to decline it ; leaving to the parents, what is, no doubt, their duty, but which, when neg- lected by the minifter, will too often be wholly neglected by themfelves, Foreign Proteftants, I believe, of all denomir. nations, pay the ftricteft attention to this bufinefs of the religious inflruction of their children and youth, and they find the happy effects of it. In Geneva, I am informed, that all perfons, without regard to rank or fortune, are put into a couife of catechetical inltruction, from twelve to fourteen years of age, after which they arc always examined II 4 by 104 A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. by the paftor, and then conftantly become com? municants, or receive the Lord's Supper, which they afterwards never neglect. Being at Strafburgh, in the year 1774, I had the curiofity to go into one of the Lutheran churches at fix o'clock in the morning, and at that early hour I found three miniflers doing duty in three different parts of the church. One of them was inflruifting a clafs of young children, another one of bigger boys and girls, and the third, a clafs of young women, full grown. In, another church I found two miniflers fo em- ployed, and this on a wetk-day. I was much ftruck, and hope edified by the fight. I was in- formed that this bufinefs of catechizing is indif- penfable with all the Lutherans, and that, as in Geneva, they all become communicants at the age of fourteen, or even younger. Both thefe things tend to produce an attachment to their religion, and make them lefs liable to defert it, Or their refpeftive churches. As the caufe of our pafi neglect is now happily removed, by the more liberal turn of our congre- gations (a turn which perhaps, however, they would not have acquired fo foon, if the rigid infti- tutions of our anceftors had been kept up) fo that miniflers are at full liberty to adopt what- ever methods of inllru&ion they fhall themfelves moil A PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 105 rnoft approve, it may be hoped thatafenfe of the importance of this attention to children and young perfons will again ftrike us, and that the effects of it will be as happy, and as confpicuous, with us as it is with others ; enforcing and perpe- tuating liberal principles, together with a regard to what is rnoft practical and ufeful in the reli- gion we profefs. Could this attention be given by the clergy, to all the children belonging to the eftabli fiied church, how much profligacy, bodi in the higher and the lower ranks of people, might it not prevent ? We might then travel and deep with more fecurity than we can do at prefent, efpecially in the neighhourhood of the metropolis. In no part of the chriftian world, perhaps, is the instruction of the common people fo much neglected as it is in this country. Mr. Richards, in his Tour to Peterjhurgh through Germany, fays, p. 143, V The carriers in general are fober and , as chriftians, is of infinitely more moment to us than any thing that we can have in view by phjlofophical or civil focieties, we mould ftudy the prin- ciples of chriftianity, and the conftitution of chriftian churches, with more attention than we do any thing elfe, and labour more to bring them to their proper perfection. No doubt can be entertained of the ufe and propriety of the original conftitution of chriftian churches, fince they were founded by the apoftles themfelves ; and their regu- lations were by no means of a temporary nature, confined to their own age, but were fuch as, from the nature of things, and of man, muft be of equal ufe in all ages. I mall therefore, on this occafion, give you a general idea of the principles on which chriftian churches were originally formed, and the out line of. their primitive conftitu- tion, with the advantages refulting from it _j an4 , a Chriftian Church, 121 and I fhall then rcprefent what it is that we differ by our deviation from their plan, and what I think may be advifeable for us to do in our prefent circumftances. Since chriftianity, like any other religion, confifts of dodlrines, which all christians be- lieve, aud thofe who are not chriflians do not believe, it is evident that no perfon can be a proper member of a chriftian fociety who is not a chriftian in principle. Though, therefore, a heathen, or a mahometan, a deift, or an atheift, mould, for any particu- lar reafon, chufe to attend the worfhip of this place, and contribute to the fupport of it, you could not confider him as a proper member of your fociety. You meet here as chriflians, and therefore cannot confider any other than a chriftian as one of your body. But this was not the only thing that the apoftles confulted in forming chriftian fo- cieties. They chiefly refpected the ultimate and proper object of chriftianity, which was the forming good men, men fearing God, pnd confcientioufly difcharging the moral duties 122 The proper Conjlitution^ of duties of life, as preparatory to that immor- tal ftate, which it was the great object of chriftianity fully to reveal to us. Without this they confidered a man to be as. effect tually unqualified for being a member of a chriftian fociety as if he had been an unbe- liever; becaufe his nominal belief of chrif- tianity had no proper influence on his be- haviour in life. Our Saviour himfelf has fully authorized us to confider any perfon, how nearly foever connected with us (for he ufes the term brother) who obftinately relifts reafonable admonition with refpedt to his moral con- duct, as an heathen man and a publican. Al- fo, the man at Corinth who had married his father's wife is not faid to have been an un-» believer in chriftianity (indeed in thofe days there was no temptation for any fuch perfon s to join themfelves to chriftian focieties) and yet the apoftle Paul gives the moit peremp- tory orders to excommunicate him, and to difclaim all connexion with him. All chril- tians ought to be perfons whofc light fooidci Jbine bejore men, that others may fee their good works* a Chriflicin Church. 123 works. They ought to provoke to love and to good works, and not fuffer Jin in each other ; making converts to chriftianity by their Jives, no lefs than by their doctrine, and ar- guments. Whatever, therefore, gives public offence or fcandal, tends to defeat the principal end of chriftian focieties, according to the idea that the apoftles evidently had of them. And in all the primitive times we find that the moft rigorous attention was given to the conduct of all profefling chriftians. Every perfon whofe conduct in life was deemed to he, u-n worthy of his chriftian profefTion was ^j.ce^tainly difowned by them, as if he had renounced the belief of chriftianity; nor was he ever re-admitted to the privileges of any chriftian fociety, till, by a due courfe of penitence, the caufe of fcandal was deemed to be removed. Pliny, a civil magiftrate under the empe- ror Trajan, about feventy years after the death of Chrift, giving an account of the chriftians to his mafter, from the informa- tion of thofe who during the perfecution 2 Jiacl 124 C^^e proper Conflitution of had deferted them, fays, that they were per- ions who bound themfelves by an oath, not to the commiflion of any wickednefs (with which in thofe times they were generally charged) but not to be guilty of theft, rob- bery, adultery, or other immoralities, which he particularly enumerates ; fo that it was not fo much the belief of any particular tenets, as the practice of virtue, that made a perfon a proper member ofachriftian fo- ciety in that early age. This difcipline can- not be denied to have had a mofr. extraordi- nary effect for feveral centuries, and indeed the extreme rigour of it was one cT"'-'th'e caufes of the fatal relaxation of all pfbsi'r difcipline in after ages. But when fo many caufes contributed to the corruption of the faith of chriftians, it could not be expected that their difcipline alone mould remain pure and uncorrupted. It has pleafed God, by the light of the reformatioit, to remove many of the abufes both in doctrine and difcipline, and we now fee chriftian churches alluming a different $nd better appearance. But it could not be expe«5le4 a Chrijlian Church* 125 expelled that any fet of men, in any age, mould be able to redlify fuch a multiplicity of abufes as had deformed our holy religion in the dark ages of popery, and which had in a great meafure defeated the proper end and object of it. Our ancestors, the Puritans, removed ftill farther from the doctrine and difcipline of what had been called the Catholic church than thofe who framed the conftitution of the church which is by law eftablimed in this country. We, the proteftant diffenters of this age, have improved, as we think, upon their fyftem of doclrine, but we do not feem to have given fo much attention as we ought to have done to matters of difci- pline ; and for want of this many of the moft valuable ends of chriflian focieties are but imperfectly obtained among us. Indeed, we are fo far relaxed in this refpect, that we want the neceflary principles of union and permanency, which all focieties mould con- fult. For christian focieties mould govern themfelves by the rules of human prudence and policy, as well as other focieties. It was 126 The proper Conjlitution of was fufficient for chriftianity to have been eftablifhed at iirft by miracles, and it muit now fupport itfelf by its own evidence, and the wife conftitution of its churches. If you afk. what was the conftitution of the chriftian churches in the time of the apoftles, 1 anfwer, it may eafily be collected from the New Teftament, and it appears to have been extremely fimple and effectual with refpect to its object:. Wherever a number of perfons were brought to embrace chriftianity, fo that a church could be form- ed, the apoftles directed that elders mould be ordained for the inftruction and govern- ment of that church. The number of them was indefinite, but they confifted of the moft knowing and prudent of the members, and in general they were alfo perfons of property and natural influence in the place. If the church was large, they alfo chofe younger perfons, whom they called deacons, to attend to things of an inferior nature. Every thing relating to the inftruction or government of the church was determined by the elders in ordinary cafes, but the people at -large had votes a Chrijlian Church, 1 27 votes In all cafes of confequence. In the New Teftament thefe elders are promif- cuoufly called bifiops or over/eers, and at flrft none of them had any pre-eminence or authority over the reft. Afterwards this title of biJJjop was appropriated to one of the elders, who prefided at their meetings, but who had no more real power than any of the others. In the ordinary meetings of chriftians the fcriptures were read, and alfo explained, if any perfon prefent was thought qualified to do it, hymns were fung, prayers were made, and in early times the Lord's fupper was always admin iflered. How thefe primitive bimops rofe to the rank and power of bifhops in the church of Rome, and one of them to be Pope, claiming all power in heaven and earth, how thefe elders came to be the fame with thofe who were afterwards called prieftsy and how the deacons likewife came to have a hmWzv facred cbarafter, in confequence of which the clergy and laity were confidered as clafTes of men totally different from each other, and to be 128 The proper ConflUution of be governed by different laws, I (hall not attempt to fliow in this place. Divine Pro- vidence fufTered the abufes, enormous as they were, to arife from natural caufes -, and by natural caufes alfo, and the ufe of human endeavours, it has pleafed the fame divine Providence that the abufes mould be recti- fied. But much of them ftill remains, and of the inconveniencies that muft ever attend them, even among us who call ourfelves ra- tional dif enters, and who have receded the fartheft from the church of Rome, and the maxims of it. It was in confequence of the great dis- tinction between the clergy and the laity, that the former, inftead of being confidered only as men who are chofen to a certain office by the people (an office which they were equally qualified to fill before their appointment to it) were regarded as men who had a peculiar character, and peculiar powers, conferred by God himfelf, in a fupernatural manner, in the ceremony of coniecration ; fo that the jacraments of the church (the virtue of which was immoderately magnified) were not a Chrifiian Church* 12 9 not deemed to be valid, unlefs they mould be adminiftered by a prieffc, regularly or- dained for that purpofe. Now are we DirTenters entirely free even from this fuperftition ? How few congre- gations are there, who would permit their own miniflers, perfons regularly educated to their office, and who have preached with univerfal approbation among them for many years, to baptize their children, or to ad- minifter the Lord's fupper, before they were formally ordained. This is a great difgrace to moil of our congregations. And how many more are there who would be mocked at the thought of having their children bap- tized by any Liyman, though he mould be ever fo good a chrifiian and even learned ? And yet we find that in the times of the apoftles, this bufinefs of baptizing was con- fidered as a kind of work inferior to that of preaching. For Paul fays, / was not jent to baptize, but to preach the go [pel. In fome reipects th< fe who are called ra- tional difTenters lay more ftrefs upon the miniftry of perfons regularly educated than K others 130 The proper Conjlitutlon of others do ; fo that when their numbers are too fmall, or their funds too low, to main- tain fuch a perfon, rather than ferve them- felves by reading the fcriptures, proper dif- courfes, and prayers (for which fufncient helps might eafily be procured) they difiblve themfelves, and fufTer the caufe of religious truth and religious liberty, which they really value, to become extinct in the place. In places where there may happen to be only two or three families of unitarians, or rational diifenters, what a foundation would be laid for the propagation of their princi- ples, if they could fo far get over this pre- judice, as to form a regular foci eiy, and ferve themfelves in all the offices of a chriftian church, without the aid of a perfon who has no more of zfpiritual character than them- felves -y and when they could readily com- mand the labours of the ableft chriftian writers for their ordinary edification ? But fo ufed are they to the idea of the neceflity of a regularly educated minifter to the con- ftitution of a chriftian fociety, that being unable to procure fuch a one, they either join a Chiijllan Church. 131 ]oin in modes of worfhip which they them- felves think to be idolatrous and impious, or by frequenting no public worfhip, do in facl ceafe to make any proper profeffion of chriftianity at all. I hope that we (hall, in time, grow wifer j and, as we reflect more upon the fubjecl, fhall confider the greatnefs of the evil, and apply the proper remedy for it. What is it but fuperftition, or habits ori- ginally formed by fuperftition, that has made the fervice of regular ministers to be deemed fo very necefTary, that if any mi- nifter be indifpofed, or neceflarily abfent from his place, the congregation mould either engage the fervices of another mi- nifter, or not meet for public worfhip at all ? No fuch idea would have occurred in the primitive age of the church. The weekly ailemblies of chriftians did not then depend upon the prefence of any one perfon of their fociety, or any number of them. A regu- lar chriftian church ought to be a Handing body, and to keep up its weekly meetings for prayer and their common edification, K 2 inde- 132 *T he proper Conjlitut'xon of independently of any circumflance of this kind. There ought to be a fufficient num- ber of fubftitutes for every duty and office; and nothing can be more eafy in any fociety, if it confift of perfons capable of reading only. If the fcriptures only were read in chrif- tian focieties, and the members of them edi- fied themfelves by finging, they would meet to very good purpofe. But in this age the moil excellent difcourfes are eafily procured, fuited to the tafte of any chriitian fociety, and alfo prayers as proper for the purpofe of chriitian worfhip as any you can reafon- ably expect from your ministers. And it is certainly great weaknefs not to be able to join in fuch prayers, truly excellent in themfelves, merely becaufe they are recited out of a book, or by a perfon not regularly educated. What is the Lord's prayer, but a form, cither recited from a book, or re- peated from memory ? And it is to be hoped you are not lefs devout during the recitation of this prayer, than in any other part of the fervice of the Lord's day, I am a Chriftian Church. 133 1 am far from denying the ufe of learned and able minifters in chriftian churches. I wifh there were more than there are, in all places, where they could be maintained, or where they could maintain themfelves, with refpect. For living inftructors are, in many refpecls, preferable to dead ones. But the living inftru&ions of dead men are certainly preferable to none. What are the fcrip- tures, but the writings of men who are now dead, but who, though dead, may be (did Jl ill to [peak to us ? But where there are regular minifters, there is much work to be done in chriftian focieties, if we coniider the proper ufes of them, as explained before, for which mi- nifters are by no means, in general, the belt qualified ; efpecially if they be dependent, as they commonly are, upon the people for their fupport. I mean the truly chriftian duties of admonition and reproof, and the difagreeable, but fometimes necellary, bufi- nefs of excluding unworthy members. And certainly a chriftian fociety is not fuch a thing as that any perfon who pleafes may K 3 fay ( 1 34. The proper Conjlitution of fay that he belongs to it, and no one has a right to fay that he does not, though, under that character, he does whatever he chufcs. It is a proftitution of our own characters, as chriftians, to fuffer fuch things. This important work of admonition, when perfons begin to relax in their con- duel: (in which cafe it is moft ufeful) can only be done, with any profpedfc of fuccefs, by perfons who are in habits of friendfhip and fociety with the perfon to be admo- nifhed, and who have fome natural influence oyer him, which may not happen to be the cafe with minifters. Nay, from their ftu- dious and retired mode of life, which is generally allowed to fuit their character, they are often the laft perfons to hear of fuch things; and this is a reafon for their not being expected to interfere in this bu- finefs, without regard to their dependent fituation. Now, how valuable a provifion would it be in every congregation, efpecially one in which there mould be numbers of young people, to have fome of the moft difcrec^ members a Chrljl'uin Church, i^S members of the fociety, and who, on ac- count of their age, character, or fortune, mould have the mofl natural influence in it, to confider it as their proper bufinefs, either to admonifh fuch perfons whofe con- duct they thought required particular atten- tion, or to look out for fome other perfon, who, according to the nature of the parti- cular cafe, might be more likely to do it with effect -, or who, if they perceived any mailer of a family to neglect the inflruction of his children, or to be inattentive to the good conduct of his fervants, mould con- sider it as their duty to admonifh him on the fubject. We fee through life that what is equally every perfons bufinefs, is, in fact, never done by any perfon. What greater attention alio might it not be expected that both young perfons and their parents would give to their conduct, when they conlidered themfelves as mem- bers of a fociety in which there were per- fons whole proper duty it was to watch over them, and admonifh them. There are many mailers of families who would think K 4 them* 136 The proper Conjlitution of themfelves happy in having fuch an aid to their own authority. Befides, the known conftitution of fuch a fociety would, in many cafes, do the bufinefs of itfelf, without any actual interference of the elders ; as all per- jfons would naturally be careful to give lefs caufe of reproof, when they knew that, if it was given, the reproof might certainly be pxpected. Let the minifter be confidered as one of this body of elders, and be expected to ferve the congregation in this way, as well as by his public inftructions, whenever he (hall have opportunity -, but by no means let it fae confidered as a duty incumbent upon him only. This feems to be the idea at prefent, as far as fuch fervices are expected at all. But if you confider his fituation, you muft be fenfible that it is laying a bur- den upon him to which he is altogether unequal. There have, indeed, been times and cir- cumftances, in which fingle minifters, inde- pendent in fortune, and with a knowledge cf human nature and of the world, not com- a Chriftlan Church, 137 monly to be expected of perfons in their iituation, and when the refpecl: for the ministerial character was greater than it is now, were fufficient for this work, and exercifed a paternal care and authority over a whole congregation ; but thofe times, and thofe men, are no more, though they are as much wanted as ever. Younger men have fucceeded them in their nominal capacity, but it was naturally impoffible that they mould fucceed to their authority and in- fluence. Now, what is wanting for this purpofe is a paftoral care and authority that mall never die, depending upon perfons whofe numbers may be conftantly kept up ; for then their authority, and ufe, will be permanent. If now, I were afked, what I mould think might be done by fuch a fociety as this, who were feniible that all the proper benefits pf a chriftian fociety were not enjoyed by them, in confequence of not having kept up %o the original conftitution of a chriftian church, as defcribed in the writings of the f pottles j I would take the liberty to anfwer, 138 T/je proper Conjlltution of that, in a fociety of this extent, ten or a dozen perfons might be chofen annually by the reft, with the ftile and characters of ciders, that they mould meet occafionally, to confult about any thing that occurred to them for the good of the fociety ; and when any thing happened that they deemed to be worthy of their interference, they mould fettle among themfelves . how to act in it to the beft advantage. If I were farther afked, what kind of bu- finefs I would wifh them more particularly to attend to, I would anfwer that, beiides what may be collected from what has been already advanced, there is one bufinefs of obvious utility, in which they might interpofe their advice and admonition with the greater! effect, and with very little danger of giving offence, or incurring ceniure; and that is giving a proper kind of attention to the bu- finefs of catechizing, as now eflablifhed in this congregation ; as I prefume that, from your experience, you are fufficiently fenfible of the utility of it, and are defirous to have It kept up in future time, at leaft in the junior a Chrijlian Church, 139 junior claries. For with refpect to the higher clafs, coniifting of young men and young women of full age, it will perhaps be always heft to have it considered as quite voluntary, both on the part of the teacher and the pu- pils. But that-kind of instruction which may always be given to perfons under fifteen or fixteen years of age, while they are wholly dependent on their parents, mould be con- sidered as indifpenfable. There will, there- fore, be always the greater!: propriety in your elders receiving from the minifter who cate- chizes the names of all that attend thofe two clafles, and in admonifhing the parents of thofe children who either do not attend at all, or attend irregularly ; and this can hardly be taken amifs by any perlbn. Let it not be considered as at all incumbent upon the minifter to look out for proper pupils. It fhould be deemed enough for him if he do Jiis duty when they do attend. But if it was once the eftablifhed rule of the place, that all the children and young perfons belonging to it were expected to attend thefe catechetical lectures, your elders would 14P The proper ConJIitutian of would foon have very little trouble about it. With a little affiftance of this kind at the nrft, the constitution itfelf will gain its own object. If you ihould think proper to ap- point the elders now recommanded, and they ihouid, at firft, take nothing upon them more than this duty, I mould think the appoint- ment would anfwer a very valuable purpofe. Your lateft pofterity would thank you for it. They might act afterwards, in other cafes, as their own prudence mould direct them. It is not at all to be apprehended at this day, that they would attempt too much. The extreme of negligence is much mere to be feared than that of exertion. Some of you may fay that the novelty of what is now propofed (though in fact it is the revival of an ancient institution) will offend many. I anfwer that nothing of this kind can be done without the intire appro- bation of the fociety, that is, of a great majority of it; and if you be wife, you will not be moved by the objections of a few. Beiides, the mere number of a fociety, fuppohng this to be affected by fuch a mea- sure, a Chrijlian Church. 141 fure, is a poor object of pride. It is the good internal ftate of any fociety, and its effectually anfwering the ends of it, that is the proper object of pride, if the word ought to be uied on this oceafion. Beiides, in one way, the experiment has been iufficiently tried. How are the con- gregations of rational diffenters kept up in their prefent undifciplined ftate ? To judge by appearances, we run no great rifk of loiing any thing by a change of meafures. Seeing then to what many of our congrega- tions are reduced, in point of numbers, in the courfe of the laft half century, let us take warning in time. And, happily, the re- medy is eafy, and in facl: nothing new. For, befides that it is only the original conftitu- tion of chriftian churches that I now wifh to re-eftablim, a regular church difcipline was always pradtifed both by the Prefbyterians and Independents at the time of their repa- ration from the eftablifhed church, though (for the reafons which I have explained at large in my Effay on church difcipline) it has grown into difufe. However, while it fub- fifted, 1^2 *The proper Conflitution of lifted, it had many good effects, and we now certainly feel the want of it. Other chriftian focieties have ftill a regular difcipline, and fome of them flourim chiefly by means of it, even though it is by no means fo perfect as might be wifhed. The Quakers have no provifion for any thing that we mould call inflrudiion, and yet the moil valuable end of chriftian focieties, namely, an effectual reftraint upon vice, is gained among them by difcipline only. Let us join our advantages to theirs, and make an experiment of the refult. It will be eafy to revert to what we now are, if we mould find the alteration at all inconvenient. It may be faid that the election of regular officers may excite emulation. But is every degree of that difpofition a real evil ? The office of elder appears to have been eagerly wifhed for in the time of the apoftles, and yet Paul encouraged the deiire of it. What- ever is capable of producing evil, is likewife capable cf producing good ; and with pru- dence and good fenfe, it may produce little but what is good. Where chriftianity is concerned, a Chrijlian Church. 143 concerned, and the object contended for (if there mould be any thing that can be called contention in the cafe) is no worldly emolu- ment, but a place of real duty and refponfi- bility, and what will* in its own nature, be an obligation to greater ftriclnefs in a man's own conduct, no great evil is to be appre- hended. The wealth and the power which corrupted the elders in former times are in- tirely out of the queftion with us ; and in all cafes when the caufe ceafes to operate, the effects are not to be dreaded. I am afraid you will find more readinefs to decline, than to court, fuch preferment as this. As a motive to this particular fociety, to adopt what is now recommended, let me add that you have already diftinguifhed your- felves by feveral things, which I hope you will always think much to your honour; and in confequence of which you are an object of emulation to other congregations, as in the example you have fet of a Jianding library for the ufe of your young perfons, and efpecially in the example of more general and more early communion than has been ufual among 144 ^e ProPer Conjlltuiion cf among Diffenters, and which, from the? progrefs which has been already made, will foon, I hope, become univerfal among you. And from this, connected, as I would wifh to have it, with the regular inftruction of all the children and youth belonging to you, we cannot but expect the greateft advantage. Let us then improve upon the example that we are now fetting to others. It is our duty, as focieties, as well as individuals, to provoke to love and to good works ; and the good that you will by this means do to others, and to poilerity, namely, by your example and indirect influence, will, in fome mealure, be conhdered as effected by you, no lefs than what is done by your own direct endeavours. To conclude. It is our duty, however, as your minifters, to propofe to you whatever we think to be for your honour and advan- tage. It is your duty to hear, to judge, and to decide; and remember, it is not our in- tereft, but yours, that is the object of it, and not yours only, but that of your pofte- rity. To add what I obferved when I pro- 2 pofed a Curijlian Church, 14.5 pofed to you the lectures that are now efta- blifhed for the inftrudtion of your youth. '* It is my ardent wi/h, not only that you " continue to be what you now are, a re- " ipeclable fociety of chriftians, proteitants, " and diflenters, buf that you mould con- " tinually improve in whatever can juftly " intitle you to refpect, that is, in a tho- " rough knowledge of what relates to your " profeffion as chriftians, proteftants, and " dilTenters, and, in a conduct in life be- '* coming and recommending that pro- " fefliop. More efpecially is it to be wiihed, " that fufficient provifion may be now made, " and before it be too late, that an attach- " ment to thofe great interefts may not die " with yourfelves, but that you may have " the fatisfaction of feeing a ftill more per- " feci: knowledge of them, and a propor- '• tionably greater zeal for them, in the ge- " nerations that will come after you." As a general motive to exert ourfelves in every thing relating to our profeffion as chriflians, let us habitually confider the great object of our > rofeliion, the revela- L tion 146 The proper Conjlitution, &c. tion of a future life j and ftudy, above all things, to approve ourfelves the faithful fervants of an abfent majler ; that when he mall return, and take an account of all his fervants, we may be found watching and efpecially Jlrengtbening the things that were good, that were ready to die. Thus fhall we fecure his approbation, and what is the end of all, the approbation of his father and our jut her, and of his God and our God, or ejlablijhed courfe of nature, and, in fome fenfe or PREFACE. 207 or other, they muft afcribe this to God ; for though the decifion of the will be fuppofed to be independent of him, the ailing in coniequcnce of it cannot be fo. He muft at lead permit, when he might -prevent, if he does not directly appoint, whatever comes to pafs. Indeed, according to the doctrine of philosophical liberty, this courfe of nature muft be a thing more evidently diftinct from the direct interpofition of the deity than upon the doctrine of neceffity, which ultimately afcribes all to God. It muft, therefore, be perfectly confiftent with the principles of thofe who are advocates for what they call liberty, to maintain, with me, that the work of converfion and reformation is fomething that takes place according to the ufual courfe of nature, whatever that be, and that it is not to be afcribed to any thing out of it; and they are at liberty to afcribe the opening of the heart of Lydia, and the hardening the heart of Pharach, to the former, rather than to the latter of thefe caufes, as much as myfelfj and accordingly many of them have done fo. Though, believing, as they do, that there are certain precincts, within which the human mind naturally acts without the con- troul of the deity, they may be inclined to think that his a"ual interference may be fometimes necefiary ; and therefore they will be more eafily reconciled 2o8 P R E F A C E; reconciled to the notion of pretty frequent occa- fional, but properly fupernatural influences, than the necefiarian (who, as fuch, believes that no- thing is without the fphere of a properly divine, though regular and conftant influence) will chufe to have recourfe to. All that the advocates for philofophical liberty can really object to me on this occafion is, the fufficiency of the diftinction between the ordinary and the extraordinary operation of the divine Being, which is a thing altogether foreign to the proper fubject of this difcourfe, and therefore does not require to be difcufled in this place. I think I have confidered it fufficiently elfewhere. I may alfo be thought to have had in my eye, and to have alluded to, the doctrine of neceflity, in fome parts of this difcourfe. This, I own, is very poffible, and, unknown to myfelf, it may be the cafe with my other writings, even thofe that are the moft foreign to the fubject ; becaufe it is a doctrine that I wifh always to keep in view, and what I would not willingly ever lofe fight of. But this cannot be a material objection to any thing that I have advanced. The candid will find no difficulty in interpreting fuch incidental ex- prefllons (which the more fharp-fighted may think to look that way) according to their own fenti- ments, or fubftitute others in their places. Had not PREFACE, 209 not this objection been actually made to the dif- courfe, I own I mould have been far from think- ing it neceflary to have faid any thing on the lubject in this preface. The doctrine of this d'.fcourfe, in common with other great truths, and efpecially that of the doctrine of neccffity, will probably never be wkhin the clear comprehenfion of the vulgar, (o that it will always be unpopular; and, as in all other fuch cafes, it muft alfo be expected, that the contrary doctrine will be maintained by fome who rank with' the fpeculative and the Lamed. In particular, bifhop Warbunon, in his Treatife on- Grace, or the office and operation of the Holy Spirit, though lie combats what he calls fanatical pre- tences to divine influence, yet takes it for ?. ranted, that the fpirit of God abides with the church for ever, " in his office of Comforter, both in fup- " porting the will, and in his office of enlighten- " ing or directing the understanding j" meaning, no doubt, fome immediate agency of the deity on the mind. This alfo fuems to be the general opinion of chriftians, who acquiefce in the mod obvi us meaning of fcripture language, and who do not give much attention to the phenomena, • and powers of the human mind. But, at the fame time, it is not pretended by thofe who hold this P doctrine, 210 PREFACE. doctrine, that there can be any pofnive -proof of this kind of divine agency, fince they acknow- ledge that the affections and refolutic-ns dictated by it are not to be diftinguifhed from the natural operations of the mind. But is not this flying from one unfupported hypothefis to another, equally unfupported ? Nay, thofe fanatics whom the bifliop. expofes pretend to evident fafis in fupport of their opinion ; whereas he does not pretend to be able to affign any fact at all in fupport of his. What mult philofophers think of fuch an hypothefis as this ! No inconvenience will arife to the generality of chriftians from confounding, as they will do, primary and fecondary caufes, the agency of God, and the operations of their own minds, and efpe- cially their occasionally overlooking fecond caufes fo far as to afcribe every thing that is good imme- diately to God (which feems to have been the cafe with the pious writers of the fcriptures) provided they do not fo far leave them/elves out of the queftion, as to neglect the only effectual means of eftablifhing themfelves in virtue. It cannot be expected but that the generality of mankind will content themfelves with the molt obvious appearances in nature, and the generality of chriftians with the molt literal interpretation of fcripture PREFACE. 211 Jo iptare language. But let them not be offended if others, who give more attention to appearances, fee in them what they do not, but what they may fee is not unfavourable to piety and virtue. By their fruits ye jhall know men^ is the wife rule of our Saviour. Let us, therefore, be upon our guard againft judging from the Juppofed tendencies of things, when the real tendencies, and actual effeclSy cannot fail to manifeft themfeives in due time. P 2 [ 2I3 J And he [pake many things unto them in para^ lies ; faying, Behold, a Joiner "went out to J'ow ; and when he fowed, fome feeds fell by the way fde, and the Jowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon jlony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they fprung up, becaufe they had no deepnefs of earth. And when the Sun was upy they were fcorched; and becaufe they had no root, they withered away. And fome fell among thorns, and the thorns fprung up and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, fome an hundred fold, fame Jixty J old, fome thirty J. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matt. xiii. 3 — io, N this parable our Lord gives an account cf the reception that his Gofpel would meet with in the world, according to the different characters of thofe to whom it would be propofed. It may, therefore, be P 3 con- 214 ^^e D°ttrine °f confidered as a prophecy ; and it is a pro- phecy verified by all hiftory, and indeed by the obfervation of everyday; announcing to us, that the effects of religious truths, and of religious impreflions of all kinds, depend upon the difpofition of mind with which they are received ; fo that, though the doc- trines of the gofpel be the fame things in themfelves, the confequence of the general promulgation of them will be very various. Our Lord feems to lay peculiar ftrefs on the doctrine of this parable, by clofing it with faying, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear; and if we properly attend to it, we mail find that it abounds with the mod important inftruction, both to thofe who preach the gofpel, and thofe who hear it. At prefent I mall confider it in no more than one fingle point of view, endeavouring to illuftrate and inculcate one important truth, plainly intimated to us in it, viz. that all the benefit we are authorized to exped from the gofpel a'rifes from the natural effect that the great truths and motives of it 2re calculated to produce upon the mind ; that the Divine Influence. 215 the interpolation of the Divine Being in the difpenfation of the go 1 pel con fills folely in imparting thofe truths, and fuggelling thofe motives, and not at all in giving any funer- natural efficacy to the truths or motives after they are prefented. Our Lord evidently compares himfelf, and his apoftles, to perlbns who merely low good feed (which the earth could not bring forth of Ltfelf) and this they are reprefented as (battering promifcuoufly, without diliin&ion of places or foils, which were juft as nature, or previous circumftances, had made them. Confequently, where the foil was previoully well difpofed to receive it, the produce was a«r,plej but where it was, on any account, indifpofed, the produce was infigaificant, or none at all. The preachers of the gofpel, here exhi- bited in the character of hufbandmen, are not reprefented as altering the quality or condition of the foil ltfelf ; and therefore we find that the gofpel was fometimes a favour of life, and at other times of death. So though it is elfewhere compared to light ^ P 4 which 2 1 6 ' The Doctrine of which is generally a very welcome thing, yet fome are faid to hate this Tight , bccaufe their deeds were evil. Alio, though the evi- dences of the divine million of Chriil were fairly and equally propofed to all ; yet our Saviour fays, that they only who do the will of God, i. e, thofe who are upright and previ- oufly well difpofed,y7W/ know of the doflrine, whether it be of God. Others would be fo prejudiced, that the ftrongeft evidence would not be properly attended to, and therefore could not have its proper effect ; in fo much that he exprefly tells theie bigotted Jews, that they would not come to him that they might have life -3 and applying to them a pro- phecy of Ifaiah, he reprefents them as fo far infatuated by vicious prejudices, that it was not in their power to receive the Gofpel. And unlefs they had had better difpofitions of mind, which he did not pretend to give them, it was really and truly impoffible. In another parable our Lord compares human nature not to the foil, as in my text, but to a fig-tree growing in it, Luke xiii. 6—9. -and in this the nature or quality of the Divine Influence. 217 the tree itfelf is reprefented as unaltered, except by the effect that digging round it and dunging it might produce. A cert din man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and fought fruit thereon, and found none. Then fuel he unto the dreffer of his vineyard, Behold, thefe three years I come feeking fruit on this fi^-tree, and find none; cut it down, 'why cumber eth it the ground. And he, arfvcenng, faid unto him, Lord let it alone this year alfo, till I fall di, and cannot he preferve them in this ftate of finlefs purity and excellence to all eternity ? Certainly this, and every thing elfe that is pofTible Divine Influence, 223 poifible in itfelf, is within the compafs of his almighty power. But, notwithstanding this, it is evident from fact (whether we mall be able fully to comprehend the reafon or" it or not) that he has not thought proper to work in this manner. And though it is his wim that all men Jl.wuld be faved, and he wipes not the death of any /inner , but had rather that they Jhould repent and live, he does not think pro- per to work miracles on the minds of men for this purpofe; but only provides authori- tative infl ruction, and proper ?notives ; which, being addrefled to the mind, operate upon it in an uniform and regular manner. Thus, when the old world became aban- doned to wickednefs, he only fent Enoch and Noah to preach to men ; but he thought proper to deftroy them all, perhaps by a miracle, rather than reform them, as he might have done, by his own immediate agency. When the Ifraelites fell into idolatry, and the many horrid vices at that time infepar- able from idolatry, he lent prophets from 3 time 224 ■^••£? Dofirfrtf cf time to time to admoniih them of various impending calamities. But when thole ad- monitions had no good effect, he always thought proper that the threatened calami- ties, as famine, peftilence, war, or captivity, fhould actually overtake them, rather than give (as with a volition he might have done) a fupernatural effect to the warnings and ex- poftulations of his fervants, by his own in- fluence upon their minds. So alfo when God had compamon on the whole world lying in wickednefs, and irre- coverably funk in fuperftition and vice, all that he did to reclaim them was to lend the gofpel among them. And whatever moral good has been produced in the world by it, has been by natural means, and, to all ap- pearance, by no other means whatever ; thefe being fully adequate to the effect : and wherever the publication of the gcfpel, and of the great truths and motives of it, has failed to produce good effects, they have not been produced at all, but men continue wicked and abandoned, doomed to certain deftruction. Our Divine Influence. 225 Our Lord even wept over Jerufalem, de- iiring, with the greateft affection and earneft- nefs, to reclaim the inhabitants of it, and prevent their impending calamities ; but his labours, and thofe of the apoftles, failing of fuccefs (that infatuated people continuing in their obflinate impenitency and unbelief) God did not interpofe any farther $ and though the Jews are fciled his peculiar people, he gave them up to the vengeance of the Romans, and made their calamities the mod. dreadful, and of the longeft continuance, of any that are recorded in hiftory. We may aflure ourfelves, therefore, that God, notwithftanding the love that he bears to men, as his offspring, will certainly fuffer them to peril!), and undergo the pains of hell, whatever they are, rather than fave them from that punifhment when they die impenitent; and alfo, that he will fuffer them to die impenitent, rather than employ any other than the ufual natural means of their repentance and reformation. So fa- cred with him are his eitablifhed laws of nature. Q^ We 226 The Dodirine of We read of our Lord's giving fight to the blind, limbs to the maimed, and the ufe of reafon to thofe who were deprived of it ; but never of bis giving zjoin/d mind, in a moral fenfc, to thefe who were deftitute of that. For this, though the greatefl of all purpofes, he made ufe of nothing but instruction and admonition. He ufed no other means either to difarm the malice of his enemies, cr to correct the imperfections of his bed friends. Otherwife Judas would never have betrayed him, nor would Peter have denied him. It might feem a matter not unworthy of divine interpolation, tofhorten, or at leait to alleviate in fome meafure, the extreme fuf- ferings of fo excellent a perfon as our Sa- viour -, and the wifdom of the world was fo much offended at the thought of a fuffering MeJJiah, that in the early ages of chriftianity, great numbers could not be reconciled to the thought, and therefore maintained that our Lord fuffered only in appearance, when in reality, he felt no pain ; and fome in mo- dern times have fuppofed that he put an end to his own life, before he could have been releafcd . Divine Influence. 227 releafed from his pains in the courfe of na- ture. But, according to the plained evi- dence of hiftory, his death was as properly the natural effect of pain and torture (in the exhaufted flare, to which he was pre- vioufly reduced, efpecially by his agony in the garden) as that of any criminal who is now impaled, or broken on the wheel. And indeed the notion of our Lord's availing himfelf of his miraculous power, to alle- viate or fhorten his own furTerings, could not but have the very word effect upon the minds of thofe who mould be called to fuf- fer in his caufe, and who mud know that . they were not pofleffed of any fuch advan- tage. Laftly, God has been pleafed to fuffer the chriftian religion to be exceedingly debafed by a mixture of hcathenifh opinions and fu- perflitions, and a power to le affumed in his church fo contrary to the genius of it, as to be termed, in the language of prophecy, anti- chrijiian, rather than interfere to prevent the operation of natural caufes, tending to intro- duce thofe corruptions, and to eitablim that Q^_2 enor- 2i8 The t)o£}rine of enormous power. And though the Divine Being has refolved to reform his church, to put a period to thofe abufes, and to over- turn that ufurped authority, he does it only by means of natural capfes ; by providing, in the ufual courfe of things, a better un- derflanciing of the fcriptures, an increafe of knowledge of various other kinds, and a jufter fenfe of mens' natural rights and pri- vileges. Thefe caufes have been operating fome centuries, and will, no doubt, at length accomplim the great ends for which they were provided. But thefe means of reforming the chriftian church, and reftor- ing it to its priitine purity, are, in all re- fpecls, natural, and by no means do they come under the defefiption of miracles. Yet we do, and ought to blefs God for the Reformation. It will be faid that, according to the plained: language of the fcriptures, God does work upon the minds of men, and that the fuccefs of the preaching of the gofpel is, in a particular manner, afcribed to it. Does not Paul fay (i Cor. iii. 6.) / have planted, Divine Influence. 229 planted, and Apollos watered, but God gave the increafe ? I anfwer, that this reprefentation is un- doubtedly and moil ftrictly true. The fuc- cefs of the gofpel is certainly the work of God ; but the queftion is, whether, in this, he works with, or without, natural means ; and it is not the lefs his work, becaufe he employs certain means adapted to anfwer his purpofes. His agency is juft as complete on one fuppofition as on the other. All the difference refpe&s the mode or manner of his operation -, and it becomes us to look at all times beyond all fecond caufes, to the ultimate and proper caufe of all good, which is God only. For ftrictly fpeaking, as our Lord himfelf obferved, There is none good but otic, that is God -, all other goodnefs be- ing only the effect of his. In this cafe, is not the gofpel itfelf called the gofpel of God, becaufe he gave it ? Was it not by his appointment that Paul preached it at Corinth, and that Apollos watered it there ; and if, after this, the natural effect of the Corinthians hearing the gofpel was Q^j their ~^0 The Dcflrine of their receiving and profiting by it, is not the whole to be afcribed to the God of na- ture, and providence? Without that con- ftitution of nature, by which their minds were difpofed to receive the truths of the gofpel, and without the providential events of Paul planting the gofpel, and Apollos watering it, the Corinthians had been mere heathens flill. That this language is only the fame in which the pious writers of the fcriptures defcribe all the events of providence, over- looking all fecond caufes, and regarding the primary caufe only, is evident from num- berlefs pafTages. Does not the Pfalmift, (Pfalm civ. 27.) reprefent all the beafts of the field as waiting upon God, that he may give them their meat in duejecifon? That tlou giveft them, fays he, they gather. Thou open- eft thine hand, they are filled with good. But does God feed wild beafts by miracle, as he fed the Ifraelites in the wildernefs ? By no means, though the language, literally interpreted, would denote as much. His feeding them is in the common courfe of providence, Divine Influence. 231 providence, by giving them natural powers for feizing their prey, and thus enabling them to provide for themfclves. And very often, not being able to meet with proper food, or being di fabled by accidents from feizing it, they actually fbrve and perifli. In the fame manner, therefore, we ought to interpret what is faid of God's giving the increafe when Paul planted, and Apollos watered ; and alfo what is faid of Lydia, Acts xvi. 14. viz. that God opened her heart, that JJje attended to tie things that were fpoken by Paul. By a train of previous cir- cumftances and impreffions, all under the direction of providence, (lie was difpofed to receive the preaching of Paul with due at- tention, and without prejudice. We areinflructed to pray that God would give us, day by dayt our daily bread, and it is from God that we do receive our daily bread; but it is only in the natural courfe of things, and by the ufe of proper means for procur- ing it for ourfelves. We are alfo authorized to pray that God would create in us a clean hearty and renew in us a right Spirit t and if Q^4 we 232 7he Dodtrirte of \ve have a clean heart, and a right fpirit, we ought to afcrihe that to God alfo, and not, as the heathen Stoics did, to themfelves, ex- clusively of God. But God gives us good difpofitions of mind as he gives us our daily- bread in a natural, and by no means in a iuperhatural manner, It is by the help of means adapted to imprefs our minds, and never without them. The language of fcrip- ture is uniform, and exactly fimilar in both thefe cafes, and therefore is certainly to be underftood in the fame manner. If we admit any other interpretation of fuch language as this, we fhall afcribe mo- ral evil to the immediate divine agency, as well as moral good. For God is as ex- prefsly faifi to harden the heart of Pharaoh, as to open that dfjLydia 5 whereas there does not appear to have been any occaiion for a miracle to harden the heart of Pharoah. He acred jnft as other bad men, blinded by their pailions and by their intercft, in fimi- lar circumftances, (till act ; and his hard- nefs and obftinacv anfwering the mofr. im- portant purpofes in the plan of Divine pro- vidence, Divine Influence. 233 vidence, it was, for that end, no doubt, per- mitted to take place. In ficknefs we always do, and ought to pray for health; but we never expect that God will interpofe by miracle to relieve us. When limbs are to be amputated, and other operations in furgery are to be performed, we look up to God, but at the fame time we never fail to have recourfe to the hand of a fkilful furgeon. Even when the Divine Being has addreffed himfelf to the mind of man in a fupernatural manner, as in the gift of prophecy, it does not appear that fuch communications have ever affected the moral character of thofe who were the fubjects of them, any farther than fuch communications tended, in a na- tural way, to produce that effect. Balaam was a bad man, though he was a prophet; and though Saul was for a time among the prophets, his character was not altered, but he continued the fame man to the end of his life. The apoftle Paul was converted to chrifti- anity by the miraculous appearance of Chrift to 2 3 4 -^ Doctrine of to him j but it does not appear that his tem- per of mind was changed by it, otherwife than as a full 'conviction of the truth of chrifti- anity naturally and neceffarily made a change in him. He ftill polTefTed the fame vehe- mence of temper, the fame zeal and ardour of mind, though in a different caufe. He became, no doubt, a much better man upon the whole, than he would have been if he had continued a Jew, but it was in confe- quence of being actuated by better princi- ples, and of being fubjected to more favour-' able influences. It mould be coufidered that, inftead of inflaming his hatred of men by the practice of perfecuting them, he would have the bed: opportunity of improving in meeknefs, patience, and a love of the bre- thren, in confequence of being himfelf per- fected along with them. Thus would his fuperior virtues naturally arife from his be- ing in circumilances peculiarly favourable to the acquifition and growth of them. The cure of madnefs, called, in the lan- guage of fcripture, the cajiing out of da mens > (to the malignant influence of which that o diforder Divine Influence. 235 diforder was ufually afcribed) and alfo the gift of tongues, were miracles that immedi- ately refpe ed the minds, or the mental fa- culties of men, but they were not of a mo- ral nature. It no more followed that a man reflorcd to the ufe of his rcafon would be a good man, than one that was reflored to his health, or the ufe of his limbs. Paul exprefsly fuppofes that a man might have the gift, of tongues, and yet not have charity; and not only to thofe who were the fubjects of mi- racles, but even to fome of the workers of them, our Lord himfelf allures us lie will fay, I know you not ; depart from me ye work- ers of iniquity. Prayer for good difpofitions of mind is proper on the idea of God being the real giver of all the good we receive, though in the ufual courfe of nature, of which he is the author; and alfo more efpecially of his realizing to us that character of parent and guardian, which he has condefcended to afTume. And if he has provided that our reafonable rcquefts fhail actually be granted, it is the very fame thing to us, whether this be 236 *?%* T)o&rine of be brought about by his mediate or his im- mediate agency. He is ftill the giver, and the only difference is in the manner of he- flowing the gift. It is to God that we ought always to look for the fupply of all cur wants, corporeal or mental, and to him fhould our gratitude be expreffed ; for the gofpel and all its effects, as well as for food and raiment. And we actually receive bleff- ings of both thefc kinds, viz. fpiritual and temporal, in the fame manner. It is always through the channel of fome natural means, and never, at leaft, in this age of the world, by miracle. Let us, therefore, look up to God for every thing, but always in the ufe of proper means ; and let us beware of deceiving our- felves, as too many do, by expecting any end whatever, efpecially a proper temper of mind, neceffary to qualify us for future happinefs, without the diligent ufe of fuch means as he has prefcribed for that pur- pofe. If God had thought proper to work, and gain this end, by miracles, there would have been no occafion whatever for preach- ing, Divine Influence. 237 ing, for the gofpel itfelf, or even for the practice of virtue, which is the end of the gofpel, and of the preaching of it. For, as I have, indeed, obferved already, could not the Divine Being change the hearts of the moit profligate of men the moment they were to enter another world, and fit them as com- pletely for the enjoyment of heaven, as if he had made them go through all the difficul- ties, trials, and difcipline, of a virtuous life? But as we are well afTured that God will not do this, though he is certainly able to do it, we may be equally afTured, that the hearts of none will be thus iniraculoufly changed in an inftant, as many fuppofe, at any period of life. A real change of character, from vice to virtue, is only to be effected in a natural, and confequently in a gradual manner. If this doctrine be true (and the whole tenor of fcripture and reafon confirm it) the doctrine of injlantaneous converjion is alto- gether a moil dangerous deluiion. Buoyed up by this vain hope, men continue in fin, fancying they can be converted at the very hour of death ; and though they are even brought 238 The bo&rine of brought to the gallows by their crimes, even from thence they pretend to be fure of going to heaven. But if there be any fuch thing as an efla- blijhed courfe of nature y if our minds be fub- jecl to any regular laws and influences, and if changes of mind are made in no other manner than by the natural influence of the objects prefented to them, and by the cir- cumftances in which men are placed (which certainly correfponds to fact) time muft be requiiite to form any character. A char after is a thing of flow growth, but of a firm con- flitution. The rudiments of it are formed early, while the mind is fenhble to imprefii- ons of all kinds ; but when once it is form- ed, it is with great difficulty indeed that it receives any material and lafting change. Minifters therefore mould beftow their la- bour chiefly on the young, inftructing them in the principles of religion, inculcating good maxims, forming them to good habits, and making every thing in religious difcipline familiar to them. This is bending the oak while it is pliable, and while the talk is not difficult. Divine Influence. 239 difficult! Bat, v/ith qefpedt to perfons ad- vanced in life, all that we can hope to do is to palliate excefTes, and prevent enormities. The character, the general temper, and turn of mind, are fixed, and can no more be made to bend to our efforts, than an oak of fome growth and fhnding. I mall conclude with obferving, that there are two things that we fiiould principally attend to with refpect to God, and both are of the greateft importance. The firft is, the consideration of his univerfal prefence, and his conftant uncontrolled agency ; and the fecond is, his acting by natural means, or in a regular manner. We muft, in the firft place, endeavour to fee God in every thing, and to fee every thing in God, that is, in its relation to him. We muft habitually look beyond all fecond caufes, confidering them in no other light than as instruments in the hands of God, the only proper caufe of all, and employed by him to accomplish, in the beft manner, his excellent purpofes. But, in the fecond place, it is almoft of as much importance, that we confider God not 240 The TjoBrlne of not as a Being incapable of forefight, and acting as particular occafions and emergencies require, but as forefeeing every thing that can ever come to pafs, and adapting means to ends from all eternity: as acting by general laws, and eftablifhed rules, without ever deviating from them, except for great and extraordinary purpofes ; and then in fuch a manner as that his interpoiition mall be publicly known and acknowledged, fo as to have the effect of proper miracles. Now, that God has fufflciently provided for the inflruction and reformation of man- kind by the gofpel, we are to confider the age of miracles as over. And if we are not to expect miraculous interpofitions in the external world, fimiiar to thofe that were exhibited in the times of Mofes and the prophets, or thofe that attended and pro- moted the firft promulgation of the gofpel, much lefs can we expect any miraculous influences on the minds of men ; which, in a moral fenfe, do not appear to have ever been the fubject of miracles in former times. Indeed, in this fenfe they would have been a very Divine Influence. 241 a very improper fubject of miracles, on many obvious accounts. Not to refpect the general prefence and agency of God is practical atheifm. It is living without God in the world ; and to ex- pect his miraculous interpolations, and not to confider him as acting by general laws, is to encourage an enthufiaflm, and a delu/ion, that is, in fome cafes, almoft as dangerous; leading men to neglect the natural and only efficacious means of improving their charac- ters, and to depend on certain fupernatural impulfes and feelings, of vague and uncer- tain defcription, and that cannot have any relation to moral virtue; which confifts in a fupreme reverence and love of God, an entire devotednefs to his will, in doing and fuffering, a difinterefted love of his crea- tures, and our brethren, and a jufl; felf-go- vernment, equally favourable to both. On the whole, the doctrine of divine ajency and divine influence, refpefting things fpiri- tual, as well as temporal, is true, and in the higheit degree important. Our characters R approach 242 The Dodlrine of approach to perfection in proportion as we keep it in view, and they are debafed and bad, in proportion as we lofe fight of it. But the doctrine of a proper fupernatural influence on the mind is falfe ; and though, like moll other falfe principles, it may be very innocent, not in fact fuperfeding the ufe of the natural means of religion, it is always delufive, and in fome cafes highly dangerous. Let this doctrine, therefore, teach us, as individuals) to cultivate above all things a fpirit of habitual devotion, founded on the belief of the divine prefence with us, and of his conftant agency upon us, and upon all things. This is that faith which is the only fure anchor of the foul in a tempeftuous world, or rather it is the wings on which we rife above the world, and approach to a ffcate of union with God. But let us carefully avoid indulging the vain and delufive imagination of an immedi- ate and fupernatural communion with God, which is always the foundation of fpiriiual pride, Divine Influence, 243 pride, and the bane of humble devotion and virtue. For there is no true devotion with- out the deepeft humility, and what is fome- times not improperly called felf -annihila- tion. As minijlers and people, let us bear in mind, on the one hand, that a congregation is a flock, that mutt be tended and fed; that food for the mind muft: be provided, received, and digefted, like food for the body, and that we receive nourishment and ftrength from both in the fame natural and gradual manner. We muft therefore labour for the bread that endureth to everlajling life, as well as for the bread that perijhes. And though we are to expert no fuccefs but in the diligent ufe of proper means, we mud, at the fame time, afcribe to God, and ac- knowledge that we receive from him (who has wifely and gracioufly adapted all means to their proper ends) both the bread that we daily eat, and the benefit we receive from the administration of the word, and ordi- nances of the gofpel, both our growth in R 2 ftrength 244 ¥6e Dofirine, &c. ftrength and ftature, and what is called our growth in grace. Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him, therefore, and to him only, be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Rom. xi. 36. TWO TWO DISCOURSES; I. On Habitual Devotion. II. On the Duty of not living to Our/elves $ J5oth preached to Affemblies of Proteftant Diflenting JVlinifters, and published at their Requcft. *3 THE PREFACE. TH E former of thefe difcourfes I have been induced to publifh by the requeft of the body of DirTenting Miniiters who affemble an- nually at Dudley, in ScarTordfhire, before whom the greater part of it was delivered on Tuefday the 2 1 ft of May laft. The latter was preached before the affembly of minifters of the counties of Lancafter and Chefter, met at Manchefter, May 1 6th, 1764, to carry into execution a fcheme for the relief of their widows and children. Buc though it was printed at their requeft, it was not generally publifhedj as on\y a fmall edition was printed, and fold in that neighbourhood. Several of my friends having exprerTed their wifhes to fee it made more public, 1 have thought proper to print them together, efpecially as the fubjects of them have a confidcrable relation to each other j the one recommending a proper difpofition of mind with refpect to God, and the other that which refpects men. In both of them, alfo, I R 4 have 248 PREFACE. have availed myfelf of Dr. Hartley's theory of the human affections, the excellence of which is, that it not only explains, with wonderful fimplicity? many phenomen i of the mind, which are alto- gether inexplicable on other principles, but alfo leads to a variety of practical applications, and thofe of the moll valuable kind. Of ihis I have given lcvei al fpeumens in my Objervations on Education) and ethers of my publications. My ap )logy for introducing any thing of this nature into thefe difcourfes is, that neirher of them was cempofed for a common audience. Befides, the more abfhufe prts of them are of fuch a nature, as ro be pretty eafily intelligible to perfons of reflection, though they fhould have no knowledge of that particular theory. For the general doctrine of the affectation of ideas is known to all perfons of a liberal education. Whenever I have delivered thefe difcourfes before a common audience, I have omitted whatever J thought would not be readily underftood by them, and fuch paffages (which however are not very many) may now be pafled over, without much difficulty or inconvenience, by thofe per* funs for whofe ufe they are not calculated. To the former of thefe difcourfes the public are already under confiderable obligations, though they have been ignorant of it 5 as it was the opcafion. PREFACE. 249 cccafion of that excellent poem of Mrs. Barbauld, intitled An Addrefs to the Deity, which was com- pofed immediately after the firft delivery of it, before an affembly of minifters at Wakefield, in Yorklhire, in the year 1767. Were I to inform my readers how foon that poem appeared after the delivery of the difcourfe, it would add much to their idea of the powers of the writer. I could alfo make the fame obfervation with refpect to feveral other pieces, and fome of them the moll admired in that collection. If my theological publications have been more of a fpe culative than of a pratlical nature, it is merely becaufe circumftances have led me to it, and by no means becaufe the former are more pleating to me. I hope I fhall always confider fpeculation as fubfervient to practice. The mod exact knowledge of truth, and the greateft zeal for it, will avail nothing without the practice of thofe virtues which the mod uninftructed of man- kind perfectly underfeed. Nay the more know- ledge we have of the chriftian religion, of the general plan and object of it, the more inexcufablc {hall we be, if we do not, in the firft place, take care to imprefs our hearts with that love of God, and that unreferved devotednefs to his will, which pur Saviour ca}ls the fir ft and greateft of all the fommandmcnts, and alio with that difinterefted g good S5o PREFACE. good will to our fellow creatures, which he calls the Jecond great commandment, and like unto it. He was himfelf equally exemplary with refpecl to them both. And it is in vain for us to pretend to be chrifliam, if we do not ftudy to refemble him (whom alone we are to acknowledge in the character of Lord and matter) in the difpofition of our minds, and in the conduct of our lives. May we all be fo attentive to difcharge our proper duty, and to improve the talents with which we are feverally intrufted, that when, according to his promife, be Jhall return, and take an account of bis JervantSj we may be found without fpot and blamelefs. The world in which we live, with all the in- fluences to which we are fubject, may be equally our friend or our enemy, according to the ufe we make of it. It is wonderfully adapted, by the exercife it gives to our faculties, and to our pafiions and affections, to ejlablijh, ftrengthtn, and fettle us in the habit and practice of all virtue, and to raife us to a pitch of excellence to which Adam in paradife could never have attained. But then it is equally poMible that, by floth and in- dulgence, we may debafe our natures to a degree equally wonderful. The knowledge and belief of chriftianity itfelf, as well as every other advantage of which we are porTeffed, is alfo capable either of 3 promoting PREFACE. 251 promoting the moral perf.ction of our natures, and our fitnefs for immortal happinefs, or of making us the proper objects of a greater con- demnation than that of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment. It behoves us ihen to confider our fituation and all our privileges, very attentively, that we may make the belt ufe of them. It is not in our op'.ion to be in any o^her circumftances than thofe in which our maker has pjaced us. It will alfo avail us nothing to hide any talent in a napkin. As we have received it, we muft give an account of th^ ufe we make of it. We are likewife ignorant of the time when this account will be called for ; and great and ferious as the bufinefs of life is, the time allowed for the difpatth of it is both fhort, and uncertain. But, though fhort, it is fufRcient for the purpofe of it, if ic be rightly improved j and then the uncertainty of its duration is a circumftance that does not need to give us any concern. At fuc'b an hour as we think not the judge may ccme, but then, happy is that fervant whom his Lord, when he cometh3 Jhall find watching. I fhall take the liberty to clofe this preface with an extract of what is more peculiarly practical, and therefore more immediately fuiting my pre- fect I 54* PREFACE. fent purpofe, from Mrs. Barbauld's poem above- mentioned. If the foft hand of winning pleafure leads, By living waters, and thro' flow'ry meads ; When all is fmiling, tranquil, and ferene, And vernal beauty paints the flatt'ring fcene ; Oh teach me to elude each latent fnare, And whifper to my Aiding heart, Beware. With caution let me hear the fyren's voice, And doubtful, with a trembling heart, rejoice. If friendlefs, in a vale of tears, I {tray, Where briars wound, and thorns perplex my way Still let my fteady foul thy goodnefs fee, And with ftrong confidence lay hold on thee, With equal joy my various lot receive, Refign'd to die, or refolute to live; Prepar'd to kifs the fcepter, or the rod, While God is feen in all, and all in God. With thee in fhady folitudes I walk, With thee in bufy crowded cities talk ; In every creature own thy forming pow'r. In each event thy providence adore. Thy hopes mail animate my drooping foul, Thy precepts guide me, and thy fear controul, Thus fhall I reft, unmov'd by all alarms, Secure within the temple of thy arms ; From anxious cares, from gloomy terrors free, And feel myfelf omnipotent in thee. Then, PREFACE. 253 Then when the laft, the clofing hour draws nighj And earth recedes before my fwimming eyej Teach me to quit this tranfitory fcene, With decent triumph, and a look ferene. Teach me to fix my ardent hopes on high, And, having liv'd to thee, in thee to die. t *S5 ] A Difcourfe on Habitual Devotion. The wicked, through the pride of his counte- nance, will not feek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. Psalm x. 4. GOD, my chriftian brethren, is a being with whom we all of us have to do, and the relation we (land in to him is the moft important of all our relations. Our connexions with other beings, and other things, are flight, and tranfient, in compa- rifon with this. God is our maker, our conftant preferver and benefactor, our moral governor, and our final judge. He is pre- fent with us wherever we are ; the fecrets of all hearts are conftantly known to him, and he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Here, then, is a fituation, in which we find ourfelves, that demands our clofeft attention. The confideration is, in the highefl: degree, inte- %$& -A Difcourfe on interefting and alarming ; knowing how ab- solutely dependent we are upon God, that in him we live and move and have our being - and knowing alfo, that by vice and folly we have rendered ourfelves juftly obnoxious to his difpleafure. Now, to think, and to 'act, in a manner correfponding to this our neceffary inter- courfe with God, certainly requires that we keep up art habitual regard to it : and a total, or very great degree of inattention to it, muft be highly criminal and dangerous. Accordingly, we find in the fcriptures, that it is characteriftic of a good man, that he Jets the Lord always before him, and that he acknowledges God in all his ways. Whereas it is faid of the wicked, in my text, that God is not in all their thoughts ; and elfewhere, that the fear of God is not before their eyes-, that they put the thoughts of God far from them, and will net the knowledge of the Mojl High. This circumftance feems to furnifh a pretty good tefl of the ftate of a man's mind with refpect to virtue and vice. The moil aban- Habitual Devotion'. 257 abandoned and profligate of mankind are thofe who live wit bout God in the world, en- tirely thoughtlefs of his Being, perfections, and providence 3 having their hearts wholly engroffed with this world and the things of it i by which means thofe paffions which terminate in the enjoyment of them, are in* flamed to fuch a degree, that no other prin- ciple can reftrain their indulgence. Thefe perfons may be called practical atheijis ; and the temper of mind they have acquired, often leads them to deny both natural and revealed religion. They fecretly wifh, in- deed, they cannot but wim, there may be no truth in thofe principles, the apprehen- fion of which is apt to give them disturb- ance; and hence they give little attention to the evidence that is produced for them, and magnify all the objections they hear made to them. And it is well known, that, in a mind fo ftron'gly biaffed, the moft co- gent reafons often amount to nothing, while the moft trifling cavils pafs for demonftra- tion. It is the fame with refpect to any S other 258 A Dijcourfe on other fpeculation, when the mind has got a bias in favour of any particular conclufion. On the other hand, a truly and perfectly good man loves, and therefore cherifhes, the thought of God, his father and his friend ; till every production of divine power and fkill, every initance of divine bounty, and every event of divine providence, never fails to fuggeft to his mind the idea of the great Author of all things, the giver of every good and every perfect gift, and the fovereign dif- pofer of all affairs and of all events. Thus he lives, as it were, conftantly feeing him, who is invifible. He fees God in every thing, and he fees every thing in God. He dwells in love, and thereby dwells in God, and God in him. And fo long as he coniiders himfelf as living in the world which God has made, and partaking of the bounty with which his providence fupplies him -, fo long as he is intent upon difcharging his duty, in the fituation in which, he believes the Divine Being has placed him, and meets with no greater trials and difficulties than, he Habitual Devotion. 259 he is perfuaded, his God and father has ap- pointed for his good, it is almoft impoffible that the thought of God mould ever be long abfent from his mind. Every thing he fets or feels will make it recur again and again perpetually. His whole life will be, as it were, one act of devotion ; and this ftate of mind, being highly pleafurable, and his fa- tisfaction having infinite fources, will be daily encreafmg, fo as to grow more equable, and more intenfe to all eternity ; when it will be joy unfpeakable, and full of glory . Thefe are the two extremes of the fenti- ments and conduct of men with refpect to God, and all the varieties of human charac- ters will be found fomewhere between them ; fo that we may be deemed virtuous or vicious, in proportion as we approach to the one or the other. The more imperfect of the middle clafTes of mankind will have their minds too much engrofTed by this world and the things of it, fo as to exclude, in a very great degree, the apprehenfion of God, and of their relation to him. Provided, however, that they have S 2 had 260 A Difcoiirfe on had a religious education, thefe thoughts cannot be prevented from recurring from time to time, and producing ftronger or weaker refolutions of repentance and amend- ment -, but not having their full influence, and therefore, ferving rather to difquiet the mind, confcious of a want of perfect inte- grity, they will be apt to be overborne by the fuperior power of things (ten and tem- poral -, and the minds of fuch perfons being in this fluctuating condition, whatever fuc^ cefs they may have in the world, their lives will contain a great mixture of anxiety and remorfe. But thofe whom we may ftile the more perfect of the middle claries of men, though like the former, their minds may be, now and then, carried away by the magic in- fluences of this world -, and though they may give too far, and too eagerly, into the purfuit of its pleafures, riches, and honours, they will never wholly, or for a long time, lofe fight of God, and of their duty ; and pious fentiments, recurring with fuperior force, at intervals, will produce a kind of religious Habitual Devotion. 261 rdigiousfervour> which, routing the mind to a greater exertion of its powers, will pro- duce good refolutions with coniiderable ftrength and vigour ; and thereby break their growing attachment to the world. Thefe fervours, however, will of courfe re- mit, and other objects will necefTarily refume fome part, at leaft, of their influence: but if a fenfe of God and of religion have once taken firm hold of the mind, in the early part of life, there will be reafon to hope, that an exprefs regard to them will return with greater force, and after fhorter intervals, perpetually. By this means fuch ftrength will be given to the principle of confcience, that in the farthefr. excurlions they make from the Uriel: path of religion, even while they maintain no exprefs regard to God in their actions, the bare apprehenfion of a thing being right, and their duty, will, in all confiderable instances, immediately and me- chanically determine their minds ; fo that they will never deliberately do any thing which they are convinced is unlawful, apd pftenlive to God. At moil, if ever a 5 3 Wronger -62 A Difcourfe on ftronger temptation than ufual mould in- duce them to tranfgrefs their known duty, in any of the greater inftances of it, the ftate of their minds will be fuch, as that thefe tranfgreffiens will be followed by the keen- er!: compunction and contrition, which will make them lefs liable to commit the fame offence a fecond time. Thus we fee that thofe perfons, in whofe minds there is this prevailing difpofition to virtue, will be improved both by the uni- form practice of their duty, which neceffa- rily ftrengthens the habit of it, and even by occafional tranfgreffions, which gives a ftronger ftimulus to the power of confcience. But there is great danger, left thefe violations of known duty be either fo great as to pro- duce defpair, which naturally hardens the mind, or fo frequent as to beget a habit. Both thefe weaken the power of confcience. The man then goes backward in religion, and may at laft, even from this more ad- vanced ftate of virtue, be brought to commit "all iniquity with greedinefs. Let him, then, who ihinketh he Jlandeth take heed lejl he jail ; 3 and Habitual Devotion, 263 and let all of us, confcious of the frailty of our natures, be intent upon working out our Jalvation with fear and trembling. An habitual regard to God being the mod effectual means of advancing us from the more imperfect to the more perfect ftate I have been defcribing, I mall endeavour to recommend this leading duty to you, by a fuller and more diftinct enumeration of its happy effects 3 and I mall then mew what I apprehend to be the molt effectual methods of promoting it, and of removing the va- rious obstructions to it. 1 . An habitual regard to God in our ac- tions tends greatly to keep us firm in our adherence to our duty. It has pieafed divine providence to place man in a ftate of trial and probation. This world is ftrictly fuch. We are furrounded with a great variety of objects, adapted to gratify a variety of fenfes, with which we are furnifhed. The plea- fures they give us are all innocent in mode- ration, and they engage us in a variety of agreeable and proper purfuits. But our natures are fuch, as that the frequent indul- S 4 gence 264 A Difcourfe on gencc of any of our appetites tends to make its demands inordinate, and to beget an ha^ bitual propenfity to indulge it ; and this pronenefs to the exceffive indulgence of any of our paffions enllaves our minds, and is highly dangerous, and criminal. By this means we too often come to forget God our maker, to injujre our fellow creatures of mankind, and to do a (till greater, and more irreparable injury to ourfelves, both in mind and body. It has pleafed Almighty God, therefore, from the concern he had for our good, to forbid thefe immoderate indulgences pf the love of pleafure, riches, and ho- nour, by exprefs laws, guarded with the mofl awful fanctions. Now we are cer- tainly lefs Jiable to forget thefe laws, and pur obligation to obferve them, when we keep up an habitual regard to our great law^ giver and judge ; when we confider him as always prefent with us ; when we coniider that his eyes are in every place, beholding both the evil and the good ; that he fees injecret, 2nd will one day reward openly. In this manner JIabitual Devotion. 26$ planner we (hall acquire an habitual reve- rence for God and his laws, which will end in an habitual obedience to them, even withr put any exprefs regard to their authority. Thus we mould certainly be lefs likely to jjeglect the requeft of a friend, or the in- junction of a mafter, if we could always keep in mind the remembrance of our friend, or mafter ; and a conftant attention to them, would certainly give us a habit of pleafing them in all things. 2. An habitual regard to God promotes an uniform chearfulnefs of mind ; it tends to diflipate anxiety, or melancholy, ancj may even, in fome cafes, prevent madnefs. Without a regard to God, as the maker ancj governor of all things, this world affords but a gloomy and uncomfortable profpcct. Without this, we fee no great end for which we have to live, we have no great or ani- mating object to purfue ; and whatever fchemes we may be carrying on, our views are bounded by a very fhort and narrow fpace. To an atheift, therefore, every thing muft appear little, dark, and confufed. And 2 let 266 A Difcourfe on let it be confidered, that, in proportion as we forget God, and lofe our regard to him, we adopt the fentiments and views of athe- ifts, and fhut our eyes to the bright and glo- rious profpects which religion exhibits to us. Religion, my brethren, the doctrine of a, God, of a providence, and of a future ftate, opens an immenfe, a glorious, and moft tranfporting profpect -, and every man, who is humbly confcious that he conforms to the will of his maker, may enjoy, and rejoice in this profpect. Confidering ourfelves as the fubjects of the moral government of God, we fee a moft important fphere of action in which we have to exert ourfelves, we have the greateft of all objects fet before us, glory, honour, and immortality, an inherit- ance incorruptible, undejiled, and that fadeth not away, as the reward of our faithful per- fever ance in 'well doing j and we have a boundlefs existence, an eternity, in which to purfue and enjoy this reward. Thefe great views and objects, the con- templation of which muft be habitual to the mind which keeps up an habitual regard to God, Habitual Devotion. 267 God, cannot fail to diminim the luftre of the things of time and fenfe, which engage our attention here below; and while they leifen our folicitude and anxiety about them, they muft cure that fretfulnefs, and diftrefs of mind, which is occasioned by the difapi pointments we meet with in them. For the fame reafon, this habitual regard to God, this life of devotion, which I would recommend, muft tend in fome meafure to prevent that moft deplorable of all the ca- lamities mankind are fubject to, I mean madnefs. It is well known, that the cir- cumftance which generally firft occaiions, or at leaft greatly contributes to, this dif- order, is too clofe, and too anxious an at- tention to fome Jingle thing, in which a perfon is greatly interefted ; fo that, for a long time, he can hardly think of any thing elfe, and particularly, is often prevented fromjleeping, by means of it. Thus we fre- quently fee, that when perfons are of a fan- guine temper of mind, a fevere difappoint- ment of any kind will end in madnefs. Al- fo a fudden tranfport of joy, from unex- pected 263 A Difcourfe on pe&ed fuccefs, will fometitijcs have the fame effect. But, from the nature of the thing, this violence of either kind, could hardly Jake place in a truly devout and pious mind, in the mind of a man who confiders all the events, in which he can be concerned, as appointed by a God infinitely wife and good ; •who, he is perfuaded, hath, in the moft afflictive providences, the moft gracious inr- tention to him, and to all mankind; and who, by the moft profperous events, means to try his virtue, and jto put him upon the moft difficult of all exercifes, that of be- having properly in fuch cjreumftances. To a mind rightly difpofed, and duly feafoned with a fenfe of religion, nothing here below will appear to be of fufficient moment to produce thefe dreadful effects. We JJjall re- joice, as though we rejoiced not °, and weep, as though we wept not, knowing that the fajlnon of this world pajfeth away. Deep melancholy is often occafioned, in perfons of a lower tone of fpirits, by the fame kind of difappointments which pro- duce raging madnefs in others. It is %\\q effeft Habitual Devotioft. &6g effect of dcfpair, and could never take place, but when a perfon apprehended, that that which we may call his all, that in which he put his chief truft and confidence, had failed him, and he had no other refource to fly to. But a truly religious man can never defpair ; becaufe, let what will befall him here below, he knows his chief happinefs is fafe, being lodged where neither moth nor rufi can corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through nor Jleal. In patience, there- fore, he will be able at all times to paffefs his mvn foul, exercifing a Heady truft and con- fidence in God, the rock of ages, the fire rejling place of all generations* Melancholy, or defpondence in a lower degree, what we commonly call lownefs of fpirits, generally arifes from a want of fome object of purfuit, fufficient to engage the attention, and roufe a man to the proper exertion of his powers. In this iituation, he has nothing to do but to think of him- feif, and his own feelings, which never fails to involve him in endlefs anxiety and dif- trefs. But a principle of religion will ever put 270 A Difcourje on put a man upon a variety of active and vigorous purfuits. No truly pious and good man can be an idle man. He will fully employ all his power of doing good ; he will not keep his talent hid in a napkin -3 and, far from complaining that time hangs heavy on his hands, he will rather complain, that he has not time enough for the execution of half his benevolent purpofes. 3. An habitual regard to God fits a man for the bufinefs of this life, giving a peculiar prefence and intrepidity of mind ; and is, therefore, the beft fupport in difficult enter- prizes of any kind. A man who keeps up an habitual regard to God, who acknowledges him in all his ways, and lives a life of devo- tion to him, has a kind of union with God', feeling, in fome meafure, the fame fenti- ments, and having the lame views. Hence, being, in the language of the apoftle, a worker together with God, and therefore being confident that God is with him and for him, he will not fear what man can do unto hitn. Moreover, fearing God, and having confidence in him, he is a Granger to every Habitual Devotion. 271 every other fear. Being fatisfied that God will work all his pleafure in him, by him, and for him, he is free from alarm and perturbation, and is not eafily difconcerted, fo as to lofe the pofTefTion of his own mind. And having this prefence of mind, being confcious of the integrity of his own heart, confiding in the favour of his maker, and therefore fenfible that there is nothing of much real value that he can lofe, he will have leifure to confider every fituation in which he finds himfelf, and be able to act with calmnefs and prudence, as circumftanccs may require. Is there, then, any active and difficult fervice, to which we are fummoned by the voice of our country, of mankind, and of God, thefe are the men, I mean men of religion and devotion, in whom we can moil confide. Other men may be roufed by their paffions to any pitch of patriotic enthuliafm. They may oppofe the infidious attempts of corrupt minifters or tyrants, to enflave their country,#or may bravely face a foreign enemy in 5? 7 2 A Dijcourfe on in the field, though they rifk their fortune^ and their lives in the conteft. But mere worldly minded men, flaking their all in fuch enterprizes as thefe, and having little more than a fenfc of honour to" fupport them, may, in fome critical moment, be fennble of-the value of what they rifk, and, on that principle prove cowards. Whereas the man of religion feels the fame indignation againft all iniquitous at- tempts to enflave himfelf and his country, and if he have the fame native ardour of mind, he will be roufed to act with the fame vigour againft. a tyrant, or an invader; but running no rifle of what is of moft confe- qusnee to him, he will not be fb liable to be intimidated : he will be more matter of himfelf, have greater prefence of mind, and act with greater prudence in time of danger. If he die in the glorious ftruggle, he dies, not with the gloomy ferocity of the mere man of this world, but with the triumph of a chriftian, in a confeioufnefs of having finiihed his career of virtue in the moil glorious Habitual Devotion* 273 glorious manner in which he could poffibly finiih it, in the fervice of his country, and of mankind. Having thus confidered the important effects of an habitual regard to God in all our ways, I come to treat of the moil proper and effectual methods of promoting this temper of mind. 1 . If you be really defirous to cultivate this habitual devotion, endeavour, in the firffc place, to divert your minds of too great a multiplicity of the cares of this world. The man who lives to God, in the manner in which I have been endea- vouring to defcribe, lives to him principally, and loves and confides in him above all. To be folicitous about this world, there- fore, as if our chief happinefs conlifted in it, muft be incompatible with this devotion. We cannot ferve God and Mammon. If we be christians, we mould conflder, that the great, and profeffed object of our religion, is the revelation of a future life, of un- fpeakably more importance to us than this tranfitory world, and the periihable things T of 274 -^ Difcourfe on of it. As chriftians, we fhould confider ourfelvcs as citizens of heaven, and only Jlrangers and -pilgrims here below. We mud, therefore, fee, that, as chriftians, there is certainly required of us a confiderable degree of indifference about this world, which was only intended to ferve us as a paffage to a better. The Divine Being himfelf has made wife provifion for leffening the cares of this world, by the appointment of one day in feven, for the purpofe of reft and avocation from la- bour. Let us then, at leaft, take the ad- vantage which this day gives us, of calling off our eyes from beholding vanity, and of quickening as in the ways of God. This advice I would particularly recom- mend to thofe perfons who are engaged in arts, manufactures, and commerce. For, highly beneficial as thefe things are, in a political view, and fubfervient to the elegant enjoyment of life, they feem not to be fo favourable to religion and devotion, as the bufinefs of agriculture ; and for this reafon, therefore, probably, among others, the Di- vine Habitual Devotion, 275 vine Being forbad commerce to the people of the Jews, and gave them fuch laws as are chiefly adapted to a life of huf- bandry. The huibandman is in a fituation peculiarly favourable to the contemplation of the works of God, and to a fenfe of his dependance upon him. The rain from hea- ven, and various circumftances relating to the weather, &c. on which the goodnefs of his crops depends, he receives as from the hand of God, and is hardly fenfible of any fecondary, or more immediate caufe. If he underftand any thing of the principles of vegetation, and can account for a few ob- vious appearances upon what we call the laws of nature ; thefe laws he knows to be the exprefs appointment of God; and he cannot help perceiving the wildom and goodnefs of God in the appointment ; fo that the objects about which he is daily convcrfant, are, in their nature, a leffon of gratitude and praife. Befides, the employment of the hufband- man being, chiefly, to bring food out of the earthy his attention is more confined to the T 2 real 276 A Difcoinje on real wants, or at leaft, the principal con- veniences of life; and his mind is not, like that of the curious artift and manufacturer, lb liable- to be fafeinated by a tafte for fu^eriluities, and the fictitious wants of men. Nor, laftly, does thebufinefs of hufbandry fo wholly engrofs a man's thoughts and at- fcfcri , White he is employed about it, as many of the arts and manufactures, and as commerce neceffarily does. And it mould be a general rule with us, that the more attention of mind our employment in life re- quires, the more careful mould we be to draw our thoughts from it, on the day of reft, and at other intervals of time fet apart for devotional purpofes. Otherwife, a worldly-minded temper, not being checked or confronted by any thing of a contrary tendency, will necefiarily get poffeflion of our hearts. 2. This brings me to the fecond advice, which is by no means to omit flated times of worshipping God by prayer, public and private. Every pailian and affection in our frame Habitual Devotion, 277 frame is ftrengthened by the proper and natural expreflion of it. Thus frequent in- tercourfe and converfation with thofe we love promotes friendfhip, and fo alio, ? intercourfe we keep up with God by prayer, in which we exprefs our reverence and love of him, and our confidence in him, pro- motes a fpirit of devotion, and makes it eafier for the ideas of the Divine Being, and his providence to occur to the mind on other occafions, when we are not ionnally praying to him. Befides, if perfons whofe thoughts are much employed in thebufinefs of this life, had no time let apart for the exercifes of devotion, they would be in danger of neglecting it entirely ; at leaft, to a degree that would be attended with a great diminution of their virtue and hap- pinefs. But, in order that the exercifes of de- votion may be the moft efficacious to pro- mote the true fpirit, and general habit of it, i is advifeable, that prayers properly fo called, that is, direct addreffes to the Divine jBeing, be fhort. The flrong feelings of re- T 2 verence 278 -A Difcourfe on verence, love, and confidence, which ought to animate our devotions, cannot be kept up in fuch minds as ours through a prayer of confiderable length ; and a tedious languor in prayer is of great difiervice to the life of religion, as it accuftoms the mind to think of God with indifference ; whereas, it is of the utmoft confequence, that the Divine Being always appear to us as an objecl of the greater!: importance, and engage the whole attention of our fouls. Except, therefore, in public, where prayers of a greater length are, in a manner, necefTary, and where the prefence and concurrence of our fellow worfhippers afTift to keep up the fervour of our common devotion, it feems more advifeable, that devotional exercifes have intervals of meditation, calculated to imprefs our minds more deeply with the fentiments we exprefs ; and that they be ufed without any Uriel: regard to particular times, places, orpofture of body. This method of conducting devotional exercifes, which makes them confift chiefly of meditation upon God and his providence, 1 has Habitual Devotion. 2jg has in many cafes feveral advantages over a direct addrefs to God, which mould pecu- liarly recommend it to thofe who are de- firous to cultivate the genuine fpirit of de- votion. Among other advantages, and that not the leaft, in meditation, the mind is not fo apt to acquiefce in the mere work done (what the fchoolmen call the opus operatuni) as it is in formal prayer, efpecially when it is made of confiderable length. So prone, alas ! is the mind of man to fuperftition, that hardly any thing can be prescribed to us, as a meansoi virtue, but we immediately acquiefce in it as an end ; and not only fo, but the confequence of a punctilious ob- fervance of prayer, and other means of re- ligion, is too often made the foundation of a fpiritual pride, and felf-fufficiency, which is of a moft alarming nature ; being directly oppofite to that deep humility and felf- abafement, which is ever the predominant difpofition of a mind truly devout. The fentiment correfponding to the language jiand by thyfelf\ I am holier than thou, is not, I am afraid, peculiar to the Pharifaical Jew, T4 or 280 A DifcGUrfe on or the Romifh devotee. It infects many proteftant religionifts, being generated by fimilar caufes. Rather than be liable to this, it is certainly better, far better, even to be lefs regular in our exercifes of devo- tion. God rejijleth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. 3. In the courfe of your ufual employ^ ment, omit no proper opportunity of turn- ing your thoughts towards God. Habitu- ally regard him as the ultimate cauje, and proper author of every thing you fee, and the difpofer of all events that refpecl; yourfelves or others. This will not fail to make the idea of God occur familiarly to your mind, and influence your whole conduct. It is to be regretted, that the tafte and cuftom of this country is fuch, that a perfon of a devotional turn of mind cannot indulge himfelf in the natural expreftion of it, even upon the moft proper and juft occalions, without expofing himfelf to the particular notice, if not the ridicule, of the generality of thofe who may be prefent; whereas could we Habitual Devotion, 281 we decently, and ferioufly exprefs our gra- titude to God, upon every agreeable occur- rence, and our refignation and fub million to his will upon every calamitous event of life, it would tend greatly to ftrengthen the habit of acknowledging God in all our ways, and promote the fpirit of devotion. In no other country, I believe, whatever, neither among the Roman catholics, nor Mahometans, have people, even the | fafhionable and polite, any idea of ! "ing afhamed of their religion. On the con- trary, they are rather oftentati ITS c. nd therefore they feem to have more than they are really porTefTed of: and this is the c?So with fome, both of the eftablifhei -arch, and among the DilTenters in England. But, unfortunately, this outward (hew of religion was carried to fuch a length, about a cen- tury ago, in this country, and WU4 fome- times made to fubferve fuch infamous pur- pofes, that, I believe, the greater part of the moft fincerely pious, and humble chriiiians, now make a point of expofing to the world, as little of the religion they have as poiTi le -t & 282 A Difcourfe on fo that they are really pofTeffed of much more than they feem to have. This I truft is the cafe with great numbers, who are little fuf- pecled of being particularly religious, be- caufe they are feldom, or never heard to talk about it. And, upon the whole, while, things are fo unfortunately circumftanced, I think this extreme preferable to the other ; as, of all things, the reproach of hypocrify ought to be avoided with the utmoft care. 4. In a more efpecial manner, never fail to have recourfe to God upon every occafion of ftrong emotion of mind, whether it be of a pleafurable, or of a painful nature. When your mind is labouring under dif- trefling doubts, and great anxiety, or when you are any way embarrafled in the conduct of your affairs, fly to God, as your friend and father, your counfellor and your guide. In a fincere and earned: endeavour to dis- charge your duty, and to act the upright and honourable part, commit your way unto him, repofe yourfelves upon his providence, confiding in his care to overrule every thing for the beft, and you will find a great, and almoft Habitual Devotion. 283 almoft inftantaneous relief. Your pertur- bation of mind will fubfide, as by a charm, and the ftorm will become a fettled calm. Tumultuous and exceffive joy will alfo be moderated by this means ; and thus all your emotions will be rendered more equable, more pleafurable, and more lading. And this is produced not by any fupernatura! agency of God on the mind, but is the na- tural effect of placing entire confidence in a being of perfect wifdom and goodnefs. But the capital advantage you will derive from this practice will be, that the idea of God, being, by this means, affociated with all the ftrongeft emotions of your mind, your whole flock, of devotional fentiments and feelings will be increafed. All thofe ftrong emotions, now feparately indiftin- guimable, will coalefce with the idea of God, and make part of the complex train of images fuggefted by the term, fo that you will afterwards think of God oftener, and with more fervour than before; and the thought of him will have greater in- fluence with you than ever. 5. In 2$ 4 A Difeourfe on 5. In order to cultivate the fpirit of ha- bitual devotion, labour to free your minds from all confcioufnefs of guilt, and felf re- proach, by means of a conflant attention to the upright and fteady difcharge of the whole of your duty. In confequence of neglect- ing our duty, we become backwards, as we may fay, to make our appearance before God. We cannot look up to him with full con- fidence of his favour and bleffing ; and are, therefore, too apt to omit devotion entirely. Befides, we always feel an averfion to the exercife of felf-abafemcnt and contrition, which are all the fentiments that we can with propriety indulge in thofe circum- ftances ; efpecially as we have a fecret fuf- picion, that we mall, for fome time at leaft, go on to live as we have done ; fo that ra- ther than confefs our fins, and continue to live in them, we chufe not to make con- fctfion at all. But this, my brethren, is egregious trif- ling, and highly dangerous. Thus, atbeft, all improvement is at a ftand with us, if we be -not going fatally backwards in our moral ftatc. Habitual Devotion. 28 c ftate. If this be our character (as I believe it is, more or lefs, that of a very great num- ber even of thofe I have called the better fort of the middle claffes of men) let us in time, and in good earned, cafr, off all our fins, negligences, and follies by true re- pentance. Let us draw near, and acquaint our/elves with God, that we may be at peace. You can have no true peace, affurance, or fatisfaclion of mind in this life without it : for, if you be of the clafs I am now refer- ring to, it is too late for you to have a per- fect enjoyment of a life of fin and difiipa- tion. And between that kind of peace, or rather flupcr, which thofe who are aban- doned to wicked nefs, thofe who are wholly addicted to this world, and make it their fole end (or thofe who are grofsly ignorant of religion) enjoy, and that inward peace and futisf action which accompanies the faithful and earned: difcharge of every known duty, there is no fufflcient medium. You may go about feeking refl, in this wide fpace, while your hearts are divided between God and the 2.86 A Di/courfe on the world, but you will find none; whereas the fruit ofrighteoufnefs, of a fincere and im- partial, though imperfect obedience to the law of God, is peace and ajfurance for ever, 6thly, and laftly. To facilitate the ex- ercife of devotion, cultivate in your minds j uft ideas of God with whom you have to do upon thofe occalions, and divefl your minds, as far as pomble, of all fuperftitious and difhonourable notions of him. Confider him as the good father of the prodigal fori, in that excellent parable of our Saviour. Let it fink deep into your minds, as one of the mod important of all principles, that the God with whom we have to do, is effen- tially, of himfeif, and without regard to any foreign confideration whatever, abundant in mercy , not 'willing that any fjould perifi, but that be bad rather that all foould come to repentance-, and then, notwithstanding you confider yourfelves as frail, imperfect, and finful creatures ; and though you cannot help accufing yourfelves of much negli- gence, folly, and vice, you may (till approach him Habitual Devotion. 287 him with perfect confidence, in his readinefs to receive, love, and cherifh you, upon your fincere return to him, In this light our Lord Jefus Chrift always reprefented his father and our father , his God and our God. This is the mofl folid ground of confolation to minds burdened with a fenfe of guilt 3 and what is of great advan- tage, it is the moft natural, the mod eafy, and intelligible of all others. If once you quit this firm hold, you involve yourfelves in a fyftem, and a labyrinth, in which you either abfolutely find no reft, and wander in uncertainty and horror; or, if you do attain to any thing of aflurance, it is of fuch a kind, and in fuch a manner, as can hardly fail to feed that fpiritual -pride, which will lead you to defpife others -y nay, unlefs counteracted by other caufes, too often ends in a fpirit of cenforioufnefs, hatred, and perfecution. Religious melancholy, the mofl: deplorable of all the cafes of melancholy, will never be effectually relieved by any conlideration, but that of the mercy and clemency of the Divine 280 A Difcourfe on Divine Being. This unhappy ftate of mind ariies from fuperftition. It confifts in an exceftive and unreafonable fear of God, and is peculiarly incident to perfons of the greateft tender nefs of confcience. And if we confider nothing but the holinefs of the divine nature, and our pronenefs to vice and folly, there will be no end of this diftreffing fcrupulufity in the bed difpofed minds. But, in our fituation, we muft learn to ac- quiefce in the fenfe of our manifold imper- fections, and the unavoidable confequences of them ; and to take refuge in the goodnefs and companion of God, who conjlders our frame^ and remembers that if we attend to the connec- tion of thefe words, we lhall find what, in the apoftle's idea, is the true end to which men ought to live. The apoftle is here treating of a con- troverfy which had ari fen in the chriftian church, about the lawfulncfs of eating meat facrifked not Living to Ourfehes. 299 fa:rificed to idols, afad keeping holy certain days, together with fome other ceremonious obfervances, and exhorting both parties to do nothing that might give offence, or be a fnare to the other ; left, by their means, any one mould perifli for whom Chrift died. As the beft foundation for mutual tender- nefs and charity, he reminds them that both parties acted, with regard to all ritual ob- fervances, as they imagined was the will of Chrift. He that obferveth a day, objerveth it to the Lord ; and he that objerveth not a day, to the Lord he objerveth it not. And after giving his fanction in the fulleft manner to this maxim, and deciding, with refpect to this particular cafe, that all chriftians ought to act according to the will of Chrift* and confult the good and the peace of their fellow chriftians, he declares in general, that no man liveth to hinjelj, and no man dieth to himje/j; but whether ice live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; that is, in all our actions, our views mould not be directed to ourfelves, but to the intereft of our holy religion. And as the oqo the Duty of the chriftian religion has for its object the happinefs of mankind (fince, Chrift came to blejs us in turning us away from our iniquities) it is the fame thing as if he had faid, the great fcope of all our conduct fhould be the real welfare of all to whom our influence m can extend. We mould, therefore, my brethren, ac- cording to this apoftolical maxim, by no means confine our regards to ourfelves ; and have our own pleafure, profit, or advantage in view in every thing we undertake ; but look out of, and beyond ourfelves, and take a generous concern in the happinefs of all our brethren of mankind ; make their for- rows our forrows, their joys our joys, and their happinefs our purfuit : and it is in this difinterefted conduct, and in this only, that we fhall find our own true happinefs. That this is the true rule of human life, will appear, whether we confider the courfe of nature without us, the lituation of man- kind in this world, or take a nearer view of the principles of human nature. And we fhall likewife find, that feveral confideratior-s 3 drawn not Living to Owf elves. 301 drawn from the holy fcriptures will farther confirm and illuftrate this maxim of human conduct which was firft fuggefted by them. I j This difinterefted conduct of man is moil agreeable to the courfe of nature with- out us. There is no part of the creation but, if it be viewed attentively, will expofe the felfimnefs and narrow mindednefs of men. For among all that infinite variety of things and creatures which -prefent them- felves to our view, not one of them appears to have been made merely for itfelf, but every thing bears a relation to fomething elfe. They can hardly be faid to afford any matter for contemplation fingly, and are moft of all the objects of our admiration when confidered as connected with other things. The primary ufes of things are few, but the fecondary ufes of every thing are almofl infinite. Indeed the fecondary ufes of things are fo many, that we are loft in the multiplicity of them; whereas we can give no anfwer, if we be afked what is the primary ufe of any thing, but this ge- neral one, which will equally fuit every thing, 3|ngth the mod wretched and difcrefTing that can be conceived. No bodily pain, no rack, no torture, can equal the mifery and diftrefs of a human being whofe mind is thus a prey to itfelf. No wonder that, in this fituation, many perfons wifh the utter extinction of their being, and often put a period to their lives. This is certainly the moil deplorable fituation to which a human being can be reduced in this world, and is doubly the object of our companion, when the diforder has its feat originally in the body, in fuch a manner, as that no endeavours to engage a man's thoughts upon other objects can force his attention from himfelf. It is no wonder that we fee more of this kind of unhappinefs in the higher ranks of life, and among perfons who are in what is called eajy circumjlances than in any other. Y 2 Indeed, % 3 24 The Duty of Indeed, the cafe is hardly poflible in any other than in eafy circumilances. For did a man's circumflances really find conftant employment for his thoughts, were his bu- finefs fo urgent as to leave him no leifure for fufpenfe and uncertainty what to do, it is plain, from the preceding principles, that fuch anxiety and diftrels could not take place. It is well known that the mind fuffers more in a flate of uncertainty and fufpenfe, for want of fome motive to deter- mine a man's choice, than he can fuffer in the vigorous profecution of the mo/l arduous undertaking. I appeal to men of leifure, and particularly to pcrfons who are naturally of an active and enterprizing difpofition, for the truth of this fact. Thefe principles likewife, as is evident without entering into a detail of particulars, furnifh us with a good reafon why we generally fee fathers and mothers of large families infinitely more eafy, chearful, and happy, than thofe pcrfons who have no fa- mily-connexions. The greater affluence, eafe, and variety of pleafures which thefe can not Living to Ourftlves. 325 can command (fubje-dt to the inconveniences I have mentioned, and which are commonly vifible enough in the cafe I refer to) are a poor equivalent for the ncceflary, conffont, and vigorous exertion of their faculties, and confequently the flrong fenfitions, and lively enjoyments, which a variety of family cares, conjugal and parental tendernefs, fupply for the others. This would be the cafe univerfally, where large families could fubiifu, if the parents had fufficient employment, and if an early acquired tafle for fuperrluities, had not taken, too deep root in their minds. Happy is it for the world, and a great mark of the wifdom and goodnefs of divine providence, that men's minds are fo confti- tuted, that though they be in eafy circum- ftances, they are never completely fatisfied. The pallions of mod men are ftill engaging them in a variety of purfuits, in which they are as eager, and which they profecute with as much alacrity and earnefinefs, as ifneceP fity compelled them to it. Otherwife, every Y 3 perfon 326 T&e Duty of perfon who could live eafy would be in- evitably miferable. Infinitely happier would it be for them- felves, and for the world, if all their purfuits were fuch as would give them fatisfadtion upon the reflection as well as in the purfuit, and be of real advantage to the reft of man- kind ; which two circumftances never fail to coincide However, with regard to a perfon's felf in this life, any end is un- speakably better than no end at all; and fuch is the wife appointment of providence, that bad ends tend in a variety of ways, to check and defeat themfelves, and to throw the minds of men into better, nobler, and more fatisfa&ory purfuits. A confideration, which cannot fail to fuggeft, to a benevolent and pious mind, aprofpecl: of a future happy and glorious ftate of things. It may be faid, that if happinefs confift in, or depend upon the exertion of our faculties upon fome object foreign to our- felves, it is a matter of indifference what the object be, I anfwer, that during the pur- fuit 3 not Living to Ourfehes. 327 fuit it is nearly fo, and univerfal experience, I imagine, will juftify the obfervation. This is the reafon why we fee men equally eager, and equally happy in the purfuit of a variety of things which appear trifling to one another. Thus the rlorift, the medalift, the critic, the antiquary, and every adept in the minuter branches of fcience, all enjoy equal happinefs in the purfuit of their fe- veral objects; and as much as the hiftorian, the aftronomer, the moralift, or the divine, who refers his nobler ftudies to no higher end, and to whom they only ferve as an ex- ercife of his faculties. But though an eager purfuit tends to keep the mind in a {late of vigorous and lively fenfation, that purfuit only can give us the maximum, the higheft pofiible degree, of happinefs, which has the following cha- racters. It muft be attended with the pro- bability of fuccefs, confequently it muft be generally fuccefsful ; and it muft alfo ter- minate in fuch gratifications as are leaft in- confiftent with themfelves, or with the other gratifications of which our nature makes us Y 4 capable. 32S The Duty of capable. And it may be demonflrated (though I fhall not undertake to do it parti- cularly in this place) that no purfuits anfwer to this defcription but thofe in which the love' of mankind, the love of God, or the dictates of confcience, engage us. For in all other purfuits, fuch as thofe of fenfual pleafure, the pleafures of imagi- nation, and ambition, we are liable to fre- quent difappointments -, the gratifications in which they terminate are inconfiftent with themfelves, and with each other ; and they almoft entirely deaden and difqualify the mind for the nobler pleafures of our nature. It is the love of God, the love of mankind, and a fenfe of duty which engage the minds of men in the nobleft of all purfuits. By thefe we are carried on with increasing ala- crity and fatisfaclion. Even the pains and diftreffes in which we involve ourfclves by thefe courfes are preferable to the pleafures attending the gratification of our lower ap- petites. Belides, thefe noble purfuits, generally at leafl, allow us even more of the lower grati- fications not Living to Our/elves. 329 fications of our nature than can be obtained by a direct purfuit of them. For a little experience will inform us, that we receive the moft pleafure from thefe lower appe- tites of our nature, as well as from the higbeft fources of pleafure we are capable of, when we have their gratification leaft of all in view There can be no doubt, for in- ftance, but that the labourer who eats and drinks merely to fatisfy the calls of hunger and third, has vaftly more pleafure in eating and drinking than the epicure who ftudies the pleafing of his palate. They are the pleafures of benevolence and piety which moft effectually carry us out of ourfelves ; whereas every other inferior pur- fuit fuggefts to us, in a thoufand refpects, the idea of Jcf.f9 the unfeafonable interven- tion of which may be called the worm which lies at the root of all human blifs. And never can we be completely happy, till we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our f (Ail, with all our mind, and with all our jhengih ; and our neighbour as our- felves. This «^0 The Duty of This is the chriftianfelf-annihilation, and a ftate of the mod complete happinefs to which our natures can attain ; when, with- out having the lead idea of being in the purfuit of our own happinefs, our faculties are wholly abforbed in thofe noble and ex- alted purfuits, in which we are fure not to be finally difappointed, and in the courfe of which we enjoy all the confiftent pleafures of our whole nature. When, rejoicing with all that rejoice, weeping with all that weep, and intimately aflbciating the idea of God, the maker of all things, our father and our friend, with all the works of his hands, and all the difpenfations of his providence, we conftantly triumph in the comfortable fenfe of the divine prefence and approbation, and in the tranfporting profpect of advancing every day nearer to the accomplishment of his glorious purpofes for the happinefs of his creatures. If this be the proper and fupreme happi- nefs of man, it may be afked of what ufe is the principle of felf-intereft. I anfwer, that though an attention to it be inconfiftent with pure unmixed happinefs, yet a mode- rate not Living to Ourfehes. 331 rate attention to it is of excellent ufe in our progrefs towards it. It ferves as a fcaffold to a noble and glorious edifice, though it be unworthy of (landing as any part of it. It is of more particular ufe to check and reftrain the indulgence of our lower appetites and paffions, before other objects and motives have acquired a fuffi- cient power over us. But though we ought, therefore, to exhort thofe perfons who are immerfed in fenfuality and grofs vices, to abandon thofe indulgencies out of a regard to their true intereft, it is advifable to withdraw this motive by degrees. How- ever, as we mall never arrive at abfolute perfection, we necelfarily muft, and indeed ought to be influenced by it more or lefs through the whole courfe of our exiftence, only lefs and lefs perpetually. The principle of felf intereft may be re- garded as a medium between the lower and the higher principles of our nature, and therefore of principal ufe in our transition, as we may call it, from an imperfect to a more perfect ftate. Perhaps ««z The Duty of Perhaps the following view of this fub- jedt may be the eafieit to us. A regard to our greateft happinefs mud neceffarily go- vern our conduct with refpect to all thofe virtues which are termed private virtues, as temperance, chadity, and every branch of felf-government : but it always does harm as a motive to the facial virtues. When, therefore, felf government, which is our firft ftep towards happinefs, is eflablifhed ; we ought to endeavour to excite men to action by higher and nobler motives. For, with regard to all thofe virtues, the ultimate object of which is not private happinefs, an attention to felf-intereft is of manifeft pre- judice to us; and this through the whole courfe of our lives, imperfect as we are, and as much occafion as we have for every effectual motive to virtue. We are now come, in the laft place, to fee what confederations drawn from the holy fcriptures, will farther confirm and il- luftrate this maxim of human conduct which was fir ft fuggefted by them. That r to Ourfehes* 333 That the fcriptuies join the voice of all nature around us, informing man that lie is not made for himfelf j that they inculcate the fame leflbn which we learn both, view of the external circumftances of man- kind, and alfo from a nearer infpecuc 11 of the principles of human nature, will be evi- dent whether we contider the object of the religion they exhibit (that is, the temper to which we are intended to be formed by it) or the motives by which it is enforced and recommended to us in them. That the end and defign of our holy re- ligion, chrifttans, was to form us to the moll difinterefted benevolence cannot be doubted by any perfon who confults the holy fcrip- tures, and efpecially the books of the New Te (lament. There we plainly fee the principle of be-, nevolence reprefented, when it is in its due flrength and degree, as equal-in point of in- tenfenefs to that of felf-love. Thou Jbalt love thy neighbour as thyfeif. The plain confequence of this is, that if all our bre- thren of mankind with whom we are con- ned 334 y&e Duty °f necled, have an equal claim upon us (fince our connexions are daily growing more ex- tenfive, and we ourfelves are confequently growing daily of lefs relative importance in our own eyes) the principle of benevolence muft in the end ablblutely fwallow up that of felf-love. The moft exalted devotion, as even fupe- rior both to felf-love and benevolence, is always every where recommended to us : and the fentiments of devotion have been fhewn greatly to aid, and, in facl, to be the fame with thofe of benevolence : and they muft be fo, unlefs it can be fhewn that we have fome fenfes, powers, or faculties which refpect the Deity only. In order to determine men to engage in a courfe of difinterefted and generous actions, every motive which is calculated to work upon human nature is employed. And as mankind in general are deeply immerfed in vice and folly, their hopes, but more efpe- cially their fears, are acted upon in the itrongeft manner by the profpect of rewards and puniihments. Even temporal rewards and not Living to Ourf elves. ^3S and punishments were propofed to man- kind in the earlier and ruder ages of the world. But as our notions of happinefs grow more enlarged, infinitely greater, but inde- finite objects of hope and fear are let before us. Something unknown, but fomething unfpeakably dreadful in a future world is perpetually held up to us, as a guard again fl: the allurements to vice and excefs which the world abounds with. And ftill farther to counteract their baleful influences, the heavenly world (the habitation of good men after death) is reprefented to us as a place in which we mail be completely happy, enjoying fomething which is defcribed as more than eye hath feen, ear heard, or than the heart of man can conceive. Thefe motives are certainly addrcrTed to the principle of felf intereft, urging us out of a regard to ourfelves, and our general happinefs, to ceafe to do evil, and learn to do well. And, indeed, no motives of a more generous nature, and drawn from more dif- tant confiderations can be fuppofed fufficient to influence the bulk of mankind, and/ them 336 The Duty of them from the power of fin > and Satan3 Unto God. But when, by the influence of thefe mo- tives, it may be fuppofcd that mankind are in fome meafure recovered from the grofTer pollutions of the world, and the principle of felf-intereft has been played, as it were, againft itfelf, and been a means of engaging us in a courfe and habit of actions which are neceflarily connected with, and produc- tive of more generous and noble principles, then thefe nobler principles are thofe which the facred writers chiefly inculcate. Nothing is more frequent with the facred writers than to exhort men to the practice of their duty as the command of God, from a principle of love to God, of love to Chriftj and of love to mankind, more efpecially of our fellow christians -, and from a regard to the interefl of our holy religion : motives which do not at all turn the attention of our minds upon themfelves. This is net bor- rowing the aid of felf-loveto strengthen the principles of benevolence and piety, but it is properly deriving additional flrength to thefe not hiving to Our/elves. 337 thefe noble difpofitions, as it were, from within themfelves, independent of foreign confiderations. We may fafely fay that no degree or kind of felf-love is made ufe of in the fcriptures but what is neceffary to raife us above that principle. And fome of the more refined kinds of felf-love, how familiar foever they may be in fome fyftems of morals, never come in light there. We are never exhorted in the fcriptures to do benevolent actions for the fake of the reflex pleafures of bene- volence, or pious actions with a view to the pleafures of devotion. This refined kind of felf-love is no where to be found in the fcriptures. Even the pleafures of a good confcience, though they be of a more general nature, and there be lefs refinement in them than in fome other pleafures which are connected with the idea of /e/f, and though they be reprelented in the fcriptures as the confe- quence of good actions, and a fource of joy, as a teiiimony of a perfon's being in the fa- vour of God, and in the way to happinefs, Z are 338 The Duty of are perhaps never directly propofed to us as the reward of virtue. This motive to vir- tue makes a greater figure in the fyflem of the later ftoics (thofe heathen philofophers who in confequence of entertaining the mofl extravagant idea of their own merit, really idolized their own natures, to a degree ab- folutely blafphemous) than in the fcrip- tures. And if we confider the nature of this principle we mall foon be fenfible that if it be inculcated as a motive to virtue, and particularly the virtues of a fublimer kind, it fhould be with great caution, and in fuch a manner as mail have the leaft tendency to encourage felf applaufe. For does not felf applaufe border very nearly upon pride and felf conceit, and that fpecies of it which is called fpiritual pride, and which is certainly a mod malignant difpofition. If this fame principle have power to ex- cite fuch ridiculous vanity, intolerable ar- rogance, inveterate rancour, and fupercilious contempt of others, when it has nothing but the trifling advantage of ffcill in criti- cifm, a talent for poetry, a tafte for belles lettres, 2 not Living to Ourfelves. ^39 lettres, or fome other of the minuter parts of icience to avail itfelf of ; what have we not to dread from it, when it can boaft of what is univcrfally acknowledged to be a far fuperior kind of excellence ? To guard again ft this dangerous rock, fa fatal to every genuine principle of virtue^ the utmoft humility, felf diffidence, and truft in God are ever recommended to us in the holy fcriptures. Good men are taught to regard him as the giver of every good and every perfect gift. They are reprefented as difclaiming all the rnerit of their own good works, and expecting all favour and happi- nefs, private or public, from the free good- nefs and undeferved mercy of God. When we have done all that is commanded us we muft fay we are unprofitable firv ants, we have done only that which it was our duty to do. In the reprefentation which our Saviour has given us of the proceedings of the laft great day of judgment, it is in this refpect that the temper of the righteous is con- traftcd with that of the wicked, though that Z 2 was 34o *[be Duty of was not the principal defign of the repre- fentation. The righteous feem furprized at the favourable opinion which their judge ex- preffes of them, and abfolutely drfclaim all the good works which he afcribes to them. When Jaw we thee, fay they, an hungred, and fed thee ; or thirjiy, and gave thee drink -, when jaw we thee a Jir anger and took thee in, or naked and cloathed thee -, when faro we thee Jick and in prifon and came unto thee. Whereas the wicked are reprefented as equally furprifed at the cenfure our Lord paries upon them, and infift upon their in- nocence ; faying, When faw we thee an hungred, or thirjiy, or a Jl ranger, or nakc-1 \ or Jick, or in pri/on, and did not minifler unto thee. This, too, is the excellent moral conveyed to us in the parable of the Pharifee and the Publican -y and the import of one of the bleffings which our Lord pronounced in a folemn manner at the beginning of his mi- niftry on earth, Bleffed are the poor infpirit, jor theirs is the kingdom of heaven -, and al fo the not Living to Ourfelves. ^4 1 the fpirit of many of our Lord's invectives again ft the pride and hypocriiy of the fcribes and pharifees. No other vice feems capable of difturb- ing the equal and generous temper of our Lord. Other vices rather excite his com- panion, but pride together with its ufual attendant hypocriiy, never fails to roufe his moft vehement indignation : infomuch that before we attend to the heinous nature, and dreadful confequence, of thofe vices, we are apt rather to blame our Lord for intemperate wrath upon thefe occaiions, and to wonder why a perfon, who otherwife appears to be fo meek, mould, in this cafe only, be fo highly provoked. How feverely doth he check the leaft ten- dency towards pride and ambition in his own difciples, whenever he difcovers in any of them a difpofition to afpire to diftinction and fuperiority; doling his admonition, on one remarkable occafion, with thefe words, which are chara&eriftic of the temper of his religion. Matt, xxiii. 11, 12. He that is great eft among you J!) all be your fervant. Z 3 Who. 342 T/je Duty of Wkofoever Jhall exalt himfelf Jl:all be abafedx and he that humbleth himfelf fiall be exalted. What temper can be fuppofed more pro- per to qualify us for joining the glorious aiTembly of the fpirits of juit men made perfect, and perhaps innumerable orders of beings far fuperior to us both in under- ftanding and goodnefs, when all the fplen- dour of the inviiible world mail be thrown open to us, but a fpirit of the deepeft hu- mility, and the pureft benevolence ? This alone can difpofe us truly to rejoice in the view of every kind and degree of excellence wherever found, without the leaft uneafmefs arifing from pride, envy, jealoufy, or diflike ; all which vicious qualities of the mind are nearly connected together. And how can a fpirit of true humility and pure benevo- lence, which cannot exift without humility, be attained, if our regards be perpetually, or frequently, directed to ourfelves. Where f elf is confidered, pride, vanity, or felf con- ceit, with all their hateful confequences, feem, in fome degree, to be unavoidable. Whoever^ not Living to Ourf elves. 343 Whoever, therefore, lays the foundation of human virtue, on the principle of felf- intereft, or, what is nearly the fame thing, ielf applaufe, is erecting a fabric which can never reft on fuch fupports ; and he will be found in fact to have been pulling down with one hand what he was endeavouring to build up with the other. To draw to a conclufion. This doctrine abounds with the nobleft practical ufes, and points out directly the great rule of life, and fource of happinefs ; which is to give our- felves wholly up to {ome employment, which may, if poflible, engage all our fa- culties, and which tends to the good of Co- ciety. This is a field which is open to the exertion of all human powers, and in which all mankind may be equally, mutually, and boundlefsly happy. This will render all expedients to kill time unnecefTary. With our affections and our faculties thus engreffed by a worthy ob- ject, we fcarce need fear being ever dull, penfive, or melancholy, or know what it is to have our time hang heavy upon our 7i 4 hands. 244 y&e &uty °f hands. And I think I may fo far prefume upon the known connexion of mind and body, as to fay that this is the beft prefer- vative againft hypochondriacal diibrders, to which perfons whofe fituation in the world doth not lead them into the active fcenes of life are peculiarly fubjecl. Every day pafTed in the fteady and earneft difcharge of a man's known duty, will pafs with uniform chear- fulnefs and alacrity. And in the glorious animating profpecl: of a future happy ftate of mankind, on which, in a humble trufl and confidence in the afiiftance and grace of God, he has fpent all his cares, and exerted all his powers, that joy will fpring up in his heart here, which will hereafter be unf peak- able and full of glory. If troubles and perfecutions arife on ac- count of our adhering to our duty; if we be oppofed in the profecution of laudable un- dertakings, or fuffer in confequence of un- dertaking them ; the true piety of a perfon who habitually lives to God, and not to him- felf, is capable of converting them all into pure unmixed joy and tranfport. Then the human not Living to Our/elves. 345 human mind, roufed to the moft intenfe ex- ertion of all its faculties, burdened with no confcioufnefs of guilt, referring itfelf abfo- lutely to the difpofal of its God and father, diftrufting its own powers, and confiding in the infinite power, wifdom, and goodnefs of God, acquires a fervour of fpirit, a courage, fortitude, and magnanimity, tempered with the moil perfect ferenity, and the greateft pre fence of mind, that is fufficient, and more than furficient, to bear a man through every difficulty, and even to convert all pain into pleafure. His highly agitated ftate of mind, in thofe trying circumftances, is almoft pure rapture and extafy. In thofe circumftances, which appear fo diftreffing, numbers, I doubt not, have been able, according to our blefled Saviour's direc- tion, to rejoice and be exceeding glad, knowing that their reward was great in heaven ; and have experienced more real comfort, peace of mind, and inward joy, in the greateft ad- verfity, than they had ever felt in the days of their profperity. Yea, what is related by hiftorians of fome chriftian and proteftant martyrs, 24 6 T& £)^(y e/' martyrs, appears to me not incredible ; namely, that in the midft of flames they have felt no pain. Their minds were fo in- tenfely agitated, and lb wholly occupied with oppolite fenfations, of the mofl exalted na- ture, as to exclude all external fenfation whatever, vaftly more than we can form any idea of from the trances and reveries which any perfon was ever fubjeft to. What the extraordinary exercifes of devo- tion are able to do upon extraordinary occa- sions, the habitual moderate exercife of piety will be able to do in the ordinary courfe, and the common troubles of our lives ; ib that it may not only be compared to a ftrong cor- dial, to be applied when the mind is ready to faint under adverfity, but to that food which is the daily fupport of our lives. To have God always in our thoughts, is not pomble in this world. Prefent objects, to the influence of which we are continually expofed, muft necefTarily engage a great part of our attention ; and worldly objects, by continually engroiiing our thoughts, are apt to become of too great importance to us. We not Living to Our [elves. 347 We grow anxious about them, and our minds are harrafTed and fatigued with a con- ftant and clofc attention to them. Now, it is when the mind is in this ftate, or rather tending towards it, that the benign influences of devotion are, in the ordinary courfc of our lives, the moft fenfibly felt ; when the mind, looking off, and above all worldly objects, and deeply imprefied with a fenie of the infinite power, wifdom and goodnefs of God, unburdens itfelf of every anxiety, and cafts all its cares upon its Heavenly father; and when the preceding tumult and diforder in the paffions only ferves to augment that unfpeakable joy, fatisfaclion, and confidence, with which a deep fenfe of the prefence and providence of God infpircs the foul. The relief a benevolent mind feels from communicating its troubles and cares to an intimate friend, in whofe wifdem and inte- grity he can confide, though of the fame nature, is but a faint image of what the truly pious foul feels in the delightful feafons of the devout intercourfe which he maintains with his God, This 348 The Duty of This is a perpetual fource of joy and fatif- faction to a truly devout mind, which the wicked, thofe perfons who live to themfelves, and not to mankind, or to God, intermeddle not with. Not even an idea of that fweet tranquillity, exalted joy, and calm fortitude which true devotion infpires can be commu- nicated to another who hath had no experi- ence of it himfelf. This is truly of thofe things which St. Paul fays the natural man cannot comprehend, and, that they are foolijlmefs to him, becaufe they are fpiritually difcerned. 1 would be no advocate for enthufiafm. The fervour of devotion cannot always be kept up. That is inconiiflent with the condition of our nature, and far from being necelfary in our prefent ftate : but that chearful ferenity and compofure in which moderate acts of devotion leave the mind is an excellent temper for entering upon, and perfevering with fpirit and alacrity, in any ufeful and honourable undertaking. The fum of this practical doctrine, fug- gefted by revelation, and confirmed by reafon and obfervation is, that no man can be happy not Living to Ourf elves. 349 NAPPY WHO LIVES TO HIMSELF ; BUT THAT TRUE HAPPINESS CONSISTS IN HAVING OUR FACULTIES WHOLLY EN- GROSSED BY SOME WORTHY OBJECT, IN THE PURSUIT OF WHICH THE STRONGEST AND BtST OF OUR AFFECTIONS HAVE THEIR FULL PLAY, AND IN WHICH WE ENJOY ALL THE CONSISTENT PLEASURES OF OUR WHOLE NATURE; that though a regard to our greater!: happinefs be of excel- lent ufe, particularly about the beginning of our progrefs towards perfection and hap- pinefs, in bringing our inferior appetites and paliions into due fubjection to the fuperior powers of our nature, yet that felf-love, and a regard to ourfelves is very apt to grow too intenfe, and is in fact the caufe of a great deal of the ufelefs anxiety, perplexity, and mifery there is in the world •> and that therefore it ought to be our care, that our minds be engrolfed as much as porlible by other objects ; and that even motives to vir- tue which turn our attention frequently upon ourfelves mould be ufed with caution ; for fear of feeding that vanity and felf- conceit 0 $$6 the Duty of which we ought to fludy every method of repreiilng, as the greateft bane of true reli- gion, being moft oppofite to the genuine' temper of chriilianity, and the moft deilrue- tive of human happinefs. I cannot make a better application of this general maxim of conduct, namely, to pro- pofe to ourfelves, and, in the language, of Solomon to purfue with ail our might fome worthy object, fome honourable and ufeful employment, efpecially in the prefent cir- cumitances of things among us, than in en- couraging you, my brethren in the miniftry, to . proiecute with vigour that excellent fcheme in which you have already fhevvn fo' much laudable zeal, and have made fo fuc- cefsful a pr ogre is. I need not add, that I mean the icheme of a provifion for the more comfortable fupport of miniflers' widows and orphans. This particular fubjeel has the eafieft and happiefb connexion imaginable with the ge- neral not hiving to Our/elves. 351 neral one I have been difcufling ; as it is both a worthy and benevolent undertaking itfelf, and is defigned for the relief of thofe perfons who have (hewn themfelves to be actuated by the fame excellent fentiments ; of perfons who have not lived to themfelves, but to fociety ; who have entered into the locial connexions of life, and who have ex- pofed themfelves and families to peculiar hardfhips in confequence of thofe honour- able connexion?. If any fet of duties mine with peculiar iuflre and make a greater figure than the reit in our holy religion, they arc thofe of hu- manity and companion. Through all the books both of the Old and New Teflament, they are the mod frequently, and the moll carneftly inculcated of any particular duties: doubtlefs, becaufe they are of the ftrongeft obligation in themfelves, the fined exercife for our faculties (having the greateft tenden- cy to advance the perfection of our nature) and the beft adapted to promote the eafe and happinefs of mankind in general. The 252 The Duty of The Divine Being himfelf is always re- prefented as taking particular notice of the treatment which the poor and diftreffed meet with. He hath ftiled himfelf the father of the father lefs, and the widow's God: and therefore when we undertake thofe humane and kind offices, we may with more pro- priety than in any other fphere, confider our- felves as a&ing the glorious part of God's deputies, and as ftewards of the divine grace and goodnefs here below. If we be obliged to contribute of our fub- ftance to the relief of the diftreffed, much more is it incumbent upon us not to with- hold our labour and our intereft, in the pro- fecution of proper fchemes for their relief. And the method in which it is propofed to relieve the diftreffed perfons we have now under confideration is one that is quite free from all the difficulties which lie in the way of common charities (though the objections to common charities have no weight in this particular cafe) and a method which is, in all cafes, the moft eligible, when it can be purfued not Living to Our/elves. 353 purfued with effect ; namely, to put thofe perfons whofe circumstances are diftrefTing, or liable to be fo, in the way of relieving themfelves. It is to exert our humanity in the way of encouraging, if not induftry, at lealt frugality. This, confequently, is a method which will relieve the minds of the diftrefTed of a burthen which is often lefs tolerable than mod kinds of calamity, namely, the fenfe of dependance and obligation. It may be a falfe kind of delicacy which makes fome perfons fo extremely fenfible upon thefe oc- casions ; but it is a fenfibility which only the moil amiable and deferving perfons are fubject to ; and there is certainly a peculiar propriety in attending to this circumstance in the cafe before us. Who are, generally, the unhappy widows whofe cafe we are now considering, but per- fons who have been brought up in eafy and genteel circumftances, and whofe fmall for- tunes, joined to the income of their hufbands, and managed with great frugality, have been juft Sufficient to bring up a family in that A a decent 354 ^he Duty of decent and reputable manner, in which a regard to their ftation in life, and to the congregations in whole fcrvice their hufbands were engaged, are univerfally acknowledged to require. Thefe unhappy perfons, there- fore, are reduced at once, upon the death of their hufbands, and the great reduction, if not total ceafing of their incomes (which is the immediate confequence of that event) to one of the moft diftreffing lituations that can occur in human life. Here is to be feen the deepelt. affliction for the lofs of that companion and friend for whofe fake they had facrificed perhaps better profpects, and in lituations in which it would have been more in their power to fupport themfelves and families in the like circum- ftances j the greatefl indigence, to which they have never been accu Homed, with which they are therefore wholly unprepared to en- counter, and1 which, in their time of life, they are utterly incapable of remedying ; and all this joined with that generolity of fentiment, infpired by their education, and cherifhed by the company and acquaintance they not Living to Ourf elves. 355 they have always kept up, to which relief itfelf is diftrefling, unlefs conferred with the greateft prudence and delicacy. To augment the diftrefs of thefe difcon- folate widows, they fee nothing before them but a numoer of children educated in the fame decent and frugal manner in which their parents were obliged to live, with expectations (if they be of an age capable of having any) almoft unavoidably above their rank and fortune, wholly unprovided for, and destitute, in a great meafure, of their father's intereft and friendships, on which were founded all their expectations of being introduced with tolerable profpects into the world. Here then, my brethren, are the worthier!: objects of charity, and here is the moft un- exceptionable and defirable method of be- llowing it; fo that no circumftance feems wanting to engage every benevolent and public fpirited perfon to join heartily in a fcheme which is calculated for fo excellent a purpofe. Confider, my brethren, how many worthy perfons are anxious about the prudence and A a 2 the 356 The Duty of the vigour of your prefent refolutions ; with what tender and heart-piercing concern the worthy and pious parent regards the wife of his bofom, and the children of his love, when he feels the fymptoms of his own de- clining nature, and dreads to communicate the alarming intelligence; and how earneftly he wifhes it may be in his power to do fomething, while living, which, when he is dead, may be the means of providing a fmall fubftitute for the fruit of his prefent labours -, when alas, no fubftitute can be provided for bimfelf, for his advice, his in- jftructions, his confolations, the charms of his converfation, and all his perfonal kind offices. Of what a load of anxiety and dif- trefs, which tends to haften the dreaded event, would this fcheme eafe the worthieft and moft considerate of human minds. Confider alfo, how many perfonS, the beft qualified to bear their parts with propriety and honour in focial life, and to exhibit the fineft example of the feveral relative and domeftic duties to others, and who are thereby capable of having their own ufeful- nefs greatly extended, are retrained from engaging not Living to Ourf elves. 357 engaging in focial connexions by that pe- culiar tendernefs and humanity, which a liberal education, and a life devoted to the fervice of a benevolent religion infpires ; and alfo by that very prudence, which would eminently contribute to their fulfilling the molt important duties of it in the moil: ex- emplary manner. So excellent an undertaking, will doubt- lefs be its own fufficient reward ; and if the fervent prayer of a righteous man availetb much, what good may you not realbnably expect that the devout bleffings and fervent prayers of the many excellent perfons in- terefted in your prefent refolutions will pro- cure you, from that God who is able to make all grace abound towards you, and to fupply all your wants, out of his abundant fulnefs in Chrift Jefus. Let us then, my brethren, be ftedfajl and immoveable in this, as well as always abound- ing in every good work ; for as much as we know that our labour fiall not be in vain in the Lord. A a 3 Epbraim [ 35* ] Of the Danger of Bad Habits. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone, Hosea iv. i 7. TfPHRAIM is here put for the whole "^ kingdom of Ifrael, of which it was a part 3 and this aweful fentence pronounced upon it was delivered during its declenfion, and not long before its final diflblution by the kings of AfTyria. Many prophets had God fent to this un- happy nation, and by repeated meffages had he expostulated with them, from time to time, for their crying wickednefs and pro- vocations. They had had line upon line, and precept upon precept-, but all had been to no purpofe. They mewed no fign of repent- ance, but held fajl their iniquity, and would not let it go, till the divine patience and for- bearance were wearied out. Mercy could plead for them no longer, their fate was deter- 1 3 Bad Habits* 359 determined; and the execution of the juft judgments of God upon them was only delayed, but was fure to take place in the end. This is the cafe of a whole nation aban- doned of God in this fearful manner. But whatever has b en the cafe of one nation, may not only be the cafe of another nation, but alfo that of any individual ; and it is the poflibility of this being the cafe of our own nation, or of ourfelves, that makes it to demand our attention. To the Almighty, with refpect to moral government, a nation is as one man, and one man as a whole na- tion. He punimes vice, and he rewards virtue in both ; and whatever is agreeable to vvifdom and equity in the cafe of a na- tion, is likewile agreeable to wifdom and equity with refpect to individuals. Sup- pofing, therefore, that the cafes are exactly limilar, I mail, in difcourfing from thefc words, 1. State the cafe with as much exactnefs as I can j 2. Shew the probability and danger of it with refpect to human nature; and A a 4 Sdly, 360 The Danger of 3dly, Confider the equity and propriety of it with refpect to God, applying the whole doctrine to the cafes of individuals. In the firft place, I am to ftate this cafe with as much exactnefs as I can. In general, when any perfon is in the condition of Ephraim in my text, fo that God {hall, as it were, fay of him, he is joined to idols (he is joined to his lufts, and vices) Let him alone, his day of trial and probation may be faid to be, to all important pur- pofes, expired. He is no longer a fubjeff of moral government, becaufe he is utterly incapable of amendment, which is the end of all moral difcipline 5 and though, through the goodnefs of God, which is over all his works, he may live many years longer, yet his final doom is in reality fixed ; his {en." tence is irrevocable, and the execution of it only deferred. Not that the reformation of any (inner is ever naturally impojjible, or that, if he truly repent, he (hall not find favour at the hand of God. For nothing is impojjible with God, and a truly humble, penitent, and contrite 1 heart Bad Habits. 361 heart he will never defpife, whenever, and wherefoever he finds it. But the change may be morally impojjible, or not to be expected according to the ufual courfe of things; and this is fufficient to authorize us to make ufe of the language. Suppofing a man to have lived fo long in the habits of vice, as to have loft all relifh for every thing that is good, that he has no pleafure in the company of the fober, the virtuous, and the pious, but only in that of thofe who are as abandoned as himfelf, and that the greateft fatisfaction he has is in corrupting others (and farther than this, depravity cannot go) fuppofing that, in the courfe of his life, this man, befides every advantage for injiruftion, had experienced a great variety of profperity and adverfity ; and yet that profperity, inftead of making him more thankful and obedient to God, made him forget him the more ; and that afflictions, inftead of foftening and bettering* his heart, only ferved to harden it, and make it worfe. Do I fay that this aban- doned wretch cannot be reformed, that God cannot, 362 cfbe Danger of cannot, by any methods whatever, work upon his heart, and bring him to ferious thought and reflexion ? By no means. — That would be to limit the power of God, to whom all things are poffible. He can work miracles, if he mould think proper fo to do. But then I fay this would be a proper miracle, fuch as, at this day, we are not authorized to expect. And judging by what we fee actually to take place, and what we mull: conclude to be juft and right, God may, and probably will, leave fuch a one to himfelf. He may determine to try him no longer by any of thofe methods of his provi- dence which are ufually employed for the purpofe of reclaiming finners. . For inftance, afflictions, and efpecially bo- dily ficknefs, are a great means of foftening and bettering the minds of men ; but God may refolve that he mail be vifited with no remarkable ficknefs, till he be overtaken with his lail -, or he may cut him off by a fudden and unexpected death, in the midfl of his crimes. The death of our friends, or any calamities befalling them, have often been Bad Habits. 363 been the means, in the hands of divine pro- vidence, of bringing to ferious thought and reflexion thole who have furvived thofe ftrokes ; but God may refoke never to touch him in fo tender a part, but rather make ufe of his death as a warning and ex- ample to others. Now when a man is thus left of God t and no providential methods are ufed to reclaim him, we may conclude that he is irreco- verably loft. It is, in fact, and according to the courfe of nature (and we know of no deviations from it fince the aire of the apof- ties) abfolutely impoflible that he mould re- pent, or be reformed. And though he mould continue to live ever fo Ions after God has thus forfoken him, he is only, in the awful language of fcripture, treafiiring up wrath againjl the day of wrath ; and there remains nothing for him but a fearful looking for of judgment , and of that fiery indignation which fall con fume the adverfaries of God. Having thus ftated the nature of this awful cafe, and fhown in what Ccnfe, and on what account, it may be faid that it is 264 The Danger of is quite defperate and hopelefs, viz. be- caufe it may be morally impoflible that he mould ever truly repent and be reformed, by reafon of God's withdrawing thofe providential methods by which he ufes to work upon men's hearts, and to bring them to ferious thought and reflection, I come 2dly, to confider the probability and dan- ger of the cafe with refpect to human na- ture ; how far men are liable to fall into this fearful condition, and by what means they fall into it. A man's cafe may be pronounced to be thus defperate, when his mind is brought into fuch a ftate, as that the necefiary means of reformation fhall have loft their effect upon him j and this is the natural confequence of confirmed habits of vice, and a long conti- nued neglect of the means of religion and virtue, which is fo far from being an im- poflible or improbable cafe, that it is a very general one. In order to be the more fenfible of this, you are to confider that vice is a habit, and there- Bad Habits, %6$ therefore of a fubtle and infinuating nature. By eafy, plealing, and feemingly harmlefs actions, men are often betrayed into a pro- grefs, which grows every day more alarming. Our virtuous refolutions may break with, difficulty. It may be with pain and reluc- tance that we commit the Jirji afts of fin, but the next are eafier to us j and ufe, cuf- tom, and habit, will at laft reconcile us to any thing, even things the very idea of which might at firil be mocking to us. Vice is a thing not to be trifled with. You may, by the force of vigorous refolu- tion, break off in the early ftages of it ; but habits, when they have been confirmed, and long continued, are obftinate things to con- tend with, and are hardly ever entirely fub- dued. When bad habits Jeem to be over- come, and we think we have got rid of our chains, they may perhaps only have become, as it were, invifible-, fo that when we thought we had recovered our freedom, and flrength, fo as to be able to repel any temptation, we may lofe all power of refinance on the firil approach of it. A man 366 'The Danger of A man who has contracted a habit of vice, and been abandoned to finful courfes for fome time, is never out of danger. He is exactly in the cafe of a man who has long laboured under a chronical difeafe, and is perpetually fubject to a relapfe. The firft mock of any diforder a man's confti- tution may bear, and, if he be not naturally fubjecl: to it, he may perfectly recover, and be out of danger. But when the general habit is fuch, as that a relapfe is appre- hended, a man's friends and phyficians are alarmed for him. The reafon is, that a relapfe does not find a perfon in the condition in which he was when the firft fit of illnefs feized him. That gave his conftitution a mock, and left him enfeebled, fo as to be lefs able to fuftain another mock ; and efpecially if it be more violent than the former, as is generally the cafe in thofe diforders. In the very fame dangerous fituation is the man who has ever been addicted to vi- cious courfes. He can never be faid to be perfectly recovered, whatever appearances may promife, Bad Habits. 367 promife, but is always in danger of a fatal relapfe. He ought, therefore, to take the greateft care of himfelf. He is not in the condition of a perfon who has never known the ways of itokkedriefs. He ought, there- fore, to have the greateft diftruft of himfelf, and fet a double watch over his thoughts, words, and actions, for fear of a furprize. For if once, through the force of any par- ticular temptation, he mould fall back into his former vicious courfes, and his former difpofition mould return, his cafe will pro- bably be defperate. He will plunge him- felf ftill deeper in wickednefs ; and his hav- ing abftained for a time will only, as it were, have whetted his appetite, and make him fwallow down the poifon of fin by larger and more eager draughts than ever. buch perfons may be fo entirely in the power of vicious habits, that they (hall be in no fenfe their czvn maflers. They may even fee the danger they are in, wim to free themfelves from the habits they have con- tracted, and yet find they have no force, or refolution, to relieve themfelves. They are not 368 The Danger of not to be refcued from the fnare of the de- Jiroycr, and brought to their right mind, but by fome uncommon and alarming provi- dence, which is in the hands of God, and which he may juftly withhold, when his patience and long- fuffering have been much abufed. Juftly may he fay to fuch an ha- bitual finner, as he did to Ephraim in my text. He is joined to idols, he is joined to his lufls, let him alone. He is determined to have the pleafure of fnt let him receive the wages of Jin alfo. This brings me to the third head of my difcourfe, in which I propofe to confider the equity of the preceding with refpect to God. It may be faid that it is not agreeable to equity for God to favour fome with the means of improvement, and fufFer others to abandon themfelves to deftru&ion without a poffibility of efcaping. But I anfwer, that the perfons whofe cafe I have been de- scribing have had, and have outlived, their day of grace. God has long exercifed for- bearance towards them, but they have wea- ried Bad Habits. 369 Heel it out ; and it could not be expected to laft for ever. They have had gracious invi- tations to repentance, but they have flighted them all : they flopped their ears, and refufed to return. They have been tried with a great variety both of merciful and of afflic- tive providences, but they made no good ufe of them. Why then, as the prophet fays, fiould they be Jiricken any mure, when they will only revolt more and more ? A day of trial and probation, or what is frequently called a day of grace, muft ne- cefTarily have fome period. Elfe when would the time of retribution, when would the time of rewards and punifhments, take place ? A ftate of trial neceflarily refpecls fome future ftate, in which men muft re- ceive according to their deeds. But this ftate of trial it has pleafed God to make of uncertain duration, no doubt, to keep us always watchful, having our accounts al- ways in readinefs, becaufe in fitch an hour as SC8 think not, our Lord may come, and require them. The ftate of trial, therefore, is with fome of much longer duration than it is B b with 2jo 'The Danger of with others j and God is the fovereign ar- biter of every thing relating to it. He makes our lives longer or fhorter, as feems good in his fight, and at death a ftate of trial ends of courfe. We may, therefore, as well pretend to queftion the juftice and equity of God's cutting us off by death when and in what manner he pleafes, as arraign his juftice in fealing up our doom, though while we live, whenever he pleafes. No doubt God gives to every perfon a fufficient trial ; for he is not willing that any fiou/d pcriJJj, but had rather that all jhould come to repentance. We may therefore af- fure ouriclves, that he will not ceafe to en- deavour to promote the reformation of a finner by all proper means, till he mail be- come abfolutely incorrigible, and the me- thods taken to reclaim him would be abufed and loft. And if we confider that every means of improvement neglected adds to a x man's guilt, and aggravates his condemna- tion, it may even appear to be mercy in the Divine Being to grant a perfon no farther means of improvement, after it has been found, Bad Habits. 371 found, by actual trial, that they would only have been abufed, and therefore have proved highly injurious to him. Not but that it might have been fufficient to filence every cavil of this kind, to lay, as Paul does, on a fimilar occafiort, Who art thou, 0 man, that repiieji againjl Gcd; or with Abraham, Shall not the judge of ail the earth do that which is right ? But it is proper to mew that in the midft of judgment God remembers mercy. There is a Very pathetic defcription of the cafe of a (inner who, after a relapfe into vi- cious courfes, is juftly abandoned of God to feek his own deftruclion, in a parable of our Saviour's, formed upon the popular opinion of the Jews of his age concerning demons, or evil fpirits, Matt. xii. 43, Sec. " When " the unclean fpirit is gone out of a man, " he walketh through dry places, feeking " reft, and findeth none. Then he faith, I V will return to my houfe from whence I ** came out ; and when he is come, he find- " eth it empty, fwept, and garnimed. Then " goeth he, and taketh with himfelf feven " other fpirits; more wicked than himfelf, B b 2 and 372 ¥he Danger of •• and they enter in, and dwell there, and *' the laft ftate of that man is worfe than " the firft." The application of this pa- rable either to the cafe of the Jews (for whom it feems to have been originally in- tended) or to particular perfons, who, after a feeming reformation, have relapfed into vicious courfes, is too obvious to be parti- cularly dwelt upon. To come, therefore, to a general appli- cation of this do&rine -> Let all perfons who are fenfible of the folly and evil of linful courfes, and of the danger of perfifting in them, make a fpeedy and effectual retreat. Let us do nothing by halves. To be luke- warm in religion, is in effect to have no re- ligion at all. We mull give God our hearts ; we mutt give him an undivided affection ; for we cannot truly love God and ma?nmon> or . the world, at the fame time. In this un- fettled and fluctuating difpofition, tempta- tions will have a great advantage over us. We fhall ever be in danger of throwing off all reflraint, and of running into every kind of riot and excefs, till nothing on the part of Bad Habits, 2/7 of divine providence fliall occur to re- claim us. In reality, my brethren, and to every va- luable end and purpofe, the term of our trial and probation does generally expire long before the term of our natural lives. For how few are there whole characters, whole difpojitionst or habits of mind, undergo any considerable change after they are grown to man's eftate. Our tempers, and general cha- racters are ufually fixed as foon as we have fixed ourfelves in a regular employment and mode of life. For, after this, we fee almoft every perfon continue the very lame to the end of his life. Some remarkable provi- dential occurrence, fome fit of ficknefs, or fome unforefcen misfortune of any kind, may alarm thofe who have been addicted to vicious courfes, and for a time bring them to ferious thought and reflexion; but if they be turned thirty or forty years of age, how foon do the ferious purpofes, which they then form, go off, and their former modes of thinking and living return? Not only with refpect to temper, and difpofition of mind, B b 3 as 3-4 The Danger of as it relates to virtue or vice, but with re~ fpect to tbofe habits which are indifferent to morals, we fee that, excepting one cafe per- haps in a thoufand, they are not fubject to charge after the period that I have mentioned. Any habits that we contract early in life, any particular bias or inclination , any particular call: of thought, or mode of converfation, even any particular gefture of body, as in walking, fitting, &c. we are univerfally known by among our acquaintance, from the time that we properly enter life to the time that we have done with it -y as much as we are by the tone of our voice, or our hand writing, which likewife are of the nature of habits , or cujloms. Thefe obfervations may be applied in a great meafure even to matters of opinion, (though, naturally, nothing feems to be more variable) as well as to mental and corporeal habits. A man who has fludied, or who fancies he has fludied, any particular fub- ject, fooner or later makes up his mind, as we fay, with refpect to it -, and after this, all arguments, intended to convince him of his Bad Habits. 375 his miftake, only ferve to confirm him in his chofen way of thinking. An argument, or evidence of any kind, that is entirely new to a man, may make a proper impremon upon him -t but if it has been often pro- pofed to him, and he has had time to view and confider it, fo as to have hit upon any method of evading the force of it, he is af- terwards quite callous to it, and can very feldom be prevailed upon to give it any proper attention. This confideration ac- counts, in fome meafure, both for the great influence of chriftianity on its fir ft publi- cation, when the doctrines were new and Jiriking, and alfo for the abfolute indifference with which the fame great truths are now heard in all chriftian countries. It accounts alfo for the more ftriking ef- feci of the preaching of the Methodifts than ours. They find people utterly ignorant, to whom the truths, the promifes, and the threatenings, of the gofpel are really new ; whereas we have to do with perfons who have heard them from their infancy, and }jave, alas, acquired a habit of difregarding B b 4 them. 376 'The Danger of them. But then our people, having, in genera], been brought up in habits of virtue, fuch great changes of character and conduct are lefs necerTary in their cafe. It is to be regretted, however, that they too feldotn ex- ceed that mediocrity of character which they acquire in earl) life. I fpeak of the gene- rality among us. For others are remark- able exceptions, perfons of dijintereffed and heroic virtue; in full proportion to the fupe- rior advantages which they enjoy. The refiftance which the mind makes to the admiffion of truth, when it has been ftrongly prejudiced againfl it, is evident both with refpect to the belief of chriftia- nity in general, and of particular opinions re- lating to it. There are many perfons, by no means defective with refpect to judgment in other things, of whofe conversion to chriftianity we can have no more reafonable expectation, than of the fun riling in the weft, even though they mould confent tq hear, or read, every thing that we could propofe to them for that purpofe. There are alfo many confeientious and intelligent Roman Bad Habits. *yy Roman catholics, abfurd as we juftly think their principles to be, who would delibe- rately read the bell: defences of Proteftant- ifm, without any other effect than that of being more confirmed in their prejudices againft it. The fame may be {aid of perfons profeffing other modes of faith ; Co that their perfuafions are not to be changed, ex- cept by fuch a method as that which was applied for the converfion of the apoftle Paul. The fame obfervation may alfo be applied to many opinions, and cfpecially to a general has , or turn oj thinking , in matters of a political nature, and even in fubjects of philofophy, or criticifm. Fads of this kind, of which we are all witneffes, and which come within the ob- fervation of every day in our lives, mew in a very finking light, what care we ought to take in forming our firjl judgments of things, and in contracting our Jirjl habits^and. there- fore deferve the more efpecial attention of young perfons. For we fee that when thefe principles and habits are once properly form- ed, they are generally fixed for life. What- ever 37$ ^be Duty of ever is fact with refpect to mankind in gene- ra/, we ought to conclude to be the cafe with refpect to ourfelves -y that the caufe is in the conftitution of our common nature, and dependent upon the fundamental laws of it, and no doubt a wife and ufeful part of it ; and we mull not expect that miracles will be wrought in our favour. To mew that there is the greateft advan- tage, as well as fome inconvenience, refult- ing from this difpofition to fixitv, as we call it, in our own nature, let it be obferved, that if there was nothing ^aW, or permanent \ in the human ckaracler, we mould find the fame inconvenience, as if any other law of nature was unfettled. We mould be per- petually at a lofs how to conduct ourfelves, how to behave to mankind in general, and even to our own particular friends and acquaintance, efpecially after having been for any fpace of time abfent from them. We do not expect to find perfons the very fame in all changes of condition or circum- itances, as in licknefs and health, profpe- rity and adverfity, &c. but then we generally know Bad Habits. yjn know what kind of change to expect in them in thofe circumftances, and we regulate our conduct towards them by our experience of the ufual effect of fimilar changes. Thefe obfervations, when applied to opi- nions, may ferve to amufe us, but when they are applied to practice they ought ferioufly to alarm us. Let all thofe, therefore, who being at all advanced in life, fee reafon to be diffatisfied with themfelves, with their difpofition of mind, and their general con- duct, be alarmed ; for there is certainly the greateft reafon for it, probably much more than they are themfelves aware of. Perfons in this itate of mind always flatter them- felves with a time when they mall have more leifure for repentance and reformation; but, judging from obfervation on others, which is the fureft guide that they can follow (infinitely better than their own imagina- tions) they may conclude, that it is almoft a certainty that fuch a time will never come. If they mould have the leifure for re- pentance and reformation which they pro- mifed themfelves, it is not probable that fufficient 380 the Danger of furncient Jirength of refolution will come Along with it. Indeed, all refolutions to repent at a future time are necerTarily in- Jincere, and muft be a mere deception; be- caufe they imply a preference of a man's pVefent "habits and con duel:, that he is really unwilling to change them, and that nothing but neceffity would lead him to make any attempt of the kind. In facl, he can only mean that he will difcontinue particular aflions, his habits, or temper of mind 9 remain- ing the fame. Befides, a real, effectual repentance, or re- formation, is fuch a total change in a man, as cannot, in the nature of things, take place in a fhort fpace of time. A man's habits are formed by the fcenes he has gone through, and the impreffions which they have made upon him ; and when death ap- proaches, a man has not another life, like this, to live over again. He may, even on a death bed, mofr. fincerely wiJJj that he had a pious and benevolent difpoiition, with the love of virtue in all its branches : but that wijh, though it be ever fo fincere, and earneft, cap. Bad Habits. 381 can no more produce a proper change in his mind, than it can reftore him to health, or make him taller, or ftronger, than he is. The precife time when this confirmed ftate of mind takes place, or, in the language of fcripture, the time when any perfon is thus left of God, or left to himfelf cannot be determined. It is neceiTarily various and uncertain. But in general, we may fay, that when any perfon has been long aban- doned- to vicious courfes, when vice is grown into a habit with him, and efpe- cially, when his vices are more properly of a mental nature, fuch as a difpofition to envy, malice, or f elf Jhnefs (which are the moft in- veterate, the moft difficult to be eradicated, of all vices) when neither health nor fick- nefs, profperity nor adverfity; when neither a man's own reflections, the remonftrances of his friends, nor admonitions from the pul- pit, have any vifible effect upon him; when, after this, we fee no great change in his worldly affairs, or connexions, but he goes on from day to day, from month to month, and from year to year, without any fenfible 2 alteration, i$2 The Danger, &c; alteration, there is reafon to fear (hat he i^ fallen into this fatal fecurity, that he is as it were fallen afleep, and that this fleep, will be the fleep of death. However, a fhadow of hope is not to be defpifed. One chance in a thoufand is ftill a chance ; and there are perfons whofe vigour of mind is fuch, that, when fufficiently rouzed, they are equal to almoft any thing. Let thofe, therefore, who fee their danger at any time of life, be up and doing) working out their falvation with fear and trembling; that, if poflible, they may flee from the wrath to come. T HE f 383 ] THE DUTY OF NOT BEING ASHAMED OF THE GOSP EL. i" am not afhamed of the Gofpel of Chrijl i for it is the Power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth, Rom. i. 16. THIS was written by the apoftle Paul at Corinth, when he had formed a defign of viiiting Rome, the metropolis of the empire, the feat of power, and of courfe the refort of the ambitious, and alfo of the learned, and in general of all perfons who had any hopes of diftinguiming themfelves on the great theatre of the world. There this apoftle wifhed to have an opportunity of preaching the gofpel, after having propa- gated it with fuccefs in the principal cities of Alia minor and Greece; in his travels for which purpofe, though he had fufFered much, he had met with nothing that had made him repent of his undertaking, or had led him to be afhamed of his commiflion. He 384 ^je &ufy of not being He now difcovered as little apprehenfion on the idea of going to Rome, and was as little afhamed to preach the gofpel even there. There was fomething peculiarly great and magnanimous in thefe fentiments and this conduct of the apoflle, of which we fhall be fenfible if we conlider the circumftances in which he wrote. Chriftianity was then a new religion, profeffed comparatively by very few ; and of thofe few, not many were rich* powerful, or learned. By fuch perfons as thefe it was generally viewed in an un- favourable light, interfering with their fa- vourite gratifications and purfuits, fo that both among Jews and Gentiles it was a feci that was every where fpoken againjl, and the preachers of it were hated, as thofe who' came to turn the world upjide down, Paul had been at Athens, the great feat of learn- ing, and of education, in the ancient world ; but the language of the philofophers there,- was IV hat does this habhr, or this dealer in new and uncouth wordst fay. After a hearing before the Areopagus, the moft refpcctable court of judicature in Athens, or in all Greece ; though, with much addrefs, he avoided afiamed of the Go/pel. 38^ Avoided giving any particular offence, he made very few converts ; and though he continued there fome months, we do not hear of any Chriftian church at Athens iii his time: This indeed was the firft time that the gofpel had been preached at Athens ; whereas at Rome, to which there was a conftant re- fort of perfons of all profelTions, from every part of the empire, there were already Chrii- tians, and in numbers fufficient to conftitute a churchy at the time of Paul's writing this epiftle, and to that church it is addrelTed. But ftill the number of Chriftians in Rome muft have borne a very fmall proportion to the inhabitants of the place. In thefe cir- cumftances, the apottle could have had no very flattering profpect before him, when he thought of viiiting the metropolis. He had many and great difficulties in view, and hardly any thing, with refpeit to this life, to enable him to bear them. The attachment of a very few perfons, and thofe very much divided amongft themfelves, was all that he had with which to balance the contempt cf the C c learned, 3S6 The Duty of not being learned, and the great, the rude iniblence of the mob, and perhaps hardships and perfe- ctions of a more ferious kind. Notwith- ftanding this, the apoftle declares that he mould not be afhamed of the gofpel of Chrift, or afraid to preach it in the moft public manner. For that muft likewife have been his refolution. Our circumftances are, no doubt, con- iiderably different from thofe of the apoftle. Chriftianity is now the religion of the country, in which we live, and the open profeffion of it lies under no odium. It cannot, there- fore, be a juft ground of boafting in any man to fay that, he is not afhamed of it. Even thofe who by their writings wifh to under- mine and difcredit Chriftianity, do it under the pretence of being friends to it. In • many refpects, however, the ferious profef- fion of pure Chriftianity, free from thofe corruptions and abufes which have been un- happily introduced into it, and have become incorporated with it, in all the public eftablifhments of it, and in fome cafes even the profeffion of Chriftianity itfelf (and ftill more afiamed of the Gofpel. 387 more a life and converfation governed by the ftrict rules of it) is difliked, and therefore di fre put able -y fo that it may require no final I degree of fortitude in a man uniformly to avow his ferious belief of it, and his ftrict adherence to it. In this Chriltian country, the Christianity of the greater number is only a fcccndarv confideration with them. The great objects with the bulk of mankind are pleafure, profit, or honour. Religion, by which I mean a regard to God and a future life, is fo little thought of, or attended to, by them, that it is no fenfible check to their purfuits, and enforces no moderation in their gratifi- cations. Confequently, a man who thinks, who feels, and who acts, as really becomes a Chriltian, who/ets God always before him, whofe views are primarily directed to a future life, and who habitually confiders himfelf as a pilgrim and fir anger here below, is a character of which they have no con- ception. Such views, and a conduct go- verned by them, they cannot enter into. To them, therefore, it muft appear either C c 2 folly, 388 The Duty of not being folly, or hypocrlfy ; and of courfe will be treated by them with contempt, or hatred. Their being nominally Christians them- ielves will not make them look with more refpect upon thofe who are truly and prac- tically fo. If we look back a century or two, we fhall fee that the hatred and contempt with which the reformers from popery abroad, and the puritans in this country, were treated by thofe who called themfelves Chriftians, was not exceeded by that which the Jews, and the Gentiles in general, enter- tained for Chriftianity at the fir ft promul- gation of it. By great numbers alfo, and efpecially in the moll diftinguifhed ranks of fociety, the rich, the great, and the fpeculative, Chrif- tianity itfelf is difbelieved, and even de- fpifed 5 fo that any perfon who makes a feribus profeffion of it will by them be treated with contempt. In fuch company, therefore, it muft require fome courage for a man to declare himfelf to be a Chriftian, and efpecially a ferious one, with views in his a foamed of the Go/pel. 389 his conduct quite different from thofe with whom he aflbciates. On thefe accounts it may not be im- proper, or unfeafonable, to exhort Chriftians themfelves, and in this Chriftian country, not to be afhamed of the gofpel of Chrift; by informing them of the reafons why, in thefe circumftances, or in any circumftances, they ought, on the contrary, to value them- felves upon it, and to confider the profeilion of it as their greateft happinefs and honour. Now, my Chriftian brethren, we mail be feniible that we have no reafon to be afhamed of the gofpel, but the greateft rea- fon to glory in it, when we confider what it is in it/elf, not what it has by too many been imagined to be, and what is the great object and ufc of it. Men of reafon will be governed by rea- fon, or juft views of things, and will not be influenced by the opinions of thofe who have taken no pains in forming them, but have taken them up lightly, and on in- fufficient grounds, which you will find to be the cafe with all thofe who defpife, or afFe£l C c 3 to 390 The Duty of not being to defpife, Chrifrianity. This apoflle, who had been ftrongly prejudiced againft it, who had even persecuted it, but whom the mod convincing evidence (and in his cafe no- thing lefs than the mofl convincing would have been Sufficient) had made a convert to it, who had in the midft of much opposi- tion, and with great labour and hazard, preached it many years, fays that it is the power of God unto falvat ion, to every one that bdieveth. In other words, it is a fcheme which divine wildotn has adopted, as the moil effectual, to deliver men from fuper- flition and vice, and to prepare them for future glory. And this is certainly nothing of which any man, any truly fenfible and wife man, need to be amamed, in whatever light it may appear to the unthinking world, or in what manner foever, from ig- norance, or malice, they may treat the pro- feffors of it. That mankind are fubjecl: to error, and alfo to vice, we who are men ourfelves cannot but know, and experience. This liablenefs to error and vice is, indeed, ne- peffary ajlwmed of the Go/pel. 39 f ceflary in a flate of trial, in which great characters, characters fitted for great and excellent future purpofes, are to be formed. Many, alas the many, the great bulk of man- kind, are fatally entangled in error and vice. They are ftruck with the appearances of things, which preient themfelves to their view, and which prompt them to immediate gratification ; and, looking no farther, they abandon themfelves to the purfuit of them. By this means their characters are debafed, and having no refpect to God, or a future life, their conduct, correfponding to their low and grovelling views, will be fuch as, though viewed with too much indulgence by men like themfelves, is a difgrace to their rational nature j neither making them truly happy here, nor qualifying them for happinefs hereafter. Now the precepts and maxims of the gofpel, and efpecially the future profpects which it opens to us, are calculated to conduct us with fafety through the fnares of the world, and to give us a happy exit out of i(. They give us juft v;e\vs of things, C c 4 of 392 The Duty of not being of our condition and duty here, and of oup .expectations hereafter ; by which means they guard us againfl deftructive errors, they lead to the practice of univerfal virtue, and form us for a happy immortality. Chriftianiry gives us juft views of the re- lation in which all the human race ftands to God, our common parent, of his gracious defigns in training us up, as in a fchool of moral difcipline, for future glory and happinefs. It confequently teaches us to coniider ail mankind as brethren. It holds out to us all the fame great profpects, a ftate of happinefs open to all, and fufficient to content all ; and thereby cuts up, as by the roots, all that envy and jealoufy, which, being the parents of our worfl vices, are the bane of our comfort in this life, as well as difqualify us for the enjoyment of another. This excites a generous emulation to be virtuous ourfelves, and at the fame time to promote the virtue of others. It teaches us to confider one another as fellow foidiers in the fame caufe and warfare, and thereby prompts us to be ready to yield each other every afiamed of the Gofpel, 393 £very afTiilance in our power, to attain the great end of our common faith, to guard againft our common dangers, and to fecure our common reward. There are no prin- ciples comparable to the chriltian ones for infpiring a noble dilinterefted benevolence, and leading to a truly heroic conduct. Chriftianity exalts the dignity of man, and infpires great and generous fentiments, by teaching us to have a conftant refpect to God ; exhibiting him to us as the greateil and bed: of being?, the author of nature, and the father of mankind ; who never deferts his offspring, but with the mofl gracious intention plans all the events of our lives; without whofe will nothing can ever befal us, and who defigns every thing for the bed. Let things therefore appear ever fo dif- couraging, they give no alarm, or diftruft, to the true chriftian. He refpecls the provi- dence of his God and father in the moll afflictive, as well as in the mod profperous events of his life; and is confident that, if his own conduct be proper to his circum- fiances, ig^ The Duty of not being fiances, it will hereafter appear that there was equal wifdom, and equal kindnefs, in the appointment of them. The true chrif- tian can therefore rejoice even in tribulation^ knowing with the apoftle, that tribulation 'worketh patience , and patience experience, and experience hope, even that hope which maketh not ajhamed, that hope and joy which are fufficient to bear him up under, and carry him through, any difficulties, even the pains of death, with all its terrors. In death the true chriftian rejoices in hope of the glory of God. For though the earthly bouje of his tabernacle he dijfolved, be has a houfe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is the great prerogative of the gofpel that it brings life and immortality to light ; thereby giving us a profpecr. of fome- thing infinitely more valuable than any thing that this world can furnifh j an in- heritance incorruptible^ undefiled, and that fadeth not away -, not indeed the objeci of fight, but of the firmed faith, being furely re/erved in heaven for us, Chriitianitv fifiamed of the Gofpcl. 395 Chrifuanity, therefore, prepares the mind for all circumfhnces. and all events, and is calculated to make us equally happy in all places, and at all times ; giving us an equa- nimity, and confequently a dignity of mind, and of character, which does the greateft honour to human nature, and makes it ap- pear to the greatefr. advantage of which it is capable. Does any perfon then need to be afhamed of fuch a profellion as this ? Thefe great fentiments, which have fuch remarkable and happy effects, are not con- fined to a few perfons, diftinguimed by fu- perior genius ; but are fuch as all human minds, even the weakeir, are fully capable of. The doctrines of aGW, of a providence, and of a future life, as far as they can have much influence on our tempers and conduct, are of equal comprehenfion to all men ; and jince the lowed of mankind are as capable of firm faith as the higheft, they are cap- able of being as powerfully influenced by them. Accordingly, we find in the hiftory of chridianity, as much dignity of ' fcnt'iment (if that be eftimated by dignity of conduct, 2 by 396 The Duty of not being by benevolence to others, by patience in fuifering, and by fortitude in danger and in death) in the lowed: orders of mankind, as in the highcft j and as much in the female, or weaker lex, as it is called, as in men. Whereas, the influence of the heathen phi- lofophy, whatever it was, was confined to the fuperior dalles of men, who had leifure to ftudy and attend to it. And yet in real life and ufe, it fell infinitely fhort of chrif- tianity ; fo that the maxims of philofophy may be compared to a poor mineral, for which, however, men muft dig deep ; where- as the truths of chriftianity are a rich trea- fure found on the very furface. Shall we then be afhamed of the gofpel, which is fo unfpeakably more valuable than all the boafted wifdom of the world ; which is calculated to make us happy in our pre- fent fentiments, feelings, and profpedts, and infinitely more fo in a future and a better ftate ? Surely no man will think chriftia- nity of lefs value becaufe the loweft of his fellow-creatures have equal accefs to the bleffings of it with himfelf. He muft be of ajljcimcd of the Go/pel. 397 of a low and fordid mind indeed, who can be capable of fuch a fentiment. A great and generous mind will rejoice in the idea of that fuperior dignity, and elevation of character, which chriflianity is capable of imparting to alL The fenfe of it will rather make him proud of the fuperiority of thofe common principles, which are cap- able of producing fuch great and happy effects, without requiring any thing extra- ordinary in the qualifications, or furniture of mind, before the reception of them. Surely we ought not to be afhatned, but on the contrary to make the greater! boafl, of that religion, which can make, and which has made, the loweft peafants, and thoufands of the loweft peafants and mechanics, act with more generolity in profperity, and with more fortitude in adverfity and perfecution, than any philofopher in the heathen world ; making them fuperior to the pains andplea- fures or life, from the profpect of a future ftate, on which their views were fteadily fixed. In 398 The Duty of not being In this world too much account is made of the diflinction between the rich and the poor. The former are courted, and the lat- ter defpifed. But God, the common pa- rent of all, makes no difference in his bene- volent regards towards them. When the nature of the two Hates is confidered, it will appear that there is no peculiar kindnefs in the divine intentions with refpect to either of them. They are only theatres for the exercife of different virtues. And, in re- ality, the trials of the rich are harder than thole of the poor; as is evident from this- circumftance, that more perfons fall by the fnares of profperity than by thofe of ad- verfity. And God, in particularly appoint- ing that the go} pel JJjould be preached to the poor (that they whole condition appears harder in this life may have an opportunity of making a better provifion for themfelves in another) gives the ftrongeft proof of his paternal affection for them. Whatever, then, be our fituation in life, whether we be rich or poor, whether we rank aflmmcd of the Go/pel. 399 rank among the more enlightened, or the more unlearned part of mankind ; whether, on any of thefe accounts, we be of thofe whom others are difpofed to lock up to with refpect, or to look down upon with con- tempt, let us equally value that gofpel, the bleffings of which regard us all alike, as the offspring of God, and brethren to each other j as training up together in a fchool of difcipline here, and as joint heirs of im- mortality hereafter. I fhall conclude this difcourfe with two obfervations. Firft, if the world, or any part of it with which we may have inter- courfe, mould hate or defpife us becaufe wc are chriftians, and act up to the ftricteit maxims of it, let us confider that men of the fame defcription hated and defpifed our blefled matter. By the fame great princi- ples which actuated him, let us likewife overcome the world, and mew our fuperiority to our adverfaries by the fuperiority of our feniiments and conduct \ and efpecially by returning good for evil, requiting hatred with love, and by our behaviour, at leaft, endeavouring 400 y^ Z)a/y <5/"/vg7 Ar/flrg endeavouring to infpire them with a refp'cct for thofe principles which enable us to feel,- and to act; in a manner fuperior to what they are at prefent capable of. Secondly. As our greateft privilege and happinefs, and confequently our greateft caufe of rejoicing and boafting, is that we are chriftians (that while other nations are ftill buried in grofs darknefs, in error and fuperftition, without the true knowledge of God, of his providence, and the certain be- lief of immortality, we have all been taught, and have from our earlieft years beerf brought up in, the firm belief of thefe things) let ehriftianity have fomething to boaft of in us. The glory of any religion is the good conduct of thofe who profefs it. Now the proper object of ehriftianity is to' make good men andgood citizens, proper fub- jects of God's moral government here, and fit heirs of immortality hereafter. And better were it, unfpeakably better, for us never to have known chriftianity, than to know it, and not live according to it ; not to let our light Jo Jhlne before men , .as that others may afiamed cf the Go/pel. 40 1 fee our good works, and thereby glorify our Father who is in heaven. Every chriftian mould be a preacher of the gofpel. They who cannot recommend it by any other means, have it in their power to do it by a good example ; and without this any other method of recom- mending it will avail but little. Since, therefore, you retain the outward profeffion of chriftianity, be chriftians, my brethren, not in name and profefpon only, but alfo in deed' and in truth. Be unto our great Lord and mailer that peculiar people zealous of good works, which he came to purify to him* felf; that when he Jhall return, and take an account of his fervants, you, my hearers, and my felf, may be found of him without f pot, and blamelefst and not be ajhamed before him at his coming. Dd GLORYING 402 Glory mg in the GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST, God forbid that I Jhould glory , five in the crofs of our Lord Jefus Chrijl, by whom the world is crucified, unto 7ne, and I unto the world. For in Jefus Chrifl neither circumcifwn availeth any thing, nor uncir- cumcfion, but a new creature. Gal. vi. 14, 15. U C H is the truly magnanimous decla- ration of the apoftle Paul, on his fpeak- ing of fome who urged the practice of cir- cumcifion, and a conformity to the law of Mofes, on the gentile converts, in order to gain favour with the unbelieving Jews, and by that means to avoid perfecution. At the fame time, he probably alluded to the com- mon objection againft chriftianity, as the doctrine of a crucified malefactor. With this circumftance attending their religion, chriftians, in the early ages, were conti- Crcfs of Chrift, 403 continually reproached ; and in order to lcilen the force of the objection, fome of them had recourfe to very improper expe- dients. In the age of the apoftles arofe the Gnoftics, who faid that Chrift (or the Being who was properly entitled to that denomi- nation) was not crucified, and indeed was not capable of it, or of dying in any mode ; as he was a fuper- angelic fpirit, which either quitted the man Jems, to whom he had been attached; or had only arTumed the appear- ance of a human body. They therefore laid, that they were the difciples, not of a crucified man, or of any man, but of a fu- perior Being, fent by God to rectify the diforders into which the world had fallen. After the a^e of the apoftles, the philofo- phizing christians had recourfe to a different icheme in order to remove the ignominy of the crofs. They fuppofed that the prin- ciple which rendered Jems fuperior to other men, and by which he wrought his mira- cles, was the wifdom of the fupreme Being, detached in fome unknown manner from his efience, and becoming a proper per/on; D d 2 the 404 Glorying in the the fecond perfon in the trinity, which waa afterwards formed. This they faid was that logos , or word of God, by which, as an in- flrument, he had made the world, had inter- courfe with the patriarchs, and which was afterwards employed to redeem the world, by becoming united to the man Jefus. Of this fcheme the apoftles could have no knowledge ; but of the former, which was fufficiently fimilar to it, they always fpake with the greateft indignation. So far were they from being afhamed of a cru- cified matter, that they gloried in it. The apoftle Paul, in my text fays, that it was his only, or his greateft boaft : God forbid that I fouid glory, save in the crofs of our Lord Jefus Cbrifti adding, as a reafon for his boafting, by whom the world is crucified unto ?ne, and I unto the world. For in Jefus Cbrift, neither circumcifwn availeih any thing, nor uncircumcifon, but a new creature ; that is, by whofe goipel I am releafed from my attachment unto fin; by which the world is fo completely reformed, as, in a manner, to be created anew. That Crofs of Chrijl, 405 That we, my brethren, may enter fully into the fentiment of the apoftle in this noble declaration, and adopt it ourfelves, I mall endeavour to fhew what was the deli^n, and operation, of the death, and efpecially of Co public and ignominious a death, of the founder of our religion. Many of the heathens would, no doubt, have been much better reconciled to chrif- tianity, if the author of it had appeared in fuch a character as that of Socrates, or of Plato, efpecially the latter, who lived in affluence, and with dignity, highly refpected by the highefr. ranks of his countrymen, and by foreign princes, and whofe death had nothing in it befides what is com- mon to mortality; nothing that could at- tach an idea of meannefs to the perfon who was fubjedfc to it. The Jews alfo would have thought better of chriftianity, if the founder of this new religion, though he mould not have been all that they expected from their mejjiab, had refembled one of their ancient prophets, in whofe death there was nothing degrading j and Jftill more, if, D d 3 like 40 6 Glorying in the like Enoch or Elijah, he had been taken up to heaven without dying. But in the mean- nefs of our Saviour's appearance, and in the circumftances of his death, fo humiliating to himfelf and his followers, the wifdom of God was particularly manifefted, as will appear if we attentively confider them. As that which diftinguimed Chrift from all the other prophets was his refurrection from the dead, which was a thing of fo ex- traordinary a nature, that it required to be authenticated in the moil: unexceptionable manner, it was evidently neceflary that, pre- vious to his refurrection, his death mould be unqueftionable ; and this it could not have been, if it had been private, or in the pre- fence of his friends only. For, in this cafe, his enemies would not have failed to fay, that he had never been dead ; and no testi- mony of his difciples only, how unexcep- tionable foever in other refpects, would have fatisfied them of the fact. Confequently, the belief of it would have remained with a very few, and would have been incapable of fpreading far. To Crofs of Cbrljl, 407 To cut off all cavil of this kind, it was ne- ceflary that the death of Chrift fhould be as public as poffible, fo that his enemies mould never have it in their power to call it in quef- tion. And this they could have no pretence for doing, when he had been put into their own hands for the purpofe. We may afture ourfelves that the death of the perfon who had given them fo much difturbance having been their great object, and having had their ut- moft wimes gratified in his fentence, they would take effectual care of the execution of it, and would never have delivered the body to his friends, till they had been well fatisfied that he was really dead. Accordingly, we do not find that it was ever fuppofed, by any of the ancient unbe- lievers, that Jefus was not certainly dead before he was put into the fepulchre. A fufpicion of the contrary muft have occurred at the time, if there had been any colour for it ; fo that it is too late to make the ob- jection now. There were as inveterate, and as vigilant enemies of Chrift at the time of his death, as there can be at this day; and they P d 4 were 40 8 Glorying in the were in circumftances infinitely more fa- vourable for difcovering a fallacy of this kind. Since, therefore, they could not but acknowledge that Jefus was really dead, unbelievers of the prefent age muft abide by their verdict, and content themfelves with objecting to the credibility of the refur- rettion ; which, for wife reafons, was not fo public, though fufficiently authenticated. With refpect to this, I fhall only obferve, in this place, that as the enemies of Chrift would never have been fatisfled without being quite fure of his death, fo it is utterly incredible that his difciples would have fuffered and died in the caufe of chriftianity, if they had not been as well perfuaded that he rofe from the dead. It is not, indeed, poffible to imagine any cafe in which men mould be more deeply interefted to inform themfelves of the truth of any fact ; and it cannot be denied but that the immediate difciples of Chrift muft themfelves have been the beft witneffes of it. The certainty of the death of Chrift being of ufe only with a view to the certainty of his Crofs of Chrijl. 409 his refurre&ion, it is the latter only that is the proper foundation of the chriftian's hope and joy. Accordingly, the apoflles never fail to lay a proportionable itrefs upon it. Thus the apoiUe Peter fays (1 Pet. i. 3.) B'ejfed be the God and Father of our Lord J ejus Chrijl, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a lively hope, (not by the death, but) by the refurrediion of ¥efus Chrijl j>om the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undejiled, and that fadeth not azvay, referved in the heaven for you. And though great ftrefs is juftly laid on the death of Chrift, as eiTential to the fcheme of chriftianity, and various methods are taken by the apoftles to reconcile the minds of the jews to the idea of it; yet more frrefs is always laid on the refurredtion, whenever they are mentioned together. — Who is he that condemneth, fays the apofile Paul, Rom. viii. 34. // is Chrijl (or rather is it Chriil) that died, yea rather that is rifen from the dead, who is even at the right hand of God. And again, chap. v. 10. If when we were enemies, ive were reconciled to God by the 4 to Glorying in the the death of his fon, much more, being recon- ciled, -we fiall be faved by his life. Let us, therefore, ever keep in view the fubfervi- ency of the death of Chrift to his refur- re&ion, and not imagine that it had any other proper objecl:. It was to his refurrection that our Lord himfelf chiefly directed the views of his difciples, and very feldom to his death, con- sidered in itfe-lf. When the Pharifees de- manded of him a fign from heaven, he told them that, as Jonah lay three days and three nights in the belly of a fifli, fo the fon of man mould be three days and three nights (that is, fo long and no longer) in the heart of the earth -, evidently referring to his re- furreclion. Again, he faid, dejlroy this' tem- ple, and in three days I will raife it again. Jefus appears to have had a diftinct know-P ledge of the extenfive propagation of his religion in the world, and of the neceffity of his death to that end; but it was evi^ dently with a view to a fubfequent refur- rection, without which his death could not have anfvvered any fuch purpofe. Teaching in Crojs of Cbrift. 41 1 in the temple, a little before his death, he thus expreifes himfelf, John xii. 2. The hour is come that the fon of man mxift be glorified, in which, he muft have had a view to his refurredtion and afcenfion, preceded by his death. Verily verily, I fay unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit ; that is, by its reproduction, and multiplication. Again, v. 31, Now is the judgment of this world, now flo all the prince of this world be caft out; and I, if I be lifted up from the earth (that is, if I die) / will draw all men unto me ; not by his death, but by his refurrection, and afcenfion. In all this we fee that our Lord confidered his death in no other light than as neceflary to his exaltation and future glory, and efpe- cially to the fuccefsful propagation of his religion in the world. To this, therefore, let us direct our views ; and when we glory in the crofs of Chrift, let us confider it as in reality a glorying in the refurreclion of Chrift, in which we could have no well grounded 4 i z Glorying in the grounded faith, if there had not been, in the iirft place, a certainty of his death. And on the importance of the refurreclion of Chrift 1 need not infift. If Cbriji be not raifed, as the apoflle Paul fays, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is alfo vain. The whole of Chriftianity is an idle tale, unworthy of your attention. Well, therefore, might the apoflle glory in the crofs of Chrift, when, confidered in all its connexions, and confequences, it was the only foundation of his hope in a future life, the revelation of which was the diftin- guiihing glory of the gofpel, that gofpel by which the world is reformed, and men are made fit heirs of a happy immortality. For fuch, no doubt, was his meaning when he added, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, that is, by whofe gofpel 1 am, as it were, become dead to this world, and alive to another and a better. While others looked with contempt on a crucified Jefus, and defpifed the gofpel on that ac- count, the apoflle faw the greateft wifdom jn that very circumftance, as it contributed infinitely Crofs of Chri/I. 413 infinitely more to the great end of religion than all the fpeculations and difcourfes of thofe philofophers who defpifed it. Their inftructions were only calculated for the ufc of a few perfons of leifure, and of a fpeculative turn ; and to them they could hold out nothing that was capable of con- trouling the palTions of men. They had no great and interesting truths to teach them, nothing of importance concerning God, or concerning many important branches of their duty here, and much lefs concerning their expectations hereafter. With refpect to thefe things, fo infinitely interefting to all men, the philofophers themfelves were in- volved in great darknefs. If they had any 'idea of the abiurdity of the vulgar Poly- theifm, they favv nothing to induce them to ■protcft againlt: it, or to rijk any thing for the overthrow of it. So far were they from this, that they univerfally conformed to it themfelves, and recommended conformity in others ; though the rites of their religion were always accompanied with the moil de- teftable vices. Whatever 414 Glorying in the Whatever knowledge the philofophers might have of a firfh caufe, they had no belief in a providence, and were altogether deftitute of a principle of practical and habitual devotion, Alfo, whatever fpecula- tions they might occafionally indulge con- cerning a date of exiftence after death, it was built upon the notion of their having exifted before they were born, of which they could not have any proof; and it does not appear that they had fo firm a faith in it, as to be the foundation of any real expecta- tions, fuch as in the lean: influenced their conduct in life. On the other hand, the religion of a crucified Jefus, crucified in order to a well- attefted refurreclion, gave the moft. unlearned ' of mankind the firmed belief in a future life, and brought them acquainted with fuch principles of the unity and providence cf God, of his refpect to virtue here, and the rewards that he would bellow upon it here- after, as effectually controuled their ftrongeft paflions and affections, gave them new and fublime objects of contemplation, new en- joyments Crofs of Cbiijh 415 joyments and new purfuits. Teaching them to coniider themfeives as children of God, and heirs of immortal happinefs, it railed them above the coniideration of the pleafures or pains of this life ; fo that neither the hope of any emolument, nor the fear of any fuf- fering here, was capable of diverting them from what they conceived to be their duty. Thus were fome of the lowed of man- kind, who had no advantage befides the knowledge of Christianity, formed to charac- ters infinitely fuperior to any that the heathen world could boaft. Having a treajure in heaven, treafures on earth were overlooked, and defpifed by them -, and having a better life in profpecl, they made little account of theprefent j but readily abandoned it, when- ever their attachment to it, or to any thing in it, would have been a mare to them, and would have led them to any compliances which they thought to be forbidden by the great giver of life. Thus did the doclrine of a crucified Jefus, crucify them to the world, and the world to them. They were in reality, as the apoftle exprefTes it, new 4 creatures, 4 1 6 Glorying in the creatures, created anew in Chrift 'Jtfus, or by the gofpel, unto good works. Confidering that it was the death of Chrift at which the world in general, both Jews and Gentiles, were fo much offended, and which they continually objected to Chrif- tians ; and that, in the idea of the apoftles, this circumftance was of fuch abiblute ne- cefiity in the fcheme of the gofpel, it is no wonder that, in anfwer to thefe objections, they mould dwell fo much as they do on their reprefentations of the death of Chrift ; fometimes, for example, exhibiting it in the fame light as the 'facrifkes under the law, fometimes as the killing of the pafcal lamb, and fometimes as a ranfom given by God for our redemption. All thefe views are different from, and inconliftent with, each other (which abundantly proves that none of them could be more than figurative reprefentations) but, like our Saviour's comparifon of it to a put- ting of a grain of wheat into the ground, they are all calculated to take off the odium which, from this circumftance, was reflected upon Chriftianity. It is even no wonder that, confidering Crofs of CI rifi. 4 i y confidering the death of Chrift in all its connexions, and efpecially with his rcfur- rection, and his appointment to great power and dignity, they mould boaft of it as if the whole of Chriftianity centered in it. It is on a fimilar account that faith in Chrijl is often mentioned as the only con- dition of falvation, though faith alone, or the mere belief of the truth of Chriftianity, is fo far from enfuring falvation, that it will aggravate the guilt, and enhance the con- demnation, of any perfon who believes the gofpel without obeying it. But in faith, as a condition of falvation, we are always to include the proper confcquences of faith, namely, obeying the gofpel, as well as be- lieving the truth of it. However, as advan- tage has been taken of this concife manner of fpeaking, and faith, or mere belief has been made by many to be the foie and proper condition of falvation?, exclusive of goal works ; fo we cannot wonder that the fame perfons mould have reprefented the death of Chrift, excluiive of every thing connected with it, efpecially his refurreSlion and future E e gloiy, 4i8 Glorying in the glory, as the fole procuring caufe of men's redemption from fin and death. Thus, my brethren, have the fcriptures been wrefled, and perverted. But an atten- tion to the general tenor of the whole, will ealily bring us to a right interpretation of any particular parts. And the fame good fenie, and juft difcernment, which teach us that faith without works is dead, and of no avail, will likewife inform us, that the death of Chrift, coniidered without any regard to, his refurreclion, and what followed upon it, is of no confequence at all to the Christian fcheme ; but, on the contrary, would have been fatal to it. But taking both thefe together, with their natural connexions and dependencies, that is, connecting works with faith, and the confideration of the refurrec- tion of Chrift, with that of his death, we juflly make our boaft of faith in Chrift, and alio of the doctrine of the crofs ; that is, we make our boaft of the go/pel, which by means of the death and refurrection of Chrift, brings life and immortality to light. By Crofs of Chrif. 419 By this gofpel we arc, as it were, created and born again, to a new and better life ; not an uncertain mortal life like this, but to a permanent and immortal one ; not a life; like the prefent, in which our very fub- fiftance is fcanty and precarious, but to a great and ample inheritance, an inheritance incorrupiable, undefded, and that fadeth not away ; not indeed the object of fight, or of fenfc, but of jaith; being furely referved in heaven for us. By this new creation, and new birth, we become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Chrijl Jefus, who is fliled our elder brother, and called the firjl begotten from the dead; being the firffc who after death wa? raifed to that ftate of immortality which is defiined for all his faithful followers. I mall conclude this difcourfe with a" practical obfervation. If, with the apofiile, we glory in the crofs of Chrift, or in that religion which could not have been- con- firmed without his death, let us not only be careful to govern our lives by the precepts of it in genera], but more particularly be prepared to fjffer whatever the ftridteft E e 2 profeiTion 420 Glorying in the Crofs of Chrift. profefiion of it may call us to. Let us remember. that our Saviour hath faid, if any man will be his difciple he muft take up his crofs and follow him, that is, he muft be ready to do it, rather than abandon the pro- fefiion of his gofpel, or whatever the ftricteft purity of it may require. A true Chriftian is no more of this world than his lord and mafter was of it. With him every thing here below is but of fecondary confideration. He muft not only patiently, and joyfully, bear the fpoilmg of his goods -, he muft not only think it an honour to him to fuffer reproach for the fake of Chrift ; but he muft even not account his life itfelf dear unto him, if it would prevent his jinijlnng his courfe with joy. But this we muft remember for our confolation, that, if, in time of perfecution, he that keepeth his life flmll lofe it, he that lofeth his life, for the profefiion of the gofpel Jhall keep it to life eternal. If we fuffer with Chrift, we Jhall alfo reign, with him, and be glerfed together. TAKING [ 4« ] TAKING THE CROSS AND FOLLOWING CHRIST. Whofoever doth not bear his crcfs, and come ajter me, cannot be my difciple. Luke xiv. 27. WE fhall not underftand the full force of this language, or have a juft idea of the manner in which it would be received by thofe to whom it was addrefled, if we do not coniider with what views mod, if not all, of our Lord's difciples, the apoftles themfelves not excepted, crowded after him. They expected that he would foon alTume the character of their promifed Mejfwh, who, they imagined, was to be a great temporal prince, deftined to refcue the Jews from their fubje&ion to the Romans, and to give them the empire of the whole world. So far, therefore, were any of them from £ e 3 expecting a g ? Tu king the Cr-ofs expelling to be lofers by their adhering to Chrift, that they had no doubt of their being great and immediate gainers, of having the firlr places of honour, profit, and power, in his kingdom, and not to J it ffer, but to reign with him. 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