>; PRINCETON. N. J. I\ 
 
 I Part of the ® 
 
 f ADDieC>lf>LEXANDEU LIBRARY, ,, 
 
 f\ which was presented by (| 
 
 |1 MksSKS. 1!. L. AND A. Stuabt. ^ 
 
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 Sectioi"^iii 
 No,.... .f 
 
 S SlieJf, Sector 
 

DISCOURSES 
 
 PUBLIC OCCASIONS. 
 
 WILLIAM SYMINGTON, D.D. 
 
 GLASGOW. 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 DAVID BRYCE, BUCHANAN STREET. 
 
 M D C C C L I. 
 
O L A S G O W : 
 
 PRINTED BY S. AND T. D U S N, 
 
 U P H I N C E'S SQUARE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Paee 
 
 Prefatory Note, v 
 
 SERMON I. 
 The Evil of Ignorance, ...... 1 
 
 SERMON II. 
 The Salvation of Israel, 29 
 
 SERMON III. 
 The Character and Claims of the Scottish Martyrs, 72 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 Salvation BY Grace, 101 
 
 SERMON V. 
 The Rebuilding of Jerusalem, 124 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 The First Pious Youth, I57 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 Love One Another, 1^4 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Souls under the Altar, 205 
 
 SERMON IX, 
 Charity TO THE Poor Explained AND Enforced, , 241 
 
 SERMON X. 
 Popery the Mystery of Iniquity, , . . . 268 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 Popery the Mystery of Iniquity, .... 295 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 Pleas in Behalf of Popery, and Duty of Protestants, 3L0 
 Supplementary Note, 328 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 Most of the Discourses included in tliis volume have 
 appeared before as separate publications. Many of 
 them, however, have been long out of print. Inquiries 
 are occasionally made for them, which it is impossible to 
 meet. I have even found some difficulty myself in 
 making up a complete set for the piu'pose of this reprint. 
 It is to be presumed, therefore, that few of those for 
 whom the present volume is chiefly designed ai*e in pos- 
 session of all ; and many, it is believed, are in possession 
 of none of them. I have consequently been induced to 
 republish them in this form, principally for the use of my 
 own cono;reo;ation. Almost all the Sermons havino- been 
 printed prior to my connection with the congregation, 
 and the greater number of those who are now members 
 having been admitted since my pastoral relation with it 
 was formed, the Discourses are likely to be in the hands 
 of comparatively few. I have pei'suaded myself that the 
 people of my charge may wish to possess some of the 
 initten compositions of one to whose spoken addresses 
 tlicy are in the constant practice of listening. To gratify 
 
Vi PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 this natural wish, I have resolved on this volume, which, 
 if favourably received, may ere long be followed by 
 another, composed of matter which has not been formerly 
 given from the press. The Discourses have been all care- 
 fully revised ; the style of printing adopted is such as to 
 comprehend a large quantity of matter within a limited 
 number of pages ; and the price is greatly below what is 
 usually charged for similar volumes. 
 
 I shall not conceal that I have had another object in 
 view in venturing on the present publication, namely, to 
 generate and foster, if possible, a taste for profitable 
 reading. I am not aware that an effort of this kind is 
 more needed amongst my own people than it is amongst 
 others ; probably the reverse is the case. But, it is too 
 manifest that a manufacturing and commercial popula- 
 tion, such as is that of this city, have exceedingly little 
 time for the perusal of works requiring application and 
 study; The newspaper and the magazine are apt thus to, 
 become the great staple of their reading. In the natural 
 course of thincrs, want of time begets want of taste or of 
 inclination, perhaps even want of capacity, for waitings 
 of a higher class. This is a state of matters, which, it 
 will be allowed by all, is much to be deprecated, and to 
 be carefully guarded against. Works, to the perusal of 
 which there may be supposed to be a considerably power- 
 ful motive, ought, therefore, to be placed in the hands of 
 the people ; and such surely those may be presumed to 
 be which are the production of their own ministers. 
 
 Those who read this volume continuously may, per- 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. VI 1 
 
 hapsj observe an occasional repetition of sentiment, and 
 even of. expression. But, in the case of Discourses^ 
 treating of kindred subjects and prepared at considerable 
 intervals of time, something of this kind could scarcely 
 be avoided. Nor is it, after all, much to be regretted, 
 especially where, as here, the compositions are such 
 as are likely to be read separately. I have, therefore, 
 not taken much pains to have those repetitions cor- 
 rected, as it could not well be done without impairing, 
 to some extent, the texture and effect of the individual 
 Sermons. 
 
 It was my original intention to have prefixed to the 
 Sermons, a pastoral address to the members of my own 
 congregation, on the subject of personal religion and 
 vital godliness, suitable to the season of the year when 
 the publication happens to take place. The volume, 
 however, has extended so far beyond what was designed 
 that I have found it necessary to abandon this part of my 
 plan, which I do, not without reluctance. Throughout 
 these pages there will be found several dii'ect and close 
 appeals to the conscience, which I can only now pray God 
 may be blessed for supply mg the deficiency. That the 
 Avhole may be made a means of confirming my readers 
 in general in the faith — of directing them in duty — of 
 sustaining them under trials and temptations — of minister- 
 ing to them consolation amid the glooms of life — and of 
 ripening them for a higher and a brighter state of being, 
 is my most sincere and fervent prayer. To the people 
 of my own ministerial charge in particular, I dedicate the 
 volume, with much affection and pastoral solicitude, and 
 
Vlll PEEFATORY NOTE. 
 
 with humble dependence on the promised grace of the 
 Most High. ' Let thy work appear unto thy servants, 
 and thy glory unto their children. Let the beauty of the 
 Lord our God be upon tis: and establish thou the work 
 of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands esta- 
 blish thou it/ 
 
 w. s. 
 
 Annfield Place, Uecember, 1850. 
 
PHIITCHTOIT "'' 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 THE EVIL OF IGNORANCE, AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 
 
 Preached April 11, 1821, in aid of the Stranraer Sabbatli School 
 Society. 
 
 Prov. XIX. 2. 
 
 ' That (he sotd be without knowledge, it is not good.'' ■ 
 
 Slch. is the unambiguous testimony of one universally cele- 
 brated for his -wisdom to the evil of ignorance. Solomon, 
 the famous monarch of the East, was distinguished above all 
 the men of his age for the extent and vai'iety of his informa- 
 tion. Naturally possessed of large capacities, his cii-cum- 
 stances afforded every opportunity for their improvement, 
 development, and exercise. In addition to his natural en- 
 dowments, he was liberally supplied with the supernatural 
 gifts of the Holy Spirit — a combination which operated to 
 produce a character of more extensive and varied accom- 
 plishment than is pex-haps to be met with in the history of 
 the species. He was a keen and narrow observer at once of 
 external nature, divine providence, and human character ; 
 ' a poet and a naturalist ; a metaphysician and a moralist ; 
 an orator, a politician, and a man of the world.' * God gave 
 Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much. And 
 Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of 
 the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was 
 wiser than all men ; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, 
 and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol And he spake 
 
 A 
 
2 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 three thousand proverbs : and his songs were a thousand and 
 five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in 
 Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of tlie 
 wall : he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping 
 things, and of fishes.' 
 
 His book of Proverbs is itself sufficient to warrant this 
 high encomium. It discloses the deepest mysteries of wisdom 
 and understanding, and is calculated to lead to an accurate 
 knowledge of the divine character, and to a sincere fear of 
 the Lord. It abounds with the most choice sententious 
 adages, which infinitely surpass all the ethical sayings of the 
 sages of old ; and which, taken together, constitute a system 
 of morality, more simple, copious, and pure, than any of 
 which heathen philosophy can boast. The exalted duties of 
 piety to God, the relative duties of equity and benevolence 
 to men, and the personal duties of temperance and sobriety, 
 are here delineated with a precision, acuteness, and force 
 quite unequalled, except it be by the elegance, variety, and 
 sublimity of the language in which they are expressed. 
 
 The design of the book is, as might be inferred from the 
 character of the writer, to stimulate men to the pursuit, and 
 assist them in the acquisition of knowledge. ' The Proverbs* 
 of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel ; to know wis- 
 dom and instruction ; to perceive the words of understanding ; 
 to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, 
 and equity ; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man 
 wisdom and discretion.' The object thus professed at the 
 outset is throughout kept distinctly in view, and the text is 
 only one among many commendations of knowledge : ' That 
 the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.' 
 
 The subject — the evil of ignorance, and motives to its re- 
 in OTal — is one of vast importance. The existence of ignorance 
 is generally acknowledged, although there is reason to appre- 
 hend that the extent to which it exists, even among ourselves, 
 is very imperfectly known. But the great and fatal evils 
 which spring from the want of knowledge, there is ground 
 to fear, are seldom thought of, and but little understood. It 
 is only, however, by leading men to a sense of the evil of 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 3 
 
 ignorance that we can expect to secure their assistance in 
 attempting its removal. 
 
 The kind of knowledge, the want of which is here said to 
 be not good, Ave take to be — the knowledge of divine things. 
 For although the attainments of Solomon were so diversified 
 that Ave cannot suppose him to have been an enemy to know- 
 ledge in general, yet the scope of the book is such as to con- 
 vince every attentive reader that it is relicjious knoAvledge — 
 that knowledge which leads to 'the fear of the Lord' — of 
 which he is throughout so lavish of his praises. We need 
 scarcely add that the scriptures are the only source from 
 which religious knowledge is to be derived ; and that the 
 teaching of the divine Spirit is indispensable to render even 
 these effectual. The truth of these statements, we beg it to 
 be observed, is to be understood as taken for granted in the 
 whole of the following discussion. 
 
 We shall endeavour, with the divine assistance, to explain 
 how the want of religious knowledge is not good for man, 
 and to point out some of those principles by which christians 
 ought to be actuated in seeking the religious instruction of 
 the rising generation. 
 
 I. I am first to attempt an illustration of the iQy.{, by 
 showing how the want of religious knowledge is not good 
 for man. 
 
 Here it will be necessary to survey the prominent features 
 of the human character. A view of man in general would 
 afford us but a vague idea of our subject. That our concep- 
 tions may be luminous and comprehensive, we must enter a 
 little into detail; we must dissect the human constitution 
 into its principal parts, and take a separate consideration 
 of each. 
 
 1. Let us then begin with the intellectual nature of man. — 
 This feature is one by which he is distinguished from ihe 
 beasts of the field, of which it is emphatically said, they have 
 ' no understanding.' These we are accustomed to regard as 
 devoid of reason, and of course of knoAvledge, whatever 
 actions they perform being referrible to instinct. Reason or 
 
4 EVIL OF IGNORAXCE, 
 
 intelligence belong solely to man, and those beings wbich 
 occupy a higher rank in the scale of creation. It is the pos- 
 session of this pi-inciple which renders him capable of acquir- 
 ing constant accessions of information; whence it necessarily 
 follows that without knowledge his intellectual nature is of 
 no manner of use, the very purpose for which it was given 
 is defeated, and the man sinks to the level of the brute. 
 "What is thus true of knowledge in general loses nothing of 
 its force when applied to religious knowledge in particular. 
 For, as the latter excels the former in essential and relative 
 worth, so, in the proportion in which it is wanting, does the 
 human being approximate the humiliating condition of which 
 we have just now spoken ; not to say that the highest attain- 
 ments in literature and science are ultimately useless without 
 the knowledge of divine truth. To be without knowledge, 
 therefore, particularly religious knowledge, is not good for 
 man, as it leaves one of the finest and most distinctive parts 
 of his constitution unappropriated. Nor will it affect this 
 conclusion in the smallest to say that the intellect of man 
 cannot exist as a perfect blank ; that if it is not occupied 
 with what is of the highest importance, it will still be fur- 
 nished with materials of some kind or another : for, passing 
 over the fact that the minds of the grossly ignorant seem, iii 
 many instances, to approach very near to an absolute vacuity, 
 M'e think it may fairly be asked, in reply, whether, the intel- 
 lectual part of our nature would not be less degraded by being 
 wholly unemployed, than by being occupied with matters of 
 the most childish, trivial, and sinful kind? If a thing is not 
 put to its proper use, rather than that it be put to an im- 
 proper one, we should judge it better that it were put to no 
 use at all. 
 
 Nor is knowledge necessary to man as an intelligent being, 
 only that this peculiar part of his natui-e may find appropriate 
 employment, but also that it may be duly strengthened and 
 improved. Every attainment, besides being' an addition to 
 the intellectual store, is accompanied with a fresh accession 
 of vigour, by which the mind is enabled to make further 
 exertions, to push its way into regions formerly .unexplored. 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS KKMOVAL. 5 
 
 and to enrich itself with new acquisitions. In proportion as 
 knowledge incx'cases, both the faculty and the desire of know- 
 ledge are expanded. The more avc know, the more we are 
 rendered capable of knowing. The mind is not, like the in- 
 strument of the mechanic, blunted by use ; but the greater 
 its exercise, the more is its power of investigation improved. 
 'Knowledge,' says the wise man, 'is easy unto him that 
 understandeth.' And as the more we know, the more we 
 learn how much there is that we do not know, every new 
 acquisition serves as a stimulus to pursue the noble and un- 
 limited career of intellectual advancement. Hence it is that 
 the 2^'^isswe possession of knoivledge affords us no delight com- 
 parable to that of the active exercise of acquiring it ; as the 
 pleasure of the sportsman, to make use of a borrowed figure, 
 is nothing when the prey is at his feet, compared with what 
 he feels when ' the ardour of his soul is kindled • amid the 
 hopes and fears, the tumult and the competition of the chase.' 
 The accuracy of these remarks, as applicable to literary and 
 scientific pursuits, no one, at all acquainted Avith the philo- 
 sophy of the human mind, will presume to question ; and a 
 little reflection will serve to show that they are not less ap- 
 plicable to the knowledge of religion. If knowledge of an 
 inferior kind has the improving influence on the rational 
 nature of man which we have asserted it to have, the know- 
 ledge of divine things must have the same effect in a* degree 
 proportioned to the magnitude of its objects. As no subjects 
 can occupy the understanding so important, elevated, and 
 sublime, as those which religion supplies, so it is an estab- 
 lished fact, that even among the lowest classes of society, 
 by creating a habit of close and serious thought, it tends to 
 increase the measure of the intellectual faculty with marvel- 
 lous rapidity. As there is nothing that withdraws us so 
 much from the power of our senses, so it advances us more 
 than anything else ' in the dignity of thinking beings.' Nor 
 is there, we presume, any species of intellectual pursuit in 
 which an increase of desire is so infallibly secured, as that of 
 divine truths. There is much justness as well as beauty in 
 the testimony of a venerable wi'iter: 'He who hath once 
 
G EVIL OF IGNOUAXCE, 
 
 tasted their excellences will desire to taste them yet again ; 
 and he who tastes them oftenest will relish them best.' 
 
 2. View man further as a moral being. — This part of his 
 nature is still more exalted and distinctive than the former : 
 nor docs it afford a less decisive verification of our text. An 
 intelligent and reflective christian has only to look around 
 him, among the ignorant of his own city, or parish, or neigh- 
 bourhood, to be convinced how degraded the moral sense has 
 become, from the want of knowledge. A very little investi- 
 gation will serve to show him, that the eternal and immutable 
 distinction between right and wrong, virtue and vice, sin and 
 holiness, is little if at all understood in theory, and seldom if 
 ever regarded in practice, among the class to whom we allude: 
 and were he to attempt to reason or remonstrate with them 
 on the subject, in relation to some particular act, he might 
 find it next to impossible to bring them to any distinct or 
 adequate notion of moral principle. Nor will this greatly 
 surprise us, if we consider how feeble a sense the ignorant 
 in general entertain of that Divine Being, whose nature is 
 the foundation of all true morality, and whose presence, 
 when duly felt, is the strongest stimulus to holiness, and the 
 best preservative from vice. 
 
 Need we enter into any lengthened detail of particulars to 
 confirm these general statements ? Only think, ray brethren, 
 of the little regard paid to veracity among the ignorant. It 
 can easily be shown to be more natural — we use the term in 
 its philosophical, not its theological sense — to speak truth 
 than the opposite. Yet what a melancholy perversion of 
 human nature does this one subject lay open to our view ! 
 How few of those who are uneducated seem to have the 
 slightest scruple of violating truth ; nay, of how many 
 thousand deliberate falsehoods are they guilty, without seem- 
 ing to feel the smallest compunction ! We speak not now of 
 the perjuries committed in the election of public functionaries, 
 in giving evidence in civil courts, and in laking custom- 
 house oaths ; nor of that lying on a hroad scale, if we may be 
 allowed the expression, which is perpetrated by princes and 
 nations in the formation and breach of the most solemn en- 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 7 
 
 gagements; but we make our appeal to the personal experi- 
 ence of our hearers. Who, that is at all acquainted with the 
 world, has not had the most glaring untruths told to him 
 with unblushing effrontery, and repeated and maintained 
 with dreadful hardihood, in cases where the object to be 
 gained bore an astonishingly small proportion to the vast 
 expenditure of truth and character that was made for its 
 attainment? The lies, too, that are every day told to in- 
 dulge a slanderous disposition, or to increase, perhaps, an 
 individual's fancied importance, or, it may be, only to gratify 
 a taste for the marvellous — of which the number is incal- 
 culable — indicate a still higher degree of moral pravity. 
 And, what comes nearer to our present purpose, how is the 
 melancholy truth we are illustrating confirmed by the de- 
 liberation, boldness, and frequency, with which children are 
 found to utter known, wilful, and notorious falsehoods ! 
 Scarce a day passes in which, in the limited sphere of my 
 own observation, I do not meet with a sad vei'ification of 
 the assertion of holy writ, * The wicked are estranged from 
 the womb ; they go astray as soon as they are born, speak- 
 ing lies.' 
 
 The habit of profane swearing affords another illustra- 
 tion. To how great an extent this heaven-daring crime pre- 
 vails among the ignorant, you need not to be told. The 
 nature of their oaths and imprecations is in many cases such 
 that they can neither be heard nor thought of without horror. 
 And the frequency with which they indulge in the practice, 
 not confining it to occasional paroxysms of anger — in which 
 case many are foolish enough to suppose it excusable — but 
 introducing it into the language of their sport and civil 
 transactions, shows how deeply rooted it is in their fallen 
 nature. To such a degree, indeed, does this shocking vice 
 prevail, that it is no uncommon thing to hear the children at 
 play in our streets uttering their profane oaths, and lisping 
 the most infernal imprecations with a fluency only to be 
 accounted for on the principle that it has been familiar to 
 them from their very cradle. O who does not wish to be 
 foremost in plucking these little ones as brands from the 
 
8 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 burning, for which they seem already in a state of such 
 ibrward preparation ! 
 
 To these we might have added the well-known tendency 
 of ignorance to foster the baser passions of our nature, to 
 give loose reins to every irregular propensity, and to plunge 
 the human being into the mire of licentiousness ; for there is 
 nothing more natural than for men to 'fashion themselves 
 according to their lust, in their ignorance.' But without 
 dwelling on this disgusting fact, the very morality of the 
 ignorant furnishes a proof of the point in hand. Is it not 
 notorious that what morality they conceive themselves to 
 have, is limited exclusively to the outward act ? If the 
 external performance only is effected, they care little or 
 nothing about the principle from which it flows ; and, pro- 
 vided they can lay such a restraint on their bodily members 
 as shall prevent them from doing an injury to their neigh- 
 bours, it forms no part of their calculations what character 
 their thoughts, imaginations, or volitions may have held in 
 the sight of God. No : the dominion of the Great Supreme 
 over the internal constitution of man is a thing of which they 
 never dream ; his omniscience is an attribute of which they 
 seem never to think ; and that an irregular desire should, in 
 the eye of Him who searches the heai't, be an irregular ad, 
 is an idea greatly too metaphysical and refined for their gross 
 understandings. 
 
 Now, to convince us that all this defectiveness of moral 
 character springs from the absence of religious knowledge, 
 we have only to consider how far religious instruction would 
 go to remove it. Not that we mean to refer the moral de- 
 linquency of which we have been speaking, to deficiency of 
 intellectual discernment ; for it will often be found, that those 
 who are most distinguished for their immorality, display in 
 their wickedness a sharpness and dexterity that would do 
 credit to a better cause : ' They are wise to do evil, but to 
 do good they have no knowledge.' But wbkt we mean is, 
 that the primary deficiency lies in the intellect being left 
 ignorant of those divine truths, which, if known and felt, 
 would have led to conduct of an opposite character. Were 
 
AND JIOTIVES TO ITS KEMOVAL. 9 
 
 mankind properly instructed concerning the moral relation iti 
 Avliich they stand to God — the infinite majesty and inviolable 
 rectitude of the Supreme Being — the spiritual nature of the 
 obedience he requires — and the awful account which he will 
 at last demand, how much of that falsehood, profanity, and 
 vice, of whose prevalence we have been speaking, might be 
 prevented ! 
 
 3. Let us next contemplate man as a social being. — That 
 society is essential at once to his existence and comfort, can- 
 not, we think, reasonably be denied. His helplessness in 
 childhood proves the one ; and the diversity of endowment 
 that exists among the different members of the human family 
 affords ample evidence of the other. Nor do we deem it 
 necessary to demonstrate how natural and useful is a diversity 
 of rank in the body politic. Suffice it to say, that the human 
 body would not present a more frightful or monstrous aspect, 
 were it all head or foot or hand or eye, than civil society, 
 were all possessed of the same power, dispositions, or office. 
 But what we wish to impress upon your minds is, that what- 
 ever shape the social principle assumes in the natural and 
 political distinctions of mankind, the assertion of our text will 
 be found to hold good. 
 
 Where men are enveloped in the shades of ignorance, the 
 duties of domestic life are very imperfectly discharged, rule 
 and subordination are but ill understood, and the members of 
 a family differ little from one ainother, except in the muscular 
 vigour of their bodies, and the savage ferocity of their dis- 
 positions. If from such as are domestic, you pass to the 
 duties obligatory on all as members of the same community, 
 the pernicio\is influence alluded to will be found more strik- 
 ingly displayed. The absolute destitution of all those little 
 civilities, concessions, and accommodations, which are so 
 essential to the comfort of social life, forms but a trifling part 
 of the evil, compared with the acts of dishonesty, cruelty, and 
 rapacity of which the ignorant are every day guilty. The 
 spirit of plunder, in all its diversified shapes of petty theft, 
 burglary, and highway robbery, prevails to an amazing ex- 
 tent, even in countries styled ci\ilized. As examples of 
 
 a2 
 
10 EYIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 cruelty, we need not to refer you to the 'half- brutal 
 wanderers of forests and deserts, whose ferocious ignorance 
 seems to know little more than how to destroy and be de- 
 stroyed,' nor even to the shocking barbarities and horrid 
 murders with which the depredations before enumerated are 
 often accompanied ; the very amusements of the ignorant 
 afford sufficient evidence of what we are now attempting to 
 illustrate. The bull-fight, the cock-pit, the horse-race, the 
 pugilistic ring ; and, indeed, most of the pastimes dignified 
 with the name of sport, show how rank and luxuriant is this 
 principle of fallen humanity, among those who are without 
 the true knowledge of religion. The frequency of child- 
 murder, and the disgraceful barbarities perpetrated on the 
 most serviceable of the brutal creation, form melancholy 
 additions to the catalogue of cruel deeds. Nor must it here 
 pass unnoticed, how early the disposition referred to mani- 
 fests itself in the young ; not merely in the mutual blows, to 
 which their little quarrels give rise, but in the fiend-like 
 gratification they receive from contemplating the agonies of 
 animals slaughtered for the use of man, and the horrid satis- 
 faction they seem to derive from the voluntary infliction of 
 torture and death on those more immediately within their 
 reach. If all this holds true, in a land where the natural 
 ferocity of ignorance is greatly restrained, what can we ex- 
 pect but that ' the dark places of the earth ' should be * full 
 of the habitations of cruelty V 
 
 Turning our attention to the more dignified arrangements 
 to which the social principle gives rise, the habits of disorder, 
 turbulence, and insubordination which prevail among the un- 
 educated, show how necessary is religious knowledge to the 
 peace and good order of society at large. In addition to all 
 that we have said, we might advert to those habits of 
 idleness and prodigality, which are almost the invariable 
 accompaniments of ignorance. For, to awaken man to a 
 proper sense of independence, and rouse himf from sloth and 
 inactivity — the hot-beds of every crime — nothing short of what 
 we are endeavouring to recommend can prove effectual. 
 
 4. Man may further be considered as a being, capable of 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 11 
 
 religious feeling ; formed for the worship and service of his 
 Maker. — This view is inseparable from his nature, as appears 
 from his displaying symptoms of a religious disposition, how- 
 ever mistaken, fanciful, and wild, even in his most unculti- 
 vated state. This, indeed, is probably what distinguishes 
 him most from the inferior animals, which occasionally dis- 
 play indications of something like reason, but never the 
 slightest sense of a Supreme Being. Yet in no point of view 
 in which he can be contemplated are the sad eifects of 
 ignorance so hideously apparent as in this. The other parts 
 of his nature have, without the aid of true religious know- 
 ledge, been cultivated to a certain extent ; while that which is 
 of all others the most noble, interesting, and sublime, presents 
 nothing but the gloom and desolation of absolute sterility. 
 
 The notion of a Divine Being, which lies at the founda- 
 tion of all religion, is, in many cases, dissipated among 
 the diversified forms of an endless mythology ; and even 
 where the unity of God is currently received, the vulgar 
 notion of his existence is at best ' a gi'oss approximation to 
 the likeness of man.' His power is associated with some- 
 thing rather ' prodigiously huge ' than ' sublimely glorious.' 
 His providence bears in their conception a near relation to 
 the heathenish notion of fate ; and if they ever think of him 
 as a judicial moral governor, they conceive of him as so very 
 capricious in his appi'ovals and dislikes, as to render it un- 
 necessary that these should be taken into account in regulat- 
 ing their conduct. Nor is it among the most uncultivated 
 heathen alone, that ' having the understanding darkened, 
 they are alienated from the life of God, through the ignor- 
 ance that is in them.' It was when Greece and Rome were 
 at the zenith of their glory, that in one of the most celebrated 
 cities of the former ' was found an altar with this inscrip- 
 tion, To THE Unknown God,' and of the inhabitants of the 
 latter it was declaimed, ' Because that when they knew God, 
 they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but 
 became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart 
 was darkened : professing themselves to be wise, they be- 
 came fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God 
 
] 2 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and 
 four-footed beasts, and creeping things : wbo changed the 
 truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the 
 creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.' 
 
 Where such gross conceptions ai'e entertained of the Deity 
 himself, the worship that is offered him must partake of the 
 same character. In not a few instances deeds of cruelty and 
 licentiousness have been considered the most acceptable 
 offerings by which his wrath was to be appeased ; and in 
 every case where ignorance prevails does it prepare the mind 
 to receive as religious truths the most glaring absurdities, 
 and to practise as religious acts the most superstitious and 
 fantastic rights. ' They have no knowledge ' surely, ' that 
 set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god 
 that cannot save.' Even in countries where Christianity 
 prevails, and where, of course, the fooleries of heathenism 
 have no place, the uneducated manifest the most confus.ed 
 and erroneous conceptions respecting the character of its 
 Founder, and tlie way of salvation through him ; and if, on 
 their death-bed, you question them concerning the history of 
 that Christ on whom they are ready enough to tell you they 
 trust for salvation, their answers evince, too distinctly, alas ! 
 that they know little more about him than the name, to 
 which they seem to ascribe some mystic power like that of a 
 charm ; while, perhaps, they dwell with complacency on 
 some fancied good deed of generosity or outward worship, 
 as the ground of their hope : ' for they, being ignorant of 
 God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own 
 righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righte- 
 ousness of God.' To convince us of the effect of ignorance 
 in leading to the neglect of religious institutions, we have 
 only to consider how few, compared with any given popula- 
 tion, give a regular attendance on the duties of public wor- 
 ship ; and how many either loiter at home in slothful indiffer- 
 ence, or wander about the fields in quesfc' of their own 
 pleasure on God's holy day. 
 
 Add to all this, the effect of ignorance in limiting the 
 attention to the present world, obscuring the prospects of 
 
AND 3I0T1VES TO ITS REMOVAL. 13 
 
 futurity, and shutting out from the view all those blissful scenes 
 which the enlightened believer anticipates with rapturous joy 
 in a state of immortal existence ; and that it is not good for 
 man, as a religious being, to be without knowledge will ap- 
 pear fully demonstrated. If more were necessary to confirm 
 what we have said on this department of our argument, Ave 
 should refer you to the importance God himself has been 
 pleased to stamp on knowledge, in employing it to indicate 
 the whole of religion : ' This is life eternal, to know thee, 
 the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' 
 
 5. Hitherto we have said nothing of the influence of igno- 
 rance on the happiness of man, his susceptibility of which is 
 an original part of his nature. He is so constituted as to 
 receive pleasure or pain from the exercise of all his powers, 
 and the influence of all the diversified circumstances in which 
 he is placed. Of course everything we have already said 
 may be made subservient to the elucidation of this part of our 
 subject. That intellectual cultivation is calculated to afford 
 exquisite delight, is attested by the ardour with which men 
 of literary taste pursue their favourite employments ; the pre- 
 ference they give to the lucubrations of the study over the 
 splendid formalities of fashionable company or ' the tumul- 
 tuous pleasures of the chase;' and the spontaneous bursts of 
 joy to which they give vent in their solitude, on the occur- 
 rence of any new conception or brilliant discovery. 'Nor is 
 this limited to men of eminent attainments. The poor man 
 Avho has acquired a taste for reading, and who after the 
 labours of the day sits down with his book or his tract in the 
 midst of his humble family, feels the same species of enjoy- 
 ment whicb rendered Archimedes insensible to the presence 
 of the enemies that plundered his city. The pleasure arising 
 from the exercise of morality in general, and the social virtues 
 in particular ; the sweet complacency and heavenly calm 
 which it sheds over the soul, as they are felt in common by men 
 of every rank, need not to be illustrated. And the eternity 
 of unspeakable bliss which is connected with religion forms a 
 theme so boundless and glorious, that nothing short of endless 
 duration itself can suffice to develop its magnitude and excel- 
 
14 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 lency. Now, the whole amount of this temporal and eternal 
 happiness must be lost to those who are without knowledge ; 
 and not only so, but the awful, the indescribable reality of the 
 opposite misery experienced. Wherever ignorance prevails, 
 there will be vice ; and wherever there is vice, there must, 
 by an eternal and unalterable law of Heaven, be misery ; — 
 fretful ennui, peevish discontent, and piercing convictions 
 here, with tribulation, anguish, and fiery indignation here- 
 after. 
 
 Such is a rapid survey of the influence of religious igno- 
 rance on the different features of the human constitution. 
 Had time permitted, we should have illustrated our general 
 remarks by a particular reference to thie state of heathen 
 nations, and of those countries where the popish superstition 
 prevails. We might have called upon you to transport your- 
 selves in imagination to India, and behold the tender, and 
 delicate, and affectionate mother, in a fit of religious phrensy, 
 throwing her infant child into the streams of the Ganges ; 
 or the new-made widow burying herself alive in the grave of 
 her husband, or throwing herself calmly on the funeral pile, 
 to which her eldest boy puts the fatal match, while friends 
 and spectators witness the spectacle with yells of infernal 
 delight. We might also have asked you to pay a visit to^ 
 the neighbouring island of Ireland, where the religion which 
 regards ignorance as the mother of devotion so , extensively 
 prevails, and to behold a verification of Solomon's aphorism 
 in the sloth and wretchedness, the poverty and filth, the 
 ci'edulity and misery, which characterise the lower orders in 
 that fine but sadly-neglected country. But on these and 
 such-like scenes, however apposite, circumstances forbid us to 
 dwell. Nor do we need to travel quite so far to obtain a 
 confirmation of our remarks. In our own couutr'y, nay, in 
 our own town and neighbourhood, late investigations have 
 served to discover among ils inhabitants too near an assimila- 
 tion to what we have been describing. Indi^^iduals have been 
 found in the very heart of our population, well advanced in 
 life, without so much as a knowledge of the alphabet; and 
 grossly ignorant^ not merely of the leading doctrines of the 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOA^AL. 15 
 
 gospel, but even of the existence of a Saviour. The extent 
 of ignorance that prevails could not have been imagined, had 
 not the late erection of Sabbath schools given it the palpable 
 shape of an undeniable fact. And considering the woful 
 effects of ignoi'ance we have been attempting to describe, we 
 may certainly calculate on the eager desire of every christian 
 to do what in him lies to meliorate the condition of those 
 who, in the very vicinity of chi'istian light and christian insti- 
 tutions, are sitting in gross darkness and perishing for lack of 
 knowledge. 
 
 II. Hoping that all who now hear me feel such a disposi- 
 tion, I go on to point out some of those principles by which 
 christians ought to be actuated, in seeking the religious 
 instruction of the rising generation. 
 
 1. The first of these principles is a pious respect for the 
 Divine glory. — The glory of God, essentially considered, is, 
 like himself, necessary, eternal, independent, and immutable. 
 It is the intrinsic worth or excellence of his nature, and can- 
 not be affected by the actions of his creatures, by the lapse of 
 ages, or the changes of empire. But God has been pleased to 
 make a display of his intrinsic glory, by external works, and 
 every creature of his hand beams with the visible manifesta- 
 tion of his essential attributes : ' The heavens declare the 
 glory of God ; and the firmament showeth his handy- work. 
 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
 knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their 
 voice is not heard.' 
 
 It is capable of demonstration, that the display of his glory 
 was the end which the Deity designed, in giving existence to 
 the creatures of his hand. A Being infinitely wise must 
 always pursue the highest possible end ; but no end terminat- 
 ing without himself can equal that which terminates in him- 
 self; whence it necessarily follows, that the end of all the 
 Almighty's works must terminate in himself, that is to 
 say, must respect the manifestation of his intrinsic excellence, 
 whether consisting in knowledge, holiness, or felicity. Nor 
 can it, after this, require much reasoning to show, that every 
 
16 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 individual, possessed of true pious feeling, must have it as his 
 chief desire and unvpearied aim, to promote, to the extent of 
 his ability, the design of God in giving existence to all 
 things. 
 
 If these things are admitted, the truth of the remark we are 
 now illustrating will readily be allowed ; for in nothing is the 
 glory of the Great Supreme so fully displayed as in that which 
 is the grand end of religious instruction, namely, the salvation 
 of sinners. It is true, the invisible doings of God are clearly 
 seen from the things that are made, even his eternal power 
 and Godhead ; and, in the operations of his providence are 
 to be beheld the stately steppings of his majesty. Far be it 
 from us to deny to any of the Almighty's works the power to 
 manifest the glorious perfections of its Author. But allowing 
 to creation and providence their full share, we must be per- 
 mitted to give the decided pre-eminence to grace. The work 
 of redemption brings into view features of the divine character 
 Avhich must otherwise have been hid, while on such as his 
 other works serve to discover it throws a lustre and brilliancy 
 formerly unknown. The wisdom, the power, the holiness, 
 and the justice of.God were never displayed with such efful- 
 gent splendour, as in that work by which man is freed from 
 the load of condemnation, emancipated from the shackles of 
 corruption, and elevated to a state of unmingled purity and 
 eternal bliss. Where will you find such displays of wisdom, 
 as in the union of the divine and human natures in the per- 
 son of the Mediator ? Where such manifestations of power, 
 as in the construction of a spiritual temple from the moral 
 ruins of human apostacy? Where such discoveries of holiness 
 and justice, as in the obedience, sufferings, and death of God's 
 only-begotten Son ? Compared with these, creation and pro- 
 vidence must for ever abandon their claims, and yield, in 
 respect of ability to proclaim the divine glory, to the superior, 
 the overpowering demands of sovereign grace. Nor only in de- 
 gree, but also in duration, does this superiorit'y hold. The orbs 
 of heaven shall one day cease to shine, the earth also and the 
 works that are therein shall be burnt up, and the catalogue 
 of providential dispensations shall ere long be completed; but 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 17 
 
 the wonders of redeeming love shall not cease to reflect the 
 glory of their Author while roll the endless ages of eternity. 
 
 From all this it irrefragably follows, that, in seeking the 
 salvation of our fellow-men — which all are supposed to do 
 who desire to promote their religious instruction — we best 
 advance the glory of God. And as this high end is, as 
 we have already said, the grand aim of every well-regulated 
 mind, it must be allowed to lie at the foundation of that con- 
 cern for the religious education of the young, with which 
 every true cliristian is more or less actuated. Every indivi- 
 dual who has himself felt the saving power of divine grace is 
 strongly prompted to seek the salvation of others ; for every 
 soul that is saved adds to the declarative glory of the Saviour, 
 every brand plucked from the burning is a gem added to the 
 diadem of the Redeemer, every ransomed captive a new 
 trophy of his conquest, and every redeemed child an additional 
 voice to swell that anthem of praise with which the temple 
 above is for ever to resound. 
 
 O christians ! do you not feel the power of these considera- 
 tions? Are you not impatient to promote an end so worthy, 
 so dignified, so sublime ? If, by your exertions in behalf of 
 the Society whose cause I now plead, you shall be made in- 
 strumental in rescuing from ignorance and eternal destruction 
 the poorest child in all your population, you shall do more 
 for the glory of God than the warrior or the statesman who 
 saves his country from temporal ruin. Yes, the laurels that 
 deck the brow of the conqueror must wither and decay, moul- 
 der with the dust and be scattered on the breeze, and the result 
 of his achievements must soon cease to benefit mankind ; but 
 the honours won in the cause of converting souls shall never 
 fade away, and its effects shall run parallel with the ages of 
 eternity. 
 
 2. Another principle by which christians ought to be ac- 
 tuated, in seeking the religious instruction of the rising gene- 
 ration, is, a benevolent regard for the best interests of the young 
 themselves. — The principle of benevolence is one of the noblest 
 that can actuate the human breast, and religion, so far from 
 restraining or eradicating it, not only gives it a more elcv;\ted 
 
18 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 and refined sensibility, but supplies additional motives to its 
 exercise. Nor can we conceive a finer field for the employ- 
 ment of this god-like principle, than in imparting that know- 
 ledge which is fitted to deliver perishing immortals from 
 impending destruction. 
 
 By nothing, indeed, even in a worldly point of view, can 
 you confer a richer benefit on the rising generation than by 
 furnishing them with the means of religious instruction : ' For 
 godliness has the promise of the life that now is,' as well as of 
 ' that which is to come;' and by teaching them to ' se^k first 
 the kingdom of God and his righteoiisness,' you put them in 
 the way of having ' all other things added unto them.' By 
 its effects on the health, the character, the friendship, and the 
 estate of individuals, religion has a mighty influence on their 
 external circumstances ; while, by suppressing or moderating 
 those turbulent passions which occasion so much internal 
 anguish and confusion, it has the most beneficial effect on the 
 temper of the mind. Of all the joys allotted to man in this 
 vale of tears, there are none so pure, none so exquisite, as 
 those which arise from the exercise of christian graces, and 
 the discharge of christian duties : ' Wisdom's ways are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.' 
 
 But the influence of religion on the present condition of 
 mankind is nothing in comparison with its influence on their 
 future felicity. It provides at once for their deliverance from 
 eternal misery and exaltation to eternal bliss. That the whole 
 human family are by nature under an awful sentence of con- 
 demnation, no one who attentively reads the scriptures or 
 even looks round him with an enlightened eye can fail to 
 perceive. Nor is it in the power of language to convey an 
 adequate idea of the nature and duration of that misery to 
 which all are exposed. The worm that never difes, the fire 
 that is never quenched, the outer darkness where is nothing 
 but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the lake of 
 fire burning with brimstone, are but fainf images of that 
 never-ending anguish, remorse, and despair, which they must 
 experience who are doomed to bear the righteous vengeance 
 of heaven. Nor, could we ransack the kingdom of nature 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REJIOVAL. 19 
 
 and collect into one view all that is terrific in the linrhtnino;, 
 the thunder, and the tempest, or all that is appalling in 
 mountains of combustible matter, and oceans of liquid fire, 
 should we do anything to gi%'e you proper impressions of the 
 wrath of an angry God. Yet such is the unutterable Aveight 
 of misery to which every child of Adam is exposed, and from 
 which nothing can serve to deliver him but the sacrifice of 
 Christ. Nor is deliverance from misery the whole or even 
 the principal part of the benefit connected Avith religion. 
 Great as it is, it may be said to derive its chief value from 
 being preparatory to the bestowment of positive bliss — bliss 
 of which, as it consists in full, immediate, uninterrupted, and 
 eternal communion with God, it is truly said, ' eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive,' and for the attainment of which nothing 
 short of an interest in the meritorious obedience of the Son of 
 God can suffice. But to an acquaintance with the sacrifice 
 and obedience of the Redeemer, a knowledge of the christian 
 revelation is indispensable. There, and there only, can that 
 information be obtained which ' makes wise unto salvation.' 
 
 Think, then, of these things, my hearers ! Think of the 
 tendency of religious instruction to rescue the young from the 
 condemning power of a broken covenant, to raise them from 
 the mire of moral defilement, to prevent their being tossed 
 into the gulf of perdition, to pluck them as brands from the 
 tormenting flames of everlasting burning; think too of its 
 tendency to make them acquainted with the imputation of 
 Christ's perfect righteousness, the implantation of his free 
 Spirit, and the possession of an inheritance which is in its 
 riches incalculable, in its extent immeasurable, and in its 
 duration without end ; and tell me whether the man can have 
 a spark of christian philanthi'opy in his breast, who does not 
 feel concerned for the religious education of the rising gene- 
 ration ? 
 
 3. An enlightened zeal for the 'prosperity of the church of 
 Christ ought also to stimulate christians to the duty in ques- 
 tion. — Every believer is necessarily a lover of Zion. The 
 interests of the church, as they stand intimately connected 
 
20 EVIL OV IGNORANCE, 
 
 with the glory of God, and the welfare of the human family, 
 are dearer to him far than any personal or domestic concerns. 
 ' How do they affect the church V is a question which the 
 dispensations of providence never fail to suggest, whether it be 
 the revolution of states, the rise or fall of empires, the removal 
 or succession of monarchs. Her prosperity awakens within 
 him sensations of the purest delight, while her adversity gives 
 him feelings of the most pungent sorrow. AYhen he beholds 
 her advancing on her high and dignified career, making rapid 
 inroads on the confines of Satan, and dissipating with her 
 light the gloom of ignorance, superstition, and ungodliness, he 
 exults with exceeding joy. And when, on the other hand, 
 he beholds her oppressed, despised, contetaned ; her progress 
 arrested, her injunctions neglected, her ordinances profaned ; 
 and the men of learning and rank enlisted on the side of her 
 enemies, he bewails, with bitter grief, her hapless condition, 
 and, like the captive Hebrews by the streams of Babylon,.sus- 
 pends his tuneless harp on the drooping willows. In the day 
 of calamity there is nothing for which the heart of a christian 
 trembles so much as the ark of the Lord ; nor Avould the re- 
 port that the ark of the Lord had been taken produce on him 
 a different effect from what it had on the venerable Eli, who 
 . could survive the death of his sons but not the desolation and 
 disgrace of the church. The church, in short, is the subject 
 of the christian's daily thoughts, his most fervent wishes, his 
 constant prayers ; and, even when laid waste by the ravages 
 of the spoiler, he casts an eye of fond attachment over her 
 desolations, and takes pleasure in her rubbish and her stones. 
 If the church is thus dear to the christian, it will follow 
 that his exertions in her behalf will be strenuous and unre- 
 mitting. Nor in these exertions can the state of the I'ising 
 generation be possibly left out of view. To whonf but to the 
 young are we to look, under God, for conducting her affairs, 
 defending her rights, maintaining her institutions, and per- 
 petuating her privileges ? Only a short timfe and the genera- 
 tion that now is shall have ceased to exist. Every day, almost 
 every hour is hurrying away the faithful ministers and useful 
 members of the church into the world of spirits ; nor is the 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS KKMOVAL. 21 
 
 period far distant when, with respect to those who now live, 
 it may be said — 'The fathers, where are they? and the pro- 
 phets, do they live for ever?' On whom, then, but the 
 children are we to depend for occupying the places of the 
 fathers? To whom is it that the hoary-headed patriarch looks 
 for perpetuating the chuich, but to his sons, whom he sees 
 ranged in pensive silence around his couch, to witness his 
 exit from the world? "Who can doubt the pleasure David 
 must have felt when dying, in being able to repose the con- 
 cerns of Israel on his beloved Solomon? Or who can ques- 
 tion that Jacob, when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, 
 Avas comforted in considering the part they might yet act in 
 prospering the interests of Zion? 
 
 It requires but the lapse of a few short years, and all the 
 grand, the paramount concerns of the church of Christ will be 
 in the hands of those who are now amusing their relatives with 
 their innocent prattle, or enlivening our streets with their harm- 
 less sport. And it depends on present exertions whether they 
 shall rise into public life qualified by knowledge, piety, and zeal, 
 for their important trust ; or ignorant, ungodly, and indifferent 
 about evei"ything in which either the glory of God or their 
 own best interests are concerned. It depends, I say, on the 
 exertions of those who are now advanced, whether the gene- 
 ration to come shall prove themselves honourable members of 
 the church of Christ, and active and enlightened supporters 
 of true religion, or shall rise into maturity the bold and daring 
 enemies of everything that is good — whether, enlisting under 
 the banners of Zion's King, they shall come cheerfully and 
 manfully forward to fight his bloodless battles, or, under the 
 Prince of darkness, join the ranks of infidelity, and make 
 common cause with the supporters of all that is impious, in- 
 jurious, and disorderly. 
 
 What an argument does this consideration supply in favour 
 of institutions Avhich have for their object the religious in- 
 struction of the young ! And what an inducement does it 
 bold out to every lover of Zion to see that such institutions 
 be established, wisely conducted, and furnished with adequate 
 support ! ' A seed,' it is true, * shall serve the Redeemer, and 
 
22 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 be accounted to the Lord for a generation:' nor shall any 
 opposition of earth or hell prevent the accomplishment of this 
 encouraging promise. But this certainty of the final issue 
 ought in no degree to relax our exertions for promoting its 
 fulfilment. It must never be forgotten that He who has de- 
 creed the end has decreed also the means. Nor will it perhaps 
 be unseasonable here to remind you that, while the Spirit of 
 God describes in glowing colours the future glory of the 
 church on earth, he, at the same time, predicts that this state 
 of things is to be brought about by means : ' Many shall run 
 to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased ;' and issues forth 
 the command, ' Walk about Zion, and go round about her, 
 tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks, consider 
 her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generations following.' 
 
 4. The only other principle I shall mention is a patriotic 
 concern for the good of civil society. — Of the social principle in 
 general we have ah'eady spoken. Civil society is indispensable 
 to the comfort, if not the being of man ; and it requires civil 
 government for its support, regulation, and defence. Now, 
 what we Avish you to observe is, that the christian religion is 
 hostile neither to civil society nor to civil government, but on 
 the contrary prescribes the best terms for their proper or- 
 ganisation, and lays additional obligations on allwho embrace 
 it to seek the welfare of both. Every sincere christian is a 
 true patriot, and bound to employ his talents for the good of 
 his country. Nor can he ever, we believe, fulfil this solemn 
 duty to better purpose than by endeavouring to promote the 
 spread of religion among the young. 
 
 Religion is essential to the good of civil society, because it 
 is essential to the good of the individuals of whom it is com- 
 posed. Every religious man is a good man, and no man can 
 be good who is destitute of religion. If, then, society is made 
 up of men, and religion is necessary to make men good, it 
 follows of course that religion is necessary to the good of so- 
 ciety. Nor is the truth of this remark limited to one class, 
 but applies equally to all ranks and degrees, to the rulers as 
 well as to the ruled. If these premises are admitted, the 
 conclusion cannot be denied, that religious legislators alone 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS RKMOYAL. 23 
 
 can be good legislators, religious magistrates alone good magis- 
 trates, and religious subjects alone good subjects. Christianity 
 extends its sovereign authority alike to all. ' Religion,' 
 says an able writer, ' walks without fear into the palace of 
 the king ; she approaches him with dignity as he sits upon 
 his throne ; and she proclaims, with the tone of authority, 
 He that ruleth over men must he just, ruling in the fear of God ! 
 She goes from thence into the hall of judgment, and, with the 
 mien of a superior, addresses herself to the judges as they sit 
 on the tribunal : Ye shall not respect i^ersons in judyment. De- 
 fend the poor and fatherless : do justice to the afflicted and needjj : 
 deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the 
 wicked. From the courts of justice she goes out to the multi- 
 tude of the people, and she proclaims through the streets of 
 the city : Let every soul be subject to the higher jiowei^s. Submit 
 yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord^ssake : whether 
 it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that 
 are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of 
 them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing 
 you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.^ * 
 
 Without religion justice cannot be administered, crimes can- 
 not be prevented, nor can relative duties properly be dis- 
 charged. To the right administration of justice, fidelity, which 
 nothing short of true religion can secure, is indispensable, both 
 in the judges and in the witnesses. The fear of punishtnent 
 without religion is not enough to prevent the commission of 
 even open and atrocious crimes ; while, on the other hand, 
 wherever it exists in active operation not only are these pre- 
 vented, but a powerful check furnished to such as are secret, 
 whose influence on society is often not less pernicious than that 
 of the former. Besides, religion, by inspiring a love of duty, 
 provides for the faithful discharge of every relative obligation; 
 while, by teaching patience, forbearance, and forgiveness, it 
 
 * See 'An Essay on the Divine Antliority of the New Testament,' by Dr 
 Bogue of the Independent persuasion, at Gosport. The whole section from 
 which the extract is taken, we would heartily recommend to the attention 
 of our readers, as containing a clear and judicious statement of scriptural 
 sentiments, on a very delicate and much-controverted point. 
 
24 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, 
 
 goes far to banish from the world both civil and foreign war, 
 whose pernicious effects on society no language can describe. 
 But that religion may have these salutary effects on society, 
 it is necessary, as we before said, that it extend its influence 
 over all classes. It is a grand mistake, which we are afraid 
 has met with too general a reception, that, for the good of 
 civil society, it is only necessary that the lower orders be 
 under the power of religion. This were, of a truth, to degrade 
 Christianity from its natural dignity by reducing it to a 
 mere engine of state policy, of use only to subjugate the 
 minds of the inferior ranks to the will of their governors. 
 With the opinion that civil society can never flourish while 
 the multitude are sunk in ignorance and depravity, we most 
 heartily concur ; but we deem it a maxim not less obvi'ous, 
 that true national prosperity can never exist without enligh- 
 tened, virtuous, and pious rulers. It is 'righteousness' in 
 men of all ranks that ' exalteth a nation:' while '.sin,' 
 wherever it appears, ' is a disgrace to any people.' It is un- 
 reasonable ever to expect a general reformation among the 
 lower walks of life while men of rank are graceless, wicked, 
 and profane. In vain do Ave think of purifying a stream if 
 we carry not our operations to the fountain head. 
 
 What reason would lead us to expect, scripture and experi- 
 ence demonstrate to be true. We cannot shut our eyes to the 
 plain language of holy Avrit, ' The wicked walk pn every side, 
 while the vilest men are exalted.' Nor can we easily forget 
 the great moral lesson the civil convulsions of the last half 
 century have taught the world, of the inadequacy of even mere 
 human wisdom and learning, not to speak of ignorance and 
 depravity, to support the edifice of civil society against the 
 united attacks of infidelity and vice. And we have not the 
 slightest hesitation in asserting that not till religion extends 
 its influence to all. ranks, high and low, rich and poor, 
 ruler and ruled, shall ' the kingdoms of this world become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,' and the golden 
 age, which has hitherto existed but in the dreams of poets, 
 be fully realised. 
 
 The application of these remarks to our present purpose 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 25 
 
 must be obvious to all. The rising generation are those who 
 in a short time are to fill the respective stations of magistrates 
 and subjects in the body politic; and it is only by imbuing 
 their minds with early piety that they can be qualified for 
 discharging their relative duties. Tlie true secret of radical 
 reform lies in bringing the minds of the community under the 
 influence of religious principle. While others are attempting 
 it by turbulence and disorder, let ?/.s throw open the doors of 
 our schools ; let us circulate our bibles and catechisms and 
 tracts ; let parents assemble their children on the evening of 
 the Lord's-day, and store their minds with the only true anti- 
 dote against the influence of bad example and the power of 
 inv/ard corruption; and the time shall come when these 
 children, rising into public life, and regulating their actions 
 by the salutary principles of the christian religion, shall 
 occupy with ability and faithfulness the different stations in 
 society. 
 
 I have thus shown you the influence of ignorance on 
 various interesting features of the human constitution, and 
 specified some of those principles by which christians ought 
 to be stimulated to take an interest in the religious welfare of 
 the young. On both parts of the subject, particularly the 
 latter, I have endeavoured to exhibit the sentiments expressed, 
 as much as possible, in the light of princiiyles of action, or 
 arguments in favour of institutions for the religious instruc- 
 tion of the young. That for which I now plead is, we pre- 
 sume, known to most of you. It stands on a common footing 
 with similar establishments throughout every part of the 
 country. In support of its claims I have addressed your 
 piety, your benevolence, your christian zeal, and your patrio- 
 tism : and if such arguments fail to make a favourable im- 
 pression, I must abandon the task. 
 
 Before concluding, however, I beg your attention to one or 
 two short remarks. 
 
 The first is tliat Sabbath schools, though indispensably 
 necessary in the present state of society, are neither natural 
 nor permanent institutions. They arise solely from the ina- 
 
26 EVIL OF IGNOKANCE, 
 
 bility of some and the negligence of others in regai'd to the 
 religious instruction of their offspring. They are mere reme- 
 dial schemes, occasioned by an existing evil, and so soon as the 
 evil is removed they ought to disappear. The parent is the 
 natural guardian of his children in religious matters ; nor 
 ought he, if adequate himself — and every parent ought to be 
 adequate — to yield up the matter to a stranger. Every 
 christian fiimily ought to be a Sabbath school. Nevertheless, 
 while there ai'e so many parents who are either unable or 
 unwilling to superintend the religious instruction of their 
 children, it is every way proper, rather than that these 
 children should be neglected, to provide for them by a public 
 institution. In conducting such institutions, how.ever, every 
 attention ought to be paid, that nothing be done to relax" the 
 exertions of the natural instructors ; and everything should be 
 managed with the express design of bringing matters to their 
 proper state. Indeed this must be the necessary consequence 
 of present exertions, as the children now receiving instruction 
 in Sabbath schools will be prepared for superintending, in 
 due time, with care and fidelity, families of their own. 
 
 Another remark, which particularly respects the teachers 
 of Sabbath schools ig, that their chief concern ought ever to 
 be for the salvation of such as are placed under, their charge. 
 To make them active members of the church, and industrious 
 and peaceable members of the civil community, are important 
 matters indeed ; but they must ever be held subordinate to 
 their eternal welfare. This last must never be forgotten. It 
 should stand prominently out before the eye of the teacher as 
 the grand aim of all his labours: nor ought he ever to con- 
 tent himself with anything short of its attainment. And 
 allow me to remind you that you can never more successfully 
 gain the objects just now named than by endeavouring this. 
 If, with the divine blessing, you succeed in making any of 
 your scholars christians, you secure, as far as they are con- 
 cerned, both the good of civil society and the prosperity of 
 the church of Christ. O then, you who supei-intend the in- 
 struction of the young, aim above all things at their spiritual 
 good ! While you look with affection on your interesting 
 
AND MOTIVES TO ITS REMOVAL. 27 
 
 little charge, reflect that each of them is possessed of an im- 
 mortal spirit, a soul whose value is greater than that of ten 
 thousand worlds. Try deeply to impress them with a sense 
 of their radical corruption, of the necessity of their being born 
 again, and of the need in which they stand of a Redeemer. 
 Open before them the volume of Divine Revelation, and pro- 
 duce from it convincing and affecting proofs of everything 
 you say ; and when their little hearts are agitated with grief 
 and their eyes moistened with the starting tear at a view of 
 their natural condition as sinners, O then seize the happy op- 
 portunity of leading them to Christ, of unfolding to them hia 
 excellency and suitableness and willingness as a Saviour, 
 and teaching them to rely implicitly on his merits for theii 
 everlasting welfare. Instruct them also to revere the great 
 and terrible name of Jehovah, to sanctify his holy day, to 
 give strict obedience to all his commands, and to make their 
 little wants known to him in prayer. And thus will you 
 confer on them a benefit and an honour compared with which 
 earthly titles and earthly estates are unworthy of a name. 
 They will thus become the children of God, and of course 
 ' noble princes ' indeed, and heirs of ' an inheritance that 
 is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.' 
 
 Allow me, in conclusion, to remind you that the foundation 
 of all true concern for the religious welfare of the young lies 
 in having experienced the benefit of religion on oitr own 
 hearts. Let me, therefore, urge upon you the duty of culti- 
 vating practical godliness, and maintaining a close walk and 
 fellowship with God. Without this your present zeal will 
 soon be exchanged for indifterence ; your duty will ere long 
 become a task ; you will feel disposed to hurry over the 
 business of teaching in tlie way that will give least trouble 
 to yourselves ; and the children will go from your schools, 
 instead of edified and improved, with feelings of coldness if not 
 of disgust towards everything religious. But by attending to 
 personal piety your interest in their religious improvement 
 Avill be constantly increased, they will gain new importance 
 in your estimation every day, and you will come forth from 
 your closet perfumed with the incense of the Spirit, and 
 
28 EVIL OF IGNORANCE, ETC. 
 
 ready to scatter around you, in your intercourse with those 
 under your charge, the sweet and wholesome odour of every 
 christian grace. 
 
 And O let all be convinced of the impoi'tance of practical 
 godliness. Personal piety, believe me, my dear hearers, is 
 the true spring of zeal and activity in every department of 
 duty. Treat it not, then, as a visionary thing fit only for the 
 weak or the fanatical. Without it peace is stupidity, affliction 
 misery, and duty of every kind downright slavery. But 
 wherever it exists, it imparts to the soul the most serene 
 satisfaction, enables to perform things otherwise disagreeable 
 with cheerfulness, renders the most ti'ying calamities not only 
 tolerable but useful, and prepares for a state of never-ending 
 glory and felicity. 
 
 May the time speedily arrive, when ' they shall teach no 
 more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, 
 saying, Know the Lord ; but they shall all know him from 
 the least unto the greatest :' and may we all at last meet in 
 that blessed society in which toilsome exertions to acquire 
 and to impart religious knowledge will be no longer necessary, 
 but ' we shall know even as we are known !' Amen. 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 Preached at Annan, Sept. 25, 1825, on behalf of the Annandale Jewish 
 Society. 
 
 Rom. X. 1. 
 
 - '■Brethren, my hearCs desire and praijer to God for Israel is, that 
 theij might he saved.'' 
 
 In nothing are mankind more harmonious than in their ap- 
 probation of benevolence. However many may have failed 
 in the proper manifestation of this disposition, all have agreed 
 to applaud its excellence. It is certainly one of the noblest 
 and most useful feelings of our nature, prompting to acts of 
 disinterested generosity, binding together in indissoluble union 
 the different parts of society, and throwing over the whole 
 the charm of a heavenly attraction. Its extinction from the 
 human breast would produce effects not unlike those which 
 might be supposed to follow from the annihilation of the prin- 
 ciple of attraction in the material world; a complete disrup- 
 tion of all the ties of honour, gratitude, friendship, religion, 
 and natural affection would necessarily ensue ; each individual, 
 becoming actuated with a feeling of hateful selfishness and 
 utterly regardless of all but himself, would be prepared to 
 perpetrate, without scruple or remorse, whatever deeds of 
 shame or of horror seemed to promise the advancement of his 
 own narrow interests; society would be for ever at an end 
 
30 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 and the elements of which it is composed converted into a 
 mass of repulsive atoms. 
 
 The principle of benevolence is not only deeply inherent 
 in our nature, but sanctified, expanded, and enforced by re- 
 ligion. Nothing more strongly characterises the religion of 
 Jesus than the benevolent spirit which it breathes. Its 
 doctrines, its precepts, its rewards, and even its threats, wear 
 a friendly aspect towards its disciples, and all beautifully 
 accord with the burden of the celestial anthem sung on the 
 plains of Bethlehem at the birth of its Founder : ' Glory to 
 God in the highest, on eartli peace and good- will -toavard 
 MEN.' Love — pure disinterested love — is everywhere spoken 
 of as the source of its gracious discoveries : ' God so 
 loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life.' The same is required as the principle of all the 
 obedience it demands of its votaries: 'Love the Lord -thy 
 God ; love thy neighbour as thyself; on these two command- 
 ments hang all the law and the prophets.' Looh not every 
 man on his own things, but every man also on the things of othei's, 
 is the generous maxim by which it binds its disciples to re- 
 gulate their social transactions. The feeling with which it 
 inspires all who receive it is — none of us livet'h to himself:^ 
 whilst, whatever blessings it confers, it disposes, not only to 
 invite kinsmen and friends and citizens and countrymen to 
 participate, but to say to our worst enemy, * Come thou with 
 us, and we will do thee good.' 
 
 The history of Christianity confirms and illustrates this view 
 of its character. The noblest examples of philanthropy are to 
 be found among christians. The number of public charities 
 that exist in christian communities, mark its decided superio- 
 rity, in this respect, over every other religious system. If 
 more were necessary -to corroborate this statement, a single 
 reference might suffice to the existence and labours of those 
 associations for the temporal and spiritual arfielioration of our 
 race, which have effected an establishment in every corner of 
 our land, presenting a channel in which every diversified form 
 of the benevolent feeling may flow. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 31 
 
 Such is the generous feeling expressed by Paul in these 
 well-known words : ' Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer 
 to God for Israel is, that they raight be saved.' Previously 
 to his conversion, the synipathie.-j of his nature appear to have 
 been chilled by the malignant influence of party spirit; he 
 * breathed threatenings and slaughters against the christians.' 
 Mark the change effected by the grace of God. The antipa- 
 thies of his soul are melted like wax ; his heart, as if touched 
 with a live-coal from the altar of God, glows with the warmest 
 attachment to his fellow-men ; and the whole tide of his ener- 
 gies is turned into the channel of disinterested beneficence. Of 
 this, his unwearied labours, his unheard-of sufferings, and his 
 generous sacrifices, on behalf of the Gentiles, might be deemed 
 satisfactory proof. But, though invested with a commission 
 only to the Gentiles, the motions of his charity could not be 
 so restrained. It operated wherever he went with' not less 
 energy toward the children of Abraham. And this appears the 
 more remarkable when we consider the opposition he met 
 with ft'ora this people ; how they reviled his character, spoke 
 contemptuously of his person and his discourses, inflamed the 
 multitude against him in every city, hunted him from place 
 to place, laid plots for his life, brought accusations against 
 him before the civil authorities, had him apprehended, bound, 
 scourged, and cast into prison, and shouted after him in the 
 violence of their rage, ' Away with this fellow from the earth!' 
 All this, however, could not quench the flame of tender affec- 
 tion Avhich he cherished for the Hebrew race; but, as if 
 growing in intensity with the opposition it had to encounter, 
 it burst out in some of the noblest expi-essions of philanthropy 
 that are anyAvhere to be found : ' I say the truth in Christ, I 
 lie not, my. conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy 
 Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in 
 my heart ; for I could wish that myself were accursed from 
 Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.' — 
 'Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, 
 that they might be saved.' 
 
 Such, brethren, are the objects whom we are now to re- 
 commend to your benevolent regard, and such the example 
 
32 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 according to wbicli we wish you to regulate the character and 
 degree of your benevolence toward these objects. Let me, in 
 the sequel, solicit your attention to a series of observations 
 arising out of the text itself, 
 
 I. The Objects of Paul's benevolent desire and 
 PRAYER TO God were the people of Israel. 
 
 The term 'Israel' s\ guides a Prince with God. This name 
 was originally given to the patriarch Jacob, in commemoration 
 of his remarkable interview with the angel at Peniel, when 
 ' as a prince he had power with God and with men, and pre- 
 vailed.' Of this we have the following account :; — ' And he 
 said unto him, What is thy name ? And he said, Jacob. And 
 he said. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, hut Israel ; 
 for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and 
 hast prevailed.' * The grant appears to have been afterwards 
 renewed at Bethel: ' And God appeared unto Jacob again, 
 Avhen he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. And 
 God said unto him. Thy name is Jacob ; but thy name shall 
 not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name : 
 and he called his .name Israel.' f It is also applied to the 
 natural descendants of Jacob, as in the address of Moses to 
 Hobab long after the death of the patriarch: 'Come thou; 
 with us, and we will do thee good ; for the Lord hath spoken 
 good concerning Israel' \ It is moreover, employed to denote 
 the .spiritual members of the church : ' They are not all Israel 
 which are of Israel' — 'And as many as walk according to 
 this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel 
 of God.' § 
 
 Some understand the apostle, in the text, to refer to. the 
 spiritual Israel. But the whole context is against this view. 
 The persons spoken of are called his ' kinsmen according to 
 the flesh ;' are described as ' not having attained to the law of 
 righteousness, for they stumbled at the stumbling-stone laid 
 in Zion,' as ' fallen,' ' cast away,' ' broken off,' and those to 
 whom 'blindness in part has happened:' — features which can 
 
 ♦ Gen. xxxii. 27, 28. t Geu. xxxv. 9, 10. 
 
 1 Num. X. ^9. § Rom. ix. G ; Gal.vi. 16. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 33 
 
 be viewed as belonging only to the natural descendants of the 
 patriarch ; wliile the matter is put beyond all dispute by Israel 
 being expressly contrasted with the Gentiles, and even deno- 
 niorainated Jacob. * 
 
 It is thus abundantly plain that the objects of Paul's bene- 
 volent desire were the natural seed of Jacob. Whether aU 
 or only a part of them, remains to be determined. It is well 
 known that, after the death of Solomon, ten of the Hebrew 
 tribes revolted from their allegiance to the family of David, an<l 
 formed themselves into a separate kingdom under Jeroboam. 
 As the other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, preserved their 
 proper organisation, the kingdoms were distinguished by the 
 names Israel and Judah. This distinction may be viewed as 
 designed to be pointed out whenever the two are mentioned 
 together. But about two hundred and fifty years after its 
 erection, the kingdom of Israel, that is, the kingdorp of the 
 ten tribes, was destroyed by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, 
 kings of Assyria, who successively invaded it, besieged Sa- 
 rnaria the capital, slew many of the people, and carried the 
 remainder away captive beyond the Euphrates. From the 
 overthrow of this kingdom, the confusion of particular tribes 
 which followed, and withal, the political ascendancy of Judah, 
 the distinctive appellations of the two kingdoms as such, ap- 
 pear to have been afterwards laid aside, and to have merged 
 into the common name of Jews. Hence there is reason to 
 conclude that the term 'Israel' is sometimes used to denote, 
 not the people of the ten tribes merely, but all the descendants 
 of Jacob, to whatever tribe they may happen to belong. That 
 it is to be understood in this sense in the passage under con- 
 sideration, we think sufficiently obvious from the context, 
 where Israel is contrasted, not with Judah, but with the 
 Gentiles, and also from the phrase ' all Israel.' 
 
 The descendants of Jacob, whatever their particular tribe, 
 were the objects of Paul's pious benevolence. They had many 
 atti'active features in his view : they were his kinsmen ac- 
 cording to the flesh ; they were beloved for the fathers' sake, 
 
 » Kom. Lx. 3, 31, 33; xi. 12, 15, 17. 25, 26. 
 B 2 
 
34 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 and he looked upon them as destined by God to the attain- 
 ment of unspeakable privileges. 
 
 Nor ought they to be regarded as less interesting objects of 
 benevolence by christians in the present day. Whether we 
 contemplate their past history, their present condition, or their 
 future prospects, they will be found to be the most remarkable 
 people on earth. The length of time they have existed, the 
 vicissitudes through which they have passed, our early ae- 
 (juaintance with their history through the medium of the 
 Jewish scriptures, the obligations we owe them for the inspired 
 writings of the Old Testament, and, above all, their consan- 
 guinity, according to the flesh, to Him in whom centre all our 
 hopes of salvation, cannot fail to give them an interest in the 
 heart of evexy enlightened christian surpassing that which is 
 felt for any other people on the face of the globe. It is this 
 Avhich has drawn forth such a succession of visitors to the 
 land of their former residence, every spot of which is hallowed 
 by some affecting recollection, and which, more than any 
 other country, is fitted to awaken in the bosom of the chris- 
 tian the most lively, solemn, and melting associations. The 
 extraordinary and mysterious circumstances of their present 
 state, together with the peculiar character of their future 
 prospects, add not a little to the interest arising from their 
 past history. In short, to the philosopher they present a moral 
 prodigy ; to the natural observer, an historical wonder; to the 
 christian, a standing miracle. Nor is there any point in 
 which they can be viewed, individually or collectively, with 
 reference to their temporal or to their spiritual condition, 
 which does not serve to illustrate the claims of the people of 
 Israel to the benevolent attention of the religious world. 
 
 In speaking of Israel as objects of benevolence, their num- 
 ber's cannot be overlooked. This is a matter about which no 
 small diversity of sentiment prevails. There being no certain 
 data on which to proceed in making calculations, the utmost 
 that can be attained is at best but a shrewd guess at the 
 truth. By some the number of the Jews has been estimated 
 as low as three millions, by others as high as thirty millions. 
 In a late tabular vicAV of the population-of the globe, according 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 35 
 
 to the different professions of religion, drawn up by an agent 
 of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Jews are put 
 down at tivelve millions, which may be supposed nearer the 
 truth than either of the numbers just mentioned. 
 
 The general opinion seems to be, that at jiresent they are 
 fully as numerous as at the most flourishing period of their 
 history, during the reigns of David and Solomon. Making 
 all allowance fjr the opei'ation of those natural causes to 
 which their continued numbers have been ascribed — their 
 abstinence, their exemption from Avai's, their frequent and 
 early marriages — it is impossible to reflect on the havoc made 
 of them by the Romans, or on the persecutions and massacres 
 to which they have been subjected by the Turks, not to speak 
 of the cruelties perpetrated by nations bearing the christian 
 name, without regarding the fact as something altogether ex- 
 traordinary. Nor can christians reflect aright on this singular 
 circumstance, without being led to express their feelings in 
 some such language as that of Moses of old, when the cloud 
 of Jehovah rested on the tabernacle, 'Return, O Lord, to the 
 
 JIANY THOUSANDS OF ISRAEL.' * 
 
 Such, then, is the character, and such are the numbers of 
 that interesting people, whom we wish to recommend to your 
 benevolent regard. They are the natural Israel, the lineal 
 descendants of the patriarch Jacob, to whatever tribe they 
 may belong, and in whatever situation they may happen to 
 be found. The distinction of tribes, it is well known, is now 
 lost. The Jews who inhabit Europe are understood to belong 
 to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin ; while, with respect to 
 the descendants of those who revolted, different opinions are 
 entertained. Some think they have now no separate exis- 
 tence, many of them having returned to their own land at the 
 restoration from Babylon, and united with Judah ; and such 
 as remained having been dispersed throughout different na- 
 tions, and gradually absorbed in the mass of the heathen 
 world. Others again suppose that the descendants of the ten 
 tribes still exist, in a distinct state, in or near to the country 
 
 * Num. X. 3G. 
 
36 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL, 
 
 of tlieir original captivity. While a third class, admitting the 
 fact of their existence, pretend not to know the geography of 
 their residence, but suppose them to be lost among the nations 
 of the East. "Without entering into this controversy, or pre- 
 suming to determine among these conflicting opinions, it is 
 enough for our present purpose to observe that all Jews, from 
 whatever tribe they may have descended, or wherever on the 
 face of the earth they may be found, are to be considered as 
 entitled to the benevolent attentions of christians. And in 
 confirmation of this remark, it may be worth while to observe 
 tliat the inspired Avriters, in referring to the fulfilment of 
 God's purposes of mercy, with respect to this people, describe 
 the objects under the most comprehensive phraseology — 'all 
 Israel; all the house of Israel; the whole house of Israel.' *■ 
 
 II. The People of Israel need to be saved. 
 
 The change this people are destined to undergo is repre- 
 sented in scripture by a diversity of language. It is described 
 as fulness, in opposition to diminishing ; reception, in opposition 
 to being cast away ; (jraftiiig in again, in opposition to being 
 cut off; obtaining mercy and salvation, Avhich, being general 
 expressions, may be viewed as opposed to the whole of that 
 forlorn, state from which they are to be recovered. In the 
 text, and the 26th verse of the following chapter, the ex- 
 pression 'saved' is used, obviously in some such general 
 sense. Salvation, though having a specific definite meaning 
 in reference to the soul, admits of a greater latitude of inter- 
 pretation, according as it relates to corporate bodies, or to 
 external circumstances. It was in reference to a temporal 
 deliverance that the people said to Saul, ' Shall Jonathan 
 die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel?'! 
 And on a similar occasion we find it written, ' The Lord 
 sayec? them by a great deliverance. 't In short, salvation is a 
 relative terra ; its meaning, in any particular instance, must 
 depend on the connection ; and when this includes a compli- 
 
 * Rom. xi. 26; Ezek. xx. 40 ; xxxvii. 11 ; xxxix. 25. 
 t 1 Sam. xiv. 45. J 1 ClirOo. xi. 14. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. o7 
 
 cation of evils, it must be understood as opposed to all of 
 these. Pleuce tlic need in which the people of Israel stand 
 ol being saved, may be viewed in diHerent lights. 
 
 1. They need to be saved from hardened infidelitij, dangerous 
 error, and gross ignorance — It is now considei'ably upwards of 
 eighteen hundred years since the Son of God appeared in tlie 
 nature of man, and offered himself to the Jews as the Messiah 
 in whom the promises and the predictions, the types and the 
 ceremonies of their religion were to be fulfilled. But, not 
 meeting their carnal views of temporal deliverance and 
 worldly aggrandizement, they despised and rejected him. 
 Lovely as were the moral features of his character, they saw 
 no beauty that they should desire him ; benevolent as were 
 his miracles, they could Piot conciliate their regard ; holy as 
 was his life, it did not serve to disarm their malice. With 
 malignant hatred they cried out, ' Away with him, away with 
 him, crucify him, crucify him !' and proceeded with deliberate 
 cruelty, to imbrue their hands in his blood : while, with mad 
 infatuation, they invoked on themselves and their posterity 
 the tremendous curse, 'His blood be on us, and on our chil- 
 dren!' In the providence of God, this dreadful imprecation 
 appears to have been fulfilled. They continue as blind as 
 ever to the claims of the Messiah, and equally stubborn in their 
 opposition. ' Blindness hath happened to Israel.' * Even to 
 this day, when Moses, is read, the vail is upon their heart.' * 
 Posterity approve of the iniquitous deeds of their fathers, and, 
 cherishing the same malignity, act them over again in their 
 hearts. The claims of the christian religion they reject with 
 abhorrence ; and the name of its Founder — that ' name which 
 is above every name* — they load with every opprobrious epi- 
 thet; being scai'cely able to hear it pronounced without dis- 
 covering signs of indignation. These sentiments are carefully 
 instilled into the children in early life ; as they advance they 
 hear only what is calculated to confirm their prejudices, and 
 when they arrive at maturity they are prepared to join in the 
 universal scoff, and to exhibit symptoms of the most envenomed 
 
 * Rom. xi. 25 ; 2 Cor. iii. 15. 
 
38 THE SALVATION OF ISRAKL. 
 
 hatred. Nor is there any reason to suppose, were the Son of 
 God again to appear on earth and to exhibit the same 
 powerful evidences of his character and mission, that he would 
 be treated with less virulence than before. Nay, such is their 
 infidelity with respect to the Messiahship of Jesus, that there 
 is ground to conclude the horrid vociferation of impatient 
 malice would be renewed — ' Away with him, away with him, 
 crucify him, crucify him !' This infidelity, too, is not a 
 simple disbelief of his claims. It is accompanied with an 
 inveterate obduracy of heart, a callousness of moral feeling, 
 a sullen obstinacy of disjjosition, which render all prospect of 
 a change, without the interference of divine power, utterly 
 hopeless. They are case-hardened in unbelief. 
 
 The belief, no less than the unbelief, of the Jews rend'ers 
 salvation necessary. Their faith embraces many monstrous 
 and dangerous errors. Believing, as matter of course, that 
 the Messiah is yet to come, they entertain the same carnal 
 views of his person and reign which led their fathers to reject 
 Jesus of Nazareth. Some even expect two Messiahs ; one, 
 Ben-Ephraim, who is to appear in a mean and afflicted con- 
 dition ; another, Ben-David, who is to sustain the character 
 of a powerful and victorious prince. Prayers for the dead 
 are practised, and the absurdities of purgatory mixed up 
 with their views of a future state. Notwithstanding the bright 
 examples of female wisdom, fortitude, and piety, which adorn 
 their early history, their women are now greatly undervalued, 
 ana kept in a state of the lowest degradation. Salvation ap- 
 pears to be thought attainable on the very easiest terrns, by 
 all who only stand aloof from the scandalous crime of apos- 
 tacy from the Jewish belief. And such is the importance 
 attached to the foolish reveries of the Talmud, that their re- 
 jection is considered deserving of being punished by death. 
 
 Add to these considerations the ignorance which prevails 
 among this people. This featui'e of their character is of the 
 darkest description. In Germany, and elsewhere, some are 
 to be found who are considerably enlightened ; but generally 
 speaking, the Jews are not only Avithout ordinary informa- 
 tion, but grossly deficient in the knowledge of their own scrip- 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISHAEL. 39 
 
 tares and history ; and even some synagogues have been 
 discovered to be without tlie book of the law. 
 
 2. They need to be saved from their wide dispersion. — Xo 
 part of their history is more singular than this. It is the 
 subject of several distinct predictions : ' I will bring the land 
 into desolation ; and your eneaiies which dwell thei'ein shall 
 be astonished at it. And / will scatter you among the heathen. — 
 And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall 
 be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord 
 shall lead you. — And the Lord shall scatter thee among all 
 people, J'rom the one end of the earth even unto the other. — They 
 shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall he led away 
 captive into all nations.'' * How remarkably have these pre- 
 dictions been fulfilled ! Although once a most compact society, 
 inhabiting one laud, governed by one king, acknowledging 
 one code of laws, professing one religion, and holding their 
 most holy convocations in one sacred place, they are now 
 scattered over every nation, * from one end of the earth even 
 unlo the other/ living under every form of government, 
 mingling with persons of every religious jDrofession, and 
 placed in situations the most remote from that holy mount 
 where their fathers celebrated their solemn festivals. They 
 are to be found in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in America. 
 They abound most in the Turkish empii'e ; yet have they 
 penetrated into the, remotest parts of China and th,e most 
 inaccessible wilds of Central Africa, and have even emigrated 
 to the very heart of the Western Continent. In short, though 
 ' not reckoned among the nations ' and having no country 
 they can call their own, they yet mingle with every people 
 under heaven ; thus, while they reject Christianity in their 
 own persons^ exhibiting to every age and nation, in this ano- 
 malous feature of their history, an irrefragable argument in 
 its support. 
 
 3. They need to be saved from the contumelious reproach 
 and grievous oppression to which they have been subjected. — 
 These also were foretold : ' Thou shalt become an astonish- 
 
 * Lev. xxvi. 32, 33 ; Deut. xiv. 27; xviii. G4 ; Luke xxi. 24. 
 
40 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 inent, a proveib, and a hje-word among all nations whether 
 the Lord shall lead thee. And among these nations shalt 
 thou find no ease., neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest ; 
 but the Lord shall give thee there a tremhling heart, and failinf/ 
 of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and thy life shall hang in doubt, 
 and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none as- 
 surance of thy life.' * Was ever prediction more exactly 
 fulfilled than this? All nations seem to have agreed to pour 
 contempt on this hapless people. Wherever they have gone 
 they have met with nothing but reproach ; and the very name 
 'Jew' has been regarded as the symbol of whatever is de- 
 serving of execration. Their enemies have said, 'Bow down 
 that we may go over you ;' and Israel, wanting the power to 
 resist, has tamely assumed the attitude of prostration ; ' slie 
 has laid her body as the ground, and as the street to them 
 that go over.' For rejecting the Saviour, they have been 
 ' trodden down of the heathen,' have been treated wdth shame- 
 ful indignity and wanton cruelty by the Hindoo and the 
 jVIussulman, who care nothing for the Saviour. Even chris- 
 tians, unmindful of the merciful and forgiving character of 
 their religion, have joined in the general proscription and 
 sternly refused to naturalise the devoted nation. The com- 
 passion shown to the inferior animals has, in many instances, 
 been withheld from the children of Abraham. 
 
 ' The wild-doye liatli her nest, the fox his cave, 
 Mankind their country — Israel but the grave.' 
 
 In the arrangements of pious benevolence for evangelising the 
 world, till of late, they have been greatly overlooked, as if 
 any attempt to convert them were to be regarded as visionary. 
 Nor is this all. Compared with the calamities that have 
 befallen this outcast people, neglect and contumely might 
 have been easily borne. Sad and long is the tale df Israel's 
 oppressions. Insufferable hardships, and unjust confiscations, 
 and cruel banishments, and shocking massacres are among 
 the miseries they have been called to endute. Thousands 
 and tens of thousands have fallen victims to the relentless 
 
 * Deut. xsviii. 37, G5, 66. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 41 
 
 hate of iLeir barbarous oppressors. In Turkey, Persia, Ger- 
 many, Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and England, their 
 history up to the period of the Reformation, when the invete- 
 rate hostility began to abate, presents one uninterrupted series 
 of calamities, in describing which, no language can be found 
 more appropriate than that of holy writ: 'The Lord hath 
 sent upon them cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that they 
 have put their hands unto ; they have been only oppressed and 
 spoiled evermore.'' To this day they c?)ntinue an oppressed 
 people, in being shut out from the common privileges of the 
 nations among whom ihey live, and, Avith only one exception, 
 being refused naturalisation wherever they have been scat- 
 tered. In all this we see, no doubt, the retributive justice of 
 God avenging the crime of Calvary ; but Ave see also a strong 
 proof of the need in which the children of Israel stand of 
 salvation. 
 
 4. They need to be saved from the lowest state of hreligion 
 and immorality. — Most deplorable in both these respects is the 
 present condition of the Jewish people. The reproach in which 
 they have been held, has contributed to sink them to a state 
 in Avhich it is deserved. Though once the possessors of a 
 religion of divine origin and supreme authority, and the 
 only people on earth who could lay claim to the right know- 
 ledge and worship of the true God, they have now scarce the 
 semblance of piety. The flame of devotion that once glowed 
 in their hearts, appears to have been extinguished with the 
 sacred fire that burned on their altars. Many, according 
 to the testimony of their own writers, have become absolute 
 infidels, and, rejecting the substantial verities of divine reve- 
 lation for the crude uncertainties of a deistical philosophy, 
 have as little faith to place in the authority of Moses as in that 
 of Jesus. Amongst those who still profe?s to adhere to the 
 tenets of their fathers, religion, both public and private, seems 
 to be at a low ebb. 
 
 Their temple-worship is described by an eye-witness, as 
 presenting only ' a rabble transacting business, making en- 
 gagements, and walliing to and fro in the midst of public 
 prayers ; children at their sports ; every countenance, with a 
 
42 THh, SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 very few exceptions, indicating the utmost irreverence and 
 unconcern ; and their chief rabbi sitting by and seeming to 
 care for none of these things ;' while the modern synagogue 
 is spoken of as exhibiting ' an appearance of very little more 
 devotion than the Stock Exchange, or the public streets of 
 the metropolis at noon-day.' They are now also entirely 
 ' without a sacrifice.' And surely, taking all these things 
 into the account, were it possible that the Jewish fathers could 
 rise from their graves, and survey the corrupted and pitiful 
 mockery of their ancient worship presented in the modern 
 services of their descendants, there could not fail to-be a re- 
 currence of the affecting scene exhibited on the return from 
 Babylon, when the fathers and princes of Israel wept with a 
 loud voice as they compared the faded beauty of the second 
 temple with the splendour, and magnificence, and glory of the 
 first. 
 
 From the state of lyublic worship we may judge what must 
 be that of their j^rivate devotions. Nor, after what, we have 
 seen, will it surprise you to hear that personal religion among 
 the Jews is either wholly omitted, or reduced to some super- 
 stitious performance or unmeaning ceremony. 
 
 Immorality is the natural and unavoidable consequence of 
 the Want of religion. The people of whom we are speaking 
 are 'children of disobedience' in a sense peculiar to them- 
 selves ; and it is expecting nothing more than is warranted 
 by.scripture when we consider that Satan will be found 'v/ork- 
 ing in' them more strongly than is usual among the other 
 members of our degenerate family. Facts accord with such 
 an expectation. The fraud and deceit for which they are 
 proverbial, the petty thefts to which the children of the lower 
 orders are trained from their infancy, the insatiable avarice 
 shown by the higher ranks, and the unbounded indulgence 
 given by all to their criminal passions, evince too clearly, 
 alas ! that the pure morality of the Decalogue, originally 
 spoken by the voice and written with the finger of God, is 
 now no longer regarded, but overlooked, violated, and con- 
 temned, without compunction or dread. 
 
 Such are some of those things which prove the need in 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISIIAEL. 43 
 
 which Israel stand of salvation. They will serve to give you 
 some idea of the present condition of those whom we now 
 hold up as objects of christian benevolence. The picture we 
 have drawn is gloomy; but it is faithful and scriptural. It 
 is, after all, but a mere outline, a simple sketch, Avhich those 
 who have leisure for historical research will find no difficulty 
 in filling up. Enough has been said, however, to prompt the 
 pathetic lamentation, ' How is the gold become dim, the most 
 fine gold changed ! How hath the Lord covered the daughter 
 of Zion with a cloud in his auger, and cast down from heaven 
 unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his 
 footstool in the day of his anger ! ' * Nor is it possible to view 
 the contrast between the present and former condition of this 
 people, without being irresistibly reminded of the name 
 which the wife of Phinehas gave to her child in the anguish 
 of her soul, '^Ichabod — the glory is depar'ted from Israel.' 
 Departed indeed ! ' The outward glory is trampled under foot 
 — the inward spirituality is evaporated — the land has cast out 
 its inhabitants, and the Spirit of God has deserted the pol- 
 luted dwelling.' 
 
 ' Can these bones live V Such was the question suggested 
 by the striking emblematical representation of the state of the 
 Jews given to the prophet Ezekiel ; and it is not improbable 
 that a similar inquiry may have been suggested to some, by 
 the preceding statements. Can a people so hardened 'in in- 
 fidelity, so ignorant, so reproached, so sunk in impiety and 
 vice, ever be reclaimed? Can bones, not only from which 
 the flesh without has been stripped off", but of which the 
 marrow within has been completely dried up, and which have 
 been bleached for ages by the tempest of divine wrath — can 
 such bones ever be resuscitated? The question, we admit, 
 is natural and reasonable. But do not despond, my hearers! 
 We are not allowed to entertain a doubt on the subject. 'The 
 present state of this interesting people is not the last. A 
 cheering ray darts across the gloom. The blessed light of 
 prophecy, streaming through the opening clouds, settles on the 
 
 * Lam. ii. 1. 
 
44 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 distant prospect, and brings to view a scene on which the eye 
 of benevolence and piety rests with delighted anticipation.' 
 
 III. Israel shall be saved. 
 
 Paul's desire and prayer, there is reason to believe, were 
 prompted by the Spirit of all grace ; of course they must be 
 viewed as in accordance with the divine purposes of mercy 
 resi^ecting their objects. Here three things naturally fall to 
 be considered — the nature, the certainty, and the manner of 
 Israel's salvation. 
 
 1. The NATURE of Israel's salvation must bear a relation to 
 their present state. The one must be the opposite of the 
 other. They shall have fulness where they have had dimi- 
 nishing, reception where they have been cast away, grafting 
 in again where they have been cut off, mercy instead of 
 wrath, and salvation instead of a curse. But these are all 
 general terms. It will be necessary to be more particular. 
 
 Their salvation will doubtless include faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as the true Messiah. There will be a universal 
 acknowledgment of his claims by them as a nation, and a 
 saving belief in his person and righteousness on the part of 
 many as individuals. The following passages assert thus 
 much: 'Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and 
 seek the Lord their God, and David their king ; and shall fear 
 the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days. — And I will pour 
 upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem, the spirit of grace and of supplications ; and they shall 
 look upon ME whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn 
 for HIM, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in 
 bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. 
 — For as ye (Gentiles) in times past have not believed God, 
 yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so 
 have these (Jews) also now not believed, that through your 
 mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded 
 them all in unbelief, that he might hove rhercy upon all. — 
 Nevertheless, when it {i.e. the heart of the people of Israel) 
 shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.' * 
 * Hos. iii. 5s Zech. su. 10 ; I^om. xi. 30-32 ; 2 Cor. iii. 16. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 45 
 
 Their being gathered together rrnist also be included in this 
 salvation.. Of this much is said in the prophetic writings : 
 ' And it shall come to pass in that day. that the Lord shall 
 set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of 
 his people, Avhich shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, 
 and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from 
 Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 
 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall as- 
 semble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of 
 Jndah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of 
 Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be 
 cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not 
 vex Ephraim. — In those days the house of Judah shall walk 
 with the house of Israel, and the?/ shall come together out of the 
 land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheri- 
 tance unto your fathers. — And I ivill gather the remnant of my 
 flock out of all countries n-hither I have driven them, and will 
 bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and 
 increase. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Loi'd, 
 that they shall no more say. The Lord liveth, which brought 
 up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; hut, The Lord 
 liveth xvhich brought vp, and which led the seed of the house of 
 Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries 
 whither I had driven them ; and they shall dwell in their 
 own land. — For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,' that 
 I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and 
 Judah, saith the Lord ; and 1 will cause them to return 
 to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall 
 possess it. — And the word of the Lord came again unto me, 
 saying. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and 
 write upon it. For Judah and for the children of Israel his com- 
 panions: then take another stick and write upon it. For Joseph, 
 the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his com- 
 panions: And join them one to another in one stick; and they 
 shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of 
 thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show 
 us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith 
 the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which 
 
46 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, 
 and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, 
 and make them one stick, and tJtey shall be one in mine hand.' * 
 Whether these prophecies are designed to intimate that 
 there will be a literal reunion of the two rival kingdoms, an 
 amicable adjustment of all their differences, and an actual 
 restoration of the whole descendants of Jacob to their own 
 land, there to enjoy an independent national existence, or are 
 intended to describe their being brought together within the 
 bosom of the christian church, admits of dispute. Each of 
 these interpretations has its difficulties, yet neither is without 
 its strenuous advocates. It is perhaps one of those subjects 
 on which no one ought to dogmatise. The day will declare 
 it. There seems to be a general leaning, among the writers 
 of the present day, to the literal view of these and similar 
 predictions. But whether, according to them, 'Kidron's vale 
 and Jordan's banks, the mount of Olivet and the waters of 
 Siloam, shall ever again echo with the songs of salvation ' 
 from the lips of native Jews, it is at all events certain, that 
 the latter of these interpretations shall be fully accomplished. 
 With this we may rest satisfied in the meantime, as to enter 
 into the controversy would carry us too far away from our 
 present object, and to offer an opinion without proof would 
 serve no important purpose. 
 
 Besides these, honour and renown must be taken into the 
 account. Their reproach will be completely wiped away, and 
 a reputable distinction assigned them among the nations of 
 the world. To this part of their salvation the following pre- 
 dictions seem to refer : — ' The glory of Lebanon shall come 
 unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the bos together, 
 to heautify the place of my sanctuary ; and I will make the 
 place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afilicted 
 thee, shall come bending unto thee ; and all they that 
 despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy 
 feet ; and they shall call thee. The City of the Lord, The Zion 
 of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken 
 
 * Is. xL 11-13 ; Jer. iii. 18 ; xxiii. 3, 7, 8 ; xxx. 3 ; Ezek. xxxvii, 15-19. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 47 
 
 and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make 
 thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou 
 shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the 
 breasts of kings ; and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy 
 Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. — And 
 I will raise up for thee a plant of renoivn, and they shall no 
 more be consumed with hunger in the XtmA, neither bear the 
 shame of the heathen any more. Neither will I cause men to 
 hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither 
 shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither 
 shalt thou cause the nations to fall any more, saith the 
 Lord God. — I will get them pra?se and fame in every land 
 where they have been put to shame. At that time will I 
 bring you again, even in the time that I gather you ; for I 
 will make you a name and a praise among all the people of 
 the earth, when I turn back your captivity before yoTir eyes, 
 saith the Lord.'* 
 
 "Without piety and holiness, their salvation would be incom- 
 plete indeed. That these are to be included, there can 
 remain no doubt on the mind of any one acquainted with the 
 prophecies respecting this people. Take these as a specimen: 
 — ' And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity 
 of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first. And 
 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have 
 sinned against me, and I will pardon all their inicj[uities, 
 whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have trans- 
 gressed against me. — I will take you from among the hea- 
 then, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you 
 into your own land. Then will I spi-iiikle clean water upon 
 you, and ye shall he clean : from all your filthiness, and from 
 all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I 
 give you, and a neio spirit will I put within you ; and I will 
 take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
 you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, 
 and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
 judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land 
 
 * Is. Ix. 13-lC; Ezek. xxxiv. 21): xxxvi. 15; Zeph. iii. 11), 20, 
 
48 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 that I gave to your fathers ; and ye shall be my people, and 
 I will be your God. — Neither shall they defile themselves any 
 more with idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with 
 any of their transgressions : but I will save them out of all 
 their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, .and will 
 cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their 
 God. — And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, 
 There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn 
 away imgodimei^s from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto 
 them, when I shall take aivay their sins.'* Some of these are 
 the very passages we are accustomed to apply to the work of 
 sanctification in believers. The contest determines their 
 pi'imary reference to the people of Israel. To affirm that 
 they are to be literally fulfilled in the case of all, would per- 
 haps be stretching the matter too far ; but, if language has 
 any meaning, they vmquestionably must be understood as 
 intimating that a very great number shall be spiritually justi- 
 lied and sanctified, really converted, saved from going down 
 to the pit, delivered from the wrath to come. So glorious 
 and comprehensive is the nature of Israel's salvation ! Surely 
 it will be admitted that the Lord hath spoken good concern- 
 ing Israel. 
 
 2. The CERTAINTY of Israel's being saved, rests on several 
 grounds, the chief of which we shall briefly state. 
 
 The relation in which they stand to their honoured fathers, 
 and their separate preservation, afford presumptive evidence 
 that they will be saved. The distinction conferred on the 
 ancestors, the promises made to them, and the. covenant by 
 M'hich these promises were confirmed, all lead us to indulge 
 the strongest hopes respecting their descendants. It is 
 scarcely possible to think of the honour put on their progeni- 
 tors by the call of Abraham — the covenant made with him, 
 and renewed to Isaac' and Jacob — the miraculous deliverance 
 from Egyptian oppression — the triumphant passage of the 
 Red Sea — the singular protection enjoyed in the wilderness 
 — the dividing of Jordan — and the final settlement in Ca- 
 
 * Jer. xxxiii. 7, 8 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 24-28; sxxvii. 23; Eom. xi. 26, 27. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 49 
 
 naan, amid visible tokens of the divine presence and regard ; 
 it is scarcely possible to think of these things, and yet sup- 
 pose that the Jewish race are to be left in the wretched con- 
 dition in which they now exist. We proceed, it is appre- 
 hended, on the soundest principles, when we conclude that 
 ' the seed of Abraham, God's friend,' will not always be for- 
 gotten. This mode of reasoning is adopted by the apostle in 
 the context : — ' I say, then, hath God cast away his people ? 
 God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abra- 
 liam, of the tribe of Benjamin. — Ji i\\Q first fruit be holy, the 
 lump is also holy: and if the root bs holy, so are the branches. — 
 As concex-ning the gosj^el, they are enemies for your sake : 
 but as touching the election, they ai-e beloved for the 
 fathers' sake. For the gifts and calling of God are with- 
 out repentance.' — The same thing is confirmed by the name 
 by whicli Jehovah made himself known to Israel "of old, 
 by means of Moses : ' Thus shalt thou say unto the children 
 of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of 
 Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, 
 hath sent me unto you : this is my name/or ever; this is my 
 memorial unto all generations.' This name never has been, 
 never can be repealed : and its continuance affords to the 
 friends of Israel ample security for the fulfilment of their 
 fondest hopes. — Besides, what other conclusion can be drawn 
 from the separate i^i'Gservatioii of this people? This is, At all 
 events, a most wonderful fact. Kingdoms, empires, religions, 
 after flourishing apace and receiving the most poAverful sup- 
 port, have languished and gradually sunk into total extinction. 
 But here are a people, who though comparatively small at 
 first, invaded by the most powerful enemies, and pursued with 
 every instrument of extermination — royal edicts, cruel banish- 
 ments, seditious plots, outrageous massacres — have, neverthe- 
 less, survived them all ; and not only survived, but multiplied 
 and increased so remarkably, that no emblem can be found 
 so expressive of their state as that which their own legislator 
 beheld of old in the land of Midian — '« hush burning, and not 
 consumed.' It is a circumstance not the least worthy of notice 
 in this connection, that, while they showed so inveterate a 
 
 c 
 
50 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 propensity to apostatise from their religion and laws when 
 they had every possible inducement to be faithful, they should 
 now obstinately adhere, not only in the absence of every such 
 inducement, but in resistance of those of an opposite character. 
 Wliile living in a state of entire separation from the other 
 nations of the world, and enjoying, moreover, miraculous in- 
 timations of the divine will, they seemed ever disposed to 
 adopt the sentiments and copj the manners of others ; but 
 now, when living among the nations, coming in daily contact 
 with their opinions and actions, and having every possible 
 inducement to change, they rigidly preserve their distinctive 
 character. There is in this something so extraordinary, so 
 opposite to what has happened in other instances, so much 
 calculated to baffle all human calculations, as to leave no doubt 
 on the minds of those who believe in the operations of an 
 overruling Providence that they are preserved for some im- 
 portant ends — ends worthy of the wise Disposer of all events, 
 and involving their own temporal and spiritual good. 
 
 The prophecies and promises of Revelation assert the salvation 
 of Israel. Some of these have already been brought forward 
 in speaking of the particular parts of this salvation. There 
 are others of a more general character, to which we shall now 
 advett ; premising, however, that the prophecies which remain 
 to be fulfilled are distinguished from such as have received 
 their accomplishment at former periods of the Jewish history, 
 by. one or other of the following marks : — their speaking of 
 both Judah and Israel — the blessings promised being said to 
 be permanent — the time of fulfilment being called ' the latter 
 days'' — their making mention of universal peace, purity, and 
 happiness — or their referring to a restoration from all countries. 
 This test will apply to the following : * When thou art in 
 tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in 
 the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be 
 obedient unto his voice (for the Lord thy God is a merciful 
 God), he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor for- 
 get the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them. — 
 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon 
 thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISHAEL. 51 
 
 and thou sbalt call them to mind among all the nations 
 whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return 
 unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according t<j 
 all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with 
 all thine heart, and with all thy soul ; that then the Lord thy 
 God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, 
 and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither 
 the Lord thy God hath scattered thee : and the Lord thy God 
 will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and 
 thou shalt possess it, and he will do thee good, and multiply 
 thee above thy fathers. — But fear not thou, O my servant 
 Jacob ; and be not dismayed, O Israel : for, behold, I will 
 save thee from afar oflP, and thy seed from the land of their 
 captivity ; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, 
 and 7ione shall make him afraid' * But the field of unfulfilled 
 prophecy is so wide that we must not venture on it farther. 
 Enough, surely, has been said to show the certainty, ai'ising 
 from this source, of Israel's salvation. These are the true 
 sayings of God — the promises of One who cannot lie. Sooner 
 shall heaven and earth pass away than one word of all that 
 he has spoken fail of its accomplishment. 
 
 The power of God is able to secure the fulfilment of these pre- 
 dictions. Many things, it is true, in reference to this event, 
 appear discouraging. The prejudices, the sentiments, the 
 condition of the Jewish people, are such as might in'duce 
 hopeless despondency, had we to look only to man. But we 
 look to God ; and with God all things are possible. His 
 power has been asserted to be sufficient, and actual proof of 
 his ability has been given in cases not less difficult. ' God is 
 able to graft them in again,' says our apostle in the context ; 
 and surely when we call to mind the deliverance from Egj'pt, 
 the emancipation from Babylon, and the overwhelming won- 
 ders of Pentecost, we have every reason to place the fullest 
 confidence in the predicted event. You may feel disposed to 
 regard the Jews as ' trees without fruit, tivice dead, plucked 
 up by the roots ;' but ' why should it be thought a thing in- 
 
 * Deut. iv. 30, 31 ; xxx. 1-5 ; Jer. xlvi. 27. 
 
52 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 credible with you that God should raise the dead?' Have 
 you forgotten the delightful promise, ' Thy dead men shall live, 
 together with my dead body shall they arise ; awake and 
 sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of 
 herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead?' 
 
 Present appearances, both in the christian world, and among 
 the Jews themselves, hold out eacouraging prospects that the time 
 is at hand, when the power of God is to be exerted for the ful- 
 filment of the promises in question. The religious woi'ld, which 
 long displayed the most callous indifference to the claims of 
 Israel, has lately been roused from its apathy. The- societies 
 that have been formed in different quarters, the frequent 
 inquiries that are made, and the writings that are put in cir- 
 culation, serve to show that the prejudices against the Jews 
 are giving way, that christians begin to be actuated by a 
 better spirit towards the seed of Abraham, and that a general 
 interest of considerable intensity, has been excited on their 
 behalf According to the argument of the royal psalmist, 
 we may augur good from these appearances : ' Thou shalt 
 arise, and have mercy upon Zion : for the time to favour her, 
 vea, the set time,. is come: for thy sf^rvants take pleasure in 
 her stones, and favour the dust thereof — Tlie state of things 
 among the Jevjs themselves strengthens this conclusion. An 
 unusual excitement has certainly taken place in some parts of 
 the globe, particularly the continent of Europe. They display, 
 in many instances, an altered temper. Their willingness to 
 receive tracts, and copies of the New Testament, and to enter 
 into conversation with christians on their religious differences, 
 shows that the barriers of prejudice are beginning to yield. 
 Expectations of the near approach of some great crisis in 
 their history seem to be pretty generally diffused. And, 
 then, occasional instances occur of apparently real conversion 
 — actual shakings among the dry bones, which we deem our- 
 selves fully warranted in regarding as blessed harbingers of 
 that glorious day of mercy to the house of Jacob, when the 
 vivifying Spirit of Jehovah shall ' breathe into them, and 
 they shall live, and stand up upon their feet, an exceeding 
 great army.' . 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 53 
 
 Such are the grounds of our assurance with respect to the 
 event in question. Taken together they cannot fail to satisfy 
 the most incredulous, and to encourage the most desponding. 
 3. The MANNER of Israel's salvation remains to be con- 
 sidered on this branch of the subject. Here it will be 
 necessary to direct our attention to the agency of the Divine 
 Spirit, and the instrumentality of human means. After all 
 that we have seen of the grounds of certainty, it is possible 
 the question may occur, ' By whom shall Jacob arise V 
 Nor can any reply be deemed satisfactory which does not 
 embrace the two points now mentioned. 
 
 The agency of the Holy Spirit is indispensable. The 
 change to be wrought is, both in its general character and 
 individual parts, such as nothing short of omnipotence can 
 accomplish. It is a resurrection, a creation indeed. To pro- 
 duce a firm and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is the 
 peculiar work of the Spirit of all grace. By nothing le?s 
 than a divine afflatus can the Jews be gathered together in a 
 state of reconciliation and peace. Nor is there any other 
 source from which true piety and holiness can ever proceed. 
 Every individual conversion, and every great general revival 
 in the church, has owed its existence to the Spirit's opera- 
 tion. The promise of Christ to his disciples, and the history 
 of the wonders of Pentecost accord with this remark^: ' I 
 will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, 
 that he may abiJe with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth, 
 whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, 
 neither knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth 
 with you, and shall be in you. — When the day of Pentecost 
 was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place ; 
 and they were all filled ivith the Holy Ghost, and began to 
 speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.'* 
 We are assured the salvation of Israel will be effected in the 
 same way: 'Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, 
 Behold, I will cauae hreatk to enter into you, and ye shall live ; 
 and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh uj on 
 
54 THE SALVATION OP ISRAEL. 
 
 you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye 
 shall live ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 
 opened yeur graves, O my people, and brought you up out 
 of your graves, and shall put my Spirit within you, and ye 
 shall live ; and I shall place you in your own land : then 
 shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed 
 it, saith the Lord.' * Oh yes ! copious will be the outpourings, 
 and glorious the effects of the Spirit's influences, when 
 this prediction is accomplished. The prophecy of Joel 
 will receive a new and more extensive fulfilment: 'I will 
 pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your 
 daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, 
 your young men shall see visions ; and also upon the servants 
 and upon the hand-maids, in those days, will I pour out my 
 Spirit.' f 
 
 Whether, besides what we have mentioned, there will be 
 miraculous influences of the Spirit, is a question not easily 
 determined. It is the opinion of many eminent writers that 
 there will. Some even expect extraordinary signs in the 
 heavens, awful convulsions of the material world, and a 
 personal appearance of the Saviour in splendid majesty. But 
 whether anything essentially different from what has been 
 employed in the conversion of the Gentiles, shall be requisite 
 in the case of the Jews, is not so obvious, at least, as to 
 supersede all reasonable doubt. One thing is certain, that 
 the power of the Spirit is adequate to subdue the depravity of 
 the human heart in its most inveterate form. 
 
 The doctrine we have been teaching respecting the necessity 
 of the Spirit, does not, by any means, supersede human instru- 
 mentality. Some, it is true, have been foolish or wicked 
 enough to draw this absurd and pernicious conclusion ; and, 
 leaving the Almighty, as they say, to accomplish his own 
 work, have certainly taken care to avoid the imputation of 
 seeming interference. Surely it is unnecessary to say that 
 such is an impious pei'version of the appointment of Heaven. 
 "When, we ask, since the original creation of all things, did 
 
 * Ezek. «xxvii. 5, C, 13, 14. t Joel ii.-28, 29. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 55 
 
 God ever act without means ? Not evgn in the most extra- 
 ordinary of his works, the incarnation of the Messiah, and 
 the conversion at Pentecost — w orks in which, of all others, 
 this might have been expected ; yet in the former case there 
 was the body of Mary, in the latter the preaching of Peter. 
 Certainly not in rescuing Israel from Egypt, or in delivering 
 them from Babylon. Nor have we any ground to conclude 
 it will be different when the Lord binds up the breach of 
 his people, and heals the stroke of their wound. We have 
 express evidence of the contrary : ' Again he said unto me, 
 Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry 
 bones, hear the word of the Lord. So / pro2)hesied as I was 
 commanded, and as I prophesied there was a noise, and, behold, 
 a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Then 
 said he unto me, Proj)hesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, 
 and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord God, come from the 
 four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they 
 niay live. So I "propliesied as he commanded me, and the breath 
 came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an 
 exceeding great army.'* Two things are here worthy of 
 remark ; first, that the instructions to prophesy are in close 
 connection with the assertions respecting the Spirit; secondly, 
 that nothing is effected till the means are put in operation : 
 thus demonstrating the perfect compatibility of these things, 
 the folly of expecting the blessing without using the means, 
 and the criminality of overlooking the Agent who alone can 
 render them effectual. Our exertions ought never to diminish 
 our confidence in God, as our confidence in God ought never 
 to relax our exertions. The necessity of means in the work 
 in question is also plainly taught by Paul : ' For as ye in 
 times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained 
 mercy through their unbelief; even so have these now not 
 believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy."" 
 The mercy of the Gentiles, it is clear from this passage, is to 
 be the mean of conferring mercy on the house of Israel. But 
 there is no way in which Gentile mercy can come to bear on 
 
 * Ezek. xxxvii. 4, 7, 9. 10. 
 
56 THE SALVATION OF IS«AEL. 
 
 Jewish infidelity, excepting as a principle of action, a power- 
 ful motive prompting to the use of every possible means of 
 conferring benefit on those who are its objects. And what, 
 it may be asked, are the means which Gentile christians are 
 to employ in expressing their mercy for the seed of Abraham? 
 
 A prominent place is certainly due to the sacred scriptures. 
 These form the grand instrument in the hand of the Spirit, 
 for converting sinners, and effecting a moral change on any 
 class of mankind. ' The Word of God is quick and power- 
 ful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to 
 the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
 marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
 heart.' ' Is not my word like a fire ? saith the Lord ; and 
 like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? ' The Jews, 
 in many places, are in want of even the Old Testament, and 
 it would not be easy to calculate the beneficial consequences 
 that might result from j^roviding them with their own scrip- 
 tures. But the New Testament, in their own tongue, to 
 which they are enthusiastically, and even superstitiously at- 
 tached, * is what they principally need. This was long un- 
 accountably overlooked. Of late, however, the religious 
 world has been awakened to a sense of its importance. The 
 Hebrew New Testament is now extensively circulated, anii 
 some delightful instances are on record in which it has been 
 apparently successful. 
 
 The preaching of the gospel must also be allowed to hold a 
 conspicuous place in the rank of means for promoting the 
 conversion of the Jews. This is one of the most distinguished 
 instruments of conferring spiritual benefit on mankind. The 
 looks, the gestures, the tones of love which the living speaker 
 is enabled to employ, give to this means inconceivable advan- 
 tages, and impart to it a subduing charm, of which the cause 
 in question stands greatly in need and ought not certainly to 
 be deprived. ]\Iany missionaries have gone out from the 
 
 * An excellent illustration of tliis occurs, Acts xxi. 40, compared with 
 xxii. 2, where we are told that although the Jews ' made a great silence ' 
 when Paul offered to address tliem fi-ora the top of the castle stair. ' when 
 they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more silence.^ 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 57 
 
 societies which exist in this and other countries, whose labours 
 among the Jews liave been unwearied ; whose success, con- 
 sidering the difficulties with which they have had to contend, 
 has been, perhaps, as great as could reasonably be expected ;. 
 and whose periodical accounts are among the most deeply in- 
 teresting articles of intelligence with which the hearts of 
 christians, in this age of pious benevolence, are cheered. 
 
 The erection of schools for the instruction of Jewish chil- 
 dren, with whom clu'istians may expect to be more successful 
 than with those whose prejudices have been strengthened by 
 age ; and the circulation of appropriate tracts, are also deserv- 
 ing of attention. — The removal of hinderances., both moral and 
 political, and the affording of facilities to such as show a dis- 
 position to adopt and profess the religion of Jesus, must not 
 pass unnoticed. National restrictions, the inconsistencies of 
 professing christians, bath in piinciple and practice, and the 
 contempt with which they have been treated, are stumbling- 
 blocks which it is now time to take up out of the way of 
 God's ancient people, and the removal of which is among the 
 duties commanded, and signs held out with reference to their 
 future restoration. It seems necessary also to afford positive 
 facilities, by extending protection, and even in some cases 
 furnishing pecuniar}-^ support to those Avho, by avowing 
 Christianity, expose themselves to all the otherwise disastrous 
 consequences of a cruel proscription from their brethren and 
 former associates. 
 
 To all these must be added that powerful instrument of 
 spiritual good — prayer. Prayer must precede, must accom- 
 pany, must follow the use of every other mean. This, by 
 ' a mysterious link in the chain of moral causes and effects, 
 connects the weakness of the creature with the almightiness 
 of God.' Unless the friends of Israel thus look to Jehovah, 
 (liey will be loudly rebuked for their impiety and presump- 
 tion, by a total failure of all their designs ; and they will 
 deserve to be so rebuked. But it shall not be so. The 
 sacred prediction must be fulfilled : ' I have set watchmen 
 upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their 
 peace day nor night : ye that make mention of the Lord, 
 
 c2 
 
58 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 keep not silence ; and give him no rest, till he establish, and 
 till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.' Great is the 
 efficacy of fervent, importunate, believing praj^er. It can 
 remove mountains ; and why should it not be employed to 
 displace those towering prejudices which prevent the return 
 of God's ancient people to the bosom of the true church ? 
 It has brought fertilising showers on the parched earth ; and 
 why should it not be laid hold of to irrigate with the rain of 
 celestial influences the barren fields of Israel and Judah ? It 
 has shaken, as with an earthquake, the foundations of a pri- 
 son ; and why should it not be used to overturn that strong- 
 hold of unbelief which has so long retained millions of our 
 fellow-men in spiritual bondage, and to let the children of 
 Jacob go free ? It has raised the dead ; and why should it 
 not be I'esorted to for the purpose of awakening to all the 
 energies and enjoyments of spiritual life, the exanimate sons 
 of Abraham ? Be assured, that to the fulfilment of the hopes 
 we have been this day contemplating, there must be frequent, 
 earnest, united, and believing prayer. Christians in their 
 closets, in their families, in their private fellowships, and in 
 their public assemblies, must agree to cry with their whole 
 soul, ' Come from the four winds, O Breath, and bkeath 
 
 UPON THESE SLAIN, THAT THEY MAY LIVE.' 
 
 IV. The Salvation of Israel is a thing greatly to be 
 
 DESIRED. 
 
 That it was viewed in this light by the apostle, his lan- 
 guage strongly expresses. Besides the ties of kindred, there 
 must have been other reasons of a more enlarged and general 
 nature, by which he was influenced in this matter — reasons 
 similar to those which still operate in rendering the event in 
 question a most desirable object to the hearts of christians. 
 
 1 . The tendency of Israel's salvation to rejlect tlie glory of the 
 Godhead and the honour of the Redeemer^ is here deserving of 
 a primary place. The glory of God, which is indeed the end 
 of all his works, is spoken of in scripture as especially the de- 
 sign of his interpositions in behalf of the Israelites. This is 
 expressly stated as the object of their original choice, their 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 59 
 
 deliverance from Egypt, and their return from Babj'lon : ' I 
 have caused to cleave unto nie the v/hole house of Israel, and 
 the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord ; that they might 
 be unto me for a people, and for a pram, and for a glory. — ■. 
 I wrought for my name^s sake, that it should not be polluted 
 before the heathen ; among whom they were, in whose sight 
 I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out 
 of the land of Egypt. — Therefore say unto the house of Israel, 
 Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O 
 house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have 
 profaned among the heathen.' * Nor is it different with the 
 gi'eatest of all his interpositions, their final restoration : ' So 
 will I make my name known in the midst of my people Israel ; 
 and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more : and 
 the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of 
 Israel.' f It is not easy to conceive anything better fitted to 
 reflect the divine glory than this event. "What a striking 
 exhibition must it give of the mei'cy, the patience, and the 
 faithfulness of God ! — what an illustration of his overruling 
 providence ! — what a confirmation of the truth of Christianity ! 
 Nor will it redound less to the honour of the Redeemer. IIow 
 will it illustrate the efficacy of his blood, when it shall be seen 
 removing the guilt of the descendants of those who put him 
 to death, and who have cherished toward him for ages a most 
 deadly and malignant hatred ; and the power of his interces- 
 sion, when it shall appear that he has prevailed with the 
 Father, for those who have so long slighted his best, his un- 
 speakable gift ; and the omnipotence of his grace, in con- 
 straining such implacable enemies to bow to his sceptre ; and 
 the depths of his condescension, in receiving them into his 
 favour! The salvation of Israel cannot fail, on all these 
 accounts, to appear one of the brightest gems in Emmanuel's 
 crown. The glory of the Divine Spirit also must be rendered 
 conspicuous, in his working efficaciously in the hearts of those 
 who have so long grieved him with their infidelity, and pro 
 voked him with their obstinate rebellion. Considered in this 
 
 * JcT. xiii. 1 1 ; Ezek. xx. 9 ; xxxvi. 22. f Ezek. xxxix. 1. 
 
60 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 light, viewed as a focus in which so many scattered rays of 
 divine glory are to converge, where is the christian who would 
 not have it as his heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, 
 that they might be saved ? 
 
 2. The benefit that must result to themselves, is another con- 
 sideration worthy of notice in this connection. To illustrate 
 this, we need do little more than recall to your minds the de- 
 scription of their present condition and account of their future 
 prospects, already submitted. Although no glory were to 
 redound to God — which, however, is impossible — to diminish 
 the weight of human calamity, to lessen the extent of human 
 wretchedness, to augment the sura of man's enjoyment, were 
 an object worthy of our ardent desire; and, whether, as .re- 
 spects the depth of previous misery, or the amount of expected 
 good, it will be difficult to find a case to surpass that of the 
 outcast nation of Israel. The general points in which their 
 salvation is to consist are great in themselves, besides eacli of 
 them being pregnant with many blessings of inconceivable 
 importance and value. Faith in Christ, restoration viewed in 
 whatever light you please, spiritual renown, personal piety, and 
 practical godliness, are favours the worth of which it will be 
 difficult to overrate. But from faith in Christ must spri;ig 
 pardon of sin, peace of conscience, reconciliation to God, ait 
 interest in the promises, and a well-founded title to the eternal 
 inheritance of glory ; from restoration all the endearments and 
 syhipathies of brotherly affection, and all the Strength and 
 energy and protection arising from organised society ; and 
 from personal piety and holiness, all the honour and support 
 and consolation and enjoyment which are peculiar to the 
 saints of God. Those whom considerations like these fail to 
 move to a benevolent desire for the salvation of Israel must 
 be strangers to every generous emotion, and whatever their 
 pretensions, have reason to question their relation to Him 
 who wept over Jerusalem, as he thought of the sins and the 
 miseries of its devoted inhabitants. 
 
 o. The. blessings to result to the world at large show, farther, 
 tlie desirableness of Israel's salvation. From the peculiar 
 character of certain passages of holy writ, it is impossible to 
 
THE SALVATION 01' ISRAEL. 61 
 
 deny that God has fixed an important connection between the 
 conversion of the Jewish nation and the complete illumination 
 of the Gentile world. So early as the call of Abram the 
 father of this people, was it said, ' I will bless them that bless 
 thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all 
 families of the earth be blessed.' We have high authority tor 
 believing that ' salvation is of the Jews :' — a statement which, 
 besides meaning that the true salvation was symbolised by 
 the rites of that people, foretold by their prophets, and pur- 
 chased by Ilim who belonged to them according to the tiesh, 
 may include that to which we now advert. Such, at ail 
 events, is the reference of Paul in these well-known expi'es- 
 sions : * Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, 
 and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how 
 niuck more their fulness? For if the casting away of them be 
 the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be 
 hilt life from the dead?' — The meaning of the apostle in this 
 passage is very explicit ; it cannot be mistaken; he asserts 
 that the conversion of the Jews is destined to exert a most 
 extensive and salutary intluence on the other nations of the 
 world. The principle on which he reasons is worthy of 
 peculiar notice, namely, that all God's dispensations toward 
 the Jews, of whatever character, were designed to be produc- 
 tive of good to the Gentiles. Does not history illustrate and 
 confirm this principle? What blessing did they ever enjoy 
 in which the other nations of the earth are not ultimately to 
 share ? Nay, has not the greatest calamity that ever befel 
 them been made to redound, in a signal manner, to the salva- 
 tion of others ? ' The fall of them has been the riches of the 
 world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles.' 
 We may apply to them the words of the apostle on another 
 occasion : ' Whether they be ajjlicted, it is for our consolation 
 and salvation ; or whether they be comforted, it is for our 
 consolation and salvation.' Hence the peculiar force witli 
 which the conclusion is drawn : ' What shall the receiving of 
 them be but life fi'om the dead?' Such an influence will the 
 event in question have on the state of the Gentile world, that 
 it is compared to a resurrection from the grave. The pagan 
 
62 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 and Mahometan nations shall thus be awakened from the 
 torpor of death, to all the activities and enjoyments of spiritual 
 life. With this agrees the current language of prophecy. 
 Many predictions seem to intimate that the full conversion of 
 the Gentiles will be late ; while not a few unequivocally as- 
 sert that it is to be brought about by Jewish instrumentality : 
 ' And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain 
 of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the 
 mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations 
 shall flow into it ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, 
 and the loord of the Lord from Jenisalem. — The Lord shall 
 arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And 
 the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness 
 of thy rising. The abundance of the sea shall be converted 
 unto thee, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. 
 — Thus saitb the Lord of hosts. In those days, it shall come to 
 pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of 
 the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a 
 Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God 
 is with you.' * ' Whenever,' says an eloquent advocate of the 
 cause of Israel, 'Whenever the hand of prophecy rends the 
 veil from future events, and displays to us the glories of the 
 last days, it always points to the Jews as first in the proces-' 
 sion of worthies — as leading the march of universal victory — 
 as resuming their lost precedency over an evangelised world. 
 The ultimate triumphs of Christianity itself are represented as 
 in a measure suspended on the conversion of the Jews. The 
 world is to wait for them. The hand of eternal mercy is to 
 be unchained only by their conversion. The earth is not to 
 be watered by the richest dews of heaven till the vine flourishes 
 upon the holy hill.' Nor can we omit here to remark the 
 confirmation this part of our subject receives from the small 
 success which has hitherto attended the great, united, and 
 persevering efforts of christians among the heathens — a suc- 
 cess comparatively so slow and trifling as almost to compel 
 us to adopt the conclusion, that the means in operation for 
 
 * Is. ii. 2, 3 ; Ix. 2, 3, 5 ; Zech. viii. 23. 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISllAEL. G3 
 
 the conversion of the Gentile world, wait, as to any grand 
 result, the conversion of the Jews to give them efficacy. * 
 
 And what influence, it may be now asked, can the conver- 
 sion of the Jews exert on that of the Gentile world ? What 
 is the nature of that connection between the two, of which so 
 much has been said? "Why, my brethren, on a point like 
 tliis, it would not become us to speak positively, or to pretend 
 to unfold the whole of what shall afterwards be seen. But it 
 seems reasonable to expect that the restoration of God's 
 ancient people will have a powerful influence on Gentile con- 
 version, from the palpable, impressive, and irresistible proof 
 of Christianity it will present — a proof which, from their 
 (lifl'usion, must have all the advantages of universality, and 
 from its peculiar character, cannot fail to attract the notice of 
 the most indifferent and to silence the most plausible cavils 
 of scepticism. — Besides, such an event must have a tendency 
 to invigorate the faith, and inflame the love, and enlarge the 
 zeal, of those previously christianised, and indeed ' provoke 
 them to emulation,' in every benevolent undertaking ; while 
 it may safely be anticipated that the converted Jews, feeling 
 the long arrears of gi'atitude and duty under which they lie 
 in consequence of their past preservation and rebellion, and 
 roused by the overwhelming disjjlay of the divine mercy given 
 in their salvation, will be animated to the most zealous efforts 
 in behalf of the injured Redeemer. — And, judging from the 
 case of Saul of Tarsus when he became a preacher of ' the 
 faith which before he destroyed,' they may be expected to 
 prove the most faithful preachers, the most disinterested mis- 
 sionaries, the most undaunted heralds of the cross. Grasp- 
 ing the sacred banner, they will unfurl it to all nations under 
 
 * See on this topic Faber's Sernion before the London Society (1822.) 
 It may also be proper here to state that there is some little difficulty in 
 reconciling the obvious meaning of the aposfle (Rom. xi. 12-15) with his 
 expression in the 25th verse of the same chapter, ' blindness ia part is hap- 
 ])ened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in.' The whole 
 difficult}' lies in explaining what is meant by the ' fulness of the Gentiles.' 
 The different views taken of the phrase are accurately stated, and a satis- 
 factoiy explanation suggested by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, in his anniversary 
 sermon before the Loudon Society (I81G). — pp. 13-lG. 
 
Gi THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 heaven, nor cease their noble efforts, till men of every tongue 
 have been taught to chaunt the praises of that name, on 
 which they and their fathers have for ages poured the con- 
 tempt of their impious execrations. 
 
 Let me now, in conclusion, submit a few practical 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In the first place, the benevolent zeal of Paul, in the in- 
 stance before us, presents a model for our imitation. The same 
 interesting objects exist at the present time ; their ncedis as 
 great as it ever was ; and the reasons for exertion "operate 
 still with all their force. In holding up Paul's zeal as worthy 
 of imitation, it may be well to bear in mind its promin&ut 
 characteristics. — It was an enlightened zeal which he exercised 
 lor the salvation of Israel, springing from correct views of 
 prophecy, an accurate knowledge of facts, and the illuminat- 
 ing power of the Holy Spirit. Such also must be ours ; a 
 blind ignorant zeal will not do, it must be a zeal according to 
 knowledge ; nor does it admit of a doubt that much of the 
 apathy that prevails on this subject is to be ascribed to a sad 
 deficiency of information. — Paul's zeal was active; it was 
 indicated not merely by desire however strong, or by ^jrayer 
 however fervent, but by constant and unwearied and labori- ■ 
 ous exertions. The sermons he preached, the disputations he 
 held, the fatigues he underwent, bear witness to the activity 
 of his zeal ; and whoever would pretend to an imitation of 
 his example must contribute towards providing the Jews with 
 schoolsj with preachers, with tracts, and with copies of the 
 holy scriptures, especially those of the New Testament. — 
 Paul's zeal was |;e/'sei'm/?^. Many things, calculated to damp 
 his ardour, occurred ; but he was not easily discouraged. It 
 becomes us to remember that duty only is ours ; success be- 
 longs to another ; and whatever difficulties may appear, we 
 must cease from man, and put our trust in the Lord. — Paul's 
 zeal was pious ; not a natural, but a gracious principle. 
 None else can cause us to feel as we ought for the outcasts 
 of Israel, can direct us to the proper, source of hope, can 
 enable us to wait with patience, or prompt to the use of pro- 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISUAEL. G5 
 
 per means. It is not the mere feeling of natural compassion 
 we wish to excite by the representations formerly submitted ; 
 it is a feeling of gracious compassion, flowing from the sense 
 of your own wretchedness by nature ; and, let me tell 
 you, you can never feel aright for the Jews if you do 
 not feel aright for yourselves. Such is the zeal we ex- 
 hort you to exercise for the house of Israel; and while 
 you profess to admire and approve that of the apostle, see 
 that you imitate him in one of the noblest traits of his 
 character. 
 
 In the second place, learn i\ie futility of every objection that 
 can be brought against endeavouring to promote the salvation 
 of Israel. Man never wants an excuse for neglecting his 
 duty, but on few subjects has his corrupt ingenuity been more 
 fertile than on this. Some will tell you. We have nothing to 
 do with the Jews. Who are they who make such all objec- 
 tion ? Professing christians they may be ; but their objection 
 is essentially infidel, breathing not a spark of that heaven- 
 born philanthi'opy which forms so distinguishing a feature of 
 the religion of the cross. Those who support other religious 
 institutions cannot consistently use this objection, as it re- 
 quires no great sagacity to perceive that it applies with equal 
 force to any benevolent undertaking whatsoevei'. What have 
 we to do, it might with equal propriety be asked, with the 
 Hottentots, the Hindoos, or the South Sea Islanders ? ' Nay, 
 it requires but an extension of the principle to place an em- 
 bargo on every species of benevolence, however limited ; for 
 may it not with as good reason be asked. What have the 
 inhabitants of one country to do with those of another, or the 
 occupant of one house with the occupant of that in its imme- 
 diate vicinity? Thus the tendency of this heartless objection 
 is to dry up all the streams of beneficence, to extirpate phil- 
 anthropy, and to substitute in its place a cold and withering 
 selfishness. 
 
 Others will say, TJte time is not come that the Jews are to 
 be converted. Besides the evidence to the contrary which 
 we have already seen arising from the interest taken in this 
 people by the religious world, and the presumption of pre- 
 
66 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 tending to know the times and the seasons, it were sufficient, 
 in reply to this objection, to say, that, admitting the time to 
 save Israel is not yet come, it by no means follows that the 
 time to exert ourselves with a view to promote this end is 
 not come. The time to use the means must sui'ely precede 
 that in which the end is to be accomplished ; and the objec- 
 tion in question is as utterly destitute of force as that of the 
 husbandman who should decline sowing his seed in spring, 
 because the harvest was not come. Besides, although the 
 national restoration of Israel be yet remote, who will say that 
 present exertions are not amply rewarded by the individual 
 conversions that occasionally take place ? But the objection, 
 in its spirit, is the very same with that of certain murmurers 
 in the days of Haggai, who said, ' The time is not come, the 
 time that the Lord's house should be built ; ' and it may be 
 sufficient, in reply, to remind you how it was then answered : 
 ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up 
 to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house ; and I 
 will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. 
 Consider now from this day and upward, from this four-and- 
 twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the 
 foundation of the Lord's temple was laid : from this day 
 will i bless you.' 
 
 Another objection is. That the conversion of the Jews is a 
 supernatural work, ivhich must be left to the Lord, and with which 
 it would be presumptuous to interfere. We have already shown 
 that means are to be used. It is questionable whether any- 
 thing preternatural or miraculous is to be employed. But ad- 
 mitting it to be the case, it does not follow that human instru- 
 mentality is, on this account, superseded. Signs and wonders 
 were used in the deliverance from Egypt, yet were not the 
 services of Moses dispensed witli. The dividing of the Red 
 Sea was a preternatural work, yet the servant of the Lord 
 required to stretch out his rod. Nor does it become us, after 
 having shown no backwardness to be instrumental in fulfilling 
 the divine judgments on this people, to shrink from all con- 
 nection with the accomplishment of the designs of mercy 
 toward them, and disingenuously to shelter our indifference 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISKAEL. 67 
 
 behind a pretended pious dread of interfering with the pre- 
 rogative of Heaven . 
 
 IMany excuse themselves by saying that the Jews are under 
 the curse of God, and otherwise so hardened, that there is no like- 
 lihood of success. Must we remind you again that duti/ only 
 is ours, that success belongs to another ? Are not all men by 
 nature under the curse as well as the Jews ? Hardened in- 
 deed they are ; but what reason have we to believe them more 
 so now than in the days of the apostle, or than many Gen- 
 tiles, to exertions for whose salvation we never think of ob- 
 jecting? And be they ever so much hardened, is there any 
 thing impossible with God, whose blessing is allowed to be 
 necessary to render the means efficacious? 
 
 After all, we may be told that the Jews are so deceitful that 
 no dependence can be put in them, even when they pretend to be 
 converted. Deceitful they certainly are ; but unless those who 
 bring forward this objection are prepared to assert that Jew- 
 ish deceitfulness is of such a nature that it never can be over- 
 come — that sincerity in a Jew is a thing impossible — or at 
 least that it is impossible for any one of this nation to give 
 sufficient evidence of his sincerity, the argument is good for 
 nothing. Some indeed have apostatised, after making a pro- 
 fession of Christianity ; but this is nothing to the purpose, 
 unless it can be proved that no one has ever persevered — that 
 all who have died in the profession and apparent belief of the 
 christian faith have died hypocrites, and gone down to the 
 pit with a lie in their right hand. Moreover, might not the 
 same objection be urged against the propagation of the gospel 
 among any people ? Where \i the people j^rofessing Chris- 
 tianity, among Avhom many are not to be found who have 
 belied their pi'ofession by their practice ? Simon Magus, and 
 Ananias, and Sapphira, and Demas, all turned out to be 
 hypocrites, but sui-ely no one will contend that the apostles 
 ought, on this account, to have suspended their labours. No. 
 The objection will not stand. The subject rises triumphant 
 above this and every other objection. Such excuses as these 
 may give men, who care nothing for the object, a pretext for 
 standing aloof; they may even go a certain length in quieting 
 
G8 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 an ignorant conscience ; but, be assured, they will never 
 relieve you from the sacred obligation under which you lie to 
 God, nor stand for a moment the awful scrutiny of the 
 judgment to come. 
 
 In the third place, no one who has given ordinary attention 
 to what has been advanced, will feel any difficulty in inferring 
 tlie duty of the christian ivorld with respect to the peojile of Israel. 
 If things are as we have represented them to be, it will obvi- 
 ously appear the duty of all professing christians to investi- 
 gate fully the divine mystery respecting this people : ' I 
 would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mys- 
 tery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blind- 
 ness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the 
 Gentiles be come in.' Inquire, therefore, into their present 
 state ; make yourselves acquainted with the prophecies which 
 announce their restoration ; acquire what information you 
 can respecting the movements that are going on amongst ^ 
 them. Indifference to these things is greatly criminal ; it is 
 indifference to the glory of God, to the honour of the Saviour, 
 to the purposes and prophecies and promises of Jehovah, to 
 the salvation of souls, .and to the extensive advantage of the 
 Gentile world. Is there one who lays claim to the christian 
 name, who is nevertheless indifferent to these things ? Say, 
 not, you are not hostile to them. It will be difficult, on chris- 
 tian principles, to escape from the charge of hostility by 
 pleading indiffiirence : ' He that is not for me is against me.' 
 Neutrality, however, is the very thing of which we complain ; 
 and besides the denunciation pronounced on it in the words 
 of our Saviour just quoted, it may be proper to remind you 
 of its danger, as it is' awfully set forth in the well-known 
 passage in the song of Deborah : * Curse ye Meroz, said the 
 angel of the Lord ; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; 
 because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help 
 of the Lord against the mighty.' Awaken, then, to a due 
 interest in the people of Israel. Too long have they been 
 neglected. Read, investigate, inquire into their present con- 
 dition and future prospects. Seriously ponder the obligatioris 
 you are under tp regard them with a benevolent eye. Owe 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 09 
 
 you no debt of gratitude to this people? Were not the patri- 
 archs, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the evangelists, 
 Jews? Was not the Saviour of the world himself a Jew, in 
 respect of his human descent? Yes; the volume of inspira- 
 tion was penned by Jewish hands ; the gospel was first 
 preached by Jewish lips ; nay, the atonement for sin may, in 
 a sense, be said to have been made by Jewish blood ! Con- 
 sider, moreover, the hardships, the cruelties, and oppressions 
 to which they have been subjected by christians, and for 
 Avhich it surely becomes us to make what compensation we 
 ran, by using' every effort to promote their spiritual good. 
 View the blessings derived from the Jews in connection 
 with the wrongs with which Ihey have hitherto been repaid ; 
 and the united claims of justice and gratitude will be allowed 
 to form an obligation of the most overwhelming weight. 
 Mournful evidence will it afford of your having benefited by 
 either the oracles of God or the sacrifice of Christ, if you 
 refuse to acknowledge these obligations and wrap yourselves 
 up in the panoply of indifference to the claims of Israel. 
 
 The estimation in which I am disposed to hold the cause of 
 Israel, may be guessed from what I have already said. There 
 is none, in short, which I feel inclined to rate higher ; and, if 
 I am not greatly mistaken, it has the foremost claim of all on 
 the liberal encouragement of the christian public. Not that 
 I would wish to see diminished the efforts that are making in 
 other departments of religious benevolence, or that I would 
 wish to divert from them one penny of the support to which 
 they are so well entitled. There is no department, perhaps, 
 whose encouragement can be said to equal, much less to ex- 
 ceed its claims. There are many, whose support must be 
 allowed to fall far below what may be considered a just pro- 
 portion. The Jewish cause appears to me to be of the latter 
 description. But an interest seems now^ to be awakening, in 
 this cause, somewhat more proportioned to its great and 
 growing importance. 
 
 In the last place, this subject is calculated to have a salu- 
 tary influence on the concerns of our own souls. It sets before 
 us the depravity of the human heart ; the love, mercy, and 
 
70 THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 long-suffering of God ; the need in which we all stand of 
 grace ; and the duty of using means to promote our own im- 
 mortal interests. In the state of the Jews, behold, sinners ! 
 a picture of your own natural condition. They are unbe- 
 lievers ; so are you. They are far from God ; so are you. 
 They are in a disgraceful and oppressed state ; you are glory- 
 ing in your shame, jn the gall of bitterness, and bond of 
 iniquity. They are impious and immoral ; you are enemies 
 to God in your heart by wicked works, and far from righ- 
 teousness. You profess, perhaps, to pity the Jews ; do not 
 omit to pity yourselves. 
 
 In the purposes and promises of God respecting Israel, 
 behold a specimen of the divine mercy toward our fallen 
 race. There is salvation for others as well as the Jews. The 
 blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin. Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. 
 In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek — neither circumci- 
 sion availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. To you, Gentiles, 
 therefore, we preach a perfect Saviour — a finished salvation. 
 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall be saved. 
 
 Nor is the manner of Israel's salvation different from that 
 of the salvation of other sinners. There is no salvation for 
 any but by the agency of the Spirit, and the instrumentality 
 of human means. While, therefore, you contribute to send 
 bibles to the Jews, see that your own are not suffered to re- 
 main unperused. While you pray for the children of Abra- 
 ham, do not neglect to pray for yourselves. And as you 
 believe in the necessity of the Spirit to impart life to the dry 
 bones of the house of Israel,. Oh ! remember that nought 
 else can revive your own souls. Pray for the Spirit of all 
 gi'ace to breathe on you that you may live ; otherwise your 
 final ruin will be greatly more deplorable than even that of 
 the unbelieving outcasts we have been recommending to your 
 attention. ' Is he the God of the Jews only ? is he not also 
 of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also. For there is no 
 difference between the Jew and the Greek ; for the same Lord 
 over all is rich unto all that call upon him : for ivhosoever shall 
 call upon the 'name of the Lord shall be saved. If ye be 
 
THE SALVATION OF ISRAKI.. 71 
 
 Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to 
 the proniise.' Precious and encouraging sayings ! May we 
 all be made personally acquainted with their gracious import ; 
 and be thus prepared to join in the devout exclamation with 
 which the apostle concludes his account of the rejection of 
 the Jews, and the admission of the Gentiles : — ■'■ O the depth 
 
 OF the riches both of the AVISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF 
 
 God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
 
 WAYS PAST finding OUT ! FoR OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, 
 
 and to him, are all things ; to whom be glory for eveh. 
 Amen ! ' 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF THE SCOTTISH MARTYRS. 
 
 Preiiclied in St Michael's Cburcli-yard, Dumfries, June IG, 1831 ;" on occa- 
 sion of a Collection for a Monument to some who suffered 
 in the cause of Reformation.' 
 
 Rev. xii. 11. 
 
 ' They heed not their lives unto the death,'' 
 
 We are met, ray hearers, in circumstances of very peculiar 
 interest. The object of our meeting may be presumed to be 
 well known to you all. It is to manifest our attachment to 
 the Scottish Refoi-mation, by contributing to preserve the 
 memory of some who fell in that cause ; to have our minds . 
 instructed, or at least our memories refreshed, with the history 
 and principles of that magnanimous struggle for religion and 
 liberty in which they acted so noble and conspicuous a part; 
 and to have our hearts awakened to some proper concern in 
 what stan<3s so closely connected with our dearest interests 
 and hopes. 
 
 The very spot where we meet has its interest.* 'The place 
 of our fathers' sepulchres' never fails to call up the most ten- 
 der emotions. Death, when it breaks up living connexions, 
 cannot sever those ties of memory which continue to twine 
 around the heart, rendering the dead dearer to us in some 
 
 * St Michael's church-yard is one of the most remarkahle cemeteries in 
 Britain ; containing monuments to the value of seventy or eighty thousand 
 pounds sterUng. 
 
THE SCOTTISH MARTYRS. 73 
 
 respects than the living, hallowing their ashes, and convert- 
 ing their graves into an inviolable sanctuary. Hence the 
 irresistible desire felt to visit the melancholy spot where re- 
 pose the mortal remains of former generations, and the dis- 
 position to distinguish the resting-place of departed friends, 
 by some ' frail memorial,' — from the touching but expressive 
 rite which obtained in past ages of strewing the grave with 
 tlowers, to the gorgeous mausoleums of sculptured marble 
 which are the fashion of modern times. With such monu- 
 ments we are here surrounded, of every varied form, accord- 
 ing to the rank and character of the persons commemorated : 
 — humble virtue, noblestation, splendid achievement, profound 
 learning, and towering genius. And we should regard the 
 man as nothing less than a disgrace to humanity, who could 
 walk among these tombs with stoical indifference, or Avho 
 would not prefer the cloud of sadness the scene is. fitted to 
 bring over the mind, to the brightest gaiety which the song 
 of pleasure or the burst of revelry can inspire. But amid all 
 these monuments, vieing with each other in the power of 
 attracting a melancholy attention, thei'e is one particular spot, 
 outwardly unattractive as any, to which the heart of the Scot- 
 tish patriot points to-day with a feeling of overpowering inten- 
 sity; and, in the estimation of every true friend of religion and 
 liberty, even the costly mausoleum of the Bard must yield to 
 the simple, rudely-lettered grave-stone of the Martyr.-* 
 
 Grave, and even solemn, are the reflections which such 
 a meeting and such a scene are fitted to produce. And 
 should there be any present who have come hither in a spirit 
 of levity, or with a view to censure or to scoff, may the 
 object and circumstances of our assembly rebuke them away, 
 or rather, awe them into a frame of mind more befitting their 
 situation, as well as more honourable and profitable to them- 
 selves. The very subjects of which we must treat ought to 
 induce the heart to seriousness, while the feeli)igs awakened 
 by the contiguity of a martyr's grave are calculated to 
 deepen the hallowed impression. 
 
 * A monument to Burns stood a littlu to the right of the speaker ; and 
 the Martyrs' graves were within sight. 
 
 D 
 
74 Tllh- CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 No language can be more descriptive of the men of whom 
 we are now to speak, than that of the text : ' They loved not 
 their lives unto the death.' "Whether the words i-efer origi- 
 nally to those who fell victims to the bloody persecutions of 
 Rome Paofan, or to those of Rome Antichristian — which has 
 been keenly contested by interpreters — it is of no manner of 
 consequence for us to determine, it being our design to con- 
 line our attention to those of our countrymen, who, in the 
 struggle for reformation which took place in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, certainly gained for themselves the 
 character of men who ' loved not their lives unto the death.' 
 
 These men we are accustomed to distinguish by the honour- 
 able and significant appellation of Martyrs. The term sig- 
 nifies literally witnesses ; more particularly witnesses to the 
 truth of the gospel; and, in a more restricted sense still, 
 persons who have sealed their testimony to the truth of the 
 gospel with their blood. In the former sense, it occurs 
 very commonly throughout the scriptures ; in the latter we 
 meet with it in only three passages of the New Testament : — 
 Acts xxii. 20, * When the blood of thy martyr Stephen 
 was shed, I also was standing by.' Rev. ii. 13, 'In those 
 days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyrJ" Rev. xvii, 
 6, ' And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the , 
 saints, and with the blood of i\\e martyrs of Jesus: and 
 when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.' The 
 Jews were witnesses for Jehovah, the true God, against 
 jieathen idols. The primitive christians were witnesses for 
 Christ, against both Jews and pagans. But there was a 
 small band of faithful witnesses for the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 many of whom ' loved not their lives unto the death,' to whom 
 the word has been more particularly appropriated in modern 
 times. INIen may die for unscriptural principles in religion, 
 and the popular usage of language may style such men mar- 
 tyrs; but the designation properly belongs only to such as 
 were slain for the word of God, and the {estimony which 
 they held agreeably to that word. ' It is not the hlood, but 
 the cause that makes the martyr.' 
 
 That the appellation is to be regarded as an honourable 
 
THE SCOTTISH MAETYHS. 75 
 
 one, will appear when you consider, that in the only three 
 instances in which it occurs in the New Testament, the per- 
 sons to whom it is applied are represented as standing in a 
 particular relation to Christ. Look back at the verses before 
 cited. In the first, Paul is relating the words in which he 
 addressed the Redeemer at the time of his conversion, and 
 he says, ' When the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed.' 
 In the next, Christ is himself the speaker, — ' Antipas was my 
 faithful martyr.' Nor are John's words less explicit, — ' The 
 blood of the martyrs of Jesus.' This is surely not without 
 significance. It at least imports that the cause in which 
 they suffered was Christ's, — that their qualifications and sup- 
 port proceeded from him, — that the character is one to 
 which he is peculiarly attached, of which he highly ap- 
 proves, and which he greatly delights to honour. The per- 
 secutors might claim them as their victims, and speak of 
 them consequently as theirs ; but ah ! there is another who 
 claims an interest in them ; they are ' the martyrs of Jesus ;' 
 and the relation in which they are thus shown to stand to 
 the exalted Redeemer, gives them a moral elevation, throws 
 around them a halo of real glory, which completely neutra- 
 lises the disgrace their enemies designed to cast upon them. 
 
 The text is descriptive not merely of those who actually 
 suffered death, but of many whom the Head of the church 
 preserved alive amid the snares that were laid for them, who, 
 nevertheless, possessing as much of the spirit of martyrs as 
 those who fell, are entitled to be spoken of as loving not their 
 lives unto the death. ' Every hour they stood prepared to 
 die ;' and many times the crown of martyrdom would have 
 been preferred to the life of wretchedness and peril they 
 were doomed to lead. The spirit of the Reformers in general 
 was that of martyrs ; and it burned both purely and intensely 
 in the bosoms of many whose blood never hallowed either the 
 scaffold or the heath. 
 
 In what follows, we shall submit a few considerations, 
 which seem deserving of notice, relative to those in Scotland 
 who * loved not their lives unto the death ;' and then point 
 out the treatment to which these considerations seem to en- 
 
76 Tin: CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 litle them fioiii us. In other words, we shall call your atten- 
 tion to the character and claims of the Scottish Reformers and 
 Martyrs. 
 
 I. The considerations worthy of notice, relative to the 
 Reformers and Martyrs of Scotland, may be included in the 
 following arrangement : What they were — what they did — 
 what they suffered — the spirit which they manifested — and 
 the cause they had at heart. 
 
 Consider what they ivere. They were not, as their' ene- 
 mies have represented them, visionary fanatics ; but' men of 
 varied information, sound understanding, and correct scrip- 
 tural knoAvledge. They were opposed both in principle and 
 in practice to the base maxim of a corrupt hierarchy which 
 teaches that ignorance is the mother of devotion. They were 
 well instructed in the doctrines of the gospel ; knew perfectly 
 the connection of their cause with the glory of God and the - 
 best interests of men ; and were, some of them at least, per- 
 sons of polite literature and elegant accomplishments. They 
 had zeal, but it was a zeal according to knowledge. 
 
 They were not men of doubtful faith. They firmly believed 
 in the principles they professed. They would not have suf- 
 fered and died for what was not an object of belief. Faith ' 
 was the very basis of their character. Every other consti- 
 tuent quality was connected with this. They believed and 
 therefore testified ; they believed and therefore died. It was 
 given them in behalf of Christ, ' to believe on him,' as well 
 as ' to suCer for his sake.' 
 
 They were not canting hypocrites, Avho professed what 
 they did not feel, and made a show of outward devotion 
 which had no counterpart within. They were men 9f sterling-, 
 piety. Their devotion was a hallowed fire the flames of 
 which were penitence,' faith, gratitude, and love. This led 
 them to value and improve those ordinance^ by which the 
 fire was fed and kept alive. They were accustomed to 
 Avrestle with God in secret ; they retired to their closets for 
 closer fellowship with heaven, and poured forth their souls in 
 strains of heartfelt, unaffected devotion. Family worship 
 
THE SCOTTISH MARTrRS. 77 
 
 they regularly practised. And such was their attachment to 
 the public means of grace, that at the risk of their lives and 
 immense sacrifices they waited on the preaching of the word 
 and the dispensation of the sacraments. At the dead of 
 night, or wlien the storm raved loud, would they steal away 
 into some sylvan retreat where they might enjoy undisturbed 
 the gospel of salvation. Nothing could repress their ardour 
 in this respect. They gathered in crowds to hear their 
 favourite pi'eachei's; and, when the Supper was dispensed, 
 great multitudes attended. One case of this kind which hap- 
 pened in Teviotdale and at which Blackadcr and Welsh and 
 Riddel assisted, is spoken of as remarkable. Another at 
 Maybole in Ayrshire, is particularly noted. And in yoiir 
 own immediate neighbourhood, the stones are still to be seen 
 ranged on the bleak hill-side, Avhere the persecuted wanderers 
 were wont to snatch an occasional opportunity of pUrtaking 
 of the 'bread of life' and of the 'cup of salvation.' On 
 some of the-e occasions several thousands partook of the con- 
 secrated symbols, at the risk of having their own blood 
 mingled with the wine which represented that of the Saviour. 
 Indeed so decided was their piety, that the marks given to 
 the bloodhounds of persecution by which to discover them, 
 were their having a bible ia their hands, their being found at 
 prayer, or going to a conventicle. Nor, was there any- 
 thing moi-e common than for them to be surprised, when they 
 were apprehended, at some exercise of x'eligion, eitlier secret 
 or public. 
 
 They were holy as well as devout. Their conduct was no 
 way equivocal. Their morals were unimpeachable. They 
 were 
 
 ' A viituous race to godliness devote.' 
 
 The duties of religion were as faithfully discharged as its 
 ordinances were regularly waited upon. They studied to 
 keep aloof fi-om the corruptions of the times, to maintain a 
 blameless conversation, and to lead irreproachable lives. 
 Their principles some may be inclined to dispute ; their pru- 
 dence some may call in question ; their public deeds some 
 may even condemn ; but their piivate deportment none dare 
 
78 THE CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 accuse ; it was unsullied by tlie breath of slander. The 
 charge of preciseness in morals which was often brought 
 against them by their enemies, is the best attestation on this 
 point that could have been desired ; and, having stood the 
 scrutiny of their lynx-eyed persecutors, they may be supposed 
 to have been about as free from blame as the necessary imper- 
 fection of our present state of being will admit. The fiery 
 ordeal to which they were subjected would seem to have served 
 only to carry otf the baser principles, and to heighten the 
 lustre of the more noble elements of their being. 
 
 Such was the personal worth of those men ' who loved not 
 their lives unto the death.' They were ' Worthies ' indeed 
 — men 'of whom the world was not worthy;' whose per- 
 sonal excellence was such as to entitle them to the highest 
 respect and closest imitation of posterity. 
 
 Consider what they did. They did much that ought not 
 to be forgotten by their descendants. To enumerate all is 
 impossible ; to select from their doings the more prominent 
 and important, would be a difficult task ; even to exhibit the 
 grand result, which is all we dare attempt, is no easy matter. 
 
 They emancipated their country from the galling yoke of 
 popish and episcopal domination. Long and hard did the 
 friends of these systems struggle to impose them on our 
 countrymen. But they nobly resisted, till popery was 
 abjured by the whole nation, the representatives of the three 
 kingdoms were pledged to reformation by solemn confederacy, 
 and papists were excluded from places of power and trust 
 both supreme and subordinate. They delivered the church 
 from a tyrannical and debasing superstition ; fi'ora a wicked 
 hierai'chy which sought to enslave the minds and consciences 
 of men ; from heretical tenets, destructive of the soul ; from 
 burdensome imposts which could not easily be borne; and 
 from unauthorised rites and ceremonies whose only tendency 
 Avas to keep back the influence of pure and undefiled religion. 
 They rescued the holy scriptures from the' iron grasp of a 
 profligate and designing priesthood, who wished to keep the 
 people in ignorance of what was sure to expose their own 
 corruptions and to lead to an overthrow of their power — 
 
THE SCOTl^ISn MARTYRS. 79 
 
 even that word of God, which is as a lamp to the feet and a 
 light to the path, and fit to make the simple wise unto salva- 
 tion. They secured for themselves and others freedom to 
 think, to speak, and to act, Avithout being shackled with the 
 fetters of mental and corporeal slavery. 
 
 In short, they maintained a noble and successful struggle 
 for religion and liberty with the avowed enemies of both, 
 with a prudence and hardihood and valour which can never 
 be too much admired. In doing this they were exposed to 
 wiles, threats, snares, and open violence ; their situation re- 
 sembled 'the lions' dens, and the mountains of leopards ;' their 
 enemies assumedthe properties of beasts of prey, and hunted 
 them down with merciless rapacity. Yet did they not shrink 
 from the struggle on account of the danger which attended it ; 
 even when they saved their lives by retreat, it was not from 
 cowardly timidity, but from a dutiful respect to thfeir cause, 
 and to the authority of Him who had said, ' When they per- 
 secute you in one city, flee ye into another.' When called to 
 it, they waxed valiant in fight. Like Joshua and Barak and 
 Gideon and David of old, they buckled on their armour, slept 
 in the tented field, and met the assaults of their foes with 
 manful resistance. What though they were sometimes over- 
 powered by superior numbers and greater skill in arms, they 
 showed even then the true spirit of heroes. Many of them 
 fell, but such as survived Avere not backward to resume the 
 combat, and the issue was at times such as to reflect the 
 highest credit on their valour. Airsmoss and Druraclog will 
 long continue to call up recollections of their fearless magna- 
 nimity. 
 
 Some have manifested a disposition to condemn this part of 
 our forefathers' conduct, adducing in support of their opinion 
 the words of Christ, 'AH they that take the sword shall perish 
 with the sword.' But before quoting the scriptures people 
 ought to be sure that they understand them ; and a very 
 slight inspection of the circumstances in which these words 
 were uttered as a dissuasive from personal revenge would have 
 shown their unfitness for the purpose for which they have 
 been brought forward. Who does not see that, taken literally 
 
80 THE CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 and absolutely, they go to coiulemn an appeal to arms in 
 defence not merely of religion but of our civil liberties and 
 possessions — a principle which, as tending directly to throw 
 open our country to the power of every ambitious invader, 
 will never, we trust, become a favourite sentiment with 
 Britons, Nor is it by any means a general truth in defensive 
 Avarfare on account of religion, that those who have been 
 obliged to resort to the sword have perished by it in the end; 
 for while the protestants of Germany, Switzerland, and 
 Scotland, who resisted unto blood, were not exterminated, 
 those of Italy and Spain, who did not resist, met with that 
 fate. And as to our reforming ancestors, it ought to be re- 
 membered that when they had recourse to arms in defence of 
 all that was dear to them, it was always reluctantly ; never 
 indeed till they were driven to it. So far from seeing any- 
 thing here to blame, we are much of the opinion that the 
 man who would refuse, in similar circumstances, to fight for 
 his religion or liberty, deserves to enjoy the benefits of neither. 
 However an ungrateful posterity may frown upon those men 
 who loved not their lives unto the death, and talk of them as 
 having ' suffered upon, their own principles,' one thing we 
 know, that God smiled upon them in bis providence by 
 granting them success ; and that had they acted on the slavish 
 principles of their modern revilers, the Scottish Reformation, 
 like that of Italy and Spain, should have been finally over- 
 thrown. The Almiglity himself ' taught their hands to M'ar, 
 and girded them with strength, so that bows of steel were 
 broken by their arms.' At Eutrekin and Druraclog they, by 
 the blessing of heaven, were enabled to put to ' flight the 
 armies of the aliens ' — aliens to everything good and great 
 and holy, strangers to the covenants of promise, and sworn 
 enemies to the cause of Christ among men. It was a 
 pointed, though unintentional tribute to the principles of the 
 Reformers in this particular, whicli was paid by him who 
 presented Cameron's head and hands to the king's council at 
 Edinburgh : ' These,' saiil he, ' are the head and hands of 
 on3 who lived praying and preaching, gnd died praying and 
 lightin";." And the nation at lar^e added their sanction at 
 
THE SCOTTISH MAETTHS. 81 
 
 llie memorable Revolution, wlion all rose as one man and 
 drove the bloody persecuting family of Stuart from the throne 
 and the kingdom. 
 
 What they si/fered, ought also to be considered. And here 
 I must confess myself at a loss how to proceed. Their suf- 
 ferings were so many as to defy enumeration, and so varied 
 as to render classification difficult. Yet without some attempt 
 to classify them, it would be nest to impossible to go forward. 
 They suffered reproachful mockery. 'They had trial of 
 cruel mockings' — an instrument of persecution of very ancient 
 and common use, yet severe and ill to be endured by persons 
 of generous minds. It was employed by Ishmael against 
 Isaac, by the children of Bethel against Elisha, and even by 
 the children of Israel against the messengers of God. The 
 Saviour himself and the primitive christians were not ex- 
 empted from it. The men of whom we speak, too, "had their 
 full share of this trial. Their religion, their language, their 
 , exercises, their conduct, their spirit, and even their God, 
 were made the objects of ribald scorn and contempt. The 
 ignorant soldiers were accustomed to amuse themselves with 
 the devotions of the poor people who fell on their knees to 
 pray before being shot. It will be remembered by many of 
 you, how Claverhouse, on the morning of the affair at Drum- 
 clog, jeered the prisoners he had taken the preceding day, 
 and whom he was driving before him like beasts tied two and 
 two together, telling them they were going to hear the sermon. 
 And the impious and barbarous sarcasm of Lauderdale, when 
 consenting to the execution of Mitchel for a supposed attack 
 on the life of the infamous Sharp, ought not here to be omitted 
 — Then let him glorify God, said he, in the Grasamarket ! 
 
 They were subjected to the most ignoble bondage. The 
 Philistines' treatment of Samson, or that of Jeremiah by the 
 king of Babylon, was nothing to theirs. They were bound 
 with cords, heavily manacled, and thrown into dungeons. 
 The common jails were crowded : places of close confinement, 
 as the rocks of the sea, were filled : and the walls of many a 
 prison, like that of Philippi, echoed to the midnight voice of 
 prayer and of praise. 
 
 D 2 
 
82 THE CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 But, as if this -were not enough, they were either sent into 
 cruel exile, or compelled to banish themselves. Letters of 
 intercommuning were issued by which the nearest relations, 
 husband and wife, parent and child, brother and brother, 
 were prohibited from assisting each other or conversing either 
 by word or writing. They were thus necessitated to flee, and 
 as if it was not sufficient to have to leave the land of their 
 birth and all the sweet endearments of kindred and of home, 
 numbers of respectable members of society and even ministers 
 were shipped off to the West Indies and sold for slaves to 
 work in the plantations. 
 
 To these add the wanton barbarities to which they were 
 exposed. Those practised by the highland host are almost 
 incredible. The faithful Covenanters had their ears cropped, 
 and their faces branded with hot irons ; their bibles were 
 pulled from their hands, and they were struck with canes on 
 the scaifold ; they were forced, for no end but to gratify a 
 spirit of infernal wickedness, to swear oaths at which their 
 souls revolted ; and children under ten years of age were 
 collected and soldiers ordered to fire over their heads in order 
 to extort information from them regarding their parents, — an 
 expedient of Claverhouse which in callousness of heart equals 
 we believe whatever has been thought of by the familiars of 
 the inquisition. 
 
 Great were their privations. They were deprived not 
 only of religion, liberty, and law, but of the common neces- 
 saries of life. Their estates were confiscated ; heavy fines 
 were exacted ; the most extensive plunder was commonly 
 practised ; prisoners were stripped naked, and thrown upon 
 the cold ground ; sometimes for asking a morsel of food or 
 a cup of water, they were shot ; while their friends were 
 sti'ictly interdicted, under the severest penalties, from carry- 
 ing them supplies. As a specimen, we may remind you how 
 twelve hundred of the Bothwell pi'isoners \yere confined five 
 months in Greyfriars' churchyard without shelter and with 
 only such supply of provisions as was barely fit to sustain 
 their wretched existence. 
 
 How shall we speak of their tortures? They were tor- 
 
TIIK SCOTTISH MAUTYItS. 83 
 
 mented in every possible form. But tlie horrors of the 
 thurabkin, the boot, the wheel, the rack, and the faggot are 
 not for recital here. 
 
 As they 'loved not their lives unto the death,'' many of 
 them had their principles put to this severest of trials. And, 
 not content with depriving them of their lives, their ene- 
 mies put them to death in the most barbarous forms. By 
 shooting, hanging, quartering, beheading, burning, were these 
 cold-blooded murders perpetrated. The common soldiers were 
 empowered to shoot any whom they might suspect of attach- 
 ment to the cause of the covenant. In some places permanent 
 gallows were erected. The affecting case of John Brown of 
 Priesthill may be referred to as an example of a private exe- 
 cution ; and that of Hackston of Rathillet as an instance of a 
 public one. This gentleman who was taken prisoner at 
 Airsmoss, was after . the mock form of a trial e'xecuted at 
 Edinburgh, His hands were first cut off by the executioner ; 
 his body was then drawn up to the top of the gallows by a 
 pulley ; after being let down his palpitating heart was torn 
 from his bosom, exhibited on the point of a knife as the heart 
 of a traitor, and then thrown into a fire prepared for the pur- 
 pose ; whilst his head, along with that of Cameron, was ex- 
 posed on the gates of the city ! 
 
 Such is but a faint recital of the wrongs done to those who 
 loved not their lives unto the death in our land — men who were 
 denied the common charities of life, and driven from society 
 to skulk in mosses and in mountains, in dens and caves of the 
 earth ; who were oft compelled to make the heath their bed, 
 the rock their pillow, and to take for their curtain the canopy 
 of heaven ; who were pursued as beasts of prey, and doomed 
 to worse than the death of traitors : but men who shall live 
 in the memory of the good when the names of their persecu- 
 tors are forgotten, or are remembered only to receive the 
 execration they deserve. 
 
 The spirit in which all these things were done and suffered 
 must not be overlooked. 
 
 It was a spirit of faith. Trust in God, in Christ, in the 
 promises of scripture, can alone account for their activity and 
 patience. 
 
84 THE CIIARACTKR AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 "^Vith (his tliere was combined a patriotic attachment to the 
 jrood of their country. In them piety and patriotism were 
 kindred feelings, as they indeed are in the breasts of all 
 genuine and enlightened christians. Theirs was not the in- 
 fidel patriotism of modern times. No man can properly love 
 lii5 God without loving his country, or love his country with- 
 out loving his God. These feelings are more closely connected 
 than many seem to be aware. Nehemiah, sitting down atid 
 weeping, and with saddened countenance praying and fasting 
 before the God of heaven because the place of his fathers' 
 sepulchres lieth waste, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, 
 and the gat3s thereof burnt with fire, supplies us with a line 
 instance of this combination in ancient times. The men of 
 whom we are treating, furnish a no less striking example in 
 modern times. God and our countrij ! was the motto inscribed 
 on their blood-stained banners. Gud and our country ! was 
 the watch-word which echoed through the battle-field. God 
 and ovr country I was the governing sentiment of their pat- 
 riot heirts. They have been represented as traitors; — .their 
 persecutors were the traitoi's. At the time they lived there 
 existed not a spark of true liberty in our land but what burned 
 in the bosoms of these traduced and persecuted wanderers. 
 l>y their patriotic exertions and sufferings and writings and 
 prayers, they laid their country under obligations which the 
 most lavish tributes to their memory can never repay. 
 
 Their spirit was marked by an enlightened and unextin- 
 guishalle zeal. They knew it to be good to be zealously 
 affected in a good thing. Their zeal was active, steadfast, de- 
 voted. Tlie degree in vvhich it existed has led many to charge 
 them with fanaticism ; but there were about them a coolness 
 of purpose, a correctness of aim, a suitableness of selected 
 means, and an intrinsic excellence of cause, which in the esti- 
 mation of every one abltj to judge will be deemed suliicient to 
 wipe away the foul imputation. 
 
 Their valour was truly irrepressible. Strong Avere they 
 and of a good courage. They behaved valiantly for their 
 people, and for the cities of their God. That in the proper 
 sense of the word, they were no strangers to fortitude, ample 
 
TlllC SCOTTISH MAUTVKS. 85 
 
 proof was given, in the declarations issued at Sanquliar and 
 at Lanark, in the manifesto known by the name of The 
 Apohgetical Declaration^ and in the lieroic act of excoramiini- 
 eation at Torwood by which the highest censures of the 
 church wei-e passed on their royal persecutors. The man- 
 ner in which they met their death may further be adduced 
 in proof of their bravery. ' The Lord knows,' said Cni'ui!!, 
 'I go up this ladder with less fear and perturbation of mind 
 than ever I entered a pulpit to preach.' ' Well,' said Ken- 
 wick, * I shall soon be above these clouds ! then shall I enjoy 
 thee, O God, and glorify thee, without interruption or iuter- 
 jnission for ever.' Nor was this the case merely with such 
 men as Cameron and Cargill aad Renwick ; — even peasants 
 and women manifested the same noble spirit. Andrew Ilis- 
 lop, who refused to cover his eyes before being shot, is an 
 instance from the former class ; and as instances from the 
 latter, you need only be reminded of ^Marion Ilarvey and 
 Isobcl Allison who on the scaffold sung the twenty-third 
 ])salm, in so full a tone as to drown the voice of the wretched 
 curate who in derision of their scruples would compel them 
 to hear him pray. 
 
 Incorruptible fidelity marked the spirit of those ' who loved 
 not their lives unto the death.' Neither smiles nor frowns 
 could shake their constancy oi* cause them recant. No means 
 were left untried for this purpose ; but they stood firm as the 
 rock amid the raging billows of the ocean. Rather than do 
 violence to their honest convictions they chose to suffer and 
 to die ; rather than forego the blessing of social worship they 
 sought the retirement of the mountain and the cave — the 
 warmth of their devotion being unchilled by the damps of 
 night, and the melody of their praise mingling with the sound 
 of the tempest. Nothing could induce them to save the body 
 by a sacrifice of the conscience. Neither the horrors of im- 
 ])risonment, nor the terrors of the branding iron, nor the 
 hootings of the mob, nor the ribald scorn of perjured syco- 
 phants and lordly ecclesiastics, could shake the purpose they 
 had formed of woi'king out the cause of their country's refor- 
 mation. They partook largely of that ' intrepid spirit,' 
 
86 THE CHARACTER AXD CLAIMS OF 
 
 ' Which even in woman's breast withstood 
 The terrors of the fire and flood.' 
 
 They could, in the face of menaces and of tortures, appro- 
 priate the words of the apostle : ' None of these things move 
 m3, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may 
 finish my course with joy.' In some instances they resisted 
 attempts to force a confession by means of the boot, till their 
 physical nature was overpowered and they fainted away. 
 The ease of the women who were drowned at Wigtown is well 
 known. One of them, after the water had flowed over her, 
 was pulled out and offered life if slie would comply with 
 some ensnaring requii-ements, when, preferring to die rather 
 than violate her conscience, she was plunged again into the 
 stream. 
 
 Add to all these, a spirit of believing hope, which bore 
 them up amid all their afflictions. Like the ancient sufferers 
 of whom Paul speaks, they expected a * better resurrection,' 
 — a resurrection to eternal life and glory. Suffering not as 
 evil-doers, they had nothing to fear with regard to a future 
 world. Into their cup everything bitter was mingled which 
 man could infuse ;' but there was nothing penal in it. Their 
 worst, enemies were unable to bring on them the wrath .of 
 God, or even to shut out from their souls divine consolations' 
 in the pi'esent state. Faith and hope enabled them to take 
 such a view of the ' exceeding and eternal weight of glory ' 
 that awaited them, as to cause their present affliction feel 
 ' light, and but for a moment.' Nothing — neither tribulation, 
 nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor 
 peril, nor sword — was able, they knew, to separate them from 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If in 
 this life only they had had hope in Clirist, they should have 
 been of all men the most miserable. But their hope extended 
 to the life to come. The cloud of suffering was tinged witli 
 the light of heaven, — the scaffold was the stepping-stone to 
 glory, — and the pile by which their bodies were consumed 
 they regarded as a chariot of fire to waft their souls to the 
 sinless and sorrowless mansions of the -blessed. ' This is the 
 day we shall gef the crown,' were the v;ords of Cameron a 
 
THE SCOTTISH MARTYRS. 87 
 
 short time before he fell : so that the youthful poet has cor- 
 rectly pictured it : — 
 
 ' When the i-ighteous had fallen, and the combat had ended, 
 A chariot of fire through the dark cloud descended ; 
 And the souls that came forth out of great tribulation, 
 They mounted the chariots and steeds of salvation. 
 Glide swiftly, bright spirits, the prize is before ye, 
 A crown never-fading, a kingdom of glory !' 
 
 To these considerations, the cause in which all this spirit 
 was shown, these sufferings borne, and these deeds perfornied, 
 must be added. 
 
 The cause on account of which our fathers ' loved not their 
 lives unto the death' was the cause of God, the cause of 
 Christ, the cause of truth, the cause of religion and liberty; — 
 a cause worthy of their best exertions, and sufficient to war- 
 rant their dearest sacrifices. But the nature of this cause 
 will be best understood from a specification of some of those 
 leading principles for which they contended and died. We 
 say not that those we are to state were reduced to a written, 
 systematic form, or expressed and arranged exactly as we 
 have done them. But we do say, that they are principles 
 which entered essentially into their testimony for truth, prin- 
 ciples which they received as binding, considered as axioma- 
 tical, and constantly acted upon. These we can do little more 
 than state, having left ourselves no time to descant on theni; 
 either in the way of explanation or defence. 
 
 Salvation hy the free sovereign grace of God, through faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, was the first of these principles. This 
 is what was held by Luther and the first friends of the Refor- 
 mation, as the article of a standing or falling church. It may 
 be regarded as having produced the original revolt from the 
 Church of Rome. It was afterwards incorporated with all 
 the sentiments and discourses of the Reformers ; and when 
 once it comes to be forgotten, or denied, or perverted, or con- 
 cealed, whatever external observances may remain, the spirit 
 of the Reformation has fled, and you may write upon it 
 'ICHABOD, the glory is departed.' 
 
 Another of these principles was the sole authority of the Holy 
 
S8 TQE CHARACTER AND CLAHIS OF 
 
 Scriptures in matters of religion, and the right of all man to 
 peruse tJieoi. Traditions and the priesthood were discarded as 
 grounds of fyith, and the bible alone elevated to this rank. 
 Wearing- the seal of divine attestation, it was reckoned worthy 
 of implicit and universal reverence. It was deemed a maxim 
 of self-evident truth, that that which all are to believe, ac- 
 cording to which all are to act, and by which all are to be 
 judged, ought to be in the full and undisputed possession of 
 all. Ignorant and worthless priests might have reasons of 
 their own for shutting out the light of revelation, skulking 
 like moles and bats into hidhig-places, and preferring the 
 darkness or the twilight; but the Reformers had.no such in- 
 stinctive abhorrence of light, resembling rather 'the bird- of 
 heaven, which meets the full unclouded blaze with an eye 
 that never winks and a wing that never tires.' 
 
 The right of men to form their religious ojnnions from the word 
 of God, flowed as a native result from the foregoing; such a 
 right being clearly implied in the supreme authority of reve- 
 lation, in the impossibility of controlling the human mind by 
 anythhig but scriptural evidence or rational argumentation, 
 and in the accountable- nature of man. 
 
 In opposition to the tyrannical claims and blasphemous 
 assumptions of popes and kings, they held tJie sole headship ' 
 of Christ over the church, and its consequent independence of 
 all jwlitical control. The prerogatives of Zion's King they 
 vievved as peculiar and inalienable ; no mortal, -\vithout the 
 most daring impiety, could venture to invade them. Christ 
 was given to be Head over all things to the church, and it was 
 not for man to rob hiin of his glory or share with him his 
 honours. The church tLey regarded as a free independent 
 society, ha^•ing no head but one ; and therefore all ,who pre- 
 sumed in this capacity to regulate her order, interfere with 
 her management, prescribe her forms of worship, or lay re- 
 strictions on her office bearers, were looked jupon as wicked 
 intruders, ungodly and tyrannical usurpers. Head of tiik 
 Chl'RCH, whether inscribed on the papal crown or the regal 
 diadem, they held to be one of ' the names of blasphemy.' 
 
 In connection \vith this they maintained another principle : 
 
THE SCOTTISH JIAUTVUS. 89 
 
 The Headship of Christ over the nations, and the consequent dutij 
 of conducting civil affiirs on religlnis principles, and subordi- 
 nating them to the interests of the church. The restriction of 
 the mediatorial power to the church is compai'atively a mo- 
 dern doctrine, the natural growth of a desire to harmonise 
 religious sentiments with political interest. Our Reformers 
 knew nothing of it. They had not learocvl those ingenious 
 criticisms by which some of their descendants have been able 
 to explain such passages as the following in conformity with 
 a restricted dominion : — ' Thou hast put all things in sub- 
 jection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection 
 under him, he left NOTniNG that is not put under him.' 
 Esteeming Christ as 'Prince of .the kings of the earth,' and 
 ' Governor among the nations,' they showed no wish to blot 
 out, or even to tarnish the lustre of his glorious title, ' King 
 OP KINGS AND Lord OF LORDS.' Nor had they any know- 
 ledge of the boasted discovery of modern times, that things 
 - civil and religious should be kept entirely separate, — that 
 they have nothing to do with each other, — and that church 
 and state ought to be completely and for ever divorced. 
 They considered that things might be connected without being 
 confounded. They knew that civil and religious matters were 
 united by many a powerful tie; tliey viewed them as insepa- 
 rable in point of fact : and finding them recognised in the 
 same scriptures — tending to promote the glory of the same 
 Lord — obligatory on the same persons — and a connection 
 between them predicted as characteristic of the millennial 
 state of the world when 'kings shall be nursing fathers and 
 queens nursing mothers' to the chinch, when 'the king- 
 doms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord 
 and his Christ,' and when the most common aflfairs of li(e 
 and articles of use shall be ' holiness to the Lord;' — finding 
 these things to be so, they scrupled not to recognise the con- 
 nection both in their deeds and public standards. It is only 
 when the church is degraded to a mere instrument of state 
 policy that the union in question is olijcctionable; not when 
 the civil affairs of the world are so ordered as to advance the 
 intei'ests of Christ's kinirdom. 
 
90 THE CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 The Reformers also held the right of redding such civil rulers 
 as usurp the prerogatives of Christ, oppress the church, tyrannise 
 over the people, and lend the loeight of their authority and 
 example to the subversion of equity. A principle consonant 
 alike to reason and scripture, which none but the most slavish 
 and interested parasites of the * powers that be ' will venture 
 to deny, and which afterwards received the high sanction of 
 the whole nation when the house of Stuart was expelled and 
 the Prince of Orange called to the throne. 
 
 Alongst with these, they held, in fine, the importance and 
 ohligation of public covenanting as a means of professing, advan- 
 cing, and maintaining the cause of reformation; and of comforting 
 and fortifying the church in troublous times. This principle our 
 Reformers viewed as involved in the relation subsisting be- 
 tween God and his people, as countenanced by the spirit of 
 other religious institutions and duties, recognised in prophe- 
 cies regarding New Testament times, and expressly required 
 by holy writ. Hence those famous vows entered into from 
 time to time by the nation and the church, more especially 
 the National Covenant of Scotland and the Solemn League 
 and Covenant of the • three kingdoms, now fallen into such 
 unmerited neglect. 
 
 These are some of the leading principles of the Scottish 
 Reformers, from which an idea may easily be formed of the 
 nature of that cause for which they loved not their lives unto 
 the death ; and, without being called upon implicitly to ap- 
 prove of all they said or wrote or did, an approval of the 
 general maxims which they held, as based on sound scriptural 
 views of the relations and duties of man, must be implied in 
 a professed respect for their memor\'. 
 
 The above enumeration may serve to rescue thepn from the 
 charge of having busied themselves about trifles, and squan- 
 dered their lives on niatters of small moment. Some of the 
 points, indeed, for which they contended n^iy seem of little 
 importance to many in the present day, and far from justifjang 
 the sacrifices they made to secure them. But they durst, not 
 dispense with any part of divine truth ; their consciences 
 would not allow them, for the sake of j)urchasing exemption 
 
THE SCOTTISH iMAllTYKS. 91 
 
 from pain, or even of saving their lives, to acknoAvledge as 
 true what they knew to be false ; nor did they deem it safe 
 to make compliances in one department which might have 
 the effect of inducing their persecutors to demand them in 
 another in which they could not be so safely granted. If they 
 believed the preshyievian form of church government to be 
 agreeable to the word of God, how could they abjure it, as 
 they were required to do, and tamely submit to a lordly pre- 
 lacy ? If they esteemed kneeling at the sacrament to have its 
 origin in the idolatrous reverence claimed for the host by the 
 Church of Rome, and calculated to give countenance to that 
 impious claim, how could they but lift up their voice against 
 it ? If the form in which they were I'equired to pray for the 
 king — for they never refused to pray for the blessing of God 
 on his person, or for salvation to his soul — was such as to 
 imply an acknowledgment of his blasphemous and tyrannical 
 encroachments on the prerogatives of Christ and the liberties 
 of the church, were they not fully justified in refusing to com- 
 ply? Yet these are things which the men of an easy gene- 
 ration are apt to reckon of no moment. Our ancestors thought 
 otherwise ; and they well knew what they were about. The 
 line of conduct they chose to pursue had been duly weighed. 
 "While the attempts that were made to ensnare their con- 
 sciences in such matters show the unfeeling and wanton 
 tyranny of the times, their resistance evinces a strength of 
 principle and correctness of thinking worthy of the highest 
 esteem. 
 
 II. These remarks naturally lead us to point out the treat- 
 ment to which the considerations we have submitted seem to 
 entitle those who 'loved not their lives unto the death.' The 
 claims of the Scottish Reformers on posterity may be summed 
 up in respect, commemoration, and imitation. 
 
 If we have correctly delineated their character and suffer- 
 ings, they have established an undoubted title to the highest 
 rexpect of posterity. They deserve even to be venerated. 
 Veneration is a feeling compounded of awe and of love, a 
 state of mind awakened by objects that are at once dignified 
 
92 THE CHAKACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 and endearing. The highest emotions of this kind are due to 
 Him who is at once infinitely great, and infinitely good. But 
 inferior states of it may waiTantably be entertained toward 
 those who, in these qualities, bear a resemblance to God. And 
 if ever there were human beings who had a right to be so 
 regarded, it was certainly so with those whom we have at 
 present in our eye— men who to all that was excellent in pri- 
 vate personal character added so much that was great in the 
 public cause with which they were inseparably associated. 
 Do you ask, then, for what they are to be venerated?. We 
 refer you, in reply, to the considerations that have been already 
 laid before you. It is impossible for a person, of a well- 
 constituted mind to reflect on what they were — what they 
 did — what they suffered — the noble spirit they displayed — 
 and the glorious cause to which their lives were devoted, 
 without entertaining the highest respect for their memory. 
 Their private virtues and public deeds and generous sacrifices, 
 alike support their claims to respectful attention. Lost to all 
 right principle must they be who can suffer themselves to 
 utter an irreverent word, or to cherish an irreverent feeling, 
 towards men possessing such indisputable claims to esteem. 
 
 Far are we from wishing to have it thought that we regard 
 them as perfect characters. To the ordinary failings of hu- , 
 manity they added perhaps ethers inseparable from the times 
 in which their lot was cast. But, unless peremptorily called 
 for by some particular purpose, we v/ould scorn the indelicacy 
 which scruples not to unveil the faults of departed worth ; 
 while we would reckon ourselves bound, by all the obligations 
 of filial piety, to throw the mantle of charity over the minor 
 infirmities of men who were honoured by God to break tlie 
 spell of superstition and to crush the rod of tyranny in our 
 land. We are not ambitious to rob the grave of its' preroga- 
 tive of consigning to oblivion the weaknesses of the great and 
 the good : and we dissent entirely from the spirit of those 
 who, in the present age, seem to have been' smitten with a 
 disgustful propensity, to ' rake up the ashes of their fathers.' 
 
 But respect is not all to which they are entitled. It will 
 itself lead i> something niore. Grateful commemoration must 
 
THE SCOTTISH MAnTVK?. 93 
 
 naturally follow wherever respect is sincere and of the proper 
 degree of intensity. Something will be done to keep the 
 objects of our respect in lively remembrance. 
 
 To commemorate departed worth is a thing right and 
 warrantable in itself. The disposition to it is a part of our 
 nature, and is everywhere to be met with. It is no less 
 scriptural than natural to indulge this disposition. ' The 
 I'ighteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.' ' The me- 
 mory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall 
 rot.' To ' cut off their memory from the earth ' is one of the 
 judgments with which the wicked are threatened ; and the 
 displeasure of God against the workers of iniquity is ex- 
 pressed by his making 'all their memory to perish.' Jacob 
 testified his respect for his beloved partner after her decease, 
 by rearing a monument to her memory: ' And Kachel died 
 and was buried in the way to Ephrath, whicli is Bethlehem. 
 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, that is the piliar of 
 Rachel's grave unto this day.' And what is the eleventh 
 chapter of the epistle to the Hebi'ews but a noble commemo- 
 rative tribute to the transcendent excellence of men of whom 
 the world was not worthy ? Besides, tlie practice of com- 
 memorating departed worth is fitted to exert the happiest 
 influence on posterity. Though due to the dead, it is beneficial 
 only to the living. Those who are gone are placed \yithout 
 the reach of either praise or blame. It matters not to them 
 whether their ashes repose undistinguished beneath the clod 
 of the valley, or are surmounted by the sculjitured column. 
 Their sleep is as sweet on the solitary moor where the sigh- 
 ings of the breeze are their only requiem, as in the crowded 
 cemetery where art has been tasked to pronounce their pane- 
 gyric. But instructive and improving to survivors are such 
 touching memorials. Many a son of genius has had his feel- 
 ings awakened and directed at the tomb of some departed 
 father. 
 
 ' Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 
 Even in our ashes Hve onr wonted fires.' 
 
 Is it then expecting too much that future generations may 
 be benefited by attempts to commemorate those who did 
 
94 THE CHAKACTER AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 valiantly for the truth in the earth ? Who can tell what in- 
 quiries they may prompt, what sympathies they may excite, 
 what kindred glow of hallowed feeling they may inspire ? 
 
 ' Their names shall nerve the patriot's hand 
 Upraised to save a sinking laud ; 
 And piety shall learn to burn 
 With holier transports o'er their urn.' 
 
 And surely they deserve to be commemorated. They are 
 gone. Many of them fell in the struggle the fruits of which 
 we are now reaping ; their blood watered the Plant of renown 
 under whose ample shade we now repose in peace and safety. 
 The world which thought so lightly of their worth, was des- 
 tined soon to lose them. But ought nothing to be done to 
 perpetuate their memories, and to secure as far as possible tlie 
 benefits arising from a pious recollection of their character 
 and example ? Is it not due to them, if not to ourselves, that 
 something should be done ? Who deserve to be commemo- 
 rated if they do not ? What ground of claim for such dis- 
 tinction can be put forth which may not be preferred on their 
 behalf? Is it personal worth? It was theirs. Is it valuable 
 services ? Such were theirs. Is it generous sacrifices for a 
 public good? Here too their claims are unrivalled. Is it 
 connection with a cause of great and general interest ? 
 Neither here have they to dread competition. To say that 
 poets, and heroes, and statesmen deserve to be. commemo- 
 rated, while those who loved not their lives unto the death in 
 the cause of their country's religion and liberties are to be 
 left to sink into oblivion, is to pay no compliment to either 
 the discernment or the gratitude of the age. By all means, 
 let the poet have his wreath, and the hei'o his monument ; 
 but. Oh ! deny not the martyr of Jesus his simple tomb-stone ! 
 
 The best commemoration of all, however, is that which 
 our own principles and conduct can alone supply. They 
 deserve to be imitated, as well as treated with'respect and held 
 in grateful remembrance. This is the proper result of the 
 others. Unices this take place, as far as we ourselves are 
 concerned, our professions of esteem and attempts to com- 
 memorate go for nothing. They stamp upon us rather the 
 
THE SCOTTISH MAUTYKS. 05 
 
 brand of self-condemnation. Those who loved not their lives 
 unto the ' death are to be respected and remembered as 
 examples. From their tombs we are to hear ourselves ad- 
 dressed, — ' Be ye followers of us, even as we also are of . 
 Christ.' 
 
 But do we require to follow the example of such men ? 
 We do. We are not, it is true, placed in precisely the same 
 circumstances as they; but still the resemblance is sufficiently 
 strong to enable us to profit by the pattern they have set be- 
 fore us. As far as personal cliaractcr is concerned, we have 
 equal need of intelligence, faith, piety, and holiness. As to 
 what they did, we are to follow them in the way of preserv- 
 ing and extending the blessings which they struggled to 
 secure. In regard to suffering, if we are not exposed to 
 banishment, torture, and death, we shall not be exempted, if 
 we act a faithful and conscientious part, from privations, 
 mockery, and scorn. The same spirit of faith, of patriotism, 
 of zeal, of valour, of fidelity, and of hope, it concerns us to 
 cherish, as the only spirit that can animate us to sustain the 
 hai'dships and bear us up against the dangers of the christian 
 profession. The cause, too, of religion and liberty is still the 
 same, — involving the same principles, and carrying along 
 with it the same eventful consequences. 
 
 But how shall Ave ever be able to imitate the worth, acti- 
 vity, patience, and spirit of these men ? Their ability, be it 
 remembered, was not of their own production. They were 
 just flesh and blood like ourselves, possessed of the same 
 nature, having to struggle with the same infirmities, and hav- 
 ing no better motives or encouragements than we have. We, 
 as well as they, may expect a better resurrection, and look 
 forward to a ci'own of immortal bliss. We, as well as they, 
 can lay hold by faith on the promises of God, and avail our- 
 selves of the aid of the omnipotent Spii'it. To us, as well as 
 to them, is it said, ' My grace is sufficient for you, and my 
 strength is made perfect in weakness :' and, by seizing on this 
 all-gracious assurance, w^e also may ' triumph in Christ.' 
 
 See to it then, my hearers, that besides respectful feelings 
 and commemorative attempts, you form decided resolutions to 
 
96 TUE CHARACTEU AND CLAIMS OF 
 
 imitate. Deceive not yourselves here ; imbibe the spirit of 
 the good old times ; follow the footsteps of the reforming 
 heroes; espouse the cause for wliich they bled and died; like 
 them, be faithful to the death, and God shall give you a crown 
 of life. Study their character closely, that you may be the 
 better prepared to follow their example. For this end read 
 those writings in which tlieir character and sufferings and 
 sayings are recorded ; and visit, as opportunity offers, the 
 places of their sepulchres. Speak of them respectfully to 
 others; and try to enlist the judgment and feelings of your 
 counti'ymen in behalf of the cause they had so deeply at heart. 
 Be not yours the execrable hypocrisy of those who ' build the 
 tombs and garnish the sepulchres' of the mai'tyrs, while,, by 
 their principles and spirit, they prove themselves to be 'the 
 children of them that killed them,' and that if ' they had been 
 in the days of their fathers, they would have been partakers 
 with them in their blood.' 
 
 In drawing this discourse to a close, allow me to offer a 
 very few additional exhortations. 
 
 Examine, my hearers, how far you resemble the men of 
 whom we have been speaking, in your character, spirit, ajid 
 deeds. Is there anything about you that can entitle you tcr 
 be regarded as their descendants? Have you, in this respect, 
 the common resemblance of children to their fathers? You 
 have seen what they were, you know what you yourselves are. 
 Are there many features common to both? Are there any? 
 For an answer to these questions you must look within. On 
 a severe and impartial scrutiny, how many, alas ! — is there 
 not reason to fear? — will be found to exhibit, instead of the 
 brilliant qualities of the niartj'rs, stupid ignorance,, base neu- 
 trality, disgraceful cowardice, and time-serving treachery! 
 Remember that for the properties by which they were distin- 
 guished, they were indebted to Heaven, ^y the grace of 
 God they were what they were. Whatever they did, it was 
 not they, but the grace of God that was in them. They did 
 all things through Christ strengthening them. If you are 
 ever to resemble them, you must draw from the same source. 
 
TIIK SCOTTISH MARTYRS. 97 
 
 Pray for that di\ ine Spirit who alone can renew you in know- 
 ledge, righteousness and true holiness ; tliat, being renewed 
 in the spirit of your minds, you may walk worthy of the 
 vocation wherewith you are called. 
 
 Lament the neglect into which the history, example, and 
 principles of the martyrs have fallen in the present day. They 
 set us a commendable example of enlightened zeal for the 
 glory of God, unextinguishable attachment to the interests of 
 Zion, manly boldness in asserting their rights, indomitable 
 courage in maintaining, and exhaustless patience in pursuing 
 them. But it requires only a glance at the prominent fea- 
 tures of the public mind now, to perceive the change that has 
 taken place. An age of loose opinion and easy virtue and 
 soft and silken manners, has succeeded to one of stern integ- 
 rity and unbending steadfastness. Ever since the Revolution, 
 the principles of the Reformers may perhaps be viewed as 
 having been on the wane. By how many is the doctrine of 
 -justification by faith in Christ impugned, denied, or neglected! 
 Have not the headship of Christ and the independence of his 
 church, been forgotten amid the encroachments of an Erastian 
 supremacy ! The subjection of the nations to Messiah is 
 denied altogether by some, and practically overlooked by all. 
 There is a manifest leaning, especially among professors of 
 religion, towards the monstrous absurdities of passive obe- 
 dience and non-resistance. Public vowing is not only not 
 practised, but the obligation of the duty is denied, and the 
 deeds of our forefathers are openly and wantonly assailed. 
 Two principles of the Reformation still remain, for which we 
 ought to be grateful, and which were we sure of their con- 
 tinuance might afford some hope of the revival of the rest ; 
 we mean the sole authority of God's word, and the right of 
 private judgment. But we cannot conceal our fears that by 
 the late concessions to papists, even these have been placed in 
 some degree of jeopardy. ' All that generation were gathered 
 unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after 
 them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he 
 had done for Israel. And they forsook the Lord God of their 
 fathers, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that 
 
 E 
 
98 THE CHARACTER AMD CLAIMS OF 
 
 spoiled tliera, so that they could not any longer stand before 
 their enemies.' 
 
 The cause in which our forefathers died was the cause of 
 protestantism, in opposition to the tyrannical claims and 
 superstitious mummeries of the Eomish See. But we are 
 not without many evidences in modern times of a declining 
 sense of the value and importance of this cause. What other 
 inference can we draw from the countenance extended to 
 Popery by men of all ranks ; from the late strange enact- 
 ment?, by which there has been given to the abettors of that 
 bloody and intriguing system control over the interests of this 
 reformed, covenanted, protestant land ; from the annual sup- 
 port contributed from the public purse to Popish seminaries 
 to enable them to send forth their yearly supply of wtll- 
 trained agents to spread the pestiferous and ensnaring tenets 
 of Jesuitism among our people ; from the small sensation ex- 
 cited, even in the religious Avorld, by the unexampled efforts 
 and alarming progress of the interest of the Man of Sin 
 amongst ourselves ; from the lethargy into which even the 
 avowed friends of the protestant cause appear to have sunk ; 
 and from the profime ' and ungodly ridicule which has been 
 unblushingly poured on the principles and agents of the 
 Reformation by fashionable novelists and pretended antiqua- ' 
 rians ? 
 
 These are all so many grounds of deep lamentation. Let 
 your grief be sincere and godly, not hypocritical and formal. 
 Like Nehemiah, in similar circumstances, not only let your 
 countenance be sad, but sit down and weep and mourn and 
 fast and pray to the God of heaven. Who knows but that 
 thus he may be pleased to return and revive us as in the days 
 of old ? for ' he keepeth covenant and mercy for theip that love 
 him ; he is slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth 
 him of the evil.' Follow up your lamentations with prayer. 
 For these things he will be inquired of the, house of Israel 
 to do them for them. In the closet, the family, the sanc- 
 tuary. Oh ! see that you forget not Zion. ' Ye that make 
 mention of the Lord, keep not silence,- and give him no rest 
 till he establish 'and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the 
 
THE SCOTTISH MARTYKS. 99 
 
 earth; till the righteousness thereof go forth as light, and the 
 salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.' ' God, ivJnj hast 
 thou cast us off for ever? Remember thy congregation which thou 
 hast purchased of old ; the rod of thine inheritance, lohich than 
 hast redeemed; this mount Zion xvherein thou hast dwelt. Lift 
 up t hi/ feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the emnvj 
 hath dove wickedly in the sanctuary ! ' 
 
 Amid these exercises, we mnst not forget the gratitude due 
 to God for the restraints he has been pleased to lay on the 
 persecuting fury of the Church of Rome, and for the privi- 
 leges we thus enjoy. It is not with us as it was with our 
 fathers, when they had to ' whet the broad sword as a severe 
 but necessary preparation for the public worship of God.' It 
 is not now as it was then, when they could meet only ' when 
 the wintry storm raved fierce, and compelled the men of blood 
 to couch within their dens ;' — when ' by the gleam of sheeted 
 lightning ' the man of God opened the sacred book, and 
 
 ■ leaning on his spear, 
 
 The lyart veteran heard the word of God, 
 
 By Cameron thundered, or by Renwick poured 
 
 In gentle stream.' 
 
 It is not now as it was then, that when they met on some 
 green hill-side or in some deep romantic dell, sentinels re- 
 quired to be posted on tlie heights to watch the approatjh of 
 the enemy. No : we now sit every one under his vine and 
 imder his fig-tree, none daring to make us afraid. Here we 
 are met in circumstances which in those days of blood would 
 li.ive subjected us to the pains reserved for such as Avere 
 guilty of the enormous crime of conventicling ; and whicli 
 would have been sufficient to set all the blood-hounds in the 
 district on the scent. But there is now no unprincipled Cla- 
 verhouse, no blood-thirsty Dalziel, no tyrannical Bruce, pre- 
 maturely to disperse our assembly, to hunt us to the moun- 
 tains, or to deprive us of our lives on the high places of the 
 field. Let us remember to whom we are indebted for the 
 change, and let us not by our ingratitude provoke the Al- 
 mighty to withdraw from us our privileges. 
 
 Look forward, christians, with joyful anticipation to the 
 
100 THE CHAKACTER AND CLAIMS, ETC. 
 
 period when the spirit of the martyrs shall be poured out on 
 all ranks, and everything antichristian shall be put away from 
 the church. The witnesses must be slain ; but there is a 
 resurrection to follow : ' And I saw thrones, and they sat 
 upon them, and judgment was given unto them : and I saw 
 the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, 
 and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the 
 beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon 
 their foreheads, or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned 
 with Christ a thousand years.' We expect not a literal but 
 a spiritual fulfilment of this prophecy. What a blessed era 
 will it be, when the martyrs shall rise and live arid reign in a 
 race of successors animated with their spirit, and pursuing 
 the same glorious career ! Before this time, however, there 
 is a prayer to be heard and answered : ' And when he had 
 opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them 
 that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony 
 which they held : and they ci'ied with a loud voice, saying. 
 How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
 avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth V Let us 
 join trembling with our mirth. 
 
 And now, brethren, I have done. Let me hope that our 
 present meeting shall be followed by good effects. I trust 
 you will show j'our gratitude for the privileges you enjoy, by 
 contributing to preserve the memory of those by whom, under 
 God, they were secured. I trust also, that rhany present 
 shall, from this time, be roused to cultivate personal piety and 
 public zeal, aiid to revere the memory of the great and good 
 of former times : and that, whatever may become of their 
 graves, although they should sink into concealment and cease 
 to be distinguished from the surrounding earth, thejr deeds and 
 their virtues shall be embalmed in many a Scottish heart, and 
 yet wake to kindred feelings of zeal, of freedom, and of glory ! 
 
 May the Lord God of the fathers follovjr his word with a 
 blessing, and prosper the work of our hands ! To him be 
 glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, 
 world without end. Amen. 
 
SERMON lY. 
 
 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 Preached at Springholin, Kii-kcudbrightsliire, April 3, 1831. 
 
 Ephes. ii. 5. 
 ' By grace ye are saved.'' 
 
 The terms that are here employed by the apostle cannot 
 surely need to be explained to a christian audience. Salva- 
 tion must be understood in that peculiar sense in which it 
 is commonly used by the inspii'ed writers, to denote the 
 amount of those spiritual and eternal benefits which believers 
 derive from the mediation of the Son of God ; comprehend- 
 ing in it, deliverance from the curse of the violated law, from 
 the obligation of the covenant of works, from the pollution 
 and power of sin in the present life, and from its consequences 
 and being in the future state of existence ; together with all 
 the positive holiness and felicity which are essential to the 
 perfection of moral and immortal creatures. It is clear, too, 
 that the word grace occurs in this passage in its proper radi- 
 cal acceptation, of God's free unmerited favour and love, 
 exchisive of all human worth or power. The text thus pre- 
 sents a plain, but most important statement, which may be 
 regarded as a brief summary of the gospel, and Avhich de- 
 serves the diligent, candid, devout study of all who would be 
 delivered from tlie wrath to come. 
 
 The manner in which the statement is introduced is some- 
 what sti'ikiug. The apostle is contrasting the present happy 
 condition of the Ephcsian converts with their former state as 
 
102 SALVATION BY GEACE. 
 
 Gentiles when they ' walked according to the course of this 
 world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the 
 spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience.' And, 
 in the course of his description, while speaking of their hav- 
 ing been, through the goodness of God who is rich in mercy, 
 ' quickened together with Christ, and raised up together, and 
 made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' the 
 clause which forms the text is thrown in, in the midst of the 
 sentence, by way of parenthesis, showing how powerful a 
 hold the sentiment it breathes had taken of the writer's own 
 mind, and how impossible it was for him to speak fo others 
 of the kindness of God to guilty men, without giving it utter- 
 ance. The sentiment was, as it were, uppermost ia .his 
 thoughts. It pervaded his whole views of the christian faith. 
 He could speak of nothing without having it suggested. 
 His train of thinking and mode of expression were shaped 
 and moulded by it. The very utterance of the sentiment 
 gave him heartfelt delight. It was not more natural for 
 him as a man to breathe, than as a saint and apostle to bear 
 testimony to the riches of divine grace. ' By grace ye are 
 saved.' 
 
 Yet the doctrine of the text, however scriptural and con- 
 genial to the renewed heart, is far from being agreeable tO' 
 the natural man. It is liable to be misrepresented by its 
 friends as well as by its enemies, and requires to be clearly 
 stated and strongly urged on the attention of all. I therefore 
 purpose to submit to you some brief illustration of the asser- 
 tion, ' By grace ye are saved.' 
 
 I. Salvation is of grace as respects God's original determi- 
 nation to save man at all. , 
 
 The determination to save must have originated with God. 
 Everything that exists, with the exception of the Deity him- 
 self, must have a cause ; and everything, sin alone excepted, 
 can easily be traced to God, the great First Cause of all. 
 That the salvation of sinners should flow from any other 
 source, is therefore contrary to all analogy, and contradicts 
 all our principles of reasoning. 
 
SALVATION liV GRACE. 103 
 
 But when we thus trace tiie origin of man's salvation to 
 God, we are to beware of sujoposing that he was urged to it 
 by any necessity of nature. Free agency, in the strictest 
 sense of the term, must belong to him ' of whom, and through 
 whom, and to whom are all things.' Every conception of the 
 supreme Being which excludes the notion of volition is not 
 only defective but absurd. Blind fatality, or involuntary 
 operation, can with no propriety be ascribed to an agent or a 
 cause, inasmuch as to act necessarily, is, properly speaking, 
 not to act at all, but to be acted upon. It therefore follows 
 that the great First Cause cannot, in the matter of man's sal- 
 vation, be said to have acted from necessity, as, even suppos- 
 ing him capable of being acted upon, there existed no being 
 by whom he could be so influenced in the eternal determina- 
 tions of his infinite mind. When we speak, then, pf salva- 
 tion originating with God, we are to be understood as meaning 
 that it originated in the exercise of his loill. 
 
 But what moved the Divine will to resolve on man's salva- 
 tion ? It was not a regard to his own happiness by which he 
 was prompted. No. Had mankind been left to perish in 
 their sins, he would have been ineffably happy in the felicity 
 of his own existence. His perfections should have remained 
 uninjured, nay, should have been awfully glorified in the 
 righteous punishment of his apostate children and . mali- 
 cious enemies. Pie is literally independent of the creatures 
 he has made. In the purity and happiness of his moral sub- 
 jects, he is represented indeed as taking a high delight, yet so 
 far is he from being dependent on them for this, that the very 
 qualities which occasion it proceed from himself; so that, 
 when taking delight in the holiness and fehcity of his crea- 
 tures, he is, strictly speaking, taking delight in himself. 
 
 Nor was the divine will influenced to the salvation of man, 
 by any abstract respect to the inviolable principles of justice. 
 Had misery been the everlasting doom of the human family, 
 they must have submitted to it with passive silence as the just 
 reward of their demerit. The blame of their fall could, in no 
 sense, attach to the Almighty. Moral ability to keep their 
 first estate had been conferred on them at their creation ; 
 
104 SALTATION BY GRACE. 
 
 confirmation in holiness was not only never promised, but 
 quite incompatible with the probationary state in which they 
 were placed ; they were left to the freedom of their own will ; 
 this freedom they abused for the wicked purpose of rebelling 
 against God ; and on their own heads alone could the guilt 
 and misery of such rebellion descend. In the state into 
 which they were thus precipitated, every perfection of Deity 
 was arrayed against them, but their mouths were shut from 
 all extenuation of their guilt or solicitation of deliverance ; 
 and, but for God's determination to save, this state of things 
 must have been eternal. 
 
 The origin of salvation must, therefor?, be resolved into a 
 sovereign act of the divine will, determining its existence. 
 This conclusion is supported by scripture : ' I have loved 
 thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness 
 have I drawn thee.' (Jer. xxxi. 3.) ' God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever belie'veth 
 on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' (John iii. 
 1 6.) ' God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith 
 he loved us, even when Ave were dead in ti'espasses and sins, 
 hath quickened us together with Christ.' (E^jh. ii. 6.) These 
 plain declarations — and there are many more to the same 
 purpose — leave us without a doubt that the love of Jehovah 
 is the moving cause of man's salvation. But love in God is 
 not a passion or affection such as exists in the human breast. 
 In' the connection in question, it can mean nothing else than 
 the divine benevolence, the eternal will, purpose, or determina- 
 tion, of God to save. The passages quoted are thus parallel 
 to that of our apostle, when he describes the spiritual bless- 
 ings of salvation, as conferred by God ' according to the good 
 pleasure of his will.' 
 
 That this eternal resolve of the divine will was entirely 
 free or gracious is apparent from the circumstances of the 
 case, as well as from the language adduced. There was not 
 only, as we have seen, nothing in God to render it necessary — 
 neither dire necessity, nor a selfish regard tohis own happiness, 
 nor a consistent respect to the claims of equity — but there was 
 nothing in man*to determine its existence. Man was dead in 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 105 
 
 trespasses and sins ; inclined to pursue a course of the vilest 
 apostacy, and blackest ingratitude ; and cherished in his heart 
 the most malignant enmity to God. What was thei'e here to 
 awaken love, or call for an expression of good-will ? Nor 
 will the foreseen repentance and future amendment of the sin- 
 ner any better account for the eternal love of Jehovah. The 
 disposition to repent and the ability to act according to the 
 divine law are gifts of God, conferred t'n consequence of It is 
 love ; and the effects cannot very consistently be assigned as 
 a reason for the existence of the cause. If more were neces- 
 sary to show the gracious character of God's determination 
 to save, an appeal might be made to that numerous class of 
 texts in which salvation is ascribed to mercy — ' according to 
 his mercy he saved us,' etc. — for to suppose any reason for 
 the bestowment of the blessing to exist in its subjects, de- 
 stroys at once the character of mercy, and resolves 'it into an 
 act of justice. * Grace,' as it has been well said, ' is directly 
 opposed to all legal claims, and is an extra dispensation for 
 which the mere principles of moral government make no pro- 
 vision.' 
 
 It is necessary, however, to guard you against supposing 
 that the sovereignty or grace of God resembles the arbitrary 
 or capricious determinations of an earthly despot, who re- 
 solves without reason, and acts without law. Distant for 
 ever from your minds be the unworthy thought. Jehovah is 
 righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. Shall 
 not the Judge of all the earth do right? In the most gra- 
 cious purposes of his infinite mind, he acts on principles of 
 the strictest rectitude, and the soundest wisdom. The intelli- 
 gence and the equity of all his appointments are alike unim- 
 peachable. For determining as he does he has reasons,, and 
 the best of reasons too. ' Even so. Father, for so it seemed 
 GOOD in thy sight.' But, in the case of salvation, these 
 reasons are not in man, but in God ; the cause is not any 
 thing external, but wholly and absolutely something wit/nn 
 the Supreme Being himself; lie is altogether self-moved. This 
 is what we understand by the sovereignty of God in the sal- 
 vation of men. This is what we mean by the origin of sal- 
 
 e2 
 
106 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 ration being of grace. And it is a view in which we are 
 fully borne out by tha tenor of scripture language: 'I will 
 have mercy on whom / loill have mercy ; and I will have 
 compassion on -vA-hom / will, have compassion.' * The Lord 
 did not set his love on you nor choose you, because ye were 
 more in number than any people ; for ye were the fewest of 
 all people : but because the Lord loved you.' 
 
 II. The grace of God is further apparent, in the choice of 
 those who are the subjects of salvation. 
 
 The same sovereign will which determined the being of 
 salvation, determined also ivho should be its subjects. God's 
 gracious purpose is not a vague and general decree, deter- 
 mining merely that salvation shall take place, but leaving the 
 persons and the number who shall enjoy this blessing unde- 
 tei'mined. No. It is special and limited in respect of its 
 subjects, and this specialty and limitation are a further proof 
 of its graciousness. 
 
 Indeed salvation and its subjects cannot but in idea be 
 separated. Salvation is a quality which has no existence 
 apart from that in which it resides. Qualities cannot be con- 
 ceived of without substances. You might as well suppose 
 greenness to exist without a substance that is green, or round- 
 ness without something that is round, as salvation to be the 
 object of a divine purpose irrespective of the persons who are 
 to be saved. The decree of God regarding the one, must 
 necessarily have a respect to the other. In any other light, 
 salvation is a mere metaphysical abstraction, an absolute 
 nonentity. 
 
 The perfections of God require that this view be taken of 
 the subject. His knowledge of salvation existed from eter- 
 nity, for ' known unto God are all his works from the begin- 
 ning ;' but this necessarily supposes a knowledge of those 
 who were to be the individual subjects of salvation. His love 
 existed from eternity ; but as the object of this aiFection is a 
 person and not an abstract quality, the divine love must have 
 had some determined subjects on whom it was fixed. Be- 
 sides, the means of grace, instituted by God, are all adapted 
 
SALVATION BV GUACF.. 107 
 
 to individuals, and are made effectual only to some ; but as 
 the dispensations of grace are just the evolution of God's 
 eternal plan, we conclude that his original design had a 
 respect to individuals, and to only some individuals of the 
 human race. IMoreover, the august proceedings of the last 
 day, as related in scripture, give confirmation to the same 
 truth. We are infallibly assured that on that awful day 
 ' some of them that sleep in the dust shall awake to shame 
 and everlasting contempt,' that 'some shall go away into 
 everlasting punishment,' and that ' they that have done evil 
 shall come forth unto the resurrection of damnation.' But 
 it were impious to suppose that these God originally designed 
 to save, for in this case all his designs would not be infallibly 
 accomplished, and it would not be true that ' his counsel 
 stands, and he will do all his pleasure.' Of course, those 
 only who are «aved, did God design to save. 
 
 Thus does it appear from the attributes of God, the dispen- 
 sations of grace, and the facts of the final judgment, that 
 God must have determined from eternity what persons were 
 to be the subjects of salvation. And is not this the plain 
 doctrine of scripture? Innumerable are the passages in which 
 particular election is afiirmed. We shall content ourselves 
 with adducing three in which salvation is spoken of as the 
 immediate end of the decree, and sovereign grace as the 
 originating cause. 'As many as were ordained to eter- 
 nal LIFE believed.' (Acts xiii. 48.) ' God hath from the be- 
 ginning CHOSEN YOU TO SALA''ATioN,' (2 Thass. ii. 13.) 'Hav- 
 ing PREDESTINATED US to the adoption of children by Jesus 
 Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure op his 
 WILL.' (Eph. i. 5.) 
 
 How, but on the principle of sovereign grace, is it possible 
 to explain this distinction in respect to the subjects of salva- 
 tion ? What other reason can be assigned why some are 
 chosen and others left — why God in his eternal purpose 
 fixed upon those who are finally saved, and passed over others 
 to die in their sins? Some, we are aware, who pi'ofess to 
 believe in the doctrine of election, deny that the divine de- 
 cree was unconditional. They allow that such as are saved 
 
108 SALVATION BY GKACE. 
 
 were ' chosen of God to salvation ;' this, for the reasons before 
 assigned, they cannot get denied ; but they would have us to 
 believe that the choice in question was on account of their 
 foreseen good qualities and behaviour ; in short, that the 
 decree of God was conditional. But how is it possible to 
 entertain for a moment such a sentiment? Is it not impious 
 and even absurd to suppose that the determinations of the 
 divine will are suspended on that of his creatures? If this 
 be true, how can we avoid regarding man as the author of 
 his own salvation, and robbing God of the glory said to be 
 due to him on this very account? What, on this hypothesis, 
 are we to make of the scripture expression 'the election of 
 GRACE?' Would not election of justice be language more accor- 
 dant with the facts of the case ? and then, how are we to 
 get rid of the pointed language of the same inspired writer, 
 by which he limits and explains the meaning of the preceding 
 phrase, ' And if by grace, then is it no more of works ; other- 
 wise grace is no more grace : but if it be of works, then is it 
 no moi'e grace ; otherwise work is no more work,' (Rom. xi. 
 5, 6,) — than which it seems impossible to conceive how words 
 can be more strongly framed to express the utter incompati- 
 bility of grace and works? Conditional grace is a contradic- 
 tion in terms. The following passages will serve to show 
 that the expression in question is not a solitary and unusual 
 one. ' God hath saved us, and called us with an holy callirig, 
 
 NOT -ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS BUT ACCORDING TO HlS OWN 
 PURPOSE AND GRACE.' ' NOT BY ^WORKS OP RIGHTEOUSNESS 
 AVHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE 
 
 SAVED US.' (2 Tim. i. 9 ; Titus iii. 5.) On the whole, then, 
 it appears that the subjects of salvation are chosen from 
 eternity to the enjoyment of this unspeakable blessing ; and 
 that this choice depends neither upon the will nor the con- 
 duct of the individuals' themselves who are so chosen. Hu- 
 man agency and human merit are thus again entirely pre- 
 cluded, and we have another proof that ' by grace we are 
 saved.' 
 
 III. The grace. of God is manifested in the discovery, pro- 
 
SALVATION BV GRACE. 109 
 
 vision, appointment, and revelation of the viedium of sal- 
 vation. 
 
 We have seen that God in his grace has ivUled the salva- 
 tion of sinners, and chosen a certain number of the human 
 family to the enjoyment of this great benefit. But it must 
 not be supposed that in order to this he lays aside his charac- 
 ter of moral governor. This is impossible. As infinitely 
 -wise and holy, he cannot but support the honour of his law, 
 punish the transgression of his precepts, and vindicate the 
 rectitude of his every appointment. The law being founded 
 in righteousness, and its sanctions appended in equity, to 
 suffer the violation of it to pass with impunity, would either 
 reflect dishonour on its original constitution, or argue pitiable 
 imbecility in its Authoi*. The former is irreconcilable with 
 the wisdom and justice of God — tlie latter with his almighty 
 power. But the law has been violated, or salvati'on would 
 not be required, and the destined subjects of salvation are of 
 , course involved in the guilt of its violation. ' The scripture 
 hath concluded all under sin.' ' We know that what things 
 soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, 
 that every mouth may be stopped, and all the ivorld may 
 become guilty before God.' It follows, then, that if mercy 
 requires the salvation of sinners, justice demands that this 
 shall be effected in a way by which the divine moral govern- 
 ment shall be upheld. In the exercise of his sovereign 
 grace, God may do moi-e than the perfection of justice re- 
 quires, but he cannot do less ; by no act of his will can he 
 be supposed to set aside the claims of eternal equity, for this 
 would be to act in direct contradiction to his nature. 
 
 And how is the salvation of man to be effected in con- 
 sistency with the demands of infinite rectitude ? What com- 
 mon ground can be found on which justice and mercy may 
 be brought to harmonise — on which mercy and truth may 
 meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other — 
 on which the claims of the divine govei-nment may re- 
 ceive satisfaction, while those who have offended against 
 these claims shall escape the curse of disobedience? Ah! 
 tills, my hearers, is the ditUculty from which we can be 
 
110 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 extricated only by the grace of God. For, great as is the 
 stretch of human intellect, mighty as are its artful inventions 
 and scientific discoveries, schooled though it be in recondite 
 research, and expanded by the light of philosophy, this is a 
 question which it cannot solve — a problem which the conceti- 
 trated wisdom and genius of man cannot master. Man v\'anls 
 both disposition and ability for such an achievement. Sunk 
 low in depravity, and cherishing a hateful despite of God's 
 law, and an implacable enmity to the Lawgiver, it is not 
 supposable that he should ever .set himself about the dis- 
 covery of a way by which the demands of the one should be 
 answered, and the honour of the other supported. And 
 supposing him inclined, he has no data on which to proceed, 
 no experience on which to reason, no ground on which to 
 build. Should he look to apostate spirits, whose state indeed 
 in respect of sin, resembles his own, he beholds them reserved 
 in chains of darkness, receiving, without hope of deliveranc'e, 
 the just award of their rebellion ; and analogy would only lead 
 him to anticipate the permanent duration of his own miser- 
 able state. Should he turn his eye to himself, he could see 
 nothing but a heart of wicked device, and a life of foul ini- 
 quity, from which no atonement could be gathered to appease 
 the wrath of offended majesty, no excellence derived to merit 
 even the happiness of a moment ; and, but for the discovery 
 of a God of grace, the attempt must be abandoned for ever, 
 only to relapse into anguish and despair. But what the mind 
 of man could not effect, was done by the wisdom of God. 
 In the depths of his infinite mind, the mediatorial scheme 
 was devised — a scheme by which the guilt of the sinner 
 being transferred to an adequate Surety whose sufferings 
 satisfy the demands of justice, mercy should be freely dis- 
 pensed to man on the footing of the Surety's righteousness. 
 
 But a scheme will do nothing unless it be executed ; the 
 mediatorial system can be of no use without a mediator. 
 And where, among the creatures of God, shall one be found 
 qualified to fill up this want? Men cannot furnish such a one 
 as is required. Every member of the human family is alike 
 involved in the guilt which renders a mediator neces- 
 
SALVATION BY GRACI'. Ill 
 
 siiry. Besides, every action he can perform is previously 
 due to the moral government under which he is placed, 
 and can have no retrospective merit to cancel the debt of 
 his own disobedience, much less supererogatory merit which 
 may admit of being transferred to others. Nor can the 
 angelic hosts furnish a mediator to man. They too, as 
 moral creatures, are under a righteous govei-nment, which 
 has a claim on every action they can perform. In order 
 to salvation, the grace of God must do more than dis- 
 cover the mediatorial plan : a mediator must be provided : 
 and till this is done, contemplating the scheme of Jeho- 
 vah's device, w^e may say like Isaac when he beheld the 
 preparations on mount Moriah, ' Behold the fire and the 
 wood, but lohere is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' My 
 brethren, ' God has provided himself a iamb for a burnt- 
 offering.' 'Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away 
 THE SIX OF THE WORLD.' In Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
 was found a suitable mediator, to remove all legal obstruc- 
 tions to the exercise of divine mercy. His mysterious incar- 
 nation qualified him for subjection to the divine law, while the 
 supreme dignity and perfection of his character gave efficacy 
 to his atonement and worth to his obedience. God is in 
 Christ reconciling the world to himself. Jesus is the way, 
 the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but 
 by him. He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come 
 unto God by him. 
 
 That for the discovery and appointment of a mediator we 
 are indebted to God, we have the most ample scripture 
 testimony : ' / have laid help upon one that is mighty : / have 
 exalted one chosen out of the people. Behold my servant 
 whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. 
 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and 
 redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for 
 us in the house of his servant David. Deliver him from 
 going down to the pit ; I have found out a ransom.' And to 
 what but sovereign grace can such a glorious provision be 
 ascribed ? 
 
 The appointment of a mediator has been thought by some 
 
112 SA1.VATI0N BY GRACE. 
 
 to be at variance with ' salvation by grace,' as it seems to 
 place the redemption of sinners on a footing o^ justice. If the 
 moral government of God receives complete satisfaction for 
 the sins of men, where, it has been thoughtlessly asked, is 
 there grace or favour in pardoning these sins ? Had only the 
 original cause of man's salvation been kept in view, this 
 question had never been put. Let me remind you that the 
 love of God is the originating cause of man's salvation ; and, 
 because this love operated in a way of righteousness, it can 
 never be justly concluded that its sovereign character is 
 destroyed. The necessity of a mediator to the sahiition of 
 man, may be referred to the claims of justice ; but then there 
 is no necessity, apart from the mercy and grace of God, for 
 the salvation of man at all. This must be referred to the 
 sovereignty of God, as must also the provision and ap- 
 pointment of the mediator, whose existence justice, in this 
 case, rendered necessary. Had God not willed the salvation 
 of sinners, there had been no need for the mediatorial appoint- 
 ment ; but the purpose of God respecting salvation supposed, 
 equity required that such a provision should be made, to 
 prevent any infringement of its claims. God does not choose 
 to save sinners because Christ has given satisfaction for 
 them;' but because he has chosen to save, Christ has been 
 appointed to give satisfaction. The satisfaction is not that 
 which occasions the choice, but the choice is that which 
 occasions the satisfaction. The mediation of Christ is the 
 consequence not the cause of the divine favour to sinners. In 
 this point of view, instead of detracting from, the divine 
 sovereignty, it ought to be regarded as the most powerful and 
 overwhelming evidence of Jehovah's free and evei'lasting 
 love. Indeed, so great is his love, so rich his grace, that as 
 men cannot be saved without satisfaction, he himself provides 
 for that satisfaction being given, that there may be no legal 
 obstacle to the free bestowment of saving benefits. Hence 
 says John, ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only- 
 begotten Son.' (John iii. IG.) And Paul places the subject 
 in the same light, when he says, ' To the praise of the glory 
 of his grace, wlier^in he hath made us accepted in' the Beloved. 
 
SALVATION BY GKACE. 
 
 113 
 
 111 whom we have redemjJtion through his blood, the forgiveness 
 of sinsj according to the riches of his grace.' (Eph. i. 6, 7.) 
 'Being justified freely by his g? ace, through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus.' (Rom. iii. 24.) Redemption by Christ, 
 and salvation by grace, instead of being at variance, are thus 
 seen to be perfectly and gloriously harmonious. 
 
 To the actual salvation of men the appointed medium of 
 salvation behoves to be known, and God must therefore reveal 
 as well as provide a mediator. Without a supernatural com- 
 munication, neither God's determination to save, nor the way 
 in which this determination was to be carried into effect, 
 could ever have been known. These are things which lie 
 quite beyond the sphere of human investigation. That man 
 should continue ignorant of them, however, is incompatible 
 with their very existence. And, in making them known, the 
 grace of God, in connection with man's salvation, is displayed. 
 The end of God in giving a revelation of his will, is the sal- 
 Tation of men; and that which prompted him to make this 
 revelation was his grace. The sura of the gospel message is, 
 ' Salvation to the ends of the earth.' The scriptures are 
 designed to make men ' wise unto salvation.' The preachers 
 of the gospel are represented as ' publishing salvation ;' when 
 their word is made effectual, it proves ' the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth.' And as expres- 
 sive of the source, as well as the end of revelation, the apostle 
 speaks of it as ' the grace of God that bringeth Salvation.' 
 
 IV. AYhen we proceed to consider the actual application of 
 salvation, whether in its commencement, its progress, or its 
 completion, we are furnished with another proof that salva- 
 tion is by grace. 
 
 Such is the extent of man's depravity, that after being 
 made acquainted with the gracious purposes of God respect- 
 ing salvation, and with the all-sufficient and divinely-appointed 
 medium, he is still incapable of availing himself, without 
 assistance from above, of the provision that has been made 
 for him. * He will not come to Christ that he may have life.' 
 This want of disposition forms an incapacity which nothing 
 
114 SALVATION EY GRACE. 
 
 short of divine power can overcome. ' Tlae natural man 
 receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, 
 for they are spiritually discerned. — They that are in the flesh 
 cannot please God. — No \m\n can come to me except the 
 Father who sent me draw him.' These passages affirm, as 
 distinctly as language can do, an existing inability. The 
 inability, it is true, is altogether moral ; it has its foundation 
 in the depravity of the heart, in the perversity of the will. 
 Men can not because they ivill not come to Christ that they 
 may have life. Yet it is not, on this account, the less invin- 
 cible by any mere natural agency. According to the laws of 
 the human constitution, every person who is under the influ- 
 ence of a vicious habit, must continue to follow objects that 
 are vicious till the habit is removed. And as the disposition 
 to have the habit removed supposes a previous inclination to 
 good, it follows that the change in question can never possibly 
 originate with the individual himself; for this would suppose 
 him to be at once under the dominion of evil and inclined to 
 good, — an absurdity every way analogous to that of suppos- 
 ing a body to move in contrary directions at one and the same 
 time. The want oi-inclmation or will (which constitutes moral 
 inability,) and the want o^ physical powers (which constitutes 
 natural inability,) are things vastly distinct, so distinct indeed 
 as to make all the difference, in their effect on the moral sub- 
 ject, between high criminality and perfect excusableness. 
 Nevertheless, the one forms as insuperable a barrier as the 
 other. Suppose a captive to be every way pleased with his 
 confinement, to have no disposition to change his situation, to 
 feel indeed a hatred of liberty, — will not such a state of mind 
 render him as incapable of making his escape, as if he were 
 bound by iron fetters in every limb of his body ? , On the 
 same principle, the love of sin and hati'ed of holiness which 
 are natural to the unregenerate man, render it impossible for 
 him, of himself, to effect a change of state an/l of character. 
 You might as well talk of a dead person putting forth exer- 
 tions to restore himself to life, as of the sinnei" who is ' dead 
 in trespasses and sins ' bringing himself into that state of 
 spiritual life whic4i is included in salvation. Life may be 
 
SALVATION BY GRACK. 115 
 
 infused into an inanimate subject; and spiritual life may be 
 imparted "to spiritually dead sinners : but in the one case, as 
 well as in tho other, the change must originate in some other 
 source than the person himself. It is absurd to talk, as some 
 do, of a change of conduct persevered in for a while effect- 
 ing at length a change of disposition ; for however true this 
 may be when once the change has bpgun, it cannot possibly 
 account for the commencement. Virtuous conduct is thus 
 supposed to be the cause of virtuous dispositions. But what 
 is the cause of this virtuous conduct? This is the question 
 Avhich it behoves the friends of this mode of reasoning to 
 answer. Virtuous conduct persevered in for a while we can 
 suppose to produce a favourable change on the person's dis- 
 positions. But whence is this virtuous conduct to proceed '? 
 It cannot be from virtuous dispositions, for these are the 
 efe<:ts, not the cause. It must therefore be produced either 
 by vicious dispositions, or by dispositions of no sort — 
 suppositions which are equally absurd. In the one case we 
 have an effect produced by a diametrically opposite cause, and 
 in the other case an effect without any cause at all. We 
 leave the abettors of Arminianism to decide on which horn 
 of the dilemma they choose to be tossed. 
 
 In this argument we assume, of course, the depravity of 
 man. It is supposed in the subject of which we are treating. 
 With those who deny this doctrine we have at present nothing 
 to do ; as It is only such as are depraved that can stand in 
 want of salvation. ' The whole have no need of a physician, 
 but they that are sick.' The depravity of man's heart being 
 taken for granted, it seems an irrefragable conclusion that he 
 cannot be the author of his own salvation. 
 
 In some instances of conversion, the previous indisposition 
 to a change has been such, as to render the intervention of a 
 superior power undeniable. The violence of the passions had 
 been so strengthened by a long course of indulgence, the 
 habits of vice so confirmed by frequent repetition, and withal 
 the moral principles so utterly debased, that nothing short of 
 almighty power, no happy combination of favourable circum- 
 stances, could at all account for the change. We have only 
 
1 16 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 to reflect with candour on the unfavoui'able predisposition of 
 the heart, and to bear in mind that the active principles of 
 the soul had a direct tendency to counteract el'I virtuous in- 
 fluence, to be led unhesitatinglj to conclude that the persons 
 saved were born ' not of the will of man, nor of the will 
 of the flesh, but of God.' 
 
 The system which refers the salvation of man to his own 
 personal efforts, and ascribes it to the natural influence of cer- 
 tain concurrent advantages of an outward nature, fails to 
 account for another phenomenon of not unfrequent occur- 
 rence in the moral world. I mean the permanent obstinacy 
 of thousands, in the full enjoyment of all possible advantages, 
 national, educational, and ecclesiastical. Of persons all pos- 
 sessing the same privileges, some undergo a saving change, 
 while others continue in unbelief and die in their sins ; and 
 how are we, without reference to the discriminating grace of 
 God, to explain this wide diversity of effect, under an abso- 
 lute sameness of means? Nay, it is no uncommon thing at 
 all for persons whose circumstances combine every possible 
 advantage to persevere in rebellion against the infinite Ma- 
 jesty, while those whose previous wickedness was more 
 notorious, and whose outward privileges were decidedly less 
 propitious, exhibit a radical transformation of character ; and ' 
 how is this also to be accounted for on the principle which 
 ascribes all to man, and leaves no room for the operation of 
 divine power? The thing is impossible. The apostle's lan- 
 guage can alone explain these phenomena : ' Who maketh 
 thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou that thou 
 didst not receive ? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost 
 thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?' ' Not by works 
 of righteousness which we have done, but according to his 
 own mercy he saved us.' ' By grace ye are saved.' 
 
 Besides, this is the' only principle that consists with the 
 salvation of persons dying in infancy. There are many 
 around the throne who never lived to an age in which they 
 were capable of feeling the influence of external circum- 
 stances, or of exercising a choice in obedience to the laws of 
 moral suasion. Respecting children, we are assured by high 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 117 
 
 authority, that 'of such is the kingdom of God.' But how 
 does this' animating fact consist with the exclusion of imme- 
 diate divine agency in the salvation of the soul ? In the sal- 
 vation of infants, at least, such agency must be admitted ; 
 and this admission, which it is impossible to avoid, is destruc- 
 tive of tlie whole Arminian system, for the scriptures give no 
 countenance to the supposition of two methods of salvation, 
 one for infants on the principle of divine grace, and another 
 for adults on that of human merit and power. In heaven the 
 redeemed have but one song ; whether they have been saved 
 in infancy or in old age, they harmoniously unite in the same 
 lofty ascription, ' Unto Him that loved us and washed us from 
 our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion 
 
 FOR EVER AND EVER. AmEN.' 
 
 Indeed, that the power to save should rest with God, was 
 necessary to secure the fulfilment of the divine purposes, and 
 the designed result of Christ's mediation. Had the salvation 
 of sinners depended on themselves, or, which amounts to the 
 same thing, on motives which it was fully in their power to 
 obey or to resist, the whole human family might possibly 
 have chosen to resist. What might have been done by one, 
 might have been done by all. In this way, God's will re- 
 specting salvation might have been counteracted, the media- 
 torial appointment rnight have been annulled, and the whole 
 work of God's Son squandered on a useless and inefficient 
 experiment ! Away with every system which involves in it 
 consequences so derogatory to the honour of God and of 
 Christ ; and let us receive with implicit submission, the testi- 
 mony of the apostle in our text, that ' by grace we are saved.' 
 
 It must not be supposed that the doctrine we maintain is 
 at variance with the use of means. Far from it. To the 
 manifestation of mercy in a consistency with justice, it was 
 necessary that a connection should obtain between the ap- 
 pointed medium and destined subjects of salvation. It was 
 also necessary that the subjects of salvation should be quali- 
 fied for the enjoyment of the state to which they are destined, 
 and in which the consummation of their saved state consists. 
 For these ends, faith, repentance, and holiness are indispen- 
 
118 SALVATION r.Y GRACE. 
 
 sable ; and in the production of these, God has been pleased 
 to employ the instrumentality of religious ordinances. The 
 use and importance of ordinances, in this connection, no in- 
 telligent christian will either deny or undervalue. But to 
 ascribe the existence of the prerequisite qualifications to the 
 mere influence of the ordinances, without the power of God, 
 would be grossly imjiious and unscriptural, not to say absurd. 
 The ordinances of religion have no inherent eificiency. In- 
 struments always suppose agents. If Paul plant and Apollos 
 water, God gives the increase. Faith, which interests the 
 sinner in the purchase of salvation by enabling him to lay 
 hold on the person and sacrifice of Christ, is expressly said in 
 this chapter to be of divine origin : ' By grace are ye saved 
 through FAITH, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of 
 God.' Repentance, which is necessary to prepare the mind 
 and dispose the heart for the exercises of a saved state, is also 
 represented as a heavenly gift: 'Him hath God exalted to 
 give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.' If any sor- 
 row to repentance, it is only they who are '■made sorry.^ 
 With regard to holiness, which is so essential a part of salva- 
 tion that without it ' no man shall see the Lord,' we have 
 infallible assurance that not only the actions themselves in 
 which it consists but the dispositions which prompt to these' 
 actions are to be referred to the same all-gracious source : 
 ' It is God that ivorl-eth in you both to loill and to do of his 
 good pleasure.' The Holy Spirit — ' the Spirit bC grace' — is 
 the author of whatever efficacy attends the ordinances of 
 religion, the appointment of which is so far from being 
 understood to be at variance with the doctrine of our text, that 
 we are accustomed to speak of them, not only as means of 
 salvation, hut ^ means of grace.' , 
 
 Man's incapacity to save himself is not confined to the 
 period of his conversion, or regeneration. It continues the 
 same throughout the whole of his after existence. The pro- 
 gress and completion of salvation are of grace, as much as 
 its commencement. Even after the person has been renewed 
 in the spirit of his mind — even after he has obtained redemp- 
 tion through the* blood of Christ and forgiveness according 
 
SALVATION I$V GRACE. 119 
 
 to the riches of God's grace, he is btill in danger of biding led 
 away of his own lusts and enticed. The Avilcs of Satan, the 
 alluring blandishments of the world, the workings of inward . 
 corruption, muster a force against which, if left to himself 
 but for a single moment, he could not stand. So weak and 
 defenceless is he at all times, that his constant safety proceeds 
 from the gracious source of all his previous blessings. Never 
 is he secure, but when laying aside all confidence in himself, 
 he places implicit reliance on the Mighty One of Israel who 
 is alone ' able to save.' When he is weak, then is he strong. 
 He requii'es to be *■ l-ept by the power of God through faith 
 unto salvation.^ Ho who begins the good work must perform 
 it until the day of Jesus Christ. And even when the day of 
 Jesus Christ has airived, when the believer's salvation, in 
 respect of an absolute and eternal deliverance from sin and 
 all its sad effects, has been consummated, and he is himself 
 presented before God, not having spot or wrinkle or any such 
 thing— even then his trust in the God of his salvation will 
 not cease. He has indeed reached a state of which we know 
 little — he has become an inhabitant of a country of which 
 our knowledge is most imperfect. But we know enough to 
 enable us to affirm with confidence that it is the unceasing 
 exercise of the redeemed company, in their songs of praise, 
 to echo the sentiment which it has been our study to illus- 
 trate. The disembodied soul, when ushered into the realms 
 of light, will exclaim in rapturous recognition of the Author 
 of all its blessings, ' Lo, this is our God, we have waited for 
 him, and he will save us : This is the Lord, we have waited 
 for him, we v/ill be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' While 
 through eternity the multitude of them that are saved, as 
 they stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in 
 white robes, and having palms in their hands, shall cry with 
 a loud voice, ' Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the 
 throne! Allelluia, Salvation and glory and honour, and 
 power to the Lord our God.' 
 
 V. The ultimate end of salvation, as illustrative of the text, 
 must not be overlooked. 
 
120 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 The end contemplated by God in the salvation of sinners, 
 was to advance ' the glory of his grace.' Wisdom renders 
 it necessary that the supreme Being, in all his works, pursue 
 the highest possible end. No end terminating ivithout himself 
 can at all compare with what terminates with himself. It is 
 reasonable hence to conclude, that the ultimate end of every 
 work should terminate in himself. The scriptures confirm 
 this dictate of reason : 'God hath made all things for him- 
 self.' The end of man's salvation must thus be sought for iu 
 God. ' This people have I formed for myself: they shall 
 shew forth viy praise.' But the feature of the divine character 
 which this work is designed principally' to glorify, is that of 
 which we have been all along speaking — grace. Hence says 
 the apostle, in the chapter preceding that from which we have 
 taken our text, ' Having predestinated us unto the adoption 
 of children by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the 
 good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of 
 HIS GRACE ! ' Thus also writes he to the Corinthians, ' All 
 things are for your sake, that the abundant grace might, 
 through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of 
 God.' (2 Cor. iv. 15.) Now to magnify the riches of divine 
 grace in the salvation of men, let it not be forgotten tliat 
 there were other ways by which the divine Being could have 
 glorified his character. Pie could have glorified himself in 
 the condemnation of sinners of the human I'ace ; and he could 
 even have glorified his grace without an individual of our 
 fallen family being saved. There were apostate spirits, fallen 
 angels, en Avhom he might have fixed his sovereign saving 
 love, and in whose eternal redemption his gracious character 
 might have been magnified, while mankind sinners were left 
 to the blackness of darkness for ever. But on this we can- 
 not now enlarge. 
 
 It thus appears that the salvation of man, from first to last, 
 from its primary conception in the infinite ^mind of Jehovah, 
 through all the steps of progression to its ultimate end, is 
 wholly of grace. The foundation is laid in grace ; every step 
 in the superstructure bears testimony to the same delightful 
 principle ; while ' the headstone thereof is brought forth with 
 shoutings, Grace, grace unto it !' (Zech. iv. 7.) 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. I'^l 
 
 Magnify, then, my hearers, the riches of divine grace. If 
 you have' felt in any adequate degree the things which you 
 have heard, this you will be disposed to do with all your 
 heart. Salvation by grace is a doctrine which is so frequently 
 asserted in the bible, and which, when revealed, approves 
 itself so readily to the rational mind, and meets so suitably 
 the total helplessness of fallen man, that every system of reli- 
 gion from which it is excluded must be radically defective, 
 and every individual who scruples to receive it, gives alarm- 
 ing evidence of the danger of his state. ' It is recognised in 
 every account of the natural state of man ; it is revealed in 
 every statement of the glorious gospel ; it accords with tho 
 uniform and invariable experience of christians ; it is the 
 implied sentiment of every prayer, and the source of true 
 devotional feeling ; it animates the praises of the sanctuary 
 below, and is the theme of that song which shall resound for 
 ever in the temple above. The man who would refuse to 
 join in such a sentiment on earth is not a christian, and is 
 morally incapacitated to bear his part in the praises of eter- 
 nity.' We know not indeed a truth which admits of more 
 ample illustration from the doctrinal statements and historical 
 allusions of the sacred writings than that by grace ive are saved. 
 Were we required to fix on a sentiment more expressive than 
 another of the actual renovation of the heart, we knqw not 
 that we could be more safe than in adducing that of Paul, 
 * By the grace of God I am what I am.' While the doctrine 
 affords an excellent criterion for appreciating the comparative 
 merits of the numerous sects into which the religious world 
 is divided, it furnishes a valuable test by which you ma}' 
 ascertain the actual state of religion in your own souls. Do 
 you feel yoiir utter incapacity to save yourselves ? Are you 
 convinced, that for anything about you, your ruin must have 
 been inevitable ? Are you willing to trust in the merits of 
 another, and to be eternal debtors to the riches of free and 
 sovereign grace? If so, you have tasted that the Lord is gra- 
 cious. But if you feel otherwise disposed, if you are inclined 
 to cavil at salvation by grace, and to stand up for the honour 
 of having a share in the work of your salvation, then you 
 
122 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 luive as yet neithei' part nor lot in the matter; you are in the 
 gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity ; you are yet in your 
 sins, and have much cause to pray to God for a change of 
 heart. 
 
 The doctrine of salvation by grace has been adduced as a 
 plea for indolence, and even licentiousness. Against this 
 antinomian extreme it behoves you to watch. While you 
 cannot be too strongly impressed with the conviction that you 
 can do nothing to effect your own salvation, nothing that can 
 recommend you even to the divine regard, nothing that can 
 confer on your salvation the character of an act of justice ; 
 yet this is not to be considered as any reason why you should 
 sit down in idle security, or indulge without remorse in the 
 pursuits of sin. It is forgotten by those who do so that the 
 means are as infallibly fixed from the beginning as the end ; 
 and that we have no right to look for the one while wilfully 
 neglecting the other. While fleeing from the ordinances of 
 religion, and revelling in the pleasures of sin, it is presump- 
 tion, it is madness to look for salvation. It was never the 
 design of God to save man in sin hut from sin. They greatly 
 mistake the nature of the christian salvation who confine 
 their. views of it to futurity, and conceive of it merely as an 
 escape from condemnation. Deliverance from the power and 
 dominion of sin here is not less a part of man's salvation 
 than from the wrath which awaits the workers of iniquity 
 hereafter. Be persuaded, my friends, that unless the former 
 is enjoyed, it is the greatest of all possible delusions ever to 
 expect the latter. Unless you are holy here, you will never 
 be happy hereafter. .If you have not grace in the present 
 life, you need never look for glory in the life to come. What- 
 ever is the state in which death shall find you, that shall be 
 your state for ever ; for as the knell of death summons you 
 away to the world of spirits, the angel of the Lord shall pro- 
 nounce the irreversible decree, 'He that is'unjust let him be 
 unjust still, and he which is filthy let him be filthy still : and 
 he that is righteous let him be righteous still ; and he that is 
 hol}^, let him be holy still.' You may rely upon it that at 
 all times and in every state of things, ' salvation is far from 
 
SALVATION BT GRACE. 123 
 
 the wicke.d.' Instead then of abusing the doctrine of the text 
 for indulgence in sin, let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
 unrighteous man his thoughts, and let them turn unto the Lord 
 who will have mercy upon them, and to our God who will 
 abundantly pardon. 
 
 What gratitude, humility, and joy ought this subject to 
 inspire ! It lays you under high obligations to praise. It is 
 calculated to check every unhallowed emotion of self-com- 
 placency. It is well fitted to fill the soul with comfort, and 
 even elevate it to feelings of joy. 'My soul,' says David, 
 ' shall be joyful in the Lord ; it shall rejoice in his salvation.' 
 With what delight does the believer repeat the words, ' The 
 God of my salvation !' Under the daily experience of per- 
 sonal impotency, he finds relief in the consideration that 
 * salvation belongeth unto the Lord.' In the full assurance 
 of an interest in this truth, he can brave every danger, and 
 patiently submit to every privation. The sword of persecution 
 may he unsheathed against him — the storms of calamity may 
 gather thick around him — poverty may strip him naked and 
 bare — bereavement may querfth the light of social happiness 
 in his tabernacle ; and after all, he is not comfortless. ' Al- 
 though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in 
 the vine ; the labour of the olive shall fiail, and the fields shall 
 yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
 there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the 
 Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' Nay, when death 
 itself shall come, ins-tead of being given up to gloomy fore- 
 bodings, the believer will be able to lift up his head and re- 
 joice, for the full accomplishment of that salvation which is 
 by grace draweth nigh. The doctrine lays foundation at 
 once for exercises of adoring gratitude here, and for raptu- 
 rous ascriptions of glory in the heavenly state. Embrace it 
 that you may be comforted now, and that when you die you 
 may burst into the never-ending song, ' Salvation to our God 
 which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.' Happy 
 art thou, Israel : icho is like unto thee, people saved by the 
 Lord ? 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Preached at the opening of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, Glasgow, 
 April 20, 1835. 
 
 Nehkmiah. ii. 17-20. 
 
 ' Then said I unto ihem, Ye see the distress that ive are in, lo 
 Jerusalem lieth ivaste, and the gates thereof are burnt ivithjire : come 
 and let us build up the ivall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a re- 
 proach. Then I told them of the Jfand of mi/ God which was good 
 upon me; as also the Jcing^s words that he had spoken unto me. And 
 they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands 
 for this good work. But when Sunballat the Horonite, and Tobiah 
 the servant, tlie Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they 
 laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that 
 ye do? will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and 
 said unto them. The God of heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we 
 his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, 
 nor memorial in Jerusalem.^ 
 
 This book contains part of the history of the Jewish church, 
 during Avhat is commonly styled the Babylonish captivity. 
 And it is a circumstance not unworthy of remark, that, al- 
 though the affairs of the Persian monarchy were, at the time, 
 in a most flourishing condition, the inspired writers pass over 
 these altogether without notice and confine themselves to those 
 of the humble captives of Israel and Judah. The reason of 
 this is, that the church, in the estimation of Godj is of superior 
 importance to the gi*eatest nations of the world; whence it 
 
TUE IIEBUILDING OF JERUSALKM. 125 
 
 follows of course that those pious and patriotic men who have 
 been raised up from time to lime to be of service to Zion, are 
 entitled to be regarded as nobler chai'acters far than the most 
 illustrious statesmen, warriors, orators, or philosophers of 
 antiquity. 
 
 Among the distinguished reformers of the Jewish cliurcli, 
 at the period just mentioned, wei'e Ezra and Nehemiah ; the 
 former taking the lead in the good work, the latter following 
 up and carrying forward the schemes of his predecessor. 
 
 Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, appears to have been de- 
 scended from a Jewish flimily, who at the time of the dispersion 
 occasioned by the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar tied into 
 Persia and settled there. His talents and acquirements readily 
 procured him a post of great honour and influence at the court 
 of Artaxerxes Longimanus. Though born in a foreign land, 
 and holding place under a heathen prince, he seems to have 
 inherited and cherished both the religion and the zeal of his 
 ancestors : and neither the daily example of the idolaters 
 among whom he lived, nor the peculiar temptations of his 
 office, could alienate his heart from the land of his fathers, or 
 weaken his desire for its recovery from bondage and from 
 desolation. He accordingly embraced with eagerness every 
 opportunity of obtaining the slightest information respecting 
 it. And when, on a particular occasion, having found certain 
 men of Judah, whom he interrogated 'concerning the Jews 
 Avhich were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem,' 
 he received for reply, that ' the remnant that were left were 
 in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem broken 
 down, and the gate thereof burnt with fire,' the mournful 
 tidings so overpowered him, that he sat down and wept and 
 mourned and fasted and prayed certain days before the God 
 of heaven. He continued to ponder for months over the 
 calamities that had befallen his church and people; he watched 
 the first favourable opportunity of laying the matter before the 
 king, and succeeded at length in obtaining a commission to 
 visit Judea and promote the welfare of his countrymen. With 
 this view, he was invested with the rank and authority of 
 governor of the province ; letters were written to the neigh- 
 
126 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 bouring governors, requesting them to lend him their aid ; 
 and the keeper of the king's forests was instructed to furnish 
 a supply of timber to assist in carrying forward the work. 
 Thus prepared, he set out under a guard of horse, and arrived 
 at Jerusalem. Either from prudence or from a modest wish 
 to avoid observation, he surveyed the city by night, in deep 
 and silent melancholy, and forthwith divulged his purpose. 
 Both lukewarm Jews and mercenary Gentiles derided and 
 opposed the undertaking: he had to withstand at once the 
 treachery of persons within, and the combined force of enemies 
 without ; and had not his manly firmness of mind been sus- 
 tained by seasonable supplies of grace, he must inevitably 
 have been led to abandon his design. But his God was with 
 him ; and the text records the appeal which he addressed to 
 his countrymen, and the resistance which he made to his ene- 
 mies at this interesting crisis. 
 
 The church of Christ in our land has been long in a state 
 of captivity. Fetters, galling and ignoble, have been wreathed 
 around her with a cruel and oppressive hand, by means of 
 which her freedom has been impaired, her energies cramped, 
 her usefulness curtailed, and her spirit well nigh crushed and 
 broken. Yet has she not been altogether forsaken. There is 
 still a' latent spark of life and liberty, which seems beginning 
 to be roused. A desperate struggle remains to be made, be- 
 fore she I'egain her former influence and dignity. And as 
 this struggle would seem destined to take place in opposition, 
 as of old, to both the lukewarmness of treacherous friends and 
 the fierce assault of avowed enemies, the appeal and remon- 
 strance of good Nehemiah have strong claims on our attention 
 at the present time. 
 
 Three things here demand consideration : — The %vork in 
 which Nehemiah and his associates were engagecl — the op- 
 position they encountered in performing it — and the resistance 
 which they made to this opposition. 
 
 I. The Work in which Nehemiah and his associates were 
 engaged, was — rebuilding Jerusalem. 
 
 To a Jew Jerysalem was invested with more sublime and 
 
THE REBUILDING OP JERUSALEM. 127 
 
 interesting associations than any other spot on the face of the 
 earth. Apart altogether from its outward magnificence, its 
 commercial opulence, and its military greatness, — its being the 
 capital of Judea, tlie depository of holy oracles, and the chosen 
 place of Jehovah's peculiar residence and worship, was suf- 
 ficient, in the estimation of all true-born Hebrews, to impart 
 to its name an abiding charm, fitted to awaken and to keep 
 alive the tenderest feelings of the heart. Even when dilapi- 
 dated, desolate, and forsaken, this charm was not dispelled : 
 they took pleasure in her stones, and favoured the dust thereof. 
 Similar is the attachment of 'the true Israel of God' to the 
 city of the church — ' the Jerusalem that is above, which is the 
 mother of us all.' And from the conduct of Nehemiah on the 
 present occasion, we may take a lesson regarding our duty to 
 the church in our own day. 
 
 1. The church of Christ may be fitly represented under 
 the emblem of a dilapidated city. — In the scriptures the 
 church is often compared to a city. The figure suggests to 
 our minds ideas of its magnificence, its order, its immunities, 
 and of the purposes subserved by it as a place where rest, 
 security, and society may be enjoyed. By being compared to 
 the city Jerusalem, two additional ideas are suggested, namely, 
 those of sacredness and royalty. It is, besides, called ' the 
 city of the Lord' — 'a holy city' — 'a strong city' — 'the cit}'- 
 of righteousness' — 'a faithful city.' But we have to do witli 
 it at present in the character of a c?^7apic?a^e(/ city. 'Jeru- 
 salem lieth waste.' When, in obedience to the divine com- 
 mand, we ' walk about Zion and go round about lier, tell the 
 towers thereof, mark well her bulwarks, and consider her 
 palaces,' Ave find her towers shattered, her bulwarks broken 
 down, and her palaces mutilated and defaced. 
 
 The doctrines of the church, which, as lofty and pointing 
 heavenward, may be compared to ' towers,' are greatly cor- 
 rupted and neglected. The trinity, the divinity of Christ, the 
 distinct divine personality of the Holy Spirit, atonement by 
 the blood of Immanuel, justification by faith in the righteous- 
 ness of the Redeemer, the nature and necessity of regeneration, 
 the power and efficacy of the Spirit — these, and otlier vital 
 
128 THE REBUILDING OF JERfSALEJI. 
 
 parts of the christian faith, have been long much opposed and 
 overlooked. The strong and massive towers of the city of the 
 Lord, so to speak, have been thrown down, and a paltry plas- 
 ter work of Arianism, Arminianism, Pelagianism, and false 
 philosophy, substituted iu their room. — The government and 
 discipline of the church, which may correspond to the ' bul- 
 warks' of the city, as being the means of safety and defence, 
 are also greatly impaired. Loose sentiments prevail regarding 
 even the nature and importance of ecclesiastical government 
 in genei-al; all forms are considered asalike scriptural; or 
 rather, the scriptures are considered as not giving their sanc- 
 tion to any one form in particular, but leaying this to be fixed 
 as time and other circumstances may seem to render expedient; 
 while the goodly structure of Presbylerianism, reared by the 
 zeal and piety of our ancestors, according to the word of God, 
 has been either violently broken up, or allovi^ed to go greatly 
 to waste. By a partial or total prostration of discipline, th& 
 privileges or immunities of Jerusalem have been thrown open 
 to every unpi'incipled intruder. 'The hedges have been 
 broken down, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck 
 her : the boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild 
 beast of the field doth devour it.' — The ordinances of eccle- 
 siastical /e//oit's/^/p, may be represented by the 'palaces of the' 
 city,' as being the medium of intercourse betwixt Christ, the 
 King and Head of the church, and the members of his mystical 
 body or subjects of his spiritual kingdom. By means of 
 these, the most close, sweet, and ennobling communion is en- 
 joyed, fitted to promote the edification, joy, comfort, and peace 
 of the inhabitants of Zion. These palaces of our Jerusalem 
 are, in the present day, greatly defiled. Vague conceptions 
 respecting the nature and necessity of creeds and cpnfessions, 
 spurious dogmas about general saintship, and consequent no- 
 tions of catholic communion, have given rise to such an in- 
 discriminate admission to sealing ordinances, as is at once 
 hurtful to the purity, and, in a great degree, subversive of the 
 ends of ecclesiastical fellowship, being calculated, not only to 
 lead to a profanation of holy things, but. to go far to obliterate 
 the distinction which it is most important to maintain be- 
 
THE IlEnUILDING OF JKRUSALEM. 129 
 
 twcen the church and the world. — On these accounts may the 
 church in our day be fitly compared to a diUipidated city ; — 
 llijre are many breaches in her walls, and, as the necessary 
 result, her stately towers and royal palaces are humbled and 
 polluted. 
 
 2. Now, the text leads us to remark that, in repairing the 
 city of the church, human efibrts are to be made, and these 
 efforts, that they may prove successful, must be made unitedly. 
 
 Nehemiah put his hand to the work, and called upon others 
 to take part with him in his operations : ' Come,' said he, 
 ' and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no 
 more a reproach.' He did not say, Let us wait with sub- 
 mission until the Lord is pleased himself to do the work for 
 lis : he did not even say. Let us sit down and pray to God 
 for deliverance : but, Come and let us luild. Patient waiting 
 for the Lord, and fervent prayer to the Most High, are cer- 
 tainly fit and proper means to be employed : but they are not 
 the only means ; they must not stand alone ; they are not to 
 supersede the use, or to be substituted in the place, of others 
 which are equally necessary and authoritative. Exertions 
 must be made ; we must rouse us from our sloth ; we must 
 put forth our hand to the work ; while we pray God to build 
 the walls of Jerusalem, we must ourselves arise and build. 
 This is agreeable to the plan on which the Almighty acts in 
 the other departments of his works, and on which he has ever 
 proceeded with his church. When she has been low, he has 
 provided persons to raise her up : when corrupted, he has 
 qualified and sent forth reformers to correct and purify her 
 abuses : when invaded, he has stirred up individuals of power 
 and influence to interpose for her defence. And if those who 
 ought to have befriended her in these circumstances, have 
 neglected to do what was their duty, he has brought her aid 
 from some other quarter, that there might be no infraction of 
 the grand law of his procedure with regard to the use of 
 means. ' If thou altogether boldest thy peace at this time, 
 then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the 
 Jews from another place : but thou and thy father's house 
 shall be destroved.' 
 
 f2 
 
130 TIIK REBUILDING OF JEKUSALK5I. 
 
 Persons of all classes are bound to exert themselves on be- 
 half of the church. At the time to which the text refers, we 
 find priests, rulers, and private individuals co-operating in 
 repairing the wastes of Jerusalem : whence we infer that the 
 ministers of religion, civil magistrates, and private christians 
 are all under obligation to exert themselves in promoting the 
 reformation of the church. 
 
 The ministers of religion are certainly bound. ' Eliashib 
 the high 2)riest rose up, with his brethren the priests, and they 
 builded the sheep gate.' (Neh. iii. 1.) These have much 
 in their power. As teachers, they can exjjose, warn against, 
 and refute doctrinal errors, lifting up a faithful testimony 
 against every perversion of truth ; they can unfold, vindicate, 
 and maintain the principles of the church's faith ; they can 
 point out to others their duty, and firmly enjoin the perform- 
 ance of it. As pastors, they can exercise a wise discrimina- 
 tion in the admission of persons to the privileges of the 
 church, and honestly exclude such as have proved themselves 
 unworthy of membership, remembering that ' it is not meet 
 to take the children's bread, and to give it unto dogs.' As 
 presbyters, they can use the power they possess in ecclesiasti- 
 cal courts, for originating, supporting, and defending measures 
 which have it for their object to revive a wholesome adminis- - 
 tration of discipline, and to give efficiency to the government 
 of the house of the Lord. 
 
 Civil magistrates, too, may be of service in repairing the 
 wastes of Jerusalem. ' Next unto him repaired Shallum the 
 son of Plalohesh, the ruler of the half-part of Jerusalem. The 
 dung gate repaired Malchiah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of 
 part of Beth-haccerem. But the gate of the fountain repaired 
 Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the 7'uler of part of Mizpah. 
 And after him repaired Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, the 
 inder of the half-part of Beth-zur.' (Neh. iii. 12-16.) And 
 what, it may be asked, can civil rulers do in such a work ? 
 They can protect the church in the enjoyment of her privi- 
 leges and the exercise of her functions. They can remove 
 external impediments to her growth and purification. They 
 can restrain and .punish open blasphemy, Sabbath desecra- 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JEUUSALEJI. 131 
 
 tion, and gross immorality. They can see. to tlie erection of 
 jilaces of public worship, and to the adequate support of qua- 
 lified functionaries, that all classes may have an opportunity 
 of participating in the benefits of true religion, the influence 
 of which is so essentially interwoven with the real prosperity, 
 peace, dignity, and virtue of a nation. These things, we are 
 aware, are positively denied, and all connexion between 
 church and state vehemently denounced, by many at the pre- 
 sent time. But we must take leave to express our conviction 
 that the opposition in question springs from two capital 
 errors ; — from neglecting to look on civil society as the moral 
 ordinance of God, viewing it as if it were purely the product 
 of man ; — and from overlooking the union in the chai'acter of 
 the Redeemer, of the offices of ' King of Sion ' and ' Prince 
 of the Kings of the earth,' viewing him so exclusively in the 
 light of ' Head of the church ' as to forget that lie is also 
 ' King of kings and Lord of lords.' Nor can we see hoAV, 
 without taking some such view as we have given of the duty 
 of civil rulei's, they can ever fully answer to the terms in 
 which they are described in the scriptures, as being ' nursing 
 fathers to the church ' — ' the ministers of God for good,' — ' u 
 terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well.' With- 
 out this, we know not how to explain the^applause bestowed 
 on the reforming kings of Israel and Judah, who, for services 
 done to Zion in their official capacity, are lauded by God in 
 terms of the highest commendation. Indeed, we know not 
 well how, otherwise, the text and context are to be interpre- 
 ted. It was not as a mere patriot, but as a Hebrew, that 
 Nchemiah acted in the instance before us. It was for Jeru- 
 salem, not merely as the birth-place of his fathers, but as the 
 city of his God, that he cherished such devoted attachment. 
 Now, Nehemiah was a civil ruler ; he was cup-bearer to the 
 king of Persia, and governor of the province of Judea ; he 
 was no ecclesiastic ; nor was the influence he exerted merely 
 private influence, to which his official character contributed 
 nothing. It was as invested with civil authority that he took 
 the various steps described, and as such he did eminent 
 service to the church of the living God in his day. 
 
132 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 But the duty of promoting tlie cbui'ch's reformation does 
 not devolve wholly on persons in authority ; individuals also 
 in the private walks of life are called upon to exert them- 
 selves for this end. In the days of Nehemiah, the people, as 
 well as i\\Q priests and the ruleis, were employed in repairing 
 Jerusalem. Look into the twenty-ninth verse of the third 
 chapter, and you will find that one even in the humble rank 
 of a door-keeper or porter was of service : — ' After him also 
 repaired Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the /.ec/9e?'o/^Ae easi 
 gate.^ Afterwards you find mention made of ' Malchiah the 
 (jokUmitKs son,' — ' the goldsmiths and the merchant^,' (Neh. 
 iii. 21, 22), that is to say, tradesmen and common artificers. 
 Let no individual, then, think himself too humble to be of 
 use in this good work. The merchant and the mechanic, 
 may bring their influence to bear on the restoration of Zion, 
 as well as the minister and the magistrate. And how? 
 AVhy, by contributing of their substance ; by attention to 
 their own sentiments and conduct; by using their influence 
 with their families and neighbours ; by availing themselves 
 discreetly of their right of petition and remonstrance with 
 both civil and ecclesiastical courts ; and, besides all, by 
 humble, devout, persevering, earnest prayer to Ilim who 
 alone can send us a little reviving in our bondage. In these,* 
 and other ways which will easily present themselves, may 
 persons in the most private walks of life, and in the humblest 
 worldly circumstances, contribute to the good of Zion. If 
 there be once the disposition, there can never be an absolute 
 want either of means or of opportunity. It is greatly to be 
 desired that the minds of men vy^ere more alive to this consi- 
 deration : for there is reason to fear that the cause of Christ 
 loses much aid, which it might otherwise receive, from pri- 
 vate persons leaving all exertions to be made by those high 
 in authority and influence, and thinking themselves excused, 
 by the obscurity of their circumstances, from all obligation to 
 act. Let it, however, be deeply impressed on the hearts of 
 all, and constantly borne in mind, that in this as in other 
 things, there is not a member of the church or of society at 
 large, however lowly, with regard to whom the most influen- 
 tial are entitled to say, ' We have no need of thee.' 
 
THE UKUUILDING OF JKUUSAl EM. 133 
 
 Now, let it be observed, that not only must human efforts 
 be made, and that by men of all classes, but these efforts, 
 that they may be successful, must be made itnitedly. Each 
 is, indeed, to keep within his own proper sphere ; and no good 
 will e\;er result from any one overstepping the province which 
 l)roperly belongs to him. No real and permanent advantage 
 can ever be derived from the minister intei'fering with the 
 duties of the magistrate, or the magistrate interfering with 
 those of the minister, or from persons in private stations in- 
 vading the functions of men in office. But, vsdiile acting dis- 
 tinctly, they may, nevertheless, act unitedly and harmoniously, 
 so as that there shall be no jaiTing, opposing, or counteracting 
 of one another : ' Let us,^ said they one to another, ' arise 
 and build.' In the reformation conducted by Ezra, we are 
 informed, tliat * the people gathered themselves together as 
 one man to Jerusalem/ And, although, from the extent of 
 the work undertaken by Nehemiah, the people were neces- 
 sarily 'separated upon the wall, one far from another,' still 
 tliere were such bonds of union and signals of assembling as 
 to warrant the governor to speak of them in these terms, 
 ' All my servants were gathered thither unto the work.' The 
 union with which they acted is strikingly set forth in this 
 language : ' In what place, therefore, ye hear the sound of 
 the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us : our God shall fight 
 for us. So we laboured in the work.' In the reformation as 
 well as in the defence and the fellowship of the church, the 
 maxim holds good, ' Two are better than one.' Union is 
 strength. By united efforts, obstacles apparently insur- 
 mountable may be OAcrcome ; achievements, seemingly im- 
 j)ossible, may be effected. And when the enemies of the 
 church combine, it becomes her friends to league together in 
 her defence : when her foes ' take counsel together ' how they 
 may best oppose her interests, it is not for those who are 
 seeking the good of Zion to be separated and divided among 
 themselves. They should forget those mutual jealousies and 
 heart-burnings by which they have been dissevered and kept 
 asunder, and, linked together by attachment to a common 
 cause of deep and paramount importance, combine all their 
 
134 THE REBUILDING OP JERUSALEM. 
 
 scattered energies in seeking to secure what is valuable and 
 dear to all. There should, it is true, be no compromise of 
 truth ; it must be only a doubtful and precarious advantage 
 that can arise from union at the expense of principle. Still, 
 on the other hand, it is not less undoubted, that there ought 
 to be no division or separation which the interests of truth do 
 not peremptorily demand ; and certainly it is not every diver- 
 sity of sentiment that will warrant us in refusing to co- 
 operate with others in promoting a common object. Our 
 reforming forefathers knew how to avail themselves of the 
 principle of union : the National Covenant, the " Solemn 
 League, and the productions of the Assembly at West- 
 minster, are noble proofs of the value they attached to united 
 exertion, and of their skill in availing themselves of its 
 influence. 
 
 Nor can we avoid here expressing our conviction, that 
 there must be more of this, before much can be done in'the 
 way of repairing the wastes of our spiritual Jerusalem. The 
 friends of true religion, the lovers of Zion, the admirers of 
 Scotland's Covenanted Reformation, must learn to act more 
 in concert than they have been hitherto doing ; they must 
 get the better of those jealousies which have kept them aloof, 
 and prevented them from meeting to ascertain and remove - 
 their unhappy differences ; they must make an effort to ac- 
 complish, what is surely not impossible — what they are bound 
 by the most solemn obligations to seek, — a close and power- 
 ful union on the basis of scripture truth ; they must encourage 
 one another's hearts and strengthen one another's hands by 
 mutual co-operation. It is thus that the walls of Jerusalem 
 shall be effectually built up, and that the hearts of Zion's 
 enemies shall be smitten with terror, when they behold her 
 friends presenting a broad, brazen front of combined, deter- 
 mined, and manly resistance to whatever would extend or 
 perpetuate her desolations. O who, looking at the unhappy 
 dissensions that prevail, and reflecting on the blissful conse- 
 quences of union, would not join in the prayer, ' Save us, O 
 God of our salvation, and gather us together, aud deliver us 
 from the heathen,, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, 
 and glory in thy praise!' (1 Chron. xvi. 35.) 
 
THE RKBUILDIXG OF JERUSALEM. 135 
 
 3. We next remark, that in reforming the church, each 
 will contribute most successfully to the general good by at- 
 tending to his own immediate interests. — We mean by this 
 something more than that each should attend to his own par- 
 ticular department of the work, as before stated and illustrated. 
 ^^ hat we intend to express is, that the department in which 
 each may expect most successfully to aid the cause at large, 
 is that which constitutes his own immediate concern, that 
 which forms his most direct personal interest, that which 
 lies nearest to his own door. This observation is suggested 
 by the circumstance that, in the chapter following that in 
 which our text is contained, individuals and bodies of men 
 are represented as having built those parts of the wall which 
 lay over against their own habitations. The language is 
 worthy of particular attention, and suggests, as we conceive, 
 a most important practical lesson : — .' From above the horse 
 gate -repaired the priests, eve)'f/ one over against his house. 
 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer, over against his 
 house. After him repaired MeshuUam, the son of Berechiah, 
 over against his chamber.' — (Neh. iii. 28-30.) The fact seems 
 to be, that each built that part of the wall which was opposite 
 his own dwelling, and so minutely was the work distributed 
 that the last-mentioned person, who appears to have been 
 only a lodger, repaired the part which lay in front of the 
 apartment he happened to occupy. The practical instruction 
 deducible from this is, that by attending to our own immediate 
 spiritual interests, we shall best promote the general welfare 
 and reformation of Zion. 
 
 In engaging in this work, it is not necessary we should go 
 far from home. It is doubtless right that we cherish enlarged 
 desires, and good wishes, and prayers with regard to the 
 whole race of mankind, and that we prove the sincerity of 
 these by contributing to the promotion of the best interests of 
 mankind at large ; but the proper sphere of personal activity, 
 generally speaking, lies near at home, indeed at our very 
 doors. We may do much to advance the cause of Zion, by 
 attending to the concerns of our own souls. By seeking per- 
 sonal salvation, spirituality, and growth in grace ; by cherish- 
 
136 THE KEBLILDING OF JERUSALEM, 
 
 ing religious expei-ience, internal holiness, and communion 
 ■with God ; by exercising the graces of the divine Spirit, and 
 practising the duties of the christian life ; by attending, in 
 short, to individual reformation, we may promote the refor- 
 mation of the church in general, not only in so far as we are 
 ourselves integral jiarts of that church, but inasmuch as such 
 personal godliness cannot fail to exert a favourable influence 
 on others who are around us. 
 
 In like manner may we be of use by attending to the 
 spiritual welfare of our families. These are, properly speaking, 
 our ' houses.' To restrain the corrupt workings of th"e young, 
 to impart to their minds wholesome scriptural knowledge, to 
 set before them a wise and holy example, to bring them up 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, is an eminent 
 mean of doing good to the church. Families are the nurseries 
 of the church. The neglect of domestic piety is one great 
 cause of the desolations of Jerusalem. A revival in this' de- 
 partment would seem to be necessary to avert the chui'ch's 
 destruction : — ' Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet 
 before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord : 
 and he shall turn the hecwt of Ihe fathers to the children^ and the 
 heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the 
 earth with a curse.' The Saviour sent forth his disciples with* 
 instructions to enter into the ' houses' of Judea, The apostles 
 paid special and marked attention to ' households.' The 
 glory of the last days stands connected with the pouring out 
 of God's Spirit on ' sons and daughters, servants and hand- 
 maidens.' And the church's deliverance from bondage may 
 well be expected to be promoted by God's ' delivering us from 
 the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaks vanity, and 
 their right hand is a right hand of falsehood : that our sons 
 may be as plants grown up in their youth ; that our daughters 
 may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace.' 
 
 Neighbours and brethren in the same religious fellowship, 
 lie within the sphere of our immediate personal exertion. 
 From contiguity of local residence, there is always a number 
 of persons with whom we come into close and frequent con- 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 137 
 
 tact; and by taking care to regulate our intercourse with 
 them so as to make a favourable impression, by dropping a 
 Avord of seasonable advice, by prayerful sympathy in times of 
 sickness and affliction, by faithfully reproving and discoun- 
 tenancing what is sinful, and by exhibiting at all times a 
 good and consistent example, may we be instrumental in pro- 
 moting the welfare of the church. Still more by doing, our 
 duly to those with whom we are connected in ecclesiastical 
 communion. Not that our christian friendship and intercourse 
 are to be confined to such. But these have certainly a superior 
 claim on our attention, and there are, in this case, facilities of 
 success which can scarcely be expected to exist in others. If 
 we would build the wall of Jerusalem over against our own 
 houses, we must exert all the influence we can upon the 
 membei's of our own congregations, cherishing a brotherly 
 affection, conveying seasonable instruction, and doing every- 
 thing in our power to preserve them from error and from vice. 
 " These remarks serve to lay open a most important field of 
 exertion, by the diligent cultivation of which, every one may 
 do essential service to Zion, Yet is it a much neglected field. 
 How careless we often are about our own more immediate spi- 
 1 itual concerns, at the very time that we are all zeal and activity 
 with regard to objects that are more remote ! Are there not 
 many who p/ofess a concern for the souls of others who are liv- 
 ing apparently in culpable negligence of their own ? Are there 
 not many, who, while exerting themselves for the religious in- 
 struction of children of other families, suffer their own to run 
 ignorant and wild? Are there not many who make the most 
 laudable efforts on behalf of the heathen of far distant lands, 
 while they show a callous indifference to the spiritual claims of 
 the heathen at home? Are there not many who take the 
 most deep and absorbing interest in the affairs of other reli- 
 gious communities, while the defects and reformation of their 
 own are in a great measure overlooked ? Such men act a 
 most absurd and inconsistent part. They are concerned to 
 have the wall of Jerusalem built everywhere but opposite 
 tlieir own dwelling. 
 
 ]Much of this inconsistency, there is reason to fear, exists 
 
138 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 both among ministers and people. It is for us, dear fathers 
 and bretliren, while we warn our hearers of the danger, to 
 be on our guard against it ourselves. We are, in some res- 
 pects, still more exposed to it than they are ; and oh ! it is 
 a solemn and awful reflection to think that we should be 
 constantly exerting all our energies to build the wall against 
 the houses of our people, while it lies prostrate and in ruins 
 against our own. Let both ministers and people give heed 
 to this consideration. It is full of importance in the con- 
 nexion in which we are now speaking. The cultivation of 
 personal godliness is essential to the church's reformation. 
 In this good woi-k every one must begin at home. Were all 
 to give due attention to this point, the peace, and purity, .and 
 prosperity of Zion would soon be secured. And it should 
 stimulate us to activity, when we reflect on the injury that 
 may be done to the church at lai'ge, by the existence even of 
 one ungodly individual among her citizens. Supposing that, 
 of old, but one careless Jew had neglected to build opposite 
 his own apartment, while all besides had done the work 
 faithfully and well, — by the single gap thus left, the enemy 
 might have effected an entrance and spoiled the city. So 
 one sinner, one careless, unholy professor, may hinder and 
 destroy much good. It is impossible to calculate what- 
 amount of evil may result from the bad conduct of a single 
 individual, nay, from a single bad action. Might it not be a 
 sense of this which led David to mingle his secret exercises 
 respecting his personal fall, with tender concern for the 
 welfare of Zion ? He felt keenly that the foul sin of which 
 he had been guilty, was calculated to give the enemy 
 an occasion to rejjroach ; he felt, in short, that by breaking 
 down the wall opposite his own door, he had made a breach 
 by which the destroyer might get in; and, therefore, he 
 could not close his penitential bewailings, without subjoining 
 the fervent prayer, ' Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : 
 
 BUILD THOU THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM!' (Psalm H. 18.) 
 
 4. We only remark farther, on this branch of the subject, 
 that the friends of Zion are not to be deterred from attempting 
 to repair her wasjtes, by the circumstance that they are few 
 
THE KEBUILDIXG OF JERUSALEM. 139 
 
 in number.— Neheraiah was alone when he commenced the 
 work ; and few joined him afterwards, compared with those 
 who stood aloof and derided the undertaking. True re- 
 formers have, in every age, been a minority. The church 
 itself is but a small society, a little flock ; and the number of 
 those within the church who possess the proper spirit of 
 reform is smaller still. But let not this prove a discourage- 
 ment ; let us not say despondingly, ' By whom shall Jacob 
 arise ? for he is small.' No. Let us rather, few tliough we 
 be, arise and build. Much has been done by few : much has 
 been done by one. Abraham was 'alone' when God called 
 him : yet was he made an extensive blessing. ' I called him 
 alone, and blessed him and increased him ; for the Lord shall 
 comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places.' Even a 
 single individual, if animated and directed by a proper spirit, 
 may exert a most extensive and salutary influence. The 
 success that has attended the single efforts of a Wickliffe, a 
 . Luther, and a Knox, may well encourage others to proceed, 
 even single-handed. A right spirit is of far more importance 
 than great numbers. ' There is no restraint to the Lord to 
 save by many or by few.' (1 Sam. xiv. 6.) Most animating 
 and instructive, in this connexion, is a fact in Old Testament 
 history. Gideon was not permitted to carry the whole 
 people of Israel against the host of the Midianites. * The 
 people are too many,' said the Lord unto Gideon, 'for me to 
 give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt them- 
 selves against me, saying. Mine own hand hath saved me.' 
 A diminishing process Avas resorted to, by means of whicli 
 they were reduced from thirty-two thousand to ten thousand, 
 the timid and the vacillating being separated from the bold 
 and the firm. But they were still too many ; and, by another 
 process, the ten thousand were reduced to thi-ee hundred. 
 ' And the Lord said unto Gideon, by the three hundred that 
 lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into "thine 
 hand!' (Judges vii. 1-7.) Thus we are taught to see that 
 a society, by being numerically diminished, may be actually 
 increased in moral sti'ength and influence. Thus do we 
 leai'n to weigh purity, and courage, and zeal against numbers ; 
 
140 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 to look to quality more than to quantity, for success in the 
 work of the Lord. The chaff is more bulky than the wheat, 
 but the wheat unspeakably transcends in value the chaff. 
 ' "What is the chafi' to the wheat, saith the Lord?' Let us 
 not, then, be faint-hearted because of the small number of 
 those who espouse the cause of true reformation in the 
 church ; rather let the few look Avell to their own character, 
 and principles, and conduct; let them only be faithful, and 
 active, and persevering, and they need not despair of ulti- 
 mate success in building the old Avastes, and repairing the 
 desolations of many generations. 'Is not the gleaning of 
 the grapes of Ephraim, better than the vintage of Abiezer ?' 
 
 IL Let us now coni?ider the opposition which Nehemiah 
 and his friends met with in rebuilding Jerusalem. 
 
 It does not appear that he needlessly provoked opposition. 
 On the contrary, he took every precaution to avoid it. ' He 
 got the king of Persia to write to the neighbouring rulers in 
 order to interest them in his favour. The nobles of Judah 
 also wrote letters to some of the heathen governors, with a 
 view to the same object. And he seems himself to have 
 proceeded in the least offensive manner. But all was to little 
 purpose ; the most furious opposition arose, and displayed- 
 itself in conduct that could not be mistaken. 
 
 1. The opposition was rendered formidable by the rank, 
 combination, and motives of those from whom it proceeded. 
 — Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were persons in authority, 
 under Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. Sanballat was chief 
 or governor of the Cuthites or Samaritans. Tobiah was an 
 Ammonite, but a person of great consideration among the 
 Samaritans, and governor along with Sanballat. It is not so 
 well known who Geshem was ; from his being classed with 
 the others, however, it is reasonable to conclude that he was 
 of the same rank, and of course a prefect in Arabia. All the 
 power and mfluence Avhich these persons possessed individually 
 were brought against Nehemiah and his undertaking. — Nor 
 only this; they combined, banded together, entered into a 
 league to defeat .the work on which he was commissioned. 
 
TUE HKBCILDING OF JERUSALEM. 141 
 
 Being persons of diiferent nnmners and religions, and having 
 a diversity of local interest, they were naturally opposed to 
 one another ; but they, nevertheless, united to oppose the re- 
 pairing of Jerusalem. They merged all their individual dif- 
 ferences in opposition to one •whom they were disposed to 
 regard as a common enemy. Not the only case, certainly, in 
 which persons, who agree in little or nothing else, have joined 
 most cordially against the cause of truth and righteousness. 
 A notable parallel to the one before us will be recollected by 
 all who are acquainted with the New Testament: — 'And the 
 same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together ; for 
 before they were at enmity between themselves.' — Then the mo- 
 tives by which these confederate enemies of reformation were 
 actuated were such as to give energy and weight to their hos- 
 tile movements. As either heathens or Samaritans, they must 
 have felt all the rancour of religious jealousy, which is known 
 to burn with peculiar fury and intensity. To this was joined 
 the strongest self interest, as the lands which they possessed 
 had belonged to the captive Jews, and on the return of the 
 latter they must have been compelled to restore to the right- 
 ful owners what they had unrighteously appropi'iated. And 
 these powerful principles were doubtless combined with no 
 small portion of malice and spite. Under the influence of all 
 these incitements, the opposition Nehemiah encountered could 
 not fail to assume a formidable character; for, when religious 
 animosity is stimulated by worldly interest, and both aic 
 seasoned with a large infusion of rancorous envy or ill-will, 
 what efforts will not men make to gain an object, or to put 
 down an enemy? 
 
 Not less- formidable in all respects is the opposition with 
 which true reformers of the church may lay their account at 
 the present day. There are many Sanballats and Tobiahs 
 still, men of rank, and wealth, and authority, who are con- 
 cerned in upholding and perpetuating abuses that have crept 
 in ; men who care little or nothing for purity of doctrinal 
 sentiment, who are anything but friendly to strictness in ec- 
 clesiastical discipline, and who are most unwilling to part 
 with the Erastian power which they happen to have obtained 
 
142 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 over the church, especially in the appointment of her mini- 
 sters ; and whose opposition of course to all true reformation, 
 is only what may be expected. The ranks of the enemies of 
 church reform exhibit a motley combination of persons of 
 various sentiments, if not all acting in formal league, at least 
 all bearing directly against a through correction of existing 
 abuses — lordly laymen, ambitious or temporizing ecclesiastics, 
 interested dissentients, and heartless infidels — materials not 
 less discordant than were the Moabites, Ammonites, and 
 Samaritans, who joined against Nehemiah, Nor will the 
 motives, perhaps, on accurate scrutiny, be found greatly dif- 
 ferent, there being reason to fear that the governing prin- 
 ciples, by which some, at least, are actuated, are not free 
 from a tincture of malignity, selfishness, and religious jealousy. 
 
 2. The opposition itself consisted in contempt and calum- 
 nious misrepresentation, rather than physical violence. ^-It. 
 does not appear that the enemies of Nehemiah had recoui-se 
 to actual violence, at least at first. From this they might be 
 restrained by fear of the consequences, or by a prudent dread 
 of giving offence to the king, or by the reformers being, in 
 their estimation, too insignificent in point of numbers to call 
 for such a line of procedure. Afterwards, indeed, they made- 
 some show of fighting ; but their opposition, in general, seems 
 to have been conducted more with the tongue than with the 
 sword. Their words, however, were drawn swords — sharp, 
 cutting, and destructive, breathing the very essence and spirit 
 of persecution. 
 
 They treated the reformers with contumelious reproach. 
 'But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, 
 the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it they 
 laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said. What is this 
 thing that ye do ?' At a later period they assailed them with 
 still more pointed ridicule. ' When Sanballat heard that we 
 builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, 
 and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and 
 the army of Samaria, and said. What do these feeble Jcavs ? 
 will they fortify •themselves ? will they sacrifice ? will they 
 make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JKUCSALEM. 143 
 
 heaps of the rubbish whicli are burnt f — (Neh. iv. 1-3.) They 
 aiFected thus to despise both them and their work, to look 
 down upon them with disdain, to hold them in proud deri- 
 sion ; they attempted to turn the whole affair into ridicule, 
 and to cover its promoters with stinging sarcasms and un- 
 sparing abuse. Nor was there any want of plausible pretexts 
 for such treatment. That such men should ever attempt an 
 undertaking of so great magnitude, appeared calculated to 
 awaken only feelings of scorn. The time it woidd require to 
 linish it would render, in their opinion, the attempt quite 
 ridiculous. Then there was the want of materials, which 
 would afford them another joke at the expense of the enthu- 
 siasts. While the survey of such parts as were completed 
 would be the signal, either for a burst of obstreperous merri- 
 ment, or for the utterance of some well-turned sneer-r-' Even 
 that which they build, if a fox go up he shall even bi-eak down 
 their stone wall !' It is true, they were not to be moved from 
 their purpose by such weapons ; but they felt not less keenly, 
 on this account, their edge ; their language shows that they 
 were sensibly alive to the poisoned shafts Avith which they 
 were fiercely assailed — ' Hear, O our God, for we are des- 
 pised, and turn their reproach upon their own head.' 
 
 With the same species of opposition, all who are engaged 
 in the work of the Loi'd may lay their account. When their 
 enemies may not have it in their power to attack them with 
 physical violence, or when they may be regarded as too in- 
 significant to warrant such a mode of treatment, recourse will 
 be had to mockery and reviling. These are the common 
 weapons of infidels, of heretics, and of the strenuous suppor- 
 ters of things as they are. The introduction of any new 
 measure, the attempt to remove old-established abuses, is sure 
 to bring down a torrent of contumely on the head of its abet- 
 tors. The godly in general, and the reformers in particular, 
 have, in every period of the church, had to contend with such 
 opposition. ' The upright man,' says Job, ' is laughed to scorn.' 
 — (.Job. xii. 4.) ' Thou roakest us,' says David, 'a reproach to 
 our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round 
 about us.' — (Ps. xllv. 13.) ' Our soul is exceedingly filled with 
 
144 Till; REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 tlic scorning of those that are at ease, and witli Ihe contempt 
 of the proud,' (Ps, cxxiii. 4), is language which the people of 
 God have often had occasion to adopt. And the treat- 
 ment of their Master may give christians an idea of what they 
 have to expect from the world : — ' Herod with his men of war 
 set him at nought, and mocked him. They bowed the knee 
 before him, and mocked him, saying. Hail, King of the Jews.' 
 — (Luke xxiii. 11. — Matt, xxvii. 29.) Ridicule, while a com- 
 mon, is also a powerful weapon. Its might is well known to 
 those who employ it. There is no individual so fortified as 
 not to feel it : it is only a very stroiig, firm, well-eistablished 
 mind that is capable of withstanding it,: we believe indeed, 
 it may safely be affirmed that there ai'e many who could 
 march undaunted to the cannon's mouth, who would never- 
 theless shrink before the well-directed fire of a contemptuous 
 laugh or sneer. It were well, howevei", that those who are 
 disposed to calculate on its power as a reason for its use, 
 would remember at the same time that its danger is equal to 
 its strength ; the fate of the children of Bethel, who mocked 
 Elisha as he went up by the way, saying, ' Go up, thou bald 
 head; go up, thou bald head,' ought not to be forgotten: — 
 'Then came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare 
 forty and two children of them.' — (2 Kings ii. 24.) 
 
 To scorn there was added calumnious misrepresentation. 
 'Will ye rebel against the king?' Nehemiah's enemies tried 
 to fix upon him and his friends the odious charge of treason : 
 they attempted to hold them up as disaffected to the govern- 
 ment. They were well aware, indeed, of the contrary ; they 
 could not but know that he acted under the royal commission : 
 but this did not deter them ; for, where there is a malicious 
 determination to oppose, men will not stick at, falsehood ; 
 calumny and misrepresentation will often serve their purpose 
 better than truth, and there are always some ignorant enough 
 to be misled and filled with prejudice by su^ch means. 
 
 This is a stale mode of attack, which, unhappily, has net 
 shared the fate of some other old-fashioned things which less 
 deserve it, by falling into disuse. It h-as been ever a common 
 device of the efiemies of religion to represent its friends, and 
 
THE REDUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 'I4r> 
 
 more especially such as would correct existing abuses, as se- 
 ditious persons, troublesome, unfriendly to the powers thai 
 be; and their refoi'miug projects as only invidious, well-masked 
 schemes of rebellion against the king. It was on this prin- 
 ciple that Ahab accused Elijah of ' troubling Israel,' and 
 Micaiah the son of Imlah of ' not prophesying good concerning 
 him, but evil.' (1 Kings xviii. 17; xxii. 7, 8.) Such also 
 was the artful insinuation of Haman to King Ahasuerus 
 against the Jews : ' There is a certain people scattered abroad 
 and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy 
 kingdom ; and their laws are diverse from all people, neither 
 keep they the king's laios; therefore it is not for the king's profit 
 to suffer them.' (Esther iii, 8.) Tlie prophet Amos met with 
 similar treatment at the hands of Amaziah : 'Then Amaziah, 
 the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, 
 Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house 
 of Israel ; the land is not able to bear all his words.' (Amos 
 vii. 10) The harmlessness with which Paul and Silas con- 
 ducted themselves did not prevent their being represented to 
 the rulers of the city in such language as this : ' These that 
 have turned the world upside down are come hither also : and 
 these all do conti-ary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there 
 is another king, one Jesus.' (Acts xvii. 6.) Nay, the blessed 
 Saviour himself did Hot escape the foul charge of rebellion : 
 ' We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding 
 to give tribute to Ctesar. — If thou let this man go, thou art 
 not Caesar's friend,' (Luke xxiii. 2; John xix. 12.) After 
 this, it is not to be wondered at that our reforming forefathers 
 also in these lands, were commonly branded as factious and 
 disorderly persons. Under this specious though unjust pre- 
 text it was that they Avere cruelly persecuted, outlawed, 
 hunted down, and butchered with merciless ferocity. The 
 same disposition is manifested still towards all who would walk 
 in the same footsteps. The friends of reform, who freely de- 
 nounce and expose abuses and corruptions, who spare no 
 error however long it may have been held, who exercise for- 
 bearance toward no course of maladministration however 
 venerable it may have become by age, are liable still to be 
 
 G 
 
146 THE REBUILDING OP JERUSALEM. 
 
 suspected of disaffection to government; suspicions of dis- 
 loyalty are apt to be entertained against them ; while some 
 may even go the length directly to chai'ge them with a lurking 
 design to overthrow altogether the existing order of things. 
 The most violent protestations to the contrary Avill not be 
 sufficient to prevent them from being eyed with jealousy ; to 
 escape which, some have been betrayed, both in language and 
 conduct, into a facile acquiescence and obtrusive loyalty, 
 which savour more of sycophancy and meanness than befits 
 high-minded, independent, free boi-n subjects. Now, my 
 brethren, if this were the place, it would not be difiicult to 
 account for all this : — the silent reproof which even the ex- 
 ample of the godly lifts up against the men of this world, the 
 firmness with which such refuse to comply with sinful require- 
 ments of every sort, and the openness with which they feel 
 themselves bound to testify against all manner of existing 
 evils, explain, without difficulty, how it comes about that they 
 are liable to the charge in question. But it is with the fact, 
 and not its explanation, that we are at present concerned — a 
 fact that constitutes a principal element in the formidable and 
 combined opposition with which such as would repair the old 
 wastes of Jerusalem must lay their account. Open persecu- 
 tion is, indeed, restrained in our day ; the sword is sheatheH, 
 but the tongue is not silent ; the lips of scorn and calumny 
 are not shut ; there is no want of contemptuous and abusive 
 language ; and against this the friends of ecclesiastical reform 
 must stand prepared to defend themselves. 
 
 IIT. "We come now to speak of the resistance made by 
 Nehemiah and his associates to the opposition with which 
 they were assailed. / 
 
 ' Then answered I them, and said unlo them, The God of 
 heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we his servants will 
 arise and build : but ye have no portion^ nor right, nor me- 
 morial in Jerusalem.' Here, let it be remarked, they expressed 
 a firm determination to proceed ; took a survey of their en- 
 couragements, and bore a decided - testimony against their 
 enemies. 
 
THE REBUILDING OK JEUL'SALKM. 1-17 
 
 1. They expressed a firm determination to proceed. — 'AVe 
 will arise and build.' They were nothing daunted by the 
 rank and power of their combined adversaries ; for they knew 
 that greater was lie that was for them tlian tliey that were 
 against them. They penetrated the base and unworthy mo- 
 tives by which they Avere actuated, and estimated them ac- 
 cording to their desert. They disregarded their contempt and 
 scorn, as they Avould not have felt themselves honoured by 
 their approbation and applause. They left their insidious 
 calumnies and misrepresentations to refute themselves, or 
 were determined to live them down. In this way they were 
 not moved in the slightest degree, or for a single moment, 
 from their holy purpose ; they held fast their integrity, and 
 went calmly and unflinchingly forward in the prosecution of 
 their work. Their sense of its value and importance was 
 more than a match for all the opposition with which they 
 met. Nay, the opposition seems only to have had the effect 
 of strengthening their determination. 
 
 Such indeed is the natural influence of opi)osition on a pro- 
 perly constituted mind. Where there are the true principles 
 of moral heroism within, outward hostility wnll onlj' nerve tlie 
 energies to greater activity and perseverance. The very at- 
 tempt to prevent an individual of this temperament from 
 gaining an object on which his soul is fixed, by dra\<'ing his 
 attention anew to the subject, tends to occasion a favourable 
 reaction, and puts the mind into that attitude of defence and 
 resistance, by which the character is consolidated and ren- 
 dered inflexible. They are minds of an inferior class only that 
 yield to opposition, while those of the proper stamp are 
 strengthened and improved by it; just as the tempest which 
 tears up and carries away the tender sapling, only causes the 
 oak on the mountain's brow to strike deeper its fibres and 
 take a firmer grasp of the soil ; or as the blast which extin- 
 guishes a taper will only increase the intensity of a powerful 
 fire.* 
 
 It is well even to give expression to the inward resolution. 
 
 * See Foster on Decision of Clitiracter. 
 
148 THE REBUILDIKG OP JERUSALEM. 
 
 Nehemiah and his friends did not content themselves with 
 inwardly determining to proceed ; thej said, ' We will arise 
 and build.' By giving utterance to the feeling of determina- 
 tion we not only let the enemy know on what resistance he 
 may calculate, but we augment the decision and inflexibility 
 of our original purpose, as by yielding, in however slight a 
 degree or for however brief a period, we not only encourage 
 the foe to advance, but proportionably diminish our own 
 power of resistance. All this tends to show how important, 
 among the elements of resistance, is the place which. is occu- 
 pied by resolute determination of purpose : how essential to 
 the character of one who would successfully build up the walls 
 of Jerusalem in troublous times, is that unwavering disposi- 
 tion which is not to be shaken by the rudest assault, that 
 noble intrepidity of soul, the offspring of an enlightened and 
 virtuous mind, which is not to be quelled by the most formid- 
 able onset. See to it then, my hearers, that you ' be of good 
 courage, and play the men for your people, and for the city of 
 your God.' 
 
 2. They took a survey of their encouragements to continue 
 the work. — This, we apprehend, contributed not a little to 
 their Stability. Some of these encouragements were adverted 
 to in their intercourse with one another, and others in directly 
 addressing the enemy : the former, of course, were more im- 
 mediately designed to animate the hearts of their brethren, 
 and the latter to intimidate those of their foes. But both 
 were of service in contributing to the resistance which they 
 were enabled to make. They took encouragement from the 
 countenance and aid of a gracious providence, which they 
 conceived themselves to enjoy: — 'Then I told them,' says 
 Nehemiah, * of the hand of my God which was good upon 
 me.' The providential opening which appeared in the change 
 on the heart of the king, also afforded them hope : ' as also,' 
 he adds, ' the kings words that he had spokeA unto me.' The 
 character, power, and promise of God, formed another source 
 of incitement, as calculated to insure their success : — ' The 
 God of heaven ^le will prosper us.' While the capacity in 
 which they acted, not as selfish adventurers seeking their own 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 149 
 
 aggrandisement, but as the servants of the Most High intent 
 on the advancement of his honour and glory, seems also to 
 have had great weight in exciting them to resist : — * We his 
 SERVANTS will arise and build.' 
 
 Tliis affords an instructive lesson on the subject of resis- 
 tance to the opposition we may meet with in reforming the 
 abuses of the church. We are not to dwell on the difficulties 
 and discouragements that lie in our way ; we are not to allow 
 ourselves constantly to brood, with melancholy feelings, over 
 the hardships of the undertaking and the probabilities of 
 failure. No ; we must look at the bright as well as the dark 
 side of the cloud ; we must survey the grounds of encourage- 
 ment ; we must give due heed to the circumstances which hold 
 out the prospect, nay, the assurance of success. And what 
 are these circumstances? Why, just those which animated 
 Nehemiah and his friends in withstanding the assault of the 
 confederated Moabites, Ammonites and Samaritans. 
 
 Let us take encouragement from the grace and favour of 
 God. If the hand of God, which is good, be upon us, what 
 evil can befal us ! It is promised ; let us seek it earnestly, and 
 rely on it with confidence. — Let us watch the openings in 
 divine providence that occur. These, at times, hold out en- 
 couraging pi'ospects. The wise observer of the signs of the 
 times will not be inattentive to those propitious occurrences, 
 those favourable turns in public affairs, whether in the dis- 
 positions of the great or in political revolutions, which occa- 
 sionally take place — those breaks in the clouds which indicate 
 a season of approaching sunshine. To neglect such, is not 
 more to violate an express command than foolishly to over- 
 look an abundant source of encouragement. — Let us take a 
 believing view of the character of God. It is 'the King 
 of heaven,' who is the King and Head of the church. He is 
 possessed of every glorious attribute, able to give undoubted 
 prosperity, and worthy of the most confident reliance. He 
 will not permit his church to be overthrown ; he will not de- 
 liver up his servants into the hands of their enemies, but will 
 strengthen them to withstand every attack, and crown their 
 efforts with final success. To know that the character of the 
 
150 THE REBUILDING OP JERUSALEM. 
 
 God of heaven i.^ pledged to give us prosperity, cannot fail 
 to inspire us with the greatest fortitude. — Let us also take 
 encouragement from the capacity in which we act as the ser- 
 vants of the Most High God. If we are indeed his servants, 
 we have nothing to fear. He is not a hard master ; he 
 sends none a warfare on their owm charges ; his interests and 
 his honour are pledged to give his servants success. Such is 
 the import of the promise : ' The hand of the Lord shall be 
 known toward Ms servants, and his indignation toward his 
 enemies.' (Is. Ixvi. 14.) This is the secret of the distinction 
 put between those who are favourable, and those who are 
 hostile to the work of the Lord : ' Therefore thus saith the 
 Lord God, behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hun- 
 gry : behold, my servcmts shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty : 
 behold, 7ny servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed : be- 
 hold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, .but ye shall cry 
 for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. (Is. 
 Ixv. 13, 14.) It is this consideration, too, which inspires confi- 
 dence in praying to God for success : ' Let thy work,' said 
 David, 'appear unto thy servants; and establish thou the 
 w^ork of our handsupon us.' (Ps. xc. 16, 17.) The same was 
 the plea of Peter and John : ' And now, Lord, behold their 
 threatenings : and grant unto thy servants., that with all bold-' 
 ness they may speak thy word.' (Acts iv. 39.) Ah ! my 
 hearers, could we only assure ourselves of being the servants 
 of the Lord, we need never despair of being able to resist the 
 most formidable opposition. 
 
 The sources of encouragement, to which we have thus 
 briefly adverted, are sufficient to support us under whatever 
 difficulties we may be met with, in repairing the wastes of 
 Jerusalem. Be the obstacles what they may, if we can only 
 take a believing survey of the considerations enumerated, we 
 must feel animated to proceed. We may place these against 
 the nature of the work itself; the extent o£ the desolation; 
 the frowns of the great; the aspect of the times ; and, indeed, 
 against everything that can occur to damp our ardour,, or 
 weaken our hands. We have not time to <lwell on each of these 
 difficulties by itself; nor is it necessary that we should, the 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 1 ') 1 
 
 general principles Ave have established being of easy applica- 
 tion to all. There is one, however, of a very insidious and 
 dangerous nature, which may, perhaps, warrant a more spe- 
 cific notice. We advert to the objection, that this is not the 
 proper time to make special exertions with a view to refor- 
 mation. As a general principle, we admit the propriety and 
 importance of paying due attention to the times and the sea- 
 sons : the servants of the Lord should be ' men that have 
 understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.' 
 But we must express our conviction that there is no time unfit 
 for the correction of abuses ; no prudential calculations will 
 warrant our permitting Jerusalem to remain a day in ruins, 
 without exerting ourselves to repair her waste places. God^s 
 time for giving success to the work may not have arrived ; 
 but this is not to be the rule of our duty — it is always on?- 
 time to exert ourselves : it may be our time to sow, although 
 the time to reap be at some distance. And it may be profit- 
 able for us to consider how the same objection was met, 
 when urged by certain murniurers in the days of Haggai the 
 prophet : 'The time is not come,' said the people, ' the time 
 that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word 
 of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, 
 O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? 
 Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consicjer your 
 Avays, go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the 
 house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, 
 saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and upward, 
 even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple 
 Avas laid, consider it : from this day will I bless you.' (Hag. 
 i. 1-8; iv. 18, 19.) 
 
 3. They bore a distinct and manly testimony against their 
 enemies. — ' Ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in 
 Jerusalem.' They had no portion Avitli the people of God ; 
 they had no right to interfere and hinder his Avork ; they had 
 no memorial to show that they were entitled to retain possession 
 of the lands which they unrighteously held. This Avas just 
 telling them that they knew their character; that they could 
 not be deceived with regard to them ; that they held them to 
 
152 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 be Strangers, and foreigners, and aliens from the common- 
 wealth of Israel, whom they were determined to resist to the 
 utmost. 
 
 Bearing testimony against the enemies of the church, it 
 thus appears, is one means of resisting their opposition, and 
 pi'omoting reformation. Testimony is to be borne, not merely 
 ill favour of truth and godliness, but against error and defec- 
 tion : nor only against error and defection, but against those 
 by whom the errors are held and the defections vindicated 
 and supported. It is not enough that we determine ourselves 
 to do what is right ; we must manfully and boldly confront 
 those who do what is wrong, and tell them they have no por- 
 tion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. Thus Paul made 
 mention of ' Hymeneus and Philetus,' in connection with the 
 condemnation of their opinions; and Christhimself in his warn- 
 ing to the Church of Pergamos, said, 'So hast thou also them 
 that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.' 
 
 Such testimony-bearing serves a variety of important pur- 
 poses. It exposes the true character of the opposition, which 
 is liable to be concealed under the cloak of zeal for truth and 
 charity ; but this tears oiF the mask, and lets it be seen in all 
 the hideousness of its native deformity. It tends, also, to 
 vindicate ourselves, to draw a broad line of demarcation be- 
 twixt us and the enemy, and to secure us against all risk of 
 being confounded with them or their cause. It is fitted, 
 morisover, to do good to the persons themselves ; by causing 
 them to think, repent, and reform their evil ways, it may, 
 with the blessing of God, prove the means of reclaiming them 
 and bringing them over to the good way. ' Open rebuke is 
 better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend : 
 but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.' In these ways 
 may testifying against the enemies of the church, after the 
 example of Nehemiah, prove a means of promoting her best 
 interests, and of assisting her friends in I'esis'ting opposition. 
 It ought therefore to possess a place in the creed and practice 
 of the church. It is certainly not agreeable to the spirit of 
 the age. But the facile complaisance and simpering insipi- 
 dity, which the ihcn of these days have designated charitij, 
 
THE KEBUILDING OF JKUUSALEM. 153 
 
 and in tlw use of which they would ralher flatter and cajole 
 than testify against the enemies of Zion, is, notwithstanding, 
 not worthy to be compared with the stern, straightforward, 
 manly honesty of the olden time, which would tell them 
 openly and boldly, ' Ye have no portion, nor right, nor me- 
 morial in Jerusalem,' 
 
 Such, fathers and brethren, are some few hints respecting 
 the work in which we are required to be engaged — the oppo- 
 sition we may expect in doing this work — and the manner in 
 which the opposition may be resisted. 
 
 Let us, in conclusion, seriously reflect on the duty to which 
 we are called in our day. We are to rebuild Jerusalem. 
 The church wears, at the present time, the appearance of a 
 dilapidated city ; her towers, bulwarks, and palaces, Jire more 
 or less in ruins. Long and extensive are her desolations. 
 IMournful is the aspect she presents to a patriotic Israelite, 
 whether in point of doctrine, discipline, or fellowship. Yet 
 we must not think of erecting a new church : our business is 
 to repair not to destroy, to ' build the old wastes, to raise up 
 the former desolations, to repair the desolations of many 
 generations.' Let us ascertain what these are ; let us make 
 ourselves acquainted with their nature and extent ; and let 
 us set ourselves to the work with ardent zeal, holy fervour, 
 indomitable courage, and determined perseverance. 
 
 Let no opposition discourage us. Let nothing cause us 
 either to suspend our exertions, or relax our energies. 
 Rather may Ave calculate on contempt, and calumny, and the 
 frowning disapprobation of men of distinction in the world. 
 It was so, we have seen, of old ; it was so in the case of the 
 primitive saints; it was so in the case of the Saviour himself; 
 and what right have we to expect exemption ? Our well- 
 meant schemes will be tui*ned into ridicule — our efforts and 
 doings will be treated with consummate scorn — the sneer of 
 ' Wliat do these feeble Jews?' will be reproduced and repeat- 
 ed, though perhaps in a new form, with all its ancient viru- 
 lence and malignity — and our principles and our practice will 
 have the effect of exposing us to the suspicion of disaffection 
 
 g2 
 
154 TDE REBUILDING OF JERUSALESI. 
 
 to the government and rebellion against the king. But to 
 these, and such like thing?, we have been too long accustomed, 
 to be either much surprised, or greatly moved by them. 
 
 Let us see to it, then, that Ave meet all this opposition with 
 a firm and manly resistance. Let us take up all the elements 
 which entered into that of Nehemiah and his friends. Let 
 us show an unflinching determination to proceed. Let us 
 survey with faith our many grounds of encouragement. Let 
 us bear a decided testimony against all who would oppose us. 
 Let us cry aloud and spare not. Few though we be,, we must 
 not be disheartened. Let us act in concord with all who have 
 an honest desire to build up the walls of Jerusalem. And 
 let the assured prospect of success cheer us amid our laborious 
 and self-denied exertions. Yes ; the walls of Jei'usalem shall 
 be rebuilt: her towers shall be re-established: her palaces 
 shall be refitted, and filled with the devout and holy worship- 
 pers of Zion's King. The faith, the worship, the beautiful 
 order of the house of the Lord, shall be revived in all their 
 original purity and simplicity. Every abuse shall be recti- 
 fied ; every plant which our heavenly Father hath not planted 
 shall be rooted up. We, like Nehemiah, may not be per- 
 mitted to see the work completed; but, like him, we may do 
 something to assist and help it forward in our day. Let us do 
 what we can; God requires nothing more. Should there, as 
 will probably be the case, when we die, remain many evils 
 unreformed, let us retire from the scene of activity with an 
 eye turned upward to him who will see to the accomplish- 
 ment of his own work in the end ; and, while each for him- 
 self presents the biief but expressive prayer of Nehemiah, 
 ' Eemember me O my God for good,' let there mingle with 
 our dying accents the patriotic supplication of the' man after 
 God's own heart, — 'Do good in thy good pleasure unto 
 
 ZiON ; BUILD thou THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM.' 
 
 It were unpardonable to conclude this 'discourse without 
 remarking that the times in which our lot is cast are reform- 
 ing times. A spirit has sprung up to correct abuses, theoreti- 
 cal and practical, political, moral, and religious. Some of 
 these reforms may not be of the decided character we would 
 
THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM. 155 
 
 ^vish. But still that there is a leaning towai'd reform, a dis- 
 tinct pointing in the direction in which it lies, it would argue 
 perverse blindnt^ss not to perceive, and pitiful prejudice and 
 ingratitude not to acknowledge with delight. We see it in 
 questions that have been entertained in the high councils of 
 the nation ; we see it in measures that have been agitated in 
 ecclesiastical assemblies ; we see it in the extensive combina- 
 tion that has been entered into against a certain enormous 
 and parent vice. These are favourable indications of the 
 spirit of the age, redeeming features in the character of the 
 times, to which, surely, they cannot be indifferent on whose 
 ecclesiastical banner the word reform holds so conspicuous a 
 place. Who would not rejoice in them? Who would not 
 hail them as tokens for good ; as the early dawuings of a 
 brighter and more resplendent day than the world has ever 
 yet beheld, when the smiles of holiness, peace, and liberty, 
 and joy shall succeed to the dark frowns of penury, and 
 tyranny, and war, Avhen iniquity as ashamed shall hide its 
 face, and when Jerusalem shall become a praise in the whole 
 earth? Spirit of the Lord! Breath of heaven ! fun the latent 
 spark, and hasten tlie glorious era. 
 
 Nor is it unworthy of notice here, that one of the best signs 
 of the near approach of this desired period, will be just a 
 general disposition to act on the principle involved' in the 
 example we have been considering. The sign that the Lord 
 is about to arise and have mercy upon Zion, is, that his ser- 
 vants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof. 
 * The time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For 
 thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust 
 thereof.' Hear this, ye professing servants of the Most High ! 
 and see that ye exemplify it. O take pleasure in the rubbish 
 and the stones of Zion. This is at once your interest and 
 your honour. The patriot who lingers amid the ruins of his 
 country's capital, and covers himself with the dust of her de- 
 solations, is a more noble character far than he who, getting 
 enamoured by the splendours of the land of his exile, forgets 
 the claims of his native soil. The Jew, skulking affectionately 
 among the fragments of the temple at Jerusalem, as if incap- 
 
156 THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEJI. 
 
 able of leaving it, is surely more to be admired than if found 
 luxuriating contented amid the unscathed edifices of Babylon. 
 Be it yours, then, to abide by the church even in her desola- 
 tions. Value more the remains of Scotland's Covenanted 
 Reformation, for which your are permitted to contend in your 
 present state, than all the gorgeous forms or tempting emolu- 
 ments of corrupt established systems. O forsake not the city 
 of your God in her waste and desolate condition ! Sit down 
 amid her venerable fragments, determined that nothing shall 
 induce you to leave her till she shall be thoroughly repaired, 
 and restored to her pristine glory, magnificence, and useful- 
 ness. And, while you neglect to work, omit not to pray, 
 but raise to heaven the touching appeal of the captives : — 
 ' Oar holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee 
 is burnt up ivith fire ; and all our pleasant things are laid waste. 
 Wilt thou refrain for these things, Lord? Wilt thou hold 
 thy peace and affiict us very sore ? Arise, O God, and plead thine 
 own cause.' 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 Preached in Lady Glenorchy's Cliurcli, Edinburgh, Feb. 12, 18i3, by desire 
 of the University Missionary Association. 
 
 Matthew xxiii. 35. 
 ' Rigliteous AbeW 
 
 The mind of man delights to go back to the origin of things. 
 Not content Avith surveying the present, or prying into the 
 future, it plunges into the dark and shadowy regions of re- 
 mote antiquity. Hence it is, that the first step in any great 
 undertaking, the first circumstance leading to some important 
 discovery, the first event giving rise to the foundation of some 
 vast empire, the laying of the first stone in some splendid edi- 
 fice, the first bubbling spring in which originates some mighty 
 river, are all invested with a deep and peculiar interest. 
 
 In ordinary cases, however, the researches of the antiquary 
 are subject to this disadvantage, that they are attended with 
 great uncertainty. They lie in a quarter of dim obscurity, 
 where the. fragments of truth are apt to be deeply buried 
 amid the rubbish of fiction, and where he must often push his 
 way by the faint glimmerings of conjecture rather than the 
 clear light of history. 
 
 It is otherwise with the student of scripture. He prose- 
 cutes his investigations with this double advantage, that the 
 record he consults, while carrying him back to the remotest 
 antiquity, even to the very first step in * the march of time,' 
 is divinely inspired ; so that he proceeds under the guidance 
 
158 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 of Him who is at once the Author of all things, and the Light 
 of the world. 
 
 The initial chapters of the book of Genesis derive not a 
 little of their interest from the circumstance now stated. 
 They disclose to us the origin of our world. They place 
 everything connected with the commencement of the present 
 system of things in the clear sunshine of heaven. They make 
 us acquainted with the first step in the creation of a material 
 universe ; with the first man and the first woman, the original 
 progenitors of the vast family of mankind ; with the first mo- 
 ral constitution under which it pleased God to place human 
 beings ; with the first transgression, by which guilt, corrup- 
 tion, misery, and death, with all. their desolating effects, were 
 introduced into our world ; with the first promise of mercy to 
 follen man, welling in spontaneous effusion from the fountain 
 of redeeming love in the bosom of God ; and with the first 
 specimen of a redeemed and renewed creature, saved, by grace 
 from the moral ruins of human apostacy. 
 
 Do you inquire, my hearers, who was the first specimen of 
 a gracious character ? You have the answer in our text — ■ 
 ' Righteous Abel.' 
 
 Abfel was the second son of Adam and Eve. His name,, 
 which signifies vanity, may be regarded either as a historical 
 memorandum of his weakly constitution, or as a- prophetical 
 intimation of his sudden and untimely end. Or if, as some 
 conjecture, it is to be understood as expressive of the little 
 account made of him by his parents at his birth, it serves, 
 especially when contrasted with the name given to their first- 
 born — ' Cain,' signifying acquisition or possession — to show the 
 blindness of parental partiality, and the uncertainty of human 
 hopes. — The epithet ' righteous,' or just, marks the most in- 
 teresting and distinctive feature in the character of the indivi- 
 dual. It refers, not to common justice or equity, to mere 
 honesty between man and man, but, from what is said of him 
 elsewhere, as may afterwards appear, it points him out as justi- 
 fied before God, that is to say, delivered fi*om the curse of the 
 broken covenant,, and accepted in the sight of the Almighty 
 moral Governor. 
 
THE FIKST PIOUS YOUTH. 159 
 
 Permit me, my young friends, to direct your attention to 
 ' righteous Abel,' the first youth who embraced and practised 
 true religion ; whom it may not be uninteresting or unprofit- 
 able to contemplate in some of the more prominent featured 
 of his character and history. 
 
 I. And, first of all, view him as the first of the human 
 family whose justification by faith is clearly revealed. 
 
 A state of justification being the most important into which 
 a fallen moral creature can be brought, no slight degree of 
 interest must attach to the first individual in whom such a 
 state was exemplified. On the principle adverted to in the 
 introduction, in proportion as value is attached to the character 
 of a saint — a subject of divine grace, a child of God, must be 
 the degree of interest felt in the first by whom this most 
 enviable of all characters was ever borne. It is commonly, 
 indeed, believed, that both Adam and Eve were justified per- 
 sons, and it is no part of our object to dispute this opinion. 
 They had revealed to them the promise of the Seed of the 
 woman who was to bruise the serpent's head, and there is 
 nothing made known in scripture that would lead us to con- 
 clude that they refused to act faith in this blessed revelation. 
 But at what time their justification took place, whether before 
 or after that of their second son, we are not informed: For 
 anything we are told, the sovereignty of God may have been 
 illustrated in giving the child precedence to the parent, in 
 conformity with the principle on which he is so frequently 
 pleased to act in regard to the arrangements of grace: 'The 
 first shall be last, and the last first.' Indeed, even the fact of 
 our first parent's conversion is far from being definitely I'e- 
 vealed. He may have given evidence of it during his 
 life sufficient to place it beyond all doubt ; but this evidence 
 it has not pleased God to put on record in his word. There^ 
 is nothing said about it in the scriptures. They preserve a 
 fearful and instructive silence on the subject. When we turn 
 to the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, which 
 contains a catalogue of primitive saints, arranged in chrono- 
 logical order, we find that the name of Adam is not there. 
 
1 60 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 As he was tlie first sinner, we naturally expect to find him 
 held forth as the first believer ; but in this we are disappointed. 
 The omission may have been designed to mark his presump- 
 tion, to commemorate his guilt, to point out the displeasure of 
 God at his sin, or rather, perhaps, to call off our attention 
 from thejii'st, and direct it to the second Adam, as he thi'ough 
 whom alone man's primitive pre-eminence is to be restored. 
 But whatever may have been the reason, the fact of the omis- 
 sion in question is undoubted. The first individual of the 
 human family, of whose saintship we are directly assured, 
 is Abel.* 
 
 Of the justification of Abel, we have the most satisfactory 
 proof. It is not obscurely intimated in the very epithet ap- 
 plied to hira in our text. He was ' righteous,' that is to say, 
 he stood right with regard to the law of God ; he was righte- 
 ous evangelically, through an interest in the righteousness of 
 the Seed of the woman ; he was righteous personally, in conse- 
 quence of the Holy Spirit implanting the inward principle 
 and securing the outward manifestation of true holiness ; and, 
 conti'asted with his.own former condition, or with the natural 
 virtue of equity which might be possessed by others, he was 
 comparatively righteous. — His being a believer, puts this ■ 
 matter beyond all doubt. We are assured that, ' by faith, 
 Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.' 
 (Heb. xi. 4.) The faith of Abel, we may safely conclude 
 from the other examples of the exercise of the same principle 
 in the chapter in which it is recoi-ded, was true saving faith, 
 the faith of God's elect ; it was faith in the covenant character 
 of Jehovah, in the promises of the divine word in general, in 
 that of the Seed of the woman in particular ; in short, it was 
 faith in the assurance of pardon and eternal salvation through 
 the Lamb of God who should appear in the end of the world 
 to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, faith and 
 justification are inseparable. It is as impossible to believe 
 without being justified, as to be justified without believing. 
 
 * The saintship of Eve is implied in the address of Jehovah to the 
 serpent : ' I will put teumity between thee and the woman.' But there is 
 nothing in these words to determine the time of her conversion. 
 
THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. IGl 
 
 ' Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption 
 that is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth to be a 
 propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
 ness for the remission of sins that are past, through the for- 
 bearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this time his righteous- 
 ness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that le- 
 Iieveth in Jesus. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justi- 
 fied by faith without the deeds of the law.' (Rom. iii. 24-28.) 
 There has been but one method of saving sinners, from the 
 beginning ; and that method is what an apostle describes as 
 ' the rigliteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.' 
 (Rom. i. 1 7.) The evidence of Abel's justification is rendered 
 complete by direct divine testimony to the fact. * He obtained 
 witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.' 
 (Heb. xi. 4.) The divine approbation of his gifts was the 
 evidence of his righteous character. How this approbation 
 was intimated we shall see afterwards ; it is enough for us at 
 present to know that there was such an intimation. Nor let 
 it for one moment be forgotten, that the connection between 
 the two was that of evidence alone, not that of cause and effect. 
 It was not because of his presenting gifts which approved 
 themselves to God that Abel was justified; but his being 
 justified was evinced by the acceptance of his gifts. This is 
 the only view of the matter which accords with scri-pture 
 doctrine ; and it is worthy of remark that it is fully borne out 
 and illustrated by the order in which these things are intro- 
 duced in the sacred history. ' The Lord had respect to Abel 
 and to his offering.' (Gen. iv. 4.) Not first to the offering, 
 and then to the offerer ; but to the offerer first in the exercise 
 of sovereign grace, and afterwards to his offering as the ap- 
 propriate fruit and evidence of his character. It was not the 
 acceptableness of the offering which gave rise to the offerer's 
 righteous character, it was the righteous character of the 
 offerer which gave rise to the acceptableness of his offering. 
 
 Such, then, is the first and most interesting light in which 
 we are required to contemplate righteous Abel. He was 
 justified by faitli, through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. He had no righteousness of his own on which he 
 
162 THE FIRST PIOUS TOCTH. 
 
 could rely as a ground of merit in the sight of the righteous 
 moral Governor. The righteousness of Christ, embracing his 
 satisfaction to the penalty and obedience to the precept of the 
 law, was imputed to him in sovereignty, and received by 
 faith. He was thus brought into the most desirable state ; 
 all his sins pardoned freely and for ever, and his person gra- 
 ciously accepted as righteous, he was regarded as standing 
 right with respect to the law, — not only free from its curse, 
 but clear of all its claims as a covenant of works, and dealt 
 with as if all the righteousness of the Surety had been his 
 own, as if he had fulfilled in his own person every condition 
 of that original moral constitution under which man was 
 placed. The state was one replete with consolation. No legal 
 terrors, no enemies, no afflictions, no temptations, not even 
 death and judgment might alarm him; and, when making 
 approaches to God in acts of devotion, or when looking for- 
 ward to heaven, it was fitted to fill him with joy and peace 
 and the most blissful assurance. ' Who shall lay anything to 
 the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth : who is 
 he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that 
 is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us.' (Rom. viii. 33, 34.) 
 
 Nor let it be supposed that at that early period there could 
 be no proper acquaintance with Him whose righteousness 
 forms the sole ground of a sinner's justification. We are not 
 concerned to determine the araount of knowliedge on this sub- 
 ject which was enjoyed by the patriarchs. It is enough that 
 'the Seed of the woman' had been revealed. Such revelation, 
 however scanty, the Spirit of all grace could render efficacious 
 to the soul, and without his agency no extent of inspired truth 
 can be of any avail. The faith of the patiiarchal saints was 
 a vigorous and far-seeing faith. It enabled them to overleap 
 intervening years, and fix on the fulness of the time when 
 God should send his own Son, made of a woman, made under 
 the law, to redeem them that were under the law. By it they 
 not only embraced the immediate promises that were addressed 
 to them, but they beheld afar off -the day of the coming 
 Messiah and I'ejoiced. 
 
THE FIRST nous YOUTH. 163 
 
 "While called thus to contemplate, with interest, Abel as 
 the first justified individual of the family of Adam, it is com- 
 forting to know that he was not the last. The saints may be 
 comparatively few, but absolutely they arc a multitude which 
 no man can number. The righteousness with which he was 
 invested has proved sufficient for thousands since ; nor is its 
 merit in any degree impaired at the present time. See to it, 
 then, my dear hearers, that you obtain an interest in it your- 
 selves. Seek that you, like Abel, may be ' righteous ' also. 
 You have the same ground on which to rest, and that ground 
 more fully revealed, so as to render the neglect or rejection 
 of it more inexcusable. Renounce all dependence on a righ- 
 teousness of your own. Consist of what it may, you must 
 cast it away from you. You must count your best righteous- 
 nesses as filthy rags, if you would put on the righteousness of 
 Christ. Had you ' all the faith of the patriarchs, and all the 
 zeal of the prophets, and all the good works of the apostles, 
 and all. the sufferings of the martyrs, nay, had you all the 
 quenchless brightness, and matchless purity, and glowing 
 devotion of seraphs,' you must part with all as a foundation 
 of acceptance, and repose implicitly and alone on the merits 
 of Jesus Christ. Say with Paul, ' Yea, doubtless, and I count 
 all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 Christ Jesus my Lord: and do count all things but dung, that 
 I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own 
 righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through 
 the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by 
 faith.' Thus shall you ' receive the blessing from the Lord, 
 and righteousness from the God of your salvation ;' and be 
 stimulated to exclaim, ' Our mouth shall show forth thy 
 righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for we know not 
 the numbers thereof.' 
 
 IL View righteous Abel as the first who is distinctly spoken 
 of as offering unto God an acceptable sacrifice. 
 
 We are apt to associate sacrificing so closely with the Le- 
 vitical economy, as to receive the impression that its origin 
 was coeval with that dispensation. But the records of heathen 
 
164 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 nations, and certain passages in the law of Moses itself, con- 
 tain abundant proof that it existed long prior to the period in 
 question. Some particular forms of the sacrificial rite are 
 among the things prohibited by the Jewish legislator, which 
 is itself decisive of its previous existence; and when the Jews 
 took possession of the Holy Land, they found the practice 
 existing amongst its aboriginal inhabitants. There is ground 
 to suppose that it can be traced as far back as to the entrance 
 of sin into our world. How else are we to account for the 
 coats of skin with which our fallen progenitors were clothed? 
 The animals to which these skins originally belonged, must 
 either have been slain for the purpose of furnishing materials 
 for the garments, which, considering that there were so many 
 other expedients that might have been had recourse to with- 
 out inflicting death on an innocent sentient creature, is ex- 
 tremely improbable ; — or they must have been killed for 
 nourishment, which is at variance with the fact that we have 
 no intimation of a grant of animal food to man until after 
 the deluge ; — or they must have died of themselves, which is 
 by no means likely, when we remember that they had been 
 so lately created in a' state of perfection ; — or they must have 
 been put to death in the way of sacrifice, which, failing- all 
 other suppositions, is the only reasonable or plausible conjecture 
 by which we can explain the facts of the case. Very high, how- 
 ever, as is the presumption with which we are thus furnished 
 in favour of the antiquity of this rite, it is only presumption 
 or conjecture after all. The first decisive fact in point, is 
 presented in these words : — ' And Abel, he also brought 
 of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof: and 
 the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his oflering.' 
 (Gen. iv. 4.) 
 
 The offering which Abel presented bore a marked distinc- 
 tion, in several respects, from that of Cain. The substance, 
 for one thing, was different. It was not the fruit of the 
 ground, but firstlings of his flock ; it was not a vegetable, but 
 an animal offering ; it admitted, which the other did not, of 
 substitutionary suffering ; it expressed not merely a sense of 
 gratitude, but 'a conviction of guilt ; it was, in short, not 
 
TDE FIKST PIOUS YOUTH. 1C5 
 
 eucharistical, but expiatory in its very nature. Then, again, 
 it was ottered in faith, — ' By faith Abel offered unto God a 
 more excellent sacrifice than Cain.' Of the nature of this 
 faith we have already spoken ; and we advert to the circum- 
 stance now, simply as furnishing a distinctive peculiarity of 
 the sacrifice in question. But the chief distinction arose from 
 its acceptance. It was an acceptable offering. This is the 
 point on which we would fix attention. The thing is fully 
 attested. The language, — ' The Lord had respect unto Abel 
 and to his offering, is itself conclusive. The whole history of 
 the case assures us, that Abel ' did well ;' and it is written, 'If 
 thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted f His offering, too, is 
 pronounced by an inspired writer, *a more excellent sacrifice ' 
 — 'TtXiiova tJvaiav — than the other; something more full, com- 
 plete, perfect ; much more of the nature of a sacrifice ; -not in 
 respect of its matter or substance only, but in regard to the 
 divine appointment, as expressive of man's sinful condition, 
 and as pointing forward to Christ. 
 
 The acceptance of Abel's sacrifice is put beyond all doubt 
 by the words — ' by which he obtained witness that he was 
 righteous, God testifying of his gifts' Somehow or other, the 
 Almighty significantly intimated his approbation of Abel's 
 offering. Of the mode in which this was done, we are not 
 informed, and consequently there have been various conjec- 
 tures on the subject. It is obvious, that the testimony of God 
 did not consist only in an inward impression conveyed to the 
 offerer's mind by some secret preternatural means, for the thing 
 was known to Cain. There must, therefore, have been some 
 outward visible expression by which the fact was signified to 
 others, as well as to the person himself. One (Michaelis) is 
 of opinion, that the divine approbation was marked by Abel's 
 superior success afterwards in his lawful avocation as a keeper 
 of sheep, while Cain's labours in the field were singularly un- 
 productive. This is rather a fanciful conjecture. Others have 
 supposed that a stream of light, like that of the Shechinah of 
 old, rested on the offering. And others, that the intimation in 
 question was given by fire coming down from heaven and 
 consuming the sacrifice. The last is by far the most plau- 
 
166 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 sible supposition. It is supported by many eminent writers,* 
 and by the analogy of the divine procedure in other cases 
 of a simihir description. When Aaron presented a sin- 
 offering for himself and the people, we are told, 'There 
 came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the 
 altar the burnt-offering and the fat.' (Lev. ix. 24.) When 
 Gideon was solicitous to know whether he had found grace 
 in the sight of the Lord, and asked a sign to that effect, he 
 was directed to take flesh (the flesh of a sacrifice) and un- 
 leavened cakes, and lay them upon a rock, ' and- there rose 
 np fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the un- 
 leavened cakes.' (Judges vi. 21.) When, in the days of 
 Elijah the prophet, a distinction was put between the wor- 
 shippers of Baal and the worshippers of Jehovah the God of 
 Israel, the decisive intimation in favour of the latter was this, 
 * The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt-sacri- 
 fice.' (1 Kings xviii. 38.) With respect to the extraordinary 
 offering presented at the dedication of the temple, it is said, 
 'Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire 
 came down from, heaven and consumed the burnt-offering and 
 the sacrifices.' (2 Chron. vii. 1.) Add to these, that the 
 wotd translated accept, signifies reduce to ashes, in reference jLo 
 the mode in which the acceptance of a sacrifice was signified. 
 ' Remember all thy offerings, and accept (marg., turn to ashes) 
 thy burnt sacrifice.' (Ps. xx. 3.) 
 
 In whatever way the intimation was made, the fact of the 
 divine acceptance of Abel's sacrifice is undoubted. Nor is 
 there much room to hesitate with respect to the point on 
 which the preference in question turned. Some have indeed 
 fixed on the substance or quality of the offering, others on the 
 state before God of the offerer, and others on his immediate 
 frame of mind ; and, doubtless, in all these respects there was 
 a marked distinction between the two. But does not the 
 whole resolve itself into the one brother being a believer, and 
 
 * Grotius, Leclerc, Rosenmiiller, Delaiiy, and luAny of thy Jewish Rcibl)is. 
 The same is the idea adojited by Milton — 
 
 'His offeriog soon propitious fire from heaven 
 Consmned with nimble Hanie and grateful steam.' — Par. Lost. 
 
THE FIRST nous Touxn. 1G7 
 
 the other an unbeliever ? It is from this that all the respec- 
 tive points of difference take their rise. Had Cain only pos- 
 sessed Abel's faith, we cannot doubt that he would have 
 presented Abel's offering ; his state before God should have 
 been that of a justified pei'son ; and his frame of mind at the 
 time, instead of being that of a self-righteous infidel trusting 
 for acceptance to his own merits, should have been charac- 
 terised by a humble, self-abasing dependence on that all-suf- 
 ficient sacrifice of which the act he performed was prefigura- 
 tive. 
 
 The preceding remarks regarding Abel's offering demon- 
 strate the divine origin of pi'imitive sacrifice. The very 
 substance of it goes far to establish this point ; inasmuch as, 
 apart from divine appointment, it could never have been 
 supposed that the destruction of an unoffending animal could 
 prove acceptable to God. Nothing but duty, as has been 
 remarked, could make it acceptable ; and nothing but a divine 
 command could make it duty. The same inference results 
 from its being offered in faith. Faith has always a respect 
 to a divine revelation. Such is the case with regard to the 
 other instances of faith with which that of Abel stands asso- 
 ciated in the sacred record. If Noah in building the ark, 
 and Abraham in leaving his country, and Moses in rescuing 
 the Israelites, — all of whom are said to have done 'these 
 things by faith, — acted in obedience to divine instructions, on 
 what principle can we be warranted to conclude that what 
 Abel did by faith was not done also in compliance with a 
 divine command? Nor can we otherwise account for its 
 acceptance. The complacent respect of God, unscrupulously 
 and instantly conveyed, never could have occurred, had the 
 act been a suggestion of fallen reason, a mei'e human inven- 
 tion. A superstitious, a gratuitous act of will-worship never 
 could have found favour in the sight of the Lord. ' In vain 
 they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments 
 of men.'* 
 
 * Matt. XV. 9. Such as may wish to investigate more ftilly the subject 
 of the divine origin of primitive sacrifice, may consult, on the negative side, 
 Benson's Hulseaa Lectures for 1822 (Lect. x., xi., xii.); and, on the affir- 
 
3G8 THE FIRST nous TOLTII. 
 
 The act of worship thus performed by Abel was a most 
 important and significant one. All the sacrifices of divine 
 institution pointed forward to Christ. This, indeed, was their 
 proper use and design. Short of being a prefigurative me- 
 morial of the way in which God had determined to save the 
 life of man which had been forfeited by sin, no explanation 
 can be given of the institution of the sacrificial rite at all 
 consistent with the wisdom or the goodness of God. It at 
 once set before man the evil of sin, the punishment sin de- 
 served, and the mode in which sin was to be taken, away. It 
 held up to view, in the most striking light, the fall and the 
 recovery, the loss and the salvation, the death and the life, of 
 the human family. And, when the utter inadequacy of a 
 mere irrational animal to atone for the guilt of a moral crea- 
 ture is taken into the account, it appears undoubted, that the 
 institution had a respect to a greater, a more excellent eacri- 
 fice, afterwards to be offered, — even that of the Lamb of God, 
 who takcth away the sin of the world, without reference to 
 which the rite in question can be looked upon only as a heart- 
 less drudgery, — a useless, unmeaning, burdensome ceremony. 
 
 Such, then, was the first acceptable act of worship per- 
 formed by fallen man. When man had sinned, he could n,o 
 longer approach God but through a sacrifice. How expres- 
 sive is this fact of the necessity of an atonement to secure 
 intercourse between sinners of the human family and the 
 righteous Jehovah ; and how presumptuous the conduct of 
 such as venture to draw near to him on any other footing. 
 The distinction between the sacrifice of Abel and the offering 
 of Cain, fitly sets fortli that which subsists between the wor- 
 ship presented to God by true saints and that presented by 
 self-righteous formalists. The offering of Cain Vas essenti- 
 ally eucharistical ; it. was adapted to a mere creature ; it only 
 recognised dependence on God, and breathed forth the hom- 
 age of a naturally grateful heart. It had iiothing in it that 
 recognised the existence of sin. It might have been presented 
 
 luiitive, Delany's Revelation Examined, and Faber's most satisfactory Trea- 
 tise. An outline of the argument will be found in the Author's volume 
 (part i. sect, iv.) on Atonement and Intercession. 
 
Tin: FinsT nous YOUTH. 1G9 
 
 in paradise before tlie serpent had found an entrance there. 
 The sacrifice of Abel, on the other hand, was decidedly of an 
 expiatory character ; it was the offering, not of a creature 
 merely, but of a fallen creature, a sinner ; it intimated not 
 only that the otferer was dependent, but that he Avas lost ; it 
 signified, not that he needed to be preserved so much as that 
 he needed to be saved ; it breathed not simple gratitude but 
 conscious guilt and self-abasing penitence and humble faith ; 
 it spoke, in short, of sin and pardon and a Saviour to come, 
 without the shedding of whose blood there could be no remis- 
 sion. Now, the same essential distinction still obtains be- 
 tween evangelical and false religion. It is too well known 
 that, in the religious exercises of those who entertain legal 
 sentiments, man's character as a sinner needing salvation 
 through the merits of another, is very imperfectly recognised. 
 Adoration of the natural perfections of the Deity, and thanks- 
 givings for natural bounties, predominate over acknowledg- 
 ments of the divine holiness and justice, and deep-drawn 
 confessions of penitential sorrow. More is apt to be said 
 of the dignity than of the degradation of man ; and, if the 
 ' pardon of sin for Christ's sake ' is introduced at all, it is 
 rather as a sort of decent tribute to Christianity at the end, 
 than as a sentiment the spirit of which pervades the whole 
 exercise. Such persons are not backward to represent' the 
 plan on which they proceed as more rational than that of 
 others. We venture to presume that Cain was disposed to 
 do the same ; and, doubtless, many plausible things he could 
 have put forth, by way of showing how much more reasonable 
 it was to oflfer to a God of goodness the fruits of the ground, 
 than to think of appeasing his displeasure by committing a 
 violent outrage on a poor harmless sentient animal. But, my 
 brethren, in the matter of divine worship, the question is not, 
 what is rational, but what is appointed ; not, what to our 
 weak and fallible minds may appear to be reasonable, but 
 what has received the sanction and institution of Jehovah. 
 Nor let it be for a moment forgotten, that between what man 
 may deem rational and what God has seen meet to authorise, 
 between evangelical and legal worship, there will be found to 
 
170 THE FIRST PIOUS TOCTH. 
 
 be all the clifTerence at the last that there was between the 
 sacrifice of Abel and that of Cain, — the difference, namely, 
 between acceptance and rejection ! ' The Lord had respect to 
 Abel and to his offering ; but unto Cain and his offering he 
 had not respect.' Ah ! what a heaven-wide distinction is 
 here ! 
 
 Let me entreat you, my dear brethren, in imitation of 
 righteous Abel, to give due attention to the worship of God. . 
 The sacrifices you are required to offer are not of the same 
 substance as his ; not beasts of the field, nor burnt-offerings 
 for the sin of the soul. But you are expected to lay on the 
 altar of God spiritual sacrifices, — your J)ersons, your services, 
 the sacrifices of a broken and a contrite heart, of prayer and 
 of praise ; with such sacrifices God is well pleased. In 
 presenting these, you must have a respect to Christ, not . 
 looking forward to him, as did Abel, in the light of the 
 Messiah to come, but looking back upon him as he who 
 came in the fulness of the time, and has already put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself, and in whom alone either our 
 persons or our services can find acceptance with God. You 
 must, of course, present these sacrifices in faith ; for without 
 faith it is impossible to please God, and whatsoever is riot of 
 faith is sin. Acting thus, your deeds of spiritual worship 
 cannot fail of acceptance, whereby you also may obtain 
 witness that you are righteous, God testifying of your gifts. 
 
 III. We may next regard righteous Abel as the first 
 martyr, — the first who suffered death for the sake of religion. 
 
 The death of Abel, by the murderous hand of his wicked 
 brother, is familiar to all. But it is questionable whether 
 sufficient attention is paid to the prompting cause : ' Not as 
 Cain, who was of that Avicked one, and slew his brother. And 
 wherefore slew he him ? Because his own works ivere evil, 
 and his brother's righteous.' ( 1 John iii. 12.) Here we have 
 it distinctly given. Cain hated the holy image of God in his 
 brother Abel ; he disliked his brother's piety, and humility, 
 and faith ; he was angiy at the success and acceptance of his 
 brother's oblation. These malcA'olent feelings were fostered 
 
TIIK FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 171 
 
 and indulged, until they settled down into a determined 
 purpose to take the life of his brother; and when a fit 
 opportunity occurred, the cruel design was carried into effect. 
 We are not concerned here with the question, how much 
 time elapsed between the presenting of the offerings and the 
 perpretation of this hellish revenge ; it might be longer or it 
 might be shorter: it is with the foul deed as a fact that we 
 have at present to do. ' Cain talked with his bi'Other,'— either 
 in the way of angry strife or of pretended friendship ; — 'and it 
 came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up 
 against Abel his brother, and slew him.' 
 
 ' He fell ; and, deadly pale, 
 
 Groaned out Lis soul, with gushing blood effused.' 
 
 It was not a common, but a violent death. It was not an 
 accident, it was a deliberate act. It was not in consequence 
 of a personal quarrel and in fair combat, but the deed of an 
 assassin, prompted by malicious and envious hostility to 
 moral and religious excellence. Cain was thus the first 
 persecutor, and Abel the first martyi*. And, if what was 
 said under a foregoing particular is borne in mind, it will 
 appear that Abel died, not only in the cause of truth and 
 religion, but of gospel truth and evangelical religion, in 
 opposition to false and self-righteous views. The verse in 
 which our text lies, speaks of his blood as < righteous blood,' 
 — blood shed in the cause of righteousness, and classes him 
 with those 'prophets and wise men and scribes' who at 
 different periods have been ' killed and crucified, scourged in 
 the synagogues, or persecuted from city to city.' 
 
 As martyrdom necessarily implies, Abel was a witness. 
 ' By it, he, being dead, yet speaketh.' The antecedent to the 
 pronoun it, in this passage, has been variously understood, as 
 referring to Abel's sacrifice, to his faith, or to his blood. 
 However this point may be determined by critics, it is agree- 
 able to what is said in other parts of scripture to understand 
 his blood as bearing witness. That blood has a voice, which 
 has been heard uttering its testimony for thousands of years, 
 and which is still loud and definite as ever: 'The voice of 
 thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.' Nor 
 
1 72 TUE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 
 
 is it retribution only which his blood proclaims. When it is 
 said, 'The blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than 
 that of Abel,' we ai-e inclined to think that it is the blood of 
 Abel himself, not that of his sacrifice, which is here compared 
 with the blood of Christ.* At the time when the apostle 
 wrote, the blood of beasts, which had been so freely shed 
 under the law, had become dumb ; but there was a blood still, 
 which, like that of Abel, was not dumb, and never should be 
 so — a blood which, in contrast with that which cried for ven- 
 geance, implored mercy and forgiveness even on those by 
 whom it was shed. Abel's blood, then, had a voice ; it has 
 a voice still ; and ' by it, he, being dead, yet speaketh.' 
 
 And to what does the blood of martyred Abel bear wit- 
 ness? It testifies, in particular, to a fallen and guilty world, 
 four grand gospel truths. His ' righteous blood,' shed in 
 the cause of righteousness, proclaims unequivocally that sin- 
 ful man can be justified only by the righteousness of Christ ; 
 this cardinal doctrine of evangelical religion it announces in 
 the clearest and most unfaltering manner. It testifies, more- 
 over, that faith is necessary to a sinner's justification — faith 
 in the merits of a mediator. It tells, not less plainly, that no 
 acceptable offering, of worship or otherwise, can ever be pre- 
 sented to God, but through an atoning sacrifice. And it 
 makes known, without all peradventui'e, that God has had 
 but one method of saving sinners from the fall, even until now; 
 that the ground of a sinner's hope, the medium of man's in- 
 tercourse with heaven, has been one and the same in all ages; 
 so that the first subject of saving grace and the last who shall 
 find mercy of the Lord, may mingle their voices in one har- 
 monious ascription of praise to the one Redeemer through 
 eternity. These prominent features of the first martyr's 
 creed have formed favourite articles in the testimony of the 
 witnesses in every period. Dear are they to the hearts of the 
 saints, and worthy of being sealed with the best blood that 
 ever flowed in human veins. 
 
 Although the first, Abel was not the last martyr. Such 
 
 * This view is oupported by Owen, IMicliaelis, Moses Stuart, and Bloom- 
 field. 
 
THE FIRST nous YOUTH. 173 
 
 there have been in every age. God has never left himself 
 without witnesses ; and of the testimony of the witnesses it 
 has ever been the lot to be persecuted. The Jews of old 
 were persecuted by the heathen for testifying the unity of 
 God, in opposition to the manifold objects of polytheistic 
 idolatry. The primitive christians were persecuted by the 
 Jews for maintaining the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 The protestants of continental Europe were persecuted by 
 the votaries of the Roman pontiff, for adhering to the bible as 
 a perfect rule of faith, and refusing to submit to the dictation 
 of the pope. Our reforming ancestors in Scotland were per- 
 secuted for asserting the spiritual independence of the church 
 of Christ, and the sole headship of the Redeemer. It remains 
 that a distinct and open testimony be borne by many to the 
 universal moral supremacy of the Messiah — to his headship 
 over the nations as well as the church, and to the duty of civil 
 rulers to acknowledge his sovereignty, and have a supreme re- 
 gard to his glory ; and, when a number sufficient to awaken 
 the jealousy of men in power shall have adopted this testi- 
 mony, small ground is there to expect that it will not be 
 persecuted also. 
 
 You need not to be told how freely the blood of the saints 
 was shed during the straggle for reformation in our own land. 
 That blood has still a voice. It not only cries to heaven for 
 vengeance, but proclaims to all them that dwell on the earth 
 the principles of that glorious cause in which it was shed. It 
 tells of salvation by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; of the sole authority of the holy scriptures in matters 
 of religion, and the right of all men to use them and to take 
 from them their religious opinions ; of the sole headship of 
 Christ over the church, and the church's consequent indepen- 
 dence of civil control in all ecclesiastical concerns ; of the 
 headship of the Redeemer over the nations, and the conse- 
 quent duty to conduct civil affairs on religious principles, and 
 subordinate them to the interests of Zion ; of the right to re- 
 fuse submission to the powers that be, when they invade the 
 prerogatives of the Redeemer and tyrannically oppress the 
 ministers and members of his church j and of the importance 
 
174 THE FIRST PIOUS YODTH. 
 
 and obligation of public vows, as means of professing, advanc- 
 ing, and maintaining the cause of truth and godliness in the 
 world. In respect of this blood, how truly may it be said of 
 the martyrs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that 
 hy it, they, being dead, yet speak ! Yes ; their lives, recorded by 
 the pen of faithful contemporaries ; their principles and 
 struggles, incorporated with the honest history of their times; 
 the traditions, still told around many a Scottish fireside, of 
 their piety and steadfastness, their untiring perseverance and 
 unshrinking fortitude ; the scenes of their worship and their 
 warfare, hallowed by their religious meetings and their pat- 
 riotic resistance to tyrannical power, still sought after and 
 visited by the devoted admirers of bravery and piety ; thevery 
 relics of their torture, their tattered and blood-stained banners 
 emblazoned with Christ's crown and covenant, and their 
 parchment deeds of many signatures carefully preserved in 
 the archives of the antiquary ; nay, the rudely-carved stones, 
 which, whether in the crowded grave-yard or in the solitary 
 moor, still mark the spot where repose their ashes — these all 
 speak, loudly, eloquently, solemnly, of the character, and 
 doings, and sufferings, and spirit of men, of whom the world 
 Avas not worthy; men, some of whom were honoured to act a 
 conspicuous part in conducting the public affairs of their 
 country, others of whom ' lived unknown, till persecution 
 dragged them into fame, and chased them up to heaven,' 
 biit of all of whom it may be said — and nevermore truly than 
 noW' — 
 
 ' Their names shall nerve the patriot's hand, 
 
 Upraised to save a sinking land ; 
 
 And piety shall learn to burn 
 
 With holier transport o'er their nrn.' 
 
 If you would be followers of righteous Abel, my young 
 friends, you must cherish the spirit of martyrs. You may 
 not be treated precisely as Abel was ; you^may not be placed 
 in exactly the same circumstances as our reforming fore- 
 fathers; nevertheless it concei'ns you to show the same spirit 
 of faith, of patriotism, zeal, valour,, and hope. From the 
 spirit of the trmes, who can tell that mockery, and bondage, 
 
THE FIKST PIOUS YOUTH. 175 
 
 and privations, and barbarities, and even death, may not 
 soon be the portion of such as would be found faithful to the 
 Redeemer ? Adopt the principles of the martyrs, and hold 
 yourselves prepared to imitate their great activity and mag- 
 nanimous endurance in adhering to their principles. Let no 
 supple time-serving policy mark your conduct, but stand fast 
 in the exercise of faith, and love, and holiness. Love not 
 your lives unto the death. Act so as to show that the 
 counsel of your Lord and Master is ever ringing in your ears: 
 ' Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee a 
 crown of life.' The martyr's spirit is necessary to the 
 martyr's crown. Bright, indeed, is the crown of martyrdom, 
 and well calculated to compensate for all the sorrow and 
 suffering by which it is won. In all the three instances in 
 which martyrs are spoken of in scripture, it is remarkable 
 that they are introduced as standing in a near relation to the 
 exalted Redeemer : ' When the blood of his martyr Stephen 
 was shed ;' * Antipas, my faithful martyr ;' ' the blood of the 
 martyrs of Jesus' This itself gives to the character a moral 
 elevation, throws around it a halo of gloiy, sufficient to 
 neutralise disgrace and compensate for any measure of 
 hardship. 
 
 IV. We may, perhaps, in some sense, view righteous' Abel 
 as the first personal type of Christ. 
 
 There were such types of old. Moses, David, and Solomon, 
 are admitted to have borne this honourable character. There 
 are others whose title to rank among such is more equivocal ; 
 and among these last, many may be disposed to regard Abel. 
 This is not the place to discuss how great an amount of 
 designed resemblance is required to constitute any one of the 
 ancient worthies a type of him that was to come. Enough 
 for our present purpose to know that there ai'e many points 
 in the character and history of him of whom we are speaking, 
 fitted to remind us of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that 
 without any unnatural or fanciful straining. The very name 
 of Abel, signifying ' vanity,' may well remind us of Ilini 
 Avho was ' a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and 
 
176 THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH, 
 
 despised of the people.' The 'keeper of sheep' may 
 naturally enough conduct our thoughts to the ' Good Shep- 
 herd who gave his life for the sheep.' He who ' by faith 
 offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,' 
 reminds us of Him who, ' through the eternal Spirit, offered 
 himself without spot unto God, to put away sin by the 
 sacrifice of himself.' He who fell by the violent hand of 
 a cruel brother, suggests Him who was ' cut off, but not for 
 himself,' by the persecuting malice of his brethren the Jews ; 
 and wherefore slew they him, but because their own works 
 were evil, and his righteous? * Righteous Abel' may well 
 bring to our minds the ' righteous Lord that loveth righteous- 
 ness,' even him who is called ' the Lord our righteousness.' 
 Does Abel's blood speak? So surely does that of Christ. 
 But here the parallel runs out, for the blood of Christ 
 ' speaketh better things than that of Abel.' The one speaks 
 of enmity, the other speaks of reconciliation ; the one speaks 
 of condemnation, the other of pardon ; the one of defile- 
 ment, the other of purification ; the one of vengeance, the 
 other of mercy ; the one of misery, the other of happiness ; 
 the one of death, the other of Ufe. But whether Abel was 
 himself a type of Christ or not, we know that his sacrifice 
 v/as prefigurative of the Lamb of God who taketh away the 
 sin of the world, and calls for corresponding improvement. 
 
 Properly speaking, we cannot exhort you to imitate Abel 
 in the matter now under consideration. The typical dispen- 
 sation has long ago ceased; and, even were it not so, the 
 typical character is not properly a matter of voluntary 
 assumption. Still, in another point of view, the present 
 particular is not without its practical use. Saints are bound 
 to regard themselves as the representatives of Christ 
 in the world, and as such are under obligation to give 
 back a full and fair reflection of his bright and holy image 
 in their character and conduct. They ought to be con- 
 cerned to show that, ' beholding as in a glass the 
 glory of the Lord, they have been changed into the same 
 image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.* 
 Let the same mind, then, be in you which was also in him. 
 
THE FIRST nous YOUTH. 177 
 
 Bearing in mind that ' if any man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ he is none of his ;' see that you copy faithfully the 
 pattern of wisdom, charity, gentleness, forgiveness, purity, 
 disinterestedness, and spirituality, set before you by him who 
 has left us an example that we should follow his footsteps. 
 The consideration that men are apt to take their impressions 
 of the character of the master from that of his servants, 
 should fill every professed disciple of Jesus with the dread of 
 being accessory to the dissemination of false and distorted 
 views of the Saviour. 
 
 V. In fine, we ask you to regard righteous Abel as the 
 first redeemed soul that entered into glory. 
 
 Many more souls are there now, — a multitude, indeed, 
 which no man can number. But with peculiar injterest is 
 our attention drawn to the first who entered that holy and 
 happy region. Abel was the first of the human family who 
 departed this life ; and it is not a little deserving of notice 
 that the first who died met death unstinged. The first on 
 whom the sentence of death was executed, had that sentence 
 modified by the mitigations and counteractions of the scheme 
 of divine mercy. How beautifully illustrative is this of the 
 statement, that ' where sin abounded grace has much more 
 abounded.' Yes; my brethren, Christ had lifted a trophy to 
 heaven, before Satan had dragged down a victim to hell ! 
 Shocking as was the death of Abel in regard to the body, it 
 is pleasing to think that the soul was perfectly safe, and that, 
 from the gory earth to which he was felled by the murderous 
 stroke of the blood-thirsty assassin, his spirit soared aloft 
 under angelic escort to the bosom of his Saviour and his God. 
 
 And oh ! what an interest must the arrival of that soul 
 have awakened in heaven ! How interesting must it have 
 appeared to the Father, as being the first-fruit of the work of 
 his Son, nay, the first-fruit of his own electing and saving 
 love ! How interesting to the Son, as the first trophy of his 
 conquest over sin and Satan, the first gem in his mediatorial 
 diadem, the first voice to sing that jubilant anthem in which 
 he is to be praised through eternity ! How interesting to tlie 
 
 n2 
 
178 THE FIRST PIOUS TOUTH. 
 
 Spirit, as the first resplendent result of his regenerating and 
 sanctifying power ! How interesting to angels, as the first 
 specimen of a new order of companions with whom they are 
 to be associated for ever, it being the purpose of God to unite 
 in Christ things in heaven and things in earth, and to restore 
 outcast men to the fellowship of the elder sons of light ! How 
 may these celestial ones be supposed to have clustered around 
 him on his first appearance among them ; and what a stimulus 
 must the novelty of his presence have given to their intellec- 
 tual, moral, and social faculties! What an object of interest 
 must this soul have been, — nay, must continue to be, — to the 
 saints that followed after him, as the first-fruits of a rich and 
 glorious harvest of souls hereafter to be reaped at the end of 
 time ! Much of that harvest has since been gathered in ; 
 much of it yet remains to be collected; but we have the pledge 
 of it all in the entrance of the soul of righteous Abel -into 
 heaven, which may on this account be regarded, in terms that 
 have been used of another, as ' the wave- ofi'ering of a world 
 already white unto the harvest, the signal of those ever suc- 
 cessive victories by which the prey should be snatched from 
 the mighty, and the sinner be saved to the uttermost.' 
 
 Need I call upon you to follow Abel into glory ? If you 
 resemble him in the other points, resemblance in this also will 
 not be awanting. No, through the blood and righteousness 
 of Him in whom he believed and whom he was honoured to 
 prefigure by his sacrifice, when you die you shall be translated 
 to heaven, to mingle with Abel and all who have followed 
 him, — to join that happy throng of redeemed men who sur- 
 round the throne of God and of the Lamb; and you, too, 
 shall be objects of complacent regard on the part of Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, of angelic spirits, and glorified saints. 
 
 Such are some lights, replete with solemn interest, in which 
 the first pious youth may be viewed. Wduld that I could 
 persuade some, at least, of the vast assembly now before me 
 to follow the example of / righteous Abel.' Your privileges 
 are, in many respects, greatly superior to his :- and this, it 
 becomes you to reflect, brings with it a corresponding measure 
 
THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 179 
 
 of responsibility. Be assured, from all you have this evening 
 heard, that righteousness is the leading and pervading feature 
 of a gracious character. Righteousness springs from justifica- 
 tion ; is the secret of all acceptable worship ; is essential to 
 the character and testimony of a martyr or witness; and is 
 indispensable to admission to heaven, — the gates of heaven 
 being ' gates of righteousness,' into which only the ' righteous 
 shall enter.' Secure, then, a righteous character, and ye 
 secure all. Nor do we mock your worthlessness and impo- 
 tency by nature when we offer you this counsel. We 
 proclaim, — we offer to every sinner within these walls, a 
 righteousness in which he may be pardoned and accepted. 
 We tell you, heai-ers, of one whose name is thk Lord our 
 Righteousness, through whom whosoever believeth may be- 
 come 'righteous' as well as Abel; and, considering the awful 
 alternative that may hinge on this announcement and offer, 
 we cannot but suppose that heaven and hell, holy angels and 
 fallen spirits, are roused to wait with anxiety the issue. If, 
 like Cain, you disregard the announcement, and reject the 
 offer, angels shall weep, and devils send forth a shout of in- 
 fernal triumph. But if, Abel-like, you hail the announcement 
 and accept the offer, devils shall gnash their teeth with dis- 
 appointment, and angels exult with joy unspeakable. Can 
 you hesitate a moment to which of these parties you should 
 give delight? 
 
 It is perhaps expected that I should say something to the 
 class of persons by whom this service has been requested, 
 bearing more directly on their duty at the present time. 
 However, under different circumstances, I might have shrunk 
 from the presumption of volunteering an advice to the students 
 and young men who principally compose the pi'esent audience, 
 your own request relieves me from every feeling of embar- 
 rassment on this score. But what shall I say to you, my 
 young friends, seeing you have given me liberty to speak ? I 
 must not conceal from you the conviction to which every day, 
 I might almost say every hour, is adding strength, that we 
 are on the verge of ' perilous times,' in which you may have 
 
380 THE FIRST PIOUS TOUTII. 
 
 a part of no small difficulty to act. There is much in the 
 present aspect of things in our land to awaken and perpetuate 
 the conviction in question — a conviction with regard to which 
 an unwonted harmony of opinion seems to prevail among 
 those who are accustomed to watch the indications of provi- 
 dence. In particular, the spirit which has been elicited in 
 Scotland, especially among the higher classes, in consequence 
 of the late collision that has occurred between the Established 
 Church and the civil courts, and the marvellous progress in 
 England, especially also among the upper ranks, of that 
 system of ill-disguised popery which has attracted so much 
 attention and awakened so much well-grounded alarm 
 throughout the length and breadth of protestant Christendom, 
 proclaim, but too unequivocally, that a crisis is at hand for 
 Avhich the young cannot too anxiously prepare. The days in 
 which your lot is cast admit of neither idleness nor neutrality, 
 Whei'e so much is to be done and so much to be endured, 
 activity and firmness are pre-eminently required. These are 
 not the times for soft and silken manners, for loose opinion or 
 easy virtue, for lukewarmness or indifference. On the con- 
 trary, manly boldness, unquenchable zeal, indomitable courage 
 and untiring patience, are the qualities demanded. These,- 
 let it be your concern to seek from the Spirit of all grace, who 
 giveth to every one severally as he wills; and, having ob- 
 tained, see that you conscientiously cherish and exert them. 
 
 See to it, that your characters be well grounded on a righ- 
 teousness better than your own. Your first concern ought to 
 be, to be righteous ; evangelically and personally righteous. 
 This you are to regard as essentially, indispensably necessary. 
 Without it there can be neither personal safety nor relative 
 fitness. Prominent, then, among the things I would recom- 
 mend, is the study of piety, — deep, personal piety, — piety 
 sound, fervent, consistent, eminent. Yes, eminent ; it is not 
 an ordinary measure of grace that will suffice to qualify you 
 for acting your part in these days of trouble, and rebuke, and 
 blasphemy ; and gi'eat need have you to invoke a ' double 
 portion ' of the Spirit to be poured out upon you. 
 
 Some of you are looking forward to the christian ministry, 
 
THE FIRST PIOUS YOUTH. 181 
 
 and such -I would remind of what has been said regarding 
 the importance that attaches to the doctrine of imputed righ- 
 teousness, and to the distinction between evangelical and legal 
 religion. In your future ministrations, exhibit clearly and 
 faithfully, justification by faith without the works of the law. 
 Beware of adopting any system of interpretation by which 
 this vital article is liable to be either concealed or compro- 
 mised. Hold it forth in all its naked simplicity, in its abun- 
 dant scriptural evidence, and its mighty power to salvation. 
 This is the more requisite, that tenets directly subversive of 
 the cardinal principle in question are cunningly insinuated 
 and industriously circulated by men who, having set them- 
 selves to overthrow the protestant Refoi'mation, have, witli 
 revolting consistency, made a daring assault on this its corner- 
 stone. And, oh ! beware of that cold system of rationalism, 
 once so prevalent in Scotland, Avhich overlooks, in a great 
 measure, man's fallen state, and resolves religion into the 
 grateful homage of a mei-e creature to the God of nature, 
 instead of a sinner's believing trust for acceptance in the 
 sacrifice of God's own Son. 
 
 Be it yours to aspire at the honour of being witnesses for 
 the Redeemer, in these dark days of Antichrist's power and 
 reign. Holy and honourable is the character of those who 
 are privileged to bear testimony against the whole antichristian 
 system. We have already adverted to the probability of the 
 testimony of the witnesses being persecuted, and we have 
 indicated what seems to us to be the point on which this 
 testimony is likely to turn, — the universal moral supremacy 
 of Messiah. May I not presume that you desire to rank 
 among the ' witnesses V If so, remember that a witness is 
 required to be intelligent, faithful, consistent, persevering, 
 self-denied ; and set yourselves to acquire these qualifications. 
 To the sepai'ating cry which is now, as of old, heard in the 
 camp of Israel, ' AVho is on the Lord's side?' stand prepared 
 to give a decided answer, ' Thine are we, David, and on 
 thy side, thou son of Jesse.' Let no consideration discourage 
 you from casting in your lot with the Redeemer's called and 
 chosen and faithful adherents. Let no flatteries allure, let 
 
182 THE FIUST nous YOUTH. 
 
 no opposition frighten you from your position on the side of 
 ' Micliael your prince.' If you have fully and determinedly 
 made up your minds to be ' witnesses,' you will, perhaps, find 
 that what may seem at first sight to be points of discourage- 
 ment, are but the characteristics of those who are entitled to 
 wear the honourable appellation. Is it the smallness of your 
 numbers that discourages you ? Remember that the witnesses 
 are but ' two,' — the smallest possible number by which the 
 truth of an allegation can be attested. Are you afraid of 
 poverty, in consequence of having to relinquish emoluments 
 to which you reckoned yourselves entitled ? Bear in mind 
 that the witnesses are to prophesy in ' sackcloth,' the garb of 
 poverty, — not in gay clothing, indicative of wealth. If you 
 are to hold the honourable character of which we are speak- 
 ing, you must learn to practise self-denial ; and it will be no 
 evidence that such character is yours, if you can iu any way 
 sympathise with the men who would sell the blood-bought 
 birth-right of Scotland's church for a mess of pottage. Does 
 the prospect of persecution cause you uneasiness? You can- 
 not sui-ely forget -that the witnesses are to be 'slain.' And 
 what if the movements of the present day should be prepara- 
 tory to the fulfilment of the prophecies which foretel the* 
 slaying of the witnesses? Be it so. You have no reason to 
 tremble. He who watched over the preservation of Lot and 
 of the primitive christians, will provide another Zoar, or 
 another Pella, in which the faithful shall be sheltered, 
 during the brief period when they are to lie politically dead 
 in the street of the great city. And even should the wit- 
 nesses, like Abel, be literally slain, their blood, like his, shall 
 continue to bear testimony when their voices have been 
 hushed in the silence of death, By it, they, being dead, shall 
 yet speak. And the' spirit of life from God, by this means 
 entering into their survivors, shall realise th^ promised resur- 
 rection of the witnesses, who shall thus stand again upon their 
 feet; and great joy shall fall upon them that see them. Then 
 a voice from heaven shall be heard saying to them. Come up 
 hither ; and they shall ascend up to heaven in a cloud. The 
 same hour shall there be an earthquake, and the tenth part 
 
THE FIRST nous YOUTH. 183 
 
 of the cif}'^ shall fall, and the remnant shall be affrighted and 
 give gloi-y to God. Then shall succeed the blissful and long- 
 wished-for period, introduced by the sounding of the seventh 
 angel, and worthy of being proclaimed by great voices in 
 heaven, — The kingdoms of this avorld are become the 
 
 KINGDOMS of OUR LORD AND OF HIS ClIRIST ; AND HE SHALL 
 
 reign for ever and ever ! 
 
 Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus ; come quickly ! 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 LOVE ONEAN OTHER. 
 
 Preached in the Free Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, July 11, 1843, fit the 
 
 opening of the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the 
 
 Westminster Assembly. 
 
 John xiii. 34, 
 
 '.4 new CGmmandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.'' 
 
 We are now assembled in very peculiar circumstances — cir- 
 cumstances at once solemnising and delightful. We are met 
 to do honour to the character and the deeds of men of other 
 years. The disposition to commemorate past events, whether 
 of public or private interest, springs from an original law of 
 our nature, a law which certainly admits of being, and has 
 actually been grossly abused, but which is, nevertheless, good 
 in itself, and capable of being turned to valuable account. 
 Subjects of great and permanent utility are thus held forth to 
 view, and hindered from passing into oblivion. The very act 
 of reminiscence calls into operation, and consequently improves 
 by exercising, some of the higher moral sentiments of the 
 heart. And, even if there were no other advantage^ we might 
 well feel prompted to such an undertaking, when we I'eflect 
 that it tends so forcibly to remind us of the lapse of time — of 
 the steady progression of those quickly-revoRing cycles which 
 are hastening on the secrets of futurity to their complete and 
 final development; and, by bringing us to contemplate what 
 has been happily stjled 'the funeral procession, of centuries,' 
 to lead us to reflect at once on ' the handbreadth of our own 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 185 
 
 earthly concerns,' and on ' the vast gulf of duration beyond.' 
 Strongly, therefore, do we feel that, in responding to the pre- 
 sent call in providence, instead of lending countenance to 
 the pernicious principle that ' the church hath pov^er to decree 
 rites and ceremonies,' we are only following the approved 
 example of him who said, ' I remember the days of old, the 
 years of ancient times ; I will remember the years of the right 
 hand of the Most High ;' nay, we are acting under authority 
 of the divine command: ' Remember the days of old, consider 
 the years of many generations ; ask thy father and he will 
 show thee, thy elders and they will tell thee.' 
 
 Not the least interesting, and I would say too, not the least 
 approjv'iate, feature of the present meeting is, that it is com- 
 posed of persons of different denominations. Under the con- 
 straining power of a common sympathy we have agreed, I do 
 not say to strike our respective banners, but, instead of lifting 
 them in hostile opposition to one another, to range them all 
 in peaceful display around one glorious standard, to which we 
 all feel under lasting obligations, and towards which we all 
 profess to cherish one lofty sentiment of moral admiration. 
 Under these circumstances, when, at your own request, pro- 
 ceeding to address you in the name of our common Lord, I 
 know not that I could select words more befitting the occa- 
 sion, or more in accordance with the will of our Divine 
 Master, than those which I have just read in your hearing, 
 and which were first spoken by his own lips to his disciples 
 on earth : ' A new commandment I give unto you, that ye 
 love one another.' 
 
 It is perhaps not unworthy of remark, that these words 
 were spoken by Jesus to the eleven disciples, after Judas, 
 impelled by Satan, had left their company and gone out with 
 a view to fulfil his treacherous engagement with the chief 
 priests. The Saviour, placing the fullest confidence in those 
 who remained, and laying aside all reserve, proceeded to 
 give them his last instructions in that most interesting, beau- 
 tiful, and comforting discourse contained in this and some 
 following chapters. The advice we have chosen as our text 
 stands near the outset of the address, and from its position. 
 
186 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 as well as other circumstances, seems obviously to refer to 
 something that is peculiarly weighty and important. 
 
 It sounds rather strange, indeed, that what is here enjoined 
 should be called a new commandment, the love of our neigh- 
 bour being elsewhere spoken of as constituting a summary 
 of one grand division of the moral law, and the moral law 
 having been, of course, in its essence at least, coeval with 
 the existence of the species. From the beginning it must 
 have been the duty of men to love one another ; after four 
 thousand years the duty in question could be no novelty ; and 
 yet it is here inculcated in a commandment which is said to 
 be new. There have been different attempts made to explain 
 this difficulty. Some of these are too frivolous to merit notice 
 in this place ; but others deserve attention. Some view the 
 commandment before us as referring to tlie love of good men as 
 such, which they suppose was nevei", previously to this period, 
 formally enjoined. This explanation, although supported by 
 a name which stands high in theological science, appears to 
 us to be exceedingly forced and unnatural ; nor can we for a 
 moment bring ourselves to think that the duty just spoken 
 of was not fully and clearly comprehended in the ancient 
 precept, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' This 
 being the case, of course it must have been inculcated hun- 
 dreds of times by the prophets, and doubtless must have been 
 reduced to practice every day by the saints of the former dis- 
 pensation. Brotherly love, even in this peculiar and restricted 
 sense, could not therefore have been exemplified, for the first 
 time, by the disciples of our Lord in the days of his flesh : 
 * Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an 
 old commandment, which ye had from the beginning.' There 
 must be some other explanation. And, perhaps,' when we 
 consider that the duty in question was too much a novelty 
 at that period, as it is still, in the practice of men — when we 
 reflect that it had no place among the lessons taught by either 
 the divines or the moralists of that age — and when we add 
 that it was now enforced by new motives, and recommended 
 and illustrated by a new example, We shall probably feel 
 satisfied that abundant reason existed why it should be charac- 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 187 
 
 terised as a new commandment. It is indeed both new and 
 not new— not new in substance, but new in the circumstances 
 which attend its promulgation. 
 
 Conceiving the subject to be not unsuitable to our present 
 purpose, I shall, in the sequel, endeavour to explain and en- 
 force the duty here inculcated. 
 
 I. In explanation, it may be remarked in general, that 'love' 
 is a term of comprehensive import. Divines speak of a love 
 of benevolence, and a love of gratitude, and a love of com- 
 placency. The love of benevolence is due to the whole human 
 family at large. It is indeed the great principle of the second 
 table of the moral law, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself,' — the term neighbour, in the scripture sense of it, com- 
 prehending all mankind without exception, — all those whom 
 God hath made of one blood to dwell on all the face of the 
 earth. It admits not of being restricted by the circumstance 
 of party, of relationship, of locality, or by any other distinc- 
 tion whatsoever. It is due to the worst as well as to the best 
 — to the deceitful as well as to the sincere — to strangers 
 whom we have never seen — nay, even to enemies who hate, 
 revile, despitefully use and persecute us, as much as to those 
 who are our personal friends and nearest relatives. 
 
 But as the text was addressed to the disciples of our Lord 
 in particular, and not to men promiscuously, it may be pre- 
 sumed to refer to some duty that is peculiar. The love here 
 enjoined is, in short, that which we owe to men, viewed not 
 merely as creatures, but as new creatures — not as fellow- 
 men, but fellow-saints, fellow-heirs, and of the household of 
 faith — not merely as capable of existence and of happiness, 
 but as possessed of certain moral and religious qualities — not, 
 in one word, as brethren by natui-e, but as brethren in Christ. 
 To such, love, in all its modifications, in its fullest extent, 
 is due. It must include benevolence, or wishing them all the 
 good, temporal and spiritual, of which their nature admits — 
 gratitude, in return for all the benefits we derive from their 
 society, example, prayers, and acts of beneficence — and, above 
 all, complacency, or moral satisfaction in their excellent pro- 
 
188 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 perties, as believers in Christ Jesus, consisting in a high esteem 
 of the holiness, and goodness, and spirituality, and heavenli- 
 ness which compose their character — a character so truly 
 worthy, amiable, desirable. The feeling in this latter form is 
 what was exemplified by David, when he spoke of the saints 
 on earth as ' the excellent, in whom was all his delight.' 
 (Ps. xvi. 3.) Here we have the very thing of which we are 
 speaking — delight in moral excellence. The character of the 
 saints affords room for the exercise of this noble sentiment. 
 The qualities which are its proper object do not certainly 
 belong to them by nature — in themselves, they are, through 
 the influence of depravity, 'black and, ugly,' in a moral 
 point of view ; but in respect of their new nature, as born of 
 the Spirit, and sanctified in heart and in life, they are ' all 
 fair' in the estimation of such as are qualified to discern and 
 appreciate real excellence, true genuine moral worth. Now, 
 as to the saints belongs that which is fitted to awaken and 
 exercise the principle of moral esteem, it may be inferred to 
 be the duty of every christian to exhibit the working of this 
 principle. Indeed, the duty is explicitly inculcated by the 
 Saviour in the text ; but to the exemplification of it aright, 
 it is requisite that its nature be distinctly understood. 
 
 The love enjoined in the new commandment, be it ob-' 
 served, then, is a divine or preternatural love. It is not a 
 mere natui*al affection. There is a sort of brotherly love, 
 which is a part of man's original moral constitution, which 
 has not been quite obliterated by the fall, and which still 
 serves an important purpose, as a bond by which families are 
 united and held together. But that which binds together the 
 members of the family of Christ, is supernatural, spiritual, 
 divine. It is possessed only by such as have undergone a 
 spiritual renovation, and by all such ; as saints only can be 
 its objects, only saints' can be its subjects ; it takes its rise 
 from the new nature imparted in regeneration ; without this, 
 it can have no existence ; it is, in short, a grace of the Holy 
 Spirit : ' As touching brotherly love,' says Paul, ' ye need 
 not that I write unto you : for ye yoyrselves are taught of 
 God to love on© another.' (1 Thess. iv. 9.) ' Seeing,' says 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 189 
 
 Peter, ' ye have purified 3'our souls in obeying the truth 
 through the Spirit, unto the unfeigned love of the brethren, 
 see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.' 
 (1 Pet. i. 22.) To the same purpose are the w^ords of John : 
 ' Beloved, let us love one another ; for love is of God, and 
 every one that loveth is born of God.' (1 John iv. 7.) There 
 is, indeed, a natui'al warmth of heart possessed by some which 
 is apt to be mistjJien, even by themselves, for the principle of 
 which we are speaking, and with reference to which it is not 
 uncommon to hear men who have no pretensions to piety talk 
 of the love they bear to all good people. But on a close 
 analysis it Avill be found to be a mere natural affection after 
 all. There being no capacity for discerning that which is 
 spiritual, the qualities which awaken it are nothing more than 
 certain natural good dispositions which the objects happen to 
 possess ; it can have no respect to what constitutes the dis- 
 tinctive featui'cs of a renewed character, for these one who is 
 not renewed can never appreciate ; they cannot once come 
 into calculation ; he wants the very faculty for perceiving 
 their existence, not to speak of estimating their worth. Let 
 us, then, beware of deceiving ourselves in this matter. Un- 
 less we are taught of God, purified by the Spirit, born from 
 above, we never can exemplify the duty enjoined by the 
 Saviour — we are morally disqualified for yielding obedience 
 to the new commandment. It is strongly corroborative of 
 this remark, that love to man is necessarily and intimately 
 connected with love to God — so much so, that the former 
 cannot even exist without the latter. It will be readily 
 enough admitted, that there cannot be true love to God with- 
 out producing love to man. But the converse holds equally 
 good ; there cannot be true love to man except where there 
 previously exists love to God. As there cannot be religion 
 without morality, so neither can there be morality without 
 religion. Love to God would want one of its proper evi- 
 dences were there no love to man ; but love to man would 
 want its proper principle were there no love to God. It 
 irrefragably follows, that love, even to fellow-men, and much 
 more of course to fellow-saints, can be properly exercised 
 
190 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 only by such as are born again ; it is a preternatural princi- 
 ple, the product of the Spirit of all grace : ' The fruit of the 
 Spirit is love.' 
 
 But more than this. The love here commanded is of an 
 evangelical kind. It is not a mere moral duty — not a branch 
 of heathenish ethics, to be spoken of as obligatory, because it 
 is fit, or proper, or becoming, or amiable. It is based on the 
 gospel of the Son of God. Like other duties, doubtless it 
 admits of being enforced by hope and by fear ; but, in addition 
 to these, there are higher and more powerful recommendatory 
 considerations — considerations arising o^t cf the authority, 
 the example, and the glory of Christ. The authority of Clirist 
 is brought forward in the text : ' A new commandment I give 
 unto you ;' and afterwards, in the same discourse, he says with 
 emphasis, ' This is my commandment, that ye love one an- 
 other ;' and again, ' These things I command you that ye 
 love one another.' (John xv. 12-17) It thus appears that the 
 duty was enjoined by the Redeemer again and again. It is 
 not left resting on common ground with other moral duties ; 
 it is lifted to a higher elevation, and invested with a more 
 hallowed character. It is not a thing to be done because.it 
 is right and proper in itself, or because it will prove pi'ofitable* 
 to the person performing it, or because the neglect of it 
 would be dangerous, or even because it is commanded by 
 God, absolutely considered, but it is to be done" because re- 
 quired by the Saviour, out of respect to his high and mild 
 authority, in obedience to his gracious command. And O, 
 my hearers, what power there is in such a motive — in the 
 authority of one so exalted, so good, so kind, so beneficent ! 
 A stranger to everything like christian feeling must be that 
 heart which is not alive to the weight of a consideration 
 such as this. Then, again, the love in question was exempli- 
 fied by our Lord himself. To the text it is added, ' As I 
 have loved you, that ye also love one another.' The same 
 consideration is adverted to elsewhere : ' This is my com- 
 mandment, that ye love one another, , as I have loved you,' 
 Mark these words, ' As I have loved you.' They are full of 
 meaning ; they serve to give a particular emphasis and char- 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 191 
 
 actcr to what is required. Christ himself set an example, a 
 perfect example of love to tlie brethren ; his love was perfect 
 in the principle from which it llowed, perfect in the measure 
 of its exercise, and perfect in the fruits of which it was pro- 
 ductive. No angry look ever manned the beauty of his coun- 
 tenance ; no harsh imputation ever disturbed the music of 
 Ms tones ; no selfish emotion ever obstructed the flow of his 
 generosity ; no unkind suspicion ever chilled the ardour of his 
 affection. This is the pattern after which we are to copy. 
 Our love to the brethren is to be formed on the model of his 
 — the same in kind, and, as far as the necessary limitation of 
 our nature will admit, the same also in degree : ' That ye 
 love one another, as I have loved you.' Moreover, in paying 
 this respect to our brethren, we must have regard to the glory 
 of Christ as well as to his authority and example. They are 
 his — his children, his disciples, his subjects, his brethren. 
 They are closely and delightfully connected with himself; they 
 bear his name, breathe his Spirit, and reflect his image. It 
 must, therefore, be honouring to Him to love them. To treat 
 them with disrespect, or even with neglect, cannot but be held 
 dishonouring to Him. So much are they identified, that what 
 is done to them is regarded as done to Him : ' Inasmuch as 
 ye have done it unto one of the least of these my children, 
 ye have done it unto me. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one 
 of the least of these, ye did it not to me.' In loving them that 
 are begotten, respect must be had to the glory of Him that 
 begat. Thus evangelical is the duty before us — evangelical 
 in its origin, the authority of Christ — evangelical in its rule, 
 the example of Christ — and evangelical in its end, the glory 
 of Christ. . 
 
 It is scai'cely necessary after this to remark, that the love 
 inculcated by the new commandment is sincere and disinter- 
 ested love. By one inspired writer it is described as ' un- 
 feigned love of the brethren' (1 Pet, i. 22) ; by another, as 
 ' love without dissimulation.' (Rom. xii. 3.) How common 
 for persons to practise all the outward forms of good-breeding, 
 to observe the rules of politeness, to employ the language of 
 friendship, and even to lavish on one another terms of adula- 
 
192 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 tion, when there is no genuine attachment in the heart ! The 
 love of many consists only in empty compliment, hollow pro- 
 fession, meaningless ceremony ; it is nothing other than a 
 well-sustained course of hypocrisy and deception. Unlike 
 this, the love which subsists among the disciples of Christ is 
 ' unfeigned,' and ' without dissimulation;' that is to say, un- 
 hypocritical, unmasked, unveiled, needing no cloak of dexter- 
 ous simulation to conceal its pretensions ; everything about it 
 may be laid open and bare ; the words of the lips and actions 
 of the life being just an exact transcript of the inward feelings 
 of the soul. ' The law of kindness ' is in the heart as well 
 as ' on the lips.' Nor has it any contaminating intermixture 
 of selfishness, as is too often the case among the men of 
 the world : ' Love seeketh not its own things.' It is not 
 dictated by motives of worldly advantage. It is not an article 
 of sordid traffic — a mere matter of profit or aggrandisement. 
 It is altogether a different thing from the professed love of 
 those who, when their own personal interests are to be pro- 
 moted, can be ever so accommodating and complacent, nay, 
 even sycophantish — 'having men's persons in admiration 
 because of advantage ; ' but when difficulties require to be 
 encountered, and sacrifices require to be made, in carrying oufe 
 their professions of attachment, their affection instantly eva- 
 porates, leaving the poor victim of a misplaced confidence, in 
 the bitterness of disappointment, to exclaim, ' My brethren 
 have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks 
 they pass away.' Unlike this, the love before usis a generous 
 and disinterested affection, dictated by the purest motives, and 
 flowing from a source not liable to be affected by the vicis- 
 situdes of fortune. Its objects are immortal beings, and itself 
 wears the stamp of immortality. ' Charity never faileth.' 
 
 In describing brotherly love, due regard must be had to 
 what is said respecting it by the apostle Peter : ' See that ye 
 love one another with a pure heart fervently.' (1 Pet. i. 22 ) 
 Purity and fervour are indispensable qualities of christian 
 affection. It is pure ; it proceeds from a pure heart; it issues 
 from a sanctified fountain. Murderers, drunkards, and sen- 
 sualists may have some bond of attachment which leads them 
 
I.OVE ONE ANOTIIEIJ. 193 
 
 to associate with a view to destroy the lives of their fellow- 
 men, to celebrate their obscene orgies, or to indulge those 
 brutal propensities of which they ought to be ashamed. But 
 their love — if love it may be called — is not pure ; the princi- 
 ple of their alliance is unholy ; like Simeon and Levi, they 
 are ' companions in iniquity,' in course of preparation for 
 being companions in tribulation, when they shall be gathered 
 together into the place of unending woe. The love of Christ's 
 disciples, on the contrary, flows from a holy principle, is 
 directed to holy objects, and tends to provoke not only to 
 love but to good works. Nor is it less distinguished by its 
 fervency. It possesses a keen sensibility, opposed alike to 
 fluctuation and to indifference. It burns with a strong and 
 a steady flame ; many waters cannot quench it, neither can 
 the floods drown it. "Worldly afllictions, reverses of fortune, 
 sicknesses, calumnies, injuries, have no tendency to quench 
 this holy fire. Amid the greatest ills that can befal its objects, 
 it glows with undiminished intensity, stirring up to constant 
 acts of kindness, and consuming whatever obstacles may stand 
 in the way of its exercise. There is a love which can live 
 only in the sunshine of prosperity, but this displays its brightest 
 beam in the dark night of adversity. If we would obey the 
 Saviour's command, we must ' have fervent charity among 
 ourselves,' and count nothing strange to us which can* pos- 
 sibly affect the reputation, the happiness, or the well-being of 
 brethren in Christ : 'A friend loveth at all times, and a brother 
 is born for adversity.' 
 
 This leads us to observe, that the love enjoined is an active 
 principle : ' My little children, let us not love in word, neither 
 in tongue, but in deed and in truth.' We love in truth only 
 when we love in deed. The love of the brethren is not a sickly 
 feeling of sentimentalism, but a sturdy principle of patient 
 endurance and active performance. It will show itself in 
 leading those who are under its influence to abstain from 
 injuring such as are its objects, and to avoid giving them 
 unnecessary offence; to abstain alike fi'oni doing injury to 
 their persons, property, character, and even feelings. It will 
 dispose us even to forgive injuries that may happen to be 
 
194 LOVE ONE ANOTIIEK. 
 
 committed against ourselves. OflPences must needs come. 
 Misunderstandings are sure to fall out in the best regulated 
 communities on earth. They are the unavoidable result of 
 the intercourse of imperfect and fallen creatures. But where 
 love exists, the evil results of such occurrences are in a great 
 measure neutralised. Where there is love there will be for- 
 beai'ance and forgiveness ; resentment can have no place ; 
 every feeling of revenge must necessarily be suppressed: 'With 
 all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one 
 another in love.' (Ephes. iv. 2.) ' Put on, therefore, as the 
 elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
 humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering : forbearing one 
 another, and forgiving one another, if any one have a quarrel 
 against any : even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And 
 above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of 
 perfectness.' (Col. iii. 12-14.) Love is the proper element 
 of peace. Strife and contention are incompatible with its ex- 
 istence. Where it reigns, the sun will not be permitted to go 
 down upon our wrath. It also manifests its influence in 
 prompting us to cultivate one another's society. Love leads to 
 a free, familiar, unsuspecting utterance of the heart; it banishes 
 cold. reserve ; it puts an end to chilling suspicion: 'Out of 
 the abundance of the heai't the mouth speaketh.' The parties 
 who are knit heart to heart in the sympathies of affection will 
 necessarily be drawn to join hand in hand in the intercourse 
 of friendship : ' Come, hear, all ye that fear God, and I will 
 declare what he hath done for my soul.' ' Then they that 
 feared the Lord spake often one to another.' When the heart 
 is full of love, 'the law of kindness is on the lips.' It prompts 
 to sympathise with one another's joys and sorrows. Its direct 
 tendency is to produce a community of feeling and of interest, 
 leading those who feel it to make the case of those toward 
 whom it is felt their own, and thus teaching them to weep 
 with them that weep, and rejoice with them that do rejoice. 
 It disposes, further, to promote and to delight in one another's 
 good. It teaches, instead of hindering, to advance in every 
 possible way the true interests of others. The morbid sensi- 
 bility which can weep over a tale of imaginary distress, and 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 195 
 
 yet turn ^way with disgust from a case of real suffering — 
 which can say to a brother or a sistei", Be warmed and filled, 
 but gives not those things which are needful for the body — 
 has no foundation in love. Nor will it admit of the indulgence 
 of envy, its tendency being to repress every such ungenerous 
 emotion, and to stir up to rejoice in good always. But there 
 is no end to an enumeration of the activities of brotherly 
 love ; nor is there any sacrilice, however great, which it will 
 not enable its possessor to make : ' We ought to lay down 
 our lives for the brethren.' 
 
 It remains to observe, that the principle of which we are 
 speaking is most comprehensive, is, in short, universal as 
 regards its objects. It admits of no restriction Avithin the 
 commonwealth of Christianity. It is to be cherished towards 
 all who bear the image of the Saviour, without re'gard to 
 family, church, or nation. Differences of sentiment there may 
 be, and important differences, too ; differences of ecclesiastical 
 profession there may be, and resting too on well-grounded 
 distinctions. Yet must not these be suffered to obstruct the 
 flow of mutual good-will and esteem. The greater principle 
 must not be overborne by the less. Too long have persons 
 of different denominations regarded one another with un- 
 friendly jealousy ; too long have they indulged in the language 
 of bitter invective ; too long have they stood aloof in th'e atti- 
 tude of dark suspicion or supercilious disdain. These things 
 ought not so to be. Not that we would be understood as 
 meaning that all communities and professions are alike worthy 
 of countenance and support, — that there is really no distinc- 
 tion worthy of regard among them. Far otherwise. We can- 
 didly avow that we have no taste whatever for the sentimental 
 cant of the day, which would go to reduce all differences of 
 religious profession to some vague levelling scheme of indis- 
 criminate communion. The maintenance of truth, the support 
 of discipline, the preservation of ecclesiastical order, we humbly 
 deem matters of moment; and, in order to secure these, we 
 regard a different line of procedure to be necessary. Never- 
 theless, we see nothing in all this that should prevent the fullest 
 reciprocation of kindly feeling ; nor have we any hesitation 
 
196 LOVE ONE ANOTHER, 
 
 in affirming it as our opinion, that the man has good reason 
 to question his Christianity altogether who would hesitate to 
 say, ' the grace C;f God be with all who love the Lord Jesus 
 in sincerity.' We may surely wish one anotlier well without 
 lending our countenance to error ; we may surely seek one 
 another's good without making a compromise of truth ; we 
 may surely love a brother in our heart and yet be careful not 
 to suffer sin upon a brother. Let us see that we exemplify 
 this, my dear brethren. By kindness, by candour, by for- 
 bearance, by prayer, and by cheerful co-operation in -common 
 efforts for the support and extension of religion, let us show 
 that we can combine firm adherence to principle vv'ith warmth 
 of love to the brethren. I would not say that men should 
 never talk of their differences ; such advice were alike irra- 
 tional, unmanly, and subversive of ultimate unity; but when 
 they do, let them talk of them with meekness and with minds 
 open to conviction. And this we certainly will say, that if 
 men were to talk more about the things in regard to which 
 they are agreed, and to pray more about those in respect to 
 Avhich they differ, it would tend powerfully to promote, not 
 only brotherly love in particular, but the interests of religion 
 at large. 
 
 II. Having thus explained the nature of the feeling spoken 
 of in the text, it remains that we attempt to enforce the prac- 
 tice of it by some few considerations. 
 
 There is a moral fitness in the love of christian brethren 
 for one another. Their nature, their relations, and their 
 mutual dependence are such that reciprocal affection com- 
 mends itself at once to the approbation of every virtuous 
 bosom, while the want of it, and still more, its opposite, is 
 calculated to shock alLour ideas of propriety. Strangers may 
 without impropriety cherish indifference, and enemies may 
 manifest hostility ; but that brethren, those \\^ho are members 
 of the same family, who are descended from the same parents, 
 who have been reared under the same roof, nursed at the 
 same breast, and fed at the same table, should indulge in 
 strife, animosity, and contention, has something in it Avhich 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 197 
 
 appears to all to bo disgraceful, unbecoming, and positively 
 shocking. In like manner, the disciples of the Redeemer, 
 being children of the same Father, brethren of the same 
 family, related to the same Spirit, soldiers under the same 
 Captain, travellers in the same journey, members of the same 
 body, and fellow-heirs of the same heavenly inheritance, are 
 bound by every consideration of propriety to cherish ardent 
 and devoted affection for one another. ' Behold how good 
 and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.' 
 (Ps. cxxxiii. 1.) 'The whole body fitly framed together 
 maketh increase to the edifying of itself in love.' (Eph. iv. 16.) 
 Nor is it possible to imagine a sight more unseemly, a spec- 
 tacle more incongruous, a moral contradiction more glaring 
 and monstrous, than that of professing christians regarding 
 one another with malignant jealousy, attacking one -another 
 with the tongue of slander and detraction, or practising to- 
 wards one another any sort of mutual recrimination whalsover, 
 ' If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not 
 consumed one of another.' (Gal. v. 15.) 
 
 Think, too, of the very emphatic manner in which the duty 
 is enjoined. Even the common law of benevolence is only 
 second to the first and great commandment which inculcates 
 love to God. 'The second is like unto it.' If this may be 
 affirmed of the love due to the species, how much* more 
 emphatically does it apply to the feeling of christian affection ? 
 Love to God's children bears a striking resemblance to love to 
 God himself. It is * like unto it,' — in its origin, the authority 
 and Spirit of the Most High; in its nature, admiration of 
 moral excellence ; in its tendency, to assimilate and make 
 happy ; and in the place which it holds in the moral code, 
 being the spring and summary of a whole class of duties. 
 Even the epithet new in the text, as in the case of the ' new 
 creature ' and that of the ' new song,' has been understood by 
 some to mark out that to which it is applied as of rare 
 excellence and transcendent importance. James also speaks 
 of the commandment, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self,' as a royal laio ; (James ii. 8 ;) — language expressive of 
 the highest consequence and dignity. Nor arc we at liberty 
 
198 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 here to overlook, in estimating the emphasis with which it is 
 recommended, the time when the new commandment was 
 given. And when was it spoken? At that memorable 
 period when divine love and infernal malice had each its per- 
 fect manifestation ; when Jesus, having finished the paschal 
 supper, and instituted the New Testament rite, was betrayed 
 into the hands of sinners ; when, all preparatory steps having 
 been taken, he was about to retire to the garden where he 
 should undergo those awful and mysterious agonies by. which 
 he made atonement for sin ; then, when we shojald have 
 concluded that he would be absorbed in himself and sink 
 into thoughtful silence, then it was that,' for the good of his 
 disciples in all future ages, he put forth the solemn declara- 
 tion, ' A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love 
 one another.' Oh ! surely, my hearers, everything connected 
 with that awful hour must be deemed of immense moment. 
 The connection could not fail, we presume, to make a deep 
 impression on the minds of the eleven ; and sure we are that 
 the consideration only requires to be seriously pondered, even 
 still to carry home the precept of the Saviour with un- 
 diminished emphasis to every pious heart. 
 
 Besides, is not the love of the brethren the principle of 'all 
 other relative duties ? Many are the relations in which 
 christians are brought to stand towards one another. These 
 give rise to an endless diversity and succession of duties, not 
 one of which can be discharged as it ought to be without 
 love. Love is, indeed, the fulfilling of the law. Christian 
 husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and ser- 
 vants, brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends, are all 
 under peculiar obligations, to the due performance of which 
 the love enjoined by the Saviour is indispensable. Where 
 this is wanting, it matters little what may be done : where 
 this is present, there is little danger of any duty being 
 neglected. And it only requires that this priliciple be univer- 
 sally diffused, and constantly acted upon, to secure the 
 banishment from the earth of murder, impurity, theft, lying, 
 covetousness, and every evil work, arid the cherishing and 
 practising of all the opposite social virtues. ' For all the law 
 
LOVE ONK ANOTHEU. 199 
 
 is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love tby 
 neighbour as thyself.' (Gal. v. 14.) 
 
 Nor is the duty in question less calculated to exert a 
 beneficial influence on the persons themselves who perform 
 it. Love to others tends to promote our own happiness. It 
 provides a certain solace amid all the calamities that may 
 befal us here. As a bond of union, it lays a foundation for 
 the most extensive schemes of philanthropy by which the 
 benevolent desires of the soul may be gratified. It supplies 
 indubitable evidence, whether to ourselves or to others, of 
 the existence of genuine piety. Next to being pious, it is 
 desirable to know that we are so, and to exhibit the marks 
 of it to others. Now, as far as we ourselves are concerned, 
 there can be no better sign of a regenerated nature than love 
 to christian brethren. .'He that saith he is in the light, and 
 hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now : he that 
 loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none 
 occasion of stumbling in him. We know that v/e have 
 passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.' 
 (1 John ii. 9, 10; iii. 14.) Not less valid is the evidence it 
 affords to others. The curse of selfishness has, like a wide- 
 spreading leprosy, so deeply infected the fiimily of man, that 
 wherever the holy, self-denying, disinterested affection of 
 which we are speaking is found, the person may safely be 
 concluded to have been separated from the world lying in 
 wickedness. Hence to the announcement under considera- 
 tion, our Lord subjoins the statement, — ' By this shall all men 
 know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' 
 It even tends to increase love to the Saviour himself, as the 
 head of that noble family, the members of which are the 
 immediate objects of the affection itself. From them it is 
 natural to be led on to Him, not only on the principle of 
 suggestion, but inasmuch as they are his accredited repre- 
 sentatives in the world. In every one of those towards 
 whom the heart of the saint beats with brotherly affection, 
 is beheld the vivid likeness of that bright Original on whom 
 the love of all is concentrated. 
 
 And what, brethren, shall I say more for the purpose of 
 
200 I,OVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 recommending the practice of brotherly affection ? I can 
 only further remind you, that the feeling we are endeavouring 
 to enforce forms a prominent feature in the character of the 
 redeemed above, and a chief element in the happiness of 
 heaven. Here in this fallen world of ours, hatred, variance, 
 strife, and animosity in every form prevail. ' Hateful and 
 hating one another,' is too often an accurate though melan- 
 choly description of the society of earth. There, however, in 
 that happy woi'ld above, love — high, universal, uninterrupted 
 love, brightens every countenance, and swells every bosom. 
 All the inhabitants of that region of bliss are possessed of 
 moral excellence — complete moral excellence. Every one 
 is able to perceive, disposed to esteem, and ready to acknow- 
 ledge it in every other ; and in this way foundation is laid 
 for the mutual interchange of the warmest affections, and for 
 ceaseless acts of holy beneficence. Oh! then, how refreshing 
 to look up from this earth, blighted and withered with the 
 curse of human selfishness and strife, to that heavenly 
 country where love, — pure, fervent, disinterested, and uni- 
 versal love, hallovps and enlivens all ! Surely the glorious 
 prospect should operate as no mean inducement to breathe 
 the spirit and cultivate the exercise of the same blessed . 
 affection now, and thus enforce upon us the new command- 
 ment of the Saviour, that we love one another. 
 
 Let us, in conclusion, dear christian brethren, lament the 
 want that prevails of that sacred and heavenly feeling on 
 which we have been descanting. Oh ! how little of true love 
 is to be found in the world ; — even amongst those who 
 bear the christian name ! How much division, variance, 
 anarchy, everywhere abound ! Who, observing the state of 
 things that obtains in, the chui'ch, would ever be led to con- 
 clude that these are the disciples of him who said, ' A new 
 commandment I give unto you, that ye love 6ne another.' 
 
 But, while bewailing the want of it in others, let us not 
 neglect to inquire whether in any adequate degree it is to "be 
 found in ourselves. Are we yielding obedience to the com- 
 mandment of the Saviour ? We acknowledge its importance, we 
 
LOVE ONK ANOTHER. 201 
 
 vndmit its obligation ; but do we feel it? We have some kind of 
 affection, it may be, for our fellow-men, and for those who are 
 reckoned to be saints, but is it a natural or a spiritual affection? 
 Let us test its character by its properties. Is it evangelical — 
 having respect to the authority, example, and glory of Christ? 
 Is it disinterested and sincere ? Is it holy in its nature and 
 tendency? And does it glow with intense and inextinguishable 
 ardour ? Does it stir us up to those activities without which 
 we have every reason to doubt the genuineness of our affec- 
 tion ? Does it, in one word, possess a character of christian 
 catholicity, folding in its ample embrace all who give 
 evidence of being born of the Spirit? By such marks as 
 these, let us try ourselves, and in applying them for the 
 purpose of ascertaining how, in this matter, it stands with 
 us, let us proceed with all candour and fidelity, as in the 
 sight of Him who judges the heart. 
 
 And let all be affectionately exhorted to the diligent culti- 
 vation of this truly christian grace. Love as brethren. Let 
 brotherly love continue. Let love be without dissimulation. 
 Beware of whatever would either restrain the ardour or 
 restrict the circle of your affections. See that you exhibit its 
 genuine fruits. Let every one, in his own person, do some- 
 thing to hasten on the bright and happy day when the whole 
 family of Christ, seeing eye to eye in the principles of truth, 
 shall feel heart to heart in the sympathies of love. And let 
 us all look steadfastly forward to that glorious state which is 
 to succeed, when love to Grod and love to man, purified from 
 all earthly dregs, liberated from all grosser thraldoms, shall 
 pervade every bosom, and unite in one hallowed bond of- 
 brotherhood the universal family of the redeemed. 
 
 Connecting the subject we have been considering with the 
 object for which we are convened, you will permit me to 
 add, that the cherishing of the sentiment of the text is essen- 
 tial to the attainment of one at least of the purposes of the 
 Westminster Divines. They contemplated, besides a re- 
 ligious uniformity in the three kingdoms, a great Protestant 
 union among the nations of Christendom. Their hearts were 
 
 I 2 
 
202 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 large, and the measures they conceived were catholic, 
 generous, and free. No sectarian prejudice, no weak 
 partiality of kindred or of country, was permitted to freeze 
 or confine the current of holy feeling that flowed in their 
 bosoms. Their sympathies were universal as man, and their 
 conceptions partook of the same lofty and munificent charac- 
 ter. Their eye penetrated beyond the limits of their own 
 ' sea-girt isle,' and ranged over the nations of men that dwelt 
 on the face of the whole earth. Their hearts, deriving in- 
 spiration from the cross*, throbbed full not only with glory to 
 God in the highest, but with good- will toward men. They 
 opened correspondence with foreign churches, and in the 
 largeness and warmth of their affection, formed schemes of 
 co-operation and intercourse, which in Providence they were 
 not permitted to see realised. The symbols they framed 
 were so constructed as to exhibit a generous and catholic 
 bearing, being equally adapted to the church in Britain, on 
 the continent of Europe, in the Republican States of America, 
 in the Islands of the Southern Pacific, the plains of 
 Hindostan, the deserts of Africa, the West Indies, and New 
 Zealand. Well they knew that the christian commonwealth 
 knovVs no geographical boundaries, and consequently the 
 prospect before their minds was that of laying the founda- 
 tion of no such anomalous contradiction as a ^OT«a?i-Catholic 
 or. an Anglo-Caiholic church, but A Catholic Church. 
 
 Such were the bright conceptions and noble aspirations of 
 men of whom it has been too much the fashion to speak as 
 narrow-minded bigots — aspirations and conceptions which we 
 do not the less admire, that they were clearly in advance of 
 the age in which they were formed. The far-reaching per- 
 spicacity and large philanthropy of the men, fairly anticipated 
 what centui-ies were to elapse before being realised. And 
 are these glowing conceptions to be lost? Admitting them 
 to have been premature, may they not yet be carried 
 out ? Who can tell but that the period of their realisation 
 has arrived ? Who can tell but that the seed sown two 
 hundred years ago, yet instinct with life, is about to burst 
 forth into full maturity, and to yield an ample and a glorious 
 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 203 
 
 harvest? ' Minds of kindred mould have at length arisen — 
 times remarkably coincident have arrived — many seem now 
 determined to remember the Lord's w^onders of old; and, there- 
 fore, we regard it as something better than a baseless vision 
 of imagination which leads us to trust that the period is not 
 distant when the mighty principles of the Westminster Stan- 
 dards shall be more extensively recognised than they have 
 ever yet been, and shall put forth an energy of influence on 
 societ}'^ hitherto unknown. 
 
 Let us mark, then, the indications — let us follow the lead- 
 ings of providence — let us, like the sons of Issachar^ be men 
 of understanding, to know the times, and what Israel ought 
 to do. Rising above the little jealousies of sectarian rivalry, 
 laying aside all personal asperities, let us show a willingness 
 to meet, on the arena of frank and friendly consultation, 
 brethren of other churches, and to discuss with them our 
 points of difference in a spirit of christian candour and charity. 
 The friends of the Redeemer are surely not always to be sepa- 
 rated and divided. The reign of disunion is not to be for ever. 
 ' There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one God and 
 Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. 
 There is one body and one Spirit.' And believing that these 
 statements of sacred writ are destined to receive a visible as 
 well as an invisible fulfilment, we must hold christians bound 
 to use all )a,wful means for bringing this about. Surely it is 
 more to be desired that the churches of the Reformation, 
 acting like rational and moral beings, should take steps to 
 unite on a basis of truth, by the scriptural use of consultation, 
 explanation, advice, discussion, and prayer, than that, like 
 insensate masses, they should wait to be melted by the fire, 
 and welded together by the hammer of divine judgments. 
 May the present commemorative services be blessed of God 
 for leading to movements that shall issue in putting an end 
 to existing dissensions and divisions ! And may each one of us 
 feel himself under obligation, in order to this, to crucify and 
 repress the spirit of party strife ; to feed the flame of that 
 sacred affection which many waters cannot quench ; to take 
 to his heart in fraternal embrace all who love the Lord Jesus ; 
 
204 LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 to converse closely and oft with those predictions which foretell 
 coming days of unity and peace ; and to drink deeply into 
 the spirit of the prayer, ' That they all may be one, as thou 
 Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in 
 us !' May the Lord the Spirit give to the scattered churches 
 of the Reformation one heart and one way, that they may fear 
 him for ever, for the good of them and of their children after 
 them ! Then, and not till then, shall the great, the bright, 
 the glorious conception of the Westminster Divines be realised. 
 When ' the people are gathered together,' then shall ' the 
 kingdoms serve the Lord.' 
 
 And now, O thou Spirit of love ! bless the word that .has 
 been spoken. Descend on this assembly. Preside in all our 
 future meetings. Repress evei'y unbrotherly emotion. Im- 
 plant, quicken, and call forth into full manifestation, all the 
 family affections of Christianity. Cause the precious ointment 
 poured on our Divine Head to go down to the skirts of his 
 garments. Let the watclimen see eye to eye, that with the 
 voice together they may sing. And let even more than a 
 Pentecostal energy, holiness, unity, and peace, reign in the 
 midst of us, that the multitude of them that believe may be.of 
 one heart and of one soul ! Amen, and amen. 
 
SEHMON VIII. 
 
 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR: OR, THE OPENING OF THE 
 FIFTH SEAL. 
 
 Delivered at \Vigto\NTi, September 24, 1 848 ; in aid of a flmd for erecting 
 
 a monument in honour of the martyrs whose ashes repose 
 
 in the churcliyard of that parish. 
 
 Rev. vi. 9-11. 
 
 ' And ivhen he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the al'ar the 
 souls of them that ivere slain for the word of God, and for the testl- 
 inony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, Hoiv 
 long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our Hood 
 on them that dwelt on the- earth ? And white roles were given to every 
 one of them ; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for 
 n little season, until their fellow- servants, and their brethren, that 
 >ihould be killed as they icere, shotdd be fulfilled.^ 
 
 Notwithstanding the prejudices that exist in certain quar- 
 ters against tlie study of prophecy, it must be admitted that 
 the book of the Apocalypse is one of vast importance. The 
 references it contains to the state and dangers and prospects 
 of the churcli of Christ, are sufficient to give it value at any 
 time ; Avhile the connection of many of these with passing 
 events, serves to invest it with a character of peculiar worth 
 at the present day. Then, there is the divine benediction 
 pronounced at the commencement, ' Blessed is he that readetli, 
 and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those 
 things that are ^vritten therein ; for the time is at hand ' — a 
 
206 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 benediction at which we shall cease to feel surprised when Ave 
 consider the evidence which the book affords in support of the 
 truth of Christianity — the illustrations and confirmations of 
 Ihe doctrine of providence which it furnishes — the solemn 
 warnings it gives forth as to the danger of all antichristian 
 connections and alliances — the consolation and support it is 
 fitted to minister under trials the most painful and distressing 
 — the explicit testimony it bears to the character of the Re- 
 deemer — and the incitements it supplies to the exercise of the 
 christian graces, especially those of faith, patience, and hope. 
 Indeed, the high estimation in which the Apocalypse is held, 
 may be gathered from the interest that is felt even in. the 
 place where its visions and revelations were vouchsafed to the 
 beloved disciple ; there being no spot in the whole archipelago, 
 studded with attractions though it be, toward which the eye 
 of the christian voyager, as he passes along those seas, turns 
 with such eagerness, as the small, barren, inhospitable, rocky 
 islet of Patraos — otherwise uninviting, but hallowed by the 
 visions of God of which it was the scene when the Lord him- 
 self ' sent and signified his revelation by his angel to his ser- 
 vant John.' 
 
 The contents of the book are classified, by the voice whicli" 
 spake to John, under a threefold division : ' Write the things 
 which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
 things which shall be hereafter.' The things seen, refer with- 
 out doubt to the Christophany, or glorious vision of the Son 
 of Man recorded in the first chapter ; the things that are, to 
 the then state of the seven Asiatic churches as detailed in the 
 epistles to these churches contained in the second and third 
 chapters ; and the things Avhich shaU be, to those^ important 
 events connected with the church of Christ which should 
 occur posterior to the time of the vision, and which occupy 
 the succeeding chapters. 
 
 The visions of futurity, properly speaking, commence with 
 the chapter from which we have taken our text. It is true 
 that at the beginning of the fourth, John heard a voice say- 
 ing, ' Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must 
 be hereafter.' But the fourth and fifth chapters are wholly 
 
THE SOULS UNDEK THE AT.TAR. 207 
 
 introductory; although from the splendour of the introduc- 
 tion we may form a high idea of what is to follow, as a 
 magnificent vestibule serves to convey an impression of tlie 
 grandeur of the building to which it conducts. 
 
 The principal theories of ajjocalyptic interpretation are 
 known by the names of the preterist, the futurist, and the 
 protestant theories. The preterist theory applies all but one 
 or two chapters at the end to events connected with the Jewish 
 nation and the pagan Roman empire, — events all of which 
 must have fallen out during the first few centuries of the 
 christian era, and are consequently long ago past. The futu- 
 rists refer nearly the whole of what is prophetical in the book 
 to events that are still to take place, every part being accord- 
 ing to them yet unfulfilled, and of course, having no reference 
 whatever to the character and history of the Romish 'church; 
 a theory, we cannot help remarking as Ave pass, which, how- 
 ever learned the writers by whom it is maintained, takes away 
 one of the strongest bulwarks of protestantism, quenches in 
 the darkness of night nearly all the light which the history 
 of two thousand years has been throwing on the word of God, 
 obscures with a thick cloud of conjecture and confusion the 
 future hopes of the church, and tends to generate in the minds 
 of bible readers a feverish spirit of doubt and scepticism pie- 
 judicial alike to the interests of revealed truth and of pe'rsonal 
 godliness. The protestant theory, again, is that which re- 
 gards the Apocalypse as a prospective history of the church 
 from the ascension of Christ to the end of time ; and this, by 
 providing a key which serves to unlock the most intricate 
 mysteries, proves itself at once the most satisfactory and com- 
 forting. 
 
 In looking at the divisions of that department of the book 
 Avhich refers to things future, it is impossible not to be struck 
 with the prominent part assigned to three septenaries ; — seven 
 seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials. We are disposed to 
 regard these as referring to successive not parallel events, each 
 of them presenting of course a different series of occurrences ; 
 — the seals, those which belong to Rome pagan ; the trum- 
 pets, those which belong to Rome christian ; the vials, those 
 
208 THE SOUI.S UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 whicli belong to Rome papal. This last includes the struggle 
 of the Reformation and the overthrow of antichrist ; and 
 the scene of the whole, — ^seals, trumpets, and vials, — is laid 
 in the western Roman empire. 
 
 The first four seals, called the equestrian seals because in 
 each of them the symbol of a horse is introduced, we are in- 
 clined to vieAv as relating chiefly to the secular interests of the 
 Roman empire ; the diiFerent colours of the animal, white, 
 red, black, and pale, denoting the respective phases assumed 
 by the body politic, at successive periods of its history, during 
 which it passed from a state of peifect health to one of 
 approaching mortal dissolution. 
 
 The fifth seal, which we have cliosen for our text, possesses 
 a character entirely difi'erent from that of those by which it is 
 preceded. Two points of distinction, apart altogether from 
 the general subject, cannot fail to strike an observant rea'der. 
 The equestrian figure, which occurs in the others, is here 
 dropped ; the horse, symbolising the western Roman empire, 
 now disappears, as if to intimate that at the time to which 
 the seal refers, the .empire, though not altogether had 
 been well nigh extinguished, brought indeed very nearly to 
 a state of dissolution. And besides this, the invitation of* 
 the living creatures, which is prefixed to the other seals, 
 has here no place. When each of the preceding seals had 
 been opened, John heard one of the four living creatures 
 {^oja, unhappily translated beasts), saying. Come and see. 
 But there is nothing of the kind at the opening of the fifth 
 seal ; and this circumstance we are disposed to look upon as 
 ominous of the extent to which, at this time, the ministers of 
 religion — for such, and not angels, we consider as meant by 
 the living creatures — should be silenced by incarceration, 
 banishment, or murder. 
 
 These observations may help to prepare us for entering on 
 a consideration of the fifth seal, to which we now crave atten- 
 tion as suitable to the object of our present meeting. In 
 treating of it, we purpose three things: — to explain the lan- 
 guage ; to ascertain the historical reference ; and to point out 
 the general impoi't or design of the seal. 
 
THE SOULS UNDtR THE ALTAR. 209 
 
 I. Let me, first of all, as the basis of what is to follow, 
 attempt some brief explanation of the terms in which this 
 part of revelation is couched. This will be best accomplished 
 by a brief exposition of the passage. It contains, you will 
 ob.serve, a vision, a cry, and an answer to the cry ; a separate 
 verse being devoted to each of these in succession. 
 
 The vision we have in the ninth verse : ' And when he had 
 opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them 
 that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony 
 which they held.' This seal, like all the rest, was opened by 
 the Lion-Lamb, who, in token of his willingness and ability 
 to disclose to men the counsels of God, had taken the sealed 
 book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne . 
 a pledge which he fully redeemed, and in redeeming whicli 
 he laid foundation for the ascription, * Thou art worthy to 
 take the book and to open the seals thereof.' The opening 
 of the seal disclosed something which John ' saw.' It was a 
 vision, a picture presented to the eye, a scenic representation. 
 The scene of the vision is laid in the altar-court of the apo- 
 calyptic temple in the ecclesiastical heaven, that is to say, in 
 the church. The 'altar' under which the souls of them that 
 were slain are seen, is of course the altar of sacrifice. This 
 formed a prominent and important piece of temple-furniture 
 of great use in the worship of God under the ancient economy, 
 and the allusion to it here is sufiicient to determine the respect 
 that is had in this vision to the chui'ch, where the service of 
 God is conducted and his worship observed. The scene, then, 
 in the grand drama now shifts from the secular interests of the 
 Roman empire to those of the church within that territory. 
 These interests are never lost sight of at any time, the church 
 being the centre around which all the dispensations of Provi- 
 dence revolve, — that to which every movement is subordi- 
 nated. But the concei'ns of God's covenant society on eartli 
 are brought forward more prominently at one time than at 
 another. And at the period of this seal, attention is, as it 
 were, concentrated on the church of God. The nature, char- 
 acter, and position of Avhat John beheld in this scene all 
 deserve attention. 
 
210 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 The nature of what John saw is indicated by the word 
 ' souls.' The soul as the animating principle of the body, the 
 animal soul, is what the original term imports — the breath. 
 Spirits are not visible to the natural eye, they are incapable of 
 being recognised by the bodily senses. The shades of persons 
 departed were, indeed, regarded by the ancients as appeai'ing 
 from time to time to surviving friends ; but we can attribute 
 nothing so heathenish as this to the apostle. Spirits, how- " 
 ever, have the capacity of perceiving and holding intercourse 
 with fellow-spirits, and John, we are to remember, -was at the 
 time 'in the Spirit,' — under a superior influence, preternatur- 
 ally endowed. But to explain what is before us, it is not 
 necessary to have recourse even to this circumstance. It is 
 all a vision, in which things spiritual and material are repre- 
 sented under bodily shapes and forms. The whole is hiero- ■ 
 glyphical, symbolical, figurative, not designed to give us 
 philosophical ideas of the substance of the soul, and conse- 
 quently not admitting of a literal interpretation. There is no 
 necessity, therefore, for supposing, as has been done, that 
 souls are here put for bodies as in some other parts of 
 scripture. But we are not disposed to reject as unworthy of 
 consideration the opinion of those who think that there may 
 be a reference to the blood of the martyrs. The animal soul 
 is what is spoken of, and while we know that the soul is 
 the life we know also from scripture that the life is in the 
 blood. 
 
 The character of these souls is very plainly pointed out: 
 ' The souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and 
 for the testimony which they held.' They are the souls, 
 you will observe, not of living men but of dead ; of men, too, 
 who had died not an ordinary but a violent deatli, who were 
 slain, put to death -by the hand of others; and, moreover, of 
 persons who were put to death, not in the common course of 
 civil law, or even by private assassination, but in the way of 
 persecution, for the sake of religion — -for the ivord of God, 
 and the testimony which they held. They are the souls, in 
 short, not of malefactors, not of men who suffered as evil- 
 doers ; but of martyrs, of men who suffered as christians, or 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 211 
 
 for the cause of Christ in the world. ' The word of God ' 
 is the scriptures, the bible. ' The testimony whicli they held " 
 is that by which they bore witness to the truths, the 
 doctrines, the principles of God's word. The distinction 
 between the word of God and the testimony of man is 
 strongly marked in this book. The scriptures are a testi- 
 mony, to be sure, but they are the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
 the Faithful Witness. Besides this, there is a testimony by 
 man. "We read of the witnesses ' finishing their testimony,' 
 and of Michael's angels overcoming the dragon * by the blood 
 of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.' Martyrdom 
 supposes witness-bearing, the holding fortb of a clear, faith- 
 ful, public testimony for divine truth before the world. That 
 to which this testimony is borne is always the revealed will 
 of God, so that the word of God and the testimony held by 
 the witnesses go necessarily together. They are different 
 things, indeed, but the latter cannot be separated from the 
 former. The aspect of revealed truth to which the witnesses' 
 testimony may give prominence, is not always the same, but 
 must vary at different times according as that which happens 
 to be assailed or to be in danger of being overlooked varies. 
 The ostensible reason why the witnesses are slain is not 
 always, nor even often, their attachment to the word of God 
 as manifested by their testimony on its behalf. Their per- 
 secutors have little difficulty in finding some other plea, more 
 plausible in the eyes of the world, and more quieting to their 
 own natural consciences. Sedition, turbulence, disaffection 
 to the powers that be, a design to turn the world upside 
 down, or some such convenient pretexts are always at hand. 
 But the true ground of opposition to them, is, after all, their 
 religion, their love of the bible, their firm refusal to abandon 
 scripture truth, to deny Christ, or to compromise his claims 
 by ceasing to contend for his crown -rights and royal preroga- 
 tives. And thus the souls seen by John were the souls of 
 them that were slain for the word of God and the testimony 
 which they held. 
 
 The position of these souls raeiits attention — ' under the 
 altar.' Viewing them as the spirits of departed saints, this 
 
212 THE SOCLS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 may intimate their obligations to the sacrifice of Christ for 
 the heavenly bliss they enjoy. Owing their acceptance with 
 God here to the blood of the Redeemer prefigured by the 
 sacrifices which were laid on the ancient altars, the benefits 
 of the celestial state flow from the same meritorious source, and 
 the enjoyment of these in this way may be regarded as signified 
 by their contiguity to the altar. In short, believers are indebted 
 lor every blessing, for acquittal, purification, happiness, and 
 glory, to the blood and sacrifice of Christ symbolised by the 
 altar. The blood of the martyrs possessed no atoning virtue 
 to save their souls, but these souls, like those of all other 
 saints, were saved, redeemed, and glorified, through the 
 atonement of God's Son, But viewing them as the souls of 
 martyrs, of them that were slain for the word of God and the 
 testimony which they held, may not the position in question 
 suggest another idea? The blood of certain sacrifices -under 
 the law was ' poured at the bottom of the altar.' (Lev. 
 viii. 15.) The souls beheld by John in this vision were seen 
 occupying the very position held by the blood of these 
 sacrifices ; and may not this serve to mark them out as 
 having been offered in the way of sacrifice to God ? Not as 
 sin-offerings, atoning sacrifices, of coui'se ; but as true aiid 
 proper sacrifices notwithstanding. Paul instructs the Eomans 
 to 'present their bodies a living sacrifice;' (Rom. xii. 1) — 
 speaks of being ^ offered xx^on the sacrifice and service of the 
 faith ' (Phil. ii. 17) of the Philippians — and says to Timothy 
 as expressive of his willingness to die, ' I am now ready to be 
 offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.' (2 Tim. 
 iv. 6.) In the same sense, the persons in question had 
 offered themselves as sacrifices in the cause of Christ. They 
 had submitted to self-immolation on behalf of religion. For 
 the sake of the truth as it is in Jesus, they had made a sacri- 
 fice of everything dear to them, property, comfort, liberty, 
 nay, even life itself. They had loved not tlieir lives unto the 
 death, and in dying as martyrs had poured out their souls, 
 their animal souls, their life, their blood, in libation on the 
 ground, at the bottom of the altai', w'here they were seen in 
 vision by John. "VVe here perceive the impoi'tance of the 
 
THE SOULS rNDi:R THE Al.TAU. 213 
 
 view formerly given of the term ' souls,' as synonymous with 
 blood ; and it may not be irrelevant to call attention to 
 the confirmation which this interpretation of the passage 
 receives from the language in common use respecting those 
 who have suffered martyrdom for Christ. The words of 
 Polycarp, the martyr of Smyrna, in his prayer at the stake, 
 may be recollected as in point: — 'Father, I bless thee that 
 thou hast thought me worthy of having a share in the num- 
 ber of the martyrs, among whom may 1 be received in thy 
 sight, this day, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as thou the 
 faithful and true God hast prepared, hast revealed and 
 fulfilled.' And the historian (Eusebius) speaks of him as ' a 
 ram selected from the flock, to be olfered as an acceptable 
 holocaust to Almighty God.' 
 
 Having explained the vision, the c?^ next demands con- 
 sideration. ' And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 
 How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
 avenge Our blood on them that dwell in the earth?' There 
 is something heard, you will observe, as well as something 
 seen ; something addressed to the ear as well as to the eye. 
 There is a ' voice,' and ' a loud voice' too. The intensity of 
 the utterance betokens the urgency of the ease. Matters 
 have come to an extremity. A crisis has arrived. Unless 
 an interposition takes place soon, it can be of no avail.' A 
 little while and the state of things will be placed beyond all 
 remedy. A feeble complaint, a languid expostulation, cannot 
 meet the emergency. Nothing will do but a cry, a vehement 
 cry. ' They cried,' says John, ' with a loud voice.' 
 
 The words, 'dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?' 
 are not to be understood as implying that those who have 
 suffered martyrdom, cherish in the world of spirits re- 
 vengeful feelings. Nothing of the kind. It is utterly im- 
 possible. Even in the present imperfect state, sentiments of 
 this nature are strictly forbidden and quite incompatible 
 with gracious exercise : ' Dearly beloved, avenge not your- 
 selves, but rather give place unto wrath ; for it is written, 
 Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' This 
 solemn interdict is one which cannot be disregarded with 
 
214 THE SOIXS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 impunity, and to which such as have suffered for religion 
 have not been inattentive. The proto-martyr Stephen, 
 amid the shower of stones thrown upon him by his persecu- 
 tors, employed his very last breath in crying, and ' with a 
 loud voice' too, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' 
 And the Prince of Martyrs, our Lord himself, exemplified 
 the same spirit on the cross, when, although having all nature 
 at his command, so as to have paralysed if he chose in a 
 moment the hands of his crucifiers, and to have stretched 
 themselves as with a thunderbolt lifeless at his feet, he offered 
 for them that God-like prayer, ' Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do.' We cannot, therefore, hesitate in 
 the slightest degree, to repudiate the idea of the existence 
 among departed saints of anything like resentment. But 
 how, in consistency with this, can the words in question 
 be explained? The following observations may help to 
 obviate the difficulty. First of all, the scene before us, be 
 it remembered, is not in heaven, properly so called, but on 
 earth ; it is in the ecclesiastical heaven, which is the church 
 below. The souls are indeed those of persons who had de- 
 parted the present life, but the position which in the vision 
 they are represented as occupying is not in the upper sanctu- 
 ary, the true holy of holies, the highest heavens ; but on 
 earth, under the altar of sacrifice in the outer court of the 
 apocalyptic temple. This accounts for the use of prayer, 
 which belongs properly to this world. — ^^Then, in the second 
 place, the cry uttered by these persons, is not so much that of 
 their glorified spirits, as that of their animal souls, of their 
 life-blood poured in willing libation on the ground. Blood, 
 the blood of martyred saints, has a voice ; it speaks, in 
 accents, which, however disregarded by men, c6me up into 
 the ears of the Judge of all. ' The voice of thy brother's 
 blood,' said Jehovah to the first persecutor, ' the voice of thy 
 brother's blood crieth unto me from the gi^ound.' Mark the 
 striking resemblance of this language to that in the passage 
 under consideration. There is in both cases a voice, in both 
 a cry ; and, agreeably to the interpretation put before on the 
 term souls, and in harmony with the position these souls are 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 215 
 
 said to occupy, may tliey not be regarded as being, in the one 
 case as in the other, the voice, the cry of blood ? In this 
 way, the idea of personal revenge is completely set aside, and 
 the expression resolves itself into a strong figurative or sym- 
 bolic representation of the justice of the martyrs' cause, their 
 blood, wantonly shed, forcibly appealing from the very ground 
 which is stained with it to the judgment-seat on high, and 
 calling loudly in righteousness for a vindication of their cha- 
 racter and their testimony. — Moreover, the retributive inter- 
 position here invoked is not that of the final judgment. The 
 terms preclude such an idea : — ' On them that dwell in the 
 earth,' that is, on the inhabitants of the Roman earth, the 
 citizens of the Roman empire, the votaries of Rome, by whom 
 the souls under the altar were slain. The judgments sought 
 are those spoken of in other parts of this book. The -words, 
 ' Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judg- 
 ment is come,' are introductory to the announcement, ' Baby- 
 lon is fallen, is fallen.' (Rev. xiv. 7, 8.) To the same effect 
 is the call, in which the very language we are explaining 
 occurs: ' Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles 
 and prophets : for God hath avenged you on her.' (Rev. xviii. 
 20.) And also the well-known declaration : ' True and 
 righteous are his judgments : for he hath judged the great 
 whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornications,' and 
 hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.' (Rev. 
 xix. 2.) These sayings refer to the righteous judgments 
 which are to be inflicted on the friends and supporters of 
 Rome, by means of which the principles for which the mar- 
 tyrs suffered shall be vindicated, and their testimony confirmed 
 by the voice of providence. AVhen these passages are ful- 
 filled, the cry of the souls under the altar shall be answered. 
 But as communities are punished only in the present state of 
 being, having no existence as such in the world to come, it is 
 manifest that the prayer before us has respect to God's pro- 
 vidential inflictions now, and not to the final retribution of 
 the last day. — But, in the fourth place, even supposing the 
 words under consideration to denote the state of feeling among 
 departed saints, the utmost that could be made of them would 
 
216 THE SOULS INDKU THE ALTAR. 
 
 be to express cordial acquiescence in the retributive rectitude 
 of the Most High. Retribution forms an essential element 
 and feature of the divine moral government, as is affirmed 
 again and again in terms the most unequivocal. ' Whoso 
 sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' (Gen. 
 ix. 6.) 'With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged ; 
 and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measui*ed to you 
 again.' (Matt. vii. 2.) 'Vengeance is mine: I will repay, 
 saith the Lord.' (Rom. xii. 19.) Nothing can be plainer 
 than these statements. It is only thus that the chai'acter of 
 God the Judge of all could be vindicated, and the principles 
 of his moral government upheld. In everything having such 
 a tendency, all moral beings must feel disposed, not to acqui- 
 esce merely, but to rejoice. Indeed, in the passages quoted 
 above, the inhabitants of heaven are not only represented as 
 shouting ' Alleluia ! ' because the Lord God hath avenged the 
 blood of his servants on the mystical Babylon, but are even 
 commanded to 'rejoice' on this very account: 'Rejoice over 
 her, thou heaven, for God hath avenged thee on her.' Moral 
 creatures, in proportion to their dignity and perfection, can- 
 not but sympathise with Him whose nature is the only proper 
 standard of morality. Whatever illustrates or vindicates his 
 character and government, must awaken within them senti- 
 ments of highest and purest delight ; and consequently, for 
 whatever is calculated to subserve such desirable ends, they 
 cannot but cherish the most intense desire. Without suppos- 
 ing the infusion of a single particle of personal resentment, 
 we can therefore easily understand why the glorified spirits of 
 the martyrs should wish, and that with the utmost intensity, 
 to see their blood avenged on them that dwell on the earth. 
 The wish takes its rise from a sense, not of the 'injury done 
 to themselves, but of the dishonour cast on a righteous and 
 holy God. When the saints present the prayer, ' Render 
 unto our neighbours seven-fold,' they are'prompted to it by 
 zeal for the divine glory, and not by any feeling of paltry 
 selfishness : ' Render into their bosom the reproach where- 
 with they have reproached thee, O Lord.' (Psalm Ixxix. 12.) 
 This high and noble feeling of moral sympathy with what is 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 217 
 
 just and right, we cannot suppose to beat less feebly in the 
 breasts of saints in heaven than in those of saints on earth. 
 Nor can anything more require to be said in justification of 
 the martyrs' cry, than that the feeling it evinces is the very 
 feeling which animates the benign and holy bosom of the Son 
 of God himself, who sits on the right hand of God, 'from 
 henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.' 
 
 These observations, particularly the last, will help to ex- 
 plain the degree of impatience, implied in the words ' Jiow 
 long.' They suppose, of course, that persecution was no new 
 thing; it had existed for a length of time; it had been 
 reiterated and protracted, in short, so as well nigh to exhaust 
 the patience, not only of the sufferers, but of those also who 
 were waiting for some vindicatory interposition of God. 
 There was a time when christians were disposed to set- a high 
 value on martyrdom, to court rather than deprecate persecu- 
 tion, and to regard it much in the light of matter of rejoicing 
 and gratitude. But dire experience and more mature re- 
 flection had served to correct these mistaken views, and 
 taught them, instead of coveting it, to deprecate even its 
 continuance. Hence the saints beneath the altar are re- 
 presented as crying 'how long!' But with this feeling of 
 holy impatience with the delay, there mingles no sentiment 
 of distrust as to the final result. The language is quite 'con- 
 sistent with perfect confidence in the fact that their blood 
 shall be judged and avenged. They express no doubt on 
 this score. Their cry is not ' Wilt thou judge and avenge?' 
 but 'how long shall it be ere this is done?' Firm reliance 
 on the retributive equity of Jehovah is characteristic of all 
 his saints ; and the feeling is unshaken even by those pro- 
 tracted visitations which tend to induce a degree of im- 
 patience — Nor can we wonder at this, when we take into 
 calculation his character as ' holy and true.' Truth and 
 lioliness are essential attributes of God. They are attributes, 
 too, which, so to speak, are brought under reflection by the 
 continued calamities of his church. That his people should 
 be subjected to a long course of cruel and exterminating 
 persecution, is difiicult to reconcile with the purity of his 
 
 K - 
 
218 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 nature and the truth of his promises. His judging and 
 avenging the blood of his saints is therefore necessary to 
 vindicate his perfections — to prove liini, in short, to be ' holy 
 and true ;' and a desire to see every cloud that may have 
 fallen on these views of God's character cleared away, can 
 satisfactorily account for the impatience implied in the eager 
 cry now under consideration. To the outrage practised on 
 themselves the saints could meekly submit, but the reflection 
 thereby cast on their Lord and Master could not be so easily 
 borne. Yet in these very attributes of the divine nature the 
 souls under the altar saw the pledge of the desiderated vindi- 
 cation. His holiness and truth assured them of a coming 
 retribution. Without this he could neither be holy nor true. 
 As sure as God is holy, as sure as God is true, the blood of 
 his dear saints shall be avenged on their enemies. So that 
 the mention made in the cry of these essential features pf the 
 divine nature, partakes at once of the character of a security, 
 and of the urgency of a plea : ' How long, O Lord, holy and 
 true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that 
 dwell on the earth ! ' 
 
 It remains that we explain the answer which is returned to 
 the , cry. This we have in verse eleventh : ' And white 
 robes were given unto every one of them: and it was said 
 unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their 
 fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed 
 as they were, should be fulfilled.' The reply, you will perceive, 
 consists in two things — a significant act, and suitable words. 
 
 The act is thus described, ' And white robes were given 
 unto every one of them.' This act possesses a forensic 
 significance. White raiment is the common symbol or 
 emblem of righteousness, purity, honour, glory. It is not 
 their justification before God, however, that is denoted by 
 the act under consideration. That in this sense they had 
 wdiite robes given them we do not doubt. They were arrayed 
 in the robes of the Redeemer's righteousness, clothed in the 
 garments of salvation, the fine linen clean and white, which 
 is the justification of the saints. But this preceded, whereas the 
 investiture her^ spoken of followed, their martyrdom ; and it 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 210 
 
 belonged lo them not as mai*tyvs but as saints. The same 
 may be said of the white robes of sanctification, or pei'sonal 
 moral purity. And in regax'd to glorification, while in no way 
 disposed to doubt or deny that some peculiar distinction may 
 be put in the heavenly kingdom on those who have borne a 
 large share of suffering here, and have evinced great 
 strength of principle and fortitude by submitting to death in 
 the cause of truth, this is not what the act before us seems 
 intended to indicate. The white robes given them rather 
 refer to some honour of which the martyrs are to be the 
 subjects on earth. The investiture is before men, in the same 
 open public court in which their souls are seen lying under 
 the altar ; in the presence, as it were, of those by whom they 
 were slain. It seems to refer to some providential justifica- 
 tion to be given of their character, some public vindication of 
 their cause, some honourable testimony to be borne to their 
 memories on the part even of their enemies. A gloi'ious 
 issue awaited them. The sackcloth in which they had 
 prophesied was to be exchanged for raiment of resplendent 
 brightness. These robes they should not need to assume. 
 They should be ' given ' them ; the implied recognition 
 should be voluntarily made, the testimony cheerfully and 
 publicly borne, the acknowledgment graciously bestowed. 
 Nor should there be * one of them,' however humble or 
 obscure, whose claims were overlooked, so ample and complete 
 should be the act of justification. 
 
 The intimation of this glorious issue was calculated to 
 prepare them for listening with patience to the suitable words 
 that follow: 'And it was said unto. them, that they should 
 rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, 
 and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should 
 be fulfilled.' Solemn and affecting words these. Those to 
 Avhom they are addressed were thus given to understand that 
 some time was to elapse before the vindicatory interposition 
 implied in their being clothed with white robes should take 
 place. There is to be a considerable interval. They must 
 * rest,' wait on with patience ; for a ' little season,' a period 
 which, while comparatively short, might nevertheless, both in 
 
220 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 itself and in consequence of the eagerness of their desire, 
 seem long. And the filling up of the predicted interval is 
 to be of a gloomy character. They are not the last victims 
 of persecution ; others are to be ' killed as they were,' 
 subjected to the same unjust and cruel treatment. These 
 others are their ' brethren,' their brethren in Christ, and in 
 the cause and testimony of Jesus ; nay, their ' fellow- 
 servants,' enlisted under the same banner, fighting under the 
 same Captain, serving under the same Master, for the church 
 on earth and in heaven is one. Thus was it significantly 
 intimated that the persecution of the saints was not yet at an 
 end; that Rome's thirst for blood had not been satiated; that 
 the cup of her iniquity was not yet full; that other victims 
 must fall before her, and many more souls be gathered under 
 the altar, slain by her for the word of God, and the testimony 
 which they held. — Nor was the hint in this way obscurely 
 conveyed, that the long-suflfering of God far exceeds the long- 
 suffering of man. The cry from under the altar intimated in 
 a way that could not be mistaken, that human forbearance 
 had well nigh reached its limits. It was not so with the 
 forbearance of God. He shall not make bare his holy arm, 
 in visiting on the persecuting foes of his people the jiist, 
 award of their iniquity, till many more deeds of cruel 
 atrocity are perpetrated. He is slow to wrath and plenteous 
 in mercy. Before the Lord cometh out of his place to 
 punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, the 
 earth must yet disclose her blood, and no more cover her 
 slain. What a reproof is thus tendered to man for his 
 impatience, and what, a lesson are we here taught of long- 
 suffering forbearance with the opposition of fellow-mortals! 
 Oh, what a contrast between the spirit of men whb cry with 
 a loud voice, ' How Jong, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou 
 not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
 earth,' and that of Him who 'endures with iliuch long-suffer- 
 ing the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction !' (Rom. ix. 22.) 
 
 11. The explanation now given of the language in which 
 the opening of this seal is expressed, should prepare us for 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 221 
 
 considering its historical reference. To this, then, let us ad- 
 dress ourselves. 
 
 The general import it is not at all difficult to perceive. 
 The seal refers unquestionably to a state of religious persecu- 
 tion, to some period of martyrdom, when many were sub- 
 jected to death because of their steadfast adherence to Christ 
 and to his word. But the particular era referred to is not so 
 easily established, and different opinions will be entertained 
 on this point according to the theory of interpretation that 
 may happen to be adopted regarding the seals which precede. 
 We have already expressed ourselves in favour of the view 
 that the first four seals refer to the state of matters in the 
 western Roman empire during the first ages of Christianity ; 
 and, in harmony with this, it will not be found difficult, we 
 think, to give an intelligible and plausible application of the 
 seal now under consideration. The state of matters in regard 
 to the christian church, within the bounds of the Roman em- 
 pire, towards the close of the third and the beginning of the 
 fourth century, will be found to agree pi'etty closely with the 
 symbolical statements of this vision. This will appear more 
 distinctly if, taking our station at the period in question, we 
 give a rapid glance, as the circumstances require us to do, to 
 the past, the present, and the future. The words ' how long,' 
 necessarily carry us back to the past; 'dost thou not judge 
 and avenge our blood,' is phraseology which marks with suffi- 
 cient clearness the state of things at the time ; while the 
 expression ' until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, 
 should be killed as they were,' points attention unavoidably 
 forward to the future. 
 
 Looking, then, at the past, casting the eye backsvard over 
 the period of time embraced by the first four seals, we meet 
 with frequent persecutions of christians. Christianity seems 
 never, indeed, to have been long or extensively favoured dur- 
 ing this time. Notwithstanding the general tolerance of the 
 Romans, they appear to have cherished towards christians 
 only a bitter and impatient spirit of persecution. Nor, all 
 things considered, is this much to be wondered at. Paganism 
 was the state religion, and the gods, however numerous, were 
 
222 THE SOULS UKDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 all looked upon as national divinities. But Christianity as- 
 sumed an aggressive attitude; it declared open hostility 
 against every existing religion ; from its very nature it could 
 admit of no compromise with other systems ; it vyras not 
 enough for it to be one among many, it must either be all 
 or nothing ; it aifected to do away Avith and to supersede 
 everything else of the kind; it could not be content with 
 even gaining the ascendancy and reigning triumphant, but 
 aimed at taking sole and exclusive possession of the world. 
 Then, the men who stood forward to expound Christianity, 
 and to dictate, so to speak, on the subject of religion, to the 
 whole world, even its political masters and philosophers not 
 excepted, were persons of humble birth and rank, whose very 
 obscurity rendered their px-etensions only the more irritating 
 and intolerable. Accordingly, Christianity and christians were 
 everywhere spoken against and opposed, and that by all 
 classes. The rulers regarded their conduct in the light of a 
 civil offence, an affront offered to the religion of the State. 
 The populace, unable to distinguish between beiug the enemies 
 of their gods and having no god at all, reckoned themselves 
 justified in giving way to ebullitions of fanatical rage and 
 fury. Accordingly, every public calamity that occurred was 
 without ceremony laid at the door of the christians. To 
 use the words of a philosophical historian of our own 
 day : — ' There was no want of individuals who were ready 
 to excite the popular rage against the christians; priests, 
 artisans, and others, who, like Demetrius in the Acts, drew 
 their gains from idolatry; magicians, who beheld their jug- 
 gling tricks exposed, and sanctimonious cynics, who found their 
 hypocrisy unmasked by the christians.' (Neander.) Hence 
 arose those cruel persecutions which so frequently occurred 
 previous to Christianity being received under Constantine to a 
 place among the class of lawful religions. The ten pagan per- 
 secutions, as they are called, are known to ev>ery reader of his- 
 tory.* Eight at least of these had fallen out and spent their 
 
 * We adopt the usual mode of speaking by wliich these persecutions have 
 been spoken of as ten in number, in a popular sense, being aware that the 
 pln-ase. is not perhap's quite in accordance with historical accuracy. 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAU. 223 
 
 fury before the opening of this seal ; those, naraelj, which 
 occurred under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Adrian, Verus, 
 Severus, Maximus, and Decius ; during whose respective 
 reigns, incredible multitudes of souls were gathered under the 
 altar, of persons who had been slain for the word of God and 
 the testimony which they held. Nor, when the character of 
 these persecutions is considered, need it at all surprise us to 
 find the mai'tyrs, as they take the mournful retrospect, repre- 
 sented as exclaiming, ' how long ! ' 
 
 The state of things at the time when the cry is uttered, is 
 supposed in the very language to be not different, in regard 
 to suiFering and severity, from that whicli went before. 
 When the martyrs' cry, ' dost thou not avenge our blood,' 
 was uttei'ed, blood was still being shed. This agrees well 
 with the state of things under Valerian, who made up for the 
 unusual clemency with which he treated the christians in the 
 early years of his reign, by a severity afterwards not greatly 
 behind that of his most cruel predecessors. Finding that the 
 progress of Christianity was not to be checked without blood- 
 shed, he followed the example of the previous emperors, and 
 renewed the jjersecution. The edicts issued during this 
 period were chiefly directed against the ministers of Chris- 
 tianity, the presbyters and the bishops ; those whose duty it 
 was to conduct the worship of God in the christian assem- 
 blies, and to supply the people with the means of grace ; in 
 short, the men who, from their office, were required to act a 
 prominent part in holding forth the ' word of God,' and in 
 exhibiting a public ' testimony' for the truth. The tei-ms of 
 one of these imperial edicts carried that ' bishops, presbyters, 
 and deacons, were to be put to death immediately by the 
 sword.' It was at this time that Cyprian, the famous bishop 
 of Carthage, was added to the glorious army of martyrs ; 
 and if the martyr-legends of the period, whose authenticity 
 is unchallenged, are to be trusted, the bloody cruelties perpe- 
 ti-ated under Valerian were not inferior to those of his most 
 blood-thirsty predecessors. The language of the cry from the 
 souls under the altar, thus depicts the state of heavy persecu- 
 tion under which the christians were groaning at the very 
 time of which we now speak. 
 
224 THE SODLS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 Nor is there anything, in looking to the future, which 
 holds out a more cheering prospect. The gloomy intimation 
 implied in the words, ' until their fellow-servants also, and 
 their brethren, should be killed as they were,' accords well 
 with the facts of history in the period following. The perse- 
 cution of Diocletian soon succeeded, and assumed a character 
 of unparalleled atrocity. It was the worst of all the pagan 
 persecutions, — the fiercest, the longest, and the most extensive 
 in its range. 
 
 ' Diocletian's fiery sword 
 
 Work'd busy as the lightning.' 
 
 In conjunction with the eastern emperor Galerius, he issued 
 a succession of edicts of the most barbarous description," the 
 design of which was to extirpate Christianity from the earth, 
 to abolish for ever the christian name. These edicts ordained 
 penalties, banishment, torture, and death ; they were directed 
 against all christians whatever their age, sex, or rank ; and 
 seemed, as Eusebius remarks, written with the points of dag- 
 gers dipped in blood. The persecution lasted ten years, and 
 an idea of its extent may be formed from the fact that, while 
 Spain and Britain on' the west furnished their proportion of 
 victims, as far east as Egypt two hundred thousand are said 
 to have perished. During this persecution alone, how many 
 ' fellow -sei'vants and brethren' of those souls which Avere 
 previously under the altar must have been ' killed !'* 
 
 Thus does it appear, that in the ten pagan persecutions 
 evei'ything symbolical in this seal received its fulfilment, so 
 as to leave little room for hesitation as to the historical refe- 
 rence of the seal itself. And, before advancing another step, 
 three things confirmatory of this view are worthy of being 
 noted. First, the period in question is commonly known and 
 distinguished as the ' era of martyrs.' Secondly, the perse- 
 cutions of the pei-iod assumed the form of a war against ' the 
 word of God and the testimony ' of its friejads. While the 
 scriptures were suffered to exist, and the ministers of religion 
 
 * Gibbon labours, without success, to lessen the number of the victims ; 
 but gives the edicts, from which an idea sufficieutry horrible may be gather- 
 ed. — Dec. and Fall, cUap. svi. 
 
TITE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 225 
 
 permitted to exercise their sacred functions, all hopes of crush- 
 ing Christianity proved to be in vain. Accordingly, the edicts 
 required, not only that the presbyters and bishops should be 
 put to the sword, but that the holy scriptures should be com- 
 mitted to the flames, and the christian churches levelled to 
 the dust. The demolition of the church in Nicome Jia, the 
 place of imperial residence, may be mentioned as an example 
 in illustration. On the twenty-second day of February, in 
 the year three hundred and three, at the dawn of day, that 
 magnificent edifice was attacked under cover of an imperial 
 edict, every copy of the bible found in it was burned, and the 
 whole building abandoned to plunder and destruction. This 
 was only the signal for razing christian churches everywhere 
 to their very foundations, and throwing all manuscripts of the 
 scriptures wherever found into the fire. Nor, thirdly, does 
 the part of the vision which speaks of ' white robes being 
 given them,' admit of being less strikingly verified by histo- 
 rical fact. The language has already been explained to mean 
 public vindication or justification. Now, it so happens that 
 a circumstance of this kind followed the persecution of Dio- 
 cletian. We allude to the well-known edict of Galerius, 
 issued in the year three hundred and eleven, which, by grant- 
 ing toleration to their religion, put an end to the sanguinary 
 conflicts of the christians with the Roman power. When one 
 who was a chief instigator and promoter of persecution, thus 
 felt constrained, whether by the softening influence of disease, 
 or by a conviction of the utter hopelessness of his mad at- 
 tempt to extirpate the christian religion by such violent pro- 
 ceedings, to issue a decree in favour of the christians, and 
 even to solicit an interest in their prayers, there were such 
 an implied acknowledgment of his former fault, and such an 
 honourable testimony to Christianity as a living and inde- 
 structible faith, as may well admit of being expressed in sym- 
 bolical language by the martyrs being clothed in ' white 
 robes.' The change produced by Galerius' edict of toleration 
 was so very striking, that even the infidel historian himself 
 records that in consequence of it great numbers of the chris- 
 tians were released from prison, or delivered from the mines, 
 
 k2 
 
226 THE SOTTLS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 and the wailings of oppression exchanged for hymns of tri- 
 umph. This part of the symbol was still more fully verified 
 when Constantine embraced the religion of the persecuted, 
 and the empire itself became nominally christian. 
 
 And this leads me to inquire, whether the import of that 
 part of the seal which contains the answer to the cry may not 
 admit of being extended beyond the period of the pagan per- 
 secutions. True, the ten years of the Diocletian persecution 
 may properly be regarded as ' a little season ' compared with 
 the whole period during which Christianity had been opposed 
 with violence in the ages that went before. But ' little ' is a 
 comparative term, and entirely dependent for its extent of 
 meaningon that with whichit is compared. Now, history proves 
 that neither the predicted ' fulfilling of the fellow-servants 
 find brethren that should be killed,' nor the promised justifi- 
 cation of the martyrs implied in having ' white robes given 
 to every one of them,' can be restricted to what occurred 
 while the Roman empire retained its heathen character. The 
 early christians were certainly disposed to put such a limited 
 construction on the words of the seal ; but in doing so they 
 only betrayed a little of the same impatient desire of early 
 deliverance which appears in the cry itself of which we are. 
 speaking. We feel inclined to agree, therefore, with those 
 expositors who view the passage as embracing events which 
 should transpire under Rome papal, as well as under Rome 
 pagan. And whether we regard the treatment to which 
 christians were subjected, the formal ground of that treat- 
 ment, or the manner in which it issued or is yet to issue, we 
 shall find the language equally applicable to the one as to the 
 other. 
 
 As respects the treatment which true christians have 
 received at the hands of Rome papal, in what language 
 could it be more appropriately spoken of than as a killing of 
 the fellow-servants and brethren of such as Were put to death 
 under the heathen emperors ? Christians of one age are 
 brethren to those of every other age ; they ai'e all fellow- 
 servants of one Master, to whatever' chronological period 
 they happen to belong; and as such, the treatment they re- 
 
TUE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 227 
 
 ceive at the hands of enemies will be found to be much the 
 same. The pagan pei'secutions were fairly rivalled by those 
 which occurred after the empire had assumed the name of 
 christian. The sanguinary spirit of popery is too well known 
 to require either laborious proof or lengthened illustration. 
 It were easy to refer, in corroboration of the charge, to 
 crusades undertaken with a view to extirpate infidelity by the 
 sword ; to swords unsheathed and fires lighted, in oi'der to 
 gratify the ambition of a universal conquest ; to the Inquisi- 
 tion, that horrid tribunal which carried popery in triumph 
 over so many lands, grinding under the burning wheels of its 
 ponderous idol-car every vestige of true religion and liberty, 
 and from the tale of whose murderous atrocities men are 
 disposed to turn away with a generous scepticism ; and to 
 torrents of human blood which the cruelty of papal interests 
 has made to flow. Its progress may, indeed, be tracked by 
 the gore of its victims, who form a multitude that is literally 
 innumerable. No character of Rome is better attested than 
 this. It can neither be plausibly denied nor successfully 
 concealed. It is written, as with a sunbeam, on the face 
 of 'history's honest page.' No description of the popish 
 church can be more true to fact, than that given of her in 
 holy writ, where she is represented under the symbol of a 
 ' woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the 
 blood of the martyrs of Jesus.' (Rev. xvii. 6.) It is 
 calculated that not fcAver than fifteen millions have been slain 
 for the word of God, since the rise of antichrist; and that, 
 were all the true saints in Christendom at the present day to 
 be put to death, they would not equal the number of those 
 who, in their conflict with Rome papal, have already sealed 
 their testimony with their blood, and gone to join the souls 
 under the altar. 
 
 May we not include in this enumeration of Rome's bloody 
 deeds, the atrocities committed in Scotland during the per- 
 secution which succeeded the Second Reformation, and which 
 had for its object the overthi'ow of that blessed work? True, 
 that was, strictly speaking, a prelatical persecution. But 
 not to speak of prelacy as the parent of popeiy ; not to speak 
 
228 TUE SOULS UNDEK THE ALTAR. 
 
 of the less than half-reformed character of the prelacy 
 then attempted to be established, it is not to be forgotten that 
 the two royal brothers, Charles and James, under whose 
 auspices and at whose instigation, the barbarities in question 
 were perpetrated, were thorough papists in heart. Nor had 
 the episcopal minions, — some of them perfidious apostates, — 
 who submitted to their arrogant and despotic claims, who sat 
 in their high commission courts, and who lent their counten- 
 ance and their influence to the execution of their bloody 
 decrees, any claim to the name, much less to the spirit of 
 protestants. It is not certainly to the honour of episcopacy 
 that it could so easily adapt itself to the spirit and practices 
 of Rome. But the streams of blood which flowed in Scotland, 
 from the Restoration to the Revolution, and the thousands who 
 during that period were sent to mingle with the souls under 
 the altar, may, for the reasons assigned, safely be ascribed to 
 popish intolerance. And it is thus that the subject we are 
 considering applies to the object in connection with which 
 we are now met. 
 
 The true ground of the papal, is the same with that of the 
 pagan, persecutions. The protestant martyrs, as well as 
 their fellow-servants and brethren who went before, suffered. 
 ' for the word of God, and the testimony which they held.' 
 The cause in which they died was the cause of- bible truth, 
 religion, and liberty; the cause of God and his Christ; a 
 cause every way worthy of their best exertions and their 
 dearest sacrifices. The principles of the martyrs, especially 
 of those bf Scotland, specifically viewed, may be compre- 
 hended in a brief summary. They contended for the doctrine 
 of salvation by the free grace of God, through faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; — for the sole authority of the holy scrip- 
 tures in matters of religion, and the right of all men to use them 
 and to form their own opinions from them; — for the exclusive 
 headship of Christ over the church, and its 6onsequent inde- 
 pendence of civil control; — for the headship of Christ over 
 the nations, and the consequent duty devolving on the civil 
 community to regulate its affairs by the law of Christ, and 
 subordinate them to the . glory of the Lord and the interests 
 
THE SOULS UNDEK THE ALTAR. 229 
 
 of his church; — for the right of resistance to such civil rulers 
 as usurp the prerogatives of the Redeemer, tyrannise over his 
 church, oppress the people, and lend the weight of their 
 influence to the subversion of constitutional equity, liberty, 
 and law ; — and for the obligation and importance of public 
 covenants, as a means of professing, advancing, and main- 
 taining the true religion, and of comforting and fortifying the 
 church in troublous and difficult times. 
 
 These are the leading principles — bible principles all of 
 them, as it appears to us — for which the martyrs of old, 
 particularly the Scottish martyrs, contended earnestly, and 
 died nobly. The simple enumeration, you will allow me to 
 remark in passing, ought to be enough to rescue our 
 ancestors from the charge that has sometimes been rashly 
 preferred against them, of having busied themselves- about 
 trifles and squandered their lives on matters of little moment. 
 Some of the points above indicated may seem of small 
 moment to many in the present day ; but such is not the 
 light in which they presented themselves to the minds of our 
 reforming forefathers. They felt that they were not at liberty 
 to dispense with any part of revealed truth. Their con- 
 sciences would not suffer them to purchase exemption from 
 pain or even from death, by acknowledging as true what they 
 believed to be false, or by acknowledging as right what 'they 
 believed to be morally wrong. Nor did they deem it prudent 
 at times to make concessions even when they might perhaps 
 have been conscientiously made, lest their doing so should 
 only have the effect of inducing their persecutors to demand 
 similar concessions on points in regard to which their demands 
 could not have been so safely complied with. These obser- 
 vations may help to account for some things in their conduct 
 in which they are apt to be blamed for having gone to an 
 extreme. They conscientiously believed, for example, the 
 presbyterian form of church government to be derived from 
 the word of God ; and, therefore, they could not virtually 
 abjure it by tamely submitting to a lordly prelacy. They 
 regarded the custom of kneeling at the sacrament as origi- 
 nating in, and fitted to lend countenance to, the idolatrous 
 
230 THE SOULS UXDER THE ALTAK. 
 
 reverence extended to the host in the Church of Rome ; and 
 therefore they placed upon it the mark of their condemnation. 
 The form in which they were required to pray for the king 
 seemed to them to involve an acknowledgment of encroach- 
 ments on the prerogatives of Christ, and the liberties of the 
 church, which they could not but regard as at once tyrannical 
 and blasphemous ; and therefore, while they never refused to 
 pray for the blessing of God on his person, they scrupled to 
 pray for him in the form prescribed by the civil authorities. 
 These are matters which the men of an easy and silken gene- 
 ration like the present may deem of no moment. But we 
 feel convinced that all who will look at them from the true 
 point of view, that, namely, in which the history of the times 
 present them, will be disposed to think otherwise ; and, while 
 condemning as worthy of the strongest reprobation the con- 
 duct of the persecutors who, on grounds like these, sought to 
 ensnare the consciences of men, and even proceeded to take 
 their lives, they will view the steadfastness of those who man- 
 fully resisted every such attempt, as evincing a strength of 
 principle and even an accuracy of thinking which merit the 
 highest admiration and approval. 
 
 Returning from this partial digression, for which in thQ 
 circumstances in which we are now speaking an apology will 
 easily be found, we. beg attention to the remark that, it would 
 not be difficult to show that the principles of the martyrs all 
 resolve themselves into the ' word of God,' from which they 
 appear to us to be derived ; and of course, dying for these 
 principles, they may be said to have been 'slain for the word 
 of God, and for the testimony which they held.' Certain it 
 is, that in the protestant struggle with antichrist, as in the 
 christian struggle with heathenism, the contention not un- 
 frequently turned on the holy scriptures, — their place as the 
 rule of faith, and the I'ight of all to read them. For as one 
 well remarks, ' The suppression of the scriptures has been the 
 unquestionable characteristic of the papal polity for a thousand 
 years. In every country where it possessed influence, popery 
 invariably succeeded in extinguishing'the national use of the 
 bible. In every' country where the Reformation enlightened 
 
TUE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 231 
 
 the popular ignorance, its first effort was to give the bible to 
 the people. This was, and is, uniformly the point of struggle, 
 the acknowledged distinction, the marking feature of the con- 
 test between protestantism and popery.' (Croly.) 
 
 Nor is the analogy between the pagan and the papal 
 martyrdoms less striking in regard to the justification they 
 receive. A vindication amounting to investiture with ' white 
 robes,' took place in respect to the latter also ; in general, in 
 the establishment of the Reformation ; and as regards Britain, 
 in particular, in the Revolution of 1G88, which, whatever its 
 defects, (and we are not insensible to them,) cannot but be 
 regarded as a noble justification of the martyrs, inasmuch as, 
 not only was there a stop put by it to the shedding of blood, 
 but many of the grounds on vyhich it proceeded were those 
 for which they had suffered and died. It is not easy -to con- 
 ceive a more unequivocal testimony to the Reformers of this 
 country than that which was given when the whole nation 
 rose, and with one indignant effort drove from the throne and 
 from the kingdom the family which had so wantonly shed 
 their blood ; and that, too, on the very principles, decided 
 adherence to which had cost them their lives. This can be 
 looked upon as inferior only to that complete and universal 
 justification which awaits their character and cause at the 
 final overthrow of antichrist. For, when the witnesses* shall 
 have finished their testimony, and the Beast out of the bottom- 
 less pit shall have made war against them and overcome them 
 and killed them, (the slaying of the witnesses appears to us 
 to be still future,) after three days and a half, during which 
 their bodies shall lie in the sti'eets of the great city, which is 
 spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was 
 crucified, the spirit of life from God shall enter into them and 
 they shall stand up upon their feet, and a great voice from 
 heaven shall be heard, saying. Come up hithei', and they shall 
 ascend up to heaven in a cloud. Then, truly, shall ' white robes 
 be given to every one of them,' and in their new and resplendent 
 attire they shall stand forth acquitted and admired by the 
 whole world, while their persecutors are wrapped in confusion 
 and shame. 
 
232 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 III. We have still, in fulfilment of the plan proposed, to 
 point out the general import and design of the seal ; in other 
 words, the purposes to which it may be viewed as subservient. 
 
 It was well fitted, for one thing, to sustain the faith of the 
 christians living at the time. Their belief in the truth of 
 Christianity was in some danger of being shaken by such a 
 long continuance of cruelties and persecutions, of sufferings 
 and death. So long a time of the prosperity of the enemies, 
 and the oppression of the friends, of the christian religion might 
 be apt to induce a doubt whether, after all, it enjoyed the 
 countenance of God. As the afflicted saint, in his moments 
 of depression, is apt to say, If I be a child, why am I thus ? 
 so members of the church, contemplating the trials to which 
 she is exposed, may be in danger, in the same mistaken spirit, 
 of saying, If indeed a church of God, why does he not inter- 
 pose to protect and deliver her ? The vision before us was 
 calculated to refute this false logic, by teaching that God, 
 though long-suffering, was nevertheless holy and true, and that 
 his judgment, though suspended for a while, could never, 
 except in a figurative sense, be said to slumber. He delays, 
 but he has purposes fo serve by so doing ; and it is our duty 
 to wait the development of these. We may not know before^ 
 hand what these are, but if we can only wait on in faith, they 
 will assuredly unfold themselves. One of them may be, to 
 try and to strengthen the faith of his people, by giving room 
 for its exercise. — Another may be, to guard the members of 
 the church against the danger of apostacy. The converts to 
 Christianity at first being from paganism, and those to the 
 reformed religion afterwards being from popery, who knows 
 whether the display given of the inherent dai'kness, and 
 cruelty, and malignant selfishness of both these false systems, 
 in their persecuting treatment of those who seceded from them, 
 may not have been a chief means of preventing these converts 
 from being allured back again into their fascinating but dan- 
 gerous embrace ? The tempest of persecution and the rage 
 of the oppressor might thus become, not merely the instrument 
 of their purification, but the occasion of their steadfastness. — 
 Nor were the peVsecutions less calculated, by bringing strongly 
 
THE SOULS L'NDER THE ALTAU. 233 
 
 out what religion is, and what it can both do and suffer, to 
 subserve the great end of its diffusion. They showed what 
 the omnipotent grace of the Most High coukl accomplish ; 
 what fortitude it could inspire; what constancy it could secure; 
 what oppression it could enable those who were under its 
 influence to sustain ; what exploits it could qualify them to 
 perform ; what meekness, and patience, and forgiveness, and 
 true elevation of spirit it could engender. This itself would 
 constitute no mean testimony to the nature and reality of 
 religion, — a testimony having much the effect of a miracle, 
 being, indeed, a moral miracle, and so adapted to an age when 
 miracles of another kind had ceased. And is it not the fact, 
 that such exhibitions of the power of divine grace in times of 
 persecution, have deeply affected the minds of men in favour 
 of religion, and thus served materially to aid the very cause 
 which the persecutions themselves were designed to overthrow? 
 To such a degree, indeed, has this been the case, that it has 
 even passed into a proverb that the blood of the martyrs is the 
 seed of the church. 
 
 The vision before us was fitted, also, to animate the chris- 
 tians of the period to which it refers for the struggle which 
 then awaited them. The persecution of Diocletian was at 
 hand. Its last fearful outbreak was about to sweep over the 
 empire. It would require special invigoration to enable, the 
 members of the church to face the danger, and to stand their 
 ground, much more to come off with triumph. And what 
 better calculated to serve the purpose than this ? A view of 
 the effects of former persecutions was well fitted to uphold 
 them under those with which they themselves were about to 
 be visited. A picture, such as is here given, of the wrongs 
 sustained in former times by their fellow-servants and bre- 
 thren, and of the ultimate glory in which these sufferings were 
 to issue, was adapted to stir them up, under a keen sense of 
 injury and a deep conviction of the justice of their cause, to 
 put forth their utmost energies in the coming conflict. It 
 brought to their assistance, in an hour when it was much 
 required, the powerful aid of sympathy sympathy with the 
 great and the good, the noble and the honourable, of former 
 
234 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 generations, than which scarce anything can be conceived 
 raore spirit-stirring and inspiring. A sight of the bleeding 
 martyrs under the altar was calculated to operate on those by 
 whom it was beheld, much in the same way in which a thrill- 
 ing signal seasonably hoisted in the field of battle rouses the 
 dispirited troops to an enthusiastic onset. 
 
 The vision is, in like manner, well adapted to teach and to 
 illustrate some vastly important doctrines. It sets forth, in a ■ 
 most emphatic manner, the awful depravity of man, furnishing 
 a most impressive illustration of the scripture statement, that 
 the carnal mind is enmity against God ; seeing that a religion 
 so pure and benevolent as that of Christ should draw down on 
 its supporters such cruel and atrocious treatment. — It' pro- 
 claims, no less unequivocally, the retributive rectitude of the 
 Almighty; representing him as holy and true ; intimating that , 
 vengeance is his and his alone, and giving palpable meaning 
 to the published principle of retributory justice, ' Whoso shed- 
 deth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' It throws 
 light on the statement, ' Precious shall their blood be in his 
 sight ;' and supplies a comment on the passage which an- 
 nounces, ' When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remem- 
 bereth them ; he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.' The 
 doctrine of God's retributive equity is one of immense value 
 in connection with the scheme of grace. Most vague and 
 imperfect views regarding it are abroad, while by many it is 
 either altogether overlooked or denied. The pernicious effect 
 of such a state of things is to be seen in the notions that are 
 prevalent regarding the work of Christ, the nature and method 
 of man's salvation, and even the principles of criminal legis- 
 lation. Well were it, could some of the would-be theologians 
 and philanthropists of the present day be induced/ to study the 
 opening of the fifth seal, so as to drink into the spirit of the 
 souls under the altar who cry with a loud voice, ' How long, 
 O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not av,enge our blood on 
 them that dwell on the earth V — And how strikingly does it 
 instruct us in the soul's safe and happy and active existence 
 after death ! The bodies of the martyrs had fallen into the 
 hands of their 'persecutors, and had been, perhaps, given by 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 235 
 
 them to be meat to the fowls of heaven or to the beasts of the 
 earth. But they had no control over the disembodied spirits. 
 They could kill the body, but could not kill the soul. The 
 indignities offered to the mangled, quivering, lifeless flesh, 
 had no effect in hindering the rest or the glory of the spirit. 
 The bodies are inactive and insensible; but the souls are 
 busily employed in contemplating the justice of God's moral 
 government, confidently reposing thereupon, waiting with 
 eager desire for farther displays of it, and deriving from 
 the contemplation and prospect large accessions to their hap- 
 piness. How is the gloomy sentiment thus rebuked, which 
 represents the soul as entering at death on a state of un- 
 conscious torpidity ! And what a degree of plausibility 
 is given to the opinion that sepai'ate spirits are neither ignorant 
 of, nor insensible to, the events connected with the church 
 which are transpiring here below ! 
 
 Besides these pui'poses of a general nature, the vision is no 
 less fitted to exert a salutary practical influence, some parti- 
 culars of which may form a suitable conclusion to the dis- 
 course. 
 
 How well fitted to moderate the expectations of christians ! 
 They may hence learn not to look for uninterrupted enjoy- 
 ment. We see here what the chi'istians of former ages were 
 called to endure. W& are even taught to expect no better 
 treatment for those who are yet to follow after ; at least until 
 that let or hinderance to everything good, the Mystery of 
 Iniquity, be taken out of the way. The children must fill up 
 the measure of their fathers. So long as antichrist continues, 
 ' all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.' 
 We need not, then, look for exemption from this common lot 
 of saints, but lay our account with being made to feel, in one 
 form or another, the bitter hostility of Rome. 
 
 We are taught also highly to value and earnestly to con- 
 tend for the word of God. As witnesses, it is our duty to 
 testify ; and the grand point on which our testimony must be 
 concentrated is the holy scriptures, — their place as the alone 
 rule of faith, and the title of every man and woman to read 
 them This, as we have seen, has been a principal object of 
 
236 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 attack by Rome, whether papal or pagan. By Romanists, the 
 authority of the church has been raised above that of the bible, 
 and the use of the scriptures denied to the laity. The con- 
 test between popery and protestantism takes its rise, and 
 derives one of its most prominent features, from this point. 
 Decrees of councils and rescripts of popes there are in abun- 
 dance, modern as well as ancient, denouncing the reading of 
 the word of God, and uttering curses on such as disregard the 
 prohibition. As christians and as protestants it becomes us 
 to guard the point in question with jealous care, to defend 
 with zeal the right of all to the word of God, and to strive for 
 it even unto blood, manfully resisting every attempt to wrest 
 from us so precious a treasure. Were I monarch of a king- 
 dom, some one has said, I would sooner part with the right 
 to wear my crown, than with the right to read my bible. The 
 right to wear my crown ! A bauble ! Sooner would I part 
 with my right eye — sooner would I part with ray right arm- 
 sooner would I part with life itself, than surrender my right 
 to hold converse with tlicse scriptures which make wise unto 
 salvation thi-ough faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Learn to abhor and stand aloof from all persecution. You 
 see its spirit and effects in the details of this seal. They -are 
 such as should awaken the strongest detestation and repug- 
 nance. You meet this day to testify your respect for the 
 memory of martyrs. But this is no proof that you may not 
 cherish a persecviting spirit. The Church of Rome herself 
 professes veneration for the martyrs who fell under the pagan 
 persecutions ; she pretends to have great respect for their 
 memory, and even pays them a sort of religious homage. Yet 
 does not this hinder her from killing the fellow-servants and 
 brethren of thesesame martyrs. With that taste for absurdity 
 and inconsistency for which the system is distinguished, she 
 can at once canonise the dead and persecute the living. She 
 can venerate, even to superstitious excess, th^ murdered saints 
 of one age, and herself put to death those of another age. She 
 can build the tombs and garnish the sepulchres of one set of 
 martyrs, and fill the tomb with the bodies of another set. She 
 can profess respect for the cry of the souls under the altar, at 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 237 
 
 tlie very time that she is adding daily and extensively to their 
 number, and doing what only tends to swell the voice of their 
 bitter exclamation. Imitate her not in this, my brethren. 
 Value the religious liberty you yourselves enjoy, and con- 
 scientiously respect that of others. Hate with a perfect hatred 
 the demon of persecution, and do what in you lies, in the ex- 
 ercise of an enlightened zeal, to hunt it down and banish it 
 from the earth. 
 
 Kejoice in the retributive equity of the Most High, and 
 wait with tranquil and confident expectation its unfailing re- 
 sults. There is nothing in this that is at variance with the 
 charity of the gospel. On the contrary, the subject we have 
 been considering shows it to be in perfect harmony with the 
 feelings of those who have been purified from the last dregs of 
 human depravity and even infirmity. If the souls under the 
 altar cry, ' How long, O Lard, holy and true, dost thou not 
 judge and avenge our blood?' we need not hesitate to cherish 
 similar sentiments. The Lord reigns. Justice and judgment 
 are the foundation of his throne. The wicked may triumph 
 and the righteous be oppressed ; but it shall not be so for ever. 
 A time will come when all such moral discrepancies shall be 
 completely rectified ; and to that time let us look forward with 
 joy. Let us do so in particular with respect to the retribu- 
 tive visitation which awaits the popish church. We know 
 that her sins shall yet reach unto heaven, and that God will 
 remember her iniquities. He will reward her even as she 
 hath rewarded others, and double unto her double according 
 to her works ; in the cup which she hath filled, he will fill to 
 her double. Great Babylon shall yet come in remembrance 
 before God, to. give unto her the cup of the fierceness of his 
 wrath. He will yet prove himself to be the Lord God, holy 
 and true, by judging and avenging upon her the blood of his 
 saints. When he maketh inquisition for blood, he cannot 
 overlook a system in whose skirts is found the blood of prophets 
 and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth. Having 
 shed the blood of saints and prophets, nay, having been 
 drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of 
 the martyrs of Jesus, she shall have blood given her to drink. 
 
238 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAE. 
 
 for she is worthy. In these holy and equitable retributions, 
 who would not feel satisfaction ? Not to do so were to con- 
 travene an express command of God, and to prove ourselves 
 disqualified for engaging in the lofty ascriptions of heaven. 
 You need not therefore be deterred from the exercise in 
 question by any apprehension of its unsuitableness to the 
 christian character. The command of God and the example of 
 the company on high may well relieve you from every scruple - 
 of this kind. 
 
 Nor may you be in any degree restrained by- a dread of 
 disappointment. No. We are well assured that Babylon's 
 ' plagues shall come upon her in one day, and that she shall 
 be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who 
 judgeth her.' Mark, for your encouragement, the expression, 
 'for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.' Rome is 
 strong, but there is a stronger than she. She may yet in- 
 crease her zeal and redouble her activities ; nominal and faith- 
 less protestants may give themselves over to supine indiffe- 
 rence, and even lend their aid to advance her interests; 
 Oxford, forgetting the purpose for which its schools are up- 
 held, may become Romanised ; the court of Britain may form 
 diplomatic relations with the court of Rome, and may ev^n 
 with perfidious and suicidal inconsistency pension the priest- 
 hood of the Man of Sin. But the result of all such efforts 
 will only be to impart a sort of posthumous or galvanic 
 strength to the system, the efforts arising from which will 
 be but as the mortal spasms of approaching dissolution. The 
 doom of Babylon is sealed. The hour is fixed, and at no 
 great distance, when, the seven-hilled city shall be tossed from 
 its proud pre-eminence, — when the triple crown of blasphemy 
 shall be prostrated in the dust, — when, like a Edillstone cast 
 with an angel's mi^ht into the sea, the great city shall be 
 thrown down to rise no more at all for ever. Do you demand 
 security that it shall be so, before you cothply with the com- 
 mand to rejoice in the prospect? What better can you have 
 than this? — ' Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.' The 
 might of Jehovah, the strength of the Omnipotent, is pledged 
 for the destruction of popery. There is no room for despon- 
 
THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 230 
 
 (lency. He, whose voice is obeyed by the wind and the waves 
 — He, to whom the planets in their coui'ses, and the angels in 
 their holy ministry, do homage — He, who can rend the rocks 
 with his word and shake the earth with his presence — He, 
 who has the roar of the thunder and the impetuosity of the 
 whirlwind, not less than the whispering breeze of love, at his 
 command — even He it is that hath said, ' Rejoice over her, 
 thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath 
 avenged yon on her. With violence shall that great city 
 Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.' 
 The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? 
 his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back ? The 
 zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Contemplate it 
 then, my hearers, with unwavering faith ; pray for it with 
 devotion ; anticipate it with rapturous satisfaction and delight. 
 Let the subject, in fine, serve to direct, confirm, and ani- 
 mate us, in regard to what is our own duty at the present 
 time. Let us manifest becoming respect for the memory of 
 our martyred forefathers ; and do what we can, by refreshing 
 their time-worn tablets, and, above all, by seeking to revive 
 an interest in the sacred cause in which they died, to hasten 
 forward their predicted investiture Avith white robes. As 
 christians, we profess to be the fellow-servants of all the saints 
 in glory ; as Scottish Presbyterians we are the hereditary 
 descendants of the martyrs of our country ; but they only 
 can consistently claim the honour of being their real succes- 
 sors who adopt and act out their principles, which were 
 opposed at once to popery, prelacy, and erastianism. Lift up 
 your eyes then, and look. Behold the souls under the altar. 
 Perceive ye not among them, the spirits of Patrick Hamilton 
 and George Wishart; of Argyll, and Guthrie, and Warris- 
 ton ; of Cameron, and Cargill, and Renwick, and other names 
 in Scotland's illustrious army of martyrs ? Imbibe their spirit. 
 Espouse their cause. Follow in their worthy footsteps. Lift 
 high their fallen standard. Shake out the folds of their bat- 
 tered and blood-stained banner to the wind, and the gathering 
 breeze of passing events will not suffer it to hang flapping 
 idly against the flag-staff, but will stretch it stiflly out so that 
 
240 THE SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR. 
 
 men on all sides may read its simple but glorious motto, — For 
 the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus — for Christ's Crown 
 and Covenant. Wait with patience till, the little season being 
 past, their cause shall be justified before the world by the 
 providential interpositions of the Most High God. Then, 
 instead of prophesying in sackcloth, or weltering in their 
 blood, or crying with a loud voice for retribution, they shall 
 stand forth in presence of their enemies arrayed in the white 
 robes of open acquittal and universal approbation, hymning 
 songs of gratitude, and raising the shout of victory. The 
 Lord hasten it in his time ! 
 
 And Oh, my hearers, let us all, in conclusion, feel the need, 
 on account of our sins, of escaping without delay from the 
 retributive justice of a true and holy God to whom vengeance 
 belongeth, to the sacrifice of the Redeemer. We have an 
 altar, beneath which has been poured the blood of a divinely 
 meritorious offering. To that blood must we betake, to that 
 blood must we cleave in faith, if, in the solemn day of final 
 award, we would be found among those who shall appear 
 * arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteous- 
 ness of saints,' and in whose happy experience the blessed 
 promise shall be everlastingly realised — ' They shall walk: 
 
 "WITH ME IN "WHITE, FOR THEY ARE WORTHY.' Amen and 
 
 amen ! 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 CHARITY TO THE POOR EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 
 Preached at Paisley, Sept. 23, 1823, for the Widow and Orphan Society there. 
 
 Job xxxi. 16-22. 
 
 ' Jf I ^iove icitJiheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the 
 eyes of the widow to fail ; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and 
 the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was 
 brought up with vie, as with a father, and T have guided her from my 
 mother'' s womb;) if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or 
 any poor without covering ; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he 
 were not warmed ivith the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my 
 hand against the fatherless, ivhen 1 saw my help in the gate ; then let 
 mine arm fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from 
 the bone.'' 
 
 No part of scripture, perhaps, has more exercised the in- 
 genuity of critics and commentators than the book of Job. 
 To detail all the various hypotheses that have been offered on 
 the subject, uay, even to take a brief retrospect of the prin- 
 cipal opinions that have been entertained respecting this por- 
 tion of God's word, would carry us completely away from our 
 present design. The reality of Job's existence, the period in 
 which he lived, the place of his residence, and the class of 
 poetry to which his book is to be referred, have all given rise 
 to the keenest disputes. Assuming that the poem is not a mere 
 fictitious narrative but an authentic detail of facts, we are 
 disposed to refer the period of Job's existence to very remote 
 antiquity, as remote at least as the patriarchal age, and to 
 
 L 
 
242 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 regard him as an inhabitant of Idumea, that part of Arabia- 
 Petrea which is situated in the southern extremity of the tribe 
 ofJudah, between Egypt and Pliilistia. 
 
 The book, whether viewed as epic, dramatic, or didactic, 
 must be allowed to exhibit all the marks of an eastern poem. 
 The machinery is extremely regular and distinct. It consists 
 of an exordium, or introduction, — a protracted dialogue, — and 
 an epilogue or conclusion, all of which are so closely connected, 
 as not to admit of being detached from one another. The 
 exordium and epilogue are in prose^ but the internxediate dia- 
 logues, which compose the principal part of the book, are in 
 metre. And the whole sparkles with ^uch a peculiar play of 
 fancy, exhibits such strength of description, and abounds with 
 such frequent use of metaphors, as have led commentators and 
 critics of every class unanimously to agree in pronouncing the 
 poem of Job the most ancient book in existence. 
 
 Here we behold a truly pious man suddenly precipitated 
 from the very summit of prosperity into the lowest depths of 
 misery and ruin ; on which account he is exposed to the un- 
 just suspicions and bitter reproaches of his mistaken friends ; 
 from whose accusations he is repeatedly compelled to defend 
 himself by strong asseverations of his innocence, earnest ex,- 
 postulations, and solemn appeals to the justice and omni- 
 science of God. 
 
 It is in one of these solemn protestations that the words of 
 our text occur. They have obviously a direct reference to 
 the pur{)oses for which we are now assembled, viz., to exhibit 
 the duty of charity to the poor in general, and to an interesting 
 class of indigent persons in pairticular. In the wise arrange- 
 ments of the Almighty Ruler of the world it has been so 
 appointed, that in every age there should exist ailiong men a 
 great diversity of , external condition — some wallowing in 
 pampered affluence, and others oppressed with pinching want. 
 In the Levitical writings it was distinctly "ksserted, that ' the 
 poor should never cease out of tlie land ' — from the text we 
 learn, that long prior to that period poverty presented its claims 
 to the benevolent heart ; and the object that has brought us 
 together at present serves to evince the continuance of the 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 243 
 
 same order. of things. It will not, therefore, be deemed un- 
 suitable to solicit jour attention to — A few preliminary re- 
 marks on the text itself; the manner in which charity to the 
 poor in general ought to be conducted ; and the motives by 
 which this duty is enforced. 
 
 I. Let me crave your attention to some preliminary ocseu- 
 VATIONS on the text itself. 
 
 1. Here it is important to remark, that it was spoken in 
 reply to a charge. — In any other light, such language as is 
 here employed might appear ostentatious. There is no species 
 of ostentation more hateful or disgusting than the ostentation 
 of charity. In whatever way it makes its appearance, whether 
 in a vain parade beforehand, in the manner in Avhich alms are 
 conferred, or in the noise that is made about them afterwards, 
 it betrays the most despicable littleness of soul, and is a sure 
 indication of the want of all proper religious principle. How- 
 ever much we may be required in scripture to please our 
 fellow-men as a duty, it is never recognised as the motive from 
 which any of our actions ought to proceed. Here lay the 
 great fault of the Pharisees of old. They did nothing so much 
 from a regard to the will of God, as to procure for themselves 
 the praise of man. Actuated at all times by a base spirit of 
 self-conceit, they were perpetually hunting for human applatise; 
 and this spirit displayed itself to such a degree even in their 
 almsgiving, that our Lord deemed it necessary to expose their 
 wickedness, and to warn his disciples from following so hate- 
 ful and so dangerous an example. 
 
 The circumstances in which the text was spoken, completely 
 free the patriarch from every such unworthy suspicion. It 
 was in vindication of his character from the harsh and illiberal 
 imputations of Eliphaz, that he was forced, reluctantly we may 
 believe, thus to speak of charitable deeds that might other- 
 wise, for him at least, have for ever remained concealed under 
 the shades of profoundest secrecy. But this pretended friend, 
 incensed at Job's resolute assertion of his innocence in reply 
 to former accusations, proceeds to open crimination and con- 
 tumely, and accuses the most upright of men of the most 
 
244 CIIAKITr TO THE POOR 
 
 atrocious crimes, — of injustice, rapine, and oppression. Eead 
 the language in which he inveighs against him for his want of 
 charity to the needy : ' For ihou hast taken a pledge from thy 
 brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 
 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou 
 hast withholden bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty 
 man, he had the earth ; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 
 Thou liast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the ' 
 fatherless have been broken : therefore snai'es are round about 
 thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee.' (Job xxii. 6-10.) 
 What virtuous heart could coolly submit to such sweeping 
 reproaches? Who but must acquit the patriarch of every- 
 thing like ostentation in the language here used concerning 
 his own benevolent actions, when he thus views it as the 
 simple and spontaneous expression of a noble spirit uttered in 
 indignant refutation of one of the foulest of calumnies?' Al- 
 though not allowed by the pure principles of Christianity to 
 obtrude our good deeds on public notice in the way of self- 
 gratulation, there is certainly nothing in these principles to 
 hiu'ler our taking this method of replying to unfounded im- 
 peachments of character. 
 
 2: The text is part of a solemn protestation before God.— ^ 
 Instances of such appeals occur not unfrequently in the sacred 
 oracles. Saul says — ' God do so and more also : for thou 
 shalt surely die, Jonathan.' (1 Samuel xiv, 44.) David 
 also — .'So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or- 
 ought else, till the sun be down.' (2 Samuel iii, 35.) Similar 
 is that in Psalm cxxxvii. 5, 6 : ' If I forget thee, O Jeru- 
 salem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not re- 
 member thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; 
 if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.' From their 
 nature, we may safely infer that such asseverations are only 
 warranted on special occasions, when other means of vindica- 
 tion have proved ineflFectual, and that even then they ought 
 to be conducted with great solemnity. 
 
 Of this kind is that of Job in the text. He had formerly 
 protested his innocence in presence of his accusers. But 
 so far from convincing, these protestations had only incensed 
 
EXPLAIKED AND ENFORCED. 245 
 
 them to assail him with heavier charges than before. In 
 such circumstances he must either sit tamely still under a 
 load of the most unfounded reproaches, or make ananimated 
 and confident appeal to the tribunal of all-seeing Justice. 
 The latter course is what he here pursues. Nor is it easy 
 to conceive anything more solemn, affecting, and appropriate, 
 than the manner in which it is done. He relates the 
 principal transactions of his past life; appeals to the 
 omniscience of God for the veracity of his statements ; and, 
 rising in vehemence as he proceeds, calls on the Almighty to 
 attest by judicial visitations, if his statements are false. Such 
 is his feeling of conscious innocence, that he is not afraid to 
 imprecate judgment, nay, even to challenge the awful fury 
 of divine vengeance. His language is worthy of notice. 
 The paroxysm of virtuous indignation does not carVy him 
 beyond propriety of diction: 'If I have withheld the poor 
 from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to 
 fail ; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the father- 
 less hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was 
 brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her 
 from my mother's womb ;) if I have seen any perish for want 
 of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have 
 not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of 
 ray sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fa'ther- 
 less, when I saw my help in the gate ; then let mine arm fall 
 from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the 
 bone.' The arm is the instrument of industry, by which, 
 with the blessing of God, men acquire what enables them to 
 supply the necessities of the poor, besides being in such 
 offices of charity the instrument of donation. On tliis mem- 
 ber of the body, therefore, it is that, on supposition of his 
 guilt, he calls down the righteous retribution of an angry 
 God ; which plainly amounts to an acknowledgment of his 
 conviction, that the arm which either withholds from the 
 poor his desire, or is lifted up in opposition against the needy, 
 deserves to be withered, the flesh to rot fi-om the bone, and 
 the bone itself to be disjointed, and even broken off. 
 
 3 The text affords a fine illustration of the sense enter- 
 
246 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 tained, among the people of Grod, at that early age, of the 
 relative duties of life. — These duties are but ill understood by 
 mankind in general; and the farther back we carry our 
 inquiries into any society, they will be found to be worse 
 understood. This is the case, particularly with the duties 
 which the higher classes owe to the lower. Consult the 
 records of antiquity, and you will find that reasons of the 
 latter description have been undervalued, despised, trampled 
 upon, and treated with every species of indignity. .Such is 
 indicative of a state of barbarity ; and in the proportion in 
 which it holds good in any community, it denotes a deficiency 
 of civilisation. Nor does it appear that mere unassisted 
 reason can elevate society to such a state as that the poor 
 shall not be harassed and oppressed, and treated in some 
 measure as beasts of burden. The existence of slavery in 
 Greece and Rome, even at the proudest stage of -their 
 advancement, corroborates this opinion. It was other- 
 wise, however, at all times, among the people of God. 
 Divine revelation imparted to them a clearer knowledge of 
 relative duty, and, of course, raised them to a higher state 
 of civilisation than could ever otherwise have been attained. 
 Of the importance put upon the poor by the Founder of chris-, 
 tianity, you are all aware. To the manner in which they were 
 appreciated during the Levitical economy, let. the Mosaic 
 institutes bear witness ; and of the ideas entertained on the 
 subject by the patriarchs, we need no other proof than what 
 is presented in this noble passage from one of the earliest of 
 the inspired writings. It leaves us no room to hesitate that 
 the people of God, from very remote antiquity, were ac- 
 customed to recognise and to respect the claims of poverty. 
 By the light of the occasional revelations they recfeived, they 
 were guided in this, as well as the other departments of 
 relative duty ; and the grace of God in their hearts at once 
 restrained every proud sentiment of conscious supei'iority, 
 and taught them to regard every human being however 
 poor and degraded as a brother. Such are still the lessons 
 of genuine Christianity, and the effects' it is found invariably 
 to produce wherever its true spirit is imbibed. The cruelties 
 
EXPLAINKD AND ENFOUCED. 247 
 
 that exist in what are styled christian countries, and the 
 accursed traffic in human beings Avhich is conducted, coun- 
 tenanced, or vindicated by men wlio claim the honour of this 
 sacred name, may seem utterly irreconcileable with this state- 
 ment. But in explanation of this, we have only to remind 
 you that it is where the true spirit of genuine Christianity 
 is felt, that the effects in question are to be expected. It 
 is too true, alas ! that many claim the honour of the 
 christian name who have never drunk at all into the spirit of 
 the religion of Jesus, whom real christians can never recognise, 
 and whom, if they repent not, Christ himself will at last 
 frown away into endless perdition. Still, a mere glance at 
 the state of christian communities may serve to illustrate and 
 confirm our remark; while the number of public charities, 
 hospitals, asylums, and other benevolent institutions that exist 
 in our own land, shows the decided tendency of Christianity 
 in favour of the poor and the destitute, notwithstanding the 
 counteracting influences of selfishness, hyprocisy, and irre- 
 ligion. 
 
 4. The text suggests an important lesson to the guardians 
 of the young. — Job, it appears, had been accustomed to deeds 
 of charity from his earliest years: 'For from my youth he 
 was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided 
 her from my mother's womb.' This plainly intimates* that 
 he had been educated to maxims and habits of a benevolent 
 nature ; and he obviously refers to some well-known cases in 
 which he had carried these into effect from the days of his 
 youth. He had, in all probability, a tender and compas- 
 sionate nature, a heart sensibly alive to the miseries of the 
 species, and keenly susceptible of the most lively feelings of 
 commiseration. He could not look on the distresses of others 
 with hard-hearted indifference ; and even when a child, the 
 sight of some wretched sufferer, or the recital of some tale of 
 woe, would cause his little bosom heave with grief and his 
 eyes stream with tears. This amiable disposition, in all proba- 
 bility, had been fostered, encouraged, and directed by parental 
 authority and example. It had consequently grown into a 
 habit, which never afterwards left him, but continued to tiie 
 
248 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 last to form a bright feature in bis general conduct, to wbieb 
 he could refer in vindication of bis character : ' When the 
 ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, 
 it gave witness to me ; because I delivered the poor that 
 cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. 
 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: 
 and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on 
 righteousness, and it clothed me : my judgment was as a robe ■ 
 and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the 
 lame. I was a father to the poor ; and the cause which I 
 knew not, I searched out.' (Job xxix. 11-16.) 
 
 Children are early capable of receiving impressions, earlier 
 than those who have the charge of them are apt to suppose ; 
 nor is there anything in education more deserving of atten- 
 tion than that these impressions be of a proper kind. And • 
 as concern for the wants of our fellow-men is one of the 
 most important of relative duties, whatever is connected with 
 this will not be ovei'looked by the enlightened guardians of 
 the young. Indeed, children themselves early display symp- 
 toms of liberality ; and cases sometimes occur, in which they 
 show a readiness to part with their food or their clothing, to 
 supply the necessities of other children who have not been, 
 equally well provided for as tliemselves. These spontaneous 
 movements of charitable feeling, while they require to be 
 wisely directed, ought, on no account, to be checked. Let 
 them rather be cherished by all proper means. Let the 
 young be early instructed on this interesting branch of moral 
 duty ; let every symptom of cruelty, hard-heartedness, or 
 supercilious pride, be, noticed with disapprobation ; — let us 
 take our children with us on our walks of usefulness, and 
 initiate them into the practice of benevolence, by being made 
 on proper occasions the agents of our charit}'^, the almoners 
 of our bounty. In every circle will there be found some 
 destitute orphan, whose wants they can supfHy ; some discon- 
 solate widow, whose burden they may help by their little 
 charities to lighten. Thus shall we, while we perform a duty 
 to the young themselves, confer an unspeakable benefit on 
 those who, after we have retired from the stage of public life. 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. '2i0 
 
 shall become the objects of then' benevolent interest. 'Trahi 
 up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he 
 will not depart from it.' O who would not wish that his 
 children, should they like Job ever need to vindicate their 
 character from uncharitable reflections, might be able to say, 
 ' From my youth he was brought up with me, as with a 
 father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb V 
 
 II. We proceed to consider the manner in which charity 
 to the poor in general ought to be conducted. 
 
 1. It should be managed with prudence. — In scarce any 
 thing is there more need of wisdom. The injurious conse- 
 quences of a thoughtless, lavish, and indiscriminate charity, 
 are incalculable. Many seem to think all that is requisite is 
 profusion ; if they give enough, they consider themselves as 
 having done their duty, although the manner in which it was 
 to be done has never perhaps cost them a single thought. 
 It never occurs to them that to think, to investigate, to in- 
 quire, are necessary to entitle their donations to the name of 
 charity. It has been very properly remarked, that there are 
 three things to be considered in everything we do : ivhat we 
 do, how we do it, and tvhen we do it. The individuals in 
 question, as indeed is too common in the world, content 
 themselves with attendrag to the what, while the when and the 
 how are entirely overlooked. But the blessing of God, let it 
 be remembered, is pronounced only on such as ' wisely con- 
 sider the case of the poor.' 
 
 ' Blessed is he that wisely doth 
 The poor man's case consider.' 
 
 Prudence requires to be exercised, both with regard to the 
 objects relieved, and the nature of their necessities. — Among 
 the objects to be relieved, there may be some who, although 
 poor, are yet able to work. Charity to such consists in 
 providing them with the means of supporting themselves. 
 If they are able, but unwilling to work, from habits of lazi- 
 ness, a dislike to restraint, or a predilection for a wandering 
 life, they ought to be subjected to such restrictions as shall 
 make them feel the necessity of honest industry : to supply 
 
 l2 
 
250 CHARlTt TO THE POOR 
 
 them gratuitously, is just to reai' a, lawless banditti to plunder 
 and alarm the district they happen to infest. And, even where 
 indigence is attended with inability, prudefice wiU often dic- 
 tate the propriety of furnishing the necessaries required, 
 rather than the money which is the means of procuring them. 
 — These necessaries again will vary with the circumstances 
 of the paupers. The wants of the poor may be various. 
 Some may stand in need of food, others of medicine, others 
 of clothing, othei's of fuel, others of shelter. Where poverty 
 is accompanied with disease, medical aid may be necessary 
 to check the progress of the disorder, and even careful attend- 
 ance to smooth the pillow of distress : nor can that charity 
 be counted wise, which furnishes an abundance of food, but 
 leaves its objects exposed to the starvation of nakedness. 
 Not such was that of Job : ' If I have seen any perish for 
 want of clothing, or any poor without covering ; if his. loins 
 have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the 
 fleece of my sheep.' 
 
 Charity, then, it appears, does not consist merely in giving 
 money, but in giving it prudently ; for they are sluggards in 
 well-doing, it has been said, 'who know only to do good when 
 they have a purse in their hand.' It is not that sentimental 
 feeling of pity which weeps over a tale of imaginary distress, 
 while it shrinks \yith affected disgust from real suffering. 
 It is a dignified principle, which can visit the abodes of the in- 
 digent, encounter poverty in all its shapes, and disease in all 
 its loathsomeness, confer its liberality with discretion, and 
 enhance the value of its gifts by the counsels, the cares, 
 the looks, and the tears of genuine sympathy with v/hich it is 
 accompanied. 
 
 2. It should be liberal. — Paul commends the Corinthians 
 for their * liberal distribution to the saints, and unto all men.' 
 (2 Cor. 9-13.) From this it may be inferred, that charity to 
 the poor ought to be liberal, both as to the gifts conferred, 
 and as to the range of objects it embraces. 
 
 As to what is conferred, this no doubt requires in individual 
 cases to be regulated by circumstances.' While men's ability is 
 so very different, it were unreasonable to expect the same from 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 251 
 
 all. The christian institute on this subject is founded on the 
 obvious principles of equity and common sense : ' Let every- 
 one of you lay by him in store, as God hath 2)rospered him J 
 (1 Cor. xvi. 2.) Still this does not prevent the donation from 
 being in every case liberal, the term being obviously relative 
 to the circumstances of the donor. It was on this principle, 
 plainly, that the widow's two mites were considered by one 
 well able to judge, as more liberal than the offerings of the 
 rich who gave out of their abundance : ' And Jesus sat 
 over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast 
 money into the treasury : and many that were rich cast in 
 much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw 
 in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto 
 him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto 
 you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they 
 which have cast into the treasury : for all they did cast in of 
 tlieir abundance ; but she of her want did cast in all that she 
 had, even all her living.' (Mark xii. 41-44,) A truly 
 charitable spirit will not be satisfied with a mean and sordid 
 gift. It will not be content that the poor enjoy a bare sub- 
 sistence, but will seek to provide them with the comforts, as 
 well as with the necessaries of life. Despising the nig- 
 gardly disposition which would support life only to feel its 
 miseries, it will never be found nicely balancing the question, 
 how little will do, but rather considering how much can be 
 spared. There is generally more danger of our Iceeping 
 within, than of our going heyond the measure of our ability. 
 ' If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren 
 within any of thy gates, in thy land which the Lord thy God 
 giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine 
 hand from thy poor brother ; but thou shalt open thine hand 
 wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his 
 need, in that which he wanteth.' (Deut. xv. 7, 8.) 
 
 Our liberality ought also to have a respect to the range of 
 objects which it embraces. Our charity is to be diffusive. 
 Prudence, to be sure, must be consulted. It were folly, as 
 before remarked, to scatter our gifts with indiscriminate pro- 
 fusion ; and to roam to distant regions in search of objects, 
 
252 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 while many are pining unrelieved at our door, were to lay 
 ourselves open to the charge of enthusiasm. Still it holds true 
 that charity ought not to be confined within a narrow circle, 
 ought not to be limited by blood, neighbourhood, christian 
 fellowship, or even national relationship. While those who 
 stand connected in each of these relations are to be viewed as 
 having a prior claim, to restrict it to any one of them would 
 be to do violence to the genei'ous spirit of the christian religion. 
 Christian charity is not to be limited by kindred, for God has 
 made of one blood the whole family of mankind ; nor by 
 neighbourhood, for, in the scripture sense of the word, the 
 whole human race are our neighbours ; nor by character or 
 profession, for, as we have opportunity, we are required to 
 do good to all men, as well as to them that are of the house- 
 hold of faith ; nor by national relations, for all nations of men 
 are but joint-subjects of the great Supreme. Among the many 
 wretched objects who applied to the compassionate Redeemer, 
 in the days of his flesh, none was ever dismissed unrelieved on 
 account of his character. The Jew and the Gentile, the rich 
 and the poor, the friend and the enemy, the blind beggar, the 
 loathsome leper, and the ferocious maniac, were alike wel- 
 come to apply, and met an equally gracious reception. None . 
 ever left him sorrowful but one, and he because he refused to 
 comply with His charitable requirement. It is. not for us, 
 then, to spurn from us those whom Jesus would have relieved, 
 or to set limits to our charity which he would have over- 
 stepped. If religious character is indispensable to render any 
 proper objects of charity, the same principle would oblige us 
 to ascertain its existence in order to our giving employment. 
 Let us remember the commendation pronounced on the good 
 Samaritan for his kindness to a stranger. Let us look at God, 
 who ' makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
 sands his rain on the just and on the unjust.' Let us bear in 
 mind the command of our Lord, ' Love your enemies ; bless 
 them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you.' 
 
 In short, true benevolence, as its object is the happiness of 
 all who are capable of feeling happiness, however much its 
 efforts, may be circumscribed by individual inability, will be 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 253 
 
 Strictly universal in its loishes; and if there are few who can 
 realise the extensive philanthropy of a Howard, there may 
 still be many whose wishes may describe a circle equally ex- 
 pansive with that of him whom, when seen traversing the 
 globe on his errand of mercy, the spirits of the good are poeti- 
 cally conceived to have mistaken 
 
 ' For an angel guest, 
 And asked what seraph-foot the eartli impressed.' 
 
 3. It should be cheerful. — ' God loveth a cheerful giver. 
 Therefore, every man, according as he hath purposed in his 
 heart, so let him give ; not grudgingly or of necessity.' (2 
 Cor. ix. 7.) In conferring our alms, we are to show such a 
 willingness and alacrity as shall evince our sincerity in obey- 
 ing the divine command. To dp it with a reluctant grudge is 
 to say we are compelled bj necessity rather than prompted by 
 our own good- will. Yet how many are there who, when called 
 upon to contribute, put their hands into their pockets with 
 obvious reluctance, — a reluctance which they are at no pains 
 to conceal? For some to give, is like tearing the very flesh 
 from their bones. They yield, it is true, to custom or to im- 
 portunity, but all the while they inwardly curse the necessity 
 which obliges them to part with their pelf. Charity, how- 
 ever, to be deserving of the name, must in every case be a free- 
 will offering. 
 
 4. It should be self-denied We ought to accustom our- 
 selves to want something, that we may be in a capacity to 
 give. We may give, and yet our tables be loaded and our 
 persons clothed as richly as ever. In this case there is no self- 
 denial. And although, when they can be had, we are not 
 perhaps required to deny ourselves the comforts of life, yet it 
 would seem that, in every cii'cumstance, it is our duty to deny 
 ourselves some of its luxuries and fineries at least, that we may 
 contribute to the wants of our fellow-men. Such habits of 
 self-denial help to prepare us for circumstances in which 
 we also may have to want ; and even should we never 
 be so situated, of which the most wealthy cannot assure 
 themselves, the gifts thus conferred will yield a peculiar 
 pleasure to ourselves, and possess an additional value in 
 
25 t CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 the estimation of others. Indeed it is in such cases that 
 men can be said, properly speaking, to give at all ; as in 
 other cases they part only with what was unnecessary, per- 
 haps cumbersome, — what at any rate they v/ere nothing bene- 
 fited by possessing, and what, when transferred to the person 
 relieved, may be said only to have changed its depository. 
 ' If thou wilt be perfect,' said Jesus to the young man, ' go 
 and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
 have treasure in heaven ; and come and follow me.' , (Matt. 
 xix. 21.) 
 
 5. It should be conducted with a proper regard to the feel- 
 ings of the poor. — This I deem an important remark. The 
 objects of our charity may be possessed of sensibilities as deli- 
 cate as our own ; and it is quite possible to conceive that a 
 donation may be oflPered with such a look of supercilious dis- 
 dain, or such a parade of condescension, as may inflict a deep 
 wound on the feelings of the person on whom it is conferred. 
 Such is to add insult to misery, and to purchase by our gift 
 the liberty of cruelly aggravating a sense of dependence that 
 is perhaps already too severely felt. We hope there are ^ew 
 who are capable of doing so wilfully and deliberately ; yet 
 there is reason to think that owing to inconsideration the thing, 
 not seldom occurs. It ought therefore to be carefully guarded 
 against ; and we have the example of Job to aid us in the 
 attempt. His language in the text shows how sedulously he 
 studied the feelings of those whom he relieved. Hence it is 
 that he speaks of the ' desire' of the poor, the 'eyes of the 
 widow,' and the ' fatherless eating his morsel' along with him. 
 — He not only gave heed to the petition of the indigent, but 
 even attempted to discover and anticipate their desire. Many 
 may desire relief from the influence of circumstances, whose 
 delicacy of feeling or sense of independence will not allow them 
 to beg. There is no doubt a false shame, allied to pride, that 
 may restrain some from disclosing their wttnts ; but there is 
 also a noble spirit of virtuous independence which may have 
 the same effect. Such a spirit, there is some reason to fear, 
 has often been broken by dire necessity, when a wise and 
 timeous anticipation of the individual's desires might have 
 
EXPLAINED AXD ENFOnCED. 255 
 
 preserved it unimpaired ; and it were a curious inquiry, not 
 unworthy of being pursued, how many of those clamorous 
 vagrants that infest both town and country might have been 
 spared the community, had their incipient wants been thus 
 discovered and reheved. Such at any rate is unquestionably 
 the duty of the truly charitable. But how, it may be asked, 
 are the desires of men to be known unless they are spoken out ? 
 Many ways, my brethren. The empty house, the tattered or 
 threadbare garment, the pale countenance, the hollow eye, the 
 feeble step, may all, alas ! make an eloquent appeal to the 
 tender-hearted, without a single word being uttered. In such 
 cases, the necessity may be supplied without its ever being 
 known from what quarter it comes ; or what is needed may 
 be conferred as an act of friendship rather than of charity, as 
 a debt rather than as a donation ; and without, I do "not say 
 a look of supercilious pride, but without even such a look of 
 sympathy as might intimate to the individual that his wants 
 were observed. 
 
 With beautiful propriety, in this point of view, does the pa- 
 triarch speak of his not having ' caused the eyes of the widow 
 to fail.' Ay, the case is neither imaginary nor rare, of such 
 a one looking wistfully for what she cannot bring herself to 
 ask, and expressing with the eloquence of the eyes what the 
 eloquence of the tongue could never fully have uttered. ' Ac- 
 customed to plenty during the lifetime of her partner, depending 
 on his industry for all she required, little used perhaps to work 
 and as little to want, the relentless stroke of death reduces her 
 at once to loneliness and poverty, robs her in the same moment 
 of the means of support and of the company that gave them a 
 double relish, and leaves her with the charge of a numerous 
 and helpless family. She struggles for a little with the diHi- 
 culties of her situation, and still bears about, in the remains 
 of her respectable attire and in her habits of cleanliness, touch- 
 ing memorials of her former circumstances. By and by, 
 however, she finds it will not do longer ; her labours by day 
 and her watchings by night do not suffice to meet the wants of 
 her household ; poverty overtakes her, and starvation seems 
 to look her in the face. Gladly Avould she pine aw:iy in want, 
 
256 CIIArtlTY TO THE POOR 
 
 and sink unheeded into an untimely grave, were it not for her 
 children, in whom she beholds the image of their father, and 
 who pierce her already too lacerated heart with cries of want 
 which it is not in her power to relieve. In such cii'cumstances 
 what is she to do? She cannot beg: her heart is too big to 
 admit of utterance, even were there no other restraint. She 
 can looh^ — she can only look ; and obtuse must be those feel- 
 ings that cannot interpret the language of her eyes ; hard, 
 harder than the nether millstone, must be that heart which 
 would suffer her eyes to fail with looking unsuccessfully, and 
 thus perhaps compel her at last to utter with her lips what her 
 eyes had already spoken far more powerfully. 
 
 To the same purpose is what Job says of his not having 
 ' eaten his morsel alone.' He seems here to refer to his having 
 entertained at his table some orphan or orphans, whose pre- 
 vious rank in society and habits of life rendered it a point of 
 delicate propriety thus to treat them. Excepting \yhen these 
 cii'cumstances occur, such treatment is certainly not called for; 
 as it would be preposterous to hold that poverty should entitle 
 persons to an elevation in society to which they were formerly 
 unaccustomed. But when the circumstances supposed do occur, 
 true charity will dictate an imitation of the conduct of Job., 
 Nor is this the only example of the kind recorded in scripture. 
 Some of our heai'ers may recollect another in the history of 
 king David. "When this heavenly-minded prince sought an 
 opportunity of showing kindness to the house of Saul, for 
 Jonathan's sake, to whom he had been warmly attached, he 
 was told of Ziba, a servant of Saul, and of Mephibosheth, the 
 son of Jonathan. Observe how he expressed his charity to 
 each of these according to his rank ;— to the servant by find- 
 ing him employment — to the son by admitting hihi to a seat 
 at his own family board. ' Then the king called to Ziba, 
 Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy 
 master's son all that pertained to Saul, and'to all his house. 
 Thou, therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shalt till the 
 land for him, and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy nias- 
 ter's son may have food to eat : but Mephibosheth thy mas- 
 ter's son shall eat bread alway at my table.' (2 Sam. ix. 9, 10.) 
 
EXPLATNIiD AND ENFORCED. 257 
 
 It is plain then, T think, on the whole, that our charity ought 
 to be conducted with due respect to the feelings of the poor. 
 
 6. It should, in fine, flow from proper principles. — It 
 is easily conceivable, that deeds of outward beneficence 
 may be performed from very improper motives. Conformity 
 to custom — the example of others — a wish not to be troubled 
 with importunate clamour — a regard to reputation — a love of 
 flattery — and mistaken views of merit, may all severally dic- 
 tate such beneficent acts. The last is perhaps the most com- 
 mon, but all are equally dangerous. Many, there is reason 
 to fear, expect to fly to heaven on the wings of charity. I 
 need scarcely add that their expectations are vain. But this 
 will appear more at length in considering the third branch of 
 our discourse, to which we are thus naturally conducted. 
 
 III. The MOTIVES by which charity to the poor is enforced. 
 
 Before proceeding to specify particulars, I would here re- 
 mark in general, that there are two principles from which 
 charity may flow, which, though not enough to render it vir- 
 tuous, are nevertheless good enough in themselves. Tliese 
 are the natural feelings of humanity and the benevolent spirit 
 of the christian religion. 
 
 The great radical principles of human nature exist alike in 
 the righteous and the wicked. They may prompt an ungodly 
 person to acts of beneficence, which, though not on that 
 account virtuous, can neither, on the other hand, be regarded 
 as sinful. And although the operation of these principles in 
 a godly person may not be sufficient to render his conduct 
 acceptable in the sight of God, yet ought they not on this 
 account to be I'epressed. Grace does not eradicate our con- 
 stitutional feelings; it I'efines them, and imparts to them a pro- 
 per direction. 
 
 The benevolent spirit of Christianity no one can deny who 
 is at all acquainted with either its nature or tendency. 
 ' Good-will toward men ' beams from every part of it. Every- 
 thing injurious it forbids ; everything conducive to the welfare 
 of the species it enjoins. Were its spirit universally realised, 
 every torment would be plucked from the breast of individuals, 
 
258 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 every bane rooted out from society. Envy, jealousy, injustice, 
 calumny, war w^ould be unknown ; and happiness and peace 
 would reign throughout the earth. Of course, whoever im- 
 bibes this spirit must take a deep interest in the good of his 
 fellow-men — must be powerfully prompted to consult the in- 
 terests of the poor ; nor h it conceivable, that one under its 
 influence could wallow in luxurious affluence while he knew 
 of another perishing for want at his door. Yet although in 
 his being thus prompted to relieve his fellow-creatures there 
 may be nothing blame-worthy, something more seems needful 
 to give his conduct the character of virtue in the sight of God. 
 Having made these observations, I proceed to specify some of 
 the motives by which the duty under consideration may be 
 enforced. 
 
 1. Respect must be had to the will of God. — This is, indeed, 
 the first thing to be regarded in every duty. We are the 
 moral subjects of a divine Sovereign, by whose will our con- 
 duct ought ever to be regulated. Charity is a duti/, the per- 
 formance of it is obedience ; and, of course, to its proper exis- 
 tence we must know and recognise the command of God. This 
 command is reiterated throughout the sacred volume. It was 
 given under the Mosaic dispensation : ' If there be among you. 
 a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, 
 in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt 
 not harden thine heai't, nor shut thine hand from thy poor 
 brother ; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and 
 shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he 
 wanteth.' (Deut. xv. 7, 8.) It was repeated at the introduc- 
 tion of the new testament economy : * If thou wilt be perfect, 
 go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
 shalt have treasure in heaven.' (Matt. xix. 21.) And it has 
 even been incorporated with the institutions of Christianity: 
 ' Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by 
 him in store, as God hath prospered him, 'that there be no 
 gatherings when I come.' 
 
 While these commands express to us the divine will, it 
 appears that one design which God has in conferring his 
 bounty on man is, that he may distribute it to others. Thus 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 259 
 
 it is that we read : 'Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou 
 shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and 
 also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon 
 the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves 
 upon the earth : and if the tree fall toward the south, or to- 
 ward the north, in the place wliere the tree falleth, there shall 
 it be.' (Eccles. xi. 1-3.) The allusion here is extremely 
 beautiful. As in the kingdom of nature the moisture of the 
 earth, which is exhaled by the heat of the sun, is condensed 
 in the atmosphere and forms clouds which discharge their 
 contents on the earth in refreshing and fructifying showers, 
 so the bounties of Providence are given to some that they may 
 scatter them to others as they are needed. While the man of 
 beneficence, therefore, may be compared to a cloud charged 
 with rain hanging over a parched field, ready to receive its 
 contents with greediness, the niggard may be compared to a 
 cloud without Avater, which excites perhaps expectations of 
 benefit, but leaves these expectations unfulfilled. He not only 
 disappoints his fellow-creatures, but, in a certain sense, coun- 
 teracts the very designs of God. 
 
 2. The golden rule, as it is called, supplies enforcement of 
 the duty in question. * All things whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do to you, do ye even so tothem.' (Matt. vii. 12.) 
 This is a law Avhich, when properly explained and understood, 
 will be found to possess many excellent properties. It is simple 
 in its meaning, universal in its application, equitable in its 
 principle, authoritative in its form, and in its effects beneficial. 
 How happy for the world were its spirit universally diffused ! 
 Then should we find love in every countenance, kindness in 
 every word, in every domestic circle harmony and peace, 
 every society should present the comely spectacle of perfect 
 order, and all the distracting measures of national policy should 
 be hushed in one universal calm. Its bearing on the point in 
 hand scarcely needs to be shown. This must be obvious to 
 all. It I'equires us to fancy ourselves in the situation of those 
 who need our charity, to consider what, in such circumstances, 
 would be our wish, and to regulate our conduct accordingly. 
 It obliges us, when applied to by persons in distress, to make 
 
260 CHARITY TO THp: POOB 
 
 their wants our own; in imagination to strip ourselves of our 
 luxuries and our comforts ; to fancy ourselves destitute of 
 food, clothed in rags, having no home, or only such an one as 
 it is almost sickness to inhabit, and wandering about in quest 
 of support, with an imploring look of squalid wretchedness; 
 and in accordance with the feelings which circumstances like 
 these must inspire, teaches us to sympathise with and supply 
 the miseries of others, to open our hands to the wants of the - 
 needy, and to pour the oil and the wine of consolation into 
 the bleeding heart. 
 
 3. There are the best examples to prompt us to this duty. — 
 If we are to be followers of them who through faith and pa- 
 tience are inheriting the promises, their example is not wanting 
 to recommend the duty in question. That of Job in the text 
 might suffice. But it appears to have formed a feature in the • 
 character of all the great and the good of former times,, while 
 we read in particular of one who could say, ' Behold, Lord, 
 the half of my goods have I given to the poor.' (Luke xix. 8.) 
 It so happens, however, that on this subject we can appeal to 
 an example, the dignity and perfection of which entirely eclipse 
 every one which is merely human. It is a touching circum- 
 stance in the history of our Great Examplar, that in his do- 
 mestic establishment, humble as it was, there was a bag, out 
 of which we learn, from an incidental circumstance, he was 
 accustomed to order frequent donations to the poor. When 
 at the last passover he said to Judas, ' That thou doest, do 
 quickly,' some of his disciples understood him to mean, 
 ' that he should give something to the poor,' a conjecture 
 which, had not such been his custom, would never have 
 occurred. 'And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then 
 said Jesus unto him. That thou doest, do quickly. Now no 
 man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 
 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that 
 Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things •that we have need 
 of against the feast ; or, that he should give something to the 
 poor.' (John xiii. 27-29.) Here, then, is an example, to 
 which no professing christian can object, and of which every 
 rea^ christian n^ust feel the power — an example which says, 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 2G1 
 
 in the most forcible and affecting manner to each of us, 
 'Go thou, and do likewise.' 
 
 Nor, is this all. Paul, in exhorting the Corinthians to be 
 mindful of the poor saints in Judea, sets the exaiTiple of Christ 
 in a still more impressive light : ' Ye know the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes 
 he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.' 
 (2 Cor. viii. 9.) The self-abasing, and self-denying love of 
 the Redeemer is here employed as a motive to christian libe- 
 rality ; a motive, the strength of which must be obvious to 
 all. If Christ became poor, that we through his poverty 
 might be made rich ; if lie laid aside, as it were, the robes of 
 celestial lustre, and deprived himself for a time of heavenly 
 treasure, that we might be spiritually enriched, we are cer- 
 tainly bound, by such an example, to forego a little of our 
 earthly substance to relieve the necessities of our brethren, 
 to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the fatherless, 
 and cause the widow's heart to sing for joy. A motive so 
 commanding, so energetic, so irresistible, to enforce a duty 
 which, however important, is not certainly of the very highest 
 estimation in ethical morality, shows how nobly Christianity 
 excels every other system, and how inconsistent, how inex- 
 cusable are those who, though professing to admire, are at 
 no pains to imitate the gracious munificence of the Saviour. 
 
 4. Its advantageous influence on ourselves is worthy of 
 being considered. — ' Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; 
 the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.' (Psalm xli. 1.) 
 Blessed indeed in a variety of ways, more than we can now 
 wait to enumerate. The individual who does so, is blessed 
 with a rich feeling of virtuous satisfaction — the pleasure of 
 doing good, one of the purest and sweetest allotted to man — 
 which is the appropriate and inseparable reward of true 
 beneficence. 'He that hath mercy on the poor,' says Solomon, 
 ' happy is he.' (Prov. xiv. 21.) — He is blessed with provision 
 against the day of adversity, should such ever overtake him ; 
 not only in an animating subject of reflection within himself, 
 but in the sympathy and assistance he is almost sure to 
 receive from others. The wise man assures us, that ' whoso 
 
262 CHARITY TO THE POOR 
 
 stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry him- 
 self, but shall not be heard.' (Prov. xxi. 13.) While he 
 exhorts, as the result of long observation, ' Cast thy bread 
 upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days. 
 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest 
 not what evil shall be upon the earth.' (Eccles. xi. 1, 2.) 
 — It would also seem that in some cases beneficence is rewarded 
 with additional worldly prosperity. ' Honour the Lord with 
 thy substance, and Avith the first-fruits of all thine increase : so 
 shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses- shall burst 
 out with new wine. There is that scattereth, and yet in- 
 creaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, 
 but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat ; 
 and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.' (Prov. 
 iii. 9, 10 ; xi. 24, 25.) — And, in fine, it is even spoken of as 
 adding somewhat to the felicity of heaven, and as honoured 
 with the divine approbation and blessing : ' Make to your- 
 selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness ; that, when 
 ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations, 
 (Luke xvi. 9.) . 
 
 In considering this subject, we cannot help remark- 
 ing how much we have been struck at the frequency with 
 which in the scriptures the duty under considei'ation is men- 
 tioned in connection with reward. Several of these passages 
 have already come under our notice. The following may be 
 subjoined: Prov. xix. 17; Luke xiv. 12-14; 2 Cor. ix. 6; 
 1 Tim. vi. 17-19 ; Heb. vi. 10. Not even a cup of cold water 
 itself, given to the thirsty traveller, shall lose its reward. It 
 is obvious, from all this, that in recommendation of the duty 
 before us the Almighty appeals to our self-interest, and this is 
 a decisive proof that in such a motive there is nothing incon- 
 sistent with virtue in general, or with the high principles of 
 christian morality in particular. Indeed, our Lord himself is 
 represented as having endured the cross for the joy set before 
 him. Still it requires to be distinctly understood that although 
 reward is held out as a motive to charitable deeds, these deeds 
 have in them ijo merit to entitle to the reward. There is no 
 meritorious connection between the one and the other ; the 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFOKCED. 263 
 
 connection is wholly gratuitous. The reward is purely a re- 
 ward of grace, and never shall be enjoyed by one who regards 
 it in any other light. Do not, therefore, my brethren, plume 
 yourselves, in phai'isaical pride, on the fancied merit of your 
 good deeds. We solemnly warn you to beware of ever con- 
 ferring your alms as purchase-money for heaven. The delu- 
 sion, we are afraid, is too commonly indulged ; but it is a 
 fatal one. It is to supplant Christ; it is to overturn the scheme 
 of grace, and derange the economy of the new covenant ; it is 
 to lay another foundation than that which is laid ; it is to build 
 on sand, which the terapesfe of divine wrath is sure to sweep 
 away, and lay the superstructure of your hopes for ever in ruins. 
 We might have added other motives. In particular, we 
 might have descanted on the fear of punishment, which appears 
 to have been in the view of Job, (ver. 23,) and which is else- 
 where adverted to in the same connection : ' Whoso stoppeth 
 his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but 
 shall not be heard.' (Prov. xxi. 13.) But I desist, and hasten 
 to bring the subject to a conclusion. 
 
 Here let me first apply the general remarks that have been 
 offered to the purpose for which we are met. The objects of 
 the Institution for which I have the honour this evening to 
 plead, are such as need only to be named to recommend them 
 to your deepest commiseration. They are fatherless children 
 and helpless loidows — a description of persons who, while Death 
 continues his gloomy reign, must continue to claim the sym- 
 pathy of every feeling heart. The spread of knowledge, piety, 
 and wise government, together with a superior fruitfulness in 
 the earth, is likely during the period of millennial rest to go 
 far in banishing some other descriptions of distress from 
 the world ; but nothing short of an exemption from the 
 dominion of the king of terrors can annihilate the claims 
 of the widow and the orphan. To do justice to these claims 
 would seem to require the knowledge and feeling which 
 experience alone can confer. Instead therefore of attempt- 
 ing to excite your compassion, by any representation of 
 ray own, and thus running the risk of weakening rather than 
 
264 CHARITY TO TDE POOR 
 
 Strengthening my cause, I prefer to lay before you a picture 
 of a new-made widow, drawn by one, herself a widow, well 
 qualified, from her judgment, piety, and observation, for the 
 task. ' Accustomed,' says Mrs Graham of New York, ' to 
 spread the board by a cheerful fireside, to welcome the com- 
 panion of her heart from the labours of the day, to bless and 
 share the social meal, provided by his industry, drest with neat- 
 ness and ingenuity, rendered agreeable by health and appetite, 
 and heightened in its relish by mutual love ! The witty sayings 
 of the prattlers are repeated, and the news of the, household 
 exchanged for those of the city. The little ones, too, have 
 their share; they tell their father the exploits of the day; he 
 forgets his fatigue, and dandles them by turns on his knee, 
 while the mother's moistened eyes glisten with pleasure. Alas! 
 the change ! Husband, father, support, provider, gone for 
 ever! The setting sun, the succeeding twilight, the rattling 
 cars, the train of labourers, announce the approach of evening, 
 when many boards are spread, many husbands retui-n to bless 
 their families ; scarce can she believe that he is not in the 
 crowd ; fain would she persuade herself that she has been in 
 a dream ; fain would she fancy that yonder is he. Darkness 
 pervades the earth ; the neighbouring doors shut in the happy 
 families; the beaming fires illumine the windows. Back she 
 staggers to her dreary dwelling, and wakes to all the realities 
 of a widowed state. The once cheerful chimney scarcely emits 
 a taper blaze. Her children cry for bread, but her empty 
 pantry affords it not. Tired nature soon brings them relief — 
 they sleep — they forget. Not so the widowed heart : busy 
 cruel memory calls back, and doubles her departed joys ; 
 comparison also doubles her present misery; every avenue to 
 hope is shut. Her big swollen heart would bur^t its narrow 
 bounds, but for a gush of tears sent in mercy to give it vent. 
 The deep-fetched sobs wring out the big round drops in blest 
 profusion, till, glutted with grief, she sinkslamong her babes!' 
 This picture we believe is not overcharged, and who can look 
 at it without feeling that this Institution is entitled to his liberal 
 support ? I make not my appeal to any feeling of sickly sen- 
 timentality. This, as has been happily said, is a quality 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCI.D. '2G5 
 
 wiiicli ' a good man may have nothing of, while a bad man 
 may have it in abundance,' and which 'constitutes at best 
 rather the ornament of a fine than the virtue of a good mind.' 
 I choose rather to remind you of the more dignified motives 
 of action to which we have ah'eady adverted : — the will of 
 God, the golden rule, the best examples, and the benefits that 
 accrue toom'selves. And it is not a little to our purpose here 
 to observe, that while these inducements are employed to urge 
 to charity in general, they can be shown to have a particular 
 bearing on the present object. If God has been pleased in 
 condescension to exhibit himself as ' the Patron of the poor ' 
 in general, he is such especially of the ' widow and the father- 
 less.' Of old he gave this awful command : ' Ye shall not 
 afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in 
 any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their 
 cry : and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with 
 the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your chil- 
 dren fatherless.' (Exod, xxii. 22-24.) He has even incor- 
 porated the idea with one of his designations : ' A father of 
 the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy 
 habitation.' (Psalm Ixviii. 5.) Nor can we forget the 
 interest shown by the incarnate Saviour in the same class of 
 individuals, in his denouncing the Pharisees for devouring 
 widows' houses, and in his restoring to life the youth of Nhin, 
 ' the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.' (Luke 
 vii. 12.) Neither must we omit to notice here the manner 
 in which these interesting objects were provided for in the 
 simple institutions of primitive Christianity : ' Honour widows 
 that are widows indeed.' (1 Tim. v. 3.) They are re- 
 cognised again in the description of our holy religion given 
 by James : ' Pure religion, and undefiled, before God and 
 the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their 
 affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.' 
 (James i. 27.) Seriously reflect, my hearers, on these con- 
 siderations ; ponder them as motives of action ; and, moved 
 by them to gifts of charity, give prudently, give liberally, 
 give in the spirit of self-denial, and give with proper respect 
 to the feelings of the poor. Deliver the poor and the father- 
 
2G6 CIIAUITY TO THE POOR 
 
 less ; let the blessing of tim that was ready to perish come 
 upon you, and cause the widow's heart to sing for joy. 
 
 The subject naturally suggests a lesson of gratitude. We 
 who are in a capacity to relieve the distresses of others, in- 
 stead of grudging a small contribution from our substance, 
 should remember with grateful emotions the goodness of 
 Him who thus causeth us to differ from the objects of our 
 bounty. Let us recollect that their situation might have been- 
 ours — our situation theirs. But for the sovereign, appoint- 
 ment of Him who ' ruleth over all,' we might have been the 
 humble and dejected suppliants, and those in whose behalf 
 we plead, might have been this evening enjoying all the 
 delicious emotions attendant on the right exercise of the 
 benevolent affections. Let us, when we retire to our homes, 
 look around on our unbroken families, on our cheerful wives, 
 and gamboling children. Let us fancy these children father- 
 less, and these wives widows — the mothers gazing with looks 
 dejected and forlorn on their infants, pale and emaciated, 
 with ' no ruddiness in their cheeks, no sprightliness in their 
 motions,' and let heartfelt gratitude mingle in our song of 
 praise to Him to whom we owe the blessings we enjoy. 
 
 Our charity ought not to be confined to temporal things. 
 If it is worthy of the name, it will not overlook the wants of 
 the soul. The soul is a higher and more noble object than the 
 body. If the tear of sympathetic piety starts at contemplating 
 such scenes of outward misery as we have been describing, can 
 we look without emotion on the moral wretchedness, the spiri- 
 tual condenmation of mankind? Let our care for the body's 
 outward wants be mingled with a proper anxiety for those of 
 the never-dying spirits of those whom we contribute to relieve; 
 and let our charitable donations be ever accompanied with 
 ardent desires, fervent prayers, for their everlasting salvation. 
 Alongst with the supply of their temporal necessities, see that 
 the objects of your bounty this evening be furnished with that 
 sacred book which tells the widow of a ' Husband,' and the 
 orphan of a ' Father,' of whom death can never deprive 
 them ; and wjiich is fitted to shed a hallowed light over their 
 otherwise dark and cheerless tabernacles. 
 
EXPLAINED AND ENFORCED. 267 
 
 But as we can never feel such concern for others unless we 
 have felt it for ourselves, it may be proper, before conclud- 
 ing, just to remind you that we are all by nature spiritually 
 poor, wretched, and naked. There is no outward condition 
 so miserable, no state so forlorn, as fitly to express man'.s 
 natural destitution of spiritual good. Without the image, 
 witliout the favour, without the approbation of the Father in 
 heaven, what outward calamity is sufficiently awful to express 
 man's lost and ruined state ! Nor can we of ourselves offer a 
 single sacrifice to atone for our guilt, or put forth a single 
 effort to alleviate our distress. We must be indebted, my 
 hearers, for all spiritual good to the royal bounty of Ileaveu. 
 That bounty, I rejoice to proclaim, is ample as the necessities 
 of the human family, and free as it is ample. There is not an 
 individual within these walls but needs it — not an individual 
 but is free to accept it ; and if we are ever put in possession 
 of salvation, we must be brought humbly to receive it as an 
 undeserved gift. Oh ! then, be convinced of your spiritual 
 wretchedness. Beware of arrogantly supposing yourselves 
 '■ rich and increased with goods, and having need of nothing!' 
 Awake from the fatal delusion. Look to the fulness that is 
 in Christ, Think of his becoming poor that you through his 
 poverty might be made rich. Be counselled to buy of him 
 gold tried in the fire that you may be rich, white raiment 'that 
 you may be clothed, and eye salve that you may see. And be 
 assured that if, from a vain conceit of your own righteousness, 
 you refuse to accept that of Emmanuel, you will only sink 
 into deeper misery than ever at the last day, when the tem- 
 pest of divine wrath will strip you of your worthless rags, and 
 expose you to be driven away naked and defenceless from the 
 judgment-seat into never-ending perdition. Now, now is the 
 accepted time. Boast not yourselves of to-morrow. To-day, 
 if you will hear his voice, hai'den not your hearts. Amen. 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 7. 
 ' The Mystery of Iniquity doth already work.'' 
 
 It is a common sentiment, that the ministers of religion- ought 
 to abstain from all party controversy whatever ; and, by con- 
 fining themselves to the establishment and application of what 
 they conceive to be truth, tacitly to condemn and coun- 
 teract the influence of error. This opinion is founded on 
 a too narrow view of the duties of an advocate of divine 
 truth ; is quite unsupported by the conduct of mankind i^i 
 other departments of leariiing ; and is virtually condemned 
 by the commands, and examples of holy writ. 'Prove all 
 things,' says Paul, 'hold fast that which is good.' (1 Thess. 
 v. 21.) 'Beloved, believe not every spirit,' says John, 'but 
 try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false 
 prophets are gone out into the world.' (1 John iv. 1.) The 
 
 [The substance of this, and the followmg discourses, was deHvered in 
 November, 1824, in consequence of the opening of a place , of popish wor- 
 ship, in the town in which the author then resided. In 1829, when the 
 Catholic Emancipation BUI was under discussion in Parhament, they were 
 remodelled and enlarged, and given to the public in the form of a small 
 treatise. The original form of sermons, in adaptation to the nature of this 
 volume, is here resumed, while the additional matter is retained, being 
 either incorporated, o'r appended in the siipplementaiy note. The subject is 
 appHcable to the question wliicli is agitating the British public at the pre- 
 sent moment, and it is impossible not to remark, how "much many of the 
 obsei-vations areconfirmed by the modei-n aggression? of Popery, — Dec. 1850.] 
 
POPERY THE JIYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 2G9 
 
 Saviour, too, not only condemne-l the erroneous sentiments 
 entertained by those among whom he lived in the days of his 
 tiesh, but pointed out by name the persons who held them : 
 'Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and 
 of the Sadducees,' (Matt. xvi. 6.) The apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles acted on the same principle : ' But shun profane and 
 vain babblings ; for they will increase unto more ungodliness, 
 and their word will eat as doth a canker ; of whom is Hy- 
 meneus and Philetus ; who, concerning the truth, have erred, 
 saying, That the resurrection is past already ; and overthrow 
 the faith of some.' (2 Tim. ii. 16-19.) The Faithful and 
 True Witness, writing to the church of Pergamos, has these 
 words : ' I have a few things against thee, because thou hast 
 thei'e them that hold the doctrine of Balaam ; so hast thou 
 also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes," which 
 thing I hate.' (Rev. ii. 14, 15.) And, applicable to every 
 case, in every age of the church, is the solemn declaration of 
 prophecy, ' When the enemy shall come is like a flood, 
 THE Spirit op the Lord shall lift up a standard against 
 HIM.' (Isa. lix. 19.) I feel, therefore, confident, that in act- 
 ing on the principle of these precedents, I am not departing 
 from the line of duty which a minister of religion ought to 
 follow ; but, on the contrary, discharging an imperious obli- 
 gation laid on me by the signs of the times. 
 
 And, at the outset, I wish it to be distinctly understood 
 that the task is undertaken from no liking to the con- 
 troversy itself, nor from any feeling of personal hostility 
 to the individuals on whose principles I shall feel called 
 upon to animadvert. Far from it. Sincerely do I wish 
 there were no need for agitating the question at present ; 
 and, so far as I know my own heart, I can freely de- 
 clare, that I am conscious of no emotion of rancorous 
 animosity or malicious hatred to the persons of any of 
 those whose sentiments I condemn. It is the sj/siem to 
 which they are attached that rouses my opposition ; and 
 while I wish to entertain towards it all the moral indigna- 
 tion it deserves, I would cherish towards its deluded votaries 
 no other feelings than those of heartfelt compassion and chris- 
 
270 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 tian good-will. If I saw a papist hungry, I would feed him ; 
 if I saw him thirsty, I would give him drink ; if I saw him 
 naked, I would clothe him ; or if I knew him sick, or in 
 prison, and were given to understand that my services would 
 be acceptable, I would visit him as readily as I would any 
 other person. In the sequel, therefore, while I shall speak of 
 the system with all the freedom of truth, I shall study to avoid 
 all bitter invective against its supporters, endeavouring, 
 throughout, to 
 
 ' Keep nothing back, 
 Nor ought set down in malice.' 
 
 Few parts of scripture have received more attention from 
 commentators than Paul's prediction i*especting the Man of 
 Sin and Mystery of Iniquity. — ' Let no man deceive you by 
 any means ; for that day shall not come, except there come a 
 falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the soti of 
 perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that 
 is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he, as God, 
 sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 
 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you 
 these things ? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he 
 might be revealed in his time. For the Mystery of Iniquity' 
 doth already work : only he who now letteth will let, until 
 he be taken out of the way; and then shall that Wicked be 
 revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his 
 mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even 
 him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, 
 and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of 
 unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received 
 not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.' — This 
 prophecy has been differently explained, of course, according 
 to the judgment, feelings, or prejudices of respective authors. 
 Bishop Newton, in his excellent dissertation on the passage, 
 enumerates and refutes eight different opinions respecting it, 
 all of which have found their zealous supporters. These 
 opinions are the following : — That it refers to — 
 
 1. The Emperor Caligula. — Opinion of Grotius. 
 
 2. Simon Magus and the Gnostics. — Dr Hammond. 
 
POPEKY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 271 
 
 3. The revolt of the Jews from the Romans. — Le Clerc. 
 
 4. The revolt of the Jews from the Romans, or from the 
 faith.— Z>/- Whithy. 
 
 5. Titus Vespasian, or the Flavian family. — Professor 
 Wetstem. 
 
 6. The impostor Mahomet. — Opinion of some Papists. 
 
 7. The Reformation. — Held by other Papists. 
 
 8. The apostacy which is to take place a short time before 
 the general judgment — Opinion of the greater number of the 
 Romish Doctors. 
 
 In opposition to all these, the view of almost all 
 protestant writers, and even of some popish ones, is that it 
 refers to popery, — an opinion which is strongly corroborated 
 by the similarity of this prediction to those of Daniel and 
 John, in which the system in question is undoubtedly pointed 
 out, and by the well-known character of the system itself. Let 
 any one examine the features of the corruption here described 
 by Paul, and say whether they do not agree, with marvellous 
 exactness, to the Romish Church, as supported by the concur- 
 rent testimony of all history. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to premise, that we do not under- 
 stand the prediction as pointing out the Pope individually, or 
 indeed any one part of the system, but the system itself. The 
 corruption alluded to by Paul is spoken of as 'a falling 
 away;' and what is popery but an apostacy from the purity 
 of the christian religion, in doctrine, woi'ship, and practice ? 
 It is called ' the Man of ,Sin,' — a title too well merited 
 by the scandalous lives and abominable corruptions, main- 
 tained and sanctioned by the principal supporters of the 
 system in question. It is styled ' the Son of Perdition,' — a 
 designation certainly not inapplicable to a religion which 
 has been the cause of eternal destruction to so many 
 thousands, and which is, itself, destined to a complete and 
 final overthrow. It is added, 'who opposeth and exalteth 
 himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped,' 
 — a description which cannot fail to identify itself with a 
 power which has claimed universal and absolute supremacy, 
 not only over all ecclesiastical persons and affairs, but over 
 
272 POPERY THE MYSTEKY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 magistrates, kings, and emperors. Its taking its rise and 
 maintaining its place in the christian church, is plainly 
 enough refen*ed to in the expression, ' Sitting in the temple 
 of God;' while what follows, 'showing himself that he is 
 God,' is strikingly illustrative of the blasphemous titles 
 assumed and divine prerogatives usurped by the Romish 
 pontiffs. It is needless to pursue the parallel farther. These 
 are suflBcient to identify the object of the prediction. It may, - 
 with safety, be affirmed, that tliere is not another system in 
 being to which the apostle's description will^ in the same 
 manner, apply. 
 
 We are thus warranted to assume, that it is the popish 
 system of which it is said, ' The Mystery of Iniquity doth 
 already work.' The Thessalonians, to whom Paul had before 
 spoken on the subject, had understood him to refer to the 
 tinal judgment. To correct this mistake, he affirms that, 
 although the complete development of the apostacy in ques- 
 tion should not take place till some future time, the elements 
 — the seeds, were already in operation. 
 
 A ' mystery ' signifies something hid, but afterwards re- 
 vealed ; or something complicated, involved, and difficult to 
 be understood. The word, translated ' iniquity,' means uvt 
 lawfulness — whatever is opposed to the law of God; and, of 
 course, embraces every kind of iniquity, doctrinal or practical. 
 The term 'mystery' is applied to the same system in the 
 apocalyptic desci'iption of the woman arrayed in purple and 
 scarlet colour: 'Upon her forehead was written. Mystery, 
 Babylon the Great.' The kind of mystery is pointed out 
 in the phrase, '■'M.ysic.Yj oi Iniquity r anA the sad pre-emi- 
 nence in complicated unlawfulness, of that system, is strongly 
 marked by its being styled ' The Mystery of Iniquity.' 
 
 In what follows, we shall attempt to verify the application 
 of the ignominious title in question to popery ; — animadvert on 
 some of the pleas urged in its behalf by its friends and 
 apologists; — and point out the duty of protestants, with 
 reference to it, especially at the present crisis. 
 
 Meanwhile let us consider how applicable is the ignominious 
 title, 'Mystery of Iniquity,' to the popish system. 
 
POl'EIlY TIIK MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 2/ J 
 
 I. Ill speaking of" Popery as a Mystery of Iniquity, the vast 
 foniplication of evil which it embraces cannot fail to present 
 itself to the mind. Here it will be necessary to enter sonie- 
 Avhat into detail, and to view the system in a variety of bear- 
 ings. 
 
 1. Contemplate then its bearing on the glory of God. — ■ 
 This, all are aware, is the high end which the Almighty pi'o- 
 posed to himself in the creation of the universe ; which is, 
 consequently, designed to be promoted by all his works, ma- 
 terial and immaterial, rational and irrational ; and every 
 encroachment on which he is represented as regarding witli 
 the utmost jealousy : 'The Lord hath made all things for 
 himself. I am the Lord, that is my name : and my glory will 
 I not give to another, neither ray praise to graven images.' 
 (Prov. xvi. 4 ; Isa. xlii. 8.) Yet is the glory of God invaded 
 in a multiplicity of ways in the Church of Rome ; by idola- 
 trous worship, blasphemous titles, arrogant claims, and pre- 
 sumptuous deeds. 
 
 The worship of angels, of saints, and of images, is a well 
 known part of the poi^ish system. Prayers are offered to 
 departed spirits ; and honours, nothing short of divine, paid 
 to the crucifix. Whatever excuses may be made by papists 
 for this part of their conduct, the fact, at least, is too notorious 
 to admit of denial. Nor will the apology, that the worship 
 is not offered to the image but to God through the image, — 
 the latter being only used as a help to devotion, — be deemed 
 of any weight by those who consider how unfit any represen- 
 tation whatever must be to convey an idea of the great 
 Supreme ; how much more fitted such a practice is to lower 
 than to elevate our conceptions of God ; how expressly ' the 
 making of any graven image ' is forbidden in the second com- 
 mandment ; and how unequivocally the meaning of this com- 
 mandment is settled by the following caution: — * Take ye 
 therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw no manner 
 of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in 
 Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, 
 and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure ; 
 the likeness of male or female ; the likeness of any beast that 
 
 M 2 
 
274 rOPEKY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 is on the earth ; the likeuess of any winged fowl that flieth in 
 the air ; the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground ; 
 the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the 
 earth : and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when 
 thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the 
 host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and 
 serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all 
 nations under the whole heaven.' (Deut. iv. 15-19.) It is 
 not necessary, it appears, to constitute idolatry, that the object 
 of worship be understood to be God ; it is enough if the ser- 
 vice offered be such as is due only to Him. Thus it is that 
 ' the covetous man ' is viewed as an ' idolater,' (Eph. v. 5,) 
 because the love and respect which he owes to God he gives 
 to his riches ; and thus, too, that the children of Israel were 
 chargeable with ' turning aside quickly out. of the way which 
 God commanded them,' when they made the golden calf, not- 
 withstanding that they professed to regard it as a representa- 
 tion merely of the God 'which brought them up out of the 
 land of Egypt.' (Exod. xxxii. 1-8.) Jehovah is the sole 
 object of religious adoration ; and whatever worship, on 
 whatever pretence, is paid to the creature or to images, is a 
 direct infringement of the glory which he claims as his pecu-' 
 liar prerogative in the first two commandments of the deca- 
 logue, so admirably epitomised in these words of the Saviour, 
 ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only' shalt 
 thou serve.' (Matt. iv. 10.) 
 
 Those who can make free with the worship of God are not 
 likely to be over-scrupulous about the honour connected with 
 his titles. The titles which the Supreme Being claims for 
 himself can apply only to him ; and the ascription of these 
 must be understood as an acknowledgment of his possess- 
 ing what the titles' themselves import. Whoever, then, 
 usurps the peculiar designations of Deity^may be regarded 
 as guilty of sacrilegiously robbing him of the honour 
 connected with the possession of them, and blasphemousl)' 
 transfei'ring that honour to himself. And that such iniquity 
 exists in the Church of Rome, is made too evident by the fact, 
 that her pontiifs have assumed such divine appellations as the 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 275 
 
 following :^' His Holiness' — ' Holy Father' — 'Our Lord God 
 the Pope' — 'Most Holy Lord' — ' Another God upon earth.' 
 
 In harmony Avith these are the presumptuous claims of 
 infallibility and supremacy, which are preferred by the pope. 
 He lays claim to unlimited control over all persons and all 
 affairs, both ecclesiastical and civil. The attribute of supre- 
 macy is ascribed to him in the standard works of the church ; 
 it is acknowledged by her members, and lias been acted upon 
 even to the extent of deposing, degrading, and creating kings 
 and emperors at pleasure. This claim, it is scarcely necessary 
 to remark, is condemned by what our Lord said to his disci- 
 ples, when he found them disputing which of them should be 
 the greatest: ' Ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among 
 you let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that 
 doth serve; neither be ye called masters, for one is your 
 Master, even Christ.' (Luke xxii. 26; Matt, xxiii. 10.) No 
 countenance to it can be derived from the institutions and 
 practices of the primitive church ; and when it is considered 
 what difficulties attend the management even of an ordinary 
 family, it will appear that a supremacy over the whole world 
 is utterly incompatible with the attributes of humanity. 
 Such a claim, therefore, includes in it all the iniquity of an 
 invasion of a divine prerogative. — Nor can anything less be 
 said of the claim of infallibiHty. There is no maxim supported 
 by more general and unequivocal proof than that it is human 
 to err. To claim exemption from this rule, then, is to usurp 
 the prerogative of divinity. Indeed, of no finite creature in 
 itself, however pure or exalted, can infallibility be predicated. 
 Creatures there are who have never fallen, and shall never 
 fall from the dignity of their primitive condition. But this is 
 owing not so much to their nature, as to the support vouch- 
 safed them by their Maker; the removal of which would 
 render them as capable of declension as any of those who have 
 proved their defectibility by their history. The claim of infal- 
 libility, therefore, wherever it may be thought to reside, — 
 whether in the person of the pope, in the cardinals, or in the 
 collective body of the church, — isalike impious, blasphemous, 
 unscriptural, and irrational. 
 
276 rOPKRY THE MYSTERY' OF INIQUITY. 
 
 The deeds of the Church of Rome are not at variance 
 with her impious claims. She presumes to legislate for her 
 members ; to dispense with the laws of God, prohibiting what 
 is allowed, as in the case of marriage, and commanding what 
 is forbidden, as in the case of image-worship : nay, even to 
 usurp the high prerogative of absolution from sin, in the face 
 of those solemn words of Jehovah : * I, even I, am he that 
 blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not 
 remember thy sins.' (Isa. xliii. 25.) 
 
 2. Closely allied to the glory of God, is the honour ofClirist, 
 which is introduced in scripture as an object of interest to 
 men, to angels, and to the Deity himself. The saints are re- 
 presented as singing, 'Unto him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his blood ; to him be glory and dominion for 
 ever and ever. Amen.' (Eev. i. 5-G.) The angelic spirits, 
 who surround the throne, cry with a loud voice, * Worthy is 
 the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' 
 (Eev. V. 12.) And of God himself is it given as the will, 
 ' That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the 
 Father.' (John v. 23.) How far this object is respected by 
 the Church of Rome, let the impartial judge. The Eomart 
 pontiffs have assumed the pecvdiar titles of the blessed Saviour, 
 blasphemously styling themselves, ' Head of the Church'— 
 ' Lion of the tribe of Judah' — ' King of kings and Lord of 
 lords.' Nor have they paid more respect to the honour at- 
 tached to the offices of Christ ; — that of his prophetical office 
 is virtually nullified by enjoining ignorance, claiming for 
 traditions equal authority with the word of God, and pre- 
 tending to infallible interpretations; — that of his priestly office, 
 by the doctrine of merit, the sacrifice of the mass, and the 
 employing of created intercessors ; — that of his kingly office, 
 by tyi'annical usurpations over the persons and consciences of 
 men, issuing authoritative decrees, and pretending to dispense 
 forgiveness of sin Si To be convinced of the 'iniquity' of thus 
 dishonouring the Saviour, we have gnly to reflect how per- 
 emptorily we aje enjoined to ' bear him in all things,' and 
 how expressly we are told that ' by one offering he hath per- 
 
POPERY THE MVSTEKY OV INIQUITT. 277. 
 
 fected for ever them that are sanctified ;' that there is but 
 ' one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus ; 
 and that ' Ilim hath God exalt'jd to be a Prince and a 
 Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgiveness of 
 sins.' (Acts iii. 22 ; Ileb. x. 14 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; Acts v. 31.) 
 
 3. The holt/ scriptures are a sacred deposit committed to the 
 church to be employed for the purposes for wliich they are 
 designed, to be treated with all possible respect, and their 
 existence and purity watched over with pious sedulity. But 
 the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome are 
 hostile alike to the perfection, authority, and use of the scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 Although told that ' the law of the Lord is perfecl^ 
 that ' all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that 
 the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished 
 unto all good works,' (Psa. xix. 7 ; 2 Tim. iii. l(i, 17,) 
 she scruples not to give these plain declarations the lie, by 
 elevating the apocryphal writings and oral traditions to equal 
 authority with the Old and New Testaments, as if necessary 
 to supply a deficiency in the latter. The books of the Apo- 
 crypha thus received, were written during the cessation 
 of the prophetic spirit between the time of Mulachi and 
 John the Baptist ; were never received into the sapred 
 canon by the Jewish church ; are never once quoted or 
 alluded to by Christ or his apostles ; contain many things 
 fabulous, contradictory, unscriptural and untrue; and were 
 not admitted into the canon of scripture during the first 
 four centuries of the christian era. To them is added a 
 vast lumber of oral ti'aditions, purporting to be sayings of 
 Christ and the apostles, collected by the early christians, 
 and transmitted in all their original purity, and with all 
 their primitive authority. But notwithstanding that many 
 of them are contrary to the principles and practices of the 
 church in the days of the apostles, and even to the ac- 
 knowledged dictates of inspiration, the principle itself is 
 directly subversive of the perfection of the word of God, 
 as a complete standard of faith and duty. The sin- 
 ner that is desirous of becoming acquainted with the 
 
278 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, 
 
 way of salvation, the church that is contented with the simple 
 institutions of Jesus, will find ample satisfaction in the 
 scriptures of the Old and NeAV Testaments, without having 
 recourse to either oral traditions, or the books of the Apo- 
 crypha ; but if it is wished to graft on the doctrines of Christ 
 and the example of the apostles such tenets and practices as 
 image-worship, the sacrifice of the mass, transubstantiation, 
 the intercession of saints and angels, supererogation, and 
 purgatory, we frankly admit the necessity of referring to 
 some such spurious authorities; and we concede' for once to 
 the Church of Rome the praise of wisdom and candour, in 
 seeking for her absurdities another foundation than that on 
 which protestants exclusively rest their faith. 
 
 Nor, after presuming to add to the perfect law of God, 
 Avill it surprise us to hear that the Church of Rome, in the 
 plenitude of her arrogated power, has ventured to' alter, 
 mutilate, and retrench, the acknowledged canon of christian 
 belief. The passage, ' By faith Jacob worshipped, leaning on 
 the top of his staflF,' (Heb. xi. 21,) is, by way of furnishing 
 some shadow of countenance to the worship of images, trans- 
 muted in the authorised Vulgate into, 'worshipped the top of 
 his staff.' The second commandment is, for a similar reasort, 
 expunged from the decalogue in her catechisms ; and, to keep 
 up the number, the tenth is divided into two. It is perfectly 
 natui'al for such a church to employ degrading language in 
 reference to the sacred volume, and to pronounce it, without 
 foreign help, ' a dead letter — an unintelligible record.' But 
 we would seriously submit to the consideration of every can- 
 did person, whether the facts just now adduced do not estab- 
 lish her title to the fearful doom with which the canon of 
 Revelation is closed: — 'I testify unto every man that heareth 
 the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add 
 unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
 are written in this book : and if any man shall take away 
 from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take 
 aAvay his part out of the book of life,.and out of the holy city, 
 and from the things which are written in this' book.' (Rev. 
 xxii. 18, 19.) 
 
POPERY THE 3IYSTEUY OF INTQUITY. 279 
 
 The Church of Rome is not less hostile to the authority than 
 to the perfection of the scriptures. Apart from the claims of 
 the bible itself, reason would seem to demand for it equal au- 
 thority Avith that of its Author ; but there is no tenet of popery 
 more explicitly avowed than this, that the authority of the 
 church is supreme in matters of faith. Her members are 
 taught, instead of What saith the scriptures 1 to inquire What 
 saith the church? The word of God is thus robbed of the 
 honour to which its high origin entitles it; and, so far from 
 being the ultimate standard to which everything in religion is to 
 be referred, must itself be content to receive sanction frorn the 
 church. The version to be used, and the sense to be attached 
 to particular texts, must all be determined by the church. 
 Yet, with marvellous inconsistency, the church professes to 
 derive her authority from the word of God, and cites the scrip- 
 tures in support of her claims. The absurdity of supposing 
 the scriptures and the church mutually to confer authority 
 upon, and derive authority from, each other — that is to say, 
 that a thing whose authority is professedly derived should con- 
 fer authority on the source from which it derived it, — is so 
 glaringly monstrous, that it were a waste of words to attempt 
 its exposure.* 
 
 The iniquity of thus elevating human above divine aut^ho- 
 rity, of wresting the standard of religion from the hands of 
 the people, and seeking to subjugate faith to the dictates of 
 erring creatures, is only equalled by the conduct of the same 
 church in reference to the use of the scriptures. It has long 
 been a favourite maxim, that the scriptures ought not to be 
 given to the laity. Their use is restricted to the clergy, and 
 to such among the laity as are considered proof against being 
 hurt by them; who, it is peculiarly worthy of notice, enjoy 
 
 * Indeed it can never be better exposed than it was by the ignorant col- 
 lier, of whom Dr Campbell relates the following anecdote. Being asked 
 what he believed, he answered, ' I believe what the church behevcs.' On 
 being asked again, ' What then does the church believe?' he readily replied, 
 ' The church believes what I believe.' His iuteiTogator desirous, if possible, 
 to bring him to particulars, rejoined, ' Tell me, then, I pray you, What is it 
 which you and the church both believe?' The only answer the collier could 
 give was, ' Why, truly, m; the chui-ch and I both believe the same thing!' 
 
280 rOPEUY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 this distinctive privilege by express j^e?- mission from tbe church, 
 while it is absolutely foi'bidden to the people at large. The 
 withholding of the bible from the laity on pretence of their 
 liability to abuse it, is in direct opposition to the assertion, 
 ' The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple,' 
 (Psa. xix. 7 ;) is utterly at variance with the well-known com- 
 mendation pronounced on the Bereans ; and is contrary to the 
 universally-approved maxim, that the abuse of a thing is no 
 argument against its use. What is there, we may ask, that is 
 not liable to abuse? Are not the be?t things often liable to 
 the greatest abuse? Will the papist cut off his feet, because 
 they may carry him into ways of wickedness ; or amputate his 
 hands, because they may lay hold on his neighbour's property ; 
 or put out his eyes, because, perchance, he may be tempted to 
 employ them in viewing vanity? Yet, on this hollow pretext 
 — for it is nothing else than a pretext, the true reason is some- 
 thing widely different from what is avowed — on this hollow 
 pretext are the holy scriptures, the woi'd of eternal life, with- 
 held from the poor and the young. Reading the scriptures has 
 no place in the code of christian duty laid down in the cate- 
 chisms of Eomanists; and papal maledictions have been fulmi- 
 nated against those societies which have for their object the 
 circulation of the pure words of eternal life in the vernacular 
 language of every people under heaven. Tell us not of some 
 individuals in the papal communion who have acted on diffei'ent 
 principles. The fact we most willingly admit; but does it prove 
 anything more than there are some in that communion who 
 act inconsistently with their profession by aiding the circula- 
 tion of the word of God, as there are some among protestants 
 who act equally inconsistently with theirs by opposing such 
 circulation ? This is all that can be legitimately concluded 
 from the fact, while- the truth of the charge remains untouched; 
 in support of which we might refer to the decrees of councils 
 — to the bulls of Roman pontiffs — to the time-immemorial 
 practice of that church — to the history of the proceedings of 
 the Hibernian Society for circulating the scriptures in Ireland 
 — and to the fi,erce, outrageous, and unblushing attacks that 
 have been lately made upon the bible cause in that unhappy 
 
POPERY HIE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, 281 
 
 country. Great, then, and complicated is the 'iniquity' ot 
 the popish system, even in the limited point of view we are 
 now considering, namely, as respects its bearing on the scrip- 
 tures of truth. 
 
 4. But all this is only introductory to its influence on the 
 salvation of the soul and vital religion. The soul of man is of 
 incalculable worth — Avorth to an adequate estimate of which, 
 no earthly ideas, however vast, can assist us. Whatever 
 affects its salvation on the one hand, or ruin on the other, 
 must of course be considered as standing high in the scale of 
 excellence or criminality. We would not go the length to say 
 that in connection with the Church of Home salvation is a 
 thing impossible, as we read of some who are saved ' being 
 pulled out of the fire ;' and, moreover, we find the following 
 address spoken in reference to Babylon, ' Come out of her, 
 my people.' (Rev. xviii. 4.) W'e, nevertheless, fearlessly 
 avow it as our opinion, that the tendency of many of her 
 tenets is directly injurious to the high object in question. 
 
 In what other light can her doctrine of human merit be 
 viewed? We know not any propositions in the bible more 
 unequivocally announced, and more unanswerably established, 
 than these :— ' By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh 
 be justified. — If righteousness come by the law, then is Christ 
 dead in vain.' (IJom. iii. 20 ; Gal. ii. 21.) Yet, in the fiace 
 of these, and similar plain scripture declarations, does the 
 Church of Rome maintain that good works are meritorious 
 of salvation ; — .are calculated to diminish or remove altogether 
 the future punishment of the sinner, and even to establish a 
 claim to heaven. To save her character, to be sui'e, she 
 makes some show of reference to Christ; but then all the place 
 he is permitted to hold is, instead of the primary one of being 
 ' the only Saviour,' the subordinate one of having enabled 
 man by what he has done to save himself. ' If any one shall 
 a.ssert,' say the decrees of the Council of Trent, * that justify- 
 ing faith is nothing else than a trust in the divine mercy, 
 remitting sin for Christ's sake; or that it is faith alone by 
 A>hich we are justified, let him be accursed.' And again, 'If 
 any one say that the I'ighteousness received, in justification, is 
 
282 POPERY THE MYSTEPY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 not preserved, and even increased before God bj good works ; 
 and that these woi'ks are only fruits and signs of justification, 
 not the cause of its being increased, let him be accursed.' Still 
 further, ' If any one say that the good works of a justified man 
 are so the gifts of God, that they are not the mei'itorious good 
 deeds of him who is justified, let him be accursed.'* Nay, not 
 even satisfied with this, by her doctrine of supererogation she 
 maintains that saints can do more than the law of God 
 requires, and, after saving themselves, accumulate a treasury 
 of surplus merit, whose exuberance may be retailed to such 
 as have little or none of their own; as if sufficient disparage- 
 ment were not shown to the Redeemel' by representing his 
 infinite merits as defective, unless a superabundant good were 
 ascribed to the doings of worthless man. Oh ! in what 
 a perilous state are the souls of those who espouse such 
 sentiments as these ; and who that believes that ' other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ,' 
 does not tremble for their salvation ! 
 
 Nay more ; to the establishment of ' another foundation' 
 she adds the cruel insult of maintaining that salvation is 
 nowhere else to be obtained but in the bosom of the Catholic 
 , Mother Church. The members of all other churches are 
 regularly and formally excommunicated, with anathemas and 
 maledictions which would be dreadful did we not know that 
 the spirit from which they proceed is as powerless as it is 
 malicious. 'And withal I condemn,' — such are the words of 
 the oath prescribed by Pope Pius IV. to be taken by every 
 lay convert to popery, and by every ecclesiastic, — ' reject and 
 accurse all things that, are contrary thereunto, (obedience to 
 the bishop of Rome,) and all heresies, whatsoever condemned, 
 rejected, and accursed by the church. This true catholic 
 faith, out of which no man can be saved,' etc. 
 
 Having laid claim to a monopoly of salvation, as if to make 
 amends for the ungracious aspect which this' part of the sys- 
 tem bears toward other communities, she holds out, as a lui'e 
 to enter her fellowship, the easy terms on which eternal sal- 
 vation may be thus secured. Mere connection with the 
 * Sess, vi. can. 12, 24, 32 : cited by Fletcher. 
 
POPERY THE MTSTEUY OF INIQUITY. 283 
 
 church, and acting faithfully to its interests, are all that is 
 necessary. Neither faith in the Redeemer, nor any other 
 principle of dilticult attainment or heavenly origin, is required, 
 but only conformity to the rites of the church. These are 
 all-efficacious, sufficient to secure a sinner from all possible 
 hazard as to his eternal state. Baptism regenerates the 
 nature; penance, confession, and the mass, purify the life; and 
 the mystic ceremony of extreme unction affords the expiring 
 soul an ample viaticum for heaven. All the while, faith in 
 the atoning blood of the Lamb of God is left out of view : 
 no mention is made of the Balm of Gilead or the Physician of 
 value. The whole mystery is effected by a charm, the secret 
 of which is in the full possession of the priesthood ; and, 
 should even the sinner be about to appear before God with 
 the blood upon him of who-knows-how-many \'ictims, 
 remorselessly butchered for sordid gain, the officiating priest 
 can have the eflTrontery to tell him, within hearing of protestant 
 ministers, and before thousands of protestant people, ' Say your 
 creed now, and when you come to the words. Lord Jesus 
 Christ, give the signal, and die with the name of the blessed 
 Saviour in your mouth.' * 
 
 In such a church, and holding such tenets, where is there 
 room for vital religion ? If in any communion ' the righteous 
 scarcely be saved,' surely personal godliness must be in the 
 Church of Rome a rare and difficult attainment. Like the 
 ancient Pharisees — to whom, by the way, they bear a strik- 
 ing resemblance — her clergy exact ' tithe of mint, and anise, 
 and cummin, and omit the weightier matters of the law, 
 judgment, mercy, and faith,' The commandments of God 
 are made absolutely of no effect by the idle pageantry 
 of superstition. Faith, repentance, humility, charity, and 
 
 * No part of the details of those disgiistuig facts hy which our northern 
 inetropoUs has beeu so lately (1 829) disgraced, shocked us half so much as 
 that to which we have here referred. In the case of the principal facts, our 
 attention was turned, for the most part, to the bodies. Uere, however, we 
 beheld a soul, a guilty soul, quivering on the verge of eternity, entrusted, for 
 its future welfare to the mere enchantment of a name ! And such is the 
 method of salvation in the popish church ! 
 
284 POFERV THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 new obedience, cannot be essential constituents of popish 
 devotion. 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 Avord of God ;' but to the members of the Church of Rome the 
 use of the word of God is forbidden. The faith she requires 
 is not faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but faith in the priest. 
 For the grace of repentance, she substitutes the sacrament of 
 pen!ince,not scruplingeven to accommodate the Saviour's well- 
 known declaration, on the subject of repentance, to her own 
 wicked purpose: 'Except ye do penance, ye shall all likewise 
 perish.' In place of new obedience, she has invented an end- 
 less succession of rites and ceremonies, kneelirigs, crossings, 
 counting of beads, lustral sprinkHngs, and mutterings of Ave 
 Marias and Pater Nosters. Her charity is evinced in coolly 
 devoting to perdition all who dispute her claims : and, as for 
 her benevolence, it may be guessed from the frowning battle- 
 ments, reverberated groans, and devouring flames of the In- 
 quisition ! 
 
 This, though not by any means the most prominent, is, out 
 of sight, the most dangerous feature of popery. The salva- 
 tion of the soul is everything to man. If it is lost, all is lost. 
 The arrogant claims and bloody persecutions of the Church of 
 Rome, which figure so conspicuously in history, aiFect but th& 
 goods or territory, or bodies of men ; but the principles we have 
 just been surveying affect their deathless spirits. In following 
 up her decrees of extermination against heretics, many thou- 
 sands of bodies has she slain, and awful must be her recom- 
 pence when the Lord shall make inquisition for blood ; but 
 who shall estimate the guilt that cleaves to the spiritual 
 Babylon for the many millions of souls that have been eter- 
 nally ruined, by drinking of her deleterious, intoxicating, and 
 maddening cup? On this ground it was that the lirst quarrel 
 of the Reformers rested. It should never be forgotten that 
 Luther commenced his bright career by denouncing the doc- 
 trine of human merit, and maintaining, as the essential article 
 of a standing or falling church, that of justification by faith. 
 Nor is it without special meaning, in connection with these 
 remarks, that, in the apocalyptic inventory of Babylon's mer- 
 chandise, a prominent place is assigned to ' the souls of men ! ' 
 
POrFRY TIIK MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 285 
 
 5. The value and importance of the institutions of (he 
 christian religion will be admitted by all. By corrupting, 
 diminishing, and adding to them, their beautiful simplicity 
 has not been more defaced than their usefulness destroyed, in 
 the Church of Rome. They are no longer what they were as 
 given by their gracious Author — few, simple, easily practised, 
 and possessed of a directly beneficial power ; — but they are 
 mutilated, dwarfed, debased, burdened with an intolerable 
 load of difficult ceremonies ; their fair proportion distorted by 
 unsightly excrescenses of human invention, and their ten- 
 dency perverted to what is positively pernicious. 
 
 How is the simple and holy ordinance of Baptism corrupted 
 by additions for which no divine warrant can be shown ; — 
 by sponsorship, exorcising, crossing, the use of salt, oil, and 
 saliva ! How different from the instituted right of sprinkling 
 with pure water, in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity : to 
 say nothing of its being most unwarrantably and dangerously 
 represented as in itself, by virtue of the mere opus operatum, 
 — the simple act of administration, — efficacious to regenerate 
 the soul, and actually to purify it from all sin! — Nor is the 
 ordinance of the Lord's Supper less corrupted, by the mixture 
 of superstitious ceremonies with its celebration ; by the 
 efl&cacy ascribed to the mere act of participation ; by the 
 doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass ; and by the monstrous 
 absurdity of transubstantiation. All of these are highly 
 derogatory to the merit of Christ's ' one sacrifice ;' are in 
 themselves irrational and palpably absurd ; and in their 
 tendency unspeakably pernicious, as calculated to induce low 
 conceptions of the work of our great High Priest, and to 
 divert the mind from scriptural views of the design and 
 benefits of the ordinance. 
 
 By diminishing, as Avell as by corrupting, does popeiy 
 interfere with the institutions of Christ. By ' communion in 
 one kind,' as it is called, the cup is denied to the laity, who 
 are obliged to content themselves with a consecrated wafer, 
 while the wine is reserved for the exclusive use of the priest- 
 hood. By this arbitrary law, which claims no higher 
 antiquity than that of the Council of Constance in the 
 
286 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 beginning of the fifteenth century, the aggravated iniquity is 
 committed of a presumptuous infringement of the Saviour's 
 authority, a wicked invasion of the rights of the christian 
 people, and an entire subversion of the end and use of the 
 ordinance ; so much so, indeed, as fully to justify the 
 assertion, that the ordinance of the Lord's Supper has no 
 existence in the Church of Rome. The plea set up for this 
 departure from the original form and primitive custom, is as . 
 vs'icked as it is contradictory, and as weak as it is wicked. 
 As the bread represents the body, and the body supposes 
 blood, there is no need, it is alleged, for giving more than 
 the bread : the one element represents the whole. Over- 
 looking the impious reflection which such reasoning implies 
 on the wisdom of the divine Institutor, whose superfluity of 
 appointment, forsooth, called for the retrenching hand of a , 
 general council, it is surprising it should never have occurred 
 to its authors, how easily the principle might be turned 
 against themselves. Can there be anything more natural, 
 than to ask, — if the case be as stated above, — why the use of 
 the wine should not have been abolished among the priests 
 as well as the people? for it can never surely be alleged, 
 that the perceptions of the former are so much rqore dull than 
 those of the latter, as to require the stimulus of an additional 
 symbol to enable them to understand the ' holy mystery.' 
 
 But if iniquity is committed by thus taking from the 
 perfect institutions of the church's Head, still greater guilt is 
 contracted by adding to their number. According to the 
 Church of Rome, the sacraments of the New Testament 
 Church are seven in number, instead of two. Confirmation, 
 penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony, are added 
 to those which are universally admitted. Of the three 
 standing first in this enumeration, it is enough to say, that 
 the scriptures are altogether silent ; and of the remaining two, 
 that there is nothing whatever sacramental in their character 
 or manner of observance. We wait not to expose the weak- 
 ness of the arguments by which these additions are supported; 
 but we cannot omit taking notice of the glaring contradiction 
 exhibited in exalting matrimony to the rank of a sacrament, 
 
rOrKUY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 287 
 
 and at the same time eulogising celibacy as meritorious and 
 peremptorily enjoining it on all the clergy. A sacrament, of 
 which it is flagrant iniquity for the ministers of religion to 
 ])artake, is, we venture to say, an anomaly unparalleled in 
 the history of ecclesiastical legislation ! Nor can the virtue 
 of abstinence from a sacramental institution of Christ be less 
 a prodigy in the department of christian ethics. 
 
 Amid the contempt with which we cannot but regard sucli 
 absurdity, and the pity we cannot but feel for those who 
 embrace it, let us not overlook the daring wickedness of the 
 system by which the arrogance it supposes is sanctioned. 
 This wickedness is not confined to the sacraments. The 
 practices of canonisation, auricular confession, prayer for the 
 dead, and invocation of saints, are all additions, for which it 
 will be equally difficult to adduce the sanction of ' Thus saith 
 the Lord.' In short, it is impossible to name an ordinance 
 or doctrine of the christian religion, which popery has not 
 either exploded, or corrupted, or perverted. 
 
 6. No feature of this corrupt system is more prominently 
 developed than its hostility to personal liherty. The praises 
 of freedom have been sounded by patriots, and sung by poets, 
 in every age ; and slavery, whether mental or bodily, has 
 been ever an object of marked detestation. But this blessing, 
 so naturally dear to the heart of man, popery seems, most 
 artfully contrived to defeat. Its spirit is that of an unmi- 
 tigated despotism ; being satisfied with nothing less than a 
 complete ascendancy over the judgments, lives, consciences, 
 and persons of men. Without being charged with entertain- 
 ing exaggerated notions of human freedom, a liberty to do 
 whatever the word of God permits or enjoins, may surely be 
 claimed. Yet even this reasonable demand is denied. All 
 right of private judgment is withheld; the church is 
 infallible ; the will of the priest is supreme ; the part of the 
 people is hence that of a mere passive credulity ; the functions 
 of understanding and judgment are superseded ; and a disposi- 
 tion to inquire and judge for one's self, lays open to a charge of 
 insufferable heresy and rebellion against the infallibility of the 
 church. The l)ible snys, 'Try the spirits; prove all things;' 
 
288 POPERT THE MYSTEKY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 but the sjstem in question inculcates a different lesson ; and, 
 though its ministers lay claim to a pure succession from the 
 apostles, there is one point of resemblance at least in which 
 they will surely allow themselves to have failed : ' We speak 
 as unto wise men, judge ye what we say.' Can popish 
 ecclesiastics adopt such an appeal ? 
 
 The consequences of this slavish subjection of the judg- 
 ment to priestly dictation, are fatal to mental vigour as well 
 as independence. The mind, having no room for action, 
 necessarily becomes paralysed. The result of the scriptures 
 being prohibited to be used — of the services of public worship 
 being stripped of everything like instruction, and converted 
 into a show — of the public prayers being offered in an un- 
 known tongue, must be a humiliating prostration of reason 
 The tendency of the doctrine of supremacy, is to induce a 
 crouching timidity ; of that of infallibility, to suspend all men- 
 tal exertion; while the power claimed over the world to come, 
 must necessarily engender a cowardly fear, directly injurious 
 to mental greatness: — to say nothing of other tenets, in their 
 very nature calculated to outrage reason, and put common 
 sense to the blush. It were vain to expect vigour of intellect, 
 or ardour of discovery, under the operation of a system 
 which draws a mystic line, beyond which it is sinful to push 
 inquiry ; and which claims the right of dooming to the 
 dungeons of the Inquisition, — as in the case of Galileo, — ^the 
 unfortunate author of any innovation on the opinions of the 
 church, however well supported by the light of revelation or 
 the soundest philosophy. This part of her policy, one should 
 suppose, Rome must have borrowed from the Philistines, 
 who put out Samson's eyes and bound him with fetters of 
 brass, that he might more submissively grind in the prison- 
 house. And tiiough, among papists, there may exist indi- 
 vidual minds of high talent and culture, it will often be found, 
 it is presumed, that, in such instances, the slavish tenets of the 
 system have been abjured; and, consequently, that the effect 
 is to be ascribed to some other cause, which could not have 
 had liberty to operate had the shackfes not been thrown off. 
 Besides, these ' are but exceptions — sparks of light amid a 
 
POPKRY THE MYSTERV OF INIQOITT. 289 
 
 general gloom — straggling rays, breaking through a dense 
 eclipse of intellect ; while the great mass of every truly 
 popish population exhibits a slate of the most degraded 
 mental vassalage. In protestant countries, papists cannot 
 fail to be influenced, more or less, by the light with which 
 they are surrounded. But in purely popish lands, as Spain, 
 or Portugal, or Italy, where the natives are the born vassals 
 of the deadliest despotism, they breathe not a single generous 
 or lofty aspiration, and dare not even ' call their souls their 
 own.' 
 
 Its hostility to freedom is further apparent, in prohibiting 
 the use of what God has most clearly permitted. Certain 
 kinds of meats are forbidden, at particular times; in the face 
 of the declaration, that ' every creature of God is good, and 
 nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.' 
 Marriage is strictly forbidden to the clergy, and celibacy 
 encouraged in others, by the establishment of nunneries and 
 monasteries, under pretence of superior sanctity ; as if it had 
 not been in reference to a state of innocence, that it was first 
 said, ' Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 
 and shall cleave unto his wife ; and they shall be one flesh : ' 
 — to say nothing of the plain apostolic assertion, ' Marriage 
 is honourable in all.' 
 
 The sanguinary andpersecuting spirit of this religion }s too 
 well known to need lengthened illustration here. Claiming 
 a universal civil as well as ecclesiastical authority, the Roman 
 pontiffs have sought to unite the imperial diadem with the 
 sacerdotal mitre ; and, grasping the sword of temporal power 
 in addition to the keys of St Peter, have prostrated even 
 monarchs at their feet. Is it then to be wondered at, that 
 they should have made the most cruel and unjustifiable 
 encroachments on the pei'sonal rights and liberties of such 
 as ventured to decline their jurisdiction or differ from them 
 in opinion? Not content with bitter invectives and spiritual 
 maledictions, — by which they have attempted to overawe the 
 conscience, — external violence, in every varied form of atro- 
 cious ingenuity, has been employed against the persons of 
 men. The history of popery tells of crusades undertaken to 
 
 N 
 
290 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 extirpate infidelity — of swords unsheathed, and fires lighted 
 up, to gratify the ambition of universal conquest — of inquisi- 
 tions erected, with all their horrible instruments of torture, in 
 order to punish or convert obstinate heretics — and of streams 
 of human blood, which the cruelty of papal interests has 
 caused to flow. Even to recite the forms of punishment, 
 would require more room than can well be given to this 
 department of our subject. Suffice it to say, that every 
 counti'y whei*e it has been resisted, has done so .at the 
 expense of its best and dearest lives : its progress is tracked 
 with the blood of its victims ; and the multitude of those wdio 
 liave fallen a prey to its rapacity is literally innumerable. 
 No part of the character of Rome is better attested than this. 
 It is what cannot be concealed. Before this could be doTie, 
 it would be requisite to blot from * history's honest page,' the 
 reigns of Mary of England — of Charles V. in Germany — of 
 Louis XIV. in France : together with the accounts of St 
 Bartholomew-day in Paris — of the revocation of the edict of 
 Nantes, at which 100,000 were murdered — and of the massacre 
 of the Irish protestants in 1641. France, Spain, German)', 
 Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, England, Scotland, Ireland, 
 America, and even Italy, have all had their martys. There . 
 is scarce a country in Europe on which the fires of popish 
 persecution have not gleamed. Nor is it possible now to tell 
 how many Huguenots in France, Waldenses in Piedmont, 
 Lollards in England, and Reformers in Scotland, have 
 fallen sacrifice to papal intolerance. The Belgic martyrs 
 are estimated at 50,000 by some, and by others as high as 
 100,000; the Waldenaian at a million. In the city of Beziers 
 alone, 60,000 persons were indisci'iminately murdered in one 
 day, the pope's legate, with the crucifix in his hatid, crying 
 out, ' Kill all, and God will i^now his own.' Charles IX. of 
 Fi'ance, boasted of having sacrificed in one night, 70,000 of 
 his subjects. During the Irish massacre, 'which began in 
 1641, from 40,000 to 50,000 protestants were cruelly 
 mui'dered in a few days. Even in England, during 
 the short reign of Mary, about 300 persons, of all classes, 
 
POr-ERY TUE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 291 
 
 perished amid the fires of Smithfield ; and during the persecu- 
 tious under Charles and James, G0,000 in England, and 
 18,000 in Scotland suffered by banishment or death. Let it 
 not be said these are old things. Are they not approved by 
 papists of the present day ? Have they ever received a mark 
 of condemnation from any authoritative source ? Is there not, 
 on the contrary, an annual thanksgiving observed at Kome, 
 for the signal interposition of the divine power at the revoca- 
 tion of the edict of Nantes, and for the massacre on St 
 Bartholomew-day? No description of the popish church is 
 more true than that which represents it as 'drunken with the 
 blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.' 
 (Rev. xvii. 6.) Nor can any declaration better accord with 
 the retributive character of Deity than this : — ' Thou art 
 righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because 
 thou hast judged thus: for they have shed the blood of saints 
 and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ; for 
 they are worthy.' (Rev. xvi. 5, 6.) 
 
 This is one of the things which are apt to be retorted on 
 protestants: but most ignorantly and most unjustly so. It is 
 not sufficiently observed, that when protestants have perse- 
 cuted, they have done it in opposition to their principles : their 
 religion has, at the very time, disallowed their conduct. But 
 persecution is in the very spirit of popery — is the natural and 
 avowed result of its principles. Besides, if at an early period 
 protestants exhibited anything of an intolerant disposition, 
 it ought in justice to be ascribed, not to their religion, but to 
 the difficulty men feel in throwing off the influence of senti- 
 ments they have been long accustomed to entertain. For any 
 spirit of intolerance they have retained, pi'otestants are entirely 
 indebted to Home, in escaping from whose abominations, it 
 was scarce to be expected that they should get rid of every- 
 thing objectionable at once. After all, what are the few 
 paltry instances by which the charge in question is supported, 
 compared with the tens of thousands which attest the spii'it 
 of the antichristian system ! All the Jewish, pagan, and 
 protestant persecutions put together, cannot number so many 
 
292 POPEIiV TUE MYSTEKY OP INIQUITY. 
 
 victims as have been sacrificed to the 'Roman Moloch' 
 alone. 
 
 How opposite the spirit of protestantism is to that of 
 popery, may be illustrated by the following quotations, 
 which we Avould recommend to the attention of those who 
 are disposed to confound them : — •' Mary,' says a sensible 
 French writer, quoted by Dr M'Crie, 'was brought up in 
 France, accustomed to see protestants burned to death, and 
 instructed in the maxims of her uncles the Guises, who main- 
 tained, that it was necessary to exterminate, without mercy, 
 the pretended reformed. With these dispositions she arrived 
 in Scotland, which was wholly reformed, with the exception 
 of a few lords. The kingdom receive her, acknowledge her 
 as their Queen, and obey her in all things according to the 
 laws of the country. I maintain, that in the state of men's 
 spirits at that time, if a Huguenot queen had come to- take 
 possession of a Roman Catholic kingdom, with the retinue 
 with which Mary came to Scotland, the first thing they would 
 have done, would have been to arrest her; and if she had 
 persevered in her religion, they would have procured her 
 degradation by the pope, thrown her into the Inquisition, and 
 burned her as a heretic. There is not an honest man who, 
 dare deny this.' (Life of Knox, vol. ii. 28.) ' In this very 
 city,' writes MrMaturin of Dublin, in 1824, * there is a work, 
 entitled Ward's Errata ; that is, errors of the protestant trans- 
 lation of the bible. This work is exhibited in all the Roman 
 Catholic booksellers' shops in Dublin, adorned with prints of 
 Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, chained, in flames, and tormented 
 by devils. Now, I say, that if a protestant bookseller dared 
 to expose at Rome, at Naples, at Madrid, etc. etc., a protestant 
 book, in which the pope, the cardinals, or the distinguished 
 ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic Church, were represented 
 as condemned to everlasting flames, the result would be, that 
 in twenty-four hours the publisher would 'be committed to 
 the prison of the most holy Inquisition, from whence he would 
 never make his exit, except to blaze at an Auto da Fe, for the 
 love of God, the honour of Jesus Christ, and tke glory of the 
 holy Roman Catholic religion. Such woidd be the tolerance of 
 
POPEUY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 293 
 
 the Roman Catholic Church — such is the tolerance of the 
 protcstant.' 
 
 7. To complete this picture of complicated iniquity, it is only 
 necessary to advert to the influence of the popish system on 
 practical morality. Here we shall leave out of view altogether 
 the laws of the Jesuits, which, whether publicly avowed 
 principles or secret instructions, disclose a system of wicked- 
 ness, of unblushing impudence, and consummate adaptation to 
 corrupt human nature. Enough may be gathered, from the 
 general maxims of the body at large, to serve our purpose. 
 
 The very distinction of venial and mortal sins cannot but 
 have an injurious influence on morals ; inasmuch as there must 
 be less inducement to abstain from iniquity, in believing ' that 
 venial sins deserve only temporal punishment,' than in believing 
 that ' the wrath of God is revealed from heaven agaibst all 
 unrighteousness of men.' The tenet. No faith with heretics, of 
 which, however stoutly denied, the history of the church 
 affords so many illustrations ; the abominable maxim, that the 
 end will sanctify the means; and the power assumed and 
 acted upon, of dispensing with the most solemn obligations, 
 of which so many well-authenticated instances are on record, 
 —open a wide door for the overthrow of all social morality, 
 break the bonds of every relation, and pour a desolating 
 destruction over the dearest and most important interests of 
 human life. It is matter of fact, that so late as 1811, the 
 pope pronounced sentence of divorce between Bonaparte and 
 Josephine Beauliai'nois, his lavv'ful wife, to enable him to 
 marry the daughter of the Emperor of Austria ; and the 
 incestuous marriages of uncle and niece, nephew and aunt, 
 which have, taken place for two generations among the mem- 
 bers of the reigning family in Portugal, exist in consequence 
 of a similar dispensation from his Holiness ! 
 
 But perhaps the most demoralising principle of all is that 
 of penance, with its appendages of confession, absolution, 
 dispensations, and indulgences. — By substituting the spurious 
 sacrament of penance for the christian doctrine of repentance, 
 one of the most effectual barriers to immorality is removed. 
 
294 FOPERY THE MYSTERY OP INIQUITY. 
 
 Is it, in the nature of things, supposable that they will be 
 strongly solicitous to avoid practical iniquity, who believe, 
 that on the payment of a given sum, or submission to some 
 painful process, the priest is authorised to absolve them from 
 all the sins committed since their baptism ? nay, that should 
 they feel greatly repugnant at the performance required, they 
 may, for a trifling bribe, have it transferred to a less wealthy 
 individual, and thus accomplish their object hj proxy? — With 
 respect to the confession that precedes absolution, it is not 
 easy to determine on whom, the priest or the culprit, its 
 influence will be more pernicious. As a source of emolument, 
 as a subtle engine of spiritual tyranny, it is riot difficult to 
 see the use of the law which enjoins confession ' at least once 
 a year ;' but as a means of personal holiness, it is not quite so 
 easy to discover the secret of its utility. The person who 
 confesses every iniquity of his heart, tongue, and life, to a 
 fellow-mortal, cannot but be fearfully degraded in his own 
 eyes ; while he, whose office it is to receive such confessions, 
 whose ear has poured into it all the dishonesty, malice, pro- 
 faneness, injustice, and lewdness of a district, could scarce 
 expect to escape being contaminated, were he even innocent 
 as Adam, immaculate as an angel of light. 
 
 And then another department of the mystery is indulgences, 
 permissions on certain conditions to commit sin, or rather 
 assurances of pardon before guilt is contracted. How these 
 should contribute, as asserted, to the moral benefit of the 
 individuals who procure them, one may surely be excused for 
 being at a loss to apprehend. This part of the system is 
 comparatively a moder,n invention. It was artfully contrived 
 to replenish the exhausted coffers of Pope Leo X. by the sale 
 of documents, in which the purchaser is secured against the 
 consequences of such offences as he is thus authorised to per- 
 petrate. As in other cases of merchandise, the variety is 
 suited to all tastes ; there being indulgences for this world, 
 and indulgences for the next ; some partial, others plenary ; 
 some for a shorter, and others for a longer period ; for every 
 species of crime indeed ; the scale of prices being, of course, 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERY OF IXIQOITY. 295 
 
 nicely graduated according to the supposed greater or less 
 enormity of the crimes to be committed.* 
 
 Nor are these antiquated things, which the light of modern ' 
 times has abolished. The doctrine still holds a place in the 
 catechisms of the church, and the practice still forms a fruitful 
 source of the emolument of her priests. To expect a high- 
 toned morality among the members of such a community, 
 were to look for the living among the dead. That a people 
 who are instructed to believe that the payment of a few 
 pence, or the virtues of a splinter of wood or a rusty nail, 
 can absolve them from guilt, should be distinguished for 
 purity, would be a greater miracle than any to which im- 
 postor has ever laid claim. Nor is this a mere speculative 
 inference from the tenets in question. The page of history is 
 stained with the crimes of the popes, cardinals, bishops, and 
 priests, of the dark ages ; and even now, where will you find 
 a more wicked race of human beings than the poor Roman 
 Catholics? Do not the greater proportion of the thieves, 
 robbers, housebreakers, highwaymen, and assassins, whose 
 misdoings go to swell the criminal calendars of our country, 
 and who end their days on the gibbet, belong to this class ? 
 
 Such is the complicated iniquity of the popish system. 
 Dark as is the picture, it is so far from being overcharged, 
 that it can only be called a very faint sketch. Even to state 
 all its abominations would require a volume of no ordinary 
 dimensions. Should any one presume to doubt the fidelity of 
 the outline, the clearest documentary proof can be adduced. 
 And yet it is such a system — a system which tlius throws 
 
 * The extent to which this singular traffic lias been carried, may Le 
 giiesseil from the well-known fact, that the Spanish vessel Galleon, captured 
 in the reign of Qneen Anne, and carried into Bristol Roads,had on board, as 
 part of its lading, 500 bales of bulls of indulgences, sixteen reams in a bale, 
 the whole number being supposed to be not less than 3,840,000 ; the value 
 of each varying from 20d. to £ 1 1 ! To such a height of impudeuce did this 
 iniquity rise, that John Tetzel, who was commissioned by Leo to preach up 
 these indulgences, unblushingly proclaimed that they could obtain the pardon 
 of any offender, etiamsi mafrem Dei stupravisset, and boasted that he hail 
 ■•saved more souls from hell by his indulgences, than St Peter had converted 
 to Christianity by his preaching !' 
 
296 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 dishonour on God ; offers direct insults to Christ ; nullifies 
 the holy scriptures ; endangers fearfully the souls of men ; 
 perverts all the institutions of the church's divine Head ; 
 annihilates everything like personal liberty ; and throws open 
 the flood-gates of grossest immorality, — it is such a system 
 which lays claim to being the True Church of Christ, out of 
 which there is no salvation. To every one who has attended 
 to the preceding statements, it may safely be left to judge, 
 how much more appropriately it is styled, by the Spirit of 
 God, The Mystery of Iniquity ! . . 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 2 Tftess. ii. 7. 
 
 ' The jSIyslery of Iniquity doth already work.'' 
 
 In proof that popery is the Mystery of Iniquity, we have al- 
 ready adverted to the complication of evil which it erabi-aces. 
 This complication of evil has been viewed in relation to the 
 glory of God — the honour of Christ — the holy scriptures — 
 the salvation of men — the institution of religion — mental 
 vigour — personal liberty — and practical morality. We invite 
 attention to still further proof. 
 
 II. The policy with which popery has been framed and 
 upheld, is sufficient to justify the application to it of the 
 title, ' Mystery of Iniquity.' 
 
 The ascendancy of the popish system is perhaps the most 
 extraordinary fact in the history of nations. Nothing in the 
 annals of Rome pagan, brilliant as were her victories, ami 
 extensive as was her dominion, can compare with it. ' Hev 
 ancient records contain nothing equal to the stratagems, the 
 achievements, and the unconquerable perseverance which ele- 
 vated the popes to ecclesiastical sovereignty, and gave the 
 ascendancy to papal Rome. The champions of the church 
 have surpassed the heroes of the republic ; the subtlety of the 
 conclave has exceeded in depth and refinement that of the 
 senate ; the thunder of the Vatican has rolled more terribly 
 
 N 2 
 
298 POPEEY THE 31TSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 than that of the capitol; and, though within a narrower boun- 
 dary, the tyranny of the popes has been more despotic and 
 intense than that of the proudest of the Ctesars.' The beau 
 ideal of popery comprehends so much that is contradictory and 
 chimerical, as to cause the mere projection of the scheme 
 appear a wild and capricious start of imagination ; while its 
 actual realisation seems a thing so unparalleled, so far 
 ' Above all Greek, above all Roman fame,' 
 
 as to make us instinctively ask, by what means was it 
 effected ? 
 
 The history of its formation and progress is no secret. The 
 rise of the papacy may be assigned to the seventh or eighth 
 centuries, when claims of universal supremacy, civil as well as 
 ecclesiastical, were put forth. The elements were in operation 
 long before ; but then it was that it became the jjopish system. 
 Its nature was then unfolded — its principles developed — its 
 plans arranged. From that period it continued to advance till 
 it reached the maximum of its power and glory in the eleventh 
 or twelfth centuries. The scheme itself was formed, and the 
 height to which it' reached vpas attained by a system of Ma- 
 chiaveUian policy, even a slight acquaintance with which will 
 go far to justify the application of the ignominious title of 
 ' the Mystery of Iniquity.' 
 
 The very first step was to have the understandings of men 
 subjected, as far as possible, to human authority. Claims of 
 absolute and universal supremacy were accordingly put forth 
 on the part of the clergy over the people. And having once 
 enslaved the minds of men by every wicked and artful con- 
 trivance, they were prepared to wield the unlimited power 
 they had acquired at pleasure. The foundation of the whole 
 gigantic fabric is laid deep in this one principle of unbounded 
 and uncontrollable dominion. 
 
 The next thing was to captivate the imagination by an out- 
 ward show of pomp and dignity and greatness. The places 
 of worship — the forms of service — the dress of the priests— 
 the order of processions and arrangement of ceremonies, were 
 all, accordingly, calculated to allure and overawe the minds 
 
POPERY TUE MYSTERY OF INIQLITY. 299 
 
 of the vulgar ; while the immense revenues of the church were 
 fitted to attract the avaricious and unprincipled among the 
 rich, who sought nothing so much as aggrandisement. The 
 aid of architects, painters, and sculptors, was called in ; and 
 the fine arts, of whose ennobling tendency we hear so much, 
 became the handmaids of the most degrading superstition. To 
 this part of her policy must be referred the massive porches, 
 lofty domes, and pictorial decorations of her temples — the gor- 
 geous apparel of her ecclesiastics — the voluptuous character 
 of her music — the burning cf incense — the lighting of candles 
 in open day — the pompous processions on seasons of festivity; 
 together with a multitude of other things, better calculated to 
 strike the senses than to affect the heart, to glitter in the eye 
 than to reach the conscience. In all these, it is not difficult to 
 perceive a cunning adaptation of professedly christian princi- 
 ples to the rites and ceremonies of paganism, and to the carnal 
 inclinations of fallen humanity. To such an extent has this 
 spirit of criminal temporising been carried, that, in some in- 
 stances, the woi'ship of heathen idols, under the names of 
 popish saints, has been sanctioned and encouraged. In short, 
 popery is but ' baptised paganism.' 
 
 Another cunning device of the framers of popery has been 
 to overawe the minds of the people, by laying claim to mira- 
 culous powers ; and to keep them at a distance by pretensions 
 to a mysterious sanctity, well fitted to repel everything like :ui 
 obtrusive spirit of investigation, which might not be always 
 quite convenient for the purposes of the hierarchy. Tricks 
 were accordingly played oiF, in great plenty, which had their 
 desired effect on the weak, the ignorant, and the credulous ; 
 who, being denied the privilege of judging for themselves, had 
 no course left them to pursue, but to wink hard, and swallow 
 down, with true orthodox gullability, whatever nosti'ums might 
 be mixed up for them by their father confessors. 
 
 Nor was it less artfully contrived to relax the principles of 
 morality, and throw down the barriers of real ecclesiastical 
 discipline. Here was something exactly suited to corrupt 
 human nature. The spirit of enmity to holiness, which might 
 feel disposed, in reference to the precepts of Christ, to say 
 
300 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 ' Let us break asunder his bands, and cast his cords from us,' 
 could find an ample range of indulgence within the pale of 
 the holy catholic church. A taste for luxury and effeminacy 
 could meet with nothing to oppose its gratification, in a system 
 which empowered its ofiice bearers to dispense, at pleasure, 
 with any of the laws of the gospel ; — nay, the emoluments of 
 which ofiice- bearers, were in no small degree to spring from 
 the exercise of such dispensations, and whose interests, of 
 course, lay in holding out every encouragement to sin. 
 
 The power being once gained by such means as we have 
 described, other parts of the system were as wisely adapted to 
 its maintenance and diffusion. The law of confession, for 
 example, was admirably fitted for these ends ; — by making the 
 clergy acquainted with the inmost secrets of men's hearts ; 
 by laying open to them the private history and peculiar circum- 
 stances of every person without exception ; and thus enabling 
 them to address to the failings or propensities of all, such mo- 
 tives as might best subserve their own selfish purposes. The 
 property, the peace, the liberty, and even the persons of the 
 community, were thus placed in the hands of a few interested 
 individuals ; nor are the instances either few or remote in 
 which this dangerous power has been made use of for the^ 
 basest of ends. 
 
 Perhaps no principle is better adapted for upholding the 
 power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy than that of clerical 
 celibacy. It erects a barrier betwixt the ministers of religion 
 and the people, which effectually prevents all proper recipro- 
 city of feeling, or community of interest. All the tender en- 
 dearments and exquisite enjoyments of domestic society are 
 thus cut off from the former ; a morose, contracted, and even 
 cruel spirit is engendered and fostered ; and, bound by no tie 
 to the community at large, and free from all the charges of a 
 family, the priests are converted into a close corporation, ever 
 ready to promote the ambitious designs of the Komish See in 
 any part of the world. Were they permitted to form matri- 
 monial alliances, they would soon come to participate in the 
 common feelings of the people ; and, by learning to feel to- 
 wards them as fdends, would be rendered unfit to accomplish 
 
rOPEUY TIIK MYSTKRV OF IMQLITY. 301 
 
 the purposes of papal ambition by treating them as servants 
 or as slaves. — In the spirit of the same princiijle, has encour- 
 agement been given to monastic establishments, \vhere, instead 
 of shining as 'lights in the world,' or mingling Avith society 
 as the ' salt of the earth,' persons are induced to betake them- 
 selves to a useless and selfish retirement; ar. if human beings 
 could better serve the purposes of their existence by ' chant- 
 ing matins and vespers, and spending their time in drowsy 
 meditations,' than by entering into the relations for which God 
 lias fitted them, and actively discharging the duties of life. 
 
 Notwithstanding all we have seen, the system should have 
 been incomplete without an ample and permanent revenue. 
 Nor has this been neglected. The subtle politicians of Rome, 
 acting up to the letter — we say nothing of the spirit — of at 
 least one scripture maxim — ' Money answereth all things,' — 
 have left no art untried, that could promise to aid the church's 
 exchequer. They seem to have been sufficiently aware of the 
 foily of pretending to worldly dominion without possessing 
 worldly riches. The cupidity of wealth was a natural and 
 essential accompaniment of the lust of power. Hence the 
 law of tithes, the appropriation of church-lands, the imposi- 
 tion of fines, the sale of indulgences, and the exaction of fees 
 for every part of religious service performed by the priests. 
 Everything the church had to bestow became an article of 
 merchandise. A regular system of spiritual traffic and extor- 
 tion was set on foot. Besides assessing the people for the 
 support of public worship in general, regular charges were 
 made for christening, churching, confession, confirmation, 
 marriage, visitation of the sick, and burial. The spirit of 
 popish avarice thus pursues its unhappy votaries from the 
 cradle to the grave ; ay, and beyond the grave, for it has 
 invented what are called * Masses for the dead,' for which im- 
 mense sums are Avrung from the friends of persons deceased, 
 nnder the pretence of rescuing them from purgatorian pains. 
 To such a length of hard-hearted rigour are these various 
 exactions pushed, tliat the priesthood, while holding the indis- 
 pensable necessity of certain rites to salvation, cruelly refuse 
 to administer them, even to the poorest, without payment of 
 
302 POPJEKY THE MYSTEEY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 the money. Baptism, according to them, is essential to salva- 
 tion ; yet unless the wretched parents of a dying infant can 
 produce the requisite fee, the tender-hearted priest will coolly 
 suffer it to go into everlasting perdition ! Surely the tender 
 mercies of the wicked are cruel. And what kind of a religion 
 must that be, in which a dying sinner is dii-ected to seek his con- 
 solations in the prospect of deliverance from the wrath to come, 
 moi'e from his temporal than from his spiritual riches ; where 
 the rich are sure to die happy, and the poor without comfort; 
 and where the reason of damnation, in the majority of in- 
 stances, may be, not the want of faith, but the Avant o( gold?* 
 But it is not so much our object here to expose, as to deve- 
 lop the system by which the papal treasury is replenished. 
 In addition to the arts already enumerated, it is a common 
 expedient to encourage free-will offerings to the church, by 
 attaching to such benefactions expiatory and positive merit; — 
 a measure borrowed from the priests of pagan Rome, who 
 contrived to enrich themselves by inducing the people to leave 
 legacies and bequests to their gods and goddesses. Hence the 
 rich endowments of monasteries, etc. ; of which we may form 
 some idea from the single fact, that the wealth of those esta- 
 blishments, in our own country, which wei-e suppressed by. 
 Henry VIII., is calculated to amount, at the present value of 
 money, to six millions sterling ^)er cuinum! And. it may assist 
 us in forming an estimate of the immense wealth which flowed 
 from all quarters into the Romish treasury, to know, that the 
 
 * We sometimes hear the cathohc clergy of Ireland commended for their 
 zeal, in ministering to the spiritual wants of their people. A gentleman of 
 that persuasion, who intruded himself into a meeting of the Irish Evangelical 
 Society in Dublin, thus eulogised the ministers of that religion : — ' They 
 travel this country in the middle of the night, braving storm and rain, and 
 even death itself, to administer comfort to the dying smner.' The state- 
 ment would have done something to prove their claim on our respect, had 
 the gentleman been able to assure his audience that tliey were not well paid 
 for every such sacrifice. But, seeing it is known that their emolument 
 arises from these very offices individually, the performance of them can no 
 more assert their right to the praise of pious disinterestedness, than the exer- 
 tions of a merchant who exposes himself to hazards in disposing of his wares, 
 or those of a quack in vending his nostrums. 
 
POPERY Tllli MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 303 
 
 money collected in England alone, before the Reformation, 
 under the name of Peter-pence, annates, and other pretences, 
 amounted to two-thirds more than the produce of the royal 
 treasury !* Money, money, has ever been a darling object in 
 the Church of Rome. She could never liave existed without 
 it. It is not more essential as a means of carnal pomp and 
 indulgence, than as an instrument of bribery and corruption. 
 'How lucrative to us,' said Pope Leo X., 'this fable of Jesus 
 Christ is ! ' In the same spirit of venal baseness, Pope Pius 
 IV. boastingly exclaimed, as he pointed out the vast treasures 
 of the church's exchequer to Thomas Aquinas, ' The church 
 can no longer say, Silver and gold have I none :' — a remark 
 which deserves to be recorded, not more for the proof it 
 affords of the Avorldliness of popery, than for the admirable 
 reply it received : — ' Neither can she any longer say, • In the 
 name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Rise up and walk !' 
 
 One more device served to perfect the cunning policy of 
 Rome. Her various monastic orders have contributed not a 
 little to her growth and stability. By means of these, her 
 strength and majesty have been asserted, the number of her 
 proselytes increased, and her influence powerfully upheld. It 
 has been her study, of course, to encourage both their number 
 and their variety. Hence the existence of monks, abbots, 
 priors, canons, knights, mendicants, clerks, • 
 
 ' Eremites and friars, 
 Wliite, black, and grey, with all their trumpery,' 
 
 who labour assiduously and incessantly to promote the 
 interests of the church :— orders, on the recital of which, 
 one can scarce help exclaiming, ' Jesus we know, and 
 Paul we know, but who are ye?' In critical periods, new 
 orders were erected to meet the emergency of the de- 
 mand ; and when, at the Reformation, the whole fabric 
 received such a shock as threatened its overthrow not- 
 withstanding the numerous buttresses by which it was 
 propped, a new order of prodigious strength was called 
 
 * Bruce's Free Thoughts on Popery, etc., page 37 — note. 
 
304 POPERY TUE MYSTERY OP INIQUITY. 
 
 into beiijg. This was tlie order of tlie Jesuits, which, origi- 
 nating with Ignatius Loyola, a crafty Spanish soldier, sur- 
 passed every other in the depth of its cunning, the flexibility 
 of its principles, the frenzy of its zeal, and its powers of in- 
 sinuation. The hallowed name of Jesus became the watch- 
 word of a most unhallowed confederacy. The members, by 
 means of arts peculiar to their order, sought to worm themselves 
 into all the cabinets of Europe; and, catching the fire of mis- 
 sionary enterprise, all countries, christian as well as, pagan, 
 became the scenes of their strenuous efforts. This i§ not even 
 excepting our own land, in which they have long had a footing; 
 where they occasioned no little mischief during the struggle 
 consequent on the Reformation ; and in which they still exist 
 in great numbers. Though suppressed by PopeClement XIA''., 
 the order Avas revived by Pius VII., in order, as it would 
 seem, that he might have it in his power to make some. suit- 
 able return for being reinstated in his pontificate by British 
 treasure and British blood, by overrunning our country with 
 hordes of those misci'eant emissaries : — a characteristic in- 
 stance, it must be allowed, of papal gratitude 1 And, to this 
 day, the activity of the order continues unrelaxed, as it was 
 but lately that a party from France effected a landing on some , 
 of the South Sea Islands, and so far succeeded in insinuating 
 themselves with some of the natives, as to induce them to 
 submit to being baptised : — -a consummation to which the 
 tricks, practised on the unsuspecting inhabitants, by means of 
 a powerful galvanic battery which they carried with them as 
 a part of. their missionary furniture, in no small degree con- 
 tributed. 
 
 Here, then, is a system of the most deep-laid policy — a 
 well-compacted scheme of manifold corruption — a device of 
 immense skill, constructed on a thoi'ough acquaintance with 
 corrupt human nature, and most artfully adapted to subserve 
 the ambitious project of a boundless temj^joral and spiritual 
 dominion — in short, a mystery of iniquity. And this is 
 the secret of that unexampled, and apparently inexplicable 
 success which formerly drew from 'us an expression of 
 wonder. * 
 
POPERY THE JirSTERT OF INIQUITY. 305 
 
 III. The title in question is borne out by the artful inter- 
 mixture of good and evil which popery exhibits. 
 
 Betwixt good and evil there is this distinction, that the 
 power of the former is in proportion as it is pure and un- 
 mixed ; the danger of the latter, in proportion as it is artfully 
 intermingled with Avhat is good. To the full moral influence 
 of religion, it requires to be unadulterated ; to the success of 
 superstition, it must be combined with some of the qualities of 
 pure religion. The counterfeit coin will not find a circulation, 
 unless wearing the shape, and stamp, and appearance of 
 what is genuine. The poisoned cup, to prevent its rejection, 
 must contain a part of what is wholesome and savoury, that 
 suspicion may be lulled asleep, aiid the potion swallowed 
 before it is discovered to be impregnated with death. 
 
 Of this the framers of popery were fully aware. Of 
 course, its name, its tenets, its institutions, and its forms, have 
 all something that is good about them; yet are so connected 
 with what is essentially bad, as to render them, on this very 
 account, more fatally injurious. Error is so interwoven with 
 truth — the sublime doctrines of foith so debased with puerile 
 superstitions — and the simple institutions of divine worship 
 so burdened with forms of human invention, as not only to 
 nullify their beneficial tendency, but to invest them with a 
 fearful powder of mischief. The name of God is invoked in 
 the Church of Rome ; the doctrines of the Trinity, original 
 sin, the sacrifice of Christ, the work of the Spirit, and a future 
 state of happiness or misery, are all recognised ; while preach- 
 ing, prayer, praise, and the sacraments of baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper, are acknowledged as ordinances of divine 
 institution. These things are so far good in themselves ; but 
 then, they are so adulterated by the intermixture of the 
 basest materials, as greatly to neutralise their utility. It 
 is well to invoke the name of God, and acknowledge the 
 scripture doctrine of the Trinity; but when creatures and 
 images are admitted to share in the adoration paid to the 
 Great Supreme, and the inscrutable mystery of God's manner 
 of subsistence is attempted to be explained by outward 
 representations, the highest insult is offered to the Almighty. 
 
306 POPERY TEIE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 The divinity and offices of Christ are maintained ; but then 
 his character and mediatorship are alike degraded, by daring 
 usurpations of his attributes and functions. The sinfulness 
 of man is confessed ; but then there are only some sins that are 
 mortal, others are but venial. The merits and intercession 
 of Jesus are useful ; but so also are those of saints and of 
 angels. Prayer is practised, but in public it must be in an 
 unknown tongue ; and in private, it must be addressed to the - 
 ' Blessed Virgin,' as well as to the ' Father who is in heaven.' 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments ; but so also 
 are penance, orders, confirmation, matrimony, and extreme 
 unction. Water is employed in baptism, but it must be 
 accompanied with salt, chrism, and the sign of the cross. 
 The Lord's Supper is celebrated; but the bread'is transub- 
 stantiated into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the • 
 Saviour ; the cup is withheld from the laily ; and the .whole 
 is transmuted into the unbloody sacrifice of the mass. The 
 communion of saints is a part of the church's creed ; but it is 
 a communion exclusively restricted to those within her own 
 pale. The authority of the moral law is admitted ; but, 
 besides that its precepts are mutilated and abridged, others 
 are added to them under the name of ' the commandment^ 
 of the church.' Belief in a resurrection, a judgment, and a 
 future state, is professed; but so, also, is belief in the fable of 
 purgatory. 
 
 Such is the mixture of good and evil the popish system ex- 
 hibits ; and all this is most artfully contrived to give it cur- 
 rency in the world. The evil so preponderates as to leave no 
 room to doubt for what end the good is introduced. Pure un- 
 mixed evil would have excited disgust. Under the name and 
 semblance of Christianity, the antichristian system was fitted to 
 attract and to enchant many who would have revolted at the 
 naked form of paganism. The ' man of sin,' in his proper fea- 
 tures, could command no homage ; but, ' searted in the temple of 
 God," multitudes will bow before him. A monster, 'having seven 
 heads and ten horns, and upon his head the names of blasphemy,' 
 is fitted only to terrify ; but let him show ' his two horns, like 
 a lamb,' and all the world will wonder after the Beast. The 
 
POPERY THE BirSTERV OF INIQUITY. 307 
 
 ' mother of harlots,' if seen only as ' full of names of blas- 
 phemy, abominations, and filthiness,* could awaken nothing 
 but loathing ; let her be arrayed, however, in 'purple, and 
 decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, and have 
 in her hand a golden cup,' and speedily ' the inhabitants of the 
 earth will be made drunk with the wine of her fornication/ 
 Simple * iniquity ' will not serve the purpose ; it must be a 
 ' mystery of iniquity.' 
 
 It is thus that popery is a system most iniquitous in itself, 
 and possessed of an alarming power of mischief. It is, in- 
 deed, as has been said, ' the masterpiece of Satan :' and the 
 Evil One himself may well be held 'incapable of such another 
 contrivance.' 
 
 IV. The design of providence in permitting the existence 
 of such a system of iniquity is mystei'ious. 
 
 God's ways are not as our ways ; his thoughts not as our 
 thoughts. His ways, like his thoughts, are 'a great deep.' 
 'His way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and 
 his footsteps are not known.' ' So these are a lyart of his 
 ways ; and how little a portion is heard of him V Such lan- 
 guage is in strict accordance with the state of feeling which 
 a contemplation of the works of the Almighty is fitted to 
 inspire. Like a person stationed on the shore, we can, only 
 gaze, in silent admiration, on the immensity before us. No 
 intellect, however vast, can pretend to explore the boundless 
 field ; and to account for all the doings of a wonder-working 
 Deity, must baflie the keenest penetration of created skill. 
 
 Few, perhaps, of God's providential dispensations are more 
 inscrutably mysterious than the existence and continuance of 
 the system of which we now speak. That, under the righ- 
 teous government of God, a society, calling itself christian, 
 and yet, in principle, Avorship, and practice, so thoroughly 
 antichristian, should have been permitted to arise — to attain 
 such a height of aggrandisement and influence — to spread 
 over so large a portion of the eartii — to enthral so many of 
 its inhabitants — and to continue for so long a time withal, 
 must be allowed to be a difficulty of no trifling magnitude. 
 
308 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 * Righteousness and judgment,' Ave are bound to believe, are 
 in this, as in every other case, ' the habitation of his throne ;' 
 but surely ' clouds and darkness are round about him.' 
 
 Not that no purposes of wisdom can be perceived to be 
 served by the fact in question. It serves, for one thing, to 
 show to what dreadful lengths the wickedness of the human 
 heart will run, when not restrained by grace ; and thus ad- 
 monishes us at all times to submit to the guidance of the ' 
 Almighty. It manifests how even the temple of God may 
 become defiled, when the Spirit has forsaken it ; ^nd warns 
 us to beware of such practices as may provoke him to with- 
 draw his gracious presence from the church. It points out 
 the danger of neglecting the word of truth, of invading the 
 prerogatives of the Redeemer, or of interfering with the 
 institutions of his house ; and admonishes us to abstain from 
 all such impiety. It confirms the truth of the christian 
 record by a minute fulfilment of prophecy ; and thus holds up 
 an evidence in support of Christianity which nothing but the 
 hardihood of the most heaven-daring scepticism can gainsay 
 or resist. It affords, moreover, a fine trial of the faith and 
 purity and patience of the true saints who, during the reign 
 of antichrist, are called to witness in sackcloth and ashes.* 
 And, in fine, its destined overthrow will form a noble triumph 
 of truth and godliness over long-established and complicated 
 iniquity, and a splendid manifestation of the power and grace 
 of the Lord, who shall ' consume that Wicked with the spirit of 
 his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming.' 
 
 These are, doubtless, some of the important purposes 
 designed, by an infinitely wise God, to be subserved by the 
 existence and maintenance of popery. But, after all, the 
 subject is involved in much ' mystery.' It partakes of the 
 darkness which overhangs the great question of the per- 
 mission of moral evil, as being itself a conspicuous branch of 
 that perplexing subject. Somewhat of this darkness may be 
 expected to be dispelled, when the system of iniquity shall be 
 overthrown ; but it may be doubted whether the measure 
 will be fully unveiled before that great and awful day, when 
 ' the mystery of God shall be finished.' 
 
rOPERY THE MYSTERV OF INIQUIIT. oOO 
 
 Sufficient, evideuce has surely been adduced, in Avhat has 
 been said, to show how appropriately the popish system was 
 cliai'acterised by the Spirit of God 'The mystery of iniquity ;' 
 and how strikingly it contrasts in every point with what the 
 same Spirit has designated 'The mystery of ^/ocZZzn ess.' Here, 
 meanwhile, let us pause and reflect with emotions of venera- 
 tion and wonder on the doings of him whose ' ways are not 
 as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts,' in permitting, 
 and so long tolerating, the existence of such a complicated 
 system of iniquity. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 PLEAS IN BEHALF OF POPERY, AND THE DUTY OF PRO- 
 TESTANTS IN REGARD TO IT CONSIDERED. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 7. 
 
 ' The Mystery of Iniquity doth already work: 
 
 Having in the preceding discourses vindicated the applica- 
 tion of the ignominious title, Mysiery of Iniquity, \o the Romish 
 system, we have still to animadvert on some of the pleas 
 urged on behalf of popery, and to point out the duty of pro- 
 testants in regard to it. 
 
 I. Consider the arguments on behalf of the popish systeni 
 commonly urged by its friends or apologists, 
 
 ] . It is asserted by papists, that theirs is the most ancient 
 religion. This is, indeed, their grand bulwark — the very 
 citadel of their strength, to which they betake whenever they 
 are hard pushed by an opponent ; and entrenched in which, 
 they seem to reckon themselves secure, when they have been 
 forced from every other retreat. It is a claim which, we are 
 son-y, and even ashamed, to think, has been conceded by some 
 professing protestants, who, borne away by a spirit of spurious 
 liberality, have suffered themselves to be imposed upon by 
 pretensions unblushingly put forth and incessantly reiterated. 
 
 There is a fallacy in the argument which ought not to pass 
 unexposed. To exhibit a claim of antiquity, in proof of the 
 genuineness of a church, is a mere begging of the question ; 
 for, as the chui;ch that is true must be built oh the primitive 
 model, genuineness and antiquity amount to the same thing. 
 
POPERY THE JnSTERY OF INIQUITY, 31 1 
 
 jNIere precedence in point of time, however, is in itself no 
 evidence of truth ; as novelty is no proof of error. Moharne- 
 danism is as ancient as popery ; and paganism is more ancient 
 than either. Mohamed and the Pope are mere upstarts, com- 
 pared with Fohi and Zoroaster. Christianity itself, in com- 
 parison of Judaiem, is a novelty. Nor is there much that can 
 lay claim to higlier antiquity than Sin. Are we, then, to 
 erect temples to the worship of heathen divinities, and to yield 
 ourselves up to the service of our lusts? 
 
 But it may be sfiid, popery is the most ancient christian 
 church. Now, this we most pointedly deny. The distinguish- 
 ing features of the system — which are essential to its exist- 
 ence, and constitute, in short, its essence, — did not even come 
 into being till after the lapse of several centuries of the chris- 
 tian era. The pope's headship over the church was, properly 
 speaking, unknown till the year 606, when, by the decree of 
 Phocas, the Roman pontiff was constituted universal bishop. 
 Temporal supremacy originated so late as 756, in the grant of 
 Pepin, King of France, afterwards confirmed and extended by 
 his son Charlemagne. The worship of ' the blessed virgin' wa^ 
 first mentioned by Peter Tullo, who lived at least 500 years 
 after her death,~a neglect for which, to be sure, succeeding 
 ages have made ample amends. Image worship is of a still 
 later date, having been denounced by the fathers as pagan- 
 ism, and first authorised in the christian church by the second 
 Council of Nice, in 787. The doctrine of seven sacraments 
 was first taught by Hugo de St Victore, in the twelfth 
 century. The clergy were first prohibited from marrying by 
 Pope Hildebrand, or Gregory VII. in 1074, whose orders 
 were afterwards confirmed by Pope Innocent II. in 1138. 
 Private confession was first imposed by Pope Innocent III. 
 in the fourth Council of Lateren, 1215 years after the death 
 of Christ. And as for communicating in one kind, as 
 it is called, though now the universal practice, no higher 
 antiquity can be claimed for it than that of the Council of 
 Constance, in 1415. Now, these are essential features of 
 popery. "Were she to renounce them all to-morrow, she would 
 be no longer entitled to the name. And if she wovld not be 
 
312 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 popery, were they to be given up, are we not entitled to hold, 
 that she was not such before they were assumed ? So fares it 
 with the boasted argument of antiquity. 
 
 Should her advocates seek refuge from the inference at 
 which we have thus arrived, by abjuring the name of popery, 
 and cleaving to that of the Church of Rome, what would it 
 avail ? From the Acts of the Apostles, it is clear, that many 
 of the apostolic churches had an existence long prior to that 
 of Rome. Churches were established at Jerusalem, Da- 
 mascus, Antioch, and many other places in the .east, before 
 the gospel was even so much as preached in the western 
 metropolis. 
 
 While denying the claim of primitive existence to the 
 popish system, as a regularly organised church, it may safely 
 be granted that the elements of the system had an existence as 
 early as the age of the apostles. Considering this, we have 
 sometimes wondered at the suicidal pertinacity with which 
 her advocates have clung to the argument of antiquity. 
 Might not the Aveapon be wrested from their hands, and 
 pointed against themselves ? Is not the apostle's language 
 ' the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work f It is curious 
 to observe how the essential errors of the system had eve.n 
 then begun to discover themselves, though not collected and 
 matured and organised into a scheme. Paul had already had 
 occasion to tender the warning, ' Dearly beloved, flee from 
 idolatry;'' (1 Cor. x. 14) — to caution the Colossians against 
 being beguiled into the ^ worshipping of angels f (1 Col. ii. 18) — 
 to denounce such as ' corrupt the word of God, handling it 
 deceitfully;' (2 Cor. ii. 17) — to reprove the practice of * making 
 a gain of godliness;' (1 Tim. vi. 5) — to condemn the super- 
 stitious observance of ' days, and 7nonths, and times, and 
 years f (Gal. iv. 6)r-and pointedly to Avarn those to whom he 
 wrote, against giving heed to the * traditions, and command- 
 ments, and doctrines of men.' (Col. ii. 8, 2*2.) The elements, 
 it thus appears, of the principal papal corruptions, had an 
 early existence ; and, so far, we willingly concede to the 
 Church of Rome the claim of antiquity. But by so doing, 
 we only identify her the more with that alluded to by the 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 3 1 3 
 
 apostle, when be says, * the Mystery of Iniquity doth already 
 work.' 
 
 2. Allied to the claim of antiquity is that of a pure apostolic 
 succession. Taking popery as it is, with those principles and 
 claims which constitute its essence and give it a distinctive 
 character, in what can it be said to resemble the primitive 
 churches ? Where, in the inspired accounts of these simple 
 establishments, have we anything resembling the hierarchy 
 of Rome? Cardinals, archdeacons, deans, archbishops, pri- 
 mates, metropolitans, etc., are designations nnknown in the 
 New Testament. Where do you read of the invocation of the 
 Virgin, prayers to saints, or the use of images, as helps to 
 devotion ? These will be sought for in vain in the bible; as 
 indeed all the other peculiarities of the system. 
 
 Xor can anything be more unfortunate than the attempt to 
 establish an uninterrupted succession from Peter, founded on 
 our Lord's address to that apostle : ' And I say unto thee, 
 That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my 
 church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' 
 (Matt. xvi. 18.) The inculcation of silence regarding his 
 Messiahship which immediately succeeds, fixes down the 
 Saviour's reference to the confession and not to the person of 
 P'jter. This opinion is supported by other passages of scrip- 
 ture, in which Jesus is spoken of as the ' Rock ' on which the 
 church is built. The oi^posite sentiment is indeed utterly 
 irreconcileable with the well-known instability of this apostle's 
 character, as well as with the circumstance of its being soon 
 after debated, among the apostles, which of them was the 
 greatest,— a question, for which it is impossible to account, 
 on the supposition that the thing was settled in favour of Peter 
 so short a time before. To this add the principle laid down 
 by Christ himself, ' Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your 
 Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren ;' — the little 
 ceremony with which Peter was treated by Paul, who ' with- 
 stood him to the face, because he was to be blamed ;'— and the 
 impossibility of showing that Peter ever visited Rome, much 
 less was bishop of that city ; and we shall see on what slender 
 ground the ecclesiastical fable of succession rests. 
 
 o 
 
314 POPERT THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 There is a sense in Avhich all ministers of Christ are suc- 
 cessors of the apostles ; that is, as the authorised dispensers of 
 those ordinances which were first entrusted to these extraor- 
 dinary office-bearers. But this is quite a different thing from 
 a succession to all the powers of the apostles, as pretended to 
 by the bishops of Rome. The apostolical office neither re- 
 quired nor admitted of existence beyond the primitive age of 
 the church. It was altogether of an extraordinary, and, con- 
 sequently, of a temporary character. One of its essential qua- 
 lifications was, that the pei'son holding it should have person- 
 ally seen tlie Lord. But this, excepting by a series of preter- 
 natural appearances, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus — which 
 it were unreasonable to expect, and which are not pretended 
 to have occurred, — could not take place after his ascension. 
 Moreover, the office of an apostle, and that of a bishop, 
 are essentially distinct ; the latter from its very nature im- 
 plying residency, the former as necessarily supposing itiner- 
 ancy ; the one restricted to a particular district, the other 
 having a range commensurate with the visible church. Nor 
 is it a little against the claims of the Romish hierarchy to being 
 true christian bishops, that, to a man, they are without what 
 an inspired apostle specifies among the qualifications of such : 
 — 'a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one ivife.'' 
 
 Such is the frail foundation on which the Church of Rome 
 has reared the proudest pretensions; and, on account of 
 which she has thought herself entitled to look down with 
 disdain on the ministers of ail other churches ; nay, to deny 
 the existence of any other true church, and insultingly to 
 demand of protestants, ' Where was your church before 
 Luther?' It might be sufficient to retort on papists the 
 question, 'And Avhere, pray, was j/owr religion in, the days of 
 tlie apostles?' But it is not necessary to have recourse to this 
 method of silencing our assailants. Though uttered in the 
 spirit of a challenge, the question is one, which no enlight- 
 ened protestant need be afraid to meet. Even in the darkest 
 period of the reign of antichrist, when her boundaries were 
 most extended, and her dominion most absolute, there was 
 still ' a remnant according to the election of grace ;'•— ' there 
 
POPEUY THE MYSTERY OF INKJUITY. 315 
 
 were still a few names ' of those who had not defiled them- 
 selves with her abominations. There were the famous Syrian 
 churches, lately discovered by Dr Buchanan, in India. There 
 were the primitive Waldenses, who, among the mountains of 
 the Alps, escaped the ravages of that desolating extermina- 
 tion which swept the face of Europe. There were the 
 ancient Culdees, who, uncontaminated by antichristian 
 alliances, maintained their pure and simple forms of worship, 
 safe amid the mists of our own Western Isles. And, suppos- 
 ing that none of these had existed, we should still have been 
 able to give a satisfactory and triumphant reply to the ques- 
 tion, ' Where was your religion before Luther?' Our answer 
 should have been — In the bible. There it was found by 
 Luther and Melancthon, by Calvin and by Knox. They went 
 to the fountain-head, and drew their notions of doctrine, 
 worship, and discipline, direct from this unpolluted source. 
 AVe, therefore, utterly disclaim the pretensions of Rome to 
 being our mother church ; and, though our early Reformers 
 were once members of her communion, she can no more, 
 on that account, lay claim to the honour of the system which 
 they founded, than the unregenerate nature of a convert to 
 Christianity can be reckoned the source of his regenerate state, 
 3. Uniformity of belief and worship is another stronghold 
 of popery ; and the schismatical spirit of protestantism incon- 
 stantly urged as an unanswerable argument against it. We 
 shall not go the length of some, and say that uniformity is 
 not a desirable thing. But that it is, in itself, a criterion of 
 truth, we deny. Men are as likely to be uniform in what is 
 wrong, as in what is right. Mahomedans, it is presumed, are 
 as distinguished as papists for the virtue in question. Nor, 
 if the matter be fairly stated, have even protestants any- 
 thing to fear from a comparison, in this respect, with the 
 Church of Rome. Take, for example, any particular church, 
 the Greek Church, the Church of England, the Church of 
 Scotland, or any other one denomination, and say whether it 
 is not as uniform as is the Church of Rome. Nay, even 
 putting protestants together, there is this marked distinction 
 between tliem and papists, that the former differ, for the most 
 
316 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF IKIQUITI'. 
 
 part, only in matters of form, and agree in the grand essen- 
 tials of the gospel ; while the latter agree only in ceremonies, 
 and differ in the principles of faith and morals. Then, after 
 all, what is the nature and source of the boasted uniformity 
 of the Church of Rome ? Is it a real harmony of enlightened 
 opinion ? Is it not rather the mechanical result of tenets which 
 require implicit faith to the dicta of the priests, — which deny 
 to the people all right of judging for themselves, — trample 
 under foot all the independent workings of the human mind, 
 — and, by means of civil penalties and threats of excommuni- 
 cation and eternal damnation, oblige men to conceal the real 
 sentiments of their hearts? It is an' artificial uniformity, 
 resembling more the stillness of fear or the silence of death, 
 than the intellectual, moral, and spiritual unity inculcated in 
 the word of God ! 
 
 This all proceeds on the assumption that actual uniformity 
 exists among papists. But we refuse such an admission. 
 She is, in fact, the most schismatical church in existence. 
 What is schism ? Not the erection of separate communions, 
 so much as the existence of party spirit in the same church. 
 Now, in this respect, what is there that can be compared 
 with popery ? Who has not heard of the disputes between 
 the Dominicans and the Franciscans, the Jansenists and the 
 Jesuits? What are the ecclesiastical ordei's.but so many 
 different sects or factions, entertaining contiictiug opinions in 
 matters of faith, following diverse courses in worship and 
 practice, and having no common feeling but that of mutual 
 and cordial dislike?* Nay ; is it not a fact that, up to the 
 present moment, papists are not agreed as to the seat of in- 
 fallibility, whether it rests with the pope alone, or with the 
 cardinals alone, or with the pope and cardinals together ? 
 
 * ' One says, I am of Benedict ; another, I am of Francis ; another, I am 
 of Dominic; and another, I am of Jesus. These holj' fraternities vilify and 
 condemn one another ; and when the mendicants of different orders used to 
 meet on a begging expedition, they would hold a pitched battle like as many 
 wild Irishmen on a holiday. This is an example of schism in the true sense 
 of the word ; and as notliiug Uke this exists ia protestant churches, we are 
 entitled to call the, Church of Rome the only schismatical church in the 
 western world.' — Protestant, vol. iv., p. 311. 
 
rOPERY THE MTSTEUY OF INIQUITY. 317 
 
 It were .easy, in pursuit of tliis topic, to confront bishop and 
 bishop, doctor and doctor, council and council ; for never 
 were more conflicting sentiments uttered, than are to be found 
 in the writings of popish dignitaries, and the solemn decrees 
 of ecclesiastical councils. But all these may be passed over, 
 for the purpose of attending to the edifying and undeniable 
 fact of two anti-popes. This occurred during the fourteenth 
 century, in the case of Urban VI. of Rome, and Clement VII. 
 who fixed his seat at Avignon ; whose rival claims served for 
 fifty years to divide the opinions of men in the west. Eacii 
 assumed the titles and discharged the functions of pontitF — 
 creating cardinals, canonising saints, and issuing bulls in 
 abundance. And, as was to be expected, they did not fail 
 mutually to anathematise and excommunicate one another; 
 each denouncing his competitor as antichrist, and his cardinals 
 as incarnate devils ; and absolving from their oath of allegi- 
 ance the subjects of those princes who supported the claims of 
 his rival. Nor has it, we believe, been ever yet ascertained 
 which was the genuine vicar of Christ and successor of St 
 Peter ; and the consequence is, that the acts of both have been 
 acknowledged, and the saints canonised by each admitted to 
 a place in the calendar, notwithstanding their having been 
 regularly and lawfully excommunicated by the rival patrons. 
 A precious specimen tliis of ecclesiastical uniformity ! "Good 
 right, in truth, have the adherents of such a church to brand 
 all others with the reproach of schism ! 
 
 4. It is commonly affirmed by the apologists of the Church 
 of Rome, that whatever it may have been once, it is now 
 quite changed. Such a favourite plea must not be passed 
 over unnoticed. There is a sense in which it is admitted 
 that popery is changed. She has no longer the power, the 
 wealth, the extent she once possessed. ' Its head is a disre- 
 garded and decrepit priest; its bulls, that once made monarchs 
 tremble, are now issued only to add a clause to the index 
 expurgatorius ; and more than half of Europe has rejected its 
 impositions, and defied its power. She was indeed a proud 
 and glorious galley, the burthen and the terror of the great deep; 
 but she lies on its waters now. a dismasted hulk ; her pendant 
 
318 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 sweeps the seas no more ; the strong blast of the Reformation 
 hath rent away mast and mainsail, rope and rudder; the 
 mighty rushing winds of heaven are abroad, and assail her 
 from every point of the compass ; England, Scotland, all the 
 north, and half the east of Europe, hold her in chase, and 
 every shot they send through her rotten timbers, threatens to 
 make her a wreck.' All this is true; and we rejoice in its 
 truth. But though changed in circumstances, is she not the 
 same in nature, in essence, in spirit? She has not now a 
 universal temporal power; but has she abandoned her claims 
 to supremacy ? Many of the sources of her enormous wealth 
 have been drained off; but has the right to all she ever 
 once had been abandoned? The same deeds of atrocious 
 persecution are not novv' heard of; but may not this be 
 ascribed to a want of power? The tiger in chains is as 
 harmless as a lamb, and his confinement may even -tame 
 his spirit for a little ; but let him once go free again, and 
 snuff the air of his native forest, and who shall be security 
 for his innocence ? 
 
 Thus far, and no farther, are we prepared to admit the 
 altered nature of popery. It is not a change of character, 
 but of circumstances ; not an alteration of spirit, but of. 
 power. Manners, customs, governments, exhibit constant 
 mutations; and, since the See of Rome was at. the zenith of 
 its splendour, the changes that have taken place. in the world, 
 have been as numerous as the phases of the moon. Still, in 
 essence and spirit, she has exhibited no symptom of improve- 
 ment, however slight. If at the period of the Reformation 
 any promise of a change to the better was given, it was but 
 for a moment ; it was but a gleam of light transmitted from 
 an opening cloud, which instantly closed and settled down 
 into a more dense anii lowering mass than before, destined to 
 burst, one other day, in 'hailstones and coals of fire.' 
 And in vindication of our right to hold lier the same as 
 she ever was, we appeal to her own plea of infallibility ; 
 what is infallible can never change, as change supposes 
 either former or present imperfection; and until this claim 
 is withdrawn, every pretension of change must be held 
 
POPEUY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 311) 
 
 as a sinister, hypocritical device. We appeal to tlie fact 
 that she still teaches the same corrupt doctrines, still prac- 
 tises the same absurd ceremonies, and still breathes the same 
 intolerant spirit. Who ever heard of a single tenet, rite, or 
 pretension, having been laid aside? And, whether any altera- 
 tion has taken place in her temper, may be guessed from the 
 comparatively recent persecution of the protestants in France, 
 and from the annotations of the new popish bible, published 
 at Dublin in 1818, under the sanction of Dr Troy. In these 
 it is maintained that, when it can be done without hazard, 
 * heretics, (i. e., protestants,) may, and ought, by public 
 authority, to be chastised or executed;' the protestant clergy 
 of all denominations are described as ' thieves, murderers, and 
 ministers of the devil;' and the protestant ' heresy ' is declared 
 to be a ^rebellion and damnable revolt agaimtthe priests vf God's 
 church: Such is popery, in a protestant country, and in mo- 
 dern times ; and yet we shall be told that it is now changed. 
 Changed ! In what part of the scriptures, we demand, is the 
 warrant given to expect that popery shall ever be reformed? 
 Destroyed it shall be; reformed it never will — it never can. 
 Amid the awful predictions with which the canon of inspiration 
 closes, not a single ray of scriptural hope will be found to gild 
 the destiny of papal Rome. A dense unbroken cloud of porten- 
 tous judgment lowers upon the horizon of this devoted church. 
 No other light meets the eye of the observer, than the glare 
 of those awful lightnings which presage that tempest of wrath 
 by which the mystical Babylon is to be irretrievably over- 
 whelmed; nor does there any other sound break upon the 
 ear, than that which announces its final doom, — ' Babylon the 
 great is fallen, is fallen.' The Lord shall ' consume ' that 
 wicked with the spirit of his mouth. The beast shall be 
 cast 'alive' into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. 
 Babylon shall be * utterly burned with fire ;' for strong is 
 the Lord God Avho judgeth her. With violence shall that 
 great city be thrown down, and shall ' be found no more at 
 ALL.' These are the words of the Spirit of God ; and such 
 as have any respect for his authority will not easily be per- 
 
320 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 suaded, in defiance of such unequivocal testimony to the con- 
 trary, that popery is changed. 
 
 II. It remains for us to speak of the duty of protestants in 
 regard to popery. 
 
 1. Considering the iniquity of its nature, and the futility 
 of every plea on its behalf, true-hearted protestants cannot 
 but lament the existence and increasing influence of the 
 popish system. Such a system must prove a curse wherevtr 
 it exists; and we need only glance at the state of -things in 
 Portugal, Spain, France, Austria, Italy, and Ireland, to re- 
 ceive ample confirmation to the inference. From the nature 
 of the system itself, the zeal of its friends, the influence of 
 some of its professors, the indulgences it grants to corrupt 
 gratifications, and withal the supineness of its professed ene- 
 mies, there is reason to fear it may yet considerably increase 
 both in extent and in power. Not that we expect it ever to 
 regain its former proud ascendancy. The diffusion of light, 
 both religious and literary, and the palpable absurdity, 
 fraud, and falsehood of the system itself; its present poverty ; 
 the degradation it has already suffered, which, as in the case 
 of the idol which was spit upon, must preclude its ever being , 
 viewed with the same sentiments of veneration ; and, above 
 all, the irreversible, decrees of Heaven, may be regarded as 
 ample security against any such event. Still, this is not in- 
 consistent with its obtaining a partial revival. We have seen 
 from scripture that the Beast is to be cast alive into the pit : 
 and even reason would lead us to conclude that a system 
 which once possessed .such amazing strength is not likely to 
 expire without making some desperate struggle for existence. 
 Facts harmonise with these observations. Popery is actually 
 on the increase. Within the last thirty years, it is well 
 known that 900 chapels, — as many nearly as all the parish 
 churches in Scotland put together, — have 'been erected in 
 England and Wales alone. Popish colleges, some of them 
 largely endowed, exist in all the three kingdoms. Besides 
 these, schools, newspapers, periodical publications," and all the 
 machinery of conversion have been in active operation. What 
 
POPKRY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 321 
 
 right-hearted protestant but must mourn such a state of things 
 in these our covenanted huids! * 
 
 2. Nor is the supineness of professing protestants less a 
 ground of lamentation. The apathy complained of has seized 
 on all classes — statesmen and even divines, as well as private 
 individuals. In private circles there is a growing disposition 
 to palliate, countenance, and excuse the abominations of 
 Rome, which cannot but grieve the hearts of the godly. 
 Among our statesmen, whether peers of the realm or repre- 
 sentatives of tlie people, a growing leaning to what are called 
 ' Catholic Claims ' is but too apparent. And even the minis- 
 ters of religion, there is some reason to fear, have, many of 
 them at least, ceased to boar the same public testimony they 
 once did against the Man of Sin, in their public discourses 
 and prayers. In former times, whatever wore the aspect of 
 countenance to incomparably the most dreadful superstition 
 that ever arrogated dominion over the conscience of man, 
 was viewed with jealousy, gi'ief, and distrust ; while every 
 symptom of its approaching overthrow was hailed with de- 
 light. But in these good easy times of ours, the fears and 
 hopes of o'lr ancestors are smiled at and talked of with con- 
 tempt, as the feelings of ' silly old women ;' and events, for 
 which millions of the wisest and devoutest and holiest of men 
 that ever inhabited the earth ardently prayed, are reckoned, 
 by their sapient descendants, scarce worthy of an effort being 
 made to accomplish them. 
 
 3. Such persons, it might be deemed vain to exhort to 
 gratitude for the Reformation. But all are not such. There 
 is still, we believe, a large majority who feel towards popery 
 as they ought ; and to whom an exhortation to thankfulness 
 for the inestimable blessings of the Reformation, will not 
 appear an insult. The oppressions and corrujjtions of the 
 popish system were not to be for ever endured. There is a 
 point beyond which tyranny, whether civil or religious, cannot 
 safely be pushed. To that point the Court of Rome carried 
 her ungodly ambition. The latent spark of freedom, when 
 
 [* This was written in 1829, since which time matters have become 
 greatly worse, both in England and in Scotland. — Dec, 1850.] 
 
 o2 
 
322 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF l>aQUITY. 
 
 just about to be extinguished, was by the breath of the 
 Almighty, fanned into a flame. The Spirit of the living God 
 breathed on the dry bones, and a noble band of champions 
 arose, who, under the guidance of a Superior Power, achieved 
 deeds of heroism and renown, which shall secure the trans- 
 mission of their names to latest posterity, along with those of 
 the best benefactors of our race. Foremost to break the 
 yoke of papal domination, were the churches of Britain. Nor, 
 in purity of reformation, boldness of enterprise, magnanimity 
 in suffering, and steadfast perseverance, can any claim pre- 
 cedence of the Reformers of Scotland. Indefatigable in 
 exposing the errors of popery, and in reviving the doctrines 
 and institutions and order of primitive times, they established 
 a claim on the respect, veneration, and affection of posterity, 
 which none but the coldest and most ungrateful will refuse 
 to acknowledge. No tribute to their memories can be 
 regarded as sincere that is not accompanied by a wisli to 
 drink into their spirit, to adopt their principles, and to follow 
 their example. And while the story of their deeds and their 
 sufferings inflames the heart with the purest patriotism, let us 
 not forget to give the praise and glory to Him, whose Spirit 
 so clearly animated and sustained them in that illustrious' 
 struggle, in which, ' against the multitudinous hosts and 
 sanguinary assaults of papists, they presented their own 
 bodies as a bulwark, and occupied, not in vain, the christian 
 Thermopylfe.' 
 
 4. While thus showing the value they are disposed to put 
 on the blood-bought privileges of our land, let protestants 
 remember, that in times like these, they have duties to 
 perform to papists and to themselves, which depaand their 
 serious attention. Though with regard to popery, they are 
 bound to oppose its tenets, to resist its claims, to seek its 
 extermination from the earth as an accursed thing ; papists, 
 the deluded supporters of this devoted system, it becomes 
 them to admit to a place in their pity and their prayers. 
 Their ignorance and oppression give .them strong claims on 
 christian commiseration ; and prayers for their illumination 
 and conversion should never cease to be offered. "With 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 323 
 
 prayer there ought to be combined such mild, candid, con- 
 ciHatory treatment, as may tend to disarm their prejudices, 
 and lead to their salvation. It must not be forgotten, that, 
 bad as is the system, it may embrace among its votaries not 
 a few of the chosen people of God, whom it should be our 
 concern to save, pulling them out of the fire. And even 
 although we were assured that it contained not a single 
 individual of this description, the religion we profess 
 peremptorily requires of us to ' love our enemies ; to bless them 
 that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for 
 them who despitefully use us and persecute us.' 
 
 Moreover, with regard to ourselves, it becomes us to be- 
 ware, lest, with the profession and the zeal of protestants, we 
 be found to unite a resemblance to popery, in its very worst 
 features. We may not dishonour God by the adoration of 
 images ; but by cherishing the idols of the heart, and 
 worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, 
 we may, nevertheless, rob him of his glory. By neglecting 
 to improve, as well as by usurping, his offices, may we pour 
 contempt on the blessed Saviour. The scriptui'es may be 
 treated with disrespect many ways besides those chargeable 
 on papists ; and even by lending our countenance to corrup- 
 tions of the word of -life, we may be in danger of inc.urring 
 guilt not unlike to theirs. The doctrine of human merit 
 is not confined to the Church of Rome, but finds its strenuous 
 supporters among many professing protestants, while its prin- 
 ciples are responded to by every unregenerate heart. The 
 institutions of Christ may be neglected and abused many 
 ways by all. A spirit, hostile to the true liberty of the gospel, 
 may be breathed by others besides the advocates of popish 
 intolerance. And, even while denouncing the immoral ten- 
 dency of many of the tenets and practices of this corrupt 
 society, it is far from being impossible that we may cherish in 
 our hearts sentiments, respecting the efficacy of religious forms 
 or the virtue of charitable deeds, every whit as subversive of 
 practical godliness, as the belief of the papists in the virtue 
 of relics, sprinklings, and extreme unction. As there is 
 reason to suppose that some, who have retained the name of 
 
324 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 papists, have drunk deeply into the spirit of protestantism ; 
 so ought we to bear in mind, that these may be nominal pro- 
 testants who have imbibed the very essence of popery. We 
 have need, therefore, to beware, lest ' a deceived heart should 
 turn us aside, that we cannot deliver our souls, nor say, Is 
 there not a lie in our right hand ?' 
 
 See to it, then, protestants, that your character and conduct 
 correspond to your profession and px'ivileges. By reverencing 
 God — by cherishing a profound and hallowed respect for all 
 the offices of Christ — by making a proper use of the holy 
 scriptures, to which you have free access — by seeking, with 
 eagerness, the eternal salvation of your souls — by maintaining 
 personal piety and practical holiness, see that you make it 
 appear that your religion is something more than a name. 
 Expose not yourselves, by an opposite line of conduct, to the 
 reproof, ' "What do ye more than others V But recollecting 
 that of those to whom much is given much shall be required, 
 seek grace to enable you to act in conformity with your high 
 and glorious distinctions. 
 
 5. Cultivate the qualities which, under God, may fit you 
 to combat the errors and the power of Rome. There- is 
 nothing to assure you that the battle is over. You may have 
 use yet for all your polemical skill, and for all your power of 
 enduring hardships. The crowning victory is yet to be gained; 
 These are not times for neutrality, or idleness, or soft and 
 silken manners. No ; extensive scriptural knowledge, manly 
 boldness, . unconquerable zeal, indomitable courage, exhaust- 
 less patience, firm decision, determined perseverance, are the 
 mental properties it becomes the members of the church of 
 Christ to seek and to cultivate, in this our day. Ask them of 
 Him who giveth liberally and upbraideth not ; and let them 
 be consecrated to his service, in the sacred warfare you are 
 required to wage against error and corruption. 
 
 6. Whatever may be the immediate result of contemplated 
 measures, it becohies us to act faith in the predicted final 
 overthrow of the antichristian system. - We may not be able 
 to see clearly through the mists by which her future history 
 is obscured ; nor is it necessary to our comfort as christians 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERY Ol" INIQUITY. 325 
 
 that Ave should. 'The just shall live by faith;' — 'we walk 
 by faith, not by sight,' And with exhorting you to the exercise 
 of believing joy in the ultimate issue, we take leave of tlie 
 subject. 
 
 The revealed purposes of God are the ground of this 
 exercise. ' He shall come to his end, and none shall help 
 bira. The Lord shall consume that Wicked. And after 
 these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, 
 having great power; and the earth was lightened with his 
 glory : and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, 
 Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen!' Such is the 
 language of God's word on the subject. Any efforts that 
 may be made to revive the power of Rome can only issue, at 
 the most, in imparting * a kind of posthumous and galvanic 
 existence to the cause of superstition ;' and whatever struggles 
 it may yet make, they can be regarded, at best, as but the 
 mortal spasms of approaching dissolution. The doom of 
 Babylon is sealed ; whatever events may intervene, the hour is 
 fixed when the seven-hilled city shall be tossed from its proud 
 pre-eminence, and the triple cloud of blasphemy be prostrated 
 in the dust; and the stone, cast by an angel's might into the 
 sea, never more to rise, is at once the emblem and the pledge 
 of Babylon's complete and everlasting destruction. . The 
 Lord of hosts hath purposed ; and who shall disannul it ? 
 his hand is stretched out ; and who shall turn it back .^ 
 
 Two questions of immense interest, connected with this 
 issue, we have scarcely time to state: — Hoiv shall it be 
 brought about? When shall these things be? As the anti- 
 christian system has a political character, it is far from im- 
 probable that temporal judgments, — wars, famines, pestilences, 
 earthquakes, may be brought on many of its supporters. It 
 is scarcely to be expected that a power of such extent will be 
 overthrown without some tremendous agitations and con- 
 vulsions. But the spiritual part of the system can only be 
 destroyed by spiritual means ; and as the great instrument of 
 effecting this, prophecy leads us to look to the blessing of 
 God on his word. Whether written or preached, this is that 
 breath of the Lord's mouth, by which the Wicked is to be 
 
326 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 consumed — that sword of the Spirit, quick and powerful, 
 which is to dismember the complicated system of iniquity — 
 that message with which the angel is to fly to every nation, 
 and kindred, and people, and tongue that dwell on the earth, 
 just before the fall of Babylon is sounded — that Sun of 
 Righteousness, before whose radiance, the consummate 
 scheme of Satanic device is to melt away and be dissolved. 
 The process may go on gradually for a while ; popery like 
 the house of Saul becoming weaker and weaker, and the 
 christian church, like that of David, waxing stronger and 
 strongei*. But the final overthrow, there is reason to think, 
 will be sudden. ' Her plagues shall come upon her in one 
 day, death, and mourning, and famine.' Then shall He, whose 
 right it is to rule, ascend his throne, and sway, undisputed, 
 the sceptre of the world. 
 
 It is an issue to be contemplated with steadfast faith ; to 
 be prayed for with ardour; and to be anticipated with 
 rapturous delight, — delight, untinctured by any of that pen- 
 sive compassion which it is common for fallen greatness to 
 excite. The men who have participated in her unholy traffic, 
 may weep and wail, and cry, ' Alas ! alas ! that great city !' 
 But not a sigh or a tear shall the event call forth from the 
 members of the true church. ' Rejoice over her, thou 
 
 HEAVEN, AND YE HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS ; FOR GOU 
 
 rfATH AVENGED YOU ON HER.' Purity shall succeed to cor- 
 ruption, and an unprecedented blaze of gospel light follow the 
 autichristian darkness. The church's greatest enemy being 
 slain, she shall have peace and unexampled success ; the 
 witnesses shall put oiF their sackcloth ; the thousand years of 
 splendour and glory shall succeed ; and the very bowlings 
 which accompany the overthrow, shall mingle with the 
 acclamations of joy and praise at the marriage supper of the 
 Lamb having come. — ' And after these things I heard a great 
 voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia ; salvation, 
 and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God : 
 for true and righteous are his judgments ; for he hath judged 
 the great whord, which did corrupt the earth with her forni- 
 cation, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her 
 
rOlMCUY THE :\IYSTERY OF IXIiiiriTY. 327 
 
 hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose 
 up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, and 
 the four beasts, fell down and worshipped God that sat on the 
 throne, saying, Amen ; Alleluia. And a voice came out of 
 the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and 
 ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it 
 were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many 
 waters, and as the voice of mighty tliunderingg, saying, 
 Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' To this 
 encouraging prediction, we can only add the devout prayer : — 
 ' Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause ; let not man 
 
 PREVAIL.' 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE 
 
 TO 
 
 SERMONS ON POPERY, 
 
 On the Claims of Roman Catholics to Political Power in. Britain.* 
 
 ' Once I believed that Popery would never return into England; but I find it 
 was not faith, but fancy.'' — Latimek. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be unnecessary to launch out fully into the wide 
 and stormy sea of debate, connected with what are called ' Catholic 
 Claims ;' but it is scarce possible to avoid entering upon it altogether. 
 We pass over all discussion on the Revolution Settlement, the Claim 
 of Right, the Act -of Union, and similar topics, as requiring more 
 time than we can afibrd to give them at present. But, viewing the 
 subject in the broad light of the well-known facts of our national _^ 
 history, it must be allowed to be difficult to form an opinion favour- 
 able to these claims. The leading events of the history of our 
 country — the spirit of our public acts — and the tendency and design 
 of those great and venerable federal deeds by which so much good 
 was achieved, wear an aspect so unfriendly to the admission of 
 ])apists to places of power and trust, that it is not easy to see how 
 those who feel any respect for these events or documents, can be 
 friendly to such a measure. Everything national frowns disappro- 
 bation on it. 
 
 All this, we allow, must go for nothing, if it can be shown that 
 such exclusion is unjust, and a violation of the natural rights of the 
 persons in question. But we are unable to see the subject in 
 this light. The right supposed, we view, not as natural., but 
 conventiuual. A natural right is something common to all 
 men, and to which no one can possess a higher claim than 
 another. Now, it will not surely be maintaine(J, tliat a seat in the 
 cabinet, or a place in Parliament, is the natural right of every man. 
 There must be certain natural and moral qualifications possessed, as 
 well as certain legal steps taken, to entitle any one to such distinc- 
 tion. And what we hold is, tluit papists, by the tenets of the 
 
 [* This note formed a chapter by itself of the tractate as it first appeared. 
 —Dec. 1850.] 
 
POPERY THE JIYSTEUY OF INIQUITY. 329 
 
 religion tlicy choose to profess — tenets, which stamp them with the 
 character of aliens, and which destroy even their free afjency — are 
 as niucii disqualified from sitting in Parliament, or holding office 
 under a protestant government, as is the person who is burn deaf 
 and dumb. The disqualification is indeed moral ; but it is as com- 
 plete as the physical one just named, ur even the mental one of 
 insanity itself. Even a rule for a member of Parliament, according 
 to the present constitution of things, is not held to be the natural 
 right of every individual. On what principle, then, can a fti-al in 
 Parliament be held to be such? The truth is, that the right in 
 question is acquired, not natural ; — a right arising out of a social 
 comi)act by which certain qualifications are stipulated, and these 
 (jualifications are such as no adherent of the Church of Rome can 
 possess. 
 
 Do not the very spirit and principles of this religion disqualify 
 its professors for political power in a protestant country? The 
 lioman pontiff claims temporal power ;the claim, at least, was long 
 ago put forth, and has never been recalled. Of course, as far as 
 every papist is understood to acknowledge this claim, he is, to all 
 intents and purposes, an alien, under allegiance to a foreign-prince ; 
 and should it ever happen, as it has happened before, that the king 
 of Britain and the pope should go to war, he must hold himself 
 bound, by every tie, to promote the interests of his Holiness. Nay, 
 papists beheve that the po[)e has a right of sovereignty over the 
 whole christian world, and over Great Britain and Ireland amongst 
 the rest. All the church lands are considered as his rightful pro- 
 perty : and the property forfeited by papists during the diilerent 
 rebellions, is reckoned to be most unjustly retained. ' They believe 
 as firmly, that they have a right to the church-livings and lands, as 
 they do in the doctrine of transubstantiation ; and it betrays a 
 woful ignorance of human nature in the supporters of Catholic 
 Emancipation, ever to e.xpect that two hierarchies, who have, both 
 claims upon the church-lands of the state, can ever be placed on a 
 footing of nmtual privileges and equal rights, unless these claims be 
 settled. It is diilerent with protestant dissenters; they may nut 
 allow the justice of the Church of England's claims to seats in the 
 House of Peers, and to tithes and fellowships ; but they have no 
 counter claim of their own to set up.' (Aikman's History of Scot- 
 land.) 
 
 Nor is this all. The Roman pontiffs claim the power of deposing 
 heretical king^, absolving subjects from their allegiance, and even 
 authorising assassination. It is the language of Bellarmine, ' The 
 church does not always execute her power of deposing heretical 
 princes, though she always retains il.'' By an ordinance of Pius IV. 
 and his cardinals, it was 'declared that all jirelates, })rinccs, kings, 
 and emperors, falling into heresy, ought to be accounted as fallen 
 from their benefices, estates, kingdoms, or empires, without any 
 other, or farther declaralion ; and they could not be again restored 
 by any authority, not even by the Apostolic See.' (Free Thoughis 
 on Popery, p. 138.) Pages might l:e filled with the names of ex- 
 communicated monarchs ; and, as a necessary consecjuence, subjects 
 are absolved from their allegiance, and assassination of e.KCommuni- 
 
330 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 cated princes authorised. ' It belongs to the Pope,' says Bellar- 
 iT>ine, ' to absolve the subjects of princes from their oaths of fidelity.' 
 And Saurez, in his Defence of the Catholic Faith, writes thus : — ' A 
 heretical king, after sentence given against him, is absolutely de- 
 prived of his kingdom ; so that he cannot possess it by any just title, 
 but becomes a tyrant; and therefore, from thenceforth, maybe treated 
 altogether as a tyrant ; and, consequently, may be killed by any pri- 
 vate person.' (Free Thoughts on Popery, p. 151.) Nor are these 
 mere abstract maxims. Many instances are on record in which they 
 have been reduced to practice ; as, for example, that of Henry III., 
 who was assassinated at St Cloud, by James Clement, a Jacobin 
 friar ; and that of Henry the Great, who was stabbed, by Ravaillac, 
 in his coach, in open day, in the streets of Paris. Can the claims 
 of such as profess a religion like this be conceded with safety ? 
 
 And, supposing such horrible things to be abjured by papists of 
 modern times, yet it may fairly be asked, whether, even in our own 
 day, such a spirit of bitterness and contempt has not been shown 
 for those in authority, as to form a valid ground of exclusion. Mr 
 O'Connell, the popish orator, is reported to have thus expressed 
 himself in a public speech : ' The principle of Mr Pitt's administra- 
 tion was despotism. The principle of Mr Perceval's administration 
 was peculating bigotry — bigotted peculation ! In the name of the 
 Lord he plundered the people 1 Pious and enlightened statesman, 
 he would take their money only for the good of their souls ! The 
 principle of the present administration is still more obvious. It has 
 unequivocally disclosed itself in all its movements. It is simple and 
 single : it consists in falsehood ! Falsehood is the bond and link 
 which connects this ministry in office. Some of them pretend to be 
 our friends. You know it is not true. They are only our worse 
 enemies for their hypocrisy.' (Protestant, vol. ii. p. 266.) Ii> 
 scarcely less discourteous terms have this demagogue and his asso- 
 ciates spoken of the present prime minister and home secretary : * 
 and yet, to shut out such men from the management of the affairs 
 of the state, is religious persecution ! 
 
 Religious persecution is an odious thing. But there is reason to 
 suppose that many of those who bandy the charge in the present 
 case, do not understand what it means, farther than that it is some- 
 thing exceedingly detestable. Persecution is the denial to men of 
 their natural rights, because of their religion. Now, we revert to 
 our former argument, that papists have no natural right to what 
 is claimed, and consequently we infer that there is no persecu- 
 tion in withholding it. Nor is it on account of a diffetence in reli- 
 gion, that these claims are denied ; but on account of the character 
 of the rehgion in question. It possesses an essentially political char- 
 acter. How far its idolatrous character might warrant a similar 
 result, we wait not now to inquire ; neither to 'enter into the wide 
 field of civil disabilities in general, as a prerogative of government. 
 Enough has been said to repel the charge of persecution. 
 
 But, it is alleged, that, unless concessions are made, the state is 
 in absolute danger of being involved in a' civil war. And to what 
 
 f * Tills, it will be recollected, was written in 1829.] 
 
POPERY THE MYSTERl' OF IMQUITT. 331 
 
 does this amount, but to an acknowledgment of all for which we 
 contend? For surely those who wait only a fit opportunity of ris- 
 ing up in arms against their country, who, unless they get every- 
 thing as they wish, would not scruple, as their fathers have done 
 before them, to raise the standard of revolt and shake the kingdom 
 with internal convulsions, arc not the best entitled to the confidence 
 proposed to be placed in them, by investing them with full political 
 ])Ower ! ' To please the papists, seeing nothing else will please them, 
 we must break down every barrier that pi'events them from gaining 
 ascendancy in Ireland at least : and so, just from a fear of being 
 murdered by them, we will admit them to such power in the state, 
 that it will be at their own discretion whether death, or banishment, 
 or conversion, shall be the lot of all the protestants in the kingdom.' 
 But then, it is said, concession is the very way to diminish both 
 their numbers and their strength. Remove restrictions, and you 
 disarm those prejudices by which they are attached to their own 
 communion, and pave the way for their accession to the protestant 
 faith. They know but little either of the spirit of popery, or of the 
 facts of its history, who reason thus. Concessions have often been 
 made before ; but the result has been always the reverse of- what is 
 supposed Penal laws were repealed in 1778, 1782, 1792 ; and in 
 1793 the elective franchise was conferred, and other privileges. Has 
 popery declined since that period ? ' Exactly in proportion as the 
 restraints have been removed, has that detestable system gained 
 ground amongst us. To say nothing of Ireland — what has been its 
 progressive state in England, and even in Scotland ? In 1780, the 
 number of papists in England and Wales, according to the Parlia- 
 mentary return, was exactly 69,376. Now it is understood to be at 
 least 600,000 ! Theri, there were only three public academical 
 establishments of that persuasion in the country ; now, there are at 
 least Ji/t)/. Then, there was no such thing as a Catholic college, or 
 university, heai'd of in B^-itain ; 7ioir, the literary establishment at 
 Slonyhurst, in Lancashire, comprises at least 500 professors and stu- 
 dents ; has 1100 acres of the finest land in England attached to it ; 
 has the town of Preston, and a great part of Lancashire, under 
 Jesuitical influence ; while, within a quarter of a mile of it, stands a 
 large elementary school for at least one thousand children. In 1780, 
 the number of chapels in England and AVales, including those kept 
 in the houses of peers and commoners, did not exceed 300 ; now, it 
 is at least 1000, over and above private chaplainships. Then the 
 number of priests was calculated at 366 ; now, it cannot be less than 
 1200, besides teachers in academies, and chaplains attached to 
 the families of Catholic gentry. In the immediate vicinity of 
 London, is one mass- house capable of containing 10,000 persons ; 
 and, for the erection of this temple of Satan, the good city of 
 London made a compliment of the ground ! — Shall we believe, 
 then, that popery has been on the wane, and that the emancipation 
 hill will seal its doom?' (Dr Burns' Speech in Synod of Glasgow 
 and Ayr, 1825.) To these we would add one more remark. Is 
 it any symptom of the decline of popery, that just the other day, 
 in the city of Edinburgh, high mass, and other ceremonies, were 
 publicly announced to be performed on occasion of the death of the 
 
332 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 late pope? Thirty j-ears ago, would papists have ventured to come 
 thus unblushingly forward, and obtrude their gross superstitions on 
 the presbyterian public of Scotland? 
 
 Nor is concession a more likely method to allay discontent. The 
 history of past experiments fully corroboi'ates this opinion also. 
 The concessions of 1793 were fully expected to effect this desirable 
 object. The result is known to all. ' Hardly were they granted,' 
 as was remarked by a member of the House of Commons in 1811, 
 ' until Ireland was in a flame from end to end, and one continued 
 month of [)eace and security it has never known from tliat hour to 
 the present.' 'The moment they gained a standing place,' remarked 
 Lord Kedesdale in the House of Peers, the same year, ' they assumed 
 the language of menace and intimidation.' And what other effect is 
 to be looked for from the measure now proposed ? The concessions 
 are more ample, to be sure ; but, then, they are not complete. As 
 regards the feelings and interests of protestants, the proposed mea- 
 suie is, indeed, a sweeping one; but, as respects the ambition of 
 the popish spirit, it is but a half measure after all. See if they will 
 regard it as paymg ' twenty shillmgs in the pound.' So long as the 
 offices of Lord Chancellor, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to say ■ 
 iioUiing of the Crown, are not open to them ; so long as they are 
 shut out from the universities ; so long as their clergy are deiiied the 
 use of episcopal titles ai\d names ; so long as persons in power are 
 prohibited from wearing the insignia of office in their own places of 
 worship ; so long as these things are so, they will represent them- 
 selves as a persecuted people, and grumble forth their discontent. 
 ' Why, if other things are given us,' they will say, and they will say 
 it not without reason,' ' should these be withheld? Why continue 
 thus to brand us with such marks of opprobrium?' And is .there 
 not something in the manner in which the proposed amelioration 
 has been brought about, to encourage such aspirings, as not alto- 
 gether hopeless? The measure, it is acknowledged, is a matter of 
 necessity; ' something ??i«s< be done,' is the language used; it has 
 no marks of being an act of grace, but wears, on the.contrary, all the 
 appearance of a thing extorted by dint of intimidation. And if the 
 system of 'agitation' has brought about so much in their favour, 
 are they likely to lay it aside before they have got all they can de- 
 sire? The prudence of thus letting them know their own strength 
 is to be questioned ; and, should ever this natural anticipation bo 
 realised, should papists, after a temporary quiet, begin again to 
 clamour for the removal of all remaining disabilities, little trust, 
 there is reason to fear, could be placed in the men who now so 
 violently advocate concession for resistance to these further 
 demands. Consistency would seem to require, that after giving 
 them so much, they should willingly yield tliem all. We see not 
 on what pretence they could act otherwise.-' And should all le 
 yielded, of what avail were all the struggles and blood of our 
 reforming ancestor-s ? Little thought these worthy and magnani- 
 mous men, how cheaply their successors would barter away their 
 dear-bouglit privileges.* 
 
 [* What a coraftient do the events of the last twenty years, and the late 
 hull of Pius IX. to revive a jjopish hierarchy iu England, supply on these 
 
POriCUY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY'. 333 
 
 But all danger of this kind is proposed to be averted by means of 
 the cath to be required of papists before entering on oiiiee. An 
 oath is indeed a solemn thing; and its obligation ought not to be 
 liglitlv spoken of. But in the popish church it is Lela very cheap 
 indeed ; and its inelHcacy, in the present case, is satisfactorily rea- 
 soned, in the following remarks, by Professor Bruce : — ' The. solem- 
 iiily of an oath can by no means determine what are the real 
 doctrines of the Church of Home, nor, consequently, what is the 
 iaith, or what shall be the future conduct ot lier members. If th(>y 
 were popish principles before which are renounced — as, indeed, the 
 nature of an oath of abjuration supposes — no oaths whatever can 
 make them cease to be so, nor annul their influence, nor prevent 
 their elTects upon the conscience and practice of a papist. Such an 
 oath from a professed papist, acknowledged as such and continuing 
 such, is utterly preposterous, and entirely insignificant; it runs 
 counter to his known principles, to his previous engagements, and 
 to the religious profession which he still continues to make. Such 
 an oath in him must originate purely from ignorance, error, or per- 
 fidy, and is, ipso facto, destructive, of the swearer's own faith and 
 conscience, and therefore can deserve very little credit from ano- 
 ther. He that swears against principle declares to all the world 
 that he ought not to be believed. No papist has his faith, or tieclara- 
 tions about it in his own power ; he cannot, in this respect, go be- 
 yond the pi-escription of the church, to say or swear either good or 
 "bad. Though any of them should be guilty of such presumption, 
 the power of the church must, after all, be paramount to every- 
 thing else ; and her laws, by a kind of omni[)Otence, must anni- 
 hilate all Other laws, deeds, oaths, contrary thereto.' (Free 
 Thoughts on Popery, pp. 231, 233.) And to show that this is 
 not mere theory, we must remind our readers of the manner in 
 which the securities, framed by James I., were disposed of by the 
 papists; and, as still more to the point, and, in our view,, what 
 ought to set the matter at rest, we beg leave to quote an authori- 
 tative document from Rome on the subject, and that of no very 
 ancient date. When Dr Poynter, vicar apostolic and legate of the 
 Po])e in England, submitted a copy of the oath of allegiance, pro- 
 posed in 1813, a reply was made by Cardinal Signior Quarantotti, 
 in which the following sentence occurs : — ' In case the bill be already 
 passed containing the same words (i.e. of the oath), or that nothing 
 in it is allowed to be altered, let the cler(jij ac(juiesce ; and it will be 
 sufficient fijrthem to declare that thin, and this onltj, is the sense in 
 wliich they have sworn to it ; so that nothing in the oath may he ad- 
 verse to orthodox doctrine.'' * To trust, then, to the obligation of an 
 oath, with regard to which the religion of paj)ists permits them to 
 make their own explanations, or to entertain their own mental re- 
 paragraphs regarding tlic insufficiency of concession to diminish the num- 
 ber , or check the ambitiou of llomau Catholics? One is iiivoiuiitarily 
 reminded of the opinion expressed by a late Lord Chancellor, that, ' When 
 the Roniaiiij^ts are admitted to power, from that day the sim of England is 
 set for ever.' — Dec, 1850.] 
 
 * Speech of the Bisliop of O.ssory in the House of Lords ; cited by D 
 Burns, p. 18. 
 
334 POPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 
 
 servations, or from which the church possesses the power of absolv- 
 ing them, is like trusling to a cobweb to bind a giant. 
 
 Much reliance seems to be placed in the small number of papists 
 who could possibly get into power. This very statement supposes 
 that there is danger connected with their admission. If there is not, 
 why need the smallness of the number be argued? or why should 
 any disabilities or restrictions be retained ? The number, however, 
 there is some reason to fear, has been understated. To say nothing 
 of the overwhelming majority in Ireland, the English Catholics rank 
 among their number seven peers, seventeen baronets, and about 
 five hundred families in ancient, pure, and noble lineage, reckoned 
 not inferior to many in the British peerage ; besides a large body of 
 commoners. It is not unreasonable, therefore, considering their 
 zeal, wealth, and influence, to suppose that as many may be re- 
 turned to parliament as all the representatives of Scotland together !* 
 This is saying nothing of the cabinet, from only two or three places in 
 which are they proposed to be shut out. The number, then, 'is not 
 in itself small ; but supposing it so, they can make up, by intrigue, 
 for any defect in numerical strength ; and we need not to be re- 
 minded what power of mischief an intriguing factious minority can . 
 put forth, just as a single restive animal in a team may counteract 
 tlie proper discipline and movements of all the rest. How is a pro- 
 testant king to withstand the influence of a majority of popish 
 advisers ? 
 
 We should like to see, on this subject, some respect paid to the 
 aggregate opinion of the country. It is true, the country is divided ; 
 but even our opponents will never refuse that the majority lies on 
 the side for which we' contend. This very conviction has driven 
 them to a balancing of intelligence and respectability against num- 
 bers, which is somewhat amusing, and not a little uncandid. There 
 is a fallacy, we are convinced, in the assumption, that the higher 
 men stand in society, they are the better qualified to judge in a 
 question of this nature. In Scotland, at least, no class is better 
 acquainted with the nature and hi.story of popery, as bearing on its 
 connection with the institutions and government of the country, 
 than the peasantry. They are the direct descendants of the men 
 who had actually to oppose it in their own persons, and the very 
 traditions of their families give them a deeper interest in the story 
 of their sufferings and their achievements. On the contrary, we 
 are not sure that many of those who arrogate for themselves a 
 monopoly of ' intelligence,' are the best instructed after all — we 
 mean on the question at issue — for we have observed, that whenever 
 persons have set themselves thoroughly to investigate the tenets and 
 spirit of popery, it has resulted In a full conviction, which perhaps 
 did not exist before, of its utter Incompatibility with social comfort 
 or civil freedom. As an example, we may refer to the case of the 
 author of the 'Protestant,' who, in tlw commencement of his work, 
 expressed himself favourably to the popish claims, but before he had 
 finished it, saw abundant reason to alter his views, and wrote against 
 
 * .The probability is, that a much greater number will be returned than 
 is here supposed. . But this supposition is made for the sake of argument. 
 
I'GPERY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. o35 
 
 them with great clearness and strengtii ; declarinsr it as his fixed 
 sentiment, that no person is capable of judging of the merits of the 
 question, until he has studied the character of popery as exhibited 
 in the writings and in the practice of papists. (Protestant, vol. iii., 
 p. 415.) 
 
 One grand defect attaches to almost all the reasoning that takes 
 place on this subject. It is treated rather as a question of expedi- 
 ency than of moral right. On the one hand the dangers of refusnl 
 are depicted ; on the other, the consequences of compliance. It 
 ma^' be all very well, after the moral aspect of the question has 
 been settled, in connection with this, to point out its probable 
 results. In this view we should have no objection to argue the im- 
 policy of the measure. And we think it might easily be shown 
 that it is calculated to check the progress of the protestanl reforma- 
 tion — to exasperate the public mind, and endanger public tranquil- 
 lity — to oi)erate injuriously on papists themselves, by dragging them 
 from an obscurity, which it is their interest to court — and even to 
 have an unfavourable influence on literature, by causing the revival 
 of useless controversies and exploded errors. All this we deem to 
 be true. But let not these considerations alone, or first be dwelt 
 upon. Let it be understood that they are the native consequences 
 of the intrinsic innnorality of the measure itself; and that positive 
 guilt attaches to giving countenance in any shape to abominations 
 which God has denounced, and which the nation as such has abjured. 
 To caress what ought to be loathed, is to confound all distinctions 
 of moral feeling ; and to lend support to a system which the Almighty 
 has threatened to destroy, is to act in opposition to the revealed 
 purposes of Heaven, and thus to fight against God. The principle 
 on which we argue the exclusion of papists. Is the character of their 
 religion, as delineated in the preceding discourses. No government, 
 which profiesses respect for the mystery of godliness, can safely or 
 consistently extend support to the mystery of iniquity. Such con- 
 duct is truly sinful and monstrous. When popery was overthrown 
 in our land, a step was made toward its final destruction ; let us be- 
 ware how we seek to retrace that step, and to build up anew the 
 desolations of antichrist. ' Onward' is the christian's motto in all 
 things ; but to revive again the power of Rome, Is to retrograde m 
 the march both of intellect and religion. To think of abolishing 
 popery by increasing its power, Is essentially to do evil that good 
 may come, and thus to adopt in practice one of the worst principles 
 of popery, namely, that theewrf will sanctify the ?««««.<. To attempt 
 the extension of a scriptural faith, by giving power to the anti- 
 christian beast, is not less sinful than chimerical — not more chimeri- 
 cal than dangerous. ' If any man worship the beast and the image, 
 and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall 
 drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without 
 mixture Into the cup of his indignation.' (Rev. xlv. 9, 10.) Nor 
 are these sentiments more accordant with scripture than confirmed 
 by some striking facts in the providence of God. 'It Is a coinci- 
 dence too remarkable in the history of Scottish freedom to pa?s 
 unnoticed, that, in three several generations, when arbitrarj' swiiv 
 would have been established through the medium of Roman 
 
336 roPERY THE mystery of iniquity. 
 
 Catholics or their friends, being entrusted with places of power ; 
 and when the plea for admittin<T them to such stations— a change in 
 the poHtical nature and persecuting spirit of their religion— backed 
 by all the influence of the court, was acknowledged, at least by the 
 Tories, some tremendous explosion, the plain result of the principles 
 of which they were accused exhibited the deceit of all their fair 
 pretensions, and drove from the government of the country the 
 men who favoured the tenets, or were themselves the adherents of 
 that slavish superstition. The anniversary of St Bartholomew was 
 fatal to the schemes of Mary ; the Irish massacre confounded the 
 measures of her grandson ; and the revocation of the edict of Nantez' 
 had no small share in producing the glorious revolution which drove 
 for ever the papistical branch of the Stuarts from the throne/ 
 (Aikiuan's History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 233.) 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 r r. I X T E Ti r.Y S. A K l) T. D U N .N, 
 
 ]4 Prince's Siiuare.