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fr MRS. 8. V. V HUN r: he ::■■ «.\ 

i J J ONE i^i J 



SERMONS 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 



OF 



THE LATE REV. JAMES SAURIN. 



VOL. vra. 



BY JOSEPH SUTCLIFFE. 



SERMONS 



TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH 



iif' 



OF 



THE LATE RET. JAMES SAURIN, 



PASTOR OF THE FRENCH CHURCH AT THE HAGUE. 



BY JOSEPH SUTCLiFFE. 



VOLUME VIII. 



ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS 



WITH 



A GENERAL INDEX. 



FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 



8CHENECTADT ; 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BT RIGOS & STEVENS. 

1816. 



>i 



■i 



PUBLIC LBPARV 

A0TOR, LENOX ANB 

TU.DEN FOUNDATIONS. 

R 1910 L 




TO 



THE QUEEN 



OF 



ORE AT BRITAIN. 



Madam, 

I 

I FLATTER Hiyself that your Majesty will 
condescend to permit me to present to you these last 
works of my late father. The protection with which 
your Majesty honoured him, the favors you conferred 
upon him, excuse what appears to me presumption 
in affixing your August Name at the head of this vo- 
lume. What other more happy occasion could I 
have of testifying to your Majesty, my profound and 
lively gratitude ? a book which has avowedly for its 
object, the making of our most holy religion more be- 
loved and obeyed, cannot fail of pleasing your Ma- 
jesty, who so loves this religion as to mjike for it the 
most generous sacrifices, who protects it, and who 
consecrates the supreme elevation, in which God has 
placed you, to promote the happiness and comfort of 
the persecuted poor. 



Vi DEDICATION. 

In giving your Majesty these public testimonials of 
my devotion and zeal^ I follow tbe steps of my late 
father. And may I presume to hope, Madam, that 
the same goodness, which your Majesty deigned to 
confer upon him, shall be conferred on me, and on 
my family? I ask most respectfully of your Majesty, 
the continuance of your royal protection. May God 
himself, Madam, be the remunerator of your benefits, 
conferring more and more on your Majesty, the 
choicest of his favors, and shed them down with the 
same abundance on your August House ! These are 
the vows of him, who is with the most respectful 
veneration, 

Madam, 
Your Majesty's 

Most humble, grateful, 
And obedient servant, 
PHILIP SAURIN. 



V-. 



CONTENTS 

OF THE 

EIGHTH VOLUME. 



SERMON I. 

On the Sorrow for the Death of Relatives and Friends. 

1 Thess. iv. 13—18. 

Page 9 

SERMON n. 

On the Wisdom of Solomon. 
1 Kings iii. 5 — 14. 

38 

SERMON III. 

The Voice of the Rod. 
MicAH vi. 9. 



62 



SERMON IV. 

Difficulties of the Christian Religion. 

ICoR. xiii. 9. 



98 



SERMON V. 
Consecration of the Church at Voorburgh, 1726. 

EHzBK. xi. 16. 

127 



Viii CONTENTS. 

SERMON VI, 

On Festivals, and on the Sabbath-day. 

Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14. 

Page 155 

SERMON VII. 

The Calamities of Europe. 
Luke xiii. 1 — 5. 



SERMON VIII. 

A Taste for Devotion. 
Psalm Ixiii. 5, 6. 



SERMON IX. 

On Regeneration. 
John iii. 1 — 8. 



SERMON X. 

On Regeneration. 
John iii. 8. 



185 



213 



241 



253 



General Index. 277 



SERMON I. 

OntkeSorrow/wrlkeDemtkofRelatiftfeMMdE^^ 



1 Thess. iv, i*~ia 

But I wmdd not have you to be ignoranty bretkreny 
concerning them tc/uch are asleep^ that ye sorrow 
not even o^ others which have no hope. For if irt 
believe that Je$us diedy and rose again ^ eveti so 
them also which sleep in Jesus will Ood bring with 
him. jFor this we say unto you by the word of the 
Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the 
coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which 
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven mth a shout, with the voice of the arch'^ 
angel, and with the trump of Ood: and the dead in 
Christ shaU rise first: then we which are alive and 
remain, shaU be caught up together with them in 
Ae clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall 
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one 
another with these words. 

TsB text we have now rend, inay» perhaps, be con- 
taminated under two very different points of view.—* 
The enterpreter most here discover hie acumen, and 
the preicber display his powers. It is a difficult text ; 
voim vm. 2 



10 Sorrow for the Death of 

it is one of the most difficult in all the epistles of St. 
Paul. I have strong reasons for believing, that it is 
one of those St. Peter had in view, when he says, that 
there are some things in the writings ff St. Paul, hard 
to be understood^ which they that are unlearned wrest 
'^^to their own destruction. 2Pet.iii. 16. In this res- 
pect, it requires the erudition of the interpreter. It is 
a text fertile in instructions for our conduct : it illus** 
trates the sentiments with which we should be inspir- 
ed in all the afflictive circumstances through which 
Providence may call us to pass in this valley of mise- 
ry, L would say, when we are called to part with 
those who constitute the joy of our life. In this res- 
pect, it requires the eloquence of the preacher. In 
attending to both those points, bring the dispositions 
without which you cannot derive the advantages we 
design; Have patience with the interpreter, though 
he may not be able fully to elucidate every inquiry 
you may make on a subject obscure, singular, and in 
some respects impenetrable. Open also the avenues 
of your heart to the preacher. Learn to support sepa- 
rations; for which you^ should congratulate yourselves, 
when they break the ties which united you to persons 
unworthy of your love ; and which shall not be eter-- 
nal, if those called away by death were the true chil- 
dren of God. May the anguish of the tears shed for 
their loss, be assuaged by the hope of meeting them 
in the same glory. 

We have said that this text is difficult ; and it is 
really so in four respects. The first arises from the 
doubtful import of some of the terms in which it is 
couched. The second wises from its reference to cer- 



Relatives and Friends. . 1 1 

tain notions peculiar to Christians in the apostolic age^ 
and which to us are imperfectly known. The third 
is, that it revolves on certain mysteries, in regard of 
which the scriptures are not very explicit, and of 
which inspired men had but an imperfect knowledge. 
The fourth is the dangerous consequences it seems to 
involve ; because by restricting the knowledge of the 
sacred authors, it seems to level a blow at their in-^ 
tpiration. Here is an epitome of all the difficulties 
which can contribute to encumber a text with diffi- 
culties. 

I. The first is the least important, and cannot ar- 
rest the attention of any, but those who are less con- 
versant than you, with the scriptures. You have 
comprehended, I am confident, that by those who 
sleep, we understand llaose who are dead ; and by 
those who sleep in the Lord, we understand those in 
general who have difed in the faith, or in particular 
those who have sealed it by martyrdom. The sacred 
authors in adopting, have sanctified the style of pa- 
ganism. The most ordinary shield the pagans oppos- 
ed to the fear of death, was to banish the thought, 
and to avoid pronouncing its name. But as it is not 
possible to live on earth without being obliged to talk 
of dying, they accommodated their necessity to their 
delicacy, and paraphrased what they had so great a 
reluctance to name by' the softer terms of a depart-- 
urey a submission ^ destiny ^ and a sleep. — Fools ! as 
though, to change the name of a revolting object would 
diminish its horror. The sacred authors, as I have 
sak), in adopting this style have sanctified it They 
hava caUed death a sleep, by which they understand 



12 Sorrow for ike D^aih of 

a repose : Blessed are Ae dead which die in the Lord : 
For they rest from their labours. Rev, xiv. 18. In 
adopting the t6rm> they had a special regard to the 
resurrection which shall follow. If the terms require 
further illustration, they shall be incorporated in what 
We shall say when discussing the subjects. 

IL We have said, that this text is difficult, he^ 
cause it refers to certain notions peculiar to Chris- 
tians in the apostolic age, which to us are imperfectly 
known. The allusion of ancient authors to the pecu- 
liar notions of their time, is a principal cause of the 
obscurity of their writings ; it embarrasses the critics, 
and often obliges them to confess their inadequacy to 
the task. It is astonishing that the public should re- 
fuse to interp]:eters of the sacred books, the liberty 
they so freely grant to those of profane authors. 
Why should a species of obscurity, which has never 
degnuied Plato, or Seneca, induce us to degrade St. 
Paul, and other inspired men ? But how extraordina- 
ry soever, in this respect, the conduct of the enemies 
of our sacred books may be, it contains nothing that 
should astonish us ; but there is cause to be astonish- 
ed at those divines who would be frequently relieved 
by the solution of which we speak, that they should 
lose sight of it in their systems, and so often seek for 
theological mysteries in expressions which simply re- 
quire the illustration of judicious criticism. On how 
many allusions of the class in question, have not doc- 
trines of faith been established ? Let him who readeth 
understand. We will not disturb the controversy. 

¥/e have said that there is in the words of the text, 
probably some allusion to notions peculiar to the 



\ 



Relatives amd Friends. 13 

apOBtoliC age. St Paul not only designed to assnage 
the anguish excited in the breast of persons of fine 
feelings by the death of their friends ; he seems to 
have hlul a peculiar reference to the Thessaloniana» 
The proof we have of this is, that the apostle not 
merely enforces the general ailments that Chris- 
tianity affords to all good men in those afflictive 
situations^ such as the happiness which instantly 
follows the death of saints, and the certainty of a 
glorious resurrection : he superadds a motive wholly 
of another kind ; this motive, which we shall now 
explain, is thus expressed ; JVe which are alive and 
remain at the coming of the Lordy shall not prevent 
them which are asleep, Sfc. 

What was the opinion, peculiar to the Christians 
of thai age, ^VicYi coxAd be assuaged by this motivte? 
Among the conjectures it has excited, this appears to 
me the most rational : — ^It was a sentiment generally 
received in the apostolic age, and from which we can- 
not say that the apostles themselves were wholly free, 
that the last day was just at hand. Two considera- 
tions had contributed to establish this opinion. 

The ancient rabbins had affirmed, that the second 
temple would not long subsist after the advent of the 
Messiah ; and believing that the Levitical worship 
should be co-eval with the world, they believed like- 
wise that the resurrection of the dead, and the con- 
summation of the ages, should speedily follow the 
coming of Christ. Do not ask how they associated 
those notions with the expectation of the Messiah's 
temporal kingdom ; we know that the rabbinical sys- 



14 Sorrow for the Death of 

terns are but little connected ; and inconsistency is 
not peculiar to tbem. 

But secondly : the manner in which Jesus Christ 
had foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, might have 
contributed to persuade the first Christians, that the 
-last day was near. He had represeuted it in the 
prophetic style, as an universal dissolution of nature, 
and of the elements. In that day the sun shall ba 
darkened ; the moon shall be turned to blood ; the 
stars shall fall from heaven ; the powers of heaven 
shall be shaken ; and the Son of man himself as com^ 
ing on the clouds^ and sending his angels with the sound 
of a trumpet to gather together his elect from the four 
winds. Matt. xxiv. 29. 31. These oriental figures, 
whereby he painted the extirpation of the Jewish na- 
tion, and the preaching of the apostles, concerning 
which St. Paul has the words of the Psalmist, TTuit 
their sound went forth to the ends of the earth : these 
ideas had persuaded many of the primitive Christians, 
that the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Je- 
rusalem, and the end of the world must follow one 
another in speedy succession : and, the more so, as 
the Lord had subjoined to those predictions, that this 
generation should not pass away until all these things 
be fulfilled ; that is, the men then alive. This text 
is of the same import with that in the xvith of St. 
Matthew : Verily I say unto yoUj there be some stand' 
ing here which shall not taste of death till they see the 
Son of man coming in his kingdom, ver. 28. 

These are the considerations which induced niany 
of the first Christians to believe that the fast day would 
soon come. And as the Lord, the more strikingly to 



Relatives and Friends. 15 

represent the surprise that the last day would excite 
in men, had compared it to the approach of a thief at 
midnight, the primitive Christians really thought that 
Jesus Christ would come at midnight ; hence some 
of them rose at that hour to await his coming, and St 
Jerome relates the custom of never dismissing the 
people before midnight during the vigils of Easter. 

But what should especially be remarked for illu8« 
tration of the difficulty proposed, is, that the idea of 
the near approach of Christ's advent was so far from 
exciting terror in the minds of the primitive Chris* 
tians, that it constituted the object of their 'hope. 
They regarded it as the highest privilege of a Chris- 
tian to behold his advent. The hope of this happiness 
had inflamed some with an ardour for martyrdom ; 
and induced lo depW^ the lot of those who had died 
before that happy period. 

This is the anguish the apostle would assuage when 
he says, / would not have you ignorant, brethren, con-- 
cerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not as 
others ; that is, as the heathens, who have no hope. 

III. But the consolation he gives, to comfort the 
afflicted, constitutes one of the difficulties in my text^, 
because it is founded on a doctrine concerning which 
the scriptures are not very explicit, and of which in- 
spired men had but imperfect knowledge. This is 
the third point to be illustrated. 

The consolation St. Paul gave the Thessalonians 
must be explained in a way aissortable to their afflic- 
tion, and drawn from the reasons that induced them 
to regret the death of the martyrs, as being deprived 
<^ the happiness those would have who shall be alive. 



16 Sorrow for the Death of 

when Christ shall descend from heaven to judge th# 
world. St Paul repliesi that those who should then 
survive would not have any prerogative over those 
that slepty and that both should enjoy the same glo«» 
ry : this, in substance, is the sense of the words which 
constitute the third difficulty we would wish to re<« 
move. This tve say unto yoUf by the word of ih^ 
Lords that we which are alive and remain unto the 
coming of the Lordj shall not prevent them which are 
asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shouts with the voice of the archangel^ 
and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain^ 
shall be caught up together toith them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with 
the Lord. On these words we shall ask several ques- 
tions essential for their illustration. 

1. What did St. Paul mean when he affirmed, that 
what he said was by the word of the Lord? You will 
understand it by comparing the expression with those 
of the first epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xv. 51, 
where discussing the same subject, he speaks thus ; 
Behold i show you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, 
but we shall be changed. These words. Behold J 
show you a mystery , and those of my text, are of the 
same import. Properly to understand them, let it 
be observed, that besides the gift of inspiration, by 
which the sacred authors knew and taught the things 
essential to salvation, there was one peculiar to some 
privileged Christians; it was a power to penetrate 
certain secrets, without which they might be saved, 
but which, nevertheless, was a glorious endowment 



Relatives and Friends. 17 

wherever conferred. Probably St. Paul spake of this 
privilege, when enumerating the gifts communicated 
to the primitive church, in the xiith chapter of the 
above epistle. To one^ he says, is given by the same 
Spirit J the word of knowledge. This word of know- 
ledge, he distinguishes from another, called just be« 
fore, The word of wisdom. The like distinctions oc* 
cur, chapter xiiith and xivth, in the same epistle. — 
Learned men, who think that by the word of wisdom 
we must understand inspiration, think also, that by 
the word of knowledge, we must understand an ac« 
quaintance with the mysteries of which I have spoken. 
Many mysteries are mentioned in the sacred writings. 
The mjstery of the restoration of the Jews; the mys- 
tery of iniquity; and the mystery of the beast. The 
passages to which I allude are known to you, and 
time does not allow me more than a recital. 

2. Why does St. Paul, when speaking of those who 
shall be found on earth when Christ shall descend 
from heaven, add, We which are alive, and remain 
at ^e coming of the Lord ? Did he flatter himself to 
be of that number? Some critics have thought so: 
and when pressed by those words in the second epis- 
tle to Timothy, TTie time of my departure is at hand; 
I am ready to be offered up ; they have replied, that 
St Paul had changed his ideas, and divested himself 
of the illusive hope that he should never die ! 

But how many arguments might I not adduce to 
refute this error, if it required refutation, and did not 
refute itself? How should St. P.aul, who had not on- 
ly the gift of inspiration, but who declared that what 
he said was by the word of the Lord, or according to 

VOL. VIII. 8 



18 Sorrow far the Death of 

his tniraculoas gift, fall into so great a mistake in 
speaking on this subject ? How do they reconcile this 
presumption with what he says of the resurrection in 
his epistles, written prior to this, from which we have 
taken our text ? Not to multiply arguments ; there 
are some texts in which St. Paul seems to class him- 
self with those who shall rise, seeing he says, w^.— 
Let us next attend to that in the second epistle to the 
Corinthians : God, who raised up the Lord JemSy 
shall raise up us also, chap. iv. 14. But in my text 
he seems to associate himself in the class of those 
who shall not be raised, being alive when Christ shall 
descend from heaven ; we that are alive, and remain 
at the coming of the Lord. Emphasis then should 
not be laid on the pronoun we, it signifies, in general , 
those who ; and it ought to be explained, tiot by its 
general import, but by the nature of the things to 
which it is applied, which do not suffer us to believe, 
that the apostle here meant to designate himself, as I 
think is proved. 

3. In what respects does St. Paul prove, that those 
who die before the advent of the Son of God, shall 
not thereby retard their happiness ; and that those 
who shall then survive, shall not enjoy earlier than 
they the happiness with which the Saviour shall . in- 
vest them ? 

The apostle proves it from the supremacy of Christ 
at the consummation of the age. The instant he 
shall descend from heaven, he shall awake the dead 
by his mighty voice. The bodies of the saints shall 
rise, and the bodies of those that are alive shall be 
purified from their natural incumbrance^ according to 



Relatives and Pnendi. 19 

the assertion of St Paul, already adduced ; v>e shall 
not all sleep J but we shall be changed. And it must 
also be remarked, that this change, he adds, shall be 
made in a moment^ in the ttcinkling of an eye ; that 
is, immediately on the coming of Jesus Christ : and 
after this change, the saints who shall rise, and those 
who shall be yet alive, shall be caught up together to 
meet the Lord in the air, and shall be for ever with 
the Lord. The survivors, therefore, shall have no 
prerogative over others ; so is the sense of the text : 
We which are alive and remain at the coming of the 
Lord J Sfc. 

But this is a very extraordinary kind of consola-* 
tion : St. Paul still left the Thessalonians in their old 
mistake, that some of them should still live to see the 
last day ; Why did he not undeceive them ? Why did 
he not say to console them in their trouble, that the 
consummation of the ages was, as yet, a very distant 
period ; and that the living and the dead should rise 
on the same day ! This is the fourth^ and the most 
considerable difficulty in the words of my text. 

IV. The apostles seem to have been ignorant 
whether the end of the world should happen in their 
time, or whether it should be at the distance of many 
ages ; and it seems that by so closely circumscribing 
the knowledge of inspired men, we derogate from 
their claims of inspiration. — A whole dissertation 
would scarcely suffice to remove this difficulty ; I shall 
content myself with opening the sources of its solution. 

L Ignorance %" one truth is unconnected with the 
revelation of iihother truth ; I would say, it does not 
follow that the Holy Spirit has not revealed certain 



« 



20 Sorrow for the Death of 

things to sacred authors^ because he has not revealed 
them to others. We are assured he did not acquaint 
them with the epoch of the consumnaation of the age* 
This epoch was not only concealed from the apostles, 
but also from Jesus Christ considered as man ; hence 
when speakiiag of the last day, he said, that neither 
the angels in heaven, nor even the Son of man, knew 
when it should occur ; the secret being reserved with 
God alone. Mark xiii. 32. 

2. Though the apostles were ignorant of the final 
period of the world, they left the Christians of their 
own age in the presumption that they might' survive 
to the end of the world, they left the point undeter- 
mined. The texts which seem repugnant to what I 
say, regard the destruction of Jerusalem, and not the 
day of judgment ; but it is not possible to examine 
them here in support of what I assert. 

3. But though the apostles were ignorant of the 
final period of the world, they were confident, how- 
ever, that^it should not come till the prophecies, re- 
specting the destiny of the church were accomplished. 
This is suggested by St Paul in his second epistle to 
the Thessalonians : Now, we -beseech you, brethren^ 
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christy and by our 
gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shak- 
en in your mind, or troubled , neither by spirit, nor by 
word, nor by letter, as from tw as though the day of 
Christ was at hand. Let no man deceive you in any 
way whatever ; for the day of the Lord shall not 
come until the revolt shall have pre^usly happened, 
and till that man of sin, the son of perdition, shall be 
revealed ; chap, ii, / ^ 






Relatives and Friends. 21 

4. In fine, the apostles leaving the question unde- 
cided respecting the final period of the world ; a ques- 
tion not essential to salvation, have determined the 
points o£ which we cannot be ignorant in order to be 
saved ; I would say, the planner in which men should 
live to whom this period was unknown. They have 
drawn conclusions the most just and certain from the 
uncertainty in which those Christians were placed. 
They have inferred, that the church being ignorant of 
the day in which Christ shall come to judge the world, 
should be always ready for that event. But brevity 
obliges me to suppress the texts whence the inferences 
are deduced. 

II. Having sufficiently discharged the duties of the 
critic, I proceed to those of the preacher. Taking the 
words of St. Paul in all their extent, we see the sen- 
timents with which we should be animated when call- 
ed to survive our dearest friends, which we shall now 
discuss. 

St. Paul does not condemn all sorts of sorrow oc- 
casioned by the loss of those we love ; he requires 
only that Christians should not be inconsolable in 
these circumstances, as those who have no hope. — 
Hence there is both a criminal and an innocent sor- 
row. The criminal sorrow is that which confounds 
us with those who are destitute of hope ; but the in- 
nocent sorrow is compatible with the Christian hope. 
On these points we shall enter into some detail. 

First. Ther sorrow occasioned to us by the death of 
those we love, confounds us with those that have no 
hope, when it proceeds from a principle of distrust 
Such is sometimes our situation on earth, that all our 



22 Sorrow for the Death of 

good devolveg on a single point. A house rises to af- 
fluence ; it acquires a rank in life ; it is distinguished 
by equipage ; and all its elevation proceeds from a 
single head : this head is the mover of all its springs : 
he is the protector, the father, and friend of all : tibis 
head is cut down : this father, protector and friend, 
i6xpires ; and by that single stroke, all our honours, 
rank, pleajsures, affluence, and enjoyments of life, 
seem to descend with him to the tomb. At this stroke 
nature groans,, the flesh murmurs, and faith also is 
obscured ; the soul is wholly absolved in its calami- 
ties, and contemplating its own loss in that of others, 
concenfrates itself in anguish. Hence those impet- 
uous passions ; hence those mournful and piercing 
cries ; hence those Rachels, who will not be comfort-** 
ei) because their children are no more. Hence those 
extravagant portraits of past happiness, those exag- 
gerations of present evils, and those gloomy augurs 
of the future. Hence those furious bowlings, and 
frightful distortions, in the midst of which it would 
seem that we were called rather as exorcists to the 
possessed, than to administer balm to afflicted minds. 
It is not difficult to vindicate the judgment we have 
formed of the grief proceeding from this principle. 
When the privation of a temporal good casts into des- 
pair, it was obviously the object of our love ; a capital 
crime in the eye of religion. The most innocent con- 
nections of life, cease to be innocent when they be- 
come too strongly cemented. To fix one's heart upon 
an object, to make it our happiness, and the object of 
our hope, is to constitute it a god ; is to place it on 
the throne of the Supreme, and to form it into an idol. 



and Friends. 28 

Whether it be a father, or a husband, or a child, 
irhich renders us idolaters, idolatry is not the lesfst odi-» 
oos in the eyes of God, to whom supreme devotion is 
due. Religion requires that our strongest passion, 
our wannest attachment, and our firmest support, 
should ever have God for their object : and being on- 
ly in the life to come that we shall be perfectly joined 
to God, religion prohibits the making of our happiness 
to consist in the good things of this life. And though 
religion should not dictate a duty so just, common 
prudence should supply its place ; it should induce 
Uft to place but a submissive attachment on.objects of 
transient good. It should say. Let those that have 
wives be as though they had none ; and they that weep, 
as though tiiey wepl not; and they that rejoice y as 
though they rejoiced not ; and they that use this world, 
CIS though they used it not ^ for ihefashicm of Ais world 
pMseth away. — Put not your trust in princes, nor in 
great men^ in whom there is no help : his soul goeA 
forth, he retumeth to the earth, and in that very day 
his purposes perish. 1 Cor. vii. 29. Psa. cxlvi. 3, 4. 
Hence, when driven to despair by the occurrence 
of awful events, we have cause to form a humiliating 
opinion of our faith. These strokes of God's hand 
are the tests whereby he tries our faith in the crucible 
of tribulation, according to the apostle's idea, 1 Pet. 
i. 7. When in affluence and prosperity, it is difficult 
to determine whether it be love for the gift, or the 
giver, which excites our devotion. It is in the midst 
of tribulation that we can recognize a genuine zeal, 
and a conscious piety. When our faith abandons us 
in Hie trying hour, it is an evident proof that we had 



24 Sorrow /or the Death of 

taken a chimera for a reality ; and the shadow for the 
substance. Submission and hope are characters of a 
Christian. 

The example of the father of the faithful here oc- 
curs to our view. If ever a mortal had cause to fix 
his hopes on any object, it was undoubtedly this pa- 
triarch. Isaac was the son of the promise ; Isaac 
was a miracle of grace ; Isaac was a striking figure 
of the blessed Seed, in whom all the nations of the 
earth were to be blessed. God commanded him to 
sacrifice this son ; who then had ever stronger reasons 
to believe that his hopes were lost ? But what did 
Abraham do? He submitted, he hoped. He sub- 
mitted ; he left his house ; he took his son ; he prepar- 
ed the altar, he bound the innocent victim ; he raised 
his arm ; he was ready to dip his paternal hands in 
blood, and to plunge the knife into the bosom of this 
dear son. But in submitting, he hoped, he believed. 
How did he hope? He hoped against hope. How 
did he believe? He believed what was incredible, 
rather than persuade himself that his fidelity would be 
fatal, and that God would be deficient in his promise':, 
he believed that God would restore his son by a mira- 
cle, having given him by a miracle ; and that this son, 
the unparalleled fruit of a dead body, should be rais- 
ed in a manner unheard of Believers, here is your 
father. If you are the children of Abraham, do the 
works of Abraham., I say again, that submission and 
hope are the marks of a Christian. In the mountain 
of the Lord he wiU there provide. For the mountains 
$haU depart^ and the hiUs be removed ; yet my kindness 
shall not depart from thee ; neither shall the covenant 



Rebaioes mid fViends. 25 

^ my peace be remm)ed. Bmt Zion eaidy tke Lard 
kaih far^aken me ; amd iity Lord hath forgotten me. 
Gm a woman forgether sucking chUd, that ske should 
mot have compassion on Ae son cf her womb ? Vea^ 
^^ ^ff^f^g^^ y^ ^oiU not I forget thee. JVhen my 
faAer and mother forsake me, the Lord viU take 
me np. Though they stay me, yet u:iU I frtcsf in thee. 
Isa. xlix. 14. iiv. 10. Psa. xxyii. 10. Job xiii. 15. 

n. We have reprobated the affliction of which des- 
pondency is the principle. A man judges of the hap- 
piness of others, by the notion <^ his own happiness ; 
and estimating life as the sqpreme good, he regards 
the person deprived of it, as worthy of the tenderest 
compassion. Death presents itself to ns under the 
image of a total privation. Tlie deceased seems to 
us to be stripped of ever^ comfort Had he, by some 
awful catastrophe, lost his fortune; had he lost his 
sight, or one oi his limbs, we should have sympathis- 
ed in his affliction, with how much more propriety 
ought we to weep, when he has been deprived of all 
those comforts at a stroke, and fatally sentenced to 
live no morel This sorrow is appropriate to those 
who are destitute of hope. This is indisputable, when 
it has for its object those who have finished a Christ- 
ian course ; and it is on these occasions more than any 
other, we are obliged to confess that most Christians 
draw improper consequences, and act in a manner 
wholly opposed to the fiiith they profess. We believe 
the soul to be immortal, we are confident at the mo- 
ment of a happy death that the soul takes its flight to 
heaven ; and that the ang^els who have encamped 
around It for protection and defence, carry it to the 

VOL. viii. 4 



26 Sorrow for the Death of 

bosom of God. We have seen the living languish 
and sigh^ and reach forth to the moment of their de- 
liverance ; and when they attain to this moment, we 
class them among the unhappy ! Was I not right in 
saying, that there are no occasions on which Christ^ 
ians reason worse than on these, and act more di- 
rectly opposite to the faith they profess? While the 
deceased were with us in this valley of tears, they 
were subject to many complaints. While running a 
race so arduous, they complained of being liable to 
stumble. They complained of the calamities of the 
church in which they were entangled. They com- 
plained when meditating on revelation, that they 
found impenetrable mysteries ; and when aspiring at 
perfection, they saw it placed in so exalted a view, as 
to be but imperfectly attained. But now they are af- 
flicted no more ; now they see God face to face ; now 
they are come to mount Zion, to the city of the living 
Oodf to the heavenly Jerusalem^ to the myriads of an-- 
gelsy to the assembly of the first-born. Now, as the 
Holy Spirit hath said. Blessed are the dead which die 
in the Lord ; for they rest from their labours^ and 
their works do follow them. Heb. xii. 22. Psa. xvi. 
II. Rev. xiv. 13. 

These remarks concern those only who die the 
death of the righteous : but should not piety indulge 
her tears when we see those die impenitent to whom 
we are joined by the ties of nature, and shall we call 
that a criminal sorrow when it is the death of repro- 
bates which excite our grief ? Is there any kind of 
comfort against this painful thought, that my son is 
dead in an unregenerate state ? And can any sorrow 



■v 



Relatives and Friends. 27 

be immoderate which is excited by the loss of a soul ? 
This is the question we were wishful to illustrate, 
when we marked in the third place, as a criminal 
sorrow, that which proceeds from a mistaken piety. 

III. He answers first, that nothing is more pre- 
sumptive than to decide on the eternal loss of men ; 
and that we must not limit the extent of the divine 
mercy, and the ways of Providence. A contrite 
heart may, perhaps, be concealed under the exterior 
of reprobation ; and the religion which enjoins us to 
live in holy fear of our own salvation, ever requires 
that we should presume charitably concerning the 
salvation of others. 

But people are urgent, and being unable to find 
any mitigation in a doubtful case, against which a 
thoilsand circumstances seem to militate, they ask 
whether one ought to moderate the anguish excited 
by the eternal loss of one they love ? The question is 
highly proper in this age, where we see so great a 
number of our brethren die in apostacy, and in which 
the lives of those who surround us afford so just a 
ground of awful apprehensions concerning their saU 
vation. 

I confess it would be unreasonable to censure tears 
in a situation so afflictive ; I confess that one has need 
of an extraordinary confidence to repress excess, and 
that an ordinary piety is inadequate to the task. I 
contend, however,* that religion forbids, even in this 
case, to sorrow above measure. Two remarks shall 
make it manifest ; and we entreat those whom God 
hai^ tAruck in this sensible manner, to impress them 
deeply on their mind. 



i 



28 Sorrow for Ae Death of 

1. Our grief really proceeds from a. carnal princit- 
pie, ai^d our heart disguises itself from its owd judg- 
ineut, when it apparently suggests that religion is the 
cause. If it were simply the idea ^ the loss of the 
soul ; if it were a {Mrinciple of love to God, and if it 
were not the relations of father > and son ; in a word^ 
if the motives were altc^ther spiritual, and the chari- 
ty wholly pure, which excites our grief, whence is it 
that this one object should excite it, while so great a 
multitude of unhappy men are precisely in a similar 
case 1 Whence is it that we see daily, without anxie- 
^ ty, whole nations running headlong to perdition ? Is 
it less dishonourable to God, that those multitudes are 
excluded from his covenant, than because it is pre- 
cisely your friend, your son, or your father ? 

Our second remark is, that the love we have for the 
creature should always approximate itself with the 
Creator. We ought to love our neighbours, because 
like us they bear the image of God, and they are 
called with us to the same glory. On this principle, 
when we see a sinner wantonly rush on the precipice, 
and risking sialvation by his crimes, our charity ought 
to be alarmed. Thus Jesus Christ, placing himself 
in the period in which grace was still offered to Je* 
rusalem, and in which she might accept it, groaned 
beneath her hardness, and deplored the abuse she 
made of his entreaties : O that thou hadst known^ 
at least m this £fty day, ike things •duit belong to thy 
peace. Luke xix. 42. But when a man becomes the 
avowed enemy of God, when a protracted course c^ 
vice, and a final perseverance in crimes, convinces 
that he has no part in his covenant, then our love 



Rekaivesand FriendU. 29 

should retorn to its centre, and assMX^iate itself with 
the love of our Creatcnr. HencefarA know we no^nan 
after the flesh. I hate them wUh a perfect hatred. If 
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let km be 
anathemas If any man love father, mother, son, or 
daughter, more Aan me, is not' worthy of me. 2 Con 
V. 16. Psa. cxxxix. 22. Matt. x. 87. 

This duty is, perhaps, too exalted for the earth. 
The sentiments of nature are, perhaps, too much en- 
twined with those of religion to be so perfectly distin- 
guished. It is, however, a fact, that they shall exist 
in heaven. If you should suppose th^ contrary, the 
happiness of heaven would be imbittered with a thou- 
sand pains : you can never conceive how a father shall 
be satisfied with a felicity in which his son has no 
share ; nor bow a friead shall be composed while his 
Sissociate is loaded with chains of darkness. Where- 
as, if you establish the principle that perfect charity 
must be an emanation of divine love, you will deve- 
lope the inquiry ; and you will also conclude, that ex- 
cessive sorrow, excited by a criminal death, is a cri« 
minal sorrow, and that if piety be its principle, it is a 
misguided piety. 

But if there be one kind of sorrow incompatible 
with the hope of *a Christian, there is another which 
is altogether congenial to it, and inseparable in its 
ties : and is such the sorrow which proceeds from one 
of the following principles : — ^from sympathy ; — ^from 
the dictates of nature ; — and from repentance. To 
be explicit : 

I. We have said first, from sympathy. Though 
we have censured the sorrow excited by the loss of 



80 Sorroto for the Dmih of 

our dearest friends, we did not wish to impose a rig-* 
orous apathy. The sorrow we have censured is that 
excessive grief, in which despondency prevailing over 
religion, induces us to deplore the dead, as though 
there was no hope after this life, and no life after 
death. But the submissive sorrow by which we feel 
our loss, without shutting our eyes against the re- 
soui:ces afforded by Providence ; the sorrow which 
weeps at the sufferings of our friends in the road to 
glory, but confident of their having attained it ; this 
sorrow, so far from being culpable, is an inseparable 
sentiment of nature, and an indispensable duty of re- 
ligion. 

Yn^y it is allowed on seeing this body, this corpse, 
the precious remains of a part of ourselves, carried 
away by a funeral procession, it is allowed to recal 
the tender, but painful recollections of the intiipacy 
we had with him whom death has snatched away. It 
is allowed to recal the counsel he gave us in our em- 
barrassments ; the care he took of our education ; the 
solicitude he took for our welfare ; the unaffected 
marks of love which appeared during the whole of his 
life, and which were redoubled at the period of his 
death. It is allowed to recal the endearments that 
so precious an intimacy shed on life, the conversa- 
tions in his last sickness, those tender adieus, those 
assurances of esteem, that frankness of his soul, those 
fervent prayers, those torrents of tears, and those last 
efforts of an expiring tenderness. It is allowed in 
weeping to show the robes that Dorcas had made. — 
It is allowed to the tender Joseph, on coming to the 
threshing floor of Atad, the tomb of his father; it is 



Relatives and Friends. 31 

allowed to pour out bis heart in lamentations, to make 
Canaan resound with the cries of his grief, and to call 
the place Abel-mizraim, the moumingj^of the E^yp- 
tis^ns. It is allowed to David to go weeping, and 
saying, O my son Abscdom ; my son, my son Absa-^ 
lorn! Would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom 
my Sony my son. 2 Sam. xviii. 33. It is allowed to St. 
Augustine to weep for the pious Monica, his mother, 
who had shed so many tears *to obtain the grace for 
him, that he n)ight for ever live with God, to use the 
expression of his father. * Confess, lib. ix. c. 8, &c. 

IL A due regard to ourselves should affect us with 
sorrow on seeing the dying and the dead. The first 
reflection that a sight of the dead should suggest is, 
that we also must die, and that the road he has just 
taken, is " the wa;; of all the earth." This is a reflec- 
tion that every one makes^ and no one makes it in re- 
ality. We cast on the dying and the dead, but slight 
and transient regards > and if we say, in general, that 
this must be our final lot^ we evade the particular ap- 
plication to our heart. While we subscribe to the sen- 
tence, ^^ It is appointed unto men once to die," we 
uniformly make some sort of exception with regard to 
ourselves : because we never have died, it seems as 
though we never should die. If we are not so far in- 
fatuated, as to flatter ourselves concerning the fatal 
necessity imposed on us to leave the world, we flatter 
ourselves with regard to the circumstances ; we con- 
sider them as remote ; and the distance of the object, 
prevents our knowing its nature, and regarding it in a 
just Ught. We attend the dying, we lay them in the 
tomb, we preach their funeral discourse ; we follow 



82 Sorrow for the DeaA of 

them in the funeral train ; and as though they were of 
a nature different from us^ and as though we had some 
prerogative Ojppr the dead, we return home, and be- 
come candidates for their offices. We divide their 
riches, and enter on their lands, just as the presump- 
tive mariner, who seeing a ship on the shore, driven 
by the tempest, and about to be bilged by the waves, 
takes his bark, braves the billows, and defies the dan- 
ger, to share in the spoils of the wreck. 

A prudent man, contemplates the death of his 
friends with other eyes. He follows them with a mind 
attached to the tomb ; he clothes himself in their 
shrouds ; he extends himself in their coffin ; he re« 
gards his living body as about *t5 become like their 
corpse ; and the duty he owes to himself inspires him 
with a gracious sorrow on seeing in the destiny of his 
lamented friends, an image of his own. 

But why should the thought of dying excite sorrow 
in a saint, in ^gard of whom the divine justice is dis- 
armed, and to whom nothing is presented beyond the 
tomb but inviting objects? The solution of this diffi- 
culty associates with what we said in the third place, 
that the death of persons worthy of our esteem should 
excite in our hearts the sentiments of repentance. 

III. It is a question often agitated among Christ- 
ians, that seeing Jesus Christ has satisfied the justice 
of the Father for their sins, why should they still die? 
And one of the most pressing difficulties opposed to 
the evangelical system results from it, that death 
equally reigns over those who embrace, and those 
who reject it. To this it is commonly replied, that 
death is now no longer a punishment for our sins, but 



Relatives and Friends. 33 

h tempest that rolls us to the port, and a passage to a 
better life. This is a solid reply : but does it perfect- 
ly remove the diflSciilty ? Have we not still a right to 
ask, Why Grod should lead us in so straight a way ? 
Why he pleases to make this route so difficult? Why 
his chariots of fire do not carry us up to heaven, as 
they once took Elijah? For after all the handsome 
things one can say, the period of death is a terrible 
period, and death is still a formidable foe. What la- 
bours, what conflicts, what throes, prior to the mo- 
ment! What doubts, what uncertainties, what la- 
bouring of thought before we acquire the degree of 
confidence to die with fortitude ! How disgusting the 
remedies ! How irksome the aids ! How severe the 
separations ! How piercing the final farewells ! Thia 
constitutes the difficulty, and the ordinary solution 
leaves it in all its force. 

The following remark to me seems to meet the dif- 
ficulty in a manner more direct. The death of the 
righteous is an evil, but it is an instructive evil. It 
is a violent, but a necessary remedy. It is a portrait 
of the divine justice God requires we should constant- 
ly have in view, that we may so live as to avoid be- 
coming:the victims of that justice. It is an a^vful mo- 
nument of the horror God has of sin, which should 
teach us to avoid it. The more submissive the good 
man was to the divine pleasure, the more distinguish- 
ed is the monument. The more eminent he was for 
piety, the more should we be awed by this stroke of 
justk^e. Come, and look at this good ' man in the 
tomb, and in a putrid state ; trace his ekit in a bed of 
affliction to this dark and obscure abode ; see how 

VOL. VIII. 5 



34 Sorrow for the Death of 

after having been emaciated by a severe disease, he 
is now reserved as a feast for worms. Who was this 
man ? Was he habitually wicked ? Was he avowedly 
an enemy of God ? No ; he was a believer ; he was a 
model of virtue and probity. Meanwhile, this saint: 
this friend of Christ, died : descended from a sinful 
father, he submitted to the sentence, Dtist thou art^ 
and unto dust shaJt tiiou return. Gen. iii. 19. And if 
those remains of corruption were subjugated to a lot 
so severe, what shall be the situation of tliose in whom 
sin reigns ^ If the righteous be saved with difficulty y 
where shall the wicked appear 9 If the judgment of 
God begin at his house ^ what shall the end be of those 
that obey not the gospel. 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. 

The law imposed on us to die is, therefore, a re- 
quisite, but indeed a violent remedy ; and to corres- 
pond with the design, we must drink the cup. The 
death of those who are worthy of our regret, ought to 
'recal to our mind the punishment of sin ; and to ex- 
cite in us that sorrow which is a necessary fruit of 
true repentance. 

These are the three, sorts of sorrow, that the death 
of our friends should excite in our breast. And so 
far are we from repressing this kind of grief, that we 
would wish you to feel it in all its force. Go tothe 
tombs of the dead ; open their coffins ; look on their 
remains ; let each there recognise a husband^ or a 
parent, or children, or brethren ; but instead of re« 
garding them as surrounding him alive, let him sup* 
pose himself as lodged in the subterraneous abode 
with the persons to whom he has been closely united. 
Look at them deliberately, hear what they say : death 



V 



Retatives and Friends. 35 

seems to have condemned them. to an eternal silence ; 
meanwhile they speak , they preach with a voice far 
more eloquent than oufs. 

We have taught you to shed upon their tombs 
tears of tenderness : hear the dead^ they preach with 
a voice more eloquent than ours. ^^ Have you forgot- 
ten the relations we formed, and the ties that united 
us ? Is it with games and diversions that you lament 
onr lods ? Is it in the circles of gaiety, and in public 
places, that you commemorate our exit ?" 

We have exhorted you to shed upon their tomb 
tears of duty to yourselves. Hear the dead ; they 
preach with a voice more eloquent than ours. They 
cry, Vanity of vanities. All flesh is gra^Sy and all 
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. 
The fDorld poMeth atoat^, and the lusts thereof. Sure^ 
ly man walketh in a vam shadow. Eccles. i. 2. Isa. 
xl. 6. 1 John ii. 17. Psa. xxxix. 7. They recal to 
your mind the afflictions they have endured, the 
troubles which assailed their mind and the deliriums 
that affected their brain. They recal those objects 
that yon may contemplate in their situation an image 
c{ your own ; that you may be apprised how imper- 
fectly qualified a man is in his last moments for re- 
collection, and the work of his salvation. They tell 
you, that they once had the same health, the same 
strength, the same fortune, and the same honours as 
you ; notwithstanding, the torrent which bore us 
away, is doing the same with you. 

We have exhorted you to shed upon their tombs 
the tears of repentance. Hear the dead ; they preach 
with An eloquence greater than ours : they say, ** that 



) 



36 Sorrow for the Death of 

sin has brought death into the world ; death which 
separajtes the father from the soo, and the son from 
the father; which disunites hearts the most closely 
attached, and dissolves the most intimate and tender 
ties. They say more : Hear the dead — hear some 
of them, who, from the abyss of eternal flames, into 
which they are plunged for impenitency, exhort you 
to repentance. 

Oh ! terrific preachers, preachers of despair, may 
your voice break the hearts of those hearers on which 
our ministry is destitute of energy and effect. — Hear 
those dead, they speak with a voice more eloquent 
than ours from the depths of the aby^s, from the deep 
caverns of hell ; they cry. Who among us shall 
dwell with devouring fire ? Who among us shall 
dwells with everlasting burnings ? Ye mountains fall 
on us ; ye hUls cover us. It is a fearful thing to fall 
into the. hands of the living Ood, when he is angry. 
Isa. xxxiii. 14. Luke xxiii. 30. Heb.x.3I. Hear the 
father, who suffering in hell for the bad education 
given to the family he left on earth. Hear him by 
the ;de|spair of his condition ; by the chains which op- 
press hiai ; by the fire which devours him ; and by 
the remorse, the torments, and the anguish which 
gnaw him, entreat you not to follow him to that abyss. 
Hear the impure, the accomplice of your pleasure, 
who says, that if God had called you the first, you 
would have been substituted in his place, and who 
entreats to let your eyes become as fountains of re- 
pentant tears. 

This is the sort of sorrow with which we should be 
affected for the death of those with whom it has 



Relatives and Friends. 37 

pleased God to connect us by the bonds of society, 
and of nature. May it penetrate our hearts ; and for 
ever banish the sorrow which confounds us with those 
who have no hope. Let us be compassionate citi-* 
zenS; faithful friends, tender fathers, loving all those 
with whom it has pleased God to unite us, and not 
regarding this love as a defect ; but let us love our 
Maker with supreme affection. Let us be always 
ready to sacrifice to him whatever we have most dear 
on earth. May a glorious resurrection be the ulti- 
matum of our requests. May the hope of obtaining 
it. assuage all our sufferings And may God Al- 
mighty, who has educated us in a religion so admira- 
bly adapted to support in temptation, give success to 
our efforts, and be the crown of our hopes ; Amen. 
To whom be honour and glory, henceforth and for 
ever. 




SERMON II. 

On the Wisdom of Solomon* 



1 Kmas, iii. 5-^14. 

In Oibeony the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream 
by night : and God saidy ask what I shaU give. — 
And Solomon saidy Thou hast showed unto thy ser^ 
vant Davidy my father y great mercy y according as 
he walked before thee in truthy and in righteousness, 
and in uprightness of heart with thee, and thou hast 
kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given 
him a son to sit on his throne y as it is this day. And 
nowy O Lord, my Oody thou hast made thy servant 
king instead of David y my father; and I am but a 
Utile child ; I know not how to go out and come in. 
And thy servant is in the midst of thy peojJe which 
thou hast chosen, a great people which cannot be 
numberedy nor counted for multitude. Oivey there* 
forCy thy servant an understanding hearty to judge 
thy people, that I may discern between good and 
bad: For who is able to judge Ms thy so great a 

* Saurin flUued at the Hague, as first minister qf the persecuted Protestants; 
and often attended by illustrious dtaracters, saw it his duty to apprise them qf the 
moral sentiments essential for an entrance on h^ office and extensive authority. 
The Abbe Mavrt, in his treatise on eloquence; though hostile to Savriit, 
allows this Sermon on the wisdom of Solovon, to be one of the best specimens 
of his eloquence, Sutcliffe. 



N 



Witdom of Solomon. 39^ 

' people f And the speech pleased the Lardy that So-^ 
lomon had asked this thing. And Gad said unto 
him^ because thou hast asked this thing , and hast 
not asked for thyself long life; neither hast thou ask'- 
ed riches for thyself; nor hast asked the life of thine 
enemies J but ha^t asked for thyself understancUng 
to discern judgment : behold I have done according 
to thy words. Loy I have given thee a wise and 
understanding hearty so that there was none like thee 
before thee, neithet after thee shall any arise like unto 
thee. And I have cUso given thee that which thou 
hast not asked y both riches and honour : so that there 
shallnot be any among the kings likeunto theeyallthy 
days. And if thou wilt walk in my waySy to keep 
my statutes and my commandmentSy as thy father 
David did walky then will I lengthen thy days.'' 

m 

" WoB to thee, O land, when thy king is a child !'• 
In this way has the sage expressed the calamities of 
states conducted By men destitute of experience* 
Bmt this general maxim is not without exceptions. 
As we sometimes see the levities of youth in mature 
age, so we sometimes perceive in the youth the gra- 
vity of sober years. There are some geniuses pre* 
mature, with whom reason anticipates on years^ ; and 
who, if I may so speak, o^ leaving the cradle, dis« 
cover worthy of the throne. A profusion of super- 
natural endowments, coming to the aid of nature, 
ejcemplifies in their character, the haj^y experience of 
the prc^het ; ** I have more understanding than all 
my teachers. I understand more than the ancients.'^ 
Psa, cxix. 99, 100. ♦ 



40 Wisdom of Solomon. 

Here we have an illustrious proof. Solomon, in 
the early periods of life, formed the correctest idea of 
government which had ever entered the mind of the 
profoundest philosophers, or the most consummate 
statesmen. Awed by the sceptre, he acknowledged the 
impoteney of his arm to sway it. Of the high pri- 
vilege granted of God, to ask whatever he would, he 
availed himself solely to ask wisdom. What an ad- 
, - mirable choice ! How many aged men have we seen 
less enlightened than this youth ? On the other hand, 
God honoured a petition so wise, by superadding to 
the petitioner every other endowment ; he gave to 
Solomon wisdom, and, with wisdom, glory and riches ; 
he elevated him to a scale of grandeur, which no 
prince ever did, or ever shall be allowed to equal. 
It is to this petition so judicious, and to this reply so 
mag«ificent, that we shall call your attention, after ' 
having bestowed a moment on three important cir- 
cumstances, connected with the occasion. 

It occurs in the leaiding words of our text. In this 
divine communication, the place, the mjanner, and 

■ 

the mbject claim particular attention. 

1 . The place ; it was in Gibeon ; not the city from 
which those Gibeonites derived their name, who^ by 
having recourse to singular artifice, saved their lives^ 
which they thought themselves unable to defend by 
force, or to preserve by compassion. That, I would 
say, that city of those Gibeonites, was a considerable 
place, and called in the book of Joshua, a royal city. 
The other was situate on the highest mountains of 
Judea, distant, according to Eusebius, and St. Jerome, 
about eight miles from Jerusalem. 



Wisdom of StJonum. 41 

We shall not enter into geographical discussions. 
What claims attention is, a circumstance of the place 
where Solomon was, which naturally recals to view 
one of the weaknesses of this prince. It is remarked 
at the commencement of the chapter, from which we 
have taken our text, that ^^the people sacrificed in 
high places." The choice was, probably, not exempt 
from superstition : it is certain, at least, that idolaters 
usually selected the highest mountains for exercise of 
their religious ceremonies. Tacitus assigns as a rea- 
son, that in those places being nearer the gods, they 
were the more likely to be heard. Lucian reasons 
much in the same way, and, without a doubt, less to 
vindicate the custom than to expose it to contempt 
God himself has forbidden it in his law. 

l^e have, however, classed this circumstance in 
Solomon's life among his frailties, rather than his 
faults. Prevention for high places was much less cul- 
pable in the reign of this prince, than in the ages 
which followed. In those ages, the Israelites violat- 
ed, by sacrificing on high places, the law which for- 
bade any sacrifice to be offered, except in the temple 
of Jerusalem : whereas, in the age of which we now 
gpeak, the temple did not exist. The people sacri- 
ficed on the brazen altar, constructed by the divine 
command. This altar was then in Gibeon, where it 
had been escorted with the tabernacle, as we read in 
the book of Chronicles. 

2. The manner in which the revelation to Solomon 
was made, supplies a second source of reflections. 
It was, says the historian, in a dream. We h^ive 

VOL. VIII. 6 



42 Wiadam of Solomtm. 

elsewhere^ remarked, that there are three sorts of 
dreams. Some are in the order of nature ; others are 
in the order of Providence ; and a third class are of 
an order superior to both. . 

I call dreams in the order of nature, those which 
ought merely to be regarded as the irregular flights of 
imagination, over which the will has lost, or partially 
lost its command. 

I call dreams in the order of providence those, 
which, without deviation from the course of nature, 
excite certain instructive ideas, and suggest to the 
minds truths, to which we were not sufficiently atten- 
tive while awake, Providence sometimes directing 
our attention to peculiar circumstances in a way pure* 
ly natural, and destitute of all claims to the superna- 
tural, and much less to the marvellous. 

Some dreams, however, are of an order superior to 
those of nature, and of providence. It was by this 
sort of dreams that God revealed his pleasure to the 
prophets : but this dispensation being altogether di- 
vine, and of which the scriptures say little, and beii)g 
impossible for the researches of the greatest philoso-p 
pher to supply the silence of the Holy Ghost, we 
shall make no fruitless efforts farther to illustrate the 
manner of the revelation with which Solomon was 

honoured. 

8. A reason very dissimilar supersedes our stop* 
ping to illustrate the subject ; I would say, i^ haa no 
need of illustration. God was wishful to put Solo- 
mon to the proc^, by prompting him to ask whatso*- 
evei be would, and by epgaging to fulfil it. Solo*- 

Discoun Hif^ Tom. t. p. 18^. 



Wisdom of Solomon. 48 

mon's reply was worthy of the test. His sole request 
was for wisdom. God honoured this enUghtened 
prayer ; and in gn^nting profound wisdom to his ser- 
vantSy he superadded riches, and glory, and long life. 
— ^It is this enlightened request, and this munificent 
i^^ply^ we are now to examine. We shall examine 
them jointly, placing, at the same time, the harmony 
of the one with the other, in a just and prc^r view. 
Four remarks demand attention in Solomon's request 
to God, and/our in God's reply. 

I. Consider in Solomon's request, the recollection 
of past mercies : ^^ Thou hast showed unto thy ser- 
vant David, my fether, great mercy :" and mark in 
the reply, how pleasing this recoUectiop was to God.r 

II. Consider, in Solomon's request, the aspect un« 
der which he regarded the regal power. He consid-* 
ered it solely with a view to the high duties on which 
it obliged him to enter. ^' Thy servant is in the 
midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great 
people which cannot be numbered, nor counted for 
miiiltitude. Who is able to judge this thy so great a 
people ?" And in God's reply, mark the apposite seal^ 
with regard to this idea of the supreme authority. 

III. Consider, in Solomon's request, the sentiments 
of his own weakness, and the consciousness of his in* 
sufficiency : ^' I am but as a little child, and know 
not how to go out, and to come in :" and in God's 
reply, mark, how highly he is delighted with humility; 

IV» In Solomon's request, consider the wisdom of 
hk choice ; ^^ Give, therdbre, unto thy servant aa 
understanding heart to judge thy people:'^ and in 
God's reply, mark how Solomon's prayer was heard, 



■■^ 



44 Wisdom of Solomon. 

and his wisdom crowned. Four objects^ all worthy 
of our regard. 

I. Consider in Solomon's request, the recollection 
of mercies. It was the mercies of David, his father. 
Solomon made this reference as a motive to obtain 
the divine mercies and aids his situation required. 
He aspired at the blessings which God confers on the 
children <^ faithful fathers. He wished to become 
the object of that promise in which God stands en- 
g'^ged to ^^ show mercy to thousands of generations 
of those that love him." Exod. xx. 6. 

This is the first object of our discourse. The pri- 
vilege of an illustrious birth, I confess, is sometimes 
extravagantly panegyrised. This kind of folly is not 
novel in the present age ; it was the folly of the He* 
brew nation. To most of the rebukes of their pro- 
phets, they opposed this extraordinary defence : ** We 
are Abraham's seed : we have Abraham to our fa- 
Iher." Matt. iii. 9. What an apology! Does an il- 
lustrious birth sanction low and grovelling sentiments? 
Do the virtues of our ancestors excuse us from being 
virtuous ? And has God for ever engaged to excuse 
impious children, because their parents were pious ? 
You are the children of Abraham ; you have an illus- 
trious descent ; your ancestors were the models and 
glory of their age. Then you are the more inexcus- 
able for being tiie reproach of your age : then you are 
the faithless depositaries of the nobility with which 
you have been entrusted : then you have degenerated 
from your former grandeur : then you shall be con- 
demned to surrender to nature a corrupted blood, 



WiMdom of Scionum. 45 

which you received pure from those to whom you owe 

your birth. 

It is true, however, all things being weighed , that, 
in tracing a descent, it is a singular favour of Heaven 
to be able to cast our eyes on a long line of illustrious 
ancestors. I am not about to offer incense to idols of 
distinguished families : the Lord's church has more 
correct ideas of nobility. To be accounted noble in 
the sanctuary, we must give proof of virtue, and not 
of empty titles, which often owe their origin to the 
vanity, the seditions, and the fawning baseness of 
those who display them with so much pride. To be 
noble in the language of our scriptures ; and to be 
impure, avaricious, haughty, and implacable, are op- 
posite ideas. But charity, but patience, but modera- 
tion, but digmly of iioul, and a certain elevation of 
mind, place the happy above the world, and its max- 
ims. These are characteristics of the nobility of 
God's children. 

In this view, it is a high favour of Heaven, in 
tracing descent, to be able to cast the eye on a long 
line of illustrious ancestors. How often have holy 
men availed themselves of these motives to induce 
the Deity, if not to bear with the Israelites in their 
course of crimes, at least, to pardon them after the 
crimes have been committed ? How often have they 
said, in the supplications they opposed to the wrath 
of Heaven, " O God, remember Abraham, and Isaac, 
and Jacob, thy servants !" How often has God 
yielded to the strength of these arguments? How 
often has he^ for the sake of the patriarchs, for the 



46 Wtadom of Solomon. 

sake of David, heard prayer in behalf of their chil- 
dren? 

Let these maxims be deeply imprinted on the heart. 
Our own interest should be motive sufficient to 
prompt us to piety. But we should also be excited 
to it by the interest of our children. The recollec- 
tion of our virtues is the best inheritance we can leave 
them after death. These virtues afford them claims 
to the divine favours. The good will of Heaven, is, 
in some Siprt, entailed on families who fear the Lord. 
Happy the fathers, when extended on the bed of 
death, who can say, '* My children, I am about to 
appear before the awful tribunal, where there is no 
resource for poor mortals, but humility and repent- 
ance. Mean while, I bless God, that notwithstand- 
ing my defects, which I acknowledge with confusion 
of face, you will not have cause to blush on pro- 
nouncing the name of your father. I have been 
faithful to the truth, and have constantly walked be- 
fore God, ^' in the uprightness of my heart." Happy 
the children who have such a descent ! I would pre- 
fer it to titles the most distinguished, to riches the 
most dazzling, and to offices the most lucrative. 
" O God, thou hast showed unto thy servant David, 
my father, great mercy, according as he walked be- 
fore thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in up- 
rightness of heart !" Here is the recollection of past 
mercies, the recollection of which God approves^ and 
the first object of our discourse. 

11. Consider secondly, in the prayer of Solomon, 
the aspect under which he contemplated the regal 
power. He viewed it principally with regard to the 



WMom of Sotaman. 47 

iiigh duties it imposed. " Thy servant is in the midst 
of thy people which thou hast chosen ; who is able 
to judge this thy so great a people, which cannot be 
numberetd ?" The answer of God is a correspondent 
seal to th«s idea of supreme authority. And what 
we here say of the regal power, we apply to every 
other office of trust and dignity. A man of integrity 
must not view them with regard to the emoluments 
they produce, but with regard to the duties they 
impose. 

What is the end proposed by society on elevating 
certain men to high stations ? Is it to augment their 
pride ? Is it to usher them into a style of lik the most 
extravagant ? Is it to flatter their arrogance and ambi- 
tion ? Is it to aggrandise their families by the ruin of 
the widow and the orphan ? Is it to adore them as 
idols ? Is it to become their slaves ? Potentates and 
magistrates of the earth, ask those subjects, to whom 
you are indebted for the high scale of elevation you 
enjoy. Ask, Why those dignities were conferred ? 
They will say, it was to entrust you with their safety 
and repose ; it was to procure fathers and protectors ; 
it was to find peace and prosperity under the shadow 
of your tribunals. To induce you to enter on those 
awful duties, they have accompanied them with those 
inviting appendages which sooth the cares, and alle- 
viate the weights of office. They have conferred ti- 
tles ; they have sworn obedience ; and ensured reve- 
nue. Entrance then on a high duty is to make a 
contrc^^t with the people, over whom yqu proceed to 
exercise it : it is to make a compact, by which cer« 
tain duties ar3 required on certain conditions. To 



48 Wisdom of Solomon. 

require the emoluments, when the conditions of the 
engagements are violated, is an abominable usurpa- 
tion : it is an usurpation of honour, of homage, and 
of revenue. I speak literally, and without a shadow 
of exaggeration ; a magistrate who deviates from 
the duties of his office, after having received the emo- 
lument, ought to come under the penal statutes, as 
those who take away their neighbour's goods. These 
statutes require restitution. Before restitution, he is 
liable to this anathema, ^^ Woe to him that increaseth 
that which is not his own, and to him that ladeth him- 
self with thiek clay : for the stone shall cry out of the 
wall, and the beam out pf the timber shall answer 
it" Hab. ii. 6. 11. Before restitution he is unwor- 
thy of the Lord's table ; and included in the curse 
we denounce against thieves, whom we repel from 
the holy eucharist. Before restitution, he is unable 
to die in peace, and he is included in the list of those 
" who shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 

But into what strange reflections do these consid- 
erations involve us ? What awful ideas do they ex- 
cite in our minds ? And what alarming consequences 
do they draw on certain kings ? — ^Ye Moseses ; ye 
Elijahs ; ye John Baptists ; faithful servants of the 
living God, and celebrated in every age of the 
church for your fortitude, your courage, and your 
zeal ; yojii, who knew not how to temporise, nor to 
tremble, no, neither before Pharaoh, nor before Ahab, 
nor before Herod, nor before Herodias, why are you 
not in this pulpit? Why do you not to-day supply our 
place, to communicate to the subject all the energy 



fVisdoM (f Solomon. 49 

of which it is susceptible ? " Be wise, O ye kings, be 
instructed, ye judges of the earth.'' Psa. ii. 10. 

III. We have remarked, thirdly, in the prayer of 
Solomon, the sentiments <^ his own weakness ; and 
in God's reply, the high regard testified towards hu- 
mility. The character of (he king whom Solomon 
succeeded, the arduous nature of the duties to which 
he was called, and the insufficiency of his age, were 
to him three considerations of humility. 

1. The character of the king (b whom he suc- 
ceeded. ^^ Thou hast showed unto thy servant Da« 
vid, my father, great mercy^ according as he walked 
before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in the 
uprightness of his heart ; and thou hast given him a 
son to sit upon his throne." How dangerous to suc« 
ceed an illustrious prince ! The distinguished ac* 
tions of a predecessor, are so many sentences against 
the faults of his successor. The people never fail to 
make certain oblique contracts between the past and 
the present. They recollect the virtues they have 
attested, the happiness they have enjoyed, the pros- 
perity with which they have been loaded, and the 
distinguished qualifications of the prince, whom death 
has recently snatched away. And if the idea of 
having had an illustrious predecessor is on all occa- 
sions a subject of serious consideration for him who 
has to follow, never had prince a juster cause to be 
awed than Solomon. He succeeded a man who wa^ 
the model oi kings, in whose person was united, the 
wisdom of a statesman, the valour of a soldier, the 
experience d* a marshal, the illumination of a pio-^ 

vol*, vm. 7 




60 Wisdom of Solomon* ^ 

phet, the piety of a good man, and even the virtues 
of a saint of the first rank. 

2. The extent of the duties imposed on Solomon, 
was the second object of his humility. ^' Who is able 
to judge this thy so great a people?" Adequately 
to judge a great nation, a man must regard himself 
as no more his own, but wholly devoted to the peo- 
ple. Adequately to judge a great nation, a man 
must have a consummate knowledge of human na- 
ture, of civil society, of the laws of nature, and of , 
the peculiar laws of the people over whom he has to 
preside. Adequately to judge a nation, be must 
have his house and his heart ever open to the solicita- 
tions of those over whom he is exalted.— Adequately 
to judge a people, he must recollect, that a small 
sum of money, that a foot of land is as much to a 
poor man, as a city, a province, and a kingdom are 
to a prince. — Adequately to judge a people, he must 
habituate himself to the disgust excited by listening 
to a man, who is quite full of his subject, and w^ho 
imagines that the person addressed ought to be 
equally impressed with its importance. — ^Adequately 
to judge a people,* a man must be exempt from vice: 
nothing is more calculated to prejudice the mind 
against the purity pf his decisions, than to see him 
captivated by some predominant passion.*— Ade- 
quately to judge a peopl^, he must be destitute of 
personal respect : he must neither yield to the entrea- 
ties of those who know the way to his heart, nor be 
intimidated by the high tone of others, who threaten 
to hold up as martyrs the persons they obstinately 
defend. — Adequately to judge a people, a man must 



Wisdom of Solomon. 51 

expand, if I may so speak, all the powers of his soul, 
that he may be equal to the dignity of his duty, and 
avoid all distraction, which, on engrossing the capa- 
city of the mind, obstruct its perception of the main 
object. And ^^who is sufficient for these things? 
who is able to judge this thy so great a people?'' 
2 Cor. ii. 16. 

3. The snares of youth form a third object of Solo- 
mon's awe, and a third cause of his humility. ^* I 
am but a little child, I know not how to go out and 
come in." Some chronologists. are of opinion that 
Solomon, when he uttered these words, " I am but 
a little child," was only twelve years of age, which to 
us seems insupportable : for besides its not being 
proved by the event, as we shall explain, it ought to 
be plaxied in the first year of this prince's reign : and 
the style in which David addressed him on his in- 
vestiture with the reins of government sufficiently 
proves, that he spake not to a child. He calls him 
wisBy and to this wisdom he confides the punishment 
of Joab, and of Shemei. 

Neither do we think that we can attach to these 
words, ^' I am but a little child," with better grace, 
a sense purely metaphorical, as implying nothing 
more than Solomon's acknowledgement of the infancy 
of his ufiderstanding. The opinion most probable in 
our apprehension, (and we omit the detail of the 
reasons by which we are convinced of it,) is, that of 
those who think that Solomon calls himself a little 
child, much in the same sense as the term is applied 
to Benjamin, to Joshua> and to the sons of Eli. 



52 Wisdom of Solomon. 

It WBSy therefore, I would suppose, at the age of 
twenty, or of twenty-six years, tiiat Solomon saw 
himself called to fill the throne of the greatest of 
kings, and to enter on those exalted duties of which 
we have given but an imperfect sketch. How dis-* 
proportioned did the vocation seem to the age ! It is 
then, that we give scope to presumption, which has 
a plausible appearance, being as yet unmortified by 
the recollection of past err<»*s. It is then, that a jea- 
lousy of not being yet classed by others among great 
men, prompts a youth to place himself in that high 
rank. It is then, that we regard counsels as so many 
attacks on the authority we assume to ourselves. It 
is then, that we oppose an untractable disposition as 
a barrier to the advice of a faithful friend, who would 
lead us to propriety of conduct. It is then, that our 
passions hurry us to excess, and become the arbi«> 
trators of truth and falsehood, of equity and in« 

justice. 

Presumptuous youths, who make the assurance 
with which you aspire at the first offices of state, the 
principal ground of success, how can 1 better impress 
you with this head of my discourse, than by affirming 
that the higher notions you entertain of your own suf- 
ficiency, the lower you sink at the bar of equity and 
reason. The^more you account yourselves qualified 
to govern, the less you are capable of doing it. The 
sentiment Solomon entertained of his own weakness, 
was the most distinguished of his royal virtues. The 
profouud humility with which he asked God to sup« 
ply his inability, was the best disposition for obtaining 
the divine support. 




fVudom of Solomon. 63 

IV. We are come at length to the la«t, and to the 
great object of the history before us. We shall show 
you, on the one hand, our hero preferring the requi« 
Hite talents, to pomp, splendour, riches, and all that 
is grateful to kings ; and from the vast source opened 
by Heaven, deriving but wisdom and understanding. 
We ;shall show on the other hand, that God, honour- 
ing a prayer so enlightened, accorded to Solomon, 
the wisdom and understanding he had asked, and 
with these, riches, glory, and long life. 

Who can forbear being delighted with the first ob- 
ject, and who can sufficiently applaud the magnani- 
mity of Solomon ? Place yourselves in the situation 
of this prince. Imagine, for a moment, that you are 
the arbitrators of your own destiny, and that you hear 
a voice from the blessed God, saying, ^^ Ask what I 
shall give thee." How awful would this test prove 
to most of our hearers ! If we may judge of our 
wishes by our pursuits, what strange replies should 
we make to God ! What a choice would it be ! Our 
privilege would become our calamity, and we should 
have the awful ingenuity to find misery in the very 
bosom of happiness. Who would say. Lord, give 
me wisdom and understanding ; Lord, help me wor- 
thily to discharge the duties of the station with which 
I am entrusted ? This is the utmost of all my re- 
quests ; and to this alone I would wish thy munifi- 
cence to be confined. On the contrary, biassed by 
the circumstance of situation, or swayed by some pre- 
dominant passion, one would say. Lord, augment my 
heaps of gold and silver, and in proportion as my 
riches shall increase, diminish the desire of expendi- 



64 Wisdom of Solomon. 

tare : another^ Lord, raise me to thehighest scale of 
grandeur, and give me to trample under foot tbe men 
who shall have the assurance to become my equals, 
and whom I regard as the worms of earth. How 
little, for the most part, do we know ourselves in pros- 
perity ! How incorrect are our ideas ! Great God, 
do thou determine our lot, and save us from the re- 
proach of making au unhappy choice, by removing 
the occasion. Solomon was incomparably wiser. 
Filled With the duties of his high station, and awed 
by its difficulties, he said, " Lord, give thy servant 
an uoderstanding heart to judge thy people, that I 
may discern between good and bad." 

But if we applaud the wisdom of Solomon's prayer, 
how much more should we applaud the goodness and 
munificence of God's reply? "Because thou hast 
asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself loqg 
life, neither hast thou ashed riches for thyself, nor 
hast asked the life of thine enemies. But hast asked 
understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have 
done according to thy word. Lo, I have given thee 
.a wise and an understanding heart ; and I have also 
given thee that which thou hast not asked, both 
riches and honour, so that there shall not be any 
among the kings like uuto thee, all thy days." 

How amply was this promise fulfilled, and how 
did its accomplishment correspond with the munifi- 
cence of him by whom it was made ! In virtue, of this 
promise, '* I have given thee an understanding heart." 
We see Solomon carrying the art of civil govern- 
ment to the highest period it can ever attain. Wit- 
ness the profound prudence by which he discerned 



Wisdom of Solomon. 5S 

the real from the pretended mother. ^ Bring me a 
sword.-^INvide the living child into two parts, and 
give half to the one, and half to the other." 1 Kings, 
iii. 24, 25. Witness the profound peace he procnr- 
ed for his subjects, and which made the sacred histo- 
rian say, that ^^ Judah, and Israel dwelt safely, every 
man under his vine, and under his fig-tree." iv« 2o. 
Witness the eulogium of the sacred writings on this 
subject, ^^ that it excelled the wisdom of all the chil- 
dren of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt ; that 
he was wiser than Ethan, than Herman, than Chal- 
col, and Darda ;" that is to say, he was wiser than 
every man of his own age. Witness the embassies 
from all the kings of the earth to hear his wisdom. 
Witness the acclamation of the queen, who came 
from the remolesl kingdom of the earth to hear this 
prodigy of wisdom. " It was a Irae report that I 
heard in mine own land of thy wisdom, and behold, 
the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and pros- 
perity excee?leth the fame which I heard. Happy 
are these thy men, happy are these thy servants, 
which stand continually before thee, and that hear 
thy wisdom." 1 Kings, x. 6, 7, 8. 

And in virtue of this other promise, ** I have given 
thee glory and riches ;" we see Solomon raise superb 
edifices, form powerful alliances, and sway the scep- 
tre over every prince, from the river even unto the 
land of the Philistines ; that is from the Euphrates to 
the eastern branch of the Nile, which separates Pal- 
estine froni Egypt, and making gold as plentiful in 
Jerusalem as stones. 2 Chron. ix. 26. 1 Chron. i. 15. 



66 Wisdom of Solomen* 

It would b# easy to extend these reflections, but on 
confining to this alone, I should fear being charged 
with having evaded the most difficult part of the sub* 
ject to dwell on that which is sufficiently plain. The 
extraordinary condescension which God evinced to* 
wards Solomon ; the divine gifts with which he was 
endowed, the answer to his prayer, ^^I have given 
thee an understanding heart," collectively involve a 
difficulty of the most serious kind. How shall we 
reconcile the favours with the events ? How could a 
man so wise commit those faults, and perpetrate those 
crimes which stained his lustre at the close of life % 
How could he follow the haughty license of oriential 
princes, who displayed a harum crowded with concu- 
bines ? How in abandoning his heart to sensual 
pleasure, could he abandon his faith and his religion? 
And after having the baseness to offer incense to their 
beauty, could he also offer incense to their idols ? I 
meet this question with the greater pleasure, as the 
solution we shall give will demonstrate, firstj the 
difficulties of superior endowments ; secondly, the 
danger of bad company ; thirdly j the peril oS human 
grandeur ; axkd fourthly , the poison of voluptuousness; 
four important lessons by which this discourse shall 
close. 

First y the difficulties attendant on superior talents* 
Can we suppose that God, on the investure of Solo- 
mon with superior endowments, exempted him from 
the law which requires men of the humblest talents 
to improve them ? What is implied in these words, 
^^ I have given thee understanding ?" Do they mean, I 
take solely on myself the work of thy salvation, that 



TVisdom of Solomon. 67 

thou mayest live without restraint in negligence and 
pleasure ? Brave the strongest temptations ; I will 
obstruct thy falling ? Open thy heart to the most se- 
ductive objects ; I will interpose my buckler for thy 
preservation and defence ? 

On this subject, my brethren, some ministers have 
need of a total reform in their creed, and to abjure a 
system of theology, if I may so dare to speak, incon*^ 
ceivably absurd. Some men have formed notions of 
I know not what grace, which takes wholly on itself 
the work of our salvation, which suffers us to sleep as 
much as we choose in the arms of concupiscence and 
pleasure, and which redoubles its aids in proportion 
as the sinner redoubles resistance. Undeceive your- 
selves. God never yet bestowed a talent without re- 
quiring its cultivation. The higher are our endow- 
ments, the more are our difficulties augmented. The 
greater efforts grace makes to save us, the more should 
we labour at our salvation. The more it watches for 
our good, the more we are called to the exiarcise of 
vigilance. You — you who surpass your neighbour, 
in knowledge, tremble ; auv account will be required 
of that superior light. You — ^you who have more of 
genius than the most of men, tremble ; an account 
will be required of that genius. You — ^you who have 
most advanced in the grace of sanctification, trem- 
ble ; an account will be required of that grace. Do 
you call this truth in question ? Go— go see it exem- 
plified in the person of Solomon. Go, and see the 
abyss into which he fell by burying his talents. Qo^ 
and see this man endowed with talents superior to all 

VOL. VIII. 8 



*.)•**»» 



58 Wisdom of Solomon. 

the world. Go, and see him enslaved hy seven hun- 
dred wives, and prostituted to three hundred concu- 
bines. Go, see him prostrated before Ihe idol of the 
Sidonians, and before the abomination of the Ammon- 
ites ; and by the avi^ful abyss into which he was 
plunged by the neglect of his talents, learn to im- 
prove yours with sanctifying fear. 

Our second solution of the difficulty proposed, aad 
the second caution we would derive from the fall of 
Solomon, is the danger of bad company ; and a pau- 
tion rendered the more essential by the inattention of 
the age. The contagious disease which extends its 
ravagres for a thousand miles around us, excites in 
our mind terror and alarm. We use the greatest 
precaution against the danger. We guard the ave- 
nues of the state, and lay vessels on their arrival in 
port under the strictest quarantine : we do not sujffer 
ourselves to be approached by any suspected person. 
Biit the contagion of bad company gives us not the 
smallest alarm. We respire without fear an air the 
most impure and fatal to the soul. We form con- 
nections, enter into engagements, and contriact mar- 
riages with profane, sceptical, and worldly people, 
and regard all those as declaimers and enthusiasts 
who declare, that '' evil communications corrupt good 
manners." But see ; — see indeed, by the sad expe- 
rience of Solomon, whether we are declaimers and 
enthusiasts when we talk in this way. See into what 
a wretched situation we are plunged by contracting 
marriages with persons whose religion is idolatrous, 
and whose morals are corrupt. Nothing is more con- 
tagious than bad example. The sight, the presence^ 



Wisdom of Solomon. 59 

the voice, tiff breath of the wicked is infected and 
fatal. 

The danger of human grandeur is a new solution 
of the difficulty proposed, and a third caution we de- 
rive from the fall of Solomon. Mankind, for the 
most part, have a brain too weak to bear a high scale 
of elevation. Dazzled at once with the rays of sur- 
rounding lustre, they can no longer support the sight 
You are astonished that Solomon, this prince, who 
reigned from the river even to the land of the Philis- 
tines ; this prince, who made gold in his kingdom as 
plentiful as stones ; this prince, who was surrounded 
with flatterers and courtisans ; this prince, who heard 
nothing but eulogy, acclamation, and applause : you 
are astonished that he should be thus intoxicated with 
the high endowments God had granted him for the 
discharge of duty, and that he should so far forget 
himself as to. fall into the enormities just described. 
Seek in your own heart, and in your life the true so- 
lution of this difficulty. We are blinded by the 
smallest prosperity, and our head is turned by the 
least elevation of rank. A name, a title, added to 
our dignity ; an acre of land added to our estate, an 
augmentation of equipage, a little information added 
to our knowledge, a wing to our mansion, or an inch 
to our stature, and here is more than enough to give 
us high notions of our own consequence, to make us 
assume a decisive tone, and wish to be considered as 
oracles : here is more than enough to make us forget 
our ignorance, our weakness, our corruptioii, the dis- 
ease, which consumes us, the tomb which awaits us, 
the death which pursues us, treading on our heels, 



60 Wisdom of Solomon, 

the sentence already preparing, and the OTcount which 
God is about to require. Let us distrust ourselves 
in prosperity : let us never forget what we are : let us 
have people about us to recall its recollection : let us 
request our friends constantly to cry in our ears, re- 
member that you are loaded with crimes ; that you 
are but dust and ashes ; and in the midst of your 
grandeur, and your rank, remember that you are 
poor, frail, wretched, and abject, 

4. In short, the beguiling charms of pleasure are 
the first solution of the diflSculty proposed, and the 
last instruction we derive from the fall of Solomon. 
The sacred historian has not overlooked the cause of 
the fall of this prince. " Solomon loved many strange 
women, and they turned away his heart from the 
Lord." 1 Kinsrs xi. L 3. I am here reminded of the 
wretched mission of Balaam. Commanded by pow- 
erful princes, allured by magnificent rewards, his eyes 
and heart already devoured the presents which await- 
ed his services. He ascended a mountain, he sur- 
veyed the camp of the Israelites, he invoked by turns 
the power of God's Spirit, and the power of the devil. 
Finding that prophecy afforded him no resource, he 
had recourse to divination and enchantment. Just 
on the point of giving full effect to his detestable art, 
!he felt himself fettered by the force of truth, and ex- 
claimed, ^^ there is no enchantment against Jacob, 
there is no divination against Israel." Numb, xxxiji. 
23. He temporised : yes, he found a way to super- 
sede all the prodigies which God had done and ac- 
complished for his people.— This way was pleasure. 
It was, that they should no more attack the Israelites 



Wisdom of Solomon. 61 

with open force, but with voluptuous delights ; that 
they should no more send among them wizards and 
enchanters, but the women of Midian, to allure them 
to their sacrifices, then this people, before invincible, 
I will deliver into your hands ! ! ! 

Of the success of this advice, my brethren, you 
cannot be ignorant. But why fell not every Balaam 
by the sword of Israelites ! Numb. xxxi. 8. Why 
were th,e awful consequences of this counsel restricted 
to the unhappy culprits, whom the holy hands c^ 
Phinehas and Eleazar, sacrificed to the wrath of 
Heaven! David, Solomon, Samson, and you, my 
brethren ; you who may yet preserve, at least, a part 
of your innocence. Let us arm then against volup- 
tuousness. Let us distrust enchanting pleasure. Let 
us fear it, not only when it presents its horrors ; not 
only when it discovers the frightful objects which fol- 
low in its train, adultery, incest, treason, apostacy^ 
with murder and assassination : but let us fear it, 
when clothed in the garb of innocency, when author- 
ized by decent freedoms, and assuming the pretext of 
religious sacrifices. Let us exclude it from every 
avenue of the heart. Let us restrict our senses. Let 
us mortify our members which are on the earth. Let 
us crucify the flesh with its concupiscence. And by 
the way prescribed in the gospel ; the way of retire- 
ment, of silence, of austerity^ of the cross, and of 
mortification, let tts attain happiness, and immortal 
bliss. May God grant us the grace. To him be hon- 
our, and glory, for ever. Amen. 



SEBMON III. 



Preached November 20, 1720. 



The Voice of the Rod. 



MiCAH vi. 9. 

Hear ye the rod^ and who hath appointed it 

Awful indeed was the complaint which Jeremiah 
once made to God against Israel : O Lord, thou hast 
stricken them, hut they have not grieved; thou hastcon^ 
sumed them, but they have refused to receive correc- 
tion : they have made their faces harder than a rock, 
Jer. V. 3. Here is a view of the last period of cor- 
ruption; for however insuperable the corruption of 
men may appear, they sin less by enmity than dissi- 
pation. Few are so consummately wicked as to sin 
solely through the wantonness of crime. The mind 
is so constantly attached to exterior objects, as to be 
wholly absorbed by their impression ; and here is the 
ordinary source of all our vice. Have we some real, 
or some imaginary advantage? The idea of our supe- 
riority engrosses our whole attention ; and here is the 
source of our pride. Are we in presence of an ob- 
ject congenial to our cupidity? The sentiment of 



t 



Voice of the Rod. 63 

pleasure immediately fills the whole capacity of the 
soul ; and here is the source of our intemperance : it 
is the same with every vice. Have you the art of 
gaining the minds of men, of recalling their wander- 
ing thoughts ; and of reclaiming them to duty ; you 
will acknowledge, that the beings you had taken for 
monsters, are really men, who, as I said, sin less by 
malice than dissipation. 

But of all the means calculated to produce the re- 
collection so essential to make us wise, adversity is 
the most effectual. How should a man delight his 
heart with a foolish grandeur ; how should he aban- 
don himself to pride, when all around him speaks his 
meanness and impotency ; when appalled by the sight 
of a Sovereign Judge, and burdened by his heavy 
hand : he has no resource but humility and submis- 
sion ? How should he give up himself to intemperance 
when afflicted with excruciating pains, and oppressed 
with the approaches of death? When, therefore, ad- 
versity is unavailing; when a people equally resist 
the terrific warnings of the prophet, and the strokes of 
God's hand, for whom he speaks; when their corrup- 
tion is proof against mortality, against the plague, 
against famine ; what resource remains for their con- 
version ? This was, however, the degree of hardness 
to which the Jews, in Jeremiah's time, had attained. 
O^ Lordy thou hast stricken them, but they have not 
grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have re^ 
fused to receive instruction ; they have made their fa^ 
ces harder than a rock. 

O Lord, them hast stricken them. My brethren, the 
first part of our prophet's words is now accomplished 



x 



64 Voice of the Rod. 

in our ccuntry, and in a very terrific manner. Some 
difference the mercy of God does make between us, 
and those neighbouring nations, among whom the 
plague is making so dreadful a progress ; but though 
our horizon is not yet infected, though the breath of 
our hearers is not yet corrupt, and though our streets 
present not yet to our view heaps of dead, whose 
mortal exhalations threaten the living, and to 
whose burial, those who survive are scarcely sufl&- 
cient, we are nevertheless under the hand of Qod ; I 
would say, under his avenging hand ; his hand aU 
ready uplifted to plunge us into the abyss of nation- 
al ruin. What else are those plagues which walk in 
our streets? What is this mortality of our cattle 
which has now continued so many years ? What else 
is this suspension of credit, this loss of trade, this ru- 
in of so many families, and so many more on the 
brink of ruin ? O Lord, Aou hast stricken them. 
The first part then is but too awfully accomplished in 
our country. 

I should deem it an abuse of the liberty allowed me 
in this pulpit, were I to say, without restriction, that 
the second is likewise accomplished ; But they have 
not grieved. The solemnity of the day ; the procla- 
mation of our fast ; the whole . of these provinces 
prostrated to-day at the fe^t of the Most High ; so 
many voices crying to heaven, O thou sword of the 
Lordy intoxicated with bloody return into thy scabbard ; 
all would convict me of declamation, if I should say, 
O Lord thou hast stricken them, but they have not 
grieved. 



t, 




Voice of ^ Rod. 66 

But, my brtthreD) have we no part in this reproach? 
Have we felt as we ought, the calamities that God 
bath sent ? Come to-day Christians ; come and learn 
of our prcqphet to hearken to the voice of God. What 
voice ? The voice strong and mighty ; the voice which 
lighteneth with flames of fire ; the loud voice of his 
judgments. Hear ye the rod^ and him tcho hath ap^ 
pointed it. 

My brethren, on the hearing of this voice, what 
sort d requests should we make ? Should we not say, 
as the ancient people, Let not die Lord speak to u$ 
lest we die 9 No, let us not adopt this language.*«-0 
great God, the contempt we have made of thy staffs 
when thy clemency caused us to repose in green pas« 
tures,. renders essential the rod of thy correction. 
Now is the crisis to suffer, or to perish. Strike, strike. 
Lord, provided we may be converted and saved. 
Speak with thy lightning ; speak with thy thunder ; 
speak with thy flaming bolts ; but teach ns to hear 
thy voice. Speak^ Lordy for thy servants hear. And 
you, my brethren. Hear ye the rod, and him who hath 
appointed it. Amen. 
This, in substance, is, 
I. To feel the strokes of God's hand : 
2I. To trace their consequences and connections : 
m. To examine their origin and cause : 
IV. To discover their resources and remedies. 
Tlus is to comply with the exhortation of Micah ; this 
is to shelter ourselves from the charge of Jeremiah ; 
this is especially to comply with the design of this 
solemnity. If we feel the strokes of God's hand, we 
•ball shake off a certain state of indolence in which 
VOL. vm. 9 



66 Voice of the Rod. 

many of us are found/ and be clothed with the sentU 
inents of humiliation : this is the first duty of the day^ 
If we trace the consequences and connection of our 
calamities, we shall be inspired with the sentiments of 
terror and awe : this is the second disposition of a 
fast. If we examine their orign and cause, we shall 
be softened with sentiments of sorrow and repent- 
ance : this is the third disposition of a fast. If we^ 
lastly, discover the remedies and resources, we shall 
be animated with the sentiments of genuine conver* 
sion : this is the four A disposition of a fast. It is by 
reflections of this kind that I shall close these solemn 
duties, and make, if I may so speak, the application 
of those energetic words addressed to us by the ser- 
vants of God on this day. 

I. Hear ye the rod : feel the strokes with which 
you are already struck. There is one disposition ci 
the mind which may be confounded with that we 
would wish to inspire. The sensation of these cala- 
mities may be so strong in a soul, as to overspread the 
mind with a total gloom and dejection. The soul of 
which we speak, feasts on its grief, and is wholly ab- 
sorbed in the causes of its anguish. The privation of 
a good once enjoyed, renders it perfectly indifferent 
as to the blessino^s which still remain. The strokes 
which God has inflicted, appear to it the greatest of 
all calamities. Neither the beauties of nature, nor 
the pleasures of conversation, nor the motives of piety, 
have charms adequate to extinguish, nor ev^n to as« 
suage anguish which corrodes and consumes the soul. 
Hence those torrents of tears ; hence those deep and 
frequent sighs ; hence those loud and bitter com- 



Voice of the Rod. 67 

plaints ; hence those angurs of disaster and ruin. 
To feeF afflictions in this way, is a weakness of ni>nd 
which disqualifies us for supporting the slightefit re-* 
verses of life. It is an ingratitude which obstructs 
our acknowledging the favours of that God, who, ^^in 
the midst of wrath, remembers mercy," and who 
never so far afflicts his creature, as to deprive him of 
reviving hope. 

The insensibility we wish to prevent, is a vice di- 
rectly opposed to that we have just decried. It is the 
insensibility of the man of pleasure. He must enjoy 
life : but nothing is more strikingly calculated to sub- 
vert the principle, and derange the system of present 
pleasure than this idea. The sovereign of the uni- 
verse is irritated against us : his sword is suspended 
over OUT heads : his avenging arm is making awful 
havock around us : thousands have already fallen be- 
neath his strokes on our right, and ten thousand on 
our left. Psal. xci. 7. We banish these ideas : but 
this being difficult to do, we repose behind entrench- 
ments which they cannot penetrate; and by aug- 
menting the confusion of the passions, we endeavour 
to divert our attention from the calamities of the 
public. 

The insensibility we wish to prevent, is a philoso-. 
phical apathy. We brave adversity. We fortify 
ourselves with a stoical firmness. We account it 
wise to be unmoved by the greatest catastrophes. 
We enshroud the mind in an ill-named virtue ; and 
we pique ours'elves on the vain glory of being un- 
moved) though the universe were dissolved. 



68 Voiee of At Rod. 

The insensibility we wish to prevent is that which 
irises from a stupid ignorance. Some men are na*- 
turally more difficult to be moved than the brutes 
destitute <^ reascHi. . They are resolved to remain 
where they are, until extricated by an exterior cause ; 
and these are the very men who resist that cause. 
They shut their eyes against the avenues of alarm ; 
they harden their hearts against calamities by the 
mere dint of reason, or rather by the mere instincit of 
nature, because if seriously regarded^ some efforts 
would be required to avert the visitation. 

But whether God afflict us in love; whether he 
afflict us in wrath ; whether he afflict us for instnic-* 
tion ; or whether he afflict us for correction, our first 
duty under the rod is to acknowledge the equity of 
his hand. 

Doeii he afflict us for the exercise of our resigna*- 
tion and our patience ? To correspond with his de-* 
sign, we must acimowledge the equity of his hand. 
We must each say, It is true, my fortune is aiioat^ my 
oredit is injured, and my prospects are frustrated ; 
but it is the great Disposer of all events who has as- 
sorted my lot ; it is ray lord and ruler. O God, thy 
wUl he done J and not mine, I was dumhy and opened 
not iifiy mouth ; because it was thy doiny. Matt. xxvi. 
89. Psal. xxxix. 9. 

Does he afflict us in order to put our love to the 
proof? To correspond with his design, we must ac» 
knowledge the equity of his hand. We must learn 
to say, *^ I think that God has made vis a spectacle 
to the world, to angels, and to men. K in this life 
only we have hope in Christ, we aro of all men moi^ 



Voice (f the Rod. 68 

miserable*'' O God ! though Aau slay me, yet will 
I trust in thse. 1 Gor. iv. 9. xv. 19. Job xiii. 15. 
; Does he afflict us in order to detach us from the 
world ? To correspond with his design, we mast ac- 
knowledge the equity of his hand. It is requisite that 
this son should die, who constitutes the sole enjoy- 
ment of our life ; it is requisite that we should feel 
the imguish of the disease to which we are exposed ; 
it is requisite this health should fail, without which 
the association of every pleasure is insipid and obtru- 
sive, that we may leam to place our happiness in the 
World to come, and not establish our hopes in this 
valley of tears. 

Does he afflict us to make manifest the enormity of 
vice? To correspond with his design, we must ac- 
knowledge the equity of his hand. We must ac- 
knowledge the horrors of the objects our passions had 
painted with such beguiling tints. Amid the anguish 
consequent on crimes, we must put the question t^ 
ourselves St. Paul put to the Romans ; What fruits 
had you then in those things ^ whereof you are now 
ashamed 7 Fhr the end of those things is death. Sen- 
sibility of the strokes God has already inflicted by his 
rod, was the first disposition of mind, which Micah, 
in his day, required of the Jews. 

If you ask what those strokes were with which God 
afflicted the Israelites, it is not easy to give you satis- 
&iction. The correctest researches of chronology do 
not mark the exact period in which Micah delivered 
the words of my text. . We know only that he exer- 
cised his ministry under the reign of three kings, un- 
der Jotham, under Ahaa^ under Hezekiah ; and that 



70 Voic^ of the Rod. 

iKider each of these kings, God afBicted the kingdom 
of Judah, and of Israel with severe strokes." — And 
the solemnities of the present day excuse me from 
the laws, binding to a commentator, of illustrating a 
text in all the original views of the author. We must 
neither divert our feielings, nor divide our attention, 
between the calamities God sent on Jndah and Israel, 
and those he has sent on us. We exhort you to sen- 
sibility concerning the visitations of Providence : and 
four ministers of the God of vengeance, address you 
with a voice more loud and pathetic than mine. 
These ministers are the tempest ; the murrain ; the 
plague ; and the spirit of indifference. 

The first minister of the God of vengeance is the 
tempest Estimate, if you are able, the devastations 
made by the tempests during the last ten years ; the 
districts they have ravaged; the vessels they have 
wrecked ; the inundations they have occasioned ; and 
the towns they have laid under water. Would you 
not have thought that the earth was about to return 
^ to its original chaos ; that the sea had broke the 
bounds prescribed ]by the Creator ; and that the earth 
had ceased to be balanced on iU poles ? Job xxxviii. 6. 

The second minister of the God of vengeance, ex- 
citing alarm, is the mortality of our cattle. The 
mere approaches of this calamity filled us with ter- 
ror, and became the sole subjects of conversation. 
Your sovereign appointed public prayers, and solemn 
humiliations to avert the scourge. Your preachers 
made extraordinary efforts, entreating you to enter 
into the design of God, who had sent it upon us. 
But to what may not men become accustomed ? We 



Voice of the Rod. . 71 

sometitnes wonder how they can enjoy the least re- 
pose in places where the earth often quakes ; where 
its dreadful jaws open ; where a black volume of 
smoke obscures the light of heaven ; where moun«* 
tains of flame, from subterraneous caverns, rise to. the 
highest clouds, and descend. in liquid rivers on the 
houses, and on whole towns. Let us seek in our- 
selves the solution of a difficulty suggested by the in- 
sensibility of others. We are capable of accustom- 
ing ourselves to any thing. Were we to judge of the 
impressions future judgments would produce by the 
effects produced by those God has already sent, we 
should harden our hearts against both pelstilence and 
famine : w^ should attend concerts, though the streets 
were thronged with the groans of dying men, and 
form parties of pleasure in presence of the destroying ^^ 
angel sent to exterminate the nation. 

The third minister of God's vengeance, exciting 
us to sensibility, is the plague, Which ravages a neigh- 
bouring kingdom. Your provinces do not subsist of 
themselves ; they have an intimate relation with all 
the states of Europe. And such is the nature of their 
constitution, that they not only suffer from the pros- 
perity, but also from the adversity of their enemies. 
But what do I say? from their enemies ! The people 
whom God has now visited with this awful scourge, 
are not our enemies : they are our allies ; they are 
our brethren ; they are our fellow-countrymen. The 
people on whom God has laid bis hand in so terrible 
a manner, is the kingdom, which gave some of us 
birth, and which still contains persons to whom we 
are united by the tenderest ties. Every stroke this 



72 Voice of the Rod. 

kuigdoin rieeives, recoils on ourselves^ and it cannot 
fall without involying us in its rains. 

The fourth ministw of the God of vengeance, 
which calls for consideration, is the spirit of slumber. 
It would seem that God had designated our own 
hands to Jbe our own ruin. It would seetti that he 
had given a demon from the depths of hell a com* 
mission like that granted to the spirit mentioned in 
the first book of Kings. The Lord saidj who shall 
persuade Ahab^ that he may go up and fail at Ra^ 
moth^ OUead ? And there came forth a spirit ^ and 
saidy I will persuade him. And the Lord said, yea^ 
thou shalt persuade him, and prevail, xxii. 20^ 28i0 
Yea, a spirit who has sworn the overthrow of our fa- 
milies, the ruin of our arts and manufactures, the d^ 
struction of our commerce, and the loss of ourcredit, 
'^'this spirit has fascinated us all. He seizes the great 
and the small, the court, and the city. But I abridge 
my intentions on this subject ; I yield to the reasons 
which forbid my extending to farther detail. To feel 
the strokes of God's hand, is therefore the first • duty 
he. requires. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appoint^ 
edit 

II. This rod requires us, secondly, to trace the caus- 
es and the origin of our calamities. Micah wished 
the Jews to comprehend that the miseries under which 
they groaned were a consequence of their crimes. 
We would wish you to form the same judgment of 
yours. But here the subject has its difficulties. Un- 
der a pretence of entering into the spirit of humilia- 
tion^ there is danger of our falling into the puerilities 
of superstition. Few subjects are more fertile in er* 



Voice of the Rod. 73 

roneous conclasioas than this subjeet Temporal 
prosperity and adversity are very equivocal marks of 
the favour and displeasure of God. If some men are 
so wilfully blind as not to see that a particular dis- 
pensation of. Providence is productive of certain pun- 
ishments, there are others who &ncy that they every 
where see a particular providence. The commjonest 
occurrences, however closely connected with second 
causes, seem to them the result of an extraordinary 
counsel in him who holds the helm of the world. 
The slightejst adversity, they regard as a stroke of his 
angry arm. Generally speaking, we should always 
recollect that the conduct of Providence is involved 
in clouds and darkness. We should form the criteri- 
on of our guilt or innocence, not by the exterior pros- 
perity or adversity sent of God, but by our obedience 
or disobedience to his word : and we should habituate 
ourselves to see without surprise in this world, the 
wicked prosperous, and the righteous afflicted. 

But notwithstanding the obscurity in which it has 
pleased God to involve his ways, there are cases, in 
which we cannot without impiety refuse assent, that 
adversity is occasioned by crimes. It is peculiarly ap- 
parent in two cases : firsts when there is a natural con- 
nection between the crimes we have committed, and 
the calamities we suffer : the second is, when great 
calamities follow the perpetration of enormous crimes. 
Let us explain. 

First, we cannot doubt thal^ punishment is a con- 
sequence of crime, when there is an essential tie be- 
tween the crime we have committed, and the cala- 
inity we suffer. One of the finest proofs of the hdi- 

YOL. VIII. 10 



T4 Voice of the Rod. 

iiess of the God, to whom all creatures owe their 
preservation and being, is derived from the harmony 
he has placed between happiness and virtue. Tract 
this harmony in the circles of society, and in private 
life. 1. In private life* An enlightened mind can 
find no solid happiness but in the exercise of virtue^ 
The passions may indeed excite a tratisient satisfac- 
tion ; but a state of violence cannot be pertnaneht« 
Each passion offers violence to some faeulty of th^ 
«oul, to which that faculty is abandoned. The hap« 
piness procured by the passions, is foundied on mis- ^ 
take : the moment the soul recovers recollection, the 
happiness occasioned by error is dissipated. The 
happiness ascribed to avarice is grounded oh the same 
mistake : it is couched in this principle, that gold and 
silver are the true riches : and the moment that th^ 
soul which established its happiness on a false princi-^ 
|>le becomes enlightened ; the moment it investigatelt 
the numerous cases in which riches are not only use- 
less, but destructive, it loses the happiness (bunded on 
tnistake. We may reason in the same manner con- 
cerning the other passions. There is then in the soul 
of every man a harmony between happiness and'^srir- 
ttie, mii^ery and crime« 

2. This harmony is equally found in the great cir- 
cles of national society. I am not wholly unacquaint- 
ed With the maxims which a false polity would ad- 
vance on the subject. I am not ignorant of what 
Hbbbes, Machiavel, and their disciples, ancient and 
tnodem, have said. And I frankly codfess that I fe^ 
the force of the difficulties o[^sed to thi3 getieml 
tlire^es> of the happiness of nations beings iiaseparable 



Voice of the Rod. 75 

fr^m their iaHOcence. But notwithstanding ^l the 
difficulties of which the theses is susceptible, I think 
myself able to maintain, and prove, that all public 
happiness founds on crime, is like the happiness of 
th$ ilidiyidual just described. It is a state of svio- 
l^pce, which cannot be permanent. From the source 
of thrae saBde vices, on which a criminal polity would 
f<Miiid th^ ho^ppiness of the state, proceeds a long trajn 
of calamities which are evidently productive of total 
ruin. 

Without encumbering ourselves with these discus- 
sions, vnithout reviving this controversy, the better to 
kdep in view the grand objects of the day, I affirm, 
that the calamities under which we groan are the ne« 
Cessary consequence of our crimes : and in such 
6ort, that though there were no God of vengeance who 
holds the helm of the universe ; no judge ready to 
execute justice, our degeneracy into every vice would 
suffice to involve our country in misery. 

Under what evils do we now groan ? Is it because 
our name is less respected ? Is it because our credit 
is less established ? Is it because our armies are less 
formidable ? Is it because our union is less compact % 
But whence do these calamities proceed ? Are they 
the mysteries of a Ood, who hideth himself? Are they 
strokes inflicted by an invisible hand ? Or are they 
the natural effects and consequences of our crimes ? 
Does it require miracles to produce them? If £0, 
miracles would be requisite to prevent them. Men of 
genius, profound statesmen, you who send us to our 
books, and to the dust of our closets, whqn we talk of 
providence j( and of plagues inflicted by an avenging 



76 Voice of the Rod^ 

Ood, I summons your speculation and superior infor- 
mation to this one point ; our destruction is of our^ 
selves : and the Judge of the pniverse has no need to 
punish our crimes but by our crimes. 

I have said in the second place, that great calami* 
ties following great crimes, ought to be regarded as 
their punishment. And shall we refuse in this day of 
humiliation, ascribing to this awful cause the strokes 
with which we are afflicted? Cast your eyes for a mo* 
ment on the nature of the crimes which reproach 
these provinces. All nations have their vices, and 
vices in which they resemble one another; all nations 
afford the justest cause for reprehension. Read the 
various books of morality ; consult the sermons deli- 
vered among the most enlightened nations, and you 
will every where see that the great are proud ; the poor 
impatient, the aged covetous, the young voluptuous, 
and so of every class. Meanwhile all sorts of vice have 
not a resemblance. Weigh a passage in Deuteron- 
omy in which you will find a distinction between sin 
and sin, and a distinction worthy of peculiar regard. 
TTieir spoty says Moses, is not the spot of the children 
of Ood. xxxii. 5. There is then a spot of the child^ 
ren of God, and a spot which is not of his children. 
There are infirmities found among a people dear to 
God, and there are defects incompatible with his peo- 
ple. To receive the sacrament of the eucharist, but 
not with all the veneration required by so august a 
mystery ; to celebrate days of humiliation, but not 
with all the deep repentance we should bring to these 
solemnities ; these are great spots ; but they are spots 
common to the children of God. To fall, however, 



Voice of Ae Rod. 77 

/ 

t 

as the ancient Israelites, whose eyes were still struck 
with the miracles wrought on their leaving Egypt ; 
to change the glory of Ood into the similitude of an 
ox that eateth gra^s ; and to raise a profane shouts 
These he thy godSy O Israel , which have brought thee 
up out of the land of JEgypty is a spot, but not the 
spot of the children of God. Exod. xxxii. 8. 

Now, my brethren, can you cast your eyes on these 
provinces, without recognizing a number of sins of the 
latter class ? In some families, the education of youth 
is so astonishingly neglected that we see parents 
training up their children for the first offices of the re.« 
public, for offices which decide the honour, the for- 
tune, and the lives of men, without so much as ini- 
tiatiiig them into the sciences, essentially requisite for 
the adequate discharge of professional duties. Pro- 
faneness is so prevalent, and indifference for the 
homage we pay to Ood is so awful, that we see peo- 
ple passing whole years without ever entering our 
sanctuaries ; mechanics publicly follow their -labour 
on the Sabbath ; women in the polished circles of so- 
ciety choose the hour of our worship to pay their 
visits, and expose card-tables, if I may so speak, in 
the sight of our altars. Infidelity is so rife, that the 
presses groan with works to immortalise blasphemies 
against the being of Ood, and to sap the foundation 
of public morals. How easy would it be to swell 
this catalogue ! My brethren, on a subject so awful, 
let us not deceive ourselves ; ^^ These are not the 
spots of the children of Ood ;" they are the very 
crimes which bring upon nations the malediction of 



78 Voice (fthe Rod. 

God, and which soan or late occafiion their total over* 

throw. 

III. To feel the calamities ujider which we now 
^an, and to trace their origin is not enough : we 
must anticipate the future : the third sort of regard 
vequimd for the strokes with which we are struck, is 
to develope their consequences and eonaections. 
Some calamities are less formidable in themselves 
tiban in the awful consequences they produce. There 
are deeps which call nnto deeps ut the noise of Ood^^ 
watev'-spouts ; Psalm xlii. S. and to sum up all in 
one word 9 there are calamities whose distinguished 
eharacteristic is to be the fore-runners of calamities 
still more terrible. Such was the character of those 
inflicted on the kingdom of ^Judah and of Israel in 
Micha's time, as is awfully proved by the ruin of both. 

Is this the idea we should form of the plagues with 
vrbich we are struck? Never was question more se- 
rious a*nd interesting, my brethren ; and, at the same 
time, never was question more delicate and difficult. 
J^o not fear, that forgetting the limits with which it 
iias pleased God to circumscribe our knowledge, we 
are about with a profane hand to raise the vail which 
conceals futurity, and pronounce with temerity awful 
predictions on the destiny of these provinces. We 
shall merely mark the signs by which the prophet 
would have the ancient people to understand, that 
. the plagues God had already inflicted were but har- 
bingers of those about to follow. Supply by your own 
reflections, the cautious silence we shall observe on 
this subject: examine attentively what connectiob 
may exist between the calamities we now suffer; and 



Voice of the Rod. 79 

those which made the ancient Jews expect a total 
Overthrow. And tho^e signs of an impending cala- 
mity are less alarming in themselves, than the dispa« 
sitiotis of the people on whom they are inflicted. 

1. One calamity is the fore-runner of a greater, 
when the people whom God afflicts have recourse to 
second causes instead of the first cause ; aiid when 
they seek the redress^ of their calamities in political 
Resources, and not in reli'gion. This is the portrait 
which Isaiah gives of Sennacherib's first expedition 
against Judea. The prophet recites it in the twenty- 
second chapter of (lis book. He discovered the cov^ 
^ng of Judahy and thou didst look in that day to the 
tirmour of the house of the forest. Ye have seen also 
ifte breaches of the city of David^ that they are ma^ 
ny : and ye gathered together the waters of the lower 
ppol. And ye have numbered the house of Jerusalem^ 
and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the 
wait. Y^ made also a ditch between the two walls, 
for Ae water of the old pool ; but ye have not looked 
unto the Maker thereof neither have ye had respect 
unto him that fashioned it long ago. And in that day 
did the Lord Ood of hosts call to weeping and to 
mourning, and to plucking of the I^air, and to girding 
ivith sackcloth. And behold, joy and gladness, slaym 
ing oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking 
voine : let us eat and drink for to-morrow we shall die. 
And it urns revealed in mine ears by the Lord of 
hMtSy Swrdy this imguity shall not be purged from 

It beloiigs to you to make the application of thii 
paflMgd ; it b^loQgs to you to enquire what resem- 



80 Voice of Ae Rod. 

blance our present conduct may have to that of the 
Jews in a similar situation. Whether it is to the first 
cause you have had recourse for the removal of your 
calamities, or whether you have solely adhered to se- 
cond causes? whether it is the maxims of religion you 
have consulted, or the maxims of. policy? whether it 
is a barrier you have pretended to put to the war, to 
the pestilence, and famine ; or whether you have put 
one to injustice, to hatred, to fornication,^ and to 
fraud, the causes of those cal9.mities? 

2. One calamity is the forerunner of greater cala^ 
mities, when instead of humiliation on the reception 
of the warnings God sends by his servants, we tarn 
those warnings into contempt. By this sign, the au- 
thor of the second Book of Chronicles wished the 
Jews to understand that their impiety had attained 
its height. T%e Lord Ood of their fathers sent unto 
them by his messengers^ rising up betimes and send^ 
ing ; because he had compassion on his people : but 
they mocked the messengers of Ood ; they despised 
his u)ord, and misused his prophets^ until the wrath of 
the Lord arose against his people^ so that there was no 
remedy, xxxvi. 15, 16. 

My brethren, it is your duty to enquire how far you 
are affected by this doptrine. It is your duty to ex- 
amine whether your present desolating calamities are 
characterised as harbingers of greater evils. Do you 
discover a teachable disposition towards the messen- 
gers of God who would open your eyes to see the ef- 
fects of his indignation ; or, do you revolt against 
their word ? Do you love to be reproved and correct* 
ed, or do you resemble the incorrigible man of whom 



Voice of Ae Rod. 81- 

the prophet says, thou hatest instruction. Psalm L 17. 
What a humiliating subject, my brethren, what an 
awful touchstone of our misery ! 

8. One calamity is the forerunner of greater cala- 
mities, when the anguish it excites proceeds more 
from the loss of our perishable riches than from senti- 
ments of the insults offered to God. This sign, the 
prophet Hosea gave to the inhabitants of Samaria. 
Though I have redeemed them, says he, speaking for 
Grod, they have not cried unto me with their heart, 
when they howled upon their beds. It was for com 
and wine, thai they cut themselves when they assem^ 
bled together ; or as might be better rendered, when 
they assembled for devotion.* Examine again, or 
rather censure a subject which presents the mind with 
a question less for inquiry than for the admission of a 
fact already decided. We would interrupt our busi- 
ness ; we would suspend our pleasures ; we would 
shed our tears ; we would celebrate fasts on the re- 
collection of our crimes, provided we could be assur- 
ed that Ood would remit the punishment ? We cut 
ourselves ; we oMemile to-day for wine and wheat ; 
because commerce is obstructed ; because our repose 
is interrupted in defiance of precaution ; because the 
thunderbolts fallen on the heads of our neighbours 
threaten us, and our frieiSds, our brethren, and our 
children ; or is it because that those paternal regards 
of Gbd are obscured, which should constitute our 

* The origioal word is so translated in the French bibles, Fsalm Ivi. 7. lix. i. 
The Frenph version, in regard to the fomer phrase, ih»y cut themselves, seems 
to hariBonize better with the scope of the passage than the English, Theif re^ 
bei, becanse It follows, Tlwugh I hatt bwrnd and strengthened their arms, mean" 
ing their wounded arms, 

VOL. VUI. 11 



82 Voice of the Rod. 

highest feh'city, and all our joys ? I say again^ this is 
a subject already decided rather than a question of 
investigation. 

4. Not wishful to multiply remarks, but to com- 
prise the whole in a single thought, one plague is the 
forerunner of greater plagues when it fails in produc- 
ing the reformation of those manners it was sent to 
chastise. Weigh those awful words in the twenty- 
sixth chapter of Leviticus. '^ If yc will not hearken 
unto me, but walk contrary unto me ; then I will 
walk contrary also unto you in fury ; and I, even I 
will chastise you seven times for your sins." The 
force of these words depends on those which precede. 
We there find a gradation of calamities whose high- 
est period extends to the total destruction of the peo- 
ple against whom they were denounced. If you will 
not hearken^ Moses had said in behalf of God, verse^ 
14. / will even appoint over you terror, the consump- 
tioUy and the burning ague, that shall consume the 
^yeSy and cause sorrow of heart. And I will set my 
face against you, and ye shall be slain before your 
enemies : they that hate you shall reign over you, and 
ye shall flee when none pursueth you. Immediately 
he adds, If ye' will not yet for all this hearken, and 
these words occur at the eighteenth verse. If ye will 
not yet for all this hearkeh unto me, then will I punish 
you seven times more for your sins. And I will break 
the pride of your power ; and I will make your heav^ 
en as iron, and your earth a^ brass. And if ye walk 
contrary to me, I will bring seven times more plagues 
upon you according to your sins. And I will send 
the wild beasts against you, and they shall rob you of 



Voice of the Rod. 83 

your chUdren^ and make you few in number ^ and your 
high ways shall be desolate. Then he denounces a 
new train of calamities, after which the words Thave 
cited immediately follow. If ye will not be reformed 
by all these things^ but will walk contrary unto me. 
Then will I also walk contrary unto you in fury ^ and 
wiU punish you yet seven times far your sins. And 
ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your 
daughters. And I will destroy your high places, and 
cut down your images, and cast your carcase upon the 
carcasses of your idols. And I will make your cities 
waste, and bring your sanctuary unto desolation. 

Make, my brethren, the most serious reflections on 
these words of God to his ancient people. If in the 
strictest sense, they are inapplicable to you, it is be- 
cause your present calamities require less than seven- 
fold more to effectuate your total extermination. Do 
I exaggerate the subject? Are your sea-banks able to 
sustain sevenfold greater shocks than they have al- 
ready received? Are your cattle able to sustain seven- 
fold heavier strokes? Is your commerce able to sus- 
tain a sevenfold greater depression ? Is there then so 
wide a distance between your present calamities, and 
your total ruin ? 

ly. Let us proceed to other subjects. Hitherto, 
my dear brethren, we have endeavoured to open your 
eyfes, and fix them stedfastly on dark and afflictive 
objects; we have solicited your attention but for bit- 
ter reproaches, and terrific menaces. We have sought 
the way to your hearts, but to excite terror and alarm. 
The close of this day ^s devotion shall be more con- 
formable to prayers we offer for you, to the goodness 



84 Voice of the Rod. 

of the God we worship^ and to the character of our 
ministry. We will no longer open your eyes but to 
fix them on objects of consolation ; we will no longer 
solicit your attention to hear predictions of misery : 
we will seek access to your hearts solely to augment 
your peace and consolation. Hear the rod, and who 
hath appointed it: and amid the whole of your calam--^ 
ities, know what are your resources, and what are 
your hopes. This is tY^ fourth part. 

One of the most notortoas crimes of which a nation 
can be guilty when heaven calls tbem to repentance, 
is that charged on the Jews in Jeremiah's time. The 
pircumstance is remarkable. It occurs in the six- 
teenth chapter of this prophet's revelations. His mis- 
sion was on the eve of their approaching ruin : its ob- 
ject was to save by fear the men whom a long course 
of prosperity could not instruct. He discharged those 
high duties with the firmness and magnanimity which 
the grandeur of God wa^ calculated to inspire, whose 
minister he had the glory to be. Because your fa'- 
thers have forsaken me, he said in the name of tibe 
Lord, and have walked after other ^ods^ and have 
served theniy and have worshipped before them ; and 
because ye have done worse than your fathers^ there-* 
fore will I cast you out of this landy into a land which 
neither ye, nor your fathers know. v. 11, 12, 13. 

Lest the apprehension of ruin without resource 
should drive them to despair, God made to Jeremiah 
a farther communication ; he honoured him with a 
vision saying. Arise, and go down to the potter's 
house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 
The prophet obeyed ; ha went to the potter's house ; 



Voice of tk^ Rod. 85 

the workman was busy at the wheel. He formed a 
vase, which was marred in his hand ; he made it 
anew, and gave it a form according to his pleasure. 
This emblem God explained to the prophet, sa.ying, 
Go, and speak these words to the house of Israel. 

house of Israel^ cannot I do with you m this 
potter ? saith the Lord, Behold as the clay is in the 
potter^s hand, so are ye in my handy O house of Israel. 
At what instant 1 shall speak concerning a nation^ 
amt^ concerning a kingdom to pluck up, and to puU 
down, and to destroy it:^ that nation against whom 

1 have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent 
of the evil that I thought to do unto them. Return ye 
now every one from his evil way, and amend your 
ways. What effects might not this mission have 
produced ? But the incorrigible depravity of the peo« 
pie was proof against this additional overture of 
grace ; those abominable men, deriving arguments 
of obduracy even from the desperate situation of their 
nation, replied to the prophet, There is no hope, we 
wUl wcdk after our own devices, and we will every one 
do the imagination of his evil heart, xviil 1*— 12. 

Revolting at those awful dispositions, we are, my 
brethren, invested with the same commission as Jere- 
miah. God has said to us as well as to this prophet, 
Oo, down to the potter^s house ; see him marr, and 
form hi9 vessels anew, giving them a form according 
to his pleasure. Behold, as the clay is in the potter^s 
hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At 
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and 
concerning a kingdom to pluck up, and pull down, and 
to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have 



86 Voice 4lf the Rod. 

pronounced^ turn from their evil, I will repent of the 
evil that I thought to do unto them. The foundation 
of these hopes is stronger than all that we can ask. 

In particular, we found our hope on the love which 
God has uniformly cherished for this republic. Has 
not God established it by a series of miracles, and 
has he not preserved by a series of miracles still 
greater? Has he not all times surrounded it as 
with a wall of fire,, and been himself the buckler on 
the most pressing occasions ? Has he not invertedflie 
laws of nature, and of the elements for its defence ? 

We found our hopes on the abundant mercies with 
which God has loaded us during the time of visita- 
tion. With the one hand he abases, with the other 
he exalts. With the one hand he brings the pesti- 
lence to our gates, and with the other he obstructs it 
from entering ; from desolating our cities, and at- 
tacking our persons. 

We found our hope on the resotirces he has still 
left the state to recover, and to re-establish itself in 
all the extent of its glory, and prosperity. — ^We found 
our hopes also on the solemnities of this day ; on the 
abundance of tears which will be shed in the pre- 
sence of God, on the many prayers which will be of- 
fered to heaven, and on the numerous purposes of 
conversion, which will be formed. — Frustrate not 
these hopes by a superficial devotion, by forgetfulness 
of promises, and violation of vows. ' Your happiness 
is in your own hands. Return ye now every one from 
his evil way, and amend your doings. Here is the 
law, here is the condition. This law is general ; this 
condition concerns you all. 



r 



Voice of the Rod. ^ 

Yes, this law concerns you ; this condition is im- 
posed OB all. High and mighty lords : it fs required 
of you this day to lay a new foundation for the secu- 
rity of this people : Return ye then, my lords, from 
your evil ways, and be converted. In vain shall you 
have proclaimed a fast, if you set not the fairest ex- 
ample of decency in its celebration. Ii^ vain shall 
you have commanded pastors to preach against the 
corruption which predominates anaeng us, if you lend 
not an arm to suppress it ; if you suffer profaneness 
and infidelity to lift their head with impunity ; if you 
suffer the laws of chastity to be violated in the face 
of the sun, and houses of infamy to be open as those 
of temples consecrated to the glory of God ; if you 
suffer public routs and sports to subsist in all their 
fury ; if you abandon the reins to mammon, to esta- 
blish its maxims, and communicate its poison, if pos- 
sible, to all our towns and provinces. Have com- 
passion then on the calamities of our country. Be 
impressed with its sighs. Place her under the imme- 
diate protection of Almighty God. May he deign in 
clothing you with his grandeur and power, to clothe 
you also with holiness and equity. May he deign to 
give you the spirit of Esdras, of Nehemiah, of Josiah, 
of Hezekiah, princes distinguished in the sacred scrip- 
tures, who brought their nation back to reformation 
and piety, and thereby to happiness and glory. 

This law concerns you, this condition, pastors, is 
imposed on you. " Return from your evil ways, and 
amend." The ministry with' which God has invests 
ed you ; this ministry at all times weighty and diffi- 
cult, is particularly so in this age of contradiction and 



88 Voice of the Rod. 

universal depravity. You are appointed to censure 
the vices ^ the^people, and every one is enraged 
against you, the moment you cast an eye on his par- 
ticular crimes. They will treat you' as enemies when 
you tell them the truth. No matter. Foiee your 
hearers to respect you. Testify to them by your 
generosity and disinterestedness, that you are ready to 
make every sacrifice to sustain the glory ci your min- 
istry. Give them as many examples as precepts ; 
and then ascend the pulpit with a mind confident and 
firm. You have the same right over the people, as 
the Isaiahs, as the Micahs, and as the Jeremiahs/ 
had over Israel and Judah. You can say like them, 
The Lord hath spoken. And may the God who has 
invested you with the sacred office you fill, may he 
grant you the talents requisite for its faithful dis- 
charge ; may he assist you by the most intimate com- 
munications in the closet, to bear the crosses laid 
upon you by the public ; may he deign to accept the 
purity of your intentions, to have compassion on your 
weakness, and enable you to redouble your efforts by 
the blessings he shall shed on your work ! 

This law, concerns you, this condition, is imposed 
on you, rebellious men : on you sinners,, who have 
excelled in the most awful courses c^ vice, in fighting, 
in hatred, in brutality, in profaneness, in insolence, 
and every other crime which confounds the human 
kind with demons. It is you, chiefly you who have 
uplifted the arm of vengeance which pursues us ; it 
is you who have dug those pits which are under our 
feet. But, return from your evil ways, and amend. 
Let your reformation have some proportion to your 



Voice of Oe Rod. 89 

profligacy, and your repentance to your crimes. And 
may the God who can of these stones tvse up chil- 
dren nnto Abraham, and make rush from the hardest 
rocks fountains of living water, may he deign to dis- 
play on you the invincible power he has over the 
heart ; may he penetrate the abyss of your souls, and 
id;rike them in places the most tender and susceptible 
of anguish, of shame, and of repentance. 

This law, concerns you, it is imposed on you, be- 
lievers ; and believers even of the first class. How 
pure soever your virtues may be, they are still mixed 
with imperfections : how firm soever the fabric of 
your piety may be, it still requires support ; and how 
sincere soever your endeavours may be, they must 
still bfe repeated. It is on you, that the salvation of 
the nation devolves. It is your piety, your fervour, 
and your zeal, which must for the future sustain this 
tottering '^ republic. May there be ten righteous per- 
sons in our Sodom, lest it be consumed by fire from 
heaven ; may there still be a Moses, who knows how 
to stay the arm of God, and to say, O Lord, pardon 
this people ; and if not, blot me, I pray theey out of 
Ay book. Exod. xxxii. 82. O how glorious to mag- 
nify this mission ! O how glorious to be in a republic , 
if I may venture ^o to speak, the stay of the state, 
and the cause of its existence ! May he who has 
chosen to those exalted duties, assist you to discharge 
them with fidelity. May he purify all your yet re- 
maining defects and imperfections ! May he make 
you the salt of' the earth, and enable you to shine as 
lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse gene- 
ration, and cause you to find in the delights which 

VOL. VIII. 12 



90 Voice of Ae Rod. 

piety shall afford, the first rewards of all the advan* 
tages it prociires. 

This law, concerns us all, this condition is impos- 
ed on each. Let us returr^from our evil ways, mid 
amend. Why would we delay conversion ? Why 
would we delay disarming the wrath of heaven till 
overwhelmed with its vengeance? Why should we 
delay our supplications till God shall cover himself 
with a cloud, that our prayers cannot pass tiirough ? 
Lam. iii. 44. Why should we delay till wholly en- 
veloped in the threatened calamities ? To say all in a 
single word, why should we delay till Holland be- 
comes, as Provence, and the Hague as Marseilles ? 

Ah ! what word is that we have just pronounced ? 
what horrors does it not oblige us to retrace % O con- 
suming fire, God of vengeance, animate our souls ; 
and may the piercing and awful ideas of thy judg- 
ments induce us to avert the blow. O dreadful 
times, where death enters our houses with the air we 
breathe, and with the food we eat ; every one shuns 
himself as death ; the father fears the breath (^ his 
son, and the son the breath of his father. O dread- 
ful times, already come on so many victims, and per- 
haps ready to conie on us, exhibit the calamities in 
all their horrors ! I look on myself as stretched on my 
dying bed, and abandoned by my dearest friends ; I 
look oil my children as entreating me to help them ; 
I am terrified by their approach, I am appalled by 
their embraces, and receive the contagion by their 
last adieu ! 

My brethren, the throne of mercy is yet accessible. 
The devotion of so many saints, who have besieged 



Voice of the Rod. 91 

it to*day, have opened it to us. Let us approach it 
with broken and contrite hearts. Let m approach it 
with promises of conversion, and oatitis of fidelity. 
Let us approach it with ardent prayers for the salva- 
tion of this republic ; for the prosperity of the chorch ; 
for the peace of Europe ; and for the salvation of 
those victims, which the Divine justice is ready to 
sacrifice. Let us prostrate before God as David at 
the sight of the destroying angel, and may we like 
that prince succeed in staying the awful executions. 
May this year, hitherto filled with alarms, with horroc, 
and carnage, close with hope and consolation. May 
this day, which has been a day of fasting, humiliation, 
and repentance, produce the solemnities of joy and 
thanksgiving. Amen. God grant us the grace. To 
whom be honour> and glory for ever. 



SERMON IV. 

Difficulties of the Christian Religion. 



1 Cor. xiii. 9. 

We know in part. 

Thb systems of Pagan theology, have in general af- 
fected an air of mystery : they have evaded the lus- 
tre of fair investigation ; and favoured, by I know not 
what charm of sacred obscurity, they have given full 
effect to error and immorality. On this subject, the 
enemies of Christianity have had the presumption to 
confound it with the Pagan superstition. They have 
said, that it has, according to our own confession, im-' 
penetrable mystieries ; that it is wishful to evade in- 
vestigation and research ; and that they have but to 
remove the veil to discover its weakness. It is our 
<lesign to expose the injustice of this reproach by in- 
vestigating all the cases, in which mysteries can ex- 
cite any doubts concerning the doctrines they contain, 
and to demonstrate on this head, as on every other, 
that the religion of Jesus Christ is superior to every 
other religion in the world. It is solely in this point 
6f view, that we proceed to contemplate this avowal 
of our apostle, and in all iU principal bearifigs. We 
know in part. 



d4 Difficulties of Ae 

There are chiefly four cases in which mysteries ren- 
der a religion doubtful. 

I. When they so conceiBd the origin of a religion 
that we cannot examine whether it has proceeded 
from the spirit of error, or from the spirit of truth. 
For example, Mahomet, secluded himself from his 
followers ; he affected to hold conversations with 
God, concealed from the public, and he has refused 
to adduce the evidence. In this view, there is noth- 
ing mysterious in the Christian religion : it permits 
you to trace its origin, and to weigh the authenticity 
of its proofs. 

IL Mysteries should render a religion doubtful, 
when they imply an absurdity. For example, the 
Roman Catholic religion establishes one doctrine 
which avowedly revolts common sense, and annihi- 
lates every motive of credibility. But the mysteries 
of our faith have nothing which wiginated in the hu- 
man mind, and which our frail reason can in equity 
reject 

III. Mysteries should render a religion doubtful, 
when they tend to promote a practice contrary to vir- 
tue, and to purity of morals. For example, the Pa- 
gan theology had mysteries /of iniquity ; and under 
die sanction of religious concealment, it favoured 
practices the most enormous, and the foulest of vices. 
But the mysteries of the go^el, are mysteries of god^ 
liness. 1 Tim. iii. 15. 

IV. In a word, mysteries should render a religion 
doubtful when we find a system less encumbered 
with difficulties than the one we attack : but when the 
difficulties of the system we propose surpass those of 



ReKgian. 9& 

our leligioD, thai it ought still to have the preference. 
For example, the system of infidelity and of atheism^. 
18 exempt from the difficulties of Christianity ; but, 
its whole mass is a fertile source of ineomprehensible 
absurdities, and 4^ difficulties which cannot be re- 
solved. 

The whole of these propositions, my brethren, claim 
the most careful investigation. If heaven shall suc- 
ceed our efforts, we is^all have a new class of argu- 
ments for the support of our faith. We shall have a 
new motive to console ourselves within the limits God 
has prescribed to our knowledge, and await with ar- 
dour and patience, the happy period, till, that which 
i^ perfect dudl come ; till that which is in part shall 
be done away ; till tre shaU behold the Lord with open 
face J and be changed into glory by his Spirit. So be 
it Amen. 

L Mysteries should render a religion doubtful when 
we cannot examine whether that religion proceed 
from the spirit of truth, or from the spirit of error. 
Mankind neither can, nor ought to receive any reli- 
gion as divine, unless it bear the marks of divine au- 
.thority, and produce its documents of credibility. 

For example, if you should require Mahomet to 
produce the proofs of his mission, he would say^ that 
it had a peculiar character, and a singular sort of 
privilege ; that till his call, all the sent of God were 
obliged to prove the divinity of their mission ; that the 
prophets gave signs by which they might be known ; 

* Im ihtf Alooran, ehap. on the Un. of Joach. c^p. on gratlficationi* eha|»» 
9m loMk. ehap. oa Umnder. chap« oo the aoeturRl Journey : chap, on the 
CiMlar. ehap. OB the fpMer, 



96 Dignities of the 

that Jesus Christ gave sight to the blind, hearing to 
the deaf^ health to the sick, and life to the dead : but 
on his part, he had received authority to consign over 
to eternal torments every one who shall dare to doubt 
the truth of his doctrine ; and anticipating the punish- 
ment, he put every one to the sword who presumed to 
question the divine authority of his religion. But if 
you require of Jesus Christ the proofs of his mission, 
he will give you evidence the most obvious and satis- 
factory. Though ye believe not iw, believe the works. 
IJ I had not come and spoken unto them; if 1 had 
not done among them the works which no other man 
did, they had not had sin. But now are they wiAout 
excuse. The works that I do in my Father^s name, 
they bear witness of me. John x. 25, 38. xv. 22, 24. 

If you ask the followers of Mahotnet, . how they 
know that the Alcoran was really transmitted by the 
prophet, they will confess that he knew neither how 
tp read nor write ; and that the name of prophet is 
often assumed by men ignorant of letters': but they 
will add, that he conversed for twenty years with the 
angel Gabriel; that this celestial spirit revealed to 
. him from time to time certain passages of the Alco- 
ran ; that Mahomet dictated to his disciples^ the sub- 
jects of his revelation; that they carefully collected 
whatever dropped from his lips ; and that the collec- 
tion so made constitutes the subject of the Alcoran. 
But, if you wish to penetrate farther, and to trace the 
book to its source, you will find that after the death 
of Mahomet, his pretended revelations, were preserv- 
ed merely on fiijgftive scrolls, or in the recollection of 

* See Maraccio on th« Alsoran, pag« S6. 
1 



Christian ReUgion. 97 

those who had heard him ; that his successor^ wish- 
ful to associate the scattered limbs in one body, made 
the collection more with presumption than precision ; 
that this collecticm was a subject of long debate among 
the Mehometans, some contending that the prince had 
omitted many revelations of the prophets ; and otherpi, 
that he had adopted some which were doubtful and 
spurious. You will find, that those disputes were ap- 
peased solely by the authority of the prince under 
whom they originated, and by the permanent injunc- 
tions of those who succeeded him on the throne.— 
Consequently, it is very doubtful, whether the impos- 
tures of Mahomet really proceeded from himself, or 
were imputed to him by his followers. 

Some even of Mahomet's disciples affirm, that of 
the three parts which compose the Alcoran, but one 
is the genuine production of the prophet. Hence, 
when you show them any absurdity in the book, they 
will reply, that it ought to be classed among the two 
spurious parts which they reject* 

But if you ask us how we know that the books, con^ 
taining the fundamentals of our faith, were composed 
by the holy men to whom they are ascribed, we rea- 
dily offer to submit them to the severest tests of cri- 
ticism. Let them produce a book whose antiquity is 
the least disputed, and the most unanimously ac- 
knowledged to be the production of the author whose 
name it bears ; let them adduce the evidences of its 
authenticity ; and we will adduce the same evidences 
in favour of the canon of our gospels. 

* Set Jowph of St. Maria on the expedition to the Eait Indies. 
VOL. VUI. 13 



98 DifficuiUes if ^ 

If you ask the followers (4 Mahomet to show yon 
in the Alcorati, some characteristics of its divine att- 
thentidty, thej will extol it to the skies, and tell you 
** that it is an uncreated work ; the trdth by way of 
eieellence ; the miracle of miracles ; superior to the 
re&urrection of the dead ; promised by Moses and thd 
apostles ; intelligible to God alone ; worthy to be re<^ 
eeived of all intelligent beings^ and constituted their 
mle of conduct.''^ But when you come to iuvesti- 
gate the work of which they have spoken in suoh ex- 
travagant terms, you will find a book destitute of in- 
stnlctioil/ except What its author has borrowed from 
the books of the Old and New Testament ; concern- 
ing the unity of God ; the reality of a future judg- 
ment ; the certainty of the life to come ; and those 
various maxims, that we must not give alms in osten^^ 
tation ; that Ood loveih a cheerful giver that all things 
Are possible to him ; and that he- searches the heart 
You will find a book in many places directly opposed 
to the maxims of the sacred authors, even when it 
extols the Deity, as in the laws it prescribes respect- 
ing divorce ; in the permission of a new marriage 
granted to repudiated women ; in the liberty of hav- 
ing as many wives as We please, a liberty of which 
Mahomet availed himself ; in what he recounts of 
Pharaoh's conversion : of Jesus Christ's speaking in 
the cradle with the same fiicility as a man 6f thirty 
6r of fifty years of age ; in what he advances concern- 
ing a middle place brtween heaven and hell, where 
those must dwell who have done neither good nor 
evil, and those whose good and evil are equal ; in 

* Maraccio on th4 Alcorftn, chap, ru 



Christian ReUgian. 99 

what he says concerning Jesus Christ's escape from 
crucifixion, having so far deceived the Jews that they 
crucified another in his place, who very much resem* 
bled him.* 

You will find a book replete with fabulous tales* 
Witness what he says of God having raised a moun« 
tain, which covered the Israelites with its shadow.i* 
Witness the dialogue he imagined between God and 
Abraham. Witness the puerile proofs he adduces of 
the innocence of Joseph. Witness the history of the 
seven sleepers. Witness what he asserts that all the 
devils were subject to Solomon. X Witness the ridi- 
culous fable of the ant that commanded an army of 
ants, and addressed them with an articulate voice. 
Witness the noti(His he gives us of paradise and hell.|| 
— ^Whereas, if you require of Christians the charac- 
teristic authorities of their books, they will adduce 
sublime doctrines, a pure morality, prophecies punc-* 
tually accomplished, and at the predicted period, a 
scheme of happiness the most noble and the most 
assortable with the wants of man that ever entered 
the mind of the most celebrated philosophers. 

If you ask the sectarians of Mahomet what signs 
God has wrought in favour of their religion, they will 
tell you, that his mother bore him without pain ; that 
the idols fell at his birth ; that the sacred fires of 
Persia were extinguished ; that the waters in Lfake 
Sava diminished ; that the palace of Cosroes felt to 
the ground.^ They will tell you, that Mahomet him-i 
self performed a great number of miracles, that he 

* Cbap. <Ni Wpmea. t Prefact, page li. % Chap, on truth. || Chap, 
of orders. ) Seo Maraceio^f Lifo of Mahomet, page 10. 



5 



Of 27 






100 Difficulties of the 

made water proceed from his fingers ; that he cut the 
moon, and made a part of it fall into his lap.^ Thej 
will tell ybu/that the stones, and the trees saluted 
him, saying, peace, peace, be to the ambassador of 
Ood.'^ They will tell you, that the sheep obeyed his 
voice ; that an angel having assumed the figure of a 
dragon, became his guardian. They will tell you, 
that two men of enormous stature grasped him in 
their hands, and placed him on the top of a high 
mountain, opened his bowels, and took from his heart 
a black drop, the only evil satan possessed in his 
heart : having afterwards restored him to his place, 
they affixed their seal to the fact.X Fabulous tales, 
adduced without proofs, and deservedly rejected by 
the more enlightened followers of Mahomet. 

But, if you require of the Christiaiiis miracles in fa- 
vour of their religion, they will produce them with- 
out number. Miracles wrought in the most public 
places, and in presence of the people ; miracles the 
power of which was communicated to many of those 
who embraced Christianity ; miracles admitted by 
IZosimen, by Porphyry, by Julian, and by the great- 
est enemies of the gospel ; miralcles which demon- 
strate to us the truth by every test of which remote 
facts are susceptible ; miracles isealed by the blood of 
innumerable martyrs, and rendered in some sort still 
visible to us by the conversion of the Pagan world, 
and by the progress of the gospel, and which can find 
no parallel in the religion of Mahomet, propagated 
with the sword, as is confessed by his followers, who 

* Simon's Hist. Crit. of the Faith of the Nations of the Lerant. t Ma- 
raccio, preface page 14 col. S. % Ibid, page IS. 



christian Religion. 101 

say, that he fought sixty battles, and called himself 
the military prophet Whereas Christianity was es- 
tablished by the prodigies of the Spirit, and by force 
of argument. The mysteries of the gospel are not 
therefore in the first class, which render a religion 
suspected. They do not conceal its origin. This is 
what we proposed t(\ prove, 

11. Mysteries should expose a religion to suspicion, 
when they imply an absurdity. Yes, and if Christi- 
anity notwithstanding the luminous proofs of its divine 
authority ; notwithstanding the miracles of its found- 
er ; notwithstanding the sublimity of its doctrines ; 
notwithstanding the (Sanctity of its moral code, the 
completion of its prophecies, the magnificence of its 
promises ; notwithstanding the convincing facts which 
prove that the books containing this religion were 
written by men divinely inspired ; notwithstanding 
the number and the grandeur of its miracles ; not- 
withstanding the confession of its adversaries, and 
its public monuments ; if it was possible, notwith- 
standing all this, should the Christian religion include 
absurdities, it ought to be rejected. Because, 

Every character of the divinity here adduced, is 
founded on argument. Whatever is demonstrated 
to a due degree of evidence ought to be admitted 
without dispute. . The proofs of the divine authority 
of religion are demonstrated to that degree ; there- 
fore the Christian religion ought to be received with- 
out dispute. But were it possible that a contradic- 
tion diould exist J were it possible that a proposition, 
appearing to us evidently false, should be true, evi- 
dence would no longer then be the character of truth ; 



102 Difficulties of the 

and if evidence sboiild no longer be the character of 
truth, you would have no farther marks by which you 
could know that a religion is divine. Consequently, 
you could not be assured, that the gospel is divine. 
To me, nothing is more true than this proposition, a 
whole is greater than a part. I would reject a reli- 
gion how true soever it mighty appear, if it contra* 
dieted this fact; because, how evident soever the 
proofs might be alleged in favour of its divinity, they 
could never be more evident than the rejected propo- 
sition, that a whole is greater than a part. Our pro* 
position is therefore confirmed, that mysteries ought 
to render a religion suspected when they imply ab- 
surdities. We wish you to jud^e of the Christian re- 
ligion according to this rule. 

Now if there be in our gospels a doctrine concern- 
ing which a good logician has apparent cause to ex- 
claim, it is this ; a God, who has but one Essence, 
and who nevertheless has three Persons ; the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit who is God ; and these three are 
but one. The Father, who is with the Son, does not 
become incarnate, when the Son becomes incarnate. 
The Son, who is with the Father, no longer maintains 
the rights of justice in Gethsemane, when the Father 
maintains them. The Holy Spirit, who is with the 
Father, and the Son proceeds from both in a manner 
ineffable : and the Father and the Son, who is with 
the Holy Spirit, do not proceed in this manner. Are 
not these ideas contradictory ? No, my brethren. 

If we should say, that God has but one essence, 
and that he has three essences, in the same sense that 
we maintain he bas but one ; if we should say^ that 



Christian Religion. 103 

dod is three in the same sense he is one, it Wonld be 
a contradiction. ' But this is not our thesis. We be« 
lieve on the faith of a divine book, that God is one in 
the tense to which we give the confused name of et» 
sen^. We believe that he is three in a sense to which 
We give the confused name of persons. We deter* 
mine neither what is this essence, nor what is this 
personality. That surpasses reason, but does not re- 
volt it. 

If we should say, that God in the sense we have 
called Essence^ is become incarnate, and at the ftame 
time this notion is not incarnate, we should advance 
a contradiction. But this is not our thesis. We be- 
lieve en the faith of a divine book, that what is call- 
ed the person of the Son in the Godhead, and of 
which we confess that we have not a distinct idea, is 
united to the humanity in a manner we cannot deter- 
mine, because it has not pleased God to reveal it. 
This surpasses reason, but does not revolt it. 

If we should advance, that God, (the Spirit^) in 
the s^nse we have called Essence, proceed from the 
Father and the Son, while the Father and the Son do 
not proceed, we should advance a contradiction. 
But this is not our thesis. We believe on the credit 
of a divine book, that what is called the Holy Spirit 
in the Godhead, and of which we confess we have no 
distinct idea, because it has not pleased God to give 
it, has procession ineffable, while what is called the 
Father and the Son, differing from the Holy Spirit in 
that respect, do not proceed. This surpasses reason 
but does not revolt it. 




104 Difficulties of the 

We go even farther. We maintaia not only that 
there is no contradiction in those doctrines, but that 
a contradiction is impossible. What is a contradic- 
tion in regard to us? It is an evident opposition be- 
tween two known ideas. For instance, I have an 
idea of this pulpit, and of this wall. I see an essen- 
tial difference between the two. Consequently, I find 
a contradiction in the proposition, that this wall, and 
this ^pulpit are the same being. 

Such being the nature of a contradiction, 1 say, it 
is impossible that any should be found in this propo- 
sition, that there is one divine Essence in three Per- 
sons : to find a contradiction, it is requisite to have a 
distinct idea of what I call essence j and of what I call 
person : and, as I profess to be perfectly ignorant of 
the one, and the other, it is impossible I should find 
an absurdity. When therefore I affirm, that there is 
a divine Essence in three Persons, I do not pretend to 
explain either the nature of the unity, or the nature 
of the Trinity. I pretend to advance only that there 
is something in God which surpasses me, and which 
is the basis of this proposition ; viz. there is a Father, 
a Son, and a Holy Spirit. 

But though the Christian religion be fully excul- 
pated for teaching doctrines which destroy themselves, 
the church of Rome cannot be justified, whatever ef- 
forts her greatest geniuses may make, in placing the 
doctrine of the Trinity, on a parallel with the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation, and in defending it against 
us, with the same argument with which we defend 
the other against unbelievers. 



Christian Religion. 105 

Were we, I allow to seek the faith of the church 
of Ronne in the writings of some individual doctors, 
this doctrine would be less liable to objections. Some 
of them have expressed themselves, on this, subject, 
in an undetermined way ; and have avoided detail. 
They say in general, that the body of Christ is in the 
sacrament of the eucharist, and that they do not pre- 
sume to define the manner. 

But we must seek the faith, (and it is the method 
which all should follow who have a controversy to 
maintain against those of that communion ;) we must, 
I say, seek the faith of the church of Rome in the de- 
cisions of her general councils, and not in the works of 
a few individuals. And as the doctors of the council 
of Trent lived in a dark age, in which philosophy had 
not purified the errors of the schools, they, had the in- 
discretion, not only to determine, but also to detail 
this doctrine; and thereby committed themselves by 
a manifest contradiction. Hear the third canon of 
the third session of the council of Trent. Jf any one 
denffy that in the venerable soA^rament of the eucharist^ 
the body of Christ is reaUy present in both kinds, and 
in such sort that the body of Christ is whoUy present 
in every separate part of the Hosty let him be anathe^- 
maiized. 

Can one fall info a more manifest contradiction? 
If you should say, that the bread is destroyed, and that 
the body of Christ intervenes by an effect of Divine 
Omnipotence, you might perhaps shelter yourselves 
from the reproach of absurdity ; you might escape 
under the plea of mystery, and the limits of the hu- 
man mind. But to affirm that the substance of the 

VOL. vra. 14 



106 Difficulties of the 

bread is destroyed, while the kinds of bread, which 
are still but the same bread, modified in such and 
such a manner, subsists, is not to advance a mystery, 
but an absurdity. It is not to prescribe bounds to 
the human mind, but to revolt its convictions, and 
extinguish its knowledge. 

If you should say, 'that the body of Christ, which 
is in heaven, passes in an instant from heaven to 
earth, you might perhaps shelter yourself from the 
reproach of absurdity, and escape under the plea oS 
mystery, and of the limits of the human mind. But 
to affirm, that the body of Christ, while it is wholly 
in heaven, is wholly on earth, is not to advance a 
mystery, but to maintain a contradiction. It is to re-> 
volt all its convictions, and to extinguish all its know- 
ledge. 

If you should say, that some parts of the body of 
Jesus Christ are detached, and mixed with the sym- 
bols of the holy sacrament, you might perhaps avert 
the charge of contradiction, and escape under the plea 
of mystery, and the limits of the human mind. But 
to affirm, that the body of Christ is but one in num- 
ber, and meanwhile, that it is perfect and entire in 
all the parts of the host which are without number, 
is not to advance a mystery, it is to maintain a con- 
tradiction. It is not to prescribe bounds to the hu- 
man mind, but to revolt all its convictions, and to 
extinguish all its knowledge. 

So you may indeed conclude, my brethren, from 
what we said at the commencement of this article; 
A Roman Catholic, consonant to his principles, has 
no right to believe the divine authority of the Christ- 



Christian Religion. 107 

ian religion, for the evideuces of Christianity termi- 
nate on this princijde, that evidence is the character 
of truth. But if the doctrine of transubstantiation be 
true, palpable absurdities ought to be believed by the 
Roman Catholic, evidence, in regard to him being 
no longer the character of truth. If evidence in re- 
gard to him be no longer the character of truth, 
proofs the most evident in favour of Christianity, can 
carry no conviction to him, and he is justified in not 
believing them. 

I go farther still ; I maintain to the most zealous 
defender of the doctrine of transubstantiation, that 
properly speaking, he does not believe the doctrine 
of transubstantiation. He may indeed verbally as- 
sert his faith, but he can never satisfy his conscience ; 
he may indeed becloud his mind by a confusion of 
ideas, but he can never induce it to harmonize con- 
tradictory ideas : he may indeed inadvertently adhere 
to this proposition, a body having but a limited dr-' 
cumferencey is at the same tim^ in heaven j and at ike 
sam£ on earthy with the same circumference. But no 
man can believe this doctrine, if by believing, you 
mean the connecting of distinct ideas ; for no man 
whatever can connect together both distinct and con- 
tradictory. 

III. We have said in the third place, that myste- 
ries should render a religion sifspected, when they 
hide certain practices contrary to virtue and good 
manneri». This was a characteristic of Paganism. 
The Pagans for the most part affected a great air of 
mystery in their religious exercises. They said, that 
mystery conciliated respect; for the gods. Hence, 



108 DifficuiUes of the 

dividing their mysteries into two classes, they had 
their major and their minor mysteries. But all these 
were a covert for impurity ! Who can read without 
horror the mysteries of the god Apis, even as they 
are recorded in Pagan authors ? What infamous ce- 
remonies did they nbt practise in honour of Venus, 
when initiated into the secrets of the goddess ? What 
mysterious precautions did they not ad(^ concerning 
the mysteries of Ceres in the city of Eleusis ? No 
man was admitted without mature experience, and a 
long probation. It was so established, that those who 
were not initiated, could not participate of the se- 
crets. Nero did not dare to gratify his curiosity on 
this head ;^ and the wish to know secrets allowed to 
be disclosed only by gradual approach, was regarded 
as a presumption. It was forbidden, under the pen- 
alty of death to disclose those mysteries, and solely, 
if we may believe Theodoret, and Tertulian, to hide 
the abominable ceremonies, whose detail would de- 
file the majesty of this place. And if the recital 
would so deeply defile, what must the practice be ? 
The mysteries of Christianity are infinitely distant 
from all those infamous practices. The gospel not 
only exhibits a most hallowing morality, but whatever 
mysteries it may teach, it requires that we should 
draw from their very obscurity motives to sanctity of 
life. If we say, that* there are three persons who par- 
ticipate in the divine Essence, it is to make you con- 
ceive, that all which is in God, if I may so speak, is 
interested for our salvation, and to enkindle our ef- 
forts by the thought. If we say, that the Word was 

* Life of Nero by Suetonias, chap« 54. 




Christian Religion. 109 

made flesh, and that the son of God expired on the 
cross, it is to make you abhor sin by the idea of what 
it <^ost him to expiate it. If we say, that grace ope- 
rates in the heart, and that in the work of our salva- 
tion, grace forms the design and the execution, it is 
with this inference, that we should work out our own 
salvation with fear and tfemhling. If we teach even 
the doctrines of God's decrees, it is to make our calU 
ing sure. Phil. ii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 10. 

IV. We have lastly said, that mysteries should ren- 
der a religion doubtful, when we find, a system, which 
on rejecting those mysteries, is exempt from greater 
difficulties than those we would attack. We make 
this remark as a compliment to unbelievers, and to 
the impure class of brilliant wits. When we have 
proved, reasoned, and demonstrated ; when we have 
placed thie arguments of religion in the clearest de- 
gree of evidence they can possibly attain ; and when 
we would decide in favour of religion, they invariably 
insinuate, that ^^ religion has its mysteries ; that reli- 
gion has its difficulties;" and they make these the 
apology of their unbelief. 

I confess, this objection would have some colour, 
if there were any system, which on exempting us from 
the difficulties of religion, did not involve in still grea- 
ter. And whenever they produce that system, we 
ate ready to embrace it. 

Associate all the difficulties of which we allow re- 
ligicm to be susceptible. Associate whatever is in- 
comprehensible in the doctrine of the Trinity, and in 
the ineffable manner in which the three Persons sub- 
sistj who are the object of our^ worship. Add thereto 



110 Difficullies of the 

whatever is sapernatural in the operations of the Ho^ 
ly Spirit, and in the mysterious methods he adoptis to 
penetrate the heart Neither forget the depths, into 
which we are apparently cast by the doctrines of God's 
decrees, and make a complete code of the whole. 

To these difficulties which we avow, join all those 
we do not avow. Join all the pretexts you affect to 
find in the arguments which nature affords of the be- 
ing of a God, and the reality of a providence. Join 
thereto whatever you shall find the most forcible a- 
gainst the authenticity of our sacred books, and whia.t 
has been thought the most plausible against the marks 
of Divine authority exhibited in those Scriptures. Join 
to these all the advantages presumed to be derived 
from the diversity of opimons existing in the Christian 
world, and in all its sects which constantly attack one 
another. Make a new code of all those difficulties. 
Form a system of your own objections. Draw the 
conclusions from your own principles, and build an 
edifice of infidelity on the ruins of religion. But for 
what system can you decide which is not infinitely 
less supportable than religion ? 

Do you espouse that of Atheism ? Do you feay, that 
the doctrine of the being of a God owes its drigin to 
superstition, and the fears of men ? And is this the 
system which has no difficulties ? Have rational men 
need to be convinced, that the mysteries of religion 
are infinitely more defensible than the mysteries of 
Atheism ? 

Do you espouse the part of irreligion? Do you al- 
low with Epicurus, that there is a God ; but tliat the 
sublimity of this Majesty obstructs his stooping to 



Christian Religion. Ill 

men, and the extension of his regards to our temples^ 
and our altars i And is this the system which has no 
difficulties ? How do you reply to the inlSnity of ob- 
jections opposed to this system ? How do you answer 
this argument, that God having not disdained to cre« 
ate mankind; it is inconceivlible he should disdain to 
govern them ? How do you reply to a second, the in- 
conceivableness that a perfect being should form in« 
telligences, and not prescribe their devotion to his 
glory ? And what do you say to a third, that religion 
is completely formed, and fully proved in every man's 
conscience ? 

Do you take the part of denying a divine revela- 
tion ? And is this the system which is exempt from 
difficulties ? Can you really prove that our books were 
not composed by the authors to whom they are as- 
cribed ? Can you really prove that those men have 
not wrought miracles ? Can you really prove that the 
Bible is not the book the most luminous, and the most 
sublime that ever appeared on earth ? Can you really 
prove, that fishermen, publicans, and tent-makers, 
and whatever was lowest among the mean populace 
of Judea ; can you prove, that people of this descrip- 
tion, have without Divine assistance, spoken of the 
origin of the world ; of the perfections of God ; of 
the nature of man, his constitution, and his duties in 
a manner more grand, noble, and better supported 
than Plato, than Zeno, than Epicurus, and all the 
sublime geniuses, which render antiquity venerable, 
and which still fill the universe with their fame ? 

Do you espouse the cause of Deism ? Do you say 
with the Latitudinarian, that if there be a religion, it 



112 ' ' Difficulties of Ae 

is not shut up in the narrow bounds which we pre- 
scribe? Do you maintain 9 that all religions are indif* 
ferent? Do you give a false gloss to the apostle's 
words, that in all nations he that feareth Ood is aC' 
cepted of him ? Acts x. 35. And is this the system 
which is exempt from difficulties ?. How, superseding 
the authority of the Bible, will you maintain this 
principle ? How will you maintain it against die ter- 
rors God denounces against the base, and the fearful : 
Rev. xxi. 8. against the injunction to go out of Baby^ 
Ion : against the duty prescribed of confessing bim in 
presence of all men : Isa. xlvifi. 20. Matt. x. 32. and 
with regard to the fortitude he requires us to display 
on the raek, and when surrounded with fire and fag- 
gotSy and when called to brave them for the sake of 
truth? How will you maintain it against the. care he 
has taken to teach you the truth without any mixture 
of lies? 

Do you take the part of believing nothing ? Do you 
conclude from these difficulties, that the best system 
is to have none at all? Obstinate Pyrrhonian, you 
are then resolved to doubt of all ? And is this the 
system which is exempt from difficulties ? . When you 
shall be agreed with yourself; when you have con- 
ciliated your singular system with the convictions of 
your mind, with the sentiments of your hearty and 
with the dictates of your conscience, then you shall 
see what we have to reply. 

What then shall you do to find a light without 
darkness, and an evidence to your mind ? Do you take 
the part of the libertine ? Do you abandon to colleges 
the care of religion, and leaving the doctors to wacte 



Christian Religion. 113 

life deciding who is wrong, and who is right, are you 
determined as to yourself to rush head foremost into 
the world ? Do you say with the profane, Let us eat 
atui drink J for to-morrow we die ? Do you enjoy the 
present without pursuing uncertain rewards, and a« 
larmiug your mind with fears of miseries which per- 
haps may never come ? And is this the system desti- 
tute of mysteries ? Is this the system preferred to 
what is said by our uposUes^ our evangelists, our doc^ 
torSy our pastors ^ and by all the holy men God has 
raised up for the perfecting of the saints , and for ^ 
work of the ministry ? But though the whole of your 
objections were founded ; though the mysteries of 
the gospel were a thousand times more difficult to 
penetrate ; though our knowledge were incomparably 
more circumscribed ; and though religion should be 
infinitely less demonstrated than it is ; should this be 
the part you ought to take ? The sole probability of 
religion, should it not induce us, if not to believe it, 
yet at least, so to act, as if in fact we did believe it ? 
And the mere alternative of an eternal happiness, or 
an eternal misery, should it not suffice to restrict us 
within the limits of duty, and to regulate our life, in 
such sort, that if there be a hell, we may avoid its 
torments ? 

We conclude. Religion has its mysteries : we 
acknowledge it with pleasure. Religion has its diffi« 
cutties ; we avow it. Religion is shook (we grant 
this for the moment to unbelievers, though we detest 
it in oar hearts :) religion is shook, and ready to felly 
by bnHiant wits. But after all, the mysteries of the 
gospel Are not- of that cast which should render are* 

VOL. VIII. 15 



114 Difficulties of the 

ligion doubtful. But after all, Christianity all shook, 
all wavering, and ready to fall, as it may appear to 
the infidel, contains what is most certain, and the 
^ wisest part a rational man can take, is to adhere to it 
with an inviolable attachment, 

But how evident soever these arguments may be, 
and however strong this apology for the difficulties of 
religion may appear, there alw'ays remains a question 
on this .subject, and indeed an important question, 
which we cannot omit resolving without leaving a 
chasm in this discourse. Why these mysteries ? Why 
thbse shadows ? And *why this darkness ? Does not 
the goodness of God engage to remove this stumbling 
block, and to give us a religion radiant with truth, 
and destitute of any obscuring veil ? There are vari- 
ous reasons, my brethren, which render certain doc- 
trines of religion impenetrable to us. 

The first argument of the weakness of our know-> 
ledge is derived from the limits of the human* mind. 
It is requisite that you should favour me here with a 
little more of recollection than is usually bestowed on 
a sermon. It is not requisite to be a philosopher to 
become a Christian. The doctrines of our religion, 
and the precepts of our moral code, are sanctioned 
by the testimony of an infallible God : and not de- 
riving their origin from the speculations of men, it is 
not from their approbation that they derive their au- 
thority. Meanwhile, it is a felicity ,^ we must confess, 
and ah anticipation of the happy period when our 
faith shall be changed to sight, to find in sound rea- 
son the basis of all the grand truths religion reveals, 
and to convince ounselves by experience, that the 



Christian Religion. 115 

more we know of man, the more we see that religion 
was made for man. Let us return to our first princi- 
ple. The narrow limits of the human mind shall open 
one source of light on the subject we discuss ; they 
shall convince us, that minds circumscribed, as ours, 
cannot before the time penetrate far into the adorable 
mysteries of faith. 

We have elsewhere distinguished three faculties in 
the mind of man, or rather three class of faculties 
which comprise whatever we know of this Spirit ; the 
faculty of thinking ; the faculty oi feeling ; and the 
faculty of loving. Examine these three faculties, and 
you will be convinced that the mind of man is cir- 
cumscribed within narrow bounds : they are so close- 
ly circumscribed, that while attentively contemplat- 
ing a certain object, they cannot attend to any other. 

You experience this daily with regard to the facul- 
ty of thinking. Some persons, I allow, extend atten- 
tion much beyond common men ; but in all it is ex- 
tremely confined. This is so received an opinion, that 
we regard as prodigies of intellect, those who have 
the art of attending closely to two or three objects at 
once ; or of directing the attention, without a glance 
of the eye, on any game, apparently less invented to 
unbend than to exercise the mind. Meanwhile, this 
power is extremely limited in all men. If the mind 
can distinctly glance on two or three objects at onc6, 
the fourth or the fifth confounds it. Properly to stu- 
dy a subject, we must attend to that alone ; be ab- 
stracted from all others, forgetful of what we do, and 
blind to what we see. 



116 Difficulties of the 

The faculty of feeling is circumscribed as that of 
thinkiajr. One sensation absorbs or diminishes ano* 
ther. A wound received in^ the heat of battle ; in the 
tumult ; or in the sight of the general whose appro- 
bation we seek, is less acute than it would be on a 
different occasion. For the like reason the same pain 
we have borne during the day^ is insupportable in the 
night. Violent anguish renders us insensible of a 
diminutive pain. Whatever diverts from a pleasing 
sensation diminishes the pleasure, and blunts enjoy- 
ment ; and this is done by the reason already assign- 
ed ; that while the faculty is attentive to one object, 
it is incapable of application to another. 

It is the same with regard to the faculty of loving. 
It rarely happens that a man can indulge two or three 
leading passions at once : No man can serve two mcts* 
ters : for either he will hate the one^ and love the 
other ; or else he will hold to the one^ and despise the 
otiier. So is the assertion df Jesus Christ, who knew 
the human heart better than all the philosophers put 
together. The passion of avarice, for the most part, 
diminishes the passion of glory ; and the passion of 
glory, diminishes that of avarice. It is the same with 
the other passions. 

Besides, not onlj; an object engrossing a faculty, 
obstructs its profound attention to any other object 
related to that faculty ; but when a faculty is deeply 
engrossed by an object, all others, if I may so speak, 
remain in solitude and slumber ; the capacity of the 
soul being wholly absorbed. A man who concen- 
trates himself in research, in the illustration of a dif- 
ficulty, in the solution of a problem, in the contem- 



Christian Jteligion. 1 17 

plation of a combiDed truth ; he loses for the moment) 
the faculty of feeling, and becomes insensible of sound, 
of noise, of light A man, on the contrary, who free- 
ly abandons himself to a violent sensation, or whom 
God afflicts accutely, loses for the time, the faculty 
of thinking. Speak, reason, and examine, draw con- 
sequences ; and all that is foreign to his point : he is 
no longer a thinking being ; he is a feeling being, and 
wholly so. Thus the principle we establish is an in- 
disputable axiom in the study of. man, that the hu- 
|j|^ ilnan mind is circumscribed, and inclosed in very nar- 
row limits. 

The relation of this principle to the subject we dis- 
cuss, obtrudes itself on our regard. A slight reflec- 
tion on die limits of the human mind will convince 
us, that men who make so slow a progress in ab- 
struse science, can never fathom the deep mysteries 
of religion. Aiid it is the more evident, a's these 
limited faculties can never be wholjy applied to the 
study of truth. There is no moment of life, in which 
they are not divided ; there is no moment in which 
they are not engaged in the care of the body, in the 
recollection of some fugitive ideas, and on objects 
which have no connection with those to which we 
would direct our study. 

A second reason of the limits of our knowledge 
arises from those very mysteries which excite obscu-^ 
rity, astonishment, and awe. What are those mys- 
teries ? Of what do they treat ? They treat of what 
is the most elevated and sublime : they concern the 
essence of the Creator : they concern the attributes 
oi the Supreme Being : they concern whatever has 



118 Difficulties of ike 

been thought the most immisnse in the mind of eter- 
nal wisdom : they concern the traces of that impetu- 
ous wind, which blows where it listethy and which 
moves in one moment to every part of the universe. 
And we, insignificant beings ; we altogether obstruct- 
ed^ confounded, and absorbed, we affect an air of 
surprise because we cannot fathom the depths of those 
mysteries ! It is not merely while on^ earth that 'we 
cannot comprehefnd those immensities ; but we can 
never comprehend them in the other world ; because 
God is always unlimited, always infinite, and alway# 
above the reach of circumscribed intelligences ; and 
because we shall be always finite, always limited, 
always creatures circumscribed. Perfect knowledge 
belongs to God alone. Canst thou by searching find 
out God ^ Canst thou find out the Almighty unto per^ 
fection ? It is as high as heawny what canst thou do ^ 
deeper than helly what canst thou know ? Job xi. 7, 8. 
Where wast thou when he laid the foundations of the 
earth ? When he shut up the sea with doors ? When 
he made the clouds the garments thereof^ and thick 
darkness a swaddling band for it. When he subject-' 
ed ii to his laws^ and prescribed its barriers , and said, 
hitherto shalt thou come, and here shall thy proud 
waves be stayed? xxxviii. 4, 9, 10, 11. Who hath 
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his 
counsellor ? Or who hath first given him, and it shall 
be recompensed unto him again ? O the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom, and of the knowledge' of 
Oody how unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
ways past finding out! Rom. xi. 33, 34, 35. Let us 
adore a Being so immense ; and let his incomprehen- 



« 



Christian Religion. 119 

sibility serve to give us the more exalted ideas of hi^ 
grandeur : and seeing we can never know him to per- 
fection, let us, at the least, form the noble desire of 
knowing him as far as it is allowable to finite intelli- 
gences. And as Manoah who after receiving the 
mysterious vision recorded Judges chap. xiii. prayed 
the angel of the Lord, saying, Tell me, I pray (hee, 
thy name ; and received the answer, It is wonderful; 
so should we say with this holy man, 1 pray thee^ tell 
me thy name, give me to know this wonderful name. 
Let us say with Moses, Lord^ let me see thy glory. 
Exod. xxxiii. 18. And with the prophet, Lord^ open 
thou mine eyes y that I may behold the marvels of thy 
law. Psalm cxix. 18. 

The third cause of the obscurity of our knowledge 
is, that truths the most simple, and objects the least 
combined, have however certain depths and abysses 
beyond the reach of thought; because truths the 
most simple, and objects the least combined have a 
certain tie with infinity, that they cannot be compre- 
hended without comprehending this infinity. Nothing 
is more simple, nothing is less cqmbined, in regard to 
me, than this proposition ; there are certain exterior 
objects which actually strike my eyes, which excite 
certain emotions in my brain, and certain perceptions 
in my mind. Meanwhile, this proposition so simple ; 
and so little combined, has certain depths and obr 
scurities above my thought, because it is connected 
with other inquiries concerning this infinity, which I 
cannot comprehend. It is connected with this ; Can- 
not the perfect Being excite certain pereeptions in my 
mind, and emotions in my brain without the aid of 



120 DifficuUies of the 

m 

exterior objects ? It is connected with another, will 
the goodness and truth of this perfect Being suffer 
^certain perceptions to be excited in the mind, and 
emotions in the brain, by which we forcibly believe 
that certain exterior objects exist, when in fact, they 
do not exist ? It is connected with divers other inqui- 
ries of like nature, which involve us in discussipns 
which absorb and confound our feeble genius. Thus, 
we are not only incapable of fathoming certain inqui- 
ries which regard infinity, but we are equally incapa- 
ble of fully satisfying ourselves concerning those that 
are simple, because they are connected with the in- 
finite. Prudence therefore requires that men should 
admit, as proved, the truths which have, in regard 
to them the characters of demonstration. It is by 
these characters they should judge. But after all, 
there is none but the perfect Being, who can have 
perfect demonstration; at least, the perfect Being 
alone can fully perceive in the imniensity of his know-- 
ledge, all the connections which finite beings have 
with the infinite. 

A fourth reason of the obscurity of our knowledge, 
is the grand end Gloa proposed when he placed us 
upon the earth: this end is our sanctification. The 
questions on which religion leaver so much obscurity, 
do not devolve on simple principles, which may bd 
comprehended in a moment. The acutest mathema- 
tician, he who can make a perfect demonstration of a 
given nunA>er, cannot do it in a moment, if that num- 
ber is complicated : and the tardy comprehension of 
him to whom a complicated problem is demonstrat- 
ed, requires a still greater length oS time. He must 



Chmtian ReHgion. 121 

comprehend by a succession of ideas what cannot be 
proved by a single glance of the eye. A man, posted 
on an elevated tower, niay see at once the whole of 
a considerable army in motion ; but he at the base of 
this tower, can see them only as they present them*> 
selves in succession. God is exalted above all crea- 
tures : he sees the whole by a single regard. He 
has but, if I may so speak, to apply his mind, and 
all are seen at once. But we, poor abject creatures, 
we are placed in the humblest point of the universe. 
How then can we during the period of fifty, or if you 
please, .a hundred years of life, destined to active du- 
ties, how can we presume to make a combination of 
all the Creator's perfections and designs, though he 
himself should deign in so great a work to be our 
guide. Great men have said, that all possible plans 
were presented to the mind of God when he made 
the universe, and that, comparing them one with 
another, he chose the best. Let us make the sup- 
position without adopting it ; let us suppose that God, 
wishM to justify to our mind the plan he has adopt- 
ed, should present to us all his plans ; and compari- 
son alone could ensure approbation : but does it not 
imply a contradiction, that fifty, or a hundred years 
of life, engrossed by active duties, should suffice for 
so vast a design? Had God encumbered religion 
with the illustration of all abstruse doctrines, con- 
cerning which it observes a profound silence ; and 
with the explication of all the mysteries, it imperfect- 
ly reveals ; had he explained to us the depths of his 
nature and essence ; had he discovered to us the im- 
mense combination of his attributes ; had he qualifi- 

VOL. VIIL 16 



122 Dtjgfculties of the 

ed us to trace the unsearchable ways c^ bis Spirit in 
our heart ; had he shown us the origin, the end/ and 
arrangement of his counsels ; had he wished to grati- 
fy the infinite inquiries of our curiosity, and to aG« 
quaint us with the object of his views during the ab- 
sorbing revolutions prior to the birth of time, and with 
those which must follow it ; had he thus multiplied to 
infinity speculative ideas, what time should we have 
had for practical' duties ? Dissipated by the cares of 
life, occupied with its wants, and sentenced to the 
toils it imposes, what time would have remained to 
succour the wretched, to visit the sick, and to com- 
fort the distressed? Yea, and what is still more, to 
study and vanquish our own heart ? — O how admira- 
bly is the way of God, in. the restriction of our 
knowledge, worthy of his wisdom ! He has taught Us 
nothing but what the most intimate connection with 
our duties, that we might ever be attentive to them, 
and that there is nothing in religion which can possi- 
bly attract us from those duties. 

5. The miseries inseparable from life, are the ulti- 
mate reason of the obscurity of our knowledge both 
in religion, and in nature. To ask why God has in- 
volved religion in so much darkness, is asking why 
he has not given us a nature like those spirits which 
are not clothed with mortal flesh. We must class the 
obscurity of our knowledge with the other infirmities 
of life, with our exile, our imprisonment, our sickness, 
our perfidy, our infidelity, with the loss of our rela- 
tives, of separation from our dearest friends. We 
must answer the objection drawn from the darkness 
which envelopes most of the objects of sense^ as we 



9 

, Christian Religion. 123 

do to those drawn from the complication of our ca- 
lamities. It is, that this world is not the abode of our 
felicity. It is, that the awful wounds of sin are not 
yet wholly healed. It is, that our sonl is still clothed 
with matter. We must lament the miseries of a life 
in which reason is enslaved, in which the sphere of our 
knowledge is so confined, and in which we feel our- 
selves obstructed at every step of our meditation and 
research. We have a soul greedy of wisdom and 
knowledge ; a soul susceptible of an infinity of per- 
ceptions and ideas ; a soul to which knowledge and 
intelligence are the nourishment and food : and this 
soul is locflilized in a world : but in what world ? In 
a world, where we do but imperfectly know ourselves : 
in a world, where our sublimest knowledge, and pro- 
foundest researches resemble little children who di- 
vert themselves at play. The idea is .not mine ; it is 
suggested by Saint Paul, in the words subsequent to 
our text. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I 
understood as a chUd, I thought as a child. The con- 
trast is.not unjust. Literally, all this knowledge, all 
these sermons, all this divinity, and all those com- 
mentaries are but as the simple comparisons employ- 
ed to make children understand exalted truths. They 
are but as the types, which God employed in the an- 
cient law to instruct the Jews, while in a state of in- 
fancy. How imperfect were those types ! What re- 
lation had a sheep to the victim of the new covenant ! 
What proportion had a priest to the Sovereign Pontiff 
of the church ! Such is the state of man while here 
placed on the earth. 



124 IHfficfilties of ihe 

m 

But a happier period must follow this of humilia- 
tion. When I was a chUdyl spake as a child y Inn» 
derstood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when I 
became a many I put away childish things. Charming 
thought, ray brethren, of the change that death shall 
produce in us ; it shall supersede the puerilties of in- 
fancy ; it shall draw the curtain which conceals the 
objects of expectation. How ravished must the soul 
be when this curtain is uplifted 1 Instead of worship- 
ping in these assemblies, it finds itself instantly ele- 
vated to the choirs of angels, the ten thousand Hmes 
ten thousand before the Lord. Instead of hearing the 
hymns we sing to his glory, it instantly hears the haU 
lelujahs of celestial spirits, and the dread shouts of 
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth 
is full of tky glory. Instead of listening to this frail 
preacher, who endeavours to develope the imperfect 
notions he has imbibed in a confined understanding, 
it instantly hears the great head of the church, who is 
the author and the finisher of out faith. ^ Instead of 
perceiving some traces of God's perfections in the 
beauties of nature, it finds itself in the midst of his 
sublinxest works; in l:he midst of the heavenly Jerusa^ 
lemy whose gates are of pearly whose foundations are 
of precious stores y and whose walls are of jasper. — 
Do we then still fear death! And have we still need 
of comforters when we approach that happy period? 
And have we still need to resume all our constancy, 
and all our fortitude to support the idea of dying! 
And is it still necessary to pluck us from the earth, 
and to tear us by force to the celestial abode, which 
shall consummate our felicity ! Ah ! how the prophet 



> 



Christian Religion. 125 

Elisha^ who saw his master ascend in the chariot of 
fire, ploughing the air on his brilliant throne and cross- 
ing the vast expanse which separates heaven from 
earth ; how Elisha regretted the absence of so worthy 
a master, whom he naW saw no more, and wliom he 
must never see in life ; how he cried in that moment, 
My father J my father j the chariot of Israel, and the 
horsemen ^reof. These emotions are strikingly con- 
genial to the sentiments of self-love, so dear to us. — 
But Elijah himself — ^Elijah, did he fear to soar in sq 
^sublime a course? Elijah already ascended to the 
middle regions of the air, in whose eyes the e^rth ap- 
peared but as an atom retiring out of sight ; Elijah, 
whose head already reached to heaven; did Elijah 
regret the transition he was about to complete! Did 
he regret the world, and its inhabitants! — O soul of 
man; regenerate soul — daily called to break the fet- 
ters which unite thee to a mortal body, take thy flight 
towards heaven. Ascend this fiery chariot, which 
God has sent to transport thee above the earth where 
thou dwellest. See the heavens which open for thy 
reception; admire the beauties, and estimate the 
charms already realized by thy hope. Taste those 
ineffable delights. Anticipate the perfect felicity, 
with which death is about to invest thee. Thou 
needest no more than this last moment of my minis- 
try. Death himself is about to do all the rest, to 
dissipate all thy darkness, to justify religion, and to 
crown thy hopes* 



SERMON V. 

Camecralian of Ae Church at Voarburghy 1726. 



Ez£K. xi. 16. 

AHhaugh J haw cast them far off- among Ae heathen^ 
and among the countries^ ^et will J be to them 
as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall 
come. 

The cause of oar assembliDg to-day, my brethren, 
is one of the most evident marks of God's powerful 
protection, extended to a multitude of exiles whom 
these provinces have encircled with s protecting arm. 
It is a fact, that since we abandoned our native land 
we have been loaded with divine favours. Some of 
us have lived in affluence ; others in the enjoyments 
of mediocrity, often preferable to affluence ; and all 
have seen this confidence crowned, which has ena- 
bled them to say, while living even without resource, 
In the mountain of the Lordy it shall be seen ; in 
Ae mountain of ^ Lord^ he will there provide. 

But how consoling soever the idea may be in out 
dispersion oS that gracious providence, which has 
never ceased to wateh for our welfare, it is not the 
principal subject of our gratitude. Gkd has corres- 
pcHided more directly with the object with which we 



128 Consecration of the 

were anitnated when we were enabled to bid adieu, 
perhaps an eternal adieu, to our country : what 
prompted us to exile was not the hope of finding 
more engaging company, a happier climate, and more 
permanent establishments. Motives altogether of 
another kind animated our hearts. We had seen the 
edifices reduced to the dust, which we had been ac- 
customed to make resound with the praises of God ; 
we had heard the children of Edom^ with hatchets 
in their hand, shout against those sacred mansions^ 
down with them ; down with them^ even to the 
ground. — May you, ye natives ef these provinces, 
among whom it has pleased the Lord to lead us, ever 
be ignorant of the like calamities. May you indeed 
never know them, but by the experience of those to 
whom you have so amply afforded the means of sub- 
sistence. We could not survive the liberty of our 
conscience; we have wandered to seek it, though it 
should be in dens and deserts. Zeal gave animation 
to the aged, whose limbs were benumbed with years. 
Fathers and mothers took their childreu in their arms, 
who were too young to know the danger from which 
they were plucked : each was content with his soul 
for a preyy and required nothing but the precious lib- 
erty he had lost. We have found it among you, our 
generous benefactors ; you have received us as your 
brethren, as your children ; and have admitted us in- 
to your churches. We have communicated with you 
at the same table ; and now you have permitted us, a 
handful of exiles, to build a church to that God 
whom we mutually adore. You wish also to partake 
with us in our gratitude, and to join your homages 




Church at Vtmhurgh. 129 

with those we &ave jntf rendered to him in this new 

edifice. 

But alas ! those of our fellow'^countrymen, whose 
minds are still impressed with the recollection of 
those former churches, whose destruction occasioned 
them so much grief, cannot taste'a joy wholly pure. 
The ceremonies of this day will associate themselres, 
with those celebrated on laying the foundation-stone 
of the second temple. The priests officiated indeed 
in their pontifical robes ; the Levites, sons of Asaph, 
caused their cymbals to resound afar ; one choir ad* 
mirably concerted its response to another; all the 
people raised a shout of joy, because the foundation 
of the Lord's house was laid. But the chiefs of the 
fietthers, and the aged men, who had seen the superior 
glory of the former temple, wept aloud, and in such 
sort that one could not distinguish the voice of joy 
firom the voice of weeping. 

Come, notwithstanding, my dear brethren, and let 
us mutually praise the God, who in the midst of wrath 
remembers mercy. Hab. iii. 2. Let us gratefully 
meditate on this fresh accomplishment of the prophe- 
cy I have just read in your presence ; Tliough I have 
cast them far off among the heathen^ and among the 
countries, yet vnU I be to them as a little sanctuary in 
the countries where they shall come. These are God's 
words to Ezekiel : to understand them, and with that 
view I attempt the discussion, we must trace the 
events to their source, and go back .to the twenty- 
ninth year of king Josiah, to form correct ideas of the 
end of our prophet's ministry. It was in this year, 

VOL. VIII. 17 



130 Consecration of the 

that Nabopolassar king of Babylon, and Astyages 
king of Media, being allied by the marriage of Nebu- 
chadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar with Amytis daugh- 
ter of Astyages, united their forces against the Assy- 
rians, then the most ancient and formidable power, 
took Nineveh then* capital, and thus by a peculiar 
dispensation of providence, they accomplished, and 
without thinking so to do, the prophecies of Jonah, 
Nahum, and Zephaniab, against that celebrated em- 
pire. 

From that period the empire of Nineveh and of 
Babylon^formed but one, the terror of all their neigh- 
bours, who had just grounds of apprehension soon to 
experience a lot like that of Nineveh. 

This induced Pharaoh Nechoh, king of Egypt, who 
of all the potentates of the east, was the best quali- 
fied to resist those conquerors, to march at the head 
of a great army, and make war with a prince, who 
for the future, to use the expression of a prophet, was 
regarded as the hammer of all the earth. Jer. 1. 32. 
Pharaoh took his route through Judea, and sent ajn- 
bassadors to king Josiah, to solicit a passage through 
his kingdom. Josiah's reply to this embassy even to 
this, day astonishes every interpreter ; he took the 
field, he oppoiled the designs of Nechoh, which seem- 
ed to have no object but to emancipate the nations 
Nebuchadnezzar had subjugated, and to confirm 
those that desponded through the fear. of being load- 
ed with the same chain. Josiah, unable to frustrate 
the objects of Nechoh, was slain in the battle, and 
with him seemed to expire whatever remained of pie- 
ty and prosperity in the kingdom of Judah. 



% 



\ 



Church at Voorbiirgh. 131 

Pharaoh Nechoh defeated the Babylonians near 
the Euphrates, took Carchemish, the capital cS Me-^ 
sopotamia) and augmenting the pleasure of victory 
by that of revenge, he led his victorious army through 
Jttdea, deposed Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and placed 
Eliakim his brother on the throne, whom he surnam* 
ed Jehoiakim. 2 Kings xxiii. 

" From that period, Jehoiakim regarded the king of 
Egypt as his benefactbr, to whom he was indebted 
for his throne and his crown. He believed that Pha- 
raoh Nechoh whose sole authority had conferred the 
cAnvn, was the only prince that could preserve it. 
The Jews at once followed the example of their king ; 
they espoused the hatred which subsisted in Egypt 
against the king of Babylon, and renewed with 
Nechoh an alliance the most firm which had ever sub- 
sisted between the two powers. 

Were it requisite to support here what the sacred 
history says on this subject, I would illustrate at large 
a passage of Herodotus, who wheii speaking of the 
triumph of Pharaoh Nechoh, affirms, that after this 
prince had obtained a glorious victory in the fields of 
Meggido, he took a great city of Palestine, surround- 
ed with hills, which is called Cadytis: there is not the 
smallest doubt but this city was Jerusalem, which in 
the scriptures is often called holy by way of excel- 
lence ; and it was anciently designated by this glori- 
ous title. Now, the word holy in Hebrew is Keduscha^ 
and in Syriac Kedutha. To this name Herodotus af- 
fixed a Greek termination , and called Kadytis the city 
that the Syrians, or the Arabs call Kedutha^ which 



132 Consecration of the 

correspondent to my assertion, was the a^i^llation 
given to Jerusalem. 

Resuming the thread of the history ; this alliance, 
#hich the Jews had contracted with Egypt, augment- 
ed their confidence at a time when every considera- 
tion should have abated it; it elated them with the 
presumptuous notion, of being adeqtiate to frustrate 
the designs of Nebuchadnezzar, or rather those of God 
himself, who had declared that he would subjugate all 
the east to this potentate. He presently retook from 
Pharaoh Nechoh Carchemish, and the other cities 
conquered by that prince. He did more; he trans- 
ferred the war into Egypt, after having associated Ne- 
buchadnezzar his son in the empire ; and after various 
|Mc).vantages in that kingdom, he entered on the expe- 
dition against Judea, recorded in the xxxvith chapter 
of the second book of Chronicles : he accomplished 
what Isaiah had foretold to Hezekiah, that the Chal- 
deans should take hvi sons, and make them eunuchs in 
Babylon. He plundered Jerusalem ; he put Jehoia- 
kim in chains, and placed his brother Jehoiachin on 
the throne, who is sometimes called Jeconiah, and 
sometimes Coniah : and who availed himself of the 
grace he had received, to rebel against his benefactor. 
This prince quickly revenged the perfidy ; he besieg- 
ed Jerusalem, which he had always kept blockaded 
since the death of Jehoiakim, and he led away a very 
great number of captives into Babylon, among whom 
was the prophet Ezekiel. 

Ezekiel was raised up of God to prophecy to the 
captive Jews, who constantly indulged the reverie of 
returning to Jerusalem, while Jeremiah prophesied to 



Church at Voorburgh. 133 

tbose who were yet in their country, on whom await- 
ed the same destiny. They laboured tmanimoudy to 
persuade their countrymen to place no confidence in 
their connection with Egypt ; to make no more «na* 
vailing efforts to throw off the yoke of Nebuqhadnez- 
zar; and to obey the commands of that prince, or 
rather the commands of God, who was wishfiil by his 
ministry to punish the crimes of all the east. 

Our prophet was transported into Jerusalem ; he 
there saw those Jews who at the very time while^ th^y 
continued to flatter them with averting the total ruin 
of Jndea, hastened the event, not only by continuing, 
but by redoubling their cruelties, and their idolatrous 
^ worship. At the very crisis while he beheld the in- 
famous conduct of his countrymen in Jerusaleni, he 
heard God himself announce the punishments with 
which they were about to be overwhelmed ; and say- 
ing to his ministers of vengeance. Go through the ct- 
tjf; strike^ let not your eye spare ^ neither have ye pity: 
Slay utterly old and young y both maids and little chiU 
dren; and women. Defile my house y and fill the 
courts with the slain, ix. 5, 6, 7. But while God de- 
livered a commission so terrible with regard to the 
abominable Jews, he cast a consoling regard on oth- 
ers : he said to a mysterious person, Oo through the 
midst of the city, and set a mark on the foreheads of 
the m£n that sighy and that cry for the abominations 
committed in the midst thereof. I am grieved for the 
honour of our critics, who have followed the vulgate 
version in a reading which disfigures the text ; set the 
letter than on theforeheads of those that sigh. To how 
many puerilities has this reading given birth ? What 



1 S4 Consecration of the 

mysteries have they not sought in the letter Mate? But 
the vulgate is the only version which has thus read 
the passage. The word Man in Hebrew implies a 
sign ; to write this letter on the forehead of any one, 
is to make a mark; and to imprint a mark on the 
forehead of a man, is, in the style of prophecy, to dis- 
tinguish him by some facial &vour. So the seventy, 
the Arabic^ and the Syriac have rendered this expres- 
sion. You will fiud the same figures employed by St. 
John in the Revelation. 

The words of my text have the same import as the 
above passage ; they may indeed be restricted to the 
Jews already in captivity ; I extend them however to 
the Jews who groaned for the enorpities committed 
by their countrymen in Jerusalem. The past, the 
present and the future.time, are sometimes undistin-* 
guished in the holy tongue ; especially by the pro- 
.phets, to whom the certainty of the future predicted 
events, occasioned them to be contemplated, as pre- 
sent, or as already past. Consonant to this style, / 
have cast them far off among the heathen^ may imply, 
I will cast them far off; I will disperse them among 
the nations, &c. 

To both those bodies of Jews, of whom I have spo- 
ken, I would say, those already captivated in Babylon 
when Ezekiel received this vision, and those who were 
led away after the total ruin of Jerusalem, that how- 
ever afflictive their situation might appear, God would 
meliorate it by constant marks of the protection he 
would afford. Though I may or have cast them far 
off among the heathen ; and am6ng the countries : 
though I may disperse them among strange nations; 



*> 



Church at Voorburgh. 185 

yet I mil h4 to them as a little sanctuary in the caun^ 
tries where they are come. 

This is the general scope of the words we have 
r^ad. Wishful to apply them to the design of this 
day, we shall proceed to draw a parallel between the 
state of the Jews in Babylon, and that in which it 
has pleased- God to place the churches whose ruin we 
have now deplored for forty years. The dispersion of 
the Jews had three distinguished characters, 

I. A character of horror ; 

II. A character of justice; 

III. A character of metcy. 

A character of horror ; this people were dispersed 
among the nations ; they were compelled to abandon 
Jerusalem ; and to wander in divers countries. — ^A 
character of justice; God himself; the God who 
makes judgment arid justice the habitation of his 
throne. Psalm. Ixxxix. 15. was the author of thosd 
calamities : J have cast them far off among the heathen; 
and dispersed them among the counlries.^^ln fine, a 
character of mercy : though I have cast them far off 
among iheheatheuy I have been, or as we may read, / 
will be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries 
where they are come. These are the three similarities 
between the dispersed Jews, and the reformed, to 
whom these provinces have extended a compassionate 
arm. 

I. The dispersion of the Jews, connected with all 
the calamities which preceded and followed, bad a 
character of horror : let us judge of it by the lamen- 
tations of Jeremiah, who attested, as well as predict- 
ed the awful scenes* 



1 36 Consecration of the 

s 

L He deplores the carnage which stained Judeft 
with blood : The pi^iests and the prophets have been 
slain in the sanctuary of the Lord. The young and 
the old lie on the ground in the streets ; my virgins 
and the young men are fallen by the sword : thou hast 
slain ; thou hast killed^ and hast not pitied ikem in the 
day of thiiie anger. Thou hast convened my terrors^ 
as to a solemn day. chap. ii. 20, 21, 22. 

2. He deplores the horrors of the famine which in- 
duced the living to envy the lot of those that had fal- 
len in war: The children: and the sucklings swoon in 
the streets; they say to their mothers, when expiring in 
their bosom, where is the corn and the wine ?—They 
'that be slain with the sword are happier than they that 
be slain with hunger. Have not the women eaten the 
children that they suckled? Naturally pitiful, hflve 
they not baked their children to supply them with food? 
chap. ii. 11,12,20. iv. 9, 10. 

. 8. He deplores the insults of their enemies : AU that 
pass by clap their hands at thee ; they hiss and shake 
their heads at the daughter of Jerusalemy saying, is 
this the city called the perfection of beauty, the joy of 
the whole earth ? chap. ii. 15. 

4. He deplores the insensibility of God himself, 
who formerly-was moved with their calamities, and 
ever accessible to their prayers .• Thou ha^t covered 
thyself with a cloud that our prayers should not pass 
through : and when I cry and shout, he rejecteth my 
supplication, chap. iii. 44, 8. 

5. He deplores the favours God had conferred, the 
recollection of which served but to render their grief 
Ihe more poignant, apd their fall the more insupport-* 



Church at Voorburgh. 137 

able : Jerusalem in the clays of her affUctioUy remem" 
bered all her pleasant things that she had in the days 
of old. Hpw doth the city sit in solitude that was full 
of people ? How is she that u)as great among the na^- 
turns become a widow, and she that was princess a- 
m&ng the provinces become tributary ? chap. i. 7, 1 . 

6. Above all, he deplores the strokes levelled a« 
gainst religion : The ways of Zion do mourn because 
none comes to the ^solemn feast: all her gates are deso^ 
late : her priests sigh ; her virgins are afflicted. The 
heathen have entered into her saij^ctuary; the heathen, 
concerning whom thou didst say, that they should not 
enter into thy sanctuary, chap. i. 4, 10. 

These are the tints with which Jeremiah paints the 
calamities of the Jews ; and making those awful ob- 
jects an inexhaustible source of tears, he exclaims in 
the eloquence of grief ; Is it nothing to you, all ye that 
pass by? Behold, and see, if there be any sorrow like 
unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the 
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 
For this came I weep, mine eye, mine eye runneth down 
with tears, because the Conforter that should relieve 
my soul is far from me. Zion spreadeth her hands, 
and there is none to comfort her. Mine eyes fail with 
tears: whom shall ItaJie to witness for thee; to whom 
shaU I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem; to whom 
shall I equal thee to console thee, O daughter of Zion, 
for % breach is great?— O wall of the daughter of 
Zion. let tears run down like a river day and night: 
give thyself no. rest, let not the apple of thine eye cease. 
Arisei, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the 

VOL. vm. 18 




138 CansecraHan of the . 

ioatckeipour out Aine heart like water before the Lord. 
chap. i. 12, 16, 17. chap. ii. U, 13, 18, 19. 

But is all this a mere portrait of past ages, or did 
the Spirit of God designate it as a figure of ages yet 
to come ? Are those the calamities of the Jews that 
Jeremiah has endeavoured to describe, or are they 
those which for so many years have ravaged our 
churches ? Our eyes, accustomed to contemplate so 
many awful objects, have become incapable of im- 
pression. Our b^arts, habituated to anguish, are be- 
come insensible. Qo not expect me to open the 
wounds that time has already closed ; but in recall- 
iuff the recollection of those terrific scenes which have 
stained our churches with blood, I would inquire 
whether the desolations of Jerusalem properly so call- 
ed, or those of the mystic Jerusalem be most entitled 
to our tears ? May the sight of the calamities into 
which we have been plunged excite in the bosom of 
a compassionate God, emotions of mercy ! May he in 
crowning the martyrs, confer forgiveness on those that 
occasioned their death. X 

- I am impelled to the objects which the solemnities 
of this day recal to your minds, though I should even 
endeavour to dissipate the idea ; I would say, to the 
diBStruction of our churches, and to the strokes which 
have been levelled against our religion. ^ The colours 
Jeremiah employed to trace the calamities of Jews, 
cannot be too vivid to paint those which have fallen 
on us. One scourge has followed another for a long 
series of years. Deep has called unto deep at Me 
noise of hie water spouts. Psalm ^ML 7. A thousand 
and a thousand strokes were aimed at oar unbaf^y 



Church at Voorburgh. 189 

churches prior to that which razed them to the 
ground ; and if we may so speak, one would haVe 
said that those armed against us were not content 
with being spectators of our ruin; they were emulous 
to effectuate it. 

Sometimes they published edicts against those who 
foreseeing the impending calamities of the church, and 
unable to avert them, sought the sad consolation of 
not attesting ^ the scenes.* Sometimes against those 
who having had the baseness to deny their religion, 
and unable to bear the remorse of their conscience 
had recovered from their fall.i* Sometimes they pro- 
hibited pastors from exercising their discipline on 
those of iheir flock who had abjured the truth. J 
Sometiines they permitted children at the age of se- 
ven years to embrace a doctrine, in the discussion of 
which they affirm, that even adults were inadequate 
to the task.^ Atone time they suppressed a college, 
at another they interdicted a church.|| Sometimes 
they envied us the glory of converting infidels and^ 
idolaters ; they required that those unhappy people 
should not renounce one kind of idolatry but to em- 
brace another, far less excusable, as it dared to show 
its front amid the light of the gospel. They envied 
us the glory also of confirming those in the truth 
whom we had instructed from our infancy* Some- 
times they prohibited the pastors from exercising the 
ministerial functions for more than three years in the 
same place.% Sometimes they forbade us to print 

* The Edia of August, 1689. t Declaration against the relapsed. 

May, 1679. % June, 1680. $ June, 1681. || January, 168.*^. ^ Ati- 
gdil, 1684. 



140 Consecration of the " 

our books ;^ and sometimes seized those already pub* 
lished.t Sometimes they obstructed our preaching 
in a church : sometiniefi from doing it on the founda- 
tions of one that had been demolished ; and some- 
times from worshipping God in public. At one time 
they exiled us from the kingdom ; and at another, 
forbade our leaving it on pain erf* death.X Here you 
might have seen trophie« prepared for those w^ho had 
basely denied their religion ; there yon might have 
seen drstgged to the prisons, to the scaffold, or to the 
gallies, those who had confessed it with an heroic 
faith : Yea, the bodies of the dead dragged on hur- 
dles for having expired confessing the truth. In ano- 
ther place you might have seen a dying man at com- 
promise with a minister of hell, on persisting in his 
apostacy, and the fear of leaving his children desti- 
tute of bread ; and if he made not the best use of 
those last moments that the treasures of providence, 
and the long-suffering of God yet afforded him to re- 
cover from hii^ fall. In other places, fathers and 
mothers tearing themselves away from children, con- 
cerning whom the fear of being separated from them 
in eternity made them shed tears more bitter than 
those that flowed on being separated in this life. 
Elsewhere you might have seen whole families arriv-* 
ing in protestant countries with hearts transported 
with joy, once mcure to see churches, and to find in 
Christian communion, adequate sources to assuage 
the anguish of the sacrifices they had made for its en- 
joyment. Let us draw the curtain over those affect- 
ing scenes. Our calamities, like those of the Jews, 

* July 9th, 1685. t September 6th, 1685. t July SOth, 1680. 



" Church at Voorburgh. 141 

4 

have had a character of horror ; this is a fact ; this is 
but too easy to prove. They have had also a char- 
acter of Justice, which we proceed ta prove in our 
second head. " 

II. That public missies originate in the. crimes of 
a chastened people, is a proposition that scarcely any 
one will presumeii|to deny when proposed in a vague 
and general way ; but p|prhaps it is one of those whose 
evidence is less perceived when applied to certain 
private cases, and when we would draw the conse- 
quences resulting from it in a necessary and immedi- 
ate manner : propose it in a pulpit, and each will ac- 
quiesce. But propose it in the cabinet ; say that the 
equipment of fleets, the levy of armies and contrac- 
tion of alliances are feeble barriers of the state, un- 
less we endeavour to eradicate the crimes which have 
enkindled the wrath of heaven, and you would be 
put in the abject class of those good and weak sort 
of folks that are in the world. I do not come to re- 
new the controversy, and to investigate what is the 
influence of crimes on the destiny of nations, and the 
rank it holds in the plans of providence. Neither do • 
I appear at the bar of philosophy the most scrupulous 
and severe, and at the bench of policy the most re- 
fined and profound, to prove that it is not possible for 
a state long to subsist in splendour which presumes 
to derive its prosperity from the practice of crimes. 
For, 

Who is he that will dare to exclaim against a pro- 
position so reasonable, and so closely connected with 
the grand doctrines of religion ; and which cannot be 
renounced without a stroke at the being of a God, 



142 Consecration of Ae 

J,* 
^nd tbd mperintendance of a Providence ? A man 

admitting those two grand principles, and presuming 
to make crimes subservient to the support of society, 
should digest the following propositions. There is 
indeed a God in heaven, who^ has -constituted society 
to practise equity ; to maintain order ; and to cherish 
religion : he has connected its pr|pperity witii these 
duties ; but by the secrets of i|py policy, by the depths 
of my counsels, by the refinement of my wisdom, I 
know how to elude his designs, and avert his denun- 
ciations. God is indeed an Almighty Being whose 
pleasure has a necessary connection with its execu* 
tion ; he has but to blow with his wind on a nation > 
abd behold it vanishes away ; but I will oppose pow- 
er to power. ; I will force his strengA ;* and by my 
fleets, my armies, my fortress, I will elude all those 
ministers of vengeance. God has indeed declared, 
that he is jealous of his glory ; that soon or late he 
will exterminate incorrigible nations ; and that if from 
the nature of their vices there proceed not a sufficien- 
cy of calamities ta extirpate them from the earth, be 
will superadd those unrelenting strokes of vengeance 
which shall justify his povidence t but the state over 
which I preside, shall be too small, or perhaps too 
great to be absorbed In the vortex of his commanding 
sway. It shall be reserved of providence as an ex- 
ception to this general rule, and made to subsist in 
favour of those very vices, which have occasioned the 
sackage of other nations. My brethren, there is, if I 
may presume so to speak, but a front of iron and 

* The veriions vary very much in reading ; liaiafa xxvii. 5, Vide PoH 
Synopsi Crii, in loc 



Church at Voorburgh. 148 

brass that can digest proposilioDs so daring, and pre- 
fer the system of Hobbs and of Machiavel to that of 
David and of Solomon. . 

: But what awiul objeete s^puld we present to your 
view, were we wishful to enter on a detail of the 
proofs concerning the eifuity of the strokes with v^ich 
God afflicted the Jews ; and especially were we wish- 
ful to illustrate tft' conformity found in this second 
head, between the desilations of those ancient peo- 
ple, and those of our own churches ? 

To justify what we have advanced on the first head, 
it would be requisite to investigate many of their 
kings, who were monsters rather than men ; it would 
be requisite to describe the hardness of the people 
who were wishful that the ministelrs of the living 
God, sent to rebuke their crimes, might contribute to 
confirm them therein ; and who, according to the ex- 
pression of Isaiah, said to ihe seer^ sei not ; and t6 
those who had visions^ see no more visions of upright^' 
ness ; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceit. 
Oet you out of the vyay, turn aside out of the patk, 
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 
XXX. 10, 11. It would be requisite to exhibit the 
connivance of many of their pastors, who, as Jere- 
miah says, healed the hurt of his people slightly , «ay- 
ingy peace, peace, when there wa^ no peace : vi. 14* 
und who were so far from suppressing the licentious- 
ness of the wicked, as to make it their glory to sur- 
pass them ! It would be requisite to describe the aw- 
M security which in the midst of the most tremend- 
ew visitations infatuated them to say. We have made 
M 4Hfvenant mA death, and with hell we are at agree^ 



144 Comecration of the 

ment Isaiah xxviii. 1&. It would be requisif^e to 
trace those sanguinary deeds, which occasioned that 
just rebuke, In the skirts of thy robe is found the 
hlood of the innocent poor. Jer. ii. 34. It would be 
requisite to exhibit those scenes of idolatry, which 
made a prophet say, Ly't up thine eyes on the high 
placeSy and see where thou hast been lien with. O 
Juda, thy gods are as many as th§ cities, ii. 28. iii. 
2. It would be requisite to ipeak of that paucity of 
righteous men, which occasioned God himself to say, 
jRtiw ye to and fro through the streets (f Jerusalem^ 
and see now and know, and seek ye in the broad pla- 
ces thereof, if ye can find a man^ if there be any that 
executeth judgment^ that see keth truths and I will par- 
don it. V. i. 

But instead of retracing those awful recollections^ 
and deducing from them the just application of which 
they are suscBptible, it would be better to comprise 
them in that general confession, and to acknowledge 
when speaking of your calamities what the Jews con- 
fessed when speaking of theirs : The Lord is righfe- 
ouSy for I have rebelled against him. Certainly thou 
art righteous in all the things that have happened , for 
thou hast acted in truth, but we have done wickedly. — 
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor 
(mr fathers kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy com- 
mcLndments, and to thy testimonies wherewith thou 
didst testify against them. Lam. i. 18. Neh. ix. 34. 

UI. But it is time to present you with objects more 
attractive and assortable with the solemnities of this 
day. The calamities which fell upon the Jews, and 
thase which have fallen on us ; those calamities which 



Church at Voarburgh. 145 

had a character of justice ; yea, even a character of 
horror, had also a character of mercy; and this is 
what is jpromised the Jews in the words of my text ; 
Although I have ca^t them 'far off among the heathen^ 
and among the countries; ^t I will be to them as a 
little sanctuary in the countries where they are come. 
Whether you give th^, as a littk sanctuary, a 
vague, or a limited signification, all resolves to the 
same sense. If you give them a limited import, they 
refer to the temple of Jerusalem, which the Chalde- 
ans had destroyed, and which was the emblem of 
Ood's presence in the midst of his people. / have 
dispersed them among the heathen; I have deprived 
them of their temple, but I will grant them supemat- 
urally the favours, I accorded to their prayers once 
offered up in the house, of which they have been de- 
prived. In this sense St. John said, that he saw no 
temple in the new Jerusalem, because Ood and the 
Lamb were the temple thereof. Rev. xxi. 22. If you 
give these words an extended import, they allude to 
the dispersion. Although I have ca^t them off amxmg 
the heathen, and put them far away from the place c^ 
their habitation ; yet I will be myself their refuge.-— 
Much the same is said by the author of the xcth Psa. 
Lord, thou ha$t been our retreat, our refuge^ from one 
generation to another. But without a minute scruti** 
ny of the words, let us justify the thing. 

1. Even amid the carnage which ensued on the 
taking of Jerusalem, many of the principal people 
were spnBired. It appears from the sacred history, 
that Jeremiah was allowed to choqse what retreat he 

VOL. vni. 19 



146 Consecration of the 

pleased; either to remain in Babylon,* or to return 
to his country. He chose the latter ; he loved the 
foundations of Jerusalem, and of its temple, more 
than the superb city ; and it was at the sight of those 
mournful ruins, that he composed those Lamenta- 
tions, from which we have made many extracts, and 
in which he has painted in the deepest tints, and de- 
scribed in the most pathetic manner, the miseries of 
his nation. 

2. While some of the Jewish captives had liberty 
Xo return to their country, others were promoted in 
Babylon to the most eminent offices in the empire. 
The author of the second book of Kings says, that 
Evil-merodach lifted up the head of Jehoiachin out 
of prison-— -and set his throne above the throne of the 
kings that were with him in Babylon. Jeremiah re- 
peats the same expressions of this author ; 2 Kings 
XXV. 28. Jer. lii. 32. and learned men have thence 
concluded, that Jehoiachin reigned in Babylon over 
his own dispersed subjects. Of Daniel we may say 
the same ; he was made governor of the province of 
Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and chief of the gov- 
emors over all the wise men. Dan. ii. 48. Darius 
conferred many years afterwards the ^ame dignities 
on this prophet ; and Nehemiah was cup-bearer to 
Artaxerxes. 

3. How dark, how impenetrable soever the history 
of the seventy years may be, during which time the 
Jews were captive in Babylon, it is extremely obvi- 
ous, that they had during that period some 'form of 

* It appears below, that Saurin thought Jeremiah and others returned from 
Babylon ! 



Church at Voorburgh. 147 

government. We have explained ourselves else- 
where concerning what is meant by the ^chmalo^ 
tarks; that is, the chiefs or princes of the captivity. 
We ought also to pay some attention to the book of 
Sasanna : I know that this work bears various marks 
of reprobation, and that St. Jerome, in particular, 
regarded it with so much contempt as to assure us, 
in some sort, that it would never have been put in the 
sacred canon had it not been to gratify a brutish peo- 
ple. Mean while, we ought not to slight what this 
book records concerning the general history of the 
Jews: now we there «ee, that during the captivity, 
they had elders, judges, and senators; and if we may 
credit Origen, too much prejudiced in favour of the 
book of Susanna, it was solely to hide the shame of 
the princes of their nation that the Jews had sup- 
pressed. 

4. God always preserved among them the ministry, 
and the ministers. It is indubitable that there was al- 
ways prophets during the captivity ; and though some 
of the learned have maintained, that the sacred books 
were lost during the captivity; though one text of 
scripture seems to favour this notion; and though 
TertuUian and Eusebius presume to say that Esdras 
had retained the sacred books in memory, and wrote 
them in the order in which they now stand ; notwith- 
standing all this, we think ourselves able to prove that 
the sacred trust never was out of their hands. It ap- 
pears that Daniel read the prophets. The end of the 
second book of Chronicles, which has induced some 
to think that Cyrus was a proselyte, leaves not a 
doubt of this prince having read the xlivth and xlvth 



148 Consecration of the 

chapters of Isaiah, where he is expressly named, and 
to this knowledge alone we can attribute the extraor- 
dinary expressions of his first edict. The Lord Ood 
qf heaven ha A given me all the kingdoms of the earth ; 
and he has charged me to buUd him a temple m Jeru^ 
salem. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 23. 

5. God wrought prodi^es for the Jews, which made 
them venerable in the eyes of their greatest enemies. 
Thongh exiles ; though captives ; though slaves of the 
Chaldeans, they were distinguished as the favourites 
of the Sovereign of the universe. They made the 
Ood of Abraham to triumph in the midst of idols ; 
and aided by the prophetic Spirit, they pronounced 
the destiny of those very kingdoms in the midst of 
which they were dispersed. Like the captive Ark, 
they hallowed the humiliations of their captivity by 
symbols of terror. Witness the flames which con- 
sumed their executioners. Witness the dreams of 
Nebuchadnezzar, and of Belshazzar interpreted by 
Daniel, and realized by Providence : witness the 
praises rendered to God by idolatrous kings : witness 
the preservation of Daniel from the fury of the lions ; 
and his enemies thrown to assuage the appetites of 
those ferocious beasts. 

6. In a word, the mercy of God appeared so dis- 
tinguished in the deliverance accorded to these same 
Jews, as to convince the most incredulous, that the 
same God who had determined their captivity, was 
he also who had prescribed its bounds. He moved 
in their behalf the hearts of pagan priQces ! We see 
Darius, and Cyrus, and Artaxerxes, become, by the 
sovereignty of Heaven over the heart of kings, the 



Church at Voorburgh. 149 

restorers of Jerusalem, and of its temple ! Xenophon 
reports, that when Cyrus took Babylon, he command- 
ed his soldiers to spare all who spake the Syrian 
tongue ; that is to say, the Hebrew nation ; and no 
one can be ignorant of the edicts issued in favour of 
this people. 

Now, my brethren, nothing but an excess of blind- 
ness and' ingratitude can prevent the seeing and feel- 
ing in our own dispersion those marks of mercy, 
which shone so bright in the dispersion of the Jews. 
How else could we have eluded the troops stationed 
on the frontiers of our country, to retain us in it by 
force, and to make us either martyrs, or apostates? 

What else could excite the zeal of some protestant 
countries, whose inhabitants you saw going to meet 
your fugitives, guiding them in the private roads, and 
disputing with one another who should entertain 
them ; and saying, Come^ come into our houses, ye 
blessed of the Lord? Gen. xxiv. 31. 

Whence proceeds so much success in our trade ; 
so much prcHnotion in the army ; so much progress 
in the sciences ; and so much prosperity in the seve- 
ral professions of many of us, who, according to the 
world, are more happy in the land of their exile, than 
they were in their own country ? 

Why has God been pleased to signalize his favours 
to certain individuals of the nations, that have ex- 
tended to us a, protecting arm ? Why, when indigence 
and exiles seemed to enter their houses together, 
have we seen affluence, benediction, and riches em- 
anate, if we may so speak, from the bosom of charity 
and beneficence ? 



150 Consecration of the 

By what miracle have so great a number of our 
confessors and martyrs been liberated from their tor- 
tures and their chains ? 

From what principle proceeds the extraordinary 
difference, God has put between those of our coun- 
trymen, who, without coii^\j\Wng flesh and blood ^liave 
followed Jesus Christ without the camp^ hearing his 
reproach, and those who have wished to join the in- 
terests of mammon with those of heaven? Oal. i. 
16. Heb. xiii. 13. i , 

We are masters of whatever property it pleased 
Providence to invest us on our departure ; but our 
brethren cannot dispose of theirs but with vexatious 
restrictions, and imposts. 

We have over our children the rights which nature 
has given us, and which have been sanctioned by so* 
ciety and religion ; we can promise both to ourselves 
and to them the protection of the laws, while we shall 
continue to respect the laws, which we teach them to 
do. But our countrymen, on leaving their houses for 
a few hours, know not on their return, whether they 
shall find those dear parts of themselves, or whether 
they shall be dragged away to confinement in a con- 
vent, or thrown into a jail. 

Whenever the sabbaths and festivals of the church 
arrive, we go with our families to render homage to 
the Supreme ; we rise up in a throng with a song of 
triumph in the house of our God ; we make it re- 
sound with hymns ; we hear the scriptures ; we offer 
up our prayers ; we participate of his sacraments ; 
we anticipate the eternal felicities. But our country- 
men have no part in the joy of our feasts ; they are 



Church at Voorburgh. 151 

to them days of mourning ; it is with difficulty in an 
obscure part of their house, and in the mortal fear of 
detection, that they celebrate some hasty act of piety 
and religion. 

We, when conceiving ourselves to be extended on 
the bed of death, can call our ministers, and open to 
them our hearts, listen to their gracious words, and 
drink in the sources of their comfort. But our coun- 
trymen are pursued to the last moments of their life 
by their enemies, and having lived temporizing, they 
die temporizing. 

We find then as the captivp Jews, the accomplish- 
ment of the prophecy in my text ; and we ^njoy, dur- 
ing the years of bur dispersion, favours similar to 
those which soothed the Jews during their captivity. 

But can we promise ourselves that ours shall 
come to a similar close ? The mercy of God on our 
behalf has already accomplished the promise in the 
text, / wiU be to them as a little sanctuary, in the 
countries where they are come. But when shall we 
see the accomplishment of that which follows? / 
wiU gather you from among the people; and assem^ 
bk you from the countries where ye have been 
scattered. When is it that so many Christians, 
who, degenerate as they . are, still love religion ; 
when is it that they shall repair the insults they 
have offered to it ? When is it, that so many chil- 
dren who have been torn from their fathers, shall 
be restored ; or rather, when shall we see them 
restored to the church, from whose bosom they 
have been plucked ? When is it that we shall see in 
our country what we see at this day. Christians 



152 Consecration of the 

emulous to build churches, to consecrate them, therer 
to render God the early homage due to his Ma- 
jesty, and to participate in the first favours he there 
accords ? Oh ! ye that make mention of tl^Lord^ 
keep not silence ; give him no rest tUl he establish^ 
and tiU he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 
Isaiah Ixii. 5, 6. Oive ear, O Shepherd of Israel, 
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that 
dweUest between the cherubim shine forth. Be^ 
fore Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir 
up thy strength, and come and save us. Psa. lixx. I, 
2. O Lord God of hosts, how long wik thou be an- 
gry against the prayer of thy people ? Ver. 4. Thou 
shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion ; for the time to 
favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy serv'- 
ants take pleasure in stones, and favour the dust 
thereof. Then the hearten shall fear the name of the 
Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When 
the Lord shall build up Zion ; when he shall regard 
the prayer qf the destitute, this shall be written for 
the generation to come ; and the people which shaU 
be created shall praise the Lord ; for he hath looked 
down from the height of his sanctuary. Psa, cii 13, 
&c. May this be the first subject of the prayers we 
shall this day offer to God. in this holy place. 

But asking of him favours so {H'ecious, let us ask 
with sentiments which ensure success. May the pu- 
rity of the wordiqp we render to God in the churches 
he has preserved, and in those he has also allowed to 
build, obtain the re-edification of those that have been 
demolished. May our charity to brethren, the com- 
panions of our exile, obtain a reunion with the bretb* 



o 






Church at Voorburgh. 153 

reny from whom we have been separated by the ca« 
lamities of the times. And while God shall still re- 
tard this happy period, may our respect Tor our rulers, 
may our zeal for the public good, may our punctualiw 
ty in paying the taxes, may our gratitude for the ma- 
ny favours we have received in these provinces, whigh 
equalize us with its natural subjects ; and compress- 
ing in my exhortations and prayers, not only my 
countrymen, but all who compose this assembly, may 
the manner in which we shall serve God amid the in- 
firmities and miseries inseparable from this valley ci 
tears, ensure to us, my brethren, that after having 
joined our voices to those choirs which compose the 
militant church, we shall be joined to those that form 
the church triumphant, and sing eternally with the 
angels, and with the multitude of the redeemed of 
all nations, and languages, the praises of the Creator. 
God grant us the grace. To whom be honour and 
glory henceforth and for ever. Amen. 



VOL. VIII. 20 



SERMON VI. 

On FesHvab, and on the Sabbath-^Day. 



Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14. 

y thou turn away Ay foot from the Sabbath, from 
doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the 
Sabbath a delight ; the holy of the Lord, honour* 
able ; and shalt honour him, not doing thy own 
ways J nor finding thy own pleasure, nor speaking 
thine own words ; then thou shalt delight thyself in 
the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the 
high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heri* 
tage of Jacob thy father ;for the mouth of the Lord 

. hath spoken it. 

fvHEN will the new moon be gone, that we may sell 
com ? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat f 
This was the language that the prophet Amos put 
into the mouth of profane men in his own time. It 
is less expressive of their presumptive speeches, than 
of the latent wickedness of their hearts. Religion 
and politics were closely connected in the Hebrew 
nation. The laws inflicted the severest penalties on 
those that violated the exterior of religion. The ex- 
ecrable men, of whom the prophet speaks, could not 
profane the solemn festivals with impunity ; but they 



.if* 



156 On FesHvak^ and 



worshipped with constraint ; they regretted the loss 
rf their time ; they reproached God with every mo- 
ment wasted in his house ; they ardently wished the 
feasts to be gone, that they might return, not only to 
their avQcations, but also to their crimes : they said 
in their hearts, When will the new moon be gone^ that 
we may sell com ? and the Sabbath, that we m>ay set 
forth wheat ? Amos viii. 5. 

Against this disposition of mind, God has denounc- 
ed by the ministry (^ this same prophet, those most 
awfiil j udgments, which he has painted in the deep- 
est shades. The Lord hath sworn :— / will turn your 
feasts into mourning , and all your songs into lamenta" 
tion. — Behold the day cometh^ saith the Lord God, 
that IwiU send a famine in the land ; not a famine of 
bread, not a thirst of water, but- of hearing the words 
of the Lord. And they shaH wander from sea to sea, 
and from die north even to tJie ea^t ; they shall run to 
and fro to hear the word of the Lord, and shall not 
find it. 

My brethren, are you not persuaded, that the icb- 
pious men, of whom the prophet speaks, have had 
imitators in succeeding times ? Whence is it then that 
$ome among us have been struck precisely with the 
same strokes, if they have not been partakers of the 
same crimes ? Whence comes this famine of God's 
word, niy dear country nien, with which we have been 
afflicted ? Whence comes the necessity imposed upon 
OS to wander from sea to sea, to recover this divine 
pasture, if we have not slighted it in places where it 
existed in so much abundance and unction ? Whence 
comes the awful catastrophe that have changed our 



m 



m A§ StUfboA'Day. I57 

golemn feasts into mouniing, if we celebrated them, 
when it was in our power, with a grateful temper ? 
Whence come those lamentations heard in one part 
of the church for forty years, and whiclu awful n|^lo« 
dy has latterly been renewed, if we sung our sacred 
hyinns with the devotion that the praises of the Crea- 
tor require of the creature ? O Lord^ righteousness 
belongeth unto thee^ hut unto us confusion of faces. 
The Lord is righteous j though we have rebelled against 
him. Dan. ix. 7. 9. Happy those who groan under 
the strokes for the sins they have committed, provid- 
ed the school of adversity make them wise. Happy 
those of you, my brethren, who are simply the spec- 
tators of those calamities, provided you abstain &om 
the sins which have occasioned them, and become 
wise at the expense of others. 

This is the design of my discourse, in which I must 
address you on the respect due to the solemn feasts, 
and to the Sabbath-day in particular, leaving con- 
science to decide whether it be caprice, or necessity, 
which prompts us to the choice ; whether it be incon- 
sideration, or mere incident ; or whether it has been 
compulsion, through the dreadful enormities into 
which we are plunged, in regard of the profanation 
of religious festivals, and of the Sabbath-day in par-^ 
ticular, that people have for so long a time justly 
branded us with reproach : profaneness alone, unless 
we make efforts to reform it, is sufficient to bring 
down the wrath of God on these provinces. May 
Heaven deign to avert those awful presages ! May he 
engrave on our hearts the divine precept inculcated 
to-day^ that we may happily inherit Uie favours he 



158 On JpBstivahj and 

has promised ! May he enable us so to make the Sab^ 
baths our delight^ that we may be made partakers of 
the heritage of Jacob ; I would^say, that of the finish^ 
er ^ our faith. Amen. 

if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbathy from 
doing thy pleasure on my holy day , and call the Sah-^ 
bath a delight y the holy of the Lordy honourable, and 
shcUt honour hdm, not doing thy ways, nor finding 
thine own pleasure ^ nor speaking thine own words ; 
then, thou shall delight thyself in the Lord, and I will 
cause thee to ride on the high places of the edrthy and 
feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father y for the 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it This is our text^ 
and here is our design. We shall consider the words, 

I. With regard to the Jewish church ; 

IJ. With regard to the Christian church ; or, to be 

more explicit, God has made two very different 
worlds, the world of nature, and the world of grace. 

Both the^e are the heritage of the faithful, but in a 
different way. The Jews, contemplating the world 
of grace as a distant object, had, their imagination 
principally impressed with the kingdom of nature. 
Hence, in their form of thanksgiving, they said, 
*' Blessed be God who hath created the wheat ; bless- 
ed be God who hath created the fruit of the vine." 
Christians, on the contrary, accounting themselves 
but strangers in this world, place all their glory in 
seeing the marvels of the world of grace. Hence it 
is so often their theme of gratitude to say, Blessed be 
the Ood and Father of our Lord Jesus Christy whoy 
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us 
again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus 



on tk$ Sabhaih^Day. 159 

Christ from the dead. 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. Thus it was in 
point of order that the difference of dispensations was 
ai^arent in the two churches. The Jew, in hiis Sab- 
bath!, celebrated the marvels of natvire ; but'^the 
Christian, exalted to sublimer views, celebrated the 
marvels of grace^; and this memorieible day of the 
Saviour's resurrection, the day in which he saw the 
work of redemption finished, and the hopes of the 
church crowned ; these are the two objects to which 
we shall call your iattention. 

I. We shall consider the words of the teitt virith re- 
gard to the Jews. With that view we shall state, I . 
The reasons of the institution of the Sabbath ; 2. 
The manner in which the prophet required it to be 
celebrated; 3. The promises made to those who 
worthily hallow the Sabbath-day. 

Four considerations gave occasion for the institu- 
tion of the Sabbath-day. God was wishful to per-- 
petuate two original truths on which the whole evi- 
dence of religion devolves ; the first is, that the world 
had a beginning ; the second is, that God is its au- 
thor. You feel the force of both these points, with- 
out the aid of illustration, because, if the world: be 
eternal, there is some being coeval with the God- 
head ; and if there be any being coeval with the 
Godhead, there is a being which is independent of it, 
and which is not indebted to God for its existence : 
and if there be any being which is not dependant on 
God, I no longer see in him all the perfection which 
constitutes his essence : our devotion is unfairly ad- 
dress^ ; it ought to be divided between all the beings . 
which participate of his perfections. 



160 On Festivals, and 

2. Bat if the world has not God for its auibor, it is 
requisite to establish the one or the other of these 
suppositions, either that the world itself has a super- 
intending intelligence, or that it was formed by 
chance. If you suppose the world to have been go- 
verned by an intelligence peculiar to itself, you fall 
into the difficulty you wish to avoid. You associate 
with God a being, that, participating of his perfec- 
tions, roust participate also of his worship. On the 
contrary, if you suppose, it was made by chance, you 
not only renounce all the light of reason, but you sap 
the whole foundation of faith : for, if chance has de- 
rived us from nothing, it may reduce us to nothing 
again ; and if our existence depend on the capricious 
fortune, the immortality of soul is destitute of proofs 
infidelity obtains a triumph, religion becomes a pun, 
and the hopes of a life to come are a chimera. — ^It 
,was therefore requisite, that there should remain in 
the church this monument of the creation of the uni- 
verse. / 

The second reason was to prevent idolatry. This 
remark claims peculiar attention, many of the Mosaic 
precepts being founded on the situation in which the 
Jews were placed. Let this general remark be ap- 
plied to the subject in hand. The people, on leaving 
Egypt, were separated from a nation that worship- 
ped the 6un, the moon, and the stars. I might prove 
it by various documents of antiquity. A passage of 
Diodorus of Sicily, shall suffice : ^^ The ancient 
Egyptians, (he says,) struck with the beauty of the 
universe, thought it owed its origin to two eternal 
divinities, that presided over all the others : the one 



on the Sahhath'Day. 161 

was the mka^ to whom they gave the name of Osiris ; 
the other was the moon, to whom they gave the name 
of Isis.'* God, to preserve his people from these 
errors, instituted a festival which sapped the whole 
system, and which avowedly contemplated every 
creature of the universe, as the production of the Su«* 
preme Being. And this may be the reason, why 
Moses remarked to the Jews on leaving Egypt, that 
God renewed the institution of the Sabbath. The 
passage I have in view is in the fifth chapter of Deu- 
teronomy. Remember that thou wast a servant in 
the land of Egypty and the Lord thy Ood brought 
thee out, therefore he commandeth thee to keep his 
SabbaOi. 

We must consequently regard the Sabbath*day as 
a high avowal of the Jews of their detestation of idol* 
atry, and of their ascribing to God alone the origin 
of the universe. An expression of Ezekiel is to the 
same effect : he calls the Sabbath a sigi^ between 
God, and his people : / gave them my StiAbathSy to ^ 
be a sign between me and them, that they might know 
that I am Ae Lord that sanctify them. Ezek. xx. 12. 
It is for this very reason, that the prophets declaim so 
strongly against the violation of the Sabbath : it is 
for the same reason that God commanded it to be 
observed with so high a sanction : it is for the same 
reason that the Sabbath-breakers were so rigorously 
punished, even that one for gathering a bundle of 
sticks, was stoned by the people. The law express- 
ly enjoins that those who profane the festival shall be 
awfully anathematized. The passage is very re- 
markable. Ye shall therefore keep the Sabbath ; for 

VOL. VIII. 21 



162 On FestivaJsy and 

it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall 
surely be put to death ; for whosoever doeth any work 
therein, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his 
people. Exod. xxxi. 14. This expression asserts 
with the great anathema, which was always followed 
by death. But whence proceed^so many cautions, so 
many^ rigours, so many threatenings, so many promis- 
es ? You cannot account for them, if the Sabbath be 
displaced from the positive injunctions of the Hebrew 
code. 

3. God was wishful to promote humanity. With 
that view he . prescribed repose to the servants and 
handmaids.; that is, to domestics and slaves. Look 
on the situation of slaves : it is as oppressive as that 
of the beasts. They saw no termination of their ser- 
vitude but after the expiration of seven years : and 
it might happeq, that their masters seeing the servi- 
tude ^bout to expire, would become more rigorous, 
with a view to indemnify themselves beforehand for 
, the services they were about to lose. It was requi- 
site to remind them, that God interests himself for 
men whose condition was so abject and oppressive. 
This reminds me of a fine passage in Plato, who 
says, *^ that the gods, moved by the unhappy situation 
of slaves, have instituted the sacred festivals to pro- 
cure them relaxation from labour."* And Cicero says 
'^ that the festivals are destined to suspend the dis- 
putes between freemen, and the la,bours of slaves. "i* 
For the motives of humanity, it is subjoined in the 
precept, Thou shalt do no manner of work ^ neither 
thoUy nor thine oXy nor thine ass. 

* De leglbus Hb. 2. iDt Yegibuf. 



on the SahbatJi-Day. 163 

I may here put the same question that St. Paul 
once put to the Corinthians, Doth God take care for 
oxenf Hioy but there is a constitutional sympathy, 
without which the heart is destitute of compassion. 
So is the import of a text in St. John. No man hath 
seen Ood at any time : if we love one another, God 
dwelleth in us, and his loee is perfect in us. — If any 
man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a 
liar. For he that loveth not his brother tchom he hath 
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? 
There is here an apparent defect in the argumenta- 
tion, because the faults we may see in our brother, 
may obstruct our attachment, which cannot be the 
case with regard to God. But the apostle's meaning 
was,, that if an object striking the senses, as our 
brother, does not excite affection, we cannot love an 
object that is abstract as the Divine Nature. Now, 
those are habitually cruel to animals, are generally 
less tender, and they insensibly lose that constitution- 
al syn^pathy which produces the affection of the heart 
and the mind. This constitutional sympathy excites 
in us a painful impression, that on seeing a wounded 
man, we are spontaneously moved to succour the af- 
flicted. This sympathy is excited not only by the 
sight of a man, but also by the sight of a beast when 
treated with cruelty. Hence, on habituating ourr 
selves to be cruel to anima|s, w^ do violence to our 
feelings, harden the heart, and extinguish the sympa- 
thy of nature. Ah ! how suspicious should we be of 
virtues merely rational, and unconnected with the 
heart. They are more noble indeed, but they are not 
so sure. We may also remark, that those employed 



164 On Festivals ^ and 

in slaughtering animals, are often wanting in tender- 
ness and affection. And this very notion illustrates 
several of the Mosaic laws, which appear at first des- 
titute of propriety, but which are foundnd on what 
we have just said. Such is the law which prohibits 
eating of things strangled ; such is the law on find- 
ing a bird's nest, which forbids our. taking the dam 
with the young: such also is that where God forbids 
our seething a kid in his mothefs milk. Gen. ix. 4. 
Deut. xxii. 6, 7. Exod. xxiii. 19. In the last, some 
have thought that God was wishful to fortify the Jews 
against a superstitious custom of the heathens, who, 
after having gathered the fruits of the vilie, seethed a 
Ipd in his mother's milk, and then sprinkled the milk 
to Bacchus, that he might cruelly kill this animal 
which presumes to brouse on the vine consecrated to 
the God. But I doubt, whether from all the ancient 
authors they can adduce a passage demonstrative that 
this species of superstition was known to subsist in the 
time of Moses. This difiiculty is^obviated by the ex- 
plication I propose : besides, it excites humanity by 
enjoying compassion to animals ; a duty inculcated 
by the heathens. The Phrygians were prohibited 
from killing an ox that trod out the com. The judg- 
es of the Areopagus exiled a boy, who had plucked 
out the eyes of a living owl ; and they severely pun- 
ished a man who had roasted a bull alive. The duty 
of humanity is consequently the third motive of the 
institution of the Sabbath. Hereby God recalled to 
the recollection of the Jews the situation in which 
they had been placed in the land of Egypt. The 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy Ood,^^ 



on the Sabbaih-Day. 165 

that thy man-servant, and thy matd-servant may rest 
M well as thou. And remember that thou wast a ser-' 
pant in the land, of Egypt j and that the Lord thy God 
brought thee ^ence, through a mighty hand and out'' 
stretched arm : therefore the Lord thy Ood command* 
eA thee to keep the Sabbath-day. Deut. v. 14, 15. 

4. Iq a word, the design of God in the histitution 
of the Sabbath, was to recal to the minds of men the 
recollection of their original equality : he requires 
masters and servants alike to abstain from labour, so 
as in some sort to confound the diversity of their con- 
ditions, and to abate that pride, of which superior 
rank is so common a source. 

There, was among the heathens one festival very 
singular, which they call the Saturnalia. It was one 
of the most ancient festivals of paganism. Macro- 
Bius affirms, that it was celebrated iiti Greece long 
before the foundation of Rome. The masters gave 
the servants a treat ; they placed them at their own 
table, and clothed them in their own raiment. The 
heathens say, that this festival was instituted by King 
Janus, to commemorate the age of Saturn, when men 
were equal, and unacquainted with the distinctions of 
rank and fortune. The institution wa^ highly proper, 
being founded on fact, and it may serve as an illus- 
tration of our text. 

God, in recalling to men the original equality of 
their condition, apprised them in what consisted the 
true excellence of man. It is not in the difference 
of rank, or what is called fortune. It consists in be- 
ing men : it consists in the image of God, after which 



166 Oh Festivals y . af\d 

we were made : and consequently, the humblest of 
men made in his image, are entitled to respect. 

This important reflection, I would inculcate on 
imperious masters, who treat their domestics as the 
brutes destitute of knowledge. We must not, I 
grant, disturb the order of society : the scriptures 
suppose the diversity of conditions. Hence they pre- 
scribe the duties of masters to their servants, and the 
duties of servants to their ihasters. But rank cannot 
sanction that haughty and distant carriage. Do you 
know what you do in mauling those in whom certain 
advantages has placed in your power ? You degrade 
yourselves ; you renounce your proper dignity ; and 
in assuming an extraneous glory, you seem but lightr 
ly to esteem that which is natural. I have said, that 
the glory of man does not consist in riches, nor in 
royalty, but in the excellence of his nature, in the 
image of God, after which he was made, and in the 
immortality to whith he aspires. If you despise your 
servants, you do not derive your dignity from these 
sources, but from your exterior condition ; for, if you 
derived it from the sources I have noticed, you would 
respect the persons committed to your care. — This 
may suffice for the reasons of the institution of the 
Sabbath, \et us say a word on the manner in which 
it must be celebrated. 

2. On this subject, the less enlightened rabbins 
have indulged their superstition more than on any 
other. . Having distorted the idea of the day, they 
would ascribe to the Sabbath the power of conferring 
dignity on inanimate creatures : they even assign this 
reason, that God prohibited their offering him any 



on the Sabbath^Day. 167 

victim not a week old ; and circumcising their chil- 
dren till that titAe ; they assign, I say, this reason, 
that no creature could be worthy to be offered to him, 
till he had first been consecrated by a Sabbath ! 

They have distorted also the obligation imposed 
upon them of ceasing from labour. The rabbins 
have reduced to thirty-nine heads whatever they pre- 
sume to be forbidden on that day. Each of those 
heads includes the minutitB^ and not only the minu- 
tiaa, and things directly opposed to the happiness of 
society, but also to the spirit of the precept. Some 
have even scrupled to defend their own lives on that 
day against their enemies. Ptolomy L«agus, and 
Pompey after him, at the seige of Jerusalem^ availed 
themselves of this superstition. Antiochus Epi- 
phanes perpetrated an action still more cruel and vile. 
He pursued the Jews to the caves, whither they had 
fled to hide from his vengeance. There, on the Sab- 
bath-day, they suffered themselves to be slaughtered 
as beasts, without daring either, to defend themselves^ 
or even to secure the entrance of their retreat. 

Some others, the Dositheans, a branch of the Sa- 
maritans, imposed a law of abiding the whole day in 
whatever place they were found by the Sabbath. We 
recollect the stqry of the Jew, who having fallen into 
an unclean place, refused to be taken out on the Sab- 
bath-day ; as also the decision of the Bishop of Sax- 
ony on that point, who, after knowing his scruple, 
condemned him to remain there the whole of the 
Sunday also, it being just that the Christian Sabbath 
should be observed with the same sanctity as he had 
observed the Jewish. 



168 On fhsHvak, and 

They have likewise cast a gloom pa the joy which 
the faithful should cherish on this holy day. It is a 
fact, that some of them fasted to the close of the day: 
to this custom the Emperor Augustus alludesi when 
having remained a whole day without meat^ he wrote 
to Tiberias, that a, Jew did not better observe the fast 
of the Sabbath, than he had observed it that day. 
But the greater number espoused the of^site side, 
and under a presumption that the prqphet promised 
the divine approbation to those that make the Sabbath 
their delighty they took the greater precaution to 
avoid whatever might make them sad. They im-* 
posed a law to make three meals that day. They re- 
garded fasting the day which preceded, and follow- 
ed the Sabbath, as a cHme, lest it should disturb 
the joy. They allowed more time for sleep than on 
the other days of the week ; they had fine dresses 
for the Sabbath ; they reserved the best food, and 
the most delicious wines to honour the festival : this 
is what they called making the Sabbath a delight! 
This induced Plutarch to believe that they celebrated 
this festival in honour of Bacchus, and that the word 
Sabbath was derived from the Greek sabazeinj a 
word appropriate to the licentious practices indulged 
in the festivals of this false god. They affirm, on not 
attaining the sublime of devotion, that the cause is a 
deficiency of rejoicing. They evep presume, that 
this joy reaches to hell^ and that the souls of Jews 
condemned . to its torments, have a respite on the 
Sabbath-day. Evident it is, that all those notions 
and licentious customs have originated from an ima- 
ginary superstition, and not from the word of God. 



on Ae Sabbath^Day. 169 

Instead of the whlmsk^al notions they had imbibed, 
God required a conduct consonant to the injunctions 
of his law. The import of the .phnipe, doing thy own 
pleaswe on my holy day ; is, that thou follow not thy 
own caprice in the notions thou hast formed of reli- 
gion, but what I myself have prescribed. 

Instead of the imaginary excellence they attributed 
to the Sabbath, God required them to reverence it 
because it was a sign of communion with him ; be^ 
cause in approaching him on this day, they became 
more lioly ; because they then renewed their vows, 
and became more and more detached from idolatry ; 
and in fine, because on this day they became devot* 
ed to his worship in a peculiar manner. This is the 
import of the expression, it is holy to the Lord; I 
would say, it is distinguished, it is separated from 
the other days of the week, for the duties of religion. 

Instead of this rigorous Sabbath, God required a 
cessation from all kinds of labour, which would tend 
to interrupt their meditations on all the marvels he 
had wrought for their country. He* especially re* 
quired that the^ should abstain frdm travelling long 
journies ; so is the gloss which some have given to 
the words. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sab^ 
baihj though, perhaps, withdrawing the foot from the 
Sabbath is a metaphorical expression for ceasing to 
profane it. But withal, they were allowed to do 
works of mercy, whether divine, or for the preserva-^ 
tion of life. Hence the maxim of their wiser men, 
that Ae dangers of life superseded the Sabbath. And 
the celebrated Maimonides has decided the lawful- 
ness of the Jews besieging and defending cities on 

VOL. VIII. . 22 



170 On JFkstivaUy and 

the Sabbath-*day. We see likewise in the history of 
the Maccabees, that Matthias and his sons defended 
themselves with insolation on that day. Besides, 
they were always allowed to walk what is called a 
Sabbath-day^ 8 journey ; that is, two thousand cubits, 
the distance between the cainp and the tabernacle^ 
while they were in the desert : every Jew being ob- 
liged to attend the divine service, 'it was requisite 
that this walk should be allowed.* This was the di- 
vine worship, which above all objects .must engross 
their heart, and especially, the reading of God's 
word. This, perhaps, is the import of the phrase^ 
which excites a very different idea in. our version, nor 
speaking thine own wordsj which may be read, that 
thou mayest attach thyself to the word. 

8. It remains to consider the promise connected 
witK the observation of the Sabbath. J%en thou 
shaU delight Myself in the Lordj and I will cause thee 
to ride upon the high places of ike earth ; and feed 
thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. This 
promise is susceptible of a double import, the one 
literal, the other spiritual. 

The literal refers to temporal prosperity ; it is 
couched in figures consonant to the^oriental style, and 
particularly to the prophetic. The high places of the 
earthy are/those of Palestine ; so called, because it is 
a mountainous country. The idea of our prophet 
coincides with what Moses has said in the xxxiid 
chapter of Deuteronomy. He has made him to ride 

* From UiQ centre, the pl^ce of tiie Tabernacle, to the extremities of a 
camp of three mUiions of people could DOt be lest than foar or five milei. 
nenee the prohibition of joumies of plearare, and unholy diversioiif, letmi 
to have been the abject of the preeept. 



on Oe Sahhaih^Day. 171 

upon ike high places of the earth : or to ride on horse-' 
back, M in our text, which implies the surmountitig 
of the greatest difficulties. Henceifprod's promise to 
those who shall observe his Sabbath, of riding on thid 
high places of the earth, imports that they should have 
a peaceful residence in the land of Canaan. 

Plenty is joined to peace in 4he words which foU 
low : / fffiU feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thjf 
father. Here is designated the abundance which the 
descendants of the patriisirch should enjoy in the 
promised land. Som6 presume that the name of Ja- 
cob is here mentioned in preference of Abraham, be<» 
cause Jacob had a peculiar reverence for the Sab- 
bath-day. They say, that Isaiah here refers to an 
occurrence in the patriarch's life. It is recorded in 
the xxxiiid of Genesis, that Jacob, coming from 
Padan-aram, encamped before the city of Shechem t 
and they contend, that it was to hallow the Sabbath, 
which intervened during his march. Reverie of the 
rabbins. The promises made to Abraham, and 
Isaac, respecting the promised land, were renewed 
to Jacob ; hence it migfit as well be called ^e heri^ 
tage of Jacobs as the heritage of Abraham* This is 
the literal sense of my text. 

It has also a spiritual sense, which some interpre- 
ters have sought in this phrase, the high places of the 
earth. They think it means the abode of the bless- 
ed. Not wishful to seek it in the expression, we 
shall find it in the nature of the object. What wad 
this heritage of Jacob 9 Was it only Canaan proper- 
ly so called ? This St. Paul denies in the i^ith chap- 
ter of the epistle to the Hebrews. Speaking of the 



172 On FesHvahj and 

faith of the patriarchs, he pofdtively asserts, that the 
promised land was not its priocipal object. The 
heritage o/* /aco^iaccording to the apostle, is a coun- 
try better than that which the patriarchs had left ; 
Aat iSy a heavenly country. This is the heritage of 
which the expiring patriarch hoped to acquire the 
possession ; and of which he said in his last moments, 
O Oody I haw waited far thy mlmii&n. Gen. xlix. 
18. This Jerusalem, the apostle calls a high place, 
the Jerusalem which is above ^ not because it is situate 
on the mountains, but because it really is above the 
region of terrestrial things. This is the Jerusalem 
which is the mother of us all, and to wjiich the 
claims of Christians are not less powerful than the 
Jews. 

This induces us, my brethren, to consider the text 
in regard to Christians, as we have considered it in 
regard to Jews. Perhaps you have secretly re- 
proached us, during the course of this sermon, with 
having consumed, in less instructive researches, the 
limits of our time. But, my brethren, if you com- 
plain of the remote reference which the subject has 
to your state, I fear, I do fear, you will murmur 
against what follows, as touching you too closely. I 
said in the beginning, that it was the dreadful excess 
into which we are plunged ; the horrible profanation 
of the Sabbath, a profanation which has so long and 
so justly reproached us, which determined me on the 
choice of this text. We proceed therefore to some 
more pointed remarks, which shall close this dis* 
coarse. 



on the Sabbath'Day. 173 

n. The whole is reduced to two questions, in 
which we are directly concerned. First , are Christ- 
ians obliged to observe a day of %est ; and secondly j 
in these provinces, in this church, is that day cele- 
brated, I do not say with all the sanctity it requires, 
but only, is it observed with the same reverence as 
in the rest of the Christian world, and even in places 
the most corrupt ? 

1. Are Christians obliged to observe a day of rest? 
This question was debated in the primitive church, 
and the subject has been resumed in our own age. 
Some of the ancient and of the modem divines have 
maintained, not only that the obligation is imposed 
on Christians, but that the fourth commandment of 
the law ought to be observed in all its rigour. Hence, 
in the first ages, some have had the same respect for 
Saturday as for. Sunday. Gregory Nyssianzen calls 
these two days two companions, for which we should 
cherish an equal respect. The constitutions of Cle- 
ment enjoin both these festivals to be observed in the 
church; the Sabbath-day in honour of the creation, 
and the Lord's-day, which exhibits to our view the 
resurrection of the Saviour of the world. 
, We have ho design, my brethren, to revive those 
controvendes, this part of our discourse being design- 
ed for your edification. You are not accused of want- 
ing respect for the Saturday, but for the day that fol- 
lows. Your defect is not a wish to observe two Sab- 
baths in the week, but a refusal to observe one. It is 
then sufiicient to prove, that Christians are obliged to 
observe pne day in the week, and that day is the first. 



174 . ^ Feitivalsj and 

This is apparent from four considerations I proceed 
to nanote. 

JPirit, from the niture of the institution. It is a 
general maxim^ that whatever morality was contained 
in the Jewish ritual ; that whatever was calculated 
to strengthen the bonds of our communion with God, 
to reconcile us to our neighbour, to inspire us with 
holy thoughts, was obligatory on the Christian ; and 
more so^than on the Jews, in proportion as the New 
CSovenant surpasses the Old in excellence. Apply 
this maxim to our subject. The precept under dis* 
eussion has a ceremonial aspect, assortable to the 
circumstances in which the ancient church were plac« 
ed. The selection of the seventh day, the rigours of 
its sanctity, and its designs to supersede the idola-* 
trotts customs of Egypt, were peculiar to the ancient 
church, and purely ceremonial ; and in that view, not 
binding to the Christian. But the necessity of hav- 
ing one day in seven consecrated ta the worship of 
God, to study the grand truths of religion, to make a 
public profession of faith, to give relaxation to serv-^ 
ants, to confound all distinction of rank in our con- 
gregations, to acknowledge that we are all brethren, 
that we are equal in the sight of God who there pre- 
sides ; all these are not comprised in the ritual, they 
are wholly moral. 

2. We have proofe in the New-Testament, that 
the first day of the week was chosen of God to suc- 
ceed the seventh. This day is called in the Revela- 
tion the Lord'S'day, by way of excellence, chap. i« 
10. It is said in the xxth chapter of the book ^ of 
Acts, that the apostles came together on the first day 



on the Sabba^Day. 175 

of Ae week to break bread. And St Paul, writing 
to the Corinthians to lay by on the first day of the 
week what each had designed ftt charity, sanctiotft 
the Sunday to be observed instead of the Saturday, 
seeing the Jews, according to the testimony of Philo, 
and Josephus, had been accustomed to make the coU 
lections, and receive the tenths in the synagogues to 
carry to Jerusalem.* 

3. On this subject, we have likewise authehtio 
documents of antiquity. Pliny, the younger, in his 
letter to the Emperor Trajan concerning the Christ- 
ians, says, that they set apart one day for devotion, 
and it is indisputable that he means the Sunday. 
Justin Martyr in his ApoI(^ies, and in his letter to 

* Saubiit is here brief on the reasons assigned for the change of the Sab* 
bath, from the seventh to the first day of the week* The reader, however, 
may see them at large in the second volume of Dr. Lightfoot's works, and ia 
the works of Mr. Mede. They are in substance as follow ; that the Son of 
Man is Lord of the Sabbath ; and Uie Supreme Lawgiver of his church. He 
has not only changed the Old Covenant for the New, but he has superseded 
the shadows of the ritual law for the realities ; baptism for circumcision, and the 
holy supper for the passover. The Sabbath was first instituted to coafflemorato 
the creation ; and the redemption is viewed 'at large as a new creation. Jmu Ixt. 
The institution was renewed to commemorate the emancipation from Egypt; 
how much more then should it be enforced to commemorate the redemption of 
the world ? To disregard it would apparently implicate us in a disbelief of this 
redemption. Moses, who renewed the Sabbath, was faithful as a servant, but 
Christ, who changed it, is the Son, and Lord of all. The Sabbath was the 
birthrday of the Lord of Glory : *' Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten 
thee.'' Pf 0. ii. It was not less so the birth-day of our hope : God hath begoU 
ten us again unto a Uvtly hope by the resurruiion of Jesut Christ from tho dead* 
1 Pet. i. S, And this was the day in which he l>egan his glorious reign. Ha 
then affirmed, that AU power wu given unto him in heaven and earth. Matt. 
xxviH. 18. And how could the church rejoice while the Lord wu enveloped 
in the tomb ? But on the morning of the resurrection, it was said by the Father 
to the Son, Thy dead men Aedl Itoe.— The Son replies, Together wiih miy dead 
body thaUihey arise I Awake^ and sing^ ye that dwell in dust, Isa. xxvi. 19. 
This is the day the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psa» 
cimU.24. 



t • 



176 .0/1 Festivals, and. * 

Denis, pastor of Corinth, bears the same testimony. 
The Emperor Constantine made severe laws against 
^tiiose who did not sanctify the Sabbath. These laws 
were renewed by Theodosius, by Yalentinian, by 
Arcadius '; for, my brethren, these Emperors did 
confine their duties to the extension of tradfe, the de- 
fence of their country, and to the establishment of 
politics as the supreme law ; they thought themselves 
obliged to maintain the laws of Qt>d, and to render 
religion venerable ; and they reckoned that the best 
barriers of a state were the fear of Qod, and a zeal 
for his service. They issued severe edicts to enforce 
attendance on devotion, and to prohibit profane, sports 
on this day. The second council of Macon,* held in 
the year 585, and the second of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
held in 836, followed by their canons the same line 
of duty. 

But the grand reason for consecrating one day in 
seven arises (rom ourselves, from the infinity of dissi- 
pations which waste the ordinary course of life. Tax 
your conscience with the time you spend in devotion 
when alone. Do we not know ; do we not see ; do 
we not learn on ail sides, how your days are spent ? 
Do we not know how those grave men live, who, 
from a notion of superior rank, think themselves ex- 
cused from examing their conscience, and attending 
to the particulars of religion ? Do we not know how 
that part of mankind live, who apparently have aban- 
doned the care of their soul to care for their body, 
to dsess and undress, to visit and receive visits, to 

* l/iicoUf MatUeo, is situate 40 miles oorth of Lyons, and was a depot of the 
Bomans. JhitteU ^Dkt. idO%. . 



on the ScMath^Day. 177 

play both night and day, and thus to render diver-* 
sions, JBome of which might be innocent as recreations, 
if used with moderation, to render them, I say, 
criminal by the loss of time ? Is it solitude, is it read-* 
ing God's word which excite those reveries which 
constantly fl6at in your brain ; and those extrava- 
gancies of pleasures whereby you seem to have as- 
sumed the task of astonishing the church by the 
amusement you afford to some, and the offence you 
give to others ? It was, therefore, requisite that there 
should be one day destined to stdp the torrent, {o re- 
cal your wandering thoughts, and to present to your 
view those grand truths, which so seldom occur in the 
ordinary pursuits of life. 

These remarks may suffice for the illustration of 
the first question, whether Christians are obliged to 
observe ^one day in seven : our second inquiry is^ 
whether this day is celebrated in these provinces, I do 
not say as it ought; but, at least, is it celebrated 
with the same decency as in the most corrupt parts 
of the Christian world ? 

Ah ! my brethren, must every duty of Christianity 
suggest occasion to complain of your conduct, and 
furnish impeachments for your condemnation ? I look 
round for one trait in morality, of which we have 
nothing but applause to bestow, and of which we may 
say, go on, go on ; that is well done. Blessed is that 
servant, whom when his Lord cometh he shaU find so 
doing. I look for one period in your life in which I 
may find you Christians in reality, as you are in name. 
I watch you for six days in the bustle of business, 
and I find you haughty, proud, voluptuous, selfish, 

VOL. VIII. 23 



( 



\ 



I 

1 



f 

■ ( 



178 On Festivahy and 

and refractory to every precept of the gospel. — Per- 
haps on this hallowed day you shall be found irre- 
proachable ; perhaps, satisfied with giving to the 
world the six days of the week, you will cpnsecrate 
to the Lord the one which is so peculiarly devoted to 
him. But, alas ! this day, this very da^ is spent as 
the others ; the same pursuits, the same tl)iOughts, the 
same pleasures, the same employments, the same in- 
temperance ! 

In other places, they observe the exterior, at least. 
The libertine suspends his pleasures, the workmen 
quit their trades, and the shops are shut : and each 
is accustomed to attend some place of worship. But 
how many among us, very far from entering iiito the 
spirit and temper of Christianity, are negligent of its 
exterior decencies ! 

How scandalous to see on the Sabbath, the artifi- 
cer publicly employed at his work, profaning this 
hallowed festival by his common trade ; wasting the 
hours of devotion in mechanical labours ; and defy- 
ing, at the same time, both the precepts of religion, 
and the institutions of the church ! 

How scandalous to see persons of rank, of age, of 
character, be, I do not say whole weeks, I do not say 
whole months, but whole years, without once enter- 
ing these churches, attending our devotion, and par- 
ticipating of our sacraments ! 

How scandalous that this Sabbath is the very day 
marked by some for parties, and festivity in the high- 
est style ! How scandalous to see certain concourses 
of people ; certain doors open ; and certain flambeaux 
lighted : those who have heard a report that, you are 



on the Sahhath-'Day. 179 

Christians, expect to find you in the houses of pray- 
er : but what is their astonishment to ^see that those 
houses are the rendezvous of pleasure ! / 

And what rayst we think of secret devotion, when 
the public is so ill discharged ? How shall we per- 
suade ourselves that you discharge the more difficult, 
duties of religion when those that are most easy are 
neglected ? Seeing you do not sufficiently reverence 
religion to forego certain recreations, how can we 
think that you discharge the duties of self-denial, of 
crucifying the old man, of mortifying concupiscence, 
and of all the self-abasement, which religion requires? 

What mortifies us most, and what obliges us to 
form an awful opinion on this conduct is, that we see 
its principle.— Its principle, Do you ask, my breth- 
ren ? It is, in general, that you have very little re- 
gard for religion ; and this is the most baneful source, 
from which our vices spring. When a man is aban- 
doned to a bad habit ; when he is blinded by a cer- 
tain passion ; when he is hurried away with a throng 
of desire, he is then highly culpable, and he has the 
justest cause of alarm, if a hand, an immediate hand 
be not put to the work of reformation. In this case, 
one may presume, that he has, notwithstanding, a 
certain respect for the God he offends. One may 
presume, that though he neglect to reform, he, at 
least, blames his conduct ; and that if the charm 
weire once dissolved, truth would resume her original 
right, and that the motives of virtue would be felt in 
all their force. But when a man sins by principle ; 
when he slights religion ; when he regards it as a 
matter of indifference; what resource of salvation 



180 On Festivals f and 

have we then to hope ? This, with many of you, is 
the leading fault. The proofs are but too recent, and 
too numerous. You have been often reproached with 
it, and if I abridge this point, it is not through a de- 
ficiency, but a superabundance of evidence which ob- 
liges me to do it. And mean while, What, alas ! is 
this fortune ; what is this prosperity ; what is the 
most enviable situation in life ; what is all this that 
pleases, and enchants the soul, when it is not religion 
which animates and governs the whole ? 

Ah ! my brethren ! to what excess do you extend 
your corruption ? What then is the time you would 
devote to piety ? When will you work for your souls ? 
We conjure you by the bowels of Jesus Christ, who 
on this day finished the work of your salvation, that 
you return to recollection. When we enforce, in gen- 
eral, the necessity of holiness, we are lost in the mul- 
titude of your duties, and having too many things to 
practise, you often practise none at all. But here is 
one particular point ; here is a plain precept. Re-' 
member the Sabbath-day. 

A mournful necessity induces us, my brethren, to 
exhort you to estimate the privilege God affords you 
of coming to his house, of pouring out your souls in- 
to his bosom, and of invigorating your love. 

Ah! poor Christians, whom Babylon encloses in 
her walls, how are you to conduct yourselves in the 
discharge of those duties ! O that God, wearied with 
the strokes inflicted upon you, would turn away from 
his indignation ! O that the barriers which prohibit 
your access to these happy climates were removed f 
O that your hopes, so often illusive, were but gratifi- 



\ 



on the Sabbaih^Day. 181 

ed. I mean to see you, runiiing in crowds : I seem to 
see the fallen rise again ; and our confessors, more 
grateful for their spiritual, than their temporal liberty, 
come tp distinguish their zeal. But these are things 
as yet, hid from your eyes. 

O my God ; and must thy church still be a deso- 
lation in all the earth ? Must it in one place be rav- 
aged by the tyrant, and in another seduced by the 
tempter, an enemy more dangerous than the tyrants, 
and more cruel than the heathen ? Must our brethren 
at the gallies still be deprived of the Sabbath, and 
must we, by the profanation of this day, force thee to 
visit us, as thou hast visited them ? Let us prevent so 
great a calamity ; let us return to ourselves ; let us 
hallow this august day ; let us reform our habits ; and 
let us tnake the Sabbath our delight. 

It is requisite that each should employ the day in 
contemplating the works of nature ; but especially 
the Works of grace ; and like the cherubim inclined 
toward the ark, that each should make unavailing 
efforts to see the bottom, and trace the dimensions, 
the length and breadthy the depth and height of the 
love of God, which passeth all knowledge. Eph. iii. 19. 

It is requisite, that our churches should be crowded 
with assiduous, attentive, and well-disposed hearers ; 
that Gpd should there hear the vows, that we are his 
people, his redeemed, and that we wish the Sabbath 
to be a sign between us and him^ as it was to the Is- 
raelites. 

It is requisite, on entering this place, that we 
should banish from our mind all worldly thoughts.^ — 
Business, trade, speculations, grandeur, pleasure, 



182 On Festii)alsy and 

you employ me sufficiently during the week, allow 
me to give the Sabbath to God. Pursue me not to 
hijs temple ; and let not the flights of incommoding 
birds disturb my sacrifice. 

It is requisite at the close of worship, that each 
should be recollected, that he should meditate on 
what he has heard, and that the company with whom 
he associates should assist- him to practise, not to 
eradicate the truths from his mind. 

It is requisite that the heads t>f houses should call 
their children, and their servants together, and ask 
them, What have you heard ? What have you un- 
derstood ? What faults have you reformed ? What 
steps have you taken ? What good resolutions have 
you* formed ? 

It is requisite wholly to dismiss all those secular 
cares and servile employments which have occupied 
us during the week ; not that holiness consists in 
mere abstinence, and in the observance of that pain- 
ful minutidB ; but in a more noble and exalted prin- 
ciple. It is, no doubt, the obtrusion of a galling yoke, 
that we who are made in the image of God, and have 
an immortal soul, should be compelled, di^ring the 
whole of this low and groveling life, to follow some 
trade, some profession, or some labour by no means 
assortable with the dignity of man. So is our calam- 
ity. But it is requisite, at least, it is highly requisite 
that one day in the week we should remember our 
origin, and turn our minds to things which are 
worthy of their excellence. It is requisite, that one 
day in the week we should rise superior to sensible 
objects ; that we should think of God, of heaven, and 



k 



on the Sabhath'Day. 183 

of eternity ; that we should repose, if I may so speak, 
from the violence which must be don^ to ourselves to 
be detained on earth for six whole days. O blessed 
God, when shall the times of refreshing come, in which 
thou wilt supersede labour, and make thy children 
f|illy free ? Acts iii. 21. When shall we enter the rest 
that remaineth for thy people ? Heb. iv. 9. in which 
we shall be wholly absorbed in the contemplation of 
thy beauty, we shall resemble thee in holiness and 
happiness, because we shall see thee as thou arty and 
thou thyself shalt be all in all ? Amen. 



\ 

\ 



SERMON Vn. 



Tke Calamities of Europe. 



>mtm< 



Luke xiii. 1 — 5. 

There were present at that season j one that told him 
of ike OalUeans^ whose blood Pilate had mingled 
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering^ said 
unto them J suppose ye that these Galileans were 
sinners above aU the GalileanSy because they suffer^ 
ed such things ? / tell yoUj nay ; but, except ye re- 
pent, ye shall all likewise perish. On those eighteen 
upon whom the tower in Siloamfell, and slew thent^ 
think ye that they were sinners above all that dwelt 
in Jerusalem ? I tell you, nay : but, except ye re^ 
pent J ye shaU all likewise perish. 

J HAVE cut off the nations, I have made their towers 
desolate, I have sapped the foundation of their cities ; 
I said, surely thou shalt receive instruction, so that thy 
dwelling shall not be cut off. Zeph. iii. 6^ 7. This 
instructive caution God once published by the minis- 
try of Zephaniah. And did it regard that age alone, 
or was it a pri^hecy for future times ? Undoubtedly, 
ufty brethren, it regarded the Jews in the prophet's 
time. They saw every where around them extirmi- 
nated nations, fortresses in ruins, villages deserted, 
VOL. VIII. 24 



186 Calamities of Europe. 

and cities sapped to the foundation. The judgments 
of God had fallen, not only on the idolatrous nations^ 
but the ten tribes had been overwhelmed. The Jews, 
instead of receiving instruction^ followed the crimes 
of those whom God had cut off, and involved them- 
selves in the same calamities. 

And if these words were adapted to that age, how 
strikingly, alas ! are they applicable to our own ! 
What do we see around us ? Nations exterminated, 
villages deserted, and cities sapped to the foundation. 
The visitations of God are abroad in Europe ; we are 
surrounded with them ; and are they not intended, I 
appeal to your Conscience, for our instruction ? But 
let us not anticipate the close of this discourse. We 
propose to show you in what light we ought to view 
the judgments which God inflicts on the human kind. 
You have heard the words of our text. We shall 
stop but a moment to mark the occasion, and direct 
the whole of our care to enforce their principal de- 
sign. After having said a word respecting the Gali-^ 
leans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices ; 
and respecting the dreadful fall of this tower which 
crushed eighteen persons under its ruins, we shall en- 
deavour to examine, 

I. The misguided views with which mankind re- 
gard the judgments God openly inflicts upon their 
neighbours. 

II. The real light in which those judgments ought 
to be considered. The first of these ideas we shall 
illustrate on the occasion of the tragic accidents men- 
tioned in the text, which was reported to Jesus 
Christ. The second, we shall illustrate on occasion 



\ 



Calamities of Europe. 187 

of the answer of Jesus Christ himself ; Suppose ye 
that these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali^ 
leans ? Suppose ye that those eighteen were sinners 
above all that dwelt in Jerusalem ? 1 tell you^ nay : 
but except ye repent^ ye shall all likewise perish. Con- 
sidering the text in this view, we shall learn to avert 
the judgments of God from falling on our own heads, 
by the way in which we shall consider his visitations 
on others. God grant it. Amen. 

What was the occasion of Pilate's cruelty, and of 
the vengeance he inflicted on those Galileans ? This 
is a question difficult to determine. The most en- 
lightened commentators assure us, that they find no 
traces of it either in Jewish, or in Roman history. 
The wary Josephus, according to his custom on those 
subjects, is silent here ; and, probably, on the same 
principle which induced him to make no mention of 
the murder of the infants committed by the cruel 
Herod. 

Pilate you know in general. He was one of those 
men, whom God, in the profound secrets of his pro- 
vidence, suffers to attain the most distinguished rank, 
to execute his designs, when thev have no view but to 
gratify their own passions. He was a man, in whom 
much cruelty, joined to extreme avarice, rendered 
proper to be a rod in God's hand ; and who, follow- 
ing the passions which actuated his mind, sometimes 
persecuting the Jews to please the heathens; and 
sometimes the Christians to please the Jews, sacrific- 
ed the finisher of our faith, and thus after troubling 
the synagogue, he became the tyrant of both the 
churches. 



188 Calamities of Europe. 

Perhaps, the vengeance he executed on the Gali- 
leans was not wholly without a cause. Here is what 
some have conjectured upon this narrative. Gauloii^ 
was a town of Galilee ; here a certain Judas was 
bom, who on that accQunt was surnamed the Gau- 
lonite, of whom we have an account in the fifth chap- 
ter of the book of the Acts.+ This man was natur- 
ally inclined to sedition. He cofiimunicated the 
spirit of revolt to his family, from his family to the 
city, from the city to the province, and from the pro- 
vince to all Judea. He had the art of catching the 
Jews by their passions, I would say, by their love of 
liberty. He excited them to assert their rights, to 
maintain their privileges, to throw off the yoke the 
Romans wished to impose, and to withhold the tri- 
bute. He succeeded in his designs ; the Jews rever- 
ed him as a patriot. But to remedy an inconsidera- 
ble evil, he involved them in a thousand disgraces. 
It has been conjectured that those whose blood was 
mingled with their sacrifices, were some of the sedi- 
tious who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the 
Passover, and of whom Pilate wished to make an ex- 
ample to intimidate others. 

What we said of Pilate's cruelty, suggested by the 
subject, is wholly uncertain ; we say the same of the 
tragic accident immediately subjoined in our text ; I 
would say, the tower of Siloam, which crushed eigh- 
teen people under its ruins. We know in general, 
that there was a fountain in Jerusalem called Siloam, 
mentioned in the ninth chapter of St. John, and in 
the eighth chapter of Isaiah. We know that this 

* Joseph, Antiq. lib. 18. c. 1. t Tbeudas, verse 56. 



Calamities of Europe. 189 

fountain was at the foot of mount Zion, as mi^ny his- 
torians have asserted. We know that it had five 
porches, as the gospel expressly affirms. We know 
several particulars of this fountain, that it was com- 
pletely dried up before the arrival of the Emperor 
Titus ; and that it . flowed not again till the com- 
mencement of the seige of Jerusalem : so we are as- 
sured by Josephus.* We know likewise, that the 
Empress Helena embellished it with various works, 
described by Nicephorus.+ We know likewise vari- 
ous superstitions to which it has given birth ; in par- 
ticular, what is said by Geoffrey de Viterbus, that 
there was near it anpther fountain called the Holy 
Vii^n, because, they say, this blessed woman drew 
water from it to wash the linen of Jesus Christ, and 
of her family. We are told also that the Turks have 
so great a veneration for it as to wash their children 
in the same water, and to perform around it various 
rituals of superstition. X But what this tower was, 
and what the cause of its fall was, we cannot discov- 
er, nor is it a matter of any importance. 

Let us make no more vain efforts to illustrate a 
subject, which would be of little advantage, though 
we could place it in the fullest lustre. Let us turn 
the whole of our attention to what is of real utility. 
We have proposed, conformably to the text, to in- 
quire, ftrsty into the erroneous light in which men 
view the judgments God inflicts on their own species ; 
and, secondly, the real light in which they ought to 
be considered. Here is in substance the subject of 

* Wars of the Jews, lib. ▼. cap. S6. t Eccles. Hist. lib. viii. cap. 20. 

t Sea Jesuit Eusebius Nieremberg de Lerrapromis, cap. 48. 



190 Calamities of Europe. . 

our discourse. Mankind regard the judgments God 
inflicts on their own species, 1. With a spirit of in- 
difference ; but Jesus Christ would thereby excite in. 
them a disposition of thought and reflection. 2. They 
regard them with a spirit of blindness ; but Jesiis 
Christ would excite in them a spirit of instruction and 
knowledge. 3. They regard them with a spirit of 
rigour to others^ and preference of themselves ; but 
Jesus Christ would excite in them a compassionate 
and humble temper. 4. They regard with an obdu- 
rate spirit ; but Jesus Christ would excite in them a 
spirit of reformation and repentance. These are 
terms, to which we must attach distinct ideas, and 
salutary instructions. If we shall sometimes recede 
from the words of Jesus Christ, it shall be to approx- 
imate ourselves more to the situation in which Provi- 
dence has now placed us. And if we shall some- 
times recede from the circumstances in which Provi- 
dence has now placed us, it shall be to approach the 
nearer to the views of Jesus Christ. 

TMe first characteristic of the erroneous disposition 
witli which we regard the judgments God inflicts on 
other men, is stupor and inattention. I do not abso- 
lutely afiirm, that they are not at all affected by the 
strokes of Providence. The apathy of the human 
xnind cannot extend quite so far. Hotv was it that 
this unheard of cruelty, could scarce impress the mind 
of those who were present ? Here are men who came 
up to Jerusalem, who came to celebrate the feast with 
joy, who designed to offer their victims to God ; but 
behold, they themselves become the victims of a ty- 
rant's fury, who mixed their blood with that of the 



Calamities of Europe. 191 

beasts they had just offered ! Here are eighteen men 
employed in raising a tower, or perhaps accidentally 
standing near it ; and behold, they are crushed to 
pieces by its fall! Just so, wars, pestilence, and 
famine, when we are not immediately, or but lightly 
involved in the calamity, make indeed a slight, though 
very superficial impression on the mind. We find, 
at most, in these events, but a temporary subject of 
conversation ; we recite them with the news of the 
day, Tliere toere present at that season^ some who told 
him of the Galileans ; but we extend our inquiries no 
farther, and never endeavour to trace the designs of 
Providence. There are men who feel no interest but 
in what immediately affects them, provided their pro- 
perty sustain no loss by the calamity of others ; pro- 
vided their happiness flow in its usual course; pro- 
vided their pleasures are not interrupted, though the 
greatest calamities be abroad in the earth, and ^ough 
God inflict before our eyes the severest strokes, to 
them, it is of no moment. Hence the first mark of 
the misguided disposition with which men regard the 
judgments of the Lord on others, is stupor and inat- 
tention. 

But how despicable is this disposition ! Do men 
live solely for themselves ? Are they capable of being 
employed about nothing but their own interests ? Are 
they unable to turn their views to the various bear- 
ings under which the judgments of God may be con- 
sidered? Every thing claims attention in these mes- 
sengers of the divine vengeance. The philosopher 
finds here a subject of the deepest speculation* 
What are those impenetrable springs, moved of God, 



192 Caiamities of Europe. 

which shake the fabric of the world, and suddenly 
convulse the face of society ? Is it the earth, wearied 
of hei: primitive fertility, which occasions barrenness 
and famine ? Or, is it some new malediction, super- 
natursUly denounced by him who renders nature 
fruitful in her ordinary course ? Is it the exhalations 
from the earth which empoison the air ; or are there 
some pernicious qualities formed in the air which 
empoison the earth ? By what secret of nature, or 
phenomenon of the Creator doe^ the contagion pass 
with the velocity of lightning from one climate to 
another, bearing on the wings of the wind the infec- 
tious breath of one pec^le to another ? The statesman 
admires here the -catastrophes of states, and the vicis- 
situdes of society. He admires how the lot of war in 
an instant raises him who was low, audi abases him 
who was high. He sees troops trained with labour^ 
levied with difl&culty, and formed with fatigue ; he 
sees them destroyed by a battle in an hour ; and 
what is more awful still, he sees them waited by dis- 
ease without being able to sell their lives, or to dip 
their hands in the enemies' blood. The dying man 
sees, in the calamities of others, the image of his own 
danger. He sees death armed at every point, and 
him that hath the power of death* moving at his 
command the winds, the waves, the tempests, the 
pestilence, the famine, and war. The Christian here 
extending his views, sees how terrible ijt is to fall into 
the hands of the living God.^ He adores that Pro- 
vidence which directs all events, and without whose 
permissioii a hair cannot fall from the head : he sees 

* Hcb. ii. U. t X. M. 



Calamities of Europe. 193 

in these calamities, messengers of the God, who 
makes flames of fire his angels ^ and muds his minis'*' 
ters* He hears the rod, and who haA appointed it.^ 
Fearing to receive the same visitations, he prepares 
to meet his &od.X He enters his closet y and hides 
himself till the indignation be overpast He saves 
himself before the decree bring forth.§ He cries as 
Israel once cried, Wherewith shall 1 come before the 
Lordj and bow myself before the high Ood.)^ Such 
are the variety of reflections *and of emotions which 
the calamities of Providence excite in an enlightened 
mind. Truths which we proceed to develope, and 
which we enumerate here solely to demonstrate the 
stupidity of this first disposition, and to oppose it by 
a spirit of recollection and seriousness, implied in our 
Saviour's.answer, and which he was wishful to excite 
in us. 

2. We have marked, in the second place, a spirit 
of blindness, and our wish to pppose it by an enlight- 
ened and well-informed disposition. When we speak 
of those who have a spirit of blindness, we do not 
mean men of contracted minds, who having received 
it from nature, are incapable of reflection ; men who 
think merely to adopt phantoms, and who talk mere- 
ly to maintain absurdities. We attack those who 
pique themselves on a: superiority y who, under a pre- 
tence of emancipating the mind from error and pre- 
judice, and of rising above the vulgar, so immerse 
themselves in error and prejudice, as to sink below 
the vulgar. Persons who have knowledge indeed; 
but professing themselves to be wise^ they become 

•Heb.i. 7. tBlio.Ti.9. { Amos iv. 1£, « Zeph, il. 2. ||Mic.vi.6. 
VOL. VMI. 25 



194 CatamUtes of Europe. 

fooh ;* .and are so mach tbe more blind, to speak as 
the scripture, because they say, we see.'^ They treat 
those as weak-headed, whom the visitations of heaven 
prompt to self-examination, who recognise the hand 
of God, and who endeavour to penetrate his designs 
in the afflictions of mankind. More occupied with 
Pilate than with him whose counsel has determined 
the conduct of Pilate ; more occupied with politics, 
than with him who holds the reins of politics, and 
more attentive to natur^ than to the God of nature, 
they refer all to second causes, they regard nature and 
politics as the universal divinities, and the arbitrators 
of all events. This is what we call a spirit of blind- 
ness. And as nothing can be more opposite to the 
design of this text, and the object of this discourse, 
we ought to attack it with all our power, and demon- 
strate another truth supposed by Jesus Christ in the 
text, not only that God is the author of all calamities, 
but that in sending them, he correctly determines 
their end. This shall appear by a few plain propo- 
sitions. 

Proposition first Either nature is nothing, or it is 
the assemblage of the beings God has created ; either 
the effects of nature are nothing, or they are the pro- 
ducts and effects of the laws by which God has ar- 
ranged, and by which he governs beings; conse- 
quently, whatever we call natural effects, and the re- 
sult of second causes, are>the work of God, and the 
effects of his established laws. This proposition is 
indisputable. One must be an Atheist, or an Epicu- 
rean to revoke it in doubt. For instance, when you 

• Rom. i. 2£. t Joha ix. 41. 



i 



Calamities of Europe. 195 

say that an earthquake is a natural effect, and that it 
proceeds from a second cause : do yoa know that 
there are under our feet subterraneous caverns, that 
those caverns are iSlIed with combustible matter, that 
those substances ignite by friction, expand, and over<- 
turn whatever obstructs their passage I Here is a na- 
tural effect; here is a second cause. But I ask ; 
who has created this earth ? Who has formed those 
creatures susceptible of ignition ? Who has establish- 
ed the laws of expansive force ? You must here con- 
fess, that either God, or chance is the author. If you 
say chance, atheism is then on the throne ; Epicurus 
triumphs ; the fortuitous concourse of atoms is estab-^ 
lished. If you say God, our proposition is proved, 
and sufficiently so ; for those that attack us here, are 
not Atheists and Epicureans ; hence, in refuting them, 
it is quite sufficient to prove, that their principle tends 
to the Epicurean and the Atheistical system. 

Proposition second. God, in forming his various 
works, and in the arrangement of his different laws, 
knew every possible effect which could result from 
them. If you do not admit this principle, you have 
no notion of the perfect Being ; an infinity of events 
would happen in the world independent of his plea- 
sure ; he would daily learn ; he would grow wiser 
with age ; and become learned by experience ! These 
are principles which destroy themselves^ and combine 
by theijr contradiction to establish our second propo- 
sition, that God, in creating his works, and in pre-» 
scribing the laws of motion^ was apprised of every 
possible effect. 



196 Calamities of Europe. 

Proposition third. God, foreseeing all those ef- 
fects, has approved of them, and determined each to 
an appropriate end. It is 'assortable to the nature of 
a Tv:ise Being to do nothing but what is consonant to 
"wisdom, nothing but what is connected willi some de- 
sign ; and to make this the distinguishing character- 
istic of the smallest, as well a» of the greatest works. 
The wisest of men are unable to follow this law, be- 
cause circumscribed in knowledge, their attention is 
confined to a narrow sphere of obiects. If a prince, 
wishful to make his subjects happy, should endeavour 
to enter into all the minutineof his kingdom, he could 
not attend to the main design; and his measures 
would tend to retard his purpose. But God, whose 
mind is infinite, who comprises in the iihmense circle 
of his knowledge an infinity of ideas without confu- 
sion, is directed by his wisdom to propose the best de- 
sign in all his works. Consequently the works of na- 
ture which he has created, and the effects of nature 
which he has foreseen, all enter into his eternal coun- 
sels, and receive their destination. Hence, to refer 
events to second causes, not recognizing the desig- 
nated visitations of Providence by the plague, by 
war, and famine; and under a presu^mption, that 
these proceed from the general laws of nature, not 
perceiving the Author and Lord of nature, is to have 
a spirit of blindiless. 

Moreover, all these arguments, suggested by sound 
reason, are established in the clearest and most indis- 
putable manner iu the scriptures, to which all wise 
men should have recourse, to direct their judgment. 
Does Joseph arrive in Egypt after being sold by his 



Calamities of ^Europe. 1 97 

brethren ? It was God that sent him thither^ accord- 
ing to his own testimony. Gen. xlv. 5. Benotgriev^ 
ed nor angry with yourselves^ that ye sold me hither y 
for Ood did send me before you to preserve life. Do 
kings arrange their counsels ? Their heart is in the 
hands if Ood ; he tumeth them as the rivers of ii?a- 
ter. Prov. xxi. 1. Does Assyria afflict Israel? lie is 
the rod of God's anger. Isa. x. 5. Do Herod and 
Pilate persectite Jesus Christ ? They do that which 
God had previously d^^^rmin^d^ $71 cotiii^/. Acts iv. 
27. Does a hair fall from our head ? It is nbt with- 
out the permission of God. Luke xii. 7. If you re- 
quire particular proof that God has designs in chas- 
tisements^ and not only with regard to the chastised , 
but to those also in whose presence they are chastis- 
ed, you have but to remember the words at the open- 
ing of this discourse ; / have cut off nationSy I havd 
made their towers desolate, and said, surely thou shalt 
receive instruction /. you have but to recollect the 
words of Ezekiel, As 1 live, saith the Lord, surely 
because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with thy de^ 
testable things, a third part of you shaU die with the 
pestilence, and another part shall fall by the sword ; 
and a third part shall be scattered : and thou shalt be 
a reproach, and a taunt, and an instruction. Ezek. y. 
11 — 15. Pay attention to this word, an instruction. 
My brethren, God has therefore designs, when he af- 
flicts other men before our eyes ; and designs in re- 
gard to us ; he proposes our instruction. Hence his 
visitations must be regarded with an enlightened 
mind. \ 



198 Calamities of Europe. 

8. Men regard with a spirit of severity and of pre- 
ference, the judgments which God inflicts on others; 
but Jesus Christ was wishful to excite in them a dis- 
position of tenderness and humiliation ; be apprises 
them, that the most afflicted are not always the most 
guilty. So is the import of these expressions, Sup- 
pose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the 
Galileans ? Suppose ye that those eighteen on whom 
the tower of Siloamfell^ and killed^ were sinners a- 
bove aU men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? I tell you, nay. 

The Jews had much need of this caution. Many 
of them regarded all the calamities of life, aa' the 
punishment of some sin committed by the afflicted. 
The mortifying comforts of Job's friends, and all the 
rash judgments they formed of his case, were found* 
ed upon this principle : you find likewise some of our 
Saviour's disciples, on seeing a man born blind, ask- 
ing this question ; Lordy who did sin, this man, or his 
parents^ that he was bom blind ? John ix. 2. How 
could they conceive that a man, blind from his birth, 
could have committed a crime to superinduce the ca- 
lamity ? This corresponds with our assertion : they 
were persuaded that all calamities were the result of 
some crime ; and even in this life, that the most ca- 
lamitous were the most culpable ; and they even pre- 
ferred the supposition of sins committed in a pre-ex- 
istent state, to the ideas of visitations not preceded by 
crime. They admitted for the most part the doctrine 
of metempsychosis, and supposed the punishments 
sustained in one body, were the result of sins com- 
mitted in other bodies. This sentiment, the Jews of 
Alexandria had communicated to their brethren in 



> 



Calamities of Europe. 199 

Judea ; but we suppress, on this head, a long detail 
of proofs from Philb, Josephus, and others.* They 
had also another nation , that children might have 
criminal thoughts while slumbering in the womb. It 
is probable that those who, in the text, reported to 
Jesus Christ the unhappy end of the Galileans, were 
initiated into this opinion. This is the spirit of se- 
verity and of preference by which we regard the ca- 
lamities of others. This is what the Lord attacks : 
Suppose ye that those eighteen on whom the tower in 
Siloam/elly were sinners above all that dwelt in Jeru^ 
salem ? / tell you, nay : but except ye repent, ye shall 
all likewise perish. 

This is the most afflicted man in all the earth ; 
therefore he is more wicked than another who enjoys 
a thousand comforts. What a pitiful argument ! 

To reason in this way is to limit the Holy One of 
IsraeL Ps. Ixxviii. 41. and not to recognise the/li- 
versity of designs an infinite Intelligence may propose 
in the visitations of mankind. Sometimes he is wish- 
ful to prove -them : Now I know that thou lovest m£, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. 
Oen. xxii. 12. Sometimes he designs to be glorified 
by their deliverance. Thus the opening of the eyes 
of the man bom blind was designated, to make man- 
ifest the works of God ; and the sickness of Lazarus 
was to glorify the Son of Ood. Sometimes he pro- 
poses to make their faith conspicuous ; this was the 
end of Job's affliction. 

* Pbilo on the Giaots ; and on Drtans : Jost ph. Wars of the Jews, book 
ti. cap. 12. 



%• 



^00 Calamities of Europe^ 

To reason in this way, is to revolt against experi- 

ence, and to prefer the worst of sinners to the best of 

saints, Herod who is on the throne, to Jesus Christ 

who is driven to exile ; Nero who sways the world, 
to St. Paul who is reckoned the filth and qffiscauring 

of the earth. 

To reason in this way, is to disallow the turpitude 
of crime. K God sometimes defer to punish it on 
earth, it is because the punishments of this life are in- 
adequate to the enormity of $in. 

To reason in this way, is to be inattentive to the 
final judgment which God is preparing. If this life 
were eternal ; if this were our principle period of ex- 
istence, the argument would have some. colour. But 
if there be a life after death ; if this is but a shadow 
which vanisheth away; if there be, a precise time 
when virtue shall be recompensed, and vice punished, 
which we cannot dispute without subverting the prin- 
ciples of religion, and of reason, then this conjecture 
is unfounded. 

To reason in this way, is to be ignorant of the 
value of afflictions. They are one of the most fertile 
sources of virtue, and the most successful means of 
inducing us to comply with the design of the gospel. 
If the calamities which mortals suffer in this life were 
allowed to form a prejudice, it should rather be in 
favour of God's love, than of his anger : and instead 
of saying, this man being afflicted, he is consequently 
more gnilty than he who is not afflicted, we should 
rather sa,y, this man having no affliction, is, in fact, 
a greater sinner than the other who is afflicted. 



Calamities of Europe. 201 

In generel, there are few wicked men to whom 
the best of saints, in a comparative view, have a right 
of preference. In the life of a criminal, you know at 
most but a certiiin number of his crimes ; but you 
see *n infinite number in your own/ Comparing 
yourselves with an assassin about to be broken on the 
wheels you would no doubt find a preference in this 
point. But extend your thoughts ; review the history 
of your life ; investigate your heart ; examine those 
vain thoughts, those irregular desires, those secret 
practik^es of which God alone is witniess ; and then 
judge of vice and virtue, not by the notions that men 
form of them, but by the portrait exhibited in God's 
law ; consider that anger, envy, pride, and calumny, 
carried to a certain (iegree, are more odious in the 
eyes of God, than those notorious crimes punished by 
human justice ; and oh investigating the life of the 
criminal, you will be obliged to confess that there is 
nothing more revolting than what is found in your 
own. 

Besides, a good man is so impressed with his own 
faults, that the sentiment extenuates in his estimation 
the defects of others. This was the sentiment of St. 
Paul : lam the chief of sinners; but I obtained mer^ 
cy^ This was his injunction ; In lowhness of mindy 
let each esteem another better than himself. Phil. ii. 5. 
1 Tim. i. 15. But is this avowal founded on fact ? 
Is the maxim practicable ? It is, my brethren, in the 
sense we have just laid down. But the Jews, whom 
our Saviour addressed, had no need of those solu- 
tions : their lives realised his assertions ; and would 
to Qod that ours, compare^ with the multitude of 

VOL. viii. 26 



202 CaiamiUea of Europe. 

yictiiMS which this day cover the earth, might not sug- 
gest the same reflection ! Suppose ye that these Oali" 
leans were sinners above all the Galileans ? Suppose 
ye that those eighteen were sinners above all the men 
that dwelt in Jerusalem ? Do you suppose that those 
whose dead bodies are now strewed over Europe? 
Do you suppose that the people assailed with famine, 
and those exempt from fanline, but menaced with the 
plague and pestilence, are greater sinners than the 
rest of the world ? / tell youj nay. 

IV. Lastly : mankind regard the judgments which 
God obviously inflicts on others with an obdurate di^ 
position ; but Jesus Christ is wishful to reclaim them 
by a spirit of reformation and repentance. This is 
the design of his inference, which is twice repeated ; 
Except ye repent^ ye shall all likewise perish. 

One of the designs God proposed in permitting the 
cruelty of Pilate to those Galileans, and the fall of 
the tower of Siloam, on eighteen of the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem, was to give others an idea of the pun- 
ishment which awaited themselves, in case they per- 
sisted in sin, and thereby of exciting them to repent- 
ance. He has now the same designs in regard to us, 
while afflicting Europe before our eyes. 

That this was his design with regard to the Jews, 
we have a proof beyond all exception, and that proof 
is experience. The sentence pronounced against that 
unhappy nation ; Except ye repent^ ye shall aU like-' 
wise perishy was literally executed, and in detail. 
Yes, literally did the Jewish nation perish as the Ga- 
lileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacri- 



Calamities of Europe. 203 

fices, and as the others on whom the tower of Siloam 
fell. 

Read what happened under Archelaus, on the day 
of the passover. The people were assembled from 
all parts, and thought of nothing but of offering their 
sacrifices. Archelaus surrounded Jerusalem, placed 
his cavalry without the city, caused his infantry to 
enter, and to defile the temple with the blood of three 
thoo^nd pe«,n... 

. Read the sanguinary conduct of those cruel assas-* 
sins, who in open day, and during their most solemn 
festival in particiular, caused the effects of their fury 
to be felt, and mingled human gore with that of the 
animals slain in the temple. 

Read the furious battle fought by the zelotes in the 
same temple, where without fear of defiling the 
sanctity of religion, to use the expression of the 
Jewish historian, ^' they defiled the sacred place with 
their impure blood."+ 

Read the pathetic description of the same historian 
concerning the factions who held their sittings in the 
temple. ** Their revenge," he says, " extended to 
the altar ; they massacred the priests with those that 
offered sacrifices. Men who came from the extremi- 
ties of the earth to worship God in his holy place, fell 
down slain with their victims, and sprinkled their 
blood on the altar, revered, not only by the Greeks, 
but by the most barbarous nations. The blood was 
seen to flow as rivers ; and the dead bodies, not only 
of natives, but of strangers, filled this holy place." J 

* Joiepb. Aniiq. lib. xWi. cap. 11. t Joseph. Wan of the Jews, hook iv^ 

ch. 14. t Ibid, book T. 



204 Calamities of Europe. 

« 

Read the whole history of that siege^ rendered for 
ever memorable by the multitude of its calamities. 
See Jerusalem swimming with blood, and entombed 
in its own ashes. Mark^how it was besieged, pre- 
cisely at the time of their most solemn festival, when 
the Jews were assembled from all parts of the world 
to celebrate their passover. See how the blood of 
eleven hundred thousand persons was mingled with 
their sacrifices, and justified the expression in the 
text. Suppose ye that these Galileans ypere more cuU 
pMe ? I tell yoUy nay ; but except ye repent^ ye shall 
all likewise perish. See how the walls of Jerusalem^ 
in the same seige, sapped by the Roman ram, and by 
a thousand engines of war, fell down, and buried the 
citizens in their ruins, literally accomplishing this 
other part of the prophecy ; Suppose yey that those 
eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam felly wer.e sin-' 
ners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem; I tell yoUy 
nay ; hut except ye repent ^ ye shall all likewise perish. 

God has the same designs in regard to ns, while 
afflicting Europe before our eye&. This is the point 
at which we must now stop. We must leave the 
Jews, from whom the means of conversion were uU 
timately rejnoved, to profit by their awful example ; 
and especially, from the consideration of their im- 
penitency, to derive the most serious motives for our 
own conversion. 

Conclusion. 

There is then so perfect a conformity between us, 
my brethren, and those who came to report to Jesus 



Calamities of Europe. 205 

Christ the calamity of the poor Galileans, that out 
must bo wilfully blind not to perceive it. 1 . The 
Jewis had just seen examples of the divine vengeance, 
and we have just seen them. 2. Those Jews had 
been spared, and we also are spared. 8. Those Jews _ 
were likewise as great offenders as those that had 
fallen under the strokes of God ; and we are as great 
offenders as those that now suffer before our eyes. 
4. Those Jews were taught by Jesus Christ what dis« 
p^ition of mind they should in future assume ; and 
we are equally instructed. 5. Those Jews hardened 
their hearts against his warning, and were ultimately 
destroyed ; (O God, avert this awful augur !) we har- 
den our hearts in like manner, and we shall experi- 
ence the same lot, if we continue in the same state. 

1, We ourselves, like the Jews who were present 
at that bloody scene, have seen examples of the di- 
vine vengeance. Europe is now an instructive thea- 
tre, and bespangled with tragic scenes. The de- 
stroying angel armed with the awful sword of celes* 
tial vengeance, goes forth on our right hand, and on 
our left, distinguishing his route by carnage and hor- 
ror. The sword of the Lardy intoxicated with blood. 
Jer. xlvii. 6. refuses to return to its scabbard, and 
seems wishful to make the whole earth a vast sepul- 
chre. Our Europe has often been visited with severe 
strokes ; but I know not whether history record a pe- 
riod in which they were so severe, and so generalf 
God once proposed to David a terrible choice of pes-* 
tilence, of war, or of famine. The best was awful. 
But now God does not propose ; he inflicts them. 
He does not propose any one of three ; he inflicts the 



206 CahmiUes of Europe. 

whole at once. On what side can you cast your re* 
gards, and not be presented with the like objects ; 
To what voice can you hearken which does not say, 
Except ye repent^ ye shall all likewise perish ? Hear 
the people whose unhappy countries have for many 
years become the theatre of war, who hear of nothing 
b^ wars and rumours of warSy who see their harvest 
cut down before it is ripe, and the hopes of the year 
dissipated in a moment. These are instructive exam- 
ples ; these are loud calls, which say. Except ye r^- 
penty ye shall all likewise perish. Hear those people 
over whose heads the heavens are as brass, and un- 
der whose feet the earth is as iron, who are consum- 
ed by scarcity and drought : these are instructive ex- 
amples ; these are loud calls which say, Except ye 
repent) ye shall all likewise perish. Hear those peo- 
ple among whom death enters with the air they 
breathe, who see fall down before their eyes, here an 
infant, and there a husband, and who expect every 
moment to follow them. , These are awful examples ; 
these are loud calls, which say, Except ye repent^ 
ye shall all likewise perish. Thus our first parallel is 
correct ; we, like the Jews, have seen examples of the 
divine vengeance. 

2. We, like the Jews, atre still spared ; and what- 
ever part we may have hitherto had in the calamities 
of Eurc^e, thank God, we have not fallen. He has 
Covered us with his feathers j and given us refuge Under 
his wings. We have not been struck with terror by 
nighty nor with die arrow thatflieA by clay, nor with 
the pestilence that walkeih in darkness^ nor with the 
destruction that wasteth at noon^day. A thousand 



/ 



Calamities of Europe. 207 

have fallen at our side^ and ten thousand on our right 
hand ; but the destruction has not come nigh to us. 
Psal. xci. 4 — 7. Our days of mourning and of fast* 
ing have ever been alleviated with joy ; and this dis- 
course which recals so many gloomy thoughts, ex- 
cites recollections of comfort. The prayers address* 
ed to heaven for so many unhappy mortals precipi* 
tated to peril, are enlivened with the voice o^ praise, 
inasmuch as we are still exempt from the scourge. 
We weep between the porch and the altar, with joy 
and with grief at the same instant ; with grief, from 
a conviction that our sins have excited the anger of 
God against Europe ; with joy, because his fury has 
not as yet extended to us ; and if we say, with a con- 
trite heart, O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto 
thee ; but unto us confusion of face : O Lord, enter 
not into judgment with thy servants ; O Lord, pardon 
the iniquity of thy people y we shall make these walls 
resound with our thanksgiving. We shall say with 
Hezekiah, A great bitterness is come upon me, hut 
thou hast m love to my soul delivered it from the pit of 
corruption. We shall say with the prophet Jonah, 
Thy billows and thy waves have passed over me : then 
J said, I am cast out of Ay sight ; yet I will look a- 
gain toward thy holy temple ; and with Jeremiah, It 
is of the Lord^s mercies that we are not consumed y and 
because his compassions fail not : they are new every 
morning. Our second parallel is therefore correct ; 
we, like the Jews, are still spared. Dan. ix. 7. Joel 
ii. 17. Isa. xxxviii. 17. Jon. ii. 3. Lam. iii. 22, 28. 

3. Like the Jews, we are not less guilty than those 
who fall before our eyes under the judgments of God, 



208 ^ Calamities of Europe. 

What a revoltiog proposition, you will say ? What ? 
the men whose hands were so often dipped in the 
most innocent blood, the men who used their ntmost 
efforts to extinguish the lamp of truth, the men who 
are rendered for ever infamons by the death of so 
many martyrs, are they to be compared to us ? Can 
we say of their calamities, what the Lord said to the 
Jews concerning the calamities named in th^ text, 
Think ye that these Oalileans were sinners above all 
Galileans ? Uiink ye Aat those eighteen on whom 
the tower in Siloatn fell^ were sinners above all that 
dwelt in Jerusalem ? 1 tell youy nay. We would 
wish you, my brethren, to have as much patience in 
attending to the parallel, as we have had ground for 
drawing it. Who then, in your opinion, is the great- 
er sinner, he who c^f^ses a religion he believes to be 
bad, ot he who gives himself no sort oi concern to 
cherish and extend a religion he believes to be good? 
He, who for the sake of his religion, sacrifices the 
goods, the liberty, and the lives of those thai oppose 
it, or he who sacrifices his religion to human hc^s, 
to a sordid interest, and to a prudence purely world-i^ 
ly ? He who enters with a lever and a hatchet into 
houses he believes profane, or he who feels but lan« 
gour and indifference when called upon to revive the 
ashes he accounts holy, and to raise the foundations 
he believes sacred ? A glance on the third parallel, 
is, I presume, sufficient to induce you to acknowledge 
its .propriety. 

Amid so many dissipations, and this 13 the fourth 
point of similarity, Jesus Christ still teacheift us the 
same lessons he once taught Uie Jews. He renders 



Calamities of Europe. 209 

us attentive to Providence. He proves that we are 
concerned in those events. He opens our eyes to the 
war, the pestilence, and famine by which we aire 
menaced. He exhibits the example of the multitude 
who fall under those calamities. He says, surety thoU 
shalt receive instruction. He avers that the same lot 
awaits us. He speaks, he presses, he urges. He 
hews us by his prophets, and slays us by his wordy to 
use an expression of Hosea, vi. 5. To all these traits, 
•ur situation perfectly coincides. What then can ob- 
struct our application of the latter. Except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish ? 

And shall events so bloody leave no impression on 
your mind ? Ye shall all likewise perish ? What would 
your situation be, if this prophecy were about to be 
accomplished ? If our lot were about to be like that 
of the Galileans ? If on a fast-day, a sacramental 
day, a day in which our people hold an extraordinary 
assembly, a cruel and fcirocious soldiery, with rage in 
their hearts, with fury in their eyes, and murderous 
weapons in their hands, should rush and confound our 
devotion with carnage, sacrificing the father before 
the eyes of the son, and the son before the eyes of the 
father, and make this' church swim with the blood of 
the Worshippers ? What would your situation be, if 
the foundations of this church were about to be shook 
under our feet, if these walls which surround us were 
about to fall, and to make us like the eighteen on 
whom the tower in Siloamfell ? And what would our 
situation be, if the curses on those ancient people, 
and which are this day accomplished in so many 
parts of Europe, should fall upon us? Tlie Lord 

TOL. vin. 27 



210 Calamities cf Europe. 

shall make the penitence cleave unto Aee, until he con-* 
sume thee from off the land. Thy heaven that is over 
thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee 
shall be iron. The Lord shaU cause thee to be smitten 
before thine enemies. And because thou servedst not 
the Lord thy Ood with joyfulness and with gladness 
of hearty thou shalt serve in hunger^ in thirsty m naked-- 
nesSy and in wanty an enemy which shall put a yoke 
upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. And thou 
shalt eat the fruit of thine own body^ the flesh of thy 
sons and of thy daughters which the Lord thy Ood 
shall give thee. Deut. xxviii. 21, 23, 25, 47, 48, 53. 

My brethren, let us not contend with God ; let us 
not arm ourselves with an infatuated fortitude. In- 
stead of braving the justice of God, let us endeavour 
to appease it, by a speedy recourse to his mercy, and 
by a genuine change of conduct. 

This is the duty imposed on this nation, this is the 
work of all the faithful assembled here. But permit 
me to say it, with all the respect of a subject who ad- 
dresses his masters, and, at the same time, with all 
the frankness of a minister of the gospel who ad- 
dresses the subjects of the King of kings, this is pe- 
culiarly your work, high and mighty Lords of these 
Provinces, fathers of this people. In vain do you 
adopt the measures of prudence to avert the calami- 
ties with which we are threatened, unless you en- 
deavour to purge the cify of God of the crimes which 
attract them. The languishing church extends to 
you her arms. The ministry, rendered useless by the 
profligacy of the age, has need of your influence to 
maintain itself, and to be exercised with success ; to 



Calamities of Europe, * 211 

V 

put a period to the horrible profanation of the sabbath, 
which has so long and so justly become our reproach ; 
to suppress those scandalous publications which are 
ushered with insolence, and ty which are erected be- 
fore your eyes, with impunity, a system of Atheism 
and irreligion ; to punish the blasphemers ; and thus 
to revive the enlightened laws of Constantine and 
Theodosius. 

If, in this manner, we shall correspond with the de- 
signs of God in the present chastisements of men, he 
will continue to protect and defend us* He will dis- 
s^ipate the tempests ready to burst on our heads. He 
will confirm to us the truth of that promise he once 
made to the Jews by the ministry of Jeremiah ; At 
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation- — to puU 
downy and to destroy it — -/jT that nation turn from 
their evily I will repent of the evil I thought to. do unto 
them, xviii. 7, ,8 In a word, after having rendered ' 
our own life happy, and society tranquil, he will exalt 
us above all clouds and tempests, to those happier re- 
gions, where there shall be no more sorrow ^ nor cry^ 
ingj nor pain ; and where all tears shall be for ever 
wiped from our eyes. Rev. vii. 17. xxi. 4. God 
grant us the grace : to whom be honour and glory for 
ever. Amen. 



SERMON Yin. 

A Taste for Devotion. 



^m9M9< 



Psalm Ixiii. 5, 6. 

3fy soul shall be satisfied as with marrono and fatness^ 
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful Ups ; 
when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate 
upon thee in the night watches. 

It is a grand point to be acquainted with the argu- 
ments which forcibly attach us to religion. It is great 
to be able to arrange, with conclusive propriety, the 
arguments which render virtue preferable to vice. It 
is a high favour to be able to proceed from principle 
to principle, and from consequence to consequence, 
so as to say in one's own breast, I am persuaded that 
a good man is happy. 

But how sublime soever this way of soaring to God 
may be, it is not always sufficient. Arguments may 
indeed impose silence on the passions ; but th^y are 
not always sufficiently cogent to eradicate them. 
However conclusive demonstrations may be in a book, 
in a school, in the closet, they appear extremely weak, 
and of inadequate force, .when opposed to senti- 
ments of anguish, or the attractions of pleasure. 
The arguments adduced to suffer for religion, lose 



214 A Taste for Devotion. 

much qf their efficacy, not to say of their evidence, 
when proposed to a man broken alive on the wheel, 
or consuming on a pile. The arguments for resisting 
the flesh ; for rising superior to matter and sense, 
vanish for the most part, on viewing the objects of 
concupiscence. How worthy, then, is the man of pity, 
who knows no way of approaching God, but that of 
discussion and argument ! 

There is one way of leading us to God much more 
safe ; and of inducing to abide in fellowship with him, 
whenever it is embraced : it is the way of taste and 
of sentiment. Happy the man, who in the conflicts 
to which he is exposed from the enemy of his soul, 
can oppose pleasure to pleasure, and joy to joy ; the 
pleasures of piety and of converse with heaven to the 
pleasure of the world ; the delights of recollection 
and solitude to those of parties, of dissipation, and of 
theatres ! Such a man is firm in his duty, because he 
is a man ; and because it depends not on man to re- 
fuse affection to what opens to his soul the fountains 
of life. Such a man is attached to religion by the 
same motives which attach the world to the objects 
of their passions, because it affords him ineffable 
pleasuil^es. Such a man has support in the time of 
temptation, because the peace of Ood which passeth 
all understanding y keepSy so to speak, the propensi- 
ties of his heart, and the divine comforts which inun- 
date his soul, obstruct his being drawn away to sin. 

Let us attend to-day to a great master in the sci- 
ence of salvation. It is our prophet. He knew the 
rational way of coming to Gt>d. Thy wordy said he 
to himself, is a lamp unto my feety and ai^lantem to 



A Taste for Devotion. 215 

my paths. Psa. cxix. 105. But he knew also the 
way of taste and of sentiment. He said to God in 
the words of my text, not only that he was persuaded 
and convinced ; but that religion charmed, ravished, 
and absorbed his soul by its comforts. 3Iy soul shall 
be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my 
mouth shall praise thee' with joyful lips; when I re-- 
member thee upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in 
the night watches. — ^In discussing the subject, 

1. We shall trace the emotions of our prophet, 
and to give you the ideas, if it be possible to give 
them, of what we understand by the piety of taste 
and sentiment. * 

II.- We shall consider the words with regard to 
the humiliation they reflect on the most part of Chris-- 
tians; and. inquire into the judgment we ought to 
form of our own state, when destitute of the piety of 
sentiment and taste, so consoling to a regenerate 
soul. 

III. We shall investigate the cause of this calam-' 
ity. 

IV. We shall propose some maxims for the acqui-- 
sition of this piety, the want of which is so deplora- 
ble ; and to enable you to say with David, My soul 
shaU be satisfied as with murrow and fatness, and my 
mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I , re^ 
member thee upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in 
the night watches. 

1. We must define what we understand by the 
piety of taste and sentiment Wishful to compress 
the subject, we shall not expose profanation to emi- 
nent piety, nor i^parent pie<y to that which is genn^ 



216 A Taste for DevoHon. 

ioe. We shall oppose reality to reality ; true piety 
to true piety ; and the religion of the heart to that 
which is rational and argumentative. A few exam- 
ples, derived from human life, will illustrate this 
article of religion. 

Suppose two pupils of a philosopher^ both emulous 
to make a proficiency in science ; both attentive to 
the maxims of their master ; both surmounting the 
greatest difficulties to retain a permanent impression 
of what they hear. But the one finds study a fatigue 
like the man tottering under a burden : to him study 
is a severe and arduous task : he hears because he is 
obliged to hear what is dictated. The other, on the 
contrary, enters into the spirit of study ; its pains are 
compensated by its pleasures : he loves truth for the 
sake of truth ; and not for the sake of the pncomiums 
conferred on literary characters, and the preceptors 
of science. 

Take another exam pie. The case of two warriors, 
both loyal to their sovereign ; both alert and vigilant 
in military discipline, which, of all others, requires 
the greatest vigilance and precision ; both ready to 
sacrifice life when duty shall so require ; but the one 
groans under the heavy fatigues he endures, and sighs 
for repose : his imagination is struck with the danger 
to which he is exposed by his honour : he braves 
dangers, because he is obliged to brave them ; and 
because God will require an account oi the public 
safety of those who may have had the baseness to 
sacrtfi,ce it to personal preservation : yet amid tri- 
umphs he envies the lot of the cottager, who having 
held the plough by day, finds the rewards at night of 



A Taste for Devotion. 217 

domestic repose. The other^ on the contrary, is born 
with an insatiable thirst of glory, to which nothing 
can be arduous : he has by nature, that noble cour* 
age, shall I call it, or that happy temerity ; that amid 
the greatest danger, he sees no danger ; victory is 
ever before his eyes ; and every step that leads to 
conquest is regarded as a victory already obtained. 

l*hese examples are more than sufficient to con- 
firm your ideas, and make you perceive the vast dis- 
tinction we make between a speculative and an ex- 
perimental piety, and to enable you in some sort to 
trace the sentiments of our prophet. My soul shall be 
satisfied as with marrow and fatness^ and my mouth 
shaU praise thee with joyful lips; when I remember 
thee upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in the night 
watches. He who has a rational and a speculative 
piety, and he who has a piety of taste and sentiment, 
are both sincere in their efforts ; both devoted to their 
duty ; both pure in purpose ; and both alike engaged 
in studying his precepts, and in reducing them to 
practice ; but O, how different is their state ! 

The one prays because he is awed by his wants, 
and because prayer is the resource of the wretched,, 
The other prays because the exercise of prayer trans- 
ports him to another world ; because it vanishes the 
objects which obstruct his divine reflections ; and be- 
cause A; strengthens those ties which unite him to that 
God, whose love constitutes all his consolation, and 
all his treasure. 

The one reads the word of God because his heart 
would reproach him for neglecting a duty so strongly 
enjoined, and because without the Bible he woul^ 

VOL. VHI. 28 



218 A Taste for Devotion. 

be embarrassed at every step. The other reads be- 
cause his heart bums whenever the scriptures are 
,fpeDed ; and because this word composes his mind, 
assuages his anguish, and beguiles his care. 

The one gives alms^ because the doors of heaveit 
shall be shut against the impitiable ; because without 
alms there is no religion ; because Jesus Christ shall 
one day say to those who have been insensible to the 
wants of others^ Depart ye cursied into everlasting 
Jire, for I teas hungry y and ye gave me rio meat / 
and because the rust of the gold and silver of ^ 
covetous shall be a witness against ihem^ and shall eat 
their flesh as afire. Matt xxv. 41. Jameis v. S. The 
other gives because there is a kind of instinct and 
mechanical impulse, if you will excuse the phrase, 
which excite in his breast the most delicious sensa- 
tions in the distribution of alms : he gives because lun 
soul is formed on the model of that God, whose cha^ 
racter is love, who left not himself u>ithout witness, in 
that he did good, and whose happiness consists ^i th6 
power of impartipg that felicity to others. 

The one approaches the Lord's table, because the 
siq>reme wisdom has enjoined it ; he subdues his pas- 
sions because the sacrifice is required ; in resuming 
his heart from the objects of vice, he seems to abscind 
his own flesh ; it would seem requisite always to re- 
peat in his ears this text, He that eateth this bread , 
and drihketh this cup unworthily, eateth and drinketh 
his oum condemnation. The other comes to the 
Lord's table as to a feast ; he brings a heart hunger- 
ing and thirsting for righteousness ; he inwardly hears 
the gentle voice of God, saying, Seek ye myfa:6e : he 



A Ta$tefor Devoti&n. 21& 

replies^ 2)ly faeey Lordy 1 will seek. As the hart 
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul af- 
ter thee, O Ood, My soul thristethfor Ood, yeafoj^ 
the living God. Psa. xxvii. 8. xlii. 1. The delicious 
sentiment he finds in the communion of Jesus Christy 
prompts him to forget all the sacrifices he has made 
for a participation therein. 

In a word, not to multiply cases, the one dies be- 
cause he must die : he yields to that irrevocable sen- 
tence, Return, ye children of men. Psa. xc. 3. Sub- 
mission, resignation, and patience are the pillars 
which sustain him in his agony. The other, on the 
contrary, meets death as one would go to a triumph. 
He anticipates the happy moment with aspirations^ 
which shall give flight to his soul, he cries, he inces« 
santly cries. Come Lord Jesus, cqme quickly. Pa- 
tience, resignation, submission seem to him virtues 
out of season : he exercised them while condemned 
,to live ; not when he is called to die. Henceforth 
his soul abandons itself wholly to joy, to gratitude^ 
and to transports. 

II. Let us inquire in the second article what 
judgment we should pass upon ourselves when des- 
titute of the heartfelt piety, we have just described. 

There are few subjects in the code of holiness, 
which require greater precision, and in which we 
should be more cautious to avoid visionary notions. 
Some persons regard piety of taste and sentiment so 
essential to salvation, as to reprobate all those who 
have not attained it. Certain passages of scripture 
misconstrued serve as the basis of this opinion. Be- 
cause the Spirit of God sheds a profusion of consola- 



220 A Taste for Devotion. 

tions on the souls of some believers, it would seem 
that he must shed it on all. They presume that a 
Hdan must judge of the state of his mind, less by the 
uprightness of his heart, and the purity of his motives 
than by the enjoyment, or the privation of certain 
spiritual comforts. A man shall powerfully wrestle 
with his passions, be always at war with himself, and 
make to God the severest sacrifices, yet if he do not 
feel certain transports, he must be regarded as a re- 
probate. A man, on the contrary, who shall be less 
attentive to the conditions of salvation, and less se- 
vere towards himself, must, according to the casuists 
i attack, banish all sorts of doubt and scruple^ of his 
activation, provided he attain to certain transports of 
ecstacy and joy. 

Whatever basis of solidity there may be in es- 
pousing the principles which constitute the foundation 
of this system, there are few that are more danger- 
ous. It often gives occasion to certain ebullitions of 
passion, of which we have too many examples. It is 
much easier to heat the imagination than to reform 
the heart. How often have we seen persons who 
thought themselves superior to all our instructions, 
because they flattered themselves with having the 
Spirit of God for a guide, which inwardly assured 
them of their pardon and eternal salvation? How 
often have we seen persons of this description take 
offence because we doubted of what they presumed 
was already decided in their breast, by a divine and 
supernatural voice ? How often have we seen reject- 
ed with high disdain and revolt, the strictures of 
which they were but too worthy ? Let us not give 



A Taste for Devotion. 221 

place to enthusiasm. Let us ever preserve our judg- 
ment. The Spirit of God guides indeed^ but he does 
not blind. I prefer a humility destitute of transports 
to transports destitute of humility. The piety of taste 
and sentiment is certainly the privilege of some rege- 
nerate people : it is a disposition of mind to which all 
the regenerate should aspire ; but we must not ex- 
clude those that are weak from.regeneration.^ 

* SauriD, in twenty places of his sermons, attacks a class of opponents, 
whom he calls eatuuts^ or guides and directors of the soul. These wore snp- 
ralapsarians. That class of men, I have little doubt, were very clear in the 
doctrine of the Spirit. And Saurin is not only clear, but sublimely so, as will 
appear from this sermon. But he errs in too much restricting it to the more 
highly favoured class of saints. Perhaps this arose from early prejudice; 
perhaps for want of seeing the work of conversion on an extended scale : 
perhaps the opposition he received urged his replies beyond the feelings of his 
heArt, and so far as to drive him to apparent contradictions of himself. We 
must never console the well-disposed with the doctrine of incoiiscious salva- 
tion, but urge them to seek it, as the scriptures do, and as our author fully doe^ 
in the latter part of this discourse. The extensions are in favour of men of a 
nervous and dejected mind, who mostly die more happy than they lived. Now, 
I would ask, is a man to attain the whole Christian temper and character with- 
out the influences of the Spirit ? Can the harvest and the fruits ripen without 
the solar influence ? Can we be satisfied with our imperfect marks of eoiiver- 
sion till assured that we consciously love God from a re-action of his love shed 
abroad in our heart P Bom. v. 5« Did not the primitive churches walk in the 
comforts of the Holy Ghost ? Acts Ix. 51. And is there any intimation that 
Ae iffttn^*— (fte uol^iht tindion— and the comforts of the Holy Spirit wera 
confined to Christians of the first age ? How are we to attain the Divine im- 
age without a divine and conscious influence ? And if God testify his frowns 
against all orimes by secret terrors of coascience, why may he not testify his 
approbation of the penitent, when he believes with the heart unto righteouf 
ness ? Why should the most gracious of all beings keep us through the fear of 
death all our lives subject to bondage ? Is heaven a feast of which we can have 
no foretaste ? Are there no consolations in Christ Jesus, exclusive of a future 
hope, to which our infirmities afford but a very defective title ? Hence, 1 can- 
not but lament the ignorance, or bewail the error, of ministers who ridicule 
the doctrine of the Spirit, Assurance, comfort, and the witness of adoption, 
are subjects of prayer rather than of dispute. This part of religion, accord- 
ing to Bp. Bull, is better understood by the heart than by the head. The wa- 
der who would wish to be adequately acquainted with the doctrine of the Spir- 



222 A TcLStefor Devotion. 

And if there is danger of striking on the first rock^ 
there is equal danger of striking on the second. Un- 
der a plea that one may be saved without the con- 
scious comforts we have described, shall we give our- 
selves no inquietude about them ! Shall we give our 
heart, and our warmest affections to the world ; and 
offer to God but an exhausted, a constrained, and re- 
luctant obedience ? Let us inquire in what case, and 
what respects we ought to console ourselves when de- 
prived of conscious comfort ; and in what case, and 
what respects we ought to mourn when deprived of 
those divine favours. 

1. Abstract and spiritual objects seldom make so 
deep an impression on the mind as those which are 
sensible. This is not always an effect of our depra- 
vity, but a consequence of our infirmity. A man 
may be able to pay a better supported attention to an 
exhibition than to a course of holy meditation, not 
that he loves an exhibition more than holy meditation ; 
but because the one devolves on abstract and spiritu- 
al truths, while the other presents him with sensible 
objects. You feel no wandering thoughts in presence 
of an earthly monarch who holds your life and for- 
tune in his hands ; but a thousand distractions assail 
you in converse with the God, who can make you 
eternally happy, or eternally miserable. This is not 
because more exalted ideas of God's power than of 
the monarch's are denied; it is because in God's power 

it, may oonsalt St. Ahb&oif., St, Avoitstine, and Macabivs. In our own 
tongue, Bp. Bvi.l'8 lemions; the seroMn of Bp. Smallrigi, aud Dr. Co« 
VANT OB the Comforter : If r. Joseph Mede and Dr. Cud worth on 1 John 
ii, 5 : Dr. Owen on the Spirit : Dr. Watti^ three sennoas, and Mr. Weiley'i 
•ermon on the witaeM of the Spirit. 



A Taste for Devotion. 223 

the object is abstract, but in the monarch's, the ob- 
ject is sensible ; it is because the impression of sen- 
sible objects is stronger than those which are abstract. 
This perhaps induced 8L John to say. If a man love 
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love 
God whom he hath not seen ? This argument in ap- 
pearance is defective. Does it follow, that because I 
love not my brother, whom I see, but who is full of 
imperfections, that I do not love God, who, though 
unseen, is an all-perfect being ? This is not the apos- 
tle's argument. ' He means, that the dispositions of 
the soul are moved by sensible, rather than by ab- 
stract and spiritual objects. If we possessed that 
source of tenderness, which prompts the heart to love 
God, our tenderness would be moved at the sight of a 
man in distress, and we should instantly be led to 
succour him. If the sight of an afflicted man ; if 
this sensible object make no impression upon us, the 
Divine perfections which are spiritual and abstract 
objects, will leave us lukewarm and unanimated. 
Let each of us, my brethren, apply this remark to the 
subject in haiid. We sometimes want a taste and 
inclination for devotion ; this is because the objects 
of piety are abstract and spiritual, and make a less 
impression on the mind, than the objects of sense. 
This is not always an effect of our corruption ; it is 
sometimes a consequence of our natuitel frailty. 

2. The piety of preference and of sacrifice lias a 
peculiar excellence, and may sometimes afford en- 
couraging marks of salvation, though unaccompanied 
with the piety of sentiment and * taste. You do 
not find the same vivacity in prayer that you onco 



224 A Taste for DwotUm. 

found in public diversions, but you prefer prayer to 
those diversions, and you sacrifice them for the sake 
of prayer. You do not find the ' same pleasure in 
reading books of piety you felt in reading profane 
books, but you sacrifice profane reading for books of 
devotion. You havQ not the same pleasure in the 
ecmtemplation of death as in the prospects of life, but 
on being called to die, you prefer death to both health 
and life. You uniformly surrender your health and. 
your life to the pleasure; of heaven on being called to 
the crisis. You veould not ransom, by the slightest 
violation of the divine law, this life and health how 
dear soever they may be to you. Console yourselves, 
therefore, with the testimony of a good conscience. 
Be assured that you are sincere in the sight of God, 
and that while aspiring at perfection, your sincerity 
shall be a substitute for perfection. 

3. The holy scriptures abound with passages which 
promise salvation to those who use endeavours ; to 
those who take vp the cross ; to those who deny them^ 
selves ; to those who crucify the flesh with its lusts ; 
to those who strive ^ or agonize to enter in at the strait 
gale. Matt. xvi. 24; vii. 13: Gal. v. 24. But the 
scriptures no where exclude from salvation those who 
do not find in the exercise of piety, the joy, the trans- 
ports, and the delights of which we have spoken. 

4. In short, Xhe hope of one day finding the piety 
of taste and sentiment, should assuage the anguish 
which the privation excites in the soul. God often 
confers the piety of taste and sentiment as a recom*- 
pense for the piety of sacrifice and preference. We 
have no need to go and seek those comforts in the 



A Ttutefor Devotion. 225 

miraculous lives, whose memory is preserved by the 
Holy Ghost, nor in the supernatural endowments 
conferred on others. If you except certain miracles 
which God once performed for the confirmation of re- 
ligion, and religion being established, they are now 
no longer necessary, God still holds the same con« 
duct with regard to his saints which he formerly 
held. We have seen saints who have long, and with 
ineffectual sighs, breathed after the comforts of the 
Holy Ghost ; and who, in the issue, have experienced 
all their sweetness. We have seen the sick, who 
having been alarmed at the idea of dying, who hav- 
ing sighed at the simple idea of its pains, its anguish, 
its separation, its obscurity, and all the appalling 
presages excited by the king of terrors ; we have seen 
them, previous to his approach, quite inundated with 
consolation and joy. I know we must always sus- 
pect the reveries '(^ the imaginations, but it seems to 
us, that the more calm we were in our investigation, 
precaution, and even distrust in the scrutiny of this 
phenomenon, the more we were convinced it ought to 
be wholly ascribed to the Spirit of God. Those 
transformations were not the effect of any novel effort 
we had caused to be excited in the souls of the sick. 
They sometimes followed a prdbund stupor, a total 
lethargy, which could not be the effect of any pleas« 
ure arising from some new sacrifice made for God, or 
from some recent victory over themselves. The sick^ 
of whom we speak, seem to have previously cherish- 
ed all imaginable deference for our ministry. Nothing 
human, nothing terrestrial was apparent in those sur- 
prising transformations. It was (he work of Qod. 
VOL. vm. 29 



226 A ToMUfoT DevoHon. 

J^et 08 ask what we may receive. If he do not an- 
swer the first time we pray, he answers the second : 
if he do not open the door of mercy the second time 
we knock, he opens the third. Suffer not thyself 
then, O my sonl, to be depressed and discourged, be- 
cause thou dost not yet participate in the piety of 
taste and sentiment. Be determined to pierce the 
ck)nd with which God conceals himself from thy 
sight. Though he say to thee as to Jacob, Let m$ 
goj far the day dawneth, answer like the patriarch. 
Lord, 1 mil not let Aee go^ except thou bless me. 
Though he affect to leave thee, as he feigned to leave 
the two disciples, constrain him as they did ; and say 
with them, jbordj stay wiA me ; it is toward evening : 
the sun is an the decline. Gen. xxxii. 26. Luke xriv. 
29. 

These are the principal sources of consolation to 
those who have a sincere and vehement desire to 
please God, and who have not yet attained the piety 
€f taste and sentiment. But though the privation of 
those comforts should noj dispirit us, yet the defect is 
ever a most humiliating and deplorable consideration. 
So you may conclude from what you have just heard. 
Yes, it is very humiliating and deplorable, though we 
idiottld even prefer our duty to our pleasure, when 
those duties abound with difficulties, and afford no 
consolations: and when we are merely enabled to 
repel attacks from the pleasures of the age with rea- 
son and argument, which persuade, it is true, biit 
they stop in the tender part of the soul, if I may so 
speak, and neither warm the imagination, nor capti- 
vate the heart. Tes, it is Veiy humiliating and de- 



A Taste for Devoiitm. 227 

plorable to know by descriptioii only, that peace of 
Ood ; that joy unspeakable and full of glory ;. that 
white stone ; that satisfaction ; that seal of redemp^ 
tion ; and those ever-ravishing pleasures^ of which 
our scriptures give us so grand a view. Yes, it is 
very humiliating and deplorable that we should re- 
semble the scripture characters,^ only in the drought 
and langour they sometimes felt, and alway aspiring 
after a happier frame which we never attain. 

Farther still : the privation of divine comfort 
should not only humble us, but there are occasions in 
which it should induce us to pass severe strictures on 
our destiny. There are especially two such cases c^ 
this nature. 

1 . When the privation is general ; when a convic* 
tion of duty, and the motives of hope and fear are 
ever requisite to enforce the exercises of religion ; 
when we have to force ourselvea to read God's word, 
to pray, to study his perfections, and to participate of 
the pledges of his love in the holy sacrament. It is 
not very likely that a regenerate soul should be al- 
ways abandoned to the difficulties and duties impos- 
ed by religion, that it should never experience those 
comforts conferred by the Holy Spirit, which make 
them a delight. 

2. The privation of divine comforts should induce 
us to pass severe strictures on ourselves, when we do 
not make the required efforts to be delivered from so 
sad a state. To possess a virtue, or not to possess it, 
to have a defect, or not to have it, is not always the 
criterion of distinction between the regenerate man, 
and him who has but the name and appeanmce of re* 



228 A Taste for Devotion. 

generation. To make serious efforts to acquire the 
virtues we have not yet attained, and to use endea- 
vours to correct the faults to which we are still liable, 
is a true character of regeneration. But to see those 
faults with indifference ; and under a plea of consti- 
tutional weakness, not to subdue them, is a distin- 
guishing mark of an unregenerate state. Thus it is 
apparent, that though the privation of the piety of 
taste and sentiment be not always criminal, it is al- 
ways an imperfection ; and that alone should prompt 
us to reform it. 1 will suggest to you the remedies 
oi this evil, after having in the third place traced the 
causes which produce it ' 

III. To accomplish my purpose, and to exhibit the 
true causes which deprive us of the piety of taste and 
sentiment, We shsH make a short digfgsslon on the 
nature of taste and sentiment in general ; we shall 
trace to the source certain sympathies and antipathies 
which tyrannise over us without our having apparent- 
ly contribtited to the domination. 

The task we here impose on ourselves, is a difficult 
one. We proceed, under a conscious need of indul- 
gence in what we propose. The causes of our incli- 
nations and aversions are, apparently, one of the most 
intricate studies of nature. There is something it 
would seem, in the essence of our souls, which in- 
clines us to certain objects, and which revolts us 
against others, when we are inconscious of the cause, 
and sometimes even against the most obvious reasons. 
The Creator has obviously given a certain impulse 
to our propensities, which it is not in our power to 
divert. Scarcely do the dawnings of genius appear 



A Taste for Devotion. 229 

in children, before we see them biassed by peculiar 
propensities. Hence the diversity, and the singular- 
ity of taste i^parent in mankind. One has a taste 
for navigation, another for trades of the most grovel- 
ing kind. Virtue and vice have also their scale in 
the objects of our choice. One is impelled to this 
vi6e ; another to a vice of the opposite kind. One 
is impelled to a certain virtue, another to a different 
virtue. And who can explain the cause of this va- 
riety, or prescribe a remedy for the evil, after having 
developed the cause ? ^ 

But how impenetrable soever this subject may ap- 
pear, it is not altogether impossible, at least in a 
partial way, to develope it. The series of propositions 
we proceed to establish, shall be directed to that end. 
But we ask beforehand your indulgence, that in case 
we throw not on the subject all the light you wouldl 
wish, do not attribute the defect to this discourse^ 
which may probably proceed from the difficulty of 
the subject, anid probably from the slight attention 
our hearers pay to truths which have the greatest in- 
fluence on life and happiness. 

Proposition first We have already intimated, 
that a sensible object naturally makes a deeper im- 
pression on men, than an object which is abstract, 
spiritual, and remote. This is but too much realised 
by our irregular passions. A passion which controls 
the senses is commonly more powerful than those 
which are seated in the mind. Ambition, and the 
love of glory, are chiefly resident in the mind ; 
whereas, effeminacy and sensuality have their princi- 
pal seat in the senses. Passions of the latter kind do 



280 A Taste for Devotion. 

more violence to society than the others* With the 
exertion of those called heroes in the wwld, man* 
kind seldom sacrifice their ease, their sensuality, their 
effeminacy, to high notions, to ambition, and llie love 
of glory. And how often have the heroes themselves 
sacrificed all their laurels, their reputation, and their 
trof^ies to the charm of some sensible pleasure ? 
How often have the charms of a Delilah stopped the 
victories of a Samson, and a Cleopatra those of a 
CflBsar and a Mark Antony ? 

Proposition second. The imagination ciqptivates 
both the senses and the understanding. A good 
which is not sensible ; a good even which has no ex- 
istence, is contemplated as a reality, provided it have 
the decorations {proper to strike the imagination. The 
features and complexion of a person do not prove 
that a connexion formed with her would be agreea* 
ble and happy. Meanwhile, how often have those 
features and tints produced a prejudice of that kind? 
Nothing is often more insipid than the pleasure found 
in conversation with the great At the same time, 
nothing commonly appears so enviable. And why? 
Because the splendour attendant on this intercourse 
strikes the imagination. The retinues which follow 
them ; the splendour of their carriagea ; the mansions 
in which they live ; the multitude of people who flat- 
ter and adore them ; all these are strikingly qualified 
to make an impression on the imagination which 
supersedes the operations of sense, and the convic- 
tions of the mind. 

Proposition third. A present, or at least, an ap« 
proximate good, excites, for the most part, more 



A TMtefor Devotion. 231 

vehement desires, than a good which is absent, or 
whose enjoyment is deferred to a remote period. 
The point where the edge of the passions is blunted, 
almost without exception, is, when they have to seek 
their object in distant epocha, and in future years. 

Proposition fourth. Recollection is a substitute 
for presence : I would say, that a good in the posses- 
sion of which we have found delight, produces in the 
heart, though absent, much the same desires, as that 
which is actually present. 

Proposition fifth. A good, ascertained and fully 
known by experience, is much more capable of in- 
flaming our desires, than a good of which we have but 
an imperfect notion, and which is known only by the 
report of others. A person endowed with, good ac- 
complishments, and whose conversation we have en- 
joyed, is more endeared to us than one known only 
by character; though the virtues of the latter have 
been represented as far surpassing the virtues of the 
other. 

A sixA proposition is, that all things being equal, 
we prefer a good of easy acquisition ^ to one which 
requires care and fatigue. Difficulty sometimes, I 
^grant, inflames desire, and seduces the imagination. 
When we have a high opinion of a good, which we 
believe is in our power to acquire by incessant 'en- 
deavours, our ardours become invigorated, and we 
redouble our efforts in proportion v the difficulty 
augments. It is, however, an indisputable axiom, 
and founded on the nature of the human mind, that 
things being equal, we prefer a good of easy acquisi- 
tion, to one that requires anxiety and fatigue. 



282 A Taste for Devotion. 

A seventh proposition is, that a good beyond our 
reach, a good that we do not possess, and that we 
have no hope so to do, does not excite any desire. 
Hope is the foed of the passions. Men do indeed 
sometimes pursue phantoms ; and they frequently run 
after objects which they never enjoy ; but it is always 
in hope of enjoying them. 

The last proposition is, that avocations fill the ca- 
pacity of the soul. A mind which is empty, at lei- 
sure, aud unoccupied with ideas and sentiments, is 
much more liable to be animated with apassion, than 
one which is already attracted, occupied, and absorb^ 
ed by certain objects unconnected with that passion. 

IV. These propositions may lead us to an acquaint- 
ance with the causes of our antipathies and our sym- 
pathies. We have laid them down lyith a view to 
assign the reasons why most people fall short of the 
piety of taste and sentiment. This is the point we 
proceed to prove. We shall also trace the sources of 
the evil, and prescribe the principal remedies which 
ought to be applied. We shall hereby make the 
fourth part^ combined with the third, the conclusion 
of this discourse. 

1. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and sen- 
ment? It is because that a sensible object naturally 
makes a deeper impression upon us, than an object 
which is abstract, invisible, and spiritual. The God 
we adore is a God that hideth himself. The lustre of 
the duties impoaed by religion, appear so to the mind 
only ; they have nothing that can attract the eyes of 
the body. The rewards promised by Jesus Christ, 
are objects of faith ; they are reserved for a world to 



A Taste for Devotion. 233 

come, which we never saW, and of which we have 
scarcely any coDception : whereas the pleasures of 
this world are presented to our taste ; they dazzle 
the eye, and charm the ear. They are pleasures 
adapted to a creature which naturally suffers itself to 
be captivated by sensible objects. Here is the first 
source of the evil. The remedy to be applied is to 
labour incessantly to diminish the sovereignty of the 
senses. To animate the soul to so laudable a pur- 
pose, we must be impressed with the base and grov- 
eling disposition of the man who suffers himself to be 
#nslaved by sensa What ! shall the senses commu- 
nicate their grosity and heaviness to our souls, and 
our souls not communicate to the senses their purity, 
their energies, and divine flame ? What ! shall our 
senses always possess the power, in some sort, to 
sensualize the soul, and our souls never be able to 
spiritualize the .senses? What! shall a concert, a 
theatre, an object fatal to our innocence, charm and 
ravish the soul, while the great truths of religion are 
destitute of effect ? What ! do the ideas we form of 
the Perfect Being ; of a God eternal in duration, wise 
in designs, powerful in execution, magnificent in 
grace ; what ! does the idea of a Redeemer, who 
sought mankind in their abject state, who devoted 
himself for their salvation, who placed himself in the 
breach between them and the tribunal of justice ; 
what ! does the hope of eternal salvation, which com- 
prises all the favours of God to man, do all these 
ideas still leave us in apathy and indifference ? This 
consideration should make a Christian blush, it should 
induce him to call to his aid, meditation, reading, 

VOL. VIII. 30 



234 A TmUJot Devotion. 

retirement^ solitude, and whatever is calculated to 
enfeeble the influence of his senses, whose sovereign- 
ty produces effects so awful and alarming. 

2. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and sen- 
timent ? It is because the tyranny of the senses is suc- 
ceeded by the tyranny of the imagination ; it is be- 
cause the objects of piety are not accompanied with 
that sensible charm with which the imagination is 
struck by the objects of our passions. This is the 
second source of the evil, and it points out the second 
remedy which must be applied. A rational man will 
ever be on his guard against his imagination. He 
will dissipate the clouds with which it disguises the 
truth. He will pierce the thin bark with which it 
covers the substance. He will make appearances 
give place to realities. He will summon to the bar 
of reason all the illusive conceptions his fancy has 
formed. He will judge of an object by the nature of 
the object itself, and not by the chimeras with which 
they are decorated by a seductive imagination. 

3. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and senti- 
ment ? it is because that a present, or, at least, an ap- 
proximate good, excites in us more ardent desires 
than a good which is absent, or whose enjoyment is 
deferred to a distant period. This third source of 
evil suggests the remedy that must be applied. Let 
us form the habit of anticipating the future, and of 
realizing it to our minds. Let us constantly exercise 
that faith which is the substance of things hoped for j 
and the evidence of things not seen. Let us not look 
at the things which are seen, which are temporal ; but 
at the eternal things^ which are not seen. Heb. xi. 5, 



A Tiutefor Devotion. 235 

2 Cor. iv. Let us often launch beyond the confined 
sphere of objects with which we are surrounded. 
Our notions must be narrow indeed, if &ey do not 
carry us above the economy of present Hfe. It may 
terminate with regard to you in twenty years ; or in 
ten years : it may terminate with regard to you in a 
few days, or in a few hours. This is not all, we must 
often reflect on the awful events which must follow 
the narrow sphere a^signed^us here below. We must 
often think that the world shall pass away with a great 
noise^ and its elements shall melt with fervent heat, and 
its foundations shall be shaken. The mighty angel 
shall swear by him that liveth for ever and ever, that 
time shall be no longer. 2 Pet. iii. 10. Rev. x. 6. We 
must often think on the irrevocable sentence which 
must decide the destiny of all mankind: on the joys, 
on the transports of those who shall receive the sen- 
tence of absolution ; and on the dreadful desponding 
cries of those whom the Divine justice shall eonsign 
to eternal torments. 

4. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and senti- 
ment? It is because, to a certain degree, recollection 
is a substitute for presence. This is the fourth source 
of evil. You would yourselves, and without difficul- 
ty, prescribe the remedy, if, in this discourse which 
requires you to correct your taste by your reason, you 
did not consult your reason less than your taste. But 
plead for certain pleasures with all the. energy of 
which you are capable ; make an apology for your 
parties, your games, your diversions ; say that there 
is nothing crimii^al in those dissipations against which 
we have so often declaimed, widi so much strength 



236 A Taste far Devotion. 

in this holy place : be obstinate to maintain that 
preachers and critics decry them from misconceptions 
of their innocence. It is certain , however, that the 
recollection of pleasure attracts the heart to pleasure. 
The man who would become more sensible of (be 
pleasures of devotion, should apply himself to devo* 
tion ; and the man who would become less attracted 
by the pleasures of the age, should absent himself 
from the circles of pleasure. 

5. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and sen* 
timent? It is because that a good, known and expe- 
irienced, is much more capable of inflaming our de- 
sires, than that which is imperfectly conceived, and 
known merely by the report of others. Why do we 
believe that a soul profoundly composed in medita-- 
tion on the glories of grace, is satisfied as witi^ mar-- 
row and fatness ? We believe it on the positive tes- 
timony of the prophet. We believe it on the testi- 
mony of illustrious saints who assert the same thing. 
But let us endeavour to be convinced of the fact in a 
better way. Lordy shew us the Father ^ and it sufficeth 
us. So was the prayer of Philip to Jesus Christ. 
John xiv. 8. This request proceeded from the ignor- 
ance of the apostles, prior to the day of Pentecost. 
The request was, howeve^r, founded both on reason 
and truth. Philip was fully persuaded, if he could 
once see with his own eyes the God, whose perfec- 
tions were so gloriously displayed, that he should be 
ravished with his beauty ; and that he should, with- 
out reluctance, make the greatest sacrifices to please 
him. Let us retain what is rational in the request of 
Philip, rejecting what is less enlightened. Let us say 



A Taste f&t Devotion. 2Sr 

to Jesus, but in a sense more exalted than this disci- 
ple, Lord 9 skew us the Father y and it mfficeth ns. 
Lord, give me to know by experience the joy that re«^ 
suits from the union of a soul reconciled to its God, 
and I shall ask no other pleasure ; it shall blunt &6 
point to all others. 

6. Are we destitute of the piety of taste and sen* 
timent ? It is because all things being equal, we pre* 
fer a good, easy of acquisition, to one that requires 
labour and fatigue. And would to God, that we 
were always disposed to contrast our motives with 
our fatigues : the estimate would invert our whole 
system of life. We should find few objects in this 
world, to merit the efforts bestowed in their acquisi- 

* tion ; or to speak as the Supreme Wisdom, we should 
find that we spend money for that which is not bread, 
and labour for that which satisfieth not. Isa. Iv. 2. 
Would to God, that the difficulties of acquiring a 
piety of taste and sentiment, were but properly con- 
trasted with the joy it procures^ those who surmount 
them. In this view, we should realize the estimate, 
that the sufferings of this present life^ are not worthy 
to be compAred with the glory that shall be revealed in 
us. Rom. viii. 18. Seeing then, that whatever part 
we espouse, whether it be the part of religion, or the 
part of the world, this life is invariably a life of la- 
bour, we should prefer the labours attended with a 
solid peace, to those which involve us in anguish and 
inquietude. 

7. The affairs of life engross the capacity of the 
soul, A mind which is empty, at leisure, and unoc- 
cupied with ideas and sentiments, is much more liable 



238 A TaMefor Devotion. 

to be animated and filled with a passion , than one 
that is already concentrated on certain objects, which 
have no connection with that passion. This is the 
last reason assigned for our non-attainment of the 
consolations of religion. Let us keep to the point. 
Casting our eye on the crimes of men, we regard, at 
first view, the greater part of them as monsters. It 
would seem, that most men love evil for the sake of> 
evil. I believe, however, that the portrait is distort- 
ed. Mankind are perhaps not so wicked as we com- 
monly suppose. But to speak the truth, there is one 
duty, my brethren, concerning which their notions are 
quite inadequate ; that is, recollection. There is like- 
wise a vice, whose awful consequences are by no 
means sufiiciently perceived; that vice, is dissipation. 
Whence is it, that a man who is appalled by the mere 
idea of death and of hell, should, nevertheless, brave 
them both? It is because he is dissipated; it is be- 
cause his soul, wholly engrossed by the cares of life, 
is unable to pay the requisite attention to the idea of 
death and hell, and to the interests of this life. — 
Whence is it, that a man distinguished for charity 
and delicacy, shall act in a manner so directly oppo- 
site to charity and delicacy ? It is because the dissi- 
pations inseparable from the ofiice he fills, and still 
more so, those he ingeniously procures for himself, 
obstruct attention to his own principles. To sum up 
all in one word, whence is it, that we have such ex- 
alted views of piety, and so little taste for piety ? The 
evil proceeds from the same source — our dissipations. 
Let us not devote ourselves to the world more than is 
requisite for the discharge of duty. Let our affec- 



A Taste for Devotion. 239 

tions be composed ; and let us keep within just 
bounds the faculty of reflection and of love. 

If we adopt these maxims, we shall be able to re- 
form our taste ; and I may add, to reform our senti- 
ment. We shall both think and love as rational be. 
ings. And when we think and love as rational be- 
ings, yve shall perceive that nothing is worthy of man 
but God, and what directly leads to God. Fixing 
our eyes and our heart on the Supreme object, we 
shall ever feel a fertile source of pure delight In 
solitude, in deserts, overtaken by the catastrophes of 
life, or surrounded with the shadows and terrors of 
death, we shall exult with our prophet. My soul is 
satisfied a>s with marrow and fatness ^ and my mouth 
shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember 
thee in the night watches; and when I make thy 
adorable perfections the subject of my thought 
May God enable us so to do : to whom be honour 
and glory for ever. Amen. 



! 



I 



I, 



SERMON rX. 

On Regeneration. 



John iii. 1—^8. 

There was a man of the Pharisees^ named Nicodemus, 
a ruler of the Jews: the same catM to Jesus by night ^ 
and said unto him, RdUn, we know that thou art a 
teacher come from Ood; for no man can do those 
miracles that thou doest, except Ood be with him. 
Jesus answered and said unto him. Verily, verily, 1 
say unto thee, except a man be bom again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of Ood. Mcodemus saith unto him, 
how can a man be bom when he is old? Can he en^ 
ter the second time into his mother^s womb and be 
bom ? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, except a man be bom of water and of the Spi-* 
rit he cannot enter into the kingdom of Ood. That 
which is bom of the flesh is flesh, and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit Marvel not that 1 said 
unto thee, ye must be bom again. The wind blow- 
eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound therC'- 
of, but canst not tell whence it comeih, and whither 
it goeth: so is every one that is bom of the Spirit. 

HThe transition which happened in the condition of 
Saul was very remarkable. Bom of an obscUre fa« 

VOL. VIII. 31 



242 On Regeneration. 

mily, actually empleyed in seeking strayed asses, and 
having recourse on this intricate subject to the divine 
light of a prophetySaul instantly found himself anoint- 
ed with a mystic oil, and declared king by the proph- 
et, who added, It is because the Lord hath anointed 
thee to be captain over his heritage. 1 Sam. x. 1. 

To correspond with a rank so exalted, it was re- 
quisite that there should be as great a change in the 
person, as there was about to be in the condition of 
Saul. The art of government has as many amplifi- 
cations as there are wants and huoiours in those that 
are governed. A king must associate in some sort 
in his owii person, every science and every art. He 
must be, so to speak, at the same juncture, artificer, 
statesman, soldier^ philosopher. Those who are be- 
come grey-headed in this art, find daily new difficul- 
ties in its execution. How then could Saul expect to 
acquire it in an instant ? The same prophet that noti- 
fied the high honour to which God had called him, 
discovered the source whence he might derive the 
supports of which he had need. Behold, said he, 
when thou shalt come to the hUt of God, where there 
is a garrison of the Philistines, thou shalt meet a com- 
pany of prophets. Then the Spirit of the Lord shall 
come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy, and thou 
shalt be changed to another man. 1 Sam. x. 5, 6. 
The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee : here is 
support for the regal splendor ; here is grace for the 
adequate discharge of the royal functions. 

Does it not seem, my brethren, that the sacred his- 
torian, in reciting these circumstances, wa£( wishful 
to give us a portrait of the change which grace makes 



On Regeneration. 243 

in the soul of a Christian ? Conceived in sin, and 
shapen in iniquity, he is by nature a child of urath. 
His father is an Arnorite, and his mother a Hittite ; 
yet he is called out of darkness into marvellous light 
He is called to be a prince and a priest. But in vain 
would he be honoured with a vocation so high, if the 
change in his soul did not correspond with that of his 
condition. Who is suiSicient for so great a work? 
How shall men whose ideas are low, and whose sen-^ 
tiinents are groveling, attain to a magnanimity as- 
sortable with the rank to which they are called of 
God? The grace which elevates, changes the man 
who is called unto it. 7%^ Spirit of God comes up-* 
on him, it gives him a new heart, and he becomes an^^ 
other man. 

Th&se are the great truths which Jesus Christ 
taught Nicodemus in the celebrated conversation we 
have partly read, and which we propose to make the 
subject of several discourses, if God shall preserve 
our life, and our ministry. Here we shall discover 
the nature, the necessity, and \h^ Author of there-* 
generation which Christianity requires of us. 

I. The nature of this change shall foe the subject 
of a first discourse. Here, in giving you a portrait 
of a regenerate man, and in describing the characters 
of regeneration, we shall explain to you the words of 
Jesus Christ, Except a man be born of icater and of 
the Spirit 

IL The necessity of this change shall be the sub- 
ject of a second discourse. Here, endeavouring to 
dissipate the illusions we are fond of making on the 
obligations of Christianity, we shall press the propo- 



244 On Regeneration. 

flition which Jesus Christ collects and asserts with so ^ 
much force, Verily ^ verilyy I say unto thee^ except a 
man be bom of water and of the l^rit^ he cannot see 
the kingdom of Ood. Marvel not that I said unto 
thee^ ye must be bom again. Art thou a piaster in Is^ 
raelf and knowest not these things ? 

III. The author of the change shall be the subject 
of a third discourse. There using our best efforts to 
penetrate the vast chaos with which ignorance, shall 
I call it, or corruption, has enveloped this branch of 
our theology, we shall endeavour to illustrate and to 
justify the comparison of Jesus Christ; the tdnd 
blotoeth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof; but canst not tell whence it cotnethy and 
whither it goeth. 

I. In giving a portrait of the regenerate, tod in 
tracing the characters of regeneration, (which is the 
duty of the present day,) we must explain the expres- 
sions of the Lord, To be bom again ; — to be bom of 
the l^rit. Though it be not on grammatical re- 
marks we would fix your attention, we would, how- 
ever, observe, that the phrase, to be bom of water 
and of the Spirit, is a Hebraical phraseology, import- 
ing to be bom of spiritual water. By a similar ex- 
pression, it is said in the third chapter of St. Matthew, 
/ indeed J says John Baptist, baptize you with water 
unto repentance y but there cometh after me one mights 
ier than I; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ohost 
and with fire ; that is, with spiritual fire. When Je- 
sus Christ says, that we cannot see the kingdom of 
God, except we are bom of water and of the Spirit, 
he wishes to apprise us, that it is not sufficient to be 



On Regeneration. 245 

a member of his church, to be baptized, which is 
called the washing of regeneration ;^ but that great- 
er renovations must take place in the heart, than what 
water can produce on the surface of the body. 

With regard to the other expression, To be bom 
again, it is susceptible of a double sense. The ori- 
ginal term may perhaps be so translated ; so is its 
import in various places which are not of moment to 
recite here. It may also be rendered, bom from a- 
bove ; as in the third chapter of St. James ; The wis^ 
dom from above is first pure, then peaceable. In this 
text^ the original term is the same as that lyhich we 
here translate bom again ; but though the variation 
might attract the critic's attention, it ought not to di- 
vert the preacher : for, to whichsoever of the readings 
we may give the preference, the idea of our version 
invariably corresponds with the design of the Holy 
Ghost, and with the sense of the original. The uni- 
form intention of Jesus Christ must be to distinguish 
our state of grace from that of nature. The state 
of nature is low and groveling ; that of grace is no- 
ble and sublime ; consonant to what our Saviour said 
unto the Jews, Ye ore from beneath, I am from above. 
John viii. 23. Now for men whose birth is mean 
and groveling to acquire a great and noble descent, 
they must be bom anew ; thus to be bom j^oin above^ 
and to be boi;n again, are the same thing ; and both 
these readings, how different soever they may appear, 

* Oar reamed Mbdb prefers the literal reading of Titns iii. 5. Tht washing 
•f the New Birlh^ and the renewing ef the Holy Ghost. From this distinction 
«f St. Paul, nuuiy divinei distloguish tlie New Birth as the entrance on re- 
generation. Tkb Tbanslator. 



246 On Regeneration. 

associate in the same sense. It is of much more im- 
portance to remark on the words which follow, Born 
of watery and of the Spirit ■; first, that they aire He- 
braisms, and we have found the authorities so nu- 
merous, that we have had more difficulty in rejecting 
the less pertinent than in making the selection. 

The Jews call the change which they presume their 
proselytes had experienced, a spiritual birth ; * a new 
bH'th ; a regeneration. It was one of their maxims, 
that the moment a man became a proselyte, he wafi^ 
regarded as a child, once born in sin, but now bom 
in holiness. To be born in holiness, was, in their 
style, to be born in the covenant : and to this mode 
of speaking St. Paul apparently refers in that re- 
markable passage in the first epistle to the Corinthi- 
ans, vii. 14. The unbelieving husband is sanctified 
by the wife^ and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by 
the husband ; else were your children unclean^ but 
now are they holy. — Now are they holy ; that is, they 
are accounted as bom within the covenant. Conso- 
nant to this notion, the Jews presumed that a man 
on becoming a proselyte, had no longer any consan- 
guinity with those to whom nature had joined him 
with indissoluble ties ; and that he had a right to 
espouse his sister, and his mother, if they became 
proselytes like himself! This gave Tacitus, a Pagan 
historian, occasion to say, that the first lesson the 
Jews taught a proselyte was, to despise the gods, to 
renounce his country, and to regard his own children 
with disdain.^ And Maimonides affirms, that the 
children with which an Egyptian womanis pregnant 

* Book i. chap. 5. 



On Regeneration* 247 

at the time she becomes a proselyte, are of the second 
birth. Hence some Rabbins have had the odd and 
confused refinement to suppose, that there is an in- 
finity of souls born of I know not what ideal mass ; 
that those destined to the just, lodge in a certain 
palace ; that when a Pagan embraces Judaism, one 
of those souls proceeds from its abode, and appears 
before divine Majesty, who embraces it, and sends it 
into the body of the proselyte, where it remains ; that 
as an infant is not fully made a partaker of human 
nature, but when a pre-existent spirit is united to its 
substance in the bosom of its mother, so a man never 
becomes a true proselyte but when a new spirit be- 
comes the substitute of that he derived from nature.* 
Though it be not necessary to prove by numerous 
authorities the first remark we shall make on the 
words of Christ, To be bora of spiritual water ^ and 
to be born agaiuy it is proper at least to propose it ; 
dtherwise it would be difficult to account for our Sa- 
viour's reproving Nicodemus, as being a mister in 
Israel i and not knowing these things. For a doctor 
in the law does not seem reprehensible for not under- 
standing a language peculiar to Jesus Christ, and 
till then unheard of ; whereas the blame naturally de- 
volved on this Jew for exclaiming at expressions fa- 
miliar to the Rabbins. No doubt, Nicodemus was 
one of those men, who, according to an ancient and 
still existing abuse, had superadded to his rank and 

* When our SaTiour sayt, that neither the blind man, nor bis parents had 
tinned in a pre-existent state, he obviously decides against this doctrine of 
Pythagoras and the Rabbins, How can a holy God send a holy soal into a 
sinful body ? And St. Paul says, that Levi paid tithes in the loins of Abri- 
ham* J. S. 



rC. 



249 On Regeneration. 

dignity, the title of Doctor, of which he was rendei^ed 
unworthy by his ignorance. Hence the evangelist 
expressly remarks, that he was a rtder of the Jews ; 
a rtder of the Jews ! here are his degreejs ; here are 
his letters ; here is his patent. 

But Jesus Christ, and this is my second remark, in 
borrowing, corrected the language of the Jews. He 
meant not literally what he said to Nicodemus, that 
to enter the kingdom of God, or according to the lan- 
guage of scripture and of the Jews, to be a disciple 
of the Messiah, one must be bom again: he never 
imbibed the notion that a man on embracing Chris-' 
tianity, receives a new soul to succeed the one he 
received from nature : he had not adopted the refine-- 
ment of the Jewish cabalists, concerning the pre-ex- 
istence of souls. The expressions are figurative, and 
consequently subject to the inconveniencies of all 
similes, and figurative language in general. The 
metaphor he employs, when representing by the 
figure of a new birthj the change which must take 
place in the soul of a man on becoming a Christian ; 
this metaphor, I say, must be 

1 . Restricted : 

2. It must be justified ; 

3. It must be softened ; 

4. It' must be fortified. 

1. The expression of Jesus Christ must Ibe restrict- 
ed. We cannot well find the import of any meta- 
phor, unless we separate whatever is extraneous to 
the subject to which it is applied. The ideas of all 
authors whatever would be distorted, did we wish to 
extend their figures beyond the just bounds. What 



On Regeneration. 249 

is indisputable with regard to all authors, is peculiar- 
ly so with regard to the orientals, for excelling other 
nations in a warm imagination, they naturally abound - 
in daring metaphors. Hence, the bolder the meta- 
phors, the more is the need to restrict them ; the more 
they would frustrate the proposed design, should we 
not avail ourselves of this precaution. What absurd 
systems have not originated from the license indulged 
on the comparison of Jesus Christ concerning the ties 
which unite us to himself, with the connection they 
have with the aliments which nourish us, and which 
by manducation, are changed, if we may so speak, 
into our own substance? Properly to understand this 
comparison, we must restrict it. We must be aware 
that it turns on this single point, that as food cannot 
nourish us, unless it be received into the body by eat- 
ing; just so, the religion of Jesus Christ will be un- 
availing, if we content ourselves with regarding it in 
a superficial manner; neglect a profound entrance 
into all its doctrines, and a close application of its 
maxims to the heart. Of other similes we may say 
the same. How many are the insipid notions which 
arise from straining the comparisons between the 
mystical significance of the ritual law and the myste- 
ries of the gospel? 1 here refer to the types; those 
striking figures, of which God himself is the author, 
and which in the first ages of the church traced the 
outlines of great events, which could not take place 
till many ages after they had been adumbrated by 
those figures. On contemplating those types in a ju- 
dicious manner, you will find support for your faith^ 
and indisputable proofs of the truth of your religion. 
VOL. vni. 32 



250 On Regeneration. 

But to eontemplate them in a just point of view, they 
must be restricted in a thousand respects, in which 
they can have no connection with the object they ar^ 
designed to represent. Into how many mistakes 
should we run on neglecting this precaution ; and on 
straining the metaphors taken from the priests, the 
victims, and other shadows in the ritual law? To un- 
derstand those types and figures, we must restrict 
them; we must be aware that they bear on this single 
point ; I would say, that as the office of high priest 
under the law was to reconcile God to the tribes of 
Israel, whose name he bore engraved on his mysteri- 
ous pectoral ; just so, the mediatorial office of Christ 
consisted in reconciling God to the men, with whose 
nature he was clothed. 

Never had figure more need of this precaution ; 
never had figure more need to be restricted than that 
employed by Jesus Christ in the words of my text. 
It must be restricted to the persons of the unregene- 
rate who are not in communion with his people ; and 
to the things which Jesus Christ requires of the un- 
regenerate. But in what respects are those things 
called a new birth ? The metaphor concentrates itself 
on a single point ; that as an infant on coming into 
the world, experiences so great a change in its mode 
of existence in regard of respiration , of nourishment, 
of sight, and of all its sensations, and so very different 
from what was the case prior to its birth, as in some 
sort to seem a new creature; so indeed a man on pas* 
sing from the world to the church, is a new man com- 
pared with what he was before. He has now other 
ideas, other desires, pther propensities, other hopesi^ 
other objects of happiness. If you should not make 



On Regeneration. 251 

this restriction ; but extend the metaphor, you would 
make very injudicious contrasts between the circum* 
stances of the new, and of the natural birth ; and you 
would form notions, not only unworthy of reception, 
but deemed unworthy of refutation in a place like this. 

II. But the change here represented by the idea of 
a new birth, is not the less a reality, for being couch- 
ed in figurative language. Hence we have said in 
the second place, that the expression of Jesus Christ 
must be justified. In what does the change required 
of those that would enter into fellowship with him 
consist? In what does this n^w birA consist? We 
have just insinuated, that it is a change of ideas; a 
change of desires; a change of taste; a change of 
hope; a change of the objects of happiness. 

1. A change of ideas. An unregenerate man, un« 
acquainted with Jesus Christ, is wishful to be the ar- 
bitrator of his ow» ideas. He admits no propositions 
but what are proved at the bar of reason ; he takes 
no guide but his own discernment, or that of some 
doctor, often as blind, and sometimes more so tfaati 
himself. On the contrary, the regenerate man sees 
solely with the eyes of his Saviour : Jesus Christ is 
his only guide, and if I may so speak, his sole rea- 
son, and his sole discernment. 

I have no dear idea of the manner in which my 
soul can subsist after the ties which unite it to matter 
are dissolved. I do not properly kiK>w my soul by 
idea; I know it solely by sentiment,, and by experi- 
ence; and I have never thought without the medium 
of my brain; I have never perceived objects without 
the medium of my eyes; I have never heard sounds 
without the organs of my ears ; and it does not a^ijear 



252 On Regeneration. 

to me that these sensations can be conveyed in any 
other way. I believe, however, that I shall hear 
sounds when the^rgans of my ears are destroyed ; I 
believe, that I shall perceive objects when the light of 
my eyes is extinguished ; I believe that I shall thinks 
and in a manner more close and sublime when my 
brain shall exist no more. I believe that my soul shall 
perform all these operations when my body shall be 
cold, pale, immovable, and devoured ofworms in the 
tomb : I believe it; — but why? Because this Jesu9 to 
whom 1 have commended my spirit, has said to the 
penitent thief, and in him to every true Christian, 
Verily I say unto thee^ to^^yshalt thou be with me in 
paradise. Luke xxiii. 43. 

I have no idea of this awful mystery whereby a God, 
a God essentially One, associates in his own essence 
a Father, a Son, and a Holy Ghost; that as the dis- 
tinction with regard to Paternity, Filiation, and Spira- 
lion, is as real as the union with regard to the God- 
head. These mysteries have no connection with my 
knowledge ; yet I believe them, and why? Because I 
have changed my ideas, because this Jesus to whom 
I have yielded up my spirit, this Jesus, after preach- 
ing the doctrine of the unity of God, has decided that 
the Father is Godi that the Son is God, that the Holy 
Ghost is God : and he has said to his apostles. Go, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father y of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost 

[The rest of this posthumous sermon is not in the original : the loss is with- 
out remedy. The second sermon on the necessity of regeneration is founded 
on three classes of arguments : fint^ on thfi genius of the Christian religion ; 
secondly ^ on the wants of man ; and thirdly^ on the perfections of Go^.' But 
the arguments have been very much anticipated in other sermons in these- 
eight volumes. The reader will form an adequate idea of our author's views 
of regeneration from the doctrine of grace in his third sermon.] ' 



SERMON X. 

On Regeneration. 



>(iut)m< 



John iii. 8. 

The wind blowetk where it Usteth, and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst npt tell whence it com^thj 
and whiter it goeth : so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit* 

My brethren, it is not in our power to discuss the 
subject on which we now enter, without deploring 
the contests it has excited in the Christian world. In 
our preceding discourses you have seen the nature, 
and the necessity of regeneration : we now proceed 
to address you on its Author ; and to call your atten- 
tion to this part of Jesus Christ's conversation with 
Nicodemus ; The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof ^ but canst not tell whence 
it Cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is 
born of the Spirit How often has this subject arm« 
ed Christian against Christian, and communion 
against communion ? How often has it banished from 
the church that peace which it seems so much calcu- 
lated to cherish ? No sooner had the apostles entered 
on their ministry, than they magnified the doctrines 
of grace ; but in magnifying them they seemed sent 



264 On Regeneration. 

to set the world on fire. The Jews and the philoso-* 
phers, prepossessed iq favour of human sufficiency, 
revolted at a doctrine so opposed to their pride : they 
presumed on making a progress in virtue, that they 
owed the praise to virtue itself. 

No one is ignorant of the noise which the doctrine 
of grace excited in the ages which followed ; of the 
schism of Pelagius, and of the immense volumes 
which the ancient fathers heaped on this heretic. — 
The doctrines of grace have been agitated in the 
church of Rome : they excited io its bosom two pow- 
erful parties which have^ given each other alternate 
blows, and alike accused each other of overturning 
Christianity. No sooner had our reformers raised the 
standard, than the disputes concerning the doctrines 
of grace were on the point of destroying the work 
they had begun with so much honour and success ; 
and one saw in the communion they had just formed, 
the same spirit of division, which must have existed 
in the communion they had left. The doctrines of 
grace have caused in this republic as much confusion 
as in any other part of the Christian world : and 
what is more deplorable is, that after so many ques- 
tions discussed, so many battles fought, so many 
volumes written ; so many anathemas launched, the 
public mind is not yet conciliated, and the doctrines of 
grace often remain enveloped in the cloud they en- 
deavoured to dissipate ; and so much so, that the 
efforts they made to illustrate so interesting a subject, 
served merely to confuse and envelope it the more. 

But how knotty soever this subject may be, it is 
not my design to disturb the embers, and revive your 



On Regeneration. 255 

disputes. I would endeavour, not to divide, but to 
conciliate and unite your minds : and during the 
whole of this discourse, in which the Holy Spirit is 
about to discover himself to you und^ the emblem 
pf a wind, I shall keep in view the revelation with 
which a prophet was once honoured : God said to 
Elijah, Oo forth^ and stand on the mountain befqfje 
the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by^ and a 
^reat and strong wind rent the mountains, and braise 
in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but the Lord was 
not in the wind .; and after Uie wind, an earthquake ; 
but the Lord was not in the earthquake : and after the 
earthquake, afire ; but the Lord was not in the fire : 
and after the fire, a still small voice : [a sound coy 
and subtle.] Then Elijah, awed with reverence at 
the divine presence, wrapped his face in his mantle, 
and recognised the token of Jehovah's presence. 
The first emblems of this vision have been but too 
much realized in the controversies of the Christian 
church : but when shall the latter be realized ? Long 
enough ; yea too long have we seen the great and 
strong wind which rent the mountains, ' and brake in 
pieces the rocks. Long enough ; yea too long has 
the earthquake shook the pillars of the church : but 
the Lord was not in the wind ; the Lord was not in 
the earthquake. Yet at this very day the Vatican* 
kindles the fire, and with thunder-bolts in its hand, 

* The Vatican is a most magnificent palace at Rome ; the residence of tlie 
Pepes, and celebrated for iti library. Varro says it took its name from the an- 
swers or oracles, (called by the Latins vatietnia) which the Roman people re- 
ceiTed there from a god of the same name, who was said to be the author of the 
first sounds of infants, which is va, from v&girty to cry. J. S. 



256 On Regeneration. 

it presumes to determine, or rather to take away the 
laws of grace : but the Lord was not in the fire. 

May this still small voice^ the precursor of the Di- 
vinity, and thei^ymbol of his presence, be heard to-day 
in the midst of this assembly ! Excite thy hallowing 
accents, in these tabernacles we have built for thy 
glfxry, and in which we assemble in thy name, O Ho- 
ly Spirit, Spirit of peace : may thy peace rest on the 
lips and heart of the preacher ; may it animate all 
those that compose this assembly, that discord may 
for ever be banished from our churches, and be con- 
fined to the abyss of hell from whence it came^ and 
that charity may succeed. Amen. 

We must now illustrate the doctrine of the text, 
and state at large the ideas of the gospel respecting 
the aids of the Spirit of God, to which regeneration is 
here ascribed by Jesus Christ, and without which we 
might justly exclaim with Nicodemus at our Saviour's 
assertion. How can these things be I With that view, 
I shall propose certain maxims which shall be as so 
many precautions one should take when entering on 
this discussion, and which will serve to guide in a 
road that controversies have rendered so thorny and 
difficult. We shall afterwards include in six propo- 
sitions all which seems to us a Christian ought to 
know, and all he ought to do on this subject. This 
is all that remains for me to say. 

Mcuvim I . In the selection of passages on which you 
establish the doctrine of the aids of the Holy Spirit, 
be more cautious to choose those that are pertinent^ 
than to amass a multitude that are inconclusive.- — 
The rule prescribed in the beginning of this discourse, 



j^V 



On Regeneration. 25T 

and which we shall inviolably follow to the end^ not 
to revive the controversy, prevents my assigning all 
the reasons that induced me to begin with this pre- 
caution. It is a general fault, and indeed a very de- 
licate effort, in defending a proposition, tcvadopt with 
avidity, not only what favours it in effect ; but what 
seems to favour it. In the warmth of conversation, 
and especially in the heat of debate, we use argu- - 
ments of which we -are ashamed when reason returns^ 
and when we coolly converse. Divines are not less 
liable to this fault than other men. By how many 
instances might we support this assertion? But not 
to involve myself in a discussion so delicate and dif- 
ficult, only remark, that if there be in our scriptures 
an equivocal term, it is that of spirit. It is equivocal 
not only with regard to the diversity of subjects to 
which it is applied, but also because of the diversity 
to which it is applied in the same subject And what 
ought to be the more carefully noticed in the subject 
we discuss, is, that it has significations without num- 
ber when applied to the aids of the Holy Spirit which 
heaven accords to men. Do not imagine that every 
,time it is said the Spirit of God is given to man, the 
gifts of sanctifying grace are to be understood. In 
very many places it signifies the gift of miracles. Se- 
lect, therefore, the passages on which you would 
establish the doctrine of sanctifying grace ; and be 
less solicitous of amassing a multitude than of urging 
those which are pertinent and conclusive. 

Maxim 2. In establishing the doctrine of the ope- 
ration of grace, be cautious of overturning another 
not less essential to religion. When you establish 

VOL. vm. 33 



258 On Regeneration. 

this part of our Saviour's theology, be careful not to 
injure his moral code ; and under the plea of render-* 
ing man orthodox^ do not mak^ him wicked. There 
are some authors constantly at variance with them** 
selves. What is requisite to refute what a certain 
author advances in a recent publication ? We have 
but to adduce what he has presumed to establish in a 
^ former work. By what means may we refute what a 
preacher has just advanced in the last sentences of % 
discourse ? By adducing what he presumed to con- 
firm but a moment before in the same discourse. 
Now, my brethren, there is one point of^the Christian 
doctrine, on which this caution is very necessary ; it 
is that on which we speak to-day. Let us take care 
that we do not merit the censure which has been 
made on the most celebrated of the ancient advocates 
of grace ;* (whether correct or incorrect I do not un- 
dertake to determine,) the censure is, that when at- 
tacking the Manicheans, he favoured the cause of the 
Pelagians; and when attacking the Pelagians, he 
favoured the cause of the Manicheans. Let us de- 
test the maxims of certain modern preachers ccmcern- 
ing the doctrines of grace ; that a preacher should be 
orthodox in the body of his sermon ; but heretic in 
the application* No ; let us not be heretics either in 
the body, or in the application of our sermons. Let 
us neither favour either the system of Peilagius, nor 
that of the Manicheans. Let us have a theology and 
a morality equally supported. Let us take heed not 
to establish the doctrine of the divine aids, in a way 
that attacks the other doctrines, as those men do ; for 

* Augustine. 



On Regeneration. 25d 

Qodf who is supremely holy, is not the author of sin* 
Let us take heed in expounding the passages which 
establish the doctrine of grace, not to do it in a way 
which makes them impugn those passages of scrip- 
ture, where God commands all men every where to 
repent : Rom. ii. 4. and where it is said, that he i$ 
not willing that any should perish^ hut that aU should 
come to repentance : 2 Pet. iii. 9. where he declares 
that if we do perish, 4t is of ourselves^ and only of 
ourselves :. Hos. xiii. 9. where he calls upon the in* 
habitants of Jerusalem to confess, that he had taken 
all the proper care that his vineyard should bring 
for A grapeSy though it brought forth wild grapes: 
Isa. V. 3, 4, where he introduces himself as address- 
ing to mankind the most pathetic exhortations, and 
entreaties the most ardent, to promote their conyer* 
sion, and as shedding the bitterest tears on their re-* 
fusal ; as saying in the excess of his grief, O that 
thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things 
^t belong to thy peace. Luke xix. 41, 42. O that 
my people had hearkened unto me: Psal. Ixxxi. 13. 
O that they were wise ; that they understood this ; 
that they would consider their tatter end. Deut. xxxiL 
29. 

Maxim 3« Do not abandon the doctrine of grace* 
because you are unable to explain all its abstruse re- 
finements, or because you cannot reply to all the in- 
quiries it may have suggested. There is scarcely a 
proposition which could claim our assent, were we to 
give it to those only whose several parts we can 
clearly explain, and to whose many questions we can 
fully reply. This maxim is essential to all the scien* 



260 On Regeneration. 

ces. Theology has what is common to all human sci- 
ences: and in addition, as its object is much more no- 
ble and exalted, it has more points, concerning which it 
is not possible fully to satisfy the mind. This is es- 
pecially the case with regard to the doctrine we now 
discuss. I might, were it required, give yOn many de- 
monstrations, that the nature of the doctrine is such 
that we cannot perfectly comprehend it. We know so 
little of the manner in which certain ideas and certain 
sentiments are excited in the soul ; we know so little 
how the understanding acquiesces, and how the will 
determines, that it is not surprising if we are ignor- 
ant of what is requisite for the understanding to ac- 
quiesce, and the will to determine in religion : we 
especially know so little of the various means God 
can employ, when he is pleased to work on our soul, 
that it is really a chance to hit on the right one by 
which he draws us from the world : it may be by his 
sovereignty over our senses ; it may be by an imme- 
diate operation on the substance of our sduls. But 
without having recourse to this mode of reasoning, 
the doctrine of my text is quite sufficient to substan- 
stantiate the maxim I advance. I presume that you 
ought to admit the doctrine of grace, though you can 
neither perfectly explain it, nor adequately answer all 
the questions it may have excited. This is the precise 
import of the comparison Jesus Christ makes between 
the agency of the Holy Spirit and the operations of 
the wind. The wind bloweth where it listethy and thou 
hearest the sound thereof j but canst not tell whence it 
comethy and whither it goeth : so is every one that is 
born of the Spirit. 



On Regeneration. 261 

Maxim 4^ When two truths on? the doctrines of 
grace are apparently in opposition, and cannot be re- 
conciled ; sacrifice the less important to that which in 
of greater moment. Two truths cannot in reality be 
in opposition. It is a fact demonstrated that two 
contradictory propositions cannot both be true ; but 
the limits of our understanding often present a con- 
tradiction where in reality there is none. I frequent- 
ly hear learned men expound the gospel, but adopt- 
ing different methods to attain the same end, they 
suggest difficulties alternately. Others enlarge on 
the inability of man, and on the need he has of di- 
vine assistance. The former tax the latter with giv- 
ing sanction to the corruption of man ; and the latter 
charge the former with flattering the pride of man* 
The first object to the second, that in totally destroy- 
ing the faculties of man, and in straining the neces- 
sity of grace, they authorise him to say, ** Seeing 
literally that I can do nothing, I ought not to blame 
myself for doing nothing; nor to make a crime of 
remaining where I am." The second charge the first» 
that in conferring too much honour on the powers of 
man, and in affording him too much reason to believe 
he is still the arbitrator of his own will, they throw 
the temptation in his way to crown himself with his 
own merits, and to become the worker of his own 
salvation. Now, supposing we were obliged to 
choose either to lean to the pride of man, or to his 
corruption J for which must we decide? I am fully 
convinced that the necessity of diligence, which is 
imposed upon us, should not give any colour to our 
pride : and you will see it instantly ; you will see that 



262 On Regeneration. 

however great tht application which the \feA of saints 
nay have made to the work of their salvation, hu- 
mility was their invariable sentiment You will see 
that after having read, and thought^ and reflected ; 
that after having endeavoured to subdue their senses, 
and to sacrifice the passions God requires in sacrifice, 
they have believed it their duty to abase their eyes to 
the earth, and to sink into the dust from which they 
were made ; yea, always to say with the profoundest 
sentiments of abasement, O Oody righteousness be-^ 
longeth unto thee, but unto us shame and confusion of 
face. Dan. ix. 7. Hence if we were obliged to 
choose either a system which apparently favours the 
pride of man, or a system which apparently favours 
his corruption, we could not hesitate, we must sacri* 
fice the last to the first. The reason is obvious, foe- 
cause in leaning to the pride of man^ you do but fa- 
vour one passion, whereas by leaning to the corrup. 
tion of man, you favour every passion : you favour 
hatred, revenge, and obduracy : and in favouring eve- 
ry passion, you favour this very pride you are wishful 
to destroy. Now, it must be incomparably better to 
favour but one passion, than to favour them all in one. 
Maxim 6. In pressing the laws of grace, do not 
impose the law of making rules so general as to ad-- 
mit of no exceptions. I know indeed that God is al- 
ways like himself, and that there is a certain uni- 
formity which is the grand character of all his ac- 
tions ; but on this occasion, as on many others, he de- 
viates from common rules. There are miracles in 
grace, as in nature : so you shall presently see, my 



On Regeneration, 263 

brethren, in the use of this maxim, and in the neces- 
sity of this precaution. 

II. Entering now on the doctrine of grace, and 
with the precautions just laid down, do not fear to 
follow us into this troubled sea, how dangerous soever 
it may appear, and how abundant soever it may be in 
shipwrecks. I proceed to associate practice with spe-» 
culation, and to comprise in six propositions all that 
a Christian ought to know, and all he oujght to do in 
regard of this subject 

1. Nature is so depraved, that man, without super- 
natural aids, cannot conform to the conditions of his 
salvation. 

2. That how invincible soever this corruption may 
be, there is a wide difference between the man who 
enjoys, and the man who is deprived of revelation. 

3. That the aids which man can neither derive 
from the wreck of nature, A&r from exterior revela- 
tion, are promised to him in the gospel. 

4. That though man can neither draw from the 
wreck of nature, nor from exterior revelation, the re- 
quisite aid to fulfil the conditions of his salvation ; 
and though the grace of the Holy Spirit be promised 
to him ; he has no right to presume on those aids, 
while he obstinately resists the aids afforded him by 
his frail nature, and by exterior revelation. 

6. That the aids of the Holy Spirit promised to 
man, are imparted at first by measure ; hence, to 
abuse those he already has, is the surest way to ob- 
struct the reception of fresh support. 

6. To whatever degree one may have carried the 
abuse of past favours, one ought not to desjpair of ob- 



264 On Regeneration. 

taining fi'csh support^ which should always be asked 
with fervent prayer. 

These, brethren, are our six propositions, which 
apparently contain all that a Christian ought to know, 
and all he ought to do on this subject. God is my 
witness that I enter on the discussion in such a way 
as appears to me most proper to cherish among us 
that peace, which should ever be so dear, and to pre- 
vent all those unhappy controversies which have agi- 
tated the church in general, and this republic in par- 
ticular. I shall proceed with these propositions in 
the same temper as I have enumerated them, and 
haste to make them the conclusion of this discourse. 

1. Nature is so depraved, that man, without su- 
^ pematural aids, cannot conform to the conditions^ of 
his salvation. Would to God that this proposition 
^ was less true ! Would to God thiat we had more dif- 
ficulty in proving it ! But study your own heart. 
Listen to what it whispers in your ear concerning the 
precepts God has given in his word : listen to it on 
the sight of the man who has offended you. What 
' animosity ! what detestation ! what revenge !. Listen 
to it in prosperity. What ambition ! what pride ! 
what arrogance ! Listen to it when we exhort you to 
humility, to patience, to charity. What evasions I 
what repugnance ! what excuses ! 

From the study of your own heart, proceed to that 
of others. Examine the infancy, the life, the death 
of man. In his infancy you will see the fatal germ 
of his corruption ; sad, but sensible proof of the de- 
pravity of your nature ; and alarming omen of the 
future. You will see him prone to evil from his very 



On Regeneration. 265 

4 

cradle, indicating from his early years the seeds of 
eVery vicC) and giving from the arms of the nurses 
that suckle him, preludes of all the excesses into 
which he will fall as soon as his capacity is able to 
aid his corruption. Contemplate him in mature age ; 
see what connections he forms with his associates ! 
Connections of ambition ; connections of avarice ; 
connections of cupidity. Look at him in the hour of 
death, and you will see him torn from a world from 
which he cannot detach his heart, regretting even the 
objects which have cmistituted his crimes, and carry- 
ing to the tomb, if I may so speak, the very passions 
which during life, have divided the empire of his 
soul. 

After studying man, study the scriptures: there 
you will see that God has pledged the infallibility of 
his testimony to convince us of a truth, to which our 
presumption scrupled to subscribe. It will say, that 
you mere conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity. 
It will say, that in you ; that w, in your fleshy dweU 
leth no good thing. It will say, that this flesh is not 
subject to the law of Ood ; neither indeed can be. 
It will say, that you carry within you, a law in your 
members^ which wars against the law of your mind : 
a flesh which lusteth against the spirit. It will tell 
you, that man in regard to the conditions of his sal- 
vation is a stock, a stone, a nothing ; that he is blind 
and dead. It would be easy to swell the list! It 
would be easy indeed, but in adducing to you those 
passages of scripture on which we found the sad doc- 
trine of natural depravity, I observed the caution al- 
ready laid doprn, c^ preferring, in the selection, a 

VOL. VIII. 34 



266 On Regeneration, 

small number of conclusive passages, to the produc- 
tion of a multitude. Nature being so far corrupted, 
man cannot, without the aids of grace^ conform to 
the conditions of his salvation. 

Here is the first thing you ought to know, and the 
first thing you ought to do is to feel your weakness 
and inability ; to humble and abase yourselves in pre- 
sence of the holy God ; to cry from the abyss into 
which you are plunged, O wretched man that* I atn^ 
toho shaU deliver me from the body of this decUh I 
Rom. vii. 24. It is to groan under the dejpravity of 
sin. O glory of primitive innocence, whither art 
thou fled ! O happy period in which man was natur- 
ally prompted to believe what is true, and to love 
what is amiable, why art thou so quickly vanished 
away ! Let us not deplore the curse on the ground ; 
the infection of air ; nor the animals destined for the 
service of man, that now turn their fury against him ; 
let us rather deplore our disordered faculties ; our 
beclouded reason, and our perverted will. 

2. But however great, however invincible the cor- 
ruption of all men may be, there is a wide difference 
between him who has the advantage of revelation, 
and him to whom it is denied. This is the second 
thing you ought to know on the subject we discuss \ 
and this second point of speculation is a second 
source of practice. Do not apply to Christians born 
in the church, and acquainted with revelation, por- 
traits which the holy scriptures give solely of those 
who are born in Pagan darkness. I am fully aware 
that revelation, unattended with the supernatural aids 
of grace, is inadequate for a man's coi^ version. The 



On Regeneration. 267 

preceding article is sufficient to prove it. I know 
that all men are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. 
It is evident however that this death hath its degrees : 
and that the iqi potency of a man, favoured with re- 
velation^ is not of the same kind as that of him who 
is still in Pagan darkness. It is equally manifest, 
that a man, who, after having heard the doctrine of 
the gospel, grovels in the same sort of error and of 
vice into which he was impetuously drawn by his na- 
tural depravity, is incomparably more guilty than he 
who never heard the gospel. Hear what Jesus Christ 
says of those who having heard the gospel, and who 
had not availed themselves of its aids to forsake their 
error and vice ; Had I not come and spoken unto 
theniy they had not had sin; but now they have no 
cloak for their sin. Here is the second thing you 
Ought to know ; hence the second thing you ought to 
do, is, not to shelter yourselves, with a view to ex- 
tenuate voluntary depravity^ under certain passages 
of scripture, which exclaim not against the impoten- 
. cy of a Christian, but against that of a man who is- 
still in Pagan darkness ; you must apply the general 
assertion of Jesus Christ to all the exterior cares that 
have been taken to promote your conversion : Jf 1 
hctd not CQme, and spoken unto themy they had not had 
sin ; but now they have no cloak for their sin. O my 
soiil, with what humiliating ideas should those words 
of the Lord strike thee ! If .God had not come ; if he 
had not made thee to suck truth and virtue with thy 
mother's milk ; if he had not raised thee up masters 
in thy youth, and ministers m thy riper age ; if thou 
hadst qot heard so many instructive and pathetic ser- 



V 



268 On Regeneration. 

mons, and read so many instructive and affecting 
books- ; if thou hadst not been pressed by a thousand 
and a thousand calls, thou hadst not had sin : at least 
thou mightest have exculpated thyself on the ground 
of thy ignorance and natural depravity ; but now 
thou art without excuse. O unhajppy creature, what 
years has God tutored thee in his church ! What ac- 
count canst thou give of all his care ! Now thou art 
wilhout excuse. Here is the way we should study 
ourselves, and not lose sight of the precaution, not to 
sap morality under a plea of establishing this part of 
our theology. 

3. The aids which man is unable to draw either 
from the wreck of nature, or from exterior revelation, 
are promised to him in the gospel : he may attain 
them by the operations of the Holy Spirit. Thanks 
be to God, this consolatory proposition is supported 
by express passages of scripture ; by passages the 
most conclusive, according to our first precaution. 
What else is the import of the thirty-first chapter of 
Jeremiah's prophecies ? Behold the days come^ saith 
the Lord J that I will make a new covenaiit with the 
house of Israel^ and with the house of Juddh, — This 
shall be the .covenant that I will make with them: I 
wiU put my law in their inward parts ^ and write it in 
their hearts. What else is the import of the thirty- 
sixth chapter of Ezekiel's prophecies ? / wUl spinkle 
clean water upon you ; I will give you a new heart ; 
I will put a new spirit within you. What else is the 
import of St. James' words in the first chapter of his 
general epistle? J^ any man lack wisdom^ let him ask 
of Oody that giveth to all men liberally y and upbraid-^ 



On Regeneration. 269 

eA not. And of Jesus Christ in the words of my 
text, The wind blowelh where it listeth^ and thou hear* 
est the sound thereof, hut canst not teU whence it com* 
eth, and whither it goeA. Hence the third thing that 
we should know, and the third thing that we should 
do, is, to bless God that he has not left us to the 
weakness of nature ; it is, like St. Paul, to give thanks 
to God through Jesus Christ; Rom. i. 8. it is to ask 
cS him those continual supports, without which we 
can do nothing. It is often to say to him, O Odd, 
draw uSy and we will run after thee. Create in us a 
dean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. Cant, 
i. 8. Psal. li. 12. 

4. But is it sufficient to pray ? Is it enou^ to ask? 
We have said in the fourth place, that though man 
be unable to draw from frail nature, and from exte- 
rior revelation, the requisite aids to conform to the 
conditions of his salvation ; he has no right to pre- 
sume on the grace of the Holy Spirit, while he obsti- 
nately resists the efforts of frail nature, and the aids 
of revelation. But here we seem to forget one of the 
maxims already laid down ; that if it is requisite for 
me to fulfil the conditions with which the gospel has 
connected salvation, how can I do otherwise than ob- 
stinately resist the efforts which frail nature, and ex- 
terior revelation afford ? This difficulty is but in 
appearance. To know, whether when abandoned to 
our natural depravity, and aided only by exterior 
revelation, we can conform to the conditions of the 
gospel, or whether when abandoned to the depravity 
of nature, and aided oltly by exterior revelation, we 
are in Wncibly impelled to every species of crime, are 



270 On Regeneration. . 

two very different questions. That we cannot per- 
form the conditions of salvation, I readily allow ; but 
that we are invincibly impelled to every species of 
crime, is insupportable. Whence then came the dif- 
ference between heathen and heathen, between Fa- 
bricius and Lucullus, between Augustus and Sylla, 
between Nero and Titus ? Whatever you are able to 
do by your natural strength, and especially when 
aided by the light of revelation, do it, if you wish to 
have any well-founded hope of obtaining the super-* 
natural aids, without which you cannot fulfil the con- 
ditions of your salvation. But the scriptures declare, 
you say, that without the grace of the Holy Spirit you 
can do nothing, and that you can have no real virtue 
but what participates of your natural conruption : I 
allow it : but practise the virtues which participate of 
your natural corruption, if you would wish God to 
grant you his divine aids. Be corrupt as Fabricius, 
and not as Lucullus ; be corrupt as Augustus, and 
not as Sylla ; be corrupt as Titus, and not as Nero, 
as Antonius, and not as Commodius. One of the 
grand reasons why God withholds from some men the 
aids of grace, is, because they resist the aids they 
might derive from their frail nature. Hear the theo- 
logy of St, Paul, and the decision of that great pre- 
ceptor in grace, imposes silence on every difficulty of 
which this point may be susceptible. Speaking of 
^. the heathens in the first chapter of his epistle to the 
Romans, he says, That which may be known of Ood 
is manifest in them ; or, as I would rather read, is 
manifested to them ; Irif^t beccmse that when they knew 
God^ they glorified him not as Ood^ neither were 



On Regeneration. 271 

thankful.^-T' That which may he known of Ood is man" 
ifested to them ; here then is the aid Pagans might 
draw from the ruins of nature ; they might know that 
there was a God ; they might have been thankful for 
his temporal gifts, for rain and fruitful seasons ; and 
instead of the infamous idolatry to whicl\ they aban- 
doned themselves, they might have seen the invisible 
things of God, which are manifest by his works. And 
because they did not derive those aids from the ruins 
of nature, they became wholly unworthy of divine 
assistance ; Ood gave them up to tmcleanness through 
the lasts of their own hearts. — They changed the truth 
of Ood into a lie^ and worshipped and served Ae 
creature more than the Creator^ who is blemed for 
ever. 

5. Odr fifth proposition imports that the aids of the 
Holy Spirit promised to man are gradually imparted : 
hence to misapply the grace we have, is the most dan- 
gerous way to obstruct the reception of fresh support. 
But listen to some of our supralapsarians, and they 
will say, that the design of God in promising those 
aids is,, to assure us that how much soever we shall 
resist one measure of grace, he will still give us a 
greater measure, and ever proportion the counterpoise 
of grace to that of a deliberate, obstinate, and volun- 
tary enmity. So many have understood the doctrine 
of our church respecting irresistible grace : to judge 
of it consonant to their ideas, this grace redoubles its 
efforts as the sinner redoubles his revolts ; so that he 
who shall throw the greatest obstacles in its way, 
shall be the very man who shall have the fairest 
claims to its richest portion. 



272 On Regeneration. 

Poor Christians ! are these your conceptions of re- 
ligion ? My God ! is it thtfs that thy gospel is under- 
stood ? I hope, my brethren, that not one of you shall 
have cause to recognize himself in this portrait ; for 
I am bold to aver, that of all the most heterodox 
opinions, and the most hostile to the genius of the 
gospel, the one I have just put into the mouth of cer- 
tain Christians, is that which really surpasses them 
all. On the contrary, he who opposes the greatest 
obstacles to the operations of grace, is precisely the 
man who must expect the smallest share of it. Grace 
diminishes its ejfforts in proportion as the sinner re- 
doubles his resistance. Obstinate revolt against its 
first operations, is the sure way to be deprived of the 
second ; and the usual cause which deprives us of it, 
is the want of co-operation with its true design. 

6. We are now come to the last proposition, with 
which we shall close this discourse. However un- 
worthy we may be of the divine assistance, and what« 
ever abuse we may have made of it, we should never 
despair of its aids. We do not say this to flatter the 
lukewarmness of man, and to soothe his shameful de- 
lay of conversion ; on the contrary, if there be a doc- 
trine which can prompt us to diligence ; if there be a 
doctrine which can induce us to devote the whole 
time of our life to the work of salvation, it is the one 
we have j ust announced in this discourse, and made 
the subject of our two preceding sermons. We have 
considered three points in the conversation of Jesus 
Christ with Nicodemus, the nature y the necessity y and 
the author of the new birth. And what is there in all 



On Regeneration. 273 

this which does not tend to sap the delay of conver- 
sion? 

Let each of yon recollect^ as far as memory is able, 
,what Jesus Christ has taught, and what we have 
taught after him, on the subject of regeneration. — 
This work does not consist in a certain superficial 
change which may be made in a moment : in that 
case, it would suffice to have a skilful physician, and 
to commission him to warn us of the moment when 
we must leave the world, that we may devote that 
precise moment to the work of our salvation. But 
the regeneration which Jesus Christ requires, is an 
entire transformation ; a change of ideas, a change 
of desires, a change of hopes, a change of taste, a 
change in the schemes of happiness. How then does 
the system of delaying conversion accord with this 
idea? What time would you allow for this change 
and reformation ? A month ? a week ? a day ? the 
last extremity of a mortal malady ? What ! in so 
short a time would you consummate a work to which 
the longest life would hardly suffice? And in what 
circumstances would you do it? In delirium ; in the 
agonies of death ; at a time when one is incapable 
of the smallest application ; at a time when we can 
scarce admit among the attendants, a friend, a child, 
whom we love as our own life ; at a time when the 
smallest busine^ appears as a world of difficulty ? 

But if what we have now said, after this teacher 
come from Ood, on the nature of regeneration, have 
begun to excite some scruples in your mind concern- 
ing the plan of delaying conversion, let each of you 
recal, as far as he is able, what Jesus Christ has said, 

VOL. vni, 35 



274 On Regeneration. 

end what we have said, following him ccmcerning the 
necessity of regeneration : for since you are obliged 
to confess that regeneration cannot be the work' of the 
last moments of Kfe, I ask, on what ground you found 
the system of delaying conversion ? Do you flatty 
yourselves that G^od will be so far satisfied with your 
superficial efforts toward regeneration, as to excuse 
the genuine change ? Do you hope that this general 
declaration of the Saviour, Verily ^ verily ^ I say unto 
yoUj except a man be bom again, he cannot enter Ae 
kingdom of Ood, shall have an exception with re- 
gard to you? But the reflections we have made in 
our second discourse, against this chimerical notion, 
have they made no impression on you ? Do we preach 
to rational beings? or do we preach to stocks and 
etones ? Have yon not perceived that regeneration is 
founded on the genius of the gospel ; and that every 
doctrine of it is comprised in the proposition, Verily^ 
verily^ I say unto thee, except a man be bom again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of Ood ? It is founded on the 
nature of man, and .on the proposed design of Jesus 
Christ to make him happy ; and the acquisition of 
this end would imply a contradiction, if man should 
revolt at the change and the reformation ; because, 
4since the loss of primitive innocence, our state is be- 
come our calamity ; and it would imply a contradic- 
tion that we should be delivered frofn our calamity, 
unless we should be delivered from our state. It is 
founded on the nature of God himself: of the two, 
God must either renounce his perfections, or we must 
renounce our imperfections ; and, if 1 may dare so to 



On Regeneration. 275 

speali of my Maker, God must cither re^nerate 
himself, or we must regenerate ourselves. 

Upon what then would you found your hopes of 
conversion on a death-bed ? Upon the aids of that 
grace without which you never can be converted? 
But does the manner in which we have just describ-^ 
ed those aids, afford you any hope of obtaining them^ 
when you shaH have obstinately and maliciously re- 
Msted them to the end % 

I confirm, notwithstanding, my last proposition ; I 
maintain that however unworthy you may have ren- 
dered yourselves of divine aid, you ought never to 
despair of obtaining it. Yes, though you should have 
resisted the Holy Ghost to the end of life ; though 
you should have but one hour to live, devote it ; call 
in your ministers ; offer up prayers, and take the 
kingdom of heaven by violence. We wilt not deprive 
you of this the only hope which can remain : we wiU 
not exclude you from the avenues of grace. Per- 
haps your last efforts may have effect ; perhaps your 
prayers shall be heard ; perhaps the Holy Spirit will 
give effect to the exhortations of his ministers ; and, 
to say all in a single word, perhaps God will work a 
miracle in your favour, and deviate from the rules he 
is accustomed to follow in the conversion of other 
men. 

Perhaps r ah ! my brethren, how little consolatioB 
does this word afford in the great events of life ; and 
less consolation still when applied to our salvation ! 
Perhaps : ah! how little is that word capable of con- 
soling a soul when it has to contend with death I 
My brethren, we can never consent to make your sal- 



276 On Regeneration. 

vation depend on a perhaps : we cannot see that yon 
would have any other hope of salvation than that of a 
man, who throws himself from a tower ; a man actu- 
ally descending in the air, that may be saved by a 
miracle, but he has so many causes' to fear the con- 
trary. We cannot see that you would have any 
other ground of hope than that of a man who is un- 
der the axe of the executioner, whose arm is uplifted, 
which may indeed be held by a celestial hand ; but 
how many reasons excite alarm that he will strike 
the fatal blow. We would wish to be able to say to 
each of you, Jear not Mark v. 30. We would wish 
that each of you could say to himself, / know ; 1 am 
persuaded. 2 Tim. i. 12. Second our wishes : la- 
bour ; pray ; pray without ceasing ; labour during the 
whole of life. This is the only means of producing 
that gracious assurance and delightful persuasion. 
May God bless your efforts, and hear our prayers. 
Amen. To whom be houour and glory for ever. — 
Amen. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



A. 

Abel: in what sense be yet speaketb, vol. vii. p. If 5. 
Abraham: his intercession for Sodom should encourage us to 
pray for wicked naitions, vol. iv. p. 133. 

His great faith in the oblation of IsaaCi voL viii. p. 24. 
AtHAN : where are the Achans f iv. 207, 208. 
Actions, innocent, are often made criminal, 351-— >369. 
Admonition among Christian brethren, vi. 202. 
Adultbrt, the wpman caught in the act of, iii. 139. 

The case of Drusilla, iv. 367. 

The character of an adultress, y. 113. 
Adversities of life, vi» 312. 

They are the best means of making some men wise, viii. 63. 

Adversity is occasioned by crimes in two respects, 73, &c. 
^Bmilius Paulus, a saying of his, v. 323. 
Aged men : the difficulties of their conversion, vii. 24—30. 

They are exhorted to fear and to hope, 55^ 56. 
Ahaz : his preservation ; and wickedness, ii. 98. 
Alcoran : origin of that book, viii. 96, &c. 

A specimen of its absurdities, 99. 
Allegories, improper, censured, v. 273. 
Alms : Ghrist's love the great motive to them, iv. 278. 

Alms of benevolence considered with regard to society — to 
religion— to death— to judgment— to heaveit—to Ood,28i. 

Five arguments in favour of Alms, 299. 
Amorites, the nation and generation of them considered as 
one person, i. 349. 



278 INDEX. 

Amoritefl ; the whole inhabitaDts of Canaan vere ao called^ 
i. 341. Their iDiqaities, 341, 342. 
AifvaBMBNTS : men who have the love of Ood shed abroad in 
their hearts^ have little taate for then,, i. 282. 

AVATHBHA MarANATHA, 11. 278. 

Akoblsi a defence to the church, ii. 394. 

Apostrophe to angefs on the Crodhead of Chriiti iii. 166. 
Their number and employment, 199. 
Their happiness consists in glorifying God, 202. 
They bend over the ark to look into the mystery of re- 
demption, vi. 88. 
Of the angtl who aware standing on the earth and on the 

sea, yii. 17. 
Darid prostrated befere the destroying angel, riii. 91. 
Akobk attributed to Ood ; but it varies in six points from the 

anger and vengeance of man, i. 316, &c. 
Anisb, mint, cummin ; improvements on the terms, iv. 95.^ 
The Antiitohian ; his notion of the divine mercy, vii. 54»- 

He is faithfully warned, and refuted, 65. &c. viii. 57. 
AjroiNTiNO of the Holy Spirit, viii. 275. 
Ants : an emblem of the busy multitudes of men, v. 72. 
ApATHV,or a spirit of slumber, dangerous to a nation, viii. 67-72* 
Apostact among the French Protestants to the Roman Catho- 
lic religion, ii. 168. 
Seven ways of apostacy, 465. 
The dreadfol sin of an enlightened apostacy, vii. 371,378, 

379. 
The apostacy through weakness, and through enmity dis- 
tinguished, 376. 
Four degrees of apostacy, 387* 

An address to sinners who hfive not attained the highest 
degree of this sin, 390. 
Apostolical Constitutions confessedly spurious, and the 

forgery of the Arians, iii. 190, 191. 
Apost&ophb to the ecclesiastics who surrounded the person 
of liouis XIY. vii. 233. 



INDEX. «79 

Ariahb reTuted in their faltse gloss on John xvii. 3. vi. 81; 

Refuted also in their whimsical gloss on John xri. 13. vii. 
293. 
Aristocracy : its corruption described, W. 185. 
Armiitivs (Van Harminci) three replies to his sjsteniy r. 355 

—362. 

In the bible practicd dnties are placed clear, and abstruse^ 
points involved in depths, that Christians may have pa- 
tience with one another, 368. 

<3od is in no wise accessarj to the destruction of sinners, 
Tol. V. 410—414. 
Arstobius : his avowal of the Godhead of Christ, iii. 193. 
Assurance : St. Paul persuaded of it, ^31. 

Eight cautions concerning it, 332 — 336. 

Assurance of justification may be attended with a mixture 
of doubts as to final salvation, 334. 

It is incompatible with a state of sin, 335; 

Assurance is demonstrated hj the experience of holjr men, 
337. — Bj the nature of regeneration, 340. — By tho 
prerogatives of a Christian, 345. — ^By the inward testi- 
mony Df the Spirit of God, 347. 

Four cantions concerning assurance, 350. 

Means of attaining assurance, 481. 

Degrees of grace and assurance, vi. 182. 

Assurance consists in foretastes of heaven, 204 — ^208. 

Those foretastes are often connected with trials, 208, 209. 

They are often felt on sacramental occasions, and on the 
approaches of death, 211, 212. 

Eight causes why the generality of the Christian world do 
not attain assurance, viii. 229, &c. 

Seven sources of the evil, 232, &c. 
Athanasius : the superiority of his arguments over the 

Arians, iii. 192. 
AtheisiK : men embrace it to sin quietly, ii. 348. 

Its absurdity joined with superstition, iii* 165. 

Its difficulties, viii. 110. 



S80 INDEX. 

Atoksmbitt : the mystery of it arisiDg from the innocence of 
Chhit, ii. 276. 

It is illustrated under the notion of a vicarious sacrifice, 
iii. 67—70. 

Its efficacy arises from the excellence of the victim, in 
five arguments, 225. 

Its extent liberailj explained, 241. 

The support of Christ's death against all our fears of fu- 
turity, 255—258. 

Christ's death is an expiation or atonement for sin, vi. 123. 

Four arguments in favour of the satisfaction made by 
Christ, 387. 

Five classes of arguments from the Holy Scriptures de- 
monstrative of the atonement ; and comprising a refuta- 
tion of those who say that Christ's death was only a 
demonstration of the truth of his doctrine, 392. 
Augustine proves that the texts which speak of Christ as 
subordinate to the Father, ought to be understood of his 
humanity and offices, because the expressions are never 
used of the Holy Ohost, iii. 187. 

He is accused of inconsistency : vis, of favouring the cause 
of the Manichsans when he wrote against the Pelagians ; 
&c. viii. 258. 
Avarice is always classed among the worst of sins, iv* 34. 

It is sometimes bluntly rebuked, v. 90. 

The sin of avarice defined, 391. 

It impels men to the worst of crimes, 392. 

It requires confession and restitution, 399, 

Portrait of an avaricious man,ii. 186. 

B 

Balaam : his temporising character, viii. 60. 
Baptist (John) an opinion of his, ii. 131. 
Barsillai apparently anticipating death, iv. 236. 



i 



INDEX. 281 

Batle: an error of his refuted, iv. 173, 174. 

His character, 201. / 

Begnon (Rev. Mr.) comforted against the fears of death bjr 

Christ's valedictory address, vi. 42. 
Believers often receive the greatest good from the severest 
afflictions, i. 212. 
The believer superior to the skeptic at the tribunal of au- 
thority — of interest — of history — of conscience — of 
reason — and of skepticism itself, ii. 407. 
Benedictioits on the diiSerent classes of hearers at the close 

of a sermon, v. 302, &c. 
'Benevolence, described, iv. 106. 

The want of it a horrible crime, 282. 
It is the brightest ornament of religion, 284. 
Birth, (New) the ideas of the Rabbins concerning it, viii. 247. 
Bodies of the glorified saints probably not visible to the pre* 

sent grossity of our sight, iii. 392. 
Brothels : the duty of magistrates concerning them, v. 123. 
Bull (Bp.) proves from the fathers of the primitive church 
their belief, that Jesus Christ subsisted before his birth ; 
— that he was of the same essence with the Father ; — 
and that he subsisted with him from all eternity, iii. 185. 



C^sAR ; his maxims and conquests, iv. 373. 

CiESAREA : two towns of that name, ii. 126. 

Calamities (National) often the forerunners of greater plagues, 
in four respects, viii. 78, &c. 

Caleb and Joshua, the only two th^t entered Canaan, is urg- 
ed as an argument to rouse sinners, vii. 88. 

Canticles : an apology for the figurative style of that book, 
iv. 346. 

Cato of Utica, persuaded of the immortality of the soul by 
reading Plato, vol. ii. 58. 
vol. viii, 36 



282 INDEX. 

CERGMoinAL law superseded by Christ, iii. 227. 

Whatever morality was contained in the Jewish ritual 
is still retained, yiii. 174. 
Character DEseRiBEo: the Jews, ii. 184. 
The in&dei, 184. 
The miser, 186. 
The temporlser, 186. 
A man in public life, his danger, vii. 198. 
CuARiTT, the duty of, 306. 
Chastisements designated to excite mourning and repentance, 

iv. 154. 
Christ the Word, a proof of his Godhead, i. 111. 
Christ would still weep over sinners, 384. 
Christ a counsellor, ii. 115- 

He is our reconciliation by the advocacy of bis blood, 117. 
He is the mighty God, and supports under the calamities 

of life, 118. 
He is the everlasting Father, and comforts under the fear 

of death, 119. 
Various opinions of Christ, 126. 

Inquiries of this kind may be put through pride — curiosi- 
ty — revenge — and benevolence, 127. 
Christ, the brightness of the glory of God and the express 

image of his person, 190. 
Christ accused of sedition, not by the Romans, nor by the 

populace, but by divines and ecclesiastics, 193. 
Christ the author and finisher of faith, iii. Pref. vi. 
Christ's divinity asserted, and vindicated against the 

objection of its being acquired, 55, 175. 
Christ, a supreme lawgiver, 140. 
He is supremely adorable, and adored, 170. 
His whole design is to make us resemble Qod, 412. 
He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, how much 

soever he may vary the situation of his church, 476. 
He subsisted with the Father from all eternity, 185, &c. 
He is called the consolation of Israel, vi. 15. 



>s. 



INDEX, 283 

He is still present with his disciples, vi. 70. 

Christ's three-fold relation to God, 80. — to the apostles, 

91. — and to believers, 101. 
He is of the same nature with the Father, 81, 83. 
His not knowing the whole truth, and the time of the day 

of judgment as mediator, accounted for on t)ie growth 

of his knowledge, 84. 
His kingdom and exaltation, 87. 

He prayed for the apostles, and their successors, 96, 100. 
Union of believers with Christ, 102. 
The duty of confessing Christ before men, vol. iv. 417. 
Christ's death an atonement for sin, vi. 123. 
Six reasons assigned for the slight impression, which the 

exaltation of Christ produces, 188. 
CpRkSTiAN Religion : the majesty of it, and the consequent 

respect we should cherish for the scripture characters, 

i. 159: 
The amiableness of it in regard to pardon and grace, ii. 150. 
Its pacific character in a political view, 200. 
Its tendency to disturb the vices of society, 209 — 2J2. 
Christianity has three properties, analogy, proportion, and 

perfection, iii. Pref. xi. 
Its superiority to Judaism, 464. 

Christianity contrasted with Mahometanism, viii. 95, 101. 
The Christian has a grandeur of character superior to all 

other characters, ii. 87. 
He is obliged to contend with the world in order to pre- 
serve peace of conscience, 214. 
He is indulgent to a tender conscience, iii. 50. 
His life is dependan^ on Christ, 60. 
He lives to Christ, 71, and dies to Christ, 73. 
He finds difficulties in attaining crucifixion with Christ, 

vi. 352. 
He is supported in his course by six sources of consolation, 

vii. 164, 
He has a cloud of witnesses for models, 170. 



284 INDEX. 

The difTerence between a Christian who enjojs heart-felt 

religion, and one who does not, viii. 217. 
The primitive Christians were models of charitj, iv. 303. 
Contentious Christians are novices in religion, v. 295. 
Forbearance recommended in opinions, 370. 
Christians should be distinguished bj love, vi. 55. 
They are not of the world, 107—111. 
Chrtbostom : his zeal in sending out missionaries, iv. 305. 
His exposition of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghosty 
vii. 374. 
The Church often established by the means, which tyrants 
employ to destroy it, i. 216. 
The church has often varied her situation in regard to 

worldly glory, to poverty, and to persecution, iii. 473. 
The church is a family, vii. 325. Her children should 
love one another with superior attachment, 315. 
Cicero : the powers of his eloquence in softening the heart 
of Csesar, and saving Ligarius, ii. 303. 
His gloomy notion of life, v. 323. 
Clovis I : conversion of that king, i. x. 

His immoral life, x. 
The Comforter ; his mission proves the divinity of Jesus 

Christ, vi. 65. 
Commandments : charges to keep them, 52. 

The importance of the command to love one another, 55. 
Conscience : the power of it in a Theban king, ii. 300. In 
hell, iv. 368, 369. 
He is a fool who denies its power, iii. 371. 
It founds its decisions on three principles, 373. 
It is to the soul what the senses are to the body, iv. 83. 
Consolation : six sources of it in Christ's valedictory ad- 
dress, vi. 62. 
Conversation must be with grace and seasoned with salt, 
iv. 248. 
It must be adorned with piety, 250, with chastity, 253, 
exempt from slander^ in seven respects^ 256^ from ex- 



INDEX. 285 

travagant complaisance, 262, and from idle words, 263. 
It must be adorned with grace, in five respects, 268. 
Five vices of conversation, 268. 
Three maxims of conversation, 274. 
CoKrvERsioN, exhortations to it, i. 96. 

It consists in illumination and sanctification, vii. 20. 
Natural difficulties of conversion in old age, 22. 
The habits of old age obstinately oppose conversion, 24. 
It is greatly obstructed by the recurrence of former ideas, 

25. s 

The habit of loving God, an essential fruit of conversion^ 

is difficult to acquire in old age, 26. 
Old habits must be counteracted, and new ones formed^ 

26. 29. 

A powerful exhortation to conversion, 46, &c. 
Arguments from the holy Scriptures against the delay of 

conversion, 61. 
Conversion by irresistible grace in our last moments, as 

stated by the supra-lapsarians, refuted in five arguments, 

65. 
The instantaneous conversions of scripture characters 

guarded against abuse, 98, &c. 
Those conversions had five marks of reality, which leave 

negligent Christians without excuse, 105. 
Corinthians pufied up above the divine laws, as appears from 

their neglect to expel the incestuous man, iii. 297. 
Divisions or party-spirit in the church of Corinth, v. 310. 
A Courtier : his life may be innocent, iv. 214. 

A wise man will consider a court as dangerous to his sal- 
vation, 216. ' 
He will enter on his high duties with a fixed resolution to 

surmount temptations, 217. 
The arduous duties of good men at court, 218. 
The dangers should not induce men to desist from duty, 

221. 
Reasons for retiring from court, 231, 241. 



^ 



286 INDEX. 

The CovEiTANT of grace is guarded by conditions, vii. 78 & 274. 

The Christian and the Jewish covenant diiTer in circum- 
stances only, being the same in substance, 263 — 266. 

This covenant had five characteristics — the sanctity of the 
place, 267. — The universality of the contract, 270. — 
Its mutual obligation, 273 ;-— Its extent of engagement^ 
276 — Its oath, 278. 

The ancient mode of contracting a covenant, 281. 

Method of covenanting with God in the holy sacrament, 
283. 
CovETOusNEss : persous habitually guilty of this sin ; and yet 
professing to be Christ's disciples, strikingly resemble 
Judas, V. 389. See Avarice. 
Crobsus : his celebrated question, What is God ? which em- 
barrassed Thales, as related by T^rtuUian. ii. 351. 
Criticism on Psalms xl. 12. Mine iniquities, &c. a9 applied 
to Christ, ill. 208. 

On Hebrews, x. 5. A body hast thou prepared me, 213. 

On Luke xi. 41. Ye give alms, &c. iv* 279. 

On 1 Sam. xxi. 438—441. 

Onlsa. Iv. 6. vii. 124. 

On 1 Thess. iv. 13—18. viii. 9. 

On the Word baracj ii. 271. It has three significations : 
1. To bend the knee: Psal. xcv. 6. 2 Chron. vi. 13. 
Gen. xxiv. 11. 2. To solicit or to confer good : Gen. 
xxiv. 35. 3. To imprecate evil : Job i. 5, 1 1 : ii. 5. 

On Hebrews xiii. 8. iii. 457. — On Matt, xxiii. 23, iv. 48. 
— On Hos. vi. 4. v. 273. — Hos. xiii. 9. v. 405. 
Cross: five bucklers against the offence of the cross — the 
miserable condition of a lost world, vi. 46. — The down- 
fall of Satan, 46. — The sovereign command of God to 
save mankind, 47. — The storm ready to burst on 
persecutors, 48. — The grand display of Christ's love to 
his disciples, 49. 

Glo;^ying in the cross of Christ, 337, 338, 356. 



INDEX. 287 

The cross of Christ relatively considered, assorts with all 

the difficulties and trials of this life, 361. 
We must either be crucified bj the cross, or immolated 

to the divine justice, 362. 
The atrocious guilt of those who nailed the Lord to the 

cross, 363. 
The cross considered relatively to the proofs of his love, 

364. to the truth of his doctrine, 365. to the similarity 

of sentiment, and the glory that shall follow, 365, 366. 



D 



Darkness at our Saviour's death, vi. 116, 118. 
David : his preference of God's affliction to that of man, v. 
104. 
God's long-suiTering to him, i. 378. 
His gratitude to Barzillai, vol. iv. 229. 
His affected epilepsy before Achish was an innocent strat-^ 
agem to save his life ; and imitated by many illustrious 
heathen, 430. John Ortlob supposes it a case of real 
affliction, 434. This idea is well supported to the end 
of the essay. 
He was too indulgent to his children, v. 35. 
He wept tor sinners, 431 : his piety, vii. 187. 
Day of the Lord, v. 319. 

Days, the wisdom of numbering them, vi. 323, &c. 
Death, the reflections of a dying man, ii. 246. 
Death considered as a shipwreck, iv. 289. 
The death of wicked men, v« 100. 
The terrors of dying, vi. 373. 
The death of good men, v. 100 vi. 212. 
Death is a preacher of incomparable eloquence, v. 283. 
Jacob and Sinaeon both wished to die through excess of 

joy, vi. 9. 
The words of dying men are usually very impressive, 77. 



288 INDEX. 

The death of Christ an expiatory sacrifice, and a model of 

confidence, 123, 124, 127. 
The death of Christ an accomplishment of the prophe- 
cies, 130. . 
The death of Christ is to the Jews an atrocious crime, 133. 
The death of Christ a system of morality, 135. 
The death of Christ a mystery inaccessible to man, 137. 
Death vanquished by Christ, 139. 
He has removed the terrors of dying by unveiling futurity, 

375 : by giving us remission of sins, 386. 
The complete assurance of immortality and life, removes 

the terrors of death, 399. 
Arguments to fortify a Christian against the fear of death 406 
Death unites us to the family above, vii. 334, 335* 
Contemplations on death, viii. 32. 

A striking thought to dying sinners on the word perhaps, 
viii. 275. 
Deists : Dr. Samuel Clarke divides them into four classes, 

ii. Pref. 2. 
Deism is incumbered with insuperable difficulties, viii. 111. 
Democracy: defects of that form of government, iv. 186. 
Depravity of men, i. 335. 
Descartes contributed to remove the absurd notions of God, 

imbibed by the schoolmen, i. 136. 
Despair and gloom : ten arguments against it, 303. 

Despair from the death of the head of a house, viii. 22. 
Devil : his malice and wiles, vi. 372. 
Difficulties of succeeding a great character, viii. 49. 
Doctrines of Christ — six. Heb. vi. i. 70, 71, 72. 
Abstruse doctrines are difficult to weigh, iv. 342. 
Difficulties of attending to abstract doctrines, i. 157. 
Drusilla: her character, iv. 367, & vii. 231. 
Duelling attended with bad consequences, v. 92, 
DuMONT (Professor) his life, iv. 427: his essay on David's 
feigned epilepsy before Achisb, 429. 



INDEX. 28d 

DvTiBs: the smaller duties of religion, iv. 77. Attention to 
them contributes to a tender conscience, 82 : to re*con- . 
version after great falls, 86: they contribute by their 
repetition for what is wanting in (heir importance, 89 : 
they afford sometimes more evident characters of real 
love to God, than greater duties, 91. 

Duties of professional men, v. 59. 

Duties of ministers when alone with dying people, 68, 69. 

Duties of preaching and of hearing are connected, 69. 

The high duties of princes and magistrate!!, viii. 47. 
DriNG people often fall into six mistakes, v. 66. 

E 

EecLEsiASTEs : a caution against misquoting that book, v. 

198. 
Ecclesiastical domination attended with six evils, ii« 166. 
Earnest of the Holy Spirit, vii. 291. 
Education of children ; a great duty, v. 29, &c. 
' Seven maxims for a good education, 44. 
Bad education must be reformed, 244. 
Ejaculations for divine aid in preaching, ii. 454 iii. 240. 
Eleazbr : his martyrdom, vii. 178. 

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani : our author illustrates the con- 
jecture of some Jews, that Christ called for Elias, vi. 120. 
Elijah : his ascension strikingly illustrated, viii. 125. 
Errors, speculative, may be injurious to the soul, iv. 116. 
BssBNEs. It is highly probable that many of them embraced 

Christianity. (See Eusebius.) iii. 52. 
Eternity : efforts to calculate its length, 448. 
Evidence of object, and evidence of testimony defined, vi* 

151, 152. 
Exile recommended during a bloody persecution, vii. 208. 
Existence. . The consciousness of it proved after the Carte* 

sian manner, i. 107. 

37 



300 INDEX. 

Exordiums : odr aotbor'i method in that point was singolarlf 
striking, ii. 249. iii. 329. v. 105. 
Miracles and prodigies gave the first preachers a superior- 
ity over us in point of exordiums, 269. 
An exordium of negatives, iii. 366, 367. 
An exordium on alms, iv. 277. 

An exordium of prodigies ; an incomparable one on the 
oblation of Christ, vi. 113—116. 
ExpBRiKNCfi is the best preacher, vii. 95, &c. 

F 

Faith: the circumstances^-the efforts — ^the evidences — and 
the sacrifices which accompany it, ii. 140 — ^146. 

The just shall live by it, iii. 271. 

Justifying faith described, 271, 275. 

The faith inculcated by the Arians, and many of the 
Romanists refuted, 277. 

The distinction between being justified b^ faitbf and 
having only a desire to be justified, illustrated in five 
respects, 282. 

Faith without works is dead, 293. 

Inattention to providences, a cause of the weakness of our 
faith, 478. 

Faith or belief -described, iv. 105. 

Obscure faith defined, vi. 151. 

An act of faith in regard to retrospective, and to future ob- 
jects, 174—178. 
Family of Christ ; five characters of it, vii. 325. 
A Fast : a striking method of notifying one, 362. 

Fasting enforced from the tempest; the murrain of 
cattle ; the plagte and the loss of trade, viii. 63, 64, 70. 
71. 72. 
Fbar, as applied to O^ly^s three acceptations: terror — wor- 
ship—and homage/mMHl^from a conviction that God 



INDEX. 291 

possesses every thing to make us happy or miserable, 
i. 387—395. 
Arguments against the fear of man, 406. 
Felix : his character, vii. 230. 

He is considered as a heathen, a prince, an avaricious, and 

a voluptuous man, 241. 
His procrastination is imitated by sinners, 247. 
Figurative language : specimens of its beauty and force, iv. 
319, 345. V. 317. 
The figurative style of Isaiah xl. i. 170. 
It is inadequate to express divine things, iL 112. 
Specimen of its powers, iv. 136. 
Fire : it burns the wood, hay, and stubble ; and purifies the 

gold and silver, v. 318 — 324. 
The Frailties of nature distinguished from wilful sins, iv. 

112—116. 
Friendship ; must be faithful and honest in admonitions, as is 
here exemplified, v. 245. 

G 

Games in Greece and Rome; five remarks on them, iv. 375-381 
Gaming: the sin of, iv. 224, 357. 
Genbaloot of Christ, vii. 316, &c. 

A solution of its diflSculties apparently correct, 319; 
Of the persons nearly related to Christ, 320, 321, 322. 
Glorv of the latter day, or prosperity of the Messiah's king* 

dom, ii. 239, 240. 
God's eternity ^ i. 107. 

His supreme felicity, 112 — 116. God's presence realiz- 
ed in a fine exordium, 133,. 134. 
His Omnipresence^ 1 1 — 1 1 5, 1 35 — 1 42. Proved by his 
boundless knowledge, his general influence, and bis uni- 
versal direction, 142. *' 
God is a spirit, and matter, however modified, cKli never 
resemble him, 137---140. God protects us by his pre- 



292 INDEX. 

sence ; be inTigorates virtue, and awes Tice,149. God's 
ubiquity exeropHGed, 150 — 153. Tbe grandeur of God 
justifies naysteries, and bupersedes objects, 160^ 163. 
It is an argument to repentance, to humility, to confi- 
dence, and to vigilance, 163. It should awe the hypo« 
crite, tbe worldling, the slave of sensuality, 165. It is a 
grand siibject for enforcing charges of sanctity on an au- 
dience, 165. 

The sublime description of God in Isaiah xl. intended to 
discountenance idolatry, 169. God's essence is inde- 
pendent in its cause, 174. Universal in its extent, 176. 
Comprises every excellence, 177, 178. Is unchangea- 
ble in its exercise, while variation is the character of 
the creatures, 178. Is eternal in fts duration, 179. 
The grandeur of God conspicuous in the immensity of 
his works, 180, v. 335. 

God, great in counsel, and mighty in work. Matter and 
spirit are alike known to him, i. 291 — 212. 

Ood*8 holiness proved from nature, from angels, and the 
human heart, 241. God's holiness is our model, 247. 
It is infinite in degree, pure in motive, and uniform in ac- 
tion, 247, 248. 

Ood*8 compassion .must be in harmony with the spiritual- 
ity of his essence, 259. He alone is capable of perfect 
compassion, 267. It is exemplified to sinful men by 
the victim he has substituted, by the patience he has 
exercised, by the crimes he has pardoned, by the 
friendship he has afforded, and by the rewards he has 
bestowed, 271 — 280. The goodness of God defined, 
293^ 349. 

God^s anger and wrath are ideas borrowed from men. 
Their animal spirits boil with rage ; but anger with God 
is knowing how to proportion punishment to crime, 314. 
This idea is strikingly exemplified in six instances, 316, 
&c. God is one in excellence, which is the source of 



INDEX. 293 

of all his perfections : they all act in unisoni exemplified 
in fire points, 322. 

The time of God's justice must come, 353. 

The terrors of God's vengeance, 354. 

Ood's long-suffering abused four ways, 362. 

■ ——to David, Manasseb, Peter, and Saul 

of Tarsus, 378. 

God : the reverence due to him, 405. He is the object 
of our fear, in regard of bis regal sovereignty, and im- 
mortality, 408. 

The grandeur of God in bis works awes the tyrants of the 
church, 416. 

The whole creation fights for God, when be pleases, 418. 

God, the object of praise. To join with angels in this du- 
ty, we must have the sentiments of angels, 429. 

Characters of God's mercy ^ v. 126, vii. 76, 86, 359. 

The depths of God, v. 339; of nature, 343: of providence, 
348 : of revelation, 350. 

God is present in religious assemblies, vi. 232* 

God's long-suffering has limits, as appears from public ca- 
tastrophes, vii. 118: from hardened sinners, 124: from 
dying men, 127. 

God ; awful in his most gracious approaches, 369. 
Gold, silver, &c. are figuratively sound doctrine, v. 318. 
Gospel : our author often preached on the gospel for the days 
i. 328. 

The Gospel reveals the perfections of God, iii. 389. 

Its doctrines are infallible, vi. 92, 93. 

The great sin of not profiting by its superior lieht, vii. 391« 
Grace requires a preparation of the heart, vi. 18, &c. 

There are degrees of grace, 182, vii. 81, 82. 

The folly of sinning that grace may abound, 76, &c. 

A day of grace or time of visitation allowed to nations as 
well as to individuals, 118, &c. 

The 8u6Sriency of grace, 193. 

The day of grace or time of visitation^ 258, 259. 



294 INDEX. 

The doctrines of grace admirably stated in six proposi- 
tions, viii. 263, &c. 
Five cautionary maxims against misstating the doctrine, 256 
Oratitudi: required for favors, iv. 158. 

H. 

Habits : vicious ones may be renounced when old, in five ca- 
ses, vii. 36. 
Hearers recommended to review their life, i. 381. 

Some may be moved with tenderness ; but others require 
terror, 255. 

Plain dealing with negligent hearers, 329, 353* 

A repartee with hearers on the word year, vii. 61. 

They are reminded of righteousness, temperance, and a 
judgment to come, 254. 
Hj&ayen: God will there communicate ideas or knowledge^ iii. 
397. Love, 401. Virtues, 404. Felicity, 405. 

These four communications are connected together : we 
cannot in heaven help possessing rectitude of thought, 
and a propensity to love, and imitate God, 410. 

A resemblance of God being the essence of heaven, it is 
Satan's plan to render man unlike his God, 411. 

Scholastic disputation whether we shall know one anotlier 
in heaven ? v. 37. 

Thoughts of heaven diminish the anguish of the cross, vi. 66 

The joys of meeting Christ and saints in heaven, 71, 72, 73. 

The third heaven of which St. Paul speaks, 266. 

Why its happiness is unspeakable, 268, 295. 

The blessed in heaven possesses superior illumination, 274. 

They are prompted by iacli nations the most noble and re- 
fined, 282. 

They possess all sensible pleasure in heaven, 286. 

The church sighing for more of heaven, 297, &c. 

Foretastes of heaven felt on earth, vii. 307, 308. 

The delightful society of heaven^ 336, &c« ^ 



INDEX. 295 

Hebrew Christians: the scope and design of St. Paul's epis- 
tle to them, vii. 142. 
Their situation stated, 199. « 

Hell: there is no philosophy against its fear, iii. 313. 
The eternity of hell-torments, 426. 
This doctrine confirmed, and Origen refuted, 429, 430. 
Four further arguments on this subject, 433. 
The punishments of hell consist in the privatioir of celestial 
happiness, 442; in painful sensations, 443; in remorse 
of conscience, 444 ; in the horrors of the society, 446 • 
in the increase of sin, 447. 
There are degrees of torment in hell ; but the mildest are 

intolerable, v. 385. 
The cries of its inhabitants, viii. 36. 
Henrt IY. of France, hij equivocation, iv. 121. 
Hero : he that rnleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh 

a city, in four respects, iv. 331, &c. 
Herod Antipas : his conduct to Jesus, ii. 195. 
Herodotus : his account of Pharaoh Necbo'to expedition, vol. 

viii. 131. See Prideanx. 
HoBBEs and Machiatel: a word (o their disciples, 74, &c. 
Holland : six cautions to that nation, iv. 158, &c. 
Omens of its prosperity from its tears, 170. 
A sketch of its vices, tiii. 77. 
Three sources of hope for Holland, 85, &c. 
Its high and mighty Lords called (o repentance, 210. 
Religious disputes in Holland, 256 — 259. 
Holiness : the word has many acceptations, i. 229. It is vir- 
tue, rectitude, order, or a conformity to Ood, 232, 233; 
234. It often means justice, 235. or fitness, 236. 
Huet, Bishop of Avranches: his eccentricity, 289. 
HuMANiTT to the brute creation enforced by Jewish and Pa- 
gan laws, viii. 163, 164. 
Humility ; a cause of gratitude, i. 445. 
HrpocRiST rebuked, iii. 369. 

The hypocrite described, i v, 7 1 ; v. 79. 



296 INDEX 



Ideas : their imperfection, iii. 398. 
Idlbnesi: its mischiefs, iv. 107, &c. 
Idolatry: best refuted by irony, i. 188, &c. 

It disgraces man, who is made in the image of God, v. 54. 

Idolatry in morals is expecting help from man : families 
that despair on the death of a father ; and the dying who 
refy on physicians are guilty of it, i. 187, 192. All men 
who have recourse to second causes are guilty of the 
same sin, 422. 
Image of Ood in man, iii. 410 — 412. 

Imagination: its magnifying power over the passions, v. 238. 
Inferences, Heb. ii. 1 — 3. A striking inference from the 
Godhead of Christ, iii. 198. / 

Inferences from the being of God, i. 290. 

A caution against wrong inferences from St. Peter's sin, ii. 
148. 

The multitude ought not to be our rule, 183. 

Caveat against wrong inferences from our equality, iii. 101. 
Infidelity affects an air of superiority, v. 145. 

Its dogmas revolt our moral feelings, 147. 

It has succeeded the spirit of blind credulity, vi. 195. 

It has insuperable difficulties, viii. 110, &c. 
Iniquities of the fathers visited on the children : the nature 

' of that economy, i. 345 — 354. 
Intemperance, vii. 238. 

Intercession of Christ : its omnipotency, vol. vi. 103, &c. 
Isaac, a type of Christ, 113. 
Isaiah: his mission to Ahaz, ii. 98. 

His death, vii, 178. 
Isis, an Egyptian God, alluded to in Jeremiah xliv. r. 75. 
IsMAEL preserved by providence, v. 42. 



INDEX. 297 



Jambs (St.) the paradoxes or high morality of his epistle, iv. 17. 
Jeremiah : his purchase of land, a proof of prophecy, i«197| &€• 

His boldoess at fourteen years of age, ii. 132. 

His severe mission to his country, vi. 205. 

His complaints against Israel, viii. 62. 
Jews : their hardness and opprobium inferred from the vari- 
ous methods Jesus Christ adopted for their conversion, 
ii. 158—162. 

We should have patience and pity with their errors, 232. 

The Jews safer guides in the interpretation of prophecy 
than many Christians: (perhaps the author alludes to 
Grotius, who affected an unpardonable singularity in bis 
expositions of the prophecies,) 251. 

Could they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead ? 
343. Two Answers, ibid. 

Their fair promises before Sinai were transient, v. 269. 

Six of their calamities deplored by Jeremiah, viii. 135, &c. 

Character of their irreligious kings, 143. 

The Jews perished as the Galileans, 202. 

The calamities of the Jews, and those of Europe compar- 
ed, 205.- 
Judas went to his own place, v. 378. 

It had been good for him, if he had not been born, explain- 
ed and proved in four arguments, 380. 

The circumstances, under which he sinned, 393, 394. 

The pretexts, with which he covered his crime, 396. 

The confession extorted by his conscience, 399. 
Judgment: the day of, i. 123. 

Power of the judge, 125. 

A future judgment is inferred from the disorders of society^ 
from the power of conscience, & from revelation, iii. 367. 

We shall be judged according to the economy under which 
we lived, 379. These are, light — proportion or talents 
•^and mercy, 379, &c. 

38 



^ 



S98 INDEX 

JuBOMBNTs (National): the erroneous, and the real light in 

which they should be viewed, viii. 189. 

Four erroneous dispositions in which they are yiewed, 190. 

Judgments (National) : God is not only the author of all 

judgments, but he determines their ends ; proved by 

three propositions, 1 94. 

A provisional or particular judgment on every man as soon 

as his sou! leaves the body, iii. 366. 
The judgment or opinfon must often be suspended, v. 243. 
JcsTiFiCATioN : Anselm's mode of expressing himself on that 
subject, iii. 281. 
Justification by faith, 274, &c. 



Kedusch A, Kadytis, or holy, the name of Jerusalem in Buoy 

of the oriental languages, viii. 131. 
King : the term defined, iv. 409. 

The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world, as is apparent 
from his design — his maxims — his exploits— -his arms 
— his courtiers — his rewards, ii. 222« 

His kingdom not being of this world, demonstrates the 
authenticity of his mission, 240. 

A search for the subjects of the Messiah's kingdom among 
the Jews — in Rome — in Protestant countries, 242. 

In relation to this kingdom the faith and practice of Chris- 
tians are at dissonance, 244. 
Knowledge: the imperfections of it, no proof of the non-ex- 
istence of God, and of the incorrectness of divine trotK 
i. 289, &c. 

Defects of human knowledge, vi. 274, &c. 

Five reasons why our knowledge is circumscribed^ viiL 
114, &c. 

Man cannot know as God knows, which is an adeqoatf 
apology for the mysteries €i faith, 118. 



INDEX. 209 

L 

Latititdinarianism, or Deism, viii. 111. 
Law : offending io one point, &c. refers to capital offences, not 
to daily frailties, momentary faults, and involautary pas. 
Bions, iv. 24. It refers to wilful and presumptuous sins, 
which virtually sap the foundation of the whole law in 
three respects, 30. 
The law requires us to consider God as a sovereign, a le- 
gislator, and a father, 32. 
The excellent design of God's law exhibited in four argu- 
ments, 144. 
Lawyers: their method of false pleading, v. 230. 
Learning and knowledge should be cultivated by Christians, 

ii. 383. 
Legends : a specimen of them, vi. 12. 
Lent : apparently observed with great reverence by the au- 
thor's hearers, ii. 250. 
This festival is strongly recommended, vi. 110. 
Levitical law supported by three classes of persons, 341. 
LiBERTiNE^s : their objections against revelation, i. 119; refuted 

in four arguments, 120. 
LiBERTV (Christian) described, iii. Pref. viii. 

Liberty described in five points ; in the power of suspend- 
ing the judgment — in having the will in harmony with 
the understanding — the conscience superior to the con- 
troul of the senses— superior to our condition in life, 
146—153. - 

Liberty is incompatible with sin, 153. 
Life : arguments on it«) shortness and uncertainty, vi. 308. &c* 
The life of men divided into six periods, 321. 
This life is a season of probation assigned for making our 

choice, 328. 
The grand object of life is to prepare for eternity, ^29. 
Sinners should be grateful for the reprieve of life, 330. 
Life well spent affords satisfaction to old age, iii. 233. 



X 



300 INDEX. 

• > 

An idle life, however exempt rrom great crimes, is incom- 
patible with a state of salvation, iv. 103. 

The vicissitudes of life, v. 174, 175, 176. Reflections oa 
it, 188. 

We should value the good things of life, 190. 

Some men hate life through a disposition of melancholy, 20d, 
of misanthropy, 201, of discontent and disgust, 203, and 
of an excessive fondness of the world, 263. 

Some dispositions which should contribute most to the plea- 
sure of life, embitter it, to wit : mental abilities, 206 ; ten- 
derness of heart, 212; rectitude and delicacy of con- 
science, 215. 
Louis XIY. a cruel, superstitious, and enthusiastic man, iv. 
175, 176, 177. 

His monarchy obviously alluded to, 184. 

His secret policy against the neighbouring states, 200. 

His glory — and the humiliation of his pride, v. 373. 
Love : the energy of the love of Christ, iii. 240, 246. 

The sinner is exhorted to enkindle his heart with love, 250. 

Effects of Christ's love on the heart, 249, 254. 

His love is an inexhaustible source of consolation in all the 
distresses of life, and in the agonies of death, 255. 

It is a source of universal obedience, 259. 

Love to Ood described, iv. 103. 



M 



Machiayelian politics, iv. 204, viii. 74. 

Portrait of the infidel who shall presume to govern a king- 
dom on those principles, viii. 141, 142, 

Magistrates addressed, vi. 333. 

Mahomet : character of that monster, viii. 95. 

Maimonides : this learned Rabbi agrees with St. Paul, Heb. x. 5, 
6, that Ood requires our persons, not bur sacrifices, iii. 22& 

Malachi : character of the people to whom he preached, vi. 221 
— ^223. the character of the priests whom he addressed, 
, 242,245,247. 



INDEX. 301 

Malebranche : his admirable exposition of the passions, v. 

232. 
Maw, in the simplicity of youth, admires the perfections of God, 
and the theory of religion, vii. 167. 
Man is born with a propensity to some vice, 181. 
The dangers to which a well-disposed man is exposed in 

public life, 198. 
His faculties of thinking, loving and feeling, demonstrate 
the limits of his mind, viii. 115. 

m 

Mankind : the wisdom of God in the diversity of their condi- 
tions, iii. 79. 
They are all equal in nature — ip faculties and infirmities, 
85. — In privileges and claims onGod and providence, 
88. — In the appointments of the Creator according to 
their endowments, 91. — In their last end, 95. 
Our lot in life, and our faculties, prove our designation for 
another world, v. 183. 
Marlborough : (Duke of) his victory over Marshal Villars, 

V. 296. 
Marttrs : a fine apostrophe to them, i. 410. 

The Jews believed in their resurrection, ii. 132. 

The moral martyrs are sometimes taxed with a spirit of 

rebellion, iv. 411. 
They have a fourfold reward, 421. 
Arguments of support to martyrs, vi. 50. 
The fear of martyrdom, vii. 341. 
Mart, the mother of Christ, 317. 
Marvellous: a caution against the love of it, vi. 184. 
Materiality of the soul refuted, iii. 120. 
Maxims of the world, v. 61, 70. 

Mediator : Christ, in this office^is one with God in three res- 
pects, vi. 83. 
Merchants apprised of a heavenly treasure, 335. 
Ministers guilty of enormities must either be expelled, or 
wrath will come on the whole people, v. 26, 27, 28. 
Casuists or ministers cautioned, 135, 222, 369. 



302 INDEX. 

Humility must be their character, 313. 

St. Paul diTides them into three classes, 315 — 317. 

Their glory in the day of the Lord, 331—333. 

Ministers should be distinguished by lore, yi« 56. 

An address to them, 334. 

Theii^ duty when attending profligate men in their last mo- 
ments, vii. 52, 53. N. B. On this awful subject, our 
author, and Massillon in his sermon, Sur la mort du 
pec&etir, have a very striking coincidence of thought. 

Woe,%oe to the faithless minister, 91, &c. 

Ministers niust strike at vice without respect of persons, 235 
IQIiNisTRT : the little success of Christ's ministry accounted for 
by five considerations, ii. 162. 

The Christian ministry excites dignified enemies, 204. 

Attendance on it must make us either better or worse, iv. 

163. 
It was greatly abused by the Jews, 366. 

A striking transition from p^^eaching the most tremendous 

terrors, to the ministry of consolation, vii. 54, 55. 
An apology for the ministry of terror to certain charac-^ 
ters, 88, &c. 
Miracles were performed in the most public places, and be- 
fore the most competent judges, ii. 291. 
The folly of asking for miracles while we live in sin, 335. 
A Miser : his reflections at a funeral but transient, 336. 
MoLiNisTs : an opinion of theirs censured, iv. 363. 
Montausier (Mons. de) his confession, 242. 
Morality ; its principle, the love of God, is always the same : 
its variations therefore are simply the effect of superior 
light, iii. 375, 
The nature, obligations and motives of morality, iv. pref. vi. 
Martyrs for morality ; executioners, who punish men with 
martyrdom for morality, 408 ; the magnanimity of those 
who expose themselves to it, 41 1 ; the horrors that ac- 
company it, 415; the obligation to submit to it, 417 ; 
the glory that crown it, 420. ^ 



INDEX. 903 

The inoralitj of a ma^strate, a people, a minister, a con- 
gregation, a soldier,' 207, 208. 
Moral evidence: its difference from mathematical, Ti« 188. 
Moses : his advantages as a preacher, L 13dL 

He is the reputed author of xcth Psalm, vi. 307. 
The Multitude bad guides in faith, v. 50 ; in worship, 54 ; 

in morality, 56 ; in dying, 65. 
Murrain of the cattle in Holland, viii. 70. 
Mtstert of the death of Christ, vi. 137. 
MrsTERiEs render a religion doubtful in four respects, viii* 
93, &c. 
Mysteries of Mahometanism contrasted with Christianity, 
95, of popery, 101, of paganism, 107, of infidelity, 109. 

N 

Nations cautioned against placing an ultimate reliance on 

fleets and armies, i. 422. 
Nations are regarded as one body in the visitation of the ini- 
quities of our fathers, 350. . 
National dangers should especially affect those who are 
most exposed, iv. 165. 
Nativitt of Christ : all nature rejoicing at his birth, ii. 93. 
Nature and grace abound with marvels, i. 28.5. 
The study of, onsearchably sublime, v. 343. 
Natural religion : the disciple of it embarrassed on contem- 
plating the attributes of God ; the nature of man ; the 
means of appeasing the remorse of conscience ; and a 
future state. But all these are no difficulties to the dis- 
ciple of revealed religion, ii. 359 — 379. 
The disciple of natural religion is embarrassed in study- 
ing the nature of man, in three respects, 364. 
The disciple of natural, and the disciple of revealed reli- 
gion, at the tribunal of God soliciting pardon, 372. 
Fortify ing themselves against the fear of death, 375. 



304 IIMD£X> 

The confusion of Pagan pliilpsophers respecting natural 
religion, in four respects, 379. 
Nebuchadnezzar: the rapidity of his conquests, i. 184. 
Nehemias : (Rabbi) his curious reply to a Roman Consul, who 

had inquired concerning the name of Ood, iii. 395. 
NiOHT : a christian, seeking for the evidence of religion, is 
placed between the night of historic difiSculties, and the 
night of his future hopes, vi. 147. 
The faith which respects the night of futurity, 170. 
Nineteh: the fall cf that metropolis, viii. 130. 
Nobility of birth often extravagantly panegyrized, 44. 
A virtuous descent the highest nobility, 45. 

O 

Opinion? of the fathers respecting the salvation of certain 

heathens, ii. 386, &c. 
Origen: his avowal of the Godhead of Christ, iii. 194, 196. 

His ideas of hell, 423. 
Original sin, or seed of corruption, attributed to the depra- 
vity of nature, ii. 368. 
It is hostile to truth and virtue, Iv. 322. 
It disorders the soul with unholy dispositions, 322. 
The depravity of nature is increased by acts of vice, 330. 
It descends from parents to children ; and therefore is a 
strong argument for diligence in education, v. 30. 
Orobio : (Isaac) a learned Jew, ii. 238. 



Pagans : their belief in the presence of the gods at their festi- 
vals, largely illustrated, vi. 234. 
Their major and their minor mysteries, too abominable 
for' description, viii. 108. 

Papists : their uncharitableness in denying salvation to all 
christians out of their communion, iv. 120. 



INDEX, 305 

PAPlf¥s ! they cannot be saved as idolaters, iv. 122, 123. 
vThey are guilty of idolatry in adoring the host, &c. 123-7. 

They are but a novel people compared with the primitive 
christians, v. 51. 

Their preachers censured, 325. 
Pardon : promises of it to various classes of sinners, i. 304. 

ii. 372—374. 
Parents cautioned to look to their' children, vi. 336. 
Partt-spirit : the dangers of it, i. 83. 
Paul : (St.) he kept under his body, for the race and the fight, 
iv. 374—380. 

An eulogium on his character, 382 — 388. 

The time of his rapture into the third heaven, vi. 262. 

The transports of his rapture, 295, 296. 

The obscurity of some parts of his writings arises from the 
difficulty of distinguishing general arguments, from rea- 
sonings addressed to particular adversaries. 344. 

He preached Christ at the tribunals, where he was perse* 
cuted for preaching him, vii. 228. 

He selected three subjects of discourse before Felix, cal- 
culated to convert that prince, 229 — 240. 

Court-preachers contrasted with St. Paul, in a striking 
apostrophe to the dignitaries of the church, who sur- 
rounded the person of Louis XlVth, 233. 

He is a model for ministers, 251. 
Passion: a lawless favourite passion dangerous to the soul, 
iv. 43, 44. 

The passions defined, v. 227, 228. 

They war against the soul, 234 ; and against reason, 242. 

The disorders they excite in the imagination exceed those 
excited in the senses, 238. 

Erroneous inferences occasioned by the passions, 240. 

Remedies for the disorders of the passion prescribed, 
243—246. 

Philosophical advice for subduing them, is to suspend acts, 
to avoid idleness and use mortification, 249—252. 

An apostrophe to grace for power over passion, 267. 

The illusive happiness acquired by Vbft ^*veR^ssea> ^\\\^A\.« 



806 INDEX. 

FERFECTioif : the highest attainable in this life, is to know 

death, without fearing it, vi. 369. 
Perseverance: men must be saints before we exhort them to 
persevere, vii. 140. 
We cannot be saved without perseverance, 151. 
The scripture characters founded their assurance, on per- 
severing to the end, 152. 
A caveat against unqualified perseverance, 157. 
. An address to carnal men who hold this doctrine, 160 ; to 
visionary men, 162, and to sincere people, 163. 
Models or examples of perseverance, 174, &c. 
Pentecost : the glories of the day, 287, ii. 283. 
Persecution: the agents of it fulfil the designs of the Al- 
mighty, i. 415, 416. 
A pathetic contrast between the persecution of the French 
Protestants, and the sufferings of the Jews on the destruc- 
tion of their city by Nebuchadnezzar, viii. 138 — 140* 
Pbtavius the Semi-arian, refuted by Bp. Bull, iii. 184. 
Peter (St.): his confession of faith, ii. 137. 

His sermon on the day of Pentecost possessed five ex- 
cellences, 284. 
A fine specimen of what he would say, were he to fill a pul- 
pit, 307. 
His feelings at the transfiguration, vi. 292. 
His attachment to the Levitical law, 341. 
Six circumstances aggravate his fall, vii. 345. 
Christ's look at St. Peter after his fall, 349. 
The nature of his repentance, 353, &c. 
Phalaris: his cruelty, i. 260. 
Pharisees: their hypocrisy traced, v. 80. 
Philo had a notion of the Trinity, ii. 396. 
Philosophers : their ancient errors, 202. 

Their prejudices against the gospel unreasonable, 330. 
Philosophical apathy a great evil, viii. 67. 
Piett: its excellence, i. 130. 

It is distinguished by knowledge, sincerity, sacrifice, and 
zeal, V. 78, &c. 



\ 



INDEX. 307 

Piety influences health, v. 87 ; reputation, 89 ; fortune, 91 ; 

happiness, 92 ; peace, 93; comfort in death, 94. 
The pietj of Epbraim and Judah transient, 273. 
So is the piety excited by public calamities, 277 ; by re- 
ligious solemnities, 280 ; by the fear of death, 283. 
Transient piety implies a great want of allegiance to God 

as a king, 286, 287 ; exemplified by Ahab, 288. 
It is unjust, 287. It implies a contradiction of character, 
289. It is an action of life perverted by a return to fol- 
ly, 290. It is inconsistent with the general design of 
religion, 291. It renders God's promises of grace to un 
doubtful, 292. It is imprudent, 294. 
Piety of taste, and sentiment defined, viii. 215. 
The judgment we form of our state under privations, 219. 
When privation, is general, it indicates an unregenecate 
state, 227. 
Pilate: the baseness of his conduct, ii. 91. 

His cruelty to the Galileans, viii. 187. 
Plato : a sketch of his republic, vii. 168. 

Plato's opinion of God, i. 140. 
Plague, an argument for fasting and humiliation, viii. 71. 
National plagues sevenfold, 82, 83. 
Appalling horrors of the plague, 90. 
Pleasure : mischiefs arising from unlawful indulgencies, i. 96. 
PoLiTEKEss, as practised by men, iv. 414, 415. 
Poor: (the) a fine series of arguments in be^ng for them, 312. 
Popery : sketch of its corruptions, i.xii, &c. ii. 327, 328. See 

Papists. 
Poverty : God who quickeneih and disposetb all things, often 

leaves his servants iu misery and want, 220. 
Prater : a source of consolation, vi. 62. 
Preachers : the liberty of the French exiles in that respect^ 
V. 278, 279. 
Preachers : (the primitive) advantages they possessed in 
addressing the heathens, and the Jews, ii. 295 — 298. 
Predestination : the impossibility of explaining it : but God 
who cannot err declares, that it offers violence to no crea- 
ture, and that our destruction proceeds from ourselvei^ 
V. 409--414 



308 INDEX. 

Princes and judges : their qualifications, viii. 50; 
Principle; purity of principle must be the basis of all our 

conduct, iv. 352. 
Prophecf: objections against it answered. Its characters as- 
serted, ii. 106—112. 
DiflSculties of affixing a literal meaning to the prophecies 

concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, 233, &c. 
Prophecies respecting the fall of Jeruisalem, v i. 48 ; respect- 
ing Christ's death accomplished by his sufferings, 130. 
Prophetic eloquence; its superiority, iv. 136. 
Professional men : the conditions of their salvation, v. 167. 
Protestants of France distinguished by their attendance on 
public worship, and on the days of communion, ii. 168. 
The exiles are exhorted to pray for the restoration of their 

churches, v. 328. 
The faith of a Protestant, vii. 80. 

The abject situation of those who remained in France, 209. 
An address to French Protestants, 394. 
The care of Providence over them in exile, viii. 127. 
Proverbs of Solomon : some of them reconciled with his as- 
sertions in his Ecclesiastes, v. 216. 
Providence asserted, i. 435. 

Complaints against it answered, iv. 148. 

Complaints against its severities refuted, 153. 

The doctrine of Providence should operate on public 

bodies of men, 189. 
Examples of Providence over nations, 192 — 198. 
Mysteries of Providence in the secession of Henry the 
Ylllth. of England from the Roman Pontiff; in the 
singular success of Zuinglius ; and the courage of Luth- 
er, V. 348, 349, 
Christians often reasoti ill concerning Providence, viii. 25. 
Six marks of God's mercy and care of good men when Je- 
rusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans, 145. 
The same care over the persecuted Protestant exiles^ 149. 
Pure : (the) all things are pure to them, iv. 363. 
Purgatory : unsupported by scripture, v. 325. 
Pyrbhonianibm : viii. 112. 



INDEX. 309 

R 

Rabbins : their extraordinary assumptions over the conscience 
of the people, ii. 165. 

RECAPiTUiiATioN of a scrmon : fine specimens of it, iii. 451) 
vi. 142, vii. 130. 

Redemption : the harmony of the Divine attributes in this 
work, as asserted, Psa. xl. Heb. x. 6. Mic. vi. 6, 7. 
1 Cor. ii. 9, i. 198, 299; three mysteries of redeeming 
love not discovered by reason, 298. 

Reformation: the necessity of it, i. xi. 

The reformation in France. Francis I. persecuted the 
reformed at home, and protected them in Germany, 
xvi. It very much increased under Henry II. xviii. 
The house of Bourbon declare for the reform, and the 
house of Guise for the Catholics, xx. The king of 
Navarre, allured by new promises, deserts the Protest- 
ant cause, xxvii, but the queen of Navarre becomes its 
most zealous advocate, ibid. The duke de Guise com* 
mences a war with the Protestants, and 50,000 of them 
are slain, xxix. The reformed obtain the free exercise 
of religion, xxxii. The massacre of Paris cruelly plot- 
ted under a marriage with Henry of Navarre, xxxiii. 
Guise attempts to dethrone Henry HI. by a league,* 
XXXV. Henry IV, of Navarre embraces Popery; and 
ascends the throne, xxxviii. The edict of Nantes, xl. 
The Jesuits founded by Loyola, no doubt with good in- 
tentions at the first, confounded hy Richlieu with the 
Protestants, xliv. Louis XIIL persecutes the Protest- 
ants by Richlieu's advice, xlvi* The final revocation 
of the edict of Nantes, Hi. The horrors and the exile 
of 800,000 persons, liv. This persecution uniformly 
charged on the French clergy ; its impolicy exposed in 
forty arguments, Ivi. The glory of Louis XIY. waned 
from that period, Ix. 
Regeneration : nature of it, iii. 340. See Holiness. 

Its nature laid down in a change of ideas — of desiresr-of 
taate-*-of hopes — of pursuits, viii. 251. 



310 INDEX. 

Religioit : progressive in five classes of arguments, iv. 390 — 
402. 

Its evidences were stronger to the scripture characters 
than to us, vi. 179. 
Repentaxce : possibility of a death-bed repentance proved by 
six arguments, i. 326. 

Difficulties of a death-bed repentance, 329. 

Character of national repentance, 357. 

The penitential reflections of a sinner, 368. 

Repentance of a godly sort, has sin for its object, iii. 301 
—304. 

It is augmented by reflecting on the number — the enormi- 
ty — and the fatal influence of sin, 305 — 310. 

Exhortation to repentance, 413. 

Repentance described, iv. 106. v. 116. 

A powerful exhortation to repentance, 136. 

Specimen of a death-bed repentance, 401. 

A series of difficulties attendant on a death-bed repent* 
ance, vii. 41. 

Three objections answered, 38, &c. 

Two arguments against a protracted repentance, 127. 

A powerful exhortation to repentance, 129, &c. 
Reprobation not absolute ; but may be averted, v. 426. 
'Restitution required, iv. 70. So Judas did, v. 399. 
Resurrection of Christ : the evidences of it divided into three 
classes, presumptions-^proofs — demonstrations, ii. 252. 

Eight considerations give weight to the evidence of the 
apostles, 254. 

Christ's resurrection demonstrated by the gifts conferred 
on the apostles, and by the same gifts which they con- 
ferred on others, 261. 

If all these evidences be untrue, all those who wrought mir- 
acles must be charged with imposture ; all the enemies 
of Christianity must be taxed with imbecility, and the 
whole multitude which embraced Christianity, must be 
blamed for an extravagance unknown to society, 264. 

The joy of Christ's people justified by four considera- 
tions, 270. 



INDEX. 31 1 

Presumptions — proofs — demonstrations of it, vi. 154. 
The proofs of Christ's resurrection have eight distinct 

characters, 154. 
The faith in testimony worthy of credit is distinguished 
from the faith extorted by tyranny, 157; from the faith 
of the enthusiast, 158 ; from the faith of superstition, 161 
Resurrection of saints at Christ's death, 120. 
The resurrection at his second coming, viii. 17, 18. 
Revelation has a sufficiency of evidence in regard to the five 
classes of unbelievers, ii. 314. 
Its doctrines lie within the reach of the meanest capacities, 

317. 
It was gradually conferred according to the situation and 
capacity of the age, iii. 459. 
Revenge : the purpose of it incompatible with the state of sal- 
vation, iv. 38. V. 92. 
Rich man : (the) apparently taxing Providence with the in- 
adequacy of former means, by soliciting a new mean for 
the conversion of his brethren, ii. 310, 311. 
Riches often increase profligacy, iv. 413. 

When suddenly acquired, almost turn a man's brain, viii. 59 
Righteous : be not righteous over-much, iv. 361. 
Righteousness : the word explained, iii. 270. 
It exalte th a nation, iv. 174, 181, &c. 
Five limits of the expression, righteousness or religion ex* 

alteth a nation, 175 — 180. 
It promotes every object of civil society, 182. 
Rome : subterranean, a book of that title, v. 220. 
Romans : the scope of the epistle to them stated. 336, &c. 

. S. 

Sabbath-day : punishment threatened for profaning it, viii. 155 
The dilTerence of the sabbath with regard to the Jews and 

the Christians, 158. 
The origin of the sabbath to demonstrate thq origin of the 

world, and that God was its Creator, 159 ; to prevent 

idolatry, 160; to promote humanity, 162; to equalise 

all men in devotion, 165. 



312 INDEX. 

The change of the sabbath from the serenth to the first 
day of the week, 175. See a note by the translator. 

Reasons why the sabbath-day is bindiog on the Christian 

^ church, 174—177. 

Scandalous profanation of the sabbath in Holland, 177, &c. 

An apostrophe to the poor Protestants who profane the 
sabbath in mystical Babylon, 180. 
Sacrament: a fine invitation to it, i. 251. 

An awful charge not to neglect it, ii. 276. 

Believers invited to it with a view of acquiring strength 
to vanquish Satan, and to conquer death, 419. 

A caution to participate of it with sanctity, iii. 263. 

It is often profaned by temporising communicants, y. 281. 

It is a striking obligation to holiness^ vi. 144. 

A sacramental address, 218 — 221. 

Parallel between the Lord's table, the altar of burnt ofier* 
ings and the table of shew-bread in the temple, 231, &c. 

It is polluted by the want of illumination ; of virtue ; and 
of religious fervour, 242. 

Strictures on a precipitate preparation for it, 250. 

Addresses of consolation to the devout communicant, 254. 

God is present at the sacrament as on Sinai, vii. 269. 

A striking address to those who neglect it, 271. 

It is a covenant with God, 262, &c. 280, &c. 
Sacred writers: their talents, which God seems to have con- 
ferred, as tho' riches and power were too mean to give, 
i. 1 70. Their style possessed every beauty, 1 72. They 
delighted to absorb their soul in the contemplation of 
God, 295. 
Sacred writings : Saurin had an elegant method of quoting 
them, as is apparent from vi. 35. 

Difficulties in expounding them, viii. 9, 10, &c. 
Sacrifices : (see atonement.) They passed between the parts 
of the victims, vii. 281. 

The Macedonian army, says Livy, purified itself by march- 
ing between the fore and hind parts of a dog. 
Sailors : character of their repentance, 127. 
Saints : their employment iu heaven, v. 447* 



INDEX. 315 

Saiitts : the sights presented to the saints after death, vi. 25. 

They have sighed for immortality, and a better state of the 
church, 32, 34, 35. 

Their happiness in heaven in regard to knowledge, 274 : 
to inclination, 282 : to sensible pleasure, 286. 

What sentiments the ancient saints entertained of them- 
selves when under a cloud, vii. 154. 

There is a similarity between us and the ancient saints in 
five respects, 180, &c. 

Their high vocation, 183. 

They are really great in their most abject situation. 227. 

Why the saints are still subject to death, viii. 31. 
Sanctification : sin of opposing it, vii. 304. See Begeneror 

iion and Holiness, 
Satan: his victories often ruinous to his kingdom, i. 217. 

He seeks to seduce us from the truth in b\% ways, ii. 65. 

He attacks the Christian in four ways : by the false maxims 
of the world — by the pernicious examples of the multi- 
tude — by threatenings and persecution — and by the 
snares of sensual pleasure, 75. 

His power is borrowed — limited in duration — in degree ; 
and whatever desire he may have to destroy us, it can- 
not equal the desire of Ood to save us, 415. 

His design is to render man unlike his Maker, iii. 411. 

He is the most irregubr and miserable of all beings, iv. 99. 
Saturnalia of the Romans: its origin, viii. 165. 
Saul : the King, his consecration accompanied by the Spirit, 

241. 
Saurin : his life, born at Nismes, i. Ix. escapes with his father to 
Geneva, Ixi. becomes an ensign in Lord Galloway's Re- 
giment, which then served in Switzerland ; but on the 
peace with France, he returned to his studies, and pre- 
ferred the ministry, Ixi. Preaches five years in Londoi^ 
Character of his preaching, Ixii. v. Preface ix-xiv. He 
settles at the Hague, i. Ixiv. is noticed by the Princess 
of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline, to whom his son 
dedicates his posthumous sermons, IxVt Hia ministry 

40 



314 INDEX. 

was atlended by prioces, magistrates, generak, and sci- 
entific men, iv. 232. 
ScHEM, (Rabbi) his contrast between the temple, and the pal- 
aces of princes, vi. 232. 
ScHOOLMEir : many of their errors proceeded from monastic 
habits, illustrated by the doctrine of reprobation, i. 315. 
Scripture-characters : the distinction between their mo- 
mentary defects, and their illustrious virtues, vii. 171, &c 
Seal : (see Holy Spirit) 290. 
Self-examination: the method of it, vi. 200. 
Silo AM : superstition of the Papists concerning it, viii. 188. 
Simeon : (Luke ii.) three characters of his piety, vi. 14. 
Simon the Pharisee: four defects in his opinion of Christ,v. 120. 
Sermons : Saurin wrote one hundred and sixty-eight which 
have been thought worthy of publication, vii. Pref. v. 
Character of Dr. Enfield's collection of English Sermons, vi 
The present state of this united kingdom requires more 
efficient remedies, vii. 
Slander: the sinfulness of it, iv. 164. 
Septuagint version : a sketch of its history, iii. 215. 
Sinai : its terrors expressive of our Saviour's agony, vii. 282. 
Sin and its punishment are connected, viii. 73. 

Its folly, i. 223. Its effects, 249<; Its atrocity when cool 

and deliberate, iv. 32, &c. 
The motives to sin incomparably weaker than the motives 

to virtue, iiL 310. 
Little sins lead to great crimes, iv. 84. 
The apology of those who charge sin upon their constitu- 
tion not admissable, v. 247. 248. 
Sin causes three sorts of tears to be shed, vii. 353. 
The sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, 372. 
The sin unto death as stated by St. John, 375. 
Inquiry concerning this sin may proceed from the melan- 
choly, the timorous, and the cautious, 382, &c. 
Sinners abuse the long-suSering of God, In the disposition of 
a devil, a beast, a philosopher, and a man, I 361 — 383. 
They reason in a reproachful manner, in regard to their 
love of esteem, and honour, and pleasure, and abhorrence 
of restraint, ii. 411. 



INDEX. 315 

Sinners are slaves, in five respects, iii. 153. 

They must live to expiate their crimes, 158. 

Thej must glory in Christ alone, but must add watchfulness 
to their future conduct, 290. 

Sinners must not be misguided by the multitude, v. 70, 72 

Their complaints of the severity of Qod's laws, refuted in 
five arguments, iv. 144. 

Their best wisdom is to avoid the objects of their passions, 
V. 248. 

The aggravating characters of their sin, 434. 

We should weep for them, because of our connexion with 
them, 439. 

Sinners are very great scourges to society, 444. 

Sinners under the gospel ofiend against superior light, vii. 

105, against superior motives, 107. against the iexample 

of scripture characters who do not continue in sin till the 

,end of life, 110, against the virtues of those converts, 

112, and sinners who delay conversion to the close of life, 

cannot adduce equal evidence of their conversion, 115. 

Smuggling and defrauding the revenue censured, iv. 38. 

Society cannot subsist without religion, demonstrated in five 

arguments, ii. 429. 

The transition of society from simplicity of manners, to a 
style of living injurious to charity, iv. 308. 
SociNUs : his system refuted, v. 351 — 355. 
Sodom : its abominable sin a proof of God's loDg-sufiering, i. 343* 
Solomon : his great wisdom when a child, viii. 40. 

His dream in Gibeon, 40 

His recollection of past mercies, 44. 

The aspect under which he considers the regal power, 46. 

Conjecture concerning his age when called to the throne, 51. 

His preference of wisdom to wealth, &c. 53. 

His fall demonstrates the difficulties attendant on splendid 
talents, 56, the dangers of bad company, 58, the dangers 
of human grandeur, 59, the beguiling charms of pleas- 
ure, 60. 

His situation and experience qualified him to )ie a moral* 
ist, V. 186. 



316 INDEX. 

He introduces different speakers into his book of Ecclesi^ 
astes, as the epicure, the fool, &c. which accounts for the 
dissonance of sentiments in that book, 197, 199. 
His hatred of life explained, 200 

Three classes of phantoms seduced his generous heart, 206 
Absurdities of the schoolmen concerning his wisdom, 207. 
Borrow : six effects of godly sorrow, iii. 315. 

Three enemies reconciled by godly sorrow. 322. 
No sorrow like that of the disciples for their master, vi. 59. 
Sorrow allowed for the death of friends, viii. 21 & 30. 
Soul : (the) its excellence inferred from the efforts of-Satan to 
enslave it, ii. 88. 
Its immortality hoped by the heathens, and asserted by the 

gospel, 375—378. 
Its intelligence asserted in five arguments, iii. 112. 
Its immortality demonstrated, 121. 
Its value inferred from the price of redemption, 126. 
The partizans for the sleeping and annihilation of the soul 

refuted, 424. 
Its essence, operations, and union with the body inscruta- 
ble, 345. 
Its immortality farther and strongly presumed, vi. 324. 
An immortal spirit should have but a transient regard for 
a transient good, 326. 
SpiifozA : the absurdities of the system he revived, i. 176. 
Spirit : a doubt whether all that is in the universe be reduci- 
ble to matter and spirit, 202. 
Statesmen amenable to the Divine laws, iv. 127, 131. 
Stoical obstinacy : a specimen of it in Zeno, vol. v. 163. 
St0dt : its difficulties for want of means, 206. 
Swearing : the sinfulness of it, iv. 250. 
Superstitious conclusions : caveats against them, viii. 72. 
Supralapsarians : their system refuted in five arguments, v. 
362. 

T 

Table : (the) of the Lord. Mai. i. 6, 7. vi. 226, 328^ 

The table of &hew-bread, &c 236. 
Talmud of the Jews, and the Romish missals compared^ ii. 156. 



INDEX. 317 

Teachers are of three classes, i. 85. Caution in the choice of 
teachers, 85. Parents warned not to train unregenerate 
children for the ministry, 89. 
The policy of some timid teachers in Galatia, vi. 343. 
Temptations : the ancient saints resembled us in these, vii. 
169, and 185, &c. 
A double shield against temptations, 214. 
Six temptations from infancy to old age, 203, &c. 
Terror : the utility of preaching it — an augur of what sort of 
sermons the apostles would make, were they to see our 
lives, ii. 302—306. 
It promotes repentance by the uncertainty of salvation, iii. 
311. 
Tertullian's avowal of the Godhead of Christ, 195, 196. 
The Holt Spirit superior in his operations to the suggestions 
of Satan, ii. 414. 
His aids are promised to the ministry, &c. iii. 239. 
The higher endowments of the Holy Spirit were restored 

on the coming of the Messiah, vi. 22, 23. 
He requires men to correspond with the efforts of grace in 

conversion, vii. 65 — 75. 
The anointing, the seal and earnest of the Spirit, 289. 
His agency on the heart, 297. 
He communicates the foretastes of heaven, 307, &c. 
Thief on the cross : his case strikingly illustrated. 111. 
Thomas : the difference of his faith from ours, vi. 169. 
Time lost, or misimproved, 303, &c. 

Much of our time is lost in lassitude, 310, and in the cares 
of this life, 312. 
TiMOTHr: St. Paul's love to him, ii. 219. 
Tithes of three kinds, iv. 51. 
Tongues : the gift of tongues on the day of Pentecost, had three 

excellencies, ii. 288. 
Transubstantiation : its absurdities, 167. It is admirably 

refuted, viii. 105, &c. 
Trinity : the Personality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 

asserted in refutation of Arianism, vii. 292, &c. 
Trinitt : the doctrine stated and defended, vol. viii. 102. 
Advantag^B of this doctrine, 108. 



318 INDEX. 

Tbuths : their connexion is a high argument in favour of reve- 
lation, i, 73, 74. This connexion should induce minis- 
ters to pursue a regular system, 75. 

Pilate^s question. What is truth? ii. 25. 

It might refer to the Messiah, or to the truth which the 
heathens sought, 231. 

Truth defined, and its price^ 28. 

Seven rules to direct our researches after truth, 31. 

Prejudices are highly obstructive to the acquisition of truth, 
40. 

The worth of truth exemplified in the pleasure it affords — 
in qualifying us to fill our stations in life — in exempting 
us from unreasonable doubts — in fortifying us against the 
approaches of death, 48. 

The radiance of truth is superior to the glimmerings of er- 
rour, 403. 

Sell not the truth ; that is, do not loose the aptitude of the 
mind for truth, 455. Do not make a mercenary use of 
it, 456. Do not betray it. 458. This may be done by 
the adulation of a courtier, 459 ; by the zealot who de- 
fends a point with specious arguments, 462; by aposta- 
cy, or by temporising, 465 ; by perverting judgment in 
five respects, 471 ; by tergiversation in politics, 476 ; 
by withholding reproofs iu the pulpit, and in private, and 
visits to the sick, 479. 

Truths which have a high degree of evidence should be 
admitted as demonstrated, viii. 119. 
Tyrants; their conduct in persecuting the church, ii. 204. 

They are justly censured, iii. 368. 

They are deaf to the disgrace of oppression, v. 57, 58. 

Reflections for a tyrant and an infidel, 1 53, &c. 

U. 

Unbeliever : (the) his taste, is low and brutish, ii. 426. 
His politics disturb society, 429. His Indocile and 
haughty temper, 434. His unfounded logic, 437. His 
consequent line of morals, 442. His efforts to extinguish 
conscience, 443. He piques himself on politeness, 
which is applauded by the world ; yet, an apology may 



INDEX. 319 

be made for the unbeliever which cannot be made for 
the man who holds the truth in sin, 445. 
Their demands for farther evidence unreasonable, 314. 
Their folly in asking a new miracle, 335. 
Unbeliever dying in uncertainty pathetically described, 

346. 
Five dispositions with which an unbeliever should exam* 
ine truth, iv. 118. 
Union of children with the sin of their fathers, in four res- 
pects, i. 350. 
Unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost : opinions con- 
cerning it, vii. 374. fc 
Unregenerate, (the) faithfully warned, i. 329. 

A serious address to them. vii. 223. 
Upright : (the) their praise is wise, real, humble, and mag- 
nanimous, i. 440. 

V. 

Vanini, an avowed Atheist burnt at Thoulouse, by sentence of 

Parliament, v. 340, and note. 
Vanity of opposing God, in four respects, 150. 

A caution against opposing God, 168. 
Victims : ten imperfections of them, vi. 227. 
Veil in the temple rent, 119. 

Virtue : the motives to it are superior to the motives to vice, 
ii. 410. 
Five characters of the superior virtues, iv. 55, 
Virtues of eternal obligation, as charity, &c. are of greater 

weight than temporary virtues, 57. 
The object of virtues vary their importance, 59. 
It is the same with regard to the influence of virtues, 61. 
The end and design of virtues augment their importance, 64 
The virtues of worldly men are very defective, v. 62. 
The virtues of carnal men are often but the tinsel of their 

crimes, 64. 
Complaints on the impotency of men to practise virtue, . 

answered in four respects, 420, &c. 
Every virtue exhibited in the death of Christ, vi. 135. 
Harmony between happiness and virtue, viii. 74. 
Vision: the beatific, iii. 390, &c. 
Voice of the rod, viii. 65. 

Voorburgh: the weeping and rejoicing at the consecration of 
the French church, 128, 129. 

W. 

War: its deplorable efiects, iv. 207. v. 301. 



32a INDEX. 

Whibtoi^ censured for obtruding the apostolical constitutions 

as genuine, iii. 190. 
Will: the difference between the efficiency of the Creator's 
and the creature's will, i. 398. 
The perfection of the will, and sensibility, iii. 116. 
Wisdom of the world, and the foolishness of God explained, 
ii. 354. 
St. Paul's divine wisdom in the selection of arguments 
when writing to the Hebrews, iii. 207 — 223. 
Witness of the Spirit (the direct) iii. 348. vii. preface, viii. 
see Assurance : and vi. 207 — 214. see also a note by 
the translator, i;iii. 221. 
Woman, The unchaste, v. 108. 

She is distinguished from Mary of Bethany, and from Ma- 
ry Magdalen, 108. 
Her repentance had four characters, 110. 
A disputation whether her love was tb'e cause, or the effect 
of her pardon, 129. 
Wood, hay, and stubble are expressive of light doctrines, 329. 
World : its vanity i. 127. Insufficient to satisfy the soul, ii. 86. 
This world is not the place of felicity, 217. 
Vanity of worldly policy in attempting to govern nations 
by the maxims of infidelity, rather than those of reli- 
gion, V. 156. 
The instability of all worldly good, 185. 
The Christian is crucified to the world, vi. 346. 
The degrees and difficulties of it, 348, 351. 
Worldly-minded men faithfully warned, iii. 132, and vi. 

106—110. 
Whether the apostles were ignorant of their living to the 

end of the world? viii. 19. 
Excellence of the world to come, i. 128. 
Works : good works cannot merit heaven, iii. 278. 

Good works must of necessity be connected with faith as 
the fruits, 281. five objections to the contrary ably an- 
swered, 287. 
Wormwood and gall a metaphor, vii. 277. 

Z 

Zacharias, son of Berachiah or Jehoiada the high priest, with 

other conjectures, i. 348. vii. 178. 
Zeal exemplified from the prophets, v. 84. 
ZaiNOLius (Swingle) the Swiss reformer, 349. ^ M 

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MAR 2 9 1965 



MAR 2 9 1965