The scheme of divine revelation considered, principally in its connection with the progress and improvement of human society : in eight sermons preached before the University of Oxford, in the year MDCCCXXV ..

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Bampton lectures

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The scheme of Divine Revelation considef^ed, prin-

cipally in its connection with the progress

and improvement of human society;

IN

EIGHT SERMONS

PREACHED BEFORE

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
IN THE YEAR MDCCCXXV.

AT THE

LECTURE

FOUNDED BY

THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTONJM. AJL^^dTVi

CANON OF SALISBURY.

BY

THE REV. GEORGE CHANDLER, LL. D.

LATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE ;

RECTOR OF SOUTHAM, WARWICKSHIRE ; DISTRICT MINISTER

OF CHRIST CHURCH, ST. MARY-LE-BONB, LONDON ; AND

DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE

OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY.

OXFORD,

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR.

sold by j. parker, oxford ; and messrs. rivington, st.

Paul's church-yard, and waterlog place, London.

1825.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND

WILLIAM HOWLEY, D. D.

LORD BISHOP OF LONDON,

&c. &c. &c.

THESE DISCOURSES

ARE

BY HIS LORDSHIP'S PERMISSION

INSCRIBED,

IN TOKEN OF SINCERE RESPECT

FOR HIS MANY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE VIRTUES,

BY
HIS LORDSHIPS

MUCH OBLIGED

AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

EXTRACT

FROM

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

OF THE LATE

REV. JOHN BAMPTON,

CANON OF SALISBURY.

^' I give and bequeath my Lands and

"Estates to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scho-
" lars of the University of Oxford for ever, to
'^ have and to hold all and singular the said
" Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the in-
" tents and purposes hereinafter mentioned ;
^^ that is to say, I will and appoint that the
" Vice-Chancel lor of the University of Oxford
" for the time being shall take and receive all
'^ the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and (after
" all taxes, reparations, and necessary deduc-
'' tions made) that he pay all the remainder to
" the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture
'' Sermons, to be established for ever in the said
" University, and to be performed in the man-
" ner following :

" 1 direct and appoint, that, upon the first
" Tuesday in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly

a 3

vi EXTRACT FROM

" chosen by the Heads of Colleges only, and by
'* no others, in the room adjoining to the Print-
'^ ing-House, between the hours of ten in the
'^ morning and two in the afternoon, to preach
'^ eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year fol-
" lowing, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the
^' commencement of the last month in Lent
" Term, and the end of the third week in Act
" Term.

'' Also I direct and appoint, that the eight
'' Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be preached
" upon either of the following Subjects — to con-
'' firm and establish the Christian Faith, and to
" confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the
*' divine authority of the holy Scriptures — upon
" the authority of the writings of the primitive
^' Fathers, as to the faith and practice of the pri-
" mitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord
" and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity
*^ of the Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the
'' Christian Faith, as comprehended in the
'^ Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.

^^ Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight
" Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always
" printed, within two months after they are
" preached, and one copy shall be given to the
'' Chancellor of the University, and one copy to
" the Head of every College, and one copy to
** the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one

CANON BAMPTON'S WILL. vii

*^ copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; and
" the expense of printing them shall be paid
'^ out of the revenue of the Land or Estates
" given for establishing the Divinity Lecture
" Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be paid,
^' nor be entitled to the revenue, before they
are printed.

a

" Also I direct and appoint, that no person
" shall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lec-
" ture Sermons, unless he hath taken the de-
*' gree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the
" two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ;
'^ and that the same person shall never preach
" the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice."

a4

The list of Bampton Lecturers, with their subjects, is
here reprintedfrom Mr. Miller's publication in 1817,
and continued to the present time.

1780. James Bandinel, D. D. of Jesus College; Public
Orator of the University. The author first establishes
the truth and authority of the scriptures ; — for the au-
thenticity of the history being acknowledged, and the
'• facts which are therein recorded being granted, the tes-
'* timony of miracles and prophecies^ joined to the excel-
lence of the doctrines, is a clear and complete demon-
stration of our Saviour's divine commission." P. 37.

781

1782

784

Timothy Neve, D. D. Chaplain of Merton College.

* The great point which the author has principally at-
' tempted to illustrate is, that well known, but too much
' neglected truth, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the

* world, and the Redeemer of mankind."

Robert Holmes, M. A. Fellow of New College. " On

* the prophecies and testimony of John the Baptist, and

* the parallel prophecies of Jesus Christ."

1783. John Cobb, Fellow of St. John's College. The sub-
jects discussed are ; " an inquiry after happiness ; natu-
* ral religion ; the Gospel ; repentance ; faith ; profes-
' sional faith ; practical faith ; the Christian's privileges,"

Joseph White, B. D. Fellow of Wadham College.
* A comparison of Mahometism and Christianity in their
' history, their evidence, and their effects."

1785. Ralph Churton, M. A. Fellow of Brasen Nose Col-

X NAMES OF LECTURERS.

lege. " On the prophecies respecting the destruction of
*' Jerusalem."

1786. George Croft, M. A. late Fellow of University Col-
lege. " The use and abuse of reason ; objections against
" inspiration considered ; the authority of the ancient
" Fathers examined; on the conduct of the first Re-
^' formers ; the charge of intolerance in the Church of
*' England refjited ; objections against the Liturgy an-
" swered ; on the evils of separation ; conjectural re-
" marks upon prophecies to be fulfilled hereafter."

1787. William Hawkins, M. A. late Fellow of Pembroke
College. " On Scripture mysteries."

1788. Richard Shepherd, D. D. of Corpus Christi Col-
lege. " The ground and credibility of the Christian re-
" ligion."

1789. Edward Tatham, D. D. of Lincoln College. " The
" chart and scale of truth."

1790. Henry Kett, M. A. Fellow of Trinity College. '* The
" object of these Lectures is to rectify the misrepresenta-
" tions of Mr. Gibbon and Dr. Priestly, with respect to
" the history of the primitive church."

1791. Robert Morres, M. A. late Fellow of Brasen Nose
college. On *' faith in general ; faith in divine testimony
'^ no subject of question ; internal evidence of the Gospel ;
" effects of faith ; religious establishments ; heresies."

1792. John Eveleigh, D. D. Provost of Oriel College. ** 1
" shall endeavour," says the learned author, " first to
" state regularly the substance of our religion from its
" earliest declarations in the scriptures of both the Old
" and New Testament, to its complete publication after

NAMES OF LECTURERS. xi

" the resurrection of Christ ; secondly, to give a sketch
" of the history of our religion from its complete publi-
" cation after the resurrection of Christ to the present
" times, confining however this sketch, towards the con-
'* elusion, to the particular history of our own church ;
" thirdly, to state in a summary manner the arguments
" adducible in proof of the truth of our religion ; and
" fourthly, to point out the general sources of objection
*' against it."

1793. James Williamson, B.D. of Queen's College. " The
" truth, inspiration, authority, and evidence of the Scrip-
'* tures considered and defended."

1794. Thomas Wintle, B. D. of Pembroke College. " The
'*' expediency, prediction, and accomplishment of the
^' Christian redemption illustrated."

1795. Daniel Veysie, B.D. Fellow of Oriel College. " The
" doctrine of Atonement illustrated and defended."

1796. Robert Gray, M. A. late of St. Mary Hall. "On
'^ the principles upon which the Reformation of the Church
*' of England was established."

1797. William Finch, LL. D. late Fellow of St. John's Col-
lege. " The objections of infidel historians and other
*' writers against Christianity considered."

1798. Charles Henry Hall, B.D. late Student of Christ
Church. " It is the purpose of these discourses to con-
" sider at large what is meant by the scriptural expres-
" sion, * fulness of time / or, in other words, to point
" out the previous steps by which God Almighty gra-
'* dually prepared the way for the introduction and pro-
" mulgation of the Gospel." See the Preface.

xii NAMES OF LECTURERS.

1799. William Barrow, LL. D. of Queen's College. These
Lectures contain " answers to some popular objections
*' against the necessity or the credibility of the Christian
" revelation."

1800. George Richards, M. A. late Fellow of Oriel Col-
lege. " The divine origin of Prophecy illustrated and de-
" fended."

1801. George Stanley Faber, M. A. Fellow of Lincoln
College. " Horae Mosaicse ; or, a view of the Mosaical
" records with respect to their coincidence with profane
*' antiquity, their internal credibility, and their connec-
" tion with Christianity."

1802. George Frederic Nott, B. D. Fellow of All Souls'
College. ^' Religious Enthusiasm considered."

1803. John Farrer, M.A. of Queen's College. "On the
" mission and character of Christ, and on the Beati-
*♦ tudes."

1804. Richard Laurence, LL. D. of University College.
" An attempt to illustrate those Articles of the Church of
" England which the Calvinists improperly consider as
" Calvinistical."

1805. Edward Nares, M. A. late Fellow of Merton College.
*' A view of the evidences of Christianity at the close of
" the pretended age of reason."

180G. John Browne, M. A. late Fellow of Corpus Christi
College. In these Lectures the following principle is va-
riously applied in the vindication of religion ; that " there
*' has been an infancy of the species, analogous to that
*' of the individuals of whom it is composed, and that the

NAMES OF LECTURERS. xiii

** infancy of human nature required a different mode of
** treatment from that which was suitable to its advanced
*• state."

1807. Thomas le Mesurier, M. A. late Fellow of New Col-
lege. '' The nature and guilt of Schism considered with
•* a particular reference to the principles of the Reforma-
" tion."

1808. John Penrose, M. A. of Corpus Christi College. " An
" attempt to prove the truth of Christianity from the wis-
** dom displayed in its original establishment, and from
'• the history of false and corrupted systems of religion."

1809. John Bayley Somers Carwithen, M. A. of St. Mary
Hall. " A view of the Brahminical religion in its confir-
" mation of the truth of the sacred history, and in its in-
*' fiuence on the moral character."

1810. Thomas Falconer, M. A. of Corpus Christi College,
" Certain principles in Evanson's ' Dissonance of the four
" generally received Evangelists,' &c. examined."

1811. John Bidlake, D. D. of Christ Church. " The truth
" and consistency of divine revelation ; with some re-
'* marks on the contrary extremes of Infidelity and Enthu-
*' siasm."

1812. Richard Mant, M. A. late Fellow of Oriel College.
" An appeal to the Gospel ; or an inquiry into the jus-
*' tice of the charge, alleged by Methodists and other ob-
" jectors, that the Gospel is not preached by the National
" Clergy."

1813. John Collinson, M. A. of Queen's College. " A key
" to the writings of the principal Fathers of the Chris-

xiv NAMES OF LECTURERS.

*^ tian Church, who flourished during the first three cen-
' turies."

1814

1815

1816

1817

1818

1819

1820

1821

William Van Mildert, D. D. Regius Professor of
Divinity, and Canon of Christ Church. " An inquiry
into the general principles of Scripture-interpretation."

Reginald Heber, M. A. late Fellow of All Souls' Col-
lege. '' The personality and office of the Christian Com-

* forter asserted and explained."

John Hume Spry, M. A. of Oriel College. " Christian

* Unity doctrinally and historically considered."

John Miller, M. A. Fellow of Worcester College. ''The
' divine authority of holy Scripture asserted from its
' adaptation to the real state of human nature."

C. A. Moysey, D. D. late Student of Christ Church.

* The Doctrines of Unitarians examined, as opposed to

* the Church of England."

Hector Davies Morgan, M. A. of Trinity College. " A

* compressed view of the religious principles and prac- «
' tices of the age ; or, a trial of the chief spirits that are

' in the world, by the standard of the Scriptures."

Godfrey Fausset, M. A. late Fellow of Magdalen Col-
lege. " The claims of the Established Church to exclusive
attachment and support, and the dangers which menace
her from schism and indifference."

John Jones, M. A. of Jesus College. " The moral
tendency of divine revelation asserted and illustrated."

1822. Richard Whately, M. A. Fellow of Oriel College.

NAMES OF LECTURERS. xv

** The use and abuse of party-feeling in matters of reli-
" gion."

1823. Charles Goddard, D. D. Archdeacon of Lincoln.
*' The mental condition necessary to a due inquiry into
" religious evidence stated and exemplified."

1824. J. J. CoNYBEARE, M. A. late Student of Ch. Ch. " An

" attempt to trace the history and to ascertain the limits
" of the secondary and spiritual interpretation of Scrip-
" ture."

1825. George Chandler, LL. D. late Fellow of New Col-
lege. " The scheme of divine revelation considered,
" principally in its connection with the progress and im-
" provement of human society."

PREFACE.

In a preface, a writer may be permitted to
make a few explanatory statements respect-
ing himself and his work, without incurring
the charge of unwarrantable egotism.

With respect to the principle attempted
to be established in the ensuing Lectures, I
have nothing to say in this place. If the
principle itself be faulty, or if I have failed
properly to develope and illustrate it in the
body of the work, nothing that can be of-
fered in a preface will supply the defect.
On its own merits therefore the work must
stand or fall.

With respect to the mode of treating the
subject, a few observations may not be su-
perfluous. When I undertook this Lecture,
and had selected my subject, I was desirous,
in the first instance, to form my own opi-
nions without any immediate reference to

b

xviii PREFACE.

other books, and with merely such a stock
of information as my previous reading had
given me. Accordingly, these discourses
were not only sketched, but were written to
the end, (except in a few matters of detail,)
before I consulted any writer who had di-
rected his attention to the same subjects.
I afterwards examined what others had said
on the matter, and then proceeded to ex-
pand, retrench, or correct the opinions
which I had formed, or the statements which
I had made.

This mode of proceeding has its advan-
tages and its disadvantages. On the one
side, it enables the writer to pursue his own
course of thought without interruption or
restraint ; and, where he shall be found to
accord in his views with other writers, it af-
fords some satisfaction to perceive, that the
same process of inquiry has produced a co-
incidence of opinion between persons, who
had no concert or communication with each
other.

PREFACE. xix

On the other hand, the writer, when he
comes to check his own speculations by a
reference to others, has often the mortifica-
tion to perceive that he must abandon his
most favourite opinions ; or, where his con-
fidence remains unshaken, to discover that
he has long ago been anticipated in obser-
vations, which he fondly imagined were ex-
clusively his own.

I have thought it fair to make this state-
ment, for reasons that must be sufficiently
obvious. But there are two works, respect-
ing which I would wish to give a more par-
ticular explanation. These are Taylor's
Scheme of Scripture Divinity, formed upon
the plan of the divine dispensations ; and
Edwards's History of Redemption. With
these works I was unacquainted so much as
by name, until I had nearly finished the
first draft of these Lectures, and even then
I abstained from looking at them till the
last discourse was written. I mention this
circumstance, because the main principle

b 2

XX PREFACE.

and several of the details of these Lectures
are so often coincident with the subject-
matter of those works, that, without this
explanation, I might be supposed to have
borrowed from them not inconsiderably. I
afterwards consulted those works, and have
made a point of noting the few opinions or
facts, for which I am indebted to them.

I am perfectly aware that no considera-
tions can be expected to induce the public
to extend its indulgence to a work, whose
design or whose execution is defective. But,
if an indulgent judgment may be claimed
for any work, it is for one, which, like the
present, was at first undertaken not altoge-
ther spontaneously, which has been com-
posed amid the pressure of other occupa-
tions, and of which the terms of the under-
taking forbid delay in the publication.

LECTURE I.

Introduction.

Psalm xxxiii. 11.

The counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever : and the
thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.

General views of scripture respecting the providential
agency of God. The power of taking large views, a
characteristic of the human species in its most intellectual
state ; in an advanced stage of the world. Large views
of the plans of divine providence contribute to practical
usefulness ; — by giving adequate conceptions of the divine
attributes ; — by elevating the mind to lofty contempla-
tions ; — by confirming our faith in final results ; — by
proving the truth of divine revelation. Statement of
subject in general. — Its importance illustrated by com-
parison with Roman history. More particular statement
of subject. Scheme of divine revelation takes its rise
from the Fall. But it might have been variously modi-
fied. The shape which it has actually received. At-
tempt to ascertain the reasons for such an arrangement.
The scheme of divine revelation conducted on the prin-
ciples of every other plan of systematic discipline. We
must not expect to see it always uniform or visibly
progressive. Division of ensuing Lectures. Conclu-
sion. P. 1.

xxii CONTENTS.

LECTURE II.

The primeval Dispensation.

John xvi. 12.
/ have yet many things to say unto you, hut ye cannot

hear them now.

Subject of the present Lecture. Authentic knowledge
of the early state of man derived only from scripture.
Erroneous representations of several writers. Man not
originally in a state of abject barbarism. Matrimony ;
property ; language. First rudiments of the necessary
arts imparted by the Creator. Analogous process in
matters of religion. Religion essential to man ; — but
could not have been excogitated by him ; — therefore im-
parted, in manner and in measure, suited to his capa-
city. The doctrine of natural religion untenable.
Knowledge of future redemption also communicated.
Prophecy respecting the Seed of the woman. God holds
direct intercourse with man. Institution of sacrifice.
Outline of primeval dispensation. Circumstances that
led the way to the corruption of primitive religion. Its
provisions suited to a simple state. Society at first in
such a state. Changes afterwards take place. Coin-
cidence between the increase of mankind in numbers and
the depravation of faith and manners. At length cor-
ruption becomes universal. Deluge. Circumstances of
mankind immediately after deluge. P. 35.

LECTURE III.

The Jewish Dispensation.

Deut. xxxii. 8, 9.

When the Most High divided to the nations their in-
heritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set

CONTENTS. xxii

the hounds of the people according to the number cyf
the children of Israel.
For the Lord''s portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of
his inheritance.

Modifications in society after the flood. Tended to
introduce a ferment and activity before unknown. But
the progress of society for a considerable time slow. In
such a state mankind prone to idolatry. Various pro-
cesses, by which this propensity might have been checked.
We can see reasons for the process, which was actually
adopted, viz. partial dispensation of religion to one chosen
people. This dispensation the subject of the present
Lecture. Objects of this dispensation, to renew the ori-
ginal revelations respecting the divine nature, and to
prepare the way for the promised Messiah. Opened
gradually, and in accordance with the condition of the
people to whom it was given. Given first to Abraham,
with whom God held direct and personal comm.unica-
tion; next to the Jewish people by Moses. 1st, Mea-
sures taken to preserve the Jews in the belief of one
God ; — long detained in the desert; — visited by miracles ;—
the rites given to them splendid, — but purposely distin-
guished from those of the heathens ; — and entered into the
transactions of ordinary life ; — theocratic government ; —
particular providence. 2dly, To preserve the Jews in
the expectation of the Messiah, knowledge communicated
gradually ; typical rites ; typical personages ; prophecy.
The processes not unsuccessful. 3dly, Also farther in-
structions in the moral law. Moral instructions of
Moses ; and of later prophets. Sacred poetry of Israel.
Summary of divine communications to the Jews ; know-
ledge of the true God and his attributes ; pure worship ;
improved morality. These instructions suited to the ac-
tual circumstances of the world, and introductory to
farther revelations. P. 73.

xxiv CONTENTS.

LECTURE IV.

The Effects of Divine Revelation on the Gentile

world.

Psalm xcvi. 10.

Tell it out among the heathen that the Lor'cl is King.

Influence of divine revelation on the Gentile world.
The primitive faith continued to subsist for some time
after the flood ; and idolatry at its commencement took a
certain tinge from scriptural truth. Probable origin and
progress of idolatry. Animal sacrifice prevalent in all
countries. At length idolatry universal. Some superior
minds begin, however, to suspect its falsehood. Mys-
teries; esoteric philosophy. Question whether any aid
derived from the revelation vouchsafed to the Jews.
The system of the Jewish religion always liberal toward
strangers. The reign of Solomon. The Jews much
connected with the Phoenicians and the Egyptians ; who
were the principal channels for communicating sacred
philosophy to other nations, and especially to the Greeks.
The four great empires also connected with the Jews,
and instrumental to the purposes of divine revelation.
Progress of empire. Babylonian and Persian empires.
Daniel. Dispersion of the ten tribes. Grecian empire
of a more intellectual character. Septuagint version.
The Roman empire favourable to the cause of revelation
by uniting and civilizing the greater part of the known
world. Recapitulation. Contrast between the Jews and
the celebrated nations of pagan antiquity. P. 113.

LECTURE V.

The personal ministry of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews i. 1, 2.

God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners.

CONTENTS. XXV

spake in times past unto the fathers^ hy the pro-
phets.
Hath in these last times spoken unto us hy his Son.

The state of society ripe for the advent of theMessiah.
The external circumstances of the world also favourable for
his manifestation. The personal advent of Jesus Christ.
The great end, for which he came into the world, was to
die for the redemption of man. The necessity for re-
demption by his death. The redemption universal, but
not unconditional. But Jesus Christ also came to impart
to man some important discoveries : 1st, Respecting the
nature of God, principally in his existence in three united,
but distinct. Persons. The Trinity not altogether un-
known to the Jews, but imperfectly. New motives and '
principles of action given to Christians by a farther ac-
quaintance with the operations and offices of the several
persons of the Trinity. 2nd discovery, a clearer know-
ledge of the immortality of the soul and of future judg-
ment. These not unknown before, but full of errors,
and set in clearer and better light by Jesus Christ. 3d
discovery respecting the moral duties of man on earth,
principally in the virtues of humility, purity, and charity.
The example of the Saviour. He preached to the poor ;
appeared in lowly circumstances; addressed himself to
the reason of man. The regular means for advancing
the gospel few and simple; ordinary influences of the
Holy Spirit ;— scriptures ;— sacraments ;~standing ministry.
Inferences. Christianity fitted for universal reception;
fitted for intellectual state of society ; fitted to improve
man in his moral nature. Argument for the truth of
Christianity from the disproportion of its apparent means
to its end. P. 155.

xxvi CONTENTS.

LECTURE VI.

The progress of the visible church of Christ.

Isaiah xlix. 11.

And I will make all my mountains a way^ and my high-
ways shall he exalted.

The gospel destined for universal reception. Attempt
to shew how the general course of external events, since
the Christian era, has tended to promote the gospel.
Progress of the gospel in the first century ; in the second
and third. The continuance of the Roman empire would
have been unfavourable to its interest. The Roman em-
*pire sunk into a state of extreme degeneracy and corrup-
tion. The corruption of the northern hordes beneficial
in the end. In the ages of confusion and darkness, whicli
immediately followed, the ecclesiastical power arose.
Adapted to the state of society at the time. External cir-
cumstances favourable to its rise and progress. It formed
a bond of union in Christendom ; — converted the heathen;
— mitigated the ferocity of the warlike barbarians. Mo-
nastic orders at first useful, in many respects. On the
first discovery of more remote countries, the ecclesiastical
power sowed the seed of the gospel. But it became, in
time, very corrupt and hurtful. Commencement of the
reformation. External circumstances favourable to it.
Introduced some improvements into the Romish church ;
still greater, into the reformed churches. Advance of
genuine Christianity. After a while, the Christian world
became forgetful of the blessings of the gospel. Aroused
from its lethargy by the circumstances of late times. Va-
rious improvements within the pale of Christianity. Pro-
mises of considerable progress, externally . This country
apparently destined to bear an important part in convert-
ing the heathen. Duties incumbent on us. P. 193.

CONTENTS. xxvii

LECTURE VII.

The influence of Christianity upon society.

CoLOSsiANs iii. 9} 10.
— Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his

deeds ;
And have piot on the new man, which is renewed in

knoidedge after the image of Him that created him.

The Christian world has advanced in virtue, as well
as in religious knowledge. We must judge from the past
achievements of reason what it would have accomplished,
if still left to itself. Christianity improves many who re-
ject it ; also charged with much evil, of which it is inno-
cent. Probably the sole cause that idolatry is not still
the religion of the civilized world. Evils of idolatry, ne-
gative and positive. Beneficial influence of Christianity
on international policy ; — on national policy ; — on woman
and conjugal relation ; — on parental relation ; — on masters
and servants; — gladiators; — on rich and poor. Wide
and beneficial effect of the Christian principle of charity.
Abstract model of perfection, as we may suppose itformed
in the Epicurean, in the Stoic, in the Christian schools.
Many Christians have made high attainments in moral
excellence. P. 233.

LECTURE VIII.

The causes that have obstructed the influence of

the gospel and our expectations for the future.

2 Peter iii. 13.

We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and

a new earthy wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Progress and influence of Christianity, as yet, not so

great as its early professors may have expected. We

should allow time for the operation of so vast a scheme.

Christianity, since the first ages, has been committed to

xxviii CONTENTS.

the agency of man, from whom it has suffered much detri-
ment. Retrospective view of gospel history ; — of eastern
churches; — of western; — of Christian world in general.
But we may learn wisdom from the experience of the
past. Principal causes that have obstructed the influence
of the gospel. These, now, apparently on the decline.
Other circumstances also favourable to the cause of the
gospel — Easier communication between distant countries
— Advance of science physical and moral — Commerce less
restricted — Education of lower orders. Reasons to hope
that mankind will never retrograde into darkness. The
design of the Christian dispensation to be introductory to
a nobler order of things hereafter, and to form a link to
connect this world with the world to come. Conclu-
sion. P. 269.

PBIUCETOH

EC TUBE I

-_ ^ ., '>

•*i'A V.' M^i v»' kX A KJ jCX. L.

LJ- U U U >^

Psalm xxxiii. 11.

The counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever :
and the thoughts of his heart from generation
to generation,

A HE general language of scripture not
only declares that God is the Creator of
the visible universe, and that his creation
is the work of consummate wisdom; but
it moreover teaches us, that, from the be-
ginning, he has imposed upon the works of
his hands a fixed destination, and has ar-
ranged them in all their parts with a view
to their accomplishing certain foreseen pur-
poses ; — a law, which they have fulfilled,
and still continue to fulfil, without devia-
tion, without interruption, and without ces-
sation. And this truth, which may be as-
serted respecting the works of the material
creation, is no less indisputable with regard
to the system of the moral world. The laws
by which man has been governed, and the

B

2 LECTURE L

course by which human affairs have been
regulated, have been disposed, and have
tended with unerring certainty, to promote
particular ends, particular results, contem-
plated by the divine Mind from the earliest
period from which we can compute the
course of time. Nor is this truth the less
sure, because the limited faculties of man
may not always, or, more properly, may but
seldom, be able to trace, throughout their
whole course, the designs of Him, to whom
a thousand years are hut as one day^^ and to
whom the nations are as a drop of a bucket^
and are counted as the small dust of the ba-
lance ^

Still, to endeavour to raise ourselves to
contemplations of this nature, and to trace
through a long course of ages the plans of
divine wisdom, is one of the noblest efforts
of which the human mind is capable. The
power, even in a limited degree, of taking
such views is in fact one of the points, in
which we may be said still to retain the
nearest likeness to our Maker. As God can

a 2 Pet. iii. 8. b Isaiah xl. 15,

LECTURE I. 3

with one comprehensive glance survey the
past, the present, and the future ; so of our
species it has been beautifully and appro-
priately said, that we have been made " with
" large discourse, looking before and after."
And, as this description is applicable to man
alone, compared with animals of inferior
rank in the scale of creation, so, in compa-
rison with himself in different conditions,
it is a characteristic mark of the adult as
distinguished from the infant individual,
of the species in a state of intellectual im-
provement, from the same species rude and
barbarous. We know the extremely limited
range of the views of childhood ; and, in
tracing the progress of the human mind
from the ruder to the more cultivated stages
of society, we may perceive, in the first stage,
something very similar to the condition of
the child, who is exclusively occupied with
present objects, and, in the second, to that
of the man who can reflect upon the past
and speculate upon the future.

The capacity of taking such views is also,
like the experience purchased by extended
life, one of the most important advantages

B 2

4 LECTURE I.

gained by those, whose lot is cast in the
more mature age of the world. We may
observe a certain defect in the genius and
general character of the most eminent his-
torians of earlier times, in comparison with
those of later date. In the finest specimens
of history even of the classic ages, the style
is indeed beautiful in composition, vivid in
description, and abounding, unquestionably,
with detached remarks of profound wis-
dom ; in short, like their poetry, fresh, vi-
gorous, animated, and striking. But they
abound with crude speculations. They are
less furnished with the materials for a large
induction : they theorize on insufficient and
unsubstantial data. The power of taking
general views, of tracing events through a
long range of time from their causes to
their final results, and of resolving facts
into principles, — this is more the praise of
those, to whom the circumstances of their
age and country have given a wider range
of vision. And even if we suppose this me-
rit to be the result, less of superiority of in-
tellect, than of the vantage ground on which
modern historians stand, still it renders

LECTURE I. 5

their labours more instructive, as they are
more comprehensive in their views, and
more philosophical in their deductions.

As the capacity of taking large views is
a characteristic of our species, — of our spe-
cies in its most intellectual and matured
state ; — so the views themselves are highly
profitable for our moral improvement. Such
at least I hope they may be made to appear,
— since it is the design of these Lectures
to trace at large one great scheme of divine
providence ; and I am deeply sensible that
the most luminous and profound disquisi-
tion, unless it be conducive to practical edi-
fication, is but as sounding h^ass or a tink-
ling cymbal ^

1. We may then observe, in the first place,
that such views serve to exalt our concep-
tions of the wisdom and power of God.
When we turn our thoughts to a Being
who formed an original design for the be-
nefit of man, and who, for a period of nearly
six thousand years, has pursued that plan
without intermission, adapting it to all the

c 1 Cor. xiii. 1.
B 3

6 LECTURE I.

changes in human society, and bending the
most important events to second and pro-
mote it ; when, I say, we turn our thoughts
to this object, we cannot but be struck with
amazement at Him, whose wisdom could
devise, and whose power could execute so
vast a scheme. And although it may be
in some respects improper to mete a power
that is in fact immeasurable, even by the
highest standard that we can imagine, yet,
as we can only approach to any idea of eter-
nity by continually adding together a suc-
cession of the longest periods known to our
computation, so we can best conceive the
idea of infinite wisdom and power by ima-
gining the highest exercise of either, of
which man would be capable, and then,
by seeing how vastly it has been tran-
scended by the works of the Almighty.
Such considerations, as they tend to give us
adequate conceptions respecting the wis-
dom and power of God, are in themselves
most valuable ; and from such considera-
tions we farther proceed, by a regular co-
rollary, to the propriety of paying those
acts of adoration, worship, praise, honour,

LECTURE I. 7

and obedience, which are due to a Being
invested with such attributes.

2, In the next place, such views have the
effect of exciting our minds to lofty con-
templations. Our habitual tendency is to
grovel on the earth, and to be engrossed
with present and with petty objects. But,
by looking to subjects large in their di-
mensions and important in their influence,
in particular by looking to subjects so
large, so important, as the plans of almighty
wisdom, we nurse and invigorate the faculty
of generalization, which is the peculiar pri-
vilege and boast of our nature, and which
cannot be strengthened without strengthen-
ing all that is most excellent and most di-
vine within us. In regard also to the im-
mediate object proposed for our contempla-
tion, we learn to view it in its outline and
in its general features ; and by such a view
avoid many of the details, which principally
give rise to difference of opinion, and,
thence, to all the irritation and animosity,
which peculiarly result from contradiction
about trifles.

3. Again, Nothing can so strengthen and

B 4

8 LECTURE I.

confirm our faith, our confidence in final
results, as a view of the unerring course in
which events have hitherto proceeded under
the control of divine wisdom and power.
When we consult the times of old, and find
that God has been able steadily to pursue
his plans through all the revolutions of the
past, we are convinced that they will equally
proceed amid all the changes and chances
of the future. And thence, whatever may
be the aspect of things at the time, however
they may lower and threaten to disappoint
and confound us, we still look onwards
with firm assurance, that He who has begun,
and has hitherto executed his work, will be
able to bring it to a complete and success-
ful issue in the end.

4. And with respect to what will be more
immediately the subject of these Lectures,
with respect to a point which brings it di-
rectly within the scope and design of the
pious Founder, it tends to prove that our
holy religion cannot be a matter of chance
or of human contrivance, when we find that
it has been in constant and progressive ope-
ration from the commencement of time to

I.ECTURE I. 9

the present period, and, throughout its
whole course, has been intimately connected
with the leading and most important events
of the history of the world.

If there be any truth in these remarks
respecting the importance and beneficial
effects of directing the mind to large and
comprehensive views of divine providence ;
if such views afford the noblest exercise of
our faculties ; if they be useful toward esta-
blishing the truth of revelation, and even
instrumental toward promoting the great
cardinal graces which our religion especially
recommends, toward confirming our faith,
elevating our hope, and kindling our cha-
rity, I would solicit your favourable atten-
tion to the subject proposed to be treated
in these Lectures, viz. the developement and
progress of the scheme of divine revelation
from the beginning of things to the present
time.

Of all the subjects that can be proposed
for our consideration, this is the most im-
portant; and one might venture to illus-
trate its importance, by comparing it with
another subject, immensely, it must be con-

10 LECTURE I.

fessed, disproportionate. But, as, in a pic-
ture, we introduce a figure of smaller, but
known, dimensions, to give some idea of the
height or magnitude of a larger object,
which we can less accurately measure ; so,
if, having taken a subject the most preg-
nant with human interest, and placing it
by the side of the plan of redemption, we
find the former shrink by comparison into
insignificance, this circumstance may serve
to give us the best and the grandest con-
ception of the importance of that plan ot
divine providence, which we would attempt
to illustrate.

Of surveys that relate to affairs merely
civil or political, the most interesting and
the most instructive is, perhaps, the history
of the Roman state from its commencement
to its termination ; combining, as that his-
tory does, a greater number of points that
deservedly claim our attention, than can be
found elsewhere. It proceeds, with a re-
markable degree of unity of action, through
a period of time, which bears no inconsi-
derable proportion to the past duration of
our world. In that long period of time, the

LECTURE I. 11

causes which affect the destiny of nations
were able to have their full play, and to pro-
duce their appropriate effects, independent
of the casual and sometimes disturbing in-
fluence of individual characters or of ad-
ventitious circumstances. The subject is
also interesting from its magnitude, as it is
connected with the fortunes and happiness
of a large portion of the nations of the
globe. We moreover possess documents,
more or less complete, which enable us to
take the survey in question with tolerable
accuracy ; and lastly, we are now removed
from the object in view to a sufficient dis-
tance, to be able to survey it, not in parts,
but in the whole, and with attention not dis-
proportionably attracted by circumstances
and points that touch ourselves.

Accordingly, if there be one subject of a
merely secular nature, that particularly de-
mands and repays our attention, it is the
Roman history. In the course of that his-
tory we see a diminutive state rising by re-
gular steps to a condition of unexampled
power ; and again, sinking from that emi-
nence into the lowest degradation. We are

12 LECTURE I.

enabled to observe what may be effected,
in the first instance, by institutions that
look exclusively to the formation of the
public character, and to the production of
those bold, vigorous, and energetic qualities,
which must ever give the state wherein
they abound an irresistible ascendency over
its tamer neighbours or rivals. We are en-
abled to see how, when these qualities had
produced their appropriate effects of wealth
and aggrandizement, the temptation to
wield and enjoy such power generated a
description of men, who availed themselves
of the opportunities afforded by such a sys-
tem to embroil the government at home,
till civil commotions arose, and ultimately
subsided in the triumph of one, first over
his political opponents, and then over his
country. We are also enabled to see how,
beneath the overshadowing despotism thus
produced, public virtues immediately droop-
ed and faded ; every thing that is generous
and noble lay prostrate ; and if the power
itself continued to stand, it stood, not by its
roots firmly grappling the soil, but only by
its own weight, ready to fall as soon as there

LECTURE I. 13

should be found any external force of suf-
ficient momentum to impel and overthrow
it.

Such are some of the views which have
been repeatedly drawn from a survey of
the Roman history ; and which, as they ex-
hibit some grand principles that, under si-
milar circumstances, will probably ever act
in a manner nearly similar, are replete
with instruction, and are capable of teach-
ing the best rules of moral and political
wisdom.

But, although such be the importance
and interest of the history in question,
we shall find it absolutely insignificant,
when compared with the immense value
of the history of human salvation. In
point of duration, the latter commences
from the beginning of this system of things,
and not only will endure to the end of this
system, but will continue its effects through
the endless ages of eternity. The parties
concerned are the whole human race ; and .
concerned deeply and vitally, since it in-
volves their happiness both now and here-
after. The lessons which it teaches, on the

14 LECTURE I.

one side, respecting the wisdom and mercy
of God, and on the other, respecting the
tremendous consequences of sin in man, are
most impressive. The documents which
we possess on the subject are of the surest
authority, since they bear the seal of divine
inspiration. And there prevails throughout
that harmony and continuity of plan, which
may be expected where it is under the ma-
nagement of One, whose power nothing can
defeat, nothing interrupt.

Such appears to be the magnitude and
importance of the subject proposed to be
treated in the ensuing Lectures. But the
subject having yet been stated only in a
general manner, I would now proceed to
explain more particularly the precise point
of view, under which I conceive the great
plan of divine revelation may not unpro-
fitably be submitted to observation.

The whole scheme takes its rise from the
fall and defection of man. This is the
hinge on which every thing turns. Had
man continued upright and obedient, there
would have been no necessity, in any sense
of the word, to restoi^e him. Persevering in

LECTURE I. 15

a state of sinless innocence, and exempt
from evil moral or physical, he would have
enjoyed an immortality of happiness ; then,
as now, from the unmerited grace and fa-
vour of God, but under circumstances and
conditions entirely different. Still, as a
moral agent, it was necessary that he should
be subject to some probation ; and, if in a
state of probation, that he should be at li-
berty to observe or to transgress the test of
obedience prescribed to him. We perhaps
might also find, that, in the peculiar cir-
cumstances under which mankind had been
placed, a single pair in the world, abound-
ing with every thing, not only necessary,
but convenient and agreeable for life, it is
not easy to conceive in what other point,
than in that actually prescribed, the test of
obedience to the will of God could have
been made to subsist. It may, however, be
sufficient, and it is perhaps safer, to resolve
the whole into the sovereign and unques-
tionable will of God. It must be unneces-
sary for me, as being a subject so well
known, to state the particular trial imposed
on man, or his lamentable failure. It is

16 LECTURE I.

enough to say, that by disobedience he lost
the divine favour ; and, with the knowledge
of good and evil, learned by fatal expe-
rience the prevalence of the latter over
beings, no longer strong in the immediate
protection and grace of God. Having
yielded himself servant to sin, he became
by that act subject in his own person to
the various evils that sin entails upon man,
to various distresses in the progress through
life, to disease and decay, and finally to
death, with all its tremendous train of after-
consequences. Nor was the stream, thus
polluted at its source, likely to purify itself
in the course of time. There was no pro-
spect that future generations, to be born
under the sentence, and under all the
pains and disabilities incidental to the sen-
tence, should be able by any efforts of their
own to extricate themselves from those
evils. On the other hand, that God should
have immediately reversed his own decree ;
that he should have remitted the penal
consequences of disobedience so lately and
so solemnly denounced by his own mouth ;
this would not only have argued in the

LECTURE I. 17

Judge of the whole earth a mutability in-
consistent with his character, but would
have been little likely to command the re-
spect and the submission of the subjects of
his government. But God is infinite both
in wisdom and in goodness. He was able
at once to devise a scheme, by which mercy
and truth might meet together^ righteousness
mid peace might kiss each other "^ ; by which,
without inverting his laws, without com-
promising his dignity, without extenuating
the heinousness of sin, he might yet undo
the mischief occasioned by the transgres-
sion of our first parents, and might restore
mankind to grace and favour. This was
the incarnation and death of his only-be-
gotten and well-beloved Son ; who, at some
future time to be determined by the divine
counsels, was to offer himself in the human
form a piacular victim for the offending
race of man, and, satisfaction to divine jus-
tice being thus made, was to reestablish
the communication between heaven and
earth, and to raise fallen man to that capa-

^ Psalm Ixxxv. 10. ^

C

18 LECTURE I.

city of serving and pleasing God, which he
enjoyed before his transgression.

The Atonement — the Atonement by the
blood of Jesus Christ for the sins of man —
has thus been from the beginning the corner
stone of the whole structure of divine reve-
lation. This is the leading clue that guides
us through the whole scheme. This is the
main point, to which every thing contained
in that scheme looks directly or indirectly,
prospectively or retrospectively. This is
the alpha and the omega, the first and the
last, the beginning and end, of what may
be distinctively termed the great counsel of
God.

But, while the Atonement has been the
animating spirit that has pervaded and in-
formed the whole system of revelation, the
body and form, in which that spirit should
be invested, might have been variously de-
termined ; and the execution of the whole
plan, and of every part of that plan, no less
than its original conception, has been alto-
gether dependent on the good pleasure of
God. With Him it was optional even
whether this great salvation should in any

LECTURE I. 19

way be made known to man ; since we can,
in strictness, conceive it possible that a re-
conciliatory process might have gone on in
such a manner, as to have remained secret
to the whole race of mankind in this life ^
as, in point of fact, the real atonement has
remained secret to a very large majority of
mankind, to whom we believe, nevertheless,
its benefits to have accrued. Or, if the
gracious design of God were to be made
known to man, it might have been made
known by modes and processes, and under
circumstances, infinitely various. For in-
stance, the Redeemer might have been sent
into the world immediately after the fall,
or at a period less or more distant from
that event. The act, by which he accom-
plished the redemption, might have stood
single and insulated, or might have been
connected with a series of preparatory and
introductory measures. And if the plan
were progressive, each succeeding measure
might have looked exclusively to its pecu-
liar and ultimate and supreme object, or

^ Paley's Evidences, vol. ii. p. ^4.
C 2

20 LECTURE I.

might have been made a vehicle for con-
veying communications from God on other
matters, which he proposed to reveal to
man.

These, and numberless other possible
combinations, were all, as we must be well
aware, in the breast of God alone. But,
looking to what is now known to be the
state of the case, we perceive that the ad-
vent of the Redeemer was postponed, com-
paratively, to a late period of the world.
We believe, indeed, that the meritorious ef-
ficacy of the redemption commenced from
the period when it w^as decreed in the di-
vine counsels, and that, in the eyes of an
eternal and all-seeing God, the Lamb was
slam, slain virtually and in effect, /rom the
foundation of the world K But according to
the estimate of shortlived mortals, the pro-
mised Seed did not proceed to bruise the
head of the serpent, till the hopes of the
faithful had been put to a long and a se-
vere trial. So, looking again to the actual
state of the case, w^e know that his personal

^ Rev. xiii. 8.

LECTURE I. 21

appearance was preceded by earlier dispen-
sations of religion, each introductory to the
following, and each, at the same time, con-
trived to be made instrumental for promul-
gating other and most important informa-
tion respecting the nature and the will of
God.

This arrangement of divine providence
is so remarkable, that it cannot fail to at-
tract our observation ; nor only to attract
our observation, but also to excite in us a
curiosity to understand, and a desire to in-
terpret it. And, if that curiosity and that
desire be kept within just bounds ; if any
inquiry for the purpose of gratifying them
be prosecuted soberly, and with a proper
feeling of submission to the supreme will
of God ; the feeling cannot in any way be
thought reprehensible.

To me then it appears, — though I speak
with an overwhelming sense of the insuffi-
ciency, of the nothingness of our best rea-
son in attempting to fathom the depths of
divine wisdom ; — to me it appears, that in
order to qualify us to be partakers, indivi-
dually, of the future, the spiritual, the eter-

c 3

22 LECTURE I.

nal benefits of the redemption by Christ,
with a view and in subserviency to this de-
sign, the Almighty has also formed a plan,
whereby man, taken collectively and in the
aggregate, might become gradually wiser
and better in this life ; might be trained
during his abode on earth in such a course
of improvement as his nature is capable of
receiving ; and might be made to approxi-
mate, in such degree as he is able, to that
resto7*atio7i to a similitude to his Maker,
which it is the purpose of divine provi-
dence ultimately to complete.

In pursuance of this great design, it
should seem that man has been placed by
the Almighty under a course of moral
discipline and instruction in his passage
through successive generations ; that many
providential arrangements have been made
to conduct him in his destined path of im-
provement ; and that, as the chief and most
efficacious of those arrangements, he has
been placed, as it were, under the tuition
of revealed religion, to be instructed in the
knowledge of divine things. Accordingly,
it should seem that revelation, in its ca-

LECTURE I 23

pacity of the preceptor of man, has ever
shaped its proceedings with a view to his
edification. With this view, it has ap-
pended to its several dispensations much
matter, if not strictly and essentially neces-
sary to the direct purposes of that dispen-
sation, yet profitahle for doctrine^ for re-
proof for correctioyi,, for instruction in
righteousness. With the same view, it has
thrown a considerable light on the divine
nature and attributes, and has given many
precepts and admonitions for the regula-
tion of human life.

That the course of discipline, to which the
human race has been thus subjected, has
been, to a certain and to a considerable de-
gree, successful, we can hardly, I think, fail
to perceive, if we will compare man with
himself at two eras far removed from each
other. Nearer periods of time, as they are
subject to various alternations of advance-
ment and recession, are less calculated to
shew the point in question. But if we will
take two distant terms, if we will consider
the state of mankind, for instance, 3000
years ago and at the present day, we must

c 4

24 LECTURE I.

be struck with the progress that has been
made. The observation of the past may
even incline us to look onwards, and may
tempt us to believe, not certainly that man,
while he remains on earth, shall ever be
exempt from sin and misery, but that,
when the plans of divine wisdom shall have
had a fuller operation, he may yet be ad-
vanced and meliorated to a degree, which it
requires perhaps a sanguine, but not, I hope,
an irrational or an unchristian frame of
mind to anticipate. But, without insisting
on such speculations for the future, with a
view solely to what has actually taken place,
we may next remark, that, if revealed reli-
gion, so far as it has borne a part in the
training and discipline of man, has exe-
cuted its office with any degree of success,
it is because it has proceeded on such prin-
ciples, as alone can make any plan of edu-
cation successful.

Our experience and observation tell us,
that all education should be conducted on
these two principles ; the one, to adapt the
nature and extent of the instruction, and
also the mode of conveying it, to the facul-

LECTURE I. 25

ties and capacity of the pupil ; the other,
to consider each step in knowledge, not
merely as an advance to that particular
point, but as an accommodation and faci-
lity for a farther progression.

So it has been in the education of the hu-
man species under revelation. According
to the first principle, the course of disci-
pline, adapting itself to that intellectual
childhood which characterized the early
state of man, w^as at first addressed to the
senses ; it was also elementary, confined to
the rudiments of divine knowledge, content
with giving milk to the child. But neither,
according to the second principle, has any
dispensation of religion terminated in itself.
Each has been used as a stage, whereon to
erect something higher. Or, to pursue the il-
lustrations before adopted from the apostle,
the simpler elements have led the way to
the deeper things of God. The aliment,
that has been given, has not only been such
as could be digested and assimilated into
the human system, but also such as would
tend to strengthen and mature it, till it

26 LECTURE I.

could bear, not milk for the child, but meat
for the man ^'.

These views, if they be correct, are eluci-
datory of those arrangements of divine pro-
vidence in the matter of revelation, to which
we have before adverted, and afford some
explanation why the dispensations of reli-
gion have been dealt out to man in the
mode and in the measure which we see.
And these are the views which I propose
more particularly to illustrate in the ensu-
ing Lectures. I would state, and I would
willingly state in such manner as to make
it impossible that my meaning should be
misconceived, that revelation has principally
looked to spiritual matters, and that its
main design has been to make known the
great doctrine of immortal life, purchased
for man by the sacrifice of the divine Re-
deemer. But I also believe, and I would
attempt to shew, that, in order to qualify
us to be meet partakers of that great salva-
tion, revelation has, moreover, been given

§ 1 Cor. lii. 2. Hcb. v, 12, 13, 14.

LECTURE I. 27

with a view to promote the progressive im-
provement of man in this life ; and, with
this view, has been adapted to the circum-
stances and condition of the human race, in
the successive periods of the world.

This view of things will lead us to consi-
der the scheme of divine revelation princi-
pally in its connection with the progress of
human society. It will also lead us to treat
the subject, in a great measure, historically ;
to trace the annals of revelation and the an-
nals of general history, both of course merely
in their outline, but in their mutual relation
and dependency. And, without farther an-
ticipating what will follow, I think it will
appear, that, as the two systems have both
been under the presiding care of the same
divine providence, so they have exercised,
and have been designed to exercise, a reci-
procal influence each over the other ; that,
on the one side, revelation has often re-
ceived its shape and direction from the course
of secular events ; on the other side, the course
of secular events has often been moulded
with a view to promote the interests and to
effectuate the purposes of revelation.

28 LECTURE I.

But, before we proceed to trace what
I thus suppose to constitute one great
scheme of Providence, it should be observed,
that we must not expect to see it advanc-
ing with an uniform, or always a perceptible
pace. We may imagine plans, in which, as
in a drama constructed on the strict rules
of art, there shall be a regularly progressive
series of action, and a symmetrical adjust-
ment of part to part. In the mean while,
the mighty Master of the universe, as he
has the command of all time in his hands,
may conduct his plans with a seeming irre-
gularity, that mocks our petty calculations.
In fact, analogy, so far as analogy deserves
our attention, might lead us to expect, that,
in so large a plan, there should be spaces
apparently blank and void. The large por-
tion of our globe occupied by waters, moun-
tains, and deserts, that are incapable of being
rendered habitable or productive for the use
of man ; the hours of every day necessarily
spent in a suspension of consciousness, or in
the mere sustenance and recreation of our
earthly part ; the years passed in the desti-
tution and feebleness of infancy, or in a

LECTURE I. 29

course of discipline and instruction prepara-
tory to the great purposes of human life; and
of mankind, the numbers inevitably con-
demned to ignorance, by inhabiting coun-
tries overspread with barbarism, or by being
employed, in more cultivated regions, in the
laborious and coarse occupations of society ;
these things, in conjunction with the irregular
and seemingly desultory manner in which
the moral government of the universe is ad-
ministered, seem to form points of analogy,
which might lead us to expect, that the plan
of the Almighty in the matter of revelation
should not be conducted with that nice and
exact precision, which we can imagine, and
perhaps might desire. But, as the foregoing
appearances, however remarkable, do not
lead us to question the power, or the wisdom,
or the goodness of Providence, so neither
should the slowness or irregularity of the
plan of revelation make us feel any mis-
givings as to its existence or its ultimate suc-
cess. It is enough for us, if, having per-
ceived one great design, we can satisfy our-
selves, by infallible indexes and admeasure-
ments, that it has hitherto advanced pro-

30 LECTURE I.

gressively, if not uninterruptedly nor speed-
ily ; enough, if, from the observation of the
past, we can rest assured that, with what-
ever fluctuations, with whatever occasional
ebbs, it will still roll onwards, still pursue
its career, in which it will neither' labour^ nor
be weary, nor cease from its work. And if my
proposed undertaking shall have any claims
to your favourable attention, it cannot be by
making any new discoveries in this great
system, but by tracing it in continuity, and
in one uninterrupted series. I have no pre-
tension to bring forward what has been be-
fore unsaid. My only aim is to pursue the
thread, which, from the beginning of time
to the present day, seems to run through
the great maze of the providential history
of man; to bring together parts, each of
which has been severally examined and de-
monstrated, and to combine them in such
a manner, as to make them appear to be,
what in reality they are, one grand, one
consistent and harmonious whole.

The subject will carry us over a vast du-
ration of time and an immense field of
events. In the execution of a plan of such

LECTURE I. 31

magnitude, it will of course be imprac-
ticable, within the limited compass of these
Lectures, to enter into many details. But
these details may safely be curtailed, since
they are fully given in numberless works of
standard merit. The subject itself will, I
think, be best exhibited, if we consider, first,
the primeval dispensation ; next, the reli-
gious system given to the chosen family and
people ; and then, some of the effects of
those revelations on the gentile world. We
shall afterwards consider, successively, the
personal ministry of Jesus Christ ; the pro-
gress of his visible church on earth ; the in-
fluence which the spirit of his religion has
thus far produced on society ; and, lastly,
the chief causes which have hitherto im-
peded its operation, and our reasonable
hopes and expectations for the time to
come.

This plan, were it but adequately exe-
cuted, would exhibit before our eyes the
great scheme of divine providence in the
matter of revelation, as we examine a large
tract of country represented on a model.

82 LECTURE I.

Or, we may say, it would place us in such
a situation for the survey of the whole plan,
as if, from some commanding eminence, we
could see at once submitted to our eye the
course of a mighty and majestic river, from
its source to its termination. We might
see it rising in the midst of rocks and pre-
cipices, far from the haunts of men ; thence
we might see it augmented by tributary
streams, and visiting regions, sometimes
barren and desert, but more frequently
smiling under cultivation and improve-
ment; and ever, as it proceeded on its
course, contributing to the accommodation
and enjoyment of the realms through which
it flowed. So we might see the stream of
divine revelation originating where society
was uncultivated ; we might next observe
it with augmented volume traversing the
vast and diversified field of history, and
observe it ever diffusing happiness and
blessings on those whom it visited. And,
should we be stationed, as our great poet
has stationed the parent of mankind, on
" the specular mount" of prophecy, we

LECTURE I. S3

might even trace the same stream, when it
would have been hid from our unassisted
vision, and might follow its onward course,
till it was lost in the immeasurable, the
shoreless ocean of eternity.

D

LECTURE 11.

John xvi. 12.

I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot hear them now,

A HESE words, addressed by our blessed Sa-
viour to his disciples during his abode on
earth, may form no unapt introduction to
an attempt to illustrate the manner, in
which the same gracious Word, He, who, in
all the revelations of the divine will, has
been the organ of communication with
man, has, in the several periods of the world,
adapted his religious instructions to the ex-
igencies and to the capacity of those who
were to receive them

In the introductory Lecture, I supposed
that, in subordination to the great plan of
redemption by the meritorious sacrifice of
the promised Seed, it has been the design
of Almighty God to lead the human race
through a course of progressive improve-
ment in this world. For this purpose, I
supposed that divine revelation has l^een

D 2

36 LECTURE II.

assigned to be the instructor of man in re-
ligious knowledge ; and that its several dis-
pensations have been given in accordance
with the actual circumstances of the world
in its successive stages. In illustration of
this view of things it is our business in the
present Lecture to trace the condition of
man, and, in close conjunction with that
question, the course of religious instruction
imparted to him, in the earliest stage of our
present system.

On this subject, it may, however, be fairly
acknowledged, that the scantiness and ob-
scurity of our authentic materials make it
no easy matter to speak. What we know
with assurance, I need hardly remark, is
drawn altogether from the Bible ; and, in
the Bible, the information respecting a pe-
riod of time, extending over more than 2000
years, is comprised in eleven short chapters.
Some writers have indeed indulged them-
selves in giving us details of the empires
that were formed, and of the kings that
reigned, before the flood ^. But such ac-

^ Univ. Hist. Anc. vol. i. p. 44, &c.

LECTURE II. 87

counts, if not altogether fabulous, rest on
authority extremely questionable. In the
ensuing inquiry I would confine myself
strictly to what is written, or what may be
collected by fair inference from scripture.
And if we will now look to the scriptural
account of the first, of the aboriginal, con-
dition of man, I think we shall perceive a
proof of the high value of our Bible, (inde-
pendent of its other and superior claims to
our regard,) as containing materials for a
history of the human species, which a close
examination will shew to be the most cre-
dible and the most consonant with sound
philosophy.

We know that certain writers ^ have cho-
sen to describe the primordial representa-
tives of the human species, in language that
might be applied to the beasts that perish,
as engaged solely in providing for their
physical necessities, without any fixed ha-
bitation, without any knowledge of the arts,
without language, without social union, and
without religion. So brutally debased, in«

^ Lucretius, lib. v. Hor. Sat. iii. 99. Cic. Tusc. v.

D 3

38 LECTURE 11.

deed, we believe man never has been found.
And it immediately strikes us that the scrip-
tural representation of primeval man differs
essentially from such a picture. It even
exhibits him in a state widely different from
our authentic accounts of several barbarous
and, as we suppose, degenerate tribes, on
their first discovery by more civilized na-
tions, both in ancient and in modern times.
The scripture tells us, that the human
race sprang from a single pair. It also tells
us, what we should not otherwise have
known, that the first authors of the human
race rendered themselves obnoxious to the
displeasure of God. Still we find man, im-
mediately after his expulsion from paradise,
not subsisting on the nuts and berries of
the wood, nor even on the precarious supply
of the chase ; but, according to his doom, a
cultivator of the earth % with some know-
ledge of the plants useful for human con-
sumption, and with domestic animals under
his control. We find a provision early
made for his clothing*^. We find him at

c Genesis iv. 2. d Chap. iii. 1,

LECTURE 11. 39

once fixed to a determinate spot for his ha-
bitation ; and we early read of a collection
of residences, which, although of necessity
extremely small, exhibits the principle of so-
cial union ^ We also find him, though at a
period somewhat later than that of which I
now speak, master of certain arts calculated
for the convenience and even the embellish-
ment of human life, as the working of me-
tals, and music ^

In his domestic capacity we find the law,
which had originally provided an help meet
for man, continuing to subsist in the insti-
tution of marriage ^ ; and although in one,
and that an apostate race, we perceive after-
wards an instance of polygamy, there is no-
thing that shews the slightest tendency to-
ward the vague intercourse of the sexes, of
which we read in the accounts of some of the
South sea islands, or of the community of
wives, which is said once to have prevailed
in our own country ^. From the matrimonial
union the distinction of families necessarily

e Gen. iii. 16. » Chap. iii. S2, 23. g Chap. hi. 23.
i^ Csesar, 1. v. s. 10.

D 4

40 LECTURE 11.

followed ; and, by this distinction, the foun-
dation was at once laid for those domestic
sympathies and charities, which form the
first step toward the moral exaltation of
man, as they first carry his thoughts be-
yond the range of mere selfish gratifica-
tion.

To this establishment of the domestic
ties, it appears that we should add the re-
cognition of property. Those who tilled
the ground or tended cattle, and, still
more, those who, in later times, fabricated
tents or wrought in brass and iron, must
have done it for their own use, and with a
sense of exclusive right over the products
of their industry and ingenuity.

To proceed also to a point more connect-
ed with the intellectual nature of man, we
find him from the beginning possessed of
language ; and he, who, immediately after
his creation, was enabled to give names to
all cattle^ and to the fowl of the ai?*, and to
eveiy beast of the f eld \ was also able at
once to hold communion with God and

' Genesis ii. 20.

LECTURE 11. 41

with the partner of his life by articulate
speech.

All these circumstances imply that ex-
treme rudeness and savage ignorance are
far from the original and proper condition
of man ; that art, as has been excellently
said, is his nature ''; and that so far from its
being the law of his existence to emerge
into order and civilization out of a state
little above the beasts of the field, we have
reason to believe, that when he is found in
such barbarism, it is the consequence of a
degeneracy and deterioration of his facul-
ties, and of a loss of the endowments once
possessed by the primitive race.

I call them endoiuments, since in all this
we can hardly fail to perceive the hand of
God placing man at once in the path of
order and cultivation. In tracing the
stream of knowledge backwards to its ori-
gin, it is difficult to discover from whence
it first sprang, except from the supernal
source of all wisdom and mercy. We are
speaking of a period when all collateral as-

^ Burke, vol. vi. p. 218.

42 LECTURE II.

sistance or instruction from fellow-mortals
in a state of farther advancement was out of
the question. And, had primeval man been
thrown entirely on his own resources ; had
he been left to extricate himself as he could,
from a state of utter ignorance and destitu-
tion ; had he been cast on a world, where
all that gives comfort and dignity to hu-
man life was to be fashioned by himself
from the rough and shapeless material, all
to be created by his own skill from a chaos
without form and void ; it is probable his
posterity would have been consigned to
hopeless and insuperable barbarism. It is
at least certain they must have struggled
with ignorance and wretchedness for a pe-
riod longer than is consistent with the du-
ration of the world, as it may be calculated
from authorities independent of the Bible ;
and, still more, than can be made to accord
with the scriptural narrative. It is, indeed,
remarkable, that the traditions of all na-
tions speak of the primary arts, as having
been communicated to man by some consi-
derate and propitious deity. And, without
supposing, with certain mystics, that all

LECTURE 11. 4S

science and philosophy were possessed by
the parent of mankind, it does not seem
unreasonable to believe, that he was di-
rectly instructed by his Maker in matters
that were esential to his immediate com-
fort and almost necessary to his existence.
With respect to language, it is indeed ge-
nerally allowed that no human powers
could have invented it by original excogi-
tation \ That God first clothed man we
know by positive information ; and, by pa-
rity of reason, it seems fair to suppose that
He, who provided a defence for the bodily
frame from the inclemencies of the seasons,
would also direct the first race to the
choice of those habits of life and those
modes of subsistence, which would be con-
ducive to their immediate welfare and to
their subsequent improvement. All this
may be admitted, without supposing that
the instruction imparted was more than
quite elementary. All that was needed,
was to give the first impulse and direction
to the human mind ; and, those being once

^ Magce, vol. ii. n*^. 53.

44 LECTURE II.

given, man might have been left to advance
himself by the ordinary processes of obser-
vation and experience. Neither is it neces-
sary to suppose that the early races pur-
sued the career of improvement with great
rapidity. On the contrary, there is reason
to believe that society was for a long while,
perhaps to a later period than is commonly
supposed, very simple and inartificial. I
have directed your views to the external
circumstances, in which the primeval race
appears to have been placed by the Al-
mighty, only in order to shew how com-
pletely in consistency with that state of
things were the proceedings of the same di-
vine power in the great article of religion.
Of those proceedings the great principles
seem to have been, that religion was essen-
tial to man ; and that, on the one side, he
was not likely to discover it for himself,
yet, on the other side, was fully capable of
receiving it, when imparted. Accordingly,
it was revealed to him by his Creator ; but
though revealed, it was only in such man-
ner and measure, as suited the circum-
stances of the case. In its manner, it was

LECTURE 11. 45

plain and palpable, as accorded with the
apprehensions of man not far advanced in
knowledge ; in its measure, it was clear and
express on points of immediate necessity ;
less clear and less express, yet still sufficient
to indicate the main purposes of the Al-
mighty, on points that required the lapse
of time to bring those purposes to maturity
and perfection.

It cannot be necessary for me to occupy
much of your time in asserting the essen-
tial importance of a knowledge of the fun-
damental articles of religion to the infant
race of man. A knowledge of God and of
our responsibility to Him, as the Creator,
Ruler, and Judge of the universe, must at
all times be the great principle to regulate
and quell the disorderly passions of man.
But the case must have been yet stronger
in the infancy of the world, when various
restraints, which in an advanced state of
society act as subsidiaries, sometimes as
substitutes to religion, were all wanting.
Without religious knowledge, man would
have been an overgrown infant, mature in

46 LECTURE 11.

physical strength, endued with faculties of
vast capacity, and passions of tremendous
energy, yet destitute of the principle, and
with him the sole principle, which by its
controlling influence should direct those fa-
culties and those passions to beneficial pur-
poses. Nor is this all. The Almighty had
formed the ulterior plan of the redemption.
And it is clear this plan must have rested,
as on its basis, on the great primary truths
of all religion. He that cometh to God,
says the apostle, must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him "\ In the same spirit we may say,
he that cometh to Christ must be pre-
viously acquainted with the existence and
the leading attributes of God.

But can we suppose that the early race
would have acquired a knowledge of reli-
gion by the native strength of their own
understanding? We are so familiar from
our infant years with the thoughts of God,
that we are apt to forget we owe those

m Heb. xi. 6.

LECTURE II. 47

thoughts to early communication ". We are
apt to forget how difficult it would be by
searching to find out God, Even if we
should suppose it possible, (a point, which
I should think more than doubtful,) by any
effort of original, unassisted ratiocination
to arrive at the idea of God, together with
all the deep things connected with that
idea, it must at least be clear that profound
reflection, continued exercise and cultiva-
tion of the intellectual powers, the accumu-
lated wisdom of succeeding inquirers, and
full leisure to turn the thoughts to abstract
speculations, would all be requisite for the
task. But we can hardly suppose that the
aboriginal race, had they been left entirely
to themselves, would either have set about
such an inquiry, or would have succeeded
in it, had they made the attempt. It is
probable, they would not have raised their
thoughts from earth to heaven. Or, if
their mind had taken that direction, they
would neither have known from whence to
begin their reasonings on divine things °,

f^ Ellis's Inquiry in Scholar Armed, p. 114.
*^ Ellis, p. 135.

48 LECTURE II.

nor, having begun, would they have had
sure and firm steps, whereon to proceed.

But although man was incapable of ori-
ginating the idea of religion, still when it
was once imparted, it so exactly filled up
the vacant space in his mind, it so well
supplied his wants, that seek to repose
themselves in some superior power; it so
well employed his faculties, that love to
expatiate in the vast and the infinite ; that
it was immediately apprehended, and was
never afterwards lost. It became indeed
corrupted, dreadfully corrupted. But this
very circumstance serves to shew in what
degree religion is suitable and important to
man ; since he has clung to it, with all its
mass of superadded error, he has endured
all the corruptions that have attached them-
selves to it, rather than part with an idea,
that has become an indefeasible and almost
integral part of himself

Accordingly the merciful Creator was not
unmindful of the necessities of man. That
knowledge, which it vitally concerned man
to possess, — that, which he was little in a
condition to have discovered for himself, —

LECTURE 11. 49

yet which, when discovered, was so suitable
and congenial to his mind, was at once
communicated to him. And it was com-
municated both in the manner and in the
degree, which, it appears, were the best
adapted to his actual condition.

As to the manner ; we have spoken of
man, as placed at once by his Creator above
a state of abject barbarism. Still we must
suppose that for a long while his modes of
life, as they were extremely simple, were ill
calculated to produce that cultivation of
mind, which is requisite for the compre-
hension of abstract reasonings. Accord-
ingly, the knowledge of divine things was
communicated, not by metaphysical argu-
ments, not by subtle disquisitions on the
nature and attributes of God, processes
which our own experience tells us are in
the least possible degree suited to convey
information on any subject to the imma-
ture mind, but demonstratively and pal-
pably. In accommodation to the state of
man, the Almighty condescended to be-
come perceptible to his senses : he con-
versed with him ; he issued his commands

E

50 LECTURE II.

and he administered his laws personally;
and mingled himself by direct interposition
in the course of human affairs.

The amount of religious knowledge, thus
conveyed to the earliest race, as we may
collect it from scripture, must have pro-
ceeded at least thus far. That God existed,
the foundation stone of all religion, they
could not doubt, because they saw and
conversed with him. They were taught
also to know him in the unity of his sub-
stance, as the sole author of the universe,
and the sole power that continued to sus-
tain and rule it. His wisdom, his justice
tempered with mercy, his purity, his ab-
horrence of sin ; all this was sensibly and
strikingly demonstrated to their observa-
tion by the earliest transactions on record.
We may add, that the survivance of the hu-
man soul after death, and a future state of
reward and punishment, if they were not
communicated by more direct information,
were involved in the great promise of the
redemption, to which we shall presently ad-
vert. We perceive also the connection be-
tween religion and morality at once esta-

LECTURE 11. 51

blished ; and not only the moral duties en-
joined, but the violation of those duties
placed on the just footing of offences against
God P. Man was also taught the duty of
praying to his heavenly Father, and of wor-
shipping him with peculiar rites ; and,
when sin was entered into the world, he was
taught to entertain a hope,— a hope grounded
on no unauthorized assumption, — of pardon
for transgression, on compliance with cer-
tain prescribed terms.

I would not assert that these great points
of religion were communicated to the pri-
meval race with any systematic precision ;
or that they were seen in that clear and
steady light which was afterwards shed
over them. It remained for later times,
aided by farther assistance from Heaven, and
capable of more profound reflection, to per-
ceive the divine attributes in all their per-
fection and immensity. A longer practice
and experience of life also were requisite to
give a full explication to the moral duties.
And, still more, all the points, connected

M Gen. iv. 10.
E 2

52 LECTURE II.

with the great question of the Redemption,
required a farther and clearer illustration
from Heaven.

But, although some indistinctness may
have hung over these matters, still the fact
remains, that these great articles of faith
were possessed by the first generation of
created man"*. We perceive a creed, to
which all the ingenuity of all the learned
and pious of after-times has not been able
to add a new article of genuine religion ;
and this creed we perceive at a time, when,
if the Bible did not tell us from whence it
came, few would be disposed to assert it
could have been devised by human wit un-^
aided by superior instruction. Surely then
we imagine a vain things when we speak of
natural religion, in the sense of that religion,
which man has discovered for himself by
his own native, unassisted powers. The
question is not one of speculation or of an-
tecedent probability, but, to those who ad-
mit the authority of the Bible, of historical
fact. In consideration of human want, in

q Ellis, p. 139.

LECTURE II. 53

pity to human infirmity, religion was in the
beginning communicated to the original
progenitors of mankind, and from them de-
rived to their posterity, and seldom derived
in its primitive purity. The foundation,
on which all the structure of future revela-
tion was to be built, was at once laid. In
the subsequent dispensations we shall find
that these fundamental articles of all reli-
gion, as they became generally recognised,
and each of them in proportion to its gene-
ral recognition, became less the subject of
especial instruction. On the other hand,
in the peculiar matter of the Redemption, a
different course is pursued. On this sub-
ject the divine communications become
more full and precise, as time advances.
The light from heaven proceeds from a
feeble glimmer to a clear blaze of illumina-
tion. But, in either case, we may trace
the same almighty wisdom, shaping its
course with a view to the circumstances of
those with whom it had to deal, and, at the
same time, fixing its regard with undevi-
ating steadiness on the great and ultimate
object, to which it tended.

K 3

54 LECTURE II.

In the foregoing detail, I have felt my-
self compelled, if not with strict propriety,
yet I hope not inexcusably, to consider in
continuity and connection some points of
religious knowledge, which man acquired
before and after the fall. Much, I am aware,
was learned, when he was the innocent and
happy inhabitant of the garden of Eden.
But I have been willing to avoid so singular
a course, as to speak, systematically, of a
paradisaical dispensation. And, as I sup-
pose the information communicated in pa-
radise was continued, renewed, and illus-
trated to man, after the fall ; — as, in fact,
that continuation, renewal, and illustration
were more than ever needed, when he had
clouded and darkened his mind by sin ; — I
trust it may not be thought very improper,
if I have blended together (what in fact
the insufficiency of our information makes
it difficult to separate) the religious know-
ledge acquired by man in his two different
states.

But it is now more than time that we
proceed to consider the revelations, for
which the transgression of man created

LECTURE 11. 55

especially the occasion, the revelations re-
specting the matter of the redemption.

As it was the design of the Almighty to
reverse the effect of human transgression
by some interposition of mercy, and as this
design was, at the same time, utterly be-
yond the competency of man to discover, it
appears reasonable that it should have been
revealed to him, and, like the other great
truths of religion, revealed in such measure
and in such manner, as the circumstances
of the case required. Of this intended in-
terposition a particular and distinct disclo-
sure might not have been suitable. It
might have lessened the sorrow and com-
punction of our first parents for the act of
disobedience of which they had been guilty ;
and, by raising in them a conceit of versati-
lity in the counsels of God, might have weak-
ened their fear of again offending him. A
new probation, the probation of faith, was
about to be imposed on them ; and this
trial might have lost some of its force, if all
the circumstances of the future deliverance
had been made too distinctly visible. Nor
is it to be supposed that the intellectual

E 4

56 LECTURE 11.

faculties of man were yet sufficiently ad-
vanced to comprehend all the deep and im-
portant truths, involved in the destined
mode and process of the redemption.

But, although it might be proper to cast
considerable obscurity over the future re-
demption, still we can also see reasons for
its partial disclosure. Though man was
fallen, and had offended God, it was not the
design of his merciful Judge to drive him
to despair. In this, as in every subsequent
age, prophecy was intended to act its appro-
priate part of animating hope, and of di-
recting the eye of faith toward some future
good. And in the present instance, that
intention was promoted by the well known
prediction, which has been well termed the
great charter of God's mercy to man "", the
prediction respecting the seed of the wo-
man. The time, the circumstances, the
author, and the organ of that prophetic de-
claration, all conspire to prove that it was
intended to be understood, and in fact must
have been understood, in a sense much

' Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy, p. 73.

LECTURE II. 57

higher than the merely literal import of the
words. It implied an avenger, an avenger
to be especially derived from the woman,
one, who should maintain a continued en-
mity with the foe of mankind, and who, al-
though he should himself receive some in-
jury in the conflict, should be fully victo-
rious in the end. As the seed of the wo-
man, he must have been man. But as the
conqueror of him, who was now known to
be more than a mere serpent, he must also
be of a nature superior to that, which had
yielded to the tempter. As, too, this con-
queror was to deliver mankind from the
power of their enemy, the deliverance would
be commensurate in all points with the evil
which had been brought on them ; and,
this evil not being confined to temporal
and immediate death, it seemed to follow
that the reversal of their doom would ex-
tend to the reversal of some penalty, which
was to have befallen them, not in their
mortal nature, nor in their actual stage of
existence ; a consideration which, if other
instruction had been wanting, involved the

58 LECTURE 11.

doctrine of another life and a future judg-
ment.

But, if we should suppose that these con-
clusions were more than would probably
have been formed from the naked enuncia-
tion of the prophecy in question, we must
next consider, that, even after the expulsion
of man from paradise, God still deigned to
hold direct communication with him. The
sacred history, brief as it is, speaks of God
conversing with the inhabitants of the early
world ; and speaks of it as a circumstance
so much in the course of things, as to re-
quire no particular observation or comment.
And, if this frequent intercourse subsisted,
it is reasonable to suppose that subjects,
which concerned the most essential inter-
ests of man, should be brought under re-
view; and, in particular, that the original
promise should be repeated, perhaps expli-
cated and illustrated, and kept ever present
to the minds of the faithful.

But beside the elucidation derived from
such intercourse with God, we have evi-
dence, if not quite decisive, yet of very con-

LECTURE II. 59

siderable and preponderating weight, that
the original prophecy was further illustrat-
ed, and illustrated in a manner peculiarly
suitable to the apprehensions and manners
of a society in that state, which is always
conversant with symbols and expressive
acts, I allude to the rite of animal sacrifice.
This must of necessity be referred to the
very earliest times. We read of skins ap-
plied to the clothing of Adam and Eve ^ ;
nor, under all the circumstances of the
case, and especially, when man was debarred
from the use of animal food \ is it easy to
conceive from whence those skins should
have been obtained, but from beasts slain in
sacrifice ; or for what purpose but that of sa-
crifice, flocks should have been tended. We
read of animal sacrifice offered by a son of
the first created man, and mentioned appa-
rently as a matter familiar and customary.
Through the patriarchal ages we have an
account of similar offerings ; and, as the

^5 Magee, vol. ii. p. 230. and autliorities quoted.
♦ Magee, vol. ii. p. 31. &c.

60 LECTURE II.

families of the world separated and formed
themselves into distinct communities, we
find in most countries the same practice ; a
practice, so arbitrary, so little likely to have
occurred spontaneously to the minds of all
men, that we are driven to ascribe it to an
ordinance originally given by God to our
first parents, and from them derived, though
with many admixtures and corruptions, to
their descendants. Of the rite so instituted
the design seems to have been to give a
sensible and, as it w^ere, scenical representa-
tion of the great sacrifice afterwards to be
offered for the sins of the world by the true
Lamb of God. In the animal slain on the
altar, the earliest generations might have
been taught to see in what manner the Seed
of the woman should himself be bruised on
the heel ; and, in the piacular efficacy at-
tached to its blood, in what manner he
should bruise the head of the adversary.
They might have been led to understand
with some degree of clearness, how the
Avenger, thus typically prefigured, should
himself suffer death ; but, by his death,

LECTURE 11. 61

should redeem them from the penalty both
of their original transgression and of their
actual sins.

Such appears to have been the great out-
line of the primeval dispensation. On the
whole, both in its substance and in its form,
it appears exactly suited to the circum-
stances of the case. We see Religion de-
scending from heaven, and descending in
such form as we might expect in the in-
fancy of the world, in all her native purity,
without refinement, without artificial em-
bellishment. In mercy to man, she draws
aside that impenetrable veil, which would
have concealed from his eyes the inmates of
heaven ; she discloses to his view the Most
High in all his glorious attributes, and
even gives him a faint glimpse of the Re-
deemer, nearly lost in the obscurity of dis-
tance. She instructs her disciple in lan-
guage plain and simple, because such was
the language that suited his capacity. She
tells him what it immediately concerned
him to know, and what, as advancing time
should ripen his faculties, might prepare
him for farther instructions in the great
mystery of godliness.

62 LECTURE 11.

In stating what appear to have been the
circumstances that corrupted and gra-
dually abrogated this religious system, and
that led the way to a new disposition of
the great plan of Providence, I may be per-
mitted to be very brief; more particularly,
as the light, which the scripture sheds on
our inquiries, is extremely feeble and dim.

However pure and excellent was the re-
velation above attempted to be described,
the provisions, that were made to preserve
and maintain it, seem to have been adapted
to a state, when the numbers of mankind
were not considerable, and the manners,
though not barbarous, were inartificial and
plain. In fact, a system, in which we per-
ceive the Almighty conversing directly with
man, and interposing in a sensible manner
in human transactions, bespeaks a period,
when the restraints and sanctions, which
political government imposes, were little
called into action. The extraordinary pro-
longation of human life, designed as it
should appear, for the express purpose of
transmitting knowledge by tradition, indi-
cates that such a provision was needed as a
substitute for tliose means, by which, in cul-

LECTURE II. 63

tivated times, information is ordinarily con-
veyed. And if we add the other provisions
for the maintenance of religion which the
scripture seems to indicate ; if we suppose
that the glory of the Lord was permanently
manifested on some fixed spot, near the
scene of the former happiness of man, and
that on this spot, as in a holy temple, the
patriarchal chief offered on stated days the
instituted sacrifices to God ; such provisions
could be effectual only so long as mankind
had not spread themselves to any consi-
derable distance from their original seats.

And for a considerable period it is rea-
sonable to suppose that society was in such
a state, as accorded with a religion thus
simple in its organization and provisions.
In the early part of this Lecture, I have
supposed that man was at once placed by
his gracious Creator above a condition of
brutal debasement. But there is a distinct
line of demarcation between barbarism and
simplicity. If we suppose, as it is consist-
ent with the general analogy of the divine
government to suppose, that man, having
received the first rudiments of knowledge.

64 LECTURE II.

was afterwards left to improve and advance
himself by his own energies, his progress
must necessarily have been gradual, and, for
a considerable time, small. Besides, it is
well known that population " is the great
principle, which, by producing inequality of
rank and property, sets the social system in
busy and active motion. Now we surely
should make vast deductions from those
calculations, which would assign to any pe-
riod of the primitive world millions of mil-
lions of inhabitants ^ a population far ex-
ceeding that of the present day. This could
hardly have taken place under circum-
stances completely favourable to increase.
But in the sentence of sterility then im-
posed on the earth in its full rigour y; in the
state of husbandry, for a long while neces-
sarily rude and unproductive ; in the pro-
bable prevalence of the wild beasts of the
field ^ ; and, more than all, in the prohibi-
tion to man to add to his means of sub-

" Sumner, Records of the Creation, vol. ii. c. 5.
X Shuckford, vol. i. p. 32.
y See Sherlock's Use and Intent, p. 79. &c.
z See Dent. vii. 22.

LECTURE 11. 65

sistence by animal food; in all these circum-
stances we, perhaps, may perceive checks to
very active population, greater than would
have been counteracted by the longevity of
the human race, even if we suppose that lon-
gevity to have been as powerful an instru-
ment for a rapid increase as is commonly
supposed ^ But, without entangling our-
selves in speculations as to what may have
been the numbers of mankind at a late pe-
riod of the primitive world, it is at least
clear that the increase from a single pair
must have been progressive, and, for a con-
siderable time, not sufficiently numerous to
give a wide dispersion to the human race,
or to introduce into society those great mo-
difications, which constitute the distinction
between simplicity and refinement.

And it is during that early period, when
the numbers of mankind were small and
their manners plain, that we may suppose
the primitive religion to have existed and
to have been maintained in its purity. God

a See Dr. Hales's observations on the probable age of
puberty among the antediluvians. Anal, of Chron. vol. i.
p. 85.

r

66 LECTURE II.

then visibly manifested himself among his
creatures ; and as there had not yet been
time for the organization of civil govern-
ment, the families lived under the simple
rule of patriarchal authority. And, if in
this state we see little play for those stir-
ring passions of the human soul, which are
instruments in the hand of Providence to
carry mankind onwards on the career of
knowledge and civilization, we likewise see
little scope for the corruptions and crimes,
which are too apt to keep pace with more
advanced and refined manners.

But a state of tutelage, as it is a state of
inaction and irresponsibility, can never be
the theatre of trial. As time rolled on, as
the numbers of mankind increased, society
was destined to proceed, and man, at what-
ever hazard, must be placed in circum-
stances where he may act for himself. But
as society seems to have advanced only so
far as to unfit it for the sanctions of a
simple religion, without, at the same time,
establishing the coercions of regularly con-
structed schemes of polity, licentiousness
and violence had little restraint, and the

LECTURE II. 67

depravation of man became deplorably
great.

It deserves our attention, that even the
brief notices of scripture seem to point out
a remarkable coincidence between the pro-
gress of society in numbers and refinement,
and a declension from the ancient purity
of faith and manners.

We collect, and we collect principally
from the light thrown by St. Paul on the
otherwise obscure subject of the sacrifice of
Cain and Abel^ that the first-born man
apostatized from the true faith. As a pu-
nishment, he was exiled from the spot
where God visibly manifested his glory.
And, as his race increased and multiplied,
we trace the progress of their religious cor-
ruptions ; by the determination of the Seth-
ites to call themselves, in contradistinc-
tion, by the name of the Lord *" ; by the pro-
phecy of Enoch, authenticated by St. Jude '\
respecting the judgment that awaited the
ungodly sinners of his day ; by the com-

b Heb. xi. 4.
c Gen. iv. 26.
d Verse 14, 15.

c Gen. iv. 26. See the marginal translation.

F 2

68 LECTURE II.

mission given to Noah to warn his contem-
poraries of the tremendous judgment, which
their wickedness and impiety were about
to bring down from heaven ^

The progress also of moral deterioration
has one distinct index in Lamech, who
adopted the licentious practice of poly-
gamy, and was himself a murderer. And
the children of Lamech \ correspondent in
degree with the grandfather of Noah, mark,
by the nature of their inventions, that the
numbers of mankind were now sensibly
augmented, and, at the same time, that
manners were becoming less plain and un-
sophisticated.

And we are now approaching to the pe-
riod, when the scripture distinctly tells us
that population was become considerable,
and, in the same breath, that wickedness
sensibly increased. The sacred historian
(speaking, it is clear, of a time not long
prior to the flood) says, in a very remark-
able text. And it cmne to pass ^ when men be-
gun to multiply on the face of the earth ^ ;

e 1 Pet. iii. 20. 2 Pet. ii. 5. f Gen. iv. 19—23.

s Gen. vi. 1.

LECTURE 11. 69

and, immediately and in direct connection,
notes a great step- in the depravation of
mankind, viz. the intermarriages of the
purer line of Seth \ denominated the sons
of God, with the daughters of the more un-
godly race of Cain. From these inauspi-
cious alliances sprang personages, whose
habits were lawless and violent, and who
filled the earth with their outrages. And,
the last separation between piety and im-
piety being thus broken down, we are come
to the state which, according to our Sa-
viour, characterized the closing period of
the antediluvian world, when dissolute-
ness universally prevailed ; when the^/ did
eat, they dj^ank, they did marry wives, they
were given in majTiage'; the same state,
concerning which the Almighty at the time
still more emphatically declared, that the
ivickedness of man ivas great in the earth,
and every imagination of his heart was only
evil continually"^.

At this period it was, when the whole
human race had become depraved, when

h Gen. vi. 2. ' Luke xvii. 26, 27. ^ Gen. vi. 5.

F 3

70 LECTURE I.

the ancient and simple faith, unable to cope
with the growing corruptions, was alto-
gether disappearing from the earth, that
God interfered by a signal, by a tremen-
dous visitation for the purposes of renewing
the world. The whole race of man (with
an exceedingly small exception) was to be
destroyed. In so utter a destruction, the
agency of man himself, which is often made
instrumental in the hands of Providence
for the punishment of human guilt, could
not be employed. God, accordingly, inter-
posed by a direct and immediate judg-
ment ; and the race of man was swept
away by the flood.

When Noah issued from the ark, he was
nearly in the same situation with the first
parent of mankind immediately after the
fall. With him the spark of religion was
kept alive ; with him the primitive faith
was deposited ; with him the covenant was
renewed. We could not expect, nor in fact
did it happen, that corruptions should not
again arise and prevail. But the Almighty
had pledged himself that such a visitation
should not again be inflicted. It should

LECTURE II. 71

also appear that modifications in society, to
which we shall hereafter advert, were per-
mitted to take place. These modifications
seemed to require a different arrangement
of the great scheme of revelation. Another
process for the preservation of religion and
for the instruction of mankind was thence-
forth to be tried. And we have now open-
ing before us a new scene, which will be the
subject of the ensuing Lecture.

F 4

LECTURE III.

Deut. xxxii. 8, 9.

When the Most High divided to the nations their
inherita7ice^ wheyi he separated the sons of
Adam, he set the bounds of the people accord-
ing to the niimher of the children of Israel.

For the Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is
the lot of his inheritance.

At the close of the last Lecture it was ob-
served, that some circumstances, which be-
gan to operate after the flood, promised to
give a new modification to human society.
The general tendency of those circum-
stances was to introduce into the world a
ferment and an activity before unknown.
The life of man, though at first of consi-
derable length, was gradually curtailed, till
it was reduced to its present limits. The
mitigation ^ of the curse of sterility to the
earth, allowed a larger production of the

^ See Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy, p. 79, &c.

74 LECTURE III.

fruits necessary for the life of man ; — while
the permission to use animal food added to
his means of subsistence. Under these cir-
cumstances, population would naturally ad-
vance more rapidly, and, by its reflex ope-
ration, would give a quicker stimulus to the
productive arts, and a stronger impulse to
all the wheels that set society in busy mo-
tion. The domestic rule might now have
been expected to give place to more artifi-
cial and complex forms of polity. Accord-
ingly, we soon hear of one, who began to be
mighty in the earth ^. And, although we
surely must reject as fabulous the account
of extended empires and mighty dynasties
soon after the flood, yet our reasonable ex-
pectations concur with the accidental hints
of scripture to assure us, that mankind were
now forming themselves into political com-
munities, and submitting to more regular
governments. And, when the impious at-
tempt to build the tower of Babel had pro-
duced the confusion of tongues, this diver-
sity of language, as it would tend to sepa-

b Gen. X. 8.

LECTURE III. 75

rate mankind more and more into distinct
associations, would still farther create the
reciprocal action of hostilities and alliances,
of enmity and friendship, together with all
the excitement and animation arising from
such oppositions and combinations ; until,
in process of time, conquest, commerce,
arts, sciences, literature, and the general
cultivation of the intellectual faculties,
would gradually bring society into that
state of advancement, which bespeaks the
adolescence of human race.

But, although these changes in the state
of the world occupy not many seconds in
the statement, long centuries were required
for their actual developement and comple-
tion. The germ of polity and civilization
was discernible ; but there was little more
than the germ, for some centuries after the
flood. For a considerable period of time
the world remained in a rude state. And,
in this state, there seems to be an almost
invincible propensity in the human mind,
unless it be coerced by direct interposition
from above, to lapse into polytheism and
idolatry. The original revelation had, in-

76 LECTURE III

deed, stamped on the soul of man the idea
of religion too deeply to be altogether ef-
faced. But his faculties were weakened by
sin ; and the spiritual adoration of one
divine, invisible, immaterial Being, was a
point of elevation, at which he could not
sustain himself without aid and support.
Tending, therefore, as by natural gravita-
tion, downwards, he sought relief in the
worship of objects more perceptible to the
sense, — the celestial luminaries, whose in-
fluence he felt, — or the ancestors, the po-
tentates, the benefactors, whom he had re-
garded with various feelings of respect or
gratitude. Many and great evils were in-
separably inherent in this alienation of the
human mind from the true God. And we,
moreover, know from invariable experience,
that time alone has never remedied those
evils ; that idolatry, if it has not declined
from bad to worse, has never been able to
reform itself, or altogether to abandon the
absurdities, the impurities, the cruelties,
which it has once adopted.

What then in this case was to be done ?
If any restraint were to be placed against

LECTURE III. 77

this tendency to idolatry, three processes,
whereby it might be checked, suggest them-
selves to our mind. God might have inter-
fered universally by a direct and sensible
manifestation of himself; or the Messiah
might at once have stationed himself on
some spot of the earth, and from thence
have issued an authoritative voice to all
lands ; or a partial dispensation might
have been given to keep a select portion of
mankind in the true faith, and to secure
from the deluge of idolatry one station,
where the Messiah, when he should come,
might rest the sole of his foot ^ Numerous
other arrangements also might, we must be
well aware, have been devised by Almighty
wisdom. But these readily offer themselves
to our thoughts ; and even our limited vi-
sion can see valid reasons against the first
and second of the courses supposed.

As to the first, — mankind were already
become so numerous and so widely dis-
persed, and were fast tending to numbers
so much greater, and to a dispersion so

^ Gen. viii. 9-

78 LECTURE III.

much more extensive, that a sensible, that
is, a miraculous interference must have
been conducted on so large a scale, as to
make miracles, not an exception and inter-
ruption to the ordinary course of Provi-
dence, but customary and regular; in
other words, lose their essential character,
and cease to be miraculous. As to the se-
cond,— for a long period the mind of man
was not yet sufficiently advanced to com-
prehend all the great truths, which the Re-
deemer should bring to light. Moreover,
the intercourse of nations was not such as
to have permitted the diffusion of a reli-
gion designed to be universal. And, after-
wards, when society was somewhat more
advanced, and, at first sight, less unfit for
the personal instructions of the Messiah,
his coming may still have been postponed,
that the experiment might be fairly made,
whether nations, that could reach a high
point of improvement in matters solely de-
pendent upon human ingenuity, could, at
the same time, succeed in rescuing them-
selves from the baneful influence of false
religion ; that so, if they should fail, as we

LECTURE III. 79

now know they did fail, there might arise
a demonstrative proof of the necessity for
a farther interposition from heaven to en-
lighten and instruct mankind.

The third supposition, that of a partial
dispensation, appeared liable to none of
these inconveniencies. It was a plan, by
which, without making preternatural inter-
ference too common, without prematurely
hastening the advent of the Redeemer,
without denying to man a fair trial of his
own powers, God might yet preserve faith
on earth, and prepare the way for the com-
ing of the promised Seed of the woman.

This, the second, great dispensation of
God in the matter of revealed religion, we
are now, therefore, to trace. The course
lies directly and unavoidably before us.
And if, as I have too much reason to ap-
prehend, what I may have to offer on this
subject shall appear trite, it should be re-
membered, that an attempt to discover new
paths would probably lead me only into
error; and, in pursuing a stage so fre-
quently and so thoroughly beaten, it is im-

80 LECTURE III.

possible not to tread on the footsteps of
others.

Of this dispensation we may state the
principal objects to have been, first, to purify
from the corruptions, which had gathered
around them, the originally revealed truths
of the existence and the providential agency
of one Almighty Creator; and, second, as the
time for the promised Redemption became
less remote, to set forth the Redeemer
more prominently, and in a more conspi-
cuous light. These were its leading and
direct objects. But we should further add,
that, in this, as in other stages of the scheme
of revelation, the Almighty availed himself
of the religious dispensation then given, to
establish or to strengthen some other great
truths, conducive both to the immediate
edification and to the prospective advance-
ment of mankind.

And as, in the general scheme of revela-
tion, the whole has been opened gradually,
and in accordance with the actual circum-
stances of the world ; so, in this particular
dispensation, which itself was to spread over

LECTURE III. 81

a long tract of time, we may perceive the
same character of progressive developement
and of nice adaptation to the exigencies of
those who were to receive it.

For this purpose, God established a di-
rect communication, first, with a particular
individual ; next, with the immediate de-
scendants of that individual ; and, then, as
those descendants multiplied into a people,
with the people derived from the original
ancestor. With that individual, with that
family, and with that people, the. divine in-
tercourse was maintained, with the same
objects ever steadily in view, but in a man-
ner varying according to the varying cir-
cumstances of themselves and of the other
nations. Their internal condition, as to
numbers, civilization, and mental improve-
ment, determined the mode and description
of the divine communications to them-
selves. And in their relation to the rest
of the world, so long as the human mind
continued in that immature state, when it
is peculiarly susceptible of the contagion of
idolatry, the chosen people were made, in
the language of the prophet, to dwell alone,

8^ LECTURE III

and 7iot be reckoned among the nations '^ ;
afterwards, when the world was so far ad-
vanced, that it was probable the Israelites,
instead of imbibing disease, might commu-
nicate health around, no less care was
taken to remove some of the fences which
had hitherto enclosed them, and to facili-
tate and promote their intercourse with
other people.

This dispensation must be considered to
have commenced with Abraham. I cannot,
however, detain you with matter so very
familiar as the personal history of the first
patriarchs of the Jewish race. It may be
sufficient merely to say, that, as Abraham
was himself called out of idolatry, — as ido-
latry either prevailed or was rapidly ad-
vancing in the countries, into which he and
his household after* hiin were conducted, —
and as no systematic form of religious po-
lity could be established with a few private
individuals, the Almighty conversed with
them, as with the earliest generations of
mankind, by direct and personal communi-

^ Num. xxiii. 9-

LECTURE III. 8S

cation. And in all his dealings with them,
whether in affixing a sensible mark on their
body, whether in the migratory habits
which he imposed on the first fathers, or
in the servitude and persecution to which
their posterity were reduced in the land of
Egypt, — in all, his object was to preserve
them a peculiar and distinct tribe, till, being
augmented into a nation, they should be
fit, in their national capacity, to receive a
system of religious and civil ordinances.
By this process, they became better qua-
lified to be depositaries of the great truths
intended to be placed in their keeping. And,
with Abraham at least, we know how well
this process succeeded; since his faith in
God is become proverbially honourable, and
we have the testimony of our Lord himself,
that he saw, and rejoiced to see, his day^

Let us then at once pass on to Moses,
with whom a new and a highly interesting
era commences, and who was used as an in-
strument in developing a very important
part in the great counsel of God. The

^ John viii. 56.
G 2

84 LECTURE III.

time, foreseen and specified by tlie Al-
mighty, had now permitted the descendants
of Abraham to swell into a nation. In this
stage, a fuller revelation of divine things
was to be made, and, the better to secure
its preservation, was to be recorded in writ-
ing. The revelation itself was directed to
the three great objects above specified.
And when we proceed to look at the na-
tional establishment of the Jews, and more
particularly to their religious institutions,
if we will bear in mind that they were
framed expressly with a view to those ob-
jects, and were, at the same time, to be im-
posed on a people, at first extremely rude,
and to the end of time of dull and sluggish
mind, we shall have a key, that will explain
all the peculiarities, I may say, the seeming
anomalies, of the Mosaic legislation.

I. Let us then look, in the first instance,
to the measures adopted for the purpose of
keeping the Jewish people in the genuine
worship of the great Being, who from
henceforth was to be known by a distinct
and peculiar name.

1. On their departure from Egypt, they

LECTURE III. 85

were long detained in the desert, apart
from all communication with other people ;
nor were they permitted to emerge from
this state of sequestration, till there had
grown up a generation, who had known no
God but Jehovah, no minister of religion
but his accredited prophet and agent ; a
generation also, whom a course of moral
discipline should have rendered less unfit
to enjoy the blessings of the promised
land.

2. During their passage into their des-
tined seats, the Israelites were favoured
with that evidence to the truth of the di-
vine revelation, which alone was likely to
impress minds constituted like theirs, — the
evidence of miracles. Abstract reasonings on
the existence and the attributes of the Deity
were little likely to have affected them.
Prophecy, although not altogether withheld,
was rather laid as a foundation for ulterior
purposes, than applied to immediate use.
But miracles, being addressed to the senses,
were what the people could understand and
appreciate. When they saw the wonderful

G 8

86 LECTURE III.

appearance of a cloud by day and a fire by
night ^, that directed their marches ; when
they heard the Law given in thunder from
Mount Sinai ^ ; when they drank the water
that gushed from the dry rock ^ ; when they
ate the flesh and the bread given in an ex-
traordinary manner for their sustenance';
when they felt their diseases ^ removed by
casting their eyes on the brasen figure of a
serpent ; then they were addressed in a tone
and in a language which they could under-
stand ; they were convinced that He, who
could do such things, must indeed be God,
and that to a Being of such power it was
their duty to render obedience and ho-
nour.

3. But, although these manifestations of
a nmghty hand and an outstretched arm
could not fail to impress even the gross
minds of the Israelites with the power of
the divine Ruler, they were not of them-
selves sufficient to preserve that people from

f Exod. xiii. ^1. ' Exod. xvi. 13.

§ Exod. xix. ^ Num. xxi. 9-

^ Exod. xvii. 6.

LECTURE III. 87

an error, into which they were much dis-
posed to run. At most times, their lapses
into idolatry consisted, less in rejecting
their own God, than in associating and
combining him with others. They saw
that the surrounding nations mutually
adopted each other's deities, and even in
some cases paid certain marks of respect to
the Jehovah of Israeli Hence, although
the foreign deities might perhaps be inferior
to their own, still, considering them as enr-
dued with superhuman power, they were
willing to secure their favour and protection,
and for this purpose to pay them a certain
adoration; a laxity of allegiance to their own
divine Ruler, to which they were the more
attracted by the shewy and pleasurable, but
licentious rites, which disgraced the wor-
ship of heathenism. But, as this intercom-
munity of religious rites was, not only de-
rogatory from the majesty of God, but also
directly opposed to the specific purpose for
which the present revelation was imparted,
the Almighty guarded against this danger

1 1 Sam. V. 7, &c.
G 4

88 LECTURE III.

with peculiar care by the nature of the
religious institutions that he appointed.
We can plainly see how well these institu-
tions were, in several respects, adapted to
the object in view.

1. In the first place, as being designed
for a people too carnal for the refinements
of a spiritual worship, the rites, while they
were perfectly free from any impure ad-
mixture, were pompous and splendid. Even
during their wanderings in the wilderness,
care was taken that the furniture for the ta-
bernacle ''', the utensils for sacred purposes,
the dress of the priest, in short every thing
appertaining to religious worship, should
be calculated to impress the senses. And
when, in process of time, the temple was
built, we know that its architecture, its de-
corations, and the worship that was cele-
brated within its walls, rendered it one of
the most magnificent and august spectacles,
which the eye of man has ever beheld.

2. But, while care was thus taken, in mo-
delling the Jewish rites, to excite a people
of torpid mind, something more than the

"^ Exod. XXV. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii.

LECTURE III. 89

mere gratification of the eye was consi-
dered. The next thing to be noticed is
the pains that were bestowed to distin-
guish their rites from those of the idola-
trous nations around. This precaution runs
throughout the Jewish ritual, and explains
some points, on which it might seem an
unreasonable stress was laid, were it not
that they were commanded or prohibited, —
partlyperhapswith a symbolical meaning" in
reference to certain habits of mind, — but
still more in contradistinction to particular
practices of idolatry, which it was intended
to discountenance. As instances, we may
mention various ordinances respecting "" in-
congruous mixtures in processes of hus-
bandry, respecting the classification ^ of
clean and unclean beasts, respecting "^ some
peculiarities of sacrifice, the structure of the
altar ', the dress of the priests, and even the
disposition of their hair and beard ^

" Scheme of Scripture-Divinity in Collection of Theo-
logical Tracts, p. 116.

o Deut. xxii. 9, 10. ^ Exod. xx. 25, 26.

P Lev. xi. 1. &c. 5 Lev. xix. 27.

M Exod. xxiii. 19.

90 LECTURE III.

3. But a still farther precaution was
taken to keep God constantly in view of
the Jewish people, by the very close and
intimate connection of religion with the af-
fairs of ordinary life. These could seldom
be carried on without a reference to God.
The first-born male^ whether of man or
cattle, was considered to belong to the
Lord, and was to be redeemed by a price.
The regulations respecting marriage \ inhe-
ritance, and alliance ; the relation of masters
and servants'", and the tenure of private
property, were of a peculiar nature, and
were directly connected with religion.
Three times'" in every year the males were
required to suspend their employments in
order to pay their worship at the holy city.
The seventh day in every week was de-
voted to the more immediate service of
God. Every seventh year all the occupa-
tions of husbandry stood still ^ ; and, in the
superabundant supplies of the preceding
year ^ the people saw a standing and visible

t Exod. xxii. 29. xxxiv. 19. =^ Exod. xxiii. 16.

" Num. xxvii. 1, xxxvi. 1. Y Exod. xxiii. 10. Sec.

V Lev. XXV. 39. ^ Lev, xxv. 21.

LECTURE III. 91

testimony to the truth of Jehovah. And
when a sabbath of sabbaths returned % the
hberation of slaves and the restoration of
property to the former occupier served to
make it difficult to be forgotten to whom
the people belonged, and by what tenure
the land was held. Even the ordinary
means of national defence were prohibited ^
that the welfare of the people might be
known to depend immediately upon their
divine Protector.

4. Nor was it only as a God to be wor-
shipped and considered on every occasion of
ordinary life, that Jehovah exhibited him-
self to the Jews. He condescended to act
as a sort of temporal king, judge, and cap-
tain over the people. He carried on his
government by the ministry of the sacer-
dotal family, who, unlike the priests of ido-
latrous religions, were an order of men pro-
fessionally distinct from the rest of the
community. And, in the earlier part of
the Jewish history, the judges, magistrates
who may not improperly be called spiritual

a Lev. XXV. 11. &c. b Deiit. xvii. 16.

92 LECTURE III.

dictators, were commissioned by the so-
vereign ruler, as various emergencies arose,
to execute some extraordinary service for
the people.

5. Of this mode of administering the
Jewish government, the consequence was,
that, as it was in the hands of One w^ho
controlled the destinies of the whole hu-
man race, the obedience or disobedience of
the people might always have its measure
of reward in temporal prosperity or adver-
sity. Nor, according to the notions then
prevalent, when the deities were supposed
to be protectors and guardians locally pre-
siding over their several districts, and each
tutelary God was considered strong in pro-
portion to the protection which he visibly
extended, could there be devised any means
more calculated to keep the Jews in alle-
giance to their heavenly king. When he
said, that if they obeyed him, their cattle
should be numerous*", their land fruitful,
their families prolific, their armies victo-
rious, this argument was not only cogent,

'^ Exod. xxiii. 25. Lev. xxvi. 4, &c.

LECTURE III. 93

but suited to the spirit of the times. So,
too, when he said that, if they disobeyed
him ^, every national and every personal ca-
lamity should befall them, this was to ap-
ply motives intelligible, and likely to touch
and move them. Nor, under these circum-
stances, was it necessary to excite them to
the observance of their duty toward their
God by considerations of a more refined
and spiritual nature. Where a system of
temporal and immediate reward and pu-
nishment was brought forward and really
carried into execution, it was not necessary,
for the purpose of proving the existence or
the moral attributes of God, to appeal from
the present to the future, from the irregu-
larities of the existing state of things to the
retribution, which is yet to come. Accord-
ingly, the doctrine of a future existence
and retribution made no part of the Mo-
saic dispensation ; I mean, as specifically
distinguished from the dispensation which
preceded it. I do not mean to assert that
the doctrines of the survivance of the hu-

d Dent. xi. 16, 17

94 LECTURE III.

man soul and of a judgment after death
were unknown to the Jews, even in the
earher stages of their history. Several ^ dis-
tinct indications of their knowledge on
these points may be traced in their sacred
books. And, if it be inquired v/hy these
indications do not appear more frequently
and more prominently, it may be remem-
bered, that the writings of Moses - are
chiefly occupied in narrating events or in
propounding laws ; circumstances, under
which there seems to be no reason why a
reference to their opinions as to a future
state should be more frequently made, than
is made in the narrative of other historians
or the code of other legislators. What the
Jews knew or thought on these points ap-
pears only incidentally, just as their know-
ledge or thoughts on other points of reli-
gious philosophy may appear. Their know-
ledge had been derived from the earlier
communications respecting divine things,
which had been made to the first patriarchs,

e See Graves's Lectures on the Pentateuch, Lee. iv.
sect. 1, 2.

* See Fabcr on the Dispensations, vol, ii. p. 84.

LECTURE III. 95

and from them handed down to their de-
scendants. And, as the people were not
absolutely in need of renewed information
on that subject, the Mosaic revelations were
confined to the other objects, which were
then more immediately and more especially
in the contemplation of God.

II. The first of these objects, viz. the pre-
servation of the knowledge of the great Je-
hovah, we have now revievved, and have
traced the principal means that were taken
for its attainment. But another and per-
haps more influential object remained. A
belief in the one true God was principally
laid as a foundation, on which to rear the
superstructure of the revelation of Christ.
But the views of that subsequent revelation
were opened exactly as suited the circum-
stances and condition of the people, who
were to prepare the way for the coming of
the Messiah. At first, as might be expected
on consideration of the time that was to in-
tervene before Christ should be revealed,
as might also have been expected from a
view of the actual character of the Jewish
people, the light, that pointed to him, was

96 LECTURE III.

feeble and wavering. But God, even at a
distant period, did not leave himself with-
out the testimony of prophecy ; at the time,
to animate the passing generation with
hope for the future ; afterwards, to afford
a retrospective argument for the truth of
his word. When he had called Abraham
out of Chaldaea, he promised, not only, that
the posterity of the patriarch should be nu-
merous, and should possess the gate of his
enemies, but also that in his seed should all
the natio7is of the earth be blessed ^. The in-
heritor of the blessing, distinctively termed
the blessing of Abraham \ transmitted it to
his son Jacob ; and Jacob '\ in nearly a si-
milar form of words, transmitted it to Ju-
dah out of all his sons ; thus narrowing the
hope of the promised Seed, which before
had been common to all the Abrahamic
race, to one particular tribe, in like manner
as the same hope was, in after-times, nar-
rowed from that tribe in general to one of
its families. And at the period, when the
Israelites were ripe to take possession of

g Gen. xxii. IT. ^ Gen. xxviii. 4. ' Gen. xlix. 8.

LECTURE III. 97

their tennx)ral inheritance, the Almighty,
apprehensive lest the people should ima-
gine they had reached the termination of
their destinies, selected that moment to in-
form them by his servant Moses, that, high
as was the authority of their present law-
giver, there should yet be raised up another
prophet ^, to whom they should give ear.

With a view also to keep this prospect
before their eyes, and, at the same time, to
effect the purpose in a manner suited to a
people of gross conceptions, yet, like all
orientals, deeply impressible by symbols
and signs, there was formed a ritual, which
may be called a visible prophecy almost
throughout. Of the festivals, the sacrifices,
the ceremonies, many were, and probably
were understood to be, types and represen-
tations of future incidents ; such as were the
Passover ; the offering ^ of the one goat, and
the dismission of the other into the wilder-
ness, with the iniquities of the people on
his head ; the Atonement made by the high
priest for the sins of himself and of the na-

^ Deut. xviii. 18. ' Lev. xvi.

H

98 LECTURE III.

tion ; with many other sacrificial rites too
numerous now to be specified. Even the
personages that appear in the history, as
Moses, Joshua, David, and others, were a
sort of representatives, in their several cha-
racters and capacities, of Him who was
afterwards to arise. And if these prophe-
tic rites and these prophetic personages,
while they spoke of something to come,
spoke of it in such a tone as to convey no
very distinct apprehensions to the men of
the earlier time, matters were so arranged,
that, when the light, arising from the sys-
tem of a particular providence, became
more faint, it should be replaced by an in-
crease of the light of prophecy, which, as
time advanced, begun to be imparted more
largely, and to point with more precise di-
rection to the coming Messiah. In order
also to give additional credit to the prophe-
tic office, as well as to prevent the people
from sinking into despair at seasons of na-
tional calamity, such times were generally
marked bj^ an effusion more than ordinary
of the spirit of prophecy. Again, lest the
distance of the period, to which the accom-

LECTURE III. 99

plishment of the master prophecy was
thrown back, should weaken the faith of the
people in the divine promises, there were
intermixed with the predictions respecting
the Messiah others respecting both the in-
ternal state of Judea and also several sur-
rounding states, with whose destinies those
of the Israelites were closely connected;
that so, as the predictions respecting their
own country, respecting Moab, Edom, and
Amalek, or, in later times, respecting Ni-
neveh, Tyre, Egypt, and Babylon, were ac-
complished, this accomplishment might
exhibit a direct demonstration of the truth
of prophecy, and might induce those for
whose sake it was exhibited, to carry their
hopes and their faith onwards to the period
when the long expected Messiah should
appear. Again, in some cases, the nearer
and more distant future were conjoined ;
the prophecies bearing a double sense, of
which the one regarded the proximate, the
other the remote, event, the one had a tem-
poral, the other a spiritual import. And,
throughout, the prophets, beside their more
immediate and peculiar office, were com-

H 2

100 LECTURE III.

missioned to be preachers of righteousness
in succession to their contemporaries ; to
deal forth commendation or reproof; to
supply the brevity of the Mosaic code by
farther instruction in morals ; and espe-
cially to open the minds of the people, as
their minds should become capable of larger
views, to a spiritual, to an evangelical, inter-
pretation of the prophecies.

These various processes were used to
give effect to the testimony of prophecy
respecting Jesus. Nor were these processes
without success. In the course of time, not
only the prophets themselves, who must
be supposed always to have inquired and
searched diligently^^ to comprehend the na-
ture of that glory which they were commis-
sioned to announce ; nor only those schools
of the prophets, which were established to
promote the knowledge of religious truth ;
but the great body of the Israelites, came to
be so well acquainted with the offices, the
history, the era of the Messiah, that their
views resembled more a knowledge of the

^^ 1 Pet. i. 10, 11.

LECTURE III. 101

past, than an anticipation of the future.
And, this point being gained, in like man-
ner as the particular providence had ceased,
when, by its sensible interpositions and
temporal dispensations, it had succeeded in
fixing the people in the faith of Jehovah ;
so, when the repetition of prophecies had
served to fix the people in the faith of the
coming Messiah, the spirit of prophecy also
ceased. Besides, the Jews had gradually
become a more cultivated and generally
enlightened people. Linked, and, as we
shall farther see in the ensuing Lecture,
providentially linked, at many points of
contact, with nations better instructed than
themselves in most questions of human
knowledge, they had profited by the con-
nection ; and, advancing with the advanc-
ing state of the world, they had reached
the period of their national manhood. And,
care having been already taken to establish
them in the belief of God and in the ex-
pectation of the Messiah, they now w^ere
also placed by divine providence in such a
state as to their mental capacity in general,
that the blindness would be wilful, and,

H 3

102 LECTURE III.

consequently, the blame would rest only
with themselves, if they did not adequately
comprehend the great truths, which the
Messiah, when he came into the world,
should reveal.

III. Thus far we have considered the
Jewish economy as it was directly instru-
mental to the main purpose of the intended
redemption. But we have repeatedly stat-
ed, that, in all the preparatory dispensations
of religion, the divine wisdom has also con-
trived to involve other matter, which should
be generally conducive to the instruction
and improvement of the human kind. And,
in the present instance, we should very in-
adequately exhibit the use and design of
the Jewish dispensation, if we did not add,
that, while the Almighty led the way,
through the medium of the children of Is-
rael, to a farther developement of doctrinal
truth, he also laid, with the same people,
the foundation for an improvement more
particularly in moral science. At the time
when he wrote with his own finger the
commandments especially regarding his
own honour and worship, he added a second

LECTURE III. 103

table respecting the duties of man to man.
And, if we will consider that this was the
earliest code of written law existing in the
world, and will examine that code, not
merely in its positive injunctions, but in
the extensive and spiritual meaning in
which it was designed to be understood, it
justly challenges our admiration. Nor were
the precepts of morality confined to the De-
calogue. The Law abounds, throughout,
with directions for the conduct of life, and
with exhortations to holiness, interwoven
with the religious commandments. And,
if we would see how far the code of Moses
outran the morality of other nations even
in later and more cultivated times, how
much it breathed by anticipation the spirit
of the Gospel, let us recollect that our Lord
himself, at times, was contented with restor-
ing" the former precepts to their genuine
and original meaning, and that he even bor-
rowed ° from the Law his favourite, his inva-
luable rule. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. Neither is this rule single and

" Malt. XV. 4, &c. ^^ Lev. xix. 18.

H 4

104 LECTURE III.

insulated, but is one out of numerous in-
junctions of a similar tone. Let us recollect
the tender consideration of the Mosaic code
for the P stranger and the bondsman % urged
on the people by the touching argument,
that they had themselves been strangers
and bondmen in the land of Egypt. Let
us recollect its considerable regard for the
poor in various directions, not to reap the
corners of the field ^, not to gather every
grape of the vineyard ', not to withhold the
wages of the hired servant*, directions en-
forced with the awful sanction, / a7n the
Loj'd thy God, Let us recollect" its in-
junction to rise up before the hoary head,
and to honour the face of an old man. Let
us recollect its cautions against oppressing
or wronging the fatherless or widow "". Let
us recollect its beautiful provisions against
unfeeling conduct toward debtors ^, by for-
bidding the creditor to go into his house to
fetch the pledge. Let us recollect its di-

P Lev. xix. 33, 34. * Lev. xix. 13.

^1 Deut. XV. 15. ^ Lev. xix. 32.

' Lev. xix. 9. ^ Deut. xxiv. 17, &c.

^ Lev. xix. 10, y Deut. xxiv. 10, &c.

LECTURE III. 105

rections for befriending even an enemy %
and its exquisite delicacy toward female
captives taken in war^. Let us recollect
that it extends its tender mercies even to
the inferior animals; that it enjoins a rest
for cattle as for men on the Sabbath-day,
and forbids the people to muzzle the ox
that treadeth the corn ^ or to destroy the
dam, when they have occasion to take the
young birds ^

And, in tracing the series of persons, who,
after Moses, acted under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, we shall still find, that,
while they spake of things directly apper-
taining to religious doctrine, they also made
it a part of their office to expose and de-
nounce vice, and to expound, enlarge, and
enforce the requisitions of morality. To
this the whole canon of the ancient scrip-
tures bears testimony. But there are two
works more particularly of an ethical na-
ture, that should not be passed by without
especial notice ; I mean, the Proverbs and

7 Exod. xxiii. 4, 5. ^^ Dent. xxv. 4.

^ Deut. xxi. 14. ^ Deut. xxii. 6.

106 LECTURE III.

the book of Ecclesiastes. Some centuries
before certain philosophers of Greece, by a
few moral aphorisms, acquired the title of
wise men, these works existed ; and, by the
sagacity of their observations on men and
manners, by their excellent precepts for the
conduct of life, and, more than all, by their
reference of all moral obligation to the su-
preme will of God, they breathe that wisdom
and understanding, which, itis expressly said,
their author received from the Lord ^.

The like observations might be applied
to the sacred poetry of Israel. At present,
I do not speak of the inspired bards merely
in their prophetical capacity. I speak of
them also as the teachers of moral wisdom.
And, if we will compare their strains with
the songs of pagan poets addressed to their
deities, with the hymns, for instance, of
Homer or Callimachus, we cannot fail to be
struck, not only with the superior grandeur
of their imagery, but with the higher tone of
pure devotion and of noble sentiment that
is breathed by the muse of Sion.

^l 1 Kings iii. 12.

LECTURE III. 107

These points might receive a much more
ample illustration. But, as we have already
seen how the dispensation now under review
prepared the way for the manifestation of
the Redeemer ; so what has been said may
enable us summarily to note, how the same
dispensation, by the general character of its
doctrines and laws, served, at the same time, to
promote the great design of Providence for
the progressive instruction and advance-
ment of the human race.

First of all, we perceive God known and
recognised in his true character. His unity
forms the leading principle of the whole
system ; it meets us in every point ; it is
repeated word upon word, line upon line ;
and is made the basis, not only of all reli-
gious worship, but of all moral obligation.
The providential agency of God in superin-
tending and directing the system of the uni-
verse, his spirituality, his omnipotence, his
eternity, his wisdom, his purity, are also pow-
erfully asserted. And, more than all ^ the

e See in particular that very sublime passage, "• And
" the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The
" Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering
" and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for

108 LECTURE III.

reconciliation of his justice with his mercy,
the process, by which two attributes, seem-
ingly incompatible, are made to unite to-
gether without confusion and without mu-
tual injury ; this it is, that constitutes the
distinguishing feature, as of the scheme of
divine revelation in general, so especially of
the Jewish dispensation. And this import-
ant subject it illustrates, by throwing a
strong and continually increasing light on
the great doctrine of the Atonement.

So also to the Jews it was taught how
to worship the great Being, thus worthily
exhibited before them, with pure and holy
rites. On the altar of Jehovah no human
victim ever bled. With his worship no im-
purities, no debaucheries, were intermixed.
His ritual was never made the instrument
for promoting designs of worldly policy by
delusive and fraudulent practices. Nor,
under his religion, were external observ-
ances ever represented as substitutes for
inward holiness and practical obedience.

" thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
" sin, and that tcHl hy no means clear the gtiUtyy Exod.
xxxiv. 6, 7.

LECTURE III. 109

And, as the faith of the Jews was thus
pure, and their worship thus holy, so the
great cause of virtue was promoted both by
the character of their moral law, and by the
basis on which its was placed. While the
precepts were in themselves most excellent,
and in advance before the morality of their
age, they were at the same time com-
manded to be practised on the proper
ground of religious obedience, and with the
sole view of serving and pleasing God.

These surely are great steps in the science
of sacred philosophy. These grand truths,
once recognised and received as articles of
religious belief, are calculated to give no
slight elevation and impulse to the human
mind. In the case now before us, we can-
not but adore the wisdom of God, who, in
prosecuting his great scheme of redeeming
love, so arranged his measures, as to ad-
vance, at the same time and by the same pro-
cess, the landmarks of that knowledge, on
which the improvement of mankind mainly
depends. And to this wisdom we shall be yet
more disposed to pay our humble tribute of
admiration, when we farther and in conclu-

110 LECTURE III.

sion observe, that the instructions, true to
their constantly prevailing design, served at
once to enlighten mankind according to
their immediate need, and also to fit and
prepare them in due time to receive a fuller
measure of religious and moral informa-
tion.

At present the purpose was not to reveal,
as a new doctrine, the existence of some
supreme power. That had been made
known by the primeval revelations respect-
ing God. Neither was it to teach, that
the Deity should be worshipped and certain
duties of morality discharged. However
imperfectly understood, however inade-
quately carried into practice, these truths
did not remain now to be learned in their
first elements. But on these subjects there
prevailed much ignorance, and yet more
error. Accordingly, the present dispensa-
tion tended to teach these thino:s in their
purity and integrity, in marked contradis-
tinction to certain prevalent corruptions,
and with additional precision and expan-
sion. With a view to the propensity of
mankind, not to deny, but to multiply, God,

LECTURE III. Ill

it especially taught that he was one. With
a view to their propensity to suppose, that,
if there were one supreme Deity, he dele-
gated the providential government of the
world to certain inferior agents, it taught
that He acted by his own immediate and
single authority. With a view to various
misconceptions respecting the character of
God, it taught that he was holy, just, and
good. With a view to the highly objec-
tionable rites, by which mankind sought
for pardon or favour from Heaven, it taught
how God should be worshipped, and how
remission of sins could be obtained. With
a view to the narrow and grosser concep-
tions of mankind on the subject of the mo-
ral duties, it purified and exalted those du-
ties, it enlarged their sphere of operation,
it gave them a new direction, and, in parti-
cular, it endeavoured, gradually and as so-
ciety could bear it, to correct that harsh,
that stern, that unfeeling character, which
almost always distinguishes the intercourse
of man with man in a low state of know-
ledge and civilization.

To the other great principle in the pro-

112 LECTURE III.

ceedings of the Almighty it is enough
merely to advert. Even if I did not feel
that I had already too far trespassed on
your time, it would be only an anticipation
of what should follow, to do more than
simply state, that these great doctrines ob-
viously were preparatory to that future dis-
pensation, which should yet more distinctly
teach that God should be worshipped in
spirit and in truth ; and that, as fuller in-
structions in the law of righteousness were
vouchsafed, and man was furnished with
farther aid to carry that law into practice,
he should aspire to a perfection of pu-
rity and benevolence, far beyond his for-
mer endeavours, and not short of the stan-
dard even of God himself

LECTURE IV.

Psalm xcvi. 10.

Tell it out among the heathen tlmt the Lord

is King.

Our two preceding Lectures have led us
to see, first, that a divine revelation was
originally given in common to the whole
race of man, and, next, that when the cir-
cumstances of the world seemed to require
some more precise and definite, though less
general, communication of religious know-
ledge, such a dispensation was given to one
people selected from the rest of the na-
tions. At the same time, it is not unrea-
sonable to suppose, that some faint and im-
perfect memorials of the original revelation
should have long subsisted in the world at
large. Neither is it inconsistent with the
declared purposes of God, in regard to the
children of Abraham, to suppose that the
dispensation, given immediately to that
people, should, at the same time, have been

I

114 LECTURE IV.

designed to have a secondary and indirect
influence on other parts of the world. In-
deed, as the Gentile nations were intended
to be partakers equally with the Jews of
the great salvation that was to follow, we
might naturally expect that the course of
Providence should have been so ordered,
that they should receive some benefit from
the religious instructions vouchsafed to the
chosen people ; that they should catch some
rays issuing from the central luminary of
divine truth.

These are the points which I would en-
deavour to illustrate in the present Lec-
ture. My object is to shew, that however,
after the flood, the nations wandered into
errors in religion, the traces of the original
revelations were not entirely obliterated,
even among them ; to shew also, and in a
more particular manner, that, although the
Jewish dispensation was addressed directly
to the descendants of Abraham, its opera-
tion was not entirely local, nor without an
indirect influence on other parts of the
world ; and that some of the leading events
of Gentile history were moulded with the

LECTURE IV. 115

express view of giving strength and efficacy
to that influence.

These views must necessarily be taken
in our attempt to trace the bearings of ge-
neral history on the question of revealed
religion. At the same time, they will carry
our eye over so extensive a field, that it
will be impossible to give to the several ob-
jects that full examination, which, under
other circumstances, they might properly
claim.

In the first place, it is clear that the pri-
mitive faith ^ continued to subsist at least
for some time after the flood. Neither the
knowledge of the true God, nor such ex-
pectations of the promised deliverer as had
been given to men, could at once have been
lost among the descendants of Noah. At
whatever time and in whatever manner po-
lytheism arose, its progress certainly was
gradual ; and some portion of the pure
stream of religion kept itself a while un-
mixed with the foul and turbid pool of su-
perstition. Long after idolatry was prac-

a See Horsley's Dissertation on the Prophecies of the
Messiah, p. 43. &c.

I 2

116 LECTURE IV.

tised ^ Melchizedek, the first "^ and the se-
cond Abimelech — not private individuals,
but sovereign rulers, had a knowledge more
or less perfect of the true God. It appears
also that He was not unknown to La-
ban '^ ; and in the Egyptian midwives % in
Jethro^, in Rahab^, and perhaps in some
other personages incidentally noticed in
scripture, we perceive witnesses to the true
faith in the midst of an idolatrous genera-
tion. The Book of Job, whatever may have
been its precise, date, indicates that, al-
though the worship ^ of the sun and moon
was then introduced into Idumaea, it was a
taint, from which the patriarch, and, it
should appear, his family and his friends
were free. Nor is this all. Job' himself,
and, at a period probably later, the Meso-
potamian Balaam \ speak even of the future
Redeemer. This circumstance is very re-
markable. And, while it shews that, at

b Gen. xiv. 18. s Joshua ii. 9.

c Gen. XX. 4. xxvi. 28, 29. ^ Job xxxi. 26. &c.

d Gen. xxiv. 31. » Job xix. 25.

« Exod. i. 17. k Num. xxiv. 17.
f Exod. xviii. 12.

LECTURE IV. 117

the respective periods of those two pro-
phets, the expectation of the promised seed
survived beyond the pale of the chosen fa-
mily, it is probable their predictions be-
came an important instrument, by which
that traditional knowledge of some great
personage to come, which, it is notorious,
was subsequently current among the na-
tions, was preserved and propagated.

Unquestionably, however, the deluge of
idolatry at length prevailed, and greatly in-
creased upon the earth. Yet even idolatry,
at its commencement, if not throughout
its whole course, seems to have received a
certain tinge and colour from scriptural
truth.

In supposing that the Pagan deities were
often the real personages of sacred history,
and that many fables recorded of those dei-
ties were grounded on facts authenticated
by the inspired historian ; in such a suppo-
sition, I am aware how easily we may be
deceived by imperfect and even fictitious
accounts of people, with whom we are in-
adequately acquainted ; and that, even
where the documents are unimpeachable,

I 3

118 LECTURE IV.

it is not difficult to warm the imagination
into a belief, that faint and perhaps acci-
dental coincidences between the sacred and
profane narratives are fraught with deep
and important matter. On this account it
is unquestionably proper to be extremely
cautious, to make large deductions on the
score of fancy, and even of our own pre-
possessions, in applying the key of scripture
to open the dark and recondite stores of
pagan mythology. But, with the deepest
convictions of this truth, we still may state
it as highly probable that the groundwork
of much of paganism is the real events re-
corded by Moses. A few points at least
seem to rest on a foundation perfectly solid.
The mythological systems of various people,
who eventually occupied widely distant re-
gions, have yet such a degree of uniformity,
as evinces that they proceeded from one
common origin. This observation applies
to the mythologies of India, Egypt, Greece,
and Italy, perhaps we may add, of the Teu-
tonic and Celtic nations ; and it extends to
points at once so minute and so arbitrary,
as preclude the probability of a coincidence

LECTURE IV. 119

altogether accidental. Again, these mytho-
logies, with a family likeness among them-
selves, seem also by their resemblance to
the Mosaic history, at once the most an-
cient and the most authentic in the world,
to betray the parentage from whence they
sprang. They speak of a primeval period ''
of innocence and happiness, of a lapse from
that state, and even, in some instances, of a
lapse occasioned by female indiscretion.
They speak of a flood \ which destroyed the
whole world with the exception of a single
family, without omitting the peculiarity of
the ark, or even some more minute circum-
stances "' that belong to the Mosaic deluge.
They speak also of personages, in whom we
can hardly fail to recognise the features,
sometimes of Adam, sometimes of Noah
and his sons, and sometimes of the first and
second fathers of the human race combined ;

k See several instances collected in Mr. Faber's Origin
of Pagan Idolatry, vol. ii. p. 11. &c.

^ See authorities of various degrees of force in Bryant's
Analogy of Ancient ]Vl3^thology, chap. On the Deluge,
vol. ii. p. 195. &c. particularly the extract from Lucian,
De Dea Syria, torn. iii. p. 458. Hemsterhusii.

^ Bryant, vol. ii. p. 283. &c.

I 4

UO LECTURE IV.

since between the two there were in reality
so many points of resemblance, that it
would not be difficult for the fabling ge-
nius of idolatry to suppose that the one re-
vived in the other, when a new world arose
from the ruins of a former system, and the
revolution of time brought around a re-
currence of the same events and a re-ap*
pearance of the same personages. Now, as
the uniformity of these several mythologies
among themselves seems to assign their
origin to a period, when the same events
were known and were interesting to all
men, that is, when the inhabitants of the
world were few, and closely concentrated ;
so their resemblance to the scriptural nar-
rative indicates that the period, to which
they belong, is none other than that, of
which we have an authoritative account in
some of the earlier chapters of Genesis.
And hence we are led to believe that pa-
ganism in its origin, sprang not so much
from mere fiction, as from a corruption of
the truth ; that the events of real history
were less forgotten than corrupted ; and
that the deities were beings not purely

LECTURE IV. 121

imaginary, but rather the primordial pa-
rents of mankind, whom, under different
names, and with the addition of various le-
gends, but with attributes essentially the
same, their descendants came in process of
time to worship with divine honours.

And this, which appears to have been
the true state of the case, accords with what
we might, antecedently, have expected to
be the course and progress of idolatry.
That theory, which supposes the several
deities to have been mere personifications
of the different attributes and influences of
the supreme God, is apparently of too re-
fined and subtle a nature for the early pe-
riod, of which we are now speaking ; and
seems rather to belong to a later age, when
men were not unacquainted with the secret
operations of nature, when they were ad-
vancing in intellectual cultivation, and were
desirous, in the way of apology ", to give
something like a philosophical explanation
to the superstitious absurdities, of which
they begun to be ashamed. There is greater

" Bossuet, Disc, sur Hist. Univer. torn. ii. p. 119.

122 LECTURE IV.

probability in the supposition that the true
foundation of idolatry was something more
tangible, more substantial. The idea of a
God, who had manifested himself on earth,
the idea even of a celestial personage, who
at some period was to appear in the human
form, and to act an important part in the
world, were deeply impressed on mankind
by the original revelation. And it is less
likely that men should have set about, first
to create, and then to deify and worship, a
number of ideal phantoms, than that, fami-
liarized with the thought of God conversing
with man, and thence confounding and per-
plexing the truth, they should suppose some
emanation of the Deity to have resided in
the ancestors, who had held a conspicuous
station in the early annals of the world.
From the superstitious honours paid to
those ancestors they might afterwards have
proceeded, step by step, into the farther
errors of idolatry. They might next have
converted those venerated personages into
intelligences that informed and actuated
the heavenly luminaries. And when the
mind of man was once loosened from re-

LECTURE IV. 1S3

straint in religious matters, new deities
would then perpetually arise out of the
events of national history, out of the arti-
fices of priests and statesmen, out of the
great phenomena of nature, and even out
of the fanciful imagery of the poets ; dei-
ties, which of course would vary according
to the circumstances and the tastes or ca-
prices of the various people, who adopted
them. Nor is it until we are arrived at
these regions of pure fiction, that all be-
comes trackless and inexplicable, and that
we are left without any clue to guide us
through the intricate maze of idolatrous
worship.

And one religious practice of very general
prevalence we clearly derive from the scrip-
ture ; I mean the slaughter of animals in
piacular and expiatory, as well as in eucha-
ristical, sacrifice. If we expunge from our
memory what we have learned on this sub-
ject from our Bible, it will be extremely
difficult to account for the fact, which
nevertheless we know to be true, that,
throughout various systems of paganism,
however diversified the objects and the

124 LECTURE IV.

modes of worship, and however distant the
places where the rite obtained, — still there
existed the practice of immolating victims
to the deities to avert their wrath, or to
propitiate their favour. So important in-
deed was this mode of worship considered,
that it was supposed the victim could never
be too costly, and that the power of gaining
acceptance would be enhanced, if, in of-
fering it, the feelings of nature were van-
quished, if man bled by the hand of man,
and even the child by that of the parent.
To those sacrifices there also were added
various pageantries and solemnities, not
unfrequently connected with the grossest
profligacy, and indeed peculiarly acceptable
on this very account to the corrupt nature
of man. For these barbarities, for these
indecencies, I need hardly say that the ori-
ginal institution of sacrifice was not ac-
countable. But how the rite itself should
have occurred to man ^ and to man under
such varieties of situation and manners, ex-

o For the prevalence of animal sacrifice, see Faber's
Origin of Pagan Idolatry, book ii. chap. 8. &c. See
also Ma^ee on Atonement, n^. 5, 33, 55, 56.

LECTURE IV. im

cept from its original institution with our
first parent, it is not easy to guess. With
him it was instituted to prefigure the great
sacrifice to be offered for the sins of man
by the promised Redeemer. From thence
it was derived into the various systems of
idolatry. And, although its original and
true import was forgotten, although it was
corrupted and deteriorated, still, as the se-
vieral mythologies, however clouded by su-
perstition, tended to keep alive in the minds
of men some notion of the Deity ; so the
animal offerings, even in their debased
state, served, in some manner, to prepare
the way for the great sacrifice, that was af-
terwards to be made in the person of the
Redeemer. They accustomed mankind to
the idea of vicarious atonements, and to
the practice of averting guilt from the head
of the transgressor by the death of an un-
offending victim.

Thus far we have supposed that the ori-
ginal revelation infused itself into various
systems of paganism, particularly in their
earlier stages. But at length the shades of
superstition, not only set in deeper and

126 LECTURE IV.

thicker, but proceeded to envelope the
wide earth. The darkest gloom may be
stated to have been at that period, when
the nations had receded the farthest from
the lights of the primeval revelation, and
the lights of science and philosophy had
yet scarcely dawned. But mankind was
not left in this forlorn state. There is a
point of depression in human affairs, from
which the providence of God generally
commences a new and better order of
things. As knowledge arose, and the hu-
man mind acquired a certain degree of ma-
turity and strength, some superior intel-
lects began to entertain juster notions re-
specting the divine nature. They were led
to suspect the falsehood of the popular ido-
latries, and to discern, dimly and faintly,
through the mists of superstition, the one
supreme God. It is not to be supposed
that their apprehensions approached to the
purer conceptions entertained and professed
by the Israelites. Nor should we suppose
that they shocked their contemporaries by
an open avowal of their better faith. On
the contrary, there is reason to believe that

LECTURE IV. 127

their system of religious philosophy was
generally esoteric ; a system, whereby te-
nets, that were studiously withheld from
the vulgar, were communicated to a fa-
voured and initiated few, generally under
the veil of symbols and allegories, and al-
ways with injunctions of the strictest se-
crecy. That these mysteries were in many
instances P profaned to the most flagitious
purposes, there is but too much reason to
believe. Yet it is also probable that some
were of a purer and more creditable cha-
racter. And such information as we can
now collect respecting them tends to shew
that they generally consisted of a sort of
dramatic representation of some event %
which, in its various circumstances, seems
to bear the nearest resemblance to the de-
struction and renovation of the human
race at the great historical epoch of the
flood. And it should moreover appear, that
the greater mysteries \ communicated to the
more fully enlightened the important se-

P Leland's Christian Revelation, vol. ii. p. 194, &c.
q Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. iii. p. 111.
•■ Divine Legation, vol. i. book 2. sect. 4.

128 LECTURE IV.

crets that the deities of the popular wor-
ship had once been men, that God was one
and supreme, and that the soul of man was
immortal, and destined to a future state of
reward and punishment.

Nor was this system confined to single
states. As knowledge extended itself, and
as the intercourse of nations, at once the
effect and the cause of that knowledge, in-
creased, this esoteric philosophy seems to
have prevailed very generally in the hea-
then world. And, although I am aware
that I am treading over ground where
there is room for much fanciful conjecture,
yet it does appear highly probable, that,
while the external idolatries were variously
modified in the different countries, there
arose an internal doctrine, containing much
truth, and extending itself, with a consi-
derable degree of uniformity, from India
through Persia, Phoenicia, and Egypt, to
Greece, and perhaps to some of the more
western regions of Europe.

The question that concerns our present
purpose is, from whence was this better
knowledge in religious matters acquired?

LECTURE IV. 1^9

The time is certainly passed when every
human art and science will be deduced
from the storehouse of scripture ^ ; when as-
tronomy, geometry, navigation, architecture
will be supposed to have been first under-
stood and taught by the personages re-
corded in the sacred volume. But there
appears to be no such improbability in sup-
posing that, as religious knowledge had
originally been revealed from on high, so,
in later times, the course of events was so
regulated, that the subsequent illumination
from heaven came in aid of the rising
beams of science ; and that the two lights,
united, found a passage into the secret re-
cesses of many a temple dedicated to ido-
latry, where, while the rays were carefully
skreened from common eyes, they enabled
the interpreters of sacred things to see
their way through some of the darkness
which had gathered around the profane
vulgar.

In order to make this supposition less
improbable, it may be useful to consider,

s Gale's Court of the Gentiles, vol. i. book 1. c. 2.

K

130 LECTURE IV.

though as briefly as possible, the case of
the Jewish people in their relation toward
foreigners ^

The very nature of the Israelitish rites
prevented them from being adopted by fo-
reign states. But the Jews, even from
the beginning, were far from objecting to
receive strangers among themselves. With-
out entering at present into the distinction
between the proselyte of the gate and the
proselyte of inghteousness^ it is enough to
say, that when the covenant was first esta-
blished with Abraham ", and when the pass-
over was instituted with Moses % in both
instances, provisions were expressly made
for admitting the stranger to a participation
of the Jewish sacraments ; and, afterwards,
it was farther ordered that he should enjoy
equally with the Jew the privileges of the
sabbatical rest% of the feasts and sacri-
fices % of the cities of refuge ^ of judicial
protection \ In these respects, the Jewish

t See Jenkin's Reasonableness and Certainty of Chris-
tian Religion, vol. i chap 2.

" Gen. xvii. 12. 27. ^ Deut. xvi. 11. Lev. xvi. 29-
V Exod. xii. 49. ^ Num. xxxv. 15.

w Exod. XX. 10. ^ Deut. i. 16.

LECTURE IV. 131

polity, so far from appearing unsocial and
uncommunicative, exhibits an honourable
contrast to the exclusive spirit of many
other states, that have acquired the ap- ,
plause and admiration of mankind.

Even in early times, this liberal temper
of the Jewish church could not have been
without effect in making its peculiar system
of faith, in some degree, known. But, in
order to illustrate the point now particu-
larly in question, we should look to times,
when the opportunities of foreign inter-
course became greater ; and, for this pur-
pose, we may at once pass on to the splen-
did reign of Solomon. From a census
taken by that monarch, it appears that the
strangers then settled in his kingdom
amounted to an hundred and fifty thousand
and three thousand and six hundred ^. The
dominions directly subject to the sceptre of
Solomon, and his commerce with foreign
states, were also very extensive. And, when
we farther consider the number and the
rank of the persons who resorted to his

a SChron. ii. 17.
K 2

132 LECTURE IV.

court ; nay, when we read that all the earth
sought to Solomon to hear his icisdom, which
God had put i?i his heart ^; we must sup-
pose that these circumstances would give a
considerable degree of credit and circula-
tion to the Jewish faith.

But there are two people, to whom we
should more particularly direct our atten-
tion ; because, frightful and absurd as were
their popular superstitions, they appear to
have been the principal channels for con-
veying to other nations the secret doctrines
to which we have above adverted. And, if
it should be thought they derived any part
of their better knowledge from communi-
cation with Israel, we shall perceive one
important point, wherein the particular dis-
pensation of religion given to the Jews be-
came instrumental to the purposes of ge-
neral instruction. I allude to the Phoeni-
cians and Egyptians.

Now to the former of these people it is
evident that affinity of language, close vici-
nity, commercial intercourse and political

b 1 Kings X. 24.

LECTURE IV. 133

alliances afforded constant facilities for be-
coming acquainted with the religious tenets
of the Israelites. The communication be-
tween the two countries was particularly
great during the more prosperous times of
Israel. And, although I am well aware
that this intercourse produced occasionally
a sinister influence on the Jewish people,
still it is difficult to believe that the supe-
rior faith of Israel should not have excited
attention and respect, from time to time,
in some reflecting minds in the neighbour-
ing and friendly country.

In the latter of those two countries, in
Egypt, the long administration and the
powerful influence of Joseph, and the sub-
sequent residence of the children of Abra-
ham, might have served to give some know-
ledge of the Israelitish faith ; — a know-
ledge which, afterwards, near neighbourhood,
friendly communication, and alliances even
in despite of the divine command, would
tend to maintain and extend.

In these respects the Phoenicians and the
Egyptians appear to have had peculiar
means of access to the storehouse of religious

K 8

134 LECTURE IV.

truth. On the other hand, it is notorious
that, in spite of the abominations of their
public worship, they were the principal
agents in propagating sacred philosophy
among the other nations. In the case of
the former people, this was principally done
by means of their maritime and commercial
habits, which led them to visit foreign re-
gions, and in not a few to plant their colo-
nies. And it surely is reasonable to sup-
pose that, wherever they settled themselves,
or established a regular intercourse, their
occult doctrines, as well as their popular
superstitions, would become known. The
latter country, by its early civilization and
advance in political science, acquired a high
reputation for intellectual superiority. In
the times, of which we are speaking, foreign
travel supplied in great measure the pre-
sent place of books ; and he, who wished to
augment his stores of wisdom, visited those
countries, where it was supposed most to
abound. Accordingly, while "" Phoenicia by
her migrations scattered abroad the seeds

*^ Gale b. 1. p. 49.

LECTURE IV. 135

of knowledge, Egypt, whose habits were
more stationary, saw the aspirants after wis-
dom flock to her shores, to consult her
learned priesthood, and thence export
science, to instruct and enlighten their own
ruder countrymen.

It is through the illustrious disciples of
those countries, the Greeks, that we become
acquainted with these circumstances. But,
although the scholars have eclipsed their
masters in renown, still they ^ neither were,
nor hardly pretended to be, otherwise than
scholars. Those who^ first imported science
and philosophy into Greece, as Cadmus, Py-
thagoras, Thales, and others, were either of
Phoenician origin, or had received their
education in that country. And, even in
times of more advanced knowledge, such
persons as desired to improve themselves,
or aspired to the office of instructing others,
deemed it requisite to travel into foreign
countries, more especially into Egypt, to
imbibe information. It is not necessary to
go down lower than Plato. That he was

^ Timaeus Plato, v. 3. p. 22.

^ Vossius de Philosophorum Scctis, c. 1. sec. 25. &c.

K 4

136 LECTURE IV.

deeply indebted to Phoenician and Egyp-
tian lore is generally admitted ; and, after
his days, the fashionable philosophers, wiser
in their own conceits, ventured more upon
original speculations, and, in their eager
desire to found schools, and to be the au-
thors of some new system, entangled them-
selves in the labyrinth of their own vain
imaginations, and wandered into the dark
mazes of materialism and atheism. Neither,
in the anterior period of which I have now
taken a rapid survey, would I by any means
insist on the purity and perfection of the
religious knowledge, which I suppose to
have been possessed by some of the philo-
sophers. It might have been, and it un-
questionably was, mixed with much alloy,
much adulteration. But that it was con-
siderably elevated above the coarse appre-
hensions of the idolatrous vulgar, cannot,
I think, be reasonably doubted. And, if we
will pursue backwards the steps by which
this knowledge was acquired, we can hardly
fail to perceive traces of the provident care
of the Almighty to establish means, by
which some portion of the pure doctrines

LECTURE IV. 137

communicated to the Jews might extend
beyond the boundaries of the holy land, and
might visit and enlighten other countries.

But it was not merely of the labours and
researches of individuals, athirst after know-
ledge, that God availed himself, in order to
keep alive some faii^ spark of religious
knowledge, and so to make preparation for
the bi'ightriess of the coming of the Messiah.
Even in early times, the miraculous protec-
tion afforded by the Almighty to his fa-
voured people, must have tended to make
his name known and feared among the hos-
tile nations. And of the manner in which
the relations of peace and war with the Is-
raelities served to promote the worship of
Jehovah, we may mention one very interest-
ing instance in the case of the captive maid,
who induced the Syrian Naaman to pay
that visit to Elisha, which produced his
cure and his conversion ^. But to look at
the matter in a broader view, though as
succinctly as possible ; from the time when
governments began to assume a more deter-

^ 2 Kings V.

138 LECTURE IV.

minate shape ; when distant conquests were
achieved, and, as a necessary consequence,
a communication between remote countries
was opened ; from this time we believe that
the course of the leading events of the world,
the rise and fall of empires, were moulded
by the Almighty with a view to assist and
forward the great cause of revelation. I
will not, indeed, dwell at any length on the
well known subject of the four great mo-
narchies, which have engaged the attention
of historians sacred and profane, as having
influenced in succession and in various de-
grees the destiny of the world. To our
purpose it may be sufficient to observe, not
only that the chosen people were brought
successively into contact with those empires,
but that the geographical position of the
land, wherein they were seated, seems to
have been selected with an express view to
give facility to that intercourse.

^ Civilization, government, and empire, we
know took their rise in those genial climates
and in those fertile regions, where man was

s See Miller's Philos. of Mod. Hist. Lee. 3.

LECTURE IV. 139

relieved from the necessity of maintaining
a severe struggle with nature to obtain the
necessaries of life, and where his powers and
faculties were capable of an early expan-
sion. These were the countries situated
near the original birthplace of mankind,
contiguous to those mighty streams, which
formed in early times the boundaries of the
known and unknown world, the Euphrates
and the Tigris. And here, speaking in a
general way as to local situation, and with-
out reference to partial changes within that
empire, or to migrations of the seat of go-
vernment, here, we may say, was placed the
first great empire of the world, which, con-
sidered as one ^, has been termed indiffer-
ently Assyrian or Babylonian. But, al-
though it seems to be a law, that it is only
in a highly genial region that civilization
shall first strike root, it no less requires a
soil and a climate of different properties to
be reared and to mature its fruit. Under
the first empire, we hear accounts of works
undoubtedly denoting the hand of those,

h Newton, vol. i. p. 23-4.

140 LECTURE IV.

who could command to a vast extent the
physical strength of their fellow-creatures.
But of their performances in such arts, as
form the true triumph of man, by indicating
high intellectual powers, we possess little
trace. Neither was the character of the se-
cond empire, when divested of romance,
materially different. But the Persian em-
pire gradually extended itself to the shores
of the Mediterranean, to those regions,
where man appears to have been placed by
nature under circumstances the most fa-
vourable to improvement, where the difficul-
ties of his situation were enough to arouse,
without distressing him, and where patience
and industry, although they would be
crowned with success, were still indispen-
sably requisite. It was into such regions
that empire passed, and, as it successively
visited the Grecian and Roman states, it
exalted nations, which will not only excite
the admiration, but which will influence
the modes of thinking and the principles
of conduct of the most remote posterity.
But, in this migration of empire, we may
observe that Judaea was so situated, that it

LECTURE IV. 141

was never very far remote from that state
which bore the sovereignty ; and, this door
of communication with the reigning power
being opened, we believe that the course of
events was so controlled and disposed by
an overruling Providence, that the Jewish
people should bear a part in the national oc-
currences, and, although in the character
of subjects and tributaries, should give some
instructions in religious science to their
masters.

We may also notice that the sort of in-
struction, which the Jews were enabled to
give, had always a close reference and
adaptation to the state of society and to the
capacity of the ruling people to be taught.

At the zenith of the power of the Baby-
lonians, we find the Jews, in punishment for
their idolatrous propensities, removed from
their native seat, and captives in a foreign
land. On them the punishment had pro-
duced the desired effects, and they were
then devoted to the worship of their God,
from which they never afterwards swerved.
In this state, they were suitable instruments
to give a lesson respecting the vanity of ido-

142 LECTURE IV.

latry to a people, who, although incapable
of abstract reasonings, or of studious in-
quiry, were yet ready to receive impressions
from any striking exhibition of miraculous
agency. Accordingly, some young captives
of the Jewish nation, and one especially,
Daniel, who was destined to bear a conspi-
cuous part through several successive reigns,
had recommended themselves to the mo-
narch by their virtue and wisdom \ In this
state of things, when three of their number
had an opportunity of illustrating their
faith by J a refusal to comply with an impi-
ous command to pay divine honours to a
mortal, God interfered in a miraculous man-
ner to rescue them from punishment, and
by this interference gave so signal a testi-
mony of his power, that it extorted from
the powerful monarch of Babylon, first, an
act ^ of forbearance toward the worshippers
of the God of Israel, and, afterwards, on a
special display of the wisdom and pre-
science of Daniel, an acknowledgment of
that God as the king of heaven \ This act,

' Dan. i. 19, &c. J Dan. iii. ^ Dan. iii. 29. ' Dan. iv. 37-

LECTURE IV. 143

coupled with the advancement of the Jews
to dignity and high office, must, we may
readily conceive, have had a considerable ef-
fect in making known, among the people
and nations subject to the Babylonian
sceptre, the name of the great Jehovah ; a
knowledge, which could not fail to be aug-
mented and propagated, when, on a revo-
lution of the empire, and the accession of
another dignity, the new sovereign found
the same Daniel, eminent in station as ve-
nerable in years, just signalized by a re-
cent proof of prophetic knowledge in favour
of the conquering people '". To Daniel the
consequence was a continuance, and even an
accession of honour " ; which was obscured
only to break out with additional lustre
when his steady refusal to disobey the laws
of his God obtained from that God another
proof of his power to turn all the rage of
his enemies to his own glory. Of this sig-
nal miracle the effect was, that the cause
and the religion of the Jews found such fa-
vour with the Persian monarchs, that the

'^ Dan. V. 13, &c. " Dan. vi.

144 LECTURE IV.

people were restored to their native country,
and, by this restoration, an accomplishment
was given to the various prophecies which
had foretold their return after a definite pe-
riod of years. Still the ten tribes were
never permitted to revisit their native seats ;
and even of the tribes of Judah and Ben-
jamin many were unwilling to abandon
their new settlements. These Israelites,
scattered among the nations, must have
served to give a considerable notoriety both
to the present tenets and to the future hopes
of their people. "" I71 the land of my capti-
vity^ an Israelitish captive had once exclaim-
ed, / will praise him, and declare his might
and majesty to a sinful nation. And to such
praises, and to such declarations, uttered by
the Israelites both of the captivity and of
the dispersion, it seems most probable that
we may ascribe the singular circumstance,
that the expectation of the Messiah so much
prevailed in the east, that a p new star was
exhibited in the firmament of heaven to
announce his birth to sages of that coun-
try.

« Tobit xiii. 6. P Matt. ii» 1, &c.

LECTURE IV. 145

During the earlier part of the time now
under review, the means, which God appears
to have adopted in order to recommend his
people, and to signalize their religious belief
in the eyes of their conquerors, were, princi-
pally, direct interposition, and a visible dis-
play of miraculous power; a process the most
suitable to produce the desired effect upon
minds of a less intellectual stamp. But in the
Grecian empire, and in the governments into
which it was split after the death of Alex-
ander, a very different spirit, the spirit of li-
terature and refinement, prevailed. And, as
the Jewish people kept pace with the altered
condition of human society, as they began to
imbibe the tastes and to adopt the modes
of the neighbouring people, so the treat-
ment which they experienced from God as-
sumed a new character. We no longer hear
of miracles displayed to overawe and com-
pel the belief of minds capable of under-
standing and appreciating more refined ar-
guments. But there is no ground to believe
that either the Jews or their neighbours
were losers by the change. During the lat-
ter periods^ of the Jewish history not a trace

L

146 LECTURE IV.

of apostasy from their God appears. But,
engaged in commerce and in the arts, they
spread themselves over the regions of ci-
vilization, and whithersoever they went, car-
rying with them their peculiar creed, they
gave it extensive circulation and celebrity.
In Egypt particularly they enjoyed especial
favour and protection ; and there excited in
the mind of an enlightened and liberal
prince so great a desire to obtain a know-
ledge of their sacred writings, that a transla-
tion of them into Greek, the celebrated ver-
sion of the Septuagint, was commanded to
be made ; while, in the recent application
of "1 the papyrus reed to the purposes of

q Prideaux, vol. ii. p. 706, &c. Taylor's Scheme of
Scrip. Div. p. 171.

Robertson makes a similar observation respecting pa-
per. "In the eleventh century the art of making paper in
the manner now become universal was invented; by means
of that, not only the number of manuscripts increased, but
the study of the sciences was wonderfully facilitated. The
invention of the art of making paper, and the invention
of the art of printing, are two considerable events in lite-
rary history. It is remarked that the former preceded
the first dawning of letters and improvement in know-
ledge, toward the close of the eleventh century ; the lat-
ter ushered in the light which spread over Europe at the
era of the Reformation.'" Robertson's Worhs, vol. iv .p. 282.

LECTURE IV. 147

writing, we perceive a circumstance so au-
spicious to the cause of literature in gene-
ral, and especially to the diffusion of the
scriptures, that we are tempted to believe it
was one of the providential arrangements of
God to promote his designs in regard to re-
ligion. Thus capable of an easier dissemi-
nation, and thus exhibited in a language
not only the most rich and beautiful, but
the common vehicle for communication
throughout the civilized world, the holy
scriptures might become better known, par-
ticularly among the learned, some of whom
could hardly fail to have been struck with
their manifest superiority in doctrine and
worship to any other known system of reli-
gion.

As the Grecian empire had been mate-
rially instrumental to the cause of divine
truth, by bringing into general use a lan-
guage, into which the old scriptures were
translated, and in which the New Testa-
ment was destined to be primarily written ;
so the Roman, the last and most important
of the four great empires, was conducive to
the same purpose, by conquering, and by

I. 2

148 LECTURE IV.

bringing under one general system, the
greater part of the known world. By these
means, an easy communication was opened
between the most remote regions, and a
voice, which might before have been con-
fined to the spot where it was uttered, was
made readily to be heard from the Euphra-
tes to the Iberus. How widely the Jewish
faith had thus been enabled to spread it-
self, and how numerous were the proselytes
to their religion, we may collect, not only
from the notices of pagan writers, but from
the record of the various countries which
sent worshippers to Jerusalem on the day
of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured
out upon the apostles ; and also from the
number of synagogues found in various ci-
ties, to which the apostles directed their
steps. And when the time for the mani-
festation of the Messiah drew nigh, the very
circumstances, in which the Roman empire
was placed, became, not we believe without
the special direction of Providence, pecu-
liarly auspicious for the great purposes of
his mission. For one of the very few times
since the foundation of the city, the tern-

LECTURE IV. 149

pie of Janus was closed. Throughout the
wide regions that acknowledged the Roman
sway, universal peace prevailed ; a circum-
stance not only suitable to the character
and pretensions of Him, who was styled the
Prince ofpeace^ but also favourable to the
propagation of the faith, which he came to
promulgate. As an instance also of the ad-
vantage derived to the cause of revelation
from the connection of Judaea with a regu-
larly constituted government, we may men-
tion that the enrolment ordered to be made
by the supreme authority at the birth of
our Saviour, served to authenticate his li-
neage and family. And, at the closing part
of his ministry, during those scenes which
it was peculiarly important to have proper-
ly attested and made known, a Roman go-
vernor was resident on the spot, and bore
personally a large share in the transactions ;
as if with the express design that the thing
should not be done in a corner^ nor by per-
sons so obscure, that it could be said, ei-
ther at the time or in subsequent ages, that
their supposed acts were incapable either of
contradiction or of verification.

L 3

150 LECTURE IV.

This survey, as it has designed to embrace
so wide a field, has necessarily been ex-
tremely scanty. It has been my desire to
make it appear that even the Gentile world
has borne testimony to the original reve-
lation, and to the care of God in preparing
the way for the incarnation of the promised
Redeemer. I have endeavoured to shew
that some vestiges of the primitive faith
long lingered in the world ; that even vari-
ous systems of idolatry exhibited traces of
the doctrines originally revealed, and of the
personages and incidents recorded in the
sacred volume ; and especially, that the
prevalence of the rite of animal sacrifice in-
dicated, that even the future victim, of which
the slain animal was designed to be the
type, was not lost out of sight. I have also
endeavoured to shew, that when darkness,
thick darkness, had gathered round the na-
tions, the divine illumination, vouchsafed to
the Jewish people, came in aid of the dawn-
ing light of reason, to enable some minds of
keener glance to see in part the error of
their way ; and, lastly, that in the successive
exaltation of the great empires of the world?

LECTURE IV. 151

the course of events was so regulated, as ei-
ther directly to communicate divine truth,
or, by an indirect operation, to prepare the
way for its farther diffusion.

In the mean while, it should ever be re-
membered, that the little state of Judaea was
placed as it were a fixed and central lumi-
nary of religious knowledge, to which the
other nations successively presented their
darker sides. It was the glory of other
states to excel in science, in arts, or in
arms. In particular, the two last of the
great empires have deeply stamped their
memorials upon all future times. In poetry,
in music, in painting, in sculpture, in ar-
chitecture, in oratory, in history, in criti-
cism, in every art that gives embellishment
and grace to human society, Greece has
been, and will ever continue, the acknow-
ledged standard of excellence, the example
and mistress of all succeeding times. A
like distinction may be claimed for Rome,
for its skill in the science of government,
for its system of military discipline, for
those institutions that impart a bold and

L 4

152 LECTURE IV.

vigorous tone to the mind of man. And
great, unquestionably, are the obhgations
that we owe to each of those celebrated
states. But there is something more va-
luable than literature and the fine arts ;
something more important than even the
power of conquering a world. This is the
science that teaches us to know God, and
how to obtain his favour. And whither
shall we go to find the people with whom
this science has been deposited ? It is not
to those, who for their deeds in arts or
arms have won the applauses of poets, ora-
tors, and historians. We must go to the
Jews, the natives of a poor region, the deri-
sion and contempt of other nations. Yet
there has been preserved that knowledge of
God, which has been nearly lost in the rest
of the world ; and thither, if they would re-
new their knowledge, must the proud sons
of science and of philosophy, of policy and
of war, resort. This surely must be the
hand of God. In perfect analogy with the
dispensation to which these arrangements
were introductory, and for which all things

LECTURE IV. 153

were now ready, God from the beginning
chose the foolish things of the world to con-
found the loise, and the weak things of the
woi'ld to confound the thi?igs that are mighty :
— that no flesh should glory in his pre-
sence, *"

^ 1 Cor. i. 27. 29.

LECTURE V.

Hebrews i. 1, 2.

God, who at sundrij times and in divers man-
ners spahe in times past unto the fathers hy
the prophets,

Hath in these last times spoken unto us hy his
Son,

X HUS far our inquiries have led us to re-
view the course of divine revelation preli-
minary and preparatory to the personal ad-
vent of the great Redeemer. We have
seen that the primeval revelation had
taught the rudiments and fundamental
principles of all religion. We have seen
that, when this religious knowledge was
corrupted, and in danger of being alto-
gether lost, the dispensation given to the
descendants of Abraham preserved the true
faith among one people on the earth, and
even had an indirect influence on the Gen-
tile nations, conducive, in many respects,
toward promoting the ulterior purposes of

156 LECTURE V.

the Almighty. And, at length, after the
lapse of many ages, various circumstances
manifestly concurred to afford a favourable
season for a fuller developement of the
great counsel of God.

On the one side, the need of some farther
revelation was now plainly demonstrated.
A fair and ample time had been given to
prove what man could do in the way of
knowing God, either by his own unassisted
powers, or by such aid from heaven as he
had hitherto received. And the result of
the experiment was this. Throughout the
Gentile world the great mass of mankind
was sunk in a base and degrading supersti-
tion. Toward rescuing the people from
this state no attempt had been made, no
thought of such an attempt had been con-
ceived. Neither had any of those master
spirits, who, in every age of the world, are in
advance before their own times, been able
to perceive divine truth with any steadi-
ness or certainty. Still, on the other hand,
the advance, which the human mind had
now made, indicated that the world was
become more capable of receiving clearer

LECTURE V. 157

and fuller information on divine things, if
duly imparted. In several countries, litera-
ture, science, and philosophy had been suc-
cessfully cultivated. Some gifted indivi-
duals had struggled against the supersti-
tious absurdities, which they saw around
them. They had their speculations re-
specting the nature of God ; respecting their
own origin, the ends of their being and
their future destination. And, if there
should now appear one, who could confirm
their surmises, and could farther add much
original information on divine subjects ;
one, who moreover could speak on such
matters with the authority of a teacher
sent from heaven ; such a messenger might
indeed be misused and persecuted by those,
with whom he came into immediate con-
tact ; but he would utter a voice, which the
world was not unprepared to hear, and
which no human efforts could by any possi-
bility put eventually to silence.

So, too, ethical science had now been ad-
vanced. The mind of man had occupied
itself in large speculations concerning the
foundation of morals, concerning the best

158 LECTURE V.

rules for the regulation of human life, con-
cerning what contributes the most to indivi-
dual, to national, and to general good. And,
although many of these speculations were
imperfect, still a purer and more sublimated
code of moral instruction, which, in a less
intellectual period of the world, would have
been unintelligible, would have been little
better than pearls cast before swine, might
now be propounded with a reasonable pro-
bability of being understood and justly va-
lued.

And, as the human mind appeared thus
ripe for the reception of a higher system of
religious and moral instruction, so the
external condition of the world was fa-
vourable for the promulgation of such a
dispensation. An age of high cultivation,
as it was capable of inquiring into the pre-
tensions of one professing to come from
God, would preclude the suspicion of for-
gery or deception. And the peculiar cir-
cumstance of the union of a very consi-
derable portion of the world under one go-
vernment tended both to promote the civi-
lization, requisite for the reception of a spi-

LECTURE V. 159

ritual religion, and also to give facility for
the wide diffusion of a dispensation, which
was destined, in its early stage, to be con-
fined within no narrow limits, and, ulti-
mately, to occupy the whole earth.

At length, things being thus prepared,
Jesus Christ, the promised seed of the
woman, the end and object of the prelimi-
nary dispensations, the subject of so many
prophecies, the antitype of so many types,
the substance of so many shadows, came
into the world. He lived, he taught, he
died. In him was accomplished all that
the fathers had seen as through a glass
darkly ; and in him the great scheme of
human salvation had (so far as this world
is concerned) its consummation and crown.

The great end, for which Jesus Christ
came into the world, was, it should ever be
borne in mind, to die for the redemption of
man. In this purpose and destination it is
implied that man was unable to save his
own soul ; that, if he should be saved, it
must be done by some vicarious satisfaction
offered to the justice of God ; that such vi-
carious satisfaction could be offered by none

160 LECTURE V.

other than by a divine personage, and by
him only by his death. So at least it ap-
pears to us. It is indeed proper for us to
use great caution in saying what might or
might not have been done by God. But
each of the foregoing considerations, which
point ultimately to the death of the divine
Redeemer, seems to approve itself to our
understanding.

It is sufficiently obvious, that man, the in-
heritor of an original and constitutional
taint of sin, and continually aggravating his
guilt by personal transgressions, was unable
of himself to merit the vast and transcen-
dent rewards of everlasting life. It ap-
pears also that the dignity of God required
that his laws should not be violated with
impunity, that his justice demanded some
satisfaction to be made for guilt, and that
the character of his moral government made
it proper that every transgression should
7'eceive a just recompense of reii^ard. If
then man should be the object of mercy
and pardon, yet not without an expiation
for his sins, it should seem that the process
must be, that some other person should

LECTURE V. 16]

take those sins upon himself, and undergo
the punishment which they deserved. But
it is plain that the person, who should act
this part, must himself be so free from per-
sonal offences, as to have nothing of his
own whereon to require pardon and atone-
ment ; he must be of sufficient dignity to
make his voluntary sacrifice of himself an
adequate satisfaction for the sins of man-
kind ; and, at the same time, be so ardent
in his charity, as to be willing to subject
himself spontaneously to punishment for
the redemption of others. It is clear that
no created being, not even the highest of
the angelic orders, came within the descrip-
tion of the requisite qualifications. But,
in the Son of God, the holiness and dignity
to fit him for the offid'C, and the charity to
be willing to undertake it, were combined.
Accordingly, the death of the Saviour was
announced throughout the whole course of
the preparatory revelations. At the very
beginning it was intimated that the deli-
verer, before he should achieve the victory,
must submit to temporary defeat and pain.
The animal, which from the first was de-

M

162 LECTURE V.

signed to represent him, was slain as a vic-
tim on the altar. The great patriarch was
taught to foresee a figure of the sacrifice of
the Messiah in the intended and accepted
sacrifice of his only son. When the reli-
gious polity of the Jews assumed a regular
form, the scape-goat, the sacrifice of the
high priest, and numerous other rites, fore-
shewed, and were most probably under-
stood to foreshew, the future oblation of the
Lamb of God. When, in process of time,
the prophetic spirit was more abundantly
shed abroad, it spoke of the sufferings and
the death of the Messiah with greater and
greater distinctness. And at length the
prophecies were accomplished, the types
were filled up, the shadows were turned
into reality. Jesus Christ expired upon
the cross. By his death he " made a full,
" perfect, and sufficient sacrifice,oblation, and
" satisfaction for the sins of the whole world."
The sentence of condemnation was re-
versed ; and man was restored to the capa-
city of being received into favour with God,
and of enjoying eternal life.

And this benefit, it should be observed,

LECTURE V. 163

extended to the whole race of man with-
out limitation or restriction. The benefit
was not, indeed, irrespective. It was sus-
pended on the performance of certain terms,
viz. on faith in Christ, repentance for past
sins, and a sincere desire and earnest en-
deavour to conform to the will of God.
But whoever fulfilled these requisite condi-
tions placed himself within the range of
salvation. There was no partial decrees by
which it was offered to some, and denied to
others. The original promise, as it was
given when the human race consisted but
of a single pair, could have had no respect
to persons; and Adam, to whom it was
pronounced, might be considered as the
federal head and representative of the
whole race of man, with respect both to
the penalty which had been incurred, and
to the grace of which he received the inti-
mation. And, as the original promise ex-
tended to all mankind, so, neither in the
blessing announced to Abraham, neither in
the typical representations under the law,
neither in the prophetic intimations, nor,
finally, in the actual consummation and

M 2

164 LECTURE V.

completion of the Atonement, was there
any thing that curtailed or circumscribed
the universality of its efficacy.

Thus to die, to die for the sins of the
whole world, to pay the debt due to divine
justice, and to open the door of reconcilia-
tion between God and man, this was the
great end and object for which Christ came
into the world. To this point all the pre-
ceding revelations converged ; and from
this point a new order of things, a new sys-
tem, was to commence. But Christ, before
he submitted to death, lived on earth many
years. He conversed freely with man. He
delivered instructions in familiar inter-
course as occasion arose, as well as in more
set discourses. When God walked on earth,
and opened to mankind his stores of hea-
venly wisdom, we can hardly suppose that
no important discoveries should be impart-
ed ; that no advance should be made in the
course of progressive instruction, through
which the human race was designed to pass.
Accordingly, to man, now about to be re-
conciled with God, much additional infor-
mation respecting the divine nature and

LECTURE V. 165

counsels was disclosed ; to man, now about
to be put in a capacity to render a fuller
obedience to the laws of God, those laws
were enlarged, and were propounded with
new sanctions.

The religious and moral instructions
communicated by Jesus Christ may be
ranged under three principal heads ; a far-
ther knowledge respecting God, respecting
a future state, respecting the moral duties
of man on earth.

I. The first discoveries respected the na-
ture of God, I mean principally his existence
in three Persons united, yet distinct ; and
they more especially respected the attributes
and operations of the second and third Per-
sons of the Holy Trinity.

God, the Father, was most fully and ex-
plicitly known and worshipped by the
Jews. In spite of all their lapses into ido-
latry, in spite of their strong tendency,
especially during the earlier and darker
periods of their history, to associate false
deities with the supreme Jehovah, still, from
the time when God declared himself to
Moses, to the days of the Messiah, the Jews

M o

166 LECTURE V.

may be said to have known him, as one, as
all-powerful, the creator of the universe,
the governor of the world by his providence,
the re warder and punisher of man accord-
ing to the nature of his deeds, and the ob-
ject to be adored by a spiritual worship.
The knowledge, and, on a view of the whole
subject, we certainly may add, the practice
of the Jews, in this great and fundamental
question of theology, is the point, where
they stand in most decided and in most ho-
nourable contrast to all the other nations
of the earth, without exception of those,
which were the most polished, learned, and
wise.

Neither can it be denied that the Jews
possessed some knowledge of a plurality of
Persons in the Godhead % and that the cha-
racter and offices of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost were disclosed to them not al-
together for the first time by Jesus of Na-
zareth. Still, it is probable, their know-
ledge on that head was but indistinct and
imperfect. They might have known the

a Allix's Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church,
particularly ch. 9, 10.

LECTURE V. 167

divine Word who created the world, and
who, as the Angel of the covenant, had
spoken to Moses, had conducted the people
through the wilderness, had appeared in
the divine Schechinah, and throughout their
whole history had been their organ of com-
munication with the Almighty Father. So
also they might have known the Holy Spirit,
who moved upon the face of the waters,
who rested on the seventy elders ^ and who
spake by David"" and the prophets. But, to
borrow the expression of a learned prelate
of the present day % " the Jews were but
" unskilful metaphysicians;" and they might
have known the Word and the Spirit, they
might have known them as invested with
powers and perfections, which properly are
attributable only to God ; and yet might
not have regarded them as essential parts
of the supreme divinity, in the full, clear,
and determinate manner, in which we, who

b Num. xi. 25, 26.

c 2 Sam. xxiii. 2.

^ Dissertation upon the traditional Knowledge of a
Promised Redeemer, p. 97. by Dr. Blomfield, now Bishop
of Chester.

M 4

168 LECTURE V.

have been instructed by the Gospel, have
been taught to view them. When I say a
full, clear, and determinate manner, of course
I do not mean that we, more than the Jews,
understand how the mysterious union of
the three Persons subsists ; nor, if we were
repeatedly visited by messengers from hea-
ven, unless they at the same time furnished
us with new and more powerful faculties,
could we, it is probable, ever be made to
understand it. But a thing may be dis-
tinctly known, while its modes and circum-
stances remain in obscurity. And this is
the sort of knowledge on the subject of the
Trinity, which has been communicated to
us by the Gospel of Christ. Not only was
the doctrine revived and brought to recol-
lection, but it was placed in a clearer,
stronger, and steadier light. We are taught
to know, and consequently are required to
confess and to worship, not only the Father,
but the Word and the Spirit, each in his su-
preme and absolute divinity. And when,
having been thus made acquainted with all
the Persons of the Holy Trinity, we are far-
ther taught the part and office, which they

LECTURE V. 169

severally bear in the work of human salva-
tion ; when we learn that the one has died,
and is now employed in making intercession
for us, and that the other is ever at hand
to renew our heart, and to support us with
continual supplies of grace ; what a flood
of new ideas, respecting ourselves, and our
situation in regard to God, is poured into
the mind ; ideas, that serve at once to mor-
tify and to encourage, to humble and to ex-
alt us ! Together also with these opposite,
and (in their combination) quite new ideas,
what new sentiments, what new motives
of action, arise within us ! Seeing, on the
one side, the fearful nature of sin, which
could be expiated by nothing less than the
blood of the divine Word, and, on the other
side, the value of the human soul, for whose
sake that precious blood was shed ; seeing,
too, our unworthiness, which cannot effect
our own salvation, but, at the same time,
the presence of a divine power, ready at
hand to give success and efficacy to our
weak endeavours ; seeing these things, we
learn to cultivate that character compound-
ed of humility and of confidence, of self-abase-

170 LECTURE V.

ment and of the sublimest aspirations, which
appears to conduct man to the utmost per-
fection of his nature ; which enables him to
do all things, yet to pride himself on no-
thing. And with respect to our feelings
towards God, as his justice and mercy are
reconciled to our eyes ; as we see him re-
mitting no portion of the penalty due to
sin, yet extending his mercy to sinners ; per-
mitting no merit to reside in our works,
yet accepting them for the sake and through
the mediation of his well-beloved Son ; we
learn at once to fear and to love him, to
view him with the awe due to the inflexible
Judge, and with the affection inseparable
to the merciful Father.

II. The next discovery made by the gos-
pel respects the immortality of the soul, and
a future judgment. This, still less than the
last article, can be considered as a point
disclosed absolutely for the first time to
the world. Unquestionably, it formed one
main article of the primitive code of reli-
gious knowledge revealed to the first pro-
genitors of mankind, and thence communi-
cated to succeeding generations. Instead

LECTURE V. 171

of being contradicted, it was confirmed by
the views that were disclosed in consequence
of the fall ; since, if man was to be restored
to his former glory, it must be, not in this
world, where he palpably was fallen and de-
graded, but in another stage of existence.
This knowledge must have been possessed
by the race of faithful worshippers, and espe-
cially by Abraham and his family, since
we know they were taught to look to a hea-
venly home and abode. That it was not
directly taught by Moses, is no proof that
the Jews did not possess it ; since the re-
velations, of which he was the organ, re-
garded other matters, and it appears, by in-
cidental notices of scripture, that the Is-
raelites believed in a future state. Nei-
ther, in considering the case of the rest of
the world, need we go farther than the
known studies of our youth, to convince our-
selves that the ideas of a future retribution,
of a Tartarus and of an Elysium, were fa-
miliar to the Gentile nations. Still, through-
out the whole range of the world, the im-
pression respecting a future state, which
had been stamped on the mind of man by

172 LECTURE V.

the original revelation, was weakened, and
much defaced. Sometimes it was a matter
of speculation and surmise, a matter to be
desired by the wise and good, but full of
uncertainty. Where it was admitted with
greater confidence, it was obscured with fa-
bles, often of a pernicious tendency, since
they gave the rewards of an after-life to the
workers of various iniquities. In other
cases, it was connected with foolish, and
sometimes not very innocent, notions re-
specting the preexistence and the transmi-
gration of souls. And, if ever it were
taught in purity, it was done under the veil
of mysterious rites, and with the sanctions
of inviolable secrecy. May we not then say,
that when Jesus Christ taught the doctrine
of the immortality of the soul, and its ne-
cessary consequence, a future judgment, he
taught a doctrine in many respects new ?
It was new in the certainty and the autho-
rity, with which it was declared, since he
did not speak of it as a thing ardently to be
desired and probably to be expected, but as
certain, as announced upon the veracity of
one, who bore the divine commission, and

LECTURE V. 173

farther vouched and demonstrated by his
own resurrection and return to life. It was
new, as speaking determinately respecting
the eternal duration of the life to come, in
which there should be no return to the
earth after the revolution of a certain pe-
riod of time, no passage into other recepta-
cles of the human soul, whether of a higher
or a lower nature. It was new, in de-
scribing the future joys of the good, as be-
ing of a pure and spiritualized nature, such
indeed as could not be adequately con-
ceived by man in the present state of his
faculties, and capable of being represented
only by negative qualities, as consisting of
none of the pleasures or occupations, which
now engage our attention. Above all, it
was new in the sort of connection which it
established between the present and the fu-
ture order of things ^ Other teachers re-
presented the future world as in a manner
subservient and ancillary to the present.
They seemed to teach, that, if men culti-

^ See Soame Jenyns, Internal Evidence of Christian
Religion, Propos. II.

174 LECTURE V. '

vated the qualities that were reputable and
useful on earth, they might be rewarded
with happiness after death. They seemed
to regard principally the good of this world,
and to think that, in order to promote that
good, the Deity had annexed certain re-
wards to the performance of certain actions
in this life. But Jesus Christ has taught
us to regard the future life in a different
manner. He represents the next world as
every thing, the present as nothing, except
in the relation it bears to the next. This
life, according to the spirit of his instruc-
tions, is no more than a vestibule, through
which we must pass in order to reach our
certain abode ; it is a probationary scene,
where we must exercise and discipline our-
selves for our future state of existence, and
where we must cultivate those dispositions
and acquire those habits, which alone can
qualify us to partake of the glory that shall
be revealed. This distinction is important.
According to the former view of things, the
external act was all. As long as a man per-
formed certain actions, let his inward heart
and disposition have been what they might,

LECTURE V. 175

he was entitled to the reward annexed by
the supreme lawgiver to those performances.
But, under the Christian system, which re-
presents our future destiny as the natural
and inevitable result of the state of mind
that we carry with us out of this world, it
becomes necessary to set the disposition
aright. We must not only perform certain
acts of virtue, but, if we would enjoy the
society of the good, we must love virtue.
We must not only obey the divine com-
mands, but, if we would live in the presence
of God, we must be spiritually and heavenly
minded. If our hearts are impure, and our
dispositions perverse, we are unfit to be in-
habitants of the city and paradise of God,
and should feel ourselves out of our proper
station, if any inversion of the divine laws
should chance to place us there.

III. The third and last discovery made by
the gospel respected the nature of our moral
duties on earth. In speaking of the pecu-
liar disposition and frame of mind, which
seemed to result from the new views re-
specting the nature of God and the life to
come presented by Christ, we indeed have.

176 LECTURE V.

to a considerable degree, anticipated this
head; since such a disposition and frame
of mind can hardly fail to produce a course
of action essentially different from that,
whose source and origin were different. It
may not, however, be superfluous to state a
few of the principal points, in which Jesus
Christ has given a new cast and character
to human virtue. And in general it may
be said, that the novelty did not consist so
much in originating and discovering any
virtue before unknown, as in assigning a
new value and importance to certain vir-
tues, in drawing them out of the shade, and
placing them in a more prominent situa-
tion and conspicuous light. This is pecu-
liarly the case with respect to all the family
of the quiet, calm, unobtrusive virtues, which
had hitherto attracted little regard or fa-
vour with men, but which with Jesus Christ
were held in the highest estimation. The
character of pagan virtue was, for the most
part, bold and forward, loving to exhibit it-
self in the great theatre of public life, and
seeking all its applause and reward from
men: while that, which shunned observation,

LECTURE V 177

and sought only to recommend itself to him
who seeth in secret^ was little known, or, if
known, would have been little regarded.
In other cases, the novelty of the Christian
morality consisted in giving a greater ex-
pansion to virtues before known and recog-
nised. This applies particularly to the
graces of purity and charity. We know
that heathen morality gave a considerable
range to the licentious passions ; while it
was the peculiarity of the Christian doc-
trine, not merely to introduce a greater
strictness of conduct, by forbidding every
impure act, but to cut off the source of the
evil, by regulating the heart and by check-
ing every thought that would lead to deeds
of uncleanness. And, with respect to the
love of our fellow-creatures, it is notorious
that Jesus Christ gave it a fresh energy, by
teaching it to glow with additional warmth
toward our friends, and by directing it to-
ward strangers, and even enemies. Above
all, he gave it a strength and consistency
before unknown, when he laid down that
best and most comprehensive rule of action,
deservedly called the golden rule, the royal

N

178 LECTURE V,

law\ that, which makes our self-love the
measure of our conduct toward others ; that,
which bids us, All things whatsoevei* we would
that men should do to us, to do even so to
them ^. These three, humility, purity, and
charity, are virtues peculiarly Christian ;
and, taken as heads and representatives of
their respective classes, they may be said to
go far toward filling up the three great di-
visions of human duty, that toward God,
that toward ourselves, that toward our
neighbour. It cannot indeed be said that
they were unknown before the preaching of
our Saviour. But certainly by him they
have been so brought forward, so illustrated,
as to have assumed a new importance, and
to have become the leading and most pro-
minent figures in the group of the moral
graces. They have been so strengthened
and enforced, that they may now be justly
considered the three grand pillars, on which
the structure of Christian morality mainly
rests.

To this statement of the discoveries

* James ii. 8. g Matt. vii. IS.

LECTURE V, 179

made by Jesus Christ, a few general ob-
servations respecting the gospel dispensa-
tion may be added.

1. In order to guide our steps in the
new course of virtue thus prescribed to us,
we are furnished with the perfect example
of the great author of our faith. If Jesus
Christ recommended active benevolence,
he went about doing good ; if he preached
forgiveness of injuries, he prayed for his
murderers ; if he inculcated self-denial, he
voluntarily subjected himself to penury,
crosses, persecution, and death ; if he pre-
scribed piety toward God, he passed days
and nights in prayer ; if he enjoined resig-
nation to the divine will, he freely drank
the cup which his Father gave to his lips.
In these respects it scarcely becomes us to
observe, that our Lord presented a marked
contrast to the example, often pernicious,
always imperfect, of other teachers ; since
there is almost impiety in supposing the
bare possibility that he could have infringed
his own laws. But we may remark, that
by thus practising and exemplifying them,
he has rendered no small service to the

N 2

180 LECTURE V.

great cause of virtue, since, in addition to
his instructions, he has exhibited, and, as it
were, embodied a Uving pattern of that
new cast and description of character, of
those original and distinctive excellencies,
which he has prescribed to his followers.

2. We next may notice the new descrip-
tion of persons, to whom our blessed Lord
addressed his instructions. That the poor
had the gospel preached unto them ^ he him-
self adduced as a characteristic mark and a
decisive testimony of his divine commis-
sion. A portion of mankind, which, al-
though by far the most numerous, had not
yet attracted the regard of any moral
teacher, were now taught, that, as they were
endowed with immortal souls, they were
precious in the eyes of God ; and that, if
they fulfilled the duties of their allotted
station, they might be admitted into future
glory, not less than the mightiest monarchs
that swayed the sceptre of the universe.

3. Farther ; as our Lord addressed him-
self to the poor, so he himself appeared in

h Matt. xi. 5.

LECTURE V. 181

the world in lowly circumstances. Born in
a humble station of life, he never emerged,
nor attempted to emerge, from it. Placing
himself in a situation which precluded the
use of violence, he addressed himself to the
reason of mankind, and required them to
receive him as the expected Redeemer, the
great teacher promised by God, because he
fulfilled every prediction which the pro-
phets had uttered respecting that exalted
personage, because he did such works, as
only one commissioned from Heaven could
perform.

4. Resolved still to shew that his religion,
if it succeeded, should not be indebted for
its success to human power, or to human
ingenuity, he chose for his immediate fol-
lowers and first agents in propagating his
doctrines, men, like himself, of lowly origin,
poor and unlearned ; men, who of them-
selves never could have conceived the
thought of changing the religion and con-
dition of the world, and still less could
have effected such an enterprise, unless
God had been with them by sig7is and ivon-
ders and mighty works. And, when those

N 3

182 LECTURE V.

especial manifestations of divine power
ceased ; when, as the gospel had taken
root, it no longer required a miraculous in-
terposition to nurture and protect it ; the
regular and ordinary means, by which it
might be brought to maturity, were few
and simple.

These were, first, the influences of the
Holy Spirit, no longer exhibiting them-
selves in a miraculous manner, yet ever
present, ever operative, drawing all men,
yet compelling none, to embrace and to
obey the truth.

Next, as more visible and palpable instru-
ments, though indebted for their efficacy to
the secret co-operation of the same divine
Spirit, our Lord has provided us with the
scriptures of the new covenant, with the
two sacraments instituted by himself, and
with a ministry, with whom he has pro-
mised to be alway^ even imto the end of the
wo7'ld ' ; provisions of the greatest potency
to those who are disposed to use them
aright, yet none of them of such over-

j Matt, xxviii. 20.

LECTURE V. 183

powering ascendency, of such irresistible
sway, as to exact from man more than a
free, a willing, a reasonable service. In the
Gospels and the other apostolical writings,
we possess perpetual oracles of divine truth,
capable of being transfused into every lan-
guage, and of speaking the words of salva-
tion to all nations. By the shape in which
they are cast, they are happily adapted to
bring before men the history and the sub-
stance of the religion propounded for their
acceptance. They, moreover, are so grave,
yet simple, in their composition, so im-
portant in their matter, so attractive in
the characters which they delineate, so
suitable in their precepts and doctrines to
the wants of man, that they are calculated
to produce the strongest effect, and to be-
come the most powerful agents in propa-
gating the Christian faith. By the sacra-
ments we are furnished with plain and
easy means, first of admission into the Chris-
tian covenant, and afterwards of a perpetual
supply of grace to renew and sanctify our
nature. The Christian priesthood, in dis-
tinct gradations and separate departments,

N 4

184 LECTURE V.

have been charged with the office of pro-
claiming and dispensing the words of di-
vine truth, of administering the sacraments,
which our Lord ordained, of exercising a
pastoral care over their committed charges,
in the way of admonition, exhortation, and
instruction. Of every work of beneficence
and love it is their peculiar office to be the
perpetual remembrancers and the active
agents. In a word, as their divine master
engaged ever to accompany, ever to support
them, it becomes their part (with reverence
be it spoken) to supply, as far as comes
within the capacity of weak mortals, the
absence of Him, who, during his whole
abode on earth, went about doing good to
the souls and to the bodies of men.

From the whole of the foregoing survey
it now only remains to deduce a few short
inferences.

1. It immediately strikes us, that the
Christian dispensation is fitted for univer-
sal reception, and may be embraced by all
people and nations and languages. In its
rites and institutions there appears nothing
that savours of locality ; nothing that may

LECTURE V. 185

not be adopted with equal propriety by
every region of the earth ; nothing that
should obstruct the completion of the pro-
phecy, which declares, that the inountain of
the Lord's house shall be established in the
top of the nioimtains, and shall be eooalted
above the hills^ and all nations shall flow
unto it^,

2. Next, as little can we fail to perceive,
that Christianity is adapted to the matured,
and, if I may so say, the adult state of hu-
man reason. It does not by a continued
exhibition of miraculous agency force be-
lief, as on children in understandings in-
capable of weighing moral evidence ; nor
does it impress its truth on the mind with
the strength of irresistible demonstration.
It requires to be investigated and exa-
mined. Such an inquiry is, indeed, likely
to end in conviction, a conviction the more
satisfactory and the more calculated to in-
fluence the practice, because it is uncon-
strained. But the inquiry cannot be pro-
perly conducted without some know^ledge

^^ Isaiah ii. 2. Micah iv. 1.

186 LECTURE V.

of past and present history, some philoso-
phical insight into the moral and intellec-
tual condition of man. And as such is the
character of the evidences on which Chris-
tianity rests, it is also clear, that its doc-
trines, its motives, its sanctions, its precepts,
are the most fitly propounded to man with
his mental powers strengthened by exer-
cise, and expanded by knowledge and ex-
tensive observation. We can conceive that
some of its revelations respecting the di-
vine nature, particularly that respecting
the plurality of persons in the Godhead,
might, m the times of ignorance, have been
ha7^d to be understood, and might also have
been liable to be dangerously perverted ;
while, to the understanding at once culti-
vated and corrected by wholesome disci-
pline, it affords matter of contemplation,
pregnant not less with edification, than with
wonder and delight. Its disclosures on the
awful subject of the redemption require,
even to be particularly understood, an in-
tellect of no puny grasp, and capable of tak-
ing no contracted view of the system, on
which the government of the universe is

LECTURE V. 187

conducted. Its representations of the life
to come, by the very rewards which they
propose, address themselves to beings raised
above the grossness of merely sensual grati-
fication. And its precepts, as they exhibit
virtue in her simpler form and more mo-
dest attire, presuppose, and tend farther to
nourish and invigorate, a refinement of the
moral sense, a pure and chastised taste in
ethics, which we may vainly seek in the
coarser apprehensions of rudeness and ig-
norance. At the same time, those very
precepts, simple as they may appear, have
such elastic and expansive force, that, while
they fit and apply themselves to the capa-
city of the lowliest peasant, they afford
scope for the exercise of human virtue in
its largest, most conspicuous, and most in-
fluential sphere of action.

3. And, as the gospel is thus associated
with the advancement and cultivation of
the human intellect, so, in its tendency to
elevate and ennoble our moral nature, we
may perceive a farther developement of
that principle, on which throughout these

188 LECTURE V.

Lectures we have constantly fixed our at-
tention, and which has been the principal
clue to guide us in our inquiry, viz. the pro-
gressive improvement and exaltation of
fallen man, by a course of instruction suited
to his circumstances and capacity. The
general effect of the fall was to degrade us
from our high estate, to fix our affections
on things below, and to engage us in j^ur-
suits and occupations base, earthly, and sen-
sual. On the other hand, the very essence
of the gospel is spirituality. Its most ex-
pressive motto is, Sm^sum corda. Its con-
stant aim is to raise us above the objects of
sense, to make us walk by faith, and not by
sight ^. And, with this view, it, above all
things, declares irreconcilable and intermi-
nable war with that deadliest foe of all hu-
man improvement, the principle of selfish-
ness. When it bids us de7iy om^selves^;
when it bids us abstain fi^om fleshly lusts'^;
when it bids us stifle those emotions of

kg Cor.v. 7. "^1 Pet. ii. 11.

^ Matt. xvi. Ji4.

LECTURE V. 189

wounded self-love, which seek to vent them-
selves in deeds of malice and revenge " ;
when it bids us prefer the interests of
others to our own "" ; when it bids us per-
form our best acts in secrecy, and with no
hope of reward from man p ; when it bids
us concentrate in our own persons every
moral excellence % and aspire to the per-
fections even of God himself '^; yet, all this
being done, when it bids us assume no ho-
nour to ourselves, but, castifig doitm eveiy
high hnaginatmi, declare that we are im-
pi'ojitable servants % and that we place all
our hopes of acceptance on merits not our
own ; when such are its dictates, it strikes
at the very root from which all evil origi-
nates ; it inspires principles the most spiri-
tualized, the most defecated from every
earthly admixture ; and, in whatever de-
gree those principles can be carried into
action, in that degree it raises us above our
present state of infirmity and corruption,

n Matt. V. 38, &c. M 2 Pet. i. 5.

o Rom. xii. 10. ^ Matt. v. 48. 1 Pet.i. 15.

P Matt. vi. 4. s Luke xvii. 10.

190 LECTURE V.

and assimilates us once more to that image of
God, in which we were originally created.

With what success the religion, thus
extensive in its range, thus intellectual,
thus elevated and spiritual in its character^
has been addressed to the world ; what has
been its progress, what its influence, what
are the causes that have principally im-
peded its operation, and our reasonable ex-
pectations for the future, will be our in-
quiry for the sequel of these Lectures. At
present I would simply point out to your
notice what, in the actual state of the ques-
tion, offers itself to the eye of a casual ob-
server. A low-born and indigent person,
the inhabitant of a sterile and despised
province, himself possessed of no advantages
of learning or foreign travel, attended by a
few poor, lowly, illiterate, and timorous fol-
lowers, disclaiming all force and violence,
sets about to overturn the religion of the
world, and to erect on its ruins a new sys-
tem, calculated to change and amend the
whole aspect of human affairs. Every hu-
man probability is against such an enter-

LECTURE V. 191

prise ; and, if it should succeed, it must
surely be that the hand of God is with it.
The result we shall now see. The station
has been taken ; the instruments have been
set ; and the problem is to move the world.

LECTURE VI.

^^

Isaiah xlix. 11.

And I will make all my mountains a way, and
my hightvays shall he exalted,

IN our last Lecture, we took a survey of
the religious instructions communicated to
mankind by our blessed Saviour, during his
personal ministry on earth. In these in-
structions, one circumstance that we were
particularly led to notice, was, their adap-
tation for extensive, for universal reception.
Unlike the earliest revelations, they were
suited to mankind, augmented in numbers,
and advanced in the arts of civil government
and cultivated society. Unlike the Jewish
dispensation, they were not restricted to one
peculiar people, but were addressed to all
7iations and Mndred and languages. That this
design should take effect ; that not only the
spiritual and more mysterious benefits of
the redemption by Christ should extend to
the whole race of man, but that the religion

o

194 LECTURE VI.

of the blessed Redeemer should be very ge-
nerally known and embraced and professed ;
this had been foretold by the prophets of
old time. Here, then, if ever, we might ex-
pect to see the operation of that principle,
to which in the course of these Lectures we
have already adverted, viz. the instrumen-
tality of human events, under the direction
of divine Providence, to forward religion in its
destined progress. And this principle we
believe to have pervaded the whole course
of history since, as well as before, the Chris-
tian era. Accordingly, in proceeding now
to trace the progress of the visible church
of Christ, it is my design, not so much to
dwell on particular and well known inci-
dents of ecclesiastical history, as to shew
how the general course of external events
has co-operated with the means, especially
established for the propagation of the gos-
pel, and has tended, conjointly, to make the
name of Christ known and honoured upon
earth.

We have before seen how some events of
the Babylonian, of the Persian, and of the
Grecian empires were arranged, apparently

LECTURE VI. 195

with a view to enable those people to im-
bibe a certain knowledge of divine truth
from their tributaries, the Jews. We have
seen how the dispersion of the ten tribes
served to scatter abroad, through various
countries, what may be termed the seeds of
the gospel. And more especially we have
seen, how the peculiar character of the Ro-
man empire was made instrumental to pro-
mote the designs of Providence with re-
spect to Christianity. Its wide extent had
afforded means for communication between
remote regions ; and the nature of its go-
vernment and laws had promoted, in dis-
tant provinces, that civilization, which
could not otherwise have reached them, and
which we know to be favourable, or, more
properly, indispensably necessary, for the
due reception of Christianity.

These circumstances undoubtedly gave a
great facility for the full use and applica-
tion, first, of the extraordinary, and then of
the ordinary, means employed for the ad-
vancement of the gospel. We know, from
the authentic records of scripture, that be-
fore the death of the last of the apostles,

o 2

196 LECTURE VI.

about the close of the first century, the
name of Christ had been preached over a
very considerable extent of the Roman em-
pire. Beginning from Jerusalem, the in-
spired teachers spread themselves gradually
over Palestine and the rich and populous
countries of Asia Minor. St. Paul, in-
structed by a heavenly vision sent expressly
for the purpose, passed into Europe ; and
from him, and from other teachers who fol-
lowed his tracks, several countries of the
west heard the word of God. We know
also from scripture, that the same word was
sounded in some of the islands, and on the
southern shores, of the Mediterranean. And,
according to some accounts % less certain in-
deed, but not altogether unworthy of cre-
dit, it extended itself beyond the limits of
the Roman empire, and was preached by
apostles or apostolical men in Scythia,
^Ethiopia, and India.

If, in the second and third centuries, the
progress of the gospel was less rapid and bril-
liant, yet the same external circumstances,

^ F. Albert. Fabriciiis, cap. v. " Lux salutaris evange-
" Jii toti orbi per divinam gratiam exoricns."''

LECTURE VI. 197

co-operating with the extraordinary en-
dowments still, in a greater or less degree,
continued among the preachers of the gos-
pel,— co-operating also with the inherent
force of truth and the virtues and exem-
plary lives of the early Christians, — were as-
sistant causes that Christianity extended
itself nearly to the boundaries of the civi-
lized world. In the regions also that had
already heard the name of Christ, the re-
mains of idolatry were gradually reduced,
and the proselytes of the true faith be-
came so numerous, and so important in
their rank and influence, that at length the
balance was turned against paganism, and
Christianity, in the course of another cen-
tury, became the dominant and established
religion of the Roman empire.

But, although the consolidation of the
nations under one government had been
useful toward the first introduction and
early propagation of Christianity, their con-
tinuance in that state would, we have rea-
son to believe, have been prejudicial to the
interests of divine truth. In fact, the Ro-
man empire lapsed, after a while, into a con-

o O

198 LECTURE VI.

dition the most unfavourable for religion ;
as also for knowledge and liberty, whose
welfare is always inseparable from that of
religion.

The countries, subject to the Roman
sway, had now sunk under a tyranny esta-
blished on the ruins of liberty ; a species
of despotism, always the worst that can be
imagined, since it contains none of those
circumstances, which sometimes qualify and
mitigate even the most arbitrary forms of
government, that are more regularly, and, if
I may so say, more legally constituted. It
contained no ancient usages, which, as with
the Medes and Persians of old, the mo-
narch, in the pursuit even of his fondest
wishes, dared not infringe ; no personal
privileges attached to classes and particu-
lar functionaries of the state, which, as in
the monarchies of modern Europe, compel
consideration and respect. In the despo-
tism of the Roman empire there was also
another circumstance of dreadful aggrava-
tion, in comparison with others of modern
times, not less severe, perhaps, in theory.
There was no check from the observation

LECTURE VI. 199

of neighbouring and rival states. With us,
we know the salutary influence of public
opinion, even between states nominally in-
dependent of each other. But the Roman
world was subject to one master, a master
bound neither by laws nor by usages, and
exempt even from the restraints, which ri-
valry and competition will impose on the
most violent and self-willed. And, although
the exceptions of excellent princes now and
then occur, still the elements of evil were
more frequently left to their natural opera-
tion, and generated those prodigies of cruelty
and licentiousness, which disgrace the line
of Roman emperors, and are the astonish-
ment of all subsequent times. Under such
a sceptre, every thing that was noble and
dignified in human nature dwindled away.
There was nothing to give a stimulus to
the mind of man ; nothing to excite him
to distinguish himself in arms, in arts, in
science, or in virtue. The name of a Ro-
man, which once bespoke the greatest dig-
nity and energy of our nature, came to be
indicative of nothing but effeminacy, profli-
gacy, and pusillanimity. Corruption fer-

o 4

200 LECTURE VI.

mented in every department of the em-
pire. Literature and science decayed. The
^ shades of ignorance were fast gathering
around the nations. And the barbarous
hordes, who invaded and divided the Ro-
man empire, are wrongfully accused of
being the sole authors of a period of gloom
w^hich succeeded, and which, if it were
hastened, and, for a while, deepened by
them, they certainly assisted in the end to
dissipate.

From the time, when the Christian reli-
gion was associated with such a government,
it visibly declined in beauty and purity. Nor
can we venture to say to what degradation
human society, and, with it, religion, might
not ultimately have been reduced, had it
not pleased divine Providence to interfere
for the rescue of both by means, which, al-
though, at first sight, they may appear to
have been ill adapted for any beneficial
purpose, prove themselves, nevertheless, to
have been useful in the end.

This was the introduction of the wild

b Halkni's State of Europe, vol. iii. p. 305, &c.

LECTURE VI. 201

nations, which shivered in pieces the un-
wieldy mass of the Roman empire. I must
not be supposed insensible to all the atro-
cities which marked their first irruptions,
or to the ages of disorder and violence,
which followed their settlement in the dif-
ferent countries that they won. Yet this
was an obscuration, through which the
world was destined to pass in order to ar-
rive at a period of greater brightness.
When we fall back that we may take a
more vigorous spring, we cannot be said to
lose ground. In our way through a valley,
that must be passed to reach a point of high
elevation, we can scarcely be said to go
downwards. These barbarians, cruel and
ignorant as they were, brought with them
the germ of a nobler order of things. They
conferred on mankind an incalculable be-
nefit, if it were only by destroying an uni-
versal monarchy, and by establishing on its
ruins independent states, which, by their
rivalry and opposition, might act recipro-
cally as a curb and as a spur each upon the
other. But into these states they moreover
introduced institutions, which were destined

£02 LECTURE VI.

to infuse a new life and energy into the
inert mass of the Roman world, and to pro-
duce, in process of time, the most excellent
results. They introduced the principles of
limited monarchy and of representative le-
gislation, two of the greatest blessings, as
also two of the most distinguishing marks,
of modern in comparison with ancient
times. They also introduced a spirit of
personal independence, combined with de-
voted loyalty ; of boldness, tempered by the
courtesy, the respect for the female sex, and
the purity of manners, which had dis-
tinguished them in their native forests *" ; a
spirit that was wanted to renovate and to
reinvigorate the effete nations of Europe.

But, during the stormy period that elapsed
before these precious seeds could vegetate,
what became of religion ? Religion, as being
embodied in an earthly frame, and being
able to speak to man only in such language
and in such a tone as he could understand,
did undoubtedly partake of the evils and
disorders of the times. It sunk into a state

^ Tacitus de Mor. Germ. torn. ii. p. 401. Gronovii.

LECTURE VI. 203

of much degeneracy and corruption. Yet,
even during this period, it had its triumphs ;
and, adapting itself to the circumstances of
the times, it maintained, or rather extended
its sway in the world. The rude warriors
of that period were, perhaps, as little ca-
pable as the Jews of old of understanding
religion in its spirituality*^. But they had
senses, which could be struck with impres-
sive forms of worship. They had feelings,
which could respect an order of men, who,
while they were set apart to administer the
sacred ordinances, assumed peace and be-
neficence as their very badge, and who,
alone holding the torch of knowledge, shone
with a light, if not great in itself, yet great
in comparison with the surrounding gloom ^
Christianity, in the form which it then

d Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i. p. 53.

^ For the beneficial influence of the ecclesiastical power
during the dark ages, (for it is to this period, I would
wish it to be observed, that I limit my observations,) see
Hallam's State of Europe, chap. ix. parti, and Miller's
Philosophy of Modern History, Lee. vi. p. 297. &c. I
may, however, be permitted to add, that the present
Lecture was written before I had consulted either of
those works.

204 LECTURE VI.

assumed, not only was able to convert the
rude conquerors of the Roman empire to an
outward profession of the faith, but also
acquired a hold over their minds, which, in
the actual circumstances of society, was
highly beneficial.

It is seldom that any system can prevail
long and extensively, unless it be founded
on the wants and be adapted to the circum-
stances of its times. I speak not now of the
excesses and corruptions of the ecclesiastical
power. Of these, whether of a theological
or of a political nature, many were of a ^
later period than that, of which I am now

^ The following has been given as a chronological
scheme of the progress of the papal corruptions. It is
extracted from Edwards"'s History of Redemption, p. 43J ,
and although by no means complete or unexceptionable
in all particulars, may serve to convey a general view of
the subject.

Century II. Marriage and eating flesh forbid ; Lent en-
joined ; the keeping of Easter and excommunication be-
gun to be abused.

Cent. III. Keeping of Christmas and Whitsunday en-
joined; commemoration of martyrs; sacred vestments;
oblations for the dead ; sacraments corrupted ; new or-
ders of clergymen instituted ; and a monastic life ap-
plauded.

Cent. IV. Relics venerated ; pilgrimages recommend-

LECTURE VI. 205

speaking, and sprang from the melancholy
infirmity of our nature, which can seldom
resist the temptation of abusing irrespon-
sible power. To these excesses and cor-
ruptions I shall have but too much occasion
hereafter to revert, when I come to speak
of the causes, which, in later times, have ob-
structed the progress of the gospel. And

ed ; Friday made a fast day ; and the clergy forbad to
marry.

Cent. V. Pictures, images, and altars erected in church-
es ; tapers burnt at noonday ; penance, and prayers for
the dead practised ; monasteries erected for nuns.

Cent. VI. Sacrifice of the mass ; the clergy exempted
from the civil jurisdiction; indulgences established; he-
resy made death.

Cent. VII. Pope made universal bishop ; Pantheon de-
dicated to all the saints ; prayers to saints, and the Latin
language enjoined.

Cent. VIII. Pope made a temporal prince, and begun
to depose kings ; image worship enjoined.

Cent. IX. Saints canonized ; and transubstantiation
maintained ; college of cardinals instituted.

Cent. X. Agnus Dei'*s invented, and bells baptized.

Cent. XI. Purgatory and beads invented.

Cent. XII. The scholastic writers arose.

Cent. XIII. Cup refused to the laity ; auricular con-
fession enjoined; jubilee appointed; friars instituted.

Cent. XIV. Indulgences sold.

Cent. XV. Seven sacraments established.

206 LECTURE VI.

even if we should be disposed to view this sys-
tem,froin the very beginning, under its worst
aspect, we may still remember that God often
avails himself of very unworthy instruments,
to promote his secret purposes. In the pre-
sent instance, it certainly does appear to have
been wisely and beneficially permitted, that,
during the darkest ages, the ecclesiastical
power, not only should have intermixed it-
self with much weight and influence in the
transactions of the world, but should have
been, as it were, embodied and concentrated
in a single chieftain, who could control, di-
rect, and apply its operations. I allude of
course to the papacy, one of the most extra-
ordinary phenomena, that occur in the mo-
ral and political history of mankind.

To the production of this singular power
various external circumstances concurred.
Its very local situation was a point not un-
important. The bishops of Rome found
themselves placed nearly in the centre of
Christendom, from whence they could easily
communicate with the remote provinces.
They also found themselves placed in the
city, whose very name was venerable from

LECTURE VI. 207

the recollection of its former greatness, and
which, as it was the principal seat of the
knowledge and civilization then extant, pos-
sessed that influence, which superiority in
intellectual attainments must ever confer.
But what the most tended to strengthen
them was, the removal of the seat of civil
government to Constantinople ; a circum-
stance so important in its consequences, that
we may venture to place it among the
events, visibly instrumental toward pro-
moting the great designs of Providence.
This removal, while, on the one hand, it left
the rude nations more at liberty to pursue
their wild, but not unprofitable, career,
tended, on the other hand, to place the Ro-
man pontiffs in the most important station,
in the metropolitan and once imperial city
of Europe. Exempted from the presence
and immediate control of a master, they
were not reduced, like their brethren of the
eastern church, to waste their powers in
vexatious disputes about certain thorny and
barren points of theology. They had be-
fore them an ampler field of ambition.
And, although I am not insensible (let me

208 LECTURE VI.

repeat it) in how many points they abused
their opportunity ; although we must give
a sigh to the weakness which made them
pervert such advantages ; yet let us render
them justice, nor let us suppose that they
never had any views but to their own wealth
and aggrandizement, or that they contri-
buted in no respect to promote the interests
of society or of religion.

The circumstances, that gave elevation
and ascendency to the papal power, enabled
it to confer no slight advantage on society,
broken and disjointed as society then was,
if it were only that it established one cen-
tral point, to which the several nations
might look with respect and deference ;
that it formed a bond of union to connect
rude, jealous, and untractable states into
something like one general system.

But this was by no means all. It more
belongs to our course of inquiry to observe,
that the same circumstances enabled the
Roman pontiffs to be serviceable, in other
points, which were more directly connected
with religion, and which might have been
vainly expected from any secular power, or

LECTURE VI. 209

even from an hierarchy without wealth and
influence, and acting merely by the desul-
tory efforts of individual zeal or piety.

Of these points, the most obvious was the
conversion of the heathen. By the irruption
of the northern hordes, some countries,
which before had embraced Christianity,
were relapsed into paganism. Not only,
however, were these countries recovered to
the dominion of Christ, by emissaries^ acting
under the chief authority of the church; but,
penetrating whither neither the ambition
nor the enlightened curiosity of the Romans
had carried them, the same emissaries ad-
vanced the standard of the cross into some
of the remoter regions of Europe, which, at
successive periods, became members of the
Christian commonwealth^.

Nor did the ecclesiastical power confine
its services to the first conversion of those
people, but continued to exercise a ' salu-
tary influence over the minds of its rude
proselytes. As, at that period, it neither had

g Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 8.
h Mosheim, particularly vol. ii. p. 97, 204.
' For various interpositions of the church to promote
peace, and particularly for an account of the " Truce of

V

210 LECTURE VI.

nor pretended to have any military strength,
it excited no jealousy among the warlike bar-
barians ; and, trusting solely to the authority
of its sacred character, it often was able to
strike with awe and remorse the wild chief-
tain who defied all human ordinances, to
preach peace and moderation between infu-
riated factions, to mitigate the horrors of war
and the cruelties of slavery, and to protect
those who had no other protectors, to befriend
those who had no other friends, on earth.

In these offices, and not less in their
other great service, the preservation of
learning, the Roman pontiffs had power-
ful auxiliaries in the monastic orders. I
will not pretend to say that these establish-
ments were instituted solely to promote the
interests of genuine religion ; nor that they
were not subject, even at the beginning, and,
still more, in later times, to great abuses.
But, in the peculiar circumstances of those
times, as it was useful that there should be
a body of men, ready at hand to undertake
any religious services, whether to convert

" God/' see Robertson, vol. iv. p. 336. See also Hal-
lam, vol. iii. p. 351.

LECTURE VI. 211

the heathen or to control and overawe pro-
fessed Christians ; — so no small benefit was
derived from their professional labours in
cultivating science and learning. In fact,
by their care, and by theirs alone, the
lamp of knowledge was kept from expir-
ing. In their libraries books were pre-
served, and their leisure enabled them to
multiply copies. The lands, which belonged
to the monasteries, always indicated their
possessors by their superior cultivation and
fertility ; the consequence, not only of the
more secure protection which they enjoyed,
but of the skill of the religious orders in
various processes, by which the produce of
the earth is increased. Much of their ex-
uberant wealth was also nobly employed
in encouraging such of the liberal arts as
then survived, and more especially those
connected with the services of religion.
Painting, though rude, was not unknown.
Music was held in high estimation. Of
their proficiency in sculpture we still have
some interesting and valuable remains. But,
more than all, to their taste and skill in
architecture we are indebted for those ma^-

p 2

212 LECTURE VI.

nificent churches, which, for proportion and
for the technical details of the art, are so
truly admirable ; and which, in all that de-
pends upon the imagination, in their power
to impress the mind and excite feelings of
devotion and awe, may challenge compa-
rison with the noblest edifices, erected by
the most cultivated nations in their most
cultivated periods.

Nor, even as time advanced, did the pa-
pal power cease to avail itself of its op-
portunities to spread the name of Christ
among heathen nations. As, in early times,
it had introduced Christianity into the re-
moter parts of Europe, so, when the pro-
gress of events presented a new field for the
extension of the gospel, it was not backward
to occupy the ground. We know the great
consequences, that have accrued to man-
kind, from the discovery of the mariner's
needle. At a period when the mind of man
was becoming restless, and desirous to find
some field whereon to exercise its activity,
this discovery served, if not to generate the
spirit of maritime discovery, yet to give to
that spirit a strong impulse and a powerful

LECTURE VL 213

assistance, without which it could not have
effected any thing great. In process of
time, it led to the discovery of another he-
misphere beyond the Atlantic, and to the
new passage into India. With the vast
changes, which these events have made in
the state and condition of the world, I have
at present no more to do than to remark,
that they opened a new and immense range
for the farther diffusion of Christianity, es-
pecially in the new world. I must not be
supposed ignorant of the arrogant preten-
tions of the papal power to dispose of those
new discovered regions, or of the selfish
motives which dictated those pretensions.
Neither was the zeal of its missionaries
always pure, nor the measures which they
employed either warrantable in themselves,
or such as were likely to give the greatest
and most permanent effect to their labours.
Still, on a view of the whole question, their
conduct in the early transactions of Ame-
rica stands ^honourably distinguished from
the cruelty and remorseless fanaticism of

k See Robertson, vol. ix. p. 308. and vol. xi. p. 8, &c.

r 3

214 LECTURE VI

the soldiery. And when we advert to the
dreadful nature of the idolatries that pre-
vailed in some of those countries; and when
we farther consider, that we should in vain
seek for any other human instruments, by
whom the task of conversion could then have
been undertaken ; — we shall be disposed to
recollect, not un thankfully, that by the ec-
clesiastical agents the old superstitions were
overthrown, and the knowledge of Christ
introduced into regions of the globe, that
bear no slight proportion to the parts be-
fore known. At least the precious seed
was sown. And if, with that seed, much
of a pernicious nature was intermixed, we
look forward with confidence to the time,
when the weeds shall be gradually eradi-
cated, and the wheat be left to sustain and
make glad the heai^t of man with the pure
bread of life.

But the ecclesiastical power, which seems
to have been permitted to arise in accord-
ance with the wants of mankind during the
darker ages, was, as I have before remark-
ed, mixed up with much evil ; and it came
at length completely to realize the fright-

LECTURE VI. 215

ful ''description, by which it had been pro-
phetically delineated in the Apocalyptic
vision. Many of its institutions, which
might have been useful at first, were con-
verted, in process of time, into instruments
for obtaining and extending a spiritual usur-
pation. Doctrines were invented the most
monstrous and the most unscriptural, but,
at the same time, the most admirably con-
trived for the purposes of acquiring autho-
rity over the minds and consciences of men.
And its spiritual chieftains, feeling the sure
effects of uncontrolled power, came but too
often to exhibit in their personal conduct a
profligacy, disgraceful not only to their sa-
cred character, but to human nature. Both
in its origin and in its decline, papacy bears
a strong analogy to chivalry ; both of which
seem to have been institutions of an extra-
ordinary nature, suited to an extraordinary
state of society, and calculated to have been
remedial, the one to the want of the due
administration of justice, the other to the
want of the due dispensation of religion.

^ Revelation xvii.

p 4

216 LECTURE VI.

But as chivalry was incompatible with the
regular dominion of law, so the papacy was
unsuitable to a state of knowledge and illu-
mination. In process of time society ad-
vanced. Anarchy gave way to order, war
and violence to tranquillity and regular go-
vernment. Literature and science came
again to be cultivated. As might have been
expected under such circumstances, the
mind of man, even partially enlightened,
began to perceive, not only the corruptions
and abuses of the papal institutions, but
also the unsound foundation, on which many
of its tenets had originally been built. Still
it was long before the voice of truth could
make itself to be heard, overpowered as it
was by the thunders of authority and es-
tablished usages. The church had indeed
been seldom without some faithful sons,
to bear testimony to the truth, and to ex-
claim and protest against the growing cor-
ruptions of Rome. In different countries
and at different periods of time, ^ individu-

^ Among those who have had a reputation very inferior
to their deserts, we may mention the excellent Robert

LECTURE VI. 217

als, and even some " communities, ventured
upon the bold task of exposing the errors,
and braving the power, of the pontifical
court. And, by gradually preparing the
world for a change, these precursors of the

Grostbead, bishop of Lincoln in the reign of Henry the
Third. See an account of him in Rapin's History of
England, vol. i. b. 8. p. 354. Cave (Historia Literaria,
torn. ii. p. 294.) relates of Grosthead,"Ut immodicam cu-
riae Romanae in Anglia tyrannidem illicitasque provisiones
et reservationes, quas aegre admodum tulit, fortius com-
primeret, ipse Romam profectus est, causam istam apud
pontificem acturus."' And he thus sums up his character ;
" Vir plane erat, (ut pietatem, vitae sanctimoniam, rehquas-
que virtutes Christiano praesule dignas praetermittam,) in-
gentis animi, acris ingenii, in re literaria, quantum ea fe-
rebant tempora, ad summum pene apicem evectus, totum
encyclopasdiae circulum emensus, in literis sacris pariter ac
prophanis, in linguarum Hebraeae, Graecae, Latinae scien-
tia, in astronomia, et universa philosophia adeo supra com-
munem doctorum sortem eruditus, ut artis magicae et ex-
ecrandi cum cacodaemone consortii apud sciolorum vulgus
reus parageretur; quod in tam rudi barbaroque saeculo
minime mirandum est.*"

Thomas Bradwardin was another precursor of the Re-
formation in this country, and has been styled Wickliffe^s
spiritual father. Toplady's Works, vol. i. p. 189. He died
in 1348, not many days after his consecration as archbi-
shop of Canterbury.

^ There is an interesting account of the Albigenses and
Waldenses in Mr. Gilly's Excursion to the Mountains of
Piedmont.

218 LECTURE VI.

Reformation rendered no slight service to
the cause of genuine Christianity, although
they were themselves forbidden to gather
and enjoy the fruits of their holy labours.
In fact, before the world should be quite
ready to receive the reformed doctrines, it
was necessary for some external events to
lend their aid. And of this nature were
two events, that have often been notic-
ed ; the one, the taking of Constantinople
by the Turk ; the other, the invention of the
art of printing. Of these, the first poured
into the western states of Europe a number
of men, capable of directing the newly
awakened desire of knowledge toward the
acquisition of that language, which could
not fail to have a considerable effect in re-
forming religion, — indirectly, by refining and
purifying the taste, and directly, by exhibit-
ing to view the sacred scriptures in their ge-
nuine and original form : the second obvi-
ously tended to the increase of knowledge,
and consequently of true religion, by ren-
dering books more numerous, cheap, and ac-
cessible. These circumstances could not fail
in time to produce some, who should arise

LECTURE VI. 219

the champions of religious truth, and should
be able to assert it with effect. Such champi-
ons arose in Luther and in the other re-
formers. And in the conduct of their ad-
versaries, in the conjuncture of political
circumstances at the time, and even in the
character of some of the reigning princes,
we perceive arrangements ", which we be-
lieve to have been providentially made to
give efficacy to the doctrines, urged by the
preachers of the reformation. In our own
country more especially, it is well known, it
is indeed so well known, that it can hardly
be necessary to dwell on the subject, in how
great a degree the disposition, and even the
caprices and passions of the monarch were
instrumental toward introducing the re-
formed doctrines among ourselves ; and so,
toward erecting a bulwark and citadel for
the general safety and protection of pro-
testantism. And at length, the good cause
prevailed. It prevailed, though not so com-
pletely as we might have washed, even in

^ See some instances in Robertson, vol. v. p. 120, 123,
130, 135, 375.

220 LECTURE VI.

countries which nominally rejected it ;
since it would be blindness not to perceive,
and unfairness not to acknowledge, that the
reformation, by subjecting the Romish
church to rivalry, and to the censorship of
public opinion, has produced a considerable
improvement in its internal discipline, and
in the life and conversation of its members.
But with still greater efficacy it has pre-
vailed in the protestant churches. It has
banished the monastic orders, which had
ceased to be in any wise beneficial, and had
become nurseries of delusion, idleness, and
sensuality. It has banished the celibacy of
the clergy, which tended to dissoluteness of
manners, and to a preposterous devotion to
their spiritual chieftain. It has banished
the doctrines of communion in one kind, of
transubstantiation, of extreme unction, of
masses for souls, of the invocation of the
Virgin and saints, of auricular confession, of
purgatory, of indulgences ; doctrines, for the
most part, invented in comparatively later
times of popery, for the purpose of investing
the clergy with undue influence over the

LECTURE VI. 2U

minds and consciences of men. Above all,
it has established the grand, the funda-
mental doctrine of the supremacy of scrip-
ture. It has pronounced the scripture to be
the guide of life, the rule of faith, the test
of truth. It has declared that no earthly
power has authority in religious matters,
unless that authority be given by the word
of God. It has engendered a spirit of dis-
cussion and of liberal inquiry, which, while
it has tended gradually to dissipate various
illusions and prejudices, has benefited the
cause of truth, by dissevering it from an evil
and dangerous association with error ; and
which has placed all that is important, all
that is vital in religion on a rock, from
whence, we trust, it never can be dislodged.
And what has been the result of these
changes ? That the liberty of discussion has
sometimes degenerated into licentiousness ;
that the mind of man, emancipated from its
shackles, has sometimes abused its freedom,
and run wild into excess, we know and ac-
knowledge with the most sincere regret.
We are also aware that there has arisen an
almost endless series of controversy, where-

222 LECTURE VL

in the spirit of Christian charity has too of-
ten been forgotten, in the eagerness of dis-
pute and the keen desire of victory. But,
with a full perception and free confession
of these abuses, we still may ask, has not
the cause of Christianity prospered ? It is
since the period, when the mind of man has
been awakened from its torpor, and when
religion, like other matters, has been a sub-
ject for investigation, that the true interests
of the gospel have been promoted. We now
possess a number of treatises, in which the
evidences of revealed religion are set forth
with so much weight and precision, that we
receive our faith, no longer merely as that
of the country, in which we chanced to be
born, but as that, to which, after fair in-
quiry, we are disposed to give our voluntary
and reasonable assent. The real and ge-
nuine doctrines of Christianity are set forth
in a conspicuous light, with little danger
that hereafter it shall be in the power of any
one, in order to serve a sinister purpose, ei-
ther to add unto them, or to take away from
them"". The rules and maxims of Chris-

o Revelations xxii. 18, 19.

LECTURE VL 223

tianity, although, I am well aware, far from
influencing, to the degree that might be de-
sired, the conduct of mankind, are yet more
generally known and recognised. They are
interwoven into the whole frame of society.
And, while, in many instances, they pro-
duce a high tone and cast of moral charac-
ter, such as may in vain be sought in any
other school, — they have a very considerable
influence even on numbers who reject and
renounce them ; since many an unbeliever,
while he imagines that he is adopting the
deductions of his own reason, receives and
acts upon principles of conduct, which he
has derived unconsciously from the gospel
of Christ.

And if, after the agitations and convul-
sions which followed the establishment of
the reformed doctrines, the Christian world
appeared to sink into a state of calm and
indifference, seldom favourable either for
the diffusion of Christianity or for its influ-
ence upon the hearts of men ; — still, if we
will open our eyes, we can hardly fail to
perceive the course of external events, in
more recent times, shaped and directed with

224 LECTURE VI.

a view to give a farther advancement to
the cause of divine truth. No one can be
more thoroughly sensible than myself of
our natural tendency to give an undue im-
portance to events, which we have ourselves
seen, and to believe that objects, which
from their proximity are great to our eyes,
are really of a dimension larger than others
removed to a distance. But, with a per-
fect conviction on this subject ; with a deter-
mination not wilfully to swell the circum-
stances in question into an unreal magni-
tude ;— still, I think, it cannot be denied that
the events, which, for almost the half of a
century, have convulsed Christendom, have
had, and promise still farther to have, the
effect of promoting the Christian cause
both within and without its present pale.
Nor, if such be the truth, can it be called
superstitious credulity, to be persuaded that
they have, all along, been directed by di-
vine Providence to this very end.

Previously to the period to which I al-
lude, the great vice of the Christian world
was a forgetfulness of the blessings of Chris-
tianity. Enjoying its doctrines, its ordi-

LECTURE VI. 225

nances and its precepts in peace, it seems
to have received them, like the blessings of
the common sun and air, with little regard
to the bounteous hand from whence they
proceeded. Feeling itself strong, the hu-
man mind fancied that the staff, on which
it had leaned, was an encumbrance and an
hinderance ; that the religion, which had
materially contributed to carry society on-
wards to its actual state, was now an impe-
diment to its further progress. With re-
spect also to the principles of the gospel,
no immediate mischief being observed to
result from their open and public vio-
lation, they were sinking into a state of
much disregard. And a most preposterous
admiration was bestowed upon persons,
who employed the talents, by which they
possessed an influence over the minds
of men, to the purposes of undermining
and overthrowing the gospel. But the
Christian world was destined to receive a
salutary lesson in the severe school of ad-
versity. The real tendency of the anti-
christian doctrines was seen, it was felt by

Q

226 LECTURE VI.

painful experience, in the long series of
public calamities, which ensued from the
attempt to carry them into public practice.
These calamities, it appears, were permitted
to visit almost every country in Europe,
that the lesson might come home to the
personal feelings of all. They were per-
mitted, in a more especial manner, to visit
the great ones of the earth, and, in this visi-
tation, must have so experimentally con-
vinced them of the value and importance
of Christianity, that we may venture to
pronounce, it will be long before we again
see monarchs joining with philosophers, in
an unnatural confederacy to extirpate the
gospel. The same storm, and even the agi-
tations which have followed the storm, have
moreover so awakened the friends and de-
fenders of religion from the lethargy, which
long peace and security had tended to en-
gender, that they have given rise to va-
rious institutions and internal arrange-
ments, which promise fair to place Chris-
tianity on firmer grounds than ever, and
to produce upon the manners and morals

LECTURE VI. 2£7

of mankind that beneficial effect, which
must ever ensue from the purification and
extension of the true faith.

And, while these benefits haye been con-
ferred upon the internal condition of the
Christian world, the same course of events
has had a tendency, no less manifest, to the
extension of Christianity into new and dis-
tant regions. The wars, which have lately
been waged, have been conducted on a scale
of such magnitude, and have taken such a
peculiar turn, as to have given an impulse
and excitement to some countries, com-
monly placed beyond the influence of Eu-
ropean states. It has also been the espe-
cial character of those wars to compel some
of the parties engaged, and those the most
considerable in influence, to seek for aid
and strength by the extension of their com-
merce, and by the creation of the ties which
commerce produces, with remote countries.
The consequence is, that regions, which,
within the memory of some not very old
among us, were considered almost as belong-
ing to another world, now come within the
political relations of Christian Europe. Im-

Q 2

228 LECTURE VI.

mense regions, that profess the basest ido-
latry, have even become directly subject to
the most enlightenedof the Christian powers.
And the advance of commerce and naviga-
tion, which every year witnesses, together
with the invention and improvement of
processes, by which the intercourse of na-
tions is facilitated and expedited; — these
things bring the Christian and idolatrous
world into closer and closer contact. Many^
says the prophet p, shall 7*un to andfro^ and
knowledge shall be increased. It is im-
possible that this state of things should not
have a considerable effect upon the extension
of genuine Christianity. More or less of zeal,
measures more or less judicious, may expe-
dite or may retard the consummation, to
which we look forward. But it would be-
tray a culpable distrust in the truth or in
the potency of our holy religion ; it would
betray a strange inobservance of the whole
tenor of history, to doubt that the subject
and more barbarous regions must, sooner
or later, imbibe from their masters much of
their policy, much of their manners, much

P Dan. xii. 4.

LECTURE VI. 229

of their religion. Already we see light
breaking in upon people, that have long
sate in the darkness of idolatry, or in the
not much less thick darkness of Maho-
metan or papal error. And without mean-
ing to deny that a long, to us shortlived
mortals, a very long period must be ex-
pected to elapse, before these beginnings
shall proceed to their full completion, — we
yet surely may venture to say, that a com-
mencement has been given to a series of
events, which shall not terminate, till many
countries now benighted shall be visited by
the day-star from on high ; many, that are
partially enlightened, shall receive a brighter
illumination ; and there shall be at least a
visible progress toward that state, foretold
by the prophets, ivhen the earth shall be full
of the kiiowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea *^.

Nor can I conclude this view of the ex-
ternal history of the gospel without briefly
observing, that the nation, to which I have
alluded, as appearing to be designed by

'i Isaiah xi. 9. Hab. ii. 14.
Q 3

23P LECTURE VI.

Providence to bear the principal part in
this great work, is our own. If partiality
and an undue opinion of our own im-
portance do not deceive us, we seem to be
appointed by circumstances, Mt has been
thought even by an especial prophecy, to
this task. I would fain hope that some
motive higher than ambition or the lust of
gain, — that a fair desire to enlarge the sphere
of knowledge and civilization, and, by con-
sequence, of religion and of happiness, — has
led us, not only to connect ourselves with
every known region of the globe, but to
brave the terrors of undiscovered oceans
and continents. But, from whatever mo-
tive this part may have been assumed by
us, it is clear that it imposes on us corre-
spondent duties. As no other Christian
government has ever come into contact, at
a greater number of points, with idolatrous
nations, so has none ever been responsible,
in a greater degree, for the religious im-
provement of countless millions of our fel-
low-creatures. It cannot be proper for me,

^ See Mr. Faber's Patriarchal, Levitical, and Christian
Dispensations, vol. i. p. 372.

LECTURE VI. 231

on the present occasion, to enter into any
details as to the measures fit to be taken
for the conversion of the heathens, subject
to our authority or to our influence. But
it may not be improper to advert to the
great principles, v^hich should direct our
conduct. It is clearly desirable that by no
rash or precipitate steps we should nip in
the bud that plant, w^hich may hereafter
blossom and bear fruit to the glory of God
and to the promotion of his holy religion.
But, on the other hand, it is no less clearly
desirable, that no timidity, no lukewarm-
ness nor want of zeal, should prevent us
from taking decisive, though judicious, mea-
sures, for the attainment of that great ob-
ject. Most of all, it is desirable that, where
our power directly exists, we take care that
the means of religious instruction, con-
nected with our own excellent church, be
provided in every one of our foreign de-
pendencies; at present for the benefit of
those who now call on the name of Christ ;
and prepared to receive and to nourish
those, who may hereafter be converted to
the knowledge of the gospel. If such cares

Q 4

2S^ LECTURE VI.

be neglected, we may rest assured that the
neglect will recoil with dreadful violence,
with dreadful vengeance, on our posterity,
if not on ourselves. If they be regarded,
it is not for me to say what glories may be
destined for this land by Him, who has
pronounced that righteousness exalteth a
nation \ It is said, that every state is de-
stined to go through a course of growth,
maturity, and decay. Such may, perhaps,
be the law of human nature, in nations, as
in individuals. But this at least may be
asserted, that the experiment yet remains
to be tried, how solid may be the glory, and
how durable may be the prosperity of that
country, which, in its domestic conduct,
fosters every measure conducive to religion
and virtue ; and, in the administration of
its less enlightened dependencies, endea-
vours to train them to the knowledge of the
true God, and to obedience to the laws of
the everlasting gospel.

s Prov. xiv. 34,

LECTURE VIL

CoLOSSiANS iii. 9, 10.

— Seeing that ye have put off the old man with
his deeds ;

And have put on the new man, which is re-
newed in knowledge after the image of Him
that created him.

W E have now considered the progress of
the visible church of Christ on earth. We
have observed its rise from the smallest be-
ginnings ; and have seen the course of hu-
man events in every subsequent period of
history, and not the least in our own times,
arranged apparently to expedite and pro-
mote its success. But the gospel, though
it should be known and professed in every
region of the earth, will have failed of its
principal design, unless it be also found to
have made those, whom it has visited, better
in this world, and consequently more fit
for a state of future glory. Our Lord him-
self perpetually exhorts his disciples to

2S4 LECTURE VIL

amendment of life, to a change and renewal
of their very nature. And, with a view to
lead us to godliness ; to rescue us, not only
from the penalty, but from the power of
sin ; he has imparted his precepts full of
heavenly wisdom, and he has exhibited the
pattern of his own blameless life during
his ministry on earth. The great apostle,
who so strenuously insists on the spiritual
benefits of the incarnation and sacrifice of
Christ, tells us moreover, that he gave hifn-
self f 07^ us, that he might i^edeem iisfrorn all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works ^. And that
this gracious design has not been altogether
frustrated ; that, in spite of the manifold
transgressions of individuals professing the
gospel, the Christian world, on the whole,
has advanced in virtue as well as in reli-
gious knowledge ; that, as God has been
more fully revealed, his laws have been
better obeyed, and his perfections better
imitated ; in a word, that the great cause
of human improvement has been promoted ;

a Titus ii. 14.

LECTURE VII. 2S5

this is what I would endeavour to establish
in the present Lecture.

But I would wish first to offer two or
three general observations.

In the first place, in order justly to ap-
preciate the present benefits derived to us
from the gospel, we should resist the con-
stant tendency of familiarity and long en-
joyment to weaken the perception of any
blessing ; and we should endeavour to fi-
gure to ourselves what ^might, even to the
present day, have been our state, if Chris-
tianity had not interposed for our instruc-
tion and improvement. For this purpose
it is proper to notice what reason alone
had been able to effect for man, and from a
view of its past achievements, to form a pro-
bable estimate of what it might afterwards
have accomplished, if it still had been left
to its own exertions.

In the next place, we should observe that
Christianity has done much for the benefit
even of many persons, who abjure its au-
thority. If, in religious speculations, it be
thought that certain moderns of the deisti-
cal school have spoken, with a considerable

2S6 LECTURE VII.

degree of clearness and accuracy, on some
points, as it is termed, of natural theology ;
it should be remembered that these persons
have lived within the days of the gospel;
and that, when men have been accustomed,
from the first dawn of intellect, to hear
particular principles recognised by uni-
versal consent, it is difficult to suppose
they have not received material assistance
in their speculations on such subjects,
however they may persuade themselves
they adopt nothing but the deductions
of their own reason. Or if, in the ques-
tion of morals, it be urged that little dif-
ference can be perceived between the lives of
Christians and of unbelievers, — even on the
supposed, but by no means admitted just-
ness of this observation, — it should be no-
ticed that where Christianity forms the re-
ligious code of a nation ; — where it enters
into the public institutions, and into most
of the transactions of private life ; — where
thousands of voices are constantly occupied
in illustrating its doctrines and inculcating
its maxims ; — the very air, if we may so say,
becomes impregnated with the spirit of the

LECTURE VII. 237

gospel. Men, in the ordinary commerce of
life, do not refer to their first principles,
on every light occasion. They follow the
current of the world, and act as they see
others around them act. If a particular
set of opinions be generally recognised,
they adopt them in practice without any
minute regard to their origin. If a high
standard of morals be established in so-
ciety, they endeavour to come up to it,
from the force of example, or from a desire
to maintain a fair character with their
friends and neighbours. As the source,
from whence actions proceed, is open to the
eye of God, they will, indeed, be estimated
by him according to the principle to which
they owe their birth. But an act, which
has been done by one man in obedience to
the declared will of God, and by another
in conformity with common usage, may to
human eyes appear in the same light.
And the apparent similarity may give rise
to an inference very unfair to Christianity,
unless we bear in mind, that the influence
of the gospel is so considerable as to cor-
rect and amend the practice of many, who
renounce and vilify it.

238 LECTURE VII.

Again, as much praise, to which Chris-
tianity is fairly entitled, has been with-
drawn from it, so it has, on the other hand,
been blamed for much, of which it is en-
tirely guiltless. The vices, which have be-
longed to some of its professors, have been
imputed, not to the corrupt nature of man,
which even the best religion cannot en-
tirely correct, but to the religion itself.
And, if there be some few evils, to which it
may appear, at first sight, to have given the
especial occasion, — such, for instance, as per-
secution and religious wars, — it should be
remembered that these have sprung, not
from genuine Christianity, which abhors
and condemns them, but from Christianity
misunderstood, perverted, and abused. The
fact is, it is easy to be calm and tolerant in
matters whereon we are indifferent. But,
where a religion, like that of the gospel,
occupies a very important department in
human life, where it " comes home to the
business and bosoms of men, it will natu-
rally awaken a lively and keen feeling :
and this feeling, until it be corrected, as it
undoubtedly will be corrected, by a closer
acquaintance with the true spirit of the

LECTURE VII. 239

gospel, is apt at times to flame forth into
an intemperate and destructive zeal. But
the possibility of abuse always exists *in
proportion to the potency, and, conse-
quently, the capability of good, in the
principle. Nor should we condemn Chris-
tianity on the score of its occasional mis-
applications, unless we are at the same time
prepared to pronounce, that neither liberty
nor learning are blessings, because they
both have been perverted to evil purposes.
And it should be farther observed, that, in
the great majority of cases that have been
cited against Christianity, Christianity has
in fact had nothing to do with the matter.
It has been used merely as a pretence ; it
has been a vizard outwardly assumed. De-
signing men, knowing that religion forms
a sensitive, a responsive string in the hu-
man heart, have touched it that it might
grate harsh music, and that, in the discord
which ensues, they might find or create an
opportunity to pursue their own selfish and
sinister purposes.

These few observations having been pre-
mised, let us now proceed to trace the be-

240 LECTURE VII.

neficial eiFects of the gospel, as briefly as the
magnitude and importance of the subject
will permit, on the great structure of human
society.

And, first, let it not be a matter of sur-
prise, if we are tempted to express a doubt,
whether the revelation of Christ be not the
sole cause that idolatry is not, to this day,
the religion of the civilized world ; and that
it is not recommended even by philosophers,
who, in secret, and to their more initiated
disciples, might teach a purer and a sounder
faith. At least, such a suspicion should not
be thought extravagant, until there can be
cited any one instance of a nation, which,
after having yielded to idolatry, has been
able, by the mere force of reason, and with-
out any aid from revelation, to turn to the
public, recognised, exclusive worship of the
one true God, the creator and the ruler of
the universe. History, I believe, furnishes
no such example. It certainly must not be
sought among the followers of Mahomet,
since it is obvious their favourite tenet of
the unity of the Godhead, although per-
verted and distorted from the truth as it is

LECTURE VII. 241

in the gospel, has been derived from Chris-
tianity. And, if we are thus indebted to
the gospel, and to the gospel alone, for the
extirpation of idolatry, this debt by itself is
of incalculable amount and value. An ob-
vious defect of idolatry, as it affected the
question of human virtue and happiness,
v^^as its total separation from morality. To
view it, in the first instance, in its least ex-
ceptionable and offensive form, it consisted
merely of a few idle pageantries and insig-
nificant observances. But, in performing
this worship, there was an entire want of
that feeling, which arises in the heart of a
Christian, as he approaches a God, who is
himself of infinite purity, and who declares
that he is of purer eyes than to behold evil ^.
The rules of pagan worship were prescribed
in no book, which, at the same time, incul-
cated maxims of exalted virtue, and which,
in exhibiting the object to be adored with
divine rites, exhibited a character where
every excellence was embodied and exem-
plified. The priests were men appointed

b Hab. i. 13.
R

242 LECTURE VII.

merely to perform the ceremonial rites of
religion ; not, as under the Christian system,
separated from the rest of society, and ex-
pressly and professionally appointed, not
only to be themselves thoroughly furnislied
unto all good works^ but to admonish and
exhort others to righteousness, and to main-
tain and enforce, in every point, the insepa-
rable connection between a pure faith and
a holy life.

And it would have been well, if the evils
of paganism had been confined to these ne-
gative defects, to this want of efficacy to
promote any useful purpose. But it also
tended to direct and positive and grievous
evil. Over its impurities, over its inde-
cencies, not only permitted, but sanctioned
and prescribed, it is better to draw a veil.
But its cruelties stand forth to the eye. In
every system of idolatry a nearer inspection
convinces us, that the beautiful picture of
youths and virgins, presenting their obla-
tions of fruits and flowers before the shrine
of some bloodless deity, is but a vision of
the imagination. In every country it tended
to harden the heart, and, consequently, to

LECTURE VII ^43

debase the moral feelings. In every country
from'' east to west, from north to south,
blood, human blood, reeked on its altar.
But, not to refer you to the well known
cruelties of ancient superstitions, nor to
lose ourselves in the innumerable instances
of sanguinary worship, which modern ido-
latries present; let us select only two
cases ; let us first look to Mexico, at the
period of its discovery, where the ^ hideous
and appalling aspect of the idols seemed to
indicate the dreadful worship which they
witnessed, where the prisoners of war were
solemnly immolated in the temple with rites
the most ferocious, and where, to omit in-
stances ^ of extraordinary sacrifice, whose
horrors almost forbid belief, the more mo-

c The reader, who desires to see the extent to which
human sacrifice has been carried in ancient and in modern
superstitions, may see a great collection of facts in the
illustrations of the Archbishop of Dublin's work on the
Atonement, N«. 5, and in Ryan's History of the Effects
of Religion on Mankind, vol. i. p. 56. &c.

d Robertson, vol. x. p. 308, 427.

^ In Mexico their king Ahuitzol sacrificed sixty-four
thousand and eighty men in the year 1468 at the conse-
cration of a temple. Ryan, vol. i. p. ^55.

R 2

244 LECTURE VII.

derate computations make the human vic-
tims annually slaughtered to amount to
some thousands. We may next turn our
eyes to another part of the world, and see
the true nature of idolatry displayed in our
own days, and almost under our own eyes.
We may look to India, and see devotees
practising the most unnatural and tortur-
ing penances, parents and children exposed
to be devoured by wild beasts, widows com-
pelled to ascend the funeral pyre, and fran-
tic crowds seeking death in its most fright-
ful shapes by self-immolation. Let us re-
flect on these enormities, and then remem-
ber, that they are dictated by a remorseless
and debasing superstition.

A religion, which, in all respects, is the
reverse of this picture, a religion, which, by
its doctrines, its precepts, its sanctions, its
examples, its institutions, is especially care-
ful to prescribe and maintain purity in our
personal conduct, and tenderness and mercy
toward others, could hardly, we should sup-
pose, be found to have been entirely inope-
rative to beneficial purposes. Accordingly,
let us now look to experience, and let us

LECTURE VII. 245

endeavour to trace its operation in some of
the great departments of human life.

Let us look first to the effect of Christi-
anity upon public and international policy.
It is unhappily for the purposes of mutual
annoyance and destruction, that indepen-
dent states come, for the most part, into di-
rect contact with each other. And, although
Christianity certainly has not yet been able
to make wars altogether cease in the world,
it has had the power considerably to miti-
gate them. I will not in this instance refer
you to wild and barbarous tribes in their
conduct of war, but rather to the most
admired people of pagan antiquity. Let us
observe the Roman refusing quarter in
battle, and, if not slaughtering his prisoners,
yet subjecting them to indignities and mi-
series, perhaps worse than death, trampling
on their neck, sending them under the yoke,
leading them in triumph, exposing them
publicly to sale, and reducing them to sla-
very. Let us next turn to Christian na-
tions, and let us see them adopting into
their code of public law the rules that, in
hostilities, no gratuitous, no unnecessary

R 3

246 LECTURE VII.

pains, none that have not a direct tendency
to bring the war to a successful termina-
tion, are warrantable ; and that on prisoners
there should be imposed - no restrictions nor
privations but those, which prevent them, for
the time, from injuring their enemy. Let
us consider this contrast, and then say whe-
ther the spirit of the gospel, which breathes
through our institutions, and which parti-
cularly inculcates mercy toward enemies,
has not been mainly instrumental toward
producing this honourable change.

From international policy let us direct
our eyes to the civil government of Chris-
tian states. And here, whatever we may
choose to say about their despotic forms,
however much we may regret that they have
not yet approached nearer to a perfect
standard, we surely must perceive them to
be, at least in practice and in execution, if
not in theory, much in advance beyond the
capricious, the wanton, the extravagant
cruelty, the total disregard for the feelings
or for the lives of human creatures, which

f Vattel, Droit dcs Gens, 1. iii. c. 8.

LECTURE VII. 247

marked the despotisms of old times, or those,
which, in the present day, are strangers to
the name of Christ. For much of this me-
lioration we clearly are indebted to the gos-
pel. There cannot be a greater calumny
than to represent Christianity as favourable
to despotism. In fact it does not interfere
with forms of government. But, while, at
its first promulgation, it studiously avoided
even the appearance of taking any part in
political matters ; while, at all times, it en-
joins as a religious duty the propriety of
submitting peaceably to legitimate autho-
rity ; it has introduced principles, which
could not fail to produce a sure and steady,
though not, perhaps, strikingly perceptible
effect in improving the administration of
governments. It has established the rights
of man, in the true, the legitimate, the
Christian sense of the expression. It de-
clares the perfect equality of all mankind,
in the great points of their equal depend-
ence on the same almighty Creator, and
their equal responsibility to the same al-
mighty Judge. It declares that kindness
and consideration are due from all to all,

R 4

248 LECTURE VII.

without respect of persons. These princi-
ples, in whatever degree they are carried
into execution, cannot fail to introduce a
certain amendment into the administration,
and, ultimately, into the constitution, of go-
vernments. They teach that, as all mankind
are precious in the sight of God, their lives
may not be wantonly sacrificed, their pro-
perties may not be arbitrarily seized, their
persons may not be cruelly tormented, their
feelings may not be capriciously harassed.
And it surely would be injustice to deny,
that these principles of Christianity, co-ope-
rating with the advancement of knowledge
and civilization, have already produced, and
promise in a much greater degree yet to pro-
duce, an immense improvement in the condi-
tion of that very large portion of mankind,
who are the subjects of civil government.

From public, let us turn our views to pri-
vate life. And here, I think, we shall see
the beneficial effects of Christianity yet
more strikingly demonstrated. The female
sex, a moiety of the human race, is under a
debt of peculiar obligation to the gospel.
As the woman, in punishment for her ori-

LECTURE VII. 249

ginal transgression, was made subject to the
man, so, throughout the times of paganism,
we invariably find her in a state of degra-
dation. But in nothing is the restorative
tendency of the gospel more apparent, than
in her reinstatement in her proper rank in
society. The whole tenor of the gospel ele-
vates and dignifies the female sex. The Sa-
viour of the world was born, as no one else
ever was born, of woman ; and among wo-
men he found some of his most zealous
friends and devoted disciples. In the ear-
liest annals of Christianity, the female con-
verts occupy a prominent station, and they
were permitted to bear no unimportant part
in the administration of the infant church.
The apostolical precepts respecting the con-
duct of women are all such as tend to give
them respectability, by making them ^ wor-
thy of respect ; and, when they treat of the
conjugal relation, they invariably speak of
reciprocal ^' duties between the husband and
the wife. In the conjugal relation, the
gospel moreover has not a little improved

g 1 Pet. iii. 2. &c. 1 Tim. iii. 11. v. S. &c.
h Eph. V. 22, 25. 1 Pet. iii. 1, 7.

250 LECTURE VII.

the condition of the woman, by forbid-
ding polygamy and by diminishing the
facility of divorce. Where a plurality of
wives is permitted, constant experience
tells us, the woman is taught to consider
herself merely as the object of the sen-
sual passions of man ; and, being trained
for no higher rank in the sphere of domestic
life, she contracts all the slavish fear, all the
low cunning, all the petty jealousy, all the
debasing ignorance, incidental to such a sta-
tion. Where divorce can be too readily ob-
tained, she is liable, when the passion of
man has once been satiated, to be cast off
and abandoned. Or, where the connection
continues to subsist, much of that obligation
to mutual concession and mutual endear-
ment, which arises from the indissoluble na-
ture of the bond, is withdrawn. But, when
the gospel removed these evils, God may
be said once ' more to have brought the ivo-
7na7i unto the man^ and to have presented
her to him, in a sense which long had been
scarcely applicable, as the partner of his life

i Gen. ii. 22.

LECTURE VII. 251

and the mother of his children ; and by
this happy change he has added incalcula-
ble strength to the whole structure of do-
mestic virtue.

Observations somewhat similar may be
made respecting the next great relation of
human life, that of parent and child. We
know the inordinate and cruel powers, which,
in the most cultivated states of pagan an-
tiquity, were possessed by the father over
his children. He might at first refuse to
rear them ; for many years he continued
to hold their life at his pleasure ; and he
was encouraged always to maintain toward
them that distant and forbidding regard,
which belongs more to the master toward
his slave, than to the father toward his son.
But better things have been taught by the
gospel. Not only is the murderous power
of life and death withdrawn, but a more af-
fectionate, a more liberal intercourse be-
tween parent and child is introduced. And,
while the son receives no encouragement to
relax in his filial duties, the parent, both by
the *" specific precepts and by the general
kEph.vi. 4. Col. Hi. SI.

252 LECTURE VII.

spirit of the gospel, is taught to provide for
the temporal and spiritual welfare of his off-
spring, and to temper his just authority
with kindness and gentleness.

Neither, in the change thus introduced
into the conjugal and parental relations, can
it be said that what is gained by the one
party is lost by the other. It is an invaria-
ble law of human nature, that despotism
should recoil with painful violence upon
the despot. The excessive powers, pos-
sessed by the husband and father of old
times, were inimical, not less to his own hap-
piness, than to that of the subjects of his
domestic tyranny ; and whatever degree of
authority he has lost is more than compen-
sated by the different feelings introduced
into private life. No longer an arbitrary
master, he must love and respect, while he
rules, his family ; and, on their part, the
trembling fear of the slave gives place to
the willing obedience and the cheerful duty,
which arise from a sense of benefits re-
ceived, from a voluntary compliance with
the suggestions of reason and religion, from
the free-will offering of the heart.

LECTURE VII. 25S

Let us next look to another very import-
ant relation of domestic life, that of master
and servant. It is unnecessary to dwell on
the painful and frightful details of the sys-
tem of slavery in pagan times. It may be
sufficient to say, that in the state, the most
celebrated for wisdom in ancient times, the
number of slaves, of human beings, who
held their lives by no other tenure than the
will of an arbitrary master, was of fearful ^
amount. The religion of Christ immedi-

^^ I am not aware of any exact calculation of the amount
of the slave population of ancient Rome. But from inci-
dental accounts we are led to suppose that it must have
been very great. To shew the numbers, Gibbon, (vol. i.
p. 66.) quotes Pliny (Hist. Nat. 1. xxxiii.) and Athenasus,
(Deipnosophist. 1. vi. p. 272.) which latter asserts, that he
knew very many Romans who possessed, not for use, but
ostentation, ten and even twenty thousand slaves. The
historian of the Decline and Fall also refers to Seneca,
De dementia, 1. i. c. 24. whence it appears, that a proposi-
tion to distinguish the slaves by their dress was abandoned
on account of the danger to be apprehended from a disco-
very of their numbers ; " Deinde apparuit quantum peri-
culum immineret, si servi nostri numerare nos ccepissent."
See also Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, c. 8. The 47th.
Ep. of Seneca gives a melancholy picture of the ordinary
treatment of slaves. In Tacitus, Ann. 1. xiv. c. 43, 44.
there is an account of four hundred slaves being put to
death for a murder committed by one of tlieir number.

254 LECTURE VII.

ately addressed itself to correct this mon-
strous evil. Without forcibly disturbing
the arrangements of society, by merely in-
culcating maxims, which inevitably lead to
the practice of justice and humanity, it gra-
dually relaxed the bonds of slavery ; first,
by procuring a milder treatment for those
unhappy beings ; and next, by emancipating
the domestic, and, in later times, the predial
slaves. Nor, while it is universally acknow-
ledged that this triumph over inhumanity
is mainly due to the exertions of the Chris-
tian religion, can there be a stronger proof
of the gradual and imperceptible, and, con-
sequently, wise manner in which the tri-
umph was effected, than that no point in
modern history is involved in greater ob-
scurity, than the precise mode and time of
the cessation of slavery. May both the pro-
cess and the result be the same, in the attack
which the gospel is now making on the last
remains of slavery in the Christian world !
As somewhat analogous to the system
of slavery, we may also mention the san-
guinary shows of gladiators, exhibited by
the Romans for the amusement of the pub-

LECTURE VII. 255

lie, and even introduced to enliven private
entertainments. This was a practice against
which the Christian teachers from the be-
ginning remonstrated, and which was for-
bidden for the first time by the first Chris-
tian emperor.

Nor should we omit to observe the effects
of Christianity on one other grand and more
general division of society, the rich and the
poor. A very remarkable circumstance in
heathen ethics, a circumstance arising, pro-
bably, from their system of domestic slavery,
is the almost total omission of any duties
owed by the rich to the more indigent
classes of society. This disregard extended
even beyond this life, and their imaginary
elysium appears to have been open only to
those, whose ' eminence in station or in ta-
lents enabled them to confer extensive bene-
fits on their fellow-creatures, to heroes, po-

1 Hie manus, ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi,
Quique sacerdotes cast), dum vita manebat,
Quique pii vates, et Phoebo digna locuti,
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,
Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo :
Omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta.

^NEID. VI. 660.

256 LECTURE VII.

ets, artists, or statesmen. But the gospel,
which was preached by poor men, addressed
itself to the poor, and also took them under
its especial care. Hence, wherever the gos-
pel prevails, the poor are become the objects
of a commiseration and a sympathy, before
unknown. And in the various provisions
for their corporal, for their mental, for their
spiritual welfare; in the numerous establish-
ments for the relief or the solace of almost
every evil that flesh is heir to ; we see a de-
lightful testimony rendered by most Chris-
tian nations to the efficacy of the precepts
of the gospel. History records with grate-
ful pleasure the name of the "' Christian
matron, the first person who ever founded
an hospital for the sick and necessitous.

I need not, however, remark, that of cha-
rity,— of that great evangelical grace which
Christianity has designated as peculiarly its
own, — bounty to the poor is but one branch.
We know its comprehensive character, its
extensive bearings, expounded and enforced
as it has been by the eloquent language of

"^ Jortin's Remarks on Eccles. Hist. vol. iii. p. 71.

LECTURE VII. 257

the apostolical writers, and by the still more
forcible eloquence of their lives. We know
the tendency of charity, in its enlarged sig-
nification, to humanize society, to sweeten
ordinary life, to mitigate, almost to subdue,
every calamity that can afflict our nature.
And if now, turning our views from parti-
cular departments and relations of life, we
will survey the Christian world at large, we
may indeed be tempted to lament, that the
precepts of the gospel have not yet been
more perfectly carried into execution ; but
we must still be inclined to believe they
have been practised to a degree, that has
materially promoted the well-being of so-
ciety. The gospel, as it has tended to tran-
quillize the irascible passions, to restrain
the emotions of malevolence and revenge,
to make men placable under injuries, and
patient under afflictions ; in all this, it has
breathed over human life a calm unknown
to other systems, and most conducive to hap-
piness. It is true, in order to perceive these
blessed effects, we should not so much ap-
peal to public history. I feel, indeed, tho-
roughly convinced, and have endeavoured to

258 LECTURE VII.

shew, that, even into public life, Christianity
has already introduced great improvements,
and promises, as it shall gradually disen-
cumber itself of all the rubbish by which it
has been overlaid, to introduce improve-
ments yet greater. But, for the point now
in question, we should look chiefly to those,
whose names will never be blazoned in
the page of history. We must look to the
walks of private life. Nor is more necessary
than that each man should cast his eyes
around on the circle, with whom chance or
choice has made him acquainted. And I
think it may be said he has been unfortu-
nate, if he does not instantly see numbers
quietly, calmly, unostentatiously pursuing
the path of private virtue ; labouring, under
no eye but that of God, to regulate their
own lives; and seeking, with no view to hu-
man applause, to alleviate the suiFerings, or
to promote the positive enjoyments, of all
with whom they are connected. And, if
such be the result to each man of his own
observation and experience, let him only
suppose that what happens to himself hap-
pens also to others ; that, in other spheres

LECTURE VII. 259

and societies, there is an equal number of
persons, who are careful, to the best of their
ability, to walk in all the commandmeiits aiid
ordinances of the Lord blameless'' ; and then
let him calculate, if indeed he can hope to
calculate, the amount of positive good pro-
duced on human society by the blessed in-
fluence of the gospel of Christ.

Nor is this all. There are triumphs of
Christianity, which never can be known but
to the individual who achieves them ; and
whose fragrance, like that of some precious
essences, evaporates the instant that it is
opened and exposed. In such cases, the
gospel operates unseen, and is known more
by its results than in its actual process.
When we curb the temper ; when we sup-
press the rising emotions of resentment ;
when we forgive injuries, not only with our
lips, but, in the emphatic language of our
^?i\\o\i\\ from the heart ; when we stifle the
licentious passions in their very birth ; when
we bring into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ ° ; these things, as they

n Luke i. 6. « 2 Cor. x. 5.

s 2

260 LECTURE VII.

tend not to correct, but to intercept and
prevent evil, can scarcely, from their very
nature, be known to others. Their praise
altogether consists in their secrecy. But
He, who seeth in secret^ shall rewm^d them
openly ; since to Him is known, not only
the difficulty of the achievement, but also
its real importance and its intrinsic value.

And now, having traced the beneficial ef-
fects of Christianity on international and
on national policy, on some of the great de-
partments of domestic life, as well as on the
general composition of society ; let us con-
clude this survey, by endeavouring to deli-
neate that abstract model of perfection,
which we suppose might be produced in the
Christian school, in contrast with the pro-
duction of any other system, which has pro-
fessed with any success to teach moral ex-
cellence.

In seeking our contrasts to the gospel,
we are perpetually remitted to the cele-
brated states of Greece and Rome, both as
being the states of paganism the best known
to us, and also as being those, which are ad-
mitted by universal consent to be the ex-

LECTURE VII. 261

emplar nations, and which, consequently,
enable us to make our comparisons with
the greatest fairness. Of those two states,
the former, we know, was more especially
the mistress of philosophy ; while the latter
people, as acting on a larger and more con-
spicuous theatre, furnish the best illustra-
tions of that philosophy carried into ac-
tion.

The prevalent systems of moral philo-
sophy (for of their psychological systems I
do not at present speak) may in general be
reduced under two heads. Although there
was an infinite number of minor ramifica-
tions, the Epicurean and the Stoic systems
may be considered as the representatives of
the opposite doctrines, which divided the
regard of the civilized world. Neither in
adverting to those systems, would I deli-
neate them as they were perverted and
abused by their injudicious friends, still
less as they were misrepresented by their
opponents and rivals. Let us rather con-
sider them in their best and purest state.

Of the Epicurean philosophy the great
principle was, that the chief good consisted

s 3

262 LECTURE VII.

in pleasure. And to this principle it is a
sufficient objection, that it was liable, not
to slight and occasional, but to grievous,
constant, and unavoidable abuse; since, even
to take pleasure in its most enlarged and
philosophical sense, few persons would pos-
sess such correctness of mental vision, as
rightly to foresee what would truly and
ultimately promote their pleasurable ex-
istence, or such strength of volition, as al-
ways to pursue it at the expense of imme-
diate abstinence and self-denial. Still it is
unquestionably true, that, neither by his
precepts nor by his example, did the founder
of the Epicurean philosophy teach that
pleasure consisted in sensual and vicious
gratification. On the contrary, temperance,
chastity, integrity, and other virtues, were
recommended and practised by himself, on
the principle, that the opposite vices, as
they produced in the end disquietude, dis-
credit, and pain, would lead their votaries
widely astray from their desired object.
But the overwhelming fault of this system
was a rooted selfishness. It was from self-
interest, it was with a view to self-gratifica-

LECTURE VII. 263

tion, that the Epicurean was pure or tem-
perate, or just. And, as his very principles
withdrew him from the practice of active
benevolence, he became an unprofitable
member of society. Like his imaginary
deity, sufficient to his own happiness, and
withdrawn from the cares and fatigues of
business, he passed his life in a state of inac-
tion, of secretly cherished satisfaction at
the contemplation of his own superiority to
the desires and passions, which agitated
the common herd.

The Stoic philosophy, on the other hand,
led its votaries into active life, though it
ill qualified them for discharging its offices
with effect. As the Epicurean attempted
too little, so the Stoic attempted too much ;
and the ill effects, which selfishness pro-
duced in the one, were in the other pro-
duced by pride. The Stoic lived in a world
of his own creation, and proceeded on a
fantastic, a preposterous, an unnatural view
of things. In his overstrained zeal for
virtue, he considered every deviation from
it as of equal demerit. By his visionary
doctrines, he rendered virtue unamiable,

s 4

264 LECTURE VIL

and even ridiculous. In his vain attempt
to raise himself above the ordinary feelings
of nature, he became harsh and unfeehng.
In his regard for the public weal, he neg-
lected the charities, if not the decencies of
private life. Grasping at a vast good, and
one unattainable from its very vastness, he
overlooked that which lay directly before
him, and which might have been easily ef-
fected. And, at length, disappointed in his
aims, and refusing to see that the disap-
pointment was in great measure to be at-
tributed to his own untractable system, he
retired in disgust from a world, with which
he had lived in perpetual conflict ; or
ended in a melancholy scepticism as to the
real existence of virtue p.

In contrast to these characters, let us
look to the Christian, who carries into exe-
cution, as far as the weakness of human
nature permits, the precepts of his divine
philosophy. He proceeds on no false views
of human life. He is taught that he is
placed in this world as on a stage, where

P See the account of the death of Brutus in Dion Cas-
sius, Ub. vii. p. 356. Leunclavii.

LECTURE VII. 265

he must exercise himself, and must labour
to cultivate those habits and dispositions,
which will determine his destiny in the life
that is to come. The leading principle of
his conduct is the desire to promote the
glory of God. To the moral law he endea-
vours to render the strictest obedience, and
lives soberly, righteously, and godly in this
pj'esent iaorld% not merely because such con-
duct will secure his own ease, but because
such is the divine will. By the same prin-
ciple, carried out of selfish considerations
for his own comfort and tranquillity, he en-
deavours to promote the welfare of his fel-
low-creatures by every labour of love ; by
great exertions, if occasion for great exer-
tions arise ; or, on smaller occasions, by the
offices of every-day benevolence and affec-
tion. That his labour may not be in vain,
he strives, as far as it can be done with in-
nocency, to accommodate himself to the
temper and manners of those around him.
But, while he is thus engaged in a course
of active usefulness, no emotions of self-suf-

q Tit. ii. 12.

266 LECTURE VII.

ficiency swell within his heart. The con-
sciousness of his own weakness and infir-
mity presses on him too heavily, to permit
him for a moment to fancy himself superior
to those, whom he endeavours to befriend.
Thence meekness and humility lend a
grace to every deed of charity. Knowing
himself to be liable to the casualties and
distresses of life, he 7'ejoices with them that
do rejoice, and weeps with them that weep ^
Sensible that he himself stands in need of
a favourable and indulgent judgment, he is
slow to judge others, and is ready to for-
give, as he himself desires forgiveness. To
every affliction he patiently submits as to a
dispensation from the hands of his heavenly
Father, intended to prove or to correct
him, and capable, by a right use, of being
turned to his present or his future good.
Above all, knowing that within him dicelleth
no good thing, he \s jealous ovei* himself with
a godly jealousy % and places the strictest
watch upon his heart, as upon that avenue,
by which sin first gains an entrance and
dominion over him.

' ' Rom. xii. 15. « g Cor. xi. 2.

LECTURE VIL ^67

Such is a faint, a very faint delineation
of a Christian, considered as a member of
society. In proportion as Christianity has
tended to produce such persons, it has ex-
alted the individual character and promot-
ed the general good, in a manner unknown
and scarcely conceived under any other sys-
tem. That any one has ever realized all
these ideal exellencies cannot, we fear, be
said. Such holiness is as yet too eojcellent
for us; ive cannot attain unto it^. But,
when we consider the long train of Christian
worthies who have shone like lights in their
day ; when we endeavour to calculate how
many more, in the shade of retirement, have
laboured by a patie7it coiitinuance m well-
doing''^ to adorn the doctrine of God their Sa-
viour in all things'"'^ — we may not indeed spe-
cify individuals,— but we may bless and praise
God that he has put his grace into the hearts
of so many of his servants ; who have shewn,
experimentally shewn, of what excellence
man is capable, when, with the gospel in
his hand, with his eye steadily fixed on the

^ Ps. cxxxix. 6. " Rom. ii. 7. " Tit. ii. 10.

268 LECTURE VII.

great model there held forth for his imita-
tion, and with his heart open to the influ-
ences of the Spirit of truth and holiness, he
labours zealously and unremittingly to sub-
due his corrupt nature, and to be renewec?
in knowledge after the image of Mm that
created him.

LECTURE VIIl.

^

2 Peter iii. 13.

We, according to his promise, lookjbr new hea-
vens and a 7iew earth, wherein dwelleth right-
eousness,

I HAVE now endeavoured to trace the
progress of the visible church of Christ on
earth, and to note the practical effects of
the gospel in those countries, where it has
been received and professed. Neither this
progress nor these effects appear, we trust,
to be inconsiderable. Still, it is not impro-
bable, that the more sanguine expectations
of the early professors of Christianity may
have led them to anticipate for the gospel
a wider diffusion, and a more powerful effi-
cacy, than it has yet obtained. We should,
it is true, make certain deductions from the
language of the old prophets, on the score
of the glowing style of oriental poetry. Yet
after these deductions have been made in
the most ample manner, we must still ac-
knowledge that they speak of the gospel as

£70 LECTURE VIII.

being destined to visit and to bless, either
at once or in succession, every region of the
world ; a consummation which, it is clear,
has not yet taken place. On a survey of
the whole globe, we must admit, and admit
with regret, that the theatre, whereon the
Christian religion has exerted its benefi-
cial influence, is more contracted than we
might desire ; and that as yet it occupies a
space of less dimensions, than the regions
overspread by Mahometanism and pagan
idolatry.

A few reflections on this point will na-
turally form a part of the proposed plan of
these Lectures.

It may then be remarked, first, that we
should allow time for the operations of an
almighty hand. We are naturally impa-
tient to witness the consummation of any
scheme, in which we take an interest ; nor
can we, without difficulty, so far abstract our
minds from personal considerations, as to
commit its future triumphs to a period,
when we shall ourselves be removed from
the scene. Hence, when we calculate the
brief term allotted to our mortal life, we

LECTURE VIII. 271

are apt to precipitate matters with an impa-
tience, that often defeats its own desires ;
forgetful that plants, which attain the
greatest size and continue to flourish for
the longest time, are generally the slowest
in their growth. With respect to the Al-
mighty, we forget that with him a thousand
years are as one day % and that He, to whom
the past, the present, and the future are at
once open, and who with one comprehen-
sive glance surveys the whole system of his
creation, may form his plans with bearings
so extensive, as to require for their com-
plete execution a duration of time, which
to us shortlived mortals appears little less
than infinite. In fact, with respect to the
Christian dispensation, we do not suffi-
ciently recollect how long a period of time,
and how complicated an apparatus of events,
were deemed necessary in order to usher it
into the world. The course of these Lec-
tures has led us to see, that the preparations
for this stupendous event commenced from
the very time, when the fall of man first

a 2 Pet. iii. 8.

272 LECTURE VIII.

created the need for a future restoration.
This restoration was at first obscurely inti-
mated to the original parents of mankind ;
it was gradually opened by a succession of
prophecies more and more distinct ; it was
figuratively represented by a number of
rites, instituted for the express purpose of
keeping it alive in the expectations of men ;
it had its groundwork prepared among a
people, who were selected from the rest of
mankind, and conducted through a series
of the most remarkable events, all directly
instrumental to the ultimate design. But
still the end was not yet. Although the pre-
paratory measures were thus taken, the ac-
tual manifestation of Christ was long with-
held. Nor was it until four thousand years
had elapsed, that it was judged by almighty
wisdom that the fulness of time was come,
when the prophecies might be accomplish-
ed, when the types might be filled up, when
the expectation of nations might be an-
swered, and when the design and tendency
of these magnificent preparations might be
explained by the personal advent of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

LECTURE VIIL 273

In comparison with this vast introduction,
the time that has yet elapsed since the pro-
mulgation of the gospel, — long as it may ap-
pear to man, the days of whose age are three-
score years and ten ^ — may yet be considered
as of no great duration. And when we re-
flect that many ages may yet pass away, be-
fore the great drama shall run into a length
disproportionate to its introductory scenes,
we may learn to hush our impatience, and
to wait with calm acquiescence for another
state of existence, when we may be exulting
spectators of its ultimate and complete suc-
cess.

There is also another way of viewing the
subject, which, while it contributes to ex-
plain the slow progress that the gospel has
yet made, may teach us patience and humi-
lity for the present, and may serve, at the
same time, to establish some grounds of
probability, whereon to build our expecta-
tions for the future.

Since the days of the apostles and their
early successors, the gospel, although ever

^ Psalm xc. 10.
T

274 LECTURE VIII.

under the influences of the Holy Spirit, and
with the solemn promise of God that it
shall finally prevail, has yet been left to be
advanced by man ; — and by man, no longer
in the infancy of his species, when, his mind
being yet scarcely developed, it was expe-
dient that he should be kept in a sort of
tutelage, and be guided by the constant and
visibly operating superintendence of a su-
perior power. In the adult state of the hu-
man race, no less than of the human indi-
vidual, man is properly left to a free agency
of conduct, as with the knowledge of good
and evil, so with the power to embrace the
one or the other. This state, although it
be the only one in which there is room for
the exercise of judgment or of virtue, is also,
from its very condition, subject to mistakes
and misconduct. Human passions will in-
terfere, and will cloud the understanding
and pervert the principles. Even the gos-
pel is subject to the same laws as regulate
all the affairs, in which man and his inter-
ests are concerned. And, in so far as it has
been committed to the agency of men, it
has been committed to beings always fallible,

LECTURE VIII. 275

often weak, and sometimes ill designing;
under whose misguidance it has frequently
been checked in its course, and subjected to
many failures and miscarriages.

A short retrospect of the principal cir-
cumstances, which have hitherto checked
the progress of the gospel, will best serve to
explain our views on this subject.

The severest wound, that has yet been
inflicted on the Christian cause, has, per-
haps, been the Mahometan apostasy. Much,
unquestionably, of the success, that at-
tended the pretended prophet, must be as-
cribed to the political weakness of the By-
zantine empire. Still, viewing his extra-
ordinary enterprise as a question of reli-
gion, we must perceive that the Cross could
not have yielded so easy a triumph to the
Crescent, but for the faults of the professors
of the gospel. The real dangers and the
hardest trials of Christianity did not com-
mence, till after the empire had become
Christian, when temporal prosperity re-
laxed the nerves of religion. The great
characteristic, that marked the eastern
churches, was the love of a subtle and

T 2

276 LECTURE VIIL

disputatious theology. Endowed with an
acute intellect, and possessed of a language
singularly adapted by its copiousness and
flexibility to verbal disputes, the learned
wasted their powers in examining, as with
a microscopic scrutiny, subjects almost too
fine for human vision ; while, at the same
time, they pursued the differences of opi-
nion, that could hardly fail to arise out of
such minute investigations, with an ani-
mosity and a violence, most unbecoming
the sacred cause in which they were en-
gaged. As, too, these questions had, in
many instances, but little connection with
the proper business of man, viz. practical
godliness, they tended to divert the atten-
tion both of themselves and of the people
from things to words, from obedience to the
laws of the gospel to metaphysical refine-
ments in the interpretation of it. Accord-
ingly, the general practice of the times ap-
pears to have been degenerate and corrupt
to a dreadful degree ; varying between the
extremes of licentiousness and of a wild
and fanatical spirit, that made devotion
consist in the maceration of the body, in

LECTURE VIII. ni

unauthorized rigours, in unnatural abstrac-
tions, and in delirious mysticism. This ge-
neral corruption, again, must have tended
to weaken the whole structure of civil so-
ciety, as well as to injure the more imme-
diate interests of Christianity. And after
these considerations we may be less sur-
prised to find, that, when the bold impos-
tor of Mecca had proclaimed his mission
from heaven, his armed apostles were able,
in the course of a few years, to wrest from
the allegiance to Christ so large a portion
of his empire, and even to possess them-
selves of the very countries, which the Sa-
viour had ennobled and sanctified by his
personal ministry. The disastrous fate of
those countries may not, however, be with-
out its profit to the cause of Christianity,
if it convince us that a restless, a rash, a li-
tigious curiosity on the more intricate ques-
tions of theology produces the worst effects
on the understanding and temper of the
professors of the gospel. And if this spirit
generally prevail, and be combined, at the
same time, with causes otherwise unfa-
vourable to the gospel, (such as are ig-

T 3

278 LECTURE VIII.

norance and dissoluteness of manners,) it
exposes Christianity to the onset of the
first daring invader ; or, as may be a more
rational apprehension in the present state
of the world, to the less open, but not less
fatal, machinations of infidelity.

If from the eastern we turn our view to
the western churches, we shall still see that
their internal corruptions have been a prin-
cipal cause, that has long obstructed, and
still obstructs, the progress and the benefi-
cial influence of Christianity. In the course
of these Lectures, I have already had occa-
sion to trace the origin and early growth
of the papal system. And if, in that in-
quiry, I have been led to give a less unfa-
vourable account of its commencement than
is often given, and have supposed that it
arose from a propitious conjuncture of cir-
cumstances, rather than from any deep
plan projected and foreseen at the begin-
ning by its first founders ; if, too, I have ex-
pressed a belief, that, in its earlier stages, it
had some beneficial influence on the pecu-
liar state of society then existing ; no one
can be more sensible than myself of the

LECTURE VIII. 279

pernicious corruptions, which it afterwards
contracted. The predominant vice of the
papal system has been the conversion of re-
ligion into an engine for the acquisition of
secular power. As of pagan, so of papal
Rome the leading principle has been,

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento.

While the eastern patriarchs were revil-
ing and persecuting each other, upon ab-
struse points of theology, their brethren in
the west, disembarrassed from the presence
of a temporal sovereign, were extending
their influence over kings and emperors.
While the monks of Syria were exciting a
stupid admiration by a fruitless waste of
existence on the top of a pillar, those of the
west, in a climate less suited for such fan-
tastic and unprofitable exercises, were em-
ployed more gainfully in amassing wealth
and acquiring power. To the purposes of
gaining influence and authority, even the
theological heresies of the church of Rome
were chiefly subservient. That the word
of God might not obstruct its ambitious
designs, other rules of faith were added to
the scriptures, and the scriptures them-

T 4

280 LECTURE VIII.

selves were refused to the laity. That
there might be a body of men abstracted
from domestic cares and avocations, and de-
voted exclusively to the furtherance of
their professional influence, the clergy were
forbidden to engage in matrimony. Still
farther to exalt the dignity, and by conse-
quence to augment the power, of the cleri-
cal order, they were represented as hand-
ling in the sacred elements the very body
of the Saviour of the world, and as pos-
sessing influence over the state and condi-
tion of souls in another life. Their immu-
nity from civil jurisdiction, and their claim
to dispose of the crowns and sceptres of
earthly sovereigns, added still farther weight
to the clergy ; while the fear of losing the
valuable prerogatives, which they had ob-
tained, induced a spirit of intolerance and
persecution, foreign from the true genius of
the gospel. In the members of the clerical
body themselves, this exorbitant and unre-
strained power generated, as might have
been expected, a shameful profligacy of
conduct. And in its effects upon others,
upon the general interests of Christianity,

LECTURE VIII. £81

the result will appear to have been most
pernicious. If we look to the attempts
made by the servants of such a church to
conve7't the heathen, we shall find them too
often directed to the promotion of papacy
rather than of Christianity, and, for this
purpose, so shaped, that, if they appear
specious and expedient at first, they are
little calculated, and have experimentally
been found to be little calculated, to ad-
vance the solid and permanent interests of
the gospel. If we wish to know the results
of such a system imthhi the pale of Chris-
tianity, we may perceive them by looking
to the states that still maintain the most
zealous adherence to the Romish church,
where we shall see that church generally in
close alliance with civil despotism ; where
we shall see the lower orders, for the most
part, involved in ignorance and prejudice ;
and the higher orders too often knowing
little of religion but the outward form, if
not covering secret infidelity under the
garb of a strict observance of ceremonial
rites. And, in general, the system has
created so much suspicion and distrust of

282 LECTURE VIII.

the religion on which it has attached itself,
that, if the youthful inquirer be driven into
infidelity, we shall often find that he has
been scared by the corruptions of the Ro-
mish church ; if he attempt to propagate
his infidel opinions, he paints the linea-
ments of that church, and then sets forth
his picture, with all its deformities, as a
faithful portrait of genuine Christianity.

. The cases of the Mahometan and the pa-
pal apostasies have been taken, because
they form each a subject so distinct and
prominent, that it may be easily submitted
to examination ; and also because they ap-
pear to be the greatest calamities that have
yet befallen the church of Christ, and, con-
sequently, aiFord the strongest illustration
of the principle, which we would establish ;
viz. that the slow progress, which the gos-
pel has yet made, is mainly attributable to
the fault of the human agents, to whom it
has been committed.

But we may farther, and in a more ge-
neral way, remark, that the vices of other
communities and individuals, professing
themselves Christians, have had a most si-

LECTURE VIII. 283

nister influence upon the progress and dif-
fusion of Christianity. In every Christian
society, too many have proved that the
faith, which they profess, has had httle prac-
tical influence on their lives ; too many
have even made its doctrines and precepts,
by a strange perversion, the instruments
for gratifying passions, which Christianity
abhors and forbids. And these corruptions
have done more towards obstructing the
cause and the influence of the gospel, than
all the opposition of all its adversaries,
from its earliest promulgation to the pre-
sent day.

But, as the gospel has long been left to
be propagated and advanced by man, with
all his imperfections on his head, — so we
hope it may also feel, in another respect,
the operation of those laws, which regulate
the ordinary transactions of our kind. In
most human transactions we find that know-
ledge must be bought ; that success is the
result of practice and experience. Seldom
is any thing great or valuable achieved
without disappointment at the commence-
ment. Our earliest efforts generally prove

284 LECTURE VIIL

abortive. We attempt processes, which
fail of success ; we try roads, which we find
do not lead to the object in view. But
from repeated failures we gain wisdom.
We learn what should be avoided, as well
as what should be sought. Every error ex-
posed is an accession to the cause of truth.
Every rock and quicksand, marked upon
our moral chart, serves to direct our future
course with greater safety.

So it may be with respect to religion.
In the times that have passed since the
gospel has been committed to the ordinary
agency of man, it has felt the ill effects of
several false steps that have been taken.
But till certain measures have been tried,
and not perhaps till then, can we either be
completely convinced of their inefficacy
and danger, or be properly set on our
guard against them. The errors now in
question may prove not unprofitable, if
we will learn wisdom from the experience
of the past. And a very cursory view of
certain grievous evils which have befallen
Christianity, as, on the one side, it has
pointed out some of the sources from

LECTURE VIII. 285

whence those evils have sprung, may, on
the other side, make us wiser, and enable
us to pursue a safer course, for the time to
come.

Looking, then, to past events, and thence
endeavouring to discover the erroneous
principles, which have had the greatest in-
fluence in checking the progress of the
gospel, we shall be little liable to be mis-
taken in naming especially the following :
1st, The excessive fondness for discussion at
once minute and acrimonious on points of
theology, which have but a remote in-
fluence on practice : secondly, the vain
endeavour to improve upon the gospel, as
we have received it from the hands of its
divine author, by human additions : thirdly,
the false notion, that Christianity thrives
best in the soil of ignorance, or should be
propagated by any arts but those of per-
suasion and legitimate argument : fourthly,
the dangerous attempt to make Christia-
nity a mere engine for the acquisition of
secular power.

It is not meant that these are the sole
errors that have obstructed the progress of

286 LECTURE VIII.

the gospel. But these certainly are very
prominent ones. Nor can we expect that
the cause of divine truth should have its
full and promised operation, until vices, from
which it has suffered so much, shall be known
and exposed. Neither is it intended to be
said, that if these errors should be com-
pletely exploded, others, and others of an
opposite tendency, may not arise. When
we reflect upon our constant propensity to
mistake reverse of wrong for right ; when
we recollect that we are apt, after abandon-
ing one error, to start aside into an opposite,
but not less wide, deviation from the exact
line of truth ; these considerations should
make us ever vigilant and cautious. In
fact, such has often been the flux and re-
flux of human opinions, that a skilful ob-
server of mankind may be led, from a mere
knowledge of the erroneous opinions that
have lately become obsolete, to foresee the
exact character and description of those,
against which it behoves him next to be on
his guard. I would, therefore, by no means
wish to be understood as intending to say,
that the reign of error and passion is likely

LECTURE VIII. 287

to end on earth ; or that man will altogether
cease to judge after the sight of his eyes^ or
to reprove after the hearing of his ears^.

But, without running into wild and vi-
sionary expectations ; without losing sight
of that sobriety of judgment, which should
be especially exerted in all our speculations
on the future ; it does appear to be a cir-
cumstance highly favourable to our hopes,
that certain erroneous principles, which hi-
therto have materially hurt the cause of the
gospel, appear now to be much on the de-
cline. It is also highly favourable, that, at
the present time, there should be in opera-
tion various other circumstances, and circum-
stances of no little moment, which seem to
promise to the gospel a wider diffusion and
a more powerful influence, than it has ever
yet obtained.

Our preceding inquiries have already led
us to see, that, in many respects, the external
condition of the world is, at present, auspi-
cious to the great cause of the gospel. The
barriers, which have separated distant re-

c Isaiah xi. 3.

S88 LECTURE VIII.

gions, are fast breaking down. The spirit
of commercial enterprise, and the new faci-
lities for rapid communication, which give
so much vigour and animation to that spirit,
have a tendency to make the whole world,
as it were, one country. The lead, which
in these enterprises is taken by nations the
best instructed in religious and in civil
knowledge, promises to give a wider circu-
lation to the blessings, which they them-
selves enjoy. In fact, the temples of pa-
ganism appear to be tottering on many sides.
A light is also breaking in on Mahometan
and papal darkness ; and, however the lovers
of darkness may take counsel together^ how-
ever they may arouse themselves for a while
to activity and zeal, it is a light, which they
will find it impossible to extinguish, or,
eventually, to exclude from their own pre-
cincts.

As, too, the cause of genuine Christianity
has hitherto been found to advance with
the advance of general knowledge, we feel
no apprehensive forebodings, — on the con-
trary, we draw the most animating and ex-
hilarating hopes, from observing the im-

LECTURE VIII. 289

mense progress, which the human mind in
late times has made in science, physical and
moral.

In looking to the physical sciences, I should
bewilder myself in an interminable laby-
rinth, if I were to attempt the slightest
summary of the progress which they have
made, since the establishment of the true
principles, on which the investigation of
nature should be prosecuted. As speci-
mens and examples, let us only advert to
two sciences ; the one, that, by which the
heavens are now submitted to human vision,
and the movements of the celestial lights
calculated with a precision, serviceable in
numberless respects to our daily use ; the
other, that, which, by its acquaintance with
the laws of analysis and combination, has
made almost all the material creation sub-
servient to the accommodation and en-
joyment of man. And, when we have con-
sidered the present state of those sciences,
let us then recollect, that scarcely two cen-
turies have elapsed since they were chiefly
conversant, the first in studying the lights
of heaven with a view to their supposed in-

u

290 LECTURE VIII.

fluence on the human destiny ; the second,
in investigating the action of metals and salts,
with a view of obtaining certain secrets for
the acquisition of inexhaustible wealth, or
for the prolongation of life for an endless
term of years ; in a word, since astronomy
was astrology, and chemistry was alchemy.

So, in moral science, that we may keep
within some bounds, let us not attempt to
trace the variety of erroneous and pernicious
doctrines, the admiration of past times, that
are now abandoned. Let us confine our
view to two points ; and the rather, because
they both are visibly pregnant with the
most important consequences to the future
welfare of society, and are no less visibly
connected with the probable enlargement
of the Christian religion.

The time appears to be close at hand,
when it will be admitted by universal con-
sent, that the commercial intercourse be-
tween foreign countries should be unre-
stricted. On this point, of course I do
not at present speak as a question of poli-
tical economy. I look to its moral effects.
I look to its manifest tendency to diminish

LECTURE VIII. £91

the frequency of wars, by making it the ob-
vious and palpable interest of nations to
cultivate peace with each other. I look also
to its tendency to promote an easier inter-
course between independent and distant
regions, by which it is not in the nature of
things that the wiser and more enlightened
states should not, slowly perhaps and im-
perceptibly, but substantially, give the tone
and character to others, less advanced in
useful knowledge.

The other great point to which I alluded
is the education of the lower orders of the
community. This is an incalculable acqui-
sition to the great cause of human improve-
ment, if it were only by the mass of latent
and unsuspected talent, which it must in-
fallibly bring into useful activity. But
this is not all. No one class of society can
be amended or deteriorated without affect-
ing that, to which it immediately adjoins.
And the more intellectual cultivation of the
humbler classes must, eventually, have the
effect of imposing on their superiors the
necessity of making a correspondent and
proportionable progress in all that is lovely

u 2

292 LECTURE VIII.

and of good ?'epo?% if it were only for the
purpose of maintaining their relative eleva-
tion and their proper influence in society.

Neither is it likely that the advance, which
has been made in these, and some other
great points connected with the improve-
ment of our nature, should at any future
period be lost. They are acquisitions which
have been made slowly, and by dint of
much contention of mind, on the part of
their advocates. And slowly, it is probable,
and only by continued exertions, can they
be farther extended. But the steps, that
have been taken in advance, are, we trust,
secure. Delusive and visionary systems
may be, — they assuredly ivillhe, — transitory
and evanescent. But the great principles, to
which we have above adverted, are too
deeply founded on truth and justice, they are
too closely connected with the welfare and
improvement of mankind, to make us ap-
prehensive that they will ever be subvert-
ed. As, in the mechanical inventions, we
see that the luxuries of one age are the
conveniences of a second, and the neces-
sities of a third ; while in their obvious

LECTURE VIII. 293

utility we have a sufficient security that
they never can cease to be in use : — so we
may observe that various speculations, ori-
ginally conceived by the " prophetic" mind
of some highly-gifted individual, have passed
first into probabilities perceived by the more
enlighted few, and thence into certain and
universally admitted axioms of truth. And,
to give us confidence in their security and
durability, we look to that most powerful in-
strument, the press, which makes it as sure
as any thing in human affairs can be sure,
that the ground, once gained, will never be
lost ; that just principles, once established,
will never become obsolete ; that mankind
will not, at any future period, retrograde
from truth to error, from light to darkness.
If we believe that our holy religion is so
founded on eternal truth, that every acqui-
sition in real science will serve only to con-
firm and signalize it ; if we believe that it
is so intimately connected with the best in-
terests of mankind, that whatever advances
the general welfare of our species must also
advance the cause of Christianity ; it should
seem that the progress of knowledge and

u3

294 LECTURE VIIL

the farther and better cultivation of the
human intellect, must tend to promote both
the external profession, and, what is much
more important, the operative influence
of the gospel. I certainly do not suppose
that we shall witness a literal accomplish-
ment of the prophecies, which say. The wolf
shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid : nation shall not lift
up the sword against nation. They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,
saith the Lord ^. But it surely is hardly con-
sistent with a belief in holy writ, to doubt
that, at some period, the Messiah's reign shall
be widely extended on the earth. And as
little does it seem to accord with actual ex-
perience, to deny that there is now a de-
cided, and a decidedly visible, tendency to
a wider diffusion and to a better recogni-
tion of the principles of the gospel, than
has been witnessed, to say the least, for a
long time past.

And so, having thus far traced the progress
and developement of the great scheme of di-

^ Isaiah xi. 6. ii. 4. Ixv. 25.

LECTURE VIII. 295

vine revelation as it relates to this world,
we may perceive in part accomplished, and
tending apparently to a fuller accomplish-
ment, its supreme and ultimate design, viz.
its design to be introductory to a nobler
order of things hereafter. As each of the
earlier dispensations of religion led the
way to the succeeding one, and, revealing
to man more and more of the great counsel
of God, enabled him to render a better obe-
dience to the divine law ; so we believe the
Christian dispensation, the last that shall
be communicated in this world, was de-
signed to advance man to such a state of
improvement in his human nature as he
can receive ; to restore him as nearly as he
can now hope to approach to the similitude
of God ; and, by this process, to make him
once more meet to be pai'taker of the inherit-
ance of the saints in light ^ As the gospel has
given him a fuller knowledge of divine things ;
as it has instructed him more correctly in the
nature of his obligations in this world ; as
it has furnished him with more cogent mo~

c Cploss. i. lie.
u 4

296 LECTURE VIII

tives for the performance of his earthly du-
ties ; and as it has procured for him addi-
tional aids to carry his knowledge into
practice ; in these respects, it surely has
been designed, and has been calculated, to
advance him in his moral nature ; and, un-
less the views which I have taken in the
preceding Lectures are altogether erro-
neous, may we not venture to pronounce
that, in fact, it has so advanced him ? And
thus it appears, the link, that connects the
present system of things with the future
world, is begun to be formed. Of the na-
ture of the life to come we know but little ;
nor, with our present faculties, is it possible
that here we should know much. But
every thing tells us that the course, by
which this world is governed, is preparatory
and introductory to that, which is to follow.
St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, sets
forth at large how the various ordinances
and institutions of the Jewish church were
adumbrations of the more spiritual wor-
ship, to be established under the gospel.
In like manner it may be said, that the
clearer knowledge respecting the divine na-

LECTURE VIII. ^97

ture vouchsafed to us by the gospel, pre-
pares us for the beatific vision, hereafter to
be presented to our eyes, when we shall
see God face to face. The additional mo-
tives and aids for the performance of our
earthly duties, now imparted, tend to fit
us for that state, where it shall be our em-
ployment to se7've God day and night in his
temple ^. The pure and serene pleasures en-
joyed by the pious Christian, in the humble
hope of his acceptance with God, are a
foretaste of those future enjoyments, when
he shall hunger no mo7*e, neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on him^
nor any heat. For the Lamb^ which is in
the midst of the throne^ shall feed him, and
shall lead him unto living fountains of water ;
and God shall wipe away all tears from his
eyes ^. And, once more, the celebration of
the name of Christ over the earth is an
earnest of that scene, prophetically beheld
by the beloved apostle ; when he heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beasts and the elders. And the num-

f Rev. vii. 15. s Rev. vii, 16, 17.

298 LECTURE VIII.

ber of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands ; say-
ing with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb,
that was slain, to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing. And every creature,
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea,
and all that are in them, heard I saying.
Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be
unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb for ever and ever^.

To these passages, so magnificent, so aw-
fully sublime, it is almost sacrilege to add
a word. Nor will I add more than one
brief observation, with which I would wish
to conclude this humble, this very humble,
attempt to illustrate the manner, in which
the Almighty has developed the great
scheme of divine revelation. We may dis-
tinctly perceive the process, by which God
has dealt forth his successive dispensations
of religion to mankind, adapting them to
the condition and circumstances of the

h Rev. V. 11, 12, 13.

LECTURE VIII. 299

world at the time ; making each a suitable
instrument for the introduction of some-
thing farther; and, by this wise arrange-
ment, tending to the point which we believe
him ever to have had in view, viz. not only,
the spiritual salvation of fallen man, but his
progressive improvement in this stage of his
existence. All this we maydistinctlyperceive;
and, on a view of the actual state of the world,
we may see, or fancy we see, that the word of
God now runs a7id is glorified, and promises
yet more mightily to grow and prevail, till it
shall extend its triumphs over all lands. But
still there is a question of paramount inter-
est, that concerns us all individually and per-
sonally ; — ^how far shall each one of us partake
of everlasting salvation ? The kingdom of
God may extend itself to the utmost limits
of the earth ; yet we, severally, may be shut
out. It is only by a life of righteousness ;
by a life holy, just, and pure, in proportion
to our allotted measure of knowledge and
ability, that we can secure our own salva-
tion, through the merits of the crucified Re-
deemer. And, as Christianity identifies the

300 LECTURE VIIL

true interests of individuals with the in-
terests of the general cause of religion, it is
only by such a course that we can contri-
bute our personal aid toward that great
consummation, when, the earth being full of
the knowledge of the Lord\ it shall be ripe
to be absorbed into another and a more
glorious system, when there shall be new
heavens and a new earthy wherein dwelleth
righteousness ^.

i Isaiah xi. 9. ^2 Pet. iii. 13.

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