YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SERMONS timothy DWIGHT, D.D. LL.D. LATE PKESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE. / IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. WAUGH & INNES, EDINBURGH : M. OGLE, GLASGOW ; R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN ; AND JAMES DUNCAN, LONDON. M.DCCC.XXVIII. ENTEllED AT STATIONERS HALL. MINTBD BY A. BALFOOH AND CO. NOTICE. These two volumes, containing fifty-nine Sermons by the late Reverend Dr. Timothy- Dwight, President of Yale College, America, and author of the System of Theology, have been printed for us here agreeably to an arrangement entered into with the family of the author, from the original manuscripts, sent to us for the purpose, by his son, the Reverend S. Ed- WAEDs Dwight, of New-Haven, Connecticut. They have not hitherto been published in America, with the exception of three, preached on public occasions, and afterwards printed separately ; and we have secured the copy right of the work in this country by regular entry at Station ers'" HaU, which we think it right to notify, in order to pre vent any misconception on the subject. WAUGH & INNES. Edivhiirgh, 31st March, 1828. PREFACE. President Dwight, in consequence of an early and permanent injury sustained by his eyes from too close application to study, was able, during no part of his ministerial life, to write out his Sermons with his own hand. A few of his earlier discourses, as well as a few others prepared for occasions of peculiar inte rest, were written by the aid of an" amanuensis ; but almost all of those, which he preached before Septem ber 1805, were delivered either extemporaneously, or from short notes. They were usually prepared in his own mind when walking, or riding, or working in his garden ; and, if prepared at all, were drawn out in the form of a brief skeleton, during the hours imme diately preceding the morning and afternoon service of the Sabbath. From that period, until the close of his life, the Corporation of Yale College enabled him VIII PREFACE. to employ a succession of amanuenses ; through whose aid he wrote his Theology, his Travels, a considerable number of occasional Sermons, and several other com positions which may perhaps be published hereafter. The great body ofthe Discourses, in the tw(3 volumes now offered to the public, were originally preached at Greenfield, and were ultimately written out at New- Haven. The author, from long and habitual atten tion to exactness of thought, of arrangement, and of language, was accustomed in conversation, in the desk, and while dictating to an amanuensis, to present the conceptions of his own mind in a forni and manner so finished, as to need usually few or no corrections to prepare them for the press. This was the case with the following Discourses, — they are published as writ ten down, with scarce an alteration either frora the author or the editor. The last twelve Discourses of the first volume are Valedictory Sermons, delivered in successive years to the members of the Senior Class, on the last Sabbath of their collegiate life — the Sabbath preceding the public commencement, just before they were admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Two of these, On the Nature and Danger of Infidel Philosophy, have heretofore been published both in this country and in England. A third, that on 1 Cor. ix. 24, has been extensively regarded as one of the fairest models of pulpit eloquence. Three of the Sermons were delivered at the ordi nation of different clergymen. That on " the Dignity PREFACE. IX and Excellency ofthe Gospel" was first delivered at Milford, in 1785, at the ordination ofthe Rev. WiUiam Lockwood. At that time a manuscript copy of it, without the knowledge of the author, was sent, by one of his friends, to Cowper the poet. It is the Sermon of which he speaks, in Letter 137, of Hayley's Life of Cowper. The Sermon on Jer. viii. 20, entitled, " The Har vest Past," was probably the most useful, and by many perhaps will be regarded as the most eloquent of his Discourses. At least four extensive revivals of religion were supposed to commence in consequence of its delivery. Should these two volumes be favourably received, it is not improbable that one or two more may here after be published. New-Haven, Sept. 9.Q, 1827. CONTENTS VOLUME FIRST. SERMON I. SECRET THINGS BELONG TO GOD. Page e secret things belong to the Lord our God ; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. — Detjtehonomy xxix. 29 1 SERMON II. GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. . God be tme, but every man a liar — Romans iii. 4. . . . 18 SERMON III. ON REVELATION. lence then cometh wisdom ; and where is the place of understand ing? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living — Job xxviii. 20, 21 39 SERMON IV. ON REVELATION. ere shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understand- ng? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in :he land of the living.— Job xxviii. 12, 13. .... 56 XII CONTENTS. SERMON V. ON REVELATION. O my people, remember, now, what Balak, King of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal ; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thou sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? ShaU I give my first-born for my transgression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? — Micah vi. 5 — 7 SERMON VI. ON EEVELATION. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. — 1 Cor. iii, 20 SERMON VII. the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. And think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham — Matthew iii. 9. . SERMON VIII. god's ways not as OUR WAYS. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. — Isaiah lv. 8, 9. SERMON IX. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY BROUGHT TO LIGHT IN THE GOSPEL. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and im mortality tt) light through the Gospel — 3 Timotiiv i. 10. CONTENTS. XIII SERMON X. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY BROUGHT TO LIGHT IN THE GOSPEL. Page it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and im mortality to light through tbe Gospel — 2 Timothy i. 10. 162 SERMON XI. TIDINGS OF A SAVIOUR, TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY. 1 the angel said unto them, fear not ; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is bom this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord Luke ii. 10, 11 181 SERMON XII. ON A GOOD PROFESSION. { hold on eternal life ; whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. — 1 Timothy vi. 12 198 SERMON XIII. THE DANGER OF OPPOSING RELIGION. id now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone ; for if this counsel, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought. But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. — Acts v. 38, 39 216" SERMON XIV. ON REVIVALS OF RELIGION. ho are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows ? -IsaiahIx. 8 231 SERMON XV. CHRIST LOVES HIS CHILDREN TO THE END. iving loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto thc end John xiii. 1 ^^0 XIV CONTENTS. SERMON XVI. CHRIST LOVES HIS CHILDREN TO THE END. Page Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. — John xiii. 1 26) SERMON XVII. J ON BENEFICENCE. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life Ecclesiastes iii. 12 281 SERMON XVIII. ON THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH A PROFESSIONAL LIFE. Preached to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate, in 1796 and 180S. My son, attend to my words ; incline thine ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes ; keep them in the midst of thine heart ; For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and per verse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy mys be established. Tum not to the right hand nor to the left ; remove thy foot from evil. — Piio- verbs iv. 20—27 291] SERMON XIX. THE NATURE AND DANGER OF INFIDEL PHILOSOPHY. Preached to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in 1797. 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 Colossians ii. 8 3!| SERMON XX. THE NATURE AND DANGER OF INFIDEL PHILOSOPHY. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of tho world and not after Christ. — Colossians ii. 8. . . — Why is any doctrine inexpUcable ? Evidently because we are too ignorant to understand it. Is our ignorance, then, a reason why we should deny the reaUty of the worts, or doubt the truth of the declarations of God? If it furnish no objection against thoEe works of God which are familiarly known to us, can it be any reason for doubting those which are less known to us ? Ought we to suppose, that a system of vegetation would contain more wonders than a system of redemption, — that the character of ^ the Son of God would be more easUy comprehended than the) 22 GOD TO BE Bi^LIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. SER. 2. economy of a human body, — that the communication of spiri tual life would be more easUy understood than the communi cation of animal life, — or that the resurrection could be more easUy explained than the birth of an insect ? AU these things are, in their nature, as far removed beyond the Umits of our comprehension as any which the universe contains. How then, when we find the world around us fiUed with mysteries, can we rationaUy expect that these subjects, instead of resembling those parts of creation and providence with which we are ac quainted, can, amid aU their complication, remoteness, and subUmity, be distinctly and thoroughly comprehended by such minds as ours ? Nor does the painful and humUiating nature of a doctrine' furnish the least reason for questioning its truth. There are innumerable facts in the natural world which are humUiating and painful. The existence of sin, error, toU, dis ease, sorrow, pain, and death, in their innumerable forms, pre sents to the eye a catalogue of this nature which is literaUy endless. But what man in his senses ever doubted the reality of one of them, merely because the admission of it wounded his pride, or agonized his heart ? Every man sees the worid around him fiUed with things of this mortifying nature. How, in the exercise of common sense, can he faU to expect other things of the same kind in a revelation from God ? No declaration concerning the character of sinners can fail, if true, of being humiUating ; no declaration concerning their circumstances, of being alarming. Who, unless infatuated, can beUeve that God regards sinners with complacency ; or that, if they die sinners, he wiU not punish them beyond the grave ? These absurdities even the heathens, sinful, erring, and ignorant as they have been, never adopted. There are multitudes of persons in the Christian world, who, wMle they profess to beUeve the Scriptures, in some cases deny, and in others doubt, the declarations which they contain. But there are StiU greater midtitudes, who professedly admit every thing found in them, and who yet admit many of their declarations only in the sense annexed by themselves to the several pas sages in which they are fcontained. Each of these has his own SER. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. 23 interpretation. In this manner, the number of such interpre tations has become very great, and, in very many instances, they are various, discordant, and contradictory. Hence, in the mind of a sober man, arises irresistibly the momentous question, " In what sense shaU I believe this and that passage " of Scripture ?" " I am ready," such a man wUl say, " to " admit without a question aU the declarations of God. But *? how shaU I understand their true meaning ? I see multi- " tudes differ widely on this subject, and among them many " who are ingenious, learned, and able. Whom shaU I fol- " low ; or shaU I foUow none of them ?" This question is certainly rational, as weU as important ; and the perplexity, out of which it springs, ought, as far as possible, to be removed by a minister of the Gospel. This task I wiU now assume, and endeavour to perform. To the question itself, then, I answer, that the sense in which the various declarations of God in the Scriptures are to be re ceived by us, is the obvious sense, or that which readily pre sents itself to a plain man qf common sense, reading them witk seriousness and integrity. In support of this answer, I adduce the foUowing observa tions : — I. The Scriptures were almost universally addressed by those who spoke and wrote them to persons of this class. Moses wrote the law for the people at large. This truth is declared in many forms. After God had pronounced the de calogue, the people, terrified by the awful splendours which attended the promulgation of these commands, besought him, through the mediation of Moses, that they might hear his voice no more, lest they should die. God approved of their request, and commanded Moses to teach them aU the com mandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which he should command him. Accordingly, Moses caUed aU Israel, and said unto them, " Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judg- " ments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may " learn them, and keep, and do them." " These words," said he again unto them, " which I command thee this day, shaU 24 GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. SER. 2. .*' be in thine heart. Ye shaU lay up my words in your heart, " and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, " that they may be as frontlets between your eyes ; and ye " shaU tea^ch them to your chUdren, speaking of them when " thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the " way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and " thou shalt tirrite them upon the door-posts of thine house." In this manner every Israelite was required to educate his chUdren in the knowledge ofthe law, and in this manner every Israelitish chUd was to be educated. The law therefore was, with absolute certainty, addressed to every IsraeUte. When Joshua buUt an altar unto the Lord God in Mount Ebal, he read aU the words of the law to the people. " There " was not a word," it is subjoined, " of aU that Moses com- " manded, which Joshua read not before aU the congregation " of Israel, with the women, and the Uttle ones, and the stran- *' gers that were conversant among them." In the same man ner, Joshua addressed the words, which God commanded him, to aU the tribes of Israel at Shechem, In the same manner, a great part of the speeches made by priests, prophets, and prin-. ces, in the historical books, were addressed to greater or less portions of the people at large. The Psalms were not only written for the whole body of the people, but were made a part of their pubUc worship. The book of Proverbs was written for the express purpose of giving subtlety to the simple, and to the young man know ledge and discretion. The Prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zepha- niah, Haggai, and Zechariah, were addressed directly to the nation of the Jews ; and those of Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Malachi, to the people of Israel. Our Saviour spoke almost every thing which he said to the common people. Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Hebrew Christians. Mark, Luke, and John wrote theirs for the Christian world at large. To the same persons were addressed the Acts of the Apostles. The Epistles of St. Paul, except those to Timothy, Tjtus, and Philemon, were aU written to the respective SS:R. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. 25 churches, whose names they bear, — churches, consisting almost whoUy of uneducated people. Those of Peter were addressed to a large body of people, of the same sort, in the lesser Asia ; and that of James to the Christians among the HeUenistic Jews. The first Epistle of John, as it is commonly caUed, appears rather to be a reUgious essay or discussion than a let ter ; but it is addressed generaUy to Christians at large, and particularly to fathers,' or old men, and to young men and lit tle chUdren. The second was addressed to the elect lady and her chUdren ; that of Jude, to Christians at large ; and the Apocalypse, to the seven churches of Asia. I have gone through this detaU with a particular design, that the whole subject might be before you, and that you might see the truth of the proposition which we are considering, not in general, indeterminate expressions, but in the several par ticulars of which it is made up. From these, it appears be yond aU doubt, that the books which I have specified, consti tuting the great body of both the Old and New Testament, and containing aU the doctrines found in the canon, were ad dressed directly and supremely to that class of mankind, cus- tomarUy designated by the phrases, the common people, and the people at large. From this fact it foUows irresistibly, that these parts of the Scriptures were written in language which such people could understand, or, in other words, that the meaning of the language actuaUy used is such, that those to whom it was addressed might, if seriously and honestly atten tive, apprehend it without any considerable difficulty, or any danger of any material mistake. It cannot for a moment be admitted, hy common sense or common decency, much less by a spirit of piety, that God has revealed his wiU to mankind, and yet that the language of the Revelation is such, that those to whom it is pecuUarly addressed, should be unable to under stand its meaning. It is presumed, that no sober man, ad dressing his feUow men on any business of importance, ever used such words as they could not interpret. Far less can it be beheved that prophets of God, that the Saviour, that his apostles, or that any insphed man, disclosing to mankind the wiU of God concerning their salvation, should discourse to them 26 GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. SER. 2. in uninteUigible phraseology, — uninteUigible, I mean, to them. If these writers and speakers have, in fact, used such language, it was certainly done by design, — unhappUy not the design of men, but of the Spirit of inspiration. " For," says St. Paul, speaking of himself and his inspired brethren, " we speak not " in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the " Holy Ghost teacheth." The use of such language is only to perplex and mislead, or at the best to communicate nothing to those who hear. Can any sober man attribute this conduct, or the design from which it must have sprung, to the Spirit of God? But, if the language of the Scriptures was intended to be intelligible to those to whom it was addressed, it was certsaulf uttered in the customary manner, and with its obvious mean^; ing. The reason is plain and decisive. These men could not possibly find out any other meaning, or understand it in any other manner. If, therefore, it was intended, that any othef sense than the obvious one should be annexed to the words, whatever was addressed to them was addressed to them in vain. Either they could not understand it at aU, or they must un derstand it falsely, unless prevented by mere accident. II. A great part of the Bible was written by men who knew no other than plain language, and no other meanitig hut that which was customary and familiar. David, Amos, Matthew, Mark, John, Peter, James, and Jude, were aU uneducated men, and the same thing is proba^ bly true of several other writers in the sacred canon. It is, however, sufficient for the present purpose, that these were of this character. AU the doctrines contained in the Scripturfes art, I think it may be safely asserted, found in the writers ftien- tioned under the former head. AU these doctrines, therefore, were originaUy addressed to plain men. So many of these doc trines are delivered by the writers mentioned under this head, that he who cordiaUy embraces what they have written, wUl find little difficulty in believing whatever is found in the Bible. But these men knew no language beside the plain, famUiar language of mankind. The knowledge of uncustomary, technical, or SEE. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. 27 what may be caUed phUosophical phraseology, is an attainment of mere learning, and cannot be possessed by an unlearned man. Hence a great part of the doctrines of the Gospel, so many as evidently to involve the whole, were certainly deUvered in the plain language of men, because they were deUvered by those who knew no other. Should it be said that although these men knew no other language of themselves, yet they may have received the know ledge of phUosophical language by inspiration, since Christ promised them that they should receive a mouth and speech, which aU their adversaries should not be able to gainsay or resist, — I answer, that St. Paul, in the passage just now quoted from 1 Cor. u. 13, expressly declares, that he and his feUow- apostles did not use this language. " Which things also we " speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth." The things here mentioned are, in the preceding verse, styled the things that are freely given to us of God ; and in the tenth verse, the things which God hath revealed unto us by his Spirit, i. e. the things which were revealed to Paul and his fel low-apostles by the Spirit of inspiration. These things, the Apostle declares, they did not speak in words taught by man's wisdom, or human phUosophy. As this is true of the New Testament, so it is, beyond aU controversy, equaUy true of the Old. III. The Scriptures were written chiefly for plain men. This I argue from three considerations. The first is, that these constitute altogether the great body of mankind, and are immensely disproportioned in their num bers to aU the rest. The souls of aU these are, severaUy, of as much value as those of the great and learned. From their numbers, therefore, it is reasonably concluded, that God, in revealing his wUl and publishing the way of salvation, had a primary reference to those who were immeasurably more im portant to his eye than aU others. Secondly, The Scriptures directly exhibit this truth to us. St. James, censuring the particular respect paid to the rich and 28 GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. SER. 2. great by the Christians to whom he wrote, says, " Hearken, my " beloved brethren ; hath not God chosen the poor of this world, " rich in faith, and heirs ofthe kingdom ?" Christ declared to the people of Nazareth, by a quotation from the Prophet Isaiah, his own character and mission in these remarkable words : — " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; for he hath anointed " me to preach the Gospel to the poor." When the disciples of John came, to inquire whether Jesus was the Messiah or not, he gave it, as one decisive proof of his character, that the poor had the Gospel preached to them. Almost aU his labours were employed on plain, humble people. Such persons were his companions ; such were his Apostles, Thirdly, Persons of this class have, much more extensively than any other, believed and obeyed the Scriptures. The common people, we are told, heard Christ gladly ; and of them almost aU his converts were made. Often th.ey were his only defence against the maUcious designs of their superiors. Se veral times, it is said, they would have laid hands on him, but did not, for fear of the people. The Apostles found the same defence ; and almost aU their converts were of the same class. What was true of those periods has been true of aU which have succeeded. From the remains of the early fathers in the church, particularly of Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp, it is unanswerably evident, that they and the Christians generaUy of their time ; Christians distinguished for simpUcity and godly sincerity ; who had their conversation in the world, not by fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God ; adopted no other mode of construing the Scriptures. These men were generally the plain inhabitants of the several countries in which they hved; and by their piety and benevolence in life, and their meekness, patience, and fortitude in death, proved to every sjicceeding age that they were precious sons of Zion, compa rable to fine gold. Of the same character were the great body of Christians ui the second and third centuries ; the numerous converts of Augustine ; those of Bernard ; the Waldenses ; the Hussites ; and the great body of converts made at and after the Reformation. GeneraUy, these have been almost aU the Chris- • tians in every age of the church. But it is reasonably be- SEU. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. 29 lieved that the Scriptures were especially written for those who, it was foreseen, would embrace and obey them. IV. The doctrines formed by the obvious meaning of the Scriptures, are the only doctrines which have spread vital re ligion in the world. Those who heard the Apostles preach, and their successors through the two first centuries and the earlier parts of the third, were almost universaUy incapable of annexing any other mean ing than the obvious one, to the declarations of the Scriptures. This is the only character given them, both by their friends and their enemies, and is therefore unquestionably their true character. It is hardly necessary to mention, because so well known and so universaUy acknowledged, either the vast multi tude of these Christians or the prominent exceUence of their character. In the numerous instances in which reUgion pre vaUed in the succeeding ages of the church, it prevaUed solely by the preaching of the very same doctrines. This was true, particularly with regard to the prevalence of religion in Egypt, under Dionysius and Athanasius ; in Africa, under Cyprian, Augustine, and Fulgentius ; in Italy, under Ambrose, under the Gregorys ; in the Lesser Asia, under St. Bernard ; also in France, the numerous foUowers of Peter Waldo and of John Huss ; those of Wickliffe also, and the very numerous Chris tians among the reformed in the various Protestant countries. To these may be added the numerous Christians found in this country, from its early settlement, and the vast multitude which, in many Protestant countries, between the years 1730 and I76O, became pubUc professors of religion. Let every man employ himself in reading dUigently ecclesiastical history, particularly that branch of it which records the prevalence cf practical piety, and he wUl see irresistibly that, when these doctrines have been preached and believed, vital reUgion has flourished; when they have not, it has regularly decayed. Such has always been the fact heretofore ; such is the fact at the present time. If I am asked on what ground I assert, that the persons of whom I have spoken were vitaUy religious, and that others were not, — I answer, on that which the Scriptures have made 30 GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. SEB. 2. the evidence of vital rehgion, the conduct of the respective classes of men. " By their fruits," says our Saviour, speaking of those who are not Christians, " shaU ye know them." Those who have embraced these doctrines have, in a manner honour able to human nature, adorned the doctrine of God their Sa viour, by bringing forth those fruits which, he declares, spring from evangeUcal repentance, faith, and hoUness. Of this fact, as it respects the early ages of Christianity, there can be no debate, nor, it would seem, as it respects the reformers and their foUowers. There is as Uttle reason to doubt it concerning the great body of Christians who have foUowed them, even their enemies themselves being judges. Even by those multi tudes who have held the doctrines in question, they are daily declared to be truly reUgious, and placed among the best of mankind. On this subject, however, I cannot expatiate, but wUl conclude my observations concerning it by a quotation or two from distinguished adversaries of these doctrines. One of these, Robert Forsyth, Esq., a learned civiUan, and who appears to have no great reverence for Revelation, says, " There is one remark which we think ourselves bound in ^'justice to make, although it appears to us to be some- " what singular. It is this, that from the earUest ages, down " to our own days, if we consider the character of the an- " cient Stoics, the Jewish Essenes, the modern Calvinists " and Jansenists, when compared with that of their antagonists, " the Epicureans, the Sadducees, the Arminians, and the Je- " suits, we shaU find that they have exceUed, in no smaU degree, " in the practice of the most rigid and respectable virtues, and *' have been the highest honour of their own ages, and the best " models for imitation to every age succeeding." Dr. Priestley also acknowledges, that " those who hold these *' doctrines have less apparent conformity to the world, and " seem to have more of a real principle of reUgion, than his " own foUowers ; and that those who, from a principle of reUgion, " ascribe more to God and less to man than other persons," (the distinguishmg characteristic of these men,) " are men of the greatest elevation of piety." But if these doctrines have, and others have not, produced this mighty effect in the succes- SER. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. 31 sive ages of the church, it is, I think, clearly certain that they are that truth of God, which Christ declares makes men free from the bondage of sin, and which, St. Paul declares, are the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth. In other words, they are the genuine doctrines of the Gospel. V. The Scriptures are actually tvritten in such a manner, that their obvious meaning is their true meaning. Every rhetorical critic, perplexed with no theological de bates, and having no reUgious system to support, has remarked that the language of the Scriptures is distinguished from aU Other books by its simpUcity, its native, uncontrived character, its accordance with the most artless speech of men. It would have been impossible for this opinion to have been universal, had it not been founded in fact. In perfect accordance with it, every man who reads the Scriptures without any particular design, and aUows his own views and feeUngs to take their na tural course, feels this truth irresistibly. Every such man feels that he has never met with any other writings which were so remarkable for a manner so artless, and so purely natural. Particularly, every plain man here finds himself entirely at home ; converses with those who speak in the manner to which he has been used from his infancy ; and sees facts, and doc trines, and precepts presented to him, with a plainness which is elsewhere unrivaUed. The Scriptures themselves long since declared this to be their true character. The wisdom of God, or, in other words, Christ says, Prov. viu. 8, 9 — " AU the words of my mouth are " in righteousness ; there is nothing froward or perverse in *' them. They are aU plain to him that understandeth, and " right to them that find knowledge :" i. e. " there is nothing " in my words that is writhed or twisted, nothing perplexing ; " but they are aU plain to him who possesses that understand- " ing which consists in the fear of the Lord." The Prophet Isaiah says, " That when a kmg" (i. e. Christ) " shaU reign " in righteousness, the eyes of them that see (i. e. of Christians and pious men) " shaU not be dim. The heart of the rash " shaU understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers 3 32 GOD TO EE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. SEE. 2. " shaU be ready to speak plainly." In other words, Christiairs shaU understand distinctly the things of reUgion, and those who before spoke of them indistinctly and obscurely, shaU then be able to speak, and shaU actuaUy speak, in a manner clea and very inteUigible. The same Prophet also says, that under the dispensation of the Gospel, the way of holiness shaU be a highway ; and that wayfaring men, though fools, shaU not err therein. Ofthe same period he declares, that the Ught of the moon shaU be as the light of the sun, and the Ught of the sun sevenfold. A multitude of other passages, of the same import, might easily be added to these were it necessary. AU plain Christians have, in every age and country, found these declarations completely verified in the satisfactionj comfort, pelace, and hope which they have found in the invitations and promises ; in the direction of their duty furnished by the precepts, and in the enlargement of their reUgious knowledge produced continuaUy by the doc trines. These benefits are experienced and declared, even by those ofthe humblest character, even by chUdren and servants; and it is remarkable that those who have found difficulties in such passages of Scripture as especiaUy direct the faith, prac tice, and hopes of mankind, have not found these difficulties in the want of an obvious meaning, but in their own unwillingness to receive that meaning, and in their wishes to find some other which would better suit with their own preconceived opinions. To the observations under this head two objections may not improbably be made. The first is, that much of the scriptural language is figurative, and therefore obscure ; the second, that several subjects, and particularly doctrines declared in them, are profound and mysterious, and demand the greatest human understanding to comprehend them. Concerning the former of these objections, I observe, that although the language of the Scriptures is extensively figura tive, it is not for that reason obscure. Figurative language^ when used according to the dictates of nature, is scarcely at aU less obvious, or less easUy understood, than that which is literal. Savages and Uttle chUdren use figurative language more than any other persons, and yet aU which they use is per- SEB. 2. SOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER Tll.VN MAN. 33 fectly understood by other savages and other little chUdren, to whom it is addressed. AU the figures employed in the Scrip tures are those of mere ijature, and are therefore explained by the mind of every one who knows the language of nature. The figurative phraseology in the Bible, which is obscure, is not that which the writers intended to use, but that which is made figurative by those who comment on their writings. Concerning the latter objection, I observe, that the doctrines and precepts necessarUy connected with salvation are unattended with any difficulty, except what arises from our inclinations. Many doctrines, actuaUy revealed, are inexplicable in their nature, and many others in their antecedents, attendants, and consequents. They are connected with many things their connection with which is inexplicable. In both classes we may find or make difficulties ; but the difficulties do not arise, in the proper sense, from the revelation, but from our curiosity. I wiU iUustrate this assertion by an example. We are taught that the soul wUl exist in a separate state. There is no diffi culty in admitting the truth of this declaration, nor any want of evidence that it is true ; because it is a declaration of God. But if we suffer our curiosity to wander in a series of inquiries, in order to find out where, what, and how long, we may easily meet with so many and so great difficulties, that we may be ultimately induced, as others probably have been, to reject the doctrine altogether. We are taught that there wUl be a resur rection, and our understanding easUy receives the instruction. But the single question, " WUl the same body rise?" may easUy involve us in a sufficient number of perplexities to cast extreme obscurity over the resurrection itself, and persuade us to say with Hymeneus and PhUetus, that the resurrection is past aheady. AU such difficulties arise, not from the thing revealed, but from the phUosophical curiosity with which it is investigated by ourselves. Let it even be remembered, that the decisions fur- ' nished by this investigation are never matters of faith, and ; never obligatory upon the conscience, and that the investiga- ' tion itself is very often perplexing as weU as idle, and mis chievous as weU as useless. He who wUl be contented to take ' VOL. I. D 34 GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. SER. 2. his Maker at his word, wiU rarely find himself embarrassed. But, in order to do this, he must be prepared to yield up every opinion of his own to the declarations of God. To exhibit the justness of these views, I observe, that the reUgious part of the Christian church has adopted a smgle system of doctrines, from the Apostles' day to the present time. The observing reader of ecclesiastical history wUl find this truth irresistibly forced upon him as his eye is passing through the annals of Christianity. The most remarkable ex ample of it is presented to us by the almost absolute harmony of the confessions and creeds adopted by the several Protestant countries. Christians, therefore, have, in every age and country, found the language of Scriptures sufficiently plain, and the meaning sufficiently obvious, to unite in the construc tion of the former and the adoption of the latter. Nor have they felt any very material embarrassment, either from the. figurative nature of the phraseology used by the writers, or the profoundness of the doctrines which they have disclosed. But the meaning adopted by the great body of Christians, in the several ages of the church, is, beyond aU reasonable doubt, the true meaning. It cannot be supposed that God would leave his chUdren, as a body, materiaUy to mistake thc meaning of his word, nor cause his word to be so written that they would of course mistake the meaning in this manner, while reading it with dUigence, integrity, and reverence. But, if the obvious meaning be not the true one, both these supposi tions must, so far as I can see, be admitted. VI. If the ohnious meaning of the Scriptures be rwt th true one, the great body of mankind could not reasonably, be, re proved or threatened for not believing them. To beUeve the Scriptures is to believe their meaning. But the persons in question are unable, however inclined, to annex any meaning to them besides the obvious one. To believe them, therefore, would, in most cases, be out of their power, and could deserve neither threatening nor reproof. Yet every reader of the Bible must have seen very many instances in which this unbeUef is severely censured and terribly threaten- SER. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. 35 ed. He that receiveth not my words, hath one that judg eth him ; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. How can this be, if such as are- concern ed cannot know what the words of Christ mean ? How can they be blameworthy for not behoving what, in the physical sense, they cannot understand ? VIL If the obvious meaning be not the true one, the pro vision made in the Scriptures for the salvation of men is im perfect and ineffectual. Every meaning of every scriptural declaration, which is not furnished by the plain, obvious construction of the words, must be derived from critical learning and ingenuity. How few are there, how few have there been so learned and so ingenious, as to be able to persuade mankind, or to give them any solid rea son for the persuasion, that they, and they only, have certain ly discovered the meaning of the word of God. Where, when, and who have been these favourites of heaven ? These men, also, must be supposed to be more able, or bet- ,ter incUned, than God himself, to use language in a manner entirely perspicuous and decisive. Where and when have such specimens of ingenuity and critical skUl existed ? They must also be supposed to unite in giving the same construction to Scriptural passages. The true sense of each passage is certainly but one, and aU who discover it must therefore be absolutely agreed. Where do we find this agree ment ? They must also possess sufficient weight and authority to engage the attention and secure the submission of mankind to their decisions. Who ever had this authority ? Contrary to aU this, the Scriptural critics who have actuaUy existed, have never had sufficient learning and skUl to create a beUef among men of piety, that their doctrines, when varying from the obvious meaning of the Scriptures, have been true, or supported by satisfactory evidence. Some of them have been men of real talents and extensive learning. Others have chaUenged to themselves such talents, and attempted to dis play sucji learning with not a Uttle ostentation ; but have nev- .36 GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. SEE. 2. er been able to convince mankind that they possessed this supe riority of character. Nor have either had any considerable success in gaining foUowers, except among those who were plainly unwUUng to foUow Christ. At the same time, the language in which they have deUver ed their opinions, has been less clear, definite, and satisfactory, than that of the Scriptures. Technical or phUosophical lan guage is certainly capable of being so used, as to express the doctrines of mere phUosophy and the truths of science, appro priately so caUed, especiaUy of physical science, with more precision than the common language of men. Had the theo logy of the Scriptures been intended only for learned men, and disclosed merely as a science, which was to expand their views and regulate their opinions, it is not improbable that it might have been communicated in technical language. But it was actuaUy intended for aU men, and must, therefore, be made known to them in the common language of men, since nine hundred and ninety-nine, out of a thousand, could not possibly understand any other. For the communication of plain doc trines, duties, and facts, the only things interesting to such men, as being the only things essentiaUy to be beUeved and done by them, the common language is incomparably better fitted, as being more perspicuous and more impressive than any other. Who does not perceive, who has not a thousand times felt, that the doctrines, precepts, and facts contained in the Scriptures, are there expressed with incomparably more feli city than in the most studied periods and the most nicely selected phraseology of the ablest uninspired writers. The writers in question, also, have agreed almost in no thing, and have differed endlessly about every thing. It is not difficult for men to harmonize in the truths of physical science, because they ordinarUy excite no interest, awaken no passion, and generate no bias. But the doctrines and duties of reUgion produce the strongest interest, and start into action every feel ing, and every prejudice. Hence the views of different persons concerning them are variously and wonderfuUy warped from each other, and from truth. Hence, also, the very language, which they adopt in communicating their opinions, is often SER. 2. GOD TO BE BELIEVED RATHER THAN MAN. 37 perverted by them, and is used variously, and, in a manner, chiefly, or only, perplexing to their readers. On the innumerable diversities of opinion among these wri ters it is unnecessary to expatiate, because it is every where known and acknowledged. A single example wiU sufficiently exhibit it for the present purpose. St. Paul says, in so many words, that " Christ is over aU, God blessed for ever." This plain, unambiguous declaration, conveys one, and only one, obvious, and that a perfectly definite meaning. In equaUy ex press terms, Christ caUs himself a man, and the Son of Man. The obvious meaning of these declarations has been denied by several classes of men, who have caUed themselves Christians. The Corinthians, Ebionites, Socinians, and others, beheved him to be only a man. The Docetae and Manichees beUeved him to be only God. The SabeUians beUeve him to be a mere manifestation of God. The Arians beUeved, that he was a su- perangeUc being, created before any other creature ; and the foUowers of ApoUinaris held that he was two distinct persons, one divine, the other human. Who, amid this diversity, would he able, should he desert the plain meaning of Scripture, and foUow the explanations of men, to adopt any opinion concern ing this subject ? Nor have such writers possessed, nor can any writers pos sess, such weight and authority, as might secure the submission of mankind to their decisions. The declarations of uninspired men can rise no higher than opinion and advice ; their pre cepts than recommendations ; nor their promises and threat enings than mere conjectures. Whatever they threatened or promised, although professedly derived from the Scriptures, would be beUeved, as it always has been believed, to be mere ly an imposition, or the dream of a distempered brain. So far as God was supposed to have spoken, it would be received as truth ; so far as it was only the comment of an uninspired man, it would be regarded, and with unobjectionable proprie ty, as doubtful or false. Who, after reading the comment, would not ardently wish for a sight of the text, that he might know how the doctrine or the precept, the threatening or the promise, appeared as it came from the hand of God ? 38 GOD TO BE BELIEVED BATHER THAN MAN. SEE. 2. From these observations, it is, I think, certain, that if the obvious meaning of the Scriptures be not the true one, the pro vision made in them for the salvation of men is imperfect and ineffectual ; that men could not know what to believe, what to fear, or what to hope ; but would be left in that state of sus pense, which, in a case of such immense moment, must, if se riously felt, be productive only of anguish, and terminate only in despair. I have now finished the observations which I have thought it proper to make on this highly interesting subject. As I have never heard nor seen it discussed, and as it deeply concerns every person who is in possession of the Scriptures, I shaU con sider myself justified in having examined it at length. If the arguments here adduced have the same weight in the view of my audience which they possess in my own, they wUl be satis^ fied, that aU the declarations of God in the Scriptures are to be impUcitly received ; and that they are to be received in their obvious meaning. SERMON III. SERMONS ON REVELATION. SERMON I. MAN CANNOT FIND OUT A RELIGION WHICH WILL RENDER HIJM ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. JOB xxviii. 20, 21. " Whence then cometh wisdom ; and where is the place of understanding ? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living. The meaning of the word wisdom, as it is used here and else where in the Scriptures, is given to us in the 28th verse of the context. And unto man he said, " Behold, the fear of the " Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evU, is understand- " ing." Without any comment, it wiU be seen that the fear of the Lord, and departure from evU, constitute what is meant originaUy by the reUgion of the Scriptures. By this I intend that reverence and obedience to God, without which no inteUi- gent being can be supposed to please him, or be accepted by him. This is the reUgion of angels, this was the reUgion of Adam in a state of innocence. The context is almost whoUy a panegyric upon this moral character ; arid with a force and truth unrivaUed, it is exhi bited successively as undiscoverable by man ; superior to all things which he has discovered ; incomparable and inestimable in its value ; and so glorious in its exceUence and import ance, that its fame has extended to the regions of destruction. o 40 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. and reached the ears of the destroyer. It is exhibited as the mighty and supreme concern of God himself; as peculiarly occupying his thoughts and engrossing his attention, amid aU his wonderful works of creation and providence ; and, in the end, as solemnly announced by him in a pubUc proclamation to the chUdren of men. In the text this religion is declared to be hidden from the eyes of all living. In other words, it is incapable of being dis covered by man. This doctrine I propose to make the theme of the present discourse, and shaU express it in the foUowing terms, viz. — That man cannot find out a religion which wiU render him acceptable to God. In support of the truth contained in this declaration, I observe — I. That man, without the aid of revelation, is ignorant of God. I shaU not here discuss the question, whether, in the phy- . sical sense, it is possible for man to discover the existence and attributes of his Maker. The investigation would occupy more time than I am at present able to devote to it ; nor is it aU necessary for my pre sent purpose. It wUl be sufficient to show, at the present time, that man never would make this discovery. The fact, that these things are hidden from the eyes of all Uving, so far as an original discovery is concerned, wUl be aU that is neces sary for my design ; and the inquiry, whether the ignorance in question proceeds from a moral or physical source, wiU, here at least, be nugatory. That mankind would have never originaUy discovered the existence and attributes of God is, in a very high degree, pro bable, because ancient history furnishes no instance of this nature. AmidaU the inquiries and discussions on this subject which have prevaUed in former periods of the world, and in deed in every period, it is incredible, if an individual has been so happy as to alight on so important a discovery, that no re cord or hint concerning it should have been transmitted to succeeding ages. But no such record, no such hint exists. SEB. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 41 Every discussion, every observation concerning this subject, is evidently founded on acknowledged preceding information. Such a fact could scarcely have existed had men derived their knowledge merely from the employment of their own faculties. The same truth is evident also from the consideration, that certain nations have finaUy lost aU knowledge and aU belief concerning the existence of a God. It must, I think, be ad mitted on the testimony of respectable missionaries, that se veral tribes of Caffires are entirely ignorant of the existence of any superintendent being. The same thing is ascertained concerning various other nations. I shaU not here inquire into the truth of the assertion. The case specified is sufficient. It wUl not be denied that the idea of God is the most im portant and distinguished among aU those which are received by the human mind, and therefore, so far, the most difficult to be lost. The only explanation which can be given of the fact, that it has been actuaUy lost, must be sought for in the indis position of man to retain it. Nothing is more evident than that beings who voluntarUy lose the idea of God, would never regain it after it was once lost. The same truth is further evident from the universal declen sion of mankind into polytheism. Every polytheistic system contains, of course, the idea of a being who superintends, in some manner, the affairs of this world, and unites with him in this station or employment a greater or less number of others. But these beings, in every such system, are infinitely different from the real God. Polytheists cannot be said absolutely to have lost the knowledge of God ; but they must be said to have lost absolutely his true character. AU the gods of GentiUsm have been imperfect and immoral ; characteristics directly con tradictory to the perfection of Jehovah. As this fact has been invariably true of that system, in every age and country, it furnishes unanswerable proof that the mind of man has, upon the whole, no tendency to retain the true God, but is perpe- tuaUy prone to wander from the knowledge of his character, untU it is finaUy lost in the absolute ignorance of his being. The efforts of phUosophy yield strong additional evidence of the same truth. Men, addicted to phUosophy in ancient times. 42 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. and frequently possessed of superior talents, studied and dis coursed very extensively concerning this subject; and, to make their discourses able, ingenious, and satisfactory to their readers, they employed vigorously their time, taleftts, and la bours. What was the result ? Most of them were polytheists, some were sceptics, and the rest were atheists. Those who were polytheists acknowledged universaUy the gods of their countrymen ; hmited in their powers and operations, odious by their vices, and contemptible by their foUies. Not a virtuous being was found in their number. Their enjoyments were the gratification of pride, passion, and appetite ; and their moral conduct such as a sober man must regard with disgust and hor ror. When they spoke of God in the singular number, they declared that he was fire ; a compound of the four elements ; the sun ; the soul of the world ; the universe ; the ether ; and heaven. On the doctrines of the sceptical and atheistical phUosophers it wUl be unnecessary to expatiate. Such were the opinions which the mind of man, uninspired, and employing its most vigorous powers in the contemplation of this subject, has adopted concerning its Maker. Who will not readUy believe, that the true reason why such opinions were adopted by inteUigent men Was, that they did not Uke to retain God in their knowledge. Another fact, connected with these, and evidential of the same truth, is this, the descendants of men, who once had just apprehensions of the Creator, became universaUy polytheists. Noah and his famUy knew and worshipped the true God, yet aU their descendants were polytheists ; the Jews partiaUy, and at times ; the rest, within a moderate period, absolutely. The subjects of Melchizedeck, and the first Pharaoh mention ed in the Scriptures, were acquainted with the true God ; as were also Job and his friends, and undoubtedly those around them. The people of the Thebais, also, at a much later pe riod, worshipped one God. But aU who foUowed these, at a lit tle distance of time, became polytheists. Whence could this fact be derived, unless from the indisposition of man to retain the knowledge Of his Maker, SER. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 43 The Jews, Mahommedans, and Christians, have aU, as it is weU known, obtained aU their just apprehensions concerning this subject from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa ment. From the same source, modern deists have acquired aU their knowledge of this subject. Whenever these men have depart ed, as they have ever been disposed to do, from the scriptural doctrines concerning it, they have invariably invaded and di minished the infinite perfections of Jehovah. He who reads the things V7hich have been said by Herbert, TindaU, Chubb, Hume, and others, particularly by BoUngbroke, whether di rectly or indirectly, concerning the Creator, wUl find satisfac tory reasons for beUeving, that were the Scriptures once re moved out of the way, infidels would, within a short time, re vive the superintendency and worship of the Greek and Roman deities. Gibbon directly censures the Jews for not uniting their worship with that of Jehovah, and Taylor has pubUcly professed himself a polytheist. From each of the facts it is strongly evident, and from all of them together unanswerably certain, that mankind receive the existence and character of God universaUy with reluctance ; lose it, unless continuaUy forced upon them, regularly, as weU as easUy ; and as regularly embrace polytheism, atheism, or nihihsm. Without revelation, therefore, they become of course ignorant of God. As aU rehgion has its foundation in the existence and cha racter of a god, and aU true reUgion in the existence and cha racter of the true God, it is perfectly clear that, in these cir cumstances, men are incapable of forming a reUgion which wUl render them acceptable to God. II. Mankind are incapable of devising a systemof duty which will render them acceptable to God. The decisive proof of this proposition is found in the fact, that hitherto they have never devised such a system. The an cient phUosophers applied themselves to this subject with in tense labour, in a vast multitude of instances, and through a long series of ages. The men who most dUigently occupied 44 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. themselves in this employment possessed talents not inferior to any equal number of those who have succeeded them ; yet their efforts not only faUed, but faUed in such a degree, that their doctrines, taken in the mass, would not now be regarded with any emotion, but contempt and horror, by a Christian child twelve years old ! Their best apprehensions concerning rir- tue, or moral exceUence, were, in many respects, crude, gross, and false. They placed it successively in the love of glory,— in the adlierence to one or other of their systems of phUoso phy, — in courage, — and in that love of country, which prompts its inhabitants to hate aU others, and to carry into them fire, and sword, and desolation ! Concerning the supreme good, — that is, the object which chiefly deserves to be pursued by man, — their apprehensiolis were equaUy erroneous. Some supposed it to be glory ; others, contemplation ; others, what they caU wisdom ; others stiE, apathy, sloth, and the pleasures of sense. From their igno rance and mistakes concerning these subjects, they became ab solutely incompetent to devise a system of moraUty which would bear an examination, or could be adopted either with safety or hope by their feUow-men. As these subjects were every where radical in moral inquiries, errors about them were fundamental, and extended their influence to aU their views concerning the duty of man. Hence they enjoined many things as duties which we perceive to be grossly sinful and abomina ble, and pronounced many things to be lawful which we know to be violations of the divine law. What was right, also, they so blended with what was wrong, — what was true with what was false, — that a separation of the good from the evU became impossible to themselves and their foUowers, and much more to mankind at large. The worship which they authorised, (for they never attempt ed to devise a scheme of worship,) was made up of the stupid, frenzied, and abominable rites of their respective countries, — a violation alike of common sense and common decency ! What was done by these men was, in aU probabUity, the ut most which man is able to do. If Pythagoras, Thales, Socra tes, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, could not form just opinions SER. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 45 concerning these subjects, who, in the same circumstances, could ? If their opinions concerning them were, to a great ex tent, gross and contemptible, where are the men to whom we could apply with confidence for such as were sound, profitable, and certain means of our acceptance with God ? But though the general fact, which I have mentioned, is decisive proof that men are incapable of devising a system of duty which man may safely pursue, it is not the only proof of this truth. The very nature of the subject furnishes, if I mis take not, unanswerable evidence of the same truth. The only manner in which the human mind is able to de termine, satisfactorUy, concerning the moral nature of any con duct, without the aid of revelation, is by its consequences. That which, upon the whole, or which throughout time and eternity is profitable to the universe, is unquestionably right. But who beside God can discern what this is ? The conse quences of every action are endless, and, by them all, this de termination is to be made. The infinite eye only can discern these consequences ; the infinite mind only can comprehend them. Man plainly can know scarcely one out of miUions, even of those which wUl take place in the present world, and not one of those which wiU exist beyond the grave. How abso lutely must he err, who is precluded from the means of forming a judgment ? The three great duties of man to his fellow men are un doubtedly truth, justice, and kindness. The first of these, truth, is a subject absolutely definite, and scarcely less dis tinguishable in any case than a mathematical quantity. Its importance, also, is pre-eminently great. The consequences of speaking it are more obviously beneficial, and those of speak ing falsehood more clearly pernicious, than such as foUow any human conduct. Here, then, if any where, we may expect to find the dictates of the human understanding free from per plexity, supported, and decisive. Yet, in every age of the world, men, who have relied on the investigations of reason for the estabhshment of a moral creed, have faUen into very serious errors concerning this subject. Nor have these been persons of inferior talents. Archdeacon Paley, one of the ablest and 46 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. most luminous writers of our own time, pursuing this course of inquiry, has determined that lying is sometimes lawful, and this, with his Bible before him, and the awful declaration of God himself sounding in his ears, " There shaU in no wise " enter into the heavenly city any one, who loveth or maketh " a Ue." If such is the decision of a Protestant divine of great eminence, when thus employed, what are we to suppose must be the decision of other men ? If such is the decision concerning truth, a subject perfectly simple, obvious, and un- embarrassing, what are we to suppose must be the determina tions concerning justice and kindness, especiaUy the latter, far less distinctly understood, far less accurately defined, and of course exposed to far greater uncertainty ? With respect to the duties involved in the general name of piety, the difficulties are obviously greater. The first of them, and that evidently insuperable, springs from the invincible ig norance of man concerning God. Most persons who employ themselves in reasoning concern ing this subject, deceive themselves, if I mistake not, and that grossly, with respect to one particular of very great importance. They seem very extensively to suppose, that reason, without any assistance, would be able to discover the very same argu ments concernmg the existence and character of this glorious being, which, with the Bible in our hands, our own reason pos sesses. No opinion is more faUacious. From the Bible we learn the existence of one God, and the nature and perfection ¦of his character. From the same source we derive the most just and most comprehensive views of both his works and de signs. In this manner we are placed in a situation entirely new and unattainable by men destitute of the Ught of Revela tion. It is one thing to know the existence and character of God, and then to discover the proofs of his existence and cha racter, presented to the mind by his works ; and whoUy ano ther thing to learn his being and attributes from the works themselves. In the former case, many arguments are disco verable by reason, of which, left to itself, it would never have entertained a thought. All the arguments, also, which it ac tuaUy discovers, are seen in a new Ught, and far more clearly, SER. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 47 distinctly, comprehensively, and therefore far more justly and satisfactorily, than in the latter case. These advantages are incalculable, and ought ever to be remembered with exact dis crimination, and to their fuU extent. But even now. Revelation apart, it is a task of extreme dif ficulty to prove the unity of God ; of so much difficulty, that, unless I have been deceived, it has never been performed to the fuU satisfaction of thinking men. There is also to this day, when we lay aside the Scriptures, not a little uncertainty hanging over our views and discussions concerning the divine attributes, particularly those of a moral nature. StiU more clouded and obscure are, in this case, the works of God, whUe his designs are almost absolutely veiled in darkness. Could the divines and phUosophers, who think most favourably con cerning the capacity of reason to direct our researches into these subjects, place themselves, for a short period, exactly in the circumstances of an enlightened heathen, they would, I suspect, think much less favourably concerning the powers of the human inteUect, than they sometimes seem to have done. What reason is reaUy able to accomplish, with respect to this subject, is in aU probabUity that, and nothing more than that, which it has aheady accomphshed. Its efforts have been made so long, so often, so laboriously, in so many different ages and countries, and by so many minds of the first order, that we cannot, without renouncing our own reason, expect them ever to rise above the height to which they have aheady at tained. What man has done in this respect, is justly pro nounced to be aU which man can do. But man has, in fact, lost invariably the knowledge of the one perfect God; and, when lost, has never recovered it. Reason has invariably formed many gods, and these, without an exception, have been imperfect in their manner of existence, their attributes, their conduct, and their happiness. They have been impotent, foolish, and vicious. But the apprehension that there are more gods than one changes our whole system of thought concerning the universe, and changes it entirely. Both its worlds and their inhabitants 48 SERMONS ON REVELATION. .ser. 3 have a new origin, and a new destination. They are placed in enthely new relations, subjected to an entirely different set of laws, and are summoned to the performance of an enthely dif ferent set of duties. At the same time it becomes impossible on this plan, for an individual ever to know who or how many are the beings who stand in the relation of gods to himself, or the relations which he bears severaUy to them. The charac ter, station, office, and agency of each become absolutely undis coverable. It becomes impossible to learn their wUl and his own duty. Of course, it is equaUy impossible for him to know how to please them, when he has, or has not pleased them, and how to obtain the rewards which might be expected from doing his duty. Every new god introduced into the system, renews aU the difficulties attendant upon our inquiries con cerning these things, and others connected with them, as they respected him who was first placed by the mind in this exalted station. The difficulties, therefore, are multipUed as the num ber of deities is multipUed, and are mightUy increased also by the differences of character, stations, powers, and employments, which they are supposed to possess. Such has actuaUy been the state of GentUism with respect to this aU-important subject. Such have been its gods ; such the variety and uncertainty of their character, stations, and pleasure ; such the undeterminable nature of the duties owed them. Hence the nations who have embraced this scheme, and the phUosophers, as truly as other men, have been abso lutely unsettled with regard to their own moral actions, espe ciaUy those included under the name of piety. The conse quence has been that, which could not faU of being rationaUy expected, a deplorable degeneracy of mind, and an absolute corruption of Ufe, with regard to aU these duties. It ought here to be observed, that this system has not been improved by phUosophers ; I mean, upon the whole. That they formed just opinions concerning some subjects must certainly be ac knowledged ; but that their whole scheme of moral doctrines and duties was at aU fitted to make men better than they found them, I see no reason to believe. The system of the Iroquois is less absurd, less a vagrant from truth and virtue, than that SER. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 49 of the Greeks and Romans. That of the Hindoos is worse than either. The duties of piety, which are most obvious to reason, are reverence and gratitude- In the state of man which we have been contemplating, both are necessarily attended with very serious difficulties arising from two sources, the character and the number of the deities admitted into the system. AU our views and emotions towards any being with whom we are connected, or suppose ourselves to be connected, are necessarily regulated by the character of that being. If he be great, wise, and good, they are naturaUy expansive and ele vated ; if he be Uttle, foolish, and wicked, they are of course shriveUed ; at the best listless ; and not unfrequently hostUe. But the gods of every polytheist have uniformly sustained the latter character ; and this fact furnishes decisive proof, that polytheism can form no other gods. The most exalted of them is infinitely distant from Jehovah. AU the gods of the na tions are vanity, and a Ue ; not false only, but empty also of aU the proper perfections of God. The supreme God of every man, whether he be Jehovah, Jupiter, a calf, or a stock, is the highest object which that man knows. Above the character of this deity, his mind wUl never rise. Beyond it, his views wUl never expand. His re verence and hjs gratitude, if directed to Jehovah, that is, cor diaUy, wUl of course be such, as in some measure to become the character of this infinitely great and glorious object ; if to Jupiter, wUl sink, as the object of his worship is diminished ; if to a calf or a stock, wUl, to say the least, approach the verge of nihiUty.The same effect wUl, in a great measure, be produced by uncertainty in the mind of the worshipper concerning the cha racter of his drity. Doubtful reverence and gratitude are ex ercises of the mind, attended with aU the burdensome influence of suspense, and are unsupported and unawakened by any set tled conviction of their obUgatory nature. In this situation they are rendered, at the best, only by fits and starts, and al ways with reluctance when rendered at aU ; are feeble efforts when they exist, and exist only at solitary intervals. VOL. I. E 50 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. In the minds of men of understanding there wiU also arise another, and that an immovable obstacle to the performance of these duties. This is an absolute uncertainty of being ac cepted in the performance of any duty whatever. Socrates doubted whether God would accept the prayers of men, and advised his pupU to unite with his countrymen in their cus tomary worship, untU God should disclose by revelation the worship which he would accept. This, probably, was one commanding reason to many of the ancient phUosophers, by which they were induced to participate in a ritual so unfoimd^ ed and revolting as those of their respective countries.. The absurdities of this worship, in many of these countries at least, it is impossible that they should not have perceived ; but they knew not what to substitute in its place. The number of the gods of polytheism added immeasurably to these difficulties. As the GentUes knew not who or what, their gods were, they could not know what relations they sustained to them, or what duties they owed, or in what manner those duties were to be rendered. In the multitude of these deities they found new and StiU more perplexing embarrassments. The number was uncertain, and the proper character of each absolutely doubt- fol. The concern which each had with human affairs, the pleasure of each, and the . services which would be acceptable to him, were aU absolutely unknown. Every god introduced into the system after the first, renewed aU the difficulties at tendant upon the knowledge of the first. Thus the perplexi ties of the votary were multiplied without end ; and what was the gratitude, and what was the reverence due to each, could never be determined, even with a hope of success. Thus, if I mistake not, it is cleariy evident, that man, with out the aid of revelation, is unable to find out a religion which wUl render him acceptable to God ; that in this situation he is ignorant of God, and incapable of devising a system of duty, in the performance of which he may hope to be accepted. Instead of pursuing the subject, through other considesar tions, at the present time, I shaU conclude my discourse with three remarks. SBlt. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. REMARKS. I. From these observations we cannot, I think, fail to see the absolute necessity of a revelation. If the view given in this discourse concerning the abUity of reason to find out a rehgion which wiU render us acceptable to God is just, the necessity of a revelation cannot be qiiestioned. If without revelation we are ignorant of the existence and cha racter of God ; if we know not, and cannot know, the duties which we owe to him and to each other ; if these things are actuaUy hidden from the eyes of aU Uvingj then we infinitely need to have these things communicated to us by himself Without the possession of them we cannot hope for his favour, and without his favour we cannot be happy. IL From th^ observations made in this discourse, it is evident, that the objection against the Scriptures, as a revelation from ^ God, that they v)ere published at so late a period, is groundless. Infidels have triumphantly aUeged this fact against the divine origin of the Old and New Testament. They gravely inform us, that if God had thought such a revelation necessary for the purpose of teaching mankind his character and their duty, he certainly would have communicated it from the be ginning. " If," say they, " we need such a communication, " in order to enable us to know the will of God, it was equaUy " needed by every preceding generation of men. How un- " reasonable, then, is the supposition, that this aU-wise Being, *' regarding the whole human race with equal benevolence, do- " layed this important blessing tUl the time pf Moses, more " than two thousand years after the professed date of the cre^ * " ation ? What, according to the dictates of this same reve- " latk)n, are we to suppose became of the unhappy beings who " hved before this date, and were unable to know their duty, " because it was not revealed ? Are we to attribute such " partiahty to the infinitely wise and just ruler of aU things? " How much more rational, then, is it to beheve, that the re- ?' ligion of nature is the true religion, and that the duties 52' SEEMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3- " which it prescribes are the real and oidy duties of mankind ? " This religion was pubUshed in the beginning, and has been " continued without interruption through aU the succeeding " generations of our race." To these specious observations, I answer, in the first place, — That the reUgion of Nature is not even yet published. The first error of infidels with respect to this subject, and that a fatal one, is, that what they caU the reUgion of nature maj be the means of our acceptance with God. If I mistake not, this has been amply shown in the progress of the present discourse. It has appeared, at least to me, clear beyond rea sonable debate, that mankind, in the exercise of their reason, have been far from discovering such a reUgion as can become the means of accomplishing this aU important end ;: that they have whoUy faUed of discovering either of its great constituent parts. They have neither known God nor his pleasure, and, of course, can neither perform their duty nor become accept able to him. Were Jupiter the real God, such a rehgion, per haps, might secure our safety ; but from Jehovah it furnishes not a single hope. That the infinitely perfect Being wUl bless those who please him, and those only, there cannot be a sober doubt. EquaUy indubitable is it, that those whose character comports ejfactly with this favourite rehgion of infidels, can never please him, but must be odious in his sight. To them, therefore, there cannot be a hope of acceptance. • Secondly, The revelation of the wUl of God was begun with the first man, and that immediately after his cre ation ; and from him was continued, in a series of com munications, down to the date of the Pentateuch. In fidels wUl not themselves deny, that this is declared in the Scriptures, the only source from which we can derive any know ledge of the subject. No more can they deny that it was re peated to Enoch ; tD Noah and his famUy ; to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; to Job and his friends, and not improbably to many others. It is certain, therefore, that revelation was be gun at a period sufficiently early at least, if we receive the testimony given by itself; and without this, we know nothing, concerning the subject. SER. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 53 Thirdly, Had mankind been wUling to retain, and obey, the wUl of God, every generation would have been possessed of this invaluable blessing. Had the descendants of Noah, in their several generations, cherished this disposition, nay, had they not been directly hostUe to their duty, revelation would have descended through every generation of men to the pre sent time. It may be replied, that this answer reaches only a part of the difficulty ; since preceding generations have actually lost the revelation which they possessed ; and therefore their descendants have been born and Uved without the knowledge which it conveyed, and which to them is here considered as indispensable. To this observation I rejoin, that, although its truth is rea dUy admitted, the consequence, intentionaUy derived from it, wiU not foUow. The oidy manner in which God could satisfy this demand, would be to make a revelation to every age and tribe of man kind, and, it would seem, to every famUy and person. The revelation made to Jeroboam was forgotten by aU his chUdren except one ; that to Ahab, by his ; and that to Jehu, by aU his. Those made to Jehoshaphat, were renounced by Jeho- ram ; those to Hezekiah, by Manasseh ; and those to Josiah, by his chUdren. From the whole history of man we have Ut tle reason to beUeve, that, without a constaait series of mha- cles, any revelation, beside a written one, could be preserved. Even a written revelation was sustained among the Jews by a series of miracles ; and in this manner was preserved with ex treme difficulty. These facts teach us the very manner in which it must be continued, if continued at aU, among the rest of mankind. But it cannot be supposed that God, in order to preserve even the knowledge of his character and pleasure, would convert his whole providence into a series of miraculous dispensations. EspeciaUy wUl this supposition appear extraordinary when we remember, that the beings, for whom aU this is demanded, violate every dictate of the divine wUl which they know, and steadUy act in opposition to their own consciences. Certainly such beings must have very imperfect claims, if they can be 54 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 3. supposed to have atiy claims, — even to the least blessings, much more to the series of dispensations proposed. AU this, however, wDuld not answer the end. Were the revelation pro posed actuaUy to be made, there is little reason to beUeve that it would be either welcomed or obeyed. Infidels have now abundant and decisive evidence ; such as they cannot answer, and such as ought therefore to satisfy them, that the Bible is the word of God. Yet they are unsatisfied ; and oppose, de- fty, and calumniate the Bible. Vast multitudes, also, of man kind, who acknowledge its divine origin, contend against its doc trines, and disobey its precepts. The reason is obvious ; they love sin, and dread its punishment. For the very same reason, revelation has been resisted in every age. " This is the con- " demnation," says the Saviour of men, " that light is come " into the world ; and men loved darkness rather than Ught, " because their deeds were evU. He that doth evU hateth the " light, neither cOmeth to the Ught, lest his deeds should be " reproved." III. From the same source We learn, that another objecti&it against the divine origin ofthe Scriptures, customarily made by infidels, — viz. that they have not been more extensively given to mankind, — is vain and futile. ' Infidels customarUy speak of natural reUgion as having been communicated to the whole human race. Yet even themselves, whenever they appeal to facts, are obUged to recur to the an cient phUosophers, and those almost solely of Greece and Rome. Exclusively of the discoveries which are attributed to these men, there is not now, there never has been, revelation apart, any thing that can be caUed reUgion. After mighty and long continued labours on this subject, — after many and most magnificent promises, — infidels have never been able to produce any thing more. Lord Herbert, after having made the strongest declarations, that the religion of nature is innate in the mind of every man, and is there written by the finger of God, is compeUed to confess, that it has been obliterated from the minds of almost aU men. But the phUosophers in question were a little company of men ; and all who ever read SEB. 3. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 55 their books were but a mere handful. There are more per sons in the United States at the present moment who read the Scriptures, and are in a good degree acquainted with the reh gion which they contain, than the whole number which have read any phUosophical writings since phUosophy was first writ ten. There were far more persons in the Jewish nation, and in most ages of that nation, who were acquainted with the writings of Moses, and afterwards with those of the prophets, than were ever acquainted with the Grecian and Roman phUo sophy. It ought here to be observed, that these writings, also, came into existence at so late a period, that they are liable to the fuU force of the preceding objection. These phUosophers Uved very long after the time of Moses ; most of them very Uttle before, and some of them after the time of Christ. Had they, therefore, discovered a reUgion which would render men accepted by their Maker, that reUgion would have been Uable to both these objections in a far higher degree than the reUgion ofthe Scriptures. But the truth is, the reUgion which they taught was as Uttle fitted to accompUsh this great end, as that which was embraced by the people at large. They cleared the common GentUism of some absurdities, and ornamented it with some doctrines and precepts which were just and defensible ; but they added many absurdities of their own ; taught false doctrines of theii: own; and increased the number of immoral precepts. AU these, also, they impressed on the mind with the whole force oftheir genius, learning, eloquence, and authority. In the meantime, their example destroyed the influence of their in-i structions when they were true, and increased it when they were false. What, therefore, they found bad in itself, they made worse upon the whole, and not better. SERMON IV. SERMONS ON REVELATION. SERMON II, MAN CANNOT FIND OUT A RELIGION WHICH WILL BENDER HIM ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. JOB xxviU. 12, 13- *' Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place qf un derstanding f " Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land ofthe living.^ A:n inteUigent and sober man, surveying himself and the ob jects around him, would very naturaUy form a series of reflec tions like the foUowing : — " Whence and what am I ? How came I to be, to be what, ^' and where I am ? My frame is a complication of wonders, " utterly surpassing my comprehension. It is ahve. What is *' that life, and whence derived ? It can move. What is the " cause of its motions ? It is the medium through which I re- " ceive an endless multitude of senations, both pleasurable and " painful. By what mysterious power does it become the me- " dium ? I can think and choose ; I can imagine and feel ; I " can hope and fear ; I can love and hate ; I can enjoy and " suffer. In what manner are these wonderful affections pro- " duced? " I am placed in a world ftJl of wonders. The vegetable, the SEB. 4. «ERMONS ON REVELATION. 57 " animal, and the mineral kingdoms are replenished with objects " of a marveUous nature ; effects which I can understand very " imperfectly, and causes which I can scarcely understand at all. " Yet I can distinctly perceive that they are extensively fitted " for the use of man, and appear as if they were intended, to a " great extent at least, to contribute to the comfort of myself " and my feUow men. But what are we ? For what end were " we made ? for there are so visible and numerous proofs of con- " trivance, and of such wonderful contrivance in both the body " and mind of mam, that it is irrational, and seems to be impos- " sible not to conclude that we were made. Who, and what is *' He, by whom we were made ? How plainly must his nature " transcend aU such comprehension as mine ? In the contem- " plation of such power, wisdom, and agency as I see displayed ¦" in my^self, and in aU things which are presented to my view, " I am lost in astonishment. For what purpose was I made ? *' I, and aU other men must soon go to the grave. ShaU I " then perish ; or shaU I survive the tomb, and re-exist in fu- " ture periods of endless duration ? Of what incomprehensi- " ble importance are those questions ? Who can answer " them ?" " If man is destined to be immortal, and may be happy ¦" throughout eternity, what measures shaU he undertake to " ensure his happiness ? Where, how, with whom shaU he *' exist ? What wUl be his circumstances ? How shaU he " act, so as to make aU these things desirable when he shaU " arrive in the future world ?" Thoughts like these have probably passed through the mind of every man -possessed of the character which I have men tioned. Not improbably they may often have engrossed his deepest attention ; awakened anxiety and alarm ; produced jpeqjlexity; forced the thoughts to wander into the eternal world to explore, with distressing soUcitude, the character and designs of -God ; and to ask, " What wiU become of me, when " my soul shaU be separated from my body." " Where," he wUl irresistibly exclaim, " shaU the wisdom be found, which " shaU make me acceptable to God ? Where is the place of *' that understanding which wUl enable me effectuaUy to pro- ^8 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 4» *' vide for the wants of my future being ? Man certainly " feioweth imt the price thereof, for its value is beyond all " pricie ; neither is it found in the land of the Uving, for such " a discovery would bailee fiUed the world with astonishment " and rapture, and the tidings must have vibrated through *' every nation, and every succeeding age of man." I have already stated several difficulties which have prevent* ed mankind from discovering a rehgion capable of rendering them acceptable to God. It is now my design to consider this subject with respect tp several other things which may be con sidered as fundamental, and which, if I mistake not, wUl, when fairly examined, prove the doctrine beyond aU reasonable doubt. In this examination I shaU. pursue the scheme adopted in a former discourse, and shaU consider that which man can de concerning this aU-important subject, as being what man has already done. It Would be idle here to enter into abstract speculations concerning the possible extent of the powers of vmua. After aU the laborious efforts which have been made-, and made with every advantage, it is perfect trifling to inquire whether there may not be hereafter some superior mind, or a mind possessed of some superior advantages, by which this mighty discovery may be more successfuUy made. Cicero's remark is here plainly conclusive, *' That it makes no differ- " ence whether no man is wise, or whether no man can be " wise." StUl I propose, for the purpose of producing a greater satis^ faction in the minds of my audience, to inquire into the nature of the case ; and in the course of this inquiry shall attempt to show, that reason cannot possibly make this discovery, and to exhibit the real grounds of this impossibUity. Towards the accomplishment of this purpose I observe ge neraUy, That our duty cannot be performed, unless it is known ; That it cannot be known, unless our relations to the beings, to whom our duties are owed, be known ; and That these relations cannot be known, unless the nature, character, and circumstances of these beij^s, out rf which aU SEB. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 59 these relations rise, and on which they aU depend, be also known. These propositions, it is presumed, wiU be admitted, since they canuot be denied without violence to reason. It wUl be the particular design of this discourse to show, that the several things which I have specified, are unknown. Should this be evinced, it wUl foUow that our duty, so fact, must be unknown ; and that whatever might be acquired from the performance of our duty, must be unattainable, unless we can desire the knowledge of it from some other source than the exercise of our reason. In support of this scheme, I observe, I. That reason, left to itself, cannot understand the nature qf God. Simonides, having been asked by Dionysius, the tyrant of SicUy, What God was ? requested a day's time to consider the subject. At the end of this period, instead of returning an an swer he requested two more ; at the end of these four, and at the end of all, answered, that he was unable to teU. Every man, who looks into his own bosom, wiU distinctly perceive, that as face answereth to face in the water, so does his mind to that of the phUosopher. No words wUl be necessary to con vince him of his own ignorance of this great and mysterious Being. If he makes serious efforts to analyze His character, he wUl find his difficulties substantiaUy the same with those which met the eye of Simonides ; and wUl feel that he needs, not a few days, not a few years, not a single life, but many lives, and many centuries, to acquhe satisfactory views con cerning this unfathomable subject. After aU his labours, after aU his anxieties, he wUl find himself compeUed to address to his own soul the language of Zophar to Job, " Canst thou by " searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty ^' unto perfection ? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do ? " deeper than heU, what canst thou know ? The measure " thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." What is thus irresistibly proved by every man in his own serious atte.mpts to invei^tigate ihe subject, is, in the most de- 60 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEB, 4. dsive manner, also evident from facts. Reason has never been able to determine whether there has been one God, or two, or many. The conduct of men in this respect has been very re markable. Imagination has formed the gods of reason or phi losophy. The process appears to have been this : — The com mon people, amid the various displays of \he divine presence and agency in the natural world, which made strong impres sions on their imaginations, fastened upon one and another as pecuUar objects of veneration, connecting with them various traditional doctrines and stories in an association, which became ultimately permanent. From reverencing God in these objects, they came ultimately and speedUy to reverence the objects. themselves as gods. From beUeving that God was pecuUarly manifested in these objects, they soon came to fancy that each of the objects was a god. When they had once attributed to them this character; the poets, in the wanton indulgence of imagination, also added to their origin and character innume rable suggestions, made by an excursive mind, concerning their employments, their stations, their powers, and their con nection with men. In this situation they were taken up by the phUosophers. There is no sohd ground for beUeving, that the reason of these men at aU lessened the number, or materiaUy improved the character of the deities, transmitted to them by the fancy of their predecessors. Of the three hundred Jupi- ters, or supreme gods of phUosophy, it is originaUy and mathe- maticaUy certain, that aU must be false except one. A glance of the eye proves that one equaUy false ; because fraught with gross and miserable imperfections. It is scarcely necessary to observe at the present time, that the debates of phUosophy about the substance of God, his man ner of existence, the attributes, and his providence, were end less. Nothing could more clearly prove the difficulties which, to human beings, attend the subject than these debates, and the diversity and contrariety of opinion which they unfold. Had the divine character been obvious to the reason of man, it is impossible that he should have found the object of his worship in the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars; in the four elements ; in the world at large ; in hving and dead SEB. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 61 men; in animals of every description, even down to frogs and flies ; in innumerable creatures of imagination ; in a multitude of productions in the vegetable kingdom ; and in images, form ed of various metals, of wood, and of stone. That it is beyond the power of reason, unassisted by revela tion, to prove that there is but one God, is certain from the fact, that reason, thus circumstanced, has never furnished this proof. The volumes of heathen antiquity are absolutely va cant of any satisfactory evidence on this subject. Nor is this aU. Not an individual phUosopher in the whole number ap pears SteadUy to have beUeved the existence of one God only. Socrates, as truly as the rest, speaks indifferently of God in the singular, and gods in the plural ; and both he and they encouraged and practised the polytheistic worship. On the one hand, they recommended the idolatry of their respective countries ; and, on the other, employed their talents to sup port it. We, perhaps, raay smUe at the views which they formed concerning this subject, and may easUy forget, that for aU our superior knowledge we are indebted to the Scriptures. Our smUes may be spared. In their circumstances we should have thought and acted in the same manner. Many of the men, who thus taught and practised, were among the ablest of the human race. The Scriptures furnish many aids to our reason in examining this subject, of which the ancient phUosophers were necessarily destitute. Of these infidels are amply possessed. Yet no in fidel has hitherto produced very satisfactory evidence of the unity of God. That this would have been done, had it been in their power, cannot be doubted ; since their inducements to accompUsh it have been more than sufficient. But the unity of God, as every one who has read the Scrip tures perfectly knows from the stress which they lay upon it, is a doctrine of supreme importance towards our knowledge of the relations which exist between us and him. If there is but one God, our reverence, ''gratitude, and obedience, are due to him only ; if there are two, this tribute is due either equaUy or unequaUy to both. It has ever been the conclusion of reason. 02 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEB, 4, tfcat aE the beings, to whom this title was justly givejij had a claim to the rehgious: services of mankind. Accordingly, tho^ among the heathen who held that there were two gods, on© good and the other evU, worshipped both ; and generaUy ren. dered, as da the Aborigines of this country, peculiar howage tfl'the evU deity, in order* to secure themselves from the suffer ings which they expected him otherwise to inflict. What an immeasurable change is thus introduced at once intothe reli-. gious duty of men, in consequence erf" their ignorance of ths unity of Gcd,. and their admission of a second into their creed ! We here see men forsaking Jehovah, and rendering their s% preme homage to a being, invested with aU the attributes of Satan .' Further, if there be two Gods, what are our relations t» each? By which of them, if it be aUowed that we are crea tures, were we. created? By which of them are we preserved? From which of them do we derive the means of supporting hfe, and rendering it desirable ? To which of them must we look for the continuance of our being in the future ages of du ration ? By which of them is this world governed? Are ali these things, and others of a simUav nature, to be attributed ^ them both ; and if so, are they equaUy or unequally attriJaftf table ? Who can answer these questions ? It is perfectly evident, that the relations which we sustain tfl a. being, whom we style God, must be essentiaUy dependent on these consideratiojas ; and untU the latter can be satisfactorily determined, the former, together with all the duties spjinging from them, must remain unknown. Voltaire pronounced God to be an imperfect and dependent being. If this is his character} (and that it is the real cli^ racter of aU the gods acknowledged by both heathen and. infi del phUosophy is- unquestionable,) it is of incomprehensible moment to us that we kno,w, so far as it can be known, whs^tis the kind, and what the measure, of the services, whether men tal or external, which he wUi require. That he wUl require us to think justly of him must undoubteflly be admitted. In ord«E to. do this, it is. indispens.able tha^ we taov on whom, and- in TKhafe respects, he is d^pe«ierit; and- in what particulars, and SE«, 4. SEBHON8 QN BEVELA.SION. 6^ to what degree, he is imperfect. If he himself be j.inst, he cannot demand of us that we ascribe to him attribijites wUck he does not possess ; nor in degrees, in which he does not, poss sess them. Who is able to make these ascriptions truly ? Farther, In what manner shall we obtain the knowledge of his wUl ; the degree of love, reverence, and confidence which he requires ; the kind of worship which he expects ; or the practical obedience with which he wUl be satisfied ? Or are aU these things to be left to conjecture and accident? In the Scriptures, Jehovah is exhibited as possessmg un& mited and absolute perfection. How different must be the homage and the obedience due to such a being from those which can be claimed by one who is dependent and imperfect? The true God either is or is not, the Creator, the Preserver, the Benefactor, the Ruler, and the Rewarder of aU beings. The several relations here expressed are plainly of incompre hensible importance to us. If he is not our Creator, then we a^e not his property, a^d in this respecjt, owe hinj , nothing. If he is not our Benefactor, he can claim from us no gratitude for any of the blessings which we enjoy. If he is npt our Ruler, we owe him nothing as subjects ;, are not bound by his laws ; and cannot he required to yield him any obedience. If he is not our Rewajrder, we have nothing to expect from, his hands ; and can entertain no hope of Msi favour, nor fear of hiss displeasure. But who does not know, that concerning all these subjects the reason of man has been lost in perplexity and error ? Who does not see, that a denial of these attributes. to God wiU entirely change all those relations which subsist between him and us, and wUl essentially change, or absolutely annihilate, aU the duties which we owe to him ? Many of the phUosophers, and among others Aristotle,, the ablest of them, aU, thought that the world was not created by God. If he did npt create it, it is npt his property, npr thg things which it contains, Of course, he cannot have, given it to us. Whence then do. we derive, on what foundation do we clain?, any property, or any. right, in the things which we pos sess ? How, in this case, a;:e we indebted tft Mm: for our sus;- tenance and comfost.'^ 64 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEtt. i. Is God the sanctifier of man ? The ancient phUosophers' denied this, almost with a single voice ; and the common people at large were of the same opinion. " It is the judg- " ment of aU mankind," says Gotta, in Cicero's treatise con cerning the nature of the gods, " that the gifts of fortune are " to be asked of God, but a man is to expect wisdom only from " himself Who," says he, " ever gives thanks to the gods " for being a good man?" This also has been the general, and probably the universal, opinipn of infidels ; nay, it has' been, and is to this day, the opinion of multitudes who style themselves Christians. Virtue is unquestionably the highest good which mankind either do or can enjoy. If it is not. given to us by God, then we are plainly not indebted to him for that blessing, which is of more value than aU others. For the chief part of our blessings then, according to this opinion, we owe him no gratitude. How obvious is it, that the admission or rejection of this doctrine introduces into the moral system a Wonderful variation both of our relations and our duties. If virtue is not given by God, we certainly cannot ask for it. Of course, this subject must be excluded from our prayers. If we- do not receive it from his hands, it must be equaUy excluded from our praises. At the same time, how distant from the hu- mUity enjoined in the Gospel must be the self-complacency ex perienced by the man who is satisfied that he provided for himself greater blessings than are given to him by God. Many of the ancient phUosophers denied that there was any such thing as a Providence. Tacitus declares it to be uncer tain, in his view, whether the af]&,irs of mankind were governed by chance or fate. PUny ridicules the doctrine of providence as being unworthy of God. Plato taught, that there is a pro vidence which extends to individuals and their concerns ; but supposes that the management of things in this world is vested in the stars, whom he directs, therefore, to be worshipped. GeneraUy, the phUosophers who admitted a providence, held either that it was general, and respected only vast and im portant affairs ; or, if it extended to individuals and their interests, that it was administered only by subordinate deities, stars, demons, and other such gods. A great number of them, 1 SER. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 65 at the same time, attributed the control of all things to fate ; while many others considered them as being left to the direc tion of chance. Accordingly the elder Pliny observes, that " the goddess Fortune, blind, variable, and inconstant, is in- " voked in aU places, at aU times, and by aU persons." Infidels, in modern times, have adopted opinions similar to some of these, and exactly the same with others. Mr. Chubb says, '' God does not interpose in the affairs of " this world at aU ; " and Lord BoUngbroke, " That God does " not determine the existence of particular men, and there is " no foimdation for the belief of any particular providence ; " that God concerns not himself witli the affairs of men at aU, '' or if he does, that he regards only coUective tribes of men, " and not individuals." If these things are true, it is undeniably evident, not that our relations to him, and his to us, are changed, but that all relations between him and us, which are of any importance, are annihUated. If he did not determine our existence ; if he doe^ not provide for our wants ; if he does not preserve our lives ; if he does not defend us from evil ; if, when distressed, he does not restore us to comfort and hope ; then plainly we are in debted to him for none of these blessings ; and they are either Casual, or derived from some other being. If they are derived from some other being, then aU our obligations for them re spect that being only. If they are casual, we are under no obligations to any being whatever. If our actions are too insignificant to be regarded by God, they ought not to be objects of any concern to us, except as sources of convenience and inconvenience. As right or wrong, they are visibly of no moment. We are, therefore, released at once from aU the duties which respect God, or our feUow- creatures, or ourselves ; and are under no obligations to reve rence or obey him ; to exhibit justice, truth, and kindness to them ; or to restrain within any bounds our own passions and appetites. FinaUy, if God is not in the proper sense the ruler of the universe, he certainly has prescribed no law, and required no obedience. Where there is jio law, there' is plainly no trans- VOL. I F 66 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 4. gression. What we customarily style sin is, therefore, no more forbidden by him than vhtue, and virtue is no more required than Mn. AU accountableness is by this scheme exterminated, aU reward, and aU punishment. II. Reason cannot discover the designs of God. Should it be admitted, in direct contradiction to the obsert yations which have been already made, that we are able in some good degree to understand the character of God, stiU it would be impossible for us to discover his designs. We know, to a considerable extent, the character of many men, and, in a variety of cases can form just opinions respecting their future conduct, so far as it wUl depend on their general character. StUl it is absolutely impossible for us to divine at aU the va* rious designs which they continuaUy form, unless when they are pleased directly to disclose them. " What man," says St, Paul, " knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, " which is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth no " one, but the Spirit of God." The designs of a voluntary being Omniscience only can dis cern. Accordingly, to search the heart is chaUenged by Jehor vah as his own prerogative. The nature of such a being, when weU understood, may, I confess, help us to determine what wUl be the general character of his designs ; if he be virtuous, that they also wUl be virtuous ; if he be sinful, that they will be sinful. But it can never teach us what his particular dCr signs wUl be. Pre-eminently true is this observation concern ing God. The nature of God is infinite ; aU his attributes are unlimited, as are his views also, his designs, and his actions. His plans are universaUy formed, so as to embrace aU the in terests in his vast kingdom, spread through immensity and eternity. What being beside himself can understand designs, proceeding from such a source, and comprehending such objects ? Let me persuade you to make the God of the Scriptures, a God whose existence is revealed ; whose character is disclosed ; whom you may be said in some proper sense to know ; whose law is in the most definite manner declared to you ; and whose SER. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 67 designs, of the highest importance, and in great numbers, are distinctly expired ; let me persuade you to make this God the object of your dUigent contemplation. Let me urge you to inquire with care whether you know any thing which is material to his character, beside what is disclosed in the sacred volume. He is there exhibited as self-existent. Can you tell what self-existence is ? He is declared to be omnipresent. Can you at aU satisfy yourselves how the Being, who is now present in this house, is at this moment also equaUy present in the sun, in the fixed stars, and in the heaven of heavens ? He is de clared to be omniscient. Can you think what it is to search the heart, and the hearts of aU beings at the same time ; to watch the motions of a minion on his footstool, and the thoughts of an angel before his throne ; and at a single glance to survey whatever is done above aijid Under the whole heaven ; and to behold whatever is past, present, and future, in the Ulimi- table extent of duration with one view, and that unalter able and eternal. He is declared to be eternal and immu table. To him, therefore, there is no succession. What ever to created beings is past, whatever is future, is to him only present, and a thousand years are to him exactly as one day, and one day as a thousand years. AU durations to him, there fore, is expressed by the single word now. Are not your minds lost in attempting to comprehend these amazing ob jects ? It is unnecessary to extend this scheme of inquiry any far ther. What is true of these subjects is true of all which per tain to God. What then can be known concerning the designs of such a being as this, beyond what he himself is pleased to reveal ? How plain is it, that philosophy has here no prin ciples from which to argue, and must found its conclusions without premises. But in the designsi of God are involved whatever he chooSes, and whatever he wiU do, and therefore aU our duty and aU our interest. How, then, shaU reason find out either ? III. We know very little ofour own nature. The proof of this position is absolute. Philosophers have 68 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 4. in aU ages been laboriously employed in discussing the human character ; and yet no complete satisfactory account has hi therto been given of this subject. The systems of those who have gone before have been regularly doubted and denied by those who have foUowed them. Every age and country of civUized man has been extensively employed in this manner. Even now enlightened men are thus employed. Yet where is the treatise concerning man, which has commanded the general suffrage in its favour ? We understand imperfectly the very reason, by which we malce discoveries. Concerning the wiU we are stiU more in the dark ; nay, we are unsatisfied whether the soul is material or immaterial. We are stiU disputing concerning the nature of virtue ; and are undetermined whether it is a passion or the energy of the mind operating in a given manner. We have not yet determined in what moral obligation consists, or hoW far it extends ; nor are we agreed concerning the nature of sin, or its guilt ; or concerning the merit of virtue. The ques tion, whether man is a moral agent or a machine, is stiU in debate. On these subjects hang others of immeasurable importance f and as these are settled, so those must be determined. Our relations to God depend on our own nature, as weU as on his. If -we are animals, or if we are machines, as phUoso phers, both ancient and modern, in great numbers have assert ed, then we sustain one set of relations towards God, and to wards aU other inteUigent beings. If we are moral agents, our relations to both are immeasurably different, and involve an importance which no finite mind can comprehend ; and as these relations vary, so wUl vary whatever we caU by the name of duty. Since, therefore, we are thus ignorant of our own na ture, it is clearly evident, that the relations which we sustain, and the duties which we owe to other beings must, on this account also, be extensively unknown. IV. Human reason knows, and can at present know, little (rr Nothing concerning other parts of the divine kingdom. The world in which we dweU is connected with other worlds. SER. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 69 and its inhabitants with their inhabitants, — in how many ways, for what and how many purposes, how intimately, and how loosely, we are ignorant. StUl it is with perfect reason con cluded, that as aU worlds, and aU inteUigent beings, are parts of one kingdom of God, they must necessarUy be connected in a greater or less degree. AU inteUigent beings are capable of being happy or miserable ; are pf a social nature ; are fitted to feel, and are intended to feel, an important interest in each others weU-being ; and are formed with powers and propensi ties, which always enable, and at aU times incline them to con tribute to this glorious object. The Scriptures extensively in struct us in the existence, nature, and circumstances, of two other worlds, viz. heaven and heU. They also announce to us the existence, and unfold some of the intereste of many more ; of which they speak indifferently, under the name of heavens, and heavenly places. AU these things, in these heavens, as weU as in the earth, they assure us, God wiU gather togeiher under Christ as the head. AU these, therefore, are in an im portant manner interested, according to the Scriptures, in the work of redemption, and in the person and government of the Redeemer. It is unnecessary for me to say how nearly we are related to heaven and heU, or how deeply interesting to us is every thing which pertains to these worlds. That, in aU probabUity, we shaU be more or less concerned, during the progress of eternal ages, in the affairs of aU other worlds is, with the best reason, presumed. Let it be remembered, that our powers may here after be such, as wiU enable us to visit them with no more dif ficulty than we experience in going to the neighbouring towns and vUlages, and to understand and feel their interests as easily as we now do those of our own nation. Our reason, also, fur ther teaches us, that the disposition, and the inteUigence, which may be thus employed, constitute a more exalted and desirable state of being than any other. Should it be supposed, that this is tdo much to beheve concerning such beings as ourselves, I answer, that the power and goodness of God are causes, and that eternity is a duration, amply sufficient to accomplish them aU. Let me add, that what the Scriptures teach of the exis- 7Q SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEE. 4. tence of such worlds reason readily admits, and the modern as tronomy seems to estabUsh, to say the least, with high proba- bihty, — I mean, with regard to all except the first two. Our ignorance of these numerous worlds, and ofour relations to their inhabitants, is no more a proof that we are not thus related, or that our relations to them are not important to us, than the ignorance of a chUd concerning the various parts of a country of which he is a native proves, that he bears no rela tion to his unknown feUow-citizens. The day may arrive to some or other of such chUdren, — it is continuaUy arriving to many such chUdren, — ^in which they not only become acquaint ed with these feUow-citizens before unknown, and many of their interests, but actuaUy exert an important influence in conduct ing them in such a manner as to effectuate extensive and pert- manent happiness. We, for aught that appears, may here after possess a knowledge of distant worlds resembUng this, and may exert a simUar influence in promoting the welfare of those by whom they are inhabited. This great work of God is one work ; and the Scriptures in form us that it is perfect. All the parts are parts of one whole, and are necessary to its perfection. A reason exists for the creation of every atom, and much more for that of every inteUigent being, his attributes, actions, and destiny. To this whole we are so related, according to the scheme of the Scrip tures, that we may have a real and useful influence in its well being, and they have directly taught us the manner in which we are to act for this purpose. At the same time they also inform us, that in contributing to it we directly promote our own highest happiness. "Bhat aU this is certainly true, and a truth of immeasurable importance with regard to our escape from heU and our admis sion to heaven, if there is a heaven or a heU, there cannot be a doubt. That we should so act here as to be received into heaven when we leave this world ; that we should so hve here as to live there ;* be welcomed by the inhabitants to theh num ber and society, useful to the promotion of their happiness, and be able and disposed to harmonize in their divine employ.) ments, so as to become blessings and not nuisances', every man SEB.. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 7J wiU readUy admit. That aU this may be readUy applied to other worlds cannot be questioned. But philosophy can direct us to no conduct which wiU be useful to this purpose. Yet the purpose itself is probably of more importance than any other, and may not improbably in volve all that is important to us. V. Reason knows nothing concerning our own future state. I readUy acknowledge, that reason can supply arguments, of sufficient weight to render our future existence probable ; but this probabUity is not knowledge. Of the manner of being, of the circumstances, of the residence, of the society which may be found there, reason is absolutely ignorant. It cannot tell whether it wUl be happy or miserable. If we are to be happy, it knows not the kind nor degree of happiness, nor the means by which it may be secured, nor the duration through which it wUl extend. A single act of ours in the beginning of our present life has often, perhaps usuaUy, a controUing influence over aU our earthly destiny. Such an act determines what shaU be our education ; what our profession in life ; what our character, our useful ness, our enjoyments. By a fair analogy, the conduct of the present life may be concluded to have a decisive influence on our whole future state thoughout eternity. It is, therefore, of immeasurable importance to us, that we should know how' to act in such a manner here as to make our eternal existence desirable. But on this subject reason can give us no satisfaction. As it cannot comprehend the nature nor designs of God, it cannot teU what he wUl demand or accept. As it understands our own nature very imperfectly, it is whoUy unable to divine what we can do, what we ought to do, and the moral nature, deserts, and reward of what we actuaUy do. What a blind miserable guide is reason, then, with regard to our future being ; and yet in our future being aU our important interests lie, except preparing ourselves for it in the present life. If the observations made in the present discourse are ad- . 72 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEB. 4. mitted to be just, it wUl, I presume, be conceded, that the doc trine in the text is established. It has been no part of my design to determine with preci sion how far reason is able to proceed in investigating the seve ral subjects which I have mentioned. To do this, in all the particulars, would demand volumes. The object which I have wished to compass in this discourse, is to show what is the amount, the sum of all the possible attainments of reason or phUosophy, with respect to the momentous subjects which have been mentioned. This, if I am not deceived, has been proved to be the foUowmg : — That in some of them it is whoUy ignorant ; and in aU is so imperfectly informed, as to be lost in uncertainty, and forced to rely on conjecture. This is the state of the whole subject, taken in a single view, which I have wished to press upon your minds. Infidels, and especiaUy young men who are infidels,, are prone to be satisfied with their situation and their prospects, without even so much as inquiring whether they have any so^ lid ground for their satisfaction. Nor is this unhappy pro pensity confined to infidels only, or to young men. Multis tudes, who consider themselves as Christians ; thousands, nay mUUons, and a great number of them mature in years, and not a smaU number exhibiting, in other respects, sobriety and good sense, are accustomed to inquire very Uttle, if at all, concern ing the foundation of their hopes of future happiness. Can this conduct consist with common sense ? is it not a strong specimen of delirium to hazard the soul on mere uncertainty ? Can it be wisdom, can it be common sense to launch into the ocean of eternity upon a plank ? The only manner in which reason can argue or conclude concerning the momentous subject of this discourse, is by anal ogy founded on experience. But what is the experience, and where is the analogy which in this case wUl enable us to argue at aU, or to arrive at conclusions on which we can rest with a hope ? Can we say that the self-existent, independent, omni present, almighty, aU-knowing Jehovah is so much like man. SER. 4. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 'J3 who is a worm, and the son of man, wfio is but a worm, that from the character and actions of men we may safely conclude concerning his character and actions, or determine, from what men might be expected to do, what wiU be done by lum ? Can we suppose the plans and the designs of a being, who sees from the beginmng to the end, whose plans are formed for the inte rests of one immense and eternal empire, can resemble the views and purposes of beings who are of yesterday ? We are prone to recUne upon the divine mercy, very loose ly examined, and very imperfectly understood. Look at the events of tins world ; at the providence, and at the actions of God himself. Certainly it is safer to derive our analogies from his actions than from our own. That he should act Uke him self is rationaUy believed ; that he should act as we do is impos sible. Look at the ravages of the pestUence, of the famine, the earthquake, and the volcano. Look at the far more terrible ravages of war. AU these exist during our day of trial. D(t they furnish us with a single hope of mercy from the same God in our day of reward ? WiU not he, who does such ter rible things in righteousness here, prove a consuming fire to sinners beyond the grave ? Is there not unanswerable rea soning contained in that text, " If these things are done in the " green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?" When we apply our analogical reasoning to the great uni verse and to a future state, is it not equally lame ? What is there in this world, which we know to be resembled by any thing in that ? What in eternity simUar to that which now exists ? Who can teU, by the force of his own reason, what wUl be the conditions of his acceptance, and the proper pre paration for happiness in the world unseen ? Who can satis fy himself what wUl be the influence of a single doctrine be lieved, a disposition fixed, a habit formed, a course of conduct pursued ? Every action of ours, of course every principle, and much more, every hope may plainly be connected with an endless chain of consequences. A single voUtion may make aU these consequences widely different from what they otherwise would be. The determination of Washington to accept the command of the revolutionary army has materiaUy changed 74 SERMONS ON REVEXATIOX. SEK. 4. the world, not only throughout the present, but throughout aU succeeding generations. The cordial determination of a Chris tian to beheve and obey wiU, according to the Scriptures, make an incomprehensible change in him and his destination through out eternity. The change, wrought by a single act, may at first be smaU ; yet it may graduaUy become greater and great er, until it shaU become immeasurable. But we know not God ; we know not ourselves ; we know not another state of existence, in any such manner, as to estabUsh one rational ex pectation of future good. We have no premises on which we can rest, and can come to no safe conclusions. The soul is here ventured in the dark, and is not able even to grope its way. It knows not whither it is going. If it did, it could not pos sibly find the path which leads to the place of its destination. What rational man can possibly be wUUng to Uve and die, in such uncertainty, in a case incomprehensibly momentous ? Who can be wiUing to hazard eternity upon the toss of a die P Who, much more deliriously, can venture this immense object upon the casual conclusions of infidel phUosophy ? SERMON V. SERMONS ON REVELATION. SERMON III. MAN CANNOT FIND OUT A RELIGION WHICH WILL RENDER HIM ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. MICAH VI. 5 7- " O my people, remember, now, what Balak, King of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteous ness ofthe Lord. " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself be fore the most high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? " Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" In this singular passage of Scripture, God caUs upon the Is- raeUtes to remember a solemn and most interesting consultai- tion of Balak, king of Moab, directed to Balaam, the son of Beor, concerning the means of worshipping God in an accept able manner, and of making an expiation for his sins. The consultation itself is recited in the text, and respects a subject of the highest possible importance to man. It is also given in terms unusuaUy affecting. " Wherewith shaU I come before " the Lord, and bow myself befi>re the most high God?" With 76 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEE. 5. what worship shaU I appear ? What testimonies of reverence submission, and adoration, shaU I exhibit, that I may be ac cepted ? " ShaU I come before him with burnt offerings, with " calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thou- " sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oU ? Shall " I give my first-born for my transgressions ; the fruit of my " body for the sin of my soul ?" In these most pathetic inquiries, we cannot but discern an anxiety intense, a distress extreme, about a subject of infinite moment. At the same time, we are presented with a total ig norance on the part of the inquirer concerning the proper an swer to be given, — a state of absolute perplexity, — of terrible suspense i The answer of Balaam is not less remarkable. Instead of referring Balak, as a modern infidel would have done, to the light of nature, and the decisions of phUosophy, he directs him immediately to revelation. " He hath showed thee, O man, " what is good ; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but " to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with ". thy God ?" This conversation between Balak and Balaam seems evident ly to have taken place after his attempts to curse Israel were finished, and, of course, after he had received the several reve lations recorded in the book of Numbers. When Balaam had come to Balak, and attempted to curse the tribes of Israel, they were encamped on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, near Jericho ;* but the prophet Micah declares, that this consulta tion was holden from Shittim, the place of their last encamp ment, before they crossed the Jordan, and began to take pos session of Canaan, unto GUgal, the first encampment on the other side of that river, f In other words, it was on the way from Shittim to GUgal that the conversation in the text was holden. It was, therefore, subsequent to these revelations. As the revelations were known tO Balak as weU as to Balaam, the prophet knew that the language which he here uses would " See Numbers xxii.' 1. and 33^48. t IWd. xxxiii. xlix. and Joshua v. 9. SER. 5. SERMONS ON REVEL-\TI0N. 77 be perfectly understood by him ; since it was exactly equiva lent to phraseology which he had often used before ; — such as, " God shaU speak ;" and " The words which he shaU put into " my mouth." Nay, he had used the same phraseology with that adopted in the text. " Peradventure the Lord wUl come " to meet me ; and whatsoever he showeth me I wUl teU thee.'t This, in his subsequent apology, he explains by the phrase^ " AU that the Lord speaketh." * For God to show, therefore, Balaam being his own expositor, is the same as for God to speak. In a simUar manner Job, when declaring a revelation from God concerning the nature of wisdom. Chap, xxviu. 27 and 28, says, " Then he did see it and declare it ; yea, he pre- " pared it and searched it out." And unto man he said, " The " fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to depart from evU is " understanding." Without a reasonable question, therefore, Balaam declared these duties of man to have been immediately revealed by his Maker. The revelation to which Balak was here referred, was not improbably found in that series of communications whence Abimelech, Laban, Pharaoh, Melchisedek, Job, his three friends, and others derived the knowledge of their duty, and the means of their salvation. As this prince was the descendant of Lot, he could not weU be entirely ignorant of the revelations made to him, nor of those so often made to Abraham, whUe Lot was a member of his famUy. In the text thus explained, are clearly taught the foUowing doctrines : — I. Mankind, without revelation, know not what worship God wUl accept, or whether he wUl accept any. II. They are unacquainted with any means of expiating sin. I. Mankind, witlwut revelation, know not what worship God wiU accept, or whether he will accept any. AU mankind, without revelation, are precisely in the condi- I * See Numbers xxiii. 3. and xxvi. 78 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SEB. 5. tion of Balak ; equaUy interested ; equally ignorant ; and, if seriously attentive to their situation, must be equaUy anxious and alarmed. In support of this proposition I observe gene raUy, that evety sober man must, with absolute certainty, dis cern that he is a sinner; that his worship, therefore, must pro ceed from a sinful heart, and must of course be sinful worship ; and, by irresistible cpnsequence, that it cannot be accepted by a holy God. This observation no man in the exercise of com mon sense wUl deny. Openly before mankind he may perhaps contradict it ; but in his closet, and to himself, whUe employed in serious thought, this would be impossible. Men may in deed escape, at least in a great measure, from a conviction of their guUt, and evade the painful consequences which flow from the acknowledgment of it. This may be done by a series of efforts to estabUsh in their minds opinions, which, by their influence, particularly sooth the conscience, and lead the un derstanding away from the subject. It may also be done from mere inattention, when long and habituaUy continued, and changed graduaUy into an entire forgetfulness of the subject. But the denial of our sinfulness can never be the direct result of consideration or conviction. If we are sinners, it foUows irresistibly that aU our moral actions are sinful. Particularly is this true of our worship, — a service in which, if in any thing, purity of character is ab solutely demanded. If our worship is sinful, nothing is more certain than that it cannot be acceptable to God. The doctrine thus exhibited by reason with unanswerable evidence, is, in a vety forcible and satisfactory manner, declar ed by the Psalmist. " There is forgiveness with thee, that " thou mayest be feared ;" and again, " Let Israel hope in " the Lord ; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him " there is plenteous redemption." The former of these decla rations may be thus paraphrased : " Thou art a forgiving God; " and mayest therefore be feared or worshipped. If this were " not thy character, worship could never be presented to thee *' with a possibUity of acceptance." The latter passage may be paraphrased in this manner : " Let Israel hope in the Lord, " because he is a merciful God, and has provided for mankind SER. 5. SERMONS ON REVELATION 79 " a redemption amply sufficient for the forgiveness of their " sins, and the acceptance of their souls. Otherwise there " could have been no acceptance, and of course no hope." But of the forgiveness of God, the GentUes knew, and could know, nothing. Hence it was impossible for them to devise any worship which he would accept, or of the acceptance of which they could form a rational hope. StiU it must be acknowledged, that the GentUes did, in fact, entertain indistinct, obscure, and doubtful hopes of the favour, not indeed of Jehovah, whom they knew not, but of the gods whom they worshipped, and who, being themselves moraUy impure, might not unnaturaUy be expected to be unsolicitous concerning the absolute purity of their worshippers. With these apprehensions they performed various religious services, which they hoped would be acceptable to their deities. As these are the amount of aU the rehgious worship ever devised by mankind, in considering them we shaU examine whatever human reason has thought proper to adopt of this nature, for the purpose of obtaining the favour of any deity whatever. I say, " which human reason has thought proper to adopt," be cause I entertain not a single doubt that even these services, instead of being devised by reason, were either reUcs or per versions of the worship prescribed by ancient revelation, tra- ditionaUy and imperfectly conveyed down to those by whom they were performed. The First of these modes of worship was prayer. Prayer, I acknowledge, is an obvious duty of natural reli gion. As we obtain aU thmgs from earthly benefactors by asking, nature itself may be considered as dictating this mode of obtaining favour from God. But what views must a sober Gentile form concerning his own prayers ? Were his mmd spotless, there could be no rational .cause for perplexity or doubt. But he is a sinner. What, then, must be the use of i prayer to him ? It certainly cannot be to inform God of what he did not know before. An omniscient being can want no information, and can receive none. It cannot be to change either him or his purposes. The immutabihty of both forbids every supposition of this natjire. 80 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 5. The first and great use of this religious service, without which it can be efficacious to no valuable end, is to change the suppUant, and make him a more proper and worthy recipient of the blessings for which he prays. But of this change in their proper character the Gentiles could not be conscious. Of real virtue they were not the subjects, and did not know in what it consisted. But it could not be increased in them be fore it began to exist. To a discerning Gentile, therefore, prayer must seem useless ; for. of its primary us§ he musthav^ been totaUy ignorant. EquaUy ignorant must such a Gentile have been of the only remaining motive to prayer, the hope of acceptance, and the consequent attainment of blessings from God. Sinful prayer^ could furnish no such hopes, and all his prayers were sinful. Commands, promises, and other encouragements to prayer were to him absolutely unknpwn. Whence, then, could he derive a rational expectation of receiving any blessings as an answer to his prayers ? From these observations it is plain, that the Gentiles prayed from tradition and custom, and not from a conviction of the; usefulness of this duty to themselves, nor from any wdl' grounded hope of obtaining in this manner blessings from God. Socrates seems to have considered this subject with care, and concluded that it was impossible to determine whether God would accept any worship from man ; or if he would, what that worship was. Secpndly, Praise was alsp generaUy offered up to God by the GentUes. '. The same difficulties incumbered this service which attended prayer. To be thankful to God for the blessings which we' receive from his hands is certainly a dictate of natural rehgion, not less obvious than any other. But how could it be known, or even conjectured, that he would accept this service from a sinner, poUuted, as it ever must be, by his impure character ? What arguments can even now be devised to prove that this or any pther act of worship, rendered in the indulgence of that opposition to the divine character, which is the controUing dis position of a sinful heart, can be acceptable to our Maker ? o SER. 5. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 81 It is a remarkable fact, that in the prayers and the hymns of the heathen, at least so far as I remember those which I have seen, there are no petitions nor thanksgivings for moral good. They prayed and returned thanks extensively for natural good, but very generaUy at least, if not universaUy, were sUent with respect to moral good. The Grecian phUosophers, as a body, absolutely denied, that for blessings, included under this name, they were indebted to the gods at aU. Thirdly, The GentUes also offered sacrifices. These were embarrassed by aU the difficulties which have been mentioned, and by many others. The sacrifice of a vic tim could be nothing to God, whose are the cattle on a thou sand hUls ; nothing whUe Uving, and certainly nothing when dead and consumed by fire, or even by the worshipper. To such gross deities as those of the GentUes they might seem, in the view of such gross minds, to be a gratification. To Jeho vah this was not possible. At the same time it was evidently sinful to put a victim to death unless with a known command, a permission of the Cre ator. But neither a command nor a permission of this nature could be known to a GentUe. The institution of sacrifices, re vealed to Adam, and the renewal of this revelation to Noah, together with the permission to eat flesh, were absolutely lost out of the knowledge of the GentUe nations. Hence they could perceive no right which they had to the Ufe of a victim, either for sacrifice or food ; for evidently such a right can be derived only from the pleasure of the Creator. From the gross apjirehension, that sacrifices were of some value to God, arose among the GentUes the scheme of render ing them more acceptable by increasing the value of the things which they offered. To this scheme the text strongly aUudes. " WiU the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten " thousands of rivers of oU ? Shall I give my first-born for " my transgression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my " soul?" Hence were derived the hecatombs of the GentUes at large, their golden statues, their oblations of gems, rich vest ments, incense, and other things, which were pecuUarly expen sive. Hence the Carthaginians, Mexicans, and Peruvians of- VOL. I. G 82 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 5. fered up hundreds and thousands of human victims, the no blest and brightest of their young men, and even then- young chUdren. Hence, in a word, human sacrifices were offered throughout the whole heathen world. The oblation of inani mate subst,ances was attended with most of the difficulties which have been mentioned above ; and that of human victims, whUe it was accompanied by aU these, was also an unnatural and most aggravated sin. Instead, therefore, of rendering the worshipper acceptable to God, they only increased his guilt and the severity of his condemnation. At the same time they proved, like the anxious inquiries of the text, that those who presented their oblations, were in their own view sinners agamst him ; and that they were labouring to expiate their sms, to appease his anger, to avert the punishment which they dreaded^ and if possible, to obtain an interest in his favour. Nor did the same things prove in a less decisive manner that the sup- phants, like Balak, knew not how to perform this indispensable service, and were labouring absolutely in vain. Fourthly, Another mode of GentUe worship was ablution. Ablutions were practised throughout a great part of the GentUe world, and, as it would seem, with entire confidence in their purifying efficacy. For this end some waters were occa- sionaUy consecrated ; whUe others were pronounced perma nently holy. Such were the NUe, the Kristna, and the Ganges. In the nature of these waters sometimes, and sometimes in the manner of using them, it was supposed there was a power to cleanse the soul from sin. Probably this dreaming supposi tion grew out of another, equaUy visionary, found extensively in the ancient phUosophy, that sin was an attribute of matter, and not of mind. We who know that sin is seated only in the affections and voUtions of the mind, see what they did not, and could not see, that ablutions, except when they are intended to be mere sym bols, are perfectly unmeaning and useless ; and only wonder that any of the human race could ever attribute to them any other character. Fifthly, Another act of worship among the GentUes was penance. ER. 5- SERMONS ON REVELATION. 83 Penance is a voluntary affliction of the body, or of the mind, or of both, which was expected to become an atonement for sin. No service, intended to be rehgious, was ever more useless. Nothing can be of any value, in the moral sense, which does not make the mind better. But no such melioration was even thought of, much less accomplished, by any penance adopted by the GentUes. Self-righteousness was increased by it often ; virtue never. The devotee became more vain and proud 6f his reUgious character, and felt satisfied, not only that he was now safe from the puinishment of his formei* 'sins, but that at any future period he might in the same manner acquire the same safety. From these observations it is, I think, clearly e\€deht, that the GentUes, or, in =other words, aU mankind who are not pos sessed of revelation, are alssolutely ignorant of any worship which can be acceptable to God, and equally ignorant whether he wUl accept any worship. II. Mankind, in these circumstances, are ignorant of any means of eaypiating sin. AU mankind are sinners : they have broken the law of 'God, and are condemned by him. By works of law, therefore, no flesh can be justified in his sight. Hfence it is certain, that if we are ever Accepted by Our Maker, it must be on the ground of pardon only.. But the law of God knows nothing of pardon. Its only sentence upon transgressors is that of condemnation. This sentence is wrought in the very nature of law, not only in the divine law, but in every other which has heen^ or Can be made. Evety law speaks only tb command and to compel ^ atid its only means of compulsion are its penalties, denounced against transgressors. Without a penalty, therefore, it would cease to be a law, and would become mere advice. But pardon is a remission of this penalty. Should the law pardon the trans gressor without an atonement, the penalty would he remitted without ^ny cause or consideration. Its sanctions would, of course, be unmeaning threats, never designed to he execiited :, 84 SERMONS ON REVELATION. SER. 5. sounds without sense ; something in appearance, but in reahty nothing. To these observations it may not improbably be answered, that repentance is a consideration upon which the law of God may with propriety pardon the transgressor. This undoubt edly is the great foundation of hope to aU men, who expect to escape punishment without an expiation of theh sins. To those who indulge this hope, the foUowing considerations may with propriety be addressed : — First, The law specifies no such considerations. This ob servation is, I acknowledge, directly applied to those to whom the law has been communicated. Had God intended to accept those who had violated his law on the condition of repentance, it is incredible that this most interesting design shovdd not be mentioned, or remotely hinted, in the law itself. That it is not, evety person who reads his Bible perfectly knows. On the contrary, the law itself says, " The soul that sinneth, shaU " die ; " and " Cursed is every one, that continueth not in aU " things, written in the law, to do them." If any declarations can forbid evety hope of salvation derived from this source, it is forbidden by these. Secondly, If the law announced pardon on this ground, it would threaten its punishment, not to transgression, but to im penitence. Its language would be, " The soul that sinneth, " shaU die ; but if it repent, it shaU hve." The punishment, therefore, would rest only on the impenitent ; and their impenitence would be the only crime for which they were punished. Thirdly, That conduct which the law originaUy intends to punish, is in its own view that which itself considers as the crime. This, I suppose, wUl not be denied ; for what else does any law punish besides that which itself considers as the crime. But in this case the conduct punished is impenitence. This, therefore, is the only thing which the law, in the case supposed, would consider as the crime. The violations, of its precepts would not be considered as crimes, because they were not the things punished. »EB. 5. SERMONS ON REVELATION. 85 Fourthly, That which the law itself considers as the crime, is the only thing which those, who are subject to it, are bound to regard in this manner. No subject is bound to consider any thing as criminal in hii own conduct, except that which his lawful sovereign pronounced to be of this natinre. But the only things, of which any intel- Ugent beings can repent, are crimes ; that is, such conduct as the penitent himself apprehends to be criminal. In the phy sical sense it is impossible that any thing else should be re pented of. In the case supposed, therefore, as the violation of the law is not by itself considered as the crime, because it is not punished ; and as the subject cannot regard any thing as a crime but that which the law has made such, it is physicaUy impossible that he should repent of this violation. But it can never be a crime not to do that which is physically impossible. The impaiitence of the transgressor, therefore, cannot, in this case, be criminal. Fifthly, If the repentance is supposed to be perfect, the scheme is vain ; for no such repentance was ever found in man. Sixthly, If the repentance is not to be followed by addi tional sins, the scheme is vain. There never was a repentance in man, unless it was the last moral act of his Ufe, which was not foUowed by sin. There never was a period in the life of any man, extended through a single hour, in which he loved God with aU the heart, and his neighbour as himself Seventhly, Imperfect repentance is sinful in itself, and can never recommend the penitent to the favour of God, nor be come a foundation for his exemption from punishment. Eighthly, If the repentance be foUowed by sin, the subject of it wiU go to the judgment with sins unrepented of; and wUl die possessed, partiaUy at least, of the character of an im penitent. What hope can such a man rationaUy form of acceptance with Him, in whose aght the heavens are unclean, and who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ? The supposition, therefore, that mankind wiU be accepted ^6¦ SERMONS QN REVJiLATION. SER, 5.- ontfie- ground of repentance is a mere presumption, contra dicted by aU; evidence, and unsupported by any. In Romans iu. 25, 26, St. Paul informs us, that "God had " ,set fortJiChrist to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, " to declare his righteousness, that he might »be just, and, the " justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." Had Christ, therefore, not been set farth as such a propitiation, God would not have been just, if he had justified mankind. To his declaration); reason, however reluctantly, subjoins her Amen. If; the hv. of God is, like his character, perfect, he cannot possibly con-. sent that one jpt pr pne tittle pf it should pass away, whatever may be the sacrifice, untU aU be fulfiUed* To permit this law to be violated, would he to yield his character and, his govern ment to the sins of men. But what are men to him? AU nations before him are nothing, and are counted unto him less than npthing and vanity. He whp^ made this world withi'a word, can with a word make miUions more, and with the same. absolute ease. He who replenished it with inhabitants, can people those mUhons with other- inhabitants, unspeakably wi^ej; and better than men, by a single command. Were this world therefore, and aU which it contain^, bjotted out of existenee,-, the loss to him would be nothingt Bnt the sacrifice of, Ms law ¦should 'be a ¦, sacrifice of his character and government,, and the: Ipss of these . could never heii redeemed. It; would be, a loss: which no. mind but his coulflt comprehend, and for -whieh the: whole universe would be less than the drop of the bncket, and the smaU dust of the, trance. Sueh.asaprilice cannpt,, and wiU not be made. That theiGentiles werCi without lany means of ^xpi^afiftg their sii^s,. is too evident from what hftg.rbeen said to, needr^ny far ther discussion. AU the means. .wi