Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

But, as I said, my intention is not, at present, to expose the common mistake of preferring a _weaker_ evidence to a _stronger_. Let it be allowed, that the evidence required is, in fact, the _stronger_. Still there is reason to think that _such_ evidence was not _proper_ to be given. And I argue, _from the nature of the thing_; and _from the genius of the Gospel_.

1. In _the nature of the thing_ it seems not reasonable that a divine revelation should be obtruded upon men by the highest possible evidence. This would be to _constrain_ their assent, not to _obtain_ it: and the very essence of religion consists in its being a _willing_, as well as _reasonable_ service.

Or, take the matter thus. On supposition that it should please God to address himself to man, it is to be presumed he would treat him _as_ man; that is, in a way, which is suitable to _the whole of his nature_. But _man_ is not only an _intelligent_ being, that is, capable of discerning the force of evidence, and of being determined by it: he is, also, a _moral_ being, that is, capable of making a right or wrong use of his liberty. Now put the case of an overpowering, irresistible evidence, and his _understanding_ is convinced, indeed; but the _will_, that other and better half of his composition, the spring of liberty and of virtue, this, with all the energies depending upon it, is untouched, and has no share in the operation. On the other hand, let the evidence submitted to him be such only as may satisfy his reason, if attentively, if modestly, if virtuously employed, and you see the whole man in play: his _intellectual_ powers are considered, and his _moral_ faculties, the faculties of a _wise and understanding heart_, applied to and exerted.

It seems, then, that, if a Revelation were given to man, it would most probably, and according to the best views we can form of the divine conduct, be given in this way; that is, in such a way, as should make it, at once, the proper object of his _faith_, and the test, I had almost said the reward, of his _merit_.

And such, we may observe, is the sense of mankind in other instances of God’s government. Who complains, that the ordinary blessings of Heaven, the conveniences and accommodations of life, are not ready furnished and prepared to his hands? Who does not think it sufficient, to our use and to God’s glory, that we have the powers requisite to prepare them? Why then expect this greatest of God’s blessings, a _divine Revelation_, to be made cheap in being forced upon us, whether we will or no, by an _evidence_, which silences reason, rather than employs it; and precludes the exercise of the noblest faculties, with which our nature is invested?

2. Thus, _the reason of the thing_ affords a presumption (I mean, if men will reason at all on such matters), that these high demands in religion are unfit to be complied with. But we shall argue more safely, in the next place, from _the_ GENIUS AND DECLARATIONS OF THE GOSPEL.

From the tenour of the Gospel-revelation we learn, that, though a _reasonable evidence_ be afforded of its truth, yet the author and publishers of it were by no means solicitous to force it on the minds of men by an _unnecessary and irresistible evidence_.

We see this in the conduct of our Lord himself, who refused to gratify the curiosity both of friends and foes by needless _explanations_[43], or supernumerary _miracles_[44]. We see it, further, in his general method of speaking by _Parables_[45]; which are so contrived as to instruct the attentive and willing hearer, but not the prejudiced or indifferent. Nay, when some of his parables were so obscure as that they might seem to require an explanation, he did not always vouchsafe to give it before the people, but reserved the exposition of them for _his disciples, in private_[46]. _To them_, only, _it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven_: others, were left to their own interpretation of his _Parables_[47].

This proceeding of Christ plainly shews that he was not anxious to _instruct_ or _convince_ in that _way_, which might appear the most _direct_ and _cogent_. It seems, on the contrary, to have been his choice to afford the strongest proofs of his mission and the clearest views of his doctrine to _those_, not whose incredulity needed his assistance most, but _who_, by their good dispositions and moral qualities, deserved it[48]. He thought not fit _to cast pearls before swine_[49]; and, as contrary as it may be to our forward expectations, it was a rule with him, that _he that hath, to him it should be given_[50].

That this was the genius of the Gospel, we further learn from the stress, which is laid on _Faith_. It is everywhere demanded as a previous qualification in the aspirants to this religion; it is everywhere spoken of as the highest moral virtue: a representation, strange and impossible to be accounted for, if men were to be borne down by the weight of _evidence_ only.

But, to put the matter out of all doubt, we have it declared to us in express words, that those converts are the most acceptable to Christ, who receive his religion, on a reasonable, indeed, but inferiour evidence. When the Apostle Thomas expressed his belief, on the evidence of _sense, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed_[51].

Now, whatever occasion prophane men may take from this account of Gospel-evidence to calumniate the divine Author of our Faith, as though he relied more on the _credulity_, than the _conviction_ of his followers; whatever perverse use, I say, some men may be disposed to make of this circumstance; one thing, I suppose, is clear, “That the genius of the Gospel does, in fact, discountenance their _high demands_ of evidence.” So that, taking the Christian religion for _what it is_ (and for _such_ only, the rules of good reasoning oblige us to take it) it is very certain that no man is authorized to expect other or stronger proofs of its divinity than have been given. On the contrary, such proofs, as men account stronger, could only serve to weaken its evidence, and overthrow its pretensions.

III. Lastly, Though no _distinct reason_ could have been opposed to these high expectations in religion, yet common sense would have seen, “That they are, _in general_, PRESUMPTUOUS AND UNWARRANTABLE.”

For what man, that thinks at all, but must acknowledge that sacred truth, _that God’s ways are not as our ways_[52]; and that it is the height of mortal folly to prescribe to the Almighty? _What man is he that can know the council of God? Or, who can think what the will of the Lord is?—Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon the earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us: but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out[53]?_

Such passages as these have, I know, been sometimes brought to insult and disgrace REASON, when employed the most soberly, and in her proper office. But I quote them for no such purpose. I mean not to infer from these testimonies, that we are not competent judges of the evidence which is laid before us (for why, then, was it offered?); but, that reason cannot tell us, _what_ evidence it was fit for Heaven to give of its own councils and revelations. We may conjecture, _modestly_ conjecture, without blame. Nay the wisest and best men, and even angels themselves, have a reasonable _desire to look into_ these things: and their _speculations_, if duly governed, are, no doubt, commendable and useful. But we are not, upon this pretence, to dogmatize on such matters. Much less, may we take upon us to reject a _well-attested_ Revelation, a Revelation, that bears many characteristic marks, many illustrious signatures and impresses of divinity, because this or that circumstance, attending it, does not accord to our narrow views and shallow surmises. In short, men would do well to remember that it is no less a maxim of _reason_ than of Scripture, _that the things of God, knoweth no man but the Spirit of God_[54]: a _maxim_, we should never lose sight of, a moment, in our religious inquiries.

But this, though an _important_ consideration, is a common one, and I pursue it no farther. Let it suffice to have shewn, “That when, in matters of religion, men indulge themselves in _fancying_ what evidence would have been most convincing to them, and then erect such fancies into _expectations_, they are, at best, employed very _idly_:”

“That the worthiest apprehensions, we can frame of the divine wisdom, and both the genius and letter of the Christian religion, discountenance these expectations, as _improper and unreasonable_ to be complied with:”

And, “that, from the slightest acquaintance with ourselves, we must needs confess them to be _presumptuous_.”

The USE to be made of the whole is, _that men think soberly, as they ought to think_[55]; and that, if ever their restless curiosity, or some worse principle, impells them to make the demand in the text, _shew us the Father_, they repress the rising folly by this just reflexion, that they have no right, in their sense of the word, _to see the Father_.

Not but his infinite goodness hath vouchsafed to unveil himself so far, as is abundantly sufficient to our conviction. But then we must be content to _see him_ in that light, in which he has been graciously pleased to _shew_ himself, not in that _unapproachable light_[56] in which our madness requires to have him _shewn_ to us.

The evidences of Christianity are not dispensed with a penurious hand: but they lie dispersed in a very wide compass. They result from an infinite number of considerations, each of which has its weight, and all together _such_ moment, as _may be_, but is not easily resisted. To collect and estimate these, much labour and patience is to be endured; great parts of learning and genius are required; above all, an upright and pure mind is demanded. If, conscious of our little worth or ability, we find ourselves not equal to this task, let us adore in silence, and with that humility which becomes us. To call out for light, when we have enough to serve our purpose, is indeed _foolish_: but to make this noisy demand, when we have previously blinded our eyes, or have resolved to keep them shut, is something _more_ than folly.

After all, there is one way, in which the meanest of us may be indulged in the high privilege of SEEING _the Father_, at least, in the _express image_ of his Son. It is, by keeping the commandments. _He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them_, says our Lord himself, _I will love him, and will_ MANIFEST _myself to him_[57]. In other words, he will see and acknowledge the _truth_ of our divine religion.

SERMON VII.

PREACHED IN THE YEAR 1771.

ST. JAMES, iv. 1.

_From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not
hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?_

Interpreters have observed, that these questions refer to the state of things, which then took place among the Jews, when this epistle was addressed to them. For, about that time, they had grievous _wars and fightings_ among themselves; every city, and every family, almost, of this devoted people, not only in Judea, but in many other countries, through which they were _scattered abroad_, being miserably distracted and torn asunder by civil and domestic factions.

This application, then, of the Apostle’s words to the Jews of his own time, seems a just one. But we need look no further for a comment upon them, than to that _hostile_ spirit, which too much prevails, at all times, and under all circumstances, even among Christians themselves.

The root of this bitterness, we are told, is in _the lusts, that war in our members_: that is, there is, first, an insurrection of our carnal appetites against the law of our minds; and, then, the contagion spreads over families, neighbourhoods, and societies; over all those, in short, with whom we have any concern, till the whole world, sometimes, becomes a general scene of contention and disorder.

For, ask the princes of this world, what prompts them to disturb the peace of other states, and to involve their subjects in all the horrors of war; and their answer, if they deign to give one, and if it be ingenuous, must, commonly, be, _their lust of conquest and dominion_. Ask the servants of those princes, what splits them into parties and factions; and they can hardly avoid answering, or we can answer for them, _their lust of wealth and power_. Ask the people, at large, and under whatever denomination, what occasions their contempt of authority, their disobedience to magistrates, their transgressions of law, their cabals and tumults, their hatred, defamation, and persecution of each other; and charity herself, for the most part, can dictate no other reply for them to this question, than that they are excited to all these excesses by _the lust of riot_ and misrule, or, of, what they call, LIBERTY.

But there is no end of pursuing this subject in all its applications to particular instances. What we have most reason to lament, is, that Christians not only _fight_ with each other, at the instigation of their _lusts_, for their own carnal and corrupt ends; but that they make the very _means_, which God has appointed to compose these differences, the instruments of their animosity, and become outrageous in their hostile treatment of each other, by the perversion of those _principles_, which were intended to be its restraint. For if any thing could appease this tumult among men, what more likely to do it, than the _administration of civil justice_, and the _sacred institutions of religion_? Yet, are even these provisions of divine and human wisdom, for the support of peace and good order, defeated by our restless and ingenious passions; and we contrive, to make RELIGION and LAW themselves, subservient to the increase of that contention, which they tend so naturally to keep out of the world.

As this abuse, which inverts the order of things, and turns the medicine of life into a deadly poison—as this abuse, I say, can never be enough exposed; let me represent to you some part of the evils, which this monstrous misuse of RELIGION and CIVIL JUSTICE has brought upon mankind; as the last, and most striking effort of these malignant _lusts_, from which, according to the holy Apostle, all our violations of peace and charity are derived.

And, FIRST, of the mischiefs, arising, from MISAPPLIED RELIGION.

It were an ample field, this, should I undertake to follow the ecclesiastical historian in all the abuses, which he so largely displays. But my design is to _open the fountains_; to point, only, to the _general causes_, from which those abuses have flowed. And the chief of these _causes_ will not be overlooked, if we consider that Christianity has been corrupted by _superstition_, by _policy_, and by _sophistry_: for, in each of these ways, the _lusts_. of men have found free scope for their activity; and have produced all those endless discords and animosities, which have dishonoured the Christian world.

1. SUPERSTITION began very early to make cruel inroads into the religion of Jesus: _first_, by debasing its free spirit with the servility of Jewish observances; next, in adulterating its simple genius by the pomp of pagan ceremonies; and, afterwards, through a long course of dark and barbarous ages, in disfiguring its _reasonable service_[58] by every whimsy, which a gloomy or disturbed imagination could suggest.

The _lusts_ of men gave birth to these several perversions. The obstinate _pride_ of the Jewish Christian was flattered in retaining the abrogated ritual of the Law: the pagan proselyte gratified his _vanity_, and love of splendor in religious ministrations, by dressing out Christianity in all the paint and pageantry of his ancient worship: and the miserable monk soothed his _fears_, or indulged his _spite_, in busying himself with I know not what uncommanded and frivolous expiations, or in torturing others with the rigours of a fruitless penance.

From these rank passions, sprung up _wars_ in abundance among Christians. The Apostles themselves could not prevent their followers from _fighting_ with each other, in the cause of _circumcision_. The superstition of _days_[59], and of _images_[60], grew so fierce, that the whole Christian world was, at different times, thrown into convulsions by it. And the dreams of monkery excited every where the most implacable feuds; which had, commonly, no higher object, than the credit of their several _Rules_, or the honour of their _Patron-saints_.

2. When superstition had thus set the world on fire, a godless POLICY struck in, to encrease the combustion.

The Christian religion, which had TRUTH for its object, could not but require an assent from its professors to the doctrines, it revealed; and, having GOD for its author, it, of course, exacted a compliance with the few ritual observances, which he saw fit to ordain. But the wantonness, or weakness, of the human mind, introducing a different interpretation of those _doctrines_, and a different ministration of those _rites_, the policy of princes would not condescend to tolerate such unavoidable differences, but would inforce a rigid uniformity both of sentiment and ceremony, as most conducive, in their ideas, to the quiet and stability of their government.

Again: the honour of prelates and churches seemed to be concerned in all questions concerning place and jurisdiction; and, when these questions arose, was to be maintained by every artifice, which an interested and secular wisdom could contrive.

The _lust_ of dominion, was plainly at the bottom of these infernal machinations; and the fruit, it produced, was the most bloody and unrelenting wars, massacres, and persecutions; with which the annals of mankind are polluted and disgraced. But,

3. To work up these two pests of humanity, _superstition_, and _intolerance_, to all the fury, of which they are capable, unblessed SCIENCE and perverted REASON lent their aid.

For, the pride of knowledge begot innumerable portentous heresies: which not only corrupted the divine religion of Jesus (obnoxious to some taint from the impure touch of human reason, because _divine_), but envenomed the hearts of its professors, against each other, by infusing into them a bitter spirit of altercation and dispute.

In these several ways, then, and from these causes, has our holy religion been abused. The _lusts_ of men have turned the Gospel of peace itself into an instrument of _war_: a misadventure, which could not have taken place, had Christians but recollected and practised one single precept of their master—_Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls_[61].

But the perversity of man could not be brought to learn this salutary lesson; and so has fulfilled that memorable saying of our Lord, who, foreseeing what abuses would hereafter be made of his charitable system, declared of himself—_I came not to send peace, but a sword_[62]. This prediction, at least, the enemies of our faith are ready enough to tell us, has been amply verified, in the event. It has been so: it was therefore inspired, because it was to be fulfilled. But let them remember, withall, that not the genius of the Gospel, but man’s incorrigible passions, acting in defiance of it, have given to this prophecy its entire completion.

I come now to represent to you,

II. In the second place, how the _lusts_ of men have perverted CIVIL JUSTICE, as well as Religion, into an instrument of contention and hate.

The object of all civil, or municipal laws, is the conservation of private peace, in the equal protection they afford to the property and persons of men. Yet, how often have they been employed to other purposes, _by those, who administer the Laws_; and _by those, for whose sake they are administered_!

1. In reading the history of mankind, one cannot but observe, with indignation, how frequently the magistrate himself has turned the Law, by which he governs, into an engine of oppression: sometimes, directing it against the liberties of the state; and sometimes, against the private rights of individuals. It were a small matter, perhaps, if he only took advantage of a _severe_ law, or drew over an _ambiguous_ one, to countenance his iniquitous purposes. But how oft has he embittered the mildest, or tortured the plainest laws, by malignant glosses and strained interpretations! gratifying, in both ways, his revenge, his avarice, or his ambition; yet still in the forms of Law, and under the mantle, as it were of public justice!

Such abuses there _have_ been in most states, and, it may be, in our own. God forbid, that, standing in this place, I should _accept the persons of men, or give flattering titles unto any_[63]. But truth obliges me to say, that there is, now, no colour for these complaints. The administration of justice, on the part of the _Magistrate_, is so pure, as to be the glory of the age, in which we live. The abuses all arise from another quarter; and the contentious spirit is kept alive and propagated by the lusts of private men. And what renders their iniquity without excuse, is, that the very equity of those forms, in which our laws are administered, is made the occasion of introducing all these corruptions.

2. To come to a _detail_ on this subject, might be thought improper. Let me paint to you, then, in very _general_ terms, the disorders that spring from this perversion of Law; and, to do it with advantage, let me employ the expressive words of an ancient Pagan writer.

The Roman governors of provinces, it is well known, had their times for the more solemn administration of civil justice. Suppose, then, one of these governors to have fixed his residence in the capital of an Asiatic province, to have appointed a day for this solemnity, and, with his Lictors, and other ensigns of authority about him, to be now seated in the forum, or public place of the city; and consider, if the following representation of an indifferent by-stander be not natural and instructive.

“See,” says the eloquent writer[64], whose words I only translate, “see that vast and mixt multitude assembled together before you. You ask, what has occasioned this mighty concourse of people. Are they met to sacrifice to their country Gods, and to communicate with each other in the sacred offices of their religion? Are they going to offer the Lydian first-fruits to the Ascræan Jupiter? or, are they assembled in such numbers to celebrate the rites of Bacchus, with the usual festivity? Alas, no. Neither pious gratitude, nor festal joy, inspires them. _One_ fierce unfriendly passion _only_ prevails; whose epidemic rage has stirred up all Asia, and, as returning with redoubled force on this stated anniversary, has driven these frantic crowds to the forum; where they are going to engage in law-suits with each other, before the Judges. An infinite number of causes, like so many confluent streams, rush together, in one common tide, to the same tribunal. The passions of the contending parties are all on fire; and the end of this curious conflict is, the ruin of themselves and others. What fevers, what calentures, what adust temperament of the body, or overflow of its vicious humours, is to be compared to this plague of the distempered mind? Were you to interrogate each cause (in the manner you examine a witness) as it appears before this tribunal, and ask, WHENCE IT CAME? the answer would be, an obstinate and self-willed spirit produced _this_; a bitter rage of contention, _that_; and a lust of revenge and injustice, _another_.”

It is not to be doubted, that this rage of the contending parties was inflamed, in those times, by mercenary agents and venal orators; by men, who employed every fetch of cunning, and every artifice of chicane, to perplex the clearest laws, to retard the decision of the plainest cases, and to elude the sentence of the ablest judges. Without some such management as this, the passions of the litigants could not have been kept up in such heat and fury, but must gradually have cooled, and died away of themselves. Add this, then, to the other features, so well delineated, and you will have the picture of _ancient litigation_ complete.

And what think we, now, of this picture? Is there truth and nature in it? Are we at all concerned in this representation; and do we discover any resemblance to it in what is passing elsewhere, I mean in modern times, and even in Christian societies? If we do, let us acknowledge with honesty, but indeed with double shame, that, like the Pagans of old, we have the art to pervert the best things to the worst purposes; and that the _lusts_ of men are still predominant over the wisest and most beneficent institutions of civil justice.

Indeed, as to ourselves, the mild and equitable spirit of our laws might be enough, one would think, to inspire another temper: but when we further consider the divine spirit of the Gospel, by which we pretend to be governed, and the end of which is _charity_, our prodigious abuse of _both_ must needs cover us with confusion.

The instruction, then, from what has been said, is this: That, since, as St. James observes, all our _wars and fightings_ with each other proceed only from our _lusts_, and since _these_ have even prevailed to that degree as to corrupt the two best gifts, which God, in his mercy, ever bestowed on mankind, that is, to make _Religion_ and _Law_ subservient to our bitter animosities; since all this, I say, has been made appear in the preceding comment on the sacred text, it becomes us, severally, to consider what our part has been in the disordered scene, now set before us: what care we have taken to check those unruly passions, which are so apt, by indulgence, to tyrannize over us; and, if this care has been less than it ought to have been, what may be the consequence of our neglect. We should, in a word, _take heed, how we bite and devour one another_; not only, as the Apostle admonishes, _that we be not consumed one of another_; but lest, in the end, we incur the chastisement of that LAW, we have so industriously perverted, and the still sorer chastisement of that RELIGION, we have so impiously abused.

SERMON VIII.

PREACHED APRIL 29, 1770.

1 TIM. i. 5.

_The end of the Commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of
a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned._

The Apostle, in the preceding verse, had warned Timothy against _giving heed to fables and endless genealogies_: by FABLES, meaning certain Jewish fictions and traditions applied to the explication of theological questions, and not unlike the tales of the pagan mythologists, contrived by them to cover the monstrous stories of their Gods; and, by GENEALOGIES, the derivation of Angelic and Spiritual natures[65], according to a fantastic system, invented by the Oriental philosophers, and thence adopted by some of the Grecian Sects. These _fables and genealogies_ (by which the Jewish and Pagan converts to Christianity had much adulterated the faith of the Gospel) the Apostle sets himself to expose and reprobate, as producing nothing but curious and fruitless disputations; being indeed, as he calls them, _endless_, or interminable[66]; because, having no foundation in the revealed word of God, they were drawn out, varied, and multiplied at pleasure by those, who delighted in such fanatical visions.

Then follows the text.—_The end of the Commandment, is_ CHARITY: _out of a_ PURE HEART: _and of a_ GOOD CONSCIENCE; _and of_ FAITH UNFEIGNED—As if the Apostle had said, “I have cautioned you against this pernicious folly: but, if ye must needs deal in the way of Mythology and Genealogy, I will tell you how ye may employ your ingenuity to more advantage. Take Christian _Charity_, for your theme: _mythologize_ that capital Grace of your profession; or, deduce the _parentage_ of it, according to the steps, which I will point out to you. For it springs immediately out of _a pure heart_; which, itself, is derived from _a good conscience_; as that, again, is the genuine offspring or emanation of _faith unfeigned_. In this way, ye may gratify your mythologic or genealogical vein, innocently and usefully[67]; for ye may learn yourselves, and teach others, how to acquire and perfect that character, which is the great object of your religion, and _the end of the Commandment_.”

Let us, then, if you please, attend to this genealogical deduction of the learned Apostle; and see, if the descent of Christian charity be not truly and properly investigated by him.