Srom f^e £i6rari> of (ptofcBBox ^amud (gtiffer in (pernor)? of 3ubge ^amuef (gXiffer QSrecftinrtbge (presented fig ^antuef (tttiffer Q0recfttnr%e feon^ fo f ^e feifirarg of (Princeton C^eofogicctf ^emtnarj? Sec. I COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE LEADING AND MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION : DIGESTED IN SUCH ORDER AS TO PRESENT TO THE PIOUS AND RKFLECnNB MIND, A BASIS FOR THE SUPERSTRUCTLRE OF THE ENTIRE 8V3TSM OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL. V^ BY THE REV. SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH, D.D. L.L.D. hATS PBESIOENT OF THE COLLEGE OF NHW-JERSET. NEW-BRUNSWICK : Printed and Published by Deare it Myet. 1815. District 0/ New-Jersey, ss. jKe it remembered, that on the twenty-fourth day of Aagust, ia the fortietii year of the Indeperideuce of the United States of America, Deare & Myer, of tiie said district, hme deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof Uiey ciaim as proprietors, in ' hewoids following, to wit; " A Comprehensive '^.'ie'v of the leadi.ig and most important principles of Na- " tural ard Revealed Religion, digested in such order as to present to the pious " and reflectin:; mind, a bssis for the superstructure of the entire system of the *' doctrines o( the Gospel. By the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D. L.L.D. " late Pre>ident of the Tollege o''NeT- • Je'S'^y." In conformity to a.i act of the Congresa of ihe United States, entitled, " An act for the cncouragenaent ut' lea'-ning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the auth:*!; ant! /ropiietort oi such copies, during the times tlierein mer.fioned ;" and .ned, 370. a mistaken view of the covenant of grace, 373. tlie constilull subject to tlie calamities of this life, 425 absurdity of the Romish interpre- tation of Col. 1.24, 427. adoption: External seals of the covenant of g-ace— I. Bapti-m, 433. B.iptism and the Lord's Supper both seals of the covenant, 433. other dent )n'n;ttions applied to them, 435. design of the external seals, 438. difFei-en<. in.;iort of tlie two seals, 438, Baptism ourchristian circumcision, 441. the desirn of Baptism obvi- ous— 1st. from the use of a similar rite in the ancient Gicek and Jewish nations, 444 : 2d. from its beinrthe seal arncxed by (lod to his own covenant, 447. the proper subjects of this o.dlnance 452. the benefits of this ordinance, 459. the visible church, 403. review of tiie meaning and design of ihh ordinance, 466. of the form of Baptism, ':GH. II. Of the Lord's Supper, 477 of the ceremonies with which it ought to be accompanied, 480. of Transubstantiation, 435.' of Consub?tantiation, 489. of the requisite qualifications for this ordinance, 490. the benefits of a pious use of llii.; ordinance, 492. of the christian doctrine of a. future state of being, 497. of the losurreciion of the h'Jy, 499. the reasona- bleness and preciousness of this doctrine, 499. the future, and everlasting staff of punishment to the wicked, jQS. A SERMON : The connexion of sound princjpie» oftniih, witli virtue and piety, .^?0. ERRATA. pU5 I 10 (oTpersoTiage, read patron.' ge. p 130 1 18 put «^e appearance and character of the Messiah in italic letters* p 161 Note, insert the before sacred mritinss. ib 1 16 for equivical read equivocal. p 163 1 2 for connected h-s, read connected as parts. p 155 I 6 for principle, read principal. p 178 1 1 for school, read schools. p 193 1 17 for genins, read genius. p 1'Ll 1 1 1 for Lyst, read Sy^i. ib. two lines from bottom read "^v^t} p 223 1 12 for embraced, ;e id emhracc. p237 15 ior philosophic, rf^-.d pnlloirpiiico. p 240 1 6 in grecianm:ike the first lettf r a capital, p 247 115 for the period. aVf^r particularly, place a comma. p 24'.' 1 11 for inferences rerid inference. p250 1 14 for anaZj/sis read cnalyz'S. p 261 1 12 (oTindisctrnabk rea.aindiscernible. p 318 i 1 for become read became p 328 1 6 for 6y ?ftc exres*, re.id by excess. p 452 1 8 (cy righteous read righteousness. p 4' 3 last line but one in the note, tor /u: free, read the free. p4a9 1 1 forecywni read ec^w?/!. p 499 IB for/o7- read to p 504 1 18 last word, iovrvhat read that is. p 536 1 22 for ii/e, after pastoral, read office. An error has been committed by tlie author in the arrangement of theraanu- Ecripts as they were sent to the Printer, placing the fourth chapter on Faith in the room of the ninth on Adoption, if the reader will bear in mind in the first sentcn- cf J, that its place has been a little anticipated, it creates no injury to the work. THK AVTIIOK. A COMPENDIOUS SYSTEM OF NATURAL AND REVEALED THEOLOGY; EMBRACING, IN THE SECOND PART, A CONCISE VIEW OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITT. PART I. OF NATURAL RELIGION: CONTAINING, 1st. THE EVIDENCES OF THE BEING OF GOD. 2d. THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 3d. THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN DUTF. 4th. THE PROBABLE EVIDENCES OF A FUTURE STATE. 'V- LECTURES, OP NATURAL THEOLOGY. 0 OF THE BEING OF GOD. jN ATUR AL Theology consists in the knowledge of those truths concerning the being and attnbutes of God ; the prin- ciples of human duty, and the probable expectations of a fu- ture state of existence to give efficacy to those principles, which are discoverable by reason alone. It commences with the investigation of the evidences of the existence of God, Almighty, and Eternal ; which are usually derived from two sources, — the necessary nature of our ideas,— and the obvious structure of the universe. Both these modes of proof, which have been distinguished in the schools by scientific terms of discrimination, rest on one common principle, or necessary idea, — that every thing which begins to be must have a cause of its existence. Admitting this truth, which cannot well be controverted by reason, it results as a necessary consequence, either that the universe consists of an eternal succession of causes, dependent one upon another ; or we must look for its existence in some first principle, eternal, unproduced, the source of all motion and power in the operations of nature, the cause of whose being is to be found only in itself, and the necessity of its own nature. The idea of an eternal succes- sion of events, each frail and imperfect, and all dependent, one upon another, involves too evident an absurdity to be admitted by the rational mind. We are obliged therefore to adopt the only alternative — the existence of an original and independent source of being, from which all things else have been derived. Whence, then, exists this first cause ? . Original and underived we can find no reason of its existence but in the necessity of its own nature. A being existing by the necessity of its own nature, can never begin to be ; it must be eternal. On the same principle, it must be un- changeable. If any change could take place, it would in- volve some constituent of its nature which was not neces- sary. Infinity must be equally predicable of the original cause : for how should it be limited when nothing previous exists to bound it ? or how should necessary existence be confined to a circumscribed space ? The unity of the di- vine essence is no less a certain consequence of this original principle. Two equally necessary and infinite beings could serve no useful purpose, which could not be equally fulfilled by one. There being no reason, therefore, for the existence of a second, the idea, on all the rules of sound reasoning in science, ought to be rejected. Two essences, equally infi- nite, must necessarily occupy the same place ; being equally the cause of all things which exist, they must possess the same perfection ; they must be, to every purpose of existencCj 5 the same being. This first, and sole cause of all tliiugo in the universe, must also be Almighty ; for whatever can ex- ist, can exist only by him. And finally, he must be all-wise, as knowing the natures and powers of all things possible ; for nothing is possible, but by him, and every thing is possible that he wills. This is a very brief and partial sketch of the scientific mode of reasoning, or reasoning a priori, as the schoolmen call it, on this subject. The most profound and masterly example of it, which exists, perhaps in any language, is to be found in the demonstralion of the being and altrihideH of God, by Dr. Samuel Clarke, of England. But, I confess, these subtile arguments of a very refined speculation, are little calculated to produce any deep and permanent conviclion on the mind. The extreme abstraction of the ideas, although ihey do great credit to the ingenuity of that celebrated au- thor, can be comprehended only by a few reflecting men ; and the most speculative philosopher finds the effort to grasp them, exhaust the sensibility of the heart, and weaken upon it the practical impressions of virtue and piety. The second, or popular mode of reasoning, is infinitely more simple and obvious. And consists of a species of ar- gument which naturally offers itself to every man, as soon as he opens his eyes with intelligence upon the world. A kind {»f evidence here suggests itself which reaches the simplest understanding, and becomes more luminous and interesting in proportion as we extend our observation and inquiries in- to the system of nature. When we behold its order, varie- ty, and beauty, the proportion, and correspondence of all its parts, the manifest demonstrations of wisdom and design, especially, in the animal and vegetable worlds, in the struc- ture of the earth, in the planetary system, and, as far as we can judge, throughout the universe, can we forbear to ac- knowledge a wise and intelligent cause, which has planned and arranged the whole ? an omnipotent cause, which has given existence to this immense, and various structure ? and an infinite providence, which every where presides over its operations ? The details of this argument are too extensive to be here minutely pursued. They are not necessary to convince judicious readers of that first of truths, of which all, who have not speculated the heart into scepticism, are already deeply persuaded, and which meets our understanding at e%'ery glance that we cast over the face of nature. Yet I cannot too strongly recommend to those, who have the means of cultivating letters, diligently to pursue their re- searches into the natural history of the universe, expressly with this view, to assemble before the mind the multiplied evidence which it contains, in every part, of the existence, and universal operation of a most wise, and beneficent, and almighty power which pervades, and presides over the whole. It is with this design that I would recommend to every dis- ciple of science a careful study of natural history, as the su- rest basis, when prudently investigated, of natural theology, and an excellent introduction and support to revelation. I recommend it, likewise, as a study, which contributes pecu- liarly to purify, exalt, and delight the mind ; and, along with the charming enthusiasm of piety, to strengthen the most so- lid foundations of virtue, while, to use an expression of Male- branche, " it sees all things in God, and God in all things." This argument we may see admirably illustrated by the famous Genevan philosopher Bonnet, and by those very res- pectable English writers, Derham, and Ray. But perhaps no writer has treated it with more closeness, perspicuity, and irresistible evidence, than Dr. Paley in his treatise on natural theology. In those works, may be seen that mechan- ical contrivance, that correspondence of parts, that adapta- tion of means to their respective ends, through all the pro- ductions of nature, which are the most unequivocal indica- tions of wisdom and design, as well as of power and good- ness, in its author. "Final causes, says a very judicious writer, may be considered as the language in which the exis- tence of God is revealed to man. In this language, the sign is natural, and the interpretation instinctive."^ — Ferg. ins. p. 3. ch. 1. s. 2. Another argument to the same end has justly been derived from the universal concurrence of mankind in the assertion and belief of this important principle. The general senti- uients of human nature are always found to point to truth. They are intuitive perceptions resulting immediately from the bare inspection of their objects ; or conclusions which force their evidence upon the mind, like the first truths of science, necessarily springing out of the comparison of our own ideas. The concurrence of all nations, in the belief of the being of God, is a decisive proof, either, that it is a na- tive sentiment of the human heart arising necessarily from the constitution of our nature, and entitled to the same im- plicit credit as our other internal sensations ; or it is an in- duction so clearly and necessarily flowing from the pheno- mena of nature as to be obvious equally to the wisest, and the most uncultivated mind ; the rapidity of the conclusion giving it the appearance and effect of an instinctive principle. To this argument it is not a sufficient objection, that ma- ny nations have acknowledged a multiplicity of gods ; and that, in all nations, the multitude have entertained unworthy conceptions of the divine nature. The natural sentiments of the human mind may be corrupted ; or, being left in their original, ajid uncultivated state, may be liable, through ig- norance, to many errors. The principles of taste, may, in like manner, notwithstanding their acknowledged foundation in human nature, be rendered defective, or be grossly per- verted, by erroneous culture ; yet their error, or corruption instead of demonstrating that there are no such principles, is, on the other hand, a proof of their existence. Many nations^ milled by the analogy of the divine, to human governments, conceiving that the administration of the Deity might, more honourably, be conducted by subordinate agents, elevated each local, and imaginary divinity to the throne of divine worship. But all mankind have ever acknowledged one Su- preme God: and the multitude of subordinate officers, if they may be called such, which error had attached to him in his government, does not destroy the evidence of the prin- cipal and original sentiment that, God exists. Our object, at present, is to establish this single truth. And this truth is not destroyed by diversity of opinion, with regard to the mode of his administration, or the nature of his perfections. These ideas, requiring greater precision of thought, and a wider compass of reasoning, one man, or one nation, according to the advances which they have respectively made in the cultivalion of science, may reasonably be supposed to have formed more just, or more inadequate conceptions of them than another. The truth of the divine existence is confirmed, if such primary and palpable truths can receive additional confirma- tion, by the absurdity of the causes to which atheists have been obliged to resort in order to account for the origin of things. One of their first principles is, that matter is eter- nal, and, though senseless and inert, contains the essence of all order and motion. Another, that the intelligence, which evi- dently reigns in the universe, is the result of material organ- 10 ization necessarily arising from its original and essential iprhi- ciples. And another still, not less extraordinary than either of the preceding, that, from the accidental collision of atoms, have been formed globes which, from some interior, and in- explicable impulse, ha%'e thrown themselves into orbits con- structed with the most perfect mathematical exactness, and governed by laws which ensure undeviating constancy in their movements. From the same accidental collision, roots, and seeds have been generated, whence the whole vegeta- ble world has been evolved, and yearly reproduced. At this age of philosophy, one would think that such principles must carry their own refutation in the very terms of their statement. Observe any mass, or congeries of matter, and let the plainest, or the most improved understanding decide, if any arrangement of atoms, according to any known laws of material action, could sublimate it ; above all, could enable it to sublimate and organize itself, so as to produce sensation and reason. Or is it possible, that, if one lucky cast, or col- lision araong infinite millions, should have formed an animal, or vegetable, it should have been so framed as to be capable of throwing from itself continually a similar assemblage of or- ganized atoms, while not another cast, of the same kind, should ever succeed in forming a new body ? If an atheist ask us, why, since we admit the existence of a wise intelligent cause, only to exclude the ideas of disor- der and chance from the world, do we see so many unaeem- 11 ly "examples of both, in the structure of things, and in the re- Tolutions of what we call providence ? It is, I conceive, a suf- ficient answer, to deny the existence of either, and to chal- lenge an antagonist to produce an instance. — For, what is chance? — Only a name to cover our ignorance of the cause of any event. Nothing can happen by accident in the gov- ernment of an infinitely wise, and powerful being. All events depend upon a certain concatenation of causes. The cast of a die is as certainly governed by the laws of matter and motion, as the greater movements of the planets. Dis- order in the works of nature exists only in the imperfection of our own understanding. This is certain, with regard to all the arrangements of nature, that, in proportion as her laws have been more clearly developed, and her operations more distinctly understood, those phenomena, which for- merly were esteemed to be irregularities, are now discover- ed to be directed by the most wise, certain, and permanent laws. — One conclusion will obtrude itself on every reflect- ing mind ; that, since nature, as far as we can discern her operations, contains, even to our imperfect reason, the most obvious indications of intelligence, design, and goodness, if there be any parts of it, which we are unable to interpret, in perfect coincidence with the general system, this ought to be ascribed solely to the narrow sphere to which our intel- lectual vision is circumscribed. We cannot doubt, but that the same wisdom, which we perceive in that portion which we do comprehend, pervades all the works of the same author. 12 it has been frequently and justly remarked, that the uni- verse is governed by general laws, which never change their operation according to the desires of men, or the conveni- ence of particular parts of the system, and, therefore, they sometimes appear to be productive of partial and accidental ills. A tempest here, a drought there, a contagion, or an earthquake, may involve individuals in distress ; — but the fixed and invariable laws of the physical world are among the greatest blessings to mankind. Among other benefits, they lay a foundation for the existence of the most useful sciences and arts, which could have no principles, on which to rest, in a providence of expedients, and accommodations to individual convenience. They serve to awaken inquiry, to exercise ingenuity, to encourage industry, to afford prin- ciples on which to ground a prudent foresight and precaution, and to promote the exercise of all the virtues which are as- sisted by the stability of nature. For a clear and lumin- ous illustration of the utility of general laws, and for a judi- cious explanation, and justification of the apparent and par- tial ills which result from them, you will again have peculiar satisfaction in consulting Dr. Paley's work on natural thci ology. II. OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITY. The divine attributes, as discoverable by the powers of natural reason, will not require an extensive illustration ; for, when once the existence of God is acknowledged, they re- 18 commend themselves so obviously to the common sense of mankind, as to admit of little controversy, except with re- gard to those natural events which, in their first aspect, seem contrary to our apprehensions of his infinite goodness. The attributes, then, of the Divine Mind may be arrang- ed under two heads, — the natural, and the moral. — Under the former, are comprehended his spirituality, unity, eterni- ty, omnipresence, power and wisdom ;-i-under the latter, his hoHness, justice, and goodness. The spirituality of the divine nature is a property oppos- ed to every form, or refinement of matter ; and may be re- garded as distinguishing the essence of the Supreme Mind^ from that fine, but powerful influence, the result of the mate- rial organization of the universe, which some philosophers have substituted in the room of the Deity, and made the im- mediate cause of a universal necessity, or fate. It is oppos- ed, likewise, to the opinion of those, who hold the Deity to be the soul of the world ; that is, a certain power which, though intelligent, is still only a refinement of matter, — a kind of spirit, or gas thrown oflf from the infinite system of its mo- tions, or its original fermentations. All just philosophy has considered matter as essentially inert, and incapable of beginning motion. Spirit, as we learn from our own experience, possesses a self-raotivei pow- 14 er, and the power of giving motion to other things. The existence, and the movements of the universe, therefore, are proofs of an original spirit, who formed it, and gave it that impulse, and that sjstem of combined motion by which its order is still preserved. The only knowledge, which we have of spirit, is derived from reflection on our own minds, the essence of which we conceive to lie in thought and volition. But it would be im- pious to imagine, that we can thence frame any adequate con- ception of the Divine and Infinite Spirit from whom all things proceed. By this term, therefore, applied to the Deity, we can mean only to express a substance wholly different from matter, simple, uncompounded, essentially active and intelli- gent. The Unity of the divine nature is deducible from this re- flection, that we see evident proofs of the existence of one God, and we see no evidence of more than one. And it is contrary to every principle of just reasoning, in that case, to admit a plurality. This conclusion is strengthened by that unity of design apparent in all the parts of nature. It indicates one author, one purpose, one end. How far he may com- mit the government of particular districts of the universe to subordinate agents, in order to employ their activity, and ex- ercise tlieir virtues, we have no grounds on which we can form a rational judgment. Even conjecture, therefore, ouo-ht 15 to be silent concerning it, lest we should unawares awaken a degrading spirit of superstition. On subjects so remote from the sphere of human intellect and observation, in no depart- ment of science, has conjecture or hypothesis ever led phi- losophy one step nearer to truth. It is even doubtful if the erring lights of false science do not lead the mind farther astray from the true principles of nature than, the torpid dull- ness of absolute ignorance. Of the almighty power, and infinite wisdom of the Deity, there can exist no doubt in the minds of those who ac- knowledge his being. No more can we doubt of his eternal existence, and universal presence, although we are not able to form distinct and definite ideas concerning his relations to infinite duration, and space. I shall, therefore, not consume your time in attempting to solve the many abstruse and proba- bly useless, and, to human intellect, inexplicable questions, which have been raised on these subjects by ingenious men; — but proceed to consider his moral attributes, holi- ness, goodness, and justice. Holiness is a term used chiefly by divines, and borrowed from the sacred scriptures, to express the purity of the di^ vine nature, and its infinite distance from all moral imper- fection. It is, perhaps, the best and strongest word in our language to convey the idea of his unchangeable love of the eternal and essential rectitude of the moral law, which he 16 has prescribed to his rational creatures, whose outlines he has traced upon the human conscience, but the perfect rule of which, is to be found only in his revealed word. And it seems further to carry in its meaning, not only a pure and immutable love of rectitude, but an infinite abhorrence of vice ; that is, of the omission, or violation of the duties of the moral law. But, besides this peculiar meaning of the term, as expressing a single attribute of the divine mind, it is often used in a more comprehensive sense, to express the aggregate, and the most complete idea of all his moral per- fections.— Perhaps the philosophy of Paganism may never have perfectly reached these just conceptions of the divine character, but, certainly, they are the dictates of enlight- ened reason. And whatever absurdities are discoverable in the vulgar superstition, concerning the inferior deities of the heathen ; yet, among their wiser sages, their supreme God was invested with all the virtues indicated by natural conscience. By the attribute of goodness is meant to be expressed the disposition or tendency of the Divine Nature to impart happiness to the creatures he has formed, in a way accom- modated to their respective states of being. This attribute we ascribe to the Deity from the tendencies to benevolent affection, which he has implanted in the human breast ; and from that order, harmony, and beauty, which exist in the whole structure of the universe, and which, so naturally and 17 strongly, associate themselves with the ideas of beneficence in their author. It is farther confirmed by the existence of so many tribes of creatures capable in a high degree of pleasurable sensation, and actually enjoying it in different ways. All these facts contribute to impress on the mind an irresistible conviction of the benevolence of the Creator. When we contemplate an individual animal, what an im- mense complexity of parts do we observe combined in one system, all contributing to the preservation and enjoyment of the creature, which manifestly indicate the will and in- tention of the author ; and shew the pains and contrivance, if these terms may be applied to the Deity, which he has used to render that creature comfortable and happy. But, when we behold creation filled with innumerable species of being, and, under each species, innumerable individuals, down to the meanest insect tribes, in which we discern the same mwlti- plicity of organs, and the same systematic combination, and subserviency to the purposes of enjoyment, how does the evidence of the divine benignity and goodness rise in our view ? The air, the earth, the sea, are full of animated and happy being. Men often overlook these examples of be- nevolent design, sometimes, from not perceiving the immedi- ate utility of the creatures in the system of creation, and sometimes, from their extreme minuteness. But the minutest insect, is, equally with the lai'gest, or most rational animal, susceptible of the most exquisite sensations of happy ex- istence. And, in the eye of the infinite being, there is rs much less difference between an insect and a man, than our vanity inclines us to conceive. Every creature, in its re- spective sphere, is destined to some useful purpose in the universal system. It is well remarked by natural historians, that the benigni- ty of the Deity is visible, not only in the structure of animal nature, subserving so admirably, the purposes of preserva- tion, comfort, and defence ; but in annexing such agreeable and pleasant sensations, beyond what mere necessity requir- ed for subsistence, to the gratification of all the appetites, and even the exercise of all the powers of animal nature. Hunger alone would have been suflBcient to prompt men to eat, an operation requisite for the sustenance of life. But the Creator has added to our food a relish, which seems to have had no other purpose, but to increase the pleasure of existence. The objects around us, in the structure of the world, might have been applied to all the purposes of utility, although they had not possessed that beauty, fragrance, or harmony, which affords such charms to the senses and the ima-i^ination. There, certainly, never could have existed such exquisite adaptations of objects to the senses, and of the senses to their objects, if the Creator had not intended them for the ends of animal, and, especially, of human felicity. Not to mention in man his supeiior powers of moral, intel- lectual, and social enjoyment, which open a much wider 19 a'ad nobler field of happiness to man, which it is hardly ne- cessarj at present to survey. But it is scarcely requisite to spend your time in proving the reality of the divine goodness, which is borne in so many examples on the whole face of nature, as to account for some appearances, and to remove some objections, which have been thought to contradict it in the order of divine providence. These consist in the numerous evils evidently mingled with good in the economy of the world. The preponderance of good over evil, in the general ofc- der of things, is acknowleged to be manifest and great. But the objectors reply, that if God were perfectly benevolent, and, at the fsame time, omnipotent, he would not have per- mitted the existence of partial evil. This is pronouncing on an infinite system from our contracted views. — Can we say, that, in a universe benevolently constructed, there ought to be no gradation of being ? Or, if gradation be admitted in perfect consistency with the infinite benignity of the Crea- tor, is it not conceivable that a creature of superior powers' of intelligence and enjoj^ment, may, by a certain admixture of pain, be brought, in the scale of happiness, to the grade of one of inferior powers, but exempt from suffering, and who shall have no complaint to prefer against the benevo- lence of providence ? The refleclion may apply to a na- tion, to a species of being, to a world. How far superior. 20 then, may this world be, with all its sufferings, to other systems — which have no such evils to allay a happiness, which, however, may be constituted on an inferior standard of sensibility, or of intellect ? Would a man of high sensi- bilities, or of high intellectual powers, though they may often be the occasion of many errors, or of keen anguish, be wil- ling to forego their pleasures, in order that he might be re- duced to an apathy that would render him insensible to suf- fering ? Let ns balance our goods against our evils, our suf- ferings against our enjoyments, and consider ourselves as completely happy in that grade of felicity, which is marked by the surplus of the one above the other. By such a cal- culation, how might mankind extinguish every complaint of the evils of life, and justify perfectly the benignity of the Creator. The conclusion, therefore, which each individual ought, in this way, to frame with respect to himself, a true philosopher may justly infer for the whole species ; un- less any man should be so foolish as to imagine, that ex- istence alone gives him a claim on the beneficence of his Maker for the highest grade of felicity. But, why, it may be asked, should we be left to estimate our grade in the scale of happy being by the surplusage of pleasure above pain ? or why should pain exist at all in the system of a purely benevolent being ? — Satisfactorily to an- swcF these, and a thousand other inquiries, which might be 21 instituted on this subject, would, probably, require a knowledge of the nature, and the infinite relations of the universe, which none but the Deity himself can possess. We can, there- fore, expect only from revelatioji the information which we desire, as far as he is pleased to impart it. But while we are compelled to resort to the feeble lights of our own reason alone, for a solution of the difficulties which, spring out of the combinations of an infinite system, we must be contented with such probabilities only as it can yield us.* If, in the scale of existence, then, there be a place for such a being as man with just such a measure of intellect, and sensibility, and with just such principles of action, continually requiring excite- ment, and correction; and, especially, if it be conceived that he is placed in the present world, in a slate of discipline, and probation, for a future period, and a higher condition of existence, a supposition which, to philosophy, is as proba- ble,' as, to religion, it is certain, may not all the pains which enter into the moral culture of this life, be regarded as the discipline of a wise and gracious parent, and, therefore, as essential parts of a most benevolent system ? Let us con- template the relation which the pains necessarily incident to * Rejoicing, however, that when we hare explored reason to the utmost, we, as christians, still enjoy the superior illumination of the sacred scriptures, whence, if we cannot derive such lights as will satisfy every inquiry of an ambitious cari- osity, we may, at least, draw competent satisfaction for an hnmble and rational piety ; particularly, with regard to tliis question, wliy human nature exists in its present state of imperfection, requiring the corrections and discipline oftlie pains and sufferings, which in this state are attaclied to it ? 22 human nature, as it is now constituted, have to the improve- ment of its powers, and, consequently, to its happiness. — The wants of man contribute to rouse the industry, and ha- bitual exertion of all his faculties of body, and mind, on which their vigor, and perfection principally depend. A pa- radise, in which all his wants should be spontaneously sup- plied from the abundance of the soil, and all his senses gra- tified by ils fragrance, its beauty, and luxuriant sweets, would deteriorate the human character, and sink the noblest creature in the world into a lazy, torpid, and vicious animal. The happiness, no less than the improvement of our nature. Ties chiefly in constant, and useful employment, stimulated hy these necessary wants. Enjoyment seldom yields plea- sures equal to those, which arise out of the activity requisite to procure it. The very efforts excited by pain, or want, in all ordinary cases, or by the apprehension of them, often produce a satisfaction, or diversion to the mind, which far overbalance their evils. Want whets ingenuity ; danger and suffering call into operation the virtues of courage and fortitude, which communicate a character of grandeur, and nobleness to the mind, which often raise it superior to the ills of life. And labor, however it might be the curse of man fallen from the perfection of a superior nature, is, beyond a doubt, the blessing of his present existence. Reflections of a similar nature might arise from an attentive consideration of every particular evil to which human life is exposed. And, in a moral point of view, how much more justly may we re- 23 gard them as a part of the benevolent discipline of oiir heavenly Father ? They are the correctors of the pas- sions,— they assist the habits of reflection, — and often recall the mind from pursuits injurious to its virtue, and its true interests. But, instead of examining the various evils of life, and shew- ing how the goodness of God is affected in permitting their existence, I shall select only a few ; believing that, if, ia these, the benevolence of the divine administration can be justified, even to our limited understanding, a hint may be suggested, or a clue given, by which its vindication may be pursued in other cases. — For example, take the circumstan- ces attending our entrance into the world, and our departure from it, which have been thought to involve serious objec- tions against the benignity of the Creator. With regard to the former, it may be fairly maintained, that the pains of bearing, nursing, and educating children, with the diseases and dangers of infancy, which seem, at first view, to be pe- culiar afflictions on the human race, will be found, on ex- amining their connexions, and all their relations, to be among the chief causes of the existence of society, and the felicity of social life. If children, like the young of other animals, were able to run as soon as born, and procure their own sub- sistence, with almost no dependence on the care of a parent, the powerful ties, and sweet endearments of parental affec- tion, and of filial duty, would be, in a great measure, ua- 24 known. The union and happiness of domestic society would be dissolved ; and civil society, of which domestic is the germ, and the principal support, could not exist. Man would be a solitary and ferocious savage. The facility of rearing children, and their early independence on a parent's care, would give the strongest encouragement to a vagrant, and licentious concubinage, destructive of all the virtues, and of the dearest interests of human nature. Besides, the diseases of pregnancy, as human nature is now constituted, and the pains and dangers of child-birth, serve to endear the parents to each other, by the weakness, tenderness, and dependence, of the mother ; by the honor, generosity, and sympathy, of the father; and, a hundred fold, to endear the child to the parent. And it is an acknowledged princi- ple in human nature, that the troubles and continual solici- tudes of nursing, and of education, together with the neces- sary diseases, and hazards of infancy, greatly augment the strength of parental attachments, and lay the most firm, and lasting foundation of the unions, subordinations, and harmo- nious affections, first, of domestic, and afterwards, of civil society. In these pains, then, which have been selected as specious objections against the benignity of the divine ad- ministration of the government of the world, we find some of the principal sources of human happiness. As to the manner of terminating the present state of ex- istence by death, the necessity of this order arises out of 25 the structure of our nature. Death is only the way of giving to successive generations, the opportunity and the means of existence. If this part of the plan of divine providence must be changed, the whole order of life must be changed with it. There could be no such creature as man in the icale of being. The institution of the sexes must be de- stroyed ; the multiplication of the species must cease. The modes of subsistence, on the products of the earth, which can sustain only a definite number, must be done away. And, with these, as the whole state of human life, is con- nected together by a close unbroken chain, must cease the operations of agriculture, and the entire system of the pre- sent occupations and pursuits of men. Man, himself, would be the first to object to such a new order of things. — If death, then, be a necessary part of the human economy, and, to man himself, it would be undesirable to change i;, if it must be accompanied wi(h so many other changes, still more unfriendly to the comfort, and wishes of mankind, the only question which remains is, in what manner it may be best accomplished, so as to attain the most useful ends of its institution ? — If even the whole of human existence were to be terminated by death, this last act of our being, so justly formidable to our frailty and imperfection, is but a momenta- ry pang, which has been far overpaid by the pleasures of life ; but if, as religion assures us, and pliiiosopby renders probable, this life is only a period of discipline awi probation for another state of being, and death is the aA enue through «6 which we must pass to it, certainly no method of approach- ing that decisive crisis could be imagined more beneficial, than that which exists, of attaining every good moral end connected with it :— that is, of making the descent to the grave easy to the virtuous,— of impressing a salutary, but not oppressive fear on all, as a useful restraint from vice,— of preserving the mind, by its extreme uncertainty:, always vigilant and attentive to the discharge of every duty, which is the best preparation for a tranquil exit from life, — and, finally, of inducing it to hold its present pleasures in a con- tinual state of obedient resignation to the will of God, in the hope of exchanging them for such as are higher and more perfect. To pursue the vindication of the divine goodness in the introduction of other physical evils into the general adminis- tration of the government of this world, would, to the reflec- ting reader, I trust, be wholly unnecessary.^ Of the moral evils which afflict the world, their origin, and their cure ; and how they are made to illustrate the benignity, and raer- cy of God to mankind, the only true and satisfactory account is to be derived from revelation. They arise from an abuse of the passions, and the moral liberty of man ; but reason. * On the physical evils incident to the animal creation, and particularly on that order of nature, which has destined the weaker part as the prey of tlie more pow- erful, see many judicious reflections in Dr. Paley's natural theology, near the conclusion. 27 would be deplorably at a loss to find her way, in the maze of doubts, and perplexities, which attend their existence, in the economy of a benevolent Deity, if revelation did not put a filament in her hand, or extend a taper before her footsteps, to conduct her through the labyrinth. The elucidation of this subject belongs to the second part of this treatise, and will receive all the lights, which we can shed upon it from the holy scriptures, under the heads of the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. The only attribute which remains to be considered is that of justice. It is an invariable determination in the Divine Mind, to render to all his creatures according to their works, — to the virtuous, reward, — to the vicious, punish- ment. This attribute we ascribe to God from the dictates of conscience, and the sentiments of justice in our own breasts. — As philosophy delights to trace the most compli- cated causes and effects to the simplest principles, justice may, perhaps, be considered as only one expression of infi- nite benevolence, in which, by proper correctives, restraints, and examples, the injurious consequences of the passions may be prevented, and individuals deterred from seeking their own enjoyments, by the sacrifice of a greater good, in violating the general laws of order and happiness. Justice has, by divines, been distinguished into two kinds, — distributive, and vindictive. The former has been already defined, and may be applied for the reformation, a» well aa punishment of the offender ; the latter is conceived t© be the infliction of punishment on vice, simply for its owo intrinsic demerit, without any respect to the reformation of the individual, or any ulterior regard to a farther good end, except the general good of the universe. Conscience, in the nature of its reprehensions, makes us perceive that guilt deserves such infliction ; and, in its anticipations, in conse- quence of some atrocious acts of iniquity, often leads the criminal despairingly to fear it. These facts appear to indi» cate, that the distinction has a real foundation in nature.— And, in these apprehensions, probably, we discern the source of those bloody rites of superstition, which, on so ma- ny pagan altars, have dishonoured the name of religion. On this subject, a theological question has been raised of great iraportance to religion, — whether, in consistency with the justice and holiness of the Divine Nature, the violation of the moral law, by any creature, be pardonable without a complete atonement, or a full execution of its penally ? If justice be an essential attribute of God, and its claims, in consequence be as necessary as his existence, the forgive- ness of an offender, can never be a gratuitous exercise of mere mercy. From this principle, results an inference, which is deeply laid at the foundation of the christian reli- gion ;— the necessity of complete atonement to the violated law, and vindication of the perfections of God, in the person H 29 of a mediator, perfectly adequate to render this satisfactioHj in order to the exercise of mercy and forgiveness to the hu- man sinner. The discHSsion of this question also, belongs to the second branch of this treatise, and will find its place under the head of the covenant of grace. HI. OF THE PRINCIPLES OF HPMAN DDTY. In the science of Natural Religion, the first subject of in- vestigation is the existence and perfections of Almighty God the Creator; whence we may learn the duties of humao nature, as they relate to the various beings with whom we are connected. Virtue is the subject of supreme concern to mankind. It is the performance of all our duties from proper principles, and with right aflfections. The detail of these duties and affections, as far as nature simply is our guide, is beautifully pursued in the two celebrated treatises of the Roman orator, concerning the divine nature and human duty.* They would be too tedious to be detailed in the present system. All I shall aim at, in this place, therefore, will be to reduce them under proper classes, in such a man- aer, as to exhibit a distinct, and systematic view of their general principles, and very briefly to present the ground and reasons of each. * M. T. Cicero d« natura deomm, — et de officiis. 30 The duties of morality may be divided in different ways, either, according to the principles fiom which they spring, and which govern their exercise, or according to the objects on which tbey terminate. The former division was general- ly adopted by the ancient philosophers, who classed them under the heads of justice, prudence, temperance, and for- titude. The latter is more commonly employed by chris- tian writers, who arrange them under the heads of the duties which we owe to God, to our fellow men, and to ourselves. Under the distribution of the virtues made by the ancients, all the practical duties of life were embraced with all the speculative questions, which philosophers have raised on that subject. But the more modern division, introduced chiefly by christian writers, containing a more obvious, and convenient distribution, I shall follow in our present dis- quisition. OF OUR DUTIES TO GOD. The duties, which we owe to God, and which ought t» occupy our first attention, may be distributed into those which are external, and those which are internal ; or into those which are general, and those which are particular. Our general duties embrace the whole compass of piety and virtue ; and because they constitute the moral law of the uni- verse, prescribed by God himself, in the very structure of human nature, conformity to their dictates is justly regarded 31 as obedience to him. The particular duties, terminate im. mediately on God as their object, and include both (he de- vout afFeclions of the heart, and all the natural and external expressions of those affections. — The devout affections from which, as from their natural source, flow all the streams of pious obedience to our Creator in this life, are love, rever- ence, and resignation. And, of such profound and universal obedience, the active spring is love ; which, to be sincere, ought to be supreme. It is, perhaps, better expressed in the sacred scriptures than in any other writings ; Thou ihalt love the Lord thij God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. This affection in the pious mind has respect to all the attributes of the Deity ; but chiefly to his moral perfections, and, especial- ly, to that infinite goodness on which we, and all things da constantly depend. Reverence is less an active, than a restraining principle, and is calculated to impose a salutary check on the passion* of mankind, surrounded, and stitnulated, as they constantly are, by powerful temptations to vice. This affection res- pects, principally, the infinite greatness, wisdotn, po'.ver, anil holiness of God. It is a principle essential to the existence of piety and virtue, in creatures so imperfect, and prone to evil as mankind. From the profound degree in which it prevails in the pious mind, and ought ever to prevail in the human soul, it is justl}'- in the sacred scriptures, stiled the 3& fear of God. Thia virtue was held in peculiar honor in the early ages of the Roman commonwealth, by that wise peo- ple. And their most distinguished writers inform us, that they regarded the fear of the gods, and reverence for the sacred offices of religion, as the basis of the public virtue^ and of the prosperity of the republic. How much more truth and importance should be attached to this principle in an enlightened christian country ! Absolute resignation to the will of God, and the wise ar- rangements of his providence, 1 have mentioned, in the last place, as belonging to our internal duties. It implies entire confidence in the wisdom, justice, and goodness, of the Infinite Mind ; and a deep conviction of the narrowness of our own understanding, and the imperfection of our own views, as to what is good or ill for us. Resignation, resting on these principles, begets not only a grateful acknowledgment of the manifold blessings of divine providence, but a submissive ac- quiescence in the will of Heaven under its most aflflictive dispensations ; believing, that, although we may not be able to discern their ultimate relations to any beneficent end, either to ourselves, or others, yet are they all reasonable and just, and good ; and necessarily springing out of the all-wise arrangements of the universal system under the government of God. This disposition of mind is equally opposed to all discontent and repining at the course of providence, and to all vain reliance upon its aids, while we presumptuously neg' 33 lect our own duties. It tends to produce that placid sereni- ty of soul, so becoming the character of resigned pieiy, and to awaken the active and prudent exertions, which virtue re- quires of every good man, in dependence on God, to improve the felicity of his condition, and his honourable standing in life. OF OUR EXTERNAL DUTIES. The external duties, which we owe to God, comprise every decent outward expression of the pious sentiments of the heart. They are all embraced under the general name of divine worship, for which, however, natural reason has not prescribed any precise and definite form. Dit!'erent nations, and different sects of religion, have each adopted a peculiar ceremonial. No sanctity ought to be as- cribed to rites, exclusively of the affections which they are designed to assist ; or any further than they are proper ex- pressions of the devout dispositions of the soul. But all rites deserve to be regarded with respect, which custom has sanctified by their sacred use, auiong any people, or so associ- ated with their religious ideas, as to be to the7n the most se- rious, and affecting expression of their devotional exercises. In considering the general question, of the utility of rites and forms in religion, and how they may be applied in the most effectual manner to answer (he design of impressing the heart in divine worship, and aiding its pious emolions. reason 5 34 will decide, that the ceremonial ought to be, neither too sim- ple, nor too multifarious and splendid. The mass of man- kind are so much governed by sensible impressions, as sel- dom to be able to support, with proper fervency, a religion which aims to be wholly intellectual, and scorns any alliance with the senses ; on the other hand, the senses are apt to be so much amused with a ceremonial too splendid, or multifa- rious, as, in time, to exclude the heart and understanding from divine worship, and to substitute, in its room, only a friv- olous superstition. The essential parts of a rational worship, in whatever ce- remonies it is clothed, are adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and prayer. Adoration, relates to the infinite perfections of the Deity, for which we ought, in our devotions, to feel, and express the highest veneration. Thanksgiving, is employed in giving utterance to our grateful acknowledgments, of those innumerable mercies, which we continually receive from him. Confession, respects our manifold offences and omissions of duty. And finally, prayer regards those mercies of which we have need, and which we ought humbly and submissive- ly to ask of him, either for ourselves, or for others. These duties, being continually explained and inculcated in the public institutions of religion, will not require any fur- ther illustration in this place. Two objections, however, have been so plausibly urged against the duty of divine wor- 35 ship in general, that they ought not, perhaps, to pass with- out a particular answ^er. It is said, in the first place, to convey an unworthy idea of the Supreme Deity, to suppose that he derives pleasure from hearing his perfections repeated, or his praises extolled by mortals, in acts of adoration, as if, by such adulatory ad- dresses, his displeasure could be averted, or his mercy brib- ed.— It is equally unworthy the Divine Majesty, it is alledg- ed, to believe that humiliating confessions from such imper- fect beings can be acceptable to him who already knows and pities all their errors ; or that he can require of them formal acknowledgments for the acts of beneficence, which it is agreeable to his nature to bestow, and for which no acknowl- edgments can make any requital. To these unfair representations, it may be replied with justice, that it is an essential law of our nature, that all high sentiments, or strong affections, naturally seek for some means by which to express themselves. If therefore, we feel, as virtuous, and pious men ought to feel, towards the Author of our being, to check this dutiful expression of our emotions, would be to stifle the most reasonable impulses of the heart ; and npt to feel them, would be the proof of a cold and corrupted soul. 36 I add, that the most natural, and laudable afi'ections, when they are suppressed, and entirely locked up within the heart, necessarily languish, and, at length, cease to be perceived. The strong, and ingenuous emotions of unfeigned piety will ever seek for some mode of external expression, and the repeated expression of them in the acts of a visible worship, will i*^ciprocally, give strength to the inward temper from which they flow. An external worship, then, is founded on principles of the soundest reason, and most conformable to the laws of our moral nature. It cannot, by any person, who thinks wisely of the Deity, be supposed to be enjoined for any gratification which he receives from the praises, or pros- trations of a being so imperfect as man. It can be demand- ed only from that infinite wisdom and benevolence which re- quires our worship for its own essential rectitude, and for its beneficial influence in cultivating the affections and habits of piety, for which it is so admirably fitted. For adoration of the divine perfections, while it impresses the pious mind with an awful reverence of the Deity, tends to elevate the tone of its moral feelings, and to assimilate them to the pu- rity of the object of its worship. — The grateful recollection of the divine mercies, in the immediate presence of God, serves to confirm the aflfectionate purposes of duty, and obe- dience to him. — On the contrary, the penitent confession of the sins and errors of life, helps to arm the soul against its own weakness, and its impure passions. And finally, the supplications which we address to the Father of mercies for 3r the blessings which we need, either for the present life, or in the hope of a future and higher existence, remind us, contin- ualij, of our dependence on him for all things ; and awaken, by that remembrance, the profoundest sentiments of piety. Can there be more proper means of cultivating in human nature the best and noblest affections of the heart? The second objection, which perhaps, is more plausible, and seems supported on stronger metaphysical ground, is di- rected against the eflScacy, and consequently the utility of prayer, employed as a mean of obtaining the divine favor, either in our public, or private devotions. — The order of the universe, and the eternal train of causes and effects, have, from the beginning, been fixed by infinite wisdom. And the laws which have been established by divine wis- dom are as unchangeable as those which have been ascribed to necessity, or fate. — Why, then, it is demanded, should we pray? If pre-established causes naturally co-operate to the production of the event, it must take place independent- ly of our prayers. If otherwise, we pray in vain. The breath of mortals cannot change the eternal order of things. — This is the objection placed in the strongest point of light. — To obviate it, let it be observed that prayer can have on- ly two ends in view ; either to cultivate the moral qualities of the heart, and thereby obtain those spiritual blessings which, in the order of providence are connected with them, or to procure those external, and temporal good? which we 38 solicit in prayer. To obtain the former, we have seen that prajer, with every other part of divine worship, possesses an obvious and acknowledged influence. The stress of the objection, therefore, presses on the latter ; but admits of this simple and unconstrained sohition. — From the superiority of intellect to matter, and of the moral to the physical order of things, there is the highest probability that the latter has been created wholly in subserviency to the former. If this principle be admitted, will it not result as a natural conse- quence that the Creator may have so adjusted the physical to the moral oider of things, that, foreseeing the sincere, and reasonable desires of good men, who are his children, the disposition of causes, and the train of events shall be such as, at the proper time, and in the way most agreeable to his infinite wisdom, to correspond with their prayers, if it be his will to bestow the blessing ? For so perfect is his fore- knowledge, that, with regard to his infinite view, no event may be considered as future, but all things are immediately present. If this be regarded as an hypothetical answer to the ob- jection, there are, at least, innumerable occasions on which the same answer, derived from the relation of the two worlds, appears to be founded on the plain and obvious course of nature. How often do the events of the world manifestly depend upon moral springs ? How often do we see the for- tunes of individuals greatly influenced by their moral charac- 39 ter ? And the universal voice of historj, has almost raised it info a maxim, that the prosperity of nations is intimately linked with their virtue, and their decline as certainly asso- ciated with the corruption of morals, and the disorder of the public manners. When we reflect, therefore, how much public, and individual manners are affected by the healthful state of religion, and how much this is connected with the purity of the public worship, and the sincerity of private de- votion, we can hardly avoid the conclusion, that on many events, prayers offered up to Almighty God, with humility, fervency, and perseverance, have an influence, not less pow- erful, and, often, much more successful than any other second cause. So that whether we regard the wise, and eternal ar- rangements of providence, or the known and fixed order of natural and moral events, the result still recurs that prayer, far from being an unreasonable, and hopeless service, not only has a natural and important influence on human events, but may have, as revelation assures U3 it has, a positive and divine efficacy. And, indeed, can any institution be more just, and equitable in itself, than that God should make the conferring of the blessings whic!» we a?k in prayer, to depend upon the existence and growth of those pious dispositions which are best cultivated by these devotional exercises ? 40 OF OUR DUTIES TO OUR FELLOW-MEK. These duties include a greater compass and variety than those which terminate im mediately upon God. They res- pect the infinitely various relations which subsist among man- kind, and necessarily occupy much the largest portion of life. There is scarcely one of our actions which does not affect some of these relations. From the general information which prevails in a country like ours, continually enlightened by the pulpit, on the practical duties of society, it would be wholly unnecessary to go into an extensive detail of our so- cial offices. Sufficient, I presume, it will be to suggest a few sub-divisions under which they may all be classed. The first and most general division of our duties may be into those which are negative, consisting merely in abstinence from injury, or the infliction of unnecessary pain, — and such as are positive, being employed chiefly in doing actual good. Many subordinate classes of practical duty may admit of a similar division. But when we speak of duty in general, it seems peculiarly requisite, on account of the many and strong passions in human nature, which so often impel men to mu- tual injury. / The positive duties which we owe to our fellow-men may all be comprised under the heads of justice, and beneficence. 41 But though so simple in their principles, they are, in prac- tice, almost infinitely diversified in their details, according to the relations which we sustain, to our country, — ^to our family, — to our vicinity, — to our friends, — to the objects of our charity, — to those who are invested with authority over iiSj — or who are subjected to our contronl, — or, finally, ac- cording to our philanthropic relations to mankind. On these duties volumes have been written ; libraries have been fill= ed ; and still they are subjects which constantly demand our attention, and on which we can never cease to be active, and to learn. OP OUR DUTIES TO OURSELVES. This class of duties is as real, and, in many respects, as important, as those which we owe to God, or to our neigh- bour. On these, as on the last, I shall content myself with simply enumerating the sub-divisions, under which all the particular details may be embraced. They relate to self- preservation, — to self-enjoyment, — to self-interest, — and to the general cultivation and improvement of our nature. Self-preservation includes the care of health, of liberty, and life. He is culpable who neglects his health, which ought to be diligently preserved only for the useful and vir- tuous purposes of living. He is, perhaps, more culpable, who barters hi^ liberty for any pretended convenience, or 42 compensation, or who does not strenuously defend, when it is attacked, this most noble, and precious prerogative of our nature. And vohmtarilj to sacrifice life, or unnecessarily to hazard it, in a cause that is not worthy the rational and moral nature of man, if it does not flow from insanity, is an evidence of a mind precipitate, and foolish, and utterly void of virtuous fortitude. A rational self-enjoyment, in the next place, every good man is not only permitted, but required, to cultivate, in order that he may be rendered more grateful to his Creator, and correspond more effectually with his gracious design in our creation, by prudently and temperately using the blessings of his providence. This is evidently conformable to the purpose of our Creator, and harmonizes wi(h the apparent structure and order of our nature. But, in using this privi- lege, peculiar caution is requisite, lest the force of self-love should urge indulgence beyond that restricted and frugal boundary, at which prudence and virtue should arrest it. Self-interest, the cultivation of which belongs to this class of our duties, relates to necessary provision, and comfortable accommodation, which no good man, under any pretended idea of benevolence, or public spirit, ouglit to neglect ; and, in a more extended view, it relates to the farour of God, and the felicity that reason teaches us to hope for in a future 43 world, which should be the first concern to every truly wise man in the present. The general cultivation and improvement of our nature, which I enumerated last among the duties, that we owe to ourselves, has for its objects, our bodily powers, the facul- ties of the mind, and the affections of the heart. The most important trust, which our Almighty Creator has commrtted to man as a moral and accountable being, is himself. And the first obligation, which such a gift imposes, is to carry his nature to the ultimale perfection of which it is susceptible, in our circumstances. Such is a very brief analysis of the general system of our duties, but sufficient, perhaps, to present, to a reflecting mind, a key to its minute and particular details. I do not say that all men have been able to deduce the sys- tem of their duties in a regular and scientific train of reason- ing ; nor that they are not much more clearly discerned, un- der the bright illumination of the gospel) than they were, by the wisest men, under the dim twilight of paganism ; but such they appear to be, when faithfully and dispassionately traced out, under the guidance simply of a purified reason. 44 OF NATURAL RELIGION, AS IT RESPECTS, IN THE FOURTH PLACE, THE MOTIVES OF DUTV, DRAWN FROM THE PROBABLE HOPES OF A FUTURE EXISTENCE. After stating the general principles of human duty, as it is prescribed by the religion of nature, it is proper, in the last place, to turn our attention to the motives, from the same source, by which it is enforced. Those drawn from a ra- tional consideration of our interests, pleasure, and happiness, in the present life, will be the same in natural, as in revealed religion. Revelation presents us with the highest possible inducements, which can be derived from the hopes and fears of futurity, exhibited in the clearest and the strongest light. Natural reason, likewise, presents to mankind its motives drawn from the same source, and, though far from being so clear and powerful as those which address us from the reveal- ed word of God, yet well deserving our consideralion, as those alone to which the great majority of mankind can have; recourse ; and which shew us how far human reason, in its ojost cultivated state, may lead us, in the investigation of this most important doctrine, unaided by any direct and im? mediate light from Heaven. For this purpose, I shall propose to you the chief of those general arguments, on which the phi;; losopher professes to found his belief, or rather his hope of the immortality of the soul. The authority of the law of vir- tue would be very feebly felt by the greater part of mankind. 45 if the expectations, or the apprehensions of existing after this life, were not shewn to rest on, at least, probable foundations. We must confess, however, that probability is the utmost which reason, paying all due deference to its powers, has been able to attain on this interesting subject. We must look for that clear and full persuasion, on which the soul can repose with assurance in the midst of affiiction, and at the approach of death, only in the sacred scriptures. But the human mind, in its anxious longings after immortality, is in- clined to make the most of those feeble lights, which reason holds out to encourage its hopes. And Cicero could only say, but he says it with the enthusiasm natural to a virtuous mind, that " if he were deceived in cherishing the hope of an immortal existence, he wished not to be awakened from so agreeable a delusion." And Socrates, in his last conversa- tion with his friends, just before drinking the fatal hemlock, thus took his leave of them, — "You go to your ordinary oc- cupations, I to my fate ; which of us shall enjoy the happier lot is .known only to the Gotls," The christian religion has produced such a deep and gen- eral persuasion of this doctrine, in the minds of its disciples, as has induced a common belief, that the evidence which i-eason yields in its support, is much more direct and clear, (han, on the most fair and candid examination, it will be found to be. There are, however, such strong and rational prob- abilities, drawn both from the physical and moral or 51 which are commonly found to increase in proportion as they appear to be approaching the period of their earthly exist- ence. The natural desire of immortality is certainly, one of the strongest affections of the human heart, at least, till the dominion of vicious passions have made it the interest of the guilty to fear it. It is the most powerful motive of vir- tue, and the greatest consolation of good men, under the va- rious trials of life. And on the violent and criminal passion,? of the vicious there is hardly any restraint so effectual, as the apprehension of a future existence, and of the retribution with which conscience always accompanies that fear. The hopes and fears of human nature, therefore, both concur to strengthen the probability of a renewed existence after this life. If this lively anticipation of a future being, in a happi- er state, be implanted hi the hearts of good men, by God himself, can we believe that his infinite benignity hath cre- ated in them desires only to disappoint them, and inspire them with hopes only to tantalise them ? The same conclusion is confu-med by the apprehensions of wicked men, especially under the stroke of any great ca- lamity, or at the approach of death. The conscience of guilt anticipates a retribution far exceeding any sufferings to which it can be subjected in the present life. And very few are the cases in which tliis salutary fear can be entirely ex- tinguished by the hardihood of vice, or the perversion of a misguided education. And, certainly, it would not be 52 serving the interests of society, or of human nature, to attempt to remove from the minds of men, those useful restraints which the wisdom of divine providence hath thought proper to impose upon the passions, which would, otherwise, be dangerous to the peace of societj, and to the best interests of virtue. — This argument is not a little strengthened by the acknowledged effect which the disbelief of the immortality of the soul, and the doctrine of a future life would have up- on the state of public morals. The good could hardly find in the general order, and distribution of providence, in the present state, sufficient motives to sustain them in the con- tinual conflicts ; or to encourage the incessant efforts of vir-, tue, which are often painful and laborious, and not rarely ex- posed to extraordinary hazards. If the passions of men were freed from the salutary restraints of religious fear, and secrecy were, as it then would be, the effectual protection of crimes, the greatest infelicity and disorder would reign in society. Some of the most eminent of the Roman writers as- cribe the extreme corruption of the Roman manners, towards the period of the republic, and under the empire in its fii-st ages, to the introduction and prevalence of the epicurean philosophy, of which the final extinction of the soul at death was one of the leading principles. If these reflections be well founded, and the doctrine of immortality, and religious reverence, which generally accompanies it, be necessary to the peace and order of human society, and the prosperity of nations, the truth of the principle is strongly implied in 53 this salutary effect. It is unreasonable to believe that God has formed human nature in such a manner as to require that it should be governed by falsehood. We ought to presume, on the contrary, that all the plans of infinite wisdom do so correspond, that virtue, and happiness, which appear to be the end of the whole, must be established by truth alone. There appears, in the next place, such a promiscuous and unequal distribution of good and evil in the present state, as gives strong ground to expect, in some future period of our existence, a partition of the blessings and inflictions of divine providence more conformable to our ideas of the goodness and equity of the Supreme Ruler of the universe. If this world were designed to exhibit the ultimate plan of his moral government, it would be a most natural expectation to find virtue placed in such favourable circumstances, that tranquil- lity, comfort, and honor, should, at least, be within the com- pass of its reasonable efforts ; and vice be subjected to de- privations, and inflictions that should bear some proportion to the disorders and enormities occasioned by it. Contrary, however, to that order of things which all our ideas of reason, and of the goodness and equity of the Deity w ould suggest, we often behold virtue suffering under deep and unavoidable affiiclions ; and those atflictions, not unfrequenlly, induced immediately by a firm and steady adherence to truth and duty ; while vice triumphs in the rewards of fraud and treach- ery. Many writers, professing to put external circumstances 54 wholly out of the question, have maintained, that happiness, depending entirely upon the internal state of the mind, is more equally distributed, according to the virtue and wisdom of individuals, than appears to be implied in the objection : and Diogenes, in his tub, it is said, was really no less happy than Alexander on his throne. This vindication of the per- fect equity of the present arrangements of providence, sup- posing them to be final, is rather plausible than just. A few men by religious enthusiasm, or philosophic speculation, may reduce, or exalt their feelings to almost any standard. But, when we speak generally of the happiness of human nature, it is so much connected with the sensibilities of the body, and 80 much with the relations of society, and with ideas re- sulting from its customs, habits, and opinions, which neces- sarily incorporate themselves with all our feelings, that the external state, and visible condition of men must afford us a more accurate criterion by which to judge of the equalities, or inequalities of divine providence, than any interior and in- visible standard of mental feeling. And by this scale, sure- ly, we do not perceive the rewards of virtue, or the chastise- ments of vice bestowed, or inflicted in any equitable degree according to the respective characters of men. They fall, rather according to the ingenuity, vigilance, and perseverance of individuals, in their various pursuits, or the defect of those talents ; or, according to some fortunate accident, rather than according to merit. 55 This mixed and unequal distribution of good and evil, is probably better adapted to a state of probation, where virtue is exercised and tried, by being thrown into various circum- stances of adversity and prosperity, than one which should indicate a more exact discriminatiorv of character w^ould be. But it is contrary to all our ideas of the divine beneficence and wisdom to believe that these probationary sufferings are to be the final reward of virtue ; or that this mixture of pleas- ure and pain, in which the pleasure evidently predominates, is to be the final infliction of divine justice on vice which dis- arranges the whole order and harmony of the moral world. From these considerations, we have the justest reason to conclude, that this mixed condition of human life, and pro- miscuous distribution of divine providence, indicates, only a preparatory state of moral discipline, which has a reference to another and higher condition of being.— And this hope we have seen to be confirmed by the anal- ogy of nature, which seems inclined not to leave any of her works imperfect, and will, therefore, not crush in the germ, or arrest in their incipient state, so many noble facul- ties of the human mind, which are evidently capable of at- taining a degree of perfection which they never arrive at, and of evolving powers which they never display in the pre- sent life. — We have seen it confirmed by tiie general suf- frage of human nature, resting, it would seem, on an instinct 56 ive impression, or intuitive conviction of the mind, expressed in the religious opinions of all nations. — It is further confirm- ed by the hopes of virtue, and the fears of guilt, especially at the approaah of death. — And it is confirmed, finally, by the unequal distributions of good, and evil, according to the moral qualities of men in the present life. — These moral reasons when taken separately, may not be calculated to produce entire conviction in a mind disposed to weigh every argument with scrupulous distrust ; yet^ when assembled together under one view, they present such a group of probabilities, as can hardly fail to carry with them every candid and Ingenuous mind ; and must make even the cold scepticism of infidelity relent. But, I must repeat, that full, unwarering conviction, on this most interesting sub- ject, can be obtained only from revelation, which, at the same time, that it assures us of the fact of a future, and im- mortal state of being, discloses to us, in some measure, wherein it consists. On the nature of our future existence, admitting what reason I think demonstrates, that it is, in the highest degree probable, we can form no precise and certain ideas ; that state being too far removed beyond the range of our present experience. We can speak of it only in the most general terms. But, from the analogy of what actually comes under our observation of the process of nature, we have just ground 57 to conclude, that the condition of human life, will be greatly improved above its actual state in the present world, both in personal form, if, according to the ideas of religion, we look for a re-union of the body with the soul, and in the powers of the mind. In those transmutations which pass under our immediate review in the insect tribes, we never see them pass from one state, to resume the same appearance in anotherj but, in each gradation in their progress, they acquire augmented powers, and are invested with new, and more beautiful forms. It cannot, therefore, be unreasonable to expect a vast aug- mentation in the active powers of our nature, both corporeal, and mental ; in the quickness and vivacity of the senses, in the beauty and excursive force of the imagination, and the penetration and energies of the understanding. And the same analogies incline us to expect the addition or develope- ment of many new faculties, of which, in the present state, the imperfection of our reason cannot form any conception. Nor is it improbable that, in an immortal existence, the renovated faculties of our nature will advance forward in an endless progression of improvements, whether reason incline us more to the idea of one continued but improving form of existence, or to the pythagorean principle of successive transmutations. And in the system of the universe, there is, undoubtedly, an ample theatre for an interminable progress both in knowledge and in virtue. Nor can we doubt but that there, the wisdom, the power, the goodness, and equity of 58 the divine perfections will be more conspicuously, and illus- triously displayed, than in the present introductory state of being. Such, without giving any unwarranted license to the ex- cursions of imagination, and judging only from actual analo- gies presented to our senses, and reason, may we presume to be a just, as far as it is extended, though most imperfect outline of that future existence to which virtue ardently as- pires, and to the hope of which the most cool, and dispas- sionate examination of reason deliberately affixes its seal. EVIDENCES CHRISTIAN RELIGION. INTRODUCTION. THE NECESSITY OF REVELATION. Before proceeding to the consideration of the doctrines of our holy religion, it is necessary in the first place to dis- play its evidences, that our faith may not be merely an en- thusiastic and visionary confidence, but a rational offering to truth and reason. And if I should propose little, or even nothing that is new on this subject, I hope to be able to comprise the general argument in favor of Christianity, in such a narrow compass, and exhibit it in such an easy and perspicuous order, as not only to afford conviction, but furnish a concise and ready an- swer to those popular objections which are most frequently urged against the holy scriptures. But before proceeding directly to exhibit the proofs on which our faith in the christian system may rationally rest, I shall, in the first place, offer to you several considerations which afford a strong presumption of the necessity of some 60 divine communication from heaven to instruct mankind in the knowledge of their duty, and of the hopes they may lawful- ly entertain from the divine mercy. For, if revelation be not necessary, and reason alone be sufficient to lead man to his Creator, and to furnish him with all the principles, the motives, and aids of duty which are requisite in his present state, any examination into the truth of Christianity is mani- festly superfluous. But, if we see evils reigning over the moral world, which reason and philosophy are unable to cure, our confidence in the benignity of our heavenly Father will naturally lead us to expect his interposition, in some ex- traordinary way, in behalf of his erring, and afflicted, though disobedient children. The necessity of a revelation may be inferred from the ex- treme ignorance, and even the monstrous errors with regard to the being of God, and to the nature of the worship which he requires, as well as with regard to a future existence, which prevailed almost universally among mankind at the period of the birth of Christ ; it may be inferred from the extreme and universal depravation of morals, which the lights of nature and the aids of reason had become utterly impotent to remedy : And, finally, it may be inferred from the incapacity of the unaided powers of the human mind, satisfactorily to determine, if mercy will, or can, in consis- tency with the justice of God, and the purity of the divine nature, be extended to the guilty. 61 At the period when Christianity first appeared in the world, the principles even of natural religion had nearly per- ished from among men. Instead of those pure and sublime conceptions which every reasonable and dependent creature ought to entertain of the supreme and infinite Creator, man- kind had degraded the objects of their worship below even the vilest and most profligate of their worshippers. " The glory of the incorruptible God they had changed into an image made like, not only to corruptible man, but to four' footed beasts and creeping things.'* They deified all the passions, and served them with all the vices. What were Saturn and Moloch, and Venus and Bacchus, but cruelty, and hist, and intemperance personified? And what were their altars, their temples, and their groves, but scenes of the grossest pollution, and often of the most horrid crimes ? In many countries, and especially in India, in Egypt, and Syria, they deified the obscenest parts of the human body, and served these detestable idols with a correspondent wor- ship. The ideas which they framed, and the hopes which they conceived of a future state of existence, were so uncertain and obscure ; and were at best, so gloomy and uncomforta- ble, as to afibrd little encouragement and support to the heart in those painful self-denials, and those arduous conflicts which it must often undergo in aspiring to an elevated pitch of vtftue. As little were they calculated to console it at 62 the approach of death, which, to them, was the loss of ev- ery enjoyment, and of every hope ; and still less to elevate it above the mere pleasures of sense, and to prepare it here- after for a spiritual and celestial state of being. Reason, in- deed, in its highest improvements, however it may accumu- late probabilities, can afford no secure expectation, of the immortality of the soul. But, in the hand of vice, it is used rather as a weapon to destroy this precious hope ; for, im- mortality can be desirable only to virtue. And when this expectation is destroyed, the broadest encouragement is laid open to every sensual and criminal excess. For, if no high- er and happier condition of being awaits the virtuous ; if the vicious have no future retribution to apprehend, why should they impose any restraint upon their present pleasures? Can any maxim be more natural to the misjudging mass of mankind, the children of appetite and passion, than that of the degenerate disciples of Epicurus : Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we dk? From these, and other causes connected with them, the de- pravation of morals had become extreme throughout all the nations of antiquity before the advent of the Messiah. They had long abandoned that simplicity of manners which reign- ed in the primitive ages ; and which was, in part at least, to be ascribed to those just and noble sentiments of the deity which appear to have been entertained by the patriarchs of the old world. Sentiments which were probably the re- 63 mains of an original revelation imparted by God to the father of the human race, and repeated to the second progenitor of mankind after the deluge, and bj him communicated to the nations immediately springing from him. For, in pro- portion as men descended farther from this source, and the traces of this primitive tradition became obscure, and mix- ed with the errors and fables which time incorporated with it, we find the deepest ignorance and the grossest idolatry prevailing, together with a correspondent corruption of mor- als, which, in a course of ages, arrived, at length, to bid de- fiance to all restraint and all decency. The apostle Paul, in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans,* has drawn a dark and melancholy picture of the moral state of the hea- then world ; and, addressing converted Romans and Greeks, he implicitly appeals for its verification to their own obser- vation and experience. And some, even of their own wri- ters, have given to us the same picture in colours hardly less dark. No where, perhaps, can we find a portrait of the moral state of men given in deeper shades than that which Juvenal has di'awn of the manners of Rome in his age. And though some allowance is to be made for the colourings of poetry, and especially of satire ; yet satire must be drawn from real life, and present to us a strong resemblance of character, otherwise, it loses all its eflfect. * Rom. chap. I. v. 24—31. 64 It may be asked, perhaps, if reason, prudently and dili- gently applied, might not have produced a reform of this general corruption ? I answer without hesitation that this was an effect beyond its power. It cannot promulge its laws with sufficient clearness and certainty ; and these laws are destitute of adequate sanctions. That it wants certain' ty is evident from the eternal doubts, disputes, and contra- dictions of its pretended lawgivers, the philosophers. It may be still more evident to those observers of human na- ture who have seen with what facility the heart is able to bias or tincture every moral dictate of the understanding when opposed to our self-love. But, in the next place, its laws are destitute of adequate sanctions. The sanctions of the law of reason and nature consist only in that self-appro- bation which spiings from the love of truth and the per- formance of our dutyj and those inward reproaches of con- science which follow an action that we feel and acknowledge to be wrong. But what is the love of truth or duty in a heart that is already corrupted ? And how feeble are the reproach- es of conscience, when not enforced by the belief that we are accountable to a supreme Judge, and by the expectation of a future state of retribution ! Its faltering remonstrances are easily appeased by the flalteries of self-love, or stiSed in the tumults of pleasure. No : a corrupt age, a degenerate world, never can be reformed by the influence of reason alone. Its lights are too dubious and uncertain ; its sanctions are too feeble. The mass of mankind are not capable of com- 65 prehending the one, nor of being rationally governed by the force of the other. The masters of science among the Greeks, fully persuad- ed of this truth, never pretended to impart to the people any of their moral or theological systems ; believing them incom- petent to comprehend their first principles, and still more in- capable of pursuing these principles, in a train of regular, but often complicated deductions, to their legitimate conclu- sions. Hopeless therefore of their reformation, they aban- doned them to the powers of superstition, to practise its ab- surd, and often licentious rites, without attempting to instruct them. This it was that made Socrates say, as Plato has re- corded the conversation, " You may resign all hope of re- forming the manners of men, unless it please God to send some person to instruct you." And made Plato himself say, " Whatever is set right, in the present ill state of the world, can be done only by the interposition of God."^ These maxims of these great philosophers imply that, though the people may be capable of receiving the most wise and excellent principles of theology, or of morals, from authority which is supposed to be divine ; yet, if they were set to work them out by the efforts of their own understanding, or by the aid of merely human teaehers, the moral state of the world must be irremediable. Blind and arrogant, or scepti- *" Plato's treatiac concerning a republic i book vi 9 66 cal, must be the teachers ; dull, and incapable of learning, or bewildered in the doubts of their masters, must be the scholars. Such was the necessity, felt and acknowledged by the wisest men in the heathen world, of some revelation from heaven to instruct mankind in the knowledge of the truth, and to give it effectual operation on their hearts and lives. If the great body, even of the populace, seem now to be more susceptible of rational ideas on the subject of religion ; if they entertain sublimer and purer apprehensions of the di- vine nature, and of that spiritual worship which should be paid to the supreme Creator ; and if we see the tone of pub- lic morals raised to a higher pitch, and regulated by a higher standard ; if every where we behold that very populace, who were denounced by the philosophers as incapable of a rational sytem of religion, thinking more wisely and more justly on the transcendent subjects of the divine nature, of human duly, and the immortality of the soul, than those philosophers themselves, are we not fairly entitled to ascribe these effects to the influence of our holy religion ; since rea. son had before tried, in vain, her full force upon the human mind and the human character ? But, the impotence of reason to instruct and reform man- kind, is not to be seen only, or even chiefly, in the ignorance and vices of the people. It is, perhaps, not less discernible er in the errors, the follies, and corruptions of the philosophers themselves, who cultivated it with the greatest assiduity, and who boasted having carried it to its highest improvement. What do we find among them but eternal doubts and con- tradictions : opinions ever varying, and settled on no certain basis of truth ; which were, therefore, found utterly incompe- tent to control the passions, or to regulate the conduct even of the professed disciples of reason ? The lives of the philo- sophers, with few exceptions, were not less dissolute than those of the people whom they despised. And, on the real nature of religion, and the true principles of duty, the sage, as will be seen hereafter, was scarcely better informed than the peasant. But, lest these reproaches should seem to be the result merely of the prejudices of religion, let me appeal to Cicero, the greatest of philosophers, as well as of orators, who de- nounces them in still stronger language : " Do you think, says he, that these precepts of morality had any influence, except in a very few instances, upon the men who speculat- ed, wrote, and disputed concerning them ? No : who is there of all the philosophers whose mind, life, and manners were conformed to the dictates of right reason ? Which of them ever made his philosophy the law and rule of his life, and not merely an occasion of displaying his own ingenuity ? Which of them has conformed himself to his own doctrines, or lived in obedience to his own precepts ? On the contrary. 68 many of them hare been slaves to the vilest lusts, to pride, to avarice, and to other similar vices."* Nor is this surprising to those vrho consider that the ex- treme refinements of reason, which arise from the natural ambition of human pride, to extend its authority beyond its proper sphere, always tend to dogmatical error in bold and ardent minds, or to the cold indifference of scepticism, in minds of an opposite character. What is really within the reach of human reason lies near the surface, and is obvious to a sincere and impartial love of truth. But when we would penetrate deeper into the causes and the nature of things, attempting to pass the limits prescribed to human in- tellect, we are immediately bewildered in error and doubt. Hence the existence of a Supreme and Intelligent Cause of the universe, which to a plain and honest mind seems an in- tuitive dictate of the understanding, has become doubtful, as soon as ingenious men have made it a subject of speculation. They have pretended to doubt of their own existence, of the existence of the universe, and the reality of their own sensations. At best, the most important principles of reli- gion and morals are thrown out merely as subjects of inge- nious disquisition, intended to exercise and display their wit. There existed accordingly, in the various schools of Greece, such diversity and contradiction of sentiment, such subtlety * Tusculan Questions ; book ii. 69 and refinement, and often such systematic scepticism, that their theological and moral principles, thrown into the gene- ral mass of the subtleties of science, about which they were accustomed to dispute, lost all authority over human con- duct. In a short period after the introduction of philoso- phy, the greater part of its professors became both vicious in their lives, and atheistical in their opinions. And these masters of science, instead of proving the reformers of the world, only hastened its corruption ; and, by weakening or destroying the ideas of a Supreme Judge, and a future re- tribution, opened a wider door to the licentious indulgence of all the passions» PROOF OF AN ORIGINAL REVELATION TO MAN. IMPO- TENCE OF REASON. NECKSSITV OF A NEW REVEL'ATION. The impotence of reason alone to accomplish the refoi=- mation of the world, in the midst of the darkness and cor- ruption into which it was sunk, is manifest from this addi- tional fact, that the longer men relied upon it, and commit- ted themselves to tlie guidance solely of its lights ; that is, the farther we descend in history from the beginning of time, the more absurd do we find the superstitions of the people, the more atheistical and impious the systems of the philoso^ phers, and the more degenerate the morals of both. 70 InaSQiucb, as mankind, at the coming of Christ, had near- ly lost the knowledge of the true God, and his worship ; and, as their moral depravity had kept pace with their religious errors, and none of the ordinary powers of human reason were found competent to remedy evils so extreme, it seems consistent with all just ideas of the perfections of God, and conformable to our reasonable hopes in his wisdom, good- ness, and compassion, that he should interpose, by some ex- traordinary communication of himself, to save religion from utterly perishing, and to recal men to virtue and order by the knowledge of divine truth. The lights of tradition which had been gradually growing more dim for ages, were now nearly extinguished under a mass of the most corrupt and shameful superstitions that ever oppressed the world, and degraded human nature. And the wisest sages, bewildered in eternal doubt, and beholding around them vices in the ha- bits of mankind which they knew not how to amend, and mysteries in the erder of nature and of providence which they knew not how to unravel, began to despair of the cause of truth, and of the reformation of the world. What the simple and unaided powers of human understanding could not discern any adequate and certain means of effecting, has been accomplished by the luminous evidence, and the pow- erful influence of divine revelation. Doctrines, at least claiming to be derived from this source, have banished from the greater portion of the earth the gross idolatry in which the ancient nations were sunk ; and raised the general raor- 71 als of the world to a much higher and purer standard. No where do we now behold altars or consecrated groves, rear- ed to such divinities as Moloch or Saturn, as Astarte', or the Cyprian Venus. Every where we find purer and sublimer ideas of the divine nature, and of that worship of the heart which ought to be paid to God. Christianity has extended a salutary influence even among many tribes of the human race who have not yet embraced her holy doctrines, and shed some rays of a divine light into the darkness which still rests upon the pagan nations, which we trust, will gradually increase, till at length the Sun of Righteousness shall illumi- nate the whole earth. The insufficiency of reason to correct the moral depravi- ty of the world will appear with irresistible evidence to those who duly consider its defect of certainty, its defect of au- thority, and its defect of motives. Its defect of certainty. Reason can proceed but a small distance with any certainty, in investigating moral and divine truth, beyond those obvi- ous, simple, and almost intuitive dictates of the mind which are common to all mankind. And, in a corrupted state of manners, experience demonstrates that even these plain and natural dictates may easily be brought into doubt by the so- phistry of the heart, when they oppose its inclinations and pleasures. But if the principles and laws of duty, and of divine truth, were much more clear and precise than they are, still reason is wanting in the necessary authority to en 72 force them on the hearts of men, and give them effect in prac- tice. This authority, in order to overcome the powerful temptations to sinfjil indulgence which are every moment acting with a dangerous influence on a heart already yield- ing to them, should be nothing less than the acknowledged command of the supreme Legislator and Judge of the uni- verse which would preclude cavil and doubt, sanctioned by a power to which no resistance can be opposed, and direct- ed by a justice which cannot be turned aside from its sure and awful course. When a man is accountable only to him- self, feeble indeed is the voice of conscience, or of reason on one side, when his self-love, or his passions plead on the other. And finally, the motives to virtue which reason has it in her power to propose, the rewards for its self-denials, the encouragements in its conflicts, the supports under its various trials and temptations, are weak and ineflScient. Does she propose the pure pleasures of virtue ? But in order to relish them, you must be already virtuous. Can their calm and innocent delights be set against the ardent and tur- bulent enjoyments of vice? Can reason demonstrate that virtue would be eventually its own reward even in this world ? Yet you arrive at this conclusion by such a tedious circuit, and it is incumbered by so many modifications and exceptions, that seldom can this refined speculation combat the force of a present and importunate passion. But if vir- tue is unfortunate, as it often is, if it must often forego in- terest, power, favour, in its adherence to duty ; what reward 73 is there to indemnify it for its sacrifices ? What authority to overawe, and restrain it from yielding to the profitable temp- tation? No; the awful majesty of God, the apprehensions of his supreme judgment, the eternal retributions of virtue and of vice in a future state of existence, which religion sets before the mind, will ever be found necessary, and are no more than sufficient to combat the corrupt influence of the heart, and of the world. The impotence of reason, therefore, to cure the infinite errors of the human mind, the idolatries, the superstitions, the vices of mankind, appears from every aspect in which the subject presents itself to our view, and justifies the conclusion we have inferred from it f the neces- sity of a new revelation to restore to the earth the truth which it had lost, and to redeem it from evils which the or- dinary powers of human reason had become unable to correct. This conclusion is justified by another most important and interesting fact. Man is evidently a guilty being : he has violated the moral law of his nature, and incurred the right- eous displeasure of his Creator, and fhe in fliction of all the dreadful penalties with which the supreme lawgiver has thought it necessary to guard his law. These penalties, which are not arbitrary in their nature, but are the decrees of infinite wisdom and justice, do not depend merel> on the will of the legislator, probably (hey do not depend even on infinite goodness, to inflict or dispense with them at its plea- to 74 sure. Every attribute of the Deity is as necessary in its na- ture and its claims as the divine existence. Eternal justice, therefore, cannot as far as we can judge, forego the punish- ment of guilt. This is the ardent and terrible dictate of a convinced conscience, not less than the calm and delibe- rate conclusion of reason. But, how shall the claims of infi- nite justice be reconciled with the claims of infinite mer- cy ? How shall the inviolable justice of the law of eternal truth and holiness be satisfied, in consistency with the forgiveness and salvation of the sinner ? In what way may a sinful mortal reasonably hope to approach his ofiend- ed Maker? How shall the heirs of death regain eternal life? These are inquiries to which the weakness of human under- standing can return no satisfactory answer ; and the dying sinner, under the guidance of reason only, must be over- whelmed with the most distressing perplexities and doubts, or abandoned to the most horrible despair. These are doubts which God only can resolve ; fears which the spirit of inspiration only can calm, by drawing aside the deep veil which conceals eternity from our view, and exhibiting to our faith a complete oblation for the sins of the world. Here we behold new proofs of the necessity of a divine revelation, new causes to invite, and justify the interposition of our heavenly Father, in behalf of his miserable, though offending children. And is not the gospel such a remedy as we needed, such a revelation as is calculated to solve all the doubts, and tran- 75 quillize all the apprehensions of penitent guilt ? In it you be- hold the divine justice, and the divine mercy harmoniously combined. In it you behold the divine law magnified and made honourable^ by an all-availing atonement for the offen- ces of the whole wwld. In it you behold life and immor- tality brought to light, and a glorious channel opened in which the boundless current of divine mercy can freely flow to mankind. Where reason and philosophy were silent, or constrained to confess their impotence, we behold revela- tion announcing her glad tidings, and triumphing in the hap- piness of her children, and of the world. EVIDENCES OF UEVE«jATIOX. NECESSITY OF MIRACLES. MR. HUMe's celebrated OBJECTION TO MIRACLES. If the necessity of some interposition by heaven, in order to recal mankind from the monstrous errors of idolatry, to make known to them the perfect law of their duty, and to enforce it by adequate sanctions, is so evident, as has been shown in the preceeding lectures, this necessity affords a presumption in favour of revelation. And if any revelation be admitted to be either necessary or probable, no doubt can be entertained of the superior claims of Christianity above every pretence which has ever been set in opposition to it. This is admitted by its enemies themselves ; and must be admitted by every candid and reflecting inquirer who con- siders the purity of its doctrines, the spirituality of its wor- 7& ship, the simplicity and excellence of the principle which it lays at the foundation of its moral system,* its tendency to universal huppiness, the grandeur of the prospects which it opens into the eternal world, and the sublime conceptions which it every where imparts of the divine nature. But the truth of Christianity does not rest on the absolute perfection of its doctrines, of which the frailty of human rea- son is very incompetent to judge ; nor on our conclusions concerning what ought reasonably to be expected of the in- finite benignity and goodness of our heavenly Father, in be- half of his erring and miserable creatures : conclusions in which we often depart widely from the actual rule of the di- vine government; but it rests on such evidences as every man of a sound mind who honestly applies his understand- ing to the subject, is capable to judge of; evidences which propose themselves directly to the senses, or arise out of the known and immutable laws of human naturco Accordingly they may be arranged under two heads : the positive and direct, which are addressed immediately to the senses ; and the collateral, or presumptive, which arise out of a just consideration of the laws of human nature relative- ly to this subject. Of the former kind are miracles and the fulfilment of prophecy. Of the latter, are those conclusions * The love of God and the lore of maa. 11 which are justly drawn from the excellence and peculiarity of character of the author of Christianity, from the humility of the instruments employed to promulgate the gospel to man- kind, compared with the sublimity and perfection of the doctrines which they preached ; from its rapid and exten- sive progress, and the important moral changes which it has produced in the world ; and from many other similar facts which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for on the ordinary principles of human nature, or of human action ; and which, therefore, imply a divine agency and direction. The for- mer, when fairly attended to, do, in each particular case, carry with them entire conviction of the immediate interposi- tion of God ; for none but God can operate a miracle, or foretel with minute accuracy, future and distant events. The latter though, singly taken, they do not amount to absolute proof, yet collectively, produce the highest degree of probabililyo By certain writers every pretence to miracles becomes im- mediately suspected, and is deemed a sufficient reason for not entering farther into an examination of the evidences of revelation. This is, in effect, declaring it to be impossible for God to communicate himself by any revelation of his will to mankind. For if he ever deigns to make such com- munication, it can only be made immediately by himself, or by inspired men, who speak as the organs of his Holy Spi- rit. If it be made immediately by himself, either by meanK pf a divine voice from heaven, or by any supernatural im- 78 pression on the senses, such a revelation must be itself one of the greatest ot miracles. If holy men speak as they are in- spired by the Holy Ghost, can their testimony be received with a rational faith, unless it be accompanied bj^ such works, or such clear predictions of future events, above the power, and beyond the foresight of man, as will demonstrate that it is God who speaks by them ? In no other way can a divine mission be authenticated. I repeat it then, if it is reasona- ble to expect a revelation from God in any circumstances of the world; if a revelation is not impossible, or in the highest degree, improbable ; miracles are not only not in- credible, but necessary. No revelation can found any just claim to the belief of mankind, on any other ground in the first instance, than such supernatural and miraculous opera- tions as the power of God onlj can effect ; or such clear predictions, as none but an omniscient spirit, who foresees the end from the beginning, and has laid the whole train of causes and events in the universe, could impart to the hu- man mind. If then, the christian system contains a real communication to mankind from the infinite fountain of truth, it must have been announced under the seal of great and nu- merous miracles, for prophecy itself is a species of miracle. On the other hand, if we possess satisfactory evidence that such miracles were wrought at the promulgation of the gos- pel, we ought to entertain no doubt of its being the word of God ; since it comes to us vouched by the seal of God. For what is a miracle ? A proper understanding of this term 79 should lie at the foundation of our present inquiry. It is such an inversion, or suspension of the ordinary laws of na- ture as can be reasonably ascribed only to him by whom those laws were originally ordained. And whenever he con- descends to work a miracle, the operation of his al might/ power must be regarded, by every rational mind, as the sanction and seal of truth. In exhibiting the direct and positive evidence of Christi- anity, I shall, in the first place, treat of the evidence of mi- racles ; and afterwards of that derived from prophecy. To the apostles, the miracles of our blessed Lord were immediate objects of sense : to us, they come through the medium of human testimony ; but testimony of such a kind, and confirmed by so many, and such extraordinary circum- stances accompanying, or following the miracles themselves, and dependent upon them, that no facts, perhaps, in the his- tory of the world have ever descended to posterity vouched by such a weight of moral evidence. They are attested by numerous witnesses of the soundest judgment, and the most unsuspected integrity : by men whose writings evidently de- monstrate that they were at the greatest distance from that weakness of mind on the one hand, which would render them liable to be deceived themselves ; and, on the other, from that ardent enthusiasm, or that knavery of character, which would incline them to pass a deception upon others for the 80 sake of obtaining credit to their own visions : by men who without any motives of interest or of honour, and even in the certain prospect of disgrace and poverty, of arduous and incessant labours, of continual dangers and persecutions, and at length of death itself in the most formidable shapes, devoted themselves to announce this miraculous history to the world : by men, I add, whose original prepossessions were all opposed to the character which their Master assum- ed, and the doctrines which he taught, and who, after a long time, yielded those prejudices only to the force of convic- tion operated by repeated miracles ; and, finally, by men who, in the end, conquered the world, and overturned all its ancient ideas, manners, institutions, all the pride of its philosophy, and all the self-sufficiency of human rea- son, by the power with which they themselves were en- dued of operating miracles similar to those which had subdued their own assent. These facts, afford, it seems to me, the strongest confirmation of the miraculous history of the gospel, and of the wisdom, the integrity, and credibili- ty of those holy and chosen witnesses by whom God has been pleased to convey it down to us. But we are met at our very entrance upon this subject with a formidable objection which it is necessary in the first place to remove, before the most credible testimony in favour of the reality of the miracles of our Saviour, willbe admitted by those who have undertaken to deny the authorl- 81 iy t»f revelation. The objection may be considered in a speculative, and in a practical view. In the former, the sum of it is : that the plans of infinite wisdom are immutable ; for otherwise, they would not be perfect. God himself, there- fore, cannot change the order of nature, still less can he allow a feeble mortal, for any purposes whatever, to change it, in- asmuch as it has been established by his own most perfect wisdom. I answer, that the plans of divine intelligence must be immutable, as long as the reasons on which they were originally arranged remain the same. But if those reasons are changed, may they not induce a proportionable alteration in the order of providence ? Inasmuch then, as the existence and the whole system of this world, bear a relation to the moral state of man, if man has criminally changed his original state, and although created in innocence, has fallen into sin, although created immortal has become liable to death, can we pronounce it unworthy the goodness, or the wisdom of God, to aflford his creature, humbled and conscious of guilt, the hope of mercy, and to confirm that precious hope by such visible interpositions of divine power as leave the peni- tent sinner no room to doubt but that it is God himself who is the author of his consolation ? The second view in which this objection has been present- ed is less speculative. It is the celebrated argument ascribed to tlie ingenuity of Mr. Hume, although, it is probable of much earlier origin, and which has exercised the talents of 11 82 several able and judicious writers to refute its sophistry.* I think I shall weaken nothing of its force by the following statement ; All our knowledge of natural things we derive solely from experience. And the only rational ground of our belief of what has ever happenedf or what can happen in the world, is our own experience of the regular and constant course of nature. Men may impose upon us by false testi- mony, or they may be deceived themselves ; but nature never changes. Inasmuch then, as we have had no experience of any miraculous changes in the order of the world, it is un- reasonable to believe that any such have ever taken place, whatever may be the number, or the character of the wit- nesses by whom they have been attested. If the principle of this objection is found to be false, the whole objection must fall to the ground with it. If it will not hold in its ap- plication universally toother subjects, it is contrary to all just reasoning to admit its validity only against the miracles of the gospel. Let us then try its application in other cases : let us follow it to its ultimate consequences ; these will be found suflScient to destroy it. It leads to atheism ; acted upon in its full extent it would resist all improvements in science ; it will be found, in opposing the moral to the physical phenomena of nature, to refute itself. At least the * Particularly Dr. Campbell in liis treatise on miracles. Bishop Watson in hif third letter to Mr. Gibbon, having introdued the subject, appears to me to have, in a few sentences, effectually overturned the principle on which the whole objec tion rests. 83 laoral phenomena will conclude as strongly in favour of the miracles of the gospel as the physical, admitting the justness of the principle, would seem to contradict them. I return back on these ideas. And in the first place, it leads to atheism. For, if our own experience is the sole and exclusive ground of judging of whatever is credible in the physical history of the world, it is unreasonable to be- lieve that this globe ever had a beginning, or that it will ever perish. It must always have existed, and must always con- tinue to exist in the same state in which we now behold it. There can be no future condition of existence for human na- ture, no future judgment, no future retribution to the righte- ous and the wicked. For each of these states implies a condition of things, such as has never come under our ob- servation, or been the subject of our experience. There is, on this supposition, no foundation for religion. The or- der of the world must be eternal, immutable, necessary ; and can have no dependence on a creating and intelligent cause. We must embrace the philosophical absurdity of an eternal succession of mutable and perishing beings ; and are driven to the impious alternative of believing that there is no God » or, that the universe itself is God.^ * This tenet of the Aristotelian philosophy has always been regarded by clirrg- tiang as only a modification of atlieisni 84 These consequences are deduced so obviously from the principle of Mr. Hume, Ihat it is not a little surprising that they have not been more frequently remarked. Scarcely, indeed, have they been observed by any writer who has fallen in my way, except the learned and ingenious Dr. Al- lix, in his reflections on the books of the sacred scripturesA^ Yet if they are fairly and legitimately drawn, they must be decisiv^e against the principle in the opinion of every pious and virtuous man. Another consequence of this doctrine, though not charge- able with impiety like the former, equally demonstrates its ab- surdity. It would arrest all great improvements in science. When the effects of the electric or magnetic influence, for example, were first discovered, how ought all philosophers, according to this principle, to have treated the history of their phenomena ? Precisely as infidels have treated the miraculous history of the gospel : rejected it without exam- ination, as absurd and impossible, because contrary to their experience. Do you say, they have it in their power to repeat the experiments by which those new properties in nature were originally discovered. But if the principle which we combat is just, what motive could a philosopher * This work of Dr. Allix, a celebrated French refugee, was published in'London in the year 1683, which sufRciently demonstrates that the objection of Mr. Hume to the miracles of the gospel is not novel ; but has only been set in a new light; and urged with more plausibility by that ingenius writer. 85 have for repeating these experiments, since his own past ex- perience of the course of nature is the sole criterion of what- ever is credible. And whence should the greater portion of mankind derive their knowledge who possess neither the skill, nor the means requisite to make the necessary experi- ments, if thej are not to rely for the truth of new facts in science, and facts the most remote from the analogy of their own experience, upon the testimony of others ? Must not the progress of science be arrested almost at its commence- ment ? Let us take another example in which no experiment can possibly be applied to verify the testimony of the narrators with regard to facts the most certain in nature. The inha- bitants of a torrid climate never can have the effects of frost presented to their senses. Congelation is as great a myste- ry to them, as any mystery or miracle of the christian reli- gion. According to this favourite maxim of infidelity, then, they ought to refuse all credit to the fact : and the king of Siam acted according to the principles of sound wisdom in punishing the Dutch navigator for insulting his understand- ing by incredible stories, who assured him, that, in Holland, water became so hard during part of the year, that it bore horses and carriages upon its surface. If testimony were, under no circumstances, sufficient to vouch to us facts which not only are not conformable, but which, in many instances, are contrary, to all our past experience, science must be 86 circumscribed within a very narrow sphere. This conse- quence was certainly not adverted to by the ingenious author who invented, or who gave its present form to the principle against which we contend. It was aimed solely against the miracles of the sacred scriptures. But when we are testing the merit of a principle, if it is not found to hold universally, or coextensively with the latitude of its terms, it cannot fur- nish the ground of any certain conclusions. For, by what rule shall we apply it only to the facts of religion, when it is false in its application to the facts of science ? Miracles then, as well as other extraordinary facts in nature, are suscepti- ble of proof from testimony. The only subject of inquiry is, the competence and integrity of the witnesses : the sound- ness of their judgment, the accuracy of their observation, the fidelity of their narration. In all these respects the dis- ciples of our blessed Saviour, the witnesses of his miracles will be found to possess a decided superiority over the wit- nesses of any other facts recorded in history. Their wri- tings demonstrate their wisdom ; their long intimacy with their Master is sufficient to gives us confidence in the accu- racy of their observation ; their labours, their sacrifices, their deaths, attest their sincerity, and the fidelity of their narration.* I maintain, in the last place, that this celebrated argu- ment, drawn from our experience of the uniformity of nature *- These topics will hereafter be more amply illustrated. sr refutes itself. For, if the physical course of nature, on which the argument rests, is found to be stable and uniform, the moral order of things appears to be not less steady and regular. If the former of these facls opposes, upon Mr. Hume's principle, our reception of the miraculous history of the gospel ; the latter, upon the same ground, forbids the re- jection of that history, if, by rejecting it, we must contradict aU the moral phenomena of human nature. Admitting then, what can hardly be denied by the bitterest enemies of Chris- tianity, that the apostles and evangelists were men of the soundest understandings,* and the most upright hearts, it is contrary to all that we know of the motives of human con- duct, thal^ for the sake of propagating a most improbable, .and to them, unprofitable imposture, they should voluntrai- ly submit to incessant toils and extreme sufferings; they should abandon all that is usually accounted most dear to the human heart, and march with intrepidity through perpetual persecutions to certain death inflicted in the most excruciat- ing and dreadful^ forms. Their writings, which are always rational in their doctrines, simple in their style, and calm and judicious in their manner of address, exempt them from eve- ry charge of enthusiasm ; yet, renouncing all the early pre- judices of their nation, in which they had been educated, * The perfection of that systeoi of pitty and morals published by these humble fishermen, so far excelling the philosophy of their age, demonstratns that, if they were not inspired from above, they must have possessed a degree of wisdom and iindersfaadingfar surpassing irljr.lever antiquity has producfl bpfide.-, 88 and all the hopes which they had originally conceived from a royal and triumphant Messiah, which might have inflam- ed the zeal of enthusiastic minds, do we not see them, for a suffering Master, encounter every actual evil, and every possible hazard ? If then, we should suppose, according to the spirit of this objection, that the apostles, who expected no recompense in this world, could have acted from any other motive than a deep conviction of the miraculous pow- er, and the divine mission of Jesus Christ, would we not be involved in contradictions to the moral order of things ; that is, to all the ordinary principles of conduct among men which have ever occurred to our experience, not less won- derful, and out of the course of nature, than were the mira- cles themselves in the attestation of which these wise and pi- ous men, the companions and witnesses of his life, made such astonishing and almost incredible sacrifices ? Thus does this so much vaunted objection against the mi- racles of the gospel refute itself; inasmuch as, in its appli- cation to the moral order of things, it contradicts the conclu- sion which the enemies of religion have drawn from their physical order. And this consequence ought to be ad- mitted by those especially who have most earnestly urg- ed this objection against the evangelic history, since, according to their philosophic system, they subject the natural and the moral world equally to the laws of neces- sity. I repeat, then, that it is not by the nature of the works g9 ascribed to Christ as being conformablej or contrary to our experience, but by the character and competence of the witnesses, together with all the preparatory and attending circumstances of these miracles, and their consequences up- on the world, that the question of their truth is to be decided- THE CREDIBILITY OF THE WITNESSES OF THE MIRACLES AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. Let US then enter a httle more particularly into the char- acter of the witnesses of the gospel, the circumstances under which its miraculous history was published to the world, and has been transmitted to us, and the wonderful consequences which followed its publication. A brief review of these to- pics, while it will confirm the answer which has been given to the objection of Mr. Hume, particularly in the last view which we have taken of it, will serve, at the same time, to strengthen our faith in the evangelic history, both by the support which we will find it possesses in the clearest and most unequivocal laws of moral evidence, and by the extra- ordinary effects which have resulted from it, which plainly jequired the power of a divine cause to produce them. As it has been shown that there is no insuperable objec- tion, arising from the nature of miracles, against their exist- ence, when alleged in favour of a divine revelation; and 35 thev have been demonstrated even to be necessary proofs? 1? 90 of a divine mission, if God should ever deign to reveal hit will in any extraordinary manner to the world, the credit o£ the miracles which are said to have been wrought in confir- mation of the gospel must depend primarily on the credibili- ty of the witnesses who have attested them. And, when this subject is fairly and candidly examined, not only will these witnesses be found entitled to the highest credit, but theip testimony will appear calculated almost irresistibly to com- mand our assent ; with so many circumstances of authority and certainty is it attended, which place it far before the evidence by which any other facts in the compass of univer- sal history have been vouched. The witnesses of extraordinary facts ought to be men of nnblemished integrity, and of clear and penetrating discern- ment ; unbiassed by any motives of interest which might be liable to blind them to the truth, or to corrupt the purity of their testimony. And certainly the apostles and evangelists of our blessed Lord have left us, in their writings, their dis- courses, and their conduct, the most indubitable proofs of the soundest understanding, of the sincerest piety, and the most disinterested devotedness to the best interests of man- kind, which would render it impossible, in a long course of intimacy with their Master, to be deceived by any fictitious demonstrations of a divine power, and should free them from every suspicion of fabricating a history to impose upon the world. 91 They were, indeed, plain, unlettered men, called from some of the humblest occupations in life to follow Christ, and to be the heralds of his grace to mankind. But this cir- cumstance, instead of detracting from their merit as witness- es of the miracles of our Lord, will, when rightly consider- ed, give additional weight to their testimony. For, when we take into view that admirable and profound wisdom, that perfect moral code, and that pure and sublime theology, which their writings contain, so far superior to what was to be expected from their education and rank in life, and ex- celling whatever has appeared on these subjects in the sys- tems of the most venerated sages of the pagan world ; may we not well ask, as the astonished fellow citizens of Jesus did with respect to him, whence had these men this wisdom, unless it were given them from above ? If we admit that this wisdom was imparted to them immediately by God, it de- cides the question of their divine mission. If we say it was simply the effect of native genius, it decides their competen- cy, in point of understanding and judgment, to be the wit- nesses of the wonderful history of our Lord, and their per- fect title to our fullest credit, as far as depends on accuracy of observation, and the judicious discrimination of truth from 'Al false pretences to miraculous powers. But in the next place, their writings exhibit also the strongest characters of sincerity and integrity. We discern in them no appearance of that art which is necessary to 93 cover the prentences of imposture, but an undesigning sim- plicity which speaks powerfully to the heart. Hardly ever can impostors effectually conceal the faulfs of their own character behind the disguises of hypocrisy. But in the New-Testament, we discern only the purest precepts of mo- rality, and the noblest sentiments of a genuine and rational piety. If the apostles speak from their hearts, as there is every appearance that they do, the purity of their doctrines, as well as the simplicity of the manner in which they are conveyed to us, are calculated to impress us with a deep con- viction of their integrity and uprightness, not less than of their wisdom. Piety and sincerity have a language peculiar to them- selves ; simple and unaffected, equally distant from the tor- tuous art of imposture, and the extravagances of enthusiasm. There is a naivete' which runs through the whole narration of the evangelists, and bears all the impressions of truth, in- finitely remote from the style of an artificial tale made up by cunning and designing men. This conviction will be greatly strengthened when we take into our view the circumstances under which the followers of our blessed Lord published the gospel, and its miracu- lous history to the world. Their disinterested labours, suf- ferings, and sacrifices, demonstrate in the strongest manner their sincerity, and their profound persuasion of the truth 93 and the importance of those holy doctrines which they taught, ajid those astonishing facts which they published to the universe. And the perfect sincerity and persuasion of men, at once so pious and so wise, who were so capable of discriminating reality from pretence, and who had so many opportunities of intimately observing the works which they attest, afford to the candid and serious inquirer, the most satisfactory grounds of belief. Let us contemplate the disinterestedness and sufferings of the first ministers of Christianity, and witnesses of the mira- cles of our Saviour. They speak a powerful language to the heart, and leave us no room to question the sincerity and (he perfect veracit}^ of these faithful men. It is true that men, impelled by a bold and ardent ambition, or inflamed by the hope of fortune, or of glory, may sometimes endure wilh fortitude the greatest sufferings, or encounter with firmness the most formidable dangers. But without the prospects of honour or emolument, and in the face of poverty and dis- grace, of universal obloquy and hatred, of the fiercest perse- cutions and the most cruel deaths, voluntarily to undertake to propagate a known and deliberate imposture, merely for the glory of a Master who had already perished by an igno- minious death, and from whom, of consequence, no farther expectations could be entertained ; and, with a patience and heroism worthy only of the highest virtue an posed fo the character in which their Master appeared, and to the doctrines which they were afterwards constrained to preach. Thej, with the whole nation of Israel, expected in the Messiah a mightj temporal prince, invested with the splendours of empire, who was to restore the kingdom of David, and extend its dominion over all the kingdoms of the world, in which his followers and disciples were to arrive at the highest honours and distinctions. When, therefore, they found all the pre-possessions, in which they had been nurs- ed, and which had been cherished by their country for ages, overthrown; when Jesus informed them that his kingdom was not of this world, a doctrine which they could hardly be made to understand, and thus disappointed all their most flattering hopes ; when, instead of the magnificent prospects which they had pictured to themselves, he set before them only his own humble fortunes, and his approaching death ; only the persecutions to which they should be exposed in preaching in the name of a despised Master, what could have continued to attach them to a cause so different in evr ery respect from what they had conceived, and one feippa- rently so desperate, but the manifest proofs of divinity which attended him, but those wonderful facts before their eyes, which conquered their prejudices, and compelled their conviction ? They could not believe that he was to die till they saw him expire ; they neither believed, nor understood the resurrection of the dead till they saw him restored from the tomb. Even then, it was long, through the astonish- or ment of their minds, before they could give full credit to their own senses. They conversed with him, they touched him, they thrust their hands into his wounded side. They could yield such powerful prejudices, supported by all the strongest passions of human nature, only to the most sensible demonstrations. But when their conviction was once con- quered by the illustrious displays of a divine power, and nothing but the most illustrious displays of such a power could have conquered it, in opposition to every interest and every prejudice hitherto cherished by them with the great- est fondness, then they, who had before been so reluctant, so unbelieving, so timid in the cause of a suffering Master, were ready to encounter every form of danger, of suflfering, and of death, in proclaiming the resurrection, and the miraculous history of their Lord. Such a revolution in their ideas and their conduct must have proceeded, as they declared it did, only from the irresistible manifestations of a divine power with which he confirmed his doctrine, and demonstrated his title to a spiritual and heavenly kingdom. It may be said that fortitude and patience in enduring suf- ferings, is no certain proof of the truth of any system of prin- ciples ; because an enthusiastic miud may be so wound up, as to dare any danger, or to support any pain, in defenc e of its favourite opinions. I confess that voluntary suffering in i\ny cause, is not an infallible test of truth, but it is a test of ^inceritif. It demonstrates the full persuasion of the soul of 98 the truth of the facts for which it suffers. This is all that i» necessary to command our assent in the present case. The disciples of our Lord have demonstrated, by this infallible criterion, their full conviction of the reality of his resurrec- tion, and of his miraculous operations. These were objects of the senses in which they could not be mistaken. They were men, as appears from their writings, of the soundest un- derstandings, who could not, therefore, be imposed upon in cases so palpable. No tincture of enthusiasm, which could warp their imagination, appears in their conduct, or in that history which they have left us of the life and actions of Christ. Men as they were, of sound understandings and of rational piety, a conviction in our minds of the sincerity of their declarations is ail that is necessary to gain for them full credence to the miraculous facts which they relate. There is a wide difference between dying in attestation of a/acf, and to prove our adherence to an opinion. In our opinions we may err, and an enthusiastic mind may maintain its er- rors at the stake with no less ardour than it would adhere to truth. But in facts, such as those related by the apostles and disciples of our Lord, subjected as they were to the ex- amination of all the senses, and for so long a time, it was im- possible for men so judicious, so honest, and so faithful, to be deceived. Their sincerity is all that we need to assure us of the miracles contained in the evangelic history. And their constant readiness to seal their testimony with their blood affords the strongest proof that not the smallest doubt 99 mingled itself with their perfect knowledge and belief of the resurrection, and of all the miraculous works of their Saviour, on which their faith of his divine mission, and of the doc- liine of salvation which they proclaimed to the world, was founded. If the preceding reflections are just, the miracles of Christ are confirmed to us by an evidence which ought to command our fullest assent. And if his miracles are established, the divinity of his mission and of his gospel, follows as a neces- sary consequence.* Having then, in the first place, demonstrated this princi- ple, that our experience of the uniformity of nature does not afford any solid objection against miracles performed in a cause worthy of God ; we have seen, in the next place, that if any supernatural event is capable of being confirmed by human testimony, there can exist no reasonable doubt with regard to the reality of the miracles of the gospel. And I must again repeat, that no facts in the compass of universal history have come down to us confirmed by such variety, and such strength of evidence. * Celsus, the most ingenious and perhaps the bitterest enemy of the christians among the philosophers of that age, does not pretend to deny the miracles ascrib- ed to Jesus Ciirist, but seems disposed to impute them to tlie powers of magic. The science of modern times will never admit such a solution of miraculous phe- nomena. 100 This conclusion will be strengthened when we proceed to consider the rapid extension of the gospel over the most enlightened nations of the world, who were, from their pride, their prejudices, their learning, their civil and religious in- stitutions, and from all their ideas and habits, most hostile to the spirit of our holy religion. It will be farther confirm- ed hereafter, when we proceed to explain the excellence of the gospel itself, and to show how worthy it is of the origin which it claims, and how far superior its doctrines are to any powers of invention which can reasonably be ascribed to men, of the education and rank in life of Christ and the apostles, supposing them not to be inspired, and illuminated by a divine spirit. THE RAPID EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL AN INFALLIBLE PROOF OF THE REALITY OP ITS MIRACLES. The sudden and wide diffusion of the christian religion, throughout the principal nations of the world, although it is usually placed among the collateral and presumptive eviden- ces of the truth of the gospel history, may reasonably be considered as furnishing a strong and direct proof of the re- ality of the miracles of our Saviour, and of the miraculous powers with which the apostles themselves were endued. This astonishing, and, indeed, this unparalleled effect was accomplished by publishing the miraculous history of Christ, by a few fishermen of Judea, and by pretences, at least, to 101 the same miraculous powers imparted to them by their Mas- ter. And can it reasonabl}' be believed that the story of miracles performed in Judea, a remote and despised corner of the world, should have been received by the greatest as well as the most barbarous nations, in the circumstances in which it was received, and followed by the mighty conse- quences which actually resulted from it, unless the heralds who published it had been able to confirm their testimony by the most palpable demonstrations of a divine power ac- companying their preaching ? On no other ground do I think we can propose any rational solution of this great moral phe- nomenon. Let us then examine the greatness of the effect, and com- pare it with the circumstances of the world at that period, and with the apparent impotence of the instruments by which it was produced, and, I doubt not, this conviction will meet us with almost irresistible force. We learn from the history of the acts of the apostles, which contains, however, but a very brief and partial narra- tion of their transactions, and from various intimations either more direct or incidental, given in the epistles, especially of Saint Paul, that the gospel had spread, within a very few years after the death of the Saviour, to all the regions of the known world, and in every country had made numerous con- verts. This representation is confirmed by the Roman wri- 102 ters when any occasion leads them to mention the numbers of Christians in particular districts of the empire.* Tacitus, speaking of the cruelties exercised by Nero upon the Chris- tians, under the pretence of their having set fire to the city, says, " at first, those only were apprehended who confessed themselves to be of that sect, but, through their means, a vast multitude were afterwards discovered." This imperial villany took place about the thirtieth year of the crucifixion ; in which short period the gospel had extended from the ex- tremities to the heart of the Roman empire, and a vast mul- tUude of its disciples were already found in the capital. — About forty years posterior to this event, Pliny, writing to the emperor Trajan for instructions in what manner to treat the Christians, who h^.d, in time past, been mercilessly drag- ged before the tribunals, and cruelly punished, represents to him that so prevalent had Christianity become in his province, which consisted of Pontus and Bithynia in the Lesser Asia, that the superstition, as he calls it, had seized not only the cities, but the smaller towns, and the open country. The temples, he adds, were for a time, almost deserted, the sa- cred solemnities intermitted, and victims had nearly ceased * It is true that the early Roman writers do not make frequent or very particu- lar mention of the affairs of the christians. For Christianity springing up in Ju- dea, it was natural for foreigners to regard them as a sect of the Jews, on which aecount their history, in its origin, would be little understood, and attract small attention at Rome. But wherever their external circumstances are noticed by Roman authors, they are found to correspond with the accounts given of them id christian records. 103 being purchased.* Justin Martjr, who wrote only a few years after Pliny, declares, " there is not a nation either of Greek, or Barbarian, or any other name, even of those who wander in tribes and live in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the universe in the name of the crucified Jesus." And Tertullian, who flourished half a century later, after appeal- ing to the rulers of the Roman empire for the diffusion of the christian religion at that epoch thoughout its immense ex- tent, enumerates many nations beyond its limits, as the Moors, the Getulians, the Sarmatians, the Dacians, the Ger- mans, and the Scythians, who had become converts to the truth. " And, saith he, although we are so great a multitude that, in almost every city, we form the majority of the in- habitants, we pass our time modestly and in silence." To these nations St. Jerom adds the Indians, the Persians, the Goths and the Egyptians. But, not to multiply quotations, it is well known that, in less than three centuries, the whole Roman world had become christian. Having, in this cursory manner, presented to your view the wide and rapid extension of the christian doctrine in the first age, let us, in the next place, compare it with the feeble instruments employed in this great work, and with the diffi- culties which they had to encounter, and, T persuade myself, *C, Plin. Traj. imp, lib 10, epist. 97. 104 it will appear to you to be an eflfect altogether out of the or- dinary laws, and beyond the ordinary powers of human na- ture. Our blessed Saviour, in order more clearly to demonstrate his own immediate agency, and almighty power, in the spir- itual conquests achieved by the doctrine of the cross, as well as to manifest his infinite grace in proclaiming the glad tid- ings of salvation to the poor, chose for the instruments of so great a work twelve humble fishermen. Circumscribed by their occupation in the sphere of their ideas, little acquainted with human nature, ignorant of the arts and manners of culti- vated society, and destitute of the learning and talents neces- sary to command the attention and respect of mankind, in an age so polished and enlightened as that in which they lived, they seemed the most incompetent of all men to effect such an extraordinary revolution in the whole moral state of the world. Exposed to contempt on account of their original employment, this was not a little increased by the hatred in which their country was held. For the Jews were regard- ed with extreme aversion by the rest of mankind, chiefly for the abhorrence which they manifested of the customs, reli- gions, and gods of all other nations. And of all parts of Ju- dea, the district of Galilee from which, they sprung, and the town of Nazareth esteemed the native place of their Master, were viewed with the greatest disdain. A Galilean and a Nazarene were names of reproach even at Jeriigalem. Yet, 105 with such feeble instruments, and in so short a period of time, did the ascended Saviour, just after he had exhibited before the view of mankind the most discouraging proofs of his own assumed weakness in the death to which he submit- ted, subdue the world to the obedience of the gospel, over° turn the altars and the temples of paganism, banish from their shrines the idols with their priests, change the moral and re- ligious systems of the universe ; in one word, overthrow, and utterly eradicate from the hearts of men, whatever the revo- lution of ages had rendered most venerable and sacred in their esteem ; whatever had been most firmly incorporated with their interests and their pleasures, or most deeply in- trenched among their prejudices. This astonishing revolu- tion, which not all the wisdom of their sages, combined with all the power of their princes, could have effected, was the work of a few Galilean fishermen, aided only by one man of eloquence and cultivated talents. And how was it effected ? By the most improbable of all means : preaching the mira- culous history of a crucified man, together with the doctrines of repentance and self-denial so revolting to the corrupted tastes of human nature. May I not, then confidently de- mand if the rapid extension of the religion of Christ under the agency of such instruments, by the preaching of such doctrines, through countries so various and distant, and so opposite in manners, in language, in political interests, in re- ligious customs and ideas, and in all those distinctive pecu- liarities which divide and alienate nations from one. anothei*, H 106 does not contain, in the greatness and the extraordinai-y nature of the effect, a demonstration of the reality of the miracles by which it was accomplished? Could obscure and despised strangers have carried the triumphs of the humble cross to the ends of the earth, and fixed the hopes of the world on a dying Saviour, unless they had borne in their hands the credentials of Heaven, and dis- played to the senses, and the inmost convictions of mankind, the seal of their heavenly mission in the constant operations of a divine and omnipotent power attending their ministry ? Their success could not have flowed from their powers of persuasion, nor the force of their reasonings ; for they were not themselves masters of eloquence or of science. But if they had been instructed in all the wisdom of the schools, the sages of the pagan world had long since found that the mass of mankind are incapable of entering into the specula- tions of philosophy. By philosophic reasoning they had never been able to do any thing effectual for the reformation of the world. The apostles simply propounded the moral maxims, and divine dogmas of their great Teacher, confirm- ing them by the supernatural evidence of the works which he enabled them to perform. Thus their doctrines rested on the same proofs with those principles of natural religion, which the Creator has inscribed with his own hand, and im- pressed by his own power on the face of nature, I mean the characters which it bears of his omnipotence. No other even plausible account can be given of a phenomenon unpar- 107 alleled in the annals of the world. For, however reluctant reason may be to admit miracles, no miracle was ever so great as such a revolution would be, effected by twelve illit- erate fishermen, without the immediate co-operation and aids of the Holy Spirit. If we consider the diflSculties and the apparently insur- mountable obstacles which opposed the success of the apos- tles, they will furnish strong additional proofs that these hum- ble ministers of the Redeemer must have been endued with miraculous powers. I will not repeat here those Impediments which naturally arose out of the obscurity of their own station ; the hatred or contempt with which their nation was viewed ; and their ut- ter destitution of all those talents of learning and eloquence which are calculated to command the respect and admiration of the world. Under all these disadvantages, which were more than sufficient to ruin the success of men who were not inspired from Heaven, without patronage, without friends, without respect for their personal attributes, or influence from the character of their nation, were they obliged to pass with the gospel in their hands into the remotest countries, among unknown people, ever prone to receive strangers with jealousy, or to look down upon them with contemptuous dis- dain. In this case, their contempt of these poor and for- eign fishermen would be very greatly increased by their bringing to them what, to their apprehension, would be only 108 a miraculous story of a crucified man. And their indigna- tion fvould be raised to the highest pitch, when they found themselves required, at the recital of such a story, to aban- don their religion and their gods, all the principles of their education and their habits of living ; and whatever the usage of their ancestors, for so many ages, had rendered sacred to them, and incorporated with their domestic manners, their religious institutions, and their national customs. What nation ever willingly changes its gods ? However contemptible the idols of paganism appear to us, the vulgar mind which seldom reasons, but usually takes all its impres- sions from education, or from its natural sympathy with pub- lic opinion, then regarded them with that reverence, and embraced them with that full belief with which we always see the ignorant receive the traditionary fables of their coun- try. Perhaps the objects of superstition, making their im- pression in the tenderest period of life, and being therefore, more perfectly mingled with the earliest habits of feeling, take a deeper hold upon the minds of the common mass of mankind, than the principles of a more pure and rational pi- ety. But if the prejudices of the populace presented almost insuperable difficulties to the apostles, the interests of the ru- lers presented others, perhaps, still more formidable. The religion of all those nations was incorporated with the policy of the state. Their magistrates were their priests. Its ce= remonies were blended with all the offices of the civil gpr- 109 vernment. So that the gospel was obliged to combat, at the same time, with the blind superstition and furious bigotry of the multitude, with the wealth and power of the temples, and with the pride and jealousy of tyrannical rulers armed with the sword, who were afraid of nothing so much as of innovation. We may safely appeal to the common sense of mankind if obstacles like these must not have been utterly insuperable to such men as the apostles, going out to the world solely in their own powers of reasoning and persuasion, without the supernatural aid and the accompanying testimony of the Holy Spirit of Truth, The natural difficulties of this great undertaking were al- most incalculably increased by the fate of their Master, whose miraculous history, whose life, death, and resur- rection they were commanded to publish, and in whose name they were commissioned to preach. Crucifixion was the most ignominious punishment among the Romans, reserved only for the most detested criminals. Nothing could shock the ideas of such a people more than to elevate to the rank of a divinity a crucified man, the native of a remote, depen- dent, and despised province, who had suffered like a male- factor and slave for alleged crimes against the dominant state. This circumstance alone was sufficient, according to the common apprehensions of the world, to blast entirely their hopes of success. Of the magnitude of this difficulty we raay frame some conception by putting an analogous case. 110 Suppose that a man of the lowest extraction, and the obscuf" est country of Europe, had, for imputed treasons, been sus- pended on a gibbet, or hung in chains ; and that his accom- plices, ignorant men, without talents, and without character, should presume to defy the government by declaring that he was risen from the dead, and that they were come in his name, and in contradiction to the civil authority, to over- turn all the religious institutions, and all the objects of wor- ship and veneration in the christian world, and such is the light in which the disciples must have appeared to those proud nations, and that polished age, with what reception would they now meet ? Combining together then, all these reflections, and com- puting the result, may I not confidently demand of all rea- sonable and candid men, who will fairly estimate the magni- tude and difficulty of the work of converting a world in the name of a crucified man, who will consider the weakness, and unpromising character of the instruments by which it was effected, and unite with both the astonishing rapidity of Iheir success, if the apostles must not have been aided by a power infinitely superior to their own ? if they must not have carried to the hearts and senses of their hearers the strong- est conviction of the truth of the miracles of Jesus Christ ? and if they must not have supported the wonderful history of their Master by miracles which they were themselves en- abled to perform : miracles of no doubtful aspect, but obvi- Ill ous and palpable, capable of standing the most rigorous scru- tiny of envy, of hatred, of interest, of every wounded pre- judice, and of all the ingenuity which a learned and enlight- ened age could bring to the investigation. Nothing less can account for the vast and surprising effect which the simplici- ty of the christian doctrine, and of the primitive ministers of Christianity, has been seen to produce. As miracles appear to be the only power which could have given such a rapid extension to the religion of Christ, in that enlightened and inquisitive period, throughout such various, proud, and hos- tile nations ; so the rapidity of its extension in the face of infinite diflScuIties, furnishes one of the most irresistible evi- dences of the reality of the miracles. In order to account for the rapid propagation of the chris- tian religion without having recourse to the assistance of mira- cles, some writers have supposed that the superior reason- ableness of the moral system of the gospel above that of any of the popular institutions of paganism facilitated the success of the apostles. For, with all their objections against the mysteries of Christianity, they are obliged to acknowledge the excellence of its moral code. On the other hand, I have no hesitancy in pronouncing that merely the reasonableness of a religion, or of any moral system, never procured it, in the first instance, an easy and general reception among the mass of mankind. If it has not been incorporated by educa- tion with their earliest habits of thinking, it must claim their 112 obedience and belief on some higher authority than merely the conclusions of their own reason, in which they can repose little confidence. Of this all the ancient legislators and re- formers of nations were so deeply convinced, that, where they had not visible and real miracles on which to establish the public religion, or to found those civil institutions by which they attempted to reduce a barbarous people to order, they were obliged to have recourse to a pretended inter- course with heaven. If reason alone were a competent in- structor of the people, why had not the genuine principles of natural religion a more extensive diffusion among the popu- lace of Greece ? Why did the philosophers pronounce the people incapable of reasoning ? And why were not the doc- trines of their schools able to extirpate idolatry, or even to throw a plausible and decent veil over its absurdities and inde- cencies ? If Christianity prevailed in the first age by the force of its own reasonableness, why do we not see the same effects produced by it since miracles have ceased ? Does it not still possess the same superiority oa er the dismal idolatry of Greenland, and the indecent rites of India, which it did over the gay and licentious superstitions of Greece and Rome ? Other writers have thought that they have found a reason of this extraordinary phenomenon in the general discredit in- to which the objects, and the rites of the pagan worship had fallen in that age. Their auguries, their oracles, their shame- ful and immoral deities, it is said, were despised by their men 113 of learning, and had begun to be a subject of ridicule to the common people ; and Christianity only came in to occupy the room which they had left vacant. A less happy conjecture, perhaps, could hardly have been framed. Incredulity, sure- ly, is not a favourable soil for the reception and growth of a new religion. On the contrary, when men, in the progress of a sceptical philosophy, and of the dissolution of the public morals, come to disbelieve, and hold in contempt the religion in which they have been educated, they are (hen prone to confound all religions, and, along with their country's gods, to reject, even without examination, every new doctrine which pretends to be derived from heaven. There are authors who think they have made a shrewd observation on human nature, and the liberal genius of ancient manners, when they ascribe the easy introduction of Christi- anity into the Roman empire, to what has been, quaintly enough, called the sociable spirit of paganism. The Greeks and Romans believing in the existence of local deities who presided over particular districts and re- gions of the earth, easily granted to foreigners the privilege of introducing their country gods into Athens and Rome, and performing towards them their country's rites, because it was imagined they would not be pleased with any other. It was never intended that these stranger gods should sup- plant the native deities of Greece and Italy. It was never 15 }]4 conceived that the one could interfere with the other. This, however, could not be the ground of any favour shown to Christianity. Its worship was exclusive. It could make no compromise with idolatry. The doctrine of Christ, where- ever it came, soon overthrew all the altars and temples of pa- ganism, and expelled from their shrines all the shameful ob- jects of an impure and monstrous worship. This, which is the natural genius, and the necessary tendency of the gospel, far from opening the way for its reception in those idolatrous nations, would at once arm against it all the power of the mar gistrates, all the interest of the priests, and all the fury of a bigoted and deluded people. The causes, therefore, which have been assembled with so much pains in order to account, on natural principles, for the superior success of the apostles and first ministers of Chris- tianity above its modern missionaries, are evidently not suffi- cient to support the conclusions which have been attempted to be built upon them. The true cause of their astonishing success is, that, while the missionaries can appeal only to the testimony of history, and the reasonableness and excellence of the doctrines which they preach, the apostles could appeal also to their own miracles, to the heavenly powers with which they were invested, and which spoke so strongly to the senses of mankind. These are the weapons with which the disci- ples of the Saviour subdued the earth to the dominion of the faith. Although destitute of the advantages of science, and 115 of that high and commanding eloquence which attracts the ad- miration of the world. Although inferior in these respects to the nations among whom they travelled preaching the gos- pel ; and although they derived no influence from the splen- dour or power of their country, yet every thing yielded be- fore them. How far superior to them in every human advan- tage are the present missionaries of our holy religion. Do they not possess incomparably higher degrees of science than the people to whom they are sent ? And do they not go under the personage of nations regarded in those distant countries with the greatest veneration for their vast ascendancy over the rest of mankind in arts, and in arms ? But they are com- paratively unsuccessful, because they do not curry with them, like the apostles, the ensigns of heaven, that is, the de- monstraiion of the Spii'it in his miraculous power,"^ Experience then, and reason, both concur to demonstrate that, without the co-operation of miracles, the christian doc- trine could not have made such rapid and extensive progress, as we have seen it do, through nations so various, so distant, and so opposite in their characters : and this astonishing progress, as has been before asserted, affords a strong con- firmation of the reality of the miracles on which Christ found- ed his claim to be acknowledged as the Son of God, and the * 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. For my speech and my preaciiitig was not wit h enticing words , of man's wisdom, but in deraonstnttion of the Spirit and of power. That your faith thouldnot stand in the wisdom of men but in the pon erof God. 116 apostles to be received as messengers from heaven. Believe me, saith the Saviour, far the works* sake. Many of the most wise and judicious men esteem the argument drawn from this fact absohitely decisive of the question concerning the truth of Christianity ; and the most incredulous must con- fess that it creates a very powerful presumption in favour of the gospel history. The writers, who suppose that the progress of Christianity in the first age may be accounted for from natural causes alone, affect to compare it with the rapid extension of the Mahometan imposture. But if we enter into a fair and can- did comparison of the two cases, the apparent parallelism be- tween them will be found no longer to exist. We have al- ready seen the mild and pacific means by which Christiani- ty extended her gentle sway over the world. The estab- lishment of Mahometanism was effected entirely by the pow- er of the sword ; and its rapid extension and its furious course is no more surprising than the conquests of Zenghis, or of Timur, or than any of those sudden and violent revolu- tions which have so often changed the face of Asia, in dif- ferent ages. The progress of Christianity has no parallel in universal history ; that of the koran has, unfortunately, too many examples. For it is as easy to carry a new religion among an ignorant people on the point of the sword,, as a new code of civil and political legislation. 117 THE PRETENCE OF CREDULITY ALLEGED AGAINST THOSE WHO EMBRACED THE GOSPEL. EMBRACED BY THE LEARNED AS WELL AS THE VULGAR. IMPOSTORS AMONG THE HEATHEN. It is often alleged by those who are unfriendly to the christian revelation, that the credulity of mankind, and their love of the marvellous, is sufficient to account for the pro- gress of the gospel, and the general belief of its miracles. " The weakness of illiterate followers, they say, would gree= dily swallow the pretended wonders of their Master. They could easily raise the wonder-loving sipirit of their hearers, who would be ready, without inquiry, either to admit their own pretences to a miraculous power, or to believe the fa- bled miracles of Christ." By a few such general sneers they save themselves the trouble of examining the evidences of the christian revelation, and cast off from their consciences the irksome authority of the christian law. It is true the ignorant in all countries are credulous ; and, in consequence of this tendency of mind, they abound in narrations of silly wonders. But is there, therefore, nothing really wonderful in the providence of God over the world, or in the dispensation of his mercy to mankind ? Certainly, every candid reader will confess that the miracles of the gospel ought not to be compared with those ridiculous and local prodigies recited in every district of every country by 118 ihe vulgar ; and which are evidently the eflfect of supersti- tious weakness, or an enthusiastic fervor of mind. The writ- ings of the evangelists and apostles exhibit no marks of that imbecility in their mental powers which would render them liable to be easily imposed upon by lying wonders, and false appearances. If we do not admit that they were enlightened by the Spirit of God, in which case no deception could be suspected, the excellence of their moral system, the sublim- ity of their theological doctrines, so superior to the philoso- phy of their age, and the grandeur of the views which they have opened on the universe, so far above whatever had been before conceived by the human mind in any age, demon- strate that they must have been men of the soundest judg- ments, and the strongest intellectual faculties, on which no fraud could have been practised, no attempted imposition could have succeeded. That they were not parties to any scheme of imposture, their wisdom, their piety, their self-denials, their arduous la- bours, their continual suflerings, and, finally, their painful, various, and voluntary deaths in the cause of Christ, declare with a conviction which, I think, must be irresistible to a mind that considers the subject with fairness and im- partiality. I observe, in the next place, that their writings exhibit as few characters^ of enthusiasm as of weakness. Their histor- 119 ical narrations are given with a dignified simplicity, their mor- al instructions, in a clear and judicious train of reasoning en- forced with temperate warmth. We find in them none of those wild fervors, and ridiculous extravagancies which seem inseparable from the spirit of enthusiasm. They exhibit all the proofs, which writing and conduct can manifest, of the most undesigning sincerity ; and speak of the most astonish- ing displays of divine power in the miracles of their Master, and their own, in a strain of calm and temperate narration which surprises us not less than the actions themselves. They speak like men who were not only witnesses of the miracles of Jesus, but were conscious of the same powers ia themselves, and were familiar with the works of omnipo- tence. Neither enthusiasm, then, which deceives itself, nor imposture, which endeavours to deceive others, nor a weak facility of believing without evidence, can justly be imputed to the apostles. Can we then find a more satisfactory rea- son of the universal belief of the miracles of the gospel in the credulity of the world ? The populace are prone to listen with a certain idle curi- osity, and to circulate with eagerness among themselves marvellous tales when they produce no other effect than agitating, and giving play to their natural love of wonder. But, when they are to affect any great interest ; when the belief of them is conjoined with the sacrifice of their pas- sions, their pleasures, their national customs, their honour, 120 or their fortune, the case is entirelj reversed : then they are received with distrust, and scrutinized with rigour. If, in dark and ignorant ages, the people are disposed to Hsten to fables which seem to spring out of the genius of their reli- gion, and are intended only to strengthen their favourite su- perstition, they would not surely lend the same easy faith to prodigies, real or pretended, which should be alleged only to overturn whatever was held most sacred among them. Besides, wherever the gospel came, the native superstitions of the people had pre-occupied their minds. All their cre- dulity was already enlisted in opposition to the doctrine, the history, and the miracles of Christ. And in proportion to their ignorance, was the violence with which they were at- tached to silly and incongruous fables, which were more adapted to the grossness of their minds than the pure and spiritual theology and morality of the gospel. But, whatever declamations men may think proper to make on the credulity of the vulgar, the belief of the chris- tian revelation was not confined to this class of society. It early numberj^d among its disciples magistrates, senators, or* ators, and philosophers of the highest distinction for learn- ing and eloquence ; men who examined the claims of the religion with the most painful diligence, and the most accurate scrutiny ; men who reluctantly yielded the haughtiness of office, the vanity of national superiority, the pride of talents and of learning, to the force of truth, and the demonstrations 121 of a divine power accompanying Christ and his apostles. Not to speak of Joseph of Arimathea, one of the sanhedrim of the Jews, on whose history some obscurity rests, it is cer- tain that Dionysius, a member of the celebrated Areopagus of Athens, and Flavius Clemens, a senator of Rome, suflfer- ed martyrdom for Christ in the very first age. Arnobius, an early historian of the church, assures us that men of the finest talents and the greatest learning, orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, philosophers, abandoning their former opinions, and the systems to which they had been attached by education, and the habits of a philosophical life, now reposed their minds only on the truth of the gospel. The writings, and even the names of great numbers of men of letters have not come down to us. A few only, out of multitudes, who, we are assured, were no way inferior to them, and not inferior to the wisest men of the period in which they lived, have survived to our age."^ And if we were to select a philosopher of that time, most distinguished for the splendour of his talents, the acuteness of his genius, and the vast extent of his erudition, it would be Origen, with * It will be sufficient to name the two Dionysii, one of Athens, the other of Al- t.i:.indria, Quadratus, Aristides, Athenagoras, Clemens, Anatolius, without men- tioning the crowd of the fathers wlio, redeemed from paganism and the errors of the heathen philosophy, embraced the doctrine of Christ with zeal as the repose and hope of their souls. Having the strongest motives to examine into the foun- dations of that new and divine philosophy, their nearness to the events recorded inthe sacred history afforded them the amplest means of ascertaining their truth, 16 V22 whom none of the learned men of bis time deserves to be named as a rivaK Is it to be presumed, then, that men of their character, and attainments in science, enjoying, as they did, the means of the most minute and accurate inquiry, would receive on slight evidence, or, indeed, would embrace, without the most rigorous examination, a new religion which overturned, and treated as folly all their ancient principles of philosophy ? Is there a shadow of probability that such men would enlist themselves as disciples, and champions of this religion, with- out the most satis&ictory evidence of the divine authority^ on which it rested, and the deepest conviction of its infinite importance to mankind, when its first effect was to humble the pride of human science, on which they had promised themselves to build their glory ; when instead of being the proud teachers of a proud philosophy, it turned them back to be the self-denied pupils of unlearned Jews, and a cruci- fied Saviour ; and above all, when it exposed them to such extreme sufferings as no partial conviction, no doubtful faith^ and no hasty and immature opinions, could ever have ena- bled them to endure ? Not credulity, surely, but conviction established upon the most solid basis could have sustained them under the operation of those severe and fiery tests of their faith to which it was constantly subjected. That I may place this point in as strong a light as possible, let me 123 ^4[aote here a passage from the pious and elegant Addison, in which it is presented to us with equal force of thought and beautj- of expression : " I cannot help regarding as a stand- ing miracle, says he, that amazing, and supernatural cour- age, or patience, shown by innumerable multitudes of mar- tyrs in those slow and painful torments that were inflicted on them. I cannot conceive a man placed in the burning chair at Lyons, amid the insults and mockeries of a crowded am- phitheatre, and still keeping his seat ; or stretched upon a grate of iron over coals of fire, and breathing out his soul among the exquisite sufferings of such a tedious execution, rather than renounce his religion, or blaspheme his Saviour. Such trials seem to me above the strength of human nature, and able to overbear duty, reason, faith, conviction, nay, and the most absolute certainty of a future state. Humani- ty, unassisted in an extraordinary manner, must have shaken off the present pressure, and delivered itself out of such a dreadful distress by any means which could have been sug- gested to it. We can easily imagine that many persons. In so good a cause might have laid down their lives at the gib- bet, the stake, or the block : but, to expire leisurely among the most exquisite tortures, when they might come out of them even by a mental reservation, or a hypocrisy which was not without the possibility of being followed by repen- tance and forgiveness, has something in it so far beyond the force and natural strength of mortals, (liat one cannot but 124 think there was some miraculous power to support the suf- ferer.'* Although we should not think with Mr. Addison, that any divine aid which might be strictly called iniraculousj was commuBicated to these pious sufferers, yet must we ad- mit that nothing short of the clearest and strongest convic- tion of the truth of the gospel and its miracles ; nothing but the firmest persuasion that Christ alone had the words of eternal lifey could have induced them to expose themselves to such dangers, or supported them in enduring such excru- ciating torments. Is it possible that philosophic men, what- ever may be supposed of the vulgar class of martyrs, could have voluntarily gone to death surrounded with so many ter- rors, if their minds had not been encouraged, animated, and supported by the most complete conviction, founded on the strongest and most rational evidence, that the doctrines which they had embraced, and the miracles which they be- held, were the wisdom of God, and the power of God? The least doubtfulness, the smallest apprehension that they had not thoroughly examined the proofs of that holy religion, to which they were about to offer up their lives amidst such a complication of horrors, must have shaken the constancy of their souls. But, when we see that no dangers can move them, and that, in the midst of their sufferings, they preserve their serenity and firmness unaltered, except when it rises to exultation and triumph, such matchless and divine heroism can, surely, never be the result of a weak credulity. In 125 auch tremendous conflicts, integrity and truth alone can sus- tain the heart. One important consideration in the change of those learn- ed men, who embraced Christianity in the primitive age, de- serves to be particularly remarked : they declare that it was not merely the purity and perfection of the christian faith, which originally produced their conversion from paganism and philosophy, but the miracles which they saw performed by the apostles and apostolic men, which carried with them unequivocal demonstrations of a divine power attending their doctrine, and without which they would probably never have turned their minds to an examination of its excellence. Some writers have unaccountably pretended that the tes- timony of the christian fathers to the miracles of the gospel ought not to be regarded as possessing any weight in the scale of evidence by which we estimate its truth, because it is the testimony of friends in favour of their own system. But what made them christians ? What created their attach- ment to the christian doctrine ? Was it not the miracles they beheld ? They were before ignorant of its true nature ; they were hostile to its spirit, to the name of its Author, and to his nation. But they sacrificed their prejudices, but they became disciples of a religion they had hated and despised, and for the profession of it they exposed themselves to the 126 most teiTJbie deaths. Their conversion, then, is preciselj that which gives the greatest force to their testimony. To support the objection against the reality of miracles, which is founded on the credulity of mankind, we are re- ferred to various impostures which, at different periods, have obtained a temporary credit and success in the world. On a few of those which have been most confidently opposed to the mighty works performed by our Saviour and his apos- tles, I shall, after offering to your consideration two prelimi- nary remarks, make several observations with the view of discriminating them from the real operations of a divine pow- er. The first remark which I offer is, that, if pretences to a peculiar intercourse with Heaven have been attempted to be maintained by the additional pretence to miraculous pow- ers, it is, at least, a proof of the general persuasion of man- kind, that miracles form the proper evidence of a divine mission. If, therefore, a real messenger from Heaven should ever appear in the world, it is a most natural and reasonable expectation that he should be invested with an extraordina- ry control over the common operations of nature as the seal of his prophetic character. But because there have been religious impostors, are there, therefore, no true prophets ? Because there are empirics in every Hberal profession, are there no certain principles of science ? This can be the conclusion only of ignorance or prejudice. ^Empiricism in i2r religion, or in art, should not make us deny the existence of truth in both, but only render us more careful and scrupu- lous in examining the pretensions of those who come to us as instructors in either. I remark, in the next place, that, between the miracles of the holy scriptures, and those mysterious incantations, and ambiguous wonders, performed by the priests, and ma- gicians of paganism, which certain writers have affected to bring into competition with them, there are strong and mark- ed distinctions which ought to be particularly observed, and which are suflBcient to demonstrate the one to be from Heav- en, the other to be only the spurious growth of human arti- fice and corruption. These pretended prodigies were commonly exhibited in some sequestered place where the operators had the oppor- tunity of preparing whatever means of deception were neces- sary for imposing on the senses. Often they were exhibited in the recesses of their temples in the midst of glooms ren- dered awful by superstition, and of fearful images presented to an imagination already almost crazed by terror, which de- prived the miserable subject of their art of all power of judging rationally of the scenes before him. Nothing was done openly and in public, and exposed to the fair and dis passionate examination of the senses of all men. Their pro- 128 digies were works of darkness, secluded from the observa- tion of the world, performed only on rare occasions, and af- ter much artful preparation.* The miracles of our blessed Saviour, on the other hand, were the ordinary and familiar actions of his life. Nothing, as he says himself, was done in secret. But all his wonderful works were performed on such subjects as no slight of hand, no apparatus for deceiv- ing the senses could reach ; such as healing the sick, open- ing the eyes of the blind, restoring the paralytic to their na- tural powers, assuaging the winds and the waves, and rais- ing the dead. Their wonders were employed to amuse the popular credulity, and to confirm among the ignorant an old superstition by the strange narrations which the dupes of the imposture afterwards disseminated among the people. They were followed by no other consequence. But the works of Jesus Christ, by powerfully seizing on the human mind, have been followed by the most important revolution which has ever taken place in the moral world. OF SUPPOSITITIOUS SUPERNATURAL POWERS. The pretended powers which, in various countries, have been exhibited by magicians, and sorcerers, and other men * Tliis was the case in several places in Greece, but particularly in the tem- ple and cave of Trophonius. An interesting account of some of the scenes of im- posture exhibited in that celebrated cavern of superstition will be found in the travels of Anacharsis t!ie younger througii Greece, by the Abbe Barthelemy. chap. 34 th. 129 of that class, have, by the enemies of the christian revela' tion, been set in opposition to the miracles of our Saviout) as being entitled to equal authority. By this artifice, plac- ing imposture and truth on the same ground, they endeav- our to weaken, and, at length, to destroy the influence of the latter over the human mind. The scriptures, Ihey say, place them on an equal footing, by ascribing the works of both to supernatural causes ; or making both equally the ef- fects of some secret art. If they are derived from supernat- ural influence, by what criterion, let me ask, shall we distin- guish the demoniacal from the divine ? A just subject of regret it is, that many christian writers have given too much countenance to this species of objection, by attributing to demons, and malignant spirits, occasionally, certain miracu- lous powers, and the prescient faculty of predicting future events. In order to remove the foundation of this objection in which unbelievers have triumphed, I would lay it down as a maxim necessary, to the support of true religion, that miracles are exclusively reserved to be the proofs of divine revelation, and can never be performed by any but the best of beings, and for the most wise, and beneficent ends. The ascription of supernatural powers over the eslablished order of the universe, to infernal or demoniacal agents is equally contrary to reason, to experience, and to the sacred scrip- lures, which last, however, have been unhappily misinter- preted to support this dangerous error. 17 130 This subject I have already treated in another work* to which I beg leave to refer the reader who may think the question worthy their further investigation. The decision of our Saviour upon it appears to me definitive when he thus ap- peals to the evidence of his own divine mission. — The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath>sent me. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. The next source of the direct evidence for our holy reli- gion is that derived from the fulfilment of prophecy. But, as I have omitted a discussion concerning demoniacal pow- ers, and the false miracles supposed to be drawn from that principle, that I might avoid swelling this volume to too large a size, I shall, for the same reason, omitting the extensive de- tails which would naturally arise out of the accomplishment of all the predictions of the sacred scriptures, confine my- self only to two . sul^jects^j. f/t€ destruction of the Jewish na- tion,— and the appearance and character of the Messiah, the predictions concerning which are so astonishing, and their ac- complishment so particular and complete, that they may reasonably be esteemed in the room of all for producing en- tire conviction in the inquisitive, candid, and pious mind..: > * Lectures oq thejevidences of religion to the Senior Clas£( in the College of New-Jersey. J31 Suflfer me, then, to direct the attention of the reader, in the first place, to that most wonderful prediction concerning the fate and destinies of the nation of Israel, uttered by Mo- ses, their divine legislator, near the close of his life. THE PROPHECY OF MOSES CONCERNING THE FINAL DE- STRUCTION OF THE JEWISH NATION. At that period when the devout and pious mind often be- comes prophetic, the illapse of the divine Spirit on him ap- pears to have been unusually clear and strong. After pro- posing to this people the highest motives to duty, and mul- tiplying to them the most gracious promises of prosperity if they should continue obedient to the laws which God had given them by him, he carries his view far forward into fu- ture ages, and, foreseeing the general defection of tbie nation from the true spirit of their religion, he denounces the most fearful judgments of heaven upon their disobedience and im- piety. And then, tracing their destinies to the end of time, he delineates them with such clearness and circumstantial ex- actness, that, if we may judge of the future by the past for more than three thousand years, he seems to present a his- tory rather than a prophecy. So terrible are these denun- ciations that nothing but the strongest sense of duty, and the most submissive obedience to the command of God, could have extorted them from the legislator, and father of his peo- ple : and so peculiar are these destinies that nothing but tha.t 132 infinite prescience, which embraces all things, from the be- ginning to the end, under one view, could have declared them so many ages before they existed. The prophecy to which I refer is contained in the twenty eighth and thirtieth chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. I shall recite only such portions of it as are necessary to the object of the present lecture, which is to point out the final extinction of the civil government, and national existence of the Jews ; the miseries which accompanied their political death ; and their consequent, and continued dispersion among all the nations of the world. " The Lord shall bring a na- tion against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle that flieth ; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand ; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young.* And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down wherein thou trustedst, through- out all thy land. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons, and of thy daughters in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee ; so that the man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of the chil- dren that he shall leave ; so that he shall not give to any of *&c. Ch, 28, V. OZ. 133 them of the flesh of his children which he shall eat ; because he shall have nothing left him in the siege, and in the strait- ness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young infant, even to- ward her children which she shall bear : for she shall eat them for want of all things, secretly, in the siege and strait- ness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.* And it shall come to pass that ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people from one end of the earth, even to the other. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease ; neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest.f 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, and thou shalt 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 to 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 * Ch. 28. V. 63, &c. f Ch. 30. V. 1—3. coiBiflas'sion flpii thee, and will return and gather thee from all thd^nlitle^nB wMther the Lord thy God hath scattered thee."' Every thpg in this prophecy is astonishing ; and if we seriously am'^attentively consider it in all its parts, it carries with it irref^able evidence of its having been dictated by the omniscient' Spirit of God.. The minuteness and accu- racy of the detail is hardly exceeded by the history of the events. The events themselves are so singular and unex- ampled, that a pretended prophet, vending only probable conjectures, or ambiguous oracles, for prophecy, never would have conceived, or ventured to utter them. And if he had been so bold, there are infinite chances against one that words thrown out in random guesses should never coin- cide with the current of future history. That a nation, in a course of time, should degenerate from her primitive man- ners, and, at length, be subjugated by some powerful con- queror, is an event so much in the order of nature, that it requires no great portion of political sagacity to predict it in general terms. But who could foresee at so great a dis- tance, that the Jews would perish precisely in such a man- ner ; that their sieges would be so dreadful ; that the rem- nant, who should escape the famine and the sword, should be dispersed through all nations, where, renewing their num- bers, they should still continue, a distinct people, and capa- ble, on their repentance, of being again restored to a national : 135 ' .: and independent state miliieir''own land?"THis is surely the^ foresight of inspiration. The people of Israel were under a peculiar providence. While they continued obedient to the law of God given them by Moses, they enjoyed distinguished temporal happiness and prosperity. But their departures from the law of their God, their idolatries, and their general defection to. ininioral- ity and impiety were always punished with mark^d.'ap;4 se^vere chastisements. And it was announced to them^tlK^/*W;he^,, .^ these temporary .inflictions should fail to produce theeffeCtuaj correction and reformation of their manners, the judgments of heaven should fall upon them with more dreadful severity ; that, after suffering all the most grievous calamities of war, the miserable remnants of the sword should be exiled from their desolated country, and scattered as vagabonds over the whole earth, being subjected to every privation and indignity, till the appointed period, for the expiation of their sins, should bring them to repentance, and open the way for their restora- tion to their own land. Let us now see how literally these denunciations have been verified ; especially, at two great epochas, the Babylonish captivity ; and the destruction of Jerusalem, and dispersion of the Jews, under the Roman emperor Vespasian. In the siege which preceded both the one captivity, and the other, this people suffered almost unheard of calamities. As their 136 privileges had been greater than those of other nations, their iniquities seem to have risen in the same proportion Having rejected with scorn the warnings of those divine messen- gers sent to them by God, they appear to have been aban- doned by him to an infatuated mind, agitated by the most fe- rocious passions. Their miseries, instead of humbling their pride, or calming their madness, rendered them only more fu- rious ; and their enemies themselves, in the midst of fire and slaughter, sometimes looked on them with commiseration and astonishment as a people marked out for the peculiar ven- geance of heaven. And the recital of their sufferings, parti- cularly in the destruction of their city by the Romans,* which seems to have been chiefly in the view of their prophetic legislator, is perhaps without a parallel in the history of hu- man misery. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, continues the prophecy, until thy high and fenced walls come down wherein thou trustedsty throughout all thy land. And it de- serves to be remarked of the Jewish nation, more, perhaps, than of any other, that their calamities have been the conse- * The description of the conquering nation carries in it a striking application to the Somans. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, from the END OF THE EARTH, as smiftas an eagle thai flieth ; atiation nhosc tokgue tliou shall NOT UNDERSTAND, &c. The language of Chaldea was not so unintelligible to the Hebrews as that of the Romans ; nor was Babylon so distant from Jerusalem iis Borne. i3r quence, not so much of unfortunate conflicts in the open fieltfj as of desperate and disastrous sieges, in which the greater portion of the people, being shut up within their walls, suf- fered whatever famine and civil discord, inflamed by the most furious and fanatical passions, not less than the sword of the enemy, could inflict upon the most miserable of mankind. The history of the miseries which they suffered in the re- spective sieges is calculated to inspire us with horror, and perfectly accords with the strong painting of the prophecy. Passing over the destruction of their city, and the captivity of their nation by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, I shall only present you with a brief sketch of their last overthrow, the most fearful scene of tlieir calamities, in the famous siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the son, and lieutenant of Vespasian. The materials of this representation I draw entirely from Josephus, himself a Jew, and cotemporary with the transac- tions which he relates, who could have no motive to exagger- ate the madness, and the atrocious passions of his own coun= trymen. Id the various towns of Judea besieged and taken by the Romans during this desolating and exterminating war^ their furious and exasperated soldiers cut off the whole pop- ulation without respecting either age or sex. They show- ed themselves, in the words of Moses, to be a nation of a fierce countenancey rendered more ferocious by the fury with which they were opposed, ivlio regarded ixol ihe per^nv of 1« , 138 the oldf nor showed favour to the young. But it was in the siege of Jerusalem itself that the measure of the calamities of the Jews became full. Pressed from without by all the arts of war, and cut oflf entirely from supplies of provisions, it was difficult to saj whether hunger, or the sword destroyed the greater numbers. Their distresses were doubly aggravated by their own internal dissensions. Divided into most violent factions by ambitious or enthusiastic leaders, they often fil- led the streets of Jerusalem with mutual slaughter. Often they only suspended their own conflicts for a short season to run to their walls to resist the assaults of the common enemy ; and returned from repulsing them to butcher one another. It seemed as if heaven had smitten the murderers of the Sa- viour of the world with a desperate phrenzy, and given them up to the dominion of the most diabolical passions. In the midst of all these horrors, famine presents us with a spectacle still more horrible, when we see them, driven by the rage of hunger, with cannibal appetite, to devour one another, and the living feedmg on those who had died of disease, or of wounds. Even mothers, quenching all the sentiments of na- ture, devoured their own children, and grudging to their husbands, and their other children a share in this dreadful repast, they endeavoured, after having satisfied the present cravings of their own hunger, to conceal the remaining frag- ments from the voracious rapacity of the rest of the family, reserving them as a precious morsel against another time. With what fearful acsuracy has the prediction of Moses been 139 fulfilled ! " And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons, and thy daughters, in, the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee ; so that the man who is tender among you and very delicate,* his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of the children that he shall leave, so that he shall not give to any of them of the flesh of his children which he shall eat. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness, and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young infant, even toward her children that she shall bear ; for she shall eat them for want of all things, se- cretly, in the siege." One example, out of uiany of the same kind, let me pro- duce to show the frantic despair with which this devoted people hastened their own destruction. After the storming of Jerusalem, a wretched remnant of the citizens sought ref- uge in the castle of Massada: but being pressed by the Ro- mans, they, at the instigation of one of their leaders, first murdered their wives and children : they then chose by lot *That is, who has been most softly and luxuriously bred, and accustomed to the choicest viands, he shall now be reduced to these wretched and horrible meals. And even of these ke sliall grudge tlie smallest share to those who were once most dear to him, when the furious rage of hunger had not perverted all his sflfectioos. 140 ten who should murder all the rest ; after which one of the ten was chosen to murder the other nine ; who, when he had executed this dreadful office, stabbed himself. In this man- ner perished nine hundred and sixty persons in this single fortress.* And, in the whole war there were destroj'^ed by the Romans, by famine, and by their own hands, upwards cf twelve hundred thousand persons, besides nearly one hun- dred thousand who were taken prisoners and sold for slaves.f Of these prisoners so little care was taken, that eleven thou- sand were literally starved to death ; and, of the remainder, the greater portion were sent as slaves to Egypt, agreeably to another part of the same prophecy: " And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt with ships, and there ye shall be sold to your enemies for bond men, and bond women ; and no man shall buy you." J In such numbers shall you be brought to the market, that purchasers, at length, will no longer fee found. * Jos. de. bell. Jud. lib. 7. cap. 8, 9. f Accurately, according to Josephus, the dead were 1,240,490; and the prison- ers 99,200. I Ch. 28. V. 63. The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt nith skips. The people of Israel came out of Egypt by the isthmus of Suez, and the desert. And by that route tuey usually travelled and traded to that count.-y. But it was more conve- nient for the Romans to put their numerous slaves on board the ships belonging to their fleet, or on board Phenician merchant vessels, to transport them into Egypt. As this was a mode of communication pot practised in the time of Moses, aad commerce was in a great measure interdicted to the Israelites by their institutions, this circumstance renders this part of tlie prophecy the more surprising, and ■^or thy our attention : tftat they should come into Egypt in ships. 141 So conformable was this disastrous termination of the Jewish state, and destruction of the holy citj, to the pre- dictions both of Moses, and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Fo}\ ihen, there shall be great iribulaiion, saith Christ, "such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be ; and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved."* Let us pursue the prophecy farther : " And it shall come to pass that ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest. Here is a new series of wonders. That a nation should be conquered, that it should be reduced to subjection, that it should be wholly exterminated by some barbarous conqueror, would not be so extraordinary ; because the history of the worU affords numerous examples of similar events. But, that a whole people should be plucked from off their land, should be dispersed in broken fragments through all the nations of the world, and yet neither be blended with those nations, nor become extinct, is a catastrophe so singular, a state so unprecedented, that a prophet who was not uttering a pre- * Mat. 24,21,22. See the prediction of our Saviour beaDtifiilly illustrated by bishop Porteus \o bis ledure upon tfcis chapter. 342 diction dictated by the divine Spirit, an historian who should have been only hazarding a conjecture or a random oracle, never would have thought of one which no fact in history ever could have suggested, which no experience of the revolutions of nations ever could have warranted. If, in the infinite combinations of the operations of providence, an oracle, in a long course of time, might accidentally hit upon one corresponding event, is it within the compass of possi- bility that either random conjecture, or the most sagacious human foresight, should be able to foretel, and accurately to point out, such a united series of facts, continued down through such a long succession of ages? The man, who can receive this as either probable or possible, must have a great facility of believing indeed. Do we not, then, see the Jew- ish nation plucked from off their own land ? Do we not see them scattered among all people from one end of the earth even unto the other ? And is it not true that, among all these nations they find no ease; neither is there rest for the sole of their foot ? Perpetually they have been persecuted, in- sulted, pillaged, and refused all the common privileges of citizenship. In every country we have seen them alter- nately banished and recalled ; and recalled only to be pillag- ed, or banished again. The whole history of that afflicted people since their dispersion confirms the words of their great prophet : that they should hecome an astonishment, a proverb, and a byervord among all nations.'^ That their * Deut. 23. 37. 143 plagues should be wonderfulf even great plagues and of long coniinuance.f A circumstance not a little singular, which has contribu- ted more than all others both to their dispersion, and to the injuries which they have suffered, is that, in almost all coun- Ities, they have been denied the privilege of holding landed property. This has induced a necessity, contrary to the original habits of the nation, to turn their attention to com- merce, and to the discount, and exchange of money in differ- ent forms. Hence has resulted the further necessity of dis- tributing them as traders, and brokers or bankers, into vari- ous nations. Their wealth, accumulated by these means, excited both the envy of the people, and the avarice of their rulers, and pointed them out as an easy prey to violent and arbitrary princes, whenever the public coffers were empty. The extreme uncertainty of their state tempted them to de- mand usurious interest in their contracts for money lending. Hence the public hatred, in every country was inflamed against them, and justified, in the public esteem, the rapaci- ty and violence of the princes who oppressed them. A thou- sand wicked and malicious tales were fabricated against them. A thousand crimes were imputed to them ; and they were often given up to the fanatical rage of the popu- lace. Thus has their character been in a great measure for- med by their state, and their persecutions have often sprung '■ lb. V. .W, 144 out of their character. This, together with the barbarous su- perstitions and the barbarous forms of civil government which, for many ages disgraced Europe, completed their misery. On a review of this history, may I not justly demand again, who could have foreseen national characteristics, and situations so uncommon, so singular : circumstances so vari- ous and complicated, destined to take place in such remote ages, but the Spirit of God alone ? In order to evade the al- most irresistible evidence of this conclusion, we have seen infidel writers resort to the ridiculous subterfuge of saying that the verification of the prediction is to be ascribed to the christians who have ingeniously contrived to give authentici- ty to their own scriptures, by promoting the fulfilment of their prophecies. But have not these prophecies been ful- filled under the dominion of pagan and mahometan nations, as well as of the christian ? If the allegation, however, were well founded, whence could Moses have foreseen the exis- tence of the christian religion, and the interest which the christians, as a sect, would have in giving effect to his own prophecy ? Whence could he have foreseen those commer- cial, political, moral, and religious institutions, which, by their influence on the character of the nations who should embrace Christianity, would thus cruelly affect the condition of the Jews ? Surely, if men were not blinded by their pre- judices, they would see that the wonder here, is not in the least diminished by this absurd supposition. 145 With equal folly and ignorance it has been alleged that this prediction was composed by Ezra, or some of his coun- trymen, after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity ; that it has a relation solely to that event ; and that hence alone we must account for the very circumstaur tial narration of several particulars during the siege, and the exact delineation of the consequent state of the nation. Men who undertake to write and pronounce upon the sub- ject of religion, without (he trouble of candidly inquiring in- to its truth, seem to think themselves entitled to make, with- out shame or compunction, the most extravagant and improb- able assertions. This allegation is demonstrated to be utter- ly iuipossible by reference only to the Samaritan copy of the pentateuch.* This ancient book, which contains the whole * Ten tribes of the people of Israel withdrew themselves from the govern- ment of the house of Solomon under the reign of Rehoboam. In their aepa- ration they still professed to adhere to the law of Moses, which had been common to the whole nation. The five books, therefore, which were writtea by him, and which contained his whole law, they preserved with no less ven- eration than did the Jews. When the ten tribes were led into captivity by the kings of Babylon, they were replaced by a new and mixed face called Samaritans, from the name of their capital city Samaria. These people, re- siding in the land of Israel, and mixing with the remnant of its former id- habitants, still received the law of Mo.ses as their civil and religious code ; but admitted none of the writings of the .Jewish prophets. Perpetual hatreds, and a most hostile spirit, always existed between the revolted tribes first, and afterwards the Samaritans, and the people of the Jews. Both nations pre- served the law of Moses with the same sacredness. Tiie language is the same. But the Jewish copy of the law is written in the Chaldce character, which became familiar to the Jews during their captivity at Babyljn ; the Samaritaa is writtea ja Vac old Hebrew, or Phenecian letter, which ivas eominon to the JO 146 law of Moses, was continually read in Ihe religious assem- blies of that people, so hostile to the Jews, during a period of four hundred jears anterior to the capture of Jerusalem bj the king of Babylon, and still longer before the age of Ezra, and the copy of the scriptures collected by that emi- nent scribe. Here, then, is a copy of the Mosaic Law, re- tained in the hands of rivals and of enemies, which renders it of the more unsuspected credit, that demonstrates the ex- istence of the prophecy sca eral centuries before the era of the Babylonish captivity. But the prophecy contains the evidence within itself that its principal reference is to the Rod- man conquest, and to the state of the Jews since that period. It is a miracle, then, continually presented to your eyes : it !s a prophecy every day fulfilling in your sight after a lapse of more than three thousand years. PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. No evidence for the truth of the Christian revelation, de- rived from the predictions of the holy scriptures, appears to me more clear and strong than that which results from that stream of prophecy concerning a future Messiah ; which, whole nation before the captivity. This is tliat wliich is called the Samari- tan pentateuch. And this old letter, in which the law is preserved by tliem, is another proof of the antiquity of the Samaritan copy. It is doubtless the letter which Moses himself used, and communicated to the people of Israel. And the Jews changed it, in their copies of the law after the captivity, for the Chaldee, only because the latter, by a long residence in Babylon, had become more fanailiar to them. 147 commencing with the earliest periods of time, terminates, al length, in Jesus Christ. We trace it from Adam, in that mystical promise, the seed of the woman shall bruise the ser- pents head, down through the line of patriarchs and prophets to the time of Christ himself, in whom all the prophecies, and types of the ancient dispensations have been completed, and the expectations of the whole world fulfilled. For, it is a circumstance particularly deserving your attention, that there was no civilized nation of antiquity, in which were not found traditions concerning ^ divine personage who should appear upon earth to teach men the true knowledge of God, their duties, and their hopes, and lo restore the reign of righteous- ness and peace to the world afflicted with miseries and crimes. This was a natural consequence of the piety and prophetic character of the father of the race after the deluge. Instructing his children, who were destined to be the found- ers of the future nations of the world, in the principles of piety and virtue, he would be especially solicitous to instil into their minds this sublime and blessed hope, which was given by God as the consolation of man in the depth of his affliction after the full. If the mosaic history of the world be true, if Adam, after his fall, received this consolatory promise ; and if Noah were a good man, and a prophet ;* *■ From the pious and prophetic ciiaracter ascribed to Noah in the sacred writ- ings, we ought to expect among his near descendants, the founders of the various nations of the world, many good men, well instructed in the principles of religion as far as they were known to him, and ia tlio-e iraditionarj- predictions ■svliich 148 tben ought we to expect to find this original prediction and promise, with more or less clearness, among the traditions of all the primitive nations of mankind ; and, finding it among all nations, as we do, it may justly be considered as an abso- lute verification of the account of Moses, and of the existence of this prophecy from the beginning ; for we can hardly con- ceive of any other mode in which it could have been so uni- versally diffused. It received further elucidation and exten- sion, in the progress of time, by succeeding patriarchs and prophets. The knowledge of it became more definite by the dispersion of the Jewish nation, who carried their sacred writings with them in all their wanderings. At length the precise period, at which the Messiah should appear, became fixed and settled in prophecy. And, at the moment that his birth was announced, the world was waiting for the event yrith anxious and universal expectation. The harmonious had been imparted either to himself, or to antecedent patriarchs and prophets. These, of course, would be transmitted to their posterity, and, for several gene- rations, perhaps, in a considerable degree of purity. But, at length, becoming corrupted, and blended with many fables, and liaving descended so far from their source that their true origin was in a great measure forgotten, or in danger of be- ing so, it is reasonable to believe that some good men, in diiferent nations, in or- der to prevent them from utterly falling into oblivion ; or some cunning and am- bitious men, that they might themselves pass for prophets, or be acknowledged as lawgivers divinely instructed, would commit them to writing, mixing with them other matter connected with civil policy, or religion, and giving them a form ac- cording to the genius and views of the authors. Hence, perhaps, the origin of the sjibylline verses, or oracles at Rome, and of other similar works to which a sacred veneration was paid in various countries of antiquity. And hence the resemblancf? of these traditions in many respects to one another, and to the sacred scriptures. It is not improbable that these traditions might have afterwards received greater clearness and precision from the sacred writings, whieh wtre dispersedi^ along witi^ 149 muse of Virgil has presented to us the character of the ex- pected Prince and Saviour, drawn from tradition, and has ex* hibited the general hope and solicitude of the nations for his appearance at that time,* in an exquisite poem, and almost in prophetic numbers.f " The last age, says he, is at length arrived, predicted by the prophetess of Cumae. The mighty- order of ages begins to circle anew. Justice returns to the earth, and the happy reign of Saturn ; and from heaven de- scends a new, and divine offspring. Soon shall the great months begin to revolv e ; and every vestige of our former crimes shall be effaced : thus shall the earth be redeemed from the distressing causes of perpetual fear. He shall par- the people of Israel and Judea, after their respective captivities, through all the nations of the East. To the holy records the name of Daniel would naturally give great authority, who, during many years, directed all the principal operations of the vast empires of Babylon, and Persia, which extended over the greater part •f the Asiatic continent. * The time at which this great poet wrote was but a few years before the birth of Clirist. f Ultima Ciimaei venit jam carminis aetasj Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo-.. Jam redit et Virgo ; redeunt Saturnia regna ; Jam nova progenies ccelo dimittitiir alto. ♦ Incipient magni procedere menses, Te duce, siqua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, Irrita perpotua solvent formidine terras. Ille deum vitara accipiet, Pacatumque reget patrils virtutibus orbem. Aggredere O magnos, aderit jam tempus honores, Cara Deiim soboles ! magnum Jovis incrementum ! The whole eclogue is well known to have been intended as a complirafttit to Pollio's son, but it is equally well k;iown t^ be borrowed front a pre-valeat opinion rr tradition,' ' iake of the life of gods. And he shall rule the peaceful world with his Father's virtues. The tiaie is now at hand. Enter on thy mighty honours, dear offspring of the gods ! O son of supreme Jove !" What a resemblance do we perceive in these strains of the Roman poet, to those of a Hebrew pro- phet ! In the same spirit proceeds the whole of this admi- rable poem, which might be esteemed an almost literal trans- lation of many of the most beautiful passages in the prophet Isaiah. And it is, indeed, far from being improbable that Virgil was acquainted with the prophetic scriptures, as they had, long before this period, been translated into the polite and universal language of the Greeks. Thus much, at least, appears to be certain, that an acquaintance with the writings of the Jews, seems to have excited, or renewed the attention of mankind to this great event as being near at hand, a vague expectation of which had been long nourished by the ancient traditions of their respective countries. Suetonius and Taci- tus, whose historical accuracy and judgment have placed them in the very first rank of historians, both inform us " that there prevailed over the whole East, an ancient and fixed opinion, that there should, at that time, arise a person out of Judea, who should obtain the dominion of the world."* They * Neither the Pagans, nor the great body even of the Jewish nation, could er.sily form just conceptions of the nature of that spiritual kingdom which the Son of God was coming to establish among men ; they therefore interpreted the figurative language in which it was described in their traditions, and pro- phecies, zni by their respective poets, rf Euch tPinporal power, glory, and 151 say, indeed, that popular flattejy, or credulily^, applied these traditionaiy oracles to the RomaD eoiperor Vespasian, who had been raised to the empire by the eastern legions, about the time that he engaged in the Jewish wars. But common sense must convince every thinking man, that expectations so universal, founded on predictions which had been transmit- ted down through ages, always pointing to the same period, and to a divine personage of the most sublime character, who should appear upon earth for the destruction of vice, and the establishment of righteousness, must have had a different ori- gin from an accidental rumour generated, one knows not how, and passing away with the events of the day ; and a very- different object from Vespasian, who had nothing to distin- guish him from so many other soldiers of fortune who had been raised from the ranks to the imperial purple. Recent researches into the history and antiquities of mosi of the eastern nations, and particularly of Persia, India, and China, have proved that similar traditions, to those which Virgil has shown us to have prevailed in the Roman empire, have existed among them from immemorial time. In these facts we have an extraordinary moral phenome- non presented to our reflections, which carries in itself no empire, as were adapted to the grossness of their imaginations. The imageiy. however, which tbey employed, oug^ht to hiu p l<=d their minds to purer and Kublimer vi'^^rc. 152 small degree of evidence, that the traditions relative to a fu- ture divine teacher, and legislator to come into the world were founded in original prophecy; and that all the prophecies of the holy scriptures relating to this object were actual inspi» rations from Heaven, and had their full completion in our Lord Jesus Christ. For before the birth of Christ all nar tions had their traditions, and their predictions concerning such a divine messenger as the scriptures have described, and held out to the hopes of mankind, through all the line of their patriarchs and prophets, from the beginning of the world. These prophecies, and these traditions all pointed nearly to the same country, and to the same period. Accord- ingly at that period, and in that country, when expectation, nursed by the belief of ages, was all alive, arose a man claim- ing his birth from Heaven, who united in himself all the cha- racters ascribed in ancient proj)hecy to the future 3Iessiah. He has taught mankind the purest, and sublimest notions of God ; he has established among his disciples the most holy and rational worship of the Supreme Being, instead of those groveling and corrupted superstitions which had before en- slaved the greater portion of the world ; he has proclaimed to the universe the most perfect law of morals ; he has brought life and immortality to light, confirming it by his own resurrection, after having submitted to death, as he declared, for the sins of the world ; and, certainly, his doctrines have produced the greatest and happiest revolution which has ever taken place in the moral ideas, and the manners of man- 155 kind. And, since his appearance, we see that those exp^C» tations, which before were so ardent and so universal, have everj where ceased ; for, to believers^ they have been com- pletely realized, and, to all others, if JesiJs Christ is not the divine messenger and prince who was to come, there is no longer any foundation on which they could be supported. Here then is a mighty stream of prophecy commencing with the history of the world itself, and continued down through successive ages to the era of Christ, which carries in its commencement, its extent, its progress, and its termination-, shall I not say, infallible signatures of divine truth. Here we behold an emanation of prophetic light darting its distant rays upon this glorious object from the beginning of time. At first, indeed, it appears faint and feeble like the dawn when it begins to break upon the darkness of the night ; but, as the sun of righteousness approaches to his rising, we see it continually becoming more luminous and distinct. At length, we behold this spiritual sun appearing in all his glo- ry in the heavenS; and divine truth beaming in its full lustre on the nations. The holy prophets have not only announced a future Mes- siah to the world, who should derive his birth immediately from Heaven, but, in the progress of that illumination which gradually arose with increasing brightness upon the ancient church, they were enabled at last to delineate his character, as well as to foretel the time of his appearance upon the 20 154 6arth, with such exactness, and with such distinguishing traits, as necessarily to add great, not to say invincible au- thority to their predictions. It is not my design to trace out the progressive stages of prophetic h'ght, under the ancient dispensations of grace, in the figurative promise given to Adam ; in the symbolic and practical revelation made to Abraham in the command to sacrifice his son on Mount Mo- riah ; or in the analogy by which Moses instructed the church of Israel : A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to yoUy like unto me ; him shall ye hear. These, and a thousand other gradual developements of his character, and offices, I shall pass over, to come at once to that ultimate de- gree of illumination which God was pleased to afford the an- cient church, when the mosaic dispensation was approaching towards a close. Then we find, especially in the prophet Isaiah, such striking delineations of the mediatorial character of Christ, so extraordinary, and yet so accurate and just, as must affect with mingled wonder and devotion, every reflect- ing, and candid inquirer after truth. In the Messiah, as he appears exhibited by the Spirit which animated the prophets, are united such opposite extremes of grandeur and humility, of omnipotence and weakness, of celestial perfection and hu- man infirmity, as men, writing from the impulse merely of their own minds, whether we suppose them inflamed with en« thusiasra, or acting under the direction of the cold and calcu- lating genius of imposture, would never have brought togeth- er. A heavenly messenger sent on the most important er- 153 rand to mortals, a prince claiming his descent from Heaven, who was to extend the empire of peace, and righteousness over the universe, to compose its disorders, and put an end to its crimes, if the picture were drawn merely from the ima- gination of the writer, would be invested only with those no- ble and divine attributes which would become his relation to God. It never would have entered into a reasonable mind, judging on the common principles of human nature, to com- bine with these celestial properties and powers, poverty and weakness, insult and disgrace, humiliation and suffering. But God, who was preparing, at once, an instructor and a sacrifice, a king and a victim, for a fallen, and redeemed race, and who, for this end, united in the same person the most distant extremes of heavenly glory and of human infir- mity, so overruled the minds of the prophets that they have drawn a character which they themselves could not comprehend, or explain ; which, left to themselves, they never would have conceived, and which could be under- stood only by the coming of the great Archetype himself. Let us contemplate the various, and apparently contradic- tory lights in which he is represented to us by the spirit of prophecy. Unto us sailh the phophet Isaiah, a child is born ; unto us a son is given ; and the government shall be upon his shoidders , and his name shall be called Won- derful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Fa- therf the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his go- 156 af'ernment and peace there shall be no end.^ And in other parts of that sublime and wonderful book, he is exhibited in such circumstances of humiliation and affliction that it would be difficult, without the guidance of that divine Spirit who inspired the prophet, to conceive how they should be appli- ed to the same person. " He is despised," says he, " and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised for our iniquities ; and the Lord hath laid up- on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter ; and, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. * He was taken off by an oppressive judgment :'-j- and who shall declare his generation ? It pleased the Lord to bruise him : he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days ; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands," J The actual coming of the Saviour alone has been able to reconcile all these apparent prophetic contradictions, and to vindicate the inspiration of the holy prophets. In his birth announced by angels, and his dealh^ among malefactors ; in the miraculous and omnipotent pow- Isaiah Qth. 6th, 7th. f Bishop Lowth's translation, v. 8, \ Isaiah S3U. 3d— lOtS. i5r crs by which he attested his Heavenly mission, and the weakness which subjected him to the power of sinful men ; in his yielding to death in its most ignominious form, and his resurrection and triumph over it ; in his descent from Heav- en to invest himself with the infirmities of human nature, and again, in his ascension tg his primitive glory which he had with his Father before the rvorld was, we see extremes which God only could unite ; we behold a character which the Spirit of God alone could have suggested to the minds of the prophets; we discern the justification of the prophets, and their truth triumphantly confirmed ; and, in the confir- mation of their truth, we see the infallible verification of our holy religion. For the Messiah, as he appears in the strains of the prophets, and Jesus Christ, as he appears in the gos- pel, are characters so entirely out of nature, so utterly be- yond human conception and contrivance, that the corres- pondence of the prophecy to the history, and of the history, to the prophecy, ought to be regarded as an irrefragable de- monstration of the truth of both. Having pointed out to you the early prophecy of a Mes-. siah in the first promise made to man after his fall ; the grad- ual and increasing light which was shed on this primary pre= diction, in the progressive dispensations of divine provi- dence ; the universal expectation which was entertained of the appearance of such a divine personage upon eartli, found- fp-d probably on an original revelation made to the father of 168 the race, and revived, and rendered more definite and clear bj the dispersion of the Jewish nation, and the Jewish scrip- tares, into the various regions of the East. The patriarch Jacob, just before his death, taking, under the influence of the Spirit of God, a prospective view of the destinies of his respective children, and their posterity, de- livers to Judah, his oldest son, this remarkable prediction, with regard to the permanence of his dominion, and the de- scent of the Messiah from him. The sceptre shall not de- part from Judah, nor a lawgiver from hetmeen hisfeety un- til Shiloh comej and to him shall the gathering of the pea- pU be.^ The most accurate and learned criticism applied to the terms in this passage translated sceptre and laivgiver leaves little room to doubt but that they imply the powers of civil government in the Jewish nation. And the interpretation aniversally given by the ancient Jewish church, and by the whole nation of Israel, to the name oi Shiloh, (for they con- stantly interpreted it of the Messiah who was to come) is a proof that our application of it to the ever blessed Saviour, * Deut. 28th, 57th. The term Skiloh, according to the root from which it is derived, may signify either the prepared, the sent, or the giver of peace, any or all of which, evidently referring to the character and office of the expected Mes- siah. Till his coming, the tribe of Judah should enjoy hereditary and sovereign power within itself; the phrase/rom between his feet, being a modest Hebraism. I'X a natural descendant of bis family. 159 our Lord Jesus Christ, Is not, according to the assertions, or insinuations of many infidels, merely a recent, and conveni- ent adaptation of a dubious term by christian writers to the purposes of their faith. No term has had a more precise, and less doubtful signification given to it by the uniform voice of all antiquity. The import of this prediction, therefore, is, that the tribe of Judah should preserve a national existence, and continue to exercise the essential powers of civil government, till the advent of that great deliverer expected from the beginning of the world. This peculiar distinction of Judah, arising from the possession and exercise of the powers of govern- menT, seems indirectly to imply that this prerogative should be lost by the other tribes before the coming of the Mes- siah. And has not this prophecy, both in its direct, and its Implied meaning, been completely fulfilled? All the tribes of Israel except that of Judah had lost their national existence, and even the distinction of their tribes, long before the birth of Christ; having been either blended with the tribe of Ju- dah, or dispersed and lost among the various nations compo- sing the Babylonian empire.* Judah retained both the * Some colonies of people possessing the law of Moses, and profefsing to go- vern themselves by its moral and religious rites and institutions, as far as their present situation will permit, have been discovered in the interior of Imlia, and on the borders of China, who are evidently descendants of the ten tribes who were carried away into captivity by the kings of Bnbylon, before the destructioa of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, and the raplivity of the tribe of Judnli. 160 sceptre of executive power, and the prerogative of interpre- ting, and administering their own law till the advent of the Saviour. Christ was born in the reign of Herod, the last prince who swayed the sceptre of Judah, and but a few years before the final extinction of the supreme judical, le- gislative, and religious authority of the nation ; and even of the nation itself as a distinct civil community. For, after Herod, the government of the Jews was for a short time di- vided among several petty princes, who possessed only the semblance of authority, under the supreme power of the Ro- mans ; and, on the destruction of Jerusalem, which followed in a few years, the miserable remnants of that people, whom a foreign sword, and the most frightful civil discord, had spared, were dispersed into all nations under heaven. And in this state of dispersion they remain, the visible monuments of the divine judgments, to this day. Let me, then, express the spirit of this prophecy in the following reflections. The typical church and kingdom of the Messiah shall exist, till his advent, in the nation of Israel, and particularly in the tribe of Judah ; in which tribe shall be vested and continued, for this purpose, all the powers of go- They possess none of the prophetic writings after the age of David. And their copies of the pentateuch are plainly of the most remote antiquity ; as appeart from the kind of skins on which they are written, and from the circumstance of the letters, in many places, not being distinguishable, except by traces left ie the skins, whicU have been made by the conosion of the lifjuid with which they weye originally traced. 161 >ernment both civil and religious. But when the Messiah shall have come, the reasons, for which this people, is chosen by God, and separated as a church to hiuiself from all the other nations of the earth, shall cease ; and then shall termi^ nate their national, and typical existence. The spiritual em= pire of the Redeemer shall, after this period, embrace all na- lions without distinction, or preference ; and to him shall the gathering of the people^ be. With what wonderful exact- ness, then, have we seen this venerable patriarch and pro^ phet, determine the era of this great event ; trace out the destinies of his several eons, and restrict to Judah, the pecu- liar benediction of Abraham, which consisted in this promise : in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. About the period of the birth of Christ, the visible de- cline of the Jewish state, and its rapid tendency to dissolu- tion, indicated, by manifest and unequivical symptoms, to ob- serving and reflecting minds, the approach of the great era fixed for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore Simeon, and many other pious Jews, were waitings at this time, with anxious expectation, for the hope of Israel. But the body of that nation, now become worldl}^, and sensual in their minds, and ambitious in their views, mistook the true charac- ter of their deliverer, and the spiritual nature of his kingdom. They, therefore, did not recognise him when he stood in the * The people, in this place, as in numerous other paEsage? of sacred vrritingf, evidently refers to the gentile nutiom. 2T 162 midst of them ; but, ongratified in their vain hopes, they pu^ him to death in the rage of disappointment, and thereby ac- complished another, and not the least glorious part of the prophecies concerning him. While flattering themselves with the illusion of a martial and victorious prince who should extend the empire of Jerusalem over the whole earth, their impatience of foreign domination daily increased, and precipi- tated them into disorders and revolts, which only hastened their destruction, and gave them the last fatal proof that the Messiah was already comCf and that they had done unto him whatsoever they listed."^ And now, in the conclusion, let me ask, have we not seen a most extraordinary person appear in Judea according to the predictions of the sacred scriptures ? And has he not appeared at the precise time which they had marked out, and when, in consequence, he was expected, not by the Jews only, but by almost all nations ? Since his coming, have not expectations, which before were so constant and universal, entirely ceased ? Has not the Jewish nation, according to the prophecy, rejected him who came to them as the Mes- siah ? And have not the gentiles gathered themselves under his wings, while the guilty Jews have been exiled from their country and scattered through all nations under heaven ? Have we not seen the greatest moral revolution effected by * Mat. 17th, 12th. 163 Lis doctrines which has ever taken place in the world ? And are not all these astonishing events evidently connec te d pas ofa vast plan which takes its beginning with time itself, which we have seen gradually unfolding in the sacred oracles for a long series of ages, and to the consummation of which, when they ceased to speak, they still continue to condii-ct us by the lights of prophecy ? What, then, is the conclusion to which candid and impar- tial reason muat lead us from all these premises ? Is it not, that the prophecies have been inspired by God ? that the plan which they develop is the work of God ? and that it has been conducted to its wonderfnl issue by his own im- mediate hand ? I have here presented to you a very partial review of the evidence for our holy religion which may be derived from prophecy. It is an ample field ; I have led you to contem- plate only a single angle of it. Yet, I trust, I have opened to you enough to convince every serious and ingenuous mind that is solicitous to obtain full satisfaction on a subject so in- teresting to the happiness, the duty, and the hopes of man, of the importance of exploring it more extensively. The ar- gument, however, as far as we have pursued it, appears to me satisfactory and conclusive. 164 COLLATERAL OR PRESUMPTIVE PROOFS OF CHRISTIANITr. OF THE SUBLIMITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. Having presented to jou a concise view of the direct evi- dences of the truth of our holj religion, I proceed to exhi- bit some collateral and presumptive considerations which will be found of importance in giving strength to the general argument. Of this species of evidence it is the character, that the various presumptions, or probabilities, taken sepa- rately, do not carry to the mind that complete conviction on which it can entirely rest independently of other proof; but the whole viewed together forms an accumulation of evidence which it is not easy to resist ; and they greatly strengthen the impression of those proofs which are more immediate and positive. These presumptions arise, in the first place, out of the scrip- tures themselves : their sublimity, their purity, their plain- ness, their efficacy on the hearts of men, and their consisten- cy with the state of the world, and with themselves, though penned by writers of such various characters, and so far re- moved from one another in point of time, through a long se- ries of ages : in the next place, out of the character of the Saviour, and of those humble instruments which he employ- ed to promulgate his doctrines ; and lastly, out of the conse- quences which have flowed from the promulgation of the gospel. 165 One of the first of the internal characters of the scriptures which strikes us, is the grandeur both of sentiment and lan- guage which pervades the poetic and prophetic parts of Ihern in general, and especiaHj that astonishing sublimity into which they rise whenever they speak of the Deity, who is, indeed, their principle subject. They frequently present to us very noble views of the actions and sentiments of illustri- ous men, as well as magnificent descriptions of natural scenes; but whenever they speak of the perfection, or the operations of the Supreme Being, as if full of God, they seem rapt above themselves. They break out into strains to which there is no parallel, the enemies of Christianity themselves being judges in the productions of ancient or modern genius. This was to be expected of men writing, or speaking under the influence of genuine inspiration ; and the existence of the fact, that they have thus spoken and written, affords a pre- sumption, of no inconsiderable force, that they were truly the subjects of that divine inspiration to which they laid claim. Whence, if not from this cause, was it that a few devout men in an obscure nation, and in a remote age, far beyond the birth of arts in Greece or Rome, formed such sublime, or rather, sueh divine conceptions of Deity, and have conveyed them in such elevated strains as there is no- thing to equal in the noblest works of those celebrated nations even in the most refined periods of their improvement. Let me select only one example of the appearance of the Al- mighty. Then the earth shook and trembkd. He bowed 266 the heavens also and came down, and darkness mas under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. The Lord thundered in the heavens : then were the beds of the ocean laid bare ; and the foundations of the world were disclosed.^ But where shall we find an idea so sublime, and expressed in such a noble simplicity of language, as that of the creation, as it is represented by Moses : In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth ; and God said, let light be, and the light was.f Perhaps words cannot better express the facility with which omnipotence gave existence to the uni- verse. Even the name by which the Supreme Being was pleas- ed to reveal himself to Moses, exceeds in grandeur and sub- limity whatever the religion or philosophy of paganism ever taught on the subject of God. It comprehends ideas more elevated, and worthy the divine nature than had ever be- fore entered the conception of man. All the pagan nations, even those who had made the greatest advances in science, if they did not adopt an atheistical philosophy, had, too near- ly, approximated the divine to the human nature. We find worthy ideas of the Creator only in the sacred scriptures. * Psal 18th. f Gen. 1. 1. This passage has been quoted as a noble example of sublimity and simplicity united, by that illustrious critic Longinus ; and the quotation has been repeated after him by almost every critic since his age> 1&7 Jehovalif which is interpreted / a»t, expresses essential life, eternal existence, universal presence. It implies that all things existing in him, and by him, and depending absolute- ly on his will for the origin of their being, and their continu- ed existence, are to be regarded as nothing in comparison with him, and that he is all in all. He is the only proper being ; the universe is full of him alone ; the rest are passing shades. Where, then, among all the nations of the ancient world, ex- cept in this circumscribed corner of the earth, favoured with the peculiar illapses of the divine Spirit, to keep alive the ptrpelual fire of truth, till the rising of the sun of righteous- ness, do we find such exalted and sublime notions of God? When this is fairly considered, may we not justly say, fu' voured with the peculiar illapses of the divine Spirit, with- out assuming for granted a principle not yet proved ? For whence, but from this source, could arise those transcendent discoveries which illuminated the mind of a Jewish prophet concerning the divine nature ? that burst of inspiration, whenever Jehovah is their subject, which so far excels the pretended inspiration of all other poets ? On any of the or- ordinary principles or causes which assist to develop, and bring to perfection the genius of nations, or to promote the progress of science among them, this, surely, was not to have been expected in the nation of Israel. In poetry noth- ing has ever equalled the strains of (he Hebrew prophets.^^ * To be convinced of this, the reader of taste need only consult the translation of Isaiah by bishop Lowth, with hig critical notes and explanations, and his db aertation on Ihc Hebrew poetry. 168 From them Milton Las assisted the noblest flights of his muse. When thej introduce the majesty of God, the pious mind is overwhelmed by the torrent and grandeur of their thoughts, and struggles to expand itself to conceptions which it can never embrace. This is the true effect of the reli- gious sublime. In theology, Plato obtained the title of the sublime philosopher of Greece, only for approaching those ideas of Deity which every where pervade the holy scrip- tures. And his principles, he confessed he did not draw from the resources of his own mind, or create by the efforts of his own genius, but acquired by travelling and conversing with the priests and literary men in those countries in which the- scriptures were best known, and in which were found the purest remains of that original revelation, which I have before proved to have been transmitted by the second father of the race, after the deluge, to those nations in the East that immediately sprang from him. To those sublime conceptions of the Deity which distin- guish the sacred writings we may add the views which they present to us of the government of divine providence over every part of nature, from the highest sphere in the heavens to the atom which seems casually to float in the atmosphere ; from an angel to an insect : and if we add the doctrines which they teach of the creation and dissolution of the universe, and of the final judgment and everlasting destinies of man- kind; where, besides, in aUthe volumes of human wisdom do 169 we find ideas so grand, and so worthy of God ? We can hardly resist the conclusion, therefore, that they have been inspired by that divine and infinite Spirit whose nature, and whose truth they profess to reveal to men. It has been made a question whether or not the style of the sacred scriptures be proportionably elevated with the senti- ments ; or whether, in the structure and composition of their language, they are supported throughout according to the principles and rules of true taste. Eminent writers have ap- peared on both sides of this question ; some contending for the affirmative, and endeavouring to maintain their opinion by a minute comparison of the diction of the scriptures with that of the classic writers of Greece and Rome ;* others assert- ing that there is no standard of taste which can be fairly ap- plied to the writings of all ages, and of all countries.f Hu- man nature, they say, undergoes very material changes, not only in external form and appearance, but in the faculties of the mind, and the habits of thinking, from climate, from the state of society, from the form of government, from the physi- cal character of the country, from the progress of arts, and from various other causes, which contribute, at the same time, to create a correspondent variety in the ideas of beauty * A remarkable example of this mode of conducting the argument we have ia Blacktvell^s Sacred Classics. f Of this opinion the celebrated Warburton is the pripcipal defender in liis Di- vine Legation of Moses. 22 iro and taste which prevail in different nations. Hence, in all ages, a lofty and enigmatical manner of writing has obtained in Asia, which, in Europe, is considered as swoln and bom- bastic ; and, on the other hand, the correct precision of the Attic style, which is admired in Europe, is regarded in Asia as low and frigid. We are not, thererefore, to look, say these critics, for any standard of excellence and perfection in writ- ing, which is invariably to govern the decisions of mankind with regard to the merit of works of genius and taste. Such contrariety of opinion between men of perhaps near- ly equal claims to learning and critical judgment, is one proof, among many others, that the question is not of great impor- tance. The object of divine revelation is to teach men di- vine truthy under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, leaving the expression of it to each writer, according to his own ge- nius and taste, formed and modelled, as it will be in some de- gree, by the genius and taste of the age in which he lives. If these should not always be exactly conformed to the reign- ing taste of the period in which we live, this will not form any reasonable objection to the style of the holy scriptures, as not properly expressing the majesty and sublimity which ought to be expected in the word of God. Every man of true taste feels and acknowledges the sub- limity of Shakespeare's genius, although we perceive in his strains many harsh and unharmonious numbers, and some de- in partures from the rigorous exactness of critical rules. These are in some instances to be ascribed to the character of the age in which he lived. But frequently the noble flights of his oause bear him above all rule, and give him a complete empire over the mind, and over the critic's art. So the sub- limity of inspiration may sometimes disdain to be measured by the little niceties of artificial rules. But I make no apolo- gy for the prophets. Elevated and transported with the grandeur of their subject, whenever they speak of God, or his works, or rapt with the fervor of their own devout feel- ings beyond the ordinary limits of human nature, they always express themselves nobly, and often with a transcendent glow and majesty of diction. But in treating of the sublimity of the holy scriptures, and applying to them the rules of a just criticism, it is necessary to use the same fairness and candor in judging of them, as of all other works of genius. The design of the writer should be kept in view as well as the nature of his subject, that we may not look for the high ornaments of style in simple chroni- cles, nor for the sublime of poetry or eloquence in didactic precepts. Every part even of holy writ is not to be judged by the same rule. Besides, as inspiration was designed only, or principally, to discover truths but does not seem in any other way to have controlled the faculties of the human mind, except by the ar- 172 dor with which it seized them and the strong impressions which it made upon them, a variety of style is to be expect- ed among the sacred writers, ari-(ing from diversity of natural talents, and acquired improvements, or from the manners and genius of the respective ages in which they lived. In estimating the true character of the scripture style we o: ght to be able to have recourse to the original. Great al- lowances ought to be made for the imperfections of a literal translation in prose, such as ours is, of compositions, many of them written in the highest spirit of poetry. Take the finest passages of the most admired classics of Greece or Rome, and render them in a translation equally simple and literal ; take, for example, the translation of Virgil by Watson, and Compare it with our English version of the scriptures, and you must be forcibly struck with the superior majesty of the prophets and psalmists of Israel, above that of the prince of Roman poets, when exhibited before you in the same dress. The scriptures of the Old Testament, then, read with these views, and under these precautions, will, I doubt not, fully support their claim to a divine original, not only by the sub- limity of their sentiments, but by the nobleness of their diction. The New Testament, indeed, is written with the utmost simplicity of the narrative and epistolary style ; but it con- tains the sublimest system of theology and of morals ever of- 173 tered to the faith, or the reason of mankind. Here we bc" i hold the threefold existence of the Deitj without destroying the perfect simplicity of the divine essence. Here we be- hold the astonishing assumption of the human nature into an intimate 'union with the divine. Here all the types and cere- monies of the ancient dispensation are seen to terminate in the Messiah ; all its altars are extinguished, and their innumera- ble victims are comprised, and forever end, in one divine ob- lation for the sins of the whole world. Here we are taught to look forward to the dissolution of the universe, and the re- surrection of the dead ; and all nations of men from the be- ginning to the end of time are presented to our view assem- bled before the tribunal of God. Here are decided the eter- nal destinies of men and angels. And after the great catas- trophe of nature, we are taught to expect new heavens and a new earth, with the introduction of a new and everlasting or- der of ages. Whether the truth of Christianity be admitted to be demonstrated or not, surely infidelity itself must be con- strained to confess, that these are the most grand and sublime ideas which have ever entered the human mind. And most worthy they appear (o be of that infinite wisdom, and holi- ness, and benignity, and powei*, to which they are ascribed. 174 OF THE MORALITY, AND EFFICACY OF THE SCIPTITRES AS A PRINCIPLE OP VIRTUE AND A HOLY LIFE. OP ITS PRINCIPLE, ITS EXTENT, AND ITS AIDS. The purity and excellence of the moral doctrines of the holj scriptures, and especially of those immediately taught by our Saviour himself, and the blessed apostles, afford a pre- sumptive argument, of no inconsiderable weight, for their di- vine authority. The principles of morals, and the rules of virtue, have always been subjects of the most diligent and curious inquiry among the sages of the ancient world, ever since civil society was first established under the influence of regular laws, or philosophy began to be cultivated. But no where else do we find such a pure, and excellent, and perfect system of morals as in the sacred writings. And this has been acknowledged by many of the most ingenious and candid enemies of the christian religion, while they ascribe it, however, to a cause which we can by no means admit ; the natural progress of science, and the gradual advances which have been made in the improvement of the human mind, by adding the experience of following ages, to the wis- dom of the past. No such superior improvements in moral science were found, at the commencement of the christian era, in the doctrines of the schools ;* and it is inconceivable * Of this every classic reader may easily be convinced by consulting Cicero de natura deorum. 175 that they should have first taken their origin among the fish- ermen and mechanics of Judea. The argument would have had more plausibility applied to the learned men of modern ages, if we had not the most certain evidence that the superi- ority of their moral and theological doctrines to those of the ancient schools, ought to be ascribed solely to the illumina-> lion shed by the scriptures on the christian world.* True it is, that any pretence to revelation must come re- commended by some general system of good morals, other- wise it will soon fall to the ground. But when an impostor has set up a fictitious claim to inspiration, we may ever ex- pect to find some traits of human weakness and depravity mingled with his religious doctrines. It is almost impossible that an impious, or immoral man should not transfuse, in some degree, the colour of his own character into his work. Hence, amidst the general precepts of justice, temperance, and chastity, without which civil society cannot exist, and which enter into all the religions of the world, still we find, in the temples of paganism, free permission given to the in- dulgence of (he most licentious passions of the heart. It is in the koran itself, in the vicious licence which it grants its disciples, and the sensual paradise which it confers on its military saints, that we might learn the lust, and violence of f Whatever is excellent in the theological and moral principles of the koran of Mahomet we have likewise reason to believe was drawn from the knowledge which tliat impostor had both of the writings of the Old and the New Testament. 176 its author if we were not acquainted with the history of his hfe. But, in the holy scriptures, you not only discern a general system of good morals, many excellent precepts of piety and virtue, but you have presented to you a perfect body of doctrine in which the most faithful and candid scru- tiny can find nothing of an opposite character or tendency. In them you perceive the principles and examples of the purest devotion, equally removed from the injudicious fer- vors of enthusiasm, and the cold and burdensome ceremonial of superstition : in them you see personal purity carried to the highest degree of perfection ; and those virtues which most effectually promote the harmony, and the happiness of society placed on their only true and stable foundation ; char- ity which loves our neighbour as ourselves ; meekness which is not prompt to revenge an injury; forgiveness which is ready to forget it ; the whole animated by the love of God, and guarded against the disorders of the injurious passions by the holy influence of his fear. On this subject the following considerations particularly merit your attention : the spirit of the morality of the gospel: its extent : the principles which it lays down as the summa- ry, and the only true and efficient spring of all our duties ; and finally, the discriminating test which it proposes of the sincerity of our obedience. 177 It has been justly remarked by Dr. Paley, after the cele^ brated Soame Jennyns, that the spirit of the morality taught by our blessed Saviour is entirely opposed to those splendid and ostentatious qualities which too generally pass in the world for virtues of a superior order, and which history so often ambitiously displays to decorate her style, and to cap- tivate the unthinking admiration of mankind for her principal heroes. The gospel gives no praise to that pride which ex^ alts itself over our fellow men, and is easily provoked at in» juries real or imaginary; it has no indulgence for that jealous honour which is ever ready to suspect, and revenge insults, or that lofty ambition of power and command, which the miS" take of the world is apt to extol as a proof of elevation and nobleness of mind. On the other hand, next to the love and fear of God, it bestows all its approbation on meekness of spirit, on candor, on humility, on charity and. kindness of heart, in a word, on those mild, innocent, unassuming, and benevolent dispositions, which give birth to the sweetest in- tercouse among mankind, and form the strongest and happi- est cement of society. This is a morality entirely different in its genius from that which would be dictated by the spirit of the world. It is peculiar to the gospel. And although, at the first view, it may seem, to those who have received their education in the world, to be tame and pusillanimous, it will be found, on a fair and just examination, to discover a more profound estimate of moral worth than was ever bqfor^ 23 178 made ; either in the school of philosophy, or in that of the world. It is judiciously observed by both the distinguished wri- ters to whom I have referred, that the heroic virtues, as they are called, are ealeulated only to disturb the peace and hap- piness of human society, and have, indeed, been the chief sources of the disorders, the wars, and revolutions which, in every period of time, have afflicted all nations. On the con- trary, if all men were governed by the christian virtues of humility, of meekness, of candor, of forgiveness, of charity, the earth, which has, hitherto, been the theatre of violent, conflicting, and cruel passions, would become the residence of tranquillity and peace. JDo you ask if the general prevalence of these meek and pacific principles in a nation would not expose it to insults and injustice from its powerful neighbours, and render it, at length, an easy prey to their ambition ? I answer that the maxims of the gospel do not oppose the natural duties which every citizen owes to his country for its defence. It is among the primary obligations which the gospel imposes on its disciples, to honour and obey the magistrate, as well as to fear God. And the supreme magistracy of a state owes duties to the nation under its protection very different from those which subsist between man and man in society. It is the latter, chiefly, which the evangelic rules of meekness, 179 humility, charity, and forgiveness are intended to regulate. And they promote peace and union by cultivating the spirit of mutual love ; they prevent discords, by extinguishing, or correcting the passions which are the principles of contention and division. The civil laws of most countries aim at the same end ; but feebly, because they impose their restraints only on the outward actions ; whereas the gospel enters into the heart to correct the evil in its source. It is folly there- fore to accuse of tameness and pusillanimity that spirit which, by changing the dispositions of the heart, promotes the peace of society in the most perfect manner; an object which it is the supreme end of a wise legislation even imper- fectly to attain, by operating with its compulsory power on the external conduct. It is the error of the world to bestow its admiration on that bold and ardent character of mind which is quick in its sensibilities to injury, violent in its re- sentments, jealous of its honour, proud of its darings, and ever ready, in order to avenge itself of real or imaginary wrongs, to break through both the prescriptions of law, and the dictates of justice. Such is commonly the heroic char- acter whose achievements blazon the pages of history. Far different are the virtues of the gospel. Silent, yielding, and. benevolent, they contribute to promote and secure the hap- piness of mankind, which the former tend to destroy. "When we consider, then, the perfect and unmixed purity df the morality of the gospel, and the indications which it / 180 exhibits of a most holy and spolless mind in its author ; when We consider with what admirable wisdom he rejects the false and imposing virtues which have chiefly commanded the ap- plause of the world, and even the approbation of the sage, and placed virtue, which is the mean of promoting human happiness, upon its true and only solid basis ; when we re- flect, further, how peculiar these excellencies are to the gos- pel of Christ, and how far they are above the wisdom, how Contrary to the spirit of the world, we might well be sur- prised if any of the sages of Greece, rising above the genius and improvements of their age, had been the authors of such ft system ; but when we take into view the country, the edu- cation, and rank in life, of Christ, and his apostles, we must be astonished at the wisdom with which they have spoken. Considering them as mere men, bred up amidst the tools of the mechanic, Or the nets of the fishermen, it must be utter- ly incredible. Surely, exclaims Dr. Paley, Jesus must htiDe been like no other carpenter, the apostles like no other fishermen ! Read the discourses, the parables, the history of the transactions of our blessed Saviour ; read the moral precepts with which the epistles of the apostles every where abound, and I confess they appear to me to bear the evident and deep inscriptions of divine wisdom. The mission of the Saviour, and the doctrines of the gospel were confirmed by great and numerous miracles ; but, in my esteem, the greatest of all miracles would be the gospel itself, if we could suppose such a transcendent system of theology and morals, so sublime. 181 ^ 30 pure, so superior to the wisdom of the age, to have been the uHinspired work of the unlettered fishermen of Judea. The excellence of the christian morality may be estimat- ed, in the next place, from its extent. The gospel does not limit its views to regulating the external conduct and inter- course of mankind with one another, to which civil laws are obliged to bound their influence. It goes to rectify the thoughts and desires of the heart, and thereby to purify the fountains of conduct : it places its restraints upon the first movements and springs of action. This is a point of the ut most importance in considering the true value of the morality of the gospel, which sets it far above the influence of civil laws, or the discipHne of the schools. For, however regu- lar the exterior deportment may be, if the imaginaton, and the affections remain impure, the soul must be unfit to ap- pear in the immediate presence of God most holy, or to be joined to the society of perfect spirits in heaven ; and there is no security for the rectitude of the conduct, whenever temptation invites, and opportunity favours indulgence. Fan- cy, if it is permitted without restraint to amuse itself with the plans, or to enjoy the pleasures of avarice, revenge, or lust ; if it is allowed to present images of impurity to the mind, and range at will through ideal scenes of voluptuous enjoyment, taints the purity, while it inflames the passions, of the heart, and corrupts it no less effectually in its princi- ples of action, than could be done by grosser gratifica * 182 tions.* The great Teacher, who shows in all his precepts Low perfectly he understands human nature, as well as the eternal principles of right and wrong, lays the check of every sinful propensity, and every vicious action on the only spring ©n which it can be laid with effect : on the thoughts, on the fancy, on the heart. Out of the heart, saith he, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, &c. and these are the things which defile a man.-f And he who sees the end and con- summation of the act in the principle from which it springs, and regards as already done whatever is completed in the desire, purpose, and determination of the soul, condemns ev- ery one who even looks on the sex with a lustfid eye.% What impostor, conscious of his own imperfections, would be wil- ling to create so high and severe a standard of morals by which he must be judged himself? What crafty founder of a sect would not be more complaisant to the tastes, or the frailties of those whom he wished to allure to the party of his follewers.il * This is a remark founded on the strictest principles of reason, as well as oi the gospel, which strongly condemns the readers, as well as writers of licentious poe- try; and universally, all those who encourage, by their presence, any licentious exhibitions, or by purchasing any licentious productions of the arts. f Mat. 15th, 19th, X Mat. 5th, 28th. 11 I am aware that retreat from the world, abstemiousness and rigid penances of- ten have an air of sanctity in the eyes of a superstitious people ; and these morti- fications have been introduced, as among the pharisees, the Roman Catholics, and the Mahometans, to gain a certain degree of popular respect for their respective systems. But in such impostures you always find, at the same time, some facili- ties permitted to the wealthy and the powerful to evade the rigors of penance ; or gome iadulgeaces granted mother artides to compensate these privations. 183 The summary of duty, in the next place laid down in the holy scriptures, as comprehending the whole spirit and sub- stance of the morality of the gospel, serves to demonstrate its excellence and perfection. All our duties may be divided into two great classes : those which we owe immediately to God : those which ter^ minate directly on our fellow men. And of both these clas- ses our blessed Saviour has, after Moses, who received it from God himself to be prefixed to the tables of the ten com- mandments, given the most admirable and perfect epitome : thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment ; and the second is like unto it^ thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.^ By this concise view of the great and commanding principles of morals, we see that the gospel, which places the restraint of all vicious and sinful actions in a renewed heart, the only efficient point in which it can be fixed, places there also the true spring of all duty. And, is it not evident that the worship of God in spirit and in truth, veneration for his holy name, resignation to the dispositions of his providence, and universal obedience to whatever bears the stamp of his authority, will flow from supreme love to him as from its native fountain ? And, on the other hand, is it not equally evident that justice, bene- * Mat, 22d, 35th, 40th. 184 volencc, candor, sincerity, meekness, forgiveness, and all those virtues which fulfil the multiplied relations which we bear to our fellow men, will be the natural and necessary con- sequence of sincere and undissembled love ? But do you ask, if these principles are peculiar to the gospel ? If we do not also find them inculcated by heathen moralists? We find reverence, and thankfulness to the gods frequently recom- mended by some of the philosophers ; but in none of their writings do we see the supreme love of God stated as the fundamental principle of virtue and duty. In none, is the will of God stated as the sole, creating, preserving, and regu- lating power of the universe, to which, therefore, our most profound veneration and submission, our most constant and fervent gratitude are due. Indeed, they had ex- tremely imperfect, or rather no just views at all either of creation, or of providence. And in the catalogue of virtues which connect us with mankind, although some of their schools require justice, truth, chastity, and recommend friendship, gratitude, and beneficence ; yet we find not in any of them, the love of enemies, the forgiveness of injuries, nor any thing which may properly be called charity, as it is understood by christians, and inculcated in the gospel. I am warranted, then, by the concurrent sentiments of the wisest, most candid, and pious christian writers, in pronounc- ing that never has a basis of duty, equally clear, compre- hensive, and complete, been laid in the works of any of the 185 sages of paganism, as that which has been laid in the gospel of Christ; and never has such a moral superstructure been reared on any basis ; so admirable, for its purity, for its sim- plicity, for its adaptation to every grade of human under- standing, for its fulness, and its application to every case which can arise to a fair and candid mind in the conduct of life. If, then, these principles, and this system which ap- pear so perfect, would have been wonderful, proceeding from the genius and the pen of a Plato, or a Marcus Antoninus ; if, indeed, we see nothing parallel in the schools of Greece or Rome ; how much more wonderful are they if we consider them merely as the productions of unlettered peasants be- longing to a country which Greek and Roman pride regard- ed as barbarian ? Having been nursed and educated amidst that light which the gospel diffuses wherever it is received, we are apt to re- gard its moral doctrines as containing only the simple and ob- vious dictates of natural reason ; because they have entered into our earliest education, they have mingled with our first ideas, and been incorporated from infancy with all our habits of thinking. But to be justly impressed with the full force of the claim which it possesses to a divine original, we should return back to the periods which preceded the christian era, and to those countries which did not enjoy the light of reve- lation, and see what the wisdom of the wisest men has dis- covered upon the subject of duty and morals. This will af- 24 136 ford an argument founded on fact and experience, the only ground on which we can rest a just and satisfactory conclu- sion on this subject. And when we see what the sages of the most enlightened nations have not done, and, on the oth- er hand, what has been done by the simple fishermen of Ju- dea, under the instructions of a master as little indebted as themselves to human science, will it not afford a strong, and almost irresistible presumption of the reality of that divine inspiration from which they professed to have derived this extraordinary wisdom ? We know not how men in that age, in that country, and in their station of life could have attained to such superior knowledge on these sublime subjects, unless they had been divinely assisted. And, surely, if inspiration has ever spoken to the world, we cannot conceive of any thing more pure, more excellent, more perfect, which could have been dictated by heaven itself. Another characteristic of the evangelic morality is the uur mixed purity of the principle which it requires in order to constitute any action good, and acceptable to God. Take heedf says our blessed Saviour, " that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret. When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth."* Of * Mat. 6tb, 3d. which precepts the evident import is, that we ought to offer our devotions to our heavenly Father, not as a mere form, not through ostentation, but purely for the love of God ; and that we should fulfil every office of benevolence and charity to our fellow men simply from the love of doing good. No regard merely to our own credit and reputation among men, and no considerations of honour or interest arising from the publicity of our good deeds, ought exclusively to influence us in their performance : they ought ever to be the natural and spontaneous effusions of the pious and virtuous disposi- tions of the heart. Many very amiable and benevolent persons have greatly mistaken the meaning of these precepts, as if they implied that the chief merit of charitable deeds consists in their being entirely withdrawn from the knowledge and observation of the world. So far is this from being true that, not unfre- quently, their publicity may form part of their good desert, by the encouragement which it will afford to the alms of oth- ers. It is not the mode of doing a benevolent action that our Saviour designed to regulate, but the principles from which it should spring. In this view, what an amiable proof do these precepts contain of the excellence of the evangelic doctrine, and the celestial purity of its spirit ! Another character of the sacred scriptures which has gen- erally been relied on as affording a presumptive indication of 188 tbeir being derived from God is their simplicity and plainnesfe, notwithstanding the subh'mity of the subjects of which they treat, and the extent of the system of truth and morals which they embiace. Any rehgion, which comes from God, must, from its very design, be adapted for the instruction of the mass of mankind. And it was the glory of the gospel, in its commencement, that it was preached to the poor. In ful- filling this great and necessary end of popular edification, therefore, nothing would have been more preposterous than to propose to them abstruse and speculative principles of sci- ence, or to discuss before them such abstract questions as were agitated by the philosophers in the presence of their disciples. It was requisite that religion should propound the objects, the laws, and the motives of duty, in the most plain and intelligible form, that they might be easily compre- hended by the most unimproved understanding, while they should afford high matter to employ the sublimest, and most cultivated reason. Most remarkably do we see these char- acters meet in the gospel. And perhaps no fact can better demonstrate how admirably it is fitted to be the instructor of the people, than the clear and general knowledge which we now find among all ranks of men, on the subjects of our mor- al duties, and our religious hopes. A common labourer, in- structed, as the church requires for the poorest of her sons, would have been esteemed a philosopher among philosophers themselves, judging only from the reasonableness and excel- lence of his moral and theological doctrines. But, if they 189 were to enter with him into such disquisitions on the princi- ples of these doctrines as were common in their schools ; if they were to endeavour to trace them to their primary ele- ments, and again to pursue them through regular deductions to their ultimate conclusions, guarding against objections and doubts at every step, and parrying, or solving a thousand knotty questions in their progress, would not this plain man be confounded ? He would be lost in the intricacy of their speculations, and would not be able at last to recognise his own principles. Such reSections add no small value to the plainness of the gospel ; and may, perhaps, justly be said to afford a presumption of the divinity of that system which has thus been able to bring down the sublimest subjects to the level of ordinary minds. I subjoin here, that the efficacy of the holy scriptures, by which is meant their tendency, and powerful influence to pro- duce holiness of life in those who truly believe them, is often adduced by pious writers as an internal character, and pre- sumptive argument of their divine original. This argument is supported partly from reason and partly from experience. In the former view, we should consider the motives and as- sistances of duty afforded by the gospel, and the awful and commanding autliority by which it is enjoined. The mo- tives presented to the view, and urged upon the conscience of a believer in the gospel, are of so transcendent and inte- resting a nature, as evidently to give it an operation, and ef~ 190 feet upon the heart, which can never be perceived from any system of mere reason and philosophy. Feeble are the mo- tives of reason atone to combat the force of the passions. But the gospel, by bringing life and immortality to lightt by proposing to mankind the glorious and awful retributions of eternity, by the doctrine of a divine providence, of a univer- sal witness and judge of human actions, and even of the thoughts of the heart, has given a force and effect to the laws of duty and holiness, which could not be derived from any representation! of the present convenience and satisfactions of a virtuous life, however eloquently they might be depict- ed in the discourses of the learned, but which the heart is so often able to set aside, or to render doubtful in the moments of temptation and of action. Consider, in the next place, the authority with which the gospel speaks to the heart of a true believer, who receives it as the immediate and infallible word of God. Reason, when it would prescribe a law of duty to mankind, must often speak in the breast with a very faint and doubtful voice amidst the prejudices and prepossessions of self-love, and the importunities of appetite and passion, and amidst the dubious and circuitous deductions by which it is obliged to arrive at its conclusions. And it can never prescribe to the people a rule which, in this uncertainty, can clearly reach to every case in the practice of life. But the authority of God gives to his law a clearness which cannot be mistaken, and a power 191 and control which come home to every thought and purpose of the soul. Before the majesty of bis authority, the turbu- lence of appetite, and the deceitfulness of the heart are over- awed, and brought to submission. And the authority of God is exhibited in the gospel as possessing claims to our obedi- ence, and a power to command it, which reason alone cannot exert. He enforces his law by all the rights of creation ; by all the obligations of his love in the redemption of the world ; and by all the terrors of his justice, which shall, at last, de- cide, by this law, the eternal destinies of mankind. Among the most effectual means of holiness, pious writers have ever considered the promised aids of the holy Spirit : they are, therefore, to be classed under that head of presump- tive proof of which I am now treating : the efficacy of the scriptures. To a nature corrupted as ours is, the difficulty of conquer- ing its sinful tendencies and habits, and turning its whole force and activity into an habitual love of virtue, of holinesSp and of God, that is, of regenerating and new creating it, might justly be regarded as insuperable without supernatural, and divine assistance. At least, convinced sinners who feel only the difficulties of religion, and who, in repeated efforts per- fectly to obey the law of God, and to overcome the power of sin in their hearts, must be sensible only of their own weakness, would be ready to sink into despondency, or re- 192 lapse into their natural indolence, and love of indulgence, un- less they could find some hope in the promised aid of the holy Spirit. If, then, in maintaining the efficacy of the gos- pel, to promote holiness of life, against unl)elievers, we should not be at liberty to assume the reality of the influences of the Spirit, which would completely decide the question ; jet the promise, and hope of his gracious and effectual assistance is calculated to encourage the perseverance, and reanimate the diligent and faithful endeavours of every believer, and may, therefore, be justly reckoned among the efficient means which the gospel possesses of promoting true holiness, and reproducing on the heart of man the image of his Creator. Finally, this argument is supported by experience. I might here mention, in the first place, the great and manifest eflfect which the gospel has ever had in producing holiness of life wherever it has been received with a sincere faith. — But I have chiefly in view that proof of its divinity which it carries to the heart of every real christian by his own expe- rience of its sanctifying influence. This is a proof indeed that is entirely personal, and does not belong to the general evidences of the truth of Christianity. Yet, to a sincere be- liever, who has experienced this holy and renovating power, and thus may be said to have the testimony in himself, and this is the principal view in which the pious writers I have mentioned propose this argument, there is, perhaps, no other proof which comes home with such life, and force, and per- 193 suasion to his heart. The argument, however, which I take to be in its nature very solid and just, is calculated, and in- tended rather for the confirmation of the faith of the believer, than the conviction of the unbeliever. OF THE CONSISTENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES WITH THEM- SELVES, AND WITH THE STATE OF THE WORLD. Another internal character of the sacred scriptures, which affords a presumptive argument of their truth, is their coil" sistency. This may be considered under two views : their consistency with themselves, and their consistency with the state of the world. ■ That any work, the production of one author, and embraC" ijig a code of legislation, or system of morals, how extensive soever, founded on his peculiar opinions, should be regularly deduced from definite principles, should aim at one end, and be found coherent in all its parts, would have in it nothing surprising. It would be a natural consequence of genins, and sound judgment in the writer. But, in the scriptures we per- ceive, not the work of one author, nor of one age, but the gradual development of a grand scheme of providence, and of divine grace towards mankind, commencing with the ori- gin, and carried on through the whole series of time, till the close of the canon of the New Testament, in the accomplish- ment and illustration of which an immense number of personis 194 must have co-operated throughout successive ages, not con- nected with one another, and not acting, as far as appears to human view, under any common direction. One dispensa- tion follows and is built upon another. The same spirit, the same principles of theology, of piety, and morals pervade the whole ; the same spiritual promises and hopes are gradually unfolded through thousands of years, and conducted to their ultimate accomplishment. Here is a vast concatenation of events intimately linked together, and depending upon one another ; here is a unity of plan in this great system contin- ued down through diflferent dispensations of the mercy of God to the world, tending to fulfil one great design, the salvation of mankind through a Redeemer ; of the astonishing deve] lopment of which design, continued through such a long pe- riod, no reasonable account can be given, unless we suppose the whole to be under the immediate guidance and direction of heaven. Plans laid by human contrivance are not so per- manent, and, if I may use the term, so continuous. There is no example, in human affairs, of successive generations tak- ing up one design, unfolding it by degrees in a long course of ages, and carrying it, at length, to its ultimate completion. From the character and state of human nature, its limited, and discordant views, this is perhaps impossible. We do not perceive the various schools of philosophy concurring long in the same systems of physics, or of morals. One lead- er of a sect differs from another ; the disciple differs from his master ; the principles on which their respective theories are 195 built are continually changing. But in the holj scriptures we find one uniform consistent design pursued from genera- tion to generation. Amidst all the variations which in a long succession of ages must have occurred in the state of society, in the manners of men, in their habits of thinking, and in the external forms and usages of the church itself, we still per- ceive the same doctrines concerning the nature of God, and the duties of man ; we still discern the same principles of mo- rals, the same worship of the heart required in true religion, the same high and eternal motives of duty urged upon the conscience, the same promised Saviour exhibited to our faith, the same plan of divine grace, distinguished only by the ad- ditional lights from time to time thrown upon it as it approach- ed its final accomplishment. In this consistency, then, we behold a moral phenomenon so different from whatever takes place, in the plans and designs of men, as to afford no slight presumption that the whole, from its commencement to its consummation, has been under the wise and gracious direc- tion of the Spirit of God. The same Spirit seems to have inspired the holy patriarchs, the great legislator of Israel, the long succession of the Hebrew prophets, and the evangelists and apostles of our blessed Lord. There is another light in which the consistency of the scriptures may be considered, which merits a more extended illustration : it is their conformity with the actual state of the world. Truth is always consistent with itself, and with all 196 other truths. Error, though it may be disguised, and to su- perficial observation, may seem to bear a semblance of truth ; yet in such a wide field of moral, historical, and natural sci- ence, as is embraced in the holy scriptures, it is extremely improbable that any scheme of falsehood and imposture, fab- ricated especially in such an early age, should not contain many discrepancies with the actual system, moral or physi- cal, of the world, which would be made more and more man- ifest by the improvements of science. But improvements in genuine science have hitherto only more clearly elucidated and confirmed the doctrines of the scriptures, and especially the facts of the sacred history. Here we see the depravity of human nature, the existence of which is demonstrated by a most melancholy experience, not only asserted, but ac- counted for, and referred to a most natural source. Here we see a remedy provided for this universal corruption, confor- mable to the hopes of virtue, adequate to the fears of guilt, agreeing with the soundest principles of reason, yet such as reason could never have discovered. Here you trace the origin of nations in the immediate descendants of the great postdiluvian father of the race ; and here the different my- thologies of so many people, and their varying traditions, re- ceive a reasonable interpretation, and are reunited as in a common centre. 197 THE CHARACTER OP THE AUTHOR OF OUR RELIGION! THE INSTRUMENTS HE EMPLOFED TO PROMOTE IT: THE BENEFICIAL CONSEQUENCES WHICH HAVE RE- SULTED FROM ITS PUBLICATION AND RECEPTION IN THE WORLD* Among the presumptive evidences of the truth of the christian religion, none, perhaps, are stronger than that which arises from the character of its blessed Author. No other man has ever existed, who, in his intercourse with the world, was so blameless, so amiable, and, in every attribute which deserves the esteem of mankind, so worthy our veneration and love. Such a character would very ill accord with the duplicity and hypocrisy of imposture. As the union of the divine with the human nature in the person of the Redeemer is a doctrine purely of revelation, we are not at liberty, while only establishing the proofs of the gospel, to assume that prin- ciple in order to exalt the virtues and perfections of Jesus Christ. We must consider him merely as he appeared to the view of men, claiming to be the founder of a new religion derived immediately from God, that we may judge how far his character corresponded with his high pretensions, and how far these pretensions were supported by such eminent virtues, and such freedom from error and imperfection in con- duct, as ought to be expected in a messenger of heaven, the example and instructor ef mankind. That he appeared, in 198 the eyes of his disciples, after their long and intimate inter- course with him, and their daily observation of his life and manners, worthy of their highest love and veneration, and worthy of the heavenly original which he claimed, is strongly expressed in the following declaration of Saint John : And the Word was made jieshy and dwelt among us ; and we be- held his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.^ This whole passage, 1 presume, refers, not to his transfiguration, nor to any of those appear- ances in which he exhibited himself to his disciples immedi- ately before his ascension, but to that beauty of holiness, that glorious display of virtue and perfection which shone through his whole life, and which, in every part of it, was full of grace and truth: that is, conspicuously distinguished by the most amiable condescension, and benignity of disposition and manners,! and by the most undissembled and inviolable sincerity. Among the most distinguishing, as well as the most vene- rable characteristics of Jesus Christ, was his piety towards God. The universal government of divine providence he devoutly acknowledged in every event of his life. And, in the immediate prospect of his most painful death, and, after- wards, in the midst of those excruciating sufferings, so studi- * John 1, 14. t This is frequently the meaning of the original term JC^pUt and, perhaps, always when applied, as it is here, in the description of character. 199 ously aggravated by the ingenuity and malice of wicked men, you perceive no other emotions but those of compassion, and forgiveness to his enemies, but the most perfect meekness, submission, and resignation to the will of God. Often you see him retire apart from the admiration, or the curiosity of the multitude, and the company of bis disciples, for the pur- poses of secret devotion, and, on the sabbath day, he is care- ful to exhibit an instructive example of devout attendance on the public institutions of religion in the assemblies of the syna- gogue. Ever warm, humble, and affectionate in his devo- tional exercises, you perceive in them, however, nothing of those ecstacies, nor of those bold familiarities with heaven, which distinguish the spirit of enthusiasm. And in that model of prayer which he gave his disciples, which, for com- prehension of thought, for a just selection of the objects of prayer, and for the true spirit of devotion has never been equalled, you find the genuine fervors of piety united with the most calm, dignified, and rational expression of the de- vout feelings of the heart. When we descend to that part of his character, which was exhibited in his intercourse with mankind, it is, in the high- est degree amiable and interesting, and worthy our admira- tion and imitation. The spirit of meekness and humility breathed through his whole life and manners ; and his be- nevolence and charity knew no bounds. Always engaged in instructing the ignorant and comforting the afflicted, you 200 behold him continuallj- surrounded with multitudes of poor, of maimed, of blind, of diseased, listening to his instructions and consolations, and seeking relief from that benevolent power which he was erer ready to exercise in their behalf. His love of sincerity and truth would never suSer him to dis- guise his designs, even when he knew that his enemies were only waiting for his declaration to wreak upon him their most cruel and murderous rage. Yet, it was in the midst of the suflferings inflicted by their cruelty and rage that the united virtues of his character shone with the brighest lustre ; sub- mission to the will of God ; zeal for the happiness and salva- tion of mankind, the great object for which he laboured up- on earth ; the unruflfled meekness of his nature under the in- juries and indignities of his persecutors ; compassion and forgiveness towards his enemies in the midst of the tortures which he endured from their hands ; the dutiful affection and care of a son towards a destitute and afflicted mother stand- ing at the foot of his cross, which no bodily torment could suspend in his heart for a moment ; the whole crowned by that last fervent act of benevolence and devotion, in which he expired : Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. How unlike an impostor ! How far superior to the life, and the death of heroes, or philosophers ! Rous- seau in one of those moments of warm and generous admira- tion of virtue which he sometimes felt, comparing the death of Jesus Christ with that of Socrates, gives to the founder of Christianity an infinite preference to the Athenian sage. 201 This character of Jesus Christ, indeed, is drawn from the memoirs of his life written by disciples, who may be sup- posed to have coloured it with a pencil tinctured by their partiality for a beloved master. But let it be remembered that the gospels, were evidently not written with any direct view of making the eulogy of Christ, but merely to present to us a narrative of his actions and discourses, which is done with the most undesigning simplicity. The character we de- rive from the facts as they have presented them. To draw a uniform, consistent, and noble character, from imagination, which shall be entirely new in its principal fea- tures, is one of the most difficult works of genius, and not to be expected from men in that sphere of life in which the disciples moved. But it is still more difficult to invent a consistent, yet diversified series of actions from which the character, strongly and distinctly marked, shall naturally arise to the view of the reader. Besides, we have four se- parate memoirs, evidently written without any concert of their authors, which still, however, present to us the same picture of life and manners.^ A biographical picture, thus * fVritten without any concert of their authors ; for although they present to us nearly the same transactions, and discourses, yet it is not done with that identity either in the substance of tlie narration, or the order of time which would indi- cate preconcert, or design. On the other hand, we perceive such differences as would naturally occur in the narratives of iutelligeut and honest men giving, af- ter a certain interval of time, the history of the same events, without any know- ledge of each other's testimony, or any study to make them accord ; and yet with 26 202 depicted simply by actions, drawn by men whose plain and stound understandings enabled them only to exhibit without embellishment what they actually saw and heard, but who were utterly incapable of dramatic fiction, carries in itself the strongest claims to be received as genuine. It is, be- sides, so peculiar, so utterly unlike whatever had before been exhibited among men either in the history of real life, or in fiction, that it can never be conceived to be the mere creation of writers who were wholly incompetent to such es- says of genius and fancy. In every view, it bears the irre- sistible impressions of truth and nature. A character, how worthy the messenger of peace, and salvation to mankind, who claimed the high and holy relation of being the Son of God! One peculiarity in the life of Jesus Christ especially mer- its our most serious consideration, as it demonstrates that he could not have acted on any suggestions of human policy or wisdom. In order to place it in its just light, it is necessary again to carry back our view to the state of public opinion in the Jewish nation at that period. The belief that the com- ing of the Messiah was just at hand was then strong and uni- versal. The Jews, proud of their exclusive relation to God as such uniformity, and such consistency in the whole character, even when one in- troduces new facts, of which the others have not spoken, as clearly demonstrates that they are drawing from life, and that they all have the same original before them. 203 Lis chosen people, and impatient of the yoke which had late« \y been imposed upon them by the Romans, expected in their Messiah a martial prince and a conqueror, who should deliver them from the power of their enemies, and enable them to conquer in their turn. In such a state of the public sentiment and feeling, impatient, agitated, anxious, moment- ly waiting for the appearance of some great deliverer, many daring spirits would naturally arise to offer themselves as lead- ers in the honourable and popular enterprise of rescuing the nation from its abject humiliation, and raising it to that splen- dor and glory so eagerly anticipated by every Jew. IWinds of a fanatical and enthusiastic turn, inflamed to a degree of insanity by sympathy with the general fervor, would imagine themselves to be the instruments destined by heaven to ac- complish this glorious purpose. Whereas others, of a cold impiety, but of a bold and resolute temper, calculating on the possibility of turning the national ardor to their own ag- grandizement, would cherish the daring ambition of usurping the government by force of arms, and placing themselves on the throne of Judea. But, whether actuated by a spirit of fanaticism, or imposture, and under one or other of these classes all pretenders must be ranged, they would equally move under the impulse of the public sentiment, and be di- rected by it in their choice of the means to accomplish their end. They would, therefore, aln^ays appear at the head of armed bands. And such was the fact, according to the testi- mony of the cotemporary historian Josephus. For, of all 204 the numei'ous impostors, who sprung up in Judea pretend- ing to be Messiah, a little before the ministry of our Saviour, and, from that period, till the final destruction of Jerusalem, there was not one who did not attempt to support his claim by arms. Not so the Lord Jesus Christ. He deviated en- tirely from this course, which nature and human policy would have pointed out to him, and chose one in every respect op- posite. The vain and proud expectations of the Jews he refused to gratify. He openly declared that his kingdom is not of this world. Instead of affecting the splendor of roy- alty, or the authority of command, he renounced all worldly pomp and grandeur. Instead of the weapons of force and compulsion, he employed only the meekness of instruction and persuasion. Instead of conciliating the favour of the Jewish nation by courting their prejudices, he boldly and openly declared to them that their national policy, and even their national existence as the peculiar people of God, should soon come to a period. He did not allure his disciples to his party by the prospects of honour, emolument, or com- mand, but by inculcating humility and selfdenial, and pro- posing to them, in his service, only arduous trials, incessant persecutions, and unrewarded labours. This is a course which not only nature, and human wisdom would not have pointed out, in the circumstances in which he chose it, but which judging on all the acknowledged principles of proba- bility, could only have tended to ruin his hopes. The hum- ble, peaceful, patient, and selfdenied character which he as> 205 sumed, so widely different from that to which the spirit of that age and nation would have urged him, affords ample proof that he was not governed bj any maxims of worldy policy. And his success, notwithstanding the entire defect of all the measures, or precautions which human wisdom would have prescribed, and in opposition to the contempt, the indignation, and power of a whole nation, whose wounded pride, and dis- appointed hopes, had inflamed their passions to a degree of fu- ry which threatened ta crush him, and all his designs in an in- stant, supplies the strongest presumption that the work was not of men but of God, who, with a silent, but irresistible op- eration, often confounds the counsels of the wise, and defeats the power of the mighty, and conducts the designs of his own providence, by secret, and inscrutable springs, to the most wonderful and unexpected issues. Conformable to the character which the Saviour assumed were the instruments which he employed to propagate his re- ligion. He chose men from the humblest walks of life, with- out power, without influence, without science, without elo- quence ; and yet, strictly forbidding every attempt to extend his doctrines by compulsion and force, he commanded them to rely for success in their mission simply on their plain un. varnished exposition of the truth, under the guidance of that divine Spirit which he promised them to co-operate with their preachmg. What could be expected, on every ground of haman calculation, from the choice of such instruments for 206 a work of this peculiar nature, and of such infinite magnitude and difficulty, but failure and disgrace ? Could men in their rank of life, and possessing only their talents, have raised their minds to such a mighty enterprise as that of changing the moral state of the whole world ? If they had been bold enough to ad- mit the thought, was there any example in the history of human events which could have encouraged the smallest hope of suc- cess? Yet, we have seen them, in obedience to the command of their master, although with reluctance at first, under the con- sciousness of their own impotence, enter on this astonishing en- terprise ; and we have seen it, contrary to every principle of probable reasoning, gloriously accomplished in their hands. Well may we ask, then, if the choice of such instruments is not a new proof that our blessed Saviour did not take coun- sel of human wisdom, nor act on any plan that the cunning spirit of imposture would have dictated ? And, when we con- template the wonderful revolution which they have effected, does not the conclusion, almost irresistibly, force itself upon the mind, that they must have acted under a divine direc- tion ? But, omitting all other arguments of the presumptive class, I shall only further offer to your consideration that strong presumption which arises from the effects which the christian religion has had on the interests, and happiness, the religious opinions, morals and manners of society. That the publica- tion of the gospel has produced an important revolution in 207 the moral and religious state of the world, is obvious to all who have sufficient acquaintance with the history of nations, and of human nature, to be able to compare the past with the present : and that this revolution has, upon the whole, been salutary, and has contributed, in no small degree, to the hap- piness of mankind, can hardly be denied by any well inform- ed, and candid unbeliever. The beneficial effects of the christian revelation may be considered under two views : the great and visible improve- ment of the world in religious and divine knowledge in conse- quence of the prevalence of Christianity ; and the practical improvement, especially of the christian nations, in morals and manners. Much has been said already, on the great superiority of the theological and moral system of the sacred scriptures, above all that philosophy ever taught among the disciples of human wisdom, or superstition ever substituted for religion among the vulgar. But the beneficial influence of the gos- pel is not to be looked for chiefly among men of science, who form but a small portion of any nation, nor to be measured principally by the excellence of its doctrines compared with the institutions of philosophy, but by the illumination which it has shed through the great mass of the people. In this class, who were once thought to be incapable of any rational consideration of those sublime subjects, do we not now find 208 truer notions of God, purer conceptions of the worship due to him, juster principles of duty, a more perfect system of . the rules of moral conduct, and higher and nobler motives to enforce those rules in practice, than were ever known even to the few sages who appeared here and there like stars in the dark night of paganism ? This is certainly the greatest and sublimest effect which has ever been produced by moral instruction. No where do we now behold such objects of worship as Jupiter or Juno, as Mars or Apollo, whose vices would have been an additional stain on the reputation of the most immoral of their worshippers. Still less do we see tem- ples erected to such deities as Bacchus or Venus ; or such ridiculous, lewd, and beastly sprites as Fauns and Satyrs, as Priapus and Pan. We no longer witness the revels of a ho- liday substituted for the pure worship of Almighty God, which should consist in solemn acts of homage and venera- tion ; in penitent acknowledgments of our sins, in devout me- ditations on the works and perfections of the Creator, in grate- ful recollections of his innumerable mercies, and in the pious anticipation of those heavenly and immortal hopes which of- fer the most powerful motives to the true believer to live vir- tuously, and form his best preparation to die peacefully. The offices of religion, that were performed in the pagan temples, did not, in any country, embrace tlie moral instruc- tion of the people. The functions of the priesthood were all fulfilled in the regular discharge of a ritual of unmeaning, or fantastic ceremonies. Piety or good morals were not es- 209 teemed requisite even to the sacerdotal character. How dilSerent are those pious offices which are performed in our christian temples ! What a school are they become to the people of that knowledge most important to the interests and happiness of mankind ! With what advantages in the church, that is, under the immediate inspection and authority of Al- mighty God, are they initiated in that most perfect discipline which embraces the whole compass of their duties to God and man, and provides most certainly for the happiness both of their present, and their future being! Idolatry, with its impious and immoral train, has been banished from all its an- cient seats in the civilized world. For Christianity has in this, and in many other respects, extended a salutary influ- ence far beyond the nations embraced within its actual pale. If Christianity has introduced into the great mass of socie- ty a more perfect knowledge than they enjoyed before, of those moral and divine principles most useful and important to the practical understanding and discharge of all their duties^ it has, in the same proportion, opened the true sources of enjoyment to all who sincerely embrace and believe its doc= trines. Their happy influence will be perceived by a good man in every situation wherein he can be placed, in the com posure of his spirit, in the sense of the continual presence, favour, and protection of Almighty God, in that filial affec- tion and trust withj^which he confides in the divine mercy, •and that security with which the spirit of faith reposes on 210 the true foundation of our eternal hopes. But the gracious and beneficent power of the gospel, and the preciousness of its consolations, will be peculiarly felt under the various af- flictions which God hath found it necessary or useful to in- troduce into the discipline of our present state of probation. There are comforts in religion which can enable the pious heart to throw off the pressure of all its sorrows. But, that I may not enter too far into disquisitions which would bet- ter become the pulpit, I will confine myself briefly to point out the consolation and support it affords the soul at the ap- proach of death. The weakness of human nature, if it is not supported by religious hope, commonly meets this awful term of our earthly existence with extreme solicitude. And the consciousness of guilt, which is apt (o be awakened in the heart when we are approaching the presence of the Supreme Judge, and when all the illusions of the passions, and the world, which had diverted reflection, are passed away, greatly aggravates to most men the distress of dying. Their utter ignorance of all that is beyond this life, and the fearful apprehensions natural to weakness and guilt, of what may take place hereafter, must often agitate with terror, or hang with peculiar heaviness, on the departing spirit which is not enlightened by revelation. The polite and learned nations of antiquity, although they had some notions of the existence of the soul after the dissolution of the body, and some appre- hensions of a future retribution to virtue, and to vice, yet had framed no clear and satisfactory ideas on these subjects on 211 which reason could rely: all their representations of the state of departed souls, therefore, were melancholy and gloomy in the extreme. What ineffable consolation, then, has the gospel brought to countless millions of the human race ? What comfort has it shed upon the hour of death ? what illumination on the darkness of the tomb, by bring- ing life and immortality to light I It has pointed out, through Jesus Christ, the way, at once, to a happy death, and to the certain hope of a blessed and eternal existence. To the real christian, who believes its promises, and confides in its hopes, the comforts which it sheds on this most inter- esting crisis of our being are beyond every estimate which can be formed of their value, and must greatly strengthen in his heart that faith which has been created and nourished there by its holy doctrines. Suffer nie now to conclude these evidences with an obser- vation which is of great importance in order to a just view of the influence of the christian system on the general happiness of the world. Although the knowledge of its divine truths has not been actually communicated to all nations ; yet it teaches us to believe that the whole human race do, in a very great degree, participate in its blessings. From the moment of the fall of our original parent, and the merciful promise of that heavenly seed who, from the beginning was destined to repair the evils of his transgression, the world has been placed under an administration of grace in the hands of the Media- 21t2 tor, suited to its degenerate condition. And now, in conse- quence of the atonement made by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and of the assistance of the holy Spirit, which through the one obkition offered on the cross, has been imparted to all men to direct and strengthen the dic- tates of conscience in their breasts, salvation has been render- ed possible to sincere repentance, and regeneration of heart in every age, and in every nation, even where the name of Jesus Christ has not been explicitly revealed.* For the ho- ly apostle Peter hath taught us, what a heavenly vision re- vealed to him : that, through the death and mediation of the ever blessed Saviour, in every nation, he that ftareth God, * The pious men in the patriarchal ages, and generally in the ancient world, could have had no definite, and evangelical apprehensions of the character of the Saviour, notwithstanding it was through the efficacy of his atonement that they had access to God, and by his Spirit they were sanctified. The same Sprit is im- parted, in a degree, to tlie heathen world, in every age, who, applying with a di- vine efScacy the law of nature to the consciences of men, becomes, to many among ihem, a principle of sincere repentance and regeneration of heart. The Rev. Mr. Braiuerd in the journal of his mission among the Indians, relates a striking anecdote, very much to the present point, of an aged man whom he met \vith, who, in his original state of hcatlienism, had gained, from his own reflec- tions, and the exercises of his own heart, under the influence of that divine Spiril, wliich he acknowledged, an acquaintance with the most important practical princi- ples of real piety, as far, probably, as, without the explicit knowledge of the Me- diator, and the atonement, they were generally attained even by the best men in the ancient and patriarchal world. Mr. Brainerd, after free and repeated con- versations with him on the most practical subjects of religion, declares that if he thought it possible for a heathen to be a truly pious man, without the direct know- ledge of Jesus Christ, he would have concluded this Indian to be such. In this remark, indeed, we perceive a certain illiberality of opinion, which, considering the powerful effect, on many minds, of the prejudices of education, is, perhaps, rather to be lamented than severely censured. This pious missionary forgot the jreasQningof saint Paul in the third chapter of his epistle to tlie Romans. 213 and rvorketh righteousness, is accepted with him. This is the foundation of our hope with regard to the pious men of the ancient world : and on the same grounds may we still build a reasonable hope, that those distant corners of the earth, which seem covered with the profoundest darknessj preserve, at all times, many of the chosen vessels of mercy» And, although the sun of righteousness has not yet lifted his beams on all nations, we have reason to believe that he is in his glorious progress ; and that as the plans of divine provi- dence are hastening to their full development, the gospel will shortly be extended along with the improvements of civili- zation and science, over the whole earth, and involv^e all na- Will it be asked, what advantages then, if the principle which has been stated above be just, have the christian nations over those who enjoy only the faint glim- merings of the light of nature p I answer, that, although men, who enjoy only the imperfect lights of nature, together with those gleams of original truth which have been preserved by a tradition that is not yet entirely extinct among any people, may, through repentance and sanctification of the Spirit, be saved by a Redeemer whom they have not distinctly known, yet must they be subject, through life, to many, and distressing doubts and anxieties which the native weakness of fauman reason is unable to resolve. Besides, the nations who enjoy the blessed light of the gospel possess much clearer and more ample means of knowledge and pf grace, more efficient motives of duty, more consoling hopes, than those who are left to the obscure teachings of reason unenlightened by revelation. And, if such means and motives have in their own nature, and independently on the more abundant influences of the divine Spirit, which accompany them under the chris- tian dispensation, a powerful tendency to promote the spirit, and to advance the interests of piety and virtue, how greatly must the numbers of pious men be mul- tiplied under the full illumination of the Sun of righteousness? To these reflections it may be added, that if higher degrees of purity, and sanc- tity of heart and life be the natural result of the clearer lights, and nobler privi- leges of the gospel, a principle most reasonable in itself, will it not follow likewise that proportionably richer and more glorious rewards shall crown the obedicQcc pf the sincere christian in the everlasting presence of his Redeemer ? 214 tions in the splendor of his rays. When this blessed era shall arrive, shall we not find an abundant compensation for the partial darkness, or the feeble dawn, which has so long over spread the world, not only in the superior duration, but in the superior glory of that period, when, to use the beautiful and expressive figure of the prophet, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the surtj and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. OF THE PRINCIPLES REVEALED RELIGION. Ist. OF THE HOLr TRINITY. IHE TRINITY, OR THREEFOLD EXISTENCE OF THE DEITY. In entering on the investigation of the peculiar doctrines of revelatioir, the first object which meets our attention is the Trinity, or Threefold Existence of the Deity. The existence of God is equally the foundation of natu= ral and of revealed Religion. But in the sacred scriptures it assumes an aspect new and peculiar. The Holy Spirit has revealed in them a modification of the divine essence un- known to the lights of nature. Its unity indeed, is not im- paired ; but we are taught to believe in the coexistence of three infinite, eternal and equal natures or persons in one most holy and undivided Godhead. As this is a doctrine entirely beyond the discoveries of human reason, it is our du= fy to receive it simply as a revealed fad^ without attempting too curiously to pry into the inscrutable mode of this divine union, which, must transcend the comprehension of our minds. Perhaps, however, it is not farther beyond our intel= lectual capacities to form distinct conceptions of a Trinity in union, than it is clearly to conceive of God himself as pre- 28 218 sen ted to our thoughts hy natural religion. Each of his per- fections offers to the mind impenetrable diflSculties, and, in many of their circumstances, apparent contradictions. The christian system embraces three infinite subsistences, or per- sons, equally the objects of divine worship ; and all included in one self-existent and eternal essence, only sustaining dif- ferent relations to mankind. This doctrine justly excites our wonder, and confounds the imbecility of our minds. But we are not without an analogy in our own nature to facil- itate our conception of the possibility of the fact. The un- derstanding, the will, and the affections, often enter equally into the acts of the soul ; yet, so that we do not discern in each operation of the intellect, volition, or affection only a third part of its force ; but we perceive that the whole soul is exerted in the act, and the power of each principle is as the entire energy of the soul. It would, indeed, be impious to imagine that the human mind affords any adequate type of the Supreme and Infinite Spirit, but it certainly yields an analogy by which our conceptions may be aided of three distinct and equal powers in one simple and undivided es- sence in which the energy of the whole is exerted in the operations of each. Those who are unfriendly to (he evangelic system often reproach believers on this subject, as receiving a doctrine that is unreasonable only because it h above the investiga- tion of reason. This is a distinction which cannot fail to 219 meet the thinking mind in the contemplation of innumerable subjects in nature. We see the fact, but we cannot under- stand the manner of its existence, nor free it from inexplica- ble difficulties which equally embarrass the wise, and the ig- norant. Who can explain the ubiquity of God, without ex- tension, or division of parts ? Who can reconcile his immu- tability, and the steadfastness of nature with the promises of his protection to good men ? Or who render free from the most embarrassing perplexities two of the most evident truths, the perfect liberty of human action, and the infallible foreknowledge, and preordination of events, the one, the most obvious dictate of experience, the other, among the most certain principles of science ? In any revelation from God concerning himself, have we not the justest grounds to expect many discoveries which would otherwise, have far transcended the discoveries, and perhaps, the distinct con- ceptions of our reason. We must judge with infinite imper- fection, or absurdity of the divine nature, if we receive no revelation concerning it but what we can measure by the fee- ble powers of the human intellect. — On such transcendent subjects when convinced that God has spoken, it is the first duty of a christian to receive implicitly the declarations of his holy word, without any attempt to bring them down to the level of our own minds. It is a natural inquiry, which has been often made, whence can arise any moral benefit from the revelation of a Trin- 220 Ity, wlien it is confessed that human reason is incapable of conceiving the mode of the divine existence ? I answer that the utilitj of this revelation is precisely similar to that which is derived from the knowledge of the being of God. The belief presents to our ideas a Legislator and a Judge, an ob- ject of worship and of holy fear, a law of duty, and the mosf powerful sanction of that law. For although we cannot dis- tinctly conceive of the divine nature, nor expand the mind to the comprehension of infinite perfection ; yet as far as is Competent to all the purposes of piely and virtue, we are able to understand the relations of his justice, his power, his wisdom, and his goodness (o us as moral beings. In like manner, although the threefold existence of the Deity is most mysterious and inscrutable, yet the belief of this doctrine as it is revealed offers God to the understanding and the heart, in the threefold relation of our Creator, our Saviour, and the Il- luminator and sanctifier of our nature ; — in one word as the Moral Governor of the world in reference to our redemption. These relations can be clearly understood by man and are in- finitely important to him, as an offending creature to be known. In them lies all his consolation, and the foundation of his hope for eternal life. 221 rESTIGES OF THIS DOCTRINE HANDED DOWN BT TRADITION AMONG ALL THE CIVILIZED NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY. When God bad formed the father of our race with rational and moral powers which fitted him to be the instructor and governor of the world, it is a reasonable presumption that he should, at the same time impart such a knowlege of himself as should be requsite to the discharge of every duty which he owed to Heaven. And certain it is, that, as a pious parent^ he would affectionately and zealously communicate the pre- cious treasure to his immediate offspring. For the same reason, information so important to religion, and to society, would be disseminated by the great ancestor of mankind after the del- uge among the various nations springing from him, the know- ledge, indeed, communicated by tradition, however important it may be to human happiness or duty, loses, in the lapse of time, much of its precision and accuracy, and becomes mixed with fable. Yet in the multiplied changes of mankind, if the principle, which has just been stated, be well founded, we may expect to find many traces of a doctrine so intimately blended with the first principles of piety ; especially in those countries whose moral history reaches nearest to the era of the deluge. — And we do accordingly discern, in the records of ancient learning, vestiges of this doctrine which are sur- prisingly clear, and more uniform among people bo remotely 22^ oispersed from each other, than could have been derived from any other source, than the common parent of the race. Orpheus, whose name is apt to be mingled, in our ideas, only with fables, but who was a great legislator, and the oldest of the Grecian poets, as well as the civilizer of all the north of Greece, speaks agreeably to the accurate researches of the Chevalier Ramsay, of the highest of all beings under the de- nominations of light, understanding, and life, which were said to express the powers of the same Deity, the Maker of all. And Cudworth, quoting Timotheus, informs us, [Intellect. Lyst. ch. 4] that Orpheus denominated the three powers of the divine nature Ouranos, Chronos, and Phanes, the two for- mer names of Greek origin, the latter an Egyptian word signi- fying Love ; and the whole not widely differing in the force of the terms from those already produced from the Chevalier Ramsay. Pythagoras is known by all acquainted with Grecian literature, to have maintained a Trinity of divine persons. His philosophy he derived from Egypt, Chaldea, Persia and India, where similar doctrines prevailed. And we learn from Moderatus, who was a disciple of his school, that a fundamen- tal maxim of his theology was " that God is one, and from him proceed two infinite beings : " which maxim he explains and expands in the following words-—" The first one is above all beings, the Second contains all ideas, the Third, which he calls Xvkh or Soul, partaketh of both." Jambhchus, the famous antagonist of the christians says " that, like them, there were three Gods praised by the Pythagoreans. And one* of the philosophers of this school denominates the second of these deities "the Heavenly and Sensible God." — The Trin- ity of Plato is still better known, the different persons of which he stiled "« Agathon or Hen Nous or Logos and He Psuche or HeroSy interpreted, the Good or the one— the Mind or Reason, and the Soul or Love. From the philosopher, already quoted, we learn that the traditions of the ancient Egyptians acknowledge Emeph as the author of truth, and creator of the world ; but before Eraeph they place the first Intelligent, and Intelligible Be- ing, who can be adored only in silence, denominated Eikton ; but after both is Ptha, or that Spirit which animates all things by its vivifying flame. Eusebius remarks that the hierogly- phic of the Deity in that nation was a winged globe, with a serpent emerging from its orb. Of which symbol Sanchoni- atho, in the fragments preserved by that author, gives the following explanation ; — " The globe signifies the first, self- existent Being, without beginning, and without end ; — The serpent is the emblem of divine wisdom and creative power ; and the wings, of that active spirit which animates the uni- verse." In corroboration of this tradition, it was the received interpretation of their priests that the triangular obelisks erected at the entrance of all their temples were symbols of the divine nature. * Hierocle? 224 Passing to other ualions, Plutarch has preserved a tradi- tion of the Persian theology, that their supreme Deity Oro- masdes thrice augmented himself; and he records a celebra- ted festival of the Magian priests in honor of the three- fold Mythras ; the names of whom were Oromasdes, My- thras, and Mythra. Since the presidency of Sir William Jones in India the existence of a supreme Trinity in the My- thology of the Bramins is plainly discerned in the midst of their innumerable Gods, and symbols, the belief of which has been preserved among them from the most remote antiquity. And the European missionaries to China have discovered visible traces of the same doctrine existing among that an- cient people. — Such a striking coincidence in this important principle of religion among various nations, so remotely sit- uated from each other certainly points to some common origin which can hardly be presumed to be any other than that which has already been suggested. An objection has been raised against this presumptive evi- dence, as it may be called in favour of the doctrine, and not without much appearance of plausibility, arising from the supposed silence of the scripture of the Old Testament. This silence however is more apparent than real, as will ea- sily be discerned by the attentive reader, in the revelations made to the ancient patriarchs. That celebrated and ingen- ious critic who has been already quoted more than once but who perhaps has pushed this opinion beyond the truth of 225 ■ fact, thinks he discovers the different persons of the adorable Trinity as distinctly designated in the writings of Moses as in those of the apostles. Of the living and true God this great legislator of Israel speaks under the peculiar appellation of Je- hovah, but he exhibits him to that nation under the threefold denomination of Jehovah — Ab, — the self-existent Father; Je- hovah—EI, — the self-existent Teacher or Illuminator; and Je- hovah-Ruach, or the self-existent Spirit. And Elohim, under which denomination the Eternal i^ so often spoken of, by Moses, is the plural of Eloah, and indicates plurality of ex- istence. You cannot serve Jehovah, says the author of the book of Joshua, for hie is the holy Elohim; which literally translated is, you cannot serve the Self- Existent, for he is the holy Gods. And this is only one example out of many throughout the sacred writings. Hence the Jews, as ap- pears, by the oldest commentators on their law, seem at all periods to have entertained this principle. And in the time of our Saviour, they were evidently not offended at his doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; but at the pre- sumption, as they supposed, of his making himself the Son of God ; thereby y making himself equal with God. Such have been the doctrines, or traditions concerning the divine existence cherished in the most distinguished nations of the ancient world. And it is far from being an improbable conjecture that they contributed in no small degree, to prepare the minds of mankind for the favourable reception of the true 226 doctrine on this subject, when it was revealed by our blessed Saviour. But so various is the human mind in the strength of its powers, and the diversity of its fancies, or prepossessions, that it soon became divided into different systems in interpreting the sacred standard transmitted to us by Christ, and his apostles. Many crude notions seemed to rise and fall almost at the same moment, in the primitive church, being only the transient ebullitions of a fanatical fancy, arising from the fermentation of ancient opinions with the new principles im- perfectly understood. A multitude of these errors are en- numerated by all the ecclesiastical historians, who merely re- cord their existence and their extinction. But not having been embraced by any permanent sect in the church, they merit little regard ; and are hardly entitled even to be men- tioned in a system like the present. A few only of those whose leaders have been more distinguished by their talents, or have made more extended divisions among the body of christians I will recall to the notice of my readers, merely stat- ing their peculiar and discriminating ideas upon this subject, with such conciseness as the brevity of this work requires. The Sabellians, who take their denomination from a man respectable for his learning and talents, maintain the unity of God in the strictest sense ; and interpret the titles of the Fa- ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as expressive only of the 227 different relations of Creator, Redeemer, and Moral Govern* or, which he sustains to mankind in the economy of their re- demption. Considering the extreme obscurity of our ideas upon this infinite subject, their error, acknowledging as they do, the Deity of our Saviour, cannot be regarded as one that deeply affects the system of our holy religion. The Tri° theists, conceiving that they would do greater honor to the respective persons of the Trinity, by adopting a contrary opinion, have assigned to each a separate, equal, and inde- pendent existence, making their union in one Supreme God- head consist, not in any natural and necessary participation of the same essence, but in a perfect concurrence of will, and co-operation of action in all their designs. — The Arians, on the other hand, borrowing their title from the celebrated presbyter of Alexandria, maintain that Christ is not proper- ly God, but only the first and highest of all creatures, who has been taken into the most intimate union with the Deity, that he might thereby become the Saviour of the world ; conjoining the merit arising from the grandeur of this divine relation, with that of the obedient and suffering condition of human nature in him. Out of these another class has arisen, who most nearly approach the orthodox principle, making Christ, not properly a creature, nor in the high and indepen- dent sense of the Father, God. The most noted of the mo- dern Arians appear to have adopted the ideas of the celebrat- ed Samuel Clark, who stands among the first metaphysicians of any age, that the Filial is an eternal, and necessary ema- 228 nation from the Paternal Deity ; which may be illustrated, if such an infinite subject be capable of any illustration from created nature, by the procession of light from the body of the sun, coexistent, and of the same essence with the body from which it proceeds ; yet, being derived, though a ne- cessary eflfect from a necessary cause, it is to be regarded as dependent. Such does this great man suppose to be the dependence of the Son upon the Father. — Opposed to all these forms of trinitarian existence are the Pelagians or Soci- nians, who, notwithstanding their rejection of the fundamen- tal principle of the atonement, and its related doctrines, still claim the title of christians, because they embraced the mo- ral code of Jesus Christ. Their distinguishing tenet is, that Christ is simply a man, and in no other way connected with the Supreme Deity, than as being inspired by him, and sent by him into the world to be the chief of the prophets and in- structors of mankind. — This sect is hardly entitled to the honor of the name which they assume. On this great and essential doctrine of Christianity, the opinions which have now been briefly stated are the chief which deserve to be mentioned, exclusive of that which only we conceive to be warranted by a just interpretation of the holy scriptures. This presents to the mind the Father, the Bon, and the Holy Spirit, as being equal in power and glory ; —"•equally necessary and independent in their existence ; — perfectly one in their essence, but different in personality ;-" 229 The objects of equal, and undivided worship. In the economy of human redemption, however, the Paternal Deity, is to be considered as actually exercising the rights of divine authority. — The Filial Deity as being the immediate minister of the divine mercy by his atonement and intercession ; — and the Holy Spirit as applying the revelation of the divine mercy for the sanctification of the heart, and qualifying the disci- ples of the faith, by his gracious influence for the pos- session and enjoyment of eternal life. In all acts of wor- ship it is the principle of Christianity, that we address the Father, through the iSon, by the agency of the Holy Spirit. PROOF OF THE TRINITV. Having stated, as conscisely and distinctly as posssiblcj the christain principle upon this subject, I proceed to estab- lish the evidence of the doctrine solely from the sacred scrip- tures. And, being, by every party, acknowledged to be a doctrine purely of revelation, I reject every modification of human reason on a subject on which reason is utterly incom- petent to judge, and could, therefore, only mislead. I equal- ly reject from this demonstration, every part of the sacred text on which any doubt can be raised of the genuineness of the copy, the scriptures being full and abundant on the sub- ject, after every deduction that the most scrupulous enemy can require. And this concession is made, not from any hesitancy which can justly be entertained concerning the au- 230 thenticity oi those few disputed passages, which have beeni selected for objection, outof our commonly acknowledged ver- sion, but that, in an elementary treatise intended for the youngest divines and for the comfort, instruction, and estab- lishment of the common christian, no proof may be presented to them but what shall be seen to rest only on the most se- cure foundation. These proofs may be arranged into such as are general, relating equally to the whole Godhead, and such as are par- ticular, establishing the Deity of eacK'person. The former are presented to us in the forms of baptism, and of benedic- tion, both which are administered in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and shew us that the object of worship, and of trust to the whole church, can be perfectly exhibited to our faith, only under these three united titles. And they are so united that equal power, honor, blessing, and homage is ascribed to each. To that Divine Trinity equally we are consecrated on our entrance into the church ; from that Trinity equally all the blessings of the gospel de- scend to the faithful. In examining the divinity of the respective persons of the Godhead, it is requisite chiefly to attend to those proofs which establish the proper Deity of the Son ; for, when this point is once admitted, there is no further objection to the full ac- Iinowledgment of the doctrine. The declaration usually / 231 quoted from Saint Paul in the second chapter of the epistle to the Philippians* I omit, for the reasons already assigned, and rely, at present, on two positive and explicit attestations contained in the first chapter of the gospel of the apostle John, and the fifth chapter of his first Epistle. — " In the be- ginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.— And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ, — this is the true God, and eternal life." If it had been the purpose of our Heavenly Father to teach this doc- trine to the world so that no mistake or error could be com- mitted with respect to it, we cannot easily conceire how it could be taught in stronger, and more explicit language. Con- vinced of this, as one would think that every man of candor and fairness must be, we see those, who deny the principles obliged to take refuge in the utmost ingenuity, and even so- phistry of criticism to elude the force of the evidence which arises from the obvious construction of the sacred writings. If these terras arc explained to a different and more circuitous meaning, all certainty h taken from the scriptures, and human ingenuity may equally bend thera to the support of the most opposite opinions. This argument is, in no small degree, confirmed by the frequent and pointed references made by the apostles to the * Phii. 2. fi. 233 prophetic and mosaic writings, in which Christ is spoken of as the Angel of the covenant, and addressed as Jehovah that glo- rious being to whom the highest characters of divinity belong, and for whom the profoundest worship of mankind is claim- ed. By comparing the New Testament with the old, it be- comes evident that the Son was God, adored by the patri- archs, and the Author and Subject of all those divine ap- pearances exhibited to these eminent Saints recorded in the ancient scriptures. It sh-engthens the proof already pro- duced of this doctrine being always acknowledged by the he- brew nation, and the primitive church, from the begining of the world. It renders probable likewise the opinion of those great men, equally conspicuous for learning and piety who believe that this world was created principally to illustrate the o-lory of God in the redemption of man ; and that it was, for that purpose, from the beginning, put under the immediate dominion and administration of the Son of God. These ideas must forcibly impress the pious inquirer who candidly studies the sacred writings, and compares the christian era with the most ancient periods of the Mosaic economy. The declaration of the apostle in the seventh chapter of the Acts ; " This is he who was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers," most evidently refers to the history of the Exodus in the third chapter. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire ; and the bush 233 was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob," Behold then, Jesus Christ presiding as Jehovah in the ancient church, and acknowl- edged to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. — Many passages contribute to shew that Christ was the supreme Ruler and Guide of Israel in their progress through the wilder- ness to the land of promise. And for the perfect Deity of Jesus Christ acknowledged in both branches of the church, a proof more precise and strong can hardly be adduced, than that of the apostle in the beginning of his epistle to the He- brews, quoting the forty fifth Psalm, where the prophet un- der the full spirit of inspiration, saith of the Son, thy throne O God is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. And the evangelist John, in the twelfth chapter of his gospel, applies to Christ one of the most sublime descriptions of Jehovah recorded in the sacred writ- ings ; " In the year (hat king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, above it stood Ibe Ser- aphim ; each one had six wings ; with twain he covered his feet, with twain he covered his face, and with twain he did 234 Hj ; and one cried to another and said ; holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory. Is. 6. 1. These things, adds the evangelist, said Esaias, when he saw his glory, that is, the glory of Christ, of whom he was at that time writing, and spake of him. Another proof, perhaps not less forcible, of the Deity of the Son, is the frequent ascription to him of all the peculiar and incommunicable attributes of the Godhead ; eternity, im- mutability, omniscience, omnipresence, and creation. — " And thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet, out of thee shall he come forth un- to me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting ;" saith the very explicit pre- diction of the prophet Micah. Jesus himself declares, — **'before Abraham was, I am." And by his Spirit he an- nounces to his favourite disciple John, — " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Listen to the strong and unequivocal language of the epistle to the Hebrews. — " To the Son he saith, thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands ; they shall perish, but thou remainest ; they shall wax old as doth a garment ; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." The same author in the following sen- tence unites, in the most positive terms, the eternity and im- mutability of the Saviour, " Jesus Chiist the same yester" 235 day, to day, and forever." And he himself testifies his own omnipresence,—" where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them Mat. 1 8. And lo! I am with you always to the end of the world Mat. 28. I add, in the last place, that all divine attributes are embraced in the work of creation, which is explicitly ascribed to the Son : " for by him, all things were created, that are in heav- en, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions or principalities, or powers : all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things ; and by him all things consist: Col. 1. 16." Crea- tion forms the supieme relation between the Creator and the creature. It is the true foundation of worship, and consti- tutes exclusively that perfect right claimed by the Eternal to our duty and obedience. All things mere made by himt saith the evangelist John : and therefore the Fitiher hath committed all judgment, that is, the entire government of this world, to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. These proofs, although consisting of a very small number selected out of the great mass of the scriptures proportioned to the brevity which I contemplate, aflford ample confirma- lion of the true and proper Deity of the Son ; and, in that, they establish beyond reasonable doubt Ihe doctrine of the Trinity. No small degree of strength arises to the argument from the constrained reasonings by which its enemies study 236 to combat the force of this evidence. Some of the highest titles of divinity, it is alleged, are not bestowed on the Sonj which are ascribed to the Father, such as the Almighty j the Most-Hi^h. Can any objection more obviously demonstrate the weakness of the cause which is obliged to have recourse to such evasions, when other titles, equally characteristic of the divine nature, are, with greater frequency, applied to him ? Besides, a part of those titles which are supposed to be exclusively appropriated to the Almighty Father, are, most obviously, used, not as marking any superiority of na- ture, but, along with others, as distinctive characters of the different persons of the Trinity. To give only one exam- ample ; There is one God the FatheVf of whom are all things J and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things. Will it not require some peculiar depth of understanding to assign the superiority of of to by, and, in the act of creation, to say which is expressive of the greater power, or the great- ter dignity ? The objectors presume, that the terms expressive of the highest powers of divinity are applied to Christ, as belong- ing to him only in an inferior degree. And presuming in- deed it is, to attempt to graduate the divine perfections, or his creative operations, by our limited standard. What measure have the scriptures given us to fix the import of these phrases except the obvious meaning and connexion of the terms ? What gradations can be fixed in the powers of 237 creation, omnipotence, and omnipresence ? Such objection* never could be suggested but by a falacious reason which presumes to measure the divine nature by its own narrow views; and under the powerful influence of a prejudice which, having fixed its philosophic theological system inde- pendently of that sacred regard to the simple dictates of the word of God which ought to govern the ideas of every chris- tian, studies to bend the rule of faith to its preconceived opinions. The force of the argument derived from the powers of creation ascribed to Christ these writers think to weaken by changing in some instances the import of the word translated worlds. By whom also, saith the apostle to the Hebrews, he made the worlds ; which phraseology they render ; hy whom also he constituted the ages ; meaning the different dispensations of the church, the patriarchal, the mosaic, and the christian. Little advantage, however, can be gained to their cause by this change, when the full import of the terms is fairly considered. Less they cannot imply, if we give them any meaning worthy the solemnity of the divine oracles, than that the whole moral order of the universe has been originally constitued, and, at all times, arranged and govern- ed exclusively by the providence of the Son. — But is this less the property of divine power, or the work of divine wis- dom than is the physical constitution and order of the uni- verse ? — The most ingenious evasions, therefore or colour- 23S mgs of the strong language of scripture, leave entire the evi- dence of the full and perfect Godhead of the Son. The particular proofs of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, in the next place, demand our attention ; in which it is necessa- ry, first, to establish his distinct personality, and that he is Bot merely spoken of as a quality, expressive of the holiness erf" the divine nature. The import of the word spirit , is un- derstood as far as the term can be explained, only by the ac. tkin of our own minds. What is most obscure and diflScult ill our conceptions, when we attempt to apply it to the Eter- ml Spirit, arises from the infinity of the subject. Here we must rest contented and submissive from the consciousness of our own imperfection. But that the Holy Ghost is spoken of as a distinct person, no less than the Father, and the Son, is evident from the forms of benediction and of baptism, as well as from other passages in which the expression admits of iio ambiguity. — " I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that may abide with you forever ; even the Spirit of truth. When he the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all truth, John 15. ch. 16. do. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, 1 Cor. 12. When the personality of the Holy Spirit is established little is requisite for the proof of his Deity. The evidence of the one is involved in that of the other. We see, in the feoly scriptures, the same divine attributes ascribed to hip as 239 to the other persons of the everblessed Trinity. We have, indeed, no further controversy on this important doctrine. No question now remains, which merits, in any degree, the attention of the student of theology, except that which, for a long time, imprudently agitated the eastern, and the western christians, concerning the procession of the Son and Holy Spirit, and that chiefly as a subject of history. A question on this high and inscrutable doctrine it is which is impossible to be clearly and intelligibly decided ; nor do we perceive any important moral consequence that could result from the decision. The Greek church maintained that both the Son and the Holy Ghost proceed from the Father only. The Latin church contended that the Son proceeds from the Father, but the Holy Spirit equally from the Father and the Son. — On a controversy of this nature we ought to speak with extreme reserve, and to assert with positiveness noth- ing but what is clearly warranted by the scriptures them- selves ; permitting no modification of the language or ideas to our own fancy. When we listen solely to the sacred wri- ters the evangelist John declares that the Spirit proceedeik from the Father ;^^ but he is also called by the aposlle Paul, writing to the Romans^ and other churches, the Spirit of the Son.-^ When we would conceive, or explain this doctrine farther than the strict terms of revelation import, the mind * John 15. 26. t Romans 8 9 Ga!. U. 6. Phil, 1, JP, 240 19 immediately lost in an attempt entirely beyond the powers of the human intellect. And although the terms of scrip- ture, and the opinion of the highest christian antiquity ap- pear to favour the doctrine of the Roman church, yet the violence of the disputes which appear, in the progress of this controversy, between them, and their grecian brethren is a deep reproach to both parties. OF THE DECREES OF GOD. OF THE DECREES OF GOD. Having treated of the being of God, and of that idea ot the divine nature and perfection presented to us in Holy Scripture, the subject which next occurs to our considera- tion is his immediate agency and control over all the works of his hand, usually styled, in our theological systems, his Decrees. By this term is intended the sovereign and holy will of God concerning all things that exist, not only in their being, but in all their changes and actions from the greatest to the most thinute. They embrace the entire system of the universe, both physical, and moral, corporeal and spiritual, and, in the language of philosophy, constitute the universal laws both of matter and of mind ; which are so ordained, in their original structure, as, by their natural operation, to at- tain every purpose of the all-wise Creator. But divines, with justice, perhaps, entertaining a suspicion of the language of philosophy, as if it kept the immediate agency of God too much out of view, by interposing the natural law between him and the event, and willing to present him always to the mind, in all the changes of the' universe, have chosen to em- ploy the terms ordination, and predestination as exhibiting 244 the ullimate cause of whatever takes place in heaven or on earth. No event can happen bnt in consequence of the laws which he has cstabHshed, and CBtablished with a full, immediate and present view of ererj result which should spring from them. And as the whole creation was, at all limes, present before him, from the beginning, and nothing, strictly speaking, can be considered as either past, or to come in the view of omniscience, his preordination or decree is justly regarded as embracing every event, and all events are seen as being immediately obvious to his view, and aris- ing naturally out of the train of causes which he has ordained. This term, as it has been adopted by theologians, is merely technical, and has an appropriate meaning, being us- ed to signify the divine purposes with respect to the whole order of nature, but chiefly with respect to the moral states and destinies of mankind. It is evidently borrowed from an analogy supposed to exist between the divine and human go- vernments, and is consequently employed to express the will of Almigkli/ God as the supreme legislator and gover- nor of the universe. Few words, in the Old Testament, have been translated by this term, and, in every place where they are employed they might, with equal propriety, have been rendered by the terms statute, law, or purpose. In the version of the New Testament it is no where found, although the equiva- 24/i lent expressions counsel, purpose, foreknowledge, predesU^ nation, frequently occur ; which language, especially when it relates to the moral states, and conditions of men, evidently imply all that is intended by decree, as it has been introdnr ed into the systems of theology. I'o many, who appear not to have justly reflected on the subject, this term carries in it somewhat gloomy and austere, as implying that all the actions, and the final states of man- kind have been fixed by an arbitrary will, and that their whole moral government turns on principles of necessity, equally with those which govern the material world. But when we identify his decrees with the laws of universal be- ing, producing their effects, with certainty, indeed, but freely or necessarily, according to the nature of each subject, this apparent harshness ceases to exist. No reasonable doubt can be entertained by any reflecting man, but that all things, from the beginning have been determined by the Creator in a certain order, which order must arise out of the laws of their respective natures, and the combinations of each sub- ject with all other things. And these all having been fram- ed by their glorious Author with the most perfect foresight, their infinitely various results must have been present to his all comprehensive view. On the most obvious principles of reason, therefore, the divine foreknowledge of events, must have been founded on the divine will in framing the universal structure of things, and impressing upon them respectively 246 the laws of tlieir action. The results being, iu consequence, perfectly foreknown, the wliole must have been conceived in one consecutive and consistent plan according to the de- signs of his wisdom ; physical events arising out of the ne- cessary laws of matter and motion, and moral consequences springing from the free laws of motive and volition. These consequences so clearly deduced from the princi- ples of reason, are conformable to the whole strain of the sa- cred writings, in which is asserted, in the most explicit and nnequivocal terras, the universal preordination of events, however minutely they descend to the most trivial events, or however strongly they imply the merit, or the guilt of individual acts. Let me appeal to a single exam- ple which may be in the room of many. Hinif saith the apostle speaking of Christ, being delivered by the deter- ininate counsel^ and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken^ and by nicked hands, have crucified aiid slain. When we assign io this declaration of the sacred writer its full extent ; could the determination of this great event take place, with- out involving in it the predetermination of all the acts by which it was gradually, prepared, and finally accomplished ? Yet, was not every purpose so connected with the nature of man, and the freedom of human action, that, in this impious deed, though predetermined, the agents were justly subject to the righteous condemnation of Heaven. But it were un- necessary, I presume, to refer you singly to the multiplied 2ir evidences of this triith which speak in every page of the holy Scriptures. Of those who sincerely love God the apostle speaks as being " called according to his purpose ; for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." And the whole of this ninth chap- ter of his epistle to the Romans appears to have been writ- ten with the most palpable intention to remove all ambiguity from this subject. Suffer me to quote only the eleventh verse: "The children, being not yet born, neither having done any good, or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that call- elh, it was said, the greater shall serve the younger ; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated," Can words proclaim, with more decisive evidence, the preordination of events, and of those events particularly. I mean the moral states of mankind, which have given rise to the most formidable objections to the truth on this interesting question. Attend to the pointed language of the sacred wri- ter— the election of one to honor is not made oh any antece- dent view of his good works ; for it is not of works, but of him that calleth, founded only on reasons in his own infinite and inscrutable wisdopj. Not that any one is chosen with- out, or wholly independent of his good works, but his works are themselves the object of the decree, and arc embraced in the same act, and with the election of the believer ; and this crithont the smallest infringempnt on the perfect freedoai of 248 the individual agent. For as has before been observed, the laws of the moral world have been so framed as, by their na- tural and free development, to attain all the purposes of the divine wisdom, in full consistency with human liberty, with as great certainty as can arise from the laws of the physical creation. It is in vain to attempt lo evade the force of this conclusion, by the hypothesis, that the election or reprobation of Jacob or of Esau, regarded only the national interests and preroga- tives of the people respectively descended from these patri- archs. For in the election of a nation to temporal, or to spi^ ritual privileges, are there not innumerable moral results inti'- mately involved in the act? In the preference given to Ja- cob, was it not the election of the whole ancient church to mercies, privileges, graces, resting only in the gift of Heav- en, with all the sanctifying consequences growing out of them to great numbers in that chosen nation '• If then the preordination of events is established by the clearest decisions of the holy scriptures, as it has already been shewn to be, by the plainest conclusions of reason, and in that point which has been thought to form the principal ob- jection against the doctrine, we see, in this consequence, one of the strongest arguments for the universality of the divine decrees^ 249 The conclusion, however, has been opposed by some spe^ cious reasonings, an explicit ansvier to which will seive to add strength to the general argument. They arise chiefly from moral considerations. For the government of the na- tural world is resigned by these writers, without controver- sy, to the dominion of fixed, necessary, and immulaJjle laws. The doctrine of preordination, they affirm, stands in direct contradiction to the moral liberty of man ; and to the essen- tial benignity of the divine nature.-^Of each let us take a very brief review. The former inferences evidently springs out of those false metaphysics which confound the voluntary and moral action of the mind, with the physical and mechanical laws of body. A confusion which has been greatly promoted by the com- mon error of recurring, in all our reasonings concerning the one, to analogies and illustrations borrowed from the other; as if the suasion of motive bore a perfect analogy to the im- pulsive force of matter, which is always followed by a ne- cessary effect, that can be calculated with mathematical pre- cision, when the acting force is known, and the direction given in which it is impressed. For the influence of motive, on the other hand, no sure and general measure can be form- ed, its power of excitement depending on the nature of the motive as relative to the character and temperament of the individual, varied as it may be by education, custom, the influence of general opinion, and innumerable circumstances 32 350 which ate reducible to no certain rule. Where neceasitj acts there is no room for deliberation and choice ; but where the influence of suasion only operates, addressed to the mo- ral principles of our nature, we are conscious of a power with* in ourselves of voluntarily comparing and ballancing motives, and, according to our pleasure, yielding to one, or another. If we attend to the operations of our own minds, uninflu- enced by any theory, we perceive a total difference in their nature and action respectively, between matter and mind. In the moral actions of the latter, especially, except when under the control of some pernicious habit, which has become inveterately fixed, we are conscious of perfect liberty. A sensation which may be clearly understood by every person who distinctly reflects upon himself, and analysis the ac- tions of his mind, but is difficult to be defined on account of the simplicity of the ideas. And on these subjects, let it be borne in mind, our own sensations form the only proper tests of troth and nature. In the strongest excitement to act, for example, we are sensible of the power of resistance, and of being able, at any moment, to arrest the action, though not always, and imme- diately of a power to act in a contrary direction ; for this may depend on education, and the moral and religious culti- vation of the mind. This liberty hi acting, however, such are the laws of the spiritual world, is perfectly consistent 251 with the most absolute certainty in the event, which, indeed, is the only foundation of foreknowledge in God himself. And in the Divine Mind, foreknowledge and preordination are the same ; for it rests on the certain laws which he has ordained for all being, in both the great departments of the universe. Therefore, are they often promiscuously used in the sacred scriptures. To illustrate these reflections by an humble example drawn from our own experience. Even with our imperfect knowledge of mankind, and of the usual relations which subsist between motive and conduct, how. of- ten can we predict with assurance the tenor of a man's ac- tions, in given circumstances, and frame upon them our own plans, without any hazard of mistake ? How often may a pa- rent who has long observed the influence of his instructions upon a child, predict, with the utmost assurance, at ihe same time, without the smallest apprehension of the existence of any necessary influence in the case, the act of his son in any definite situation ? If the human intellect can proceed with safety thus far, cannot the all-creating and omniscient Power, who is fully possessed of the characters, temperament, incli- nations, habitudes, and the ten thousand minute views and interests which go to influence th« actions of individuals, foreknow, and, therefore, if he please ordaiji and decree the part which each shall bear in the most coR^plicated moral system, and in the whole drama of life, without the smallest infringement on the liberty of tlie mind in her volitions ? 252 The philosophers and divines of the necessarian schoo!, who confound moral with physical action, see infinite diffi- culties in reconciling the certain influence of motive with the freedom of volition : on the other hand, they find equal dif- ficulty in conceiving the certainty of events, if, at the same time, those events are to depend on the will of free agents. Embarrassed by the contending difficulties, they have de- termined, against all experience, to maintain that moral caus- es act with the same kind of absolute and irresistible necessi- ty as physical. Many writers have erred as far on the op- posite extreme ; and, for the sake of preserving the liberty of man, have thought it requisite utterly to deny the certain" ty of events, depending, in any degree, on the purposes of fret minds. Freedom, in their opinion, implies absolute contingency in its effects. Theologians, as well as philoso- phers of this class, are absurd enough to deny prescience, as well as preordination. The connexion of motive with cer- tainty, so as, on the one hand, to exclude necessity, and, on the other, contingency, is a subject of feeling. And, to a man who is capable of observing the motions of his own mind, the perceptions which this feeling affi)rds are as clear as any principles of science. Science rests on no other foundation, for its axioms, than internal feeling or sensation ; which are therefore justly denominated Its first truths. On this subject we distinctly perceive the following factsj ^hat motives, according to the infinite diversities of human 253 character, pesseas a perceptible influence on action — that this inflyence, in most instances at least, is not irresistible ; but that, in acting, vre are perfectly free ; and this sensation is not a delusive feeling, but carries with it complete conviction of its truth, which ought never to be overthrown by any hypothetical speculation. Yet such connexion between mo- tives and actions exists, according to the states and charac^ ters of men, that, where these, in all their relations and cir- cumstances are completely known, certainty accompanies moral as well as natural causes and effects. By the Al- mighty and Omniscient Creator, then, all the thoughts and purposes of mankind, all the circumstances and motives which can in any way influence their actions, were, from eternity most distinctly known. Yet his foreknowledge does, in no way, necessitate the events connected with itj although it proves his preordination ; that is, their certain ex- istence, according to, and resulting from the order of nature^ whether physical or moral, established by him. That the moral liberty of man and the preordination of God, do not militate against one another, is susceptible of demonstration even on the principles of those who most strenuously oppose our doctrine. Let us suppose, for the ■ake of the argument, the present state of human nature to be a state of moral liberty, as perfect as the greatest enemies of divine preordination can imagine ; suppose that there is no preordination in the system of the universe, but that all thingB 254 iiappen without any purpose, on the part of the C^rea^tor^ yet must these philosophers confess that thej take place in a certain train of causes and effects ; or if, with Mr. Hume, they expunge from the vocabulary of nature the name of cause, and only say that all things happen in a certain de- terminate concatenation of preceding and consequent events ; suppose, further, this train of causes, or succession of events, accompanied with the existing state of virtue and of vice, and that it could by any means be foreseen by the Infinite Mind, then merely creating those powers of nature, and es- tablishing those relations of things, which in their ordinary course, and by their mutual action, should produce precisely the same moral condition of the world, ought not to be con- sidered as subjecting the whole to the laws of mechanical necessity. And, I add, that creating them with design that {his natural succession should take place — that effects, just as we see them es^ist, should arise out of the established or- der of the universe, this design, and this order would not surely constitute a system of fatality. If, then, freedom of moral action can, by any possibility, ejust in the rational system — if all things, even the Deity himself, be not subjected to an inflexible fate, it has been ren- dered evident, I presume, that the most universal preordi- nation may be consistent with the most complete liberty of the mind in all her actions. The objection, therefore, which has been just stated, is futile, in a high degree, and argues an 25S inconsiderate, or most prejudiced disregard of the genuine structure, and operations of our moral nature. OP MISERY AND VICE, A3 OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE DE- CREES. The existence of vice and misery in the works of God, is esteemed by those who deny the divine preordination of all events, to form an insuperable objection, equally with the forfiier, against the admission of the doctrine, involving, ais they conceive it does, the deepest imputation on his good- ness, and his holiness. Small reflection, it should seem, would be requisite to demonstrate, that a cavil of this kind could never be resorted to, where the subject had been duly considered. The very existence of these evils forms an irrefutable answer to the objection ; or we must embrace a principle most unworthy the divine wisdom and power. I have no hesitation to admit that their existence, by whatever means they were introduced, or for whatever end they were permitted, entered originally into the designs of Heaven, for the administration of this world. Their being is as great a mystery to reason as their being ordained. To say that they have been merely iiermitted, without any interference, or concern of Almighty God in the actions of men, is only at- tempting, by the illusion of a word, to throw the difficulty out of sight, not to solve it. If he has permitted the intro- duction of evil, has it not arisen out of the constitution of hi? 256 awn work ? or, in other words, had its birth in those verj laws of nature which he has established in the universal syg- tem of things ? Let the friends of this phraseology reconcile the event to the divine perfections, and the friends of the doctrine of universal preordination will be able, on the same grounds, to demonstrate the consistency of these perfections with the decree by which sin freely exists, through the per- verted will of the creature, and its punishment necessarily follows. That this may be accomplished \i^ithout any in- fringement on the rational liberty of the mind, our own expe- rience suflficiently attests. If it be esteemed more difficult to reconcile the misery and guilt of our nature with the be- nignant perfections of the Deity, this difficulty is at least equal on all systems. In examining the principles of Natural Religion, I have al- ready endeavoured to vindicate the goodness of God in the existence of the manifold evils of human life, either as cor- rectors of its errors, and assistants towards regaining its ori- ginal perfection, or laying the foundation, ultimately for its social and intellectual improvement and happiness. Here- after, I shall contemplate (hem in the light of revelation, and shew how the infinite benignity and wisdom of the Eternal is justified and illustrated in the sacred writings, in all the mise- ries which have overwhelmed this his greatest and best work. 257 OF THE OBJECTS, THE ORDER, AND THE CHARACTERS OF THE DIVINE DECREES. In the elucidation of the general subject of the decrees, several important questions have been offered to our consid- eration by theological writers of different sects, which merit our attentive reflection. They respect chiefly, the objects of the decrees— the order in which they have been arranged — the characters ascribed to them in the holy scriptures. 1. The objects of the decrees and purposes of God our Creator are strictly the universe of things, with all their con- ditions, and changes ; and in moral agents, particularly, their thoughts, affections, and their whole conduct ; the advan- tages and disadvantages of their situation, their virtues and their vices. From eternity, these were all in the purview of the Divine Mind, and, in time, embraced within the designs, and subjected to the order of his providence, which is only the operation of the Supreme Creator in the execution of hia eternal purposes. 2. The greater part of those writers who are friendly to the system of decrees, afraid, at the same time, of seeming to detract from the holiness of God, have, in order to avoid this impious consequence, thought it useful to conceive of the di*- Ok* 258 vine purposes in a certain order, which has, therefore, been styled the order of the decrees. Every scheme, however, for arranging them, labours under the same essential defect ; that of seeming to represent a succession in the Divine Mind, similar to what must necessarily take place in the designs and plans of men. In the purposes of God there can be no suc- cession. The entire system of nature, with all its changes, is at once present to his vieW^, and the purpose of giving them existence is one act, and co-eternal with his being. He sees the end in the means, and the means in (he end. So that any order applied to his eternal counsels is only an error in our own conceptions. An order, indeed, must be observed in their execution. And this perhaps it is, which has been attempted to be marked in this expression by the authors of the various systems, though by some inaccuracy of language, transferred to the decrees themselves. As this technical phraseology, however, has been adopted by many eminent divines of different sentiments, and modified according to their respective systems, in order to obviate, or evade the difiBculties arising out of the introduction of sin into the works of God, I shall briefly state the manner in which the subject has been attempted to be explained, by the three principal sects ; the Socinians, the Arminians, and the Calvinists. If we should not perfectly accord with any one of these great parties in religion, and utterly reject many of the principles of others, still it is useful for the theological student, and the judicious christian, to be iulormed of the peculiar tenets of 259 each, with aa much precision as such a compendious system will admit. 1. The followers of Socinus deny the decrees of God as they imply, ultimately, any eternal purpose of illustrating the glory of his mercy, or his justice, in the salvation, or the con- demnation of men. Their general principle upon this sub- ject may be expressed in the following summary. — The Su- preme Creator decreeing, from the beginning, to form man a moral agent, capable equally of virtue, or of vice, determined to commit him Bolely to the direction of his own powers, sub- ject only to those rewards of virtue, or chastisements of vice, which naturally arise out of the regular and fixed course of divine providence. The penalties, or remunerations, of the one or of the other, are, according to their ideas, those only which are caused by the wisdom, or folly, the discretion or improvidence of men themselves. But in this, and in all things else, the ordination and immediate agency of God in giving effect to his own laws in the system of nature, are, in a great measure, overlooked, and left, it is to be feared, equally out of their scheme of doctrine, and the miiids of their disciples. But they object, especially, against considering either the fall or the recovery of mankind, as forming any object of the divine decrees, farther than the general purpose of sending a prophet to enlighten and instruct the world. As men, 260 however, are free agents, their virtue, or their vice, their pi- ous use, or their unholy rejection of his revelation, cannot properly be regarded, even as subjects of foreknowledge, and still less of any divine decree. The general purpose, there- fore, of the Efernal, to punish or reward them, according to their deserts, is suspended solely on the actual existence, in time, of the contingent facts which constitute their merit, or demerit. This system appears in a worse form in many of its recent disciples than it did in the founder of the sect. As it has been embraced by a great portion of them, it can hardly be regarded in any other light than as a modified the- ory of Natural Religion. 2. The Arminians admitting, in genera! terms, the decrees of God, study to arrange them in such order as shall be most favourable to their peculiar system, fixing a few principal points of christian doctrine, but omitting, at every step in their progress, some portion of the entire chain which con- nects the beginning with the end. The outlines of their the- ory may be traced out in the following propositions. — God, in his wise decrees, originally determined to create man in perfect innocence, but fallible- — foreseeing his fall, but with- out any regard to the mode of its accomplishment in their decree or to that train of seductions which led to the fatal catastrophe. — The next object of the decree, was, consider- ing man as fallen, to send a Saviour into the world as the medium of his restoration and recovery — for this purpose, he 261 determined to impart to all men sufficient grace, if properly improved, to bring the sinner to repentance, and to assist the penitent to fulfil all righteousness ; but without clearly marking the distinction between, what is called sufficient grace, and that which is effectual ; or rather making no dis- tinction between them, except the superior means, and op- portunities enjoyed by one above another — finally, it was decreed, that those who improve their means and opportuni- ties to sincere repentance, shall be brought to eternal salva- tion, whereas those who wilfully continue in their sins, shall be consigned to just perdition. But here those innumerable open, or secret, and often indiscernable causes which con- duce, in different minds, to sincere repentance, are wholly left out of the purview of the decree. And in all the system of these good men, neither the fall of man, nor the repent- ance of any of his posterity, nor, in one word, any act of a free agent, is admitted to be a proper object of divine de- cree. Here we see only a few points fixed in the purposes of Heaven; and, in the wide intervals between them, which •mbrace the greater portion of human life, we see not the actions of the mind, and the immense circumference of mo- tives, occasions, and means which are combined for the pro- duction of any event, and particularly, for bringing the sin- ner to repentance, at all contemplated in the decrees of God, 262 By the language employed by the writers of this class these causes seem to be thrown entirely without the control of hia providence. The creation of man in innocence, is the first point fixed in this system. Afterwards we find nothing in which the state of human nature, and the general plan of redemption is concerned, before the promise of the Saviour. The Fally and all the great events on which the present moral condi- tion of the world depends, enter not, in their view, for any place in the divine counsels ; because any decree on those subjects, would involve the voluntary actions of men. — Could then, let me ask ; could the loss of human innocence, and the corruption of the whole human race be an event that might, or might not have come to pass, having no founda- tion pf certainty in the constitution of things, but thrown by the principles of these writers, among the mass of doubtful actions, or the caprices of accident ? Or could the Om- Jilscient have foreseen the transgression of man, without the foreknowledge of all the means which led to the unhappy event, and by which it was effected ? Could those means have existed by chance ? or have they not arisen in the natural operation of the laws established by God himself in the mor- al world ? And must not all these events, even to the mi- nutest circumstances attending them, have been in the pur- view of the Divine Mind, in the original constitution of things? 263 And what further can be intended in the decrees of God, bj the warmest friends of this phraseology ? Almighty God, in sending a Saviour, has further gra- ciously decreed, according to their system, to impart to all men grace sufficient, if wisely improved, for all the purposes of repentance and new obedience ; but the improvement of that grace, they add, forms no object of the decree, but is resigned simply and entirely to the will of man himself. — But these principles will naturally fall to be more particular- ly considered, hereafter, in treating of the Covenant of Grace. 3. Calvinists, on this subject, are thrown into two great divisions of Supralapsarians, and Sublapsarians, taking their denominations from that point on which they are found prin- cipally to differ. The latter, although they do not hesitate to apply the decrees of God universally to the present states and actions of men, whether good, or bad, yet, like the Ar- minians, study to exclude the Fall from the counsels, and purposes of Jehovah, and commence their decretal system, only after man has already become mortal, and involved in sin. Before that period, their language, at least, appears to represent the Deity, the benignant parent of the universe, in a kind of inactive state, waiting till man himself, by his own independent and sinful act, fix the unhappy destinies of his race. The cautious timidity with which these writers ap- 264 proach this subject, betrays their secret apprehension that the decrees of God, to which, on other occasions, they free- ly appeal, have, in the production of sin, some sinister influ- ence on the moral liberty of man. If these apprehensions were well founded, they ought to abandon their system al- together. They do not appear to reflect that the freedom of the moral agent is no more impaired by the fall of the sin- ner, than by the regeneration of the believer ; which last, however, they strenuously maintain to be an object of divine decree. The one is descending from a state of innocence, into a state of sin, the other is precisely the reverse, return- ing from sin to holiness. The latter easily comports with their general theory ; from the former they inconsistently shrink, as revolting their moral feelings. Their view of the decrees applies to mankind only since the Pall ; and is confin- ed, almost solely, to those who are chosen, out of the mass of the human race, to eternal life ; the rest being left to per- ish in the corruption of their natural state. — In all other parts of their scheme it coincides with that of their Supralapsa- rian brethren. On this subject, which has been rfendered difficult, princi- pally by an unguarded, and perhaps by an inadequately de- fined use of the term decree ; for it is merely the will of God operating in the laws of nature to the accomplishment of their proper ends> whether in the natural or moral world, the Su- 265 pralapsarians hold, at least, the most consistent language. In the order of the decrees, they argue that the end pro[»osed to be attained, must, as in every wise system, have had the pri- ority in the contemplation of its author. After that, the means conducing to its accomplishment will, with propriety follow. These principles may appear more distinctly in the outline of this scheme which is exhibited in the followin. series of propositions. — Almighty God having purposed in the econ- omy of this world, to illustrate the union of his mercy, and his justice, and in the prosecution of this end, to display the glory of his Son, decreed to create man holy, but free — and in the progress of his ultimate design, he decreed the fall of our first parents ; that is, that the state in Avhich they should be placed, and the whole combination of motives operating on the natural principles of action, should most freely lea)!*x}ei ra Xpua — vUpi^o-io- Kvfla Ue-a — oveiho-fjLOi ra Xptin, the import of which has never created any difficul- ty, because there is no sinister purpose to be answered by a false interpretation. The full force of these phrases may be given in the following words ; — JVho now rejoice in the 428 sufferings thnt I hear for you^ which are necessary to fill up thai measure of afflictions in the service of Christ which pro- vidence has still destined for me in my assiduous endeavours to promote the interest of his church. OF ADOPTION. In the order of systematic arrangement, Adoption is usu- ally considered as immediately following, and intimately con- nected with the doctrine of justification. Few words are necessary for stating or explaining this subject, it being ra- ther expressive of that external relation, in which it pleases God to place the believer to himself, than descriptive of the moral state of the mind. The spirit of adoption indeed, spoken of by the apostle, embraces all those dutiful senti- ments, and pious dispositions, which become so great a mer- cy, and so intimate a relation : but adoption simply is expres- Bive of the relation itself which the justified believer holds to his Heavenly Father. It is, a forensic term taken from the modes prescribed in the laws of most nations, by which a child, not born in a certain family, is legally received into it, and becomes entitled to its privileges, honors, and inheritances. As applied to believers it is a figure which designates, with no small propriety, and force, the blessings to which they are advanced in consequence of their justification. They are assimilated to the image of their Heavenly Father — they partake of his paternal protection and care— and, according 429 to his gracious promise, and the constitution of the New Testament confirmed in the blood of Christ, they are made heirs of an eternal inheritance. Taken from a state of hos- tile estrangement, they are introduced into his family. This figure was peculiarly expressive and obvious, at the time when the evangelists and apostles wrote, and within the limits of the Roman empire ; because the necessity, and the practice of adoption, was in that nation, and in that age, more prevalent than at any other period of history, or in any other portion of the globe. There are many passages in the sacred writings which justify the introduction of this terra into our systems, to express this relation of the believ- er to God under the Covenant of Grace. " As many as re- ceived him," saith the evangelist Jolin, " to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." And the apostle Paul ; " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry Ab- ba ! Father ! The Spirit itself testifieth with our spirit that we are the sons of God ; and, if sons, then heirs — heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," — Rom, viii. 14.... IT. To the Ephesians he writes ; " Having foreordained us unto adoption, through Jesus Christ, unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace," — Eph. i. 5, 6. 430 Adoption is an act of the free grace of God towards the unworthy, and the guilty ; and, along with justification, is the immediate effect of faith, and one of the promised bles- sings of the covenant of grace. Before conchiding this article, I will briefly, and in a single word, state the happy consequences of this blessed relation to his Creator and Redeemer into which the believer is tak- en. In the first place, peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the cause of his displeasure being removed, and there being no longer any obstruction to that intimacy of union which should connect the soul with God, and that full- ness and freedom of affection which should fill the heart of a dutiful son towards his Heavenly Father. — In the next place, peace of conscience, which is amongst the sweetest enjoy- ments of which the renewed soul, formed after the image of God, is capable. — Thirdly, the profound and delightful sen- timent of the love of God for his unspeakable mercy, in- spiring the continual desire of acting worthy of that high re- lation into which the believer is received by the spirit of Adoption. — And, finally, habitual and increasing sanctifica- tion of heart and life, and growing preparation for that " in- heritance uncorrupted, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time,"— 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. OK THE EXTERNAL SEALS OF ruz COVENANT OF GRACE. Ist. OF BAPTiS>r. OP THE EXTERNAL SEALS OF THE COVENAIVT OF GRAGE. As God has been pleased to exhibit his grace to the world under the idea of a covenant which he condescends to enter into with the penitent and believing sinner, and provisionally offers to all who, by the gospel, are called from among our fallen and corrupted race, to seek the inheritance of eternal life, we have just ground to expect that every ordinary form, which usage has annexed to a transaction of this kind among men, will be preserved in this appointment of God. There- fore, to the gracious promise of the covenant, which, as has before been shewn, constitutes its essence, he has annexed his seal, in order to add greater authenticity to this object of our faith, and give it a more affecting impression on the heai't. BAPTISM AND THE LORd's SUPPER BOTH SEALS OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. A seal is usually, any emblematic symbol employed in ^consequence of the agreement of parties, or appointed by 55 434 public authority, to be a sign, and memorial of consent m covenants, or an authentic testimonial, that any transaction into which we have entered, is our own act. — For the same purpose, in the early and rude ages, parties forming a so- lemn compact frequently erected a pillar as a permanent me- morial of the fact, or, more solemnly, built an altar, confirm- ing their paction by an act of religion. Often they gave a small portion of the soil which was transferred by the con- tract, a penny of the sum which was to be paid, or some earnest or pledge of possession or fulfilment of the covenant. All these acts were of the nature of seals. — In ages more re- fined instead of these rude devices, some hieroglyphic or symbolic Fepresentation was added to written contracts for the same purpose. In the church God has instituted sym* i)oIicaI actions, by which the Covenant of Grace is visibly ratified, when he offers it to the acceptance of believers and their offspring, as in the ordinance of baptism ; or by which they solemnly declare their acceptance of its terms, as in the Lord's Supper. Baptism may be called the hieroglyphic, or symbol of regeneration ; as the Lord's Supper is of the sacrifice of our redemption, and of the charity which should unite believers in love to their common Lord, and to one ano- ther.— These actions, therefore from their nature, and from the uses to which they are applied, partake of the essence of seali. 435 Their being appointed by Alraighly God to be employed 'JLS seals of the Covenant of Grace, may be further establish* ed, from the express words of the apostle, by whom cir- cumcision is styled, a seal of the righteousness which is by faith, — Rom. iv. 11: and from the analogy which subsists between the ordinances of baptism and circumcision. — Both are emblems of purification — both administered on the con- dition of believing the promise of God in the Messiah — both are the external sign and confirmation of this faith — and both are applied, as shall be shewn, hereafter, for attaining all the gracious purposes of the covenant to believers, and to their infant seed. And this style has been used, with respect to baptism in particular, by the earliest writers in the chris- tian church ; and by those who were cotemporary with, or who immediately succeeded the apostleso OTHER DENOMINATIONS APPLIED TO THEM. Besides the denominations which these ordinances have respectively received, arising from circumstances peculiar to each — such as the regeneration of water applied to bap- tism, and the eucharist, and communion applied to the Lord's Supper, they have, from the earliest ages, been entitled mysteries and sacraments. — The former terra was borrowed from the pagan worship, and cherished by the converts from that superstition, through a natural attachment to ancient forms and usages from which cause it was early introduced 436 into the temples of Christianity. The sublime principles oi natural religion which were discovered by the philosophers^ or had been handed down by tradition from the remotest anti- quity, and preserved in their temples by their priests, who had mingled them, however, with the grossest superstitions of the vulgar, were considered as too elevated for the popu- lar understanding. They were separated, therefore, from the common mass of pagan doctrines, and reserved to be commu- nicated only to a few men whose rank gave them superior means of information, or who had rendered themselves worthy the distinction by eminent virtue and prudence. When men of this character offered themselves to the college which presid- ed over the public religion, they were, with great solemnity introduced into the recesses of their temples, and there in- structed in those theological principles which it was suppos" ed the body of the people were not capable of understand- ing, or were not worthy to receive. Those who were thus instructed were called the initiated^ and the rites accompa^ Dying these instructions, were named mysteritSy from a Greek term implying silence, because they respected doctrines which were not to be communicated to the people. And the initiated were laid under the most sacred obligations not to reveal aught, which passed on those occasions, within their temples. Since the sacraments of the christian church were designed, in like manner, to discriminate the faithful from the profane, and were not to be imparted promiscuously, but re- served for those only who had attained a spiritual, and sub- 437 iimer knowledge of its principles, which the world did not enjoy, they were, in alhision to the mysteries of their an- cient temples, which had acquired their early reverence, and were held in great veneration throughout the Roman empire, called by the same name. The denomination of sacrament has a different origin. It was the military oath among the Romans, by which the sol- diers plighted their allegiance to their general, or to the em- peror. And as the christian life has been slyled a warfare, in which the believer contends not only against spiritual ene- mies, but often, especiallj'^ in that early age, was exposed to the most formidable dangers, he is justly said to pledge himself, in these ordinances, to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the captain of his salvation — to fight under his banner — to, endure, in his service, every trial — and to expose him- self, if necessary, to danger, and to death. And the primi- tive christians, in the immediate prospect of great conflicts, and of persecution, often renewed, by these holy rites, their vows of fidelity to their Lord, and reanimated their courage in suffering ; especially by the sacrament of the Lord's sup- per. The term sacrament is not found among the writers of the New Testament ; it was, however, very early adopted by the first christians. The apostles having represented the service of the cross under allusions borrowed from a state of warfare, and their followers finding, in painful experience, the perils and sufferings they were compelled to endure, soon 438 gpplied to the vows by vrhich they devoted themselves to their Redeemer, a title go familiar to them in the military life. THE DESIGN OF THE EXTERNAL SEALS OF THE COVENANT. It is of importance to every christian distinctly to understand the import of his public use of the seals of the Covenant, and of the obligations which he imposes on his soul by this solemn act. Annexing our seal to the Covenant of Grace, or using the seal which God has appointed, necessarily implies our full belief of the precious doctrines involved in that covenant, and a hearty acquiescence in all its conditions. It implies, at the same time, a vow of consecration, by which he renews his self-devotion to the service of God through Jesus Christ. And, lastly, it implies, with regard to the believer himself, a personal ratification of the Covenant, on his part, by a sen- sible symbol calculated more strongly to authenticate the transaction— to assist faith by the co-operation of sense — to fix a deeper impression on the heart, thereby confirming the purposes of duty, and leaving a more awful testimony for God, if he should afterwards prove unfaithful to this most sacred of our duties in the church. THE DIFFERENT IMPORT OF THE TWO SEALS. The ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's supper, being both regarded as the seals of the Covenant of Grace, it is 439 uecessaiy, with particular care, to attend to the proper dis- tinction existing between them. The former maj be regard- ed chiefly as the seal annexed immediatelj by God, through his public servants in the church, to this covenant, to give it authenticity, and to ratify it on his part to his people. The latter may be considered principally as the seal annexed by the believer to the same covenant, confirming his acceptance of its terms, and laying his soul, by that act, under the most sacred obligations of obedience. A covenant, being a mutual stipulation, requires, in order to its completion, the seals of the respective parties. God, by the ministry of his servants, who are officers in his church, annexes his own seal in baptism ; and in the communion of the body and blood of the Lord, the believer personally affixes his seal to the same in- strument. The veracity of God, indeed, needs no such ad- ventitious confirmation. But as he has been pleased so faP to adapt himself to the weakness of human nature, which is ever strongly moved by sensible impressions, he has not only offered his grace to the world in the form which takes place in covenant transactions among men, but confirmed it, accord- ing to the same customs, by the legal and authoritative sanc- tion of a seal. That baptism is to be viewed chiefly as the seal of God affixed to his own covenant, may be concluded, not only from the ordinary forms of this instrument, but from its analogy to circumcision, in the room of which rite it has manifestly been substituted. The apostle declares that Abra- ham received, from God, circttmclsion, a seal of the right- 440 eousness which is by faith ; that is, a sign and assurance that, through the Redeemer, he would accept the righteousness of faith instead of the perfect obedience of the original law of works. You observe the style of the expression : — The seal of circumcision he received from God confirming this gracious privilege to the believing patriarch. It is not said that he gave this rite or seal as a pledge of his own obedience^ The intention of the rite is justly argued from its being ap« plied to the infant offspring of Abraham as it is now admin- istered to the children of christian parents who are the spir- itual seed of Abraham. Infants, of this tender age, are not capable of any covenant transaction by themselves, and in their own name ; but they are susceptible of provisional and covenanted blessings through their parents from the infinite Author of all mercy and grace. And surely it is a blessing, and an act of grace of the first magnitude, in God, to meet us who were heirs of death, at our entrance into the world, by the provisional propositions of salvation through Jesus Christ, visibly ratified under the seal of that covenant which cancels the condemnation of the violated law, and places us by this act, publicly and solemnly under the dispensation of mercy in the New Covenant established with the second Adam. I add, that, although baptism is to be regarded chiefly as the seal of God, which he visibly and publicly annexes by 5:-^ 441 the church, to his own proffers of mercy ; yet, as the rites of religion maj, frequently, be taken in a double sense, this or- dinance, as it respects the act of the parent, may be viewed also as his own seal, by which he declares his belief, and ac- ceptance of the covenant, its promises, conditions and duties on his own behalf — his choice of its blessings as the portion of his child — and his consecration of himself, and his precious offspring, to the glory and service of Almighty God. 1. Baptism is our christian circumcision, a seal of the righteousness which is by faith. But that we may have a clearer view of the nature and importance of this ordinance, we must go back to the origin of its type in the ancient church. When religious truth was likely to perish from the world, which, in a few ages after the deluge, was overwhelm- ed in idolatry, and sunk in extreme dissolution of manners, it pleased God, nearly in the beginning of that general dark- ness and corruption, to establish a church in which he might preserve the knowledge of his name, and deposit his holy oracles, with the future hopes of the universe. This church consisted, in the beginning, of the single family of Abraham, with whom he entered into a gracious covenant, accepting, as his title to eternal life, the righteousness of faith in the fu- ture Saviour,* who was to spring from his own loins ; engaging * This is fairly inferred from the expression of the apostle, who styles the sea! of the Abrahamic Covenant the seal of the righteousness nhick is hy faith, 56 442 that he would be a God to him, and to his seed after him ; and promising that, finally, in him all the families of the earth should be blessed by the advent of the Messiah. That this grace might be rendered the more sure, and that the faith of this chosen friend of God might have the firmer ground on which to rest, he added to his promise his sacra- mental seal or oath, that, by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, Abraham, and all who fol- low the faith of Abraham, might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. For, saith the apostle, Abraham received circum- cision a seal of the righteousness, that is, of the means of justification and acceptance with God, which is by faith. — This covenant, with all its appendages of rites and forms, of types and symbols, of prophets and priests, of altars and vic- tims, with all its doctrines, its precepts, and its promises, was placed in the keeping of the church, for its consolation, for its instruction in righteousness, and for the quickening and direction in the divine life of all true believers. If we ask, then, with the apostle, what profit is there of circumcision ? the answer will yield some useful lights on this subject. It is the seal which God has been pleased to annex to the pro- positions of his mercy, by which anciently he confirmed to the church the great charter of her spiritual privileges, and which, being impressed on every Israelite, continually re- minded him of his obligations — continually placed before him his duties, and his immortal hopes — assured him of the gra- 443 cious protection of Almighty God, and designated him as a member of tliat chosen community to whose pious custody were committed his holy oracles, those precious treasures of divine truth. While other nations were left to the obscure teachings of nature, and the errors of a depraved reason, this sealed nation were made the depositaries of clearer lights, and the heirs of sublimer hopes. The emblems which were engraven, if I may speak so, on that seal, I mean the blood of circumcision, corresponding with the water of baptism, pointed to that purity of heart which is the end of all true religion ; and to that precious blood, which is, at once, the purchase of our salvation, and the fountain in which all our sins are cleansed. Such was the benefit of this ancient rite to the church founded in Abraham, and afterwards embracing all the posterity of Israel : to them were committed the ora- cles of God with all their lights, their hopes, their graces, their means of holiness, and of eternal life. These brief expositions will afford some principles by which to explain the nature and the benefits of that baptismal rite which Christ has substituted in the room of the Abra- hamic and Mosaic symbol of the promise. Baptism is our christian circumcision ; the seal of a more pure and luminous dispensation of the covenant than that either of Moses, or of Abraham. And it is with the view of proposing, as far as I am able, some precise and definite ideas on this initiating in- stitution of the christian church, that I have made these pre^^ 444 fafory observations on the corresponding rite of the preced- ing dispensation. That I may give as much perspicuity and precision as pos- sible to our ideas concerning this holy ordinance, it will be necessary to go into some details concerning i(s original in- stitution and design, and its proper subjects ; because with these its benefits are intimately connected, and from them its duties and obligations immediately result. 1. The nature and design of baptism may be rendered ob- vious from two sources of illustration ; one is the use and ap- plication of a similar rite which was frequent in the ancient Jewish and Greek nations, whence, probably, it was trans- ferred into the christian church ; the other is the denomina- tion, borrowed from the Abrahamic dispensation of the cov- enant, which, from the very first ages, it has received among christians, of a seal of the Covenant of Grace. Many of the great and distinguished teachers, and founders of sects among the Jews, applied baptism as a rite of initia- tion into their respective schools. It was a symbol of disci- pleship, and regarded as an emblem of that purity of mind, and that virtuous simplicity of manners, which spring from the love of truth, and are expected in all those who are en- gaged in the pursuit of wisdom. Such was, probably, the meaning of the baptism of John, the great forerunner of the 445 Messiah."* He taught a nc\r and more rigorous discipline of repentance than was known to the Jews of that age. And the disciples who followed him, admiring the sanctity of his doctrine, and the abstemious purity of his manners, he ini- tiated bj baptism,f preparing them, in this manner, for that still more pure and perfect discipline which was shortly to be introduced by the Saviour of the world. It was, besides, re- quired by the customs of that nation, that all proselytes from among the gentiles should be initiated into the church of Is- rael, and make their profession of the doctrines of Moses, and the prophets, by baptism. The ordinance of baptism, therefore, considered simply in the view which has just been presented to you, contains a pledge of our discipleship — a public avowal of Christ as our great Master and Teacher— an explicit profession of our faith in the doctrines taught by his Spirit in those holy ora- cles committed to the custody of his church for its illumina- tion and sanctification. * The same rite of initiation into their schoolg, and with the same meaning, was frequently used by the philosophers of Greece, as well as of many eastern nations, from whom the Greeks borrowed it. f This fact serves to explain a passage in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul meet- ing with certain disciples in Asia who were very imperfectly instructed in the prin- ciples of the gospel, demanded of them unto nhai they had hem baptised} that is, to what system of doctrines ? They answered, wvto John's baptism. They were disciples of John, and had embraced only the doctrine of repentance which he had taught. This custom explains the meaning of St. Paul when he tlianks God that he had baptised none of them but Crispus and Gaiiis, lest any should say he had baplised in kiv own name, thereby putting himself at the head of a new sect. 446 Although a man, at the age of reason, may justly make this profession for himself, it may be asked, perhaps, if a pa- rent can rightfully make it in the name of his infant, so that, when that infant shall have arrived at maturity, it shall be le- gally considered as his act ? Whatever differences of opin- ion may exist with regard to this question, according to the various lights in which the subject of it may be viewed, all will agree in the following principle, that it is both the right, and the duty of a parent to place his beloved offspring un- der the best means to enlighten and cultivate their minds, to form their hearts, to regulate their lives, and to prepare them, if possible, for the highest happiness, both in this world, and the world to come : in one word, to initiate them in the school of Christ."^ This school is the church : these means of education are the ordinances, the instructions, the discipline, the watchful care, and prayers of the church. And it is one, and not the least of the spiritual blessings re- sulting from baptism in infancy, that, thereby, parents, in addition to the tender constraints of natural duty, impose up- on themselves the most solemn voluntary obligations to train * Upon this subject, one would think that there could not exist any diversity of opinion. It seems to be a manifest principle of justice, that a parent has a right to enter into contract, or to make any engagement in the name of his child, for his benefit, which it is the privilege of his child, when he arrives at mature age, to accept ; although he is at liberty also, to his own detriment, to reject ■ and which, if it involves his duty, as well as his interest, as in the present case, he is under sacred obligations to fulfil. Such engagement is not imposing on our posterity a burden, but gaining for them a bmffd. 447 up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and that children enjoy still further advantages by being placed under the immediate and special care of that holy- community to whom are committed the oracles of God. 2. But there is another and more interesting light in which this ordinance is to be viewed. It is the seal by which God has condescended visibly to confirm to the church the bles- sings of the New Covenant which he has graciously estab- lished in Christ for the redemption of the world. This was the import of the correspondent rite of the church of Israel. God gave to Abraham circumcision a seal of the righteouS' ness rvhich is by faith.'^ And this is one of the principal denominations by Avbich baptism has been designated in the christian church from the earliest ages. But here it is ne- cessary to remark and correct an error upon this subject which has unhappily disturbed the ideas of many good and excellent men. Baptism has been regarded by them as the * A seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, being uncircumcised. 'J'liis expression cannot reagonably be supposed to mean, as has been asserted by some writers, merely a declaration of the sincerity of Abraham's faith ; for this seal was administered to the offspring of Abraham at an ajc in which no such de- claration could be expected from them. Besides, the apostle, in the place is speaking of circumcision, not merely as a sign given to Abraham in particular, but as an ordinance of the church. In this general view it was designed as a setil of the righteousness of faith; that is, of that gracious covenant which has substi- luted the righteousness rvhich comes by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the room of the pej/cct and personal oiedience required by the first covenant, and which has now become impracticable to the frailty and corruption of human nature, beloj rK)«3iblo only tliroiigli a Mediator, and Surety. '^ 448 seal of the believing parent given, both in hi8 own name, and in that of his child, as its natural proxy, testifying his entire acquiescence in the conditions of the covenant ; and, by the same act, laying the child under an obligation of acquiescing in them, and fulfilling them, as soon as it shall attain the age of reason. And undoubtedly, the act of the parent, in of- fering his child to receive the seal of baptism is, on his part, a formal acknowledgment of the covenant and profession of faith in its gracious promises. It has, likewise, been admit- ted, and has been before asserted, that a parent possesses from nature, and from religion, a right to enter into any right- eous covenant in the name of his child, when the objects of ' that covenant are only blessings, and privileges ; and espe- cially when its conditions or terms are antecedent duties. Baptism, however, in the just and scriptural view of it, is chiefly to be considered as the outward and visible seal which God has been pleased to annex to his own promise ; a prO' mise which he has graciously given to the church under the form of a covenant engagement ; by this seal ratifying, and confirming to her, and to all who are taken into her care, the propositions of his grace and mercy, through Jesus Christ. Abraham did not give to God the seal of circumci- sion as a pledge of his duty and obedience ; but the scrip- ture declares, he received it from God for himself and his offspring, in order to confirm that gracious covenant, or pro- 449 mise which he had made to the father of the faithful ; I wUl he a God to you, and to your seed after you.^ Do you ask if it is not doing dishonour to the faithfulness of Jehovah to suppose that his promise requires to be confirmed by symbols and sacraments, by oaths and seals ? Is not his word alone the firm, and immutable foundation of every believ- er's trust and hope ? It is true the veracity of God needs no support from outward forms ; and it is not for his sake, but for ours, that he is sometimes pleased to employ them, in order to give the deeper impression to divine truth upon the heart. Frail as we are, and receiving all our impressions through the medium of the senses, ideas, merely intellectual, are neither ♦ If we refer to the whole strain of the history, in the 17th chapter of Genesis which records the transactions of God with Abraliam, this interpretation will be confirmed. It was a covenant entirely of the gratuitous kind, on the part of God, engaging by an expression of the most comprehensive meaning — [I will be a God to you, &c.] to bestow the most ample spiritual blessings on his chosen servant, and on his posterity. In every covenant of tliis nature the forrasiof ratification are used by him only, and are intended to oblige only him who bestows the favour. The beneficiary simply receives the promise, or charter which, when confirmed by tiie requisite legal forms, and ratified by the seal of the benefactor, becomes his title of inheritance, or possession, on the pe;formance of whatever condition it contains. It was not an unusual thing for Almighty God thus to confirm his promises and covenants to patriarchs, and holy men, by some external sign, or token. His pro- mise to Noah he confirmed by his bow in the clouds. To Gideon he gave a sign, or seal of his commission to be the deliverer of Israel, by consuming his sacrifice upon the rock. To Abraham he gave the sign of circumcision. And, on another occasion, he caused a burning lamp to pass between the parts of liis sacrifice. To Hezekiah the sign of the shadow returning back Ui.on the dial was added to the promise of his recovery. And to the house of David, and of Israel, he gave by ' Th^" prophet Issiab; this myflerious sign, a virgin shall rnncrlv: avd hare a son, 57 450 so clearly conceived, nor take such firm possession of the soul^ as when thej are embodied, if I may speak so, and conveyed to us under sensible images. It is not, therefore, unworthy of the glory and wisdom of God ; on the other hand, it is a proof of his infinite benignity and condescension, to confirm to us the everlasting truth of his word, by such impressive and external symbols as will unite the influence of sense with that of intellect and faith, in giving the doctrine of his grace their full effect upon the mind. Hence God has been pleas- ed to exhibit the promises of his mercy to mankind through Jesus Christ, under the gracious title of a covenant ; and, af- ter the manner of such conventions among men ; and in or- der more perfectly to adapt himself to that susceptibility of sensible impressions which belongs to our nature, he has condescended to confirm his truth in that transaction by pub- licly and visibly annexing to it his own seal. Let me illus- trate this idea by an analogy borrowed from civil transactions. As charters conveying special privileges to corporations, or to individuals are sealed, and authenticated by public offi- cers duly appointed and commissioned for that purpose by the sovereign power ; in like manner, is this precious char- ter of our spiritual and immortal privileges, confirmed to us by the seal of the Great Head of the church affixed to it, in the name of God, by ministers solemnly set apart for this end, according to the order which he has established in his spiritual kingdom ; so that whatever is rightfully performed by them may be justly said to be done by himt Baptism, 451 therefore, is the seal of God applied Jo his own covenant, thereby confirming to those, to whom it is administered, the propositions of his mercy through Jesus Christ, and visibly testifying that they are taken from under the curse of the ori- ginal and broken covenant, which admitted only of perfect obedience, and condemned the transgressor to eternal death, and placed under the new dispensation of grace, which con- fers forgiveness on repentance, and salvation on the obedi- ence of faith. As every public seal contains emblems expressive of the nature, and security of the blessings it confers, we see in like manner, this christian seal distlnguishedctio emblems, the most simple, indeed, but the most imprmaWe and august. We see in it the symbol of that precious blood which was shed for our redemption, and of the Holy Spirit by whose gracious influences the principles of a divine life are infused into the soul, and cherished to perfection ; and, finally, the S3'mbol of that heavenly purity which should adorn and dis- tinguish the disciples of Jesus Christ. Thus have I presented to you this ordinance in its double signification : as the rite by which we are initiated into the school of Christ ; and as the seal by which God continually repeats and confirms the gracious propositions and promises of his covenant to the seed of the church. 452 2. I shall, in the next place, proceed to point out the pro- per subjects of this ordinance. For on the right of our children to receive the seal of the covenant depends, in my v'leWf its principal benefits. This right, then, is demonstrat- ed from analogy ; — ^from scripture example ; — and from the whole stream of the history of the primitive church. 1. From analogy, in the first place.— If the father of the faithful reeeived from God the seal of the righleous which is by faith ; that is, of the covenant of grace, in which that faith which unites us to Christ, msiking us partakers of his merits, and acting as the principle of a holy life, is accepted instead of the p ^ ;ct righteousness of the law ; and if he was ^ctly permitted, as - ,*recious privilege, to impress it on all his offspring ; does not this right belong, with still stronger rea- son, to believing parents, under the dispensation of the gospel ? For the coming of the Messiah, far from having abridged, has greatly extended the privileges of the faithful. 2. Let us hear in the next place, the clear and strong lan- guage of the apostle Paul. " The promise," saith he, " was not to Abraham or his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. And it is of faith that it might be by grace ;" that is, of free favour, and not purchased by any meritorious works of man, " to the end, that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law," or his natural posterity, composing the Jewish church, 453 « but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, — Rom. iv 13 — 16 : meaning the believing gentiles who should be called to a participation of his privileges. What, then, is that pro- mise made sure, by the seal of the covenant, to all the seed, both under the law, and under the gospel ? If we look back to the institution of this covenant with Abraham, and of the holy seal by which it was confirmed, we there find the pro- mise ; I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee. This is what was emphatically called the promise by the ancient Jewish writers ; and was, as I have formerly shewn, another denomination for the covenant of grace. Under the same denomination it is frequently referred to in the writings of the apostles. And whenever this holy transaction is mentioned by the sacred writers, under this form, it is manifest that they intend the peculiar promise of the gospel, which is salvation by Christ through the righteousness of faith, comprehending all that is implied in the covenant of grace. Of this no other proof need be adduced than its being so often put by them in contrast with the law."^ To receive the seal of this promise * See particularly tlie Ep. to Gal. cb. iii. v. 16, 17, 13,-21—29 — 18, If the inheritance be by works of the law, it is no more of promise. 21, Is the law, then against theyroTTiue of God. 24 — 29, The la7v is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. If we be Chi-isVs, then are we Abratiain's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 16, 17, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises mTide. And this I say that the covenant, plainly implying the covenant contaiued in the promises, wliich was confirmed before of God in Christ, tlie law which was four hundred and tiiirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. The promise here is evidently equivalent to the covenant made with Abraham: and what could that covrnant be whioh was covfirmi'd of God in Christ, but the covenant of grace ^ 464 was the precious privilege of the seed of Abraham ; it was the privilege of his children's children to the remotest genera- tions. And on the same ground, pursuing the apostle's rea- soning, it is the privilege of the children of his faith, /or they mho are of faith are the children of Abraham. If ye be Christ^s, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise ; the promise given to Abraham at the institu- tion of the covenant — Irvill be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. To confirm this conclusion, no language can be stronger or more unequivocal than that of the apostle Peter addressed to the vast assembly at Jerusalem touched by his powerful discourse. " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." As soon as he enjoins it upon them to be baptized, he reminds them of an ulterior duty, to have this holy rite administered to their children, and their household after the example of Abraham: quoting to them that covenanted promise with which every Israelite was so well acquainted, and to which every believer, as well as the patriarch Abraham, is entitled ; —the promise of forgiveness, and acceptance with God Jt deserves here to he remarked, t'liat the very language which is used, ike covC' Tiant confirmed of God, corroborates, and places almost beyond doubt, the princi- ple, that circumcision, under the ancient dispensation, and baptism under the new, is the seal of God by which it was confirmed, and was added to strengthen rur faitlj, and to give it deeper impresBion on the heart of the believer. 455 through the righteousness of faith. He adds, and not to you only and to your children, who are naturally descendants of Abraham, but to the gentiles also, who are frequently desig- nated in holy scripture by those who are afar off. Called by Christ into the church, which was so long confined to the posterity of Israel, they are now equally with Jews, entitled to all its blessings, and its privileges, and among others, to this precious seal of the covenant for themselves, and their offspring. It is in vain to allege, as has been done by certain writers, that the promise here refers to the prediction of the prophet Joel, who foretold, that in the last days God moidd -pour out his Spirit upon all Jlesh. For what connexion has this prophe- cy with the command to be baptised ? The apostle is answer- ing the anxious inquiry of his hearers, who were pricked in their hearts ; men and brethren, what shall we do ? And in his an- swer, directs them to the proper source of peace, arid, consola- tion ; — 7'epent and be baptized, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost in his sanctifying power, and his comforting influence : for the promise, through Christ whom I preach, is, according to the tenor of the covenant with your father Abraham, to you and to your children ; and not to you only, but to the gentiles also, to those who are afar off, who, by failh, shall become children of Abraham, and heirs of his blessings. Such is the clear and obvious conclusion resulting from the apostle's words. The same consequence arises, with r*^ 456 less certainty, from the advice addressed by St. Paul to a believing husband or wife, not to separate from the unbe- lieving wife or husband with whom they may be respective- ly connected. For, saith he, the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer, else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. What is the proper import of this term? Throughout the sacred scriptures, it is applied only to such persons or things as are peculiarly set apart, and consecrat- ed to God. In the connexion in which it stands in this pas- sage, it can imply nothing less than that children are qualifi- ed, by the profession of faith, or the church membership of one of their parents, to be solemnly set apart from the world, and devoted to God — a rite which can visibly take place only in the ordinance of baptism."^ If the right of infants to the ordinance of baptism evident- ly results, as, by the preceding illustrations, it appears to do, from the analogy of the christian with the Abrahamic seal of the covenant, it is still farther confirmed by the prac- tice of the apostles. The passage to which reference has * It is a prostitution of language, in this place to confound, as has been done by one sect of christian?, holiness with legitimacy of birth. The whole train of the apostle's observations, and reasoning, translated according to this meaning of the term, would be absurd or ridiculous. — For the unbelieving n-ifc is sandijied, that is, made a legitimate subject of marriage, by the believing husband, and the un- believing husband is sandijied, that is, made a legitimate subject of marriage, by the believing mfe, therefore, their marriage was lawful ; else were your children illegitimate, but now are they lawfully begotten. Besides other absurdities, this would be proving the lawfulness of the marriage by the legitimacy of the children, and again the legitimacy of the children by the lawfulness of the marriage. 457 just been made, affords no slight attestation to the practice ot St. Paul. In addition to this, when Lydia declared her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the same apostle, along with her, baptized her household. With Jairus also, he baptised all who were in his house. It has been objected to the evi« dence which we would derive from these facts, that those who are referred to, by the sacred historian, in the house of Jairus, and the household of Lydia, were only the adults of the respective families, who were themselves believers. What will not the prepossessions of party, or the pride of theory maintain, and defend ? For this pretence certainly, the history affords no ground. It assigns no other reason for baptizing these families than simply the faith of Lydia and of Jairus.* 3. I add that, if any apostolic usage can derive confirma- tion from the uniform practice, and tradition of the church, to modern, and very recent times, it is that of infant baptism. It is attested by Justin Martyr, who lived only forty years * This W3S perfectly conformable to the example of the Jewish church In receiv- ing proselytes either by circumcision, or by baptism, from the Gentile nations. The pagan convert who professed his faith in the great legislator of Israel, and the promises made to the fathers, at once incorporated his whole family along with himself, into the body of that chosen people. It is said, indeed, by the writers who differ from us upon this subject, that, in the history of the New Te.4ament, baptism is never administered except to a per- sonal profession of faith. But, let it be remembered that this liistory records on- ly examples of proselytes from unbelieving nations. In a similar case, a personal profession of faith would be required by the warmest friends of infaut baptism In the few instances in which families have been ment'onfr), wo pon ^h^*^ t'l'"- nl •.7avs follow the faith of (he bead. 5?. 458 after the age of the apostles. And the evidences of the fact are conveyed down in a continued, and unsuspected stream of history, to the time of St. Augustine, and Pela- gius, who, though antagonists in the controversies which were raised in that age, on some of the most important doc- trines of religion, and both of them among the greatest scho- lars, and most eloquent writers of the period in which ihey lived, declare, " that thej had never heard, that thej had never read of any, even the most heretical churches, who denied the baptism of infants."* * But few of the writers of the earliest age of the church have escaped the rava- ges of time, and come down to us entire. And no controversy existing at that pe- riod, on the subject of baptism, few occasions occur of directly introducing any precise opinions concerning it, or of explicitly stating the practice of the apostles, and their immediate successors. But wherever this ordinance is mentioned, ei- ther more or less directly, the testimony of the primitive writers is uniformly in favour of tlie baptism of infants. In the second, and especially in the third and following centuries, circumstances having more frequently called for explicit opin- ions on questions relative to tliis subject, the practice of the primitive church be- comes, from this time more and more evident. Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, who lived from forty to sixty seven years after the apostles, both speak of those " who were made rfisctpies, znd regenerated to God in infancy," a figurative mode of ex- pression familiar in tliat age, to signify baph'sm the symbol of discipleship, and regeneration. Just. Mar. apol. II. Iren. adv. haeres. lib. 3. chap. 39. In the second century some doubts having arisen in the church concerning ori- ginal sin, and the nature and degree of guilt which adheres to infants, we find in the disciissior.-' which arose on these subjects, more frequent mention made of the baptism of inf'ints than in the former period The illustrious Origen, who flour- ished in the very beginning of the second century after the apostles, raaintaiuing the original corruption of human nature, derives one of his principal arguments from the universal practice of the church, of administering baptism to the young- est children; — " If infants, says he, are not liable to original sin, why are they then baptized ? Horail. 8. in lev. chap. 12. St. Cyprian bi?bop of Carthage, who wrote about one hundred and fifty years after the apostolic age, establishes the general usage of infant baptism by a most copvincinii fact. He informs h« that a council of sixty six bishops being assembled at Carthage, a doubt was pi oposed by one of them, whose name was Fidus, whe- 459 Having established the right of christian parents to have their offspring placed under the guardianship and care of the church, in the ordinance of baptism, let us examine, in the next place, what privileges and blessings are conferred by this act. Whether we consider baptism as the rite by which our children are initiated into the church as the school of Christ, or as the seal which God has been pleased to annex to his covenant, in order to ratify, and more effectually, to con- firm to our faith the promises of his grace, its privileges and blessings, rightly understood, are manifold and great. For to Abraham and his seed, to the church, and the seed of the church, are committed the oracles of God, with all their lights, their comforts, their precious promises, their immor- tal hopes. In order to give, at once, force and illustration to ther baptism ought to be administered to infants before the eightli day after their birth ; doubting whether or not the custom of the Jew? in this respect ought to be followed. The council unanimously decreed that baptism ought not to be post- poned till the eighth day. After stating the grounds of their decree, they con- clude ia these words ; — " Wherefore, dearly beloved, it is our opinion, that, from baptism and the grace of God who is benignant to all, none ought to be pro- hibited by us ; and, as this i.s to be observed with regard to all, so especially is it to be observed with respect to inf.mts who are just born, and deserve our help, and the divine mercy." — Cyp. ep. ad. Fidura, chap. 63. Let me subjoin tlie very pertinent remark of a judicious writer ; " Origen was born about eighty five years after the apostolic age. His father and grandfather were both christians, and as there can be no doubt of his being baptized in infan- cy, from the manner in which he speaks of infant baptism, this fact verifies the practice of the apostles ; and so carries up the universal usage of the church to within a very few years of those blessed companious of our Lord," 460 (his reflection, let us imagine our children born where the dis- pensation of grace is not known, and to have been left un- der the darkness of paganism, to the feeble glimmerings of nature, to lead them to a knowledge of their Creator, their Redeemer, and their duly ; imagine them, under all the ca- lamities of life, to have been forsaken of the comforts of re- ligious hope ; and, after their most anxious endeavours to look into futurity, and to appease the forebodings of con- science, unable to penetrate beyond this dark sphere, or to discern any certain means of access to the holy and right- eous Judge of the universe, and, at length, abandoned to the cruel despair which, without the light of revelation, rests upon the shadows of the grave ; imagine all this, and then judge of the inestimable value of that blessed sacrament which, agreeably to the command of Christ, places us, from the beginning of life, in the bosom of the church, where a divine illumination continually shines ; where life and immor- tality are brought to light ; where the veil which covers the eternal world is drawn aside ; where the way of peace is clearly revealed to sinful and perishing men ; where the care of parents, and the fidelity of the ministers of religion are engaged, under the most solemn obligations, for the discipline, and instruction of the infant mind ; where the influences of the Holy Spirit are promised to assist the eflect of these in- structions ; and where all the means and aids are enjoyed which it has seemed good to infinite wisdom to afford to maa-= ^indj for the attainment of their everlasting salvation. 461 Such are the blesshigs connected with baptism, consider- ed merely as an initiating symbol introducing us, into the church of Christ. We are placed by it under the happiest, and most effectual cultivation for Heaven. Let us now contemplate this symbol in another light, as the seal which God has annexed to his covenant for the so« lemn confirmation of his promises, and we shall discover in this view of it, a new treasure of spiritual blessings. Every child of Adam, by his error, and fall, and by the rigorous tenor of the violated covenant, has become an heir of death. But God, in his infinite mercy, at the moment of transgression, placed the frailty of man under a dispensation of grace in Jesus Christ. Of this most benignant and mer- ciful dispensation, which obviates, or remedies, the evils of the broken law, circumcision anciently, and now baptism, is the gracious assurance and seal. In the symbol of baptismj therefore, you behold the visible pledge, and annunciation, on the part of God, that the baptized infant is taken from un- der the impracticable conditions, and the curse of the first covenant, and placed under the grace of the second.* You behold that precious infant, on its first entrance into exist- * It is not intended by this to say, that the act of baptism transfers us from the one covenant to the other. Tiiat was done by the promise of the Saviour imme- diately after the Fall. But it is the solemn authentication of this truth on the part of God, aud tiie d^^tlaratory seal of this grace. 462 ence, met with the covenant of peace, and the promises of eternal life sealed in the blood of the Redeemer. Is baptism, then, a certain tide to eternal life ? I say not that ; but it is a solemn and authentic proposition of the covenant of grace, with all its privileges, blessings, and con- ditions under the seal of God. It is, therefore, a visible and sacramental confirmation of the provisional title of the bap- tized to life and immortality on the terms of the gospel ; that is, on sincere repentance, and a true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate this principle by a familiar example.^ By charter from the government of your country, or bequest from a dying parent, you may become entitled to ample privileges, or rich possessions, on the performance of certain conditions. The seal annexed to that charter, or that testament, by the proper authority, is the declaration of the will of your parent, or your country, and consequently, the formal authentication, and security of your title the mo- ment the condition shall be fulfilled. This condition is, to all who have grown to such mature age as to be capable of actual sin, not perfect obedience, according to the tenor of the first, and broken covenant, but according to the constitu- tion of the covenant of grace, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Chiist, which, however, leads to perfection, and plants in the heart the seeds of holiness, and of eternal life. But to every infant dying in infancy, it is an unconditional assurance, of a glorious inheritance in the 463 kingdom of heaven. The infant being placed under the grace of the second covenant, is delivered from the curse of the first, so far, that, being united by a new and blessed rela- tion to the Second Adam, its original taint and impurity, de- rived from its relation to the first, is covered by the blood of the atonement. It is, therefore, through tJie mercy of God in Christ, made an heir of eternal life. Of these precious truths baptism is the sacramental pledge, and seal of assurance given by God. What a consolation does this view present to the christian parent, who weeps over the dear remains of the infant snatched untimely from his embrace ! What a comfortable and extended prospect does it exhibit of the grace of the gospel.* Having offered to your consideration, in a few plain and obvious principles, the right of infants born within the church, to the seal of the covenant, and pointed out the blessings of which they become partakers by it; I will next endeavour to designate, more particularly, the limits of the visible church, and exhibit the nature and extent of that profession of the name of Christ which entitles a parent to offer, and the * Very far would I be from insinuating that those who die witiiout bap- tism do, therefore, fail of salvation. But between the baptized and uobaptized infant dying in infancy, there is this difference— that, to the one, the inherit- ance of eternal life is conve) ed by covenant from Qod, under his appointed seal; the other is left to his free, indeed, but unauthenticated pledge of his mercy in this ordinance. 464 church to receive his infant offspring to a participation of this holy ordinance. The principal question which has been raised upon this subject, turns on this single point, whether the church on earth, consists only of those who are truly regenerated, and have added sincere and new obedience to their open profes- sion of the name of their Redeemer ; or, on the other hand, embraces all those who have been baptized, and continuing to profess the doctrines of the Saviour, submit themselves to the counsels, admonitions, reproofs, and to the whole disqj- pline of that spiritual body whose head is Christ. The constitution of the Jewish church the type and coun- terpart of the Christian, will assist us to determine this ques- tion. All who believed in Moses, the great prophet of God, and submitted to his law, were embraced in the external bonds, and received the distinguishing seal of the covenant* But, they mere not all Israel, who were of Israel. A dis- tinction existed among them, which must always exist upon earth, among the professing disciples of Christ, between the visible, and the invisible church. The latter is composed of those only, who, by sincere piety, and an entire renovation of heart, bear the inward image of their Lord and Master. The former embraces all who are united together under the profession of the same system of doctrines, who enjoy the same ordinances, and who submit to the same discipline for 465 regulating the exterior order and Didfniiers of its members. To the church of Israel, comprehending the entire nation, were the oracles of God committed. And the seal of that gracious covenant, which was contained, and explained la these oracles, and exhibited to the ancient church under a thousand topical rites, was impressed on ail their offspring, and ou all who were born in their houses, and trained up in the knowledge of divine truth under (heir care. Analogy, then, will lead us to extend the application of the christian seal to the households, and especially, to the children of all who are members of the visible church ; that is, who have been baptized themselves, who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, who profess to embrace the holy scriptures as containing the only certain rule of du- ty, and the only foundation of their immortal hopes, who submit themselves and their households to the discipline and instruction of the church, and who promise to concur with her in the pious education and government of all those whom nature hath given to their affection, or providence subjected to their authority. To the invisible church baptism cannot be confined, be- cause men have no certain rule by which to discriminate it from the mass of visible professors. Let ine ask those who suppose that somewhat more is necessary in the recipient to the validity of iliis ordinance than regular morals, an open profession of the faith, and submission to the discipline of the .'>9 466 church. Is it because they esteem the actual sauctificatioR of the parent essential to the rightful administration of bap- tism to the child ? Who, then, can know, with certainty, that he is baptized ? Do they say that it is, at least, neces- sary, that in the judgment of charity, a parent should be a sincere believer ? Where is the scripture rule which rests the benefit of baptism on our judgment of the internal state of a man's heart? or makes it the standard by which we are to admit his infant to the external privileges of the covenant of grace ? Will not those jadgments of charity vary in different churches ? Will they not vary, perhaps, in different pastors in the same Church ? Too earnestly he cannot be admon- ished, indeed, that vital and universal holiness of heart and life is essential to salvation, and essential, likewise, to the faithful and acceptable discharge of this, and of every duty in the sight of God ; yet it cannot be essential to the validi- ty of this ordinance, and its spiritual benefit to bis infant offspring. Let us recur again to the proper meaning and design of this ordinance, and this conclusion will not fail to strike us with additional force. It is, in the first place, the rite of our initiation into the school of Christ, in which we receive those lessons of divine wisdom, which cannot be taught to man by the wisdom of the world ; and in which we enjoy the happi- est means of promoting our virtue and holiness, and the most effectual aids for the attainment of our salvation. 467 It is, in Ihe next place, the seal which God hath annexed to the external dispensation of his covenant, in order that he might, by a rite, so solemn, though so simple, confu'm the propositions of his mercy to fallen man, through the atone- ment and mediation of the ever blessed Redeemer. The chnrch openly annexes this seal to the covenant, in the name and by the authority of God himself. The church takes the infant under her protection and instruction. Most desirable it is to have the co-operation and assistance of the parents in this sacred and important duty ; and they are bound, by every obligalion, of nature and religion to afford it. But it is still more the duty of the church to enlighten and direct the infant's opening reason, to imbue it with holy and heav- enly principles, to illustrate, to inculcate, to press upon it the precious privileges, the gracious promises, the glorious hopes of which she has given it the seal. The church when she is faithful to her trust, adopts every infant, whom she re- ceives by baptism, within the pale of her privileges. It is her faith, her fidelity which is to be regarded in this ordi- nance even more than that of the parent. It is with (he view chiefly to the pious education of the seed of (he church that this ordinance is administered to in- fants. / know him, saith God of the fa(her of (he faithful, at the institudon of this ri(e, that he will train up h'.s chil- dren, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord. Jn the primitive ages, when many parents were in- 4t>8 capable themselves of fulPilliiig these holy duties, benevolent and pious sponsors offered tbemsehes to discharge them in their room. But (he chinch was considv»-red as sponsor for all her children, and she is, certainly, the best, and most faithful sponsor, when she considers her duty aright, for eve- ry infant whom she receives to her protection and care by this ordinance. On this ground it was that she required ex- posed children, and children of whatever parents, with the care of whose pious education she charged herself, to re= ceive, under her direction, the holy rite of baptism. 0!f THE FORM OF BAPTISM. If the mode of administering this ordinance had been es? sential to its validity we should justly have expected to see it prescribed with as much particularity as any of the Leviti- cal ceremonies. On the other hand, there is no definite prescription on this subject, farther than" that water is to be applied as a symbol of that regeneration and purification of our nature which all men need, and which a sincere faith in the gospel is intended, and fitted to produce. Any applica- tion, therefore, of this cleansing element, which is a natural emblem of spiritual purity, especially, if it be justified by the usage of the church, and the import of the terms employed by the sacred writers, is its proper and legitimate form. In warm climates where daily bathing is the customary mode of pleansing the person, immersion may be used with the high- 469 est propriely : in other regions, where it is seUIorn necessary for this purpose, to wash dailj more than a part of (he body, a partial application of water may be made with equal rea- son. An action of our Saviour recorded in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John, is full of inistruction on this subject. It was usual with the Jews, before eating, to wash their feet, a practice which had become necessary, both from the fashion of their dress, and their manner of reclin- ing upon couches at their meals. Christ, in order to give his disciples a lesson, at once, of humility, and purity, con- descended himself to wash their feet. When Peter under- gtood the meaning of this action, and that it was intended as a symbol of his purification, and acceptance with his Lord, he exclaimed in the fervor of his zeal, Lord ! not my feet onlyy but also my hands^ and my head. But, as the action of the Saviour was merely symbolical, cleansing that part of the body which it was customary to wash at that time, was sufficient to answer the design ; therefore, he re- plies to Peter, he that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, btit is every whit clean. Having made these preliminary remarks, I observe that the term baptism, in the sacred writings, is applied indiffer- ently, to signify either partial, or entire washing— either sprinkling, or immersion, according to the situation of the agent, or the object of the action. It is unnecessary to cite all the passages in which this is demonstrated. To "'^*^ ^^ 470 two only 1 suall refer. When Jesus went to eat with a cer- tain pharisee, the pharisee wondered that he had not first wasJied ; referring to the Jewish custom of washing their hands before meat. In the original it is, he wondered that he had not first baptised. Many other things there he, saith the evangelist Mark, which they have received to hold, as the washing (in the original, the baptism) of cups, of pots, of brazen vessels, and of tables. As the sacred wri- ter is probably referring to the instruments of the temple ser- vice, or to those domestic utensils which were religiously purified, according to (he same forms, the whole LeviticaJ ritual proves that these purifications were eflfected by va- rious sprinklings, or aspersions. As the term baptism, and all those derived from the same root are employed to signify sprinkling, and partial washing, no less than immersion, so it is well known that the primitive church used indifferently, and according to present convenience, the one, or the other of there forms, in administering the baptismal rite ; particu- larly in the case of clinici, or the sick, and those of great delicacy of constitution, or of health. And in forming our judgment of the validity of the mode by aspersion, it de- serves to be particularly remarked, that sprinkling is, through- out the sacred writings, used as one of the most common and significant emblems of purity, of cleansing, of repent- ance, of every thing that is implied in the waters of baptism. Not to speak of the innumerable aspersions used, for thia ATI purpose,unJer (he Levitical law, the blood of the atonement is expressly called the blood of sprinkling. Isaiah, in an- nouncing the office, and grace of Messiah, declares he shall sprinkle many nations. The prophet Ezekiel, in proclaim- ing the sanctifying influence of the gospel, does it bj this figure ; Then mill I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. And when the apostle would express, in the strongest terms, that purity of mind which, in our approaches to God, we ought to bring with us to the throne of grace, he says ; Let us come to him, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. — But I forbear to muKi- ply proofs. These are sufficient to demonstrate that either mode, by immersion, or by sprinkling, will answer the whole intention of the ordinance, as an emblem of that purity of life which becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. The principal evidence on which the advocates for immerr sion, as essential to the rightful administration of this ordi- nance, rest their opinion, is an expression used by the apos- tle in his epistle to the Romans, and in that to the Collos- sians ; buried with him. by baptism. Whether this allu- sion be made to the practice of immersion, borrowed from the custom of bathing in warm climates, or not, it establish- es no exclusive form for this ordinance. It is an expression highly figurative ; and no argument can be safely rested or: a figure of speech. It affiirds, at thf* rtmopf, only a collaf- 47-1 eial, and induect support to oilier arguments, by its suppos> ed reference to an existing custom. But, admitting that rC" Terence to be real, in the present case ; and the inference es- tablishing the existence of the custom to be ever so justly drawn, still it could not impose immersion on the church as the "indispensable, and exclusive form of baptism. For, if the custom were to create a rule which could not be depart- ed from, that custom sliould be entirely and completely ad- hered to. But I presume baptism with the person naked, which was the practice, where plunging was used in those warm climates, in imitation of bathing, would not now be de- sired, or tolerated by any christian sect. The habits, modes, and customary ideas of that age, took away that sense of impropriety which would justly shock the delicacy of oui* modern sentiments. Even on the ground, then, of this figure containing a reference to an existing custom, that custom would not infallibly bind men in every age, and in every climate or state of society. But, let us carry on this argument from figure into the following verses, and see how it will operate ; For, saith the apostle, " if we have been planted in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection ; knowing this that our old man is crucified with him." Here then are three figurative expressions, all referring to the same object, the ordinance of baptism, and its symbolic signification of a death unto sin ; viz. " buried with him by baptism unto death j 473 planted in the likeness of his death; and crucifying with him our old man." According to this reasoning, therefore, bap- tism should contain something in the mode of its administra- tion corresponding to all these figures : so that, if the first figure necessarily implies the justification of the mode of baptising exclusively by immersion; the last will, on the same ground, justify, and require the form of the church of Rome in baptising with the sign of the cross. But as the friends of immersion do not admit of the latter consequence, those who conform to the practice of baptising by sprink- ling, with equal reason, do not think themselves bound by the former. Upon the whole view of this subject, I conclude, and, I think, from the fairest reasoning, that the mode of adminis- tering baptism, whether by sprinkling, or immersion, is not essential to the validity of the ordinance, which requires only that the emblem of its cleansing and purifying virtue be sig- nificantly preserved. eo OF THE EXTERNAL SEALS COVENANT OF GRACE, II. OF THE LORD S SUPPER. OF THK EXTERNAL SEALS OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE OF THE LORD*S SUPPER. J. HE second seal attached to the covenant of grace, or the second sacrament of the new testament, is the Lord's sup- per. This ordinance was instituted by our LordJesusCbrist, immediately before his final sufferings, in which he appoint- ed bread and wine to be used as memorials of his death for the sins of the world, and symbols of the union of his people to him, and to one another. The apostle Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, ch. ii. v. 23 — 26 : has stated the origin of this festival, and the manner in which it was celebrated by our Lord himself, with his disciples, as an ex- ample for the imitation of his church in all ages. Corres- ponding with this exhibition, is the account recorded by the evangelists Matthew and Luke. And, from the whole, it is evident, that the broken bread was employed as an emblem of the body of the Saviour broken in the room of sinners, and the wine in like manner, was used as an emblem of bis 4r8 blood shed for the remission of sins. These simple, but lively images were ordained to call up to the memory of the believer, the death and sufferings of his Redeemer, with greater vivacity and force than can be done by the preach- ing of the gospel in our ordinary assemblies. — Do this, said our Lord, while he broke the bread, and distributed the cup, in remembrance of me. But the ordinance, as I have said, has another and secondary object, which is to represent the union of believers with their great Head by faith and love and among themselves, by the spirit of charity. " The cup of blessing which we bless," saith the apostle, "is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? and the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? For, we, being many, are one bread, and one bo- 4y ; for we are all partakers of that one bread." The different ends which a christian may have in view in this ordinance, have been marked in the various denomina- tions which it has received in the primitive church, the chief of which arc continued down to the, present age. The Liord^s supper, and the table of the Lord, are denomina- tions nearly equivalent ; the one taken from the time in which it was celebrated ; the other taken from the manner in which it was eaten, wherein it resembled an ordinary meal. It has been a practice in all countries to commemorate great, and interesting events, and to testify mutual joy, and affection oa such occasions, by feasting together. These denomina- 479 tions, therefore, imply that this ordinance is to be viewed as a festival of commemoration, in which the faithful meet at the same table, to testify their common interest in the great sacrifice of the cross, and their common faith, and hope, in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus their Lord. In reference to these objects, chiefly, it is, that these de- votional acts have been styled the communion, the eiichci' rist, or the cup of blessing, not only from the act of thanks- giving by which it is consecrated, or blessed for the use of the communicant, but from the praise and gratitude which should fill the heart of the humble believer in this holy ser- vice, and which is usually expressed with ardour by th» voice, while occupied in celebrating this memorial of the in- finite goodness and mercy of Almighty God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is denominated, likewise, by the apostle, the breaking of bread ; and, to mention no more, out of the many titles which it afterwards received in the church, it is, in the holy scriptures, called our passover ; be- cause it was, under the new economy, evidently instituted in the room of that ancient sacrament under the antecedent dis- pensation. There existed indeed, an obvious analogy between the two ordinances. The paschal lamb was a type of Christ. That victim was offered in commemoration of the great deliv- erance of Israel from the bondage -of Egypt, which had a typi- cal allusion to the infinitely greater salvation of the cross, in which were censnmmated all {her types of the altar. The 480 principal difference between these ordinances, wliich serves, however, to illustrate their analogy, is, that the one was the memorial of a temporal, the other of an eternal salvation — the one consisted of a bloodj victim which prefigured the great sacrifice of the gospel ; The other is the bloodless me- morial of the last of victims, which hath finished our salva- tion and accomplished an everlasting righteousness. — The ceremonies of the one, were also borrowed from those of the other. For, the victim apart, which can no longer be offer- ed under the gospel, the bread was used in imitation of the unleavened bread of the passover, which the Jews ate, af- ter being blessed or consecrated by prayer and thanksgiving. The cup, likewise, formed a considerable part of the paschal festival, which they always blessed, before receiving it, by a form of prayer, and action of thanks ; and the last cup, which concluded the whole service, was succeeded by an hymn ; which hymn, their learned men inform us, consisted of the following psalms, 113 — 118; and is supposed, by many writers, to have been the same which Christ, with his disciples, sung at the conclusion of his last supper. OF THE CEREMONIES WITH WHICH THE ADMINISTRATION OP THIS ORDINANCE OUGHT TO BE ACCOMPANIED. As the dispensation of the gospel entirely rejects the cum- brous ritual of the law, and rejoices only in the simplicity and purity of its spirit, the administration of this ordinance, al- 481 though the most solemn which is known, under the new co- venant, ought to be accompanied only with those simple ce- remonies recorded by the evangelists in its original institution^ and recited by St. Paul in its repetition. They consist merely in prayer and thanksgiving, by an administrator pro- perly authorized to consecrate the elements, and separate them from an ordinary to a sacred use — in the breaking of the bread, and distribution of the cup, in the presence of the communicants — in a declaration of the nature and design of the ordinance, by the officiating priest, and of the proper qualifications of those who may be admitted to partake of ita grace— in receiving it in both kinds in the usual posture of feasting which obtains in each country — and, finally, conclude ing the whole with some proper form of thanksgiving, and some devout hymn of praise. Our Saviour employed un» leavened bread in this holy office, because no other was eat- en at Jerusalem in the season of the passover ; — his posture was, reclining on a couch, which, in that age, was the only one in use at public feasts, and, generally, also at private meals. But, as there is no precept enjoining the use of un- leavened bread, as in the Jewish festival, christians may use their liberty as to the kind ; though the church of Rome, which is negligent of other parts of the divine example, is scrupulous in using bread, or wafers without leaven. The same church, as well as some of the protestant communion, receive this sacrament in the posture of adoration, instead of the ordinary attitude of feasting, which was used by our 6] 482 Lord, and his disciples. But in determining what ceremo- nies ought to be employed in conformity with the great ex- ample which is to direct our conduct, and what punctilios may be varied or dispensed with, it is necessary to bear in mind the end of the institution, and the circumstances attend- ing the time of its original celebration. Its double end, as we have seen, was to be a memorial of the death of oui* Lord, and a symbol of the union of his people ; both which were attained by the institution of a solemn festival. It is conformable to reason, therefore, that the posture of feasting, as it prevails in each country, ought to be preserved in this religious act. But the species of bread, used in this ordi- nance,' or the time of the day, devoted to it, at its original administration, being intimately connected with the customs of the Jewish passover, do not impose upon the christian church any obligation of conformity in these respects. The posture of adoration, and the denial of the cup to the laity, having sprung, in the church of Rome, from supersti- tious views of the ordinance, and false ideas of the miracu* lous conversion of the bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ, ought to be rejected along with the supersti- tious service. The ceremonies accompanying this christian rite, appear to have been copied, in general, from those which obtained in the Jewish passover. Among that people, the adminis- 483 (rator always blessed Ihe elements, or pronounced a prayer of benediction and thanksgiving over them, and especially over the cup, distributing it afterwards to all who were pre- sent at the table. In reference to this act of devotion the psalmist exclaims, / will take the cup of salvatio7h and will call upon the name of the Lord. And, in the christian church the cup was given to the laity, as well as to the cler- gy, till, a short time after the commencement of the thirteenth century, a different custom began to prevail among the La- tins. And, finally, in the council of Constance, in the year 1414, the laity were entirely prohibited from receiving the cup, as if it actually contained the blood of the Son of God. "It would be impious," said those blind and superstitious priests, " if anj'^ of the divine and heavenly drops should, by any accident among the communicants, be spilled upon the ground." For the same reason, those ignorant men or- dered the bread to be formed into a wafer, and put into the mouth of each communicant, least any crumb should be lost, and that each might receive the whole host^ as it was called, a superstitious term derived from the Latin, and signi- fying the sacrifice, or victim. The original custom, however, still prevailed throughout all the East, among the Greeks, the Russians, the Armenians, the Abyssinians, the Copts, and even the Nestorians, and Jacobins ; and has been receiv- ed in all the reformed churches. 484 Pure wine, wherever it can be obtained, ought to be em- ployed not only because it is the best emblem of that pre* cious blood which gives life and strength to those who use it, but because it is strictly conformable to the example of the Saviour in its original institution. Where wine cannot be obtained, or where it remarkably disagrees with the stomach, reason dictates that it must, or that it ought to be omitted. But they are to be blamed who, like the hydroparastata?, substitute water, or any other liquor in the room of wine. The custom of substituting weaker liquors, void of spirit in the room of wine, which was practised by certain small sects, was, probably, introduced originally, by some weak, but pi- ous men, as a preventative against intoxication, too many in- stances of which, as we learn from the apostle, had taken place, to the great reproach of their holy profession, in con- sequence of too liberal a use of that strong liquor. For, in that age, they literally feasted upon bread and wine, a diet to which they had been accustomed from its plenty, and did not use it in that sparing manner which has since been prac- tised in our christian assemblies — 1 Cor, xi. 21» A declaration of the nature, and design of the ordinance, and of the requisite qualifications of those who may be ad- mitted, by the officers of the church to receive it, along with the faithful, is evidently a custom of great propriety, in or- der to recall to mind, more forcibly, the import and solemni- ty of that sacred transaction, and to assist the ignorant in ex- 485 amining themselves; a serious duty which is incumbent up- on all before they adventure to eat of that bready and drink of that cup — 1 Cor. xi. 28. The only circumstance farther, which it is of importance to remark in the administration of this ordinance, is, that, in all ordinary cases, it ought to be performed only by a per- son properly qualified, and ordained to the pastoral office by the government of the church. It was, in the first in- stance, dispensed by our Lord himself. Afterwards it fell to be administered by the apostles, and those whom they had set apart to preach the word, and dispense the sacra- ments. And, generally, it is requisite, for the sake of or- der, and common utility, that this holy office should be con- fined to those, who are the regular successors of the apos- tles, and ordained according to that form which the gospel has prescribed, or the church esteems best calculated for preserving purity of doctrine, and of manners. — Yet, where any society of chrisfians is, from the nature of their circum- stances, deprived of those aids, perhaps they ought to as- semble for the worship of God, and may, without violence to the institutions of Christ, appoint men of prudence and piety, from among themselves, to lead in their devotions, and to preside in these sacred festivals of love. This is a liberty, however, which ought always to be used with the most profoimd caution, and only after the most serious con- viction of its absolute necessity. 486 OF THE USE OF CEREMONIES, OR EXTERNAL SYMBOLS. Since the gospel is a dispensation, and requires a worship of the most pure and spiritual kind, it may well be made a question, why any material elements, or symbols hke these should be employed in its religious services ? And I would answer, that it appears to arise simply from a gracious con- descension in Almighty God, and accommodation to the im- perfection of our nature. While we remain in the body, we are necessarily and strongly affected by certain striking and sensible signs, on serious and interesting occasions. The bloody robe of Caesar displayed to the populace of Rome was more eloquent than all the harangues of the assertors of her liberty. On this principle of our nature, statues, and altars have been erected, and festivals instituted to the me- mory of great men by the gratitude of nations, or employed in the celebration of illustrious events. On the same princi- ple, we love to wear some relic, or to adopt some symbol of mourning, to recall the idea of our departed friends. On the two greatest occasions, therefore, in our christian course, our initiation into the church of Christ, and giving our pub- lie and explicit assent to our christian covenant, it appears to be wise and good to require these solemn and interesting acta to be confirmed by apt, and significant symbols which are calculated deeply to impvess the mind by a£fecting the sen- ses. On the other hand, it is equally good and wise m hiiUj 46t not to bave loaded his worship with an unmeaning multitude of ceremonies. For, it is not more certain, that, on all just, and great occasions, sensible emblems properly chosen, have a powerful and useful effect, than that too great a multiplica-^ tion of ceremonies, strongly inclines the mind to a frivolous superstition, substituting rites, and external forms in th? room of true devotion and holiness of life. OF TRANSUBSTANTIATIOX. In different parts of the church, some errors have been in- troduced into this holy rite, but since the light which has so abundantly been shed upon it by the protestant wiiters, they are no longer in danger of producing any pernicious effect, and the palpable absurdity of Transubstanliation, in parti- cular, hardly requires a serious refutation. — By this term, which, for a long time, misled, wilh almost magical effect, the church of Rome, was intended, the transmutation sup- posed to pass on the elements of bread and wine, into the real body and blood of Christ : an opinion, most evidently, contrary to reason, and common sense ; and which has no support in the language of scripture, or the usages of the primitive ages. This doctrine contradicts the evidence of all our senses, by which alone we can form an accurate judg- ment on the qualities of material subjects. If our senses could be so far violated that the essences of flesh and blood could be covered under the sensible qualities of bread anrJ 488 wine, we could have no criterion left by which to judge of any miracle ; the whole rational evidence of religion would be annihilated by this single position. Besides, it involves the most palpable contradiction, which it is scarcely worthy your time to point out, that the same body should be entire in heaven, and upon earth ; in ten thousand pieces of bread, or drops of wine ; and in ten thousand diflferent places at the same time. And a man, according to this monstrous absurdi- ty, by living on the sacramental elements, might become transmuted, vile as he is, into the real body of our blessed Saviour. The follies of this doctrine were strongly combat- ted by the protestant writers of the last age ; for, having re- cently emerged from the bosom of popery, they were every where mingled with numerous adherents to that superstition. But in our age, and country, little need be said to guard pi- ous men against such an irrational dogma. The disciples of popery allege, in support of this strange opinion, the words of our Lord himself; — This is my body which is broken for you ; making him to be alive, and breaking, and distributing his dead body at the same time. The expression which follows might have cured, or prevented this mistake — do this in re- membrance of me, as a standing memorial of my death. It is a plain, and obvious figure of speech, familiar in the lan- guage of all nations. A sentence of Cicero, which seems as if written with a view to this occasion, might have been a sufficient refutation of the absurd interpretation of this lan- guage.— "Dum fruges Cererem, vinum Liberum dicimus, 489 genere no« quidem sermonis utimur usitalo, sed ecquen tatn amentem esse putas, qui illud, quo vescatur Deum credat es- se ?" Cic. de nat. Deor. lib. 3. chap. 16. §. 41. Transubstantiation is a doctrine of which we find nothing in the writers who flourished in the four, or five first centu- ries of the church. In the sixth century, the elevation of the hosty as it began then figuratively to be called, was first introduced ; not, however, for the purpose of adoration, but that all might see it, and that it might the better represent the elevation of Christ upon the cross. It was not, until the extreime ignorance of the twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, that this idolatrous opinion and practice generally prevailed. The consequences, and abuses of this doctrine we have seen in the denial of the cup to the laity — the idolatrous ado« ration of the host — sending it to the absent — keeping it in their houses, and about their persons, as a charm — carrying it through the streets on occasions of great calamity— giving it to the dead, by laying it on their breasts, especially if they were priests, and even burying it with them as a pass- port to heaven. OF CONSUBSTANTIATIOI?. It is BO difficult entirely to divest t^e mind of its prejudi- <'es, and to cast off errors which have incorporated th^m- fi2 490 selves deeply into our habits of thinking, that Luther, and his followers, although convinced of the error and absurdity of transubstantiation, were attracted, by the power of preju- dice, into some unintelligible resemblance of their ancient principle. They condemned the absurdity, if not impiety, of the actual transmutation of the bread and wine into the real body and blood of the Son of God; but, in a language not much more clear and comprehensible, maintained that this precious sacrifice was wholly received in, with, and Under, the elements in the supper. I do not profess to ex- plain these mysterious terms ; but, if they have any definite meaning, they embrace one of the principal absurdities which embarrass the other doctrine. — They represent the same body as present in many different places at the same time. The great reformer impressed, by bis education, with a su- perstitious veneration for the symbols used in this ordinance, wished equally to avoid the error into which the Catholics had been lead, and to favour his own prejudices, and there- fore embraced a form of expression, which imposed upon him- self, while it was destitute of any clear and definite meaning. . of the requisite qualifications in those who would worthilr partake of the lord's supper. Many writers have alleged, and of these not a few in the very first ages, that the constitution of the^bristian and visi- 491 ble church, requires, that those who have been initialed by baptism, should be introduced also to the participation of its ultimate sacrament in the Lord's Supper. This opinion ari- ses from a misconception of the nature and design of the two ordinances ; which may be learned from a small attention to the origin of the church. Baptism was designed to make a visible and public proposition of salvation on the terras of the New Covenant, to those who, otherwise, were the heirs of death, through the condemnation of the original dispensation. To every baptized infant this proposition of salvation is pro- visionally made, on the conditions of repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So far, then, the infant is the pas- sive subject, or recipient of the divine mercy in this ordi- nance. And it is his visible warrant to embrace these gra- cious terms of our redemption. The Lord's Supper, on the other hand, is an active service ; and contains an active pledge of our having embraced the covenant, and of our fidelity to all its conditions. This places a material dilTer- ence between the two ordinances, and requires, in particular, of those who would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, " Ihat they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their re- pentance, love, and new obedience." A condition which cannot reasonably be required of infants. — Without a just knowledge of the nature and design of the ordinauce, we can- not offer a rational, and acceptable service in it to Almighty God. Faith is requisite to give importance to the object of 49'i our worship, and a proper interest in Ibe duly. While we celebrate the dying love of our Redeemer, it becomes us, with profound humilitj, and repentance, to recollect the sins for which he endured such sufierings, and, with the most lively gratitude and love, to recall him to mind who laid down his life that we might live. I add, farther, that, as this ordinance is a feast of charity and love, it is most highly requisite, that all who would wor- thily partake of it should be in perfect peace with their breth- ren ; be ever ready to forgive their enemies, and cherish no hatred against any man. Charity among our fellow men is the truest image of God our Heavenly Father. But in the exercise of the discipline of the church, we can only examine into the knowledge of the communicant ; receive the pro- fession of his faith ; and see that his external deportment is consistent with the doctrine and example of his Saviour. OF THE BENEFITS OF A SERIOUS AND PIOUS USE OP THIB HOLY ORDINANCE, AND THE DANGERS OF ITS ABUSE. Before concluding these observations on the Lord's Sup- per, suffer me very shortly to remark the benefits resulting from a devout attendance on this holy ordinance ; and the dangers of its abuse. Its evident tendency is to confirm our resolutions of duty, and to awaken and strengthen all the gra- ces of the christian life. But as every act of religion per» 493 tbrmed in an irreverent manner, contributes lo harden the heart, and alienate it more from real and vital holiness, Iheiie consequences, in a much higher degree, attend, or follow the abuse of an institution so sacred and solemn. In the first age ofcthe church, many insincere disciples, only partially re- claimed from paganism, misled by the ideas and habits ex- isting in the festivals of the heathen gods, introduced a licen- tiousness in its celebration, highly unbecoming the sanctity, and purity of the christian church. In that miraculous pe- riod, the disorder was consequently, followed by visible and frequently instantaneous judgments from Almighty God. For this cause, saith the apostle, many are weak and sick- ly among you, and many sleep. And, probably, to these effects chiefly, the same apostle had reference when he utters the following denunciation — " He that eateth, and drinkelh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. , These terrible examples of divine displeasure, thus mira- culously inflicted, seem to have contributed to throw the christians of the following age into the opposite extreme of excessive fear, and superstitious veneration of this holy ordi- nance. Since miracles have ceased, the judgments which follow the abuse of the LortFs Supper, appear to be rather of a spiritual, than a temporal nature — lidcewarnmess in eve- ry pious feeling, and hardness of heart, which gradually leads to the total dereliction of the oflSces of piety. This fearf' ' 494 state of abandonment by God, is, perhaps, more hastened by an improper use of this holy rite, than by all other deficien- cies in religious duty, and, almost, by all other vices. Other pretended sacraments, added to the ritual of ^j^ holy scriptures by the church of Rome,'^ it is unnecessary to take lip your time either to explain or refute. I proceed, therefore to a brief consideration of our future state of exis- tence. * ConfirmatioD, Penance, OrdioatioR, Marriage, Extreme Unction ON A FUTURE STATE. ON , A FUTURE STATE. The last doctrine of revelation which remains to be conai- dered, is that of our future state of being. — The hope of ex- isting after the present life was not utterly lost from among man* ^tind, even amidst the darkness and corruptions of paganism. But, to the vulgar mass, the prospect was so obscure, and the hope so uncertain, that it could afford but small excitement to duty in life, and to the timid, and miserable, but little con- solation in their last moments. It was so blended with the melancholy phantoms of a superstitious imagination, it serv- ed rather to oppress than shed any comfort on the hour of death. We have seen in our disquisitions on natural reli- gion, and its ultimate motives to virtue, that many of their sages were able to create to themselves more reasonable, but still dubious expectations of existing hereafter. But it is on- ly in the word of God, and, especially, in the gospel of our Wessed Saviour, that the trembling hopes of nature are ren- dered fixed and certain, and the obscurities of reason, are enlightened. And to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul it has added a principle which the human mind had ne- ver before dared to conceive ; I mean the resurrection of the 63 498 body, and its future and eternal union with the soul, as res« pects the pious, in a happy state of existence ; but the im- pious in a state of misery. This doctrine is peculiarly a doctrine of revelation. On this authority siiaply our credence, or faith ought to be found- ed. It rs one of the chief glories of Christ, our Redeemer, that he hath brought life and immortalily to light ; and so hath rescued it from the blindness of sense, and the doubt- . fulness of reason. But in the sacred scriptures, the doctrine of our future existence is so intimately blended with that of the resurrection of the body, that we can hardly consider them apart ; and it is this which renders the whole revela* tion peculiarly precious to man, as it brings our future being more within the comprehension of the mind, and gives it a stronger interest in the heart which knows no other con- .dition of human existence but this compound state of being. The immortality of the soul would have been easily receiv- ed by both the Jews and the Greeks. It already formed part of the popular belief. It was the resurrection which created among these people so much astonishment, and was l^ceived with so much incredulity. To combat this infideli- ty, and place our immortal life upon its true foundation, the apostle sets himself in this part of his epistle to the Corin- thians, where he informs us that " this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." 4991. That we shall continue to exist from the moment of death, till the final introduction of our immortal state, the scriptures give us no reason to entertain a doubt, but wherein that inter- mediate condition shall consist, as they have not condescend- ed to inform us, it would be presumptuous in us to frame an opinion. On the subject of the resurrection, and of our im- mortal life, they are as explicit as, perhaps, it is competent for oar present state of frailty, and mortality to comprehend. Let us, therefore, with the sacred writer, employ a [ew moments in contemplating the certainty and importance of this doctrine, its practical uses, and its spiritual consola- tions.—Its certainty can, to the christian, rest only on the express declaration of the word of God ; although, when thus communicated, many facts and analogies, drawn from the course of nature, concur to facilitate our conceptions, and strengthen our confidence in this precious hope. "The time is coming," saith the infallible Spirit of truth, "when all they who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth, they that have done well to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." It has always been a sub- ject of anxious inquiry to human reason ; with what bodies do they come ? Can these corporeal systems, after they have been long dissolved into their original elements, and va- riously dispersed in a thousand different directions, and af- ter they have successively passed, perhaps, into a thousand 500 other animated systems, be again collected and reorganized in the same body which perished at death ? If it were possi- ble, would it be a reasonable object of desire in that spirit- ual and immortal state, that the soul should be again united to a sluggish mass which might be regarded as its former prison, which impaired its active powers, and was perhaps the seat of all the errors of reason, and of all the disorders of the passions ? The same objections have ever been presented as insolva- ble difficulties to reason. But what christian can entertain a doubt concerning the Almighty power, and the omniscient wisdom of God, which is equally able to accomplish the re= surrection, as the creation of human nature ? The apostle meets the difficulty by a beautiful image taken from the grain which the husbandman casts into the earth. It seems to pe- rish. It becomes a mass of putrefaction. But there is a delicate, and almost imperceptible germ which survives, and presently assumes a new, and much more beautiful form. Can we doubt but that the whole vegetable, with all its appa- ratus of fruits and flowers, was included in that minute and invisible particle which receives a new life in the midst of death ? On the resurrection another lesson is suggested to us from the numerous transmutations of the insect tribes which daily pass under our review. A deformed and slug- gish grub weaves a tomb for itself. It seems to become eX' 501 tinct. But, in a little tame, we see it mount into the air in a new form, and adorned with the most beautiful colouring. Of spiritual and celestial objects, which are so far above the reach of our present faculties, frequently, we are left to collect our judgments only from analogy. And although such analogies can never convey adequate images of things which eye hath not seen, and of which it hath not entered in- to the heart of man to conceive, yet they seem to throw some feeble rays of light upon Ihem, and to otTer some foun- dation on which the mind, exhausted by its own efforts, can rest. In casting our view around, then, nature teaches us important lessons, and presents to us many impressive ima- ges of the future resurrection of human nature. Some re- semblance of it we see in the new creation which every ver- nal season produces, when all the glories of the year are seen to spring, if I may speak so, from the tomb of Winter. These images, indeed, are only imperfect representations, adapted to the weakness of our nature, of that great object of our faith. The only solid and immovable foundation of a christian's hope, as I have already said, is the word of God but now is Christ risen, and become the Jirst fruits of them thai sleep. Another objection against the doctrine of a resurrection is drawn, from the ills and inconveniencies resulting to the soul from its union with the body in the present life. This sing- 502 gish and unwieldy mass of matler is supposed fo be rather the prison than the helpful companion of the soul ; to have a ten- dency to cloud, and darken the clearness of its perceptions, and to oppress and enchain the activity of its powers. — Al- though these evils should be justly objected to the present gross and disordered bodies which we inhabit, yet such is the nature and order of human spirits that it is only by being united to some corporeal system that they can receive any ideas at all. And, at the resurrection of the just, all that is gross, all that is disordered, all that i3 impure, we are assur- ed from revelation, shall be for ever separated from the bo- dies of the saints raised in immortal life ; and, we are farther taught to believe, that their powers, their activity, and glory shall correspond with the exalted rank which the soul shall hold in the scale of being in her celestial state. — If it be ask- ed, whether these, can he the same bodies that we inhabited here, which shall assume such different properties, and pre- sent so much more glorious an appearance ? — Certainly this cannot be incredible to a christian, or a philosopher, when we are continually beholding the same elements receiving from the hand of nature the most various forms. Do not the same elements compose the unsightly clay which we trample under our feet, and the resplendent diamond which imitates the sun in the crowns of princes ? The lightning which, in its destructive course, rends oaks, and rocks to pieces, and the niild and glorious rays of the orb that gives life, and licalth, and beauty to the whole universe. Accordingly the 503 apostle hath said, that all flesh is not the same in its outn^ard form, and visible appearance ; but " there is one flesh of men, and another of beasts" though nourished by the same herbage ; " there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another of the stars ;" though all proceed- ing from the same light. Not less difl*erence may we expect to find, between our present tenements of clay, which, at death, return to their original dust, and those celestial tem- ples, in which the glorified spirit shall dwell forever. Rais- ed to heaven by the power and love of the Redeemer, to in- habit the worlds of light above, this corporeal system will be conformed in beauty and perfection to its immortal habitation. — " This mortal shall put on immortality. Sown in weak- ness it shall be raised in power; sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in glory ; sown a natural," that is, a gross and ani- mal "body, it shall be raised a spiritual body" — a body, in- conceivably refined, and purified from the dregs of matter, and possessing, at once, the rapid energy, and the imperish- able nature of spirit. It shall be invested with new forms, and be fitted with new organs, adapted to its celestial state ; and having attained its highest perfection, we have the same authority to declare that it shall for ever shine with undecay- ing lustre in the kingdom of God. In addition to the christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul, which contains the most glorious hope of human nature, the Fesurrection of the body and its immortal ex?? 504 fence in rennion with the soul, is peculiarly precious to man by the very constitution of his nature, meets, in the best possible ttianner, his ideas, and hopes of happiness. Spirits there may be of a superior order which have no connexion with any material system, and are not depen- dent, for their knowledge, or their enjoyments on any sensi- ble organs. But of their modes of existence, and their sour- ces of happiness, we can frame no conception. All our ideas, and all our pleasures come to us through the medium of sense. And our spirits are of such an order, as has been before remarked, that their knowledge, their felicity, their per- fection, depend on their connexion, in some way, with a corpo- real system. Every thing connects us with the body, every thing attaches us to the body. — Hence the apostle has said ; — " We, who are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed ;" — not, that it is the object of these anxious wishes to be disembodied, " but that we may be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven -," what that celestial, and regenerated body which shall be freed from all the pains and imperfections of this mortal flesh, and which is only our present nature exalted to its ultimate per- fection and glory. " The earnest expectation of the creature," continues the same apostle, " waileth for the manifestation of the sons of God," at the resurrection of the just. "The whole creation groaneth, even those who have received the gifts of the Spirit, groan within themselves, waiting for the 606 redemption of the body." — What, indeed, would be the pleasure of existence to the soul, if we could suppose it coH" scious of existence, deprived of the action, and aids of the senses, which are, at present, the only inlets of its knowl- edge, and the chief sources of its enjoyments ? As the christian, and scriptural doctrine of the resurrection corresponds, in this manner, with the dearest hopes, and wishes of the human heart, it contributes likewise, to assist the perceptions of faith. We are not left in total darkness concerning the nature of our future being. Some ideas we may frame with relation to this obscure subject, without the hazard of being entirely lost in the unsubstantial regions of fancy. The state of our future existence presents to us, no longer an inscrutable mystery. Although it offers to our hopes a condition of existence inconceivably improved and raised above the present, still we can discern between them some points of resemblance, which present to us ideas on that subject, at once intelligible to our reason, and infinitely precious to the heart. — In a future life, we hare reason to believe, our faculties will be employed, in some measure, as here, but with an activity and vigor inconceivably augment- ed, in searching into the wonderful works of God, in admir- ing the order, the beauty, and harmony of the universal sys- tem ; in adoring, and, with the angels, endeavouring to pen- etrate the astonishing mysteries of divine grace to man. Blessed, and eternal sources of knowledge, and felicity.' 64 506 The faculties which we now feebly exert, in the search of truth, and in the service of our Creator and Redeemer, will be new created in celestial vigor, and raised in a state of undescribable perfection. All the obstacles to our advance- ment in knowledge, at present, arising from the narrowness of this corporeal sphere, the imperfection of these mortal powers, the inactivity, and sluggishness of these gross and earthly organs will be removed. That carnal and disorder- ed mass which now renders the body the seat of impure pas- sions, and impedes the holy aspirations of the soul, will be refined and purified. A body of celestial light ; a spiritual hody^ as it is styled by the apostle ; that is, a body active and unembarrassed in its movements like spirit, rapid as im- agination and thought, will, in heaven, be the fit instrument of the glorified soul, in its sublime, and blissful employments. From the doctrine of the resurrection of the same person results a consoling anticipation arising from the knowledge of our pious friends with whom we have been connected up' on earth ; the reunion, in the highest felicity, of the same hearts which have been united here in the tenderest affections. What ravishing pictures may imagination frame, without being liable to the charge of a falacious enthusiasm, of friend- ships renewed in heaven ; of the mutual joys of pious friends who meet on that happy and eternal shore, escaped from all the ills, and dangers of life ; of their sweet intercouse, puri- fied from all the passions, and weaknesses of the flesh, 507 which disturb the harmony of this world ; of the range they m!>y be permitted to enjoy, in society with one another, amid the glories of the heavenly world, to nourish, their celestial devotions, and diversify their holy enjoyments; of those flights which they may be allowed to take together into dis- tant provinces of the universal empire of God to collect knowledge, and to admire and adore him in the astonishing operations of his hands ; or of the raptures with which every ray of the Sun of righteousness will penetrate their hearts, when they turn their faces towards the heavenly Zion, the more immediate residence of the divine glory, to raise their common ascriptions of praise to the Father of the universe, and to recognize, at the foot of his throne, their boundless obligations to redeeming love. — But restraining all unlicensed excursions of fancy, exquisite, and now ineflfable must be the felicity, springing from a thousand different sources, that shall arise from meeting in those blissful habitations, the friends who have been most tenderly and affectionately loved upon earth. Oh ! how is the religion of our blessed Saviour adapted to the finest feelings, and fitted to cherish the no- blest sympathies of the human heart! — Away with that cold philosophy, which, at death, would devote our existence to eternal oblivion, and hopelessly rend asunder those delight- ful unions which form the dearest portion of ourselves; the chief joy of our being. — .Tesus! Saviour! who art the first fruit of the resurrection of the dead ! who art thyself the resurrection and the life ! we adore and bless thee who has' given this consolation to suffering humanity ! What sublime, and glorious prospects does our holy religion present to the imagination ! what blessed hopes to the heart ! — But who can speak, as they deserve, of those scenes of everlasting peace ; of those mansions illuminated by the eternal splen- dors of the Sun of Righteousness : those bodies of light ; those souls of fire ! " Eye hath not seen, nor tath ear heard,- neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for those who love him." OF THE FUTURE AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. The doctrine of the resurrection, and of an eternal exis- tence beyond the grave relates to the whole race 'of man, and embraces equally the righteous, and the wicked. For, as the former shall rise to glory and immortality, the lattet also shall be raised to shame and everlasting contempt. Under the Second Adam human nature recovers its immor- tality, and it is, under his administration, put into a new state of trial. The whole doctritie of a future state, how- ever, and of the manner of our existence there, not being the subject of sense, and being eqtirely beyond the range of hu- man experience, all knowledge concerning it must be deriv- ed solely from revelation. Reason can pronounce nothing with certainty, on the subject. We must take it simply as it is stated in the word of God. And here we find the ever- 509 lasting punishment of the wicked asserted in terms as expli- cit and strong as the life, and felicity of the pious ; it is, therefore, equally entitled to our assent, and most imperious- ly commands our belief. Of the unrighteous it is said, " they shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone;" and it is added, "that the smoke of their tor- ments ascendeth for ever and ever." In the final judgment of the world, we are assured that the Judge shall pronounce upon them this irrevocable sentence, depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. These are strong figurative expressions intended to convey the certainty, and the fearful nature of the future suflferings of guilt ; fire being employed as the hieroglyphic emblem of extreme torments of body, or of mind ; and their eternal du- ration is indicated in the strongest terms that language can use. Objections are brought against this conclusion so interesting to human sympathy, not from scripture, as they ought to be, if they were well founded, but from a pretended reason,, where reason is, and for ever must be utterly silent. Eternal pimishments are pronounced to be contrary to the natural perfection of the Deity which consists in universal goodness. — It is said to be contrary to the design of his mo- ral government, which is intended for refornaation rather than punishment ; and aims finally, at the perpetuity of happmess to all virtuous minds. — In the last place it is strenuously ar- gued, that eternal pains are disproportioned to the frailty of 510 ofTending man, and to the shortness of human life, in which onlj offences can be committed. — A simple and verjr brief answer must suffice on each of these topics ; for as we are most incompetent judges of the infinite counsels of the So- vereign Mind, our supreme duty on these high questions is silence and submission. 1. When we sav that the everlasting punishment of the wicked, is contrary to the natural and essential perfection of God, which consists in universal goodness, and the love of all being-*-this plea being introduced on the present occa- sion, as a defence of the crimes of wicked men from the ri- gors of the divine law, is treating the infinite benignity of Je- hovah, as consisting merely in an indulgent regard to the frailties, appetites, and passions of mankind. These sins must necessarily be the subjects of divine animadversion ; and the essential perfection of the Deity, which includes justice in its idea, requires the punishment of crime, not less than his benignity embraces innocence with love. And each in strict conformity with the divine perfection, infinite in its nature and operations. Justice therefore pursues crime with punishment, as long as the subject in which it inheres exists. —In the next place, if the essential perfection of the Deity be affirmed to consist in goodness, let us inquire wherein that goodness consists. Is it not in the love of being ; and, in rational and moral beings, in virtue as essential to their high- est happiness ? Every affection, the higher and purer it is, 511 implies its contrast. Opposite characters and qualities, be- come the objects of opposite purposes and feelings, in pro- portion to the love of goodness and virtue, must be the ab- horrence of iniquity, and crime. And these must be as per- manent as their subjects on the one side, and on the other ; that is, they must be eternal. 2. When again, it is affirmed that eternal suffering, in any part of the works of God, is contrary to the design and end of his universal government, which is reformation, rather than extermination, or the perpetual pains of any portion of his creatures. — Who, then, is competent to embrace in his mind the boundless extent of the divine government ; its ob- jects, its ends, or the measures of its administration ? Or how shall a worm of dust pronounce on questions so high, and ut- terly beyond the the ken of our limited faculties ? Take a sin- gle example of the possible benefits which may result to the righteous in their everlasting career of happy existence, from the continual view of the painful and unceasing suffer- ings inflicted upon hardened vice. The perpetuity of their virtue may be greatly assisted, and consequently their sta- bility in happiness be not a little promoted by occasional dis- coveries of the issue of the most fortunate stale of sin, presented to them as most afflictive, hopeless, remediless. We have the faithful promise of Almighty God for the cer- tain preservation of the redeemed from falling. But surely this stability in virtue and happiness is not the result of any &1^ physical necessity of nature. It must be effected by prac- tical motives adapted^ to the rational and moral principles of a Tirtuous and holy mind ; in the everlasting career of sanctifi- cation and blessedness ; the saints in glory will be moved, ex- cited, restrained, or stimulated by the same principles, and motives, but highly exalted, and improved, which govern the most holy souls in the present life. The final persever- ance of the redeemed, though most securely fixed in the promise of God, is for ever influenced by moral principles, and motives. Who then can say that, in the universal gov- ernment of God, this awful and eternal example of suffering may not be useful, or even necessary to subserve the ends of his infinite vcisdom? But as this is a subject on which rea- son cannot pronounce, being lost in the infinitude of the uni- verse, and of the divine nature, it ceases to instruct, and re= fers us to the simple declarations of the word of God. Here must we rest, assured that as the righteous are received into life eternal, so the wicked shall go away into ever- lasting funishment. The enemies of this doctrine, in the last place, rely, for the support of their opinion, on the frailty of human nature, which cannot with justice, they say, be subjected to eternal sufferings : and to the shortness of human life, which cannot have formed inveterate habits, or contracted a degree of guilt in any proportion to such pains. I reply, that these awful denunciations affecting our future existence, are not 513 made against the errorB merely of frailly, but against obsti- nate and determined guilt, shewn, since the annunciation of a Saviour, by the rejection of his grace. If the sins of man- kind are the offences of a frail and feeble nature, their sufFer- higs will, undoubtedly, be proportioned to the imbecility of the offender ; but their sinfulness, inhering in their nature it- self, their guilt must co-exist with their being ; and its pen- alties, of consequence have the same duration. — To the se- cond part of this objection, respecting the shortness of life, it is reasonable to reply, that eternity has no reference to the length of this probatory state, but to the inherent virtue or vice of the subject of trial ; for, if it were protracted ten thousand times, it could not bear the smallest proportion to our interminable existence. The wisdom of God has adapt- ed the continuance of life, together with all its means of in- struction, and grace, to our moral culture, and preparation for our eternal being ; if, then, they fail of their proper object, the cultivation of our nature, and the sinner continues in his course of impiety, it can only be ascribed to the perversity of his nature, which, having exhausted the day of grace and mercy, leaves him thereafter, only to suffer the righteous retributions of eternity. Of these the duration must be ex- clusively learned from the written word. No reason can be assigned for the cessation of future punishment, unless it could be shewn, contrary to all probability, that the actual inflic- tion of extreme pains would produce a reformation which the apprehension of them, aided by all the means of grace, iin- 65 514 der the direction of the Holy Spirit, and the powerful assia- tances of future hopes and fears, had been unable to effect* The great and learned Origen believed that the actual en- durance of punishment in the next life, will produce moral effects to which the apprehensions of it only in the present state, had been insufficient, and that it might terminate, af- ter a long course of ages, in the reformation of the most abandoned sinner. But, says the equally learned, and eminent bishop Horsley ; " the principle that the effect is possible, that the heart may be reclaimed by force, is, at best, preca- rious, and the only safe principle of human conduct is the belief that unrepented sin will suffer endless punishment hereafter." In the conclusion of this interesting subject, let me ask of the professed disciples of our blessed Lord and Saviour; have you, through Christ, the assured hope of thus glo- riously rising to immortal life ? Let it prove to you the most powerful motive to cultivate in your hearts those affections of piety, and in your lives those habits of holiness, which will prepare you for your eternal being in the heavens. — By tem- perance, by purity, by the exercise of virtue, endeavour more and more to assimilate these perishing bodies, to that pure and celestial nature in which you shall hereafter behold the glory of God. Remember that the hope of rising again to everlasting life, strips death of its greatest terrors. Death is no longer what it appears to be, the destruction of our be- 515 iiig. It yelds to Ihe grave only the grosser parts of these mortal bodies. The temporary dissolution of the body, and the soul causes no intermission in the consciousness of hap- py existence. Even if the soul itself, according to the opin- ion of some good men, should sleep till the revivification of universal nature, there is no perception of time in the insen- sibility of this mortal sleep. The moment of dissolution touches upon the moment of our restoration to life. The grave, sanctified by the death, and triumphed over by the resurrection of our blessed Saviour, is made to all his disciples only the gate to a new, a glorious, and immortal existence. " This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sinj but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Je- sus Christ our Lord!" THE CONNEXION OF PRINCIPLE WITH PRACTICE, OB THE DUTY OF MAINTAINING SOUND AND EVANGELIC PRINCIPLES IN THE CHURCH. A SERMON, PREACHED AT THE OPENING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH J IN THE YEAR 1808. i? A SEBMON, PREACHED AT THE OPENING OP THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH; IN THE TEAR 1808. Epistle of Jtidc, 3d verse, — That you should contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. L HE physical order of things is evidently intended by tlie Creator to be subservient to the benefit of the moral world. And divine wisdom itself, in the arrangements of nature, and the disposition of providence, seems to be employed su- premely in promoting the ends of divine goodness. In con- formity with this order established in the universal system, God has connected the knowledge of truth, with the prac- tice of duty, and the duties with the happiness of human na- ture. The connexion of truth with practical utility, is ac- knowledged universally in science. In religion alone it has been doubted, or denied, so far as to become even a fashion- able maxim, — that it is of little importance to piety, or virtue, what opinions, upon these subjects, are maintained by man- kind, provided their conduct in society be peaceable and honest. There are natural sentiments of right and wrong im- planted in the human breast ; and, to M'halever errors in spe-- culation the weakness of reason, or the prejudices of educa- tion, may have given birth, the moral mstincts of our nature.. 520 it is presumed, in all ordinary cases, will correct their prac- tical evils. Hence has resulted an unhappj indifference to religious truth in those who embrace this maxim ; and, with it, an indifference to ail the institutions of religion. The apostle Jude, in this epistle, apparently from a deep conviction, that erroneous principles in morals, are ever pro- portionally connected with a lax virtue, condemns in a fer- vent and indignant style, the efforts which were made, in that early age, to corrupt the purity and simplicity of the gospel of Christ. In opposition to the insidious arts of these pre- tended disciples, who studied to turn the grace of God into lascivionsnesSj he exhorts his christian brethren to contend earnestly for the faith, zealously to maintain the truth as it is in Christ, which alone is able to redeem men from all ini- quity, and make them wise to eternal life. This injunction of the sacred writer rests for its foundation on the inseparable union between sound principles in religion and morals, and a pure and virtuous tenor of life. It strong- ly implies, therefore, that every real christian, and especially that every minister of Christ, is under sacred and indispensable obligations to search for the truth in religion, with faithfulness, to embrace it with sincerity, to maintain it with firmness, and to promote it with zeal. 521 If, indeed, evangelic truth had no peculiar relation to sanctity of life, but any principles were equal to the ends ofi religion, the knowledge of it would not merit either the labor bestowed on its acquisition, or the praise ascribed to its possession ; Christianity itself would be deprived of its chief glory ; and it would be indifferent to every purpose of piety, or virtue, whether we were christians or pagans, be^ fievers or infidels. In the following discourse, I purpose, under the divine blessing, I. In the first place, to illustrate the connexion that exists between duty, and evangelic truth ; or generally between principles and conduct. II. And in the next place, to urge the exhortation of the apostle, to contend earnestly for the faith, the fountain, and comprehensive sum of all good principles in religion. I. Permit me, then, in the first place, to illustrate the con- nexion that exists between duty, and evangelic truth, and in general, between principles and conduct. As the great springs of human action lie in the passions and appetites, the desires and wants of men, so the control qnd direction of these springs is to be found only in an urt- 66 522 deistanding, and a conscience enlightened by divine trufth. And it is a fact confirmed by the general experience of the church that, if the mind be early imbued with the principles of piety and virtue, cultivated under a regular and prudent discipline, it usually ripens into a fixed and steady character of virtue, and by the co-operation of the Spirit of divine grace, into habits of sincere ajid rational piety. On the oth- er hand, if youth, at this early and forming period of life, are suffered to grow up without moral culture, and left to form their principles under the influence of vicious companions, among whom they are taught to vindicate the indulgence of the passions, by the corrupt maxims of the world, there is hardly any point of profligacy in their manners, at which we should be surprized eventually to see them arrive. The sys- tem of truth, indeed, and the law of duty, have the same common source in the perfections and the will of God. The more perfectly therefore we can separate it from every im- pure mixture, the more powerful are the motives which we enjoy to universal holiness of living. On the other hand, is it not one of the plainest, and most obvious conclusions of reason, that, if men embrace princi- ples which favour the passions, and remove from the mind the restraints of religion ; if they deny, for example, the ex- istence, or the providence of Almighty God ; if they frame false, or imperfect conceptions of the divine attributes ; if they invent maxims which, in a state of dissolute manners is 523 alvrays done, to palliate insincerity, fraud, intemperance, ojr lust, the ties of moral obligation are thereby necessarily re- laxed T Could yon, on great and critical occasions, rely on the integrity of a man who should avow such principles ? Would you be willing to entrust to him the honor and virtue of your families, where he could violate them with secrecy, or with impunity ? Would not his passions, his interests, his pleasures be thenceforward the supreme law of his conduct? But does not dissolution of manners frequently precede, and itself become the cause of the general corruption of principle, in individuals, and in nations ? It does. — And this fact places the truth of the proposition which I have assum- ed to illustrate, in a new light. For so powerful is the force of truth upon the heart, that men cannot preserve the peace of their own bosoms, amidst the conflict of their principles, with their actions. They are obliged, therefore, if they do not reject the law of Christ, to set themselves to corrupt and modify it if possible, to the standard of their inclinations. If the law of Christ has not been able effectually to constrain their obedience, they must shut their eyes against its ligbtj or study, by every subtil artilice, to pervert its spirit. The efficacy of divine truth early instilled into the raindj and received with a docile temper, is conspicuous, to a can- did observer, in the excellent fruits which commonly pro- ceed frona a virtuous and pious education, conducted v^Uh 524 prudence, and persevered in with steady and consistent wisdom. Remark the youth who have been sedulously and pru- dently instructed in the principles of religion : compare their sobriety, their temperance, their regular and exemplary manners, with the character and conduct of such as have grown up, like neglected weeds, without culture. Is it not usually, among these that the church finds her future sup- ports, and her future ornaments ? If, in the course of life, they should be exposed to temptations which give too strong an action to their passions, how long will their early princi- ples resist the corrupting current? How often will con- science, roused by that secret voice which they awaken in the breast, recall them to their duty ? Or when, for a season, like David, or the young Solomon, they have been drawn aside from its path, how often are these secret monitors, re- covering force, by some interesting dispensation of divine providence, made the means of bringing them back to their duty, and to God, with humiliation and repentance ? Here let me notice, only to condemn, the injustice of a frequent remark, that the most serious and pious education is com- monly followed by the greatest dissolution of manners. So far is this from being verified by the fact, that it is, on the other hand, the comparative rarity of the example, and its striking incongruity with our most reasonable expectations, which has occasioned its being so much noticed, in a few in- 525 stances, that the frequency of the reproach has been mista= ken for the commonness of the effect. And the fact, where it does exist, may usually be traced to some gross defect of prudence, or of skill, in the conduct of their education. I acknowledge, indeed, and it is only a confirmation of our doctrine, that those who have finally broken through the re- straints of a pious discipline, like those who have burst the bounds of modest and of decent manners, are usually more profligate than other sinners ; harrassed in their evil courses by their early principles, they are often tempted to run to greater excesses than others, that they may, at once, if pos- sible, extinguish the distressing light of truth, and drown the reproaches of their own consciences. Against the preceding reasonings an objection has been raised from two interesting facts — one that we not unfrequent- ly see men of vicious manners professing the best principles ; another, that we find good men among all sects of christians. True it is, that orthodox opinions in religion may be osten- sibly avowed by men of very exceptionable morals. They may be merely modes of speaking received by inherilancCj or adopted as the distinction of a party ; while, at the same time, they have not entered deeply into the convictions of rea? son, nor taken possession of the sentiments of the heart. 526 The second fad I do not deny, but rather rejoice in its existence, that there are found pious men, who are ornaments of their holj profession, among all denominations of chris- tians. But does this proA'e that there is no distinction in their moral effects between truth and falsehood ? or that all principles are equally favourable, or indifferent to true reli- gion, and sanctity of manners? No, it is an interesting proof, to the benevolent and candid mind, that every de- nomination of christians embraces, in its system, an iaiportant portion of evangelical truth. The great and central doctrines of our salvation, from which all the practical principles of piety and morals naturally radiate, are so clearly borne upon the whole face of the sacred scriptures, that they are receiv- ed under one form of expression, or another, in the symbols, confessions, and creeds of almost all who assume to wear the name of christian. Yet, along with them, the frailty of the human understanding, or some latent bias of the human heart, has frequently mingled more or less of error, which propor- tionally impairs their sanctifying influence. As every truth is connected with some right disposition of the heart, and contributes to promote it ; so every error, in a similar de- gree, tends to strengthen some sinful propensity, or to weak- en the obligation of some duty. Hence particular sections of the church, according to the purity and extent in which they embrace the truth as it is in Christ, are distinguished above others, for the general sanctity of their manners ; for a zeal in religion, at once rational and fervent ; and for the 52r numbers who adorn, by their practice, the doctrine of God their Saviour. But, among the truly pious of all denomina- tions, there is a greater harmony of sentiment, and of faith, than they themselves, in the jealousy of party, in the pride of disputation, and even in the delicate apprehensions for the truth, which some good men, who have moulded all their feelings in religion to certain set forms of words, are willing to allow. In terms they differ more than in spirit. Unhappily, indeed, there are in our age, as there were in the age of the apostles, those who wear, and who glo' ry in the christian name, who yet remove the basis of Christianity, by denying the only Lord God, even our liord Jesus Christ. But as then they were, they slill are, known by the coldness of their piety, and the lax- ness of their moral system. Spots are they in the church, in which should exist only the continual feas han been deservedly placed the direction of learning ; and with them it is likely to remain. Is this a language which ought to create offence to any order of men ? No ; it ought only to awaken a generous emulation among the real friends of reli- gion and learning of all professions. And I am willing td urge this point the farther, at present, for the sake of so ma- ny young men who are here before you, with the view of de- voting themselves to the holy ministry. To them permit me to say, that true piety is first, and above all things necessary in a minister of Christ. But, next to this, and not much less important, is sound science, and general literature, that he may be able to confirm the truth, and convince gainsayers, and that, in delivering and defending the gospel, he may be able to bring from his treasures things new and old ; and acquire that ascendency over the minds of men, which acknowledged virtue, alumin- ous eloquence, and extensive information alone can give. That on trite subjects, he may be always new. That, hav- ing fixed himself in the hearts of his people, by faithfulness in every duty of the pasteral life, he may take possession of their understandings also, by bis ability to teach. Lamenta- ble is the falling off when a young pastor, who has at first been well received, exhausts his little fund, in a few of his early discourses. The repetition of the same truths, how- 537 ever important, in nearly the same language becomes insipid even to a pious audience. To everj candidate for this holy office, therefore, let me insist, that bis preparations for ap» pearing in it with dignity and usefulness, should be neither superficial, nor hasty ; and to every ministery may I be per- mitted to add, that his studies never should ena but with his life. If those who publish the gospel to mankind ought to be scribes well instructed in the law of Christ, for the edifica- tion of the church, not less requisite is it that they be fur- nished with all the resources of human science, iu order to repel those enemies of the faith, who, by an abuse of learn- ing, and a shameful misapplication of the talents which God has given them, are endeavouring to overturn, to their foun- dations, his glorious city, and temple. The philosophers are setting themselves against the ministers of religion, the schools against the altars. But wielding as you do, in this spiritual conflict, the mighty force of truth, your encour- agement is, that, you must prevail, if you are not reproach- fully delinquent to the king of Zion. I am aware that many pioas men regard all considerations of this nature as partak- ing too much of the spirit and policy of the world. They profess to place all their reliance, not on any human means, but solely on the omnipotence of divine grace ; and strangely seek a refuge for their own indolence in the abused doctrine of the operations of the Holy Spirit. Almighty God has es*^ 6ft 538 iablished, in the constitution of nature, a certain connexion between the means and the end ; and never does he depart from this order, which is his will, except where the occasion demands a miracle. Shall we then faithlessly suffer the temple of the Living God to be leveled to the dust, by the attacks of so many insidious adversaries as assail it on every side, while we look on with a lazy and indifferent gaze, under pretence of doing honor to the sovereignty of divine grace ? Or since the church shall last while the sun and the moon en- dure, will not God wrest her interests out of our hands, and commit them to hands more worthy to defend them ? Will it be said, what learning can do, {las been done al- ready ? That the learned and pious divines of the last, and preceding century have furnished the church with the ablest defences of revelation, with the most admirable elucidations of the sacred writings, with the most victorious refutations of the principles of infidelity ? It is true, — and the praise of these wise and holy men is in all the churches. But if we have not ourselves skill and force for the combat, how shall we be able to wield the armour of Saul ? God most justly ex- pects, that we should bring to the service of his altar every human aid, as well as every divine grace. Be ye wise as serpentSf saith the Saviour, and harmless as doves. And what doth the apostle, who possessed all the arts of Greece, and all the divine learning of Israel, intend by these injunc- tions to his son Timothy ; " Till I come, give attendance to 539 reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in Ihee. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all !" Can the divine author intend, according to the views of some weak and enthusiastic sects, that, in devoutly reading the sacred writings, God imparts some extraordinary influx of the Ho- ly Spirit, to render their meaning clear ; thus making one ifli* spiration necessary originally to communicate the scriptureg to the apostles and prophets of old, and another to the church, in the present day, to enable it to understand them ? With prayer and pious meditation, indeed, every christian ought devoutly to study them. The more nearly we can raise the soul to the tone of pious fervor, and sublime devo- tion, in which the prophets and apostles composed their sa- cred hymns, their divine histories, and epistles, the more we shall perceive the spiritual beauties of the word of God ; the more clear, and impressive will its heavenly truths be to the heart. But let all who are preparing to enter into this holy office be assured that there is hardly an art, or branch of knowledge, in the whole circle of science, or of literature, from which some useful illustration of the sacred writings may not be drawn, In earnestly contending for the faith, in the next place, talents alone are not sufficient to acquit your high and holy duties to God and the church. Fidelity in the discharge of ail the functions of the sacred ministry is not less necessary. 640 That is, plainness and integrity in declaring the whole coun- sel of God, a spirit of warm and unaflfected devotion, and un- wearied diligence in the oflBces of your holy calling, arising from a deep conviction of the value of immortal souls, and the infinite importance of the sacred cause in which you are en* gaged. Without genuine piety, and holy zeal, the labor of preaching the gospel must be both unpleasant and unfruit- ful. With what comfort, or effect can a cold, formal, or worldly minded man preach the doctrines of repentance, of self-denial, of purity of heart, of sanctity of life ? But divine truth, illustrated with clearqess, declared with faithfulness, and Rowing from a heart deeply affected with the eternal in- terests of mankind, possesses a majesty and force, that sub- due the mind, an illumination and conviction that penetrate the soul, a tenderness and persuasion that touch and move all the springs of action in the heart. "It commends itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God." As there is every thing in the subject to awaken the zeal of a sincere christian, and especially, of a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, in publishing the glad tidings of salvation to a guilty world, and carrying the standard of the cross through the ranks of opposing enemies, so there is every thing in the circumstances of the present time, to raise that zeal to an un- usual fervor. — Impiety has broken in like a fleod upon the nations, and is carrying before it, not the young and inexpe- rienced alone or those who have made it their interest, by 541 unholy living, to embrace the principles of infidelity; but we see borne on the tide philosophers, legislators, magistrates, those who should be the instructors of mankind, who should be the guardians of the public morals, who, seated in the throne of the laws, should be examples of virtue and obedi- ence to the people. It already threatens to bear with it the mass of society, if Almighty God, to whose throne we daily send our supplications to defend us from this calamity, do not interpose to arrest the overwhelming flood, saying to its rage " hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." From the prevalence of corrupted manners, I see a fatal evil invade the church it- self, " Because iniquity abounds the love of many waxes cold." The ivise, and even the watchmen on the walls of Zi- on, seem to be asleep along with the secure and unapprehen- sive crowd offoolish virgins. The present seems to be the reign of evil over a great part of the world which calls itself christian. And Christ may now say as he did to his perse- cutors and murderers, " this is your hour, and the power of darkness." If we see the blessed gospel openly and almost triumphant- ly insulted by powerful enemies, is it not also in many parts of the church, insidiously corrupted by false friends ? Where it is still preached with a degree of evangelic purity, does it not seem to fall powerless from the lips of those who are ap- pointed to proclaim its grace to the world ? For many years 542 we have seen the columns of civil society, and the temples of religion falling together. We have heard the horrible crash at a distance. We have sometimes felt the earth trem- ble under our feet, to warn us of our approaching danger. Roused for a moment, we have only sunk down again into a sleep like the sleep of death. — Can occasions more loudly call, shall I say, on the ministers of religion ? Shall I not say on all christians ? I was going to say on all good citizens, ear- nestly to contend for the faith, for the purity of those prin- ciples of morality and piety, for the blessedness of those im- mortal hopes, once delivered to the saints ? To stem the in- creasing torrent of impiety — to arrest the dissolution of the public morals — to promote the designs of divine mercy to mankind — to recal the departing glory to our churches — to exalt the grace of the ever blessed Redeemer — to reanimate the almost extinguished love of his disciples to him, and to one another. My brethren in the holy ministry ! who is sufficient for these things? Although we might justly trem- ble when we contemplate the weakness of the human instru- ment, be encouraged, holy brethren ! by the example of the apostle, who hath said throxigh Christ we can do all things. The political, the moral, and religious horizon looks dark and gloomy. The tempest, which has shaken half the world, threatens, as we have long foreseen, to extend its fury to us,. Yet, in the gathering cloud, I seem to see some luminous Spots which invite us not to despair. In every event, how- 543 eter, which may chequer the mysterious aspect of divine providence, one truth is certain, one truth should console you, ray dear brethren, " be you faithful unto death, and you shall receive a crown of life." Now to the Father^ to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost^ be glory, as it was in the beginning, is now, amd ever shall be world without end ! — AMEN I ^ XHE ESD»