LIBli^RY OF THE Theological Seminary, c PRINCETON, N. J. J BR 45 .H84 18A9 Humphry, William Gilson. s The doctrine of a future state t 1 !| ■A ^Y THE HULSEAN LECTURES FOR M.DCCC.XLIX. w? w fy^ ^[ ^ p frintetiat ti)e.?En(Dets(ts IPrcss. THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE : IN NINE SERMONS, TREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.XLIX. AT THE LECTURE FOUM)ED BY THE EEY. JOHN HULSE, M.A. BY WILLIAM GILSON HUMPHEY, B.D., FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND CAMBRIDGE: JOHN DEIGHTON; MACMILLAN, BARCLAY, AND MACMILLAN. TO THE REV. HENRY WILKINSON COOKSON, D.D. MASTER OF ST. PETER's COLLEGE, AtiD LATE VIC.E.CHANCF.LLOR; REV. WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D., MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE ; AND THE REV. RALPH TATHAM, D D., MASTER OF ST. JOHN's COLLEGE 1 THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSES, PREACHED BY THEIR APPOINTMENT, ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. The Rev. John Hulse, M.A., by his will bearing date July 21, 1777, founded a Lectureship in the University of Cambridge, to be held by a Clergyman in the University of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age of forty years : the Lecturer to be elected annually on Christmas-day, or within seven days after, by the Vice-chancellor, the Master of Trinity College, and the Master of St John's College, or any two of them : the subject of the Lectures to be as follows ; " The Evidence of Revealed Religion ; the Truth and Excellence of Christianity ; the Prophecies and Miracles ; direct or collateral proofs of the Chris- tian Religion, especially the collateral arguments ; the more difficult texts, or obscure parts of Holy Scrip- ture ;" or any one or more of these topics, at the discretion of the Lecturer. ^PTY OF OG-S-G^^^ CONTENTS. LECTURE I. NATURAL RELIGION ; CHRISTIAN I'AITH. MARK IX. 24 PAGE Lord^ I believe; help thou mine unbelief 1 LECTURE II. THE POPULAR NOTIONS OF THE HEATHEN WORLD CONCERNING A FUTURE STATE. 2 PETER I. 19. A Uf/ht that shiyieth m a dark place^ until the day daicn . 26 Note on Lecture II 52 LECTURE III. THE OPINIONS OF HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 1 COR. III. 19. The wisdom of this world is foolishness icilh God . . (Jl Note on Lecture III \]\) PAGE X CONTENTS. LECTUEE IV. THE JEWS BEFORE AND AFTER THE CAPTIVITY. JOHN V. 39. Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me 100 Note on Lecture IV 127 LECTUEE y. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY BROUGHT TO LIGHT, 2 TIMOTHY I. 10. The appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christy who hath abolished death^ and hath brought life and immor- tality to light through the Gospel 133 LECTURE VI. THE EVIDENCE OF CHRIST's RESURRECTION; AN OBJECTION CONSIDERED. LUKE XVI. 31. Tf they hear not Moses aiid the Prophets^ neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead . 1 (JO LECTURE VII. THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY ,* THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. COLOSSIANS II. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of -the world, and not after Christ . 185 Note on Lecture VII 215 CONTENTS. XI LECTURE VIII. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE ; PURGATORY j THE DURATION OP FUTURE PUNISHMENTS. 2 COR. V. 8. PACK We are confident^ I say, and willing rather to he absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord 220 Notes on Lecture VIII 249 LECTURE IX. THE EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 1 COR. XV. m. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast^ un- m,oveable, always abounding in the icork of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 257 Note on Lecture IX 284 LECTURE I NATURAL RELIGION: CHRISTIAN FAITH. MARK IX. 24. Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. TF we would estimate rightly the value and -■- importance of the Christian Dispensation, we shall not be content to view it merely as a system standing by itself, or connected only with the Mosaic Institutions; it will be neces- sary to consider what relation it bore to those religious principles and persuasions, which, before the Gospel was promulgated, were ge- nerally current among men. Did it form an alliance with any of the existing modes of faith, or was it directly opposed to them all ? Did it recognize them as substantial verities, or explode them, and cast them out, as the morning chases away the baseless dreams of the night ? Shall we say that the divine Author of our Religion began by overthrow- ing every vestige of ancient faith, and then upon fresh foundations reared a new and goodly edifice; or did he merely rebuild what had fallen in, and establish again what had become ruinous and decayed ? H.H.L. B 2 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. I. A hasty and partial view of the Gospel- scheme might lead us to adopt one or other of these opinions without qualification. But it would be an error to suppose that Chris- tianity only published again, in another form, and with stronger sanctions, what had already been made known by the light of Natural Religion ; for it is certain that many things in the old time were hidden from the wise and prudent, were not discoverable by the help of Natural Religion, which now are re- vealed unto babes. And it would be no less erroneous to assert, that until Christ came the heathen world was without any true knowledge of God, that pagan mythology was a mere fable from first to last, a mass of human folly, containing not one particle of heavenly truth. Such a supposition is con- tradicted by the fact, that when the Apostle of the Gentiles opened his message of glad tidings, whether to the most enlightened or to the most ignorant of the heathen, he did not begin from the beginning, nor labour to convince them of the existence and attributes of God, but he took for granted a knowledge of such things, he appealed to certain reli- gious principles, which, he said, they already possessed. Upon this subject the careful perusal of Holy Scripture enables us to form 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 3 a conclusion, which is confirmed by a refer- ence to the monuments of heathen antiquity. Many things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world were, for the first time, revealed in Christ ; insomuch that his advent is described, in the figura- tive language of prophecy, as the creation of ''a new heavens and a new earths" But, on the other hand, it appears that God had already in time past vouchsafed to men some knowledge of himself and of his will, not only by speaking at sundry times and in divers manners to one highly-favoured people, but by lighting every man that cometh into the world, whether he be Jew, or Greek, or Barbarian; by enabling all eyes to see clearly, in the things that are made, proofs of his eternal power and Godhead ; and by placing in every heart a witness of his moral attri- butes, of his righteousness, his holiness, and his truth. It cannot therefore be denied, that some divine truths were communicated to men at the beginning, that they entered into the ori- ginal constitution of our nature, that they are innate and fundamental notions, for the pos- session of which we are as directly indebted to our Great Creator, as we are for the facul- ' Isai. Ixv. 17- B2 4 NATURAL RELIGION. ;[Lect. I. ties of our minds, or our bodily senses. And these truths, being thus innate and funda- mental, had not been entirely eradicated even from the minds of the most barbarous of the heathen, at the time of the coming of our Lord. Buried they were to a great extent, and concealed out of sight, by the super- stitions which had gathered around them ; but they existed still. Christ brought them again to light ; he revealed their proportions and connexions ; he made them also the ground-work of other truths, which he esta- blished upon them :— 1. Thus through the various systems of heathen mythology, under all the countless forms of polytheism, we are able to trace the belief in one Supreme Being ; a belief not indeed steadily held in the mind, often en- tirely abandoned, yet continually re-appear- ing, and asserting its authority. Our Lord confirmed that belief, and made it familiar to mankind. He revealed to them that God whom they had ignorantly worshipped. To form any adequate notion of God must, in- deed, always be far beyond the reach of any finite intelligence. Christ certainly did not enable us to comprehend any one of the divine attributes ; but he brought them all nearer to us ; he made such an exhibition of 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 6 them as was best adapted to our imperfect faculties. Under the veil of human flesh he shewed us the Godhead ; he shewed it in its awful attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence throughout space and time. At his command the laws of nature were sus- pended, and miracles w^ere wrought — for God is omnipotent. He penetrated the secret thoughts of the disciple or the Pharisee — for God is omniscient. Though far away beyond Jordan, he saw his friend Lazarus fall asleep— for God is present everywhere. He foretold the things which should befall himself, his disciples, and the holy city — for to God all time is present. In like manner he shewed forth the divine nature in its attributes of righteousness, and holiness, and love. And, that we might not yearn after any further or fuller manifestation of the Godhead, he declared, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" *' I and the Father are one." Until he came, there had been seen no more than the skirt as it were of the divine glory passing by. In him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in him it was re- vealed. 2. In like manner it is beyond a doubt, that a sense of the distinction between right and wrong, between moral good and evil, has 6 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. I. existed in every age and nation of the world. Amidst the ever-changing opinions and con- ventions of men, there is a law, as the heathen poet has confessed \ which is not a thing of to-day or yesterday, but eternal, already pre- sent to the consciences of men, before it had been sanctioned by the policy of statesmen, or discovered by the reasonings of philosophers. That law is universal; and every man is bound to obey its decrees, and he has within himself a tribunal, by which that law is pro- claimed, and before which he is liable to be arraigned and judged ; his thoughts, as the apostle^ describes it, '* accusing or else ex- cusing one another." This tribunal is su- preme, and can never be overthrown ; for it speaks with the voice of God, it is the representative of the Majesty on high. Its authority truly is paramount; but its power is not in proportion to its authority; it does not, it cannot compel obedience. Men are left at liberty to slight its ordinances and disregard its decisions; and they have not been backward to avail themselves of this dangerous liberty. They have wilfully re- 1 Sopli. A,it}^. 456: i)v ydfy Ti I'vv j€ Kav^ec, clw ae'i ttots ^'>7 THura, Kovdei'i ui^cw e^ otov (pavt]. - Rom. ii. 15. Sec Bishop Butler, Sermon II. 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 7 fused to follow their best and safest guide. There is not a dictate of conscience which they have not disobeyed, not a vice which they have not deliberately approved. When Christ came, men had well nigh-ceased to regard those internal impulses, which are ever prompting us to good, and restraining us from evil. Conscience indeed still uttered her lively oracles, but uttered them in vain ; for the world was dead in trespasses and sins. It was part of Christ's mission upon earth to restore her dominion in the heart, to support her authority, and dispose men to obey her. He executed this part of his work not merely by delivering a variety of moral precepts, exactly consonant with the dictates of con- science ; but since men are more moved by example than by precept, by what they see than by what they hear, he illustrated his doctrine, he made it more persuasive and irresistible, by the perfect pattern of his life. And this doctrine, with his life and death for its commentary, he placed on record, not entrusting it to the precarious custody of tradition, but prompting holy men to write it for our learning. So that we have for our guidance all that the heathen possessed, namely, a law unwritten, shining in the heart; and we have what was not vouchsafed to 8 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. L them, a copy of that same law written by divine authority, and illustrated by a divine example. 3. Again, almost all the heathen nations agree in the practice of offering some kind of sacrifice to the deities which they worship. When we go back to early times, the origin of this practice becomes apparent. It took its rise from the sense of guilt, from the con- sciousness that mankind had incurred the divine wrath, that there was an estrangement between God and man, and that this estrange- ment could only be done away, and a re- conciliation effected, by means of an expia- tion. Thus the sacrificial rites and ceremonies had their origin in a great and awful truth. Hence it was that men were led to offer up the spotless heifer, the firstlings of the flock, the costly hecatomb ; hence too they ima- gined that even the blood of their fellow- men, even the lives of their own children, would be acceptable gifts to the ruthless objects of their worship. The gulph which separates the holiness of God from the wicked- ness of man, they did not wholly overlook ; ^-'.^y ; }^ L . and they sought to fill it up by casting into . "^ it their best-beloved and rarest treasures. v / Yet the breach only grew wider ; it took more than all this to ransom their souls. An offer- 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 9 ing was required more precious than any which they had to give. But these ineffectual offerings were continued, long after the real intention of them had been forgotten. At the utmost, they were only an acknowledgement on the part of the worshipper that he needed an atonement. But they ceased to be even this. Men worshipped they knew not what ; and they sacrificed they knew not why. That which had been a true token, and full of meaning, became a lifeless ceremony, a su- perstitious observance, an abominable thing. Then Christ came, and engraved afresh upon the hearts of men the truth which had been so nearly effaced. The world was again con- vinced of sin ; convinced more deeply than it had ever been before. The need of a reconci- liation was more clearly shewn. The ancient sacrifices were abolished. Symbols they were shewn to be, and only symbols, of the great propitiation. The question for ages had been, "who shall provide a lamb for the sacrifice?" that question was now answered once for all. What the blood of bulls and goats could never accomplish, was now completed in a wonderful and unexpected manner. There had been individuals who laid down their lives for the preservation of their friends or their country. But who could expect that 10 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. I. one would be found to give himself up to death for the salvation of his enemies, those enemies being the whole race of mankind? There had been parents who sacrificed their children, to save themselves ; thus giving the fruit of their body for the sin of their souls ; but it never entered into the heart of man to conceive that God would give his only-be- gotten Son, to be a ransom for those sins which had been committed against himself. Thus it appears that these three principles, the belief in one supreme and infinite God; the sense of moral good and evil ; and the conviction that an atonement was required for sin — were originally implanted in human na- ture ; and that, after having been subject to grievous corruptions and mutilations, they were finally revived and restored by Christ. But it is obvious that these principles would have been placed in us to little purpose, if they had not been associated with another, which gave strength to each and harmony to all ; I mean, the persuasion of a future state of rewards and punishments. If this principle were absent from the mind, to what end were the others there? What practical effect could arise from the belief in a Supreme Being, if there was no expectation of meeting him here- after face to face, and seeing him as he is? 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 11 The only philosophers' who denied the neces- sity of worshipping the gods, denied also the future existence of the soul. And they were consistent in their scepticism ; the one nega- tion is implied in the other. Whence also the earnest desire to be at one with God, if not from a fear lest the present alienation should be prolonged and aggravated after death ? It is said to have been^ a dying philosopher's last request, that a sacrifice which he had vowed to one of the gods should be fulfilled. Whether this incident really occurred or not, it is at least the expression of a truth. It tells us that the ancient sacrifices were not intended merely to avert the anger of the gods during this life, but that they had reference to some- thing beyond the grave. It was felt to be necessary, even for the dying man, that the vows which he had promised should be paid. Or again, is it likely that the moral law would have been inscribed on men's hearts, without any intimation of the penalties by which it will hereafter be vindicated? Would men have sub- mitted to all manner of losses and reproaches, and even to death itself, as we know they sometimes did, for conscience' sake, if con- ^ The Epicureans. * TM 'An-K'Aj/Tr/a) o(pei\on€i' dXtKTpvoia. k. t. \. — Plat. PhfTfl. ad fin. 1 2 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. I. science had been unable to encourage them with the prospect of an exceeding great re- ward? And supposing that some few men might even have done this, and, without any suspicion of a future life, had yet found by their own experience that virtue was its own reward, notwithstanding the mishaps and pri- vations to which they were exposed in the pursuit of it ; yet the hardened sinner, who had had no such experience, and had gone on in a career of successful villany, would easily stifle the voice of conscience, or at least would easily endure it, if he were not also haunted by the apprehension of a future reckoning before the Judge Eternal. Without that apprehension, life would be disturbed by no remorse, and death would not be invested with half his terrors. If then there is such a thing as Natural or Unwritten Religion, which we cannot doubt there is; if men have always believed in a God, and had a knowledge of his moral law, and yearned for reconciliation with him, they must have had also a belief in a future retribution. That belief is evidently the key-stone by which the whole fabric of religion is held to- gether, and without which, so far as we can see, no real and practical fear of God would subsist in the world. And we are therefore 1849.] NATURAL RELIGION. 13 led to infer, from the considerations which have now been adduced, that it must have been an element in the ancient faith of mankind, a part of what is called the Religion of Nature. It is my intention, in the course of Lectures upon which I am now entering, to enlarge upon this subject ; to shew that a future retribution has, as a matter of fact, been generally expected by the heathen world ; to enquire how far that expectation was affected, whether it was strengthened or impaired, by the operations of the human reason ; to ascertain in what sense and in what manner life and immortal- ity were brought to light through the Gospel ; to observe how, after the lapse of so many ages, the doctrine of a future life, as it was fixed by Christ, has come down to us, not indeed unassaulted, but uninjured, and is still a great article of our faith, and a principal motive of our conduct. Such a review of such a subject is not to be approached, especially in such a place as this house of God, with the mere spirit of curiosity and criticism. Lessons of religious import will present themselves to us on every side, if we only hold ourselves ready to observe them. It will be cheering to behold human nature, in its greatest desolation, still clinging to the hope of an immortal destiny, and look- 14 NATURAL RELIGION. [Lect. L ing wistfully into heaven, and straining its eyes to penetrate futurity by the fading light of traditional Revelation. It will be a solemn and humiliating lesson to observe how human nature, in its highest intellectual development, disdained the assistance of Religion, and en- deavoured to be a light to itself. But, above all, we shall from time to time recur, as to a great central object, to the Resurrection of our Lord. It is that event alone which gives reality and interest to the speculations of the ancient world. If Christ had not risen, the persuasion of a future life, however strong and universal, might have been treated as a vain thing. If the Christian revelation had con- firmed the existing religious belief of men in other particulars, but had not confirmed it in this, then the others would have stood fast, and this would have fallen to the ground. But now is Christ risen ; and the anticipations, which have been verified and confirmed by his resurrection, cannot be treated as an in- significant fact in the history of mankind. They must be referred to a divine origin. They shew us the Spirit of God moving as it were on the face of the waters, before God had said, '' Let there be light." We shall of necessity encounter, as we proceed, some of the phantoms of superstition, 1849.] CHRISTIAN FAITH. 15 and the dreams of false philosophy ; but even these may become instructive and valuable, when they are placed side by side with the realities of Revelation. After viewing the thraldom from which we have escaped, we shall rejoice the more at the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. When we see how the men of other times made shipwreck of their souls by rejecting the ancient faith, and consulting their own reason, we shall be the more disposed to look with suspicion on the deductions of human reason, and to hold fast and without wavering the faith which we our- selves profess. We speak of the faith which we profess : the very name of faith suggests to us an im- portant difference between our own condition and that of the heathen world. The word was not used by them, as we use it, in reference to religious matters; and the thing itself can only be attributed to them in a very limited degree. The religious sense which they possessed, if faith it is to be called, was rather a blind instinct than an intelligent principle. It ex- isted, but it shewed few signs of life, except so far as it was roused to a false and feverish energy, and made to believe a lie, by the influence of some strong delusion. For though 16 CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Lect. I. concerned about the most divine and moment- ous subjects, it was more easily imposed upon than any other element of our nature. Before then we proceed to compare the heathen no- tions of a future life with the Christian doctrine, it appears necessary to observe in what man- ner an impulse has been given by our holy Religion to the great principle of faith ; and to this end we shall now take up a few of the considerations which are involved in the words of my text, ** Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief." We have seen that Christ came partly to republish a former Revelation, and partly to proclaim a new one. But to attain these objects, and to impress his teaching perma- nently on mankind, what course did he pur- sue? Did he merely promulgate certain doc- trines, to be received as articles of religion, and exhibit such miracles as would suffice to prove that he was verily a teacher sent from God? If this had been all, is it not proba- ble, human nature remaining the same, that the Christian Dispensation would have been speedily effaced from the memories and hearts of men, just as we know that the Mosaic Revelation soon came to be unheeded by the people to which it was addressed, and the Religion of Nature was disregarded by man- 1849.] CHRISTIAN FAITH. 17 kind ill general? On the otiier hand, did he accompany his teaching with such irresistible power that the acceptance of the gospel was an inevitable consequence of hearing it ? Had he done this, human nature would have been essentially changed, the freedom of the will being in fact extinguished. He did not in any way change the nature of man ; but he supplied a special aid to its various infirmi- ties. And one of its chief infirmities, one which involved many others was this, that the principle of faith had become lifeless. That power of the mind, or I should rather say of the heart of man, by which he is lifted up above the things which surround him, and enabled to apprehend the things of the un- seen world, from long disuse and neglect had well-nigh lost its vitality. Christ gave it new life and strength. To awaken its energies, and prevent them from again becoming dor- mant, was one great end not only of the miracles and discourses of our Lord, but of his entire life and ministry. This purpose is clearly marked in every part of the Christian Dispensation ; in its matter and in its form, in its general aspect and in its particular details. Until Christ came, the faith of mankind (the Jewish people of course being excepted) H.H.L. C 18 CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Lect I. had had no objects upon which to exercise itself, besides a few cardinal truths, which were in themselves of the highest concern- ment, but which were seen dim and distorted through the mists of superstition. In endeav- ouring to grasp and retain these truths, men called in their imagination to the aid of their faith. Thus the divine truths were either lost altogether, or else were only preserved after they had been embodied in such fantastic and unworthy forms, as disguised their beauty, and polluted their purity. They came to be regarded no longer as objects of faith, but as creatures of the imagination. But in the ful- filment of his mission upon earth, Christ afforded to human faith a real object upon which to rest, a visible sensible fact, the his- tory of his own life. Faith had heretofore been bewildered by abstract truths which it could not realize, or cheated by monstrous falsehoods, which were of human invention. But now it reposes securely on a real person. Now we know him in whom we have be- lieved. In him were embodied all the at- tributes of the Godhead. But though they assumed the garb of human flesh, they con- tracted no carnal defilement ; they lost none of their essential majesty. The same Being who is one of ourselves, the first-born of many 1849.] CHRISTIAN FAITH. 19 brethren, was also in the beginning with God, and was God. It was one of the effects of his incarnation, to bring down divine truth more nearly to the level of our humble capacities. And that it was also the intention of his ministry to sup- port and elevate our weak and tottering faith, we have ample proof, without going out of the chapter from which the text is taken. 1. That chapter tells us^ first, how he took three of his Apostles into a high moun- tain apart, and was there transfigured before them, and appeared in his glory, conversing with Moses and Elias. Surely it was to exalt and purify the faith of Peter, and James, and John, that he permitted them to be his com- panions on that occasion ; and surely what they then witnessed was not a little instru- mental in preparing those three Apostles for the prominent place afterwards allotted to them in their Master's service. And be it remembered, that as he then appeared unto them conversing with Moses and Elias in his glory, so we also are invited even now to be- hold the glory of the only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth, and to see how Moses and Elias and all the prophets are associated and united with him. To the eye of faith they 1 IMark ix. 2. C2 20 CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Lect. I. appear marching along as it were in a stately procession, in which he is the last and prin- cipal personage; they prefiguring and fore- shadowing him, and he ever pointing to them and declaring that he was come to fulfil those things which they had predicted. Thus is our faith, like that of the Apostles, strength- ened and exalted, by beholding him in con- junction with Moses and the prophets. 2. Again, when he was come down from the Mount of the Transfiguration ^ he found that the disciples whom he left below had been attempting to cast out a devil, and had been unsuccessful. This temporary with- drawal from them had tried their faith ; and it had been found wanting. When they en- quired the cause of their failure, he told them it was because of their unbelief; and he shewed how that unbelief was to be overcome; "this kind goeth not forth," he said, "but with prayer and fasting." The case of those disci- ples in a certain sense is. our case also ; and the admonition which they received is ad- dressed to all of us. For we too are for a little time separated from our Lord, and left here below, while he is gone up to his glory ; we too, during the interval, are exposed to dangerous trials of our faith. We learn from 1 Mark ix. 14. 1849.] CHRISTIAN FAITH. 21 this transaction, that if we would vanquish the powers of evil by which we are surrounded in the world, we must begin by dislodging them from our own souls ; and this we are to do by the means which the Saviour summed up in two words, namely by prayer and fast- ing. When we have accustomed ourselves to commune frequently with God, to conceal nothing from him, to confide entirely in him ; when by habitual self-denial and many search- ings of heart and careful vigilance over our- selves, we have brought our unruly members into subjection to the law of Christ ; then we shall have obtained the faith which will en- able us to go forth conquering and to con- quer ; we shall be in possession of the means for gaining that victory which overcometh the world. But until we are ourselves humbled and disciplined and subdued, we are not strong enough to wrestle with principalities and powers ; we shall wage an unequal war- fare with the ruler of the darkness of this world, so long as he has a stronghold in our ovvn bosoms. 3. But let us turn once more to the chap- ter which is before us. We read that while the disciples were thus wavering, there was one, the father of the afflicted child, whose faith, though far from perfect, yet had not 22 CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Lect. I. altogether failed. When our Lord said to him, " If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth;" his answer immedi- ately was, *' Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." The appeal was not made in vain. That faith, imperfect as it confessedly was, prevailed. The unbelief was no sooner con- fessed than it was removed. The wished-for miracle was wrought ; the devil was cast out. This narrative also w^e may apply to our- selves. It tells us of a third method, by which our faith may be strengthened. For when we have meditated ever so much upon the history of our Lord, and compared it with the types of the law and the visions of the prophets, and seen how he agrees w^ith Moses and Elias ; when we have done all in our power to draw near to God in prayer, and to mortify our own corriipt inclinations ; after all this we still find that the evil heart of unbelief remains in us, that we cannot en- tirely cleave unto Christ. What then, does he reject our faith, because it is only as a grain of mustard-seed ? On the contrary, he helps our unbelief, he assists our imperfect efforts, and renders them availing. He does not quench the smoking flax, but kindles it afresh ; and especially he does this by put- ting into our hearts the influence of his Holy 1849.] CHRISTIAN FAITH. 2S Spirit, whereby we are made more ardent in our love, more stedfast in our confidence. We have found, therefore, in this single chapter, three cases of individuals, whose faith, in different ways, was the object of Christ's care and solicitude. And these three cases, as we have seen, may represent to us the several means by which his disciples generally are stengthened in their faith. First, we see how, in concert with Moses and the Prophets, he has accomplished the whole counsel of God ; secondly, we are invited to draw near to him by prayer and self-denial ; thirdly, our in- firmities are removed, and we are made suffi- cient for all things, by his grace preventing us. And these particular cases, as well as the whole tenor of his ministry, must con- vince us, that while he came to republish the primitive Revelation, and to found a new one upon it, it was also his object to enable us better to apprehend his doctrines. And this he did partly by bringing down the divine truth more nearly to the level of our capaci- ties, and partly by adopting various methods to exalt and purify and increase our faith. We shall hereafter see how he assisted the unbelief of mankind, touching a matter of the utmost concern, the doctrine of a future state. And if, as we go along, we become conscious 24 CHRISTIAN FAITH. [Lect. I. of any remnant of unbelief in our own hearts, may we confess it before him, and may it be his good pleasure to cast it out, by the influence of his Holy Spirit. And to this end let us diligently enquire within ourselves what manner of spirit we are of, and what is the source of our unbelief; whether it pro- ceeds from neglect of the facts and evidences of our holy Religion, from failing to observe, as we are invited to do, and as we ought to do, the glory of the Godhead revealed in Christ, and how he and Moses and Elias talk and agree together in a wonderful harmony ; or whether it is because we have let our carnal lusts have dominion over our soul, instead of resorting to prayer and self-denial, the means prescribed by Christ, and the only means, whereby the powers of evil may be subdued; or does our unbelief consist in the want of earnestness and singleness of heart; an indisposition to throw ourselves entirely upon Christ? Do we find that when we are in the act of trusting in him, unbelief is present with us, making us hesitate, and draw back ? In this case it is certain, that if we duly seek his help he will not fail to grant it; that he will lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees. But whether we require the lesson which 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 25 was taught on the Mount of Transfiguration, or those which were inculcated at its foot — and surely we have all of us some need of those lessons — may we have learned before the now- approaching Easter is come and gone, to look more intently than we ever yet have done on our immortal destiny ; to meditate, as we best can, on those good things which pass man's understanding, which the death of Christ has purchased for us, and which by his resurrec- tion are assured to us : and let us not shut our eyes to the alternative which awaits us if we neglect so great a salvation. May we, with strong forecast of mind, anticipate the future judgment ; and our hopes and fears being duly aroused by the contemplation, may we return to the things of this present world better able to estimate them at their true value ; not overrating them, nor yet despis- ing them ; not allowing our hearts to cleave to them and doat upon them, but so receiving them, so using them, and, when the time comes, so parting with them, that they may be what they are intended to be, a prepara- tion for the things eternal. LECTURE II THE POPULAR NOTIONS OF THE HEATHEN WORLD CONCERNING A FUTURE STATE. 2 PETER L 19. A light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn. THE event Avhich we celebrate to-day S the manifestation of Christ as the firstfruits of them that slept, has undoubtedly wrought a great change in the expectations of man- kind with regard to a future state. If our minds are duly impressed by the memory of that event, if we cherish it and rejoice in it as we ought, it will be impossible for us to place ourselves in the position of the heathen, and to return to their beggarly elements. Our faith is removed from theirs not only in de- gree, but in kind. We cannot, if we would, enter into their views, and sympathize with their ignorance. Things which to them ap- peared to be realities and full of life, are seen by us to have been shadows and mockeries. We wonder how they could have been be- ^ Easter Da\ . 1849.] THE POPULAR NOTIONS, ETC. 27 guiled by fictions, which to us are so repul- sive and degrading. But though we cannot reconstruct their system, nor breathe into it the fitful life which once perhaps it had, we shall find our account in gathering up some few of its fragments, as they will assist us to form a more definite idea of the blessings which we have derived from our high calling as Christians. In a former discourse I stated the reasons which make it likely that the doctrine of a future retribution existed from the beginning, and combined with other prin- ciples to form what is called the Natural Religion of mankind. Certainly it is not easy to conceive that without the aid of that doc- trine any religion worthy of the name, any practical fear of God, could have subsisted in the world. We shall now proceed to shew that the belief in a future state of rewards and punishments did actually prevail before the coming of our Lord ; although, like other Divine truths, it was embodied by the per- verse ingenuity of man in a variety of shapes, mixed up with much that was false and de- grading, and so deprived of the influence which it was well calculated to exert on the conduct and characters of men. A train of meditation might indeed be found more in unison with the joyous spirit 28 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. which an Easter-day awakens in our hearts. It may seem out of season to retire into the dark places of heathenism, when we should be contemplating the Sun of Righteousness, freshly risen with healing in his wings, never to set or be obscured any more. But as the contrast which we are about to trace is in- structive, and tends to the confirmation of the faith, so it will also heighten the joy from which it diverts us for a moment. They who have passed suddenly from the broad day- light into some deep and gloomy cavern, well know how great is the delight of bursting again into the summer sunshine ; how the sky appears more bright, the landscape richer and more lovely than before. This I trust will be our case, when we have gone through the region upon which we are now about to enter. That region however is not one of total darkness ; a twilight was shed upon it, until the day should dawn. The words of the Apostle in my text have reference to the Jewish prophecies, which he describes as "a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in the heart." But the same words are applicable to the glimmering light of Natural Religion, which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." One element of that light, as we are 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 29 now about to see, was the belief in a future retribution. In ascertaining the views of the heathen world ^ upon this subject, it is important to distinguish clearly between the popular be- lief and the speculations of philosophers. Unless this distinction be kept in view, we are in danger of falling into some consider- able errors, and of overlooking some valu- able lessons. I shall at present only treat of the popular belief oi mankind, leaving the guesses of the wise, which had but little in common with it, to be considered on a future occasion. That the persuasion of a future life has prevailed generally both among civilised and savage nations, I need hardly say is no new assertion. The fact was not only observed by the great philosopher of ancient Rome, but it was effectively employed by him as an evidence in favour of the immortality of the soul. What is universally believed, he argues, we may presume to be true. In the time of Cicero, however, only a comparatively small part of the world had been explored ; and his induction was founded upon what we should ' In this and the succeeding Lecture it is to be understood that the peculiar and exceptional case of the Jewish people is not taken into consideration. 30 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. now consider insufficient grounds. Nations existed unknown to him, and religious sys- tems with the doctrines of which he was not acquainted. But the fact which he rather asserted than proved, has been confirmed by modern discoveries; and Christian Divines, though in possession of far stronger evidence of a future life, have not thought it unbecom- ing to point out this fact, and to insist upon the argument which results from it. Indeed the argument may now be advanced further than it was carried in former times. For we are in a position to shew, not only that a future life was universally anticipated, but that the belief in a future retribution was al- most equally universal ; that the rewards and punishments of another world entered into the popular belief in some shape or other, and with more or less distinctness. It is with an especial reference to this point, namely, to the belief in a future retribution, that I now propose to survey rapidly the opinions of the heathen world. ^And first our though^ recur to those ancient nations with whose customs and civil- isation we are most familiar. I need scarcely remind you of the form in which the doctrine ^ For proofs and illustrations of the statements which follow, sec Note at the end of this Lecture. 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. SI was held by the Greeks, of the large space which it occupied in their mythology ; of their deification of departed heroes ; of the minute detail in which the punishments of the wicked and the rewards of the virtuous were represented ; how the doctrine was en- larged upon by that class of writers which we may take to reflect most correctly the national mind, namely by the poets ; how it was the principal subject of instruction in the mysteries, such as those of Eleusis, which were resorted to not merely by a few indi- viduals, but by a large proportion of the people. If it be said that a great part of the mythology was the invention of poets, and that the mysteries were of comparatively late introduction, imported from another coun- try ; this indeed may be admitted to have been the case ; but it must also be allowed, on the other hand, that neither the fictions of poets nor the institutions of other nations would have met with such general acceptance and adoption, had they not been in accord- ance with an already prevailing belief To shew that this belief existed from the earliest times, we have only to appeal to the most ancient monuments of Greek literature. The Homeric poems speak of the future world, not as if it were then for the first time held up to 32 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. view, but as though it were a familiar topic, an acquaintance with which might be taken for granted. Allusion is made to the ven- geance which in that world should overtake the perjurer; and a glowing description is given of those blessed abodes which awaited the departed hero. With regard to the popular notions of the Romans, it is well known that they agreed very nearly with those to which I have just alluded. Much of their language on this sub- ject, and many of their fables, were borrowed by the poets of one nation from the mytho- logy of the other. But it would be an error to suppose that the belief in a future retribu- tion, or indeed any other great and practical principle, passed over from Greece to Italy together with the models of literature and art. This belief, as was confessed even by those who rejected it, was far too deeply seated in the popular mind to have had any such recent and adventitious origin. It may be traced among the ancient legends of Rome, it is found, though in a gloomy and forbid- ding shape, upon the sculptured sepulchres of the Etruscans. Let us, however, leave these classic lands, and go back to the seats of an elder civiliza- tion. How wonderful are the monuments of 1849.J OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 33 Egypt ! — how strange are her records ! — how many problems connected with her history still remain to exercise the ingenuity of man ! If there is any point, however, which is firmly established by the concurrent testimony of ancient history and modern research, it is this, that the belief in a future state of re- wards and punishments has existed in that country from very early times. The pictures are still extant which represent the divine judge sitting on his throne, and the souls of men literally weighed^ in the balance before his face. They whose good deeds prepon- derate are at once received into happiness, but they whose souls are light in the scales, are seen returning to earth, destined to ex- piate their sins in the form of some loathsome animal. It was partly as a symbol of that judg- ment, and partly in anticipation of it, that the same remarkable people were accustomed to hold a trial over the body of the dead. Before the funeral rites were permitted to take place, a solemn court was held, and inquiry made touching the character and actions of the deceased ; and if such heavy accusations ^ Some Christian artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries treated the subject of the last judgment in a similar manner ; the souls being weighed in scales held by St Michael the Archangel. See Mrs Jameson's Legendary Art, i. 78. H. H.L. D 34 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. were brought against him, that it appeared likely his soul would be condemned in the other world, the body was treated with indig- nity, and not allowed to receive the customary rites of burial. If from Egypt we turn to India, we find the belief in a future state exercising in an- cient as in modern times a strong influence on all the votaries of the religion of Brahma. According to their view, the recompense of the righteous will consist in being blended with the divine essence, while it will be the punishment of the wicked to revisit this lower world, which we Christians regard as a scene of trial and probation for the future ; but which the Hindoos imagine to be a place of torture and retribution for sins committed in a former life. It is by them considered me- ritorious to separate the mind from the affairs and affections of this world, and to devote its faculties entirely to the contemplation of the Deity ; while the body is chastised with self-inflicted scourgings and macerations. It would be hard to say whether the mental or the bodily discipline is the most unnatural — the most contrary to the spirit of true religion. We might proceed to trace the belief in a future retribution throughout the rest of Asia, and to shew that it was held, with va- 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 35 rious modifications, in Syria, and Persia, and Biirmah, and China, by them that bowed the knee to Baal, by the worshippers of fire, by the disciples of Buddha, and by the slaves of Juggernaut. But it is unnecessary to dwell upon these matters in detail. Nor need I do more than remind you of the persuasion which animated the barbarous inhabitants of North- ern Europe, the nations of Scandinavia, and Germany, and Gaul, and Britain. In their view, future bliss was to be won by far other means, and was to consist in very different enjoyments, from those which were contem- plated by the languid Orientals. By them not mental contemplation but physical energy was esteemed the highest virtue. They attri- buted to their gods the same passion for blood- shed, the same gross appetites, by which they were themselves inflamed ; and the recom- pense of an eternal feast was held out to the warrior who should lose his life on the field of battle. It still remains to enquire whether the same notion has extended to the inhabitants of that great continent which has been opened to us in modern times. The question may be simply answered. We learn from unim- peachable testimonies, that the belief in a future state of rewards and punishments has D2 36 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. been held by all the barbarous tribes of North America, as well as by the more civilised nations which in ancient times inhabited the centre and the South. The wild Indians of the North still believe that the wicked will be sent hereafter to regions of eternal snow, while the good will taste every physical enjoy- ment beneath a warm and genial sky. The ancient Mexicans imagined that the future punishment would consist in the privation of light ; while it would be the privilege of the virtuous to accompany the Sun in his bright career through the heavens. The natives of Peru not only indulged in anticipations of the same kind, but are even said to have had some surmise of the resurrection of the body. Thus the new world is shewn to be in harmony with the old upon this most vital question, and an important link is added to the chain of evidence, by which the belief in a future state is shewn to be a principle of Natural Religion. It cannot indeed be maintained that there is absolutely no evidence on the other side. A savage tribe may here and there have fallen into so degraded a condition, as to retain scarcely any idea of a God, and none at all of a life beyond the grave. And nations may 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 37 be found in a higher stage of civilisation, which have taken a one-sided view of the future world, either regarding it altogether as a place of torment (as apparently did the ancient Etruscans), or as an abode from which all sorrow will be excluded (which is said to be the notion of some of the tribes of Africa). Nor is it pretended that those who held the doctrine most fully and distinctly, were always consistent with themselves, that they never allowed the language of doubt and uncertainty to escape them — never spoke as if this world was all in all to them, as if death was to be the extinction of all hope and fear. But still, after making all due allowance for the weight of such observations, the conclusion remains irresistible, that there is a general consent of mankind touching a future state of retribution. We are justified in saying that mankind in general is not content with this narrow scene, but is looking forward to a wider sphere of existence, anticipating a future destiny, which will exceed either in happiness or misery all that is experienced here. It is felt that the issues of futurity depend on the right use or the abuse of this present time. And our present survey, brief and imperfect as it is, enables us to refer this universal sen- timent to its real source. We shall not say. 38 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. as has been maintained by someS that it was the cunning invention of statesmen and philosophers, desirous of restraining the vices and the passions of the multitude by what might be considered a pardonable deception ; for we have found it where the policy of statesmen and the wisdom of philosophers has never reached; we have seen it among bar- barous and uncultivated tribes, no less dis- tinctly than in the most refined and artificial communities. Nor was it entertained only as an opinion, or a wish, as some^ have been content to describe it. It must be placed higher than this. We are compelled to recog- nise in it an active principle, exercising, at least in some cases, a positive infiuence over the actions of men, and leading them to sacrifice the present to the future in a manner which shews clearly that they regard the future as a reality. Finding this belief to be a universal principle, and active for good or evil, accord- ing as it is used well or abused, we cannot regard it as an accident of our nature, as the offspring of this or that human intellect, en- gendered by human cunning or human credu- lity, or taking its rise from the yearnings and aspirations of our fallen race. We can only ^ E.y. by Polybius and Bishop Warburton. " E.ff. (as it seems) Cicero. 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 39 ascribe it to a divine Author ; and esteem it part of that light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world ; part, that is to say, of the witness which God gave of himself at the beginning ; part, of our religious in- stinct ; part, if we will so call it, of Natural Revelation. Whether it were revealed once for all, and handed down traditionally from generation to generation ; or whether it be innate and implanted in every individual, we need not now enquire. If it be conceded that the light exists, we ask not the mode in which God commanded it to be. But though the light was from above, pure and simple in its origin, it was stained and dis- coloured in various ways as it passed through the impure medium of human nature. Very unworthy at all times, and sometimes very gross, were the conceptions which men formed of a future state. In most cases their ideas of future happiness were suggested by the occu- pations, the pleasures, and the passions of this present life. In like manner the torments of the wicked were to consist of the physical evils which are experienced here. Though it was the soul alone which was to survive the stroke of death, the punishment was to be such as could be felt only in the body. The undying pangs of remorse were not taken into 40 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. account, nor the desolation which will reign in the soul when hope shall have fled for ever. That the future life occupied a large share of men's thoughts, we are justified in con- cluding, from the copious imagery with which they decked it out, and from the various spe- culations in which they indulged as to its employments, its vicissitudes, and its duration. There is one of those speculations, and only one, which may seem to deserve notice here — and that on account of its prevalence in a great part of the world ; I mean the doctrine of the transmigration of souls — the notion that the soul returns to earth, either in a human body, or in the shape of some inferior animal. This doctrine may have been received in some countries only as a philosophical tenet ; for instance, in Greece, Italy, and Gaul ; but it was a popular belief most probably in Egypt, and certainly throughout a great part of Asia, especially in India; for there it has given rise to certain superstitious practices, which con- tinue to this day. It was supposed that the soul expiated its sins in one or more successive stages of existence, and after purifying itself, like silver seven times refined, from the dross of human infirmity, became fitted at last for a divine and immortal destiny. It is instruc- 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 41 five to mark the origin of this doctrine. Men were sensible that they had need of some puri- fication before they could approach the throne of God, and be reconciled to him. But the taint of sin was cleaving to their soul, and they felt that it would cleave to them still, after they had quitted their earthly tabernacle. When they looked around they saw none to help them, none to make expiation for them. Yet an expiation must be made. Thus far their notions were correct ; but at this point their light failed them, and the rest they imagined for themselves, with such success as attends all the imaginations of men respecting the mysteries of religion. They fondly sup- posed, that the purification which they could not effect now, they should have the means of accomplishing hereafter; that though now they could not refrain from wallowing in the mire, in another world they should find a place where they might wash and be clean ; and that afterwards they should be fit to enter into the presence of God. Such was the delusion with which men flattered themselves, oppressed as they were with the consciousness of guilt. Such was the only escape which they could devise from what they foresaw to be the just and necessary consequence of sin. We cannot tell where 42 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. this doctrine of purgatory, for by that name it may hot inaptly be termed, first liad its origin. It was from Egypt that it passed over into Europe, spreading through Italy and Greece and Gaul ; and many ages afterwards it was again from Egypt that Europe received an- other purgatory — another at least in form, but the same in substance and in principle — which has been equally wide in its influence, and far more mischievous in its effects. The doctrine, that souls would undergo purgation in an intermediate state, was perpetuated in Egypt from age to age ; it was adopted by the disci- ples of Plato, and taught by them in the phi- losophical schools of Alexandria ; it infected the Christian divines of that place in the third century of our era, and through them it was propagated in a great part of the Chris- tian world. A doctrine it was of Pagan origin, not recognised by the Word of God, but agree- able to the depravity of human nature, and therefore readily received without question or examination — a doctrine pernicious in itself, and destined to be the parent of practical abuses still more deadly to the faiths We have now seen reason to conclude that the belief in a future retribution is a principle ^ This subject is rcaiimed in Lecture VIII. 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 43 of universal prevalence and of divine origin ; and enough has been said to remind us that this principle did not escape the general cor- ruption of our nature. The futurity which men anticipated was made to square with the suggestions of their bodily appetites and passions, with their grovelling ideas of the divine nature, with their sordid and partial conceptions of moral good and evil. It re- mains to be seen what influence this belief, such as it was, exercised over the conduct and actions of men. We cannot say that it has been altogether ineffectual as a motive of action, when we remember the fanaticism to which it has given rise in a large portion of our race, among the votaries of the Brahminical and Buddhist superstitions. Those misguided men expect to gain the things eternal not by passing through the things temporal, but by avoiding them, by despising and abhorring them : by torturing the body they hope to secure the happiness of the soul. Such a system indeed cannot be carried very far in practice, being contrary to nature ; but so far as it is operative, it tends to paralyse all energy and activity of mind and body; it plucks up indiscriminately the vices and the virtues of the soul, it degrades the body into 44 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. an instrument of self-torture. The noble but erring qualities of our nature it does not attempt to school and discipline, till they be brought back into conformity with the will of God, in whose image they were at first created ; but it seeks to tread under foot and eradicate those powers and qualities, as being altogether and essentially evil. It declares to its devotee, that by ceasing to be man, he may make himself God. With the exception of that large family of mankind to which I have now alluded, we have no proof that the belief in a future state had much effect on the practice of the heathen. Let us turn again to those ancient nations into whose character and customs we have obtained the closest insight ; an insight so close and minute, that if this motive existed in any force, we should not fail to discover it. I do not say that they were insensible of the influence which such a motive ought to exert. They knew it, but they hardened their hearts against it. The ancient poet of Greece spoke of the vengeance which in another world should overtake the perjurer. Yet we cannot find that any heavier sanction was attached to judicial oaths, either by those who imposed or by those who took them, than the punishments of human justice and 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 45 the temporal wrath of the gods. The happi- ness of a future world might be chanted in the funeral procession, in strains almost worthy of the Christian muse^ ; but we have no proof that these strains found any echo in the hearts of the mourners ; no proof that either public or private grief was assuaged by such considerations. The poet^ might conceive of one who, in the presence of a great and dire emergency, would balance the eternal interests of the future world against the fleeting concerns of this, and choose the better part ; but such struggles and resolves are to be found only in the region of poetry. They do not seem to have had any place among the realities of life. Men might some- times do a pure and virtuous deed for the sake of their friends or their country, or even for the sake of conscience, or to secure the temporal favour of the gods. But we have yet to discover that they did so for the sake ^ I allude chiefly to the beautiful fragments of Pindar's dirge-songs (Threni). 2 Soph. Antig. 74: eirei TrXeioav -^povofi ou heT fx dpecTKeiv to?? kccto) tcoi/ evddte. €Ke? jap aei Kela-ofxai. Above the fleeting loves of earth I prize The lasting friendships of the lower world ; For my eternal resting-place is there. 46 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. of their immortal souls. Such was the prac- tical indifference of men to a doctrine which they acknowledged to be true ; and which, if true, was of infinite importance. Is there anything surprising in this ; anything un- heard of in Christian times ? or must we not acknowledge that even now, when heaven has been opened to our eyes, our evil passions and worldly thoughts have chained us down to earth? do we not set our hearts on the objects which lie around us, instead of look- ing to those distant hills from whence cometh our salvation ? There is no reason to think that the ex- amples which I have now taken, the one from the Eastern, the other from the Western world, to illustrate the practical effect of the belief in a future state, are unfavourable spe- cimens. That principle was either turned to a bad purpose, as among the Eastern nations, or almost entirely neglected, as was the case in the Western part. And if it had no more effect than this, much need was there that a new light should be poured upon so impor- tant a subject ; much need that the simple truth should be shewn, free from the additions by which it was encumbered ; much need that its practical bearings should be ascer- tained, and enforced by a new authority. 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 47 Where was that authority to be found? was it anywhere "given among men?" The brief and hasty review which has now been taken of Gentile belief and unbe- lief will not have been unprofitable, if it leads us to cast a serious thought upon ourselves and our own condition. We have seen how the awful truth of a future retribution, in- herent as it is in the heart, and not to be eradicated, was nevertheless robbed of its simplicity, its majesty, and its power, by the perverse superstitions and imaginations of men. And have we received the doctrine in its purest form, substantially as it was pub- lished by him who is at once its Author and its Finisher? Great reason, then, have we to rejoice and be thankful for the truth, which as on this Easter-day was revealed afresh. Yet we have reason also to be on our guard, lest our imagination should tamper with our faith, lest the truth of God should again, through man's device, be turned into a lie. No one can say that this is a visionary dan- ger, seeing that the Christian Revelation has made no change in human nature. And no one who looks through the history of Christ's Church will deny that the danger has actually occurred, that the true belief on this subject 48 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. has in some ages and countries been griev- ously corrupted. The doctrine of Purgatory, derived, as we have seen, from Pagan sources, is a great and lamentable instance of the corruptions to which I refer. If we have individually, and as a nation, been preserved from error, great reason have we on this Easter-day to rejoice, but to rejoice with trembling. If we see others err, we praise them not, we follow them not ; but being our- selves fallible men, we judge them not. Again, with regard to the practical influ- ence of the belief in a future life, it has been shewn that the Gentiles both of the East and West were to blame in this respect, erring on opposite sides. The Orientals affected to have an aversion and contempt for this present world, the nations of Europe viewed the future with indifference. The former were carried away by fanaticism, the latter were chained down by a worldly spirit. Here then were two practical evils gnawing the very vitals of religion. The Christian Dispensation bruised their head, but did not destroy them. The Christian Dispensation united the East and West in the bonds of a common faith. But see how the folly of man laboured to convert pven this blessing into a curse. The fanati- cism of the East was imported into Europe, 1849] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 49 and men were to be seen in every part of Christendom, under the various denomina- tions of monks, ascetics, anchorites and her- mits, renouncing the duties and the affections of social life, and endeavouring to pass their days in seclusion and quietism, in penance and mortification. Such efforts, however, were a violation of nature ; and though for a time sustained by a false enthusiasm, it was impos- sible that they should have success. The folly was too monstrous to have many fol- lowers, and the practice of those who adopted it was often inconsistent with their profes- sions. There was no danger that men in general would have too little regard for this life ; there has been much more reason to fear lest they should think lightly of the next. To be intent on the things passing before our eyes, is a habit inseparable from our natural constitution : to withdraw our thoughts from them, is not one of the commands of our reli- gion. On the contrary, we are taught that this life is of inestimable importance; that it has a value, which is not indeed intrinsic, but derived from its connexion with the world to come. In itself it is but a pilgrimage, but it brings us to our home. In itself it is a warfare, but its end is peace. In itself it is a thread, and a fragile one, but till it breaks eternity H.H.L. E 50 THE POPULAR NOTIONS [Lect. II. is suspended from it. Can we say, any of us, that the relations between this life and the next are sufficiently present to our minds? Do they perceptibly and constantly influence our conduct and form our character ? Does the consideration of them avail to restrain us in the hour of temptation, to exalt us in all time of our tribulation, to humble us in all time of our wealth, to assure us and make us stedfast amidst the failure of earthly hopes and the loss of human friends? If in the trials and emergencies of life we have received no support from the belief in a future world, what after all is our boasted faith ? Where is our joy and peace in believing? What to us is the return of this Easter-day ? Certainly we are in no condition to look scornfully on the superstitions of the Gentiles, to make a mock at their delusions, to affect horror at their unbelief It may be that some of those Gentiles will rise up in the judgment and condemn us. But if we are able to give a good account of the hope that is in us, if we have really found it a present help in trouble, if in anticipation of the bodily resurrection we have already come out from the graves of our sins, and are in some sense risen with Christ ; if we regard earthly things as the instruments by the right use of which trea- 1849.] OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 51 sure may be laid up in heaven ; if we are con- scious that we have laid up some treasure there, and that our heart is there ; if this be so, then indeed the lot is fallen to us in a fair ground, and we have a goodly heritage; a heritage which we prize the more highly for the attempts which are made by the adver- sary of our souls to dislodge us. And as to those heathen nations, whose less-favoured condition has been under our notice to-da}-, we do not banish the hope, that there may be some among them, who having in this life sought after God, if haply they might find him, will hereafter find him, and will be received into his presence, and will be ac- counted worthy to be numbered with his faithful people, for the sake of our only Lord and Saviour. E2 NOTE ON LECTURE II. The following selection of authorities is intended to illustrate the statements made in the Lecture ; it will enable the reader to see especially, (1) how universal has been the belief not merely in a future existence, but in a future retribu- tion ; (2) how widely (though not universally) the doc- trine of transmigration has prevailed ; (3) how curiously in some cases a peculiarity of national character, or of climate, has entered into the conceptions which have been formed of the future state. I. The popular opinions and superstitions of the Greeks and Eomans are too well known to require illus- tration. I only quote the two passages of Homer, to which reference has been made at p. 31. The first is II. y. 279, where the witnesses of an oath are said to be Kai TTorayiOi, Koi yaia, Koi ol vnepepde Kafxovras ^AvBpanovs tlvv6ov, octtis k iniopKov opoacrrj. The streams, the earth, and the avengers dread, Who wait below upon the perjured dead. The second is Od. iv. 563, where Proteus says to Menelaus : 'AXXa a is 'HXvo'ioi' nediov kol 7r€ ipara yalrjs \ddvaTOL nepylrovaiv, o6l ^av66s 'Pa8dpav6os' Tfj nep pTjLCTTT] /StoTj) TreXei dvdpcoTroicriv 'Ou vla) (^. 6. Pytha- goras, and probably Plato). This passage, when correctly understood, excludes the opinion entertained by St Augustine, and advocated by Sir G. Wilkinson, (Ancient Egyptians^ Second Series, Vol. II. pp. 444, 462), that the Egyptians beheved the soul would hereafter reanimate its former body, and that with this expectation they took such great pains to pre- serve the body. Herodotus says distinctly ds dvBpanov acojxa yivofievov ia-bvveiv^ "a human body which is being formed or born" — not the old body which was already in existence. The trial of the dead, alluded to at p. 83, is described by Diodorus Siculus, i. 93. It took place just before the funeral procession commenced, in the presence of forty- two judges, who were placed in a semicircle. See Wil- kinson, Ancient EgyiJtlans^ Second Series, ii. 426. IV. The Persian religion (said to have been founded by Zoroaster about 600 b.c.) asserted that the soul after remaining in happiness or misery for a certain time, will be united to a pure and perfect body. Plutarch, de Is. et Osir. c. 46. V. Concerning the religion of the Hindoos, our best authority appears to be the book called The Ordi- nances of 3Ienu, the date of which is j)laced by Sir 184fi.] NOTE. 55 W. Jones so far back as 880 b.c. Chapter xii. of that book treats of transmigration and final beatitude. " By the vital souls of those men, who have committed sins in the body reduced to ashes, another body composed of nerves with five sensations, in order to be susceptible of torment, shall certainly be assumed after death. " If the vital spirit had practised virtue for the most part, and vice in a small degree, it enjoys delight in celestial abodes, clothed with a body formed of pure ele- mentary particles ; " But if it had been generally addicted to vice, and seldom attended to virtue, then shall it be deserted by those pure elements ; and having a coarser body of sensible nerves, it feels the pains to which Yama shall doom it. " Having endured those torments according to the sentence of Yama, and its taint being almost removed, it again reaches those five pure elements in the order of their natural distribution.'"* The following is from Chap. vi. on Devotion. '' Let him (the devotee) slide backwards and for- wards on the ground ; or let him stand a whole day on tip-toe ; or let him continue in motion rising and sitting alternately ; but at sun-rise, at noon, and at sunset, let him go to the waters and bathe. " In the hot season let him sit exposed to five fires, blazing around him, with the sun above ; in the rains let him stand uncovered, without a mantle, where the clouds pour the heaviest showers. In the cold season let him wear humid vesture ; and let him increase by degrees the austerity of his devotion, &c. &c. " These and other rules must a Brahmin who retires to the woods diligently practise ; and for the purpose of 56 NOTE. [Lect. IL uniting his soul with the Divine Spirit, let him study the various upanishads of scripture, or chapters on the essence and attributes of God. " A Brahmin having shuffled off his body by any of those modes, which great sages practised, and becoming void of sorrow and fear, rises to exaltation in the divine essence."'' — (Sir W. Jones, Works, Vol. in.) VI. The Burmas do not beheve in a Supreme Being, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe, yet are much under the influence of religious feelings, and believe in a future state in which the rewards and punishments are proportioned to the virtues and vices of this present life. (Buchanan, " On the Keligion, &c., of the Burmas,'" Asiatic Besearches, vi. 255.) VII. The people of Ceylon are Buddhists, and be- lieve that the souls of the good after death go to a state of happiness, those of the wicked transmigrate tlu-ough different stages of existence, as a punishment. (Join- ville, " On the Religion and Manners of the People of Ceylon,"" Asiatic Researches^ vii. 418, 437.) VIII. The Chinese believe in the transmigration of souls, regarding it as a sort of purgatory. They hold annually a feast in honour of the dead, at which are re- presented the various gradations of happiness and misery in the life to come. It was the doctrine of Buddha, that the highest perfection in this life, and the greatest happi- ness in the next, were to be attained through contempla- tion and exemption from worldly cares. Many, there- fore, of his disciples, passed their life in indolence, and practised begging as the most proper mode of supporting themselves. Davis' China, i. 312 ; ii. 90. IX. The Druids of Gaul and Britain taught the transmigration of souls; Caesar, Bell. Gall. vi. 14: "In 1849.] NOTE. 57 primis hoc volunt persuadere, non interire animas, sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios, atque hoc maxime ad virtutem excitari putant, metu mortis neglecto."''' See also Luean, Phars. i. 450 ; Tac. Ann. xiv. 80. It is possible that they derived this doctrine from their inter- course, through Marseilles, with Greece, (so says Origen. Philos. c. ii. p. 46). X. The Scandinavian tribes had their Walhalla, a place of carousal for departed warriors. Nastrond was the name of the cold and gloomy place reserved for the punishment of perjurers and secret murderers. The rest of mankind were to pass a joyless existence in hela (hell). See Turnery's History of the Anglo-Saxons^ i. 232, 246. Kemble's Saxons in England^ i. 893. XL Mr Oatlin says of the North American Indians (Vol. I. p. 156), " The Mandans (on the Missouri) be- lieve in a future state of existence, and a future admini- stration of rewards and punishments, and so do all tribes that I have visited. They beheve these punishments are not eternal, but commensurate with their sins. These people living in a chmate where they suffer from cold in the severity of their winters, have very naturally reversed our ideas of heaven and hell. The latter they describe to be a country very far to the north, of barren and hideous aspect, and covered with eternal snows and ice. The torments of this freezing place they describe as most excruciating; whilst heaven they suppose to be in a warmer and delightful latitude, where nothing is felt but the keenest enjoyment, and where the country abounds in buffaloes and other luxuries of life."*' XII. The Aztecs or ancient Mexicans supposed that the wicked, comprehending the greater part of man- kind, were to expiate their sins in a place of everlasting 58 NOTE. [Lect. IL darkness. Another class, who had died of certain specified diseases, were to enjoy an indolent contentment. The highest place, as in most warlike nations, was reserved for heroes who fell in battle or sacrifice. They passed at once into the presence of the Sun, whom they accompa- nied with songs and choral dances, in his bright progress through the heavens ; and after some years their spirits went to animate the clouds and singing birds of beautiful plumage, and to revel amidst the rich blossoms and odours of the garden of Paradise. Prescott's History of Mexico^ I. 56. XIII. Garcilasso was a native of Peru, brought over to Spain, about the year 1560, and there civilised and converted to Christianity. His testimony concerning the belief of his countrymen is very curious (Hist, des Incas. French translation by Baudoin, Vol. i. p. 140). " Les Incas croyaient qu'apres cette vie il y en avoit une autre, qui etoit meilleure pour les bons, et pire pour les medians, a cause de la recompense des uns, et du sup- plice des autres. lis croyaient que Tautre monde etoit corporel a peu pres comme ceci que nous passons ici bas, et ils faisoient consister le repos du haut monde a mener une vie paisible, et libre des inquietudes de celle-ci. Au contraire ils assm'oient que la vie du monde inferieur, que nous appelons Enfer, etoit pleine de toutes les maladies et de tons les maux que nous souffrons ici bas, sans qu'il y en eut aucune sorte de repos, ni de contentement. " lis croyaient encore la Kesurrection universelle, sans pourtant que leur esprit s'elevat plus haut que cette vie animale." He mentions certain practices connected with this belief in the Resurrection of the body, quotes some Spanish authors who confirm his testimony on this point, and adds, " Cos authorites que j'ai trouvees, apres avoir 1849.] NOTE. 59 ecrit ce que j'en avois oiii dire a mes parens, m'ont fort satisfait, parce que la creance de la Resurrection est tres eloignee de celle des Paiens, et que je craignois qu"'on ne me reprochat d'avoir invente ce que j'en ai dit, s'il ne se fut trouve quelque Espagnol qui en eut fait mention dans Thistoire." See also Prescott, Conquest of Perils I. 88. XIV. The islanders of the Pacific imagine that some souls after death go to an aromatic elysium, while others are tormented and eaten (an idea worthy of canni- bals). Ellis, Polynesian Researches^ i. 517. Cook''s Third Voyage^ p. 164. XV. Bruce's Travels, in. 242: "The Galla, an Abyssinian tribe, believe that after death they are to live again; that they are to rise again with their body, as they are on earth, to enter into another life, they know not where, but they are to be in a state of body infinitely more perfect than the present ; and are to die no more, nor suffer grief, sickness, or trouble of any kind. They have very obscure, or no ideas at all, of future punish- ment : but their reward is to be a moderate state of en- joyment, with the same family and persons with whom they lived on earth. And this is very nearly the same belief with the other Pagan nations in Africa, with which I have conversed intimately."' XVI. The Greenlanders differ in their opinions. Some say that the Northern lights are the dances of sportive souls ; others consider that the happiness of the future life will consist in hunting, and in feeding on seal's heads, and that the wicked are infested with ravens. Crantz, Hist, of Greenland, Eng. Transl. i. 203. XVII. The people of Kamskatka believe that in 60 NOTE. [Lect. II. the next life they shall have all things in abundance, that they shall suffer no more from the Russians, that the rich shall be poor, and vice versa : that the wicked shall be punished. Meiner's Algem. Gescli. der Belief, chap. xiv. LECTURE III. THE OPINIONS OF HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. I. COR. III. 19. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, T CONSIDERED in my last Lecture the -■- popular notions of the heathen world with respect to a future life. I endeavoured to shew that an expectation of the judgment to come, a certain looking for of retribution, has existed, under various forms, and with more or less distinctness, in almost every corner of the earth ; not only in the ancient seats of civilization, in Greece and Italy and Egypt and India, but among the micultivated tribes of Northern Europe, and in the furthest East, and throughout the vast regions of the Western Hemisphere. This belief was found to be independent of the policy of states- men; no invention of poets, not the discovery of philosophers; a principle too active and clearly marked to be mistaken for a mere day- dream, a yearning of our fallen nature after the happiness it has lost. The all but uni- 62 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. versal prevalence of such a principle can only be accounted for by supposing it to have formed a part of that Natural Revelation which God made of himself in the beginning. And, indeed, we can hardly conceive any Natural Religion to have existed at all, unless this formed one of its essential articles. But divine and pure as the doctrine was in itself, it shared the fate of all that was divine and pure in human nature. It was corrupted, and associated with many abominations. And as for its practical effects, in one part of the world it brought forth the evil fruits of fana- ticism, while in another it remained barren and lifeless, being choked by the cares and temptations of this present world. The affec- tions and passions of men became fixed upon temporal objects. If they were not satisfied with such objects, at least they were engrossed by them. We have yet to see what part was taken by the reason, that power which claims to sit supreme over all the other principles of our nature, directing their blind impulses, and restraining their headlong impetuosity. Did the reason render good service to the faith of men, or did it conspire with other enemies to overthrow it? This question is the subject of our enquiry to-day. The an- swer has already been suggested to you by 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 63 the words which I have taken as my text : " The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." These are indeed heavy words — hu- miliating to the pride of human reason : but they are the words of Scripture, and they have been applied to our present subject by one of the ancient fathers of the Church. St. Augustine^ used them to designate the speculations of philosophers with respect to a future life ; and we shall be compelled to acknowledge that his application of them was not incorrect. The primitive faith had be- come disguised by superstitions, which im- posed for a time upon the credulity of man- kind. At length reason awoke, and dis- covered the imposture; and being incensed by it, as she well might be, rejected indis- criminately both the superstition and the faith. At first indeed she undertook to prove the same things which faith had taught ; to demonstrate that much of what men igno- rantly believed was absolutely true; that the soul was immortal, that a retribution was at hand. But the arguments which were used in this behalf failed of their purpose. Other arguments presented themselves on the oppo- site side. Reason was able to throw the sub- ject into confusion and uncertainty, but was ' Serm. cxxxix. Vol. x. p. 198. (Ed. Paris, J.'iTl.) 64 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. incapable of bringing order out of the chaos which she had created. Faith indeed was subverted, but demonstration did not take its place. Superstition was exploded, but it was succeeded by scepticism. Such will be the result of our enquiry. And when we have attained this result, shall we proceed to disparage and decry the human reason, on account of this its grievous failure? on the contrary, we shall say that it was over- thrown, because it intruded upon a subject foreign to its province, and beyond its reach. But we shall still acknowledge it to be a divine and glorious faculty, so long as it does not overstep the boundaries which God has appointed to it. And if we find that it was misused and misled in former ages, let us not suppose that this is now a matter of no con- cern ; much less let us take occasion for boast- ing and self-complacency, on account of our own comparative freedom from error. An ex- ample will be exhibited, which is very appli- cable to ourselves ; a danger, from which our own times are by no means exempt. In the observations which I am about to offer, I shall not attempt to examine in detail the speculations of the ancient philosophy. Such an investigation would be neither prac- ticable nor desirable on such an occasion as 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 65^ this^ Sufficient however for our purpose will be a general survey of the subject. And in making this survey, our attention may safely be limited to the wisdom of Greece and Italy ; for in these countries only did the human reason attain its full development, and leave imperishable monuments of its strength and of its weakness. And here we may at once dismiss all those philosophers who preceded Socrates. Whether they were wise or foolish in their generation, we know very little of their doc- trines, and that little only at second hand ; they appear to have treated the future destiny of the soul merely as a physical question, and without any reference to its practical and moral bearings. With regard to that philosopher who is said to have first given a practical turn to the speculations of human reason, the general consent of antiquity, and the testimony of his disciples forbid us to doubt that he looked forward to a future life, and held, at least on this subject, by the popular faith. If there ever was, in heathen times, a man who lived and died in that belief, it was Socrates. Whatever he may have done to establish it ' For a summary of the opinions of the ancient philoso- phers, see note at the end of this Lecture. H.H.L. F 66 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. by argument, he appears certainly to have adorned it by that which was more effective, by the force of his own example. The rea- sonings which he is represented to have used may be more properly attributed to the dis- ciple by whom they are recorded. But whe- ther they are due to Socrates or Plato, they comprise nearly all that the unaided reason can allege, in behalf of the immortality of the soul, and a future state of rewards and punish- ments. It is therefore important to consider their nature and their value. 1. Some of the arguments adduced by Plato in proof of a future life, were of a physical, or more properly speaking of a metaphysical character; founded on certain assumptions respecting the nature and es- sence of the soul. But these assumptions were in themselves so arbitrary and un- warrantable, that no solid system coidd pos- sibly be built upon them, no conclusion could be established, strong enough to determine the doubts or influence the conduct of any human being. Theories were erected, beau- tiful and imposing in appearance ; but their foundations as well as their superstructure were placed in the airy regions of the imagi- nation. Thus it was asserted that the soul is capable of moving itself, and that every thing 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 67 capable of moving itself is immortal ; and that therefore the soul is immortal. But how was it to be known that the soul moved of itself; or if it did, that it was on that account immortal? These propositions were not self- evident ; they required proof, and they could not be proved. They were assumed to be true; but it might have been asserted, with at least as much probability, that the soul lives and moves and has its being at the will of some higher Power ; and that at the pleasure of that Power, its life, its motion, its being, will terminate. To resort, therefore, to assumptions of this kind — to draw conclusions from them — to call this a process of reason- ing, a demonstration of a future life, was no better than a mockery ; it was truly to give men a stone, when they asked for the bread of life. Yet this is only one specimen of the arguments which were used by the wisest of mankind. The soul was assumed to have this or that property, and by virtue of such properties it was assumed to be immortal ; whereas it could neither be shewn that the soul possessed these properties, nor that if it did, its immortality w^as a necessary conse- quence. 2. But apart from these airy speculations, another argument was deduced, with more F2 68 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. show of reason, from the apparent analogies of nature. It was observed that the soul often retains its energies, when the bodily powers are suspended by sleep or enervated by disease. There are cases, not few nor far to seek, where amidst bodily decay and ruin the spirit dwells unhurt, and shines brightly and steadily to the last. Hence a probability arises that it may exist and act independently of the body, and that it will even act with greater freedom when released from this prison-house of flesh and blood ; that it will be better fitted for the contemplation of things divine and heavenly, when disengaged from its gross and sensual companion. These observations undoubtedly have some force; but they are open to the reply, that at least in some respects there appears to be a mutual dependence, and a sympathy, be- tween soul and body; that in very many cases the faculties of the mind are impaired, disturbed, or suspended from their opera- tions by the same causes which interfere with the bodily powers ; thus they are frequently impaired by sickness, disturbed by pain, and altogether suspended by sleep. Moreover the energies of the mind and body seem generally to advance, arrive at maturity, and decay to- gether, the bodily functions being, so far as 1849.] HEATHEN PHH^OSOPHERS. 69 we can see, the first to commence their ac- tivity, and the latest to desist from it. It is some time before the infant manifests the first spark of intelligence, the first proof of consciousness ; and old age occasionally pre- sents the sad spectacle of the bodily functions working still, when the mental faculties have ceased to act. From these considerations it would appear that the soul acts through the body, as by an instrument ; and if so, how can we tell, what proof have we looking merely to the analogies of nature^ that when the instru- ment is dissolved, the silver cord loosed, and the golden bowl broken, the soul will be able any longer to exercise its functions, or to retain consciousness, or any distinct personal existence, or any existence whatever? In the same manner any analogy in favour of a future life might be met by another, which made against it And on the whole it is manifest, that the analogies of Nature, if taken by themselves, and compared together, would afford at the utmost only a faint pro- bability in favour of the immortality of the soul. They were however greatly relied on, as a proof of that doctrine. And they passed as a proof, with those who were already per- suaded upon other and surer grounds. He who listened to the voice within him, assuring 70 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. him he should never die, heard echoes of that voice returned to him on all sides from the Natural world ; and he readily accepted those echoes, as a voice external to himself, as an independent testimony. Whereas he who gave no heed to the voice in his own bosom, which said "Thou art immortal," would refuse to hear any responses which might be made to that voice, though they should resound from every part of the creation. It is worthy of observation that the idea of a future life, suggested by these analogies, was at variance with the popular notion, and suit- able to the more refined speculations of the philosophers. The popidar belief, though it did not suppose that any part of the body would survive the stroke of death, yet con- templated the future world as a scene of corporeal tortures or enjoyments. But the analogies of nature, of which we have just been speaking, if they proved the future sub- sistence of the soul at all, proved it by shew- ing that the soul is independent of the body ; and thus led to the inference, that in a future stage of existence the soul would be free from all those affections which it now derives from its conjunction with the body. 3. The arguments which have hitherto been noticed do not touch the question of 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 71 a future retribution. They regard the soul merely as an immortal being, and neither decide nor suggest anything as to its happi- ness or misery. But there was another class of arguments, more forcible than either of the former two, which bore directly on this point. When the heathen sage looked abroad in the world, and saw vice so often prosperous, virtue so often suffering and oppressed, the convic- tion forced itself upon his mind, that there must be yet another state of existence, in which these irregularities will be corrected ; that God will not always be long-suffering to the wicked, nor hide his face for ever from them that seek him. And more than this ; an approach was even made to the great Chris- tian principle, that all things work together for good to them that love God ; for it was broadly laid down by Plato^ that "although the righteous man fall into poverty or disease, or any other of the so called calamities of life, even these things will conduce to his welfare, either in this world, or after his death." This argument, I say, founded on moral grounds, was a good and valid one ; but then ^ De Repub. Lib. X. p. 612. outw? apa vTroXtjTrreov Trept rov ciKalov clucpo^^ eav t iu trevia yijvr]Tai^ eav t€ ev vocroi^ »'/ Tivi aWui Tcov coKovvTMu KUKOJU, (0? TOUTOJ TavTU 6J9 ayttOov Ti TeXevTtja-ei (^oovti tj clirodavovn. 7% THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. lU. it was by no means the discovery of the un- assisted reason ; for here the reason was relying upon Natural Religion, and taking the popular belief of mankind as a first prin- ciple. It was only arguing from one truth of Natural Religion to another. It was taking for granted one half, and then saying that the other half was necessary, to complete the whole. It was taking for granted the divine holiness and justice and mercy, and then in- ferring that as these attributes are not fully vindicated here, they will be hereafter. Such an argument might satisfy those who so far admitted the truth of Natural Religion as to believe that God is, and that he is the re- warder of them that diligently seek him ; but they would have no effect on the philosopher, who had cast off the faith as a popular delu- sion, and who sought to prove all things by the force of the unaided reason. And accord- ingly we find that this argument, proving as it does at once a future life and a future retribution, and being in reality a sound and valid one, was soon set aside by the wise men of this world. They were not content with the God, whom the light of Nature had made known to men. They imagined a God for themselves ; and to that God they attributed such qualities as they chose to consider wor- 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 73 thy of him. Wrath and Vengeance, they imagined, were inconsistent with the majesty of the Godhead ; they presumed that his lov- ing-kindness would restrain him from inflict- ing punishment even upon the most rebellious of his creatures. Hence they denied that he exercised any moral government over men ; or that he had any good or evil things in store, either in this life or in another, for those who served or for those who disobeyed him. Such were the aberrations of human reason when it essayed to walk by its own light, and disdained that Natural Revelation, which was intended to be its guide, "as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawned." We have now seen the general character of Plato's reasonings in favour of a future life. They were founded partly on some visionary speculations respecting the nature of the soul ; and in part on certain analogies of nature, which could only have weight if certain other analogies, of an opposite ten- dency, were kept out of sight. There was, besides, the argument in favour of a future retribution, founded on the knowledge of God's moral attributes, and on the observed irregu- larity of his moral government in this present world. And we have seen how ineffectual all these arguments were to satisfy the human 74« THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. reason. But it is instructive to observe the value which was put upon them by their author. He says^ in one place that even the best reasoning on this subject is but a crazy raft, scarce likely to survive the storms to which it will be exposed in life's troublous voyage. He knew not of that haven of cer- tainty into which we have been brought, nor of the hope which we have as an anchor of the soul. Again, after contending for some time, in favour of a future life, and fighting as one that beats the air, he concludes that only God^ knows whether it be better to live or to die ; no mortal can tell. But now who knows not? who is ignorant that it is better to depart hence and be with Christ; that though even to live is Christ, yet to die is gain? He said, and said most truly, that nothing^ short of a divine Revelation could certify us of the future condition of the soul. How far was he from imagining that such a ^ Plat. Phccd. p. 3. oe? tov jSeXTia-Tov tcou dudpiaTriuuv Xoycov Xaf^ovTu Kai ^vaeXeyKTOTaTov, eVt tovtov oyovfxevov^ uicTTrep c'tti a-^ehla^ KivhvuevovTa^ ^LaTrXevcrai tov l3iov. ^ Plat. Apol. ad fin. wpa dirievai^ e'/uot fxev davovfxevM vfxTv Ze f3iu)(Ton€voi<;^ oiroTepoi Ze tj/jicav epj^ovTai eVt afxeivov irpa.'yixa, aZr]\ov TTOLVTi irXt^v ij tm dew. ^ Plat. Timcv. p. 72. to. fxtv ovv 'ir€p\ \//'u^»7?, oo-oi/ dvrjTov 6^ej Kai oaou veTov . . . to /jlcu dXtjde^, deov ^viJL(f)t](ravTo<: tot ai/ ovTU) fxovoif; cu 98. 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 81 bute the change to that divine Revelation, by which Faith has been re-established and re- stored to her supremacy, and Reason has been confined to her proper sphere, and taught to be subordinate to Faith. Such then was the infidelity of those times ; engendered by false philosophy, it was fos- tered by the corruptions incidental to civilisa- tion. The reason of man was in alliance with his passions, with his vices, with his short- sighted love of the things of this world. In the midst however of all this professed and actual scepticism, there is one circumstance which must not be overlooked, for it stands out in striking and bold relief. The deep instinct of our nature, which revolts at the idea of annihilation, and which is ever whis- pering to each of us, that we shall live for ever, was not to be entirely stifled. Though suppressed in one shape, it reappeared in an- other. The very men who scouted the popular notions of a future state, yet imagined an immortality for themselves. Not indeed that they set their affections on things above, or laid up their treasure in heaven. Their dreary unbelief shut out heaven from their eyes, and limited their view to this work-day world — this scene of suffering and frail mortality. Here they sought to create for themselves an H.H.L. G 82 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. immortality. They doted on posthumous renown. It was their ambition to live for ever, in the memory and on the lips of posterity. They looked forward to a future judgment — not however a divine, but a human one ; to a tribunal before which they would never be arraigned ; to a sentence by which they could not be affected. For the sake of this they persuaded themselves that their hearts beat high with noble aspirations ; for the sake of this the pleasures of life were to be foregone, and death itself to be despised. The observation is perhaps a true one, that *' the desire of posthumous fame, and of the greatness and prosperity of one's descend- ants, seems always to have been even the stronger in those who have believed least, or thought least, of a future life^" Thus the pretended sceptic, while he denied the sub- stance, was worshipping the shadow ; and thus the deep instinct of his nature avenged itself for the outrage which he had committed against it. We have now seen how the human reason, under the conduct of Plato, commenced its enquiries, in subordination to the popular faith, or at least in alliance with it : how it ' Archbishop Whateley On the PecuUaritws of the Chris- tian Religion, p. 125, (5th edition.) 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 83 afterwards stood aloof from the faith, and proceeded independently, on a system of its own ; and how it ended with becoming hostile to the faith, and, so far as its influence ex- tended, destructive of it. From all this we learn a lesson, which is enforced by the testi- mony of later ages. We learn not indeed that Reason should be altogether excluded from the province of Religion; we are not forbidden to approach God with one of the best members that we have. We are to seek him not with the heart alone, but with the understanding also. Let all that is within us praise his holy name. But we are taught that the use of reason on religious subjects is not free from danger, and is not to be indulged indiscri- minately. We trust that the many experi- ments and failures of former ages have at length taught us the true province and legiti- mate functions of the human reason. In the first place, it is concerned to collect and weigh the evidence upon which the fact of a divine Revelation rests. But supposing the fact to be established, that a divine Revelation has been made, Reason has no power to prove, by any independent process of her own, the truth, or excellence, or necessity of the things revealed. Any attempt to do this, however G2 84 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. well-intentioned, will only lead us into con- fusion and darkness, and, like the reasonings of Plato, will have the effect of giving an advantage to the sceptic and the infidel. Neither is Reason empowered to enlarge the domain of revealed truth, to fill up the void places with her own inferences and conclusions, and to bind those ^ conclusions on the consciences of men, as of equal and co-ordinate authority with Revelation itself: for the Revelation is indisputable, but the conclusions of the most enlightened human reason are liable to error. But if Reason may not add to Revelation, neither may she detract from it, nor question its wisdom, nor derogate from its authority, nor maintain that one part is less binding than another, nor erect any standard of her own, by which the eternal counsels may be essayed. The fact of a Revelation being once esta- blished. Faith is the principle of our nature which is chiefly concerned about it, and Rea- son can only act as the handmaid of Faith. In this capacity however she may still do good service, by searching the Scriptures, by labouring with all humility and reverence to > An instance of this may be found in the doctrine of Pur- gatory; see Lecture YIII. 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 85 ascertain their meaning, and to remove their obscurities, by comparing the written with the unwritten Revelation, and shewing that the two are not discordant, but reconcileable with each other. Thus with regard to a future life, though the natural world yields no ana- logies sufficient in themselves to prove the doctrines of the Gospel, and though at first sight it seems to present some analogies against that doctrine, yet on the whole, when closely questioned and examined by human reason, it affords no presumption against the truth of Revelation. It might be probable, if we con- sidered only one side of the phenomena of Nature, that the shock of death which dis- solves the body, would destroy the spirit also. This is an analogy against a future life. But when we observe how the soul sometimes re- tains its energies, through pain and sickness, up to the moment of dissolution, we can scarcely resist the presumption, that it will pass through that awful crisis without harm. Here then is a second analogy, which as many would say, preponderates over the first ; but at any rate it balances it, and justifies us in asserting that the analogies of Nature are, on the whole, not opposed to the doctrine of the Gospel. Again, with regard to God's moral 86 THE OPINIONS OF [Lect. III. government of the world, we are surrounded with mysteries, whether we look forward to the future, or contemplate the present. But the difficulties of Revelation and the diffi- culties of the Natural World seem in some degree to explain each other, when they are compared together. The present unequal dis- tribution of happiness and misery is a mys- tery. The future judgment is a mystery also. But if men here had their exact deserts, a future retribution would be still more mys- terious than it is ; and if there were no future retribution, the present irregularities in the moral government of the world would be still more unaccountable. If our reason be exercised in this manner, it will have a salutary influence, tending to the establishment of our faith. Otherwise it will only lead to the knowledge which pufFeth up, to the oppositions of science falsely so called, to the wisdom which is " foolishness with God." And we, my Brethren, who dwell in this seat of learning, in this school of Reason, we have especial need to be reminded, that we abuse not the privileges which we here enjoy.- It is our privilege, and it is our duty, to exer- cise the best powers of the understanding 1849.] HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 87 upon our holy Religion. In order that we may give a reason for our faith, we must tell her towers and mark well her bulwarks, and consider her palaces ; we must study her de- fences, and contemplate her fair proportions. But while we are thus engaged, let us take care that we do not fall into a cold specu- lative habit of viewing religious subjects ; that while we fix the doctrines of Revelation in our understanding, we do not erase them from the tablets of our heart. If such were to be the end of our studies, we had better not have begun them.— For faith without knowledge is better than knowledge without faith. — The heartless convictions of the reason will not carry us so far as the unreasoning impulses of the heart. They will stand us in no stead when temptation and affliction come upon us. When the sun is up they will be scorched, and because they have no root in the heart they will wither away. It will be well if they do not give place to the noxious weeds of doubt and infidelity. Whatever therefore may be our advance in Christian learning, it must still be the first necessity, the only safeguard of our lives, to have faith in Christ ; to rest upon him with all our soul — to love him as our Saviour, to 88 OPINIONS OF HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. [Lect. III. fear him as our Judge. Towards him the wisest of mankind must still look up with childlike feelings of reverence and reliance. And unless in this respect we are as the little children, we shall not enter into the kingdom of God. NOTE ON LECTURE III. In illustration of the preceding Lecture, I have here brought together the opinions of the leading philosophers of antiquity upon the condition of the soul after death. Some speculations concerning the immortality of the soul have been attributed by ancient writers to Thales of Miletus, the founder of the Ionic philosophy, who flourish- ed B.C. 560. He was reputed by some to have been the first who affirmed the doctrine, resting it on physical grounds, and saying that the soul must be an eternal prin- ciple, because it produces motion. (Diog. Laert. i. 24. Theodoret. Serm. v. p. 83). This statement, though not improbable, is not to be received as certain ; for no writ- ings of Thales are extant, and his opinion as to the nature of the soul was a matter of doubt, even in the time of Aristotle ; as appears from the following passage (Aris- tot. de Animd, i. 2, 22) : " From what is related of Thales it seems that he supposed the soul to be some- thing capable of exciting motion ; if at least it be true that he said the loadstone has a soul, because it excites motion in iron." Pherecydes of Syros, the master of Pythagoras, (b.c. 544) was the earliest philosopher whose written opinion on the immortality of the soul was extant in the time of Cicero : '' Primum dixit, quod quidem Uteris exstet, ani- mas hominum esse sempiternas." (Tusc. i. 16.) Pythagoras (b.c. 510) derived his philosophy partly from the Ionic school, and partly from Egypt. Accord- 90 NOTE. [Lect. III. ing to him, the soul consists of two parts, the one divine, rational, immortal ; the other earthly, sensual, and mortal. The pure and virtuous soul is by death entirely released from its grosser parts, and so enabled to return at once to God. The impure and wicked soul is sent back to hfe again and again, until it is at length purged of its earthly element. See Virg. ^^. vi. 745; Ov. Met. xv. 160; Aureum carmen ; Hor, Od. i. 28; Herod, ii. 123. Anaxagoras, the master of Euripides, flourished b.c. 450. His opinion as to the nature of the soul appears not to have differed much from that of T hales. (Aristot. de An. i. 2. 9, 10, 32.) But we have no proof that he considered the soul immortal. Democritus of Abdera in Thrace, born b.c. 460, died B.C. 351. He held the soul to be a fortuitous concourse of atoms, and therefore Hable to dispersion and dissolu- tion. Aristot. de An. i. 2. 4. Scriptor anon, de placitis pMlosoiyJiorum^ iv. 7. Brucker, Hist. Phil. i. p. 1195. The above sketch, short as it is, will be found to represent the opinions of the philosophers preceding Socrates, so far as those opinions can now be ascertained. The physical essence of the soul was the principal subject of speculation ; its future existence was only incidentally and slightly discussed, except by Pythagoras, who intro- duced from Egypt, and gave prominence to the doctrine of metempsychosis. But it may be doubted whether Py- thagoras, or any other philosopher of this period, main- tained the continuance of consciousness, the preservation of personal identity after death. With regard to the opinions of Socrates on this subject, it must be admitted that we derive no certain information from Xenophon's Memoirs ; it is also true that we cannot exactly say to what extent Plato has put 1849.] NOTE. 91 his own sentiments and reasonings into the mouth of So- crates ; still it is impossible to suppose that the disciple would represent his master maintaining both philosophi- cally and practically the belief in a future state, if such a representation were totally inconsistent with the fact. Assuming, however, that the arguments contained in the Dialogues of Plato are for the most part due to Plato, we may proceed to give a short summary of them. I. Phcedrus, p. 344. Whatever has motion intrin- sically is without beginning ; and that which is without beginning, is without end. The body has not this intrin- sic principle of motion; but the soul has. Therefore the soul is without beginning and without end, eternal. This doctrine, as we have seen, was perhaps suggested, though not clearly developed, by Thales. It was much relied on by Cicero. {Tusc, Qucest. i. 23). In a later dialogue, the Plicedo^ Plato has not employed it ; possibly (as Wyttenbach remarks^) because he had become sensi- ble of its fallacy. II. De Bepuh. x. p. 516. Things which are bad for the body, destroy it, as diseases and wounds — things which are bad for the soul do not seem to destroy it, as injus- tice, intemperance. Again, an evil happening to the body, as a disease or a wound, does not harm the soul, and much less kill it. We know of no evil therefore, either internal or external, either mental or bodily, which can destroy the soul. III. De Bepuh, x. p. 612. The gods love righteous- ness and hate iniquity. Although, therefore, the right- eous man may be afflicted with poverty, disease, «&:c., these things will certainly issue in his good, either here or hereafter. 1 Disputatio de Immortalitatc Animse, Opusc. ii. 495. 92 NOTE. [Lect. III. IV. This and the following arguments are from the Phcedo^ the most important philosophical treatise, whether of ancient or modern times, on the future condition of the soul. The soul is best able to exercise its powers, when it has most completely abstracted itself from the body ; thus shewing its independence of the body, by which it is now only encumbered, not assisted. For the body is the source of all vice and error. It is therefore possible, that when set free from the body, the soul will be better able to contemplate truth, better fitted to dwell with God. V. Every thing which exists proceeds from its con- trary ; the strong becomes so from having been weak. That which becomes swift was previously slow. Thus from life proceeds death, and mce versa ; the dead pro- ceed from the living, the living from the dead. To die is but to pass into the state which is contrary to life. Death is not annihilation, but the transition into another state. This argument has been illustrated by the Ger- man philosopher Mendelsohn, in his treatise entitled Phwdo. VI. If all the living were to die, without any of the dead returning to life, the circle of nature would be broken, the world could not be replenished. This argu- ment goes on the supposition thrown out in the Phwdnis^ that the number of living beings is fixed and invariable, so that as some go out of the world others must return to it, in order to keep up the succession (hke fantoccini figures, going out at one door and returning at the other). VII. Knowledge is only the remembrance of things learnt in a former life. When we say a thing is beautiful, we refer it to a standard of beauty (idea) which we must have had previously ; and we could not have acquired 1849.] NOTE. 93 that standard or idea by means of the bodily senses, for they only present to us individuals, not general ideas. We must therefore have acquired it before we were in the body. We have existed therefore before we came into this life; and, by V. and VI., the alternation will con- tinue hereafter, i. e. we shall die and live again. Some modern philosophers (Leibnitz, &c.) admit the existence in the soul of ideas which are not derived through the bodily senses. They do not however go along with Plato in supposing those ideas to have been acquired in a former life, but consider them to be innate, impressed on the soul at the commencement of its being. VIII. Some have supposed that at death the soul is dissolved and dispersed, and that consequently its exist- ence is terminated. But those things only can be dis- solved which are composed of several parts ; whereas the soul is a simple, as appears from its being impalpable to the senses, unchangeable, not liable to mutilation. Be- ing therefore indissoluble, it will continue to exist after death. This argument has been used by Bishop Butler, Anal Chap. 1. IX. Others assert that the soul is a harmony, con- sisting in the nice adjustment of the external elements, and that it will cease when they are deranged. But the soul cannot be defined to be a harmony, for it is often in a state of discord, from the influence of the appetites and passions. X. The nature of the soul is analogous to that of ideas. The presence of the idea of beauty (t6 koXov) makes a thing to be beautiful. The presence of the soul makes the body to be ahve. When a thing becomes ugly, the idea of beauty does not perish, nor undergo any 94 NOTE. [Lect. III. change, but retires, giving place to the idea of ugliness. So when the body dies, the soul does not perish, but departs. Such are the arguments of Plato. He has also given several descriptions of the future state, which are highly ingenious and elegant, but altogether the creations of his imagination. He depicts the happiness of the good, and the torments (in some cases eternal) of the wicked. See the Phwdrus^ the Phcedo^ the Gorgias^ and above all the Republic^ Book x. The opinion of Aristotle on the immortality of the soul has been for many ages a subject of controversy (see infra. Lecture VIII. and Brucker, Hist. Phil. i. 824.) He composed some popular works, now lost, in which he is said to have maintained the affirmative ; but in his philosophical treatise De Animd^ where we might have expected to find his mature and deliberate opinion, he has not declared himself distinctly, either one way or the other. His book on Ethics {ad Nicom.) once or twice touches the subject incidentally; but the expressions which he there uses are too loose and contradictory to be re- garded as philosophical dogmas. He adopts for the moment such popular notions as suit his purpose ; but at the same time intimates that they are only popular notions. {a) Thus in an enumeration of things which are objects of dread, he says {Eth. in. 6) : " Above all. Death is an object of fear; for it is an end; and we suppose that nothing either good or evil can befall the dead." (^ojSepto- rarov S' 6 Oavaros- nepas yap' Koi ovdev en rat redvecoTi doKel, ovre ayaObv, ovre kukov elvai. (h) Again, in the same treatise (EtJi. 1. 10), although he does not allow that the dead can be happy, (vSaipcov, because according to his definition happiness implies ac- 1849.] NOTE. 95 tivity (€v8aiiiovia is euepyeia tls) ; yet he adds, " we suppose that good and evil (e.g. honour and disgrace, the suc- cesses and misfortunes of children and descendants) may befall the dead, as well as the living who are without per- ception : 8oKel yap elvai Ti tco reBvewTi kcll kukov koL ayaBbv, ('nrep kol ra ^aivri, prj alcrOavopeva de, oiov ripai Koi aTipiai, Ka\ reKvcov koX oXcos o.7roy6vcov cinrpd^iaL re Kal 8vcrTV)(iai. Here it IS said that good and evil befall the dead, but it is implied that they are unconscious of it. But (c) Shortly afterwards (Eth. i. 11) he entertains the notion, that the dead are conscious of what befalls their friends on earth , he says it would be a harsh thing and revolting to the common opinions of men to deny this : ras Se tcov anoyovav TV)(as kol twv (f)ik(OP dnavTOiv to pev prjboTiovv avplBaXXea-dai, Xiav a.(pi\ov (paiverai, kol rats Bo^ais ivavriov. J3ut he says, it is probable (eot/ce) that if the dead have such a sympathy for the living, it is of so slight a nature, as not materially to affect them : eoiKe yap €< tovtcov, d kol duKvelTai Trpos avTovs otiovv, e'lre dyaQov e'lre rovvavriov, dcfiavpov ti koi, piKpoVy T] aTrXaJy, rj €K€lvois elvai' el de pr), toctovtop ye Koi TOiovTOVy focTTe pfi Tovs evdaipovas juj) evdaipovas iroielvy prjbe tovs ovTas d(f)ai- peladaL to paKapiov. It is evident, that in each of these passages he is lending himself for the moment to a popular notion, with- out considering whether it is absolutely true, or consistent with other prevailing opinions about the dead. In (a) and (h) he says SoKeT, we suppose, it appears, in (c) he dismisses an opinion as being rms doiais ivavriov. And his real sentiments cannot with certainty be inferred from any one of these passages. Archbishop Whateley has an ingenious note on the opinion of Aristotle in his Essay, On the Peculiarities of the Christian Religion, 5th edition, p. 120. He 96 NOTE. [Lect. Ill, points out the force of 8oKei in (5), and remarks on the oscitancy of former interpreters in not observing the true sense of that passage. But he has himself overlooked the same word boKel in the first passage (a), and thus has been led to make the hasty assumption that Aristotle in that passage stated his real opinion. With regard to the third passage (c), Archbishop Whateley says, " Could he be so absurd as not only to pronounce positively that the dead are in a percipient state, and likewise that they are aware of what is passing among the survivors, but also that they are nevertheless affected only in a very small degree by the good or ill fortune of their friends ? Tf they knew anything at all of it, how can he tell how much or how little they are affected f This opinion is not however "pronounced positively" by Aristotle, but stated as a probable con- jecture (eoiKe) ; and with deference to the Archbishop, I do not see that it is prima facie absurd ; any more than it is absurd to say that our blessed Lord is " touched with a feeling of our infirmities,^^ dwaixevos aviiTrad^o-ai rals acrOe- vdais riy^^v (Heb. iv. 15); such sympathy not detracting from the bliss of heaven. The notion here countenanced by Aristotle, that the dead are conscious of the condition of their friends, though not so as to be made happy or miserable thereby, may be true or not; Scripture, I think, is silent on the subject. — But, unless I am mis- taken, the notion is entertained, very nearly as Aristotle states it, by many Christians at the present day. — St Augustine says, it is a difficult question "utrum, vel quatenus, vel quomodo ea quse circa nos aguntur, mo- verint spiritus mortuorum.'" (ad Ps. cviii. 17.) If any philosophical opinion on the subject may be gathered from Aristotle's treatise De Animd, it would 1849.] NOTE. 97 seem to be this; that Reason, of which man is a partaker, exists eternally in God, but that the individual rational entities are not eternal; in other words, that personal identity does not subsist after death ; — i. e. man is not an immortal being. (See Ritter, Hist. Phil. in. 256. Wyttenbach, Opusc. ii. 601.) Among the immediate successors of Aristotle the doctrine of the immortality of the soul had no zealous advocates, and many opponents. It was rejected by the Epicureans, by the Cynics, and by the Stoics ; these last however admitted that the soul would survive the body for a length of time, the punishment of the wicked being that they should perish sooner than the good. " The Stoics in their bounty grant us a long lease of life, as if we were crows; they say the soul will survive a good while, but not for ever." Stoici autem usuram nobis largiuntur tanquam cornicibus ; diu mansuros aiunt ani- mos; semper, negant. (Cic. Tusc. i. 82.) There were however some different shades in their opinions ; for which see Wyttenbach, Opusc. ii. 622, &c. The principal treatise of Cicero on the future state of the soul, is the first book of his Tusculan Disputations. The proposition which he there lays down is the dilemma which Plato attributes to Socrates, that death is either absolute annihilation, or the beginning of a new and happier state ; and in either case not a thing to be feared. He inclines decidedly to the latter alternative, and ad- duces as arguments in support of it : — (1) The general belief of mankind that the soul is immortal : " Permanere animas arbitramur, consensu nationum omnium" (§ 16.) So large a portion of the globe had never been known to any nation, as had been then recently laid open to the Romans by the conquests H. H. L. H 98 NOTE. [Lect. III. of Csesar, Crassus, Pompey, &c. If Cicero therefore was not the first to use this argument, he had much stronger grounds for employing it than any philosopher who pre- ceded him. And, apart from Revelation, it appears to be the strongest, if not the only really valid argument which can be adduced. (2) The nature of the soul, which is spiritual, or fiery, according to the Stoics, or a number, as Pythagoras asserts, or a fifth element, according to Aristotle. In any case, on leaving the body it is carried upwards into a rarer medium, and there enjoys the twofold happiness of resting from earthly excitements, and of feeding on the contem- plation of heavenly things. § 17 — 20. (3) The argument of Plato (in the Phwdrus) that the soul moves by its intrinsic energy, and is therefore immortal. § 23. (4) The peculiar faculties of the soul, memory, judgment, &c., which forbid us to think it corporeal. It is divine, and therefore eternal. § 24. He does not follow Plato in supposing the future life to be a state of retribution. Nor could he do so con- sistently with the doctrine which he had adopted from the Stoics : " nunquam nee irasci Deum, nee nocere." {De Off. III. 28.) The probable immortality of the soul is maintained by Cicero, with more rhetoric and less argument, in the De Senedute and Somnium Scipionis. But in his Orations and Epistles he never speaks with confidence of a future life. He several times repeats the dilemma mentioned above, and generally treats the two alternatives as equally probable. (Ep. ad Fam. vi. 2. v. 16. de Am. chap. 4.) Once he speaks of death as a state devoid of conscious- ness, "nullum sensum habitura'' {Ep. ad Fam. v. 21); 1849.] NOTE. 99 and no expressions of a contrary import can be quoted. On the death of his daughter Tulha his grief was im- moderate, shewing that he had no deep practical convic- tion of a future hfe. See ad Att. xii. 15. For the speeches of Julius Csesar, Cato of Utica, and Cicero, referred to at pp. 78-80 of the Lecture, see Sallust, Bell. Cat. cap. l. liv. Cic. iti Cat. iv. 4. Csesar says: " De poena possumus equidem dicere id quod res habet, in luctu atque miseriis mortem serumnarum requiem non cruciatum esse ; eam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere ; ultra neque curse neque gaudio locum esse." Upon which Cato remarks : " Bene et composite (necjipovTKrfxevcos) C. Csesar paulo ante in hoc ordine de vita et morte disseruit, credo falsa existumans, ea, quse de inferis memorantur, diverso itinere malos a bonis loca tetra inculta foeda atque formidolosa habere." (This same Cato, after medi- tating the Phcedo of Plato, slew himself at Utica.) Cicero remarks : " Vitam solam relinquit (Csesar) nefariis homi- nibus ; quam si eripuisset, multas uno dolore, animi atque corporis, atque omnes scelerum poenas ademisset. Itaque, ut aliqua in vita formido improbis esset posita, apud infe- ros ejusmodi qusedam illi antiqui supplicia impiis consti- tuta esse voluerunt : quod videlicet intelligebant, his re- motis, non esse mortem ipsam pertimescendam." II 2 LECTURE IV. THE JEWS BEFORE AND AFTER THE CAPTIVITY. JOHN V. 39. Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are tliey which testify of me. IT has been the object of my former Dis- courses to trace the belief in a future life, as it prevailed among the heathen before the coming of Christ. We have found that belief everywhere existing, and tenacious of exist- ence, but nowhere pure, nowhere exerting its proper influence on the heart ; generally cor- rupted by superstitious fancies, and counter- acted in its practical effects by the vicious propensities of our nature : while reason, the noblest faculty of man, began indeed by espousing its cause, and made some attempt to establish it, but soon turned against it, and laboured to complete its overthrow; reason, in her highest and proudest estate, thus going hand-in-hand with the basest appetites and passions, and conspiring with them to banish, if it were possible, all notion of a future 1849.] THE JEWS BEFORE THE CAPTIVITY. 101 judgment. With such a combination against it, we cannot suppose this belief would ever, if left to itself, have regained its influence, though as a deep instinct of our nature it might not have been entirely eradicated. But before we consider the means by which it was at length placed on its proper grounds, we must turn our attention to a people whom we have hitherto left out of the question, even to that chosen race which by the inscrutable counsels of God was set apart, not more for their own immediate benefit, than for the eventual edification of the Gentile world. We have to enquire whether the Jews were in possession of that saving knowledge respect- ing a future life, which might have been made available for the welfare both of themselves and of the rest of mankind ? Was the true doctrine preserved among them in peculiar purity, or in peculiar force? Was it com- municated to them by any special Revela- tion ? Could they have gone forth, with the Old Testament Scriptures in their hands, and convinced the world of a judgment to come? Were the Pharisees in the time of our Lord justified in thinking that in those Scriptures they had eternal life? or were those Scrip- tures intended to do more than testify of Him who was to bring life and immortality 102 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. to light ? To these questions, which are not without their difficulty, and certainly not without their interest, I shall now endeavour to suggest an answer. The answer, I need not say, is to be sought first of all in those ancient books which trace the history of the Jewish people from its earliest origin, and which set forth the insti- tutions of that people, as they were written by the finger of God, or dictated by his Holy Spirit. I need not remind you that the Mo- saic Law, though of divine authorship, was only a partial and temporary system ; partial, that is, as compared with the fuller declara- tion of God's will, which has been made known to us ; temporary, because intended only to last until that perfect scheme should be developed, to which it had a reference. When that which was perfect did come, then that which was in part was done away. We cannot doubt that it was effectual for its pur- pose, but its* imperfections we cannot over- look, for they are pointed out to us by the Apostles of the new and better Covenant. It drew about the people a miraculous wall of separation from the rest of the world. And the people it made holy, but it did not sanc- ' See Barrow's Sermon On the Imperfections of the Jewish Religion. Hawkins's Bampton Lectures, p. 81. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 103 tify the individual. It ordained that' the priest should offer prayer on behalf of the congregation, but it did not enforce com- munion with God as a personal duty and a personal privilege. It enjoined external cere- monies of purification for the body ; but it had no inward lustration for the heart. It appointed sacrifices ; but they were no more than types of the great propitiation to be offered in the fulness of time. And, to come to our present object, it enforced both the ceremonial and moral law by no prospect of an eternal retribution, but only by the sanc- tions of temporal rewards and punishments. We might perhaps have expected that any divine Revelation would have had the pro- mise of a future life inscribed upon its front in letters of light, so that he who ran might read. But this, as is well known, was not the case with the Mosaic Law. It is agreed alike by ancient and modern divines, that the Books of Moses contain no express decla- ration of a future state 2. None such is to be found in the historical portion of the Penta- teuch, none such is written in the Law. In the Law, God is represented holding his people as it were in his own hand, and enforcing ^ Numb. vi. end. Bull, Harm. Ap- Diss. Post. x. 5. ^ See note at the end of this Lecture. J 04 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. obedience to his will by a peculiar Provi- dence. But the inducements to good and the dissuasives from evil are to be found in the promise of earthly blessings, and the threat of earthly calamities. As God was visibly present between the cherubim, so he made his presence to be felt in the daily events of life. The divine dispensations of temporal good and evil happen to us according to laws which we cannot investigate, and do not bear a close and uniform relation to our moral conduct; but to the Jews they came in a known and intelligible course of administra- tion, as the appointed retributions of obedi- ence and disobedience. Among the Jews, the general tenor of a man's conduct, if not each particular action, was followed by a recompence of temporal good or evil, in a connexion sufficiently plain and impressive to mark it as the judicial visitation of the Almighty. The passages are too numerous to be here even referred to, in which God declares that if his people would walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments, and do them, then he would give them rain in due season, and the land should yield her increase, and the trees of the field should yield their fruit; and he would give peace in the land, so that they should lie down, and none should 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 105 make them afraid ; and he would rid evil beasts out of the land, neither should the sword go through their land : and he would have respect unto them, and make them fruit- ful and multiply them. But if they despised his statutes, and abhorred his judgments, and broke his covenant; then he would ap- point over them terror, consumption, and the burning ague ; and they should sow their seed in vain, for their enemies should eat it; and they should be slain before their enemies, and they that hated them should rule over them ; and they should flee when none pur- sued them ; and he would send wild beasts among them, which should rob them of their children, and destroy their cattle, and make them few in number ; and their highways should be desolate; and their strength should be spent in vain ; for their land should not yield her increase, neither the trees of the land their fruits ^ Such passages, I say, are of frequent occurrence ; they are reiterated like the burden of some awful song. And, lest it should be said that these promises and threatenings were held out only to Israel as a nation, and intended to enforce the national observance of God's law, but not meant to ' Levit.xxvi. See also Exod. xv. 26. xx. 12. Numb. xiv. 20. xxxii. 10. Dcut. i. 35. iv. 1. v. 29, &c. 106 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. apply to individuals; lest it should be said that national prosperity and calamity alone were contemplated in this and similar de- clarations, we have other passages in which the conduct of individuals is especially the object of God's discriminating justice ; the temporal curses of the law are threatened upon any "■ man, or woman, or family, or tribe," whose heart should turn away from the Lord \ That which is called " the first command- ment with promise" holds out length of days as the reward to him who should observe the duty of filial obedience. And to take one or two particular cases, we know that Moses died on Mount Nebo, and Aaron on Mount Hor, and were not allowed to enter that good land which lay before them, because they had angered the Lord by their disobedience at the waters of strife^; but Caleb and Joshua were permitted to enter the land, because they, and they alone of all the generation which came up out of Egypt, had been fully obedient unto God. And that this system of temporal retribution was actually carried into effect in later times, we learn from many examples; from the judgments of God recorded in the cases of Ahab, and Jezebel, and David, and Solomon, and Jeroboam, and others ; and ' Dent. xxix. 18. ' Numb. xx. 12. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 107 from the declaration of the Psalmist, who asserts, that though he had been young, and now was old, yet saw he never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their breads Thus the conduct of an individual was visited upon himself and his descendants. Thus the Almighty displayed himself openly as the moral Governor of his people ; and when any vice or virtue became a widely-prevailing and national practice, the retribution was visited upon the whole community : men were com- pelled to say, " Verily there is a reward for the righteous : doubtless, there is a God that judgeth the earth 2." Such a system may well indeed excite our wonder, not only on account of the displays of divine power by which it was supported, but on account of its marked and mysterious silence respecting a future life. It is strange, that the promise of the life which now is should be so emphatically repeated, and so miraculously fulfilled, while the promise of the life which is to come was kept out of sight. The supernatural light that was thrown upon the present, and the obscurity which con- cealed the future, are equally mysterious ; the wonder is not greater in the one case than in the other; just as the pillar of fire by ' Ps. xxxvii. 25. ' Ps. Iviii. 10. 108 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. night was not more miraculous than the pillar of smoke by day. We have no right to question the wisdom of the Mosaic dis- pensation ; and to explain its phenomena is as impossible, as it is impious to cavil at them. Some indeed have attempted to say, that the Jewish people were not sufficiently civilised, or sufficiently spiritual, to benefit by the sanctions of a future state; that to their carnal minds a carnal motive was best adapted ; that they would have been unable to rise to the contemplation of a heavenly and immortal destiny ^ Such indeed may have been the case; but it seems better not to accept such unauthorised explanations, which may very possibly err altogether from the truth. While the general plan of the divine providence remains hidden from our eyes, how is it likely that we can estimate duly the bearings and significance of any one of its details? We may however assert thus much, for of this we can judge by our own experience, that though the motive by which the Jews were invited to obedience, was not so elevating nor so purifying, as that which has been opened to us, it was nevertheless a very stringent and effectual motive of action. ' This is suggested by Barrow, Serm. xv. See also Graves On the Pentateuch, ii. 163. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 109 This, I say, we may conclude from our own experience. For even now, when the judg- ment to come has been most fully declared, there are many among us who confessedly have no lively apprehension of it; while there are very few who are not in some degree re- strained, in the indulgence of their unlawful passions, by the fear of the temporal conse- quences, by the knowledge that in this life virtue generally has its reward, and vice its punishment; even though these temporal re- wards and punishments are not so signal, and not so regular, as they were in the Jewish commonwealth. The Mosaic law therefore, containing as it does the whole code of Jewish faith and practice, includes no express announcement of a future retribution ; nor indeed has it any express announcement of a life beyond the grave. Some hints of such a life it may con- tain — intimations capable of suggesting it to a mind already directed to the object. One intimation of this kind was pointed out by our Lord himself, when he reasoned with the Sadducees: he declared^ that the Re- surrection was shewn by Moses at the bush, **when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God ' Luke XX. ,37. 110 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living ; for all live unto him." But neither this passage, nor any other in the Books of Moses, amounts to an express and positive declaration ; and it is no wonder if such passages failed to produce any strong impression upon the minds of the people in general. Living in the visible presence of the Almighty, and under his immediate guidance, relying on his protection, and trembling at his judgments, it is no wonder that they should have been occupied with the present life, and that they should have been without any strong presentiment of the future. '' Behold, I am the servant of the Lord ; let him do with me what seemeth him good:" such would be the child-like feeling, the im- plicit confidence of the faithful but unen- lightened Jew. He believed so much, and so much only as was expressly revealed to him. The glory of an express Revelation may well have extinguished in his breast the dim and doubtful light of Natural Religion. But though this may have been the case with the people in general, we cannot doubt there were some individuals, some chosen servants of God, who looked forward to a heavenly inheritance. They were enabled to perceive that the Mosaic institutions, however 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. Ill glorious, were only a dispensation of death, having no promise beyond the present life. They had faith and forecast of mind to anticipate another dispensation which was " rather glorious." It is declared in the Epistle to the Hebrews\ that *' Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And still more clearly it is said of the Patriarchs, that "these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth;" and it is added, ** they desired a better country, even a hea- venly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their 'God : for he hath prepared for them a city." They sought a country, i,e. a place where they would no longer be strangers and pilgrims ; but the country which they sought was a better one than any they could find on earth, i.e. a heavenly one, a '' city which hath foundations," a " continuing city." To them, as to us, the promised land was a type of the heavenly Canaan, the ceremonies of the law were sha- dows of good things to come. They did not *' look only for temporary promises." ' Heb. xi. 10, &c. 112 THE JEWS BEFORE [Lect. IV. Again, if we consider the inspired medi- tations of David and Solomon, we can hardly fail to see the hope of a future and a better life, not indeed expressed so fully, so clearly, and so frequently, as it would be in the devo- tions of a Christian saint, but still appearing at intervals, and running like a golden thread through the tissue of those divine composi- tions. Thus the Psalmist exclaimed, in a transport of holy desire, *'Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell ; neither shalt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou shalt shew me the path of life ; in thy pre- sence is the fulness of joy ; and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore^;" and again, ** As for me, I will behold thy pre- sence in righteousness ; and when I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it^ ;" and again, " God hath delivered my soul from the place of hell ; for he shall re- ceive me^;" and again, ** Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory* :" and it is one of the proverbs of the wisest of men, that " the wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his deaths" Such passages occur very frequently ; and though, when taken ' Ps. xvi. ' Vs. xvii. 3 Ps. xlix. ^ Ps. Ixxiii. ' Prov. xiv. 32. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 113 separately, they may each by possibility be interpreted in some lower sense, yet when collected together, they are too numerous and too strong to be entirely explained away. It must, however, be admitted that even these inspired saints of the Old Testament were not always able to contemplate with steady and unfailing eye the glories of the future life. When they considered their own infirmity and the weakness of the flesh, they appear to have had their misgivings, and they enquired in a doubtful tone, " Shall the dust give thanks unto thee ; or shall it declare thy truth^?" "Dost thou shew wonders among the dead; or shall the dead rise up again and praise thee ? Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark ; and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten 2?" How touching are the lamentations of David over the bodies of Saul and Jonathan : "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not di- vided.... Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with other delights ...How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!... I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me.... How are the mighty ^ Psal. XXX. 10. 2 ^\pj g() Ecclos. ix. 5. H.H.L. I 114 THE JEWS BEFORE [LEf-r. IV. fallen, and the weapons of war perished^!" But if David had enjoyed the full light of the Gospel, he would doubtless have mingled with those strains of grief some thoughts of the Resurrection, some anticipations of the day when the "saying shall be brought to pass that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory 2." How sublime is the prayer of Solomon which he offered at the dedication of the templet How carefully he enumerates each temporal calamity that could possibly befall the nation, and prays that if they repaired to that holy temple, and sought the Lord in their distress, he would hear them from heaven his dwell- ing-place. But if that temple had been a Christian church, and Solomon a Christian king, he would surely have contemplated not only the temporal but the eternal interests of his people. And upon the whole we must say, that although these prophets and kings obtained some glimpses through the veil which was on the hearts of the Jewish jDcople, yet even they were not able altogether to lift the veil. And as with regard to other matters, so also with respect to the doctrine of a future life, the words of our Saviour hold good, which he spake to his disciples : *' Many 1 2 Sam. i. 17. 2 1 Cor. xv. 54. 3 2 Chron. vi. 14, &c. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 115 prophets and kings have desired to see these things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear these things which ye hear, and have not heard them^" The times of this ignorance lasted until the Bahylonish Captivity. Previous to that epoch, the belief in a future life appears to have been as it were in abeyance. Not hav- ing been embodied in the Mosaic law, it lost its hold on the popular mind, and as a motive of action it was superseded and displaced by the more immediate and powerful motives, by the temporal rewards and punishments of the Mosaic dispensation. It was however en- tertained as a great article of religious faith by the patriarchs ; and it was occasionally the theme of rapturous anticipation to the royal psalmist and the royal preacher. But after the captivity a great change is perceptible in the Jewish polity. The Mosaic dispensation was indeed restored, but not in all its fulness. The temple was rebuilt, but the old men wept when they contrasted the meanness of the latter house with the glory of the former. The ark of the covenant was not there. The Most High dwelt no more in visible presence between the cherubim. The Urim and Thummim gave forth no intima- 1 Luke X. 24. 12 116 THE JEWS AFTER [Lect. IV. tions of the divine will. The especial and miraculous superintendence of God's provi- dence was by degrees withdrawn. The sys- tem of temporal rewards and punishments was relaxed ^ The spirit of proj^hecy lin- gered for a while, and then departed ; disap- pearing as the last star from the firmament, when the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. But before this last token of the Mosaic Covenant was withdrawn, signs and tokens were given, more and more distinct, of the new dispensation. As the promise of the life which now is became fainter, the promise of the life which is to come was more clearly divulged. At the very time when the Jews appeared to have entirely lost the favour of God, to have exhausted his patience, and to be cast out from his presence, in their distress and in their captivity, fresh promises were made to them of the Messiah, and a new hope was opened to them, even the hope of the hea- venly Sion. The system of temporal rewards and punishments was relaxed ; but lest they should suppose that God had ceased to reward them that seek him, or that vengeance no longer belonged to him, the Prophet Daniel 1 This appears (as Bp. Warburton has shewn, Dir. Leg. V. 5.) from Jer. xxxi. 29. Ezek. xviii. 2. To which may be added Luke xvi. 25. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 117 was commissioned to speak of the judgment to come : and he declared^ that " many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and contempt." And now the presen- timent of a future retribution was quickened and stirred up in the Jewish nation. They no longer formed an exception in this respect to the rest of mankind. We have seen that this persuasion, though a deep principle of our nature, had been set aside and superseded in God's chosen people, by a peculiar dis- pensation of his providence. But henceforth it was not confined to patriarchs and prophets, it became a popular and prevailing belief^ It became not a mere speculative opinion, but at least in some cases a powerful motive of action. We read in the Second Book of the Maccabees, of seven brethren who were slain one after another, each declaring his faith that the King of the world would raise them up unto everlasting life who had died in de- fence of his laws. " They were tortured," as the Apostle says of them in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." Moreover, the Gospel history itself makes it manifest that the doctrine of a future judg- ' Dan. xii. 2. ^2 Mace. vii. Heb. xi. 35. 118 THE JEWS AFTER [Lect. IV. ment was not for the first time promulgated among the Jews by the teaching of our Lord. It was already established, or at least it was generally received, when he came. This is evident from the manner in which he taught it, and from the allusions which he made to it. He did not at the outset of his ministry for- mally announce the future judgment, any more than he formally preached the existence of a God. But he turned to that doctrine as a subject familiar to his hearers. The Sermon on the Mount is the earliest of his public discourses. At the commencement of it he declares the blessedness of those who shall endure persecution for his sake, inas- much as their reward shall be great in heaven. He does not first say that there is to be a future state of rewards and punishments ; but he assumes that to be already known and believed. At other times he condescends to use the terms which were employed by the Jews in their endeavours to form some con- ception of the places beyond the grave. He speaks of Abraham's bosom, and of Paradise, of the Gehenna of fire, and of the outer dark- ness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. The existence of such terms, and the familiar and incidental manner in which they are used by our Lord, is a sufficient proof 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 119 that some belief in a future retribution was already established among the Jews. But here, as elsewhere, error was mingled with the truth. The Jews, no less than the Gentiles, were misled by their own vain con- ceits. We learn from Josephus^, that some of the Rabbis, while they claimed the Resur- rection for the righteous, denied it to the wicked ; in opposition to whom St. Paul asserts the resurrection both of the just and unjust^; of the just unto life, and of the un- just unto condemnation. Some maintained merely a carnal resurrection ; others merely a spiritual one; whereas we are taught, that both the body shall be "raised in incorrup- tion," and the spirit shall be "made perfect." Another party held the specious doctrine of transmigration ; saying, that when the soul has been released from one body, it enters into another, and so from time to time re- appears upon earth. They did not know that " it is appointed unto men once to die — once only — but after this the judgment." In the meanwhile a sect was not wanting, which, like the heathen philosophers of whom we treated in our last Discourse, rejected all these conceits, as mere human invention and tradi- ^ Sec note at the end of this Lecture, p. 132. ^ Acts xxiv. 15. 120 THE JEWS AFTER [Lect. IV. tioii, and discerned not the truth which was the groundwork of them all. The Sadducees are represented as denying any resurrection, and any spiritual existence whatever. Thus while the Pharisee was making void the word of God by his traditions, the Sadducee was equally making it void by his unbelief. And thus we trace the workings of the human imagination and the human reason, less dar- ing indeed and less developed than we have seen them in the heathen world, but still pro- ceeding in the same path, and arriving at nearly the same results of superstition on the one hand and infidelity on the other. And as to the practical effects of the doctrine, though men might sometimes be greatly en- couraged and ennobled by it, as was the case with the Maccabean brothers, we have no reason to think that this was generally the case. On the contrary, those very men who were loudest in talking about a future life, appear to have been most backward in seeking it. It is against the Pharisees, the believers in a resurrection, that our Lord denounces his heaviest woes : *' ' Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, neither sutler ye ' Matt, xxiii. 13. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 121 them that are enternig to go in." And we may conclude that this doctrine was not es- teemed a fundamental article of religion, since the Sadducees who denied it appear to have been admissible even to the highest office of the priesthood ^ If then the question be asked, What ad- vantage had the Jew as concerning the know- ledge of a future life? we must answer that he had none. For before the Babylonish Captivity, the Mosaic law held out to him temporal motives, temporal rewards and pu- nishments, which had the effect of shutting out the future world from his thoughts; meet- ing with retribution in this life, he did not look for it in another ; and he had even less idea of a future state than the heathen nations had by whom he was surrounded. And after the Captivity, when those temporal motives were withdrawn, and by the declarations of the prophets his thoughts w^ere directed to the prospect of another life, he did not rightly profit by those declarations, but fell into the very snares by which the Gentiles were de- ceived. To the Jew indeed w as confided the custody of the Oracles of God; but those ora- cles he could not interpret : he was not with- ^ Acts V. 17: "Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees." 122 THE JEWS AFTER [Lect. IV. out a suspicion, that in the Scriptures he possessed the word of eternal life ; but he could not tell how, for the veil was on his heart. He kept indeed the treasure which was committed to his hands, but he could not unlock it, nor turn it to its proper use. And such was his blindness, that he perceived not, when the Master came, and unlocked the trea- sure, and gave it to the world. He little thought that those Scriptures, which he so greatly revered, gave testimony of One whom he despised and mocked and persecuted unto death. He little thought that Jesus of Naza- reth, in bursting open the gates of the tomb, would also open the secrets of those Scrip- tures, and bring to light the mystery which they contained — the mystery which had been hidden from the foundation of the w ofld. He little thought that in after times men v/ould look back and see that *' the Old Testament is not contrary to the New ; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ ^" With regard then to the knowledge of a future life, the Jew stood on no vantage- 1 Art. VII. Bishop Bull, Dhs. Post. x. 8. "Lex carna- litcr ct secundum litcram spectata nee spiritualem justitiani cxcgit, nee vitani jcternani proniisit : spiritualiter vcro con- siderata erat ipsissiinum evangcliunu" 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 123 oTound over the Gentile — and if before the coming of Christ, the middle wall of partition had been broken down, and the Jew had been commanded to go forth, and teach all nations, having only the Old Testament Scrip- tures in his hand, he would never have con- vinced the world of the true doctrine of the Resurrection, for he was not himself in pos- session of that doctrine. He might have brought men to acknowledge the unity and the holiness of God ; he might have per- suaded them to forsake their idols, and to turn unto the living God ; and this indeed he did in the case of many Gentile proselytes who conformed to the Mosaic law. But he could never have kindled the faith which lights up the darkness of the tomb, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead. He must have let that alone for ever. Such was the dispensation under which the Jewish people lived ; an incomplete Revelation, but destined to introduce one that was complete. In itself it was unable to con- fer righteousness, and it gave no promise of the life eternal. Had it been able to offer the one, it would have given the other. " If," as the Apostle says, *' there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteous- ness should have been by the law^'^ The 1 Gal. iii. 21. Bull, Harm. Ap. Diss. Post. x. (\. 1 24 THE JEWS AFTER [Lect. IV. same law which held out to men the pros- pect of living hereafter with God, would also have enabled them to attain that blessed prospect ; it would have shewn them the means of arriving at that holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. It would have told them how their sins, though they were as scarlet, might be washed white as snow ; how the robes of innocence might be purchased, without money and without price, those unsullied robes in which we must appear at the marriage-feast. This the Jewish law did not profess to do. It was silent as to the future life ; it was silent as to the means of sanctification by which we must be fitted for that future life. It was but a preparation, a discipline, or, as the Apostle terms it, a '* schoolmaster to bring men unto Christ^" It enjoined or- dinances the meaning of which it did not explain; it kept back truths which were afterwards to be revealed. All this system has indeed passed away ; and yet in some sense it endures ; the counterpart of it may be found in this life of ours, and in our condition here upon earth. For this our life is a preparation and a discipline ; and as such it is full of mysteries which are not understood, of hopes which are not satis- 1 Gal. iii. 24. 1849.] THE CAPTIVITY. 125 fied ; mysteries and hopes, the trials and en- couragements of our faith. If we regard it in its true light, and use it for the purpose for which it was intended, we shall find that it is the '* schoolmaster which brings us unto Christ;" a probation in which all our af- fections are tried and chastised and subdued, and made subordinate to the will of God. And as the first coming of Christ accom- plished the expectation of the Jews, and shed a light on the types and ceremonies of the Law, so will his second coming fulfil the yearnings of our nature, and explain all that now seems unaccountable in the government of the world. It may be that we shall then look back upon this transitory scene, this '' dispensation of death," and perceive it to have been a system of types and symbols, by which we were unconsciously tutored and instructed. Let us not then repine and rebel against God's providence, as the Jews some- times rebelled against the law of Moses, and perished in the wilderness. But let us take in good part the visitations of the Lord, not doubting that they are intended for our be- nefit, and that though now we know not what he doeth, we shall know hereafter. For the present it is a great thing to be assured, and it is an assurance which was not vouch- 126 THE JEWS AFTER THE CAPTIVITY. [Lect. IV. safed to the Jews, that though " our days are gone as a shadow \" they are not altogether vanity, but they are the '* shadow of good things to come ;" the shadow of a substance which endureth, and which will be revealed hereafter — and though our life is " a vapour, which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away^ ;" it vanisheth away from earth, that it may be caught up into heaven, and appear for ever there. ' A frequent comparison in the Old Testament. See 1 Cliroii. xxix. 15. Job viii. 9, &c. 2 James iv. 1 4. NOTE ON LECTURE IV. The subject discussed in the preceding Lecture is one of considerable interest, and not free from difficulty. The conchisions to which I have been led in the consi- deration of it may be briefly stated as follows : — L The Books of Moses, though they contain inti- mations of another life, do not expressly reveal it. IL The expectation of a future state of rewards and punishments, so far as we can judge from the Books of the Old Testament, did not form part of the i^opular belief of the Jews, before the Babylonish Captivity ; but in. It did form part of the faith of many saints and patriarchs previous to that epoch ; and IV. After that epoch it was expressly revealed by the prophets, and came to be commonly believed by the people. This view will, I think, be found generally in accord- ance with that maintained by Bishop Bull, Harmon. Apostol. Diss. post. cap. x. I. That there is no express Revelation of a future life in the Pentateuch, is agreed by the greatest divines both in ancient and modern times, by St. Chrysostom, St. Augustin, Bishop Bull, Barrow, &c. St. Chrysostom speaks very strongly when he says that in the Jewish law " there was no account of heavenly things, no mention of the things to come," mpX ovpavuov ovbcnore \6yoi i]v, oi/de peWovTcov fivijfjLr]. (ad. Olymp. /3.) The only intimation of a future life, whicli we can 128 NOTE. [Lect. IV. quote with certainty, is Exod. iii. 15, 16: *' The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,'" referred to by our Lord in Luke xx. 37. Other passages have been supposed to admit of the same appHcation ; but they cannot be rehed on so strongly, as they are not clear in themselves, and are not applied to a future life by any inspired authority. Such passages are Gen. i. 27 : " God created man in his own image ;'' this, it is said, would be understood to mean that God made man immortal. Gen. V. 24 : Enoch " was not ; for God took him.'' This implies that Enoch was taken to another state of ex- istence, and hence, it is said, the Jews might infer that all men are to live hereafter. Deut. xxxii. 29 : "0 that they would consider their latter end," i. e. that they would consider the things that are to happen to them after death. — See Euseb. Prwp. Ev. xi. 27 ; Graves On the Pentateuch^ Part in. Sect. iv. The intimations of a future state, which we discover in the Pentateuch, appear in one respect to be on the same footing with the t^pes of the Mosaic law ; they were not intelligible until they were explained by Christ. And in both cases the same rule seems to be applicable ; we cannot say for certain that any thing in the Pentateuch is either a type of Chi*ist, or an intimation of a future state, unless it is recognised as such in the New Testa- ment. II. I have proved in Lecture II., that the expecta- tion of a future retribution has been an article of popular belief in the heathen world. — It would have been more in harmony with this view, and with my own prepossessions, had I proceeded to shew, in Lecture IV., that the same belief prevailed generally among the Jews. Ihit I have been unable to do this. — Though we have the sacred 1849.] NOTE. 129 writings of that people, illustrating minutely their cus- toms and opinions, treating especially of religious subjects, and extending over many centuries, we do not find, either in the Books of the Law, or in the Historical Books, any phrases, practices, or familiar allusions, testifying to the existence of the belief in question. — No inference, I think, can be drawn from the Hebrew word ^ij^^ir Sheol, the interior of the earth, the grave, Deut. xxxii. 22 ; Numb, xvi. 30; Job xvii. ^S; Ps. xvi. 10, Lxxxix. 48, &c. (see Taylor^s Hebrew Concordance; Barrow, Sennon xxviii. Vol. II.) nor from the common phrase "he was gathered to his people ;"" ^. e. he was buried, Gen. xxv. 8 ; Numb. xxvii. 13, fcc. And the practice of necromancy, forbidden by Moses (Levit. xix. 31), but resorted to by Saul (1 Sam. xxviii.), is not sufficient, without other evidence, to shew that the Jewish nation in general, before the captivity, believed in a future state of rewards and punish- ments. The allusions, phrases, and practices, which prove the existence of this belief in the time of our Lord, are noticed in the Lecturo, pp. 117 — 120. So far as we have the means of judging, it would appear that in this, as in many other respects, God's peculiar people formed an exception to the rest of the world ; that part of natural religion, which relates to a future state, having perhaps in their case been thrown into the shade by the superior brilliancy and distinctness of the Mosaic dispensation ; as I have suggested in the Lecture, p. 110. in. Many patriarchs and good men under the law, looked forward to a future state. — Some of the passages which have been quoted in proof of this assertion (e.(/. by Bp. Bull, Serm. i.) may be explained on the hypothesis that the idea of Restoration from Death is used figura- H.H. i>. K 130 NOTE. [Lect. IV. tively, to denote deliverance from temporal calamity. — See Bishop Warburton, Div. Leg. Book v. § 5, &c. Heng- stenberg on the Psalms. — But there are many passages, especially those quoted in the Lecture, (p. 112) which could not, on any fair principles of interpretation, be so explained, even if we had not the authority of Holy Scripture (Heb. xi.) for saying that many Old Testament saints did look forward to " a better country, to wit, a heavenly." It may be observed, that I have not quoted in this behalf the passage of Job (xix. 25, 26) ; which is thus rendered in the English Version ; " For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." As Job appears to have been a native of Egypt or Arabia, he could not properly be included in a list of Jewish patriarchs. Moreover, after much consideration of the passage, I cannot but agree with those expositors who consider that Job was here anticipating not his Kesurrection from the grave, but his Restoration to health, prosperity, and God's favour ; for 1. The English Version is not a literal translation of the original ; which may be thus rendered ; "I know that my redeemer (or avenger) liveth, and that at the last he shall stand upon the dust ; and that after this my skin shall have been pierced through, yet in my flesh shall I see God." This was literally fulfilled when God appeared to Job ("now mine eye seeth thee," XLii. 5,) and " turned his captivity" (xLii. 10.) The version of the LXX. is neither close to the origi- nal, nor clear in itself; it is however quoted by St Clement of Home (1 Epist. ad Cor. 26,) as shewing that Job 1849.] NOTE. 131 believed in the resurrection ; olda yap on (Uvaos (anv 6 €k\ii€iv fie /xeXXcoi/, eVi yrjs dyacrr/'/o-ot to fiepjLta fxov, to dvavrXovp TavTG : "I know that he who shall deliver me is eternal, so that he can restore upon the earth my skin, which en- dureth these things." 2. If the passage has reference to the Resurrection of the body, it is not only the most ancient, but the most remarkable and striking acknowledgment of that doctrine in the Old Testament. Yet it was overlooked by the ancient Jewish teachers, it is not noticed by our Lord or his Apostles, nor by any Christian writer except St Clement (mentioned above), for nearly four centuries. St Chrysostom more than once says, that Job was not acquainted with the doctrine of the Resurrection, (ad Olyinp. /3. 8. 'lco/3, dUaios (ov, koi. nepl avaaTcicrecos inio-Tafxevos ovSeV, and Homil. in Matt, xxxiii. 7, quoting Job vii. 16). But the evangelical interpretation of tlie passage having been admitted by St Jerome into the Latin Vulgate, obtained universal currency, and appears to have re- mained without question till the Reformation. Since that period, the original Hebrew has been examined, and found not to bear out the received version ; and the opinion of St Chrysostom, St Ambrose, and JNIaimonides, that a temporal restoration only was signified, has been adopted by Grotius, Le Clerc, Patrick, Bishop War- burton, Jahn, Archbishop Whateley, &c. 3. It has also been alleged, that a profession of faitli in the Resurrection, expressed in this single passage, would not be in keeping with the general tenor of the book, nor with the line of argument adopted on either side by the interlocutors in the dialogue. There is some force in this observation, yet it is not in itself conclusive ; for Job, speaking under inspiration, might declare a truth, K2 132 NOTE. [Lect. IV. the full force of which was not appreciated by his friends, nor even by himself. (This at least appears to have been sometimes the case with the Prophets.) IV. We learn the opinions of some of the Pharisees from Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. viii. 14 : " They say that every soul is immortal, but that only the souls of the good transmigrate into another body, while those of the wicked are chastised with eternal punishment.'"'' -^vxhv 5e Traa-av [xev a(f>6apT0V, fxeraBaiueLV de els erepov aafia rrjv Toiv ayaOcov fjLomjv, TTjV Se Ta>v (pavXcDV aibico Ti}xa>pia Koka^ea-Qai. See also Aut. Jud. XVIII. i. 3. Euseb. Prwp. Ev, ix. 3. Pearson, On the Creed., Art. xi. ad fin. Basnage, Hist, des Jicifs, ii. 9 . Philo held the pre-existence and transmigration of souls. De Somniis, p. 586. b. Ed. Paris, 1640 : drjp ola iroXis iv- avhpely TToXiras d(f)dapTovs kol ddavdrovs e'xcov yp-vxds, laapWpovs aarpois. tovtcov t(ov ^v^^Vy al piv Kariaaiv ivbeOrja-opevai croipacn OvrjTols, oaai TTpoayeioTarai Koi cpiXoacoparoi, al 8' dvep^ovTai dia- KpL6ei(rai ttoXlv Kara tovs vtto (fivcreois opicrdevras opicrpovs Kai Xpdvovs. TOVTOV al pev rd avvrpona kol crvirjOrj tov /Stov TroOovaai TraXivdpopovaLV avdis • al 8e TroWrjv (fikvapiav avTov KaTayvovaai, hea-poiTrjpLov pep Ka\ TvpjBov eKaXeaav to acopa, (pvyovcrat. S' coaTrep e^ elpKTTJs y] pvqparos, avco Kov(})ois nrepdls npos aWepa e^apoe'ia'ai peTecapoTToKovaL tov alcova. LECTURE V, LIFE AND IMMORTALITY BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 2 TIMOTHY I. 10. The appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. OUR attention was directed last Sunday to the condition of the Jewish nation, with respect to the knowledge of a future life ; and the conclusions at which we then arrived are such as we should scarcely have anticipated. They shew that the ways of God are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. We should hardly have expected to find in the books of Moses a Revelation, undoubtedly genuine, holding out prominently the rewards and punishments of this present life, but laying no stress on a future retribu- tion. We should hardly have expected to see in the Jewish nation, a people living under the special Providence and superintendence of God, yet limiting their thoughts to this world, and, with the exception of some in- 134 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. spired patriarchs and saints, not looking for another. That such, however, was the case with the Jewish people during the first por- tion of their history, appears probable from the brief survey which we have been able to take of this part of the subject. And did our limits permit us to go further into the ques- tion, our conclusions might be confirmed by a critical examination of various texts of Scrip- ture, and by the authority of the principal Fathers of the Christian Church in ancient and modern times. We cannot do otherwise than acknow- ledge, that the Mosaic institutions contained no express and positive declaration of a judg- ment after death, or indeed of any state of existence beyond the grave. The people in general livedo so far as we are able to see, in apprehension of those temporal judgments of God, by means of which they were governed in an especial manner ; but they had no pro- mise, they had no belief, and it does not appear that they entertained any speculations, re- specting a life beyond the grave. We do not find in the historical books of the Old Testa- ment any thing which could lead us to sup- pose that the common people were actuated by any hopes or fears as to their condition after death. To them the present was made 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 135 SO glorious and so awful by the visible majesty of the Most High, that they could not divert their gaze from it, and look away into the darkness of the future. Some patriarchs and saints indeed there were, as we learn particu- larly from the Epistle to the Hebrews, who lived and died in the sure and certain hope of a better country than any that could be found on earth ; and we can hardly read the Psalms of David, or the writings of Solomon, without being persuaded that those holy men were at least sometimes inspired with hopes of the same nature. But it is not until after the Babylonish captivity, when the Mosaic law began to be relaxed, that we find these hopes springing up in the people at large ; in con- sequence, as it seems, of the declarations which were made by the prophets, especially by the prophet Daniel. When we come down to the time of our Lord's advent, and consider the expressions which we find in the Gospel history, and in the writings of Jewish authors, such as Josephus and Philo, we perceive that the belief in a future retribution was in that age generally established ; though as a doc- trine it was not more pure, and as a motive not more effectual, than the notions on this subject which we have seen prevailing in the heathen world. It was not regarded as a fun- 136 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. damental religious truth; it bore no fruit in the lives of those who most loudly professed it. True it is that *' in Jewry was God known, and his name was great in Israel ;" but nei- ther in Jewry, nor out of it, w^as there any certain and saving knowledge of the things which shall hereafter happen to the body and soul of man. The word of life had yet to be spoken. The light had yet to appear, before which the darkness should for ever flee away. What then is the privilege of our high calling as Christians? What is that ray of light and warmth which has been shed abroad in our hearts ? 1 trust that the heart of every one who hears me is able to respond to this question, and that the answer is inwardly made by all, before it can be spoken by me. Yet it will be profitable to dwell upon this question and its answer, and to consider the principal points in which the Gospel Revela- tion has thrown a fresh light upon our future destiny. We have to enquire in what sense it is true that Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Of course, after all that has been said in my preceding dis- courses, we shall not suppose that tlie future life was now for the first time promulgated as a new subject for the contemplation and the 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 137 faith of mankind. In reviewing the opinions of the heathen world I have shewn reason for believing, that one article of natural and pri- mitive Religion was the expectation of a future state. When by the commission of sin man had shut himself out from the light of God's presence, this belief appears to have been set to rule the gloomy night of the ages which ensued. It became in process of time greatly obscured, and shorn of its beams ; yet it continued to send a feeble ray into men's hearts until the day dawned, and the day-star arose. And although among the Jews this belief appears to have been cast into the shade by the brightness of the Mosaic dis- pensation, yet even with them we have found it generally prevailing at the time of our Lord's appearing. But both among Jews and Gentiles it had need to be illuminated and lit up afresh by some new manifestation : and by doing this Christ " brought it to light." And how did he establish this great truth? Did he seek by subtlety of arguments to con- vince the reason ? Did he found his doctrine of a future life on any physical theory of the soul, or on an appeal to the analogies of nature ? He placed it on no such foundation. So far as argument is concerned, the subject remains where it w^as, and we are no nearer 138 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. to a philosophical demonstration than we were before. He addressed himself not to the rea- son, but to the faith of man. And this he did in two ways, according to the diversity of his two natures. I. He proclaimed the doctrine by the authority of his Godhead, and II. He illustrated it by the example of his manhood. I. One of the heathen^ philosophers, as I reminded you in a former lecture, left no stone unturned in his endeavours to demon- strate the immortality of the soul ; but so ill satisfied was he with the result of his specu- lations, that he confessed the truth could only be known if some God should vouchsafe to declare it. That evidence after which he ignorantly yearned, was now actually sup- plied. God spoke to man by his Son, and declared the life of the world to come. "In my Father's house," said our Lord, *'are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also^." Thus he spoke, as one having au- thority, and not like the philosophers of the heathen, or the scribes of the Jewish world. ' Plato : see Lecture III. '- Job. xiv. 2. 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 139 And if the style and manner of his speaking were such as became one that had authority, he proved that the authority was not usurped, that it was no robbery for him to make him- self equal with God ; for he manifested him- self to be the Son of God ivith power, that is, by the exercise of miraculous power, by per- forming many miracles, and above all, by one great act of omnipotence, namely, by raising up his human nature from the dead \ II. By raising up his human nature he not only made a demonstration of his God- head, but he at the same time exemplified the great doctrine which he preached, namely, the doctrine of the Resurrection. The hea- then world had always lent a willing ear to the fables which pretended to relate how some favoured mortal had been permitted to return from the world of spirits. One of the most attractive of these fables was invented by the heathen philosopher^ the advocate of a future life, to whom I have just referred. It purported to be the account given by an indi- vidual who had returned to life some few days after his decease. It would seem that an instance of this kind was wanting to give men confidence in the reality of that unseen world from which no traveller retraced his 1 Rom. i. 3. 2 pij^t, D^ Repiih. Lib. x. 140 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. path. It would seem that the words of the rich man in the parable represented the craving of human nature in general ; " Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repents" Even this blind longing of mankind was not left un- satisfied. Ought it not to have sufficed that God had spoken, and declared the life to come? Yet in pity to our weakness he did more than this. He who took the tlesh and bore the sorrows, and died the death of man, came again from the dead, and *' shewed him- self alive after his passion by many infallible proofs 2." Undoubtedly this great victory over the grave was so ordered as to be the accom- plishment not of one purpose only, but of the manifold counsels of God. I have already observed that our Lord was thereby declared to be the Son of God ; a proof was given of his divine nature. Moreover, as he was de- livered to death to make atonement for our sins, so he rose again for our justification^; and thus the scheme of our redemption was completed. But in the third place, his rising is an assurance that we shall rise ; his victory is a pledge of ours. This is no inference of human reason ; no pious but fanciful deduc- ^ Luke xvi. 30. '' Acts i. 3. ^ Rom. iv. 2o. 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 141 tion in which the wish suggests the thought. It is the declaration, oftentimes repeated, of the holy Apostles. Thus St Peter says, that *' God has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away\" And St Paul declares that "having been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." *' He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies;" and they shall be '* fashioned like unto his glorious body 2." He overcame the sharpness of death for usj and opened the gates of heaven to all believers. His resurrection is represented as a precedent, which will have a goodly follow- ing ; as the firstfruits of a harvest which is to be. In itself, indeed, it is but a single event, vouched by unimpeachable witnesses, men who, strange to say, laid down their lives in attestation of it. But why did they lay down their lives? Not merely because they knew the fact to be true, but because, being true, it was a pledge that they themselves should live, though they died. They were autlioriaed to treat it thus, to regard it, and to preach it, 1 1 Pet. i. 3. 2 Rom. vi. 5, viii. 11 : Phil. iii. 21. 142 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. not simply as an isolated fact, but as an example, as a pledge to themselves and all mankind. Even if they had not been so au- thorised, and if the resurrection of Christ had been set forth by them, and received by the world as a well-attested and unquestionable, but isolated fact, it would still perhaps have been regarded as a precedent; men would have been ready to draw conclusions from it, and to see in his victory some hope for them- selves. It would perhaps, even so, have had more weight to persuade men of a general resurrection, than the most elaborate theo- ries and reasonings of philosophy. So apt are the bulk of mankind to draw general conclu- sions from individual instances. We are not however left to reason about the matter for ourselves. To us the majestic fact of the resurrection of Christ, though it stands alone in the history of the world, is as good as ten thousand instances ; to us it is the grand experlmentum crucis ; for we are assured, upon no less authority than that of God himself, that it is the example of an universal truth. From these observations, then, it is appa- rent that our Lord first proclaimed the future life with the authority of his Godhead, and afterwards illustrated it by the example of his manhood risen from the dead ; thus satisfying, 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 143 in two respects, the earnest expectation of human nature, which had hitherto sought in vain either for an adequate authority on the subject, or for a certain example. But there is a word, which I have already had occasion to use more than once, — a word expressing a very important doctrine, to which we must now more particularly advert. We speak of the Resurrection of Christ, and of our own Resurrection. By this we mean the complete restoration of our nature after death ; the body being revived, and made incorruptible, and for ever united to the pure and perfect spirit. That the body shall rise again, is the doctrine, as I need hardly remind you, not only of the Apostles, but of Christ himself. "The hour is coming," he says\ '* when all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth." Here, of course, the resurrection of the hodij is de- clared ; for the soul lodges not in the grave, and therefore cannot come forth from it ; the soul goes to another place, that place which our Lord, when he was himself about to visit it, called " a paradise," — a garden of delights. Our Lord therefore declared, in brief and solemn terms, that the body should rise again. And I need not remind you how this truth • Joh. V. 28. 144 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY [Lect. V. was illustrated by His Apostles, especially by St Paul ia that chapter which is read, as a triumphal song, over the body of the de- parted Christian : " The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality ^" But to the heathen world the doctrine appears to have been alto- gether new. The heathen, indeed, for the most part, supposed that they should retain their personal identity after death, in some shadowy world : but that the identity would be corporeal as well as spiritual, that the dry bones should live, that the mortal should put on immortality, was an idea which entered not into the contemplation of gentile poet, priest, or philosopher. It does not appear to have been asserted or denied, or in any way mooted among them. Some learned writers in modern times have endeavoured to view the Egyptian custom of embalming in connexion with this idea ; as if the bodies were thus carefully pre- served among that people, in expectation that the souls would one day return to them. But this conjecture is supported by no evidence or authority, and is at variance with what we know of the actual opinions of the Egyptians. ' I Cor. XV. 52. 1849.] BROUGHT TO LIGHT. 145 It was their belief, as I have shewn on a for- mer occasion^ that only the souls of the wicked would be sent back to this world, for punish- ment and purification ; and these were at first to assume the form of the inferior animals, and eventually to take the human shape, but not to return to the original bodies, nor to be the same men as they were before. And if we trace the doctrine of the transmigration of souls through the various countries in which it prevailed, we nowhere find it asserting that the soul should be restored to its former body, that the same man should live again. The words of a great poet of antiquity have been sometimes quoted as a denial of the Resur- rection. He asserts that even God has no power to restore the dead; that when the life- blood of a man has once gone down into the dust, he will never rise again. *' For the dead," he says, 'Hhere is no aiiastasis^J" But the thing here contemplated by jEschylus is not a resurrection in a future life, but a resto- ration to the present. If a man is once killed, he cannot, even by divine power, be brought back to life. Even in this sense, however, the assertion was untrue, and has been disproved * Lecture II. p. 33 (and Note, p. 53). 2 tEscH. Eumen.^l']: avhpo^ S' eireicdv alfx dvaaTrdl/9, avTo7<; to?? eirripedaacTi, kcli tuJ KaTohiKci- AN OBJECTION [Lect. VI. of the infidel, let us remember that this by no means interferes with the application of the text, by way of admonition and warning, to ourselves. If the parable has a special refer- ence to the men of that day, it is addressed through them to all ages and generations. It declares that God has given to men certain means of grace ; and that if we do not profit by these, if we shut our eyes to them, we have no reason to expect that any extraordi- nary way of salvation, any particular call, will be vouchsafed to us ; for if it were, the proba- bility is, we should not avail ourselves of it, and we should only increase our condemna- tion. The Jews had Moses and the prophets, whose testimony, taken in conjunction with what they saw of Jesus, was sufficient to have convinced them that he was the Christ. But as they rejected this, the additional proof, which might have been given them in the Resurrection, was withheld. We have at least as much evidence as was vouchsafed to the Jews. We know how the life and doctrine of our Redeemer fulfilled the predictions of Moses and the prophets. And furthermore, Christ has been revealed to us, as the Saviour that was crucified, yea rather, that is risen again, and is now at the right hand of God. To us also has been made known the teach- 1849.] CONSIDERED. 179 ing of his inspired Apostles, who expounded his doctrine, and enlarged on the mysteries of Redemption. These things are set before us in the pages of Holy Writ, and in the ordi- nances of the Church. Such means of grace we enjoy, far more ample than those which were possessed by the Jewish people. And if we do not avail ourselves of these, we have no reason to expect any others, no ground to suppose that God will step out of the ordinary course to constrain us, either by sending to us an apparition^ from the world of spirits, or in any other way. If he did, such an mterposition would probably harden us in our disobedience. It is not further knowledge nor fresh evidence which we require, but a new heart, a right spirit, a willing mind. If there are any among us who complain that the Revelation of a future world is not suf- ficiently full and definite to satisfy them ; if they wait to be informed into what condition the soul will pass when it quits the body ; in what manner, with what capacities and facul- ties the two elements of our nature will be re-united ; what the future rewards and pu- nishments will be ; if there are persons who ' This application of tlic parable is well developed by Bishop Sherlock in his Discourse on Luke xvi. 31. (Vol. ii. 168. Hughes.) N2 180 AN OBJECTION [Lect. VI. imagine they are prevented from embracing the Gospel cordially, by their doubts and perplexities upon such points as these; let them learn from the words of the text, that no additional information, not even a com- plete representation of the other world in all its details, would make them one whit more disposed to put faith in Christ and to obey his commandments. Or if there is any one who thinks that a single proof addressed per- sonally to himself, would be of more avail to convince him, than the whole mass of evidence which is open to mankind in gene- ral, let him be assured that any impression which might at first be produced upon him by such extraordinary means, would speedily be obliterated. The emotions of awe and terror, however strongly they may possess the soul for a time, are apt to subside rapidly, when the occasion of them is removed. They even give rise, not unfrequently, to feelings of a contrary nature. As if to avenge our- selves on those things which have at any time excited our fears, we are much disposed to make light of them and turn them to ridi- cule. Our own observation and experience must tell us, that even where some great event or striking dispensation of God's provi- dence befalls a sinner, it seldom happens that 1849.] CONSIDERED. 181 he is permanently reclaimed and brought back to God. He has been frightened per- haps, but not persuaded. A temporary im- provement may and frequently does take place. The house may be swept and gar- nished for a while, but presently the old ha- bits resume their power, the man falls back by degrees into his former evil courses, and his last state is worse than his first. God's mercy or God's wrath has been shewn forth upon him, but he is only rendered presumptuous by the one, only made desperate by the other. We do not say there are absolutely no instances where some signal judgment of God has produced a happy and lasting change ; for the conversion of the Apostle Paul is such a case. Though he had been instruct- ed carefully in the writings of Moses and the prophets, he had studied the Scriptures to little purpose. His *'much learning" did not restrain him from being "exceedingly mad^" against the saints, persecuting them even unto strange cities ; an example to shew us that even in sacred things there is a wis- dom and a zeal which is not of God. There is a saving knowledge, and there is a know- ledge that only puffeth up. To him however it was permitted to behold the risen and glo- rified Saviour, to look on Jesus whom he had ^ Acts xxvi. 1 1 . 182 AN OBJECTION [Lect. VI. persecuted. He saw, and was converted, and never relapsed into his former unbelief. And undoubtedly we may here and there see an instance where the sinner's reformation has taken its origin from some striking manifes- tation of God's providence. But such cases are extremely rare. God does not generally deal with us in any sudden and irresistible manner. He leaves us to the ordinary means of grace, which are sufficient to lead, but not such as to constrain. How unceasingly he invites us to put our trust in him, and to love him ! With what holy influences, with what gentle inducements to good, does he encompass us ! The ordinances of the sanctuary, the daily circumstances of our lives, the events which happen on all sides of us, are ever convincing us of our own frailty, and of our dependence on him ; teach- ing us that this world can never fill the void in our hearts, reminding us that another state of existence awaits us, which is not far off, but even now at our feet. But if none of these things are of any effect to turn our hearts to him, if the daily chances and changes of the world convey to us no salu- tary warning, if in our walk through life we do not hear the voice of God continually exhorting us and pleading with us, if the ordinances of his Church have lost their 1849.] CONSIDERED. " 183 Savour, and the admonitions of his ministers have become in our ears as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal ; if we have thus closed our eyes to the noonday sun, which is shining steadily on us, we must not expect that a light surpassing the brightness of the sun, extraordinary and irresistible, will burst from heaven and force a passage to our hearts. If we wait till God shall in this way come to seek us, we shall wait long and in vain. We must arise and seek him now, where he may be found : we must hear the still small voice in which he is speaking to us day by day ; we must discern the presence of his fatherly hand, guiding us at every step and turn of our lives. If we only open our hearts to him, and give heed to his gentle admonitions, we shall no longer expect a sign from heaven, no longer desire that some special call, some irresistible evidence, should be addressed to us. If we do his will, we *' shall know of the doctrine, that it is of God^." We shall have that proof which is most convincing, and most comforting to our souls ; for we shall be un- ceasingly guided by his Holy Spirit, and the continual dew of his blessing will be upon us. We have been led into these reflections, while noticing an attack directed both in ^ John vii. 17- 184 AN OBJECTION CONSIDERED. [Lect. VI. ancient and modern times against the Gospel narrative of the Resurrection. I need not say how important it is that no doubt should be suffered to rest upon that great event in our Lord's history ; for upon that we build the hope of our own future life and happiness. ** If Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain^" The par- ticular objection which we have been con- sidering, is found to be altogether without weight; and we may hope that it has even put us upon observing a fresh proof of the divine foreknowledge of Christ, and of his forbearance towards the unbelieving Jews. But the course of our meditations has led us on to the conclusion, that not all the argu- ments that ever have been or can be adduced, will have their due effect upon us, so long as there is within us an evil spirit of unbelief, a disinclination to receive and obey the com- mandments of God. It is a mockery to draw near to him with the reason, while the heart is far from him. We must first dispose our- selves earnestly to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then, and not otherwise, we shall obtain light and know- ledge and understanding ; yea, and all things shall be added unto us. 1 1 Cor. XV. 14. LECTURE VII. THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY; THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. COLOSSIANS H. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. I OBSERVED in my last Lecture, that our assurance of the Resurrection to eternal life, is founded on one great event, namely the Resurrection of our blessed Lord ; *' if Christ is not risen," says St. Paul, " then is your faith vain." And the certainty of that event is attested by such proofs as it is impossible to gainsay; the evidence being not merely that of human witnesses, but the highest hu- man testimony combined with the clearest tokens of the divine sanction. For not only did the twelve Apostles, ordained for that purpose, give their evidence with great power and boldness of speech, but God also bore them witness, as St. Paul reminded his dis- ciples^ "with signs and wonders, and with 1 Heb. ii. 4. 186 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his will." An attempt to cavil at such evidence is likely to result, and as we endeavoured in one instance to shew, does result, in establishing it still more completely. But while engaged on this part of the subject, we met with a warning, delivered by our Lord himself, which assures us that no amount of testimony, not even a miraculous interference with the laws of nature, will carry conviction to the human mind, where the will and the passions are strongly set against its reception. We have now to notice some of the ques- tions to which the doctrine of a future life has given rise in Christian times ; questions which have sometimes been raised by that obstinate spirit of incredulity to which I have just alluded, but which sometimes also have been suggested by a less dangerous if not always a pardonable motive, namely by curiosity, by the longing desire to pry into those things which *' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to con- ceive." We cannot but regret that such questions should have been set on foot, seeing they have tended, as the Apostle says, to *' overthrow the faith of some\" and to offend many of Christ's little ones. But we have our 1 2 Tim. ii. 18. 1849.] OF THE BODY. 187 Lord's word for it, that offences must needs come^; and St. Paul even shews us one good end which they answer, when he says, *' For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made mani- fest among you"." And to this we may add, that by means of such heresies and con- tentions, the truth itself has come to be better ascertained and made manifest. Had it not been for some doubts prevailing in the Corin- thian Church respecting the Resurrection of the dead, the first Epistle to the Corinthians would not have contained its great exposition of that doctrine. There is reason to think that the controversies of later ages have pro- duced benefits of the same kind, though in a less degree. We may hope, therefore, that some useful instruction will be gained from a review of those questions concerning a future life, to which, in these latter times, unbelief or curiosity may have given rise. And at any rate, when we call to mind the dangers and corruptions to which the doctrine of Christ has been exposed, we shall prize more highly that pure and simple form in which it has been transmitted to ourselves. Going back therefore to the time of the Apostles, we find that even in that age there 1 Matt, xviii. 7- ^ 1 Cor. xi. 19. 188 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VIL were persons, who not being able to with- stand the evidence of Christianity, nor dis- posed to reject the Christian dispensation as a whole, yet indulged themselves in raising objections against one or other of its more prominent features. Thus there were some, professing to be disciples, who took exception against the doctrine of a general Resurrection. We remember the warning which St. Paul gave to the Ephesian Church, and which he lived to see fulfilled, that from among their own selves, out of their own community, men would arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them^ Such men were Hymenseus and Philetus, against whom the Apostle afterwards cautioned the youthful Bishop of Ephesus, and declared that they '' concerning the truth had erred, saying that the Resurrection is past al- ready;" and he adds, that they ** overthrew the faith of some^." It seems to have been the intention of those heretics, to represent the word Resurrection (Anastasis), as a figurative expression, applying to that renovation of heart and mind which is experienced by the true disciple of Christ. The extinction of sin and ignorance, the bringing in of knowledge and the fear of God, this, they contended, ' Acts XX. 30. 2 o xim. ii. 17. 1849.] OF THE BODY. 189 was the only Resurrection contemplated by the Gospel, or effected by the Christian Dis- pensation ; a change in the soul, already ac- complished here, not a change in the body, to be effected hereafter. Notwithstanding the rebuke of St. Paul, this notion gained ground among the disciples in Asia ; it is attributed by ancient writers to some of the Gnostic sects \ and it may be traced in some of the extravagances of later times. Now it cannot be denied that there are many passages of Scripture in which the ideas of death and restoration from death are used figuratively. The Apostle himself affords us an example, when in speaking of baptism he says, ** Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life^" And in addressing the Ephesian Church (in which afterwards arose the error of which we speak), he says, " You hath he quickened who were dead in tres- passes and sins^" And again, alluding to a passage of the prophet Isaiah, he says, ^ TertuU. De Resurr. Carnis, xix. Resurrectionem earn vindicandam piitant, qua quis, adita veritate, redanimatus et revivificatiis Deo, ignorantias morte discussa, velut do sepulcro veteris hominis eruperit. ^ Rom. vi. 4. ' Ephes. ii. 1. 190 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee lights" And he had a precedent for such language, not only in the books of the prophets, but in the words of our Lord, who says, *' He that heareth my word, and believeth in him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life^" And the Evangelist St. John, who records that expression, has also imitated it when he says, " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren^." But when our Lord used that expression, he immediately excluded any erroneous views which might be founded upon it by adding that sentence of his : " The hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." It is impossible to understand this prediction in any but a literal sense ; how could a bodily Resurrection be more plainly expressed, than by saying, that all who are in their graves shall come forth? And we should suppose no one could possibly rise from the perusal of that fifteenth chapter of St. Paul to the ' Ephcs. V. 14. 2 John V. 24. ' 1 John iii. 14. 1849.] OF THE BODY. 191 Corinthians with the belief, that the ex- pressions which the Apostle there uses have reference only to a moral renovation, a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, to be accomplished in this life. Certainly if there was one thing which that apostle be- lieved to be a reality, it was the Resurrection of the Body ; and the figurative manner in which he so often alludes to that doctrine, only shews how continually the thought of it was present to his mind. But again, there were other objectors, whose prejudice against the doctrine of the Resurrec- tion was expressed in a different form. Their minds were possessed with the dogmas of the oriental philosophy; they regarded it as a fundamental principle that all matter is essen- tially evil, corruptible, and perishable, being the creation not of the Supreme God, who made the human soul, but of an inferior and malignant being ; they thought that while the soul is in the body, it is held in a sort of slavery and thraldom ; and they would not believe, that having once escaped from that subjection, and returned to God who made it, to dwell with him for evermore, it would be again united to a material body, and made to bear the badge of its former servitude. Such is said to have been the opinion of 192 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. the Gnostics and Manicheans, in the second, third, and fourth centuries ^ Now it is im- possible to assent to this large and sweeping proposition that all matter is essentially evil, in the face of the pasage of holy Scripture which tells us, that when God looked upon the works of his creation, and saw every thing that he had made, it was all very good 2. With regard however to the particular question of the Resurrection of the body, we may admit so much as this, for this St. Paul has declared, that "flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption^" Such ta- bernacles of flesh and blood as we now in- habit, are in their nature corruj)tible, and are not capable of succeeding to the heavenly places. And if upon this the sceptic asks, *' How then are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" we may an- swer, in the words of the same Apostle, that *' this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality ; and we shall be" — not like what we now are but — ** changed." That which is corruptible in our nature, that which is mortal, will be 1 See Iron. v. 2. Tertull. de Res. 2. Aiigustin. de Har. 46. Hagenbach, H'lsl. Doctr. i. p. 211. ' Oon. i. 31. ' 1 Ccir. XV. 50. 1849.] OF THE BODY. 193 purged away, will give place to something incorruptible and immortal. The image of the heavenly will supersede the image of the earthy. As the grain of corn first perishes, and then is transformed into something unlike itself, into a green and living plant, so it will happen to our natural bodies, after they have seen corruption, to be raised up and trans- formed into spiritual bodies. Thus much the Apostle has told us ; and this is a sufficient answer to all objections founded on the sup- position that the same perishable forms of matter in which we are now clothed, will hereafter be restored to us. For that suppo- sition is declared to be incorrect. Further than this we are not at present permitted to know, but are left to repose on our faith in God's promises, and our knowledge of his power and wisdom. "It doth not yet ap- pear," saith St. John, '* what we shall be ;" and when the Apostle proceeds to say that "when Christ shall appear, we shall be like him^;" and when St. Paul tells us, that Christ " will change our vile body, so that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body^;" such expressions as these may well excite in us a joyful anticipation of the future life ; but they do not help to make our conception of it 1 J Job. iii. 2. ' Phil. iii. 21. H.H.L. O 194 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. at all more definite. We cannot tell what is that glorious body of Christ in which he will come at the last day. For aught we know, it may be very different from that body in which he appeared after he had risen from the dead. That body in w^hich he shewed himself to his disciples for forty days, and ate and drank with them, may have been still a body in which, out of compassion to human infirmi- ties, his glory was veiled, his majesty was kept secret ; and it may have undergone a great change, before he sat down with it at the right hand of God^ So, though we know ''we shall be like him," "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." With regard to the bodies of the wricked, we have still less information. We know in- deed that all who are in their graves will come forth ; that there will be a resurrection both of the just and unjust. But we have no reason to think that the Apostle w^as con- templating the case of the wicked, when he spoke of the body as being sown in dishonour, but raised in glory. If in this life we bear no "marks of the Lord Jesus^," we cannot expect that in the next our body will be * Augustin. Ep'ist. xlvi. ; Decrct. 2"'" Concll. Nic. Broughton, On Futurity, p. 217. -" Gal. vi. 17. 1849.] OF THE BODY. 195 " fashioned like unto his glorious body." But in what manner the state of the body will be made to correspond with the lost and ruined condition of the soul, we have no means of forming a conjecture. Upon this foundation then the subject has been placed by our blessed Lord ; the theo- ries and conjectures of men remaining for the most part unanswered, and so much only being revealed, as may excite in us a lively hope and joyful expectation of the future. To help if possible the unbelief of the sceptic, and to supply food for meditation to the true believer. Christian apologists have sometimes ventured on speculations of their own. They have laboured with pious zeal to prove that the resurrection of the body was antecedently probable. Thus it is maintained by one an- cient writer, that the body and soul having each their peculiar province of action, and often acting separately, each was responsible, and each ought to be judged and rewarded ; that in short, they are partners here in the work, and ought to be partakers hereafter in the recompensed *'To what purpose," says Calvin, " do we bring our bodily members into subjection to the will of God, if they are to have no reward^ ?" In reply to these observa- * Athenagoras, de Res. Mort. xviii. ^ {\{^ 25, 28. ' 02 196 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. tions, however, it might be said, that the body is not to be regarded as the partner, but rather as the agent or instrument of the soul, and that the responsibility of using it well or ill, and therefore the reward or punishment, need not extend to it, according to human princi- ples of reasoning, but might be confined to the soul. Again, the argument which is fur- nished by what is called the analogy of nature has been a favourite theme with the Christian philosopher. It was urged by Tertullian and other ancient writers, and has been adopted by one of our greatest divines, in whose words it may best be represented. ''The day," he says " dies into a night, and is buried in silence and in darkness ; in the next morning it appeareth again and reviveth, opening the grave of darkness, rising from the dead of night ; this is a diurnal resurrection. As the day dies into night, so doth the summer into winter ; the sap is said to descend into the root, and there it lies buried in the ground ; the earth is covered with snow, or crusted with frost, and becomes a general sepulchre ; when the spring appeareth all begin to rise, the plants and flowers peep out of their graves, revive and grow and flourish ; this is the annual resurrection. The corn by which we live, and for want of which we perish with 1849.] OF THE BODY. 197 famine, is notwithstanding cast upon the earth, and buried in the ground, with a de- sign that it may corrupt, and being corrupted may revive and multiply ; our bodies are fed with this constant experiment, and we con- tinue this present life by a succession of re- surrections. Thus all things are repaired by corrupting, are preserved by perishing, and revive by dying ; and can we think that man, the Lord of all these things, which thus die and revive for him, should be detained in death so as never to live again ? Is it imagi- nable that God should thus restore all things to man, and not restore man to himself^?" This argument is indeed agreeable to the natural yearnings of men, and in conformity with the hope and belief of the Christian; but if it be dispassionately considered, it may perhaps be thought to belong rather to the poet than to the philosopher, being founded on a fanciful analogy, and not on any actual resemblance in the things themselves. And if it had any force, it would only lead to the presumption, that as there is a continual succession of day and night, and an annual reproduction of plants from their seeds, so there will be a periodical dissolution and re- paration of the human body in its present ^ Pearson, On the Greedy Art. xi. p. 376. 198 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. form; and not of the human body alone, but of all organic bodies without exception. And thus it would not suggest the idea, which the Gospel gives us, of a resurrection once for all, to eternal life, in a changed, glorious and spi- ritual body^ But whatever may be the value of such arguments as these, and upon different minds * Before the coming of Christ, the observation had been made both by sacred and profane writers, that men do not, like plants, revive and reappear on the earth. Thus Job xiv. 7 : '' There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away : yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up : so man lieth down, and riseth not : till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." And so Moschus, Idi/l. iii. 106 : "^Ai, 'Ai, Tcti fxaXctyai ixev eirdv Kara Kairov oXoovTai, '^H Tot ■^Xcopd (TeXiuttj TO T eu^aAe? ovXov ctutjdou, ' Y(TTepov av ^£ooi/Ti, Ka\ eJ? tTo? aWo (pvovri. ' AfXfxe^ h\ 6i fxeydXoi kui KupTepoi tj ao(pdi dvhpe^y Ottttotc irpcLTa davwp€<;, avciKOOi ev -yQovi Ko'iXa "EuBo/me? ev fxdXa fXUKpov aTepixova vtjypcTov virvov. The garden-mallow and the parsley green. And flowery crisp-leaved anise, though they die, Shall hve again, and bud another year; But man, alas ! great, cunning, powerful man, Once dying, sleeps forgotten in the earth, One long, unbroken, never-ending sleep. The Gospel does not meet this observation by saying, that 1849.] OF THE BODY. 199 they may possibly bear with different degrees of force, it must be recollected, that they are altogether of human origin ; and whether they stand or fall, the Scripture doctrine of the Resurrection will remain unmoved, for it is founded on proofs of another kind. Is that doctrine proved to be the will of God ? If it be, as it undoubtedly is, then it is immaterial whether it could have been discovered, proved, or rendered probable, by the unassisted efforts of the human reason. Leaving these speculations, the object of which was to supply arguments in favour of the Resurrection, we have to notice others, which related to its circumstances and details. Many indeed are the questions, which a na- tural curiosity may suggest, as to the mode in which the body will be raised, and as to its subsequent uses and capacities. But if in there is an analogy in tliis respect between men and plants, but by shewing that there is in store for the human body a restoration very different from the revival of a plant, and far more glorious. "When St. Paul illustrates the resur- rection of the body by the instance of a grain of corn which perishes and then is quickened, he does not mean to establish a general analogy between the resurrection of the body and the propagation of plants from their seeds; the similitude to which he directs our attention is only a partial one; he shews us a thing in nature, a seed of corn, which first under- goes corruption in the earth, and then is raised in a new and more beautiful form ; and he says this shall be the case with the human body. 200 THE RESURRECTION [Lect. VII. endeavouring to gratify that curiosity, we are carried away from the plain word of Scrip- ture, we enter upon a field of conjectures in which every step is liable to error, and can hardly be free from presumption. Thus when St. Augustine laid it down that every person, whether dying advanced in years, or in infancy, should rise again with the stature and form of early manhood, the new body so exactly corresponding with the old, that the number of the hairs of the head shall be the same in eternity as it is in time , for he drew this meaning from the declara- tions of our Lord, that the hairs of our heads are all numbered, and that not a hair of our heads shall perish^; w4ien he asserted that the personal deformities of the wicked will cleave to them, but that the saints will be free from their present imperfections; when he endeavoured to decide how the recon- struction of the body will be effected, in certain supposed cases of difficulty, as for instance, where the same particles of matter have entered successively into two or more different bodies^; and when St. Jerome treated ' Matth. X. 30. Luke xxi. 18. 2 Dr. South, who notices this difficulty, characteristically observes, that it may be expressed in the words of the Saddu- cecs in Matt. xxii. 28, concerning the woman who had been married to several husbands successively ; " To which of them 1849.] OF THE BODY. 201 of the uses, to which the several members of the body will be turned ; these great divines were endeavouring to settle questions which Scripture has not settled, and with regard to which the decisions of any human authority, however high, were not likely to be conclu- sive ^ But when such an example had been set, it is not surprising that Thomas Aquinas, and others of the scholastic divines, who were most intent upon those points of theo- logy, which were most recondite, should have discussed these questions minutely, and with various differences of opinion. These dis- cussions have indeed at no time very greatly disturbed the peace of the Church. By our own divines they have been wisely avoided, being considered to belong to that class of subjects, of which the Apostle says, that they "minister questions, rather than godly edi- fying' which is in faith 2." In other countries, however, they have had a more abiding in- fluence ; for though the controversies may have worn out and been forgotten, yet some of the opinions which were maintained in shall she belong at the last day ? for all of thein had her." {Ser^nons, Vol. ii. p. 401.) Perhaps too, tlic answer of our Lord in that case may apply, mutatis mutandis, in this. ' Augustin. de Civ. Dei. xxii. 14 — 20 ; Enchirid. 87 — 92. Hieron. adv Joan. Hier. et Epist. 86. ad Eustoch. ' 1 Tim. i. 4. 202 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. [Lect. VII. the course of them, have been admitted, as authoritative conclusions, into the text-books and Catechisms^ of the Roman Catholic Church. And though the subtleties and re- finements of the schoolmen on this subject may not be of any momentous consequence, and may have no injurious effect upon the faith of those who receive them, we have good reason to be thankful that they have not been received among ourselves. We have thus seen how the doctrine of the Resurrection of the body, which was first promulgated by the gospel, became in suc- ceeding ages an object of attack and defence, and a fruitful topic of conjecture ; and though the arguments by which it w^as up- held w^ere not always wisely chosen^ and the speculations to which it gave rise were not as discreet as they were well intentioned, yet it occasioned no deep nor extensive heresy in the Church of Christ, and . it has been transmitted to us without addition or dimi- nution, in the state in w hich it was originally delivered. The other subject of which I now purpose to treat, is the immortality of the soul. This, though never fully brought to light till Christ came, was not proclaimed by him as a new doctrine. We have seen on ' Dens, Theolog. Vol. vii. 325. Catech. Trident. § 188. 1849.] THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 203 former occasions that it was the general per- suasion of mankind, and that it had been the subject of much unsatisfactory discussion among philosophers. We might have sup- posed that the wise men of the earth, having so long been tossed about in uncertainty, and being now at their wits' end, would gladly have allowed themselves to be brought into the haven where they desired to be, and that they would have been among the first to *' praise the Lord for his goodness, and de- clare the wonders that he doeth for the chil- dren of men." But those things which at the first were revealed unto babes, remained for a long time hid from the wise and prudent. The disciples of the school of Plato did not readily forsake their own theories and con- jectures for the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. And when some of them at length became converts to the Gospel, they not un- frequently retained a partiality for their old opinions, and endeavoured to reconcile and combine them with the faith which they had newly embraced. The pagan philosophy was, in their view, the wild olive on whose stock the doctrine of Christ was to be engrafted. But when they sought to accomplish this union, they made it manifest, that the Gospel had no affinity with their theories. It lends 204 THE IMMORTALITY [Lect. VII. them no countenance, much less does it lean on them for support : some of them it over- throws; of the rest it takes no heed. The earliest Christian writer who enters into philosophical discussions on the nature and immortality of the soul, appears to be Justin Martyr, who was a convert from Pla- tonism in the middle of the second century ^ It would be a fruitless task to review the various theories on this subject which, in the first ages of Christianity, were constructed out of the philosophy of Plato. It may suffice to mention, by way of example, one or two of the questions which were discussed. The soul being immortal, it was asked, Does its immortality extend backward into the past, as well as forwards into the future? Has it always existed, before it was in the body? Does it exist like God himself from ever- lasting to everlasting? This question was answered in the affirmative, by those who, like the Marcionites and Manicheans^, held the doctrine of the Platonic philosophy, and considered the human soul to be of the very substance of God. The great Christian writer Origen, in the ^ The opinions noticed in this and the following para- graph are illustrated in the Note at the end of the Lecture. * See Waterland, Vol. iii. p. 115. 1849.] OF THE SOUL. 205 third century, does not appear to have main- tained the eternal pre-existence of the soul ; in his opinion it was originally created by God, and endued with an immortal nature ; but he adopted another Platonic conceit, and thought it had lived in a former state of being, to which this life bears the relation of a state of retribution ; though he did not pretend to rest his opinion upon any higher ground than conjecture, but admitted that the pre-existence of the human soul was not expressly declared in holy Scripture. Another question was, whether the principle of immor- tality is inherent in the nature of the soul, or imparted to it by the grace of God. Suppos- ing immortality to be inherent in its nature, and such was the opinion of some philoso- phers, what is that nature? Some maintained that every soul was an emanation from, or a particle of the divine essence, and so partak- ing in the divine attributes. But upon this supposition it was impossible to account for the soul's becoming liable to sin and its fear- ful consequences. Others again, as for in- stance Justin Martyr, asserted that every human soul is freshly created by God, and is endowed by him with the gift of immortality. But to this hypothesis there lay an objection, which was pointed out by Gregory the Great, 206 THE IMMORTALITY [Lect. VII. that the taint of original or birth-sin would not attach to that which came newly created from the hands of God. There remained the supposition that the soul of Adam only was created by God out of nothing, and that in all the subsequent generations of men, one soul is derived from another, as one body is en- gendered of another; the two elements of our nature being subject to this difference of condition, that the one must undergo a tem- porary decay and dissolution, while the other is preserved from all decay by the grace of God. Such was the opinion of Tertullian and St. Augustine; and this opinion, though opposed to the theories of the Platonic philo- sophy, appears in the end to have prevailed among those who ventured to speculate upon the subject. Thus it was found that the Christian doc- trine of a future life could not be combined with any theory respecting the immortality of the soul that had been propounded by Plato and his followers. But the subject was not yet finally set at rest. The long night of the middle ages indeed came, and suspended for a while the contentions of philosophy ; and as that period passed away, a new direction was given to the human mind by the system of Aristotle. The authority of that great master 1849.] OF THE SOUL. 207 became supreme in the schools over every department of profane learning, and even threatened to trench upon sacred ground, and to dispute precedence with the Gospel itself. Every question within the ken of human knowledge had to be adjusted according to the principles of Aristotle, and from this gene- ral ordeal the doctrine of the immortality of the soul did not entirely escape. The ques- tion was asked, and not easily answered, whether that doctrine could be maintained upon the principles of Aristotle. This point appears to have been first mooted by Averroes of Spain, an Aristotelian philosopher of the thirteenth century. But when Pomponatius of Padua, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, affirmed that the immortality of the soul was a neutrum prohlema, a problem which did not admit of a solution on the principles of Aristotle, the Church took alarm at this bold proposition, and the fifth Lateran Coun- cil was held, in which all such assertions were formally condemned, and the immortality of the soul was pronounced to be a matter of faith ; this decision being rested upon the words of our Lord when he said, '' Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul^ ;" and again, '' He that hateth ' Matt. X. 28. 208 THE IMMORTALITY [Lect. VII. his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternals" By this decree it was proclaimed, that a doctrine which had been clearly revealed in Scripture, was no longer to be treated as a subject of philosophic doubt and enquiry. And men for the most part acquiesced in this decision. Philosophy was not unwilling to retire from a region which she was unable to explore, and which was now clearly taken into the province of religion. They who drank deepest at the fountains of earthly wisdom, perceived that they must go else- where in quest of the living waters ; that their hopes of a future life must repose not on un- certain inferences from Plato or Aristotle, but solely and entirely on the clear voice of the Gospel. And when it was confessed by Lord Bacon, that all questions respecting the nature of the soul, however far they may be pursued by reason, must ultimately be referred for decision to the authority of Revelation, he made an avowal by which the human intellect was dignified quite as much as it was humbled. But though the wise and learned in succeed- ing ages have not been ashamed to repeat this confession of their great master and leader, there have always been persons who ' John xii. 25. See Note at the end of this Lecture. 1849.] OF THE SOUL. 209 require some other proof of the future life, besides that which is afforded by the book of Revelation. They set themselves obstinately against the Gospel, and are neither willing to accept its promises, nor to be bound by its precepts, nor in any way to admit its inspira- tion or authority. Such persons the Christian divine has en- deavoured to persuade, or at least to divest of some of their prejudices, by an appeal to reason and argument. Thus it has been said that if a man reflects on the operations and powers of his own mind, he will be led to conclude that it is something quite distinct from the body, and that it is not, like the body, made up of a number of parts, but that it is single, not compounded, indivisible, and therefore not liable, like the body, to disso- lution and decay ; that as a matter of fact it very often does not partake in the exhaustion and disease of the body, and is able to reflect, to feel pleasure and pain, without any assist- ance from the senses ; and hence there arises a presumption that it may survive and con- tinue its operations, when the body shall have been dissolved by death ; moreover, it has been urged that the mind is gifted with many noble faculties, which seldom if ever have their full development in this life ; and as it H.H.L. P 210 THE IMMORTALITY [Lect. VII. is not reasonable to suppose that God creates any thing in vain, we may look for another state in which these faculties, here pent up or untimely nipped, will attain their full per- fection. And again, looking to the moral government of the universe, and observing how in this life vice often goes unpunished, and virtue misses its reward, we are led to expect another state of existence, in which the irregularities which are apparent here will be corrected, and every action will be brought into judgment. Such arguments, as we shewed in a former Lecture\ were employed by the heathen sage ; and they have been adopted in these latter times by the Christian divine. Without at- tempting to weigh each one of them separately, it may be sufficient now to observe, that they are not all of equal force; that perhaps any one of them taken singly would be of little value ; that they are powerful only when combined ; and that even then they do not amount to a demonstration. They may rebut objections to the immortality of the soul, they may raise a presumption in its favour ; but taken by themselves, they are not sufficient to pro- duce conviction. Yet to such arguments the Christian divine may and must sometimes ^ Lecture III. 1849.] OF THE SOUL. 211 have recourse, when he meets with those who refuse to acknowledge the authority of the Gospel. He must leave the vantage ground which he occupies in the Book of Revelation, and go down into the field of the human rea- son. If he cannot persuade men to accept the verities which he offers, he must descend to calculate probabilities with them, and to dispute with them on their own principles, making himself " all things to all men, if by any means he may save some, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth'." But with regard to all such arguments as I have now been noticing, the same remark applies, which I have already made when considering the presumptions in favour of the Resurrec- tion of the body. Whatever may be the fate of such arguments, whether they stand or fall, even if they are one and all condemned, the judgment which is passed on them will not in the slightest degree endanger the truth of Revelation. They are, after all, only weapons forged by the hand of man. It may be, that when we come to assay them, we shall find that we cannot go with them, cannot hope to do battle with them successfully against the giants of the earth. But the Gospel is inde- pendent of them, does not use them, nor need 1 1 Cor. ix. 22. r2 212 THE IMMORTALITY [Lect. VII. them. It has a method of its own. It does not beat about for a 'priori reasoning; it does not wait upon probabilities ; it announces a truth, and does so with divine authority. It stays not to silence objections, to parley with the reason. It addresses itself to the con- science, to the heart, to the faith of men. It declares the immortality of the soul, the judgment to come, the life everlasting; and in so doing it awakens a witness to itself in every breast. For, as we have shewn on a former occasions there is already, prior to Revelation, independent of reason, a voice in man's heart, a divine testimony, which tells him he shall not die for ever, but live hereafter, and give an account of his actions. He who heeds not this inward monitor, but despises the promises and threatenings of the Gospel, will hardly be moved by any argu- ments of man's devising. But still, even such arguments are not to be wholly neglected ; when other means fail, they may sometimes, by God's blessing, be made effectual ; they may serve to arouse the conscience, to open some avenue to the heart which prejudice had closed, and thus may become instrumental in paving the way for the entrance of heavenly truth. ' Lecture II. 1849.] OF THE SOUL. 213 Upon the whole then, we may say of the soul's immortality, as we have already ob- served of the Resurrection of the body, that from the time when it was published by Christ and his Apostles, the doctrine has been turned about on all sides by the ingenuity, well or ill intentioned, of the human reason. The attempts to overthrow it have been feeble, the objections to it scarcely worth mention ; it has not been made the occasion of any grievous schism in the Church ; and it has come down to ourselves in its simple and original form. Whatever differences there may be among Christians upon other articles of the faith, and even upon some points relating to the future life, the great doctrines of the Resurrection of the body, and the life ever- lasting, are held in the Church Catholic with- out reserve. If there is less speculation on these subjects now, than there was in former ages, we do not regard this as a sign that they occupy a smaller share of the thoughts, or exert less influence on the conduct of men. Rather we may hope that some advantage has been derived from the failures of former times, and that men have seen how pre- sumptuous and vain a thing it is to put forth theories and conjectures upon matters so far beyond their reach. Questions there are in- 214 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. [Lect. VII. deed, connected with these doctrines, upon which we might wish to be enlightened — difficulties which we cannot entirely remove. Perhaps it is not possible altogether to shut our eyes to such questions and difficulties ; it is natural that we should sometimes look wistfully at them, even as the disciples gazed steadfastly at the cloud which separated from them their ascended Lord. Yet like those disciples, we may cheerfully withdraw our eyes again, and go on our way rejoicing; for we have a light which is sufficient to guide us, and in following which we cannot err. At present our knowledge of heavenly things is imperfect; we speak, we understand, we think about them no more distinctly, no more accurately, than children do about the estate of manhood. But a little while, and that which is in part will be done away ; we shall see face to face ; and know even as also we are known. NOTE ON LECTURE VII. The Platonic notion that the soul, being a particle of the divine mind, is natui'ally immortal (Oeia koI adavaros, koL avTov €Keivov ^aaiKiKov fxepos), and the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls (on fxeTUfxei^ovaiv ds erepa (r dppo^ei irvdyeiv toIs Kar c'Uova avrov TTfTTOirjpevois^ koi Tvapa to /SovXt^/ao TTjs KUT e'Uova (})v(T€cos ^e^icoKoa-i. In his 14th Homily on St. Luke he seems to consider every soul, without excep- tion, liable to this process of purification : " Ego puto quod et post resurrectionem ex mortuis indigeamus Sacra- mento eluente nos et purgante ; nemo enim absque sordibus resurgere poterit ; nee ullam posse animam reperiri, quae omnibus statim vitiis careat." St. Jerome (Coinm. in Isai. Lib. xviii. cap. 66. Vol. IV. Ed.Venet. p. 830) supposes that the punishments of the Devil and of reprobate men will be eternal, but 250 NOTES. [Lect. VIIL " peccatorum atque impiorum, et tamen Christianorum, quorum opera in igne probanda sunt atque purganda, moderatam arbitramur et mixtam clementise sententiam judicis/' There is nothing in the passage or its context to indicate that he thought this purgation was to take place before the final judgment. He speaks diffidently on the subject; says that some persons think the future punishments, though of long duration, will have an end, relying on Rom. xi. 25, 26 ; Galat. iii. 22, &c. These persons advance the opinion, that the final refrigeria will take place, but are now " abscondenda ab his, quibus timor utilis est ; ut dum supplicia reformidant, peccare desistant." He does not refute this opinion, but says, " Quod nos Dei solius debemus scientise derelinquere, cujus non solum misericordise sed et tormenta in pondere sunt ; et novit quem quamdiu et quomodo judicare. Solum- que dicamus, quod humanse convenit fragilitati, Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me ; neque in ira tua corripias me."" St. Augustine says {De Civ. Dei, xxi. 24) : " Facta resurrectione mortuorum non deerunt, quibus, post poenas quos patiuntur spiritus mortuorum, impertiatur miseri- cordia, ut in ignem non mittantur seternum. Neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur quod non eis remittatur neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro, nisi essent quibus etsi non in isto tamen remittetur in futuro.'' He speaks more doubtfully in chap. 26 of the same book : " Post istius sane corporis mortem donee ad ilium veniatur qui post resurrectionem futurus est damnationis et renuncia- tionis ultimus dies, si hoc temporis intervallo spiritus defunctorum ejusmodi ignem dicuntur perpeti quem non sentiant illi qui non habuerunt tales mores et amores in hujus corporis vita, ut eorum ligna et foenum et stipula consumatur ; alii vero sentiant, qui ejusmodi secum aedi- 1849.] NOTES. 251 ficia portaverunt, sive ibi tantum, sive et hie et ibi, sive ideo hie ut non ibi, seeularia, quamvis a damnatione venialia eoneremantera ignem transitorise tribulationis in- veniant, non redarguo, quia forsitan verum est."" And so EncMrid. 69, he refers 1 Cor. iii. 10, in the first instanee, to the tribulations and mortifications experienced in this life, and adds, " Tale aliquid etiam post banc vitam fieri incredibile non est, et utrura ita sit quaeri potest." See Comm. in Ps. vi. 1 et xxxviii. 1. Ad Didcit. § 13. Pope Gregory the Great first made the doctrine of purgatory an article of faith. He says {Dial. iv. 39), after quoting John xii. 35, 2 Cor. vi. 2, fee, e/c 7rao-c5i/ ovv fxaprvpiav tovtcov (pavepcos dcUvvrai, on oios e/c tSv ivTavOa e^- ikOrj €Ka(TTOSi ToiovTOs Kol iv TT] Kplaei 7rapa(TTrj(r€Tai. ttX^i/ oficas nepi TLVcov iXacfjpoTepcov TrTaiafxaTcov KaBapriKov iivat irvp npo Tfjs Kpia-cois nio-Tevreou. He then quotes Matt. xii. 31 ; but limits this to slight offences, such as immoderate laughter, &c. He quotes with some hesitation 1 Cor. iii. 10 — 12. He says this purification will not be obtained hereafter unless a man does his best to purify himself here. He mentions the case of one Paschasius, who was said to have appeared after death, and testified of purgatory. At the Council of Florence, held in 1439, a committee of Greek and Latin Fathers was appointed to investigate the doctrine of purgatory. They reported in favour of the doctrine, citing the following authorities : 2 Mace. xii. 43-45 ; Matt. xii. 32 ; 1 Cor. iii. 15; the authority of the holy Roman Church instructed by St. Peter and St. Paul, "quae sic semper tenuit, semper praedicavit f Augustin. Homil. de Purgat.; Idem, De Civ. Dei., xxi. cap. 13, 20; Idem, in lib. De Cur, pro Mort, ; Idem, in lib. De Poenitentia ; Idem, in Sermone de Mortuis-^ S. Ambros. in 1 Cor. iii. ; S. Gregor. Dial. iv. 39 ; S. Basil. Prec. in Vigil. Pente- 252 NOTES. [Lect. VIII. cost. ; Gregor. Nyss. in Dial, de Consol. et statu Animar. post mortem. S. Dionys. Eccles. Hierarch. cap. 7. S. Epi- phan. adv. Hceres. 57, &;c. Upon receiving this report, the Council passed the following Decree ; " Si vere poenitentes in Dei caritate decesserint, ante- quam dignis pcenitentise fructibus de commissis satisfece- rint et de omissis, eorum animas poenis purgatoriis post mortem purgari, et ad poenas hujusmodi relevandas prod- esse eis fidelium vivorum suffragia, missarura scilicet sacrificia, orationes et eleemosynas, et alia pietatis officia, quse a fidelibus fieri consueverunt, secundum ecclesise instituta ; illorumque animas, qui post sacrum baptisma susceptum nuUam omnino maculam incurrerunt, illas etiam qu8e post contractam peccati maculam vel in suis corpori- bus, vel eadem exutse, prout superius dictum est, sunt purgatse, in coelum mox recipi, et intueri clare ipsum Deum trinum et unum, sicuti est, licet alius alio perfectius ; illorum autem animas, qui in mortali actuali peccato, vel solo originali decedunt, mox in infernum descendere ; poe- nis tamen disparibus puniendas." Labbe, Concil. xiii. 1131. NOTE (B). The word ala>vLos is repeatedly used in the New Testa- ment, with reference both to the happiness of the blessed and the punishment of the wicked. It is joined with the following words; C<»^ (forty-four times), o-coTTjpla (once), XvTpoiais (once), napaKkyjais (onCc), Kkrjpovofiia (onCC), oIkiu (once), (TKTjvq (once, Luke Xvi. 9), evayyeXiov (once), biaOriKri (once), ^aaiXeia (OUCC), avTOP (oncC, Pllilcm. 15), IBdpos 86^r]s (once), bo^a (once), Kpdros (twice), Oeos (once), n^eC/xa (once), nvp ' (three times), KoXaacs (once), Kpio-is (once), I 1849.] NOTES. 253 Kpl^ia (once), oXfdpos (once). In all these instances it appears to have the same sense, everlasting, for ever; also with xpovoL (three times, e.g. 2 Tim. i. 9, 7rp6 xp^^*^^ alcoviav), which seems to be an hyperbole, like oprj alcSvia in the LXX version of Ps. Ixxvi. 4. The Christian writers of the apostolic age, St Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Polycarp, follow the common usage of the New Tes- tament, and join alatvLos with ^coj), KoXaa-is, TTVp, &c. The words uImv, alcopios, being of great importance in Scripture, it is of interest to ascertain their history. Not finding that this has been done in the Lexicons, nor in the books referred to by Dr Burton in his discussion of al(ov (Bamp. Led., pp. 110, 407), I have given below the results at which I have myself arrived : — 1. atwj/ occurs thirteen times in the Iliad and Odyssey, always meaning the term of human life, the lifetime of man; and in this sense alone it is used by other early writers, by Hesiod, Pindar, Simonides, Herodotus. The ancient usage therefore does not bear out the etymology suggested by Aristotle (J)e Coelo, i. 9), and commonly adopted, 6 aloiv anb Tov del elvai. And whou Dr Burton says, " It is almost demonstrable, that in its primary sense alwv was applied to an indefinite period, and that period was relatively a long one ;"' this assertion appears to be in- correct, except in so far as the term of human life is an indefinite period, and, relatively, a long one. 2. .^schylus generally follows the Homeric usage, but occasionally employs the word in the sense of in- definite duration, irrespective of human life ; e. g. Siippl. 46. p.6p(Tipos alcov ; Suppl. 5/7. Zevs alavos Kpecav aTravarov. Being a Pythagorean, he might have derived this use of the word from Pythagoras, who is represented by Justin Martyr {Cohort, ad Gr. p. 18) as describing God to be 254 NOTES. [Lect. VIII. €7n(TK07rcov Trdaas ras yeveatas, kol Kpaais e'toi/ rav oXtoi/ aloiVu)u I "presiding over all generations, and uniting in himself the sum of all durations." Sophocles and Xenophon keep steadily to the Homeric usage. Euripides, a philosophic poet, also uses al(ov in the sense of indefinite duration ; he has the remarkable expression, iroXXa yap tlktci poipa reXea-- o-tSaJreip, Aii2N TE KPONOY DATS. {Hevacl. 900.) " Nume- rous is the progeny of all-accomphshing Fate, and Age THE SON OF Cronus'" (thus personifying alwv.) 3. Plato sometimes follows the Homeric usage, but he is the first writer who clearly and expressly employs 6 alcov to signify eternity, and places it in emphatic contra- distinction to Time, 6 XP^^^^ i Locr. 97. D. npos TrapaSely/ia, Tov alava, 68e 6 XP^^^^ ^^^ Kocrpa ibap.Lovpyrj6r]. In x lato S writings also, we first, I think, meet with the adjective aicoj/tos ; it is used by him seven times, and always in the same sense, everlasting^ for ever; e.g. Locr. 96. c. B^bv TOV alcoviov. Twi. 38. C. Kara napadelypa rrjs aloovtov (fivaecos. Locr. 105. dyevvdroi kol alcovlov^ " without beginning and without end." The Platonic sense of alav, alavios, passed over, with the Platonic philosophy, to Alexandria ; in that sense alavios is used by the Alexandi-ine poet (Jallimachus {Hymn, ad Dian, 6). Philo Judseus, following in the steps of Plato, calls aloiv, t6 xpo^ov 7rapa8e2yp.a Koi dpx^Tvnov ; and adds alatv ydp dvaypdv occurs only in the singular number with a preposition, viz : els Tov alcova, " for ever,"" twelve times in the Gospel and once in the Epistles. €K TOV alSvos, " from everlasting," once in the Gospel (ix. 32). In the Apocalypse ala>v is never used in this way, but only in the phrase (which is more in accordance with the Hebrew idiom) els tovs alavas rav al(Sv(ov, " for ever and ever ;" this occurs fourteen times. Again, in the Gospel and Epistles alavios is found twenty-three times in conjunction with C<^t] (viz. seventeen times in the Gospel and six times in the Epistles) ; but with no other word ; whereas in the Apocalypse alcovios is only once used, and then is joined with dayyeXiov. LECTURE IX THE EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 1 COR. XV. 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steclfast, im- moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. QUCH is the exhortation with which the ^ Apostle concludes his account of the doctrine of the Resurrection. Having first unfolded the '' mystery" so far as he was permitted to explain it, he bursts out for a moment into exclamations of joy, at the thought of the ** victory," as he calls it, in which Death is to be swallowed up ; but pre- sently he recalls himself from this triumphant strain, and takes leave of the subject upon which he has been engaged, by recommend- ing it to us as a motive for patient continuance in well-doing. The knowledge that our labour is not in vain should lead us, he says, to be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the H. H. L. S 258 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect.IX. work of the Lord. The whole chapter is en- deared to us by the remembrance that it is continually heard in our churches, whenever dust is given back to dust, and earth to earth. And how often have these closing words remained in the ear of the mourner, and given peace and courage to his heart, as he has risen and gone forth from the house of God, to finish the ceremony for which he came, and then to return into the busy world. Who would wish to withdraw from him this topic of consolation ; who would venture to tell him that this theme, though true, is not sublime enough for him, though real, is un- worthy of his meditation ; that his spirit must be buoyed up, and his resolution quickened by other thoughts than this ? We might sup- pose that the motives to present exertion which arise from the contemplation of the future life, would be felt and acknowledged by all ; and that however much in practice they may be disregarded, no persons would be found openly to reject them. They have how- ever been called in question and disparaged, not only by unbelievers, but even by some among the disciples of the Gospel. And therefore, as we have been expounding the doctrine of a future life, in accordance, we trust, with the teaching of St. Paul, we can- 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 259 not do better than follow his example to the end, and conclude our meditations on this lofty theme by insisting on the practical con- siderations, the motives and inducements to good, which it supplies. No one indeed can read the books of the New Testament without seeing, that the doc- trine of a future life is not merely revealed as a truth, but put forward most prominently as a motive of action. We are not left to draw our own inferences as to its practical impor- tance ; our attention is forcibly directed to that point. It is the great topic of those beatitudes with which our blessed Lord ap- pears to have commenced his public ministry. When he was set down upon the mount, he opened his mouth and said^ "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for, theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And in that strain he continued his discourse ; he declared that under the most severe of all trials, when men revile us and persecute us, and say all manner of evil against us falsely for his sake, even then we may rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is our reward in heaven. At another time he cautions us against the love of this world, and bids us lay up our treasure not on the earth, but in heaven. He commands the ' Matt. V. .3. S2 260 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. avaricious man to sell all he has and give to the poor, offering him as a compensation the promise of great treasure in heaven ^ He proclaims that they who suffer loss for his sake and the Gospel's, shall not only receive more than an equivalent in this life, but shall have in the world to come eternal life^ Again, St. Paul at one time uses the terrors of the Lord to persuade men, at another he speaks with commendation of Moses ^ because he had respect to the recompense of reward ; and in like manner he says with regard to our blessed Lord, who in his human nature was a pattern to us of all holy desires and good counsels, as well as of all just works, that even he, as man, was under the influence of this motive; he, for the joy that was set before him, ** endured the cross, and despised the shame^;" thereby shewing us, how for the joy that is set before us we also ought to endure tribulation. And though we are not able, with our imperfect faculties, to com- prehend the exact nature of the future re- ward, yet in order that it may be desirable in our eyes, it is compared to those objects which most delight our senses and in the pursuit of which we are willing to spare no ' Mark x. 21. ' Mark x. 29. 3 Heb. xi. 26. * Heb. xii. 2. 1840.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 261 pains ; to a pearl of great price, which must be purchased, to a garland won by running a weary race, to a mansion where we may rest from our kibours, to a kingdom in which we are to reign, after that we have suffered. But it is necessary to bear in mind the relation which this motive has to the other principles of action. For though it was men- tioned so emphatically by our Lord and his Apostles, it was not intended to be the only motive, nor indeed to be pre-eminent above all the rest. The prospect of an infinite re- ward, if it were to be obtained immediately, and without delay, would indeed engross our thoughts, and become paramount above every other consideration. But it is removed from us by the interval of a few short years, or weeks, or days; an interval undoubtedly very brief, but of uncertain duration, and which seems to extend on before us almost to an infinite distance, so that we cannot see the end of it. Thus the prospect of eternity does not bear that disproportion to our other motives which it would have if we felt it to be close at hand. It does not paralyse, as it would, the ordinary springs of action. Many of us, I fear, have reason to lament that we are scarcely sensible of its infiuence. It was evidently not the intention of the Gospel, and 262 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. it has not been its effect, to make the hope of futurity the only motive of our conduct. The intention was to make it a leading and cardinal motive, but still in conjunction with others. Christ came not to destroy the moral law, but to fulfil it, and make it complete. He sanctioned all the dictates of conscience, all the incentives to good which had been originally implanted in our nature. There are two great principles, the love of God, and the love of man, to one or other of which the whole circle of our duties may be referred. He was very far from superseding them. He declared that the first and great command- ment is, " to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind ; and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself^" These two great and original principles of our nature, the love of God and the love of man, piety and benevo- lence, filial obedience to our common Father, brotherly kindness towards each other, he sanctioned by his precept, he enforced by his example ; and still further to strengthen those principles, he declared that he who allows himself to be governed by them hath the hope of everlasting life. Indeed, he made that hope * Matt. xxii. 37- 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 263 to depend entirely upon our being ruled by those principles. Merely to do such and such things will not ensure us eternal life, unless the actions proceed from the right motives, from the love of God and the love of man. In offering that reward, he did not set aside those principles, but had especial respect to them. And in order that we might really be actuated by them, that we might cherish them in our hearts, and not observe them merely in our outward conduct, he sent his holy Spirit, who enables us not only to do what is right, but to do it from the right mo- tive, to will as well as to do aright, both to will and to do after his good pleasure. Thus these three motives, the love of God, the love of man, and the hope of the reward, have been intimately united and blended together by him, so as greatly to support and corroborate each other. And what he has joined, we have no right or power to put asunder. We can- not, if we would, make our election among them, nor say, that we choose to be governed by the hope of reward, without reference to the other two, or that we will entertain them, and exclude this entirely from our minds. It might seem unnecessary to make these observations, did we not know that there have been persons, not only in preceding ages, but 264 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. even in our own times, who have maintained that the hope of reward is not a legitimate motive of action, that whether the reward he temporal or eternal, finite or infinite, the ex- pectation of it is a mercenary principle, not worthy of our noble and exalted nature. Such is said to have been the opinion of the ancient Sadducees^ who maintained that we ought to do good without reference to the reward ; and so they went on to deny that there would be any future retribution, or any future life at all. And we might almost suppose that St. Paul was referring to, and opposing the Sad- ducean notion, when in his Epistle to the Hebrews 2 he enumerated the long catalogue of patriarchs and saints, who under all kinds of trial and persecution were supported by their reliance on God's promises, by their ex- pectation of a better country, by their hope of the recompense of the reward. But to come down to Christian times, it appears that so early as the second century^ an objection was ' See Prideaux, Connexion of the Old and New Testamenty Vol. II. p. 64. (Ed. M'CauI, 1845.) ^ Chap. xi. ^ Justin. Martyr, 2 Apol, c. 9 : JW le fxri rt? eiVj; to Ae- •yofxevov vtto twi/ vojXi^ofxeviav (piXoaocptau^ oti ko/jlttoi Ka\ (pd/Dt]- Tpa ea-Ti tu Xeyo/jLCva vcp tjfxwv^ oti KoXdijovrai eu alwvlu) irup) ol aoiKoty Kui diet (po/3ov, aA\' ov hia to kuXov eivai ko.) dpea-' Tovy euapcTw^ piovv tou? dvBptaTrov^ d^iovpew j^pa'^vetria^ irpd^ TovTo aTTOKpiuovpaij oTi el fJirj tovto ea-Tiu, ovTe co-t) 6eo<:, r] el 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 265 made to the Gospel, probably by some of the Stoic philosophers, on the ground that it en- deavoured to frighten men from sin by the fear of punishment, and to allure them to vir- tue by the hope of a future reward ; whereas virtue ought to have been represented as its own all-sufficient reward, not merely the means, but the end ; not merely the way to happiness, but happiness itself. And the same objection has been repeated by infidel writers in our own time^ And we know that a notion of the same kind has been enter- tained by some persons, who however mis- taken they may have been on this point, w ere in other respects devoted and zealous mem- bers of the Church of God. In the seven- teenth century there existed a sect of Chris- tians under the name of Quietists^, who made a profession of being actuated exclusively by the love of God, saying that this principle is an all-sufficient motive, and that no other is necessary for our guidance or worthy of our ecTTii/, ov fxeXei avTia twi/ dvdpia'jrcou, kui ovdev ea-Tiv apeTrf^ ovoe KUKia, Kai 0)9 TTpoeiprjiJLev, dZiKia^ Ti/jnopuva-iu ol vofXodeTai toi/9 7rapaf3aivovTa9 ra 2/aT6TaA/xe'i/a KuXa. ^ So Strauss, Glauhenslehre, Vol. ii. ad fin. See also Lessing, Erziehung des Menschenf/cscJdechts, vi. p. 326. Wie- land, Euthanasie, p. 303. Shaftesbury's Characteristics, ii. 69. ' See Note at the end of this Lecture. 266 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. regard. God is himself, they said, the su- preme and only good ; the only object of our desires and affections; we need no servile fears nor mercenary hopes as incentives to obey him ; his own perfections are an irre- sistible attraction. It is positively wrong to allow ourselves to be influenced by any thoughts of reward or punishment, of para- dise or hell, of death or eternity. We must bring our souls into such a state of contem- plation and love of God, that we may cease to have any regard either for our temporal or eternal interest, and look upon earthly happi- ness and the bliss of heaven with equal indif- ference, being prepared to accept or forego either the one or the other according to God's good pleasure. This doctrine, though formally condemned by the pope, and abjured by its author, still maintained its ground, and was advocated, with some modification, by the celebrated Archbishop Fdn^lon. It also ex- ercised a considerable though transient influ- ence in this country, if we may judge by the manner in it which it was censured by some of our own divines ^ There are therefore two classes of persons, who have denied that the hope of reward is a ^ See South's Sermons, Vol. iii. p. 430. Bishop Butler, Sermon xiii. On the Love of God (in init.) 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 267 legitimate motive of action ; the sceptics, who make it an objection to the Gospel, and the mystics, who think the Gospel is complete without it. Now with regard to this latter class, who profess to be Christians, their lan- guage at first sight is plausible, and has in it something sublime and noble; yet we make a sufficient answer to them, when we remind them, that the hope of reward is distinctly held out as a motive, both in those passages of Scripture which I have already quoted, and in many others. And this being the case, God having declared that such and such motives are acceptable in his sight, we have no right to make our election among them, and say we will take such an one for the single rule of our life, much less may we condemn any one, or pronounce it unworthy of our re- gard. What God has declared to be clean, we may not call common ; that hope of hea- ven, which was purchased for us by the blood of the covenant, we may not deem an unholy thing. We have no more right to discard any one of the motives proposed to us in the Gospel, than we have to throw into the back- ground any one of its doctrines, or to reject any one of its historical facts. The love of God, it is asserted, is a sufficient motive, and we need no other. But what is it to love God 268 EXPECTATIOX OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. with all our heart? Is it not to make subordi- nate to him our every thought and wish ; to have no desire but to do his will, no pleasure but in pleasing him, no sorrow but in offend- ing him? The attainment of such perfect love must indeed be the object of our highest wishes and prayers. We hope to have it hereafter, and to make an approach to it here. But let us not deceive ourselves. Can any one of us, can the best of us lay his hand upon his heart, and say that he has already attained to it. Is it not the case, that the more a man advances in self-knowledge, and Christian goodness, the more he sees reason to lament the coldness of his heart towards God, the iniquity of his holy things? A system which goes on the supposition that such perfect love is attainable in this life, and ought to be the only all-engrossing motive of action, is evi- dently a chimerical and impracticable system, as well as repugnant to the Word of God. It must be sufficient for the Christian to know that Christ has neither enjoined such a sys- tem, nor rendered it practicable. But as the sceptic maintains that according to his theory it ought to be practicable, and that the Gos- pel, in holding out the hope of reward, is appealing to low and unworthy motives, and that a law which appeals to such motives can- 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 269 not be a divine Revelation, we must join issue with him upon this point. And this we do, by denying that the Gospel appeals to any low and sordid motives, or that any one of its motives is less pure and less exalted than another. We can tell whether the motives are suited to our nature and necessities ; but whether one is in itself more or less pure than another, we have no subtle test, by which we can determine. The love of God, the love of our neighbour, the hope of reward, each of these principles is so vast, so powerful, so comprehensive, and they are so interwoven and profoundly blended in our nature, that we can hardly contemplate them separately, and much less can we weigh them together. We may admit it to be possible, and even probable, that there are beings of a nature different from our own, in whose constitution the principles of hope and fear have no place ; with whom the desire to obey God and ac- complish his bidding, is the one simple never- failing motive. Such may be the condition of the blessed angels, whose perfect obedience depends not upon any considerations of re- ward and punishment. It is also conceivable, and not improbable, that in the future state, when hope has been swallowed up in cer- tainty, the love of God and mutual love will 270 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. remain our only motives, ever sufficient to excite our energies, and fill our souls with joy. Neither do we think so ill of human nature as to assert, that these two motives, the love of God and love of man, are not, of themselves, strong enough to produce in this life many instances of noble devotion, of heroic self-de- nial and self-sacrifice. No doubt, in the lives of many saintly persons one or other of these motives may be found peculiarly prominent ; while the hope of reward, whether temporal or eternal, does not seem to enter greatly into their consideration. Though our nature is very far gone from original righteousness, it still retains some impress of that divine image and superscription which was origi- nally stamped upon it ; and perhaps there are few persons so abandoned, few so hardened in sin, that they are not occasionally stirred to some good deed by feelings which are entirely disinterested, and which have no respect to any kind of recompense. We do not go so far as to say, that disinterested motives are altogether inoperative, or, in the language of an eminent divine \ that it is the "natural com- plexion of virtue and duty, to raise in the soul a kind of horror and aversion of it.'' Better is the philosophy of the heathen writer who ^ South 's Sermons^ Vol. iii. p. 130. 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 271 said, that virtue, if it could be made visible to the outward eye, would excite within us a wondrous love and desire. But this we say, that if left to themselves, disinterested motives, as they are called, are not sufficient to guide and support our erring and fallen nature. This is proved by universal experience, by the tes- timony of all ages and nations. Every code of laws, every system of religion, gives evi- dence to this effect, and declares that in order to render men just and temperate, pious and devout, an appeal must be addressed to their hopes and fears, to their regard for present or future happiness. What a place is this seat of learning in which we are now assembled, this scene of joyous youth, this school of severe discipline! The hopes of many parents are fixed here, looking to receive back from hence a comfort and stay for their advancing years. The ex- pectation of our country is ever turned towards this place, demanding a supply of men duly qualified to serve her, and to serve God, in Church and State. We believe and trust that a large portion of our body are answering well to these fond hopes and just expectations. What steady activity we here behold, what cheerful submission to intellectual and moral training; what high purposes are formed, 272 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. what perseverance, what self-denial is exer- cised ! Notwithstanding its many undeniable and lamentable short-comings, still we main- tain that this place is to the many, and not merely to the few, a school of discipline, of culture, and of progress. But it is impossible to say that no part of these good results is due to the honours and rewards which are here proposed ; honours and rewards, than which the hand of man has none purer, none more precious to bestow. But we need not enlarge upon this sub- ject; for it is perfectly obvious, that no system which man might devise for the government of his fellow-creatures would have the slight- est prospect of success, if it did not recognise as powerful and legitimate motives, either the hope of reward or the fear of punishment. The objection to the Christian Dispensation therefore amounts to this, that it exactly meets the wants of our nature, and sets before us a motive, which, as all experience shews, is essential to the full development of our mental and moral energies. It condescends to treat men as they are, and not as they are not. It agrees in this respect with every system of human origin. It falls in also with the gene- ral plan of God's providence. For on the whole, and in the long run, he even in this 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 273 world rewards the virtuous, and punishes the wrong-doer. Even in this his temporal eco- nomy he holds out a strong incentive to vir- tue, and a discouragement to vice Men know, and every day act upon the knowledge, that there is a retribution even in this world. Who then will dare to impute it to Christianity as a defect, that it is in harmony with every known system of human policy, and with the general tendency of God's moral government as we see it carried on in this present life? But we are to remember that Christianity is not a new and untried system, to be judged merely by a priori considerations of what is likely to be fitting and beneficial. It has been in action long enough for its results to be observed. By its fruits it may be known. We have said that the Gospel proposes to us certain motives of action not separately but conjunctively, the love of God, the love of man, the expectation of a future life. Still it may occasionally happen, that one of these motives is more active than another, and that some results may be distinctly traced not to the joint operation of all, but to the single energy of one. I have already admitted that there are cases in which the disinterested motives appear to be predominant. There are many good men who seem to be governed, H.H.L. T 274 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. at least on some occasions, exclusively by the love of God, or by the love of man, without any regard to their own temporal or eternal interests. But are there no results which may be distinctly traced to the expectation of a future life? Ask those who have had most experience of mankind ; those who have visited the haunts of sin, and sat in the chamber of sickness, and frequented the house of mourn- ing ; those who have been conversant with the trials, the temptations, and the agonies of human nature. They are witnesses to the great practical effects produced by the ex- pectation of the world to come. They can tell of cases, where the soul has been assailed by such vehement temptation, that every good principle has been overborne, and only the fear of the divine vengeance has held its ground and prevailed; now disarming the hand which was uplifted in anger, envy or revenge ; now stifling the false oath when it was at the point of utterance ; now interposing a barrier to the guilty lusts and appetites of men. And on the other hand, how many a true tale might be told of men stricken with affliction, de- serted by friends, unjustly censured by the world, left without one earthly consolation, who have found the hope of heaven, and the anticipation of God's righteous judgments, to 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 275 be an unfailing support, and have thence de- rived a composure of mind, a steadiness of purpose, a cheerfuhiess, yea a joy, at which the world wonders, because the world can nei- ther give it nor take it away. These are cases of every-day occurrence ; many of us, I doubt not, have witnessed such ; and some of us I wovild hope have been themselves examples of these things unto others. But we must not forget that the principle of which I speak has been subjected to a still severer test. There was a time when those who professed the name of Christ were ex- posed to persecutions, tortures and death. We know as a matter of fact that the martyrs and confessors of the faith were supported in their hour of trial by the certain hope of glory. They were persuaded that " the suf- ferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which was to be revealed in them^;" that their light afflic- tion which was but for a moment, would work for them '* a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ^" They thought it not strange, concerning the fiery trial which awaited them, but rejoiced, as St. Peter^ bade them, inas- much as they were partakers of Christ's suf- 1 Rom. viii. in. ' 2 Cor. iv. 17- ' 1 Pet. iv. 13. T2 276 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX ferings, "that when his glory shall be re- vealed, they may be glad also with exceeding joy." So they witnessed a good confession, and glorified God. These instances of Chris- tian heroism struck with admiration even the enemies of the Gospel, and made many con- verts to the faith. The fabric of the Church was cemented by the blood of the martyrs. And they shed their blood freely ; for they feared not them who hurt the body, knowing that their life was already hid with Christ in God. In all these cases then we may clearly discern the expectation of a future life, act- ing as a powerful motive of conduct. Not indeed that we intend to limit the operation of that motive to these particular cases. We should rather say that in the mind of the good Christian it is scarcely ever dormant, and that in conjunction with the other great motives, the love of God and the love of man, it is acting habitually, almost insensibly, giv- ing him a sustained and uniform character, which he could hardly preserve without such a support ; while it occasionally shews a dis- tinct and marked energy of its own, in such cases as I have now mentioned. But these cases I have particularly insisted upon, as a palpable refutation of the sceptic. A prin- 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 277 ciple which comes to our aid just when the other principles of our nature appear to fail, and upholds us, as 1 have shewn this does, in the hour of our sorest trial, is not to be lightly rejected as a low, sordid, and unworthy motive. Its practical effects afford a presumption in its favour. And since it is also in harmony, as we have seen, with the sanctions of human laws, and with the general course of God's providential government in this world, it is so far from being an objection to the system of w^hich it forms a part, that we should rather say its omission would be an apparent objec- tion and an anomaly requiring explanation. No ; we cannot afford to dispense with this motive, nor indeed with any principle which tends to animate afresh our ever droop- ing and fainting resolutions. Sore let and hin- dered as we are in running the race which is set before us, we should gladly avail ourselves of every thing that will help us forward in our course. Motives of personal interest, even the prospect of temporal advantage, the thirst for knowledge, the ambition to attain an earthly prize, regard for the good opinion of those with wliom we live, each of these is a legiti- mate spring of action ; a large part of our daily conduct is unquestionably regulated by considerations of this nature ; and we should 278 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. most probably be worse men than we are, had we no such spurs and incentives to good. We can hardly doubt, that unprofitable servants as we now are, we should not serve God any better, if we were to renounce all the occu- pations and ties, all the motives and senti- ments which arise from our intercourse with the world. To this conclusion at least we are led by the experience of former ages. The total abnegation of this world and its motives was the principle upon which the monastic system was originally founded. And though that system conferred incidentally some blessings upon society, and produced many individual instances of goodness and greatness, yet these favourable results very frequently proceeded not from the observance, but from the infraction of the principle upon which the system was based, and cannot therefore with safety be adduced in its fa- vour; while on the other hand many serious evils were engendered in the monastic institu- tions, which appear to have been inherent in their nature, and inevitable. We must there- fore acknowledge that the system failed in accomplishing its original intention ; and hav- ing been tried on a great scale, through many ages, with every advantage, and been found unsuccessful, it has established this truth 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 279 beyond controversy, that a total retirement from the world and its concerns is not gene- rally favourable to religion and virtue. Neither is such a retirement anywhere enforced or recommended in holy Scripture. We are not called upon to abjure the prospect of worldly happiness and enjoyment. We are at liberty to go about our temporal affairs and be fervent in them ; always however remember- ing that these transitory concerns must be made subservient to our eternal interest, our worldly pursuits must be altogether controlled and overruled by the expectation of the judg- ment to come and its everlasting consequences. And while we never lose sight of that motive, and ever hold fast that blessed hope, we are sure it can never make us selfish or cold- hearted; for it is joined in an indissoluble union with the love of God and the love of man ; so that it is impossible for us to work out our own salvation without the exercise of entirely disinterested motives, without ear- nestly desiring and heartily endeavouring to promote the glory of God and the good of our fellow-creatures. Such then is the expectation of a future life, considered practically, as a motive of action. It does not expel all other motives, nor exercise an undivided sway in the heart. 280 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. It is intimately blended with two other great and eternal principles, piety and benevolence, the love of God and the love of man : and in conjunction with these, it controls and over- rules, but does not absolutely extinguish, our lesser and temporal motives, our views of earthly happiness and enjoyment. Though it may be always present to the mind, it does nofat all times make itself perceived. While life goes smoothly with us, we may not be strongly sensible of its influence. But when the hour of trial comes, as come it will ; when temptation presses closely upon us, when affliction or adversity weighs us down, then it will arouse itself in its omnipotence. It will enable us to bear and forbear. It will brace us up for great and noble acts of devotion and self-denial. In its strength we shall go forth against all the enemies of our salvation, and be more than conquerors. Such a hope mankind now has, '*as an anchor of the soul." There was a time when human nature, all uncertain of its future des- tiny, might be compared to tlie fabulous island of antiquity, which floated to and fro, the sport of the winds, and often buried under the waves, until a divine personage was born in it^; from which time it became 1 Callini. Hymn, in Del. 51. 1849] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 281 firm and fixed. But now, since Christ has taken up his abode with us, and immortal hopes have sprung up in us, it becomes us to be, in the words of the Apostle, stedfast and unmoveable ; not drifting with the changeful tide of the world's opinion, not depressed by affliction or afraid of any evil tidings; con- tinuing instant in prayer and in the contem- plation of heavenly things; among the sundry and manifold chances and changes of the world, keeping our hearts there where true joys are to be found ; from whatever side the waves of this troublesome world may beat against us, remaining stedfast, unmoveable. And if that island to which I refer was ac- counted such a holy place, that no signs of decay and corruption were permitted to be seen in it, and the bodies of the dying and the ashes of the dead were carried forth from it^; so also the soul of man is now no place for anything that has to do with death, for sinful thoughts or corrupt desires, or what- soever may offend the living God, who hath his abode and temple within us. We must purify ourselves, even as he is pure : and be full not of subtlety and mischief, not of evil passions, strife and envyings, but abounding, as the Apostle says, in the work of the Lord, ' Thiu-vd. 111. 104. 282 EXPECTATION OF A FUTURE LIFE [Lect. IX. full of grace and truth, full of alms and mercy and good deeds. We must labour to ac- complish the will of God, and submit our- selves cheerfully to be the instruments of his right hand : knowing that though to men we may seem to toil in vain, yet our labour will not be in vain in the Lord ; for he now seeth in secret, and will hereafter reward us openly. It is the Lord's work that we have to do, and to him we look for our reward. Our earthly employments and concerns are not to be regarded as so many grovelling and trifling occupations, having a reference only to this mortal life. They are the work which God has given us to do ; and in a way which we cannot at present understand, they will have an influence upon our eternal happiness. These few fleeting hours, which pass by and seem irrevocable, do not altogether perish ; though we can never recall them in this life, they will return to us, unbidden, in the next; and few as they are, they will impart their colour to all the ages which are to come. They set before us, as they pass, many ob- jects of desire and hope, things which call forth, in one way or another, the various faculties of our Jiature. We pursue these objects, and trust that in doing so we are about our Father's business, and are advanc- 1849.] CONSIDERED AS A MOTIVE. 283 ing not only our temporal but our eternal welfare. These objects of our earthly desire, these temporal crowns, for which we are now contending, we may very likely fail to attain, and if we attain them, we shall find them to be corruptible and perishable crowns : but whether we gain or lose them is of no con- sequence, so long as we seek them, wear them, resign them, religiously, meekly, cheer- fully. They are proposed to us, not as having any value in themselves, but on ac- count of the discipline which we must undergo in the pursuit of them. If now we benefit by that discipline, and submit ourselves gladly to the chastening of the Lord, the true crown of glory will hereafter be awarded to us, even the inheritance '* incorruptible, un- defiled, and that fadeth not away." NOTE ON LECTURE IX. MoLiNos, a Spanish priest resident in Italy, published towards the close of the seventeenth century a treatise, in which he advocated, as the most perfect condition of man, a state of continual contemplation and disinterested love of God. In developing this principle, he was led to conclusions utterly subversive of morality. He was condemned by Pope Innocent XI. in 1687; and in consideration of his making a complete retractation, his sentence was limited to perpetual penance and imprison- ment; he died in prison in 1696. One of his propo- sitions is as follows : " Non debet anima cogitare, nee de prsemio, nee de punitione, nee de paradise, nee de inferno, nee de morte, nee de seternitate." The following is an extract from a refutation of Molinos, written by Fenelon (date uncertain) : "II est faux qu'on ne doive penser ni a la recompense ni a la punition. II est vrai que Tamour le plus pur et le plus parfait agit sans etre attire par les motifs des chatimens et des recompenses ; mais ces motifs n"'ont rien de mauvais, ni de defendu ; on pent etre fort saint en se les proposant. Quoiqu' un degre de perfection soit inferieur a un autre, il ne s^ensuit pas que Tinferieur soit contraire a la grace. Ainsi il est faux et pernicieux de dire en general que le Chretien ne doit penser ni a la recompense ni a la punition."" Molinos had an enthusiastic disciple in Madame Guyon, a French lady, from whose writings and conversation 1849.] NOTE. 285 Fenelon acquired the opinions which he published, in the year 1697, in the celebrated treatise entitled Explication des Maxitnes des Saints sur la vie interieure. His views bear a great resemblance in some respects to those of Molinos ; but there was this material difference, that according to the latter, every regard to self-interest has the nature of sin, and is offensive to God ; according to Fenelon, it is allowable, and in many cases useful, although incompatible with that disinterested love of God which constitutes the highest attainable condition of the soul. In the course of his long controversy with Bossuet, he explained and qualified some of his statements, till there remained no substantial disagreement between him and his opponent. His book was however finally con- demned by the pope ; and he submitted himself to that decision. (CEuvres de Fenelon^ ed. 1820, Vol. iv.) THE END. By the same Author A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Octavo. Ts. I Works published by John W. Parker, West Strand, London. Select List No. II. OF INDUCTION; with especial reference to Mr. J. S. Mill's System of Logic. 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