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 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Theological Seminary 
 
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THE EXCELLENCY 
 
 THE LITURGY, 
 
 IN 
 FOUR DISCOURSES, 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 IN NOVEMBER, 1811. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 UNIVERSITY SERMONS, 
 
 COKTAIjriSTG 
 
 1. THE CHURCHMAN'S CONFESSION, OR AN APPEAL 
 
 TO THE LITURGY. 
 IL THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS. 
 HI. EVANGELICAL AND PHARISAIC RIGHTEOUSNESS 
 
 COMPARED. 
 IV. CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 
 
 BT THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A. 
 
 FELLOW OF king's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 PUBMSHED BT EASTBURX, KIRK, & CO. 
 NO. 86, BROADWAY. 
 
 1813. 
 
PBAT & BOWEX, PRINTERS, BHOOKLTJf. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 Deut. V. 38, 29. 
 
 They have well said all that they have 
 spoken : O that there were such an heart 
 in them, 
 
 THE historical parts of the Old Testa- 
 me lit are more worthy of our attention than 
 men generally imagine. A multitude of facts 
 recorded in them are replete with spiritual 
 instruction^ being intended by God to serve 
 as emblems of those deep mysteries which 
 were afterwards to be revealed. For in- 
 stance : What is related of our first parent, 
 his creation, his marriage, his sabbatic rest, 
 was emblematic of that new creation which 
 God will produce in us, and of that union 
 
44 
 
 with Christ whereby it shall be effected, 
 aud of the glorious rest to which it shall in- 
 troduce us, as w ell in this world as in the 
 World to come. In like manner the pro- 
 mises made to Adam, to Abraham, and to Da- 
 vid, whatever reference they might have to 
 the particular circumstances of those illus- 
 trious individuals, had a farther and more 
 important accomplishment in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who is the second Adam, the Pro- 
 mised Seed, the King of Israel. 
 
 The whole of the Mosaic dispensation 
 Avas altogether figurative, as we see from 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the 
 figures themselves are illustrated and ex- 
 plained. But there are some facts which 
 appear too trifling to afford any instruction 
 of this kind. We might expect indeed that 
 so remarkable a fact as the promulgation of 
 the law from Mount Sinai should have in it 
 something mysterious ; but that the fears of 
 the people on that occasion, and the request 
 dictated by those fears, should be intended 
 by God to convey any particular instruction^. 
 
15 
 
 i^e eliould not have readily supposed : yet 
 by these did God intend to shadow forth the 
 whole mystery of redemption. We are sure 
 that there was somewhat remarkable in the 
 people's speech, by the commendation which 
 God himself bestowed upon it : still however, 
 unless we have turned our minds particular- 
 ly to the subject, we shall scarcely conceive 
 how much is contained in it. 
 
 The point for our consideration is, The 
 request which the Israelites made in con- 
 sequence of the terror icith which the die- 
 play of the divine Majesty hadinspired them. 
 The explication and improvement of that 
 point is all that properly belongs to the pas, 
 sage before us. But we have a further view in 
 taking this text : we propose, after consider- 
 ing it in its true and proper sense, to take it 
 in an improper and accommodated sense ; 
 and, after making some observations upon 
 it in reference to the request ichich the Is- 
 raelites then offered, to notice it in refer- 
 ence to the requests which we from time to 
 time make unto God in the Liturgy of our 
 Established Church. 
 
 
 4 TIISOLOGICSlIi 
 
 ■iV 
 
The former view of the text is that which 
 We propose for our present consideration ; 
 the latter will be reserved for future discus- 
 sion. 
 
 The Israelites made an earnest request to 
 God: and God expressed his approbation 
 of it in the words which we have just recit- 
 ed ; '' They have well said all that they 
 have spoken : O that there were such an 
 heart in them V' From hence we are nat- 
 urally led to set before you The sentiments 
 and dispositions which God approves ; the 
 sentiments ; " They liave well said all that 
 they have spoken ;'^ the dispositions ; " O 
 that there were in them such an heart.'^ 
 
 1st. The sentiments which he approves. 
 
 Here it will be necessary to analyse, as 
 it were, or at least to get a clear and distinct 
 apprehension of, the speech which God com- 
 mends. It is recorded in the preceding con- 
 text from the 23d verse. " And it came to 
 pass, when ye heard the voice out of the 
 midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did 
 
17 
 
 burn with iire,) that ye came near unto me^ 
 even all the heads of your tribes, and your 
 elders ; aAd ye said, Behold, the Lord our 
 God hath shewed us his glory, and his great- 
 ness, and we have heard his voice out of the 
 midst of the lire : we have seen this day, that 
 God doth talk with man and he liveth. 
 Now therefore why should we die ? for this 
 great fire will consume us : if we hear the 
 voice of the Lord our God any more, then 
 we shall die. For who is there of all flesh 
 that hath heard the voice of the living God 
 speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we 
 have, and lived ? Go thou near, and hear all 
 that the Lord our God shall say : and speak 
 thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall 
 speak unto thee ; and we will hear it and 
 do it.^^ Then it is added, "And tlie Lord 
 heard the voice of your words when ye 
 spake unto me ; and the Lord said unto me, 
 I have heard the voice of the words of this 
 people, which they have spoken unto thee : 
 they have well said all that they hav<^ 
 spoken.'^ 
 
 B S 
 
18 
 
 Now in this speech are contained the fol- 
 lowing things 5 An acknowledgement that 
 they could not stand hefore the Divine Ma- 
 jesty; — A desire that God would appoint 
 some one to mediate hetween iiim and them; 
 — and lastly, An engagement to regard ev- 
 ery word that should he delivered to them 
 through a Mediator, with the same obedi- 
 ential reverence, as they would if it were 
 spoken to them by God himself. And these 
 are the sentiments, on which the commenda- 
 tion in our text was unreservedly bestowed. 
 
 The first thing then to be noticed is. Their 
 acknowledgment that they could not stand 
 before the Divine Majesty, 
 
 Many things had now occurred to produce 
 an extraordinary degree of terror upon their 
 minds. There was a blackness and dark- 
 ness in the sky, such as they never before 
 beheld. This darkness was rendered more 
 visible by the whole adjacent mountain bla- 
 zing with fire, and by vivid lightenings flash- 
 ing all around in quick succession* The 
 
19 
 
 roaring peals of thunder added an awful 
 solemnity to the scene. The trumpet sound- 
 ing with a long and increasingly tremendous 
 blast^ accompianed as it was by tlie moun- 
 tain shaking to its centre, appalled the trem- 
 bling multitude : and Jehovah's voice, ut- 
 tering with inconceivable majesty his au- 
 thorative commands, caused even Moses 
 himself to say, I exceedingly fear and 
 quake.^ In consequence of this terrific 
 scene we are told that the people " removed 
 and stood afar off,''t lest the fire should 
 consume them, or the voice of God strike 
 them dead upon the spot. J Now though 
 this was in them a mere slavish feai^, and 
 the request founded upon it had respect only 
 to their temporal safety, yet the sentiment 
 itself was good, and worthy of universal 
 adoption. God being hidden from our sen- 
 ses, so that we neither see nor hear him, 
 we are ready to think lightly of him, and 
 even to rush into his more immediate pre- 
 sence without any holy awe upon our minds : 
 
 * Compare Exod. xix. 16 — 19. with Heb. xii. 18 — 2i, 
 t Exod. XX. 18, 19. 
 \ Ver. 2i. above cited. 
 
20 
 
 but when he speaks to us in thunder or by an 
 earthquake, the most hardened rebel is made 
 to feel that " with God is terrible majesty/' 
 and that " he is to be had in reverence 
 *' by all that are round about him.'' This 
 is a lesson which Grod has abundantly taught 
 us by his dealings with the Jews. Among 
 the men of Bethshemesh, a great multitude 
 were slain for their irreverent curiosity in 
 looking into the ark ; as Uzzah also after- 
 wards was for his well-meant but erroneous 
 zeal in presuming to touch it. The reason 
 of such acts of severity is told us in the his- 
 tory of Nadab and Abihu, who were struck 
 dead for offering strange fire on the altar of 
 their God: they are designed to teach us, 
 " that God will be sanctified in all that 
 come nigh unto him, and before all the peo- 
 ple he will be glorified."* 
 
 The next thing to be noticed is, Their 
 
 desire to have some person appointed who 
 
 should act as a mediator between God and 
 
 them. They probably had respect only is 
 
 * Lev. X. i-*-3. 
 
the present occasion ; but God interpreted 
 their words as general, and as importing a 
 request that he would send tliem a perma- 
 nent Mediator, who should transact all their 
 business, as it were, with God, making 
 known to him their wants, and communi- 
 cating from him the knowledge of his will. 
 That God did construe their words in thig 
 extended sense, we are informed by Moses 
 in a subsequent chapter of this book. In 
 18th of Dent, and 15th and following ver- 
 ses, this explanation of the matter is given. 
 ^' The Lord thy God will raise up unto 
 thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of 
 thy brethren like unto me ; unto him shall 
 .ye hearken, according to all that thou desir- 
 edsi of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the 
 day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear 
 again the voice of the Lord my God, neither 
 let me see this great fire any more, that I die 
 not, JLndthe Lord said unto me, tKey have 
 well spoken that which they have spoken, 
 
 I WILL RAISE THEM UP A PrOPHET FROM 
 AMONG THEIR BBETHREX like UUto thce, 
 
 and will put my words in His mouth } and 
 
33 
 
 He shall speak unto them all that I com- 
 mand him : and it shall come to pass^ that 
 whosoever will not hearken unto my words 
 which He shall speak in my name, I will 
 require it of him/' Who this Prophet was, 
 we are at no loss to declare ^ for the apos- 
 tle Peter, endeavouring to convince the 
 Jews from their own Scriptures that Jesus 
 was the Christ, and that Moses himself had 
 required them to believe in him, cites these 
 very words as referring to Christy and calls 
 upon them to regard him as that very Me- 
 diator, whom God had sent in answer to the 
 petitions which had been offered by their 
 forefathers at Mount Horeb,* 
 
 Here it should be remembered that we 
 are speaking not from conjecture, but from 
 infallible authority 5 and that the construc- 
 tion we are putting on the text is, not a fan- 
 ciful interpretation of our own, but God's 
 own exposition of his own words. 
 
 Beliold then the sentiment expressed in 
 our text, and the coniimendation given to it 
 * Acts iii, 32, 23, 
 
IS3 
 
 l)y God himself; it is a sentiment which is 
 the very sum and substance of the whole 
 gospel ; it is a sentiment, which whosoever 
 embraces truly, and acts upon it faithfully, 
 can never peVish, but shall have eternal life. 
 The preceding sentiment, that we are inca- 
 pable of standing before an holy Grod, is 
 good, as introductory to this ; but this is 
 the crown of all ; this consciousness that 
 we cannot come to God, and that God tcill 
 not come to us, but through Chkist. This 
 acquiescence in him as the divinely appoint- 
 ed Mediator ; this acceptance of him as 
 " the Way, the Truth, and the Life ;'' this 
 sentiment^ I say, God did, and will approve, 
 wheresoever it may be found. The Lord 
 grant that we may all embrace this senti- 
 ment as we ought ; and that, having tasted 
 its sweetness and felt its efficacy, we may 
 attain by means of it all the blessings which 
 a due reception of it will insure ! 
 
 The third thing to be noticed is, Their 
 engagement to yield unqualified obedience to 
 every thing that should be spoken to them by 
 
the Mediator. This, if viewed only as a 
 general promise of obedience, was good, 
 and highly acceptable to God ; since the 
 obedience of his creatures is the very end 
 of all his dispensations towards them. It 
 is, to bring them to obedience, that he alarms 
 them by the denunciations of his wrath, and 
 encourages them by the promises of his gos- 
 pel : when once they are brought to love his 
 law, and obey his commandments, all the 
 designs of his love and mercy are accom- 
 plished ; and nothing remains but that they 
 attain that measure of sanctification, that 
 shall fit them for the glory which he has 
 prepared for them. 
 
 But there is far more in this part of our 
 subject than appears at first sight. We will 
 endeavour to enter into it somewhat more 
 minutely, in order to explain what we con- 
 ceive to be contained in it. 
 
 The moral law was never given with a 
 view to men's obtaining salvation by their 
 obedience to it ; for it was not possible that 
 
S5 
 
 tliey who had transgressed it in any one 
 particular, should afterwards be justified by 
 it. St. Paul says, " If there had been a 
 law given which could have given life^ verily 
 righteousness should have been by the 
 law.'^* But the law^could not give life to 
 fallen man : and therefore that way of ob- 
 taining righteousness is for ever closed. 
 With what view then was the law given? 
 I answer, to sliew the existence of sin, and 
 tlie lost state of man by reason of sin, and 
 to shut him up to that way of obtaining mer- 
 cy, which God has revealed in his gospel. 
 I need not multiply passages in proof of this; 
 two will suffice to establish it beyond a 
 doubt : " As many as are under the law, 
 are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all thinsrs 
 which are written in the book of the law to 
 do them." Again, '' The law is our school- 
 master to bring us unto Christ, that we 
 might be justified .by faith. ''f But when 
 the law has answered this end, then it has 
 a further use, namely, to make known to us 
 * Gab iii. 21. f Gal. iii. lo— 2*. 
 
 c 
 
 ,v 
 
 n 
 
 ■•V^ 
 
 
26 
 
 the way in which we should walk. In the 
 iirst instance we are to flee from it as a 
 Covenant^ and to seek for mercy through 
 the Mediator : but when we have obtained 
 mercy through the Mediator, then we are to 
 receive the law at his hands a5 a rule of 
 life, and to render a willing obedience to it. 
 
 Now all this was shadowed forth in the 
 history before us. God gave Israel his law 
 Immediately from his own mouth : and, so 
 given, it terrified them beyond measure, and 
 caused them to desire a Mediator. At the 
 same time they did not express any wish to 
 be liberated from obedience to it : on the 
 contrary, they engaged, that, whatever God 
 should speak to them by the Mediator, they 
 would listen to it readily, and obey it unre- 
 servedly. This was right; and God both 
 approved of it in them, and will approve of 
 it in every child of man. 
 
 We are afraid of perplexing the subject, 
 if we dwell any longer on this branch of it ; 
 because it would divert your attention from 
 
the main body of the Discourse : We will 
 therefore content ourselves with citing one 
 passage, wherein the whole is set forth in 
 the precise point of view in which we have 
 endeavoured to place it. We have shewn 
 that the transactions at Mount Sinai, were 
 intended to shadow forth the nature of the 
 two dispensations, (that of the law and that 
 of the gospel,) in a contrasted view ; that 
 the terrific nature of the one made the Israel- 
 ites desirous to obtain an interest in the 
 other ; and that the appointment of Mose»- 
 to be their Mediator, and to communicate? 
 to them the furtlier knowledge of his will 
 with a view to their future obedience, w as 
 altogether illustrative of the gospel ; which^ 
 whilst it teaches us to flee to Christ from 
 the curses of the broken law, requires u^ 
 afterwards to obey that law : in a word^ we 
 have shewn^ that though, as St. Paul ex> 
 presses it, we are '' without law,^^ (consi- 
 dered as a Covenant) we are nevertheless 
 " not without law^ to God, but under the law* 
 to Christ :"* And all this is set forth in the 
 12th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 * 1 Cor. ix. 2U 
 
S8 ' 
 
 in the followiDg words : '' Ye are not come 
 unto the mount that might be touched, and 
 that burned with fire, nor unto blackness 
 and darkness and tempest, and the sound of 
 a trumpet and the voice of words ; which 
 voice they that heard, intreated that the 
 word should not be spoken to them any 
 more : (for they could not endure that which 
 was commanded : and so terrible was the 
 sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear 
 and quake:) but ye are come unto Mount 
 8 ion, and unto the city of the living God^ 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innume- 
 rable company of angels, to the general As- 
 sembly and Church of the first-born, which 
 are written in heaven, and to God the Judge 
 of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
 perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the 
 J\''ew Covenant, and to the blood of sprink- 
 ling which speaketh better things than the 
 blood of Abel.'^* 
 
 I would only observe, in order to pre- 
 vent any misconception of my meaning, that 
 I do not suppose the Israelites to have had 
 * Heb. xii. 18—34. 
 
a distinct view of these things, snch as we 
 have at present ; but that they spake like 
 Caiaphas the high-priest^ when he said, 
 ^' It was expedient for one man to die for 
 the people^ rather than that the whole nation 
 should perish :''* they did not understand 
 the full import of their own words ; but 
 God overruled their present feelings so that 
 they spake what was proper to shadow 
 forth the mysteries of his gospel ; and he 
 then interpreted their words according ta 
 the full and comprehensive sense in Avhich 
 he intended they should be understood. 
 
 We could gladly have added somewhat 
 more in confirmation of the sentiments which 
 have been set before you, and particularly 
 as founded on the passage we are consider- 
 ing ; but your time forbids it ; and there- 
 fore we pass on to notice in the 
 
 lid place, The dispositions which God 
 approves* These must be noticed with a 
 direct reference to the sentiments already^ 
 
 * 1 John xi. 49 — 52, 
 
80 
 
 considered ; for God having said, ^' They 
 have well said all that they have spoken/^ 
 adds, " O that there were such an heart in 
 theml'^ 
 
 It is but too common for those desires, 
 which arise in the^ mind under .some pecu- 
 liarly alarmin^^ circumstances, to prove only 
 transient, and to yield in a very little time 
 to the rooted inclinations of the heart. 
 This, it is feared, was the case with Israel 
 at that time : and God himself intimated, 
 that the seed which thus hastily sprang up, 
 would soon perish for want of a sufficient 
 root. But the information which we de- 
 rive from hence is wholly independent of 
 them : whether they cultivated these dis- 
 positions or not, we see what dispositions 
 God approves. It is his wish to find in all 
 of us, A reverential fear of God — Jl love 
 to Jesus as our Mediator — -and An unfeign* 
 ed delight in his commands. 
 
 First he desires to find in us a ei revereri^ 
 tialfear of God, That ease^ that iadiffer- 
 
31 
 
 ence, that security which men in general 
 indulge^ is most displeasing to him. Be- 
 hold how he addresses men of this descrip- 
 tion hy the prophet Jeremiah : '^ Hear now 
 this, O foolish people, and without under- 
 standing ; which have eyes and see not ; 
 w^hich have ears and hear not : Fear ye not 
 me? saith the Lord : will ye not tremble 
 at my presence, which have placed the sand 
 for the bound of the sea by a perpetual de- 
 cree, that it cannot pass it; and though the 
 waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they 
 not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they 
 not pass over it? But this people hath a 
 revolting and a rebellious heart ; they are 
 revolted and gone : neither say they in 
 their heart. Let us now fear the Lord our 
 God."* Hear too what he says by the 
 prophet Zephaniah : " I will search Jeru- 
 salem with candles, and will punish the 
 men that are settled on their lees.^f It is 
 thought by many, that, if they commit no 
 flagrant enormity, they have no cause to 
 fear : but even a heathen, when brought to 
 * Jer. V. 21—3*. t Zeph. i. i2. 
 
3S . 
 
 a right mind, saw the folly and impiety of 
 such a conceit, and issued a decree to all 
 the subjects of his realm, that they should 
 all •* tremble and fear before the God of 
 Daniel, who is the living God and steadfast 
 forever/^* Such a state of mind is dread- 
 ed, from an idea that it must of necessity 
 be destructive of all happiness. This how- 
 ever is not true : on the contrary, the more 
 of holy fear we have in our hearts, the hap- 
 pier we shall be. If indeed our fear be 
 only of a slavish kind, it will make us un- 
 happy ; but^ in proportion as it partakes of 
 filial regard, and has respect to God as a 
 Father, it will become a source of unspeak. 
 able peace and joy. The testimony of So- 
 lomon is, " Happy is the man that feareth 
 always.'^! Nor should we shun even the 
 slavish fear, since it is generally the pre- 
 lude to that which is truly filial ; the spirit 
 of bondage is intended to lead us to a spirit 
 of adoption, whereby we may cry, Abba^ 
 Father.J Another ground on which mea 
 * Dan, vi. 26. f Prov. xxviii. 14i 
 t Rom. viii, i5. 
 
3S 
 
 endeavour to put away the fear of God i&, 
 that it argues weakness of understanding 
 v^nd meanness of spirit : but we are told on 
 infallible authority, tliat '' the fear of the 
 Lord is the beginning of wisdom : a good 
 understanding have all' they that do his 
 commandments : his praise endureth for 
 ever.'^* Permit me then to recommend to 
 you this holy disposition. Learn to '^ fear 
 that gloriously and fearful name, The Lord 
 THY GoD.^'t Stand in awe of his Divine 
 Majesty : and dread his displeasure n^ore 
 than death itself. Bethink yourselves, How 
 you shall appear before him in the day of 
 judgment. Settle it in your minds, whether 
 you will think as lightly of him when you 
 are standing at his tribunal, with all his ter- 
 rible Majesty displayed '1)efore your eyes, 
 as you are wont to do now that he is hid 
 from your sight. Examine carefully whe- 
 ther you are prepared to meet him, and to re- 
 ceive your final doonr at his hands. 1 well 
 know, that such thoughts are not welcome 
 to the carnal mind : but I know also that 
 they are salutary, yea, and indispensa 
 * Ps. iii. 10. t Dent, xxviii. 58. 
 
84 
 
 bly necessary too for every cliild of man. 
 I would therefore adopt the language of the 
 Angel, who flew in the midst of heaven^ 
 having the everlasting gospel to preach to 
 them that dwell on the earth, even to every 
 nation and kindred, and tongue and people ^ 
 and like him I would say with a loud voice, 
 ^^ Fear God, and give glory to him ; for the 
 hour of his judgment is come :''^ it is come 
 already in the divine purpose ; and it will 
 speedily come to every individual amongst 
 us, and will fix us in an eternity of bliss or 
 woe. 
 
 The next disposition which God would 
 have us cultivate, is, A love to Jesus as our 
 Mediator, In proportion as we fear God, 
 we shall love the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 has condescended to mediate between God 
 and us. Were it only that he, like Moses, 
 had revealed to us the will of God in a less 
 terrific way, we ought to love him : hut he 
 has done infinitely more for us than Moses 
 could possibly do : he has not only stood 
 between God and us, but has placed him- 
 * Rev. xiv. 6, 7. 
 
»elf in our steady and borne the wrath of 
 God for us. He has not only vsilenced the 
 thunders of Mount Sinai, but '• has redeem- 
 ed us from the curse of the law, being him- 
 self made a curse for us.'^^ In a word, 
 '' he has made reconciliation for us by the 
 blood of his cross ;'' so that we may now 
 come to God as our Father and our Friend j 
 and may expect at his hands all the bless- 
 ings of Grace and glory. ^* Through him 
 we have access to God," even to his 
 throne ; and by faith in him we may even 
 now receive the remission of our sins, and 
 rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Shall 
 we not then love him ? Shall we not honour 
 him ? Shall we not employ him in his high 
 office as our Advocate and Mediator? Shall 
 we not glory in him, ^' and cleave unto him 
 with full purpose of heart?" It was said by 
 the prophet Isaiah, '* Surely shall one 
 say, In the Lord have I righteousness and 
 strength ; even to hiqii shall men come : and 
 all tliat are incensed against him shall be 
 a«hamed. — In the Lord shall all the seed 
 *Gal.iii, 13. 
 
36 
 
 of Israel be justified^ and shall glory."** O 
 that this prophecy may be fulfilled in us ; 
 and that there may henceforth '' be in every 
 individual amongst us such an heart !" 
 
 Lastly, God would behold in us Jin un- 
 feigned delight in Ms commandments. This 
 will he the fruit, and must he the evidence, 
 of our love to Christ : " If ye love me, 
 says our Lord, keep my commandments :''t 
 and again, " He that hath my command- 
 ments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth 
 me/'J Indeed without this, all our senti- 
 ments or professions are of no avail : " Cir- 
 cumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is 
 nothing, but the keeping of the compiand- 
 ments of God." J 
 
 When persons hear of our being '^ deliv- 
 ered from the law," and " dead to the law," 
 they feel a jealousy upon the subject of mo- 
 rality, and begin to fear that we open to 
 men the flood-gates of licentiovisness : but 
 
 * Isai. xlv. 24^, 25, \ John xiv. 15. . 
 \ 1 Cor. yii. 19. § John xiv. 2ii 
 
37 
 
 I heir fears ave both iiniiecessaiy and im 
 scriptural ; for the very circumstance of our 
 being delivered from the law as a covenant 
 of works, is that which most forcibly con- 
 strains us to take it as a rule of lif«. Hear 
 how St. Paul speaks on this subject: ^^ I 
 through the law am d«ad to tbe law, that 1 
 might live unto God:^^^ and again, ^^My 
 brethren, ye are become dead to the law 
 by the body of Christ, that ye should be 
 married to another, even to him who is 
 raised from the dead, that we should bring 
 forth fruit unto GodJ^-{ You perceive then 
 that the liberty to which we are brought by 
 Jesus Christ, has the most friendly aspect 
 imaginable upon tlie practice of good works, 
 yea rather, that it absolutely secures the 
 performance of them. Whilst tlierefore 
 we would urge with ail possible earnest- 
 ness a simple affiance in Christ as your 
 Mediator, we would al«o intreat you to 
 receive the commandments at his hands, 
 and to observe them with your whole 
 hearts. Take our Lord's Sermon on the 
 
 * Gal. ii. 19. t Rom. vii. 4*. 
 
 D 
 
Mounts foriustance; Study with care and 
 diligence the full import of every precept 
 in it. Do not endeavour to bring down 
 , those precepts to your practice, or to the 
 practice of the world around you ; but ra- 
 ther strive to elevate your practice to the 
 standard which he has given you. In like 
 manner, take all the precepts contained in 
 the Epistles^ and all the holy dispositions 
 which were exercised by the Apostles ; and 
 endeavour to emulate the examples of the 
 most distinguished saints. You are cau- 
 tioned not to be righteous over-much ; but 
 remember that you have at least equal need 
 of caution to be righteous enough. If only 
 you walk in the steps of our Lord and his 
 Apostles, you need not be afraid of excess ; 
 it is an erroneous kind of righteousness, 
 against which Solomon would guard you, 
 and not against an excessive degree of true 
 lioliness; for in true holiness there can be 
 no excess. In this we may vie with each 
 other, and strive with all our might. St, 
 Paul, says, '^ This is a faithful saying ; ,and 
 these things I will that thou affirm con- 
 
39 
 
 stantly; that they who have helieved in 
 God might be careful to maintain (ov as 
 the word imports) to excel in good works.'' 
 By these we shall evince the sincerity of 
 our love to Christ ; and by these we shall 
 be judged in the last d/iy. I would there- 
 fore recommend to every one to ask him- 
 self, What is there which I have left un- 
 done? What is there which I have done 
 defectively? What is there which I have 
 done amiss ? What is there that I may do 
 more earnestly for the honour of God^. for 
 the good of mankind, and for the benefifc of 
 my own soul ? O that such a pious zeal per- 
 vaded this whole assembly ; and " thai; 
 there were in all of us such an heart !'' To 
 those amongst us in whom any good measure 
 of this grace is found, we would say in the 
 language of St. Paul, ^* We beseecli yon, 
 brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Je- 
 sus, that as ye have received of us liow^ ye 
 ought to walk and. to -please God, so ye 
 would abound more and more.''^' 
 
 * 1 Thess. ir. 1. 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 Deut. V. 2S, 39. 
 
 They have well said all that they have spo- 
 Jcen : O that there were such an heart in 
 them ! 
 
 WHEREVER the word of God admits 
 of a literal interpretation^ its primary sense 
 ought to be clearly stated, before any spirit- 
 ual or mystical application be made of it : 
 but when its literal meaning is ascertained^ 
 we must proceed to investigate its hidden 
 import^ which is frequently the more impor- 
 tant. This has been done in relation to the 
 passage before us ; which primarily expres- 
 ses an approbation of the request made by 
 the Jewsj that God would speak to them by 
 the mediation of Moses, and not any longer 
 by the terrific thun/lers of Mount Sinai ; but 
 covertly it conveyed an intimation, that we 
 should all seek deliverance from the curse 
 of the law through the mediation of that 
 
43 
 
 great Prophet, wliom God raised up like 
 iiDto Moses, even his Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 The fjirther use wliich we propose to 
 make of this passage, is only in a way of ac- 
 commodation : which however is abundant- 
 ly sanctioned by the example of the Apos- 
 tles 5 who not uiifrequently adopt the lan- 
 guage of the Old Testament to convey their 
 own ideas, even when it has no necessary 
 connexion with their subject. Of course, 
 the Liturgy of our Church was never in the 
 contemplation of the Sacred Historian : yet, 
 as in that we constantly address ourselves 
 to God, and as it is a composition of unrival- 
 led excellence^ and needs only the exercise 
 of our devout affections to render it a most 
 acceptable service before God, we may well 
 npply to it the commendation in our text; 
 ^' They have well said all that they have 
 spoken I that there were such an heart ia 
 them V^ 
 
 As in the course of the month two other 
 occasion^ ©f prosecuting our subjeet will oc= 
 
43 
 
 eur, we shall arrange our observations ou 
 the Liturgy, so as to vindicate its use — dis- 
 play its excellence— and commend to your 
 attention one particular part, which we con- 
 ceive to be eminently deserving notice in 
 this place. 
 
 In the present Discourse we shall confine 
 ourselves to the vindication of the Liturgy ; 
 first, Generally, as a service proper to be 
 used ; and then, Particularly, in reference to 
 some objections which are urged against it. 
 
 Perhaps there never was any human com- 
 position more cavilled at, or less deserving 
 such treatment, than our Liturgy. Nothing 
 has been deemed too harsh to say of it. In 
 order therefore to sl general vindication of it^ 
 we propose to shew, that the use of it is law- 
 ful in itself — expedient for us — and acce/p- 
 table to God. 
 
 It is lawfal in itself 
 
 The use of a form of prayer cannot be iii 
 itself wrong; for, if it had been, God would 
 
44 
 
 not have prescribed the use of forms to the 
 J e wish nation. But Grod did prescribe them 
 on several occasions. The words which the 
 priest was to utter in blessing the people of 
 Israel, are thus specified : "' Speak unto 
 Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this 
 wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, 
 saying unto them. The Lord bless thee and 
 keep thee ; the Lord make his face to shine 
 upon thee and be gracious unto thee ; the 
 Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and 
 give thee peace.''* In like manner, w hen a 
 man that had been slain was found, inquisi- 
 tion was to be made for his blood ; and the 
 elders of the city that was nearest to the 
 body, were to make a solemn affirmation be- 
 fore God that they knew not who the mur- 
 derer was, and at the same time in a set 
 form of prayer to deprecate the divine dis- 
 pleasure.! At the offering of the first-fruits, 
 both at the beginning and end of the service, 
 there were forms of very considerable length, 
 which every offerer was to utter before the 
 Lord.J 
 
 * Numb. iv. 23—26. f Deut. jfxi. 7, 8. 
 i Deut. xxvi. B.-j — 10.13 — IS. 
 
45 
 
 When David brought up the ark from the 
 house of Obed-edom to the tent which he 
 had pitched for it in Jerusalem, he compos- 
 ed a form of prayer and thanksgiving for 
 the occasion, selected out of four different 
 Psalms,* and put it into the hand of Asaph 
 and his brethren for the use of the whole 
 •ongregation. In all following ages the 
 Psalms were used as forms of devotion : 
 Hezekiah appointed them for that purpose 
 when he restored the worship of God which 
 had been suspended and superseded in the 
 days of Ahaz ;t a<s did Ezra also at the lay- 
 ing of the foundation of the second temple.f 
 Nay, the Hymn which our blessed Lord 
 sang with bis disciples immediately after he 
 had instituted his Supper, as the memorial 
 of his death,!) was either taken from the 
 Psalms, from 113th to 118th inclusive, or 
 else was a particular form composed for that 
 occasion. All this sufficiently shews that 
 forms of devotion are not evil in themselves. 
 
 * Compare i Chron. xvi. 7 — 36. with Ps. cv. 1—1.0, 
 and xcvi. 1 — 13. and cxxxvi. 1. and evi. 47, 48. 
 t 2 Chron. xxix. 30. \ Ezra iij. 10, 11. 
 II Matt. xxvi. 30, 
 
46 
 
 But some think, that though they were not 
 evil under the Jewish dispensation, which 
 consisted altogether of rites and carnal ordi- 
 nances, they are evil under the more spirit- 
 ual dispensation of the Oospel. This how- 
 ever cannot be ; because our blessed Lord 
 taught his disciples a form of prayer, and 
 not only told them to pray after that manner, 
 as one Evangelist mentions, but to use the 
 very words^ as another Evangelist declares. 
 Indeed the word ourwy , by which St. Matthew 
 expresses it, is not of necessity to be con- 
 fined to manner ;* it might be taken as re- 
 ferring to the very words : but, granting 
 that he speaks of the manner only, and pre- 
 scribes it as a model ; yet St. Luke certain- 
 ly requires us to use it as a form : " Jesus 
 said unto them, When ye fray, say^ Our 
 Father which art in heaven. '^f According- 
 ly we find, from the testimonies of some of 
 the earliest and most eminent Fathers of the 
 Church,J that it was constantly regarded 
 * Matt, vi. 9. t hnke xi. 2. 
 
 t Tertullian — Cyprian — Cyril — Jerom — Augus- 
 tine — Chrysostoin — Gregory. See Bennet's London 
 Cases, p. 52, 
 
;47 
 
 and used in the Church as a form from the 
 very times of the Apostles. As for the ob- 
 jection, that we do not read in the New Tes. 
 tament that it was so used, it is of no weight 
 at all ; for we are not told that tlie Apostles 
 ever baptised persons in. the Name of the 
 Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 
 but can we therefore doubt whether they did 
 use this form of baptism? Assuredly not ; 
 and therefore the circumstance of such an 
 use of the Lord's Prayer not being record- 
 ed, especially in so short a history as that 
 of the Apostles, is no argument at all that it 
 was not so used. 
 
 Nor was this the only form used in the 
 apostolic age. Lucian, speaking of the first 
 Christians, says, " They spend whole nights 
 in singing of Psalms ;'' and Pliny, in his fa- 
 mous Letter to Trajan, which was written 
 not much above ten years after the death of 
 .Tohn the Evangelist,, says of them, '* It is 
 their manner to sing by turns a hymn to 
 Christ as God. " This latter, it should 
 seem, was not a Psalm of David, but a 
 
48 
 
 hymn composed for the purpose : and it 
 proves indisputably, tliat even in tlie apos- 
 tolic age, forms of devotion were in use. If 
 we come down to the times subsequent to 
 the Apostles, we shall find Liturgies compos- 
 ed for the service of the different Churches. 
 The Liturgies of St. Peter, St. Mark, and 
 St. James, though they were corrupted in 
 later ages, are certainly of high antiquity : 
 that of St. James was of great authority in 
 the Church in the days of Cyril, who in his 
 younger years, at the end of the third or be- 
 ginning of the fourth century, wrote a Com- 
 ment upon it. And it were easy to trace the 
 use of them from that time even to the pre- 
 sent day. Shall it be said then, that the use 
 of a pre-composed form of prayer is not law- 
 ful ? Would God have given so many forms 
 under the Jewish dispensation ; and would 
 our blessed Lord have given a form for the 
 use of his Church and people, if it had not 
 been lawful to use a form ? But it is worthy 
 of observation, that those who most loudly 
 decry the use of forms, do themselves use 
 forms, whenever they unite in public wor- 
 
49 
 
 ship. What are hymns, but forms of pray- 
 er and praise ? and if it be lawful to worship 
 God in forms of verse, is it not equally so in 
 forms of prose ? We may say therefore, our 
 adversaries themselves being judges, that 
 the use of a form of prayer is lawful. '"* 
 
 As for those passages of Scripture which 
 are supposed to hold forth an expectation 
 tliat under the Gospel we should have ability 
 to pray without a form ; for instance, that 
 ^^ God would give us a spirit of grace and of 
 supplication/' and that ^^ the Spirit should 
 help our infirmities and teach us what to 
 pray for as we ought ;'' they do not warrant 
 us to expect, that we shall be enabled to 
 speak by inspiration, as the Apostles did, 
 but that our hearts should be disposed for 
 prayer, and be enabled to enjoy near and 
 intimate communion with God in that holy 
 exercise : but they may be fulfilled to us as 
 much in the use of a pre-composed form, as 
 in any extemporaneous effusions of our own : 
 and it is certain, that persons may be very 
 fluent in the expressions of prayer without 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 tli€ smallest vspiritiial infiuence upon their 
 minds ; and that they may, en the ether 
 hand, he very fervent in prayer, thongli the 
 expressions be already provided to their 
 hand : and consequently, the promised as- 
 sistance of the Spirit is perfectly consistent 
 with the use of prayers that have been pre- 
 composcd. 
 
 But the lawfulness of forms of prayer 
 Is in this day pretty generally conceded. 
 Many however still question their expedi- 
 ency. We proceed therefore to shew next^ 
 that the use of the Liturgy is e^vjjedientfor' 
 
 Here let it not be supposed that I am 
 ^bout to condemn those who differ from us 
 in judgment or in practice. The Legisla- 
 ture has liberally conceded to all the sub- 
 jects of the realm a right of choice; and 
 Ood forbid that any one sliould wish to 
 abridge tliem of it, in a matter of such high 
 <?oncern as tlie worship of Almighty God. 
 If any think themselves more edified by 
 
5i 
 
 extempore prayer, we rejoice that their souls 
 are benefited, though it be not precisely in 
 oar way ; but still we cannot be insensible 
 to the advantages which we enjoy ; and 
 much less can we concede to any that the 
 use of a prescribed form of prayer is the 
 smallest disadvantage. 
 
 We say then, that the Liturgy was of 
 great use at the time it teas made. At the 
 commencement of the R/eformation, the most 
 lamentable ignorance prevailed throughout 
 the land : and even those who from their 
 oMce ought to have been well instruc- 
 ted in the Holy Scriptures^ themselves 
 needed to be taught what were theiirst prin- 
 ciples of the oracles of God. If then the 
 pious and venerable Reformers of our 
 Church had not provided a suitable form of 
 prayer, the people would still in many thou- 
 sands of parishes have remained in utter 
 darkness; but by the-diffusion of this sacred 
 light throughout the land, every part of the 
 kingdom became in a good measure irradiate 
 with scriptural knowledge, and with saving 
 
truth. The few who were enlightened, 
 might indeed have scattered some partial 
 rays around them ; but their light would 
 have been only as a meteor, that passes 
 away and leaves no permanent effect. More- 
 over, if tlieir zeal and knowledge and piety 
 had been suffered to die with them, we 
 should have in vain sought for compositions 
 of equal excellence from any set of gover- 
 nors from that day to the present hour : but 
 by conveying to posterity the impress of 
 their own piety in stated forms of prayer, 
 they have in them transmitted a measure of 
 their own spirit, which like Elijah's mantle, 
 has descended on multitudes wh^ have suc- 
 ceeded them in their high office. It is not 
 possible to form a correct estimate of the 
 benefit which we at this day derive from 
 having such a standard of piety in our 
 hands ; but we do not speak too strongly if 
 we say, that the most enlightened amongst 
 us, of whatever denomination they may be, 
 owe much to the existence of our Liturgy ; 
 which has been, as it were, the pillar and 
 ground of the truth ih this kingdom, and 
 
53 
 
 has served as fuel to perpetuate tlie flame, 
 which the Lord himself, at the time of the 
 Reformation, kindled upon our altars. 
 
 But we must go farther, and say, that the 
 use of the Liturgy is equally expedient stilL 
 Of course, we must not be understood as 
 speaking of private prayer in the closet; 
 where though a young and inexperienced 
 person may get help from written forms, it 
 iH desirable that every one should learn ta 
 express his own wants in his own language ; 
 because no written prayer can enter so mi-^ 
 nutely into his wants and feelings as he him- 
 self may do : but in public, we maintain, 
 that the use of such a form as ours is stilL 
 as expedient as ever. To lead the devc^ 
 tions of a congregation in extempore prayer 
 is a work for which but few are qualitied. 
 An extensive knowledge of the Scriptures 
 must be combined witji fervent piety, in or- 
 der to fit a person for^such an undertaking : 
 and I greatly mistake if there be found a 
 humble person in the world, who^ after en- 
 b2. 
 
5h 
 
 gaging often in that ardu<ous work^ does not 
 wish at times that he had a suitable form 
 prepared for him. That the constant repe- 
 tition of the same form does not so forcibly 
 arrest the attention as new sentiments and 
 expressions would do, must be confessed : 
 but, on the other hand, the use of a well- 
 composed form secures us against the dry, 
 dull, tedious repetitions which are but too 
 frequently the fruits of extemporaneous de- 
 votions. Only let any person be in a de- 
 vout frame, and he will be far more likely 
 to have his soul elevated to heaven by the 
 Liturgy of the Established Church, than 
 he will by the generality of prayers which 
 he would hear in other places of worship : 
 and, if any one complain that he cannot en- 
 ter into the spirit of them, let him only ex- 
 amine his frame of mind when engaged in 
 extemporaneous prayers, whether in public, 
 or iu his own family ; and he williind, that 
 his formality is not confined to the service 
 of the Church, but is the sad fruit and con- 
 sequence of his own weakness and corrupt 
 tion. 
 
Here it may not be amiss to rectify the 
 notions which are frequently entertained of 
 spiritual edification. Many, if their imagi- 
 nations are pleased, and their spirits eleva- 
 ted, are ready to think, that they have been 
 greatly edified : and this error is at the root 
 of that preference which they give to extem- 
 pore prayer, and the indifference which they 
 manifest towards the prayers of the Estab- 
 lished Church. But real edification consists 
 in humility of mind, and in being led to a 
 more holy and consistent walk with God : 
 and one atom of such a spirit is more valua- 
 ble than all the animal fervour that ever was 
 excited. It is with solid truths^ and not 
 'with fluent words j that we are to be impres- 
 sed ; and if we can desire from our hearts 
 the things which we pray for in our public- 
 forms, we need never regret, that our fancy 
 was not gratified, or our animal spirits rais- 
 ed, by the delusive charms of novelty. 
 
 In what we have spoken on this subject 
 it must be remembered, that we have spo- 
 ken only in a way of vindication : the true. 
 
56 
 
 tlie exalted, and the proper ground for a 
 Member and Minister of the Established 
 Church, we have left for the present un- 
 touched, lest we should encroach upon that, 
 which we hope to occupy on a future occa- 
 sion. But it remains for us yet further 
 to remark, that the use of our Liturgy is 
 acceptable to God, 
 
 The words of our text are sufficient to 
 shew us, that God does not look at fine 
 words and fluent expressions, but at the 
 heart. The Israelites had " well said all 
 that they had spoken :'^ but whilst God 
 acknowledged that, he added, " O that there 
 were such an heart in them V^ If there be 
 humility and contrition in our supplications, 
 it will make no difference with God whe- 
 ther they be extemporaneous or pre-eompos- 
 ed. Can any one doubt whether, if we were 
 to address our heavenly Father in the words 
 which Christ himself has taught us, we 
 should be accepted of him, provided we ut- 
 tered the different petitions from our hearts ? 
 4ls little doubt then is there that in the use 
 
S7 
 
 of the Liturgy also \vc shall be accepted, 
 if only we draw nigh to God with our hearts 
 as well as with our lips. The prayer of 
 faith, w hether with or without a form, shall 
 never go forth in vain. And there are thou- 
 sands at this day who can attest from their 
 own experience, that they have often found 
 God as present with them in the use of the 
 public services of our Church, as ever they 
 did in their secret chambers. 
 
 Thus we have endeavoured to vindicate 
 the use of our Liturgy generally. We now 
 come to vindicate it in reference to some 
 particular objections that have been urged 
 against it. 
 
 The objections may be comprised under 
 two heads ; namely, That there are excep- 
 tionable expressions in the Liturgy ; and, 
 That the use of it necessarily generates 
 formality. 
 
 To notice all the expressions which cap- 
 tious men have cavilled at, w^ould be a waste 
 
38 
 
 of time. But there are one or two which 
 with tender minds have considerable weight, 
 and have not only prevented many worthy 
 men from entering into the church, but do 
 at this hour press upon the consciences of 
 many, who in all other things approve and 
 admire the public formularies of our church* 
 A great portion of this present assembly 
 are educated with a view to tlie ministry in 
 the establishment ; and, if I may be able in 
 any little measure to satisfy their minds^ or 
 to remove a stumbling-block out of their 
 w^ay, I shall think that I have made a good 
 use of the opportunity which is thus afforded 
 me. A more essential service I can scarcely 
 render unto any of my younger brethren^ 
 or indeed to the Establishment itself, than 
 hj meeting fairly the difficulties which oc- 
 cur to their minds, and which are too often 
 successfully urged by the enemies of our 
 church, to the embarrassing of conscientious 
 minds, and to the drawing aw^ay of many, 
 who might have laboured comfortably and 
 successfully in this part of our Lord's vine- 
 yard. 
 
59 
 
 There is one circuiiiotance in the forma- 
 tion of our Liturgy which is not sufficiently 
 adverted to. The persons v/ho composed 
 it were men of a truly Apostolic spirit ; un- 
 hampered by party prejudices^ they endea- 
 voured to speak in all things precisely as 
 the Scriptures speak : they did not indulge 
 in speculations and metaphysical reason- 
 ings ; nor did they presume to be wise 
 above what is written: they laboured to 
 speak the truths the whole truth, in love : 
 and they citltivated in the highest degree 
 that candour, that simplicity, and that cha- 
 rity, which so eminently characterised all 
 the Apostolic writings. Permit me to call 
 your attention to this particular point, be- 
 cause it will satisfactorily account for those 
 compressions which seem most objectionable ; 
 and will shew precisely in what view we 
 may most conscientiously repeat the lan- 
 guage they have used. 
 
 In our Burial Service we thank God for 
 delivering our brother out of the miseries of 
 this sinful world, and express a sure a»d 
 
m 
 
 certaiQ hope of the resurrection to eternal 
 life, together with a hope also that our de- 
 parted brother rests in Christ. * Of course, 
 it often happens, that we are called to use 
 these expressions over persons, who, there 
 is reason to fear, have died in their sins; 
 and then the question is. How we can with 
 propriety use them? I answer, that, even 
 according to the letter of the words, the use 
 of them may be justified ; because we speak 
 not of his, but of the, resurrection to eternal 
 
 * The Burial Service in the Liturgy of the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal Church, in the United States of 
 America, is altered in the parts here quoted. In- 
 stead of ofifering " thanks that it hath pleased God 
 to deliver our brother out of the miseries of this sin- 
 ful world;" the collect in the Burial Service of the 
 American Liturgy, stands thus — " We give thee 
 hearty thanks for the good examples of all those thy 
 servants, who, having finished their course in faith, 
 do now rest from their labours." And the use of this 
 collect is left at the discretion of the minister. In- 
 stead of the words " in sure and certain hope of the 
 resurrection to eternal life ;" the following are used 
 in the Burial Service of the American church — 
 " looking for the general resurrection at the last 
 day, and the life of the world to come." [dm.Ed.^ 
 
61 
 
 life ; and because, where we do not abso- 
 lutely knoic that God has not pardoned a 
 person^ we may entertain some measure of 
 hope that he /las. But, taking the expres- 
 sions more according to the spirit of them, 
 they precisely accord with what we contin- 
 ually read in the Epistles of Bt. Paul. In 
 the First Epistle to the Corintliian churcli, 
 he says of them, "I thank my God always 
 on your behalf, tliat in every thing ye are 
 enriched by him in all utterance, and in all 
 knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ 
 was confirmed in you, so that tjb come he- 
 hind in no gift, waiting for the coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ.'' Yet, does he in- 
 stantly begin to condemn the same persons 
 for their divisions and contentions ; and 
 afterwards tells them " that they were car- 
 nal, and walked, not as saints, but as men,'^ 
 that is, as unconverted and ungodly men.* 
 In like manner, in his Epistle to the Phi- 
 lippians, after saying, " I thank my God 
 upon every remembrance of you, for your 
 fellowship in the gospel from the first day 
 * 1 Cor. i. 4*— 7. and iii. 8. 
 F 
 
6S 
 
 until now ; being confident of this very thing, 
 that he who hath begun a good work in 
 you will perform it until the day of Jesus 
 Christ/' he adds, " Even as it is meet for 
 me to think this of you aU .''* Yet does 
 he afterwards caution these very persons 
 against strife, and vain-glory, and self-love ; 
 and tell them that he will send Timothy to 
 them shortly, in order to make inquiries into 
 their state, and to give him information re- 
 specting them : and he even mentions two 
 by name, Euodias and Syntyche, whose no- 
 torious disagreements he was desirous to 
 heal. 
 
 A multitude of other passages might be 
 cited to the same effect ; to shew that the 
 Apostles, in a spirit of candour and of love, 
 spoke in terms of commendation respecting 
 all, when in strictness of speech they should 
 Jiave made some particular exceptions. 
 And, if we at this day were called to use 
 the same language under the very same 
 circumstances, it is probable that many 
 *Phil. i.3— 7, 
 
63 
 
 would feel scruples respectiug it, and espe- 
 cially, in thanking God for things, which^ 
 if pressed to the utmost meaning of the 
 words, might not be strictly true. But 
 surely, if the Apostles in a spirit of love 
 and charity used such language^ ive may 
 safely and properly do the same : and 
 knowing in what manner, and ivith what 
 views, they spake, ice need not hesitate to 
 deliver ourselves with the same spirit and 
 in the same latitude, as they,^ 
 
 In the baptismal Service we thank God 
 for having regenerated the baptized infant 
 by his Holy Spirit. Now from hence it ap- 
 
 * To guard against a misapprehension of his mean- 
 ing, the xiuthor wishes t^cse words to be distinctly 
 noticed; because they contain the whole drift of his 
 argument. He does not mean to say, that the Apos- 
 tles ascribed salvation to the ojms ojyeratum, the out- 
 ^vard act of baptism ; or, that they intended to assert 
 distinctly the salvation of every individual who had 
 been baptized ; but only that, in reference to these 
 subjects, they did use a language very similar to that 
 in our Liturgy, and that therefore our Reformers 
 were justified, as we also are, in u^ing the same. 
 
61 
 
 pears that^ In the opinion of our Reformers^ 
 regeneration and remission of sins did ac- 
 company baptism. But in what sense did 
 they hold this sentiment? Did they main- 
 tain that there was no need for the seed then 
 sown in the heart of the baptized person to 
 grow up, and to bring forth fruit ; or that he 
 could be saved in any other way than by a 
 progressive renovation of his soul after the 
 Divine image?* Had they asserted or coun- 
 
 * In proof of tlie correctness of this sentiment, 
 it may be observed that the church evidently distin- 
 guishes between regeneration and renovation. She 
 considers regeneration as that change of spiritual sfrtfe 
 or condition, which takes place in 6a/^rtsm ; and ren- 
 ovation, as a change of heart and life, by the influen- 
 ces of the Holy Spirit. This change, Mr. Simeon 
 describes as " a progressive renovation of the soul 
 after the divine image." 
 
 The distinction between regeneration and renova^ 
 Hon, is expressly noted in the collect for Christmas 
 day; in which the church directs her members to 
 pray, " Grant that we, being regenerated, may daily 
 be renewedhy thy Holy Spirit." 
 
 1l\\^ primitive fat}ie)^s yxmfovmlj preserve this dis- 
 tinction, and call baptism the " laver of regeneration," 
 
65 
 
 ienanced any such doctrine as that, it would 
 have been impossible for any enlightened 
 
 The distinction is founded on scripture. The 
 apostle in the epistle to Titus (ch. iii. ver. 5.) speak* 
 of " the washing of regeneration,^^ evidently n^eaning 
 baptism, and *^ the renewing 6f the Holy-Ghost.'* 
 
 Following scripture and primitive authority, the 
 ehurch therefore very properly applies the term re- 
 generation to baptism; in which sacrament that 
 eliange takes place in our spiritual state or condition, 
 which the terra describes. Thus tlie baptismal oflfi- 
 ees, and the office of confirmation speak of every 
 baptised person as «• being regenerate.^^ The cate- 
 chism, in reference to baptism, declares, that " beings 
 by nature born in sin, and the children of ivratk, we 
 are hereby^^ (by baptism) "made the children of 
 f^race,'^ The baptised person is taught to profess, in; 
 the catechism, that in baptism, on the conditions 
 ef repentance and faith he was made " a member of 
 Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the king- 
 dom of heaven." And in the same admirable sum- 
 mary of christian instruction, he is taught to "thank 
 his heavenly Father who hath called him to this 
 state of salvation,'^ 
 
 But, as Mr. Simeon justly maintains, the churcTi^ 
 enforces a change of heart and life as essential to secure 
 
66 
 
 person to concur with them. But nothing 
 can be conceived more repugnant to their 
 sentiments than such an idea as this : so far 
 from harbouring such a thought, they have, 
 and that too in this very prayer, taught us 
 to look unto God for that total change both 
 of heart and life, which, long since their 
 days, has begun to be expressed by the term, 
 
 ing the privileges of baptism. The baptised person, 
 she teaches, must "die to sin, and rise again unto 
 righteousness;" must ♦* crucify the old man and ut- 
 terly abolish the whole body of sin 5" and must 
 " continually mortify all his evil and corrupt affec- 
 tions, and daily proceed in all virtue and Godliness 
 of living;" in other words; he must be renewed bjr 
 the Holy Spirit* 
 
 It is much to be lamented that many divines of the 
 church of England, have not attended to this distinc-^ 
 tion between regeneration and renovation ; and ap- 
 ply the former term to that change of heart and life, 
 which the reformers of the church, agreeably t» 
 Scripture and the primitive Fathers, denoted by the 
 term, renovation. Mr. Simeon very properly ob- 
 serves, that " the total change of heart and life, long 
 $ince the days of the reformers^ began to be expressed 
 by the term regeneration." dm^Ed. 
 
67 
 
 vegeneration. After thanking God for re., 
 generating the infant by his Holy Spirit, 
 we are taught to pray, '' that he, being dead 
 unto sin and living unto righteousness may 
 crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the 
 ichole body of sin /^ and then declaring that 
 total change to be the necessary mean of his 
 obtaining salvation, we add, " So that 
 finally, with the residue of t!iy holy Church, 
 he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting 
 kingdom?'' Is there I would ask, any per- 
 son that can require more than this ? or does 
 God in his word require more ? There are 
 two things to be noticed in reference to this 
 subject ; the term^ Regeneration, and the 
 thing. The term occurs but tmce in the 
 Scriptures ; in one place it refers to baptism^ 
 and is distinguished from the renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost ; which however is repre- 
 sented as attendant on it : and in the other 
 place it has a totally distinct meaning un- 
 connected with the subject Now the term 
 they use, as the Scripture uses it : and the 
 thing they require, as strongly as any per- 
 son can require it. They do not give u« 
 
68 
 
 any reason to imagine that an adult person 
 can be saved witiiout experiencing all that 
 modern Divines have included in the term 
 Regeneration : on the contrary they do, 
 both there and throughout the vt^hole Litur- 
 gy insist upon the necessity of a radical 
 change both of heart and life. Here then, 
 the only question is, not, whether a baptiz- 
 ed person can be saved by that ordinance 
 without sanetification ; but whether God 
 does always accompany the sign with the 
 thing signified ? Here is certainly room for 
 difference of opinion : but it cannot be posi- 
 tively decided in the negative ; because we 
 cannot know, or even judge, respecting it 
 in any instance whatever, except by the 
 fruits that follow : and therefore in all fair- 
 ness it may be considered only as a doubt- 
 ful point : and, if we appeal, as we ought to 
 do, to the holy Scriptures, they certainly 
 do in a very remarkable way accord with the 
 expressions in our Liturgy. St. Paul says^ 
 " Sy one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
 body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
 whether we be bond or free 5 and have beeB 
 
6& 
 
 all made to drink into one Spirit .•" and this 
 be says of all the visible members of Christ's 
 body.* Again, speaking of the whole na- 
 tion of Israel, infants as well as adults, he 
 says, ^^ They were all baptized unto Moses 
 in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat 
 the same spiritual meat, and did all 
 drink the same spiritual drink ; for they 
 drank of that spiritual rock that follow- 
 ed them ; and that rock teas Christ.'^ 
 (1 Cor. X. 1 — i.) Yet behold, in the very 
 next verse he tells us, that ^' with many of 
 them God was displeased, and overthrew 
 them in the wilderness. '^ In another place 
 he speaks yet more strongly still : " As 
 many of you, says he, as are baptized into 
 Christ, have put on Christ ;'' (Gral. iii. 27.) 
 Here we see what is meant by^the expres- 
 sion "' baptized into Christ ;" it is precisely 
 the same expression as that before mention- 
 ed, of the Israelites being '* baptized unto 
 Moses ;'' (the preposition «' r is used in both 
 places) it includes all that had been ini- 
 tiated into his religion by the rite of bap- 
 tism ; and of them universally does the apos- 
 * 1 Cor. xii. 13. 27^ 
 
tie say, " They have put on Christ. ^^ Now 
 I askj Have not the persons who scruple 
 the use of that prayer in the baptismal ser- 
 vice, equal reason to scruple the use of these 
 different expressions ? 
 
 Again — St Peter says, Repent and be 
 baptized every one of you for the remission 
 of sins; (Acts ii. 38, 39.) and in another 
 place, " Baptism doth novr save us :'^ (1 Pet. 
 iii, %i.) And speaking elsew^here of baptiz- 
 ed persons who were unfruitful in the know- 
 ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, 
 " He hath forgotten that he was purged from 
 his old sins."^ Hoes not this very strong- 
 ly countenance the idea which our Reform- 
 ers entertained, That the remission of our 
 sins, as well as the regeneration of our souls^ 
 is an attendant on the baptismal rite ? Per- 
 haps it will be said, that the inspired Wri> 
 ters spake of persons who had been baptiz- 
 ed at an adult age. But, if they did so in 
 some places, they certainly did not in 
 others ; and, where they did not, they must 
 be understood as comprehending all, whether 
 
 * 2 Pet» i. 9. 
 
71 
 
 infants or adults : and therefore tlie lan- 
 guage of our Liturgy, which is not a whit 
 stronger than theirs, may be both subscribed 
 and used without any just occasion of of- 
 fence. 
 
 Let me then speak the truth before God : 
 Though I am no Arminian, I do think that 
 the refinements of Calvin have done great 
 harm in the church : they have driven mul- 
 titudes from the plain, and popular way of 
 speaking used by the inspired writers, and 
 have made them unreasonably and unscrip- 
 turally squeamish in their modes of ex- 
 pression ; and I conceive that, the less 
 addicted any person is to systematic accui. 
 racy, the more he will accord with the in- 
 spired writers, and the more he will ap- 
 prove of the views of our Reformers. I do 
 not mean however to say, that a slight alter- 
 ation in two or three instances would not 
 be an improvement ; gince it would take off 
 a burthen from many minds, and supersede 
 the necessity of laboured explanations: but 
 I do mean to say, that there is no such ob- 
 
7S 
 
 jection to these expressions as to deter any 
 conscientious person from giving his un- 
 feigned assent and consent to the Liturgy 
 altogether, or from using the particular ex- 
 pressions which we have been endeavour- 
 ing to explain. . 
 
 The other objection is, that the iise of a 
 Liturgy necessarily generates formality. 
 
 We have before acknowledged that the re- 
 petition of a form is less likely to arrest the 
 attention than that which is novel : but we 
 by no means concede that it necessarily 
 generates formality ; on the contrary we af- 
 iirm; that, if any person come to the service 
 of the church with a truly spiritual mind, he 
 will find in our Liturgy what is calculated 
 to call forth the devoutest exercises of his 
 mind far more than in any of the extempo- 
 raneous prayers which he would hear in 
 other places. 
 
 We forbear to enter into a fuller eluci- 
 dation of this point at present, because we 
 
73 
 
 should detaitt you too long, and we shall 
 have a better opportunity of doing it in our 
 next Discourse. But we would here in- 
 treat you all so far to bear this objection in 
 your minds, as to cut off all occasion for it 
 as much as possible, and, by the devout 
 manner of your attendance on the services 
 of the Church, to shew, that though you 
 worship Grod with a form, you also wor- 
 ship him in spirit and in truth. Dissenters 
 themselves know that the repetition of fa- 
 vourite hymns does not generate formality 5 
 and they may from thence learn that the re- 
 petition of our excellent Liturgy is not really 
 open to that objection. But they will judge 
 from what they see amongst us: If they 
 see that the prayers are read amongst us 
 without any devotion, and that those who 
 hear them, are inattentive and irreverent dur- 
 ing the service, they will not impute these 
 evils to the true and proper cause, but to the 
 Liturgy itself; and it is a fact that they do 
 from this very circumstance derive great 
 advantage for the weakening of men's at- 
 tachment to the Established Church, and 
 
74^ 
 
 for the augmenting of their own societies. 
 Surely then it becomes us who are annually 
 sending forth so many ministers into every 
 quarter of the land, to pay particular atten- 
 tion to this point. I am well aware that 
 where such multitudes of young men are, it 
 is not possible so to controul the ineonsid- 
 erateness of youth, as to suppress all levity, 
 or to maintain that complete order that might 
 be v/ished ; but I know also that the ingen- 
 uousness of youth is open to conviction 
 upon a subject like this, and that even the 
 strictest discipline upon a point so inter- 
 woven with the honour of the Establish- 
 ment and the eternal interests of their own 
 souls, would, in a little time, meet with a 
 more cordial concurrence than is generally 
 imagined : it would commend itself to their 
 consciences, and call forth, not only their 
 present approbation, but their lasting grati- 
 tude ; and if those who are in authority 
 amongst us would lay this matter to heart, 
 aiid devise mean« for the carrying it into 
 full effect, more would be done for the up- 
 holding of the Establishment, than by ten 
 
75 
 
 thousand disconrses in vindication of it: 
 and verily, if but the smallest progress 
 should be made in it, I should think that I 
 had " not laboured in vain, or run in vain.'^ 
 
 But let us not so think of the Establish- 
 ment as to forget our own souls : for after 
 all, the great question for the consideration 
 of us all is, Whether we ourselves are ac- 
 cepted in the use of these prayers ? And 
 here, it is not outward reverence and de- 
 corum that will suifice ; the heart must be 
 engaged, as well as the lips. It will be to 
 little purpose that God say respecting us, 
 ^^ They have well said all that they have 
 spoken,'^ unless he see his own wish also 
 accomplished, " O that there were in them 
 such an heart !'^ Indeed our prayers will 
 be no more than a solemn mockery, if there 
 be not a correspondence between the w^ords 
 of our lips and the feeling of our own 
 souls : and his answer to us will be, like 
 that to the Jews of old, " Ye hypocrites, in 
 vain do you worship me.'^ Let all of us 
 then bring our devotions to this test, and 
 
76 
 
 look well to it, that, with ^^ the form we 
 have also the power of godliness," We 
 are too apt to rush into the Divine presence 
 without any consciousness of the importance 
 of the work in which we are going to be 
 engaged, or any fear of his Majesty, whom 
 we are going to address. If we would pre- 
 vent formality in the house of God, we 
 should endeavour to carry thither a devout 
 spirit along with us, and guard against the 
 very first incursion of vain thoughts and 
 foolish imaginations. Let us then labour 
 to attain such a sense of our own necessities 
 and of God's unbounded goodness, as shall 
 produce a fixedness of mind, whenever we 
 draw nigh to God in prayer : and for this 
 end, let us ask of God the gift of his Holy 
 Spirit to help our infirmities : and let us 
 never think that we have used the Liturgy 
 to any good purpose, unless it bring into 
 our bosoms an inward witness of its utility, 
 and a reasonable evidence of our accep- 
 tance with God in the use of it. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 Deut. V. S8, S9. 
 
 They have, icell said all that they have spa. 
 Jcen : that there were such an heart in 
 them f 
 
 IN our preceding discourses on this i^xi^ 
 •we first entered distinctly and fully into its 
 true import^ and then applied it, in an ac 
 commodated sense, to the Liturgy of our 
 Established Church. The utility of a Li- 
 turgy being doubted by many, we endea- 
 voured to vindicate the use of it, as lawful 
 in itself, expedient for us, and acceptable 
 to God. But it is not a mere vindication 
 only which such a composition merits at our 
 hands: the labour bestowed upon it has 
 been exceeding great : Our first reform- 
 ers omitted nothing that could conduce to 
 the improvement of it : they consulted the 
 most pious and learned of foreign Divines, 
 and submitted it to them for their correc- 
 
78 
 
 tion : and^ since their time^ there have been 
 frequent revisions of it^ in order that every 
 expression which could be made a subject 
 of cavil, might be amended : by which 
 means it has been brought to such a state of 
 perfection, as no human composition of 
 equal size and variety can pretend to. 
 
 To- display its excellence is the task, 
 which agreeably to the plan before proposed, 
 is now assigned us ; and w^e enter upon it 
 with pleasure ; in the hope, that those who 
 have never yet studied the Liturgy, will 
 learn to appreciate its value, and that all 
 of us may be led to a more thankful and 
 profitable use of it in future. 
 
 To judge of the Liturgy aright, we 
 should contemplate Its spirituality and pu- 
 rity — Its fulness and suitableness — Its 
 moderation and candour. 
 
 1st. Its spirituality and purity. 
 
 It is well known that the services of the 
 Church of Rome, from whose communion 
 
79 
 
 we separated, were full of superstition and 
 error : they taught the people to rest in car- 
 nal ordinances, without either stimulating 
 them to real piety, or establishing them on 
 the foundation which God has laid. They 
 contained, it is true, much that was good : but 
 they were at the same time so filled with 
 ceremonies of man's invention, and with 
 doctrines repugnant to the Gospel, that they 
 tended only to deceive and ruin all who 
 adhered to them. In direct opposition to 
 those services we affirm, that the whole 
 scope and tendency of our Liturgy is to 
 raise our minds to a holy and heavenly 
 state, and to build us up upon the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as the only foundation of a 
 sinner's hope. 
 
 Let us look at the stated services of our 
 church ; let us call to mind all that we have 
 heard or uttered, from the introductory sen- 
 tences which were to prepare our minds, to 
 the Dismission Prayer which closes the 
 whole ; there is nothing for shew, but all 
 for edification and spiritual improvement. 
 
80 
 
 Is humility the foundation of true piety ? 
 What deep humiliation is expressed in the 
 General Confession, and throughout the Li- 
 tany, as also in supplicating forgiveness 
 after every one of the Commandments, for 
 our innumerable violations of them all! Is 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the way ap- 
 pointed for our reconciliation with God? 
 We ask for every blessing solely in his 
 name and for his sake; and with the holy 
 vehemence of importunity, we urge with 
 him the consideration of all that he has done 
 and suffered for us, as our plea for mercy ; 
 and, at the Lord's Supper, we mark so 
 fully our affiance in his atoning blood, that 
 it is impossible for any one to use those 
 prayers aright, without seeing and feeling 
 that " there is no other name under heaven 
 but his, whereby we can be saved. '^ 
 
 The same we may observe respecting the 
 occasional services of our Church. From 
 our very birth even to the grave, our Church 
 omits nothing that can tend to the edification 
 of its members. At our first introduction 
 
81 
 
 into the Church, with what solemnity are we 
 dedicated to God in our Baptismal Service ! 
 What pledges does our Church require of 
 our Sponsors that we shall be brought up 
 in the true faith and fear of God ; and how 
 earnestly does she lead us to pray for a pro- 
 gressive, total, and permanent renovation of 
 our souls ? No sooner are we capable of 
 receiving instruction, than she provides for 
 us, and expressly requires that we be well 
 instructed in, a Catechism, so short that it 
 burthens the memory of none, and so com- 
 prehensive that it contains all that is neces- 
 sary for our information at that early period 
 of our life. When once we are taught by 
 that to know the nature and extent of our 
 baptismal vows, the Church calls upon us 
 to renew in our own person the vows that 
 were formerly made for us in our name ; 
 and, in a service specially prepared for that 
 purpose, leads us to consecrate ourselves to 
 God ; thus endeavouring to confirm us in 
 our holy resolutions, and to establish us in 
 the faith of Christ. Not content with hav- 
 ing thus initiated, instructed^ and confirmed 
 
8S ^ 
 
 her members in the religion of Christ, the 
 Church embraces every occasion of instil- 
 ling into our minds the knowledge and love 
 of his ways. If we change oar condition 
 in life, we are required to come to the altar 
 of our God, and there devote ourselves afresh 
 to him, and implore his blessing, from which 
 alone all true happiness proceeds. Are 
 mercies and deliverances vouchsafed to any, 
 especially that great mercy of preservation 
 from the pangs and perils of child birth ? 
 the Church appoints a public acknowledg- 
 ment to be made to Almighty Grod in the 
 presence of the whole congregation, and 
 provides a suitable service for that end. In 
 like manner, for every public mercy, or in 
 time of any public calamity, particular 
 prayers and thanksgivings are provided 
 for our use. In a time of sickness there is 
 also very particular provision made for our 
 instruction and consolation : and even after 
 death, when she can no more benefit the 
 deceased, the Church labours to promote 
 the beneiit of her surviving members, by a 
 service the most solemn and impressive that 
 
83 
 
 ever was formed. Thus attentive is she to 
 supply in every thing, as far as human en- 
 deavours can avail, our spiritual wants : 
 being decent in her forms, but not supersti- 
 tious ; and strong in her expressions, but not 
 erroneous. In short, it is not possible to 
 read the Liturgy with candour, and not to 
 sec that the welfare of our souls is the one 
 object of the whole ; and that the compilers 
 of ifc had nothing in view, but that in all our 
 works, begun, continued, and ended in Grod^ 
 we should glorify lus holy Name. 
 
 The excellencies of our Liturgy will yet 
 further appear while we notice, next^ Its 
 fulness and suitableness. 
 
 Astonishing is the wisdom with which 
 the Liturgy is adapted to the edification of 
 every member of the Church. There is no 
 case that is overlooked, no sin that is not 
 deplored, no want that is not specified, no 
 blessing that is not asked : yet, whilst 
 every particular is entered into so far that 
 every individual person may find his own 
 
8* 
 
 case adverted to, and his own wishes'ex- 
 pressed, the whole is so carefully worded, 
 that no person is led to express more than 
 he ought to feel, or to deliver sentiments, in 
 which he may not join with his whole heart. 
 Indeed there is a minuteness in the petitions 
 that is rarely found even in men's private 
 devotions ; and those very particularities 
 are founded in the deepest knowledge of the 
 human heart, and the completest view of 
 men's spiritual necessities ; for instance, 
 We pray to God to deliver us, not only in 
 all time of our tribulation, but in all time 
 of our wealth also ,** because we are quite 
 as much in danger of being drawn from 
 God by prosperity, as by adversity ; and 
 need his aid as much in the one as in the 
 other. 
 
 In the intercessory part of our devotions 
 also, our sympathy is called forth in be- 
 half of a]l orders and degrees of men, under 
 every name, and every character that can 
 
 * " In all time of our prosperity /" in the American 
 Liturgy^^. t^Ttu Ed* 
 
fe5 
 
 he conceived. We pray to him to strengthen 
 such as do stand, to comfort and help the 
 weak hearted, and to raise up them that 
 fall, and finally, to beat down Satan under 
 our feet. We intreat him also to succour, 
 help, and comfort all that are in danger, 
 necessity, and tribulation. We further sup- 
 plicate him in behalf of all that travel whz- 
 thev by land or water ^ all itwmen labouring 
 of child, ^ all sicJc persons, and young chiU 
 iren, and particularly intreat him to have 
 pity upon all prisoners and captives. Still 
 farther, tve plead with him to defend and 
 provide for the fatherless children, and ivid- 
 Gws, and all that are desolate and oppressed : 
 and, lest any should have been omitted, we 
 beg him '^ to have mercy upon all rnen,^^ gen- 
 erally, and more particularly ^^ to forgive our 
 enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and 
 to turn their hearts .'' In w hat other prayers, 
 whether extemporaneous or written, shall 
 we ever find such diffusive benevolence as 
 this? 
 
 * " All women in the perils of child-birthj" in the 
 American Liturgy. Jim, Ed, 
 H 
 
86 
 
 In a word^ there is no possible situation 
 hi which we can be placed^ but the prayers 
 are precisely suited to us ; nor can we be in 
 any frame of mind wherein they will not 
 express our feelings as strongly and force- 
 ably, as any person could express them 
 even in his secret chamber. Take a bro- 
 ken-hearted penitent ; where can he ever 
 find words, wherein to supplicate the mer- 
 cy of his God, more congenial with his feel- 
 ings than in the Litany, where he renews 
 his application to each person of the Sa- 
 cred Trinity for mercy, under the charac- 
 ter of a miserable sinner? Hear him when 
 kneeling before the altar of his God : '' Al- 
 mighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all 
 men, we acknowledge and bewail our mani- 
 fold sins and wickedness which we from 
 time to time most grievously have commit- 
 ted, by thought, word, and deed, against 
 thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly 
 thy wrath and indignation against us. We 
 do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry 
 for these our misdoings : the remembrance 
 
87 
 
 of them is grievous unto us : the burthen of 
 them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us ; 
 have mercy upon us, most merciful Father : 
 for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, 
 forgive us all that is past ; and grant that 
 we may ever hereafter serve and please 
 thee in newness of life, to the honour and 
 glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord.'^ I may venture to say that no 
 finite wisdom could suggest words more 
 suited to the feelings or necessities of a pen- 
 itent, tJian these. 
 
 Take, next, a person full of faith and of 
 the Holy Ghost, and if he were the devout- 
 est of all the human race, he could never 
 find words wherein to give scope to all the 
 exercises of his mind more suitable than in 
 the Te Deiim: *^ We praise thee, O God, 
 we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All 
 the earth doth worship thee, the Father 
 everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, 
 the heavens, and all the powers therein : 
 To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually 
 do cry. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of 
 
88 
 
 Sabaoth : Heaven and earth are full of tlie 
 Majesty of thy glory.'' Hear him also at 
 the table of the Lord : ^^ It is very meet, 
 rights and our boundeu duty, that we should 
 at all times and in all places give thanks 
 unto thee, Lord, holy Father, almighty, 
 everlasting God : Therefore with angels, 
 and archangels, and with all the company 
 of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glo- 
 rious name, evermore praising thee, and 
 saying. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of 
 hosts, heaven and eartli are full of thy 
 glory 5 glory be to thee, O Lord most high.'' 
 
 Even where there are no particular exer«> 
 cises of the mind, the Liturgy is calculated 
 to produce the greatest possible good : for 
 the gravity and sobriety of the whole service 
 are fitted to impress the most careless sin- 
 ner ; whilst the various portions of Scrip- 
 ture that are read out of the Old and New 
 Testament, not only for the Lessons of the 
 day, but from the Psalms also, and from the 
 Epistles and Gospels, are well adapted to 
 arrest the attention of the thoughtless^ and to 
 
89 
 
 convey instruction to the most ignorant. In- 
 deed I consider it as one of the highest ex- 
 cellencies' of our Liturgy, that il is calcula- 
 ted to make us wise, intelligent, and soher 
 Christians : it marks a golden mean ; it af 
 fects and inspires a meek, humhle, modest, 
 sober piety, equally remote from the cold- 
 ness of a formalist, the self-importance of a 
 systematic dogmatist, and the unhallowed 
 fervour of a wild enthusiast. A tender se- 
 riousness^ Si meek devotion and a humble joij 
 are the qualities which it was intended, and 
 is calculated, to produce in all her members. 
 
 It remains that we yet further trace the 
 excellence of our Liturgy in its Moderation 
 and Candour. 
 
 The whole Christian world has from time 
 to time beea agitated with controversies of 
 different kinds ; and human passions have 
 grievously debased the characters and ac- 
 tions even of good men in every age. But 
 it should seem that the compilers of our Li- 
 turgy were inspired with a wisdom and mo- 
 h3 
 
90 
 
 deration peculiar to themselves. They kepi 
 back no truth whatever through fear of giv- 
 ing offence ; yet were careful so to state 
 every truth, as to leave those inexcusable 
 who should recede from the Church on ac- 
 count of any sentiments which she main- 
 tained. In this they imitated the inspired 
 penmen ; who do not dwell on doctrines af- 
 ter the manner of human systems^ but intro- 
 duce them incidentally, as it were, as occa- 
 sion suggests, and bring them forward al- 
 ways in connexion with practical duties. 
 The various perfections of God are all stated 
 in different parts ; but all in such a way as, 
 without affording any occasion for dispute, 
 tends effectually to encourage us in our ad- 
 dresses to him. The Godhead of Christ is 
 constantly asserted, and different prayers 
 are expressly addressed to him ; but noth- 
 ing is said in a way of contentious disputa- 
 tion. The influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 from whom all holy desires, all good conn-- 
 sels, and all just works do proceed, are 
 stated ; and '' the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit is sought, iu order that we may per» 
 
9i 
 
 fectly love God, and worthily magnify liis 
 holy Name :'^ but all is conveyed in a way 
 of humble devotion, without reflections upon 
 others, or even a word that can lead the 
 thoughts to controversy of any kind. Even 
 the deepest doctrines of our holy religion 
 are occasionally brought forth in a practical 
 view, (in which view alone they onght to be 
 regarded ;) that, whilst we contemplate them 
 as truths, we may experience their sanctify- 
 ing efticacy on our hearts. The truth, the 
 whole truth, is brought forward, without 
 fear ; but it is brought forward also without 
 offence : all is temperate ; all is candid ; all 
 is practical ; all is peaceful ; and every word 
 is spoken in love. This is an excellency that 
 deserves particular notice, because it is so 
 contrary to what is found in the worship of 
 those, whose addresses to the Most High Grod 
 depend on the immediate views and feelings 
 of an individual person, which may be, and 
 not unfrequently are, tinctured in a lament- 
 able degree by party- views, and unhallowed 
 passions. And we shall do well to bear in 
 mind this excellency, in order that we may 
 
9^ 
 
 imitate it ; and that we may sliew to all, that 
 the moderation which so eminently charac- 
 terizes the Offices of our Church, is no less 
 visible in all her members. 
 
 Sorry should I be when speaking on this 
 amiable virtue, to transgress it even in the 
 smallest degree : but I appeal to all who 
 hear me, whether there be not a want of this 
 virtue in the temper of the present times 5 
 and whether, if our Reformers themselves 
 were to rise again and live amongst us, their 
 pious sentiments and holy lives would not be 
 with many an occasion of offence? I need 
 not repeat the terms which are used to stig- 
 matize those who labour to walk in their 
 paths ; nor will I speak of the jealousies 
 which are entertained against those, who 
 live only to inculcate what our Reformers 
 taught. You need not be told that even the 
 moderate sentiments of our Reformers are at 
 this day condemned by many as dangerous 
 errors ; and the very exertions, whereby 
 alone the knowledge of them can be com- 
 municated unto men, are imputed to vanity 
 
98 
 
 and loaded with blame. But, though I thus 
 speak, I must acknowledge to the gh)ry of 
 God, that iu no place have moderation and 
 caudour shone more conspicuous, than in 
 this distinguished seat of literature and sci- 
 ence : and I pray God, that the exercise of 
 these virtues may be richly recompensed 
 from the Lord into every bosom, and be fol- 
 lowed with all the other graces that accom- 
 pany salvation. 
 
 From this view of our subject it will h& 
 naturally asked. Do I then consider the Li« 
 turgy as altogether perfect ? I answer. No : 
 it is a human composition; and there is noth- 
 ing human that can claim so high a title as 
 that of absolute perfection. There are cer- 
 tainly some few expressions which might be 
 altered for the better, and which in all pro- 
 bability would have been altered at the Con- 
 ference which was appointed for the last 
 revision of it, if the -unreasonable scrupulosi- 
 ty of some, and the unbending pertinacity of 
 others, had not defeated the object of that 
 assembly* I have before mentioned two^ 
 
94 
 
 which, though capable of being vindicated, 
 might admit of some improvement. And, as 
 I have been speaking strongly of the mode- 
 ration and candour of the Liturgy, I will 
 here bring forw^ard the only exception to it 
 that I am aware of ; and that is found in the 
 Athanasian Creed.* The damnatory clauses 
 contained in that Creed, do certainly breathe 
 a very different spirit from that which per- 
 vades every other part of our Liturgy. As 
 to the doctrine of the Creed, it is perfectly 
 sound, and such as ought to be universally 
 received. But it is matter of regret that 
 any should be led to pronounce a sentence 
 of damnation against their fellow- creatures, 
 in any case where God himself has not 
 clearly and certainly pronounced it. Yet 
 whilst I say this, permit* me to add, that I 
 think this Creed does not express, nor ever 
 was intended to express, so much as is gen- 
 erally supposed. The part principally ob- 
 jected to, is, that whole statement, which is 
 contained between the first assertion of the 
 
 * The Athanasian Creed is omitted in the Americai! 
 Liturgy, din, Ed. 
 
95 
 
 doctrine of the Trinity, and the other articles 
 of our faith : and the ohjection is^ that the dam- 
 natory clauses which would be justifiable, if 
 confined to the general assertion respecting 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, become unjustifia- 
 ble, when extended to the whole of that which 
 is annexed to it. But, if we suppose that 
 this intermediate part was intended as an 
 explanation of the doctrine in question, we 
 still, I think, ought not to be understood as 
 af&rming respecting that explanation all 
 that we affirm respecting the doctrine itself. 
 If any one will read the Athanasian Creed 
 with attention, he w ill find three damnatory 
 clauses ; one at the beginning, which is con- 
 fined to the general doctrine of the Trinity ; 
 another at the close of what, for argument 
 sake, we call the explanation of that doc- 
 trine ; and another at the end, relating to 
 the other articles of the Creed, such as the 
 incarnation, death, and resurrection of 
 Christ, and his coming at the last day to 
 judge the world. Now whoever will com» 
 pare the three clauses, will find a marked 
 difference between them ; those which re- 
 
06 
 
 late to the general doctrine of the Trmity^ 
 and to the other articles of the Creed, are 
 strong ; asserting positively that the points 
 must be believed, and that too on fain of 
 everlasting damnation : but that which is 
 annexed to the explanation of the doctrine, 
 asserts only, that a man who is in earnest 
 about his salvation ought to think thus of 
 the Trinity. The words in the original are, 
 Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate 
 sentiat : and this shews in what sense we 
 are to understand the more ambiguous lan- 
 guage of our translation : " He therefore 
 that will be saved, (i. e. is willing or desi- 
 rous to be saved,) must thus think (let him, 
 thus think) of the Trinity.'^ Thus it ap- 
 pears that the things contained in the be- 
 ginning and end of the Creed are spoken of 
 as matters of faith ; but this which is in- 
 serted in the midst, as a matter of opinion 
 only ; in reference to the first and last parts, 
 the certainty of damnation is asserted ; but 
 in reference to the intermediate part, noth- 
 ing is asserted, except that such are the 
 views which we ought to entertain of the 
 
9r 
 
 point in question. Now I would ask, was 
 this difference the effect of chance ? or ra- 
 ther, was it not actually intended, in order 
 to guard against the very ohjectiou that is 
 here adduced ? 
 
 This then is the answer whicli we give 
 on the supposition that the part whicli ap- 
 pears so objectionable, is to be considered 
 as an explanation of the doctrine in ques- 
 tion. But what if it was never intended as 
 an explanation 9 What if it contains only 
 2l proof oii\\fii doctrine, and an appeal to 
 our reason that that doctrine is true? Yet, 
 if we examine the Creed, we shall find this 
 to be the real fact. Let us in few words 
 point out the steps of the argument. 
 
 The Creed says, '' The Catholic faith is 
 this: that we worship one God in Trinity, 
 and Ti-inity in Unity ; neither confounding 
 the persons, nor dividing the substance 9'* 
 and then it proceeds, " For there is one 
 person of the Father,-^ and so on ; and then, 
 after proving the distinct personality of 
 I 
 
98 
 
 the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ohost, and their unity in the Godhead, it 
 adds, " So THAT in all things, as is afore- 
 said, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity 
 in Unity, is to be worshipped. He there- 
 fore that will be saved, must thus think of 
 the Trinity.^' Here are all the distinct 
 parts of an argument. The position affirm- 
 ed — the proofs adduced — the deduction 
 made — and the conclusion drawn in refer- 
 ence to the importance of receiving and ac- 
 knowledging that doctrine. 
 
 From hence then I infer, that the damna- 
 tory clauses should be understood only in 
 reference to the doctrine affirmed, and not 
 be extended to the parts which are adduced 
 only in confirmation of it : and, if we be- 
 lieve that the doctrine of the Trinity is a 
 fundamental article of the Christian faith, 
 we may without any breach of charity ap- 
 ply to that doctrine what our Lord spake 
 of the Gospel at large, ^^He that believeth 
 and is baptized, shall be saved, and he that 
 believeth not siiall be damned.'^ 
 
99 
 
 Thus, in either view, the use of the Creed 
 may be vindicated: for, if we consider the 
 obnoxious part as an exjylanation, the terms 
 requiring it to be received, are intentionally 
 softened ; and if we consider it as a proofs 
 it is to the doctrine proved, and not to the 
 proof annexed, that the damnatory clauses 
 are fairly applicable. 
 
 Still, after all, I confess, that if the same 
 candour and moderation that are observable 
 in all other parts of the Liturgy, had been 
 preserved here, it would have been better. 
 For though I do verily believe, that those 
 who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, are 
 in a fatal error, and will find themselves so 
 at the day of judgment, I would rather de- 
 plore the curse that awaits them, than de- 
 nounce it ; and rather weep over them in 
 my secret chamber, than utter anathemas 
 against them in the house of God. 
 
 1 hope I have now met the question of 
 our Liturgy fairly. I have not confined 
 myself to general assertions, but have set 
 
100 
 
 Ibrth the difficulties which are supposed to 
 exist against it, aud have given such a so- 
 lution of them, as I think is sufficient to 
 satisfy any conscientious mind; though it 
 is still matter of regret that any lahoured 
 explanation of them should be necessary. 
 
 Now then, acknowledging that our Li- 
 turgy is not absolutely perfect, and that those 
 who most admire it would be glad if these 
 few blemishes were removed ; have we not 
 still abundant reason to be thankful for it? 
 Let its excellencies be fairly weighed ; and 
 its blemishes will sink into nothing : let its 
 excellencies be duly appreciated, and every 
 person in the kingdom will acknowledge 
 himself deeply indebted to those, who with 
 so much care and piety compiled it. 
 
 But these blemishes alone are seen by 
 multitudes ; and its excellencies are alto- 
 gether forgotten : yea, moreover, frequent 
 occasion is taken from these blemishes to 
 persuade men to renounce their communion 
 with the Established Churfth, in the hopes 
 
101 
 
 of finding a purer worship elsewhere. With 
 what justice such arguments are urged, will 
 best appear by a comparison between the 
 prayers that are offered elsewhere, and 
 those that are offered in the Established 
 Church. There are about 11,000 places of 
 worship in the Established Churchy and 
 about as many out of it. Now take the pray» 
 ers that are offered on any sabbath in all 
 places out of the Establishment ; have them 
 all written down, and every expression sift- 
 ed and scrutinized as our Liturgy has been : 
 then compare them with the prayers that 
 have been offered in all the Chiuches of th& 
 kingdom ; and see what comparison the ex- 
 temporaneous effusions will bear with our 
 pre- composed forms. Having done this for 
 one sabbath, proceed to do it for a year ; 
 and then, after a similar examination^ com- 
 pare them again : were this done, (and done 
 it ought to be in order to form a correct 
 judgment on the case,) methinks there is 
 scarcely a man in the kingdom that would 
 not fall down on his knees and bless God 
 for the Liturgy of the Established Church> 
 i2 
 
 / 
 
All that is wanting is^ an heart suited to 
 the Liturgy, and cast as it were into that 
 mould. It may with truth be said of us, 
 *^ They have well said all that they have 
 spoken : that there were in them such an 
 heart V^ Let us only suppose that on any 
 particular occasion there were in all of us 
 such a state of mind as the Liturgy is suited 
 to express ; what glorious worship would 
 ours be ! and how certainly would Grod de- 
 light to hear and bless us ! We will not 
 say that he would come down and fill the 
 liouse with his visible glory, as he did in 
 the days of Moses and of Solomon ; but 
 we will say, that he would come down and 
 iill our souls with such a sense of his pre- 
 sence and love^ as would transform us into 
 his blessed image, and constitute a very hea- 
 ven upon earth. Let each of us then adopt 
 the wish in our text, and say, ^' O that there 
 may he in me such an heart V^ Let us cul- 
 tivate the moderation and candour whicli 
 are there exhibited ; divesting ourselves of 
 all prejudice against religion, and receiving 
 with impartial readiness the whole counsel 
 
103 
 
 of our God. More particularly, whenever 
 we come up to the house of God, let us seek 
 those very dispositions in the use of the 
 Liturgy, which our reformers exercised in 
 the framing of it. Let us bring with us into 
 the presence of our God that spirituality of 
 mind that shall fit us for communion with 
 him, and that purity of heart which is the 
 commencement of the Divine image on the 
 soul. Let us study whenever we join in 
 the different parts of this Liturgy, to get our 
 hearts suitably impressed with the work in 
 which we are engaged ; that our confes- 
 sions may be humble, our petitions fervent, 
 our thanksgivings devout, and our whole 
 souls obedient to the word we hear. In a 
 word, let us not be satisfied with any at- 
 tainments, but labour to be holy as God 
 himself is holy, and perfect even as our 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect. If 
 now a doubt remain on the mind of any in- 
 dividual respecting the transcendent excel- 
 lence of the Liturgy, let him only take the 
 Litany, and go through every petition of it 
 
io4 
 
 attentively^ and at the close of every peti- 
 tion ask himself^ What sort of a person 
 should I be, if this petition were so answered 
 to me, that I lived henceforth according to 
 it? and what kind of a world would this be, 
 if all the people that were in it experienced 
 the same answer, and walked according to 
 the same model ? If, for instance, we were 
 all from this hour delivered "from all 
 blindness of heart, from pride, vain-glory, 
 and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and 
 malice, and all uncharitableness ; if we 
 were delivered also " from all other deadly 
 sin, and from all the deceits of the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil; what happiness 
 should we not possess ? How happy would 
 the church be, if it should " please God to 
 illuminate all bishops, priests, and deacons 
 with true, knowledge and understanding of 
 his word, so that both by their preaching 
 and living, they did set it forth and shew it 
 accordingly V^ How blessed also would 
 the whole nation be, if it pleased God to 
 "endue the Lords of the Council, and all 
 
105 
 
 the nobility, with grace, wisdom, and under- 
 standing ; and to bless and keep the magis- 
 trates, giving them grace to execute justice 
 and to maintain truth ; and further to bless 
 all his people throughout the land !"^ Yea, 
 what a ivorld would this be, if from this 
 moment God should '^ give to all nations 
 unity, peace, and concord V^ Were these 
 prayers once answered, we should hear no 
 more complaints of our Liturgy, nor ever 
 wish for any thing in jpiiblic, better than 
 that which is provided for us. May God 
 hasten forward that happy day, when all 
 the assemblies of his people throughout the 
 land shall enter fully into the spirit of these 
 prayers, and be answered in the de&ire of 
 their hearts ; receiving from him an " in- 
 crease of grace, to bear meekly his word^ 
 to receive it with pure affection, and to 
 bring forth the fruits of the Spirit V^ And 
 to us in particular may he give, even to 
 every individual amongst us, " true repent- 
 
 * The prayers for civil rulers are adapted in the 
 American Book of Common Prayer, to the gov- 
 ernment of the United States. Am. Ed. 
 
106^ 
 
 ance ; and forgive us all our sins, negligen- 
 ces; and ignorances; and endue us with the 
 grace of his Holy Spirit, that we may 
 amend our lives according to his holy 
 word/^ Amen and Amen, 
 
SERMON IV 
 
 Deut. V. 38, 2%. 
 
 They have well said all that they have sjpa^ 
 Teen : O that there were such an heart in 
 them / 
 
 THE further we proceed in the investi- 
 gation of our Liturgy, the more we feel the 
 difficulty of doing justice to it. Such is the 
 spirit which it breathes throughout, that if 
 only a small measure of its piety existed in 
 all the different congregations in which it is 
 used, we should be as holy and as happy a 
 people, as ever the Jews were in the most 
 distinguished periods of their history. If 
 this object has not been yet attained, it is 
 not the fault of our Keformers : they have 
 done all that men could do, to transmit to 
 the latest posterity the blessings which they 
 themselves had received : and there is not 
 a member of our Church who has not rea- 
 son to bless Grod every day of his life for 
 
108 
 
 their labours. But they knew that it would 
 be to little purpose to provide suitable forms 
 of prayer for every different occasion, if they 
 did not also secure, as far as human wisdom 
 could secure, a succession of men, who, ac- 
 tuated by the same ardent piety as themselves, 
 should perform the different offices to the 
 greatest advantaj^e, and carry on by their per- 
 sonal ministrations the blessed work which 
 they had begun. Here therefore they bestow- 
 ed the utmost care ; marking with precision 
 what were the qualifications requisite fcr the 
 ministerial office, and binding in the most so- 
 lemn manner all who should be consecrated 
 to it, to a diligent and faithful discharge of 
 their respective duties. 
 
 When we first spake of the Liturgy, we 
 proposed, after vindicating its use, and dis- 
 playing its excellency, to direct your atten- 
 tion to one particular part, which on that 
 account we should reserve for a distinct and 
 fuller consideration. The part we had in 
 view was. The Ordination Service. We 
 are aware indeed that, in calling your at- 
 
109 
 
 teiitioii so particularly to that, we stand ou 
 delicate ground : but being aware of it, we 
 shall take the greater care that no one shall 
 have reason to complain of want of delica-. 
 cy. It is the candour that has invariably 
 manifested itself in this congregation, that 
 emboldens nic to bring this subject before 
 you. Any attempt to discuss the merits of 
 the Liturgy would indeed be incomplete, if 
 we omitted to notice ilmi part, which so 
 pre-eminently displays its highest excellen- 
 cies, and is peculiarly appropriate to the au- 
 dience whiciil have tlie honour to address. 
 I trust therefore I shall not be thought as- 
 suming, as though I had any pretensions to 
 exalt myself above the least and lowest of 
 my brethren. I well knovv, that, if my 
 own deficiencies were far less than they are, 
 it would ill become me to take any other 
 than the lovv est place ; and much more, 
 when I am conscio^us that they are so great 
 and manifold. For ray own humiliation, no 
 less tlian that of others, I enter on the task; 
 and I pray God, that, whilst I am shewing 
 what our Reformers inculcated as pertain- 
 
 K 
 
110 
 
 ing to tlie pastoral office^ we may all apply 
 the subject to ourselves^ and intreat help 
 from God^ that, as " we have well said all 
 that we have spoken, so there may be in us 
 such an heart. '^ 
 
 There are three things to be noticed iu 
 the Ordination Service, Our professions, 
 our promises^ and our prayers : after con- 
 sidering which, we shall endeavour to ex- 
 cite in all that desire, which Ood has so 
 tenderly, and so affectionately, expressed 
 in OUT behalf. 
 
 Let me begin then with calling your at- 
 tention to the professions which we make, 
 when first we become candidates for the 
 ministerial office. 
 
 So sacred vvas the priesthood under the 
 Law, that no man presumed to take it upon 
 himself but he who was called to it by God, 
 as Aaron was. And though the priesthood 
 of our blessed Lord was of a totally distinct 
 kind from that which shadowed it forth, 
 
Ill 
 
 ^' yet did he not glorify himself to be made? 
 an high priest/^ but was so constituted by 
 his heavenly Father, who committed to him 
 that office " after the order of Melehize- 
 dec.'^ Some call therefore, as from God 
 himself, is to be experienced by all who 
 devote themselves to the service of the sane 
 tuary. Of this our Reformers were con- 
 vinced; and hence they required the or- 
 daining bishop to put to every candidate 
 that should come before him this solemn 
 interrogation ; '' Do you trust that you are 
 inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take 
 upon you this office V^ to which he answers. 
 
 * The church also insists on the aeeessit y &? .x 
 regular external calL or commi'ssiGU : For the bisLoi) 
 demands of the candidate, "Do you trust that yon 
 arc truly oailed, ac(K>rding to the Vvill of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and according to the canons- of tliis 
 church, to the ministry of the same." And th^ pre • 
 face to the ordination oSiees declares, ''Xo hhiu shall 
 be accounted or taken to be a lawful bbhop, priest, 
 or deacon in this church, or suffered to execute any 
 of the said functions, except he be called, tried, ex- 
 amined and admitted thereunto, aceordiny- to Ok- 
 
an 
 
 Now I am far from intimating that this 
 call, wiiich every candidate for Orders pro- 
 fesses to liave received^ resembles that 
 ivhich was given to the Apostles : it is cer- 
 tainly not to be understood as though it 
 were a voice or suggestion coming directly 
 from the Holy Ghost : for though God may 
 reveal his will in this manner, just as he 
 did in the days of old^ yet we have no rea- 
 son to think that he does. The motion here 
 .spoken of is less perceptible : it does not 
 oarry its ovv^n evidence along with it ; (as 
 did that which in an instant prevailed on 
 the Apostles to forsake their worldly busi- 
 ness, imd to follow Christ :) but it disposes 
 Ihe mind m a gradual and silent way to en- 
 ter into the service of God : partly from a 
 !?ensc of obligation to him for his redeeming 
 love, partly from a compassion for the ig- 
 norant and perishing multitudes around us, 
 and partly from a desire to be an honoured 
 instrument in the Redeemer's hands to estab- 
 lish and enlarge his kingdom in the world. 
 
 form hereafter followiug, or hath had episcopal con- 
 secratioa or ordination." ^m, Ed, 
 
as 
 
 jLess tbaii this cannot reasonably be sup^ 
 posed to be comprehcndeJ in that question : 
 and the way to answer it with ^ good con- 
 science is, to examine ourselves whether 
 we have an eye to our own ease, honour, or 
 preferment ; or whether we have really a lovf3 
 to the souls of men, and a desire to prQmote 
 the honour of our God ? The question, ia 
 this view of it gives no scope for enthusiasm,- 
 nor does it leave any room for doubt upon: 
 the mind of him that is to answer it : every 
 man may tell, whether he feels sa deeply 
 the value of his own soul, as to be amiious 
 also for the souls of others; and whetlier,^ 
 independent of worldly considerations, he 
 has such love to the Lord Jesus Christy a& 
 to desire above all things to advance his 
 glory. These feelings are not liable ta be 
 mistaken^ because they are always accom- 
 panied with corresponding actions, and al- 
 ways productive of appropriate fruits^ , 
 
 JS'ow in all cases where this pi^fessioiaj 
 has been made, it may be said, '' The j 
 have well said all that they have spak^iii^^ 
 
4'14- 
 
 For this profession is a public ackiiow- 
 leclgment that such a call is necessary : and 
 it serves as a barrier to exclude from the 
 j^acred oiSce many, who would otherwise 
 have untlertaken it from worldly motives. 
 And though it is true^ that too many break 
 through this baVrier, yet it stands as a wit:- 
 ness against them^ and in very many instan- 
 ces an effectaal witness ; testifying to their 
 consciences, that they have come to God 
 with a lie in their right hand, and making 
 them to tremble^ lest they should be con- 
 demned at the tribunal of their God, for 
 having, like Ananias and Sappliira, lied 
 unto' the Holy Ghost. Yes, very many, 
 who have lightly uttered these words whan 
 they first entered into the ministry, have 
 been led by them afterwards to examiae 
 their motives more attentively, and to hum- 
 ble themselves for the iniquity they have 
 committed, and to surrender up themselves 
 with redoubled energy to the service of 
 their God. Though therefore we regret 
 that any should make this profession on in- 
 sufficient grounds^ we rejoice tliat it is re- 
 
115 
 
 quired of all : and we pray God, that all 
 who have made it, may re-consider it with 
 ^e attention it deserves ; and that all who 
 propose to make it, may pause, till they 
 have maturely weighed the import of their 
 assertion, and can call God himself to attest 
 the truth of it. 
 
 Let, us next turn our attention to the^ro- 
 mis&s by which Ava bind ourselves on that 
 occasion. 
 
 In the service for the Ordination of Priests, 
 '«;here is an exhortation from the bishop, 
 which every minister would do well to read 
 at least once every year. To give a just 
 view of this part of our Liturgy, we must 
 briefly open to you the contents of that ex- 
 liortation ; the different parts of which are 
 afterwards brought before us in. the shape of 
 fjuestions, to every one of whicli a distinct 
 and solemn answer is demanded, as in the 
 presence of the heart-searcliing. God. The 
 exhortation consists of two parts ; in the first 
 of >yhich ive are enjoined to consider the im- 
 
116 
 
 fortance of that high office to ivhich we are 
 called ; and in the second, ive are urged to 
 exert ourselves to the uttermost in the dis- 
 charge of it. 
 
 In reference to the former of these it 
 speaks thus : *^ Now we exhort you in the 
 name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you 
 have in remembrance, into how high a dig- 
 nity, and to how weighty an office and 
 charge ye are called : that is to say, to he 
 Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of 
 the Lord ; to teach and to pre-monish, to feed 
 and provide for the Lord^s family ; to seek 
 for Christ's sheep that arc dispersed abroad, 
 and for his children who are in the midst of 
 this naughty world, that they may be saved 
 through Christ for ever.'^ 
 
 Where in such few words cr^n we find 
 BO striking a representation of the dignity 
 of oiir office, as in this address ? We are 
 ^ Messengers?^ from the Most Higli God to 
 instruct men in the knowledge of his will,, 
 and to communicate to them the glad tidings 
 
117 
 
 of salvation tkrougli the mediation of his 
 Son : We are " Watchmen/' to warn 
 them of their danger, whilst they continue 
 without an interest in Christ: And we are 
 " Stewards/' to superintend his household, 
 and to deal out to every 6ne of his servants 
 from day to day whatsoever their respective 
 necessities require. Now if v/e occupied 
 such an office in the house of an earthly 
 monarch only, our dignity w ere great ; but 
 to be thus engaged in the service of the 
 King of kings, is an honour far greater than 
 the temj)oral government of the whole uni- 
 verse. Should we not then bear in mind 
 wiiat an oiTice is devolved upon us ? 
 
 From speaking thus respecting the dig- 
 niiy of the ministry ; it proceeds to speak of 
 the importance of the trust committed to us : 
 '■' Have always therefore printed in your re- 
 membrance how great a treasure is commit- 
 ted to your charge. For they are the sheep 
 of Christ which he bought with his death, 
 and for whom he shed his blood. The con- 
 gregation wliom you must serve^ is his 
 
lis 
 
 spouse, aad his boily.^^ What a tender and 
 affecting representation is here ! The souls 
 committed to our care are represented as 
 ^Hhe sheep of Ciirist, which he bought with 
 his death, and for which he shed his blood." 
 What bounds would there be to our exer- 
 tions, if we considered as we ought, that we 
 are engaged in that very work, for which 
 our Lord Jesus Christ eame down from the 
 bosom of Ms Father, and shed his blood 
 upon the cross ; and that to us he looks for 
 the completion of his efforts in the salvation 
 of a ruined world ? Further still, they are 
 represented as " the spouse and body of 
 Christ,'^ whose welfare ought to be Iniinite- 
 ly dearer to us than life itself. We know 
 what concern men would feel, if the life of 
 their own spouse, or of their own body, were 
 in danger, though they could only hope to 
 protract for a few years a frail and perish- 
 able existence : what then ought we not to 
 feel for '' tlie spouse and body of Christ,'^ 
 whose everlasting welfare is dependent on 
 0ur exertions ! 
 
119 
 
 After thus impressing on our minds the 
 importance of our office, the exhortation 
 proceeds in the next place to urge us to a 
 diligent performance of it. It reminds us, 
 that we are answerable to God for every 
 soul committed to our charge : that there 
 must be no limit to our exertions, except 
 what the capacity of our minds and the 
 strength of our bodies have assigned. It 
 calls upon us to use all the means in our 
 power to qualify ourselves for the discharge 
 of it, by withdrawing ourselves from worldly 
 cares, worldly pleasures, worldly studies, 
 worldly habits, and pursuits of every kind, 
 in order to fix the whole bent of our minds 
 on the study of the Holy Scriptures, and of 
 those things which will assist us in the un- 
 derstanding of them. It directs us to be 
 instant in prayer to God for the assistance 
 of his Holy Spirit, by whose gracious in- 
 fluences alone we shall be enabled to fulfil 
 our duties aright. And, finally, it enjoins 
 us so to regulate our own lives, and so to 
 govern our respective families, that we may 
 be patterns to all around us ; and that we 
 
ISO 
 
 may be able to address our congregations 
 in the language of St. Paul, ** Whatsoever 
 ye have heard and seen in me, do : and the 
 God of peace shall be with you.'^ But it will 
 be satisfactory to you to hear the very 
 words of the exhortation itself: ^^ If it 
 shall happen the same church, or any mem- 
 ber thereof, to take any hurt or hindrance 
 by reason of your negligence, ye know the 
 greatness of the fault, and also the horrible 
 punishment that will ensue. Wherefore 
 consider >vith yourselves the end of your 
 ministry tow ards the children of God, to- 
 wards the spouse and body of Christ ; and 
 see that you never cease your labour^ your 
 care and diligence^ until you have done all 
 that lieih in you, according to your.bounden 
 duty; to bring all such as are or shall be 
 committed to your charge unto that agree- 
 ment in the faith and knowledge of God, 
 and to that ripeness and perfectness of age 
 in Christ, that there be no place left among 
 you, either for error in religion, or for 
 viciousness of life.*' 
 
^' Forasmuch tlien as your office is both of 
 so great excellency, and of so great diffi- 
 culty, ye see with how great care and study 
 ye ought to apply yourselves, as well that 
 ye may shew yourselves dutiful and thank- 
 ful unto that Lord who hath placed you in 
 so high a dignity ; as also to beware that nei» 
 ther you yourselves offend, nor be occasion 
 that others offend. Howbeit ye cannot have 
 a mind and will thereto of yourselves ; for 
 that will and ability is given of God alone : 
 therefore ye ought, and have need to pray 
 earnestly for his Holy Spirit. And seeing 
 that you cannot by any other means com- 
 pass the doing of so weighty a w ork, per- 
 taining to the salvation of man, but with 
 doctrine and exhortation taken out of the 
 Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable 
 to the same ; consider how studious ye 
 ought to be in reading and learning the 
 Scriptures, and in framing the manners both 
 of yourselves and of them tliat specially 
 pertain unto you, according to the rule of 
 the same scriptures : and for this self-same 
 cause, how ye ought to forsake and set 
 
122 
 
 aside (as much as you may) all worldly 
 cares and studies/' 
 
 Here let us pause a moment, to reflect, 
 what stress our Reformers laid on the Holy 
 Scriptures, as the only sure directory for 
 our faith and practice, and the only certain 
 rule of all our ministrations. They have 
 clearly given it as their sentiment, that to 
 study the word of God ourselves, and to 
 open it to others, is the proper labour of a 
 minister ; a labour, that calls for all his 
 time, and all his attention : and, by this 
 zeal of their's in behalf of the Inspired Vo- 
 lume, they were happily successful in bring- 
 ing it into general use. But, if they could 
 look down upon us at this time, and see 
 what an unprecedented zeal has pervaded 
 all ranks and orders of men amongst us, for 
 the dissemination of that truth, which they, 
 at the expence of their own lives, trans* 
 mitted to us ; how would they rejoice and 
 leap for joy ! Yet, methinks, if they cast 
 an eye upon this favoured spot, and saw, 
 that, whilst the Lord Jesus Christ is thus 
 
123 
 
 exalted in almost every other place, we are 
 lukewarm in his cause ; and whilst thou- 
 sands all around us are emulating each 
 other in exertions to extend his kingdom 
 through the world, we, who are so libe- 
 ral on other occasions, h^-ve not yet appear- 
 ed in his favour ; they would be ready to 
 rebuke our tardiness, as David did the in- 
 difference of Judah, from whom he had rea- 
 son to expect the most active support; 
 ^* Why are ye the last to bring the king 
 back to his house, seeing the speech of all 
 Israel is come to the king, even to his 
 house ?"* But I am persuaded, that there 
 is nothing wanting but that a suitable pro- 
 posal be made by some person of influence 
 amongst us ; and we shall soon approve our- 
 selves worthy sons of those pious ances- 
 tors: I would hope there is not an individ- 
 ual amongst us, who would not gladly lend 
 his aid, that " the word of the Lord may 
 run and be glorified,'^ not in this kingdom 
 only, but, if possible, throughout all the 
 earth. 
 
 ♦ 2 Sam. xix. 11. 
 
124! 
 
 But to return to the bishop's exhortation. 
 ^^ We have good hope that you have well 
 weighed and pondered these things with 
 yourselves long before this time ; and that 
 you have clearly determined^ by God's 
 grace^ to give yourselves wholly to this of- 
 Jice, whereunto it hath pleased God to call 
 you ; so that, as much as lieth iu you, you 
 will apply yourselves wholly to this one 
 thing, and draw all your cares and studies 
 this way; and that you will continually 
 pray to God the Father, by the mediation 
 of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the 
 heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost; 
 that by daily reading and weighing of the 
 Scriptures, ye may wax riper and stronger in 
 your ministry, and that ye may so endeavour 
 yourselves from time to time to sanctify the 
 lives of you and yours, and to fashion them 
 after the rule and doctrine of Christ, that 
 ye may be wholesome and godly examples 
 and patterns for the people to follow.'^ 
 
 After this, the bishop calling upon the 
 candidates in the name of God a,nd of his 
 
1S5 
 
 church, to give a plain and solemn answer 
 to the questions which he shall propose to 
 them, puts the substance of the exhortation 
 into several distinct questions ; two of which 
 only, for brevity sake, we will repeat: 
 " Will you be diligent in prayers, and in 
 reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such 
 studies as help to the knowledge of the same, 
 laying aside the study of the world and the 
 flesh?'' To which we answer, "I will 
 endeavour myself so to do, the Lord being 
 my helper ;" Then he asks again ; " Will you 
 be diligent to frame and fashion your own 
 selves and your families, according to the 
 doctrine of Christ, and to make both your- 
 selves and them, as much as in you lieth^ 
 wholesome examples and patterns to the 
 flock of Christ?" To which we answer, " I 
 will apply myself thereto, the Lord being 
 my helper/' 
 
 These are the promises which we make 
 before God in the most solemn manner at 
 the time of our Ordination. Now I would 
 ask, Can any human being entertain a 
 
1S6 
 
 doubt, whether in making these promises, 
 we have not " well said all that we have 
 spoken ?'' Can any of us say, that too much 
 has been required of us? Do we not see 
 and feel, that, as the honour of the office 
 is great, so is the difficulty of performing it 
 aright, and the danger of performing it in a 
 negligent and heartless manner ? If a man 
 undertake any office that requires indefa- 
 tigable exertion, and that involves the tem- 
 poral interests of men to a great extent, we 
 expect of that man the utmost uiligence and 
 care. If then such be expected of the ser- 
 vants of men^ where temporal interests only 
 are affected, what must be expected of the 
 servants of God, where the eternal interests 
 ©f men, and the everlasting honour of God, 
 are so deeply concerned ? I say again, We 
 cannot but approve the promises we have 
 made ; and methinks, God himself, when 
 he heard our vows, expressed his approba- 
 tion of them, saying, '' They have well said 
 all that they have spoken.'' 
 
 We come, lastly, to mention our prayers. 
 which were offered to God on that occasion. 
 
And here we have one of the most pious, 
 and affecting institutions that ever was es- 
 tablished upon earth. The bishop, who 
 during the preceding exhortation and ques- 
 tions has been seated in his chair, now rises 
 up, and in a standing posture makes his ear- 
 nest supplication to God in behalf of all the 
 candidates, in these words ; " Almighty 
 God, who hath given you this will to do all 
 these things, grant also unto you strength 
 and power to perform the same ; that he 
 may accomplish his work which he had 
 begun in you, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen.'^ After this a request is 
 made to the whole congregation then pre. 
 sent, to offer up their prayers in secret to 
 God, and to make their supplications to God 
 for all these things. And, that they may 
 have time to do so, it is appointed, that si- 
 lence shall be kept for a space ; the pub- 
 lic services being for a while suspended, 
 in order to give the congregation an oppor- 
 tunity of pouring out their souls before God 
 in behalf of the persons who are to be or- 
 dained. 
 
128 
 
 What an idea does this give us of the 
 sanctity of our office^ and of the need we 
 have of Divine assistance for the perform- 
 ance of it ! And how beautifully does it 
 intimate to the people the interest they have 
 in an efficient ministry ! Surely, if they 
 felt as they ought their need of spiritual in- 
 struction, they would never discontinue 
 their prayers for those who are placed over 
 them in the Lord, but would plead in their 
 behalf night and day. 
 
 After a sufficient time has been allowed 
 for these private devotions, a hymn to the 
 Holy Ghost is introduced ; {the candidates 
 all continuing in a kneeling posture ;) a 
 hymn, which in beauty of composition and 
 spirituality of import cannot easily be sur- 
 passed. Time will not allow me to make 
 any observations upon it ; but it would be a 
 great injustice to our Liturgy, if 1 should 
 omit to recite it ; and it will be a profitable 
 employment, if, whilst we recite it, we all 
 adopt it as expressing our own desires; and 
 
ISO 
 
 add our Amen to every petition contained 
 in it. 
 
 *' Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, 
 And lighten with celestial fire. 
 Thou the anointing Spirit art, 
 Who dost thy seven -fold gifts impart. 
 Thy blessed unction from above, 
 Is comfort, life, and fire of love. 
 Enable with perpetual light 
 The dulness of our blinded sight. 
 Anoint and cheer our soiled face 
 With the abundance of thy grace. 
 Keep far our foes ; give peace at home ; 
 Where thou art Guide, no ill can come. 
 Teach us to know the Father, Son, 
 And thee, of both, to be but one : 
 That through the s^es all along, 
 This may be our endl^s^s song ; 
 Praise to thy eternal merit. 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.'^ 
 
 In this devout hymn the agency of the 
 Holy Spirit, as the one source of light, and 
 
430 
 
 peace, and holiness^, is fully acknowledged, 
 and earnestly sought as the necessary means 
 of forming pastors after God's heart ; and 
 it is well entitled to the encomium which 
 has been already so often mentioned, ^' They 
 have well said all that they have spoken*'^ 
 
 Passing over the remaining prayers, we 
 conclude this part of our subject with ob- 
 serving, that no sooner is the imposition of 
 bands finished, and the commission given to 
 the candidates to preach the gospel, than 
 the newly ordained ministers consecrate 
 themselves to God at his table ; and seal, as 
 it were, their vows, by partaking of the bo- 
 dy and blood of Christ ; into whose service 
 they have been just admitted, and whom 
 they have sworn to serve with their whole 
 hearts. 
 
 Thus far then ^^ all is well said ;" and if 
 our hearts be in unison with our words, ver- 
 ily we shall have reason to bless God to all 
 eternity. (' that there were in us such an 
 heart !^^ 
 
181 
 
 Glad should I be, if your time would ad^ 
 mit of it, to set forth at considerable length 
 the benefits that would accrue from a con- 
 formity of heart in us to all that has been 
 before stated : but the indulgence with 
 which I have hitherto been favoured must 
 not be abused. I shall therefore close the 
 subject with only two reflections, illustra- 
 tive of the wish contained in the text. 
 
 First, if such an heart were in us, how 
 hajJj^y sJiould we he in our own souls / Men 
 may be so thoughtless, as to cast off all con- 
 cern about futurity, and to say, ^^ I shall 
 have peace, though I walk in the imagina- 
 tion of my heart.'' But, if once we begin 
 to indulge any serious reflections, we cannot 
 avoid thinking of pur responsibility on ac- 
 count of the souls committed to our charge. 
 Then, if we bring to mind that solemn de- 
 claration of God, that ^' the souls of our 
 people shall be required at our hands,'' we 
 must of necessity tremble for our state. 
 The concerns of our own souls are of more 
 weight than all other things in the world ; 
 
and the thought of perishing under the 
 weight of our own personal transgressions 
 is inexpressibly awful : but the thought of 
 perishing under the guilt of destroying huU'- 
 dreds and thousands of immortal souls, is so 
 shocking, that it cannot be endured : if once 
 admitted into the mind, it will fill us with 
 consternation and terror ; and the excuses 
 which now appear so satisfactory to us, will 
 vanish like smoke. We shall not then 
 think it sufficient to have fulfilled our duties 
 by proxy ; since others can but perform 
 their own duties ; nor can any diligence of 
 their's ever justify our neglect : having 
 sworn for ourselves, we must execute for 
 ourselves ; nor ever be satisfied with com- 
 mitting that trust to others, which at the bar 
 of judgment we must give account of for 
 ourselves. Nor shall we then think it suf- 
 ficient to plead, that we have other engage- 
 ments, which interfere with the discharge of 
 our ministerial duties ; unless we can be as- 
 sured, that God will wave his claims upon 
 us, and acknowledge the labours which we 
 have undertaken for our own temporal ad~ 
 
ia3 
 
 vantage, more important than those, ^yhieh 
 respect his honour, and man's salvation. 
 On the other hand, if we have the testimony 
 of our own consciences, that we have en- 
 deavoured faithfully to perform our Ordina-^ 
 tion vows, and to execute, though with 
 much imperfection, the work assigned us, 
 we shall lift up our heads with joy. Mat- 
 ter for deep humiliation indeed even the 
 most lahorious ministers will find : hut at 
 the same time they will have an inward con- 
 liciousness, that they have exerted them- 
 selves sincerely for God, though not so ear- 
 nestly as they might : and, in the hope that 
 the Saviour, whose love they have proclaim- 
 ed to others, will have mercy upon tliem, 
 they cast themselves on him for the aceep. 
 tance of their services, and expect through 
 him the salvation of their souls. Moreover, 
 if we have been diligent in the discharge of 
 our high office, we shall have a good hope 
 that we have been instrumental to the sal- 
 vation of others, whom we shall have as our 
 joy and crown of rejoicing in the last day. 
 With these prospects before us, we shall 
 
 M 
 
134 
 
 labour patieuily, waiting, like the husband- 
 man, for a distant harvest. Trials we shall 
 have of many kinds ; and many arising sole- 
 ly from our fidelity to God : but we shall 
 bear up under them, going '' through evil 
 report and good report/^ till we have fought 
 our fight, and finished our course : and then 
 at last we shall be welcomed as faithful ser- 
 vants into the joyous presence of our Lord. 
 Who would not wish for such happiness as 
 this ? Only then let our hearts experience 
 what our lips have uttered, and tliat happi- 
 ness is ours : only let our professions be 
 verified, our promises fulfilled, and our 
 prayers realized, and all will be well : God 
 will see in us the heart which he approves, 
 and will honour us with testimonies of his 
 approbation to all eternity. 
 
 My second observation is, If there were 
 in us such an heart. What blessings ivould 
 result to all around us / The careless min- 
 ister may spend many years in a populous 
 parish, and yet never see one sinner con- 
 verted from the error of his ways, or turn- 
 
135 
 
 ed unto God in newness of life. But the 
 faithful servant of Jehovah will have some 
 fruit of his ministry. God will answer to 
 him that prayer at the close of the Ordina- 
 tion Service, ^^ Grant that thy word spoken 
 by their mouths, may have such success, 
 that it may never be spoken in vaiu.'^ God 
 indeed does not make all equally useful ; 
 but he will leave none without witness, that 
 the word which they preach is his Word, 
 and that it is ^^ the power of God unto the 
 salvation of men." Behold, wherever such a 
 minister is fixed, what a change takes place 
 in reference to religion ! The obstinately 
 wicked, who either hear him with prejudice, 
 or turn their backs on his ministry, may pos- 
 sible be only more hardened by the means 
 he uses for their conversion : and circum- 
 stances may arise, where those who would 
 once have plucked out their own eyes for 
 him, may become for awhile his enemies; but 
 still there are many that will arise and call 
 him blessed : many will acknowledge him 
 as their spiritual father ; many will bless 
 Ood for him, and shew in their respective 
 
186 
 
 circles the happy effects of his ministry. 
 They will love his person ; they will enjoy 
 his preaching : they will tread in his steps ; 
 and they will shine as lights in a dark 
 world. What then might not be hoped for, 
 if all who have undertaken the sacred of- 
 fice of the ministry, fulfilled their engage- 
 ments in the way we have before describ- 
 ed ? What if all prayed the prayers instead 
 of reading them 5 and laboured out of the 
 jpulpit as well as in it ; striving to bring all 
 their people, ^^ not only to the knowledge 
 and love of Christ, hut to such ripeness and 
 perfectness of age in Christ, as to leave no 
 room among them either for error in religion, 
 or for viciousness of life ?" If there were 
 such exertions made in every parish, we 
 should hear no more complaints about 
 the increase of Dissenters. The people's 
 prejudices in general are in favour of the 
 Establishment : and the more any persons 
 have considered the excellence of the Li- 
 turgy, the more are they attached to the Es- 
 tablished Church. Some indeed would 
 entertain prejudices against it, even if all 
 
lay 
 
 the twelve Apostles were members of it, 
 and ministered in it ; but, in general, it is a 
 want of zeal in its ministers, and not any 
 want of purity in its institutions, that gives 
 such an advantage to Dissenters. Let me 
 not be misunderstood, ^-s though by these 
 observations I meant to suggest any thing 
 disrespectful of the Dissenters ; (for I hon- 
 our all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity, of whatever church they be ; and 
 I wish them from my heart every blessing 
 that their souls can desire:) but, whilst I 
 see such abundant means of edification in 
 the Church of England, I cannot but regret^ 
 that any occasion should be given to men to 
 seek for that in other places, which is so 
 richly provided for them in their owu 
 church. Only let us be faithful to our en= 
 gagements, and our churches will be crow- 
 ded, our Sacraments thronged, our hearers 
 edified : good institutions will be set on 
 foot; liberality wUl be exercised, the poor 
 benefited, the ignorant enlightened, the dis« 
 tressed comforted ; yea, and our " wilderness 
 world will rejoice and blossom as the rose*" 
 
188 
 
 that we might see this happy day ; which, 
 
 1 would fondly hope, has begun to dawn ! 
 O that God would arise and " take to him 
 his great power, and reign amongst ns V^ 
 O that he might no louger have to express a 
 wish, " that there were in us such an 
 heart;'' but rather have to rejoice over us 
 as possessed of such an heart ; and that he 
 would magnify himself in us as instruments 
 of good to a ruined world ! The Apostle to 
 the Hebrews represents all the saints of 
 former ages as witnesses of the conduct of 
 those who were then alive ; and he urges it 
 as an argument with them to exert them- 
 selves to the uttermost : ^^ Having then, 
 says he, so great a cloud of witnesses, let 
 us lay aside every weight, and the sin 
 that doth so easily beset us, and let us 
 run y/ith patience the race that is set be- 
 fore us." Thus let us consider the Re^ 
 formers of our Church as now looking 
 down upon us, and filled with anxiety far 
 the success of their labours : let us hear 
 them saying, ^^ We did all that human fore- 
 sight could do : We shewed to ministers 
 
139 
 
 what they ought to be : we bound them by 
 the most solemn ties to walk in the steps of 
 Christ and his Apostles: if any shall be 
 luke-warm in their office, we shall have to 
 appear in judgment against them, and shall 
 be the means of aggravating their eternal 
 condemnation." Let us, I say, consider 
 them as spectators of our conduct ; and en- 
 deavour to emulate their pious examples. 
 Let us consider likewise, that the Liturgy 
 itself will appear against us in judgment, if 
 we labour not to the utmost of our power 
 to fulfil the engagements which we have 
 voluntarily entered into : Yea, God him- 
 self will say to us, "Out of thine own 
 mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked ser- 
 vant." May Grod enable us all to lay these 
 things to heart ; that, whether we have 
 already contracted, or are intending at a 
 future period to contract, this fearful respon- 
 sibility, we may duly consider what ac- 
 count we shall have to give of it in the day 
 of judgment. 
 
THE 
 
 CHURCHMAN'S CONFESSION, 
 
 on, 
 TO 
 
 THE LITURGY. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFOllE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A. 
 
 FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE. 
 
 FOURTH EBITIOM 
 
 NE^V^-YORK : 
 
 JUBIISHED BT EASTBURIf, KIRK, & CO. 
 NO. 86, BROADWAT, 
 
 1813. 
 
SERMON, 
 
 We write none other things unto you than 
 what you read or acJcnowledge,.,,2 Cor. 
 i. 13. 
 
 AS the testimony of one's own conscience 
 is the strongest support under false accusa- 
 tions^ so an appeal to the consciences of 
 others is the most effectual means of refuting 
 the charges that are brought against us. To 
 this species of argument God himself con- 
 descended to have recourse, in order to con- 
 vince his people, that the evils which they 
 imputed to him, originated wholly in their 
 own folly and wickedness : " O inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I 
 pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 
 Wliat could have been done more to my 
 vineyard, that I have not done in it ? and 
 
114 
 
 wherefore, when I looked that it should 
 bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild 
 
 grapes ?''* " Have I been a Avil- 
 
 derness unto Israel ? a land of darkness ? 
 wherefore say my people, We are Lords, 
 we will come no more unto thee V^\ " Ye 
 say, The way of the Lord is not equal. 
 Hear now, O house of Israel, Is not my way 
 equal ? are not your ways unequal ?''f The 
 iQspired writers also not unfrequently vin- 
 dicate themselves in a similar manner. St. 
 Paul, for instance, had been represented by 
 some at Corinth as fickle and inconstant, be- 
 cause he had not come to them at the time 
 they had expected him. To clear himself 
 from this imputation, he informs them, that 
 he had met witli insuperable obstacles in 
 Asia, which had prevented him from prose- 
 cuting his intended journey ; and that in the 
 whole of his conduct towards them he had 
 been actuated, not by temporizing motives 
 and carnal policy, but by the most strict un- 
 blemished integrity. He declares, that he 
 had "^ the testimony of his ov/n conscience'^ 
 
 * Isaiah v. 3, 4. f Jer. ii, 5. 31. \ Ezek. xviii. 25. 
 
145 
 
 respecting this ;^ and that he had a further 
 testimony in their consciences also^ respect- 
 ing the truth of what he said ; that, in as- 
 serting these things, <• he wrote no other 
 things than what they read in his former 
 epistle, and were constrained to acknow- 
 ledge ; and he trusted they should acknow- 
 ledge even to the end."' 
 
 The faithful Minister of Christ derives 
 great advantage from heing able to appeal 
 to records, the autiiority of whichis acknow- 
 ledged by his hearers. By referring them 
 to the holy Scriptures in proof of all that he 
 advances, he establishes his word upon tlie 
 most unquestionable authority, and fixes 
 conviction upon their minds. The minis- 
 ters of the Church of England have a yet 
 further advantage, because, in addition to 
 the Scriptures, they have other authorities 
 to which they may refer in confirmation of 
 the truths they utter* It is true, we are not 
 to put any human compositions on a level 
 with the inspired volume : the Scriptures 
 
 * 2 Cor. i. 13. 
 
 N 
 
146 
 
 alone are the proper standard of truth ; but 
 the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the 
 Church of England are an authorized ex- 
 position of the sense in which all her mem- 
 bers profess to understand the Scriptures, 
 To these therefore we appeal as well as to 
 the sacred Records. But because it would 
 occupy more time than can reasonably be al- 
 lowed, for one discourse to appeal to all at 
 once, we shall content ourselves with calling 
 your attention to the Liturgy, and especially 
 to that part of it which we call the general 
 Confession. We will briefly state what 
 doctrines we insist upon as necessary to be 
 received ; and under each we will compare 
 our statements with w hat we " read" in the 
 Scriptures, and " acknowledge'' in our 
 prayers : And we trust that, after having 
 done this, we shall be able to adopt the lan- 
 guage of the text, and say, " We write none 
 other things unto you than what ye read, 
 and acknowledge." 
 
 There are three things which, as it is our 
 duty, so also it is our continual labour, to 
 
147 
 
 make known ; namely, Our lost estate-^ 
 The means of our recovery — and The path 
 of duty. 
 
 Permit me then to state what we declare 
 respecting the first of these points, Our lost 
 estate. 
 
 We declare, that every man is a sinner 
 before God : that both the actions and the 
 hearts of men are depraved : that whatever 
 difference there may be between one and 
 another with respect to open sin, there is no 
 difference with respect to onr alienation from 
 God, or our radical aversion to his holy will. 
 We affirm, that on account of our defection 
 from God, we deserve his heavy displea- 
 sure : that the most moral and sober, as well 
 as the base and profligate, are under con- 
 demnation on account of sin : and that all 
 of us without exception must perish, if we 
 do not turn to God in the wa,y that he has 
 prescribed. 
 
 We think, yea we are sure, that we have 
 abundant proof of these things in the holy 
 
148 
 
 Scriptures. The universalitt/ of our de^ 
 parture from God^ and of our danger in con- 
 sequence of it^ is declared in the strongest 
 terms by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans. " There is none righteous,'^ says 
 he, *'^ no, not one : there is none that under- 
 standeth ; there is none that seeketh after 
 God : they are all gone out of the way, they 
 are together become unprofitable ; there is 
 none that doeth good, no not one.'^ To this 
 he adds, '^ that every mouth must be stop- 
 ped, and all the world become guilty before 
 God.''* We could wish you particularly 
 to notice what an accumulation of words 
 there is in this short passage to prove the 
 universality of our guilt and misery. Of 
 righteous persons, there is " none,'' '' none,'^ 
 ^^ none," " no not one," '' no not one :" 
 •^ all" are guilty, all " together," even 
 •'* every" person, and '^ all the world." Will 
 any one, after reading this passage, presume 
 to think himself an exception ? 
 
 Xor is the depth of our depmvity less 
 clear than its universality. " The heart," 
 * R&m: iii. 10—19. 
 
149 
 
 says Jeremiah, ^' is deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked ; Who can 
 know it ?"* This is spoken, not of some 
 particular person or age or country, but of 
 mankind at large, even of our whole race. 
 Solomon affirms the same, when he says, 
 '' The heart of the Sons of men is full of 
 evil ; madness is in their hearts while they 
 live, and after that they go to the dead.^'f 
 And to the same effect is that declaration of 
 St. Paul, that " the carnal mind is enmity 
 against God, for it is not subject to the law 
 of Grod neither indeed can be. ''J To these 
 general affirmations of Scripture, we may 
 add the confessions of the most eminent 
 Saints. Job, who was the most perfect man 
 on earth in his day, no sooner attained the 
 knowledge of his real character than he ex- 
 claimed, '' Behold, I am vile.''|| St. Paul 
 also, speaking of himself and of all the other 
 Apostles, says, '^ We all had our conver- 
 sation in times past in the lusts of our fleshy* 
 
 *-Jer. xyii. 9. f Ecel. ix. S. | Rom. viii. 7. . 
 !|Jobxl.4. 
 
150 
 
 fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the 
 mind ; and were by nature the children of 
 wrath^ eveu as others/'* 
 
 In labouring to establish these awful 
 truths we are often considered as libelling 
 human nature, and as representing men in 
 such an humiliating and distressed state as 
 to fill them with melancholy, or drive them 
 to despair. Let us then, in vindication both 
 of ourselves and of our doctrines, compare^ 
 these assertions with our public acknow- 
 ledgments. We begin our confession with 
 saying, " We have erred and strayed from 
 tJiy ways like lost sheepJ^ This is a pecu- 
 liar expression that must not be overlooked. 
 We apprehend it does not mean merely that 
 we have departed from God, but also that 
 we have never sought to return to him : for 
 other animals will find their way back when 
 they have wandered from their home ; but 
 it is rarely, if ever, known that the sheep 
 traces back its footsteps to the fold from 
 
 * Eph. ii. 3. and Tit. iii. 3. 
 
151 
 
 whence it has strayed : if it return at all, it 
 is not by any foresight of its own. How just 
 a picture does this exhibit of our fallen race I 
 That we have departed from God is too 
 plain to be denied : but in how few do we 
 behold any solicitude to return to him ! How 
 few are there who search the Scriptures 
 daily, in order to find their way back ! How 
 few who implore help and direction from 
 their God with an earnestness at all propor- 
 tioned to the urgency of their case I 
 
 Is it inquired, wherein we have so great- 
 ly erred ? Our own acknowledgments con- 
 tain the most satisfactory reply : " We have 
 folloived too much the devices and desires of 
 our own hearts J^ How true is this \ Look 
 at all mankind ^ see them from infancy to 
 youth, and from youth to old age ; What 
 are they all following? are they obeying 
 unreservedly the commands of God ? are 
 they, in compliance with his will, mortify- 
 ing every evil propensity, and doing the 
 things which are pleasing in his sight? 
 Alas ! nothing is further from their minds 
 
156 
 
 than this. Their pursuits indeed vary ac- 
 cording to their age, their circumstances, 
 their habits ; but whatever they be, they 
 are no other than the devices and desires of 
 their own hearts : if in any thing they ap- 
 pear to do the will of Grod, they do not act 
 from a principle of love to him, but from a 
 desire to conform to the customs of their 
 country, and to lay a foundation for self ap- 
 plause. The whole tenor of our lives 
 is but too justly marked in those follow- 
 ing acknowledgments, " We have offended 
 against thy holy laws ; we have left undone 
 those things which we ought to have done :- 
 and have done those things which tve ought 
 not to have done.^^ Permit me to ask, 
 Which of the laws of God have we not vio- 
 lated times without number ? Shall we say. 
 We have not committed murder or adulte- 
 ry ? How vain the boast, if we interpret the 
 commandments in their fall latitude, and 
 call to mind the declarations of our Lord^ 
 that an angry word is murder, and a wanton 
 look adultery !^ To go into all our sins of 
 * Matt, V, 27, 28, 
 
15a 
 
 omission, and commission^ were an endless 
 task. Suffice it to say, that in ten thou- 
 sand instances " we have sinned, in thought, 
 word^ and deed, against the Divine Majes- 
 ty ;'' and have habitually neglected the in- 
 terests of our souls. 
 
 Perhaps it may be said, '' Our actions in- 
 deed have been evil, but our hearts are 
 good.'^ But how does this accord with that 
 which in our Coufession forms the summit 
 of the climax, '' There is no health in us P^ 
 Here our Church has taught us to trace all 
 the evils of our life to the fountain-head, a 
 corrupt and wicked heart. In this expres- 
 sion she evidently refers, either to that con- 
 fession of the Apostle, " In me, that is, in 
 my flesh, dwelleth no good thing ;"* or 
 rather to that most humiliating declaration 
 of the Prophet, '' From the sole of the foot 
 even to the head, there is no soundness in 
 us, but wounds and bruises and putrifying 
 sores. "t The import of the words is plain ; 
 we confess before our God, that we are al- 
 tagether depraved ; that we are disordered 
 * Rom. vii, 18. t Isaiah i. 5, 6, 
 
154 
 
 in every member of our body, and in every 
 faculty of our soul ; that our understanding 
 is darkened, our will perverse, our affections 
 sensual, our memory treacherous, our con- 
 science seared, and all our " members, in- 
 struments of unrighteousness and sin.'^ 
 
 Thus far then we are fully vindicated, 
 vindicated too, we trust, in your consciences, 
 in all that we have affirmed respecting the 
 lost estate of man. We do indeed repre- 
 sent the whole human race, as in a most de- 
 plorable condition : but no Member of our 
 Establishment can controvert our positions 
 without denying the plainest asseverations 
 of Holy Writ, and contradicting his own 
 most solemn acknowledgments. 
 
 Let us now turn our attention to the se- 
 cond point which we proposed to notice, 
 namely, The means of our recovery from 
 this state. 
 
 We affirm that, in order to obtain salva- 
 tion, two things are necessary^ " Repent- 
 ance towards God, and Faith in our Lord 
 
155 
 
 Jesus Christ/^* By repentance, we do not 
 mean that superficial work which consists 
 in saying, " I am sorry for what I have 
 done ;'^ but in such a deep sense of our guilt 
 and danger, as leads us with all humility of 
 mind to God, and stirs us up to a most ear- 
 nest application to him for mercy. We 
 must feel sin to be a burden to our souls : 
 we mast be made to tremble at the wrath of 
 God which we have merited : we must cry 
 to him for deliverance from it, as Peter cri- 
 ed for preservation from the waves, '' Save, 
 Lord, or I perish :'^ and this must be our 
 experience, not merely after some flagrant 
 transgression, or on some particular occa- 
 sion, but at all times : it must be^ as it were, 
 the daily habit of our minds. 
 
 Is it needful to confirm this from the holy 
 Scriptures ? Surely we need not be remind- 
 ed of what our Lord has repeatedly affirm- 
 ed ; " Except ye repent, ye shall all per- 
 ish.'^t We need not be told that it is " the 
 weary and heavy laden'' whom Christ in- 
 * Acts XX. 31. t Luke xiii. 3. Q. 
 
156 
 
 Vites t* that it is ^^the broken and contrite 
 heart which God will not despise :"t that we 
 must " lothe ourselves for all our abomina- 
 tions :"J that we must " sow in tears, and 
 go on our way w^eeping :"|| that we must 
 cry with Paul, '' O wretched man that I am, 
 who shall deliver me ?''1I and with Job, 
 *' I repent and abhor myself in dust and 
 ashes.''^^ 
 
 Yet, when this is insisted on, and pressed 
 upon the conscience as of universal, abso- 
 lute, and indispensable necessity, we are, 
 told, that we carry matters to excess : that 
 however such bitter contrition may suit the 
 profligate and abandoned, it is unnecessary 
 in the case of the more moral and decent : 
 tliey have never done any thing that requires 
 such deep humiliation ; they have no such 
 eause to fear and tremble ; they have indeed 
 sinned, but are in no danger of perishing ; 
 nor have they ever merited the wrath of 
 God. 
 
 * Matt. xi. 28. t Ps. 11. ly. \ Ezek. xxxvi. 31. 
 il Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. "If Rom. vii. 24. , ** Job xlii. 6. 
 
157 
 
 But is it not astonishing that any mem- 
 ber 01 the Established Church should be 
 «o ignorant as to make these vain asser- 
 tions? What are the terms in which we 
 address the Divine Majesty every time that 
 we attend his worship ? '^ Do thou, O Lord, 
 have mercy upon us, 7niserable offenders: 
 Spare thou them, O God, which confess 
 their faults : Restore thou them that are 
 penitentJ^ Have we then been dissem- 
 bling with God all our days ; calling our- 
 selves " miserable offenders/' when we feel 
 no misery at all ; and when^ instead of be- 
 wailing our offences, we think ourselves 
 almost, if not altogether, as good as we need 
 to be ? In this prayer we do not presume 
 even to expect mercy, except as persons 
 deeply penitent and contrite. And let it be 
 remembered, that these petitions are put 
 into the mouths of all the congregation; 
 there is not one form for one class of per- 
 sons, and another for another ; but all pro- 
 fess to approach God as the repenting pub- 
 lican, ^^Smiting upon their breasts, and 
 
ids 
 
 crying, God be merciful to me a sinner !"* 
 We mean not to say, that no person can 
 hope for mercy, who does not feel such or 
 such a measure of contrition, (for all who 
 pray in sincerity, may hope for acceptance, 
 though their hearts be not so contrite as 
 they could wish.) but to shew, that all 
 members of the church of England acknow- 
 ledge that penitence is highly suited to their 
 state. 
 
 But, besides their repentance, we ob- 
 served, that faith also was necessary, even 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Tliis we 
 invariably and inflexibly affirm. As it is 
 not our good works and meritorious life 
 that will save us, so neither will our re- 
 pentance save us. If we could shed rivers 
 of tears, they never would avail to cleanse 
 us from one single sin. It is the blood of 
 Christ, and that alone, that can atone for 
 moral guilt : That is ^^ the fountain that 
 was opened for sin and for uncleanness:''t 
 and as long as the world shall stand, we 
 * Luke xviii. 13. fZecfe. xiii. 1. 
 
150 
 
 must require of sinners to wash in it, in 
 order that they may be clean. And, for as 
 much as men are with great difficulty turn- 
 ed from endeavouring ^^ to establish their 
 own righteousness,"* or to unite their own 
 fancied merits with the merits of Christ, 
 we guard them strongly against this fatal 
 error ; we declare to them, that, if tb^y do 
 this, they will invalidate the whole gospel ; 
 and that,, if ever they be saved at all, it 
 must be by a humble, simple reliance upon 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. That there are 
 blessings promised to the penitent, and to 
 the obedient, we very willingly allow ; and 
 on proper occasions we are glad to bring 
 forv/ard those promises in order to encou- 
 rage men to repent and obey : But that men 
 are justified by their repentance or obedi- 
 ence, or in any other way than by faith in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, we utterly deny. 
 And we declare that, if men seek to be 
 justified in any other way, ^' Christ siiall 
 profit them nothing,'^! 
 
 ♦ Rom, X, S, t Gal v. 3. 
 
160 
 
 And do we^ in affirming these tilings, 
 deviate at all from what we read in the 
 holy Scriptures? Does not our blessed 
 Lord expressly say, " I am the way, the 
 truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the 
 Father but by me?''* He tells us plainly, 
 that " he who believeth on him, hath ever- 
 lasting life ; and that he who believeth not, 
 shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him ;"! and again, " He that 
 believeth, shall be saved ; and he that be- 
 lieveth not, shall be damned. J To the 
 same effect also is the testimony of his 
 apootles : We find them invariably direct- 
 ing penitents to believe in him as the only^ 
 and effectual means of obtaining acceptance 
 with God. When the jailor came in to Paul 
 and Silas trembling, and crying, " Sirs, 
 what shall I do to be saved ?'' the answer 
 given him was, ••* Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." || 
 Instead of varying their directions accord- 
 ing to the different characters they address- 
 
 * John xiv. 6. t John iii. 36. \ Mark xvi. 16, 
 
 (I Acts xvi, 30, 31, 
 
161 
 
 ed, they affirm, in the atrongest manner^ 
 tliat '* there is no other foundation whereon 
 any man can build/^* '' nor any other name 
 whereby any man can be saved. '^f And 
 when they saw in any a disposition to unite 
 the observance of some ceremonial or moral 
 duties as a joint ground of their hope, they 
 warned them plainly, that their salvation 
 must be "wholly of grace or wholly of 
 works ^"t and that if they relied in any 
 measure upon their works, '^they were 
 feUen from grace," they were " become 
 debtors to do the whole law," and that 
 " Christ was become of no effect unto 
 them;" II with respect to them "he wac- 
 dead in vain."$ 
 
 Offensive as these statements are, and^ 
 reprobated as being of a licentious tendency, 
 wherein do they differ from our own ac- 
 knowledgments ? We pray that God would 
 " restore to his favour them that are peni- 
 tent;" but how, and in what manner, do 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 11. t Acts iv. 12. % Rom. xi. C- 
 
 !lGaI.v.3,4. §Gal.ii.21> 
 
 O % 
 
16S 
 
 we expect that restoration to be accomplish- 
 ed? Is it unco ven anted mercy that we 
 ask? Or is it according to our own good 
 works that we desire to find acceptance ? 
 No ; we profess that our reliance is alto- 
 gether on God's promises as they are re- 
 vealed in the gospel ; " Restore us, accords 
 ing to thy promises declared unto mankind 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord,^^ Among the 
 promises to which we may be supposed to 
 refer^ the following must certainly be num- 
 bered : " Look unto me, and be ye saved ;''*• 
 '' Come unto me, and I will give you rest.^'f 
 ^^ Him that cometh unto me, I will in no 
 wise cast out.'^J " The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin.'^H " All that 
 believe, shall be justified from all things.H'^ 
 ^' Though your sins be as crimson, they 
 shall be white as snow."** But whatever 
 the promises be, whether their reference to 
 Christ be more or less plain, we are assured 
 that it is in him, and in him alone, that the 
 
 * Isai. xlv. 22. t Matt. xi. 28. \ John vi. 37. 
 1 John L 7. t Acts xiii. 39. ** Isai. i. 18. 
 
163 
 
 promises are confirmed to us ; for the Apos- 
 tle says^ " All the promises of Grod in Him 
 areyea, andiNHiMamen.^'* It is in Christ 
 alone that God can " be just, and at the 
 same time the justifier of sinners. ''f ^^^ 
 therefore when we plead that promise, that 
 ** if we confess our sins, God is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness," f we can expect 
 its accomplishment in no other way than 
 through faith in Christ. 
 
 Thus under this head also may be seen a 
 perfect harmony between those things which 
 we have affirmed, and those which you 
 " read '^ in the Scriptures, and " acknow= 
 ledge " in your prayers. 
 
 Nor do we doubt a similar issue to our 
 inquiries, while under the last head of our 
 discourse we state to you The path of duty. 
 
 We inculcate the practice of every per- 
 sonal and relative duty. But we are not 
 * 2 Cor. i. 20. t Rom. iii. 26, 1 1 John i. 9. 
 
164j 
 
 aatisfied with that standard of holiness 
 which is current in the world : we require 
 a higher tone of morals : in addition to so- 
 briety and honesty, we insist upon a life 
 entirely devoted to God ; we aflfirm, that it 
 is every man's duty to " delight himself in 
 God;''* to have such a lively sense of 
 Christ's love to him, as shall constrain him 
 to an unreserved surrender of all his facul- 
 ties and powers to the service of his Lord.f 
 We must live for God : wq must be like a 
 faithful servant, who inquires from day to 
 day what his master's w^ill is : and inquires, 
 in order that he may do it. As a servant 
 who had neglected all his duties through 
 the day, would feel ashamed and afraid of 
 his master's displeasure, so should we feel 
 ashamed and afraid, if any day pass with- 
 out having executed to the utmost of our 
 power the duties of it. We should walk 
 as on the confines of the eternal world, and 
 act as persons who must shortly give account 
 of every talent that has been committed to 
 
 ♦ Job xxvii. 10. & Ps. xxxvii. 4. t 3 Cor. v» 14. 
 
165 
 
 ill em. To be ^' dead unto the world/*'* 
 and " alive unto God ;''t to attain more and 
 more of the divine image ;J to ^' grow up 
 into Christ in all things ;'^§ to enjoy fellow- 
 ship with God, II and anticipate the enjoy- 
 ments of heaven,^ this is our duty, and 
 should be our daily study and delight. 
 
 la requiring so much, we are supposed 
 to require what is altogether impracticable, 
 or, at least, what, if practised, would unfit 
 us for all the common oiBces of life. But 
 what do we read in the holy Scriptures ? 
 Do they require of us less than this ? Do 
 they not teach us to " yield ourselves liv- 
 ing sacrifices to God as our most reasonable 
 service?''** Do they not enjoin us to '' live 
 henceforth not unto ourselves, but unto him 
 that died for us, and rose again ?"tt Do 
 they not require that " whether we eat or 
 drink, or whatever we do, we should do all 
 to the glory of God ?"J± And is not the 
 
 * Gal. vi. 14. t Rom. vi. 11. \ 2 Cor. iii. 18, 
 § Eph. iv. 15, II John i. 3. ^ Eph. i. 13, 14. 
 
 ** Rom. xii. 1. ft 2 Cor. v. ±5. \\ i Cor. x.31. 
 
±6Q 
 
 Holy Spirit, (tlirough whose divine agency 
 alone we can do any thing that is good) pro- 
 mised to us for this very end, to renew us 
 after the divine image in righteousness and 
 true holiness ? 
 
 And wherein do our own acknowledg- 
 ments differ from this ? Let us attend to the 
 supplications which we offer before God ; — 
 " Grants O most merciful Father, for 
 Christ^ s sake, that we may hereafter live a 
 godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory 
 of thy holy nameJ^ Here so far from put- 
 ting godliness out of our thoughts, we pro- 
 fess to desire it in the first place ; and just- 
 ly do vv^e ask that first, because, without 
 that, all our acts of righteousness and so- 
 briety would be no better than splendid 
 sins ; they would want the motives and prin- 
 ciples which alone distinguish them from 
 heathen virtues. Mark too the measure 
 and degree in which we desire these virtues : 
 we are not satisfied with that which shall 
 gain us a name among men ; we ask (and 
 let it ever be remembered that without the 
 
i67 
 
 influences of God's Spirit all our own ef- 
 forts will be in vain) that we maybe enabled 
 to attain such a degree of piety, as that God 
 may be glorified in us, and that the tran- 
 scendant excellence of Christianity may be 
 visibly exhibited in our lives. 
 
 ^e appeal then to all ; What do we, or 
 what call we ask of you more than this ? 
 And if these high attainments be not neces- 
 sary, why do you ask of God for Christ's 
 sake to give them to you ? If, on the other 
 hand, they are necessary, why are we deem- 
 ed enthusiastic and over-righteous for re- 
 quiring them at your hands ? If in your 
 prayers you mean what you say, you justify 
 us ; and if you do not mean what you say, 
 you condemn yourselves, you confess your- 
 selves to be hypocrites and dissemblers with 
 God. 
 
 We have now finished our consideration 
 of that truly scriptural prayer : and we will 
 conclude with commending it to you as a 
 test in a two-fold view. 
 
168 
 
 First, take it as a test ivJierehy to try the 
 discourses which you hear. As Members 
 of the Church of England, we have a right 
 to expect that the discourses of Ministere 
 shall correspond with the Liturgy of our 
 Church. Certainly, in the first instance, 
 the holy Scriptures are to be our guide : 
 but, as all profess to have the Scriptures on 
 their side, let us bring to our aid that excel- 
 lent compendium of religion which we have 
 been considering. 
 
 Are there any who discant upon the dig. 
 nity of our nature, the goodness of our 
 hearts, and the rectitude of our lives ? What 
 appearance do such sentiments make when 
 brought to the touchstone of this prayer ? 
 Are they not as opposite as darkness is to 
 light ? and should we not regard such state- 
 ments as the effusions of pride and igno- 
 rance ? should we not tremble for those 
 who hear them, lest being " blind followers 
 of the blind, they all together should fall 
 into the ditch ?''* 
 
 * Matt. XV. i4. 
 
169 
 
 Are there others who tell us that we are 
 to be saved by our works, and who would 
 thereby lull us asleep in impeniteneej and 
 divert our attention from the Saviour of the 
 world ? Let us not be deluded by the syren 
 song. Let us turn to our own confessions, to 
 refute such anti- christian doctrines : Let us 
 learn from them the necessity of humiliation 
 and contrition, and of " fleeing to Christ, as 
 to the refuge that is set before us." As for 
 the idea, that the founding of our hopes upon 
 Christ and upon the promises made to us in 
 him, will lead to a neglect of good works, 
 let us see what the Compilers of our Litur- 
 gy thought of that, and what they liave put 
 in the moutlis of ail believing penitents ; do 
 not the very same persons who seek for mer- 
 cy through Christ, intreat of God that they 
 may be enabled to " live a godly, righteous, 
 and sober life, to the glory of his holy 
 name ?" And is it not notorious that the 
 very persons who maintain most steadfastly 
 the doctrines of faith, are uniformly con- 
 demned for the excessive and unnecessary 
 strictness of their lives ? 
 p 
 
i?0 
 
 in the same manner^ if there be any who 
 plead for a conformity to the world, and 
 decry all vital godliness as enthusiasm, we 
 may see what judgment is to be formed 
 of them also. They may call themselves 
 Christians ; but tliey have nothing of Ciiris- 
 tianity, except the name. 
 
 Lastly, if there be any who separate the 
 different parts of religion, inculcating some 
 to the neglect of others ; magnifying works 
 io the exclusion of faith, or establisliing faith 
 to the destruction of good works, or con- 
 founding faith and works, instead of distin- 
 guishing them as the fruit from the root ; if 
 such, I say, there be, let their statements be 
 contrasted with the order, the fulness, and 
 the harmony of this prayer ; and the crrone- 
 ousness of them will instantly appear. We 
 do not wish to produce critical hearers; 
 but it is the duty of every man to '^ prove 
 all things, and to hold fast tliat which is 
 good ;"* and as we have the advantage of 
 an authorized standard of divine truth, we 
 * i Thess. y. 21. 
 
171 
 
 invite all to search that, as well as the holy 
 Scriptures : and we do not hesitate to say 
 of this prayer in particular, what the pro- 
 phet speaks of the inspired volume, " To 
 the law, and to the testimony ; if Ministers 
 speak not according to this word, it is be- 
 cause there is no light in them.'' ^ 
 
 Next, let us take this prayer as a test 
 whereby to try our oivn experience. We 
 may now discard from our minds all that 
 this or that Minister may lay down as neces- 
 sary to our salvation. We have here, what 
 no man can reasonably dispute, onr own ac- 
 l^nowledgments. We have here as beauti- 
 ful, as just, as scriptural a summary of ex- 
 perimental religion, as ever was penned 
 from the foundation of the world. The man 
 that from his inmost soul can utter this pray- 
 er, is a real Christian. Whatever be his 
 views with respect to some particular doc- 
 trines, (those I mean which are distinguish^ 
 ed by the name of Calvinism) his heart is 
 right with God. Whether he admit or re^ 
 
 * Isai. viii. 20, 
 
jec^ those abstruser points^ he is accepted 
 of God ; and if he were to die this moment, 
 he would be in heaven the next : the termi- 
 nation of his wai^fare would be to him the 
 commencement of everlasting felicity. But 
 is this the experience of us all ? Would to 
 God it were 1 All will repeat the words : but 
 it is one thing to repeat, and another to feel 
 them. Let us then bring ourselves to this 
 test ; and never imagine that we are in a 
 Christian state, till we can appeal to God^ 
 that this prayer is the very language of our 
 hearts. In examining ourselves respecting 
 it, let us inquire, whether from our inmost 
 souls we lament the numberless transgres- 
 sions of our lives, and the unsearchable de- 
 pravity of our hearts ? When we cry to 
 God for mercy as miserable offenders, do 
 we abhor ourselves for our guilt, and trem- 
 ble for our danger ? Do we indeed feel that 
 we deserve the wrath of Almighty God ? 
 Do we feel this not only on some particular 
 occasions, but, as it were, daily and hour- 
 ly ? Is the consciousness of it wrought into 
 us and become the habit of our minds, so 
 
173 
 
 that we can find _o peace but in crying unto 
 God, and pleading with him the merits of 
 his dear Son ? Is Christ, in this view, " pre- 
 cious" to our souls?* Ts he ^^our wisdom, 
 HE our righteousness, he our sanetifieation, 
 HE our complete redemption?''! Having 
 nothing in ourselves, do we raake him our 
 ^' all in all ?''f Are we at the same time 
 '' renewed in the spirit of our minds V^ Do 
 we hate sin, not merely as it is destructive^ 
 but as it is defiling, to the soul ? Do we ac- 
 count " the service of God to be perfect 
 freedom ;'' and instead of wishing his law 
 reduced to the standard of our practice, do 
 we desire to have our practice raised to the 
 standard of his law ? Is it our labour to 
 " shine as lights in a dark world,'' and " to 
 shew forth in our own conduct the virtues 
 of him that has called us ?"|| Let us all 
 put these questions to ourselves ; and they 
 will soon shew us what we are. If this be 
 not the state of our souls, we are in an aw=» 
 M condition indeed. Our very best ser- 
 
 * 1 Pet. ii. 7. t 1 Cor. i. 30. \ Col. iii, 11.^ 
 
 !! 1 Pet. ii. 9. oC^ervt^, 
 
vices have been nothing but a solemn mock- 
 ery : in our prayers we have insulted, 
 rather than worshipped, the Majesty of 
 Heavjcn ; wp, havp. rnme before our God 
 ^' with a lie in our right hand ;''* O that it 
 might please Grod to discover to us the hein- 
 ousness of our guilt ; and that we might all 
 be " pricked to the heart," €re it be too late ! 
 Let us, the very next time we attempt to use 
 this prayer, take notice of the frame of our 
 minds : let us mark the awful incongruity 
 between our professions and our actual ex- 
 perience : and let a sense of our hypocrisy 
 lead us to repentance. Thus shall the re- 
 turning seasons of worship be attended with 
 a double advantage to our souls : in praying 
 for what we ought to seek, we shall be 
 stirred up to seek it in good earnest : and 
 through the tender mercy of our God we 
 shall attain the experience of those things, 
 which too many of us, it is to be feared, have 
 hitherto hypocritically asked and ignorantly 
 
 condemned. 
 
 * Isaiah xliy, ^0, 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS." 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 ON SUNDAY, MAY 14, 1809. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A. 
 
 TELLOW OF king's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THIS Sermon tvas written hastily, and not 
 with the smallest view to pulUcation: and it is 
 pnnted only i»i deference to tlie opinions and wishes 
 of some of the author^s more judicious finends, 
 in hopes that the candid attention with which it 
 was heard, might procure for it a favourable 
 reception with the piMic at large. 
 
A 
 SERMON5 
 
 Jer. II. 12, 13. 
 
 Be astonished, Oye heavens, at this, and be 
 horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith 
 the Lord. For my jieojple have commit- 
 ted two evils; they have forsaken me, 
 the FOUNTAIN of LIVING WATERS, and 
 hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, 
 that can hold no water, 
 
 RELIGION may be considered as of 
 two kinds, theoretical, and practical. In 
 the term theoretical, I include every thing 
 that is necessary to prove the truth of Chris- 
 tianity : and under the term practical, what- 
 ever is required of those who embrace it. 
 To understand the theoretical part, is desi- 
 rable ; to perform the practical is necessary; 
 The two kinds, however^, are not neces- 
 
180 
 
 sarily united ; the theoretical may exist 
 where the practical is disregarded ; and 
 the practical may exist, where the theoret- 
 ical is unknown. Thousands of pious per- 
 sons have neither leisure nor talent for 
 collating manuscripts, or for weighing the 
 evidences that may be adduced in favour 
 of particular hypotheses : and to say that 
 these cannot be religious, because they are 
 wanting in critical acumen, would be as 
 absurd, as to say that a man cannot be 
 honest, because he has not sufficient know- 
 ledge of the laws to be a judge. The un- 
 lettered Christian assumes the truth of 
 Christianity; and he finds it true by its 
 effects. And such persons may well refer 
 to the effects in proof of the truth of that 
 religion which they profess. But it is one 
 thing to refer to practical effects, and an- 
 other to ground their faith on any transient 
 feelings : This no man of refiection can do : 
 the other, no man of piety can forbear. 
 Feelings may be excited by erroneous no- 
 tions, as well as by those which are just : 
 but holiness, radical and universal holiness, 
 
181 
 
 can be produced by Christianity alone. We 
 will appeal to all the religions that ever 
 appeared upon the face of the earth, and 
 ask, whether any of them ever produced in 
 their votaries such effects as were visible in 
 Christ and his Apostles ? The reason is 
 plain : It is the Spirit of God who sancti- 
 fies ; and he is promised to those only who 
 believe in Christ : and consequently, his 
 sanctifying energy, in its full extent at least, 
 can be found in them alone. I grant that 
 it would be wrong to rest the truth of our 
 religion on that ground only; but surely 
 it may properly be referred to, as an addi- 
 tional and corroborating proof of our reli- 
 gion. If this be not a proper test of our re- 
 ligion, whereby shall the superior excel- 
 lency of Christianity be known? If the 
 Bible produce no better effects than the 
 Coran, I do not hesitate to say that it is no 
 better than the Coran : but if its effects be 
 such as no other religion can produce, then 
 will those effects be, though not the only, 
 yet a solid and important proof of our reli- 
 gion : And those who cannot enter inio 
 Q 
 
18S 
 
 learned disquisitions about the credibility 
 of the Scriptures, have reason to thank God 
 that they have within themselves an evi- 
 dence of the truth of Christianity, which 
 the objections of infidels can never set 
 aside.* The error lies in confounding the 
 
 * Tlie aiitlior does not mean, that this is the only 
 evidence which unlearned men have of the Divine 
 authority of the Bible. Tliey, as well as the learned, 
 have other grounds for their faith. They see the 
 provision, which the Bible makes for their restora- 
 tion to happiness, to be precisely such as their 
 necessities required. They see also, that the purity 
 of its commands has a wonderful tendency to elevate 
 their nature, and to produce universal happiness : 
 and these t^^ o things form in their minds a strong 
 internal evidence of the Divine origin of the Bible ; 
 whilst the general and long continued reception of 
 that book amongst those who have spent their whole 
 lives in investigating its authenticity, serves in 
 their minds as a strong external evidence, that the. 
 Bible is really given by inspiration of God. Never- 
 theless, their actual experience of a change of heart 
 and life, wrought in them by the Bible, is to them a 
 strong udditimial evidence of its Divine authority. 
 Of course, this change cannot produce any conviction 
 in the minds oi' oihjsrs ; b*icause none but. God and a 
 man's own conscience can know the full extent of 
 that charige. 
 
183 
 
 two kinds of religion. They are distinct; 
 and they should be kept so. 
 
 To enter deeply into the theory of reli- 
 gion, much strength of intellect, much gen- 
 eral knowledge, and much patient investiga- 
 tion, are requisite. To have just, and even 
 enlarged views of the practical part, little 
 is wanting but a humble teachable mind, 
 enlightened by the truths, and sanctified by 
 the influence of the gospel of Christ. The 
 former, when possessed in the highest de- 
 gree^ will consist with all manner of evil 
 tempers and evil habits : the latter neces- 
 sarily involves in it a change both of heart 
 and life. The former is of importance prin- 
 cipally to those, whose office calls them to 
 defend the outworks of Christianity against 
 the assaults of infidels : the latter is essen- 
 tial to the happiness of every individual. 
 To the former your minds are now directed 
 from time to time by a zealous and learned 
 Professor,* who is giving us the result of 
 
 * The Rev. Herbert Marsh, D. D. of St. John's 
 College, Lady Margaret's Professor of Diviaity 5 
 
184 
 
 liis own laborious researches, and commen- 
 dably exerting his talents to promote 
 amongst us the too much neglected study of 
 sacred literature. To the latter, which we 
 consider as more appropriate to tlie ordina- 
 ry services of the Church, we would on the 
 present occasion solicit your attention. 
 
 The subject which we would submit to 
 your consideration, is a solemn charge, 
 brought by God himself against his people 
 of old. They were guilty of gross idolatry ; 
 and for that, in part, they are here re. 
 proved : the very heavens are summoned 
 to bear witness against them, and to express 
 with utter astonishment, their abhorrence of 
 such impiety. But another complaint against 
 them was, that, in their straits and dillBcul- 
 ties, they were ever looking to Egypt and 
 Assyria for help, instead of relying on the 
 Lord their God. Now if in respect of gross 
 idolatry, the passage be thought more im- 
 
 who is giving Public Lectures in the University 
 Church, on the principal subjects connected with 
 Theological Learning, 
 
185 
 
 mediately applicable to them, itwil! never- 
 tlieless, as a charge of spiritual idolatry, 
 be found to contain ample matter of accu- 
 sation against ourselves* 
 
 Let us then consider, 
 
 1. The evils which God lays to our charge, 
 
 2, The light in which they should be viewed- 
 
 The evils which God lays to our charge 
 are, that we have forsaken him, and sought 
 our happiness in the creature rather than in 
 the Creator. He justly calls himself ^^ the 
 fountain of living waters ;'^ for he is, and 
 must be acknowledged to be, the only source 
 of all good. What is there in the visible 
 creation, that is not the product of his pow- 
 er, and the gift of his grace ? or wliat* is 
 there that can aiford satisfaction to the souls 
 of men, or to the bright intelligences of 
 heaven, which does not emanate from his 
 presence and love ? If it be replied^ that 
 many sources of consolation We opened for 
 us in the contemplations of reason^ or the 
 gratifications of sense ; we answer^ that the 
 
186 
 
 very capacity to communicate or receive 
 pleasure is the fruit of his bounty ; and that 
 the creature can be no more to us than vs^hat 
 he is pleased to make it. 
 
 What then does he require of us? He 
 calls us to regard him as the one source of 
 happiness to ourselves ; to acknowledge him 
 in all that we have, and to trust in him for 
 all that we stand in need of. He calls us 
 to resemble our first parents in their primi- 
 tive state ; yea, to resemble the very angels 
 around his throne ; and to delight ourselves 
 in him, as our Friend, our Portion, " our 
 eternal great reward.'' By sin, indeed, we 
 are become incapable of fulfilling these du- 
 ties, or of experiencing these enjoyments^ 
 to the extent we ought ; but still God desires 
 to restore us to the felicity which we have 
 lost, and to communicate to us all those 
 blesshigs which we have forfeited by our 
 transgressions. 
 
 Happy would it be for us, if we were du» 
 ly impressed Avith this unmerited kindness 
 
187 
 
 and unbounded mercy ! But, instead of seek- 
 ing blessedness in him, we forsake him ut- 
 terly : we cast off his yoke, we trample on 
 his laws, we put him far from us, and as 
 much as we can, we cast him even out of 
 our thoughts. 
 
 Now let us see what is that rival which 
 we prefer : it is the creature, justly called 
 ^^ a broken cistern.'^ Some look for hap- 
 piness in the gratifications of sense ; others, 
 in the attainment of wealth or honour ; 
 others, in the pursuits of science or philoso- 
 phy. We beg to be clearly understood 
 when speaking on this subject : we do not 
 mean to condemn pleasure, honour, wealth, 
 or science, as evil in themselves : they all 
 have their legitimate and appropriate use, 
 and all may be pursued and enjoyed in per- 
 fect consistency with a good conscience. It 
 is quite a mistake to think that religion is 
 opposed to any of these things : on the con- 
 trary, it leads to the richest enjoyment of 
 created good, and enjoins, instead of pro- 
 hibiting, a diligent performance of every 
 
188 
 
 known duty. If subordinated to religion, 
 and pursued for God, we repeat it, that the 
 pleasures of sense may be possessed, and 
 the duties of every station discharged : nay 
 more, we declare that no man can be reli- 
 gious without endeavouring to fulfil the tlu- 
 ties of his calling, whether they be com- 
 mercial or military, philosophical or reli- 
 gious. But the evil incident to these things 
 consists in making them the great end of 
 life ; in suffering them to draw away our 
 hearts from God, or to occupy that place in 
 our affections which is due to God alone* 
 It is in this view that we are to be under- 
 stood as denominating the pursuit of these 
 things '^evil ,*" and we doubt not but that the 
 consciences of all, attest the truth of our 
 statement, and accede fully to that apostolic, 
 that incontrovertible position, that to '* love 
 and serve the creature more than the Crea- 
 tor'' is idolatry. 
 
 We have digressed a little, for the pur- 
 pose of being more clearly understood. Let 
 us now return to our observation; that the 
 
189 
 
 creature, which is suffered to rival God in 
 our affections, whatever it may be, is only 
 ^' a broken cistern.'^ Who will venture to 
 say that he has ever found solid and perma- 
 nent satisfaction in the creature ? Who has 
 lived any considerable time in the world, 
 without learning by his own experience, the 
 truth of Solomon's observation, that " all 
 below the sun is vanity ?" Yet whatever our 
 experience has been, we still follow our 
 own delusions, and run after a phantom, 
 which, while we think to apprehend it, 
 eludes our grasp. We think that the plea- 
 sures of he world will make us happy : we 
 follow them ; and for a moment dream that 
 we are happy ; but we wake, and find that 
 it was but a dream. We next try wealth 
 or honour : we run the race ; we attain the 
 prize ; and find at last that we have been 
 following a shadow. We imagine, perhaps, 
 that science and philosophy, being so much 
 more elevated in their nature than the com- 
 mon concerns of life, will form a kind of 
 paradise for us : we labour, we press for- 
 ward, we become distinguished for high at- 
 
190 
 
 tainments, but are as far off from solid hap- 
 piness as ever : and are constrained to join 
 our testimony to that of the wisest of men, 
 after he had " sought out all things that are 
 done under the heaven," that even wisdom, 
 with all its high attainments, is onlj " van- 
 ity and vexation of spirit.'^ 
 
 Such is the charge which God has ex- 
 hibited against us ; and we appeal to every 
 man's conscience for the truth of it. Is 
 there so much as one amongst us whose 
 conscience does not tell him, " Thou art the 
 man ?'' We are God's people, as much as 
 the Jews of old were : " He hath nourished 
 and brought us up, and yet we have rebel- 
 led against him : The ox knoweth his owner, 
 and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel 
 doth not know, my people doth not consi- 
 der." Notwithstanding a secret conviction 
 that God was the only source of real hap- 
 piness, we could not prevail upon ourselves 
 to seek after him : and notwithstanding our 
 daily experience of the insufficiency of the 
 creature to make us happy, we could not re- 
 
191 
 
 liiiquish the vain pursuit. We have hewed 
 out one cistern^ and found it incapable of 
 retaining any water : we have then renewed 
 our labour, and hewed out another; which 
 we have found as unproductive of solid ben- 
 efit as the former. We have even worn 
 ourselves out with the pursuit of various and 
 successive vanities, yet have persisted in 
 our error, untaught by experience, and un- 
 wearied by disappointments. Even to the 
 close of life ^' we hold fast deceit ;'^ " we 
 refuse to return f^ " a deceived heart hath 
 turned us aside, so that we cannot deliver 
 our souls, or say^ Is there not a lie in my 
 right hand ?" 
 
 Will any contend, that these pursuits are 
 not evil ? Surely they are evil in the sight 
 of God. So far from passing over the 
 whole as of small account, he disjoins and 
 separates the different parts of his charge, 
 and declares, that oh account of each we 
 are involved in guilt. Our neglect of him 
 has been exceeding sinful, as our attach- 
 ment to vanity has also l)een : " My people 
 have committed fw'o evil?,'^ 
 
But on this part of our subject we shall 
 enter more fully^ whilst we consider 
 
 2dly, In what light we should view these 
 evils. 
 
 We are apt to palliate our conduct, and to 
 say, " What great harm is there in these 
 things ?'' But if we look to our text, we 
 shall see that they are both heinous in them- 
 selves, and terrible in their consequences. 
 In respect of heinousness, I scarcely know 
 whether is greater, their guilt or ihe\v folly. 
 Only let us consider what advantages we 
 have enjoyed for the knowledge and service 
 of God. Is it nothing that we have been 
 endowed with such noble capacities, and 
 neglected to improve them ; insomuch that 
 the progressive enlargement of them has 
 tended rather to increase our alienation from 
 God, than to bring us nearer to him ? Is it 
 nothing that we have had the inspired vol- 
 ume in our bauds, and yet have scarcely 
 differed at all, except in speculative notions, 
 from the heathen ? Is it nothing that we 
 
193 
 
 have provoked God to jealousy with things 
 'which cannot profit, and preferred even the 
 basest lust before him ? Is it nothing that 
 we have despised Redeeming love, trodden 
 under foot the Son of God, counted the 
 blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and 
 done despite to the Spirit of grace ? Should 
 we account it a light matter, if we ourselves 
 were treated thus by our servants and chil- 
 dren ; if they cast off all regard for us, and 
 poured contempt upon us, and set at nought 
 our authority, neglecting every thing that 
 we commanded, doing every thing that we 
 forbade, and persisting in such conduct for 
 years together, in spite of every thing we 
 could say or do to reclaim them ? And if we 
 should resent such conduct, shall not God 
 much more ? But, whatever we may think 
 of these things, God calls them '^ evils,^^ 
 and such too as may well excite '^astonish- 
 ment '^ amongst all the hosts of heaven : 
 ^^ Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this !'^ 
 
 Nor is the folly of such conduct less than 
 the malignity. Suppose only that one half 
 
the labour which we have used in the pur- 
 suit of vanities^ had been employed in the 
 service of our God : or suppose that only 
 the Sabbaths (a seventh part of our time) 
 had been improved with that assiduity and 
 constancy which we have exerted on other 
 days in the pursuit of this world : I will 
 venture to say, that had even that measure 
 of piety been exercised by us, we should 
 have been far happier here, and should 
 have had infinitely better prospects in the 
 eternal world. What amazing folly, then, 
 have we been guilty of! Truly, if the 
 fact were not proved beyond a possibility of 
 doubt, it would not be credited, that per- 
 sons possessed of reason could act so irra- 
 tional a part. But, to view it in a proper 
 light, we should attend to the representation 
 given of it in the text. It is true, the pic- 
 ture is so strong, and yet withal so exact, 
 that we shall scarcely endure to look at it. 
 But let us contemplate it a moment : let us 
 imagine to ourselves a person dwelling 
 close to a perennial spring of water, and 
 yet with great labour and fatigue hewing 
 
195 
 
 out first one cisteriij and then another, and, 
 after ninltiplied disappointments, dying at 
 last of thirst. By what name should we desig- 
 nate this ? Should we he content with calling 
 it folly ? Should we not soon find for it 
 a more appropriate and humiliating term ? 
 Let us take this then as a glass wherein to 
 view our own likeness : it is no exaggerated 
 representation, but the precise view in 
 which God sees our conduct. We are 
 aware, that the idea suggested, implies such 
 a degree of infatuation as almost to provoke 
 a smile : but the more humiliating the pic- 
 ture, the more need there is that we should 
 contemplate it : and my labour will not 
 have been lost, if a few only of the present 
 assembly be led to bear it in remembrance^ 
 and to meditate upon it in their secret re- 
 tirement. 
 
 We have further to remark, that these 
 evils are represented in the text as terrible 
 also in their consequences. Men do not 
 like, in general, to hear of this ; they wish 
 rather to have it kept out of sight. But it 
 
196 
 
 is melancholy that they should so lahour to 
 deceive their own souls. If hy concealing 
 the consequences of sin, we could prevent 
 them, we should be the last to bring them 
 forward to your view : but if it be the sur^ 
 est way to draw them down upon you, 
 surely we should deserve ill at your hands 
 if we forbore to warn you of them. It is 
 not thus that the Prophets and Apostles 
 acted : nor is it thus that God would have 
 us act. He bids us to " warn the wicked of 
 their evil ways :" and declares, that if we 
 neglect to do so, he ^^ will require their 
 blood at our hands.'^ In order, then, that 
 the danger of such sins as are here laid to 
 our charge may appear, consider what are 
 the representations given of it in the Holy 
 Scriptures. If there be one image more 
 terrible than another, it is that of lying down 
 in a lake of fire and brimstone, ever to be 
 consuming and unconsumed ; yet that is 
 the image repeatedly employed by Christ 
 himself, in order to represent the misery 
 that awaits the impenitent and unbelieving 
 world. This will account for the extreme 
 
197 
 
 anxiety and sorrow which holy men of old 
 expressed, when contemplating the danger 
 to which their fellow -creatures were expos- 
 ed : ^^ Rivers of waters run down mine 
 eyes,'^ says David, " because men keep not 
 thy law :" And again, " I am horribly 
 afraid for the ungodly that forsake thy law.'' 
 Indeed, how is it possible to entertain light 
 thoughts of this, if we only consider what 
 have uniformly been the feelings of men, 
 the very moment that they have come to a 
 just sense of their state ? See the jailor's 
 agitation ; or hear the cries of the three 
 thousand on the day of Pentecost. Nay, 
 we need only consider what our own ai>- 
 prehensions sometimes have been, when 
 sickness has come upon us, or death ap- 
 peared to be nigli at hand. But if yet 
 we be disposed to doubt, let us ask. Where- 
 fore is it that God calls on the heavens to 
 " be horribly afraid, and to be very deso- 
 late ?" Is there no cause for such language ? 
 Is it intended only to alarm us, and to ex- 
 cite unfounded apprehensions ? No, surely ; 
 it is founded in truth : it is the effusion of 
 
198 
 
 unbounded love ; the compassionate warning 
 of a tender Father. Permit me, then, once 
 more to say, that the forsaking of the Foun- 
 tain of Living Waters is an evil, a greatevil; 
 and that the hewing out of broken cisterns 
 for ourselves is also a great evil. God views 
 these evils in all their malignity : the angels 
 also that are around the throne, view them 
 with deep solicitude, auxiously desiring to 
 see us escape from them, and waiting in 
 readiness to rejoice over our return to God. 
 O that we might no longer indulge a fatal 
 security ! no longer " say. Peace, peace, 
 lest sudden destruction come upon us with- 
 out any way to escape !" If God were a 
 hard master, and his service irksome, there 
 would be some shadow of excuse for such 
 conduct. But who ever sought after God 
 in vain, provided he sought in sincerity and 
 truth ? and, who ever found him, without 
 finding in him all that could comfort and en- 
 rich the soul? God himself puts the ques- 
 tion; ^^What iniquity have your fathers 
 found in me, that they are gone far from me, 
 and have walked after vanity, and are be- 
 
199 
 
 come vain ?" '^ Have I been a wildernegs to 
 Israel ? a land of darkness ? Wherefore 
 say my people^ We are Lords ; we will 
 come no more unto thee ?'^ 
 
 Shall we plead, as an excuse, that reli- 
 gion is a source of melancholy ? Surely they 
 who harbour such an opinion, have never 
 known what religion is. That a neglect of 
 religion will make us melancholy, is clear 
 enough, as well from the dissatisfaction 
 which, notwithstanding our diversified en- 
 joyments, generally prevails, as from the 
 disquietude which men feel in the prospect 
 of death and judgment. But religion, true 
 religion, brings peace into the soul : it leads 
 us to the Fountain of Living Water, where 
 we can at all times quench our thirst, and 
 taste beforehand the felicity of heaven. Our 
 blessed Lord invites us to him in this view : 
 ^* If any man thirst, let him come unto me 
 and drink;'' and '"the water that I will 
 give him shall be in him a well of water, 
 springing up unto everlasting life." Lis- 
 ten, then, to that expostulation of the pro- 
 phet 5 ^^ Wherefore do ye spend your money 
 
for that which is not bread, and yonr labour 
 for that which satisfieth not ? Hearken dili- 
 gently unto me, and eat ye that which is 
 good, and let your soul delight itself in fat- 
 ness.'^ Return to the Fountain, and make 
 the experiment at least : See whether there 
 be not more happiness in turning from 
 vanity, than in embracing it; in seeking 
 after God, than in forsaking him ; in the 
 holy exercises of prayer and praise, than in 
 a brutish neglect of these duties ; in apply- 
 ing to your souls the promises of Christ, 
 than in a profane contempt of them ; and, 
 lastly, in obtaining sweet foretastes of hea- 
 venly bliss, than in reluctant approaches 
 towards an unknown eternity. O that I 
 might not commend this Fountain to you in 
 vain ! All ranks and orders amongst you 
 are beginning to shew a laudable atten- 
 tion to the theory of religion : O that you 
 might begin to shew it to the practice also ! 
 You are not backward to manifest your ap^ 
 probation of that zeal which directs you to 
 the evidences of religion : be ye not there- 
 fore offended with that, which solicits youi*- 
 attention to its effects. 
 
Evangelical and Pharisaic Righteousnesd 
 cornpaj'ed. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHBD BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1809. 
 
 RET. CHARLES SIMEON, M. A, 
 
 FELLOW OF king's COLLEGE. 
 
 THIRD EDITIOJ^. 
 
A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 Mat. v. so. 
 
 For I say unto you^ that except your riglit- 
 eousness shall exceed the righteousness 
 of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in 
 no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 IT would be a gratification to many to 
 know the lowest degree of piety that would 
 suffice for their admission into the kingdom 
 of heaven. But to have such a line drawn 
 for us, would be by no means profitable : 
 for it may well be doubted, whether any, 
 who under present circumstances are sloth- 
 ful in their pursuit of holiness, would be 
 quickened by it ; and there is reason to fear 
 that the zeal of many would be damped. 
 Information, however, of a nature not very 
 
dissimilar, is given us ; and it will be found 
 of the highest importance to every child of 
 man. Oar blessed Lord has marked out 
 for us a line, that must be passed by all who 
 would be numbered amongst his true dis- 
 ciples. There were certain characters, very 
 numerous among the Jews, characters much 
 contemplated and much admired; these, he 
 tells us, must be surpassed. To equal the 
 most exalted among them will not suffice : 
 our righteousness must exceed theirs, if 
 ever we would enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven. The persons we refer to, were the 
 Scribes and Pharisees ; the former of whom 
 were the learned Teachers and Expositors 
 of the Law ; the latter were a Sect, who 
 affected peculiar sanctity, and were regard. 
 ed by the people as the most distinguished 
 patterns of piety and virtue. The two were 
 generally associated together in the Scrip- 
 tures, because the Scribes, though not ne- 
 cessarily, yet for the most part, belonged to 
 the Sect of the Pharisees : and, so united, 
 they where considered as having all the 
 learning and piety of the nation concentred in 
 
205 
 
 tlicin. But, notwithstanding the liigh esti- 
 mation in whicli they were held, our Lord 
 most solemnly affirmed, that none of them 
 could, in their present state, beadmiUediuto 
 heaven; and that all who would be counted 
 worthy of that honour, must attain a higliei* 
 righteousness than theirs. 
 
 This information, I say, is valuable ; be- 
 cause, though it is not so definite as to 
 encourage any to sit down contented with 
 their attainments, it serves as a standard by 
 which we may try our attainments, and a 
 criterion w hereby we may judge of our real 
 state. 
 
 In investigating the subject, there are 
 tvv things to be considered ; 
 
 I. Wherein our righteousness must ex- 
 ceed theirs ; and, 
 
 II. Why it must exceed theirs. 
 
 To prepare the way for shewing wherein 
 our righteousness is to exceed theirs, we 
 
206 
 
 must begin with stating as clearly as we 
 can, what righteousness they possessed. 
 But in doing this, we shall be careful nei- 
 ther to exalt their character too much, on 
 the one hand, nor to depress it too much, on 
 the other. Indeed, precision in this part 
 of our statement is of peculiar importance ; 
 for, as a comparison is instituted between 
 their righteousness and ours, we are con- 
 cerned to have the clearest knowledge of 
 that by which our estimate must be formed. 
 Their character was a mixture of good and 
 evil. They had much which might be con- 
 sidered as righteousness ; and at the same 
 time had great defects. Their righteous- 
 ness, such as it was, was seen ; their defects 
 were unseen : their righteousness consisted 
 in acts; their defects, in motives and prin- 
 ciples : their righteousness was that which 
 rendered them objects of admiration to men ; 
 their defects made them objects of abhor- 
 rence to God. 
 
 Let us begin with viewing the favoura- 
 ble side of their character. And here we 
 
207 
 
 cannot do better tlian refer to the account 
 wliielrthe Pharisee gives of himself, when 
 addressing the most hi2;h God ; and which 
 our Lord particularly adverts to, as charac- 
 terizing the more distinguished memhers of 
 their community. After thanking God that 
 he was '' not as other men are/^ he first tells 
 us what he had not done: He was "not an 
 extortioner,'^ nor could he accused by any 
 man of demanding, on any account what- 
 ever, more than was his due. He was "not 
 unjust'' in any of his dealings, but, whether 
 in commercial transactions or in any other 
 way, he had done to all as be would be done 
 unto.* " Nor was he an adulterer :" com- 
 mon as the crime of adultery was among the 
 Jews,'' and great as his advantages had been 
 for insinuating himself into the affections of 
 others, he had never availed himself of any 
 opportunity to seduce his neighbour's wife. 
 In short he had avoided all those evils, 
 which the generality of Publicans and Sin- 
 ners committed without remorse. 
 
 * Such as "oppressing the hirehng in his wages," 
 &e. The expression must of course be confined to 
 acts of justice. 
 
^08 
 
 He next proceeds to specify wliat he had 
 done. He had ^^ fasted twice every week/^ 
 in order to fulfil the duties of mortification 
 and self-denial. Ha had been so scrupu- 
 lously exact in paying his tithes, that not 
 even '^ mint, or rue/^ or the smallest herb 
 in his garden, had been withheld from God : 
 ^' he paid tithes of all that he possessed. ''^^^ 
 
 From otlier parts of Scripture we learn, 
 that the Pharisees were peculiarly jealous 
 of the sacred rest of the Sabbath ; insomuch 
 that they w ere filled w itb indignation against 
 any one, who, even by an act of the greatest 
 necessity or mercy, should presume to vio- 
 late it.f They prayed to God also, and 
 that not in a mere cursory manner, hurry- 
 ing over a form which they got through as 
 quick as possible ; no ; ^^ they made long 
 prayers,'' as well in the corners of their 
 streets, as in the midst of their syna- 
 gogues.J As for the purifications ap- 
 pointed by the law, they were punctual iu 
 
 * Luke xviii. 11, 12. f Mark iii. 2, 5, 6., 
 I Matt. ri. 5. and 23. 14, 
 
^09 
 
 the observance of them ; they even multi- 
 plied their lustrations far beyond what the 
 law required ; and were so partial to them, 
 that they never came home from the market, 
 or sat down to their meals, without washing 
 their hands : they even wondered that any 
 one who pretended to religion, could be so 
 profane, as to eat without having first per- 
 formed these important rites.* Nor must 
 we foi^getto mention, that they abounded in 
 alms-givings ; regarding themselves not so 
 much the owners, as the stewards, of the 
 property they possessed. f In a word. Re- 
 ligion in all its visible branches, was, in 
 their eyes, honourable ; and, in token of 
 their high regard for it, they made their phy- 
 lacteries broader than any other sect, and 
 ^' enlarged the fringes of their garments ;'^ 
 thus displaying before all men their zealous 
 attachment to the laws of God. J Nor were 
 they content with thus fulfilling their own 
 duties : they were desirous that all should 
 honour God in like manner : persuaded that 
 they themselves were right, they strove to 
 * Mark vii. 2—5. t Matt. vi. 2. t Matt, xxiii. 5.' 
 s 2 
 
tlie uttermost to recommend their tenets and 
 practices to others, and would even " com- 
 pass sea and land to make one proselyte.'^^ 
 
 Of course, the attainments of all were not 
 exactly alike: some would excel more in 
 one branch of duty, and others in another 
 branch. St. Paul himself was of that sect^ 
 as his parents also had been before him ^ 
 and he was as fair a specimen of them, as 
 any that can be found in all the records of 
 antiquity. He was, " as touching the law, 
 a Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting 
 the church, (whom he considered as ene- 
 mies to God ;) and, as toucliing the right- 
 eousness which is in the law, blameless.'' 
 
 Having thus ascertained what their right- 
 eousness was, we can now proceed to point 
 out wherein ours must exceed it. 
 
 But here it will be proper to observe, that as 
 all were not equally eminent in what may be 
 called their righteousness, so, on the other 
 *Matt, xxiu.l5. 
 
hand, all were not equally faulty in tlie 
 vicious part of their character. We must 
 take the Pharisees as a body, (for it is in 
 that view that our Saviour speaks of them 
 in the text ;) and must not be understood to 
 impute to every individual the same precise 
 degree either of praise or blame. Nor must 
 we be considered as saying, that iio one of 
 that sect was ever saved : because, previous 
 to the coming of our Lord, there doubtless 
 were many who served God according to 
 the light that they enjoyed : but this we must 
 be understood distinctly to affirm, that no 
 person who enjoys the clearer light of the 
 gospel, can be saved, unless he attain a bet- 
 ter righteousness than the Scribes and Phar- 
 isees, as a body, ever did attain, or than any 
 one of them, while he rejected the gospel, 
 could possibly attain. 
 
 I am well aware that, when we consider 
 their fastings, their prayers, their alms- 
 deeds, their strict observances of all the rit- 
 ual laws, together with their zeal in promot- 
 ing the religion they professed ; and take 
 
SIS 
 
 into the account also^ that they were free 
 from many of the more gross and common 
 iJins, we shall seem to have left no room for 
 superiority in our obedience. But, what- 
 ever may be thought of their attainments, 
 our righteousness must exceed theirs: it 
 tiaust exceed theirs, first, in the nature and 
 extent of it, and next, in the principle and 
 end of it. 
 
 First, in the nature and extent of it. 
 
 From what has been already spoken, it 
 sufficiently appears, that the righteousness 
 of the Scribes and Pharisees was for the 
 most part external and ceremonial ; or, 
 where it seemed to partake of that which 
 was internal and moral, it was merely of a 
 negative kind, and extremely partial in its 
 operation. Now the Christian''s righteous- 
 iless must be totally different from this ; it 
 must be internal and spiritual : it must de- 
 scend into the heart, and have respect to 
 the whole of God's revealed will. Tbe true 
 Christian will affix no limits to his exer- 
 
?U3 
 
 tions, lie Mill set no bouiuls to liis heavenly 
 desires. He does not limit the commaiul- 
 meiits to their literal sense, but enters into 
 their spiritual import, and considers a dis- 
 position to commit sin, as nearly equivalent 
 to the actual commission of it. He consi- 
 ders himself as accountable to God for every 
 inclination, affection, appetite ; and endea- 
 vours not only to have their ereneral tendcn. 
 cies regulated according to. his law, but to 
 have " every thought brought into captivity 
 to the obedience of Christ." In a word 
 he aspires after perfection of every kind : 
 he desires to love God, as much as to be 
 saved by him ; and to mortify sin, as much 
 as to escape punishment. Could he have 
 his heart's desire, he would be " h(dy, as 
 God himself is holy," and ^^ perfect^ as God 
 himself is perfect." 
 
 Thus, in the nature and extent of the 
 two kinds of righteousness, there is an im- 
 mense difference : nor is there a less differ- 
 ence m their jpirinci^ple and end. 
 
al4 
 
 Would we know what was the fvincijjle 
 from which the Pharisaic righteousness pro- 
 ceeded ? We can assert on the most un- 
 questionable authority, even that of Christ 
 himself, that " all their works they did to 
 be seen of men.''* And St. Paul no less 
 strongly marks the p/ndy to which all their 
 zeal was directed. He confesses that '' they 
 bad a zeal of Grod, but not according to 
 knowledge : for being ignorant of God's 
 righteousness, they went about to establish 
 their own righteousness, and would not sub- 
 mit themselves nnto the righteousness of 
 God."t In these respects then we must 
 differ from them. We should shun ostenta- 
 tion and vain glory, as much as we would 
 the most enormous crimes. We should bear 
 in mind, that any thing done with a view to 
 man's applause, is altogether worthless in 
 the sight of God : whatever it be, we have 
 in the applause of men the reward we seek 
 after, and the only reward that we shall ever 
 obtain. We should also dread self-right- 
 eoiisnessy as utterly inconsistent with a 
 * Matt, xxiii. 5. f Rom. x. 2, 3. 
 
«15 
 
 Christian state. St. Paul assures us, that 
 ^^ the Jews who sought after the law of right- 
 eousness, did not attain to [any justifying] 
 righteousness, because they sought it not by 
 faitli, but, as it were, by the works of the 
 law ; for they stumbled at that stumbling- 
 stone,"^ The making of our own w^orks 
 the foundation of our hope towards God, 
 argues a contempt of that ^' foundation which 
 God has laid in Zion :" it thrusts out from 
 his office the Lord Jesus Christ, " who of 
 God is made unto us wisdom and righteous- 
 ness," and who, from that very circum* 
 stance, is called ^^ The Lord our Righteous- 
 ness." A truly Cliristian spirit will lead us, 
 even ^^ after we have done all that is com- 
 manded us, to say. We are unprofitable ser- 
 vants, we have done that [only] which it 
 "VV^as our duty to do." See this exemplified 
 in the Apostle Paul, than whom there never 
 was but one brighter example of piety in 
 the world ; he, after all his eminent attain- 
 ments, '^ desired to be found in Christ, not 
 having his own righteousness which was of 
 * Rom. ix. 3ij 33. 
 
tt6 . 
 
 the law, but the righteousness which is of 
 God by faith in Christ.''^ 
 
 Now then, compare the righteousness of 
 the two parties ; the one, ^' cleansing care- 
 fully indeed, and superstitiously, the outside 
 of the cup and platter, whilst within they 
 were full of many unsubdued lusts ;" the 
 other, allowing not so much as an evil 
 thought, but " cleansing themselves from 
 all iilthiness both of flesh and spirit, and per- 
 fecting holiness in the fear of God :" the one 
 filled with a high conceit of their own good- 
 ness, and claiming heaven itself on account 
 of it, whilst they aimed at nothing but the 
 applause of man ; the other, in the midst of 
 their most strenuous exertions to serve and 
 honour God, renouncing all dependence on 
 themselves, and " glorying only in the cross 
 of Christ:'' the one, a compound of pride, 
 unbelief, and hypocrisy ; the other, of hu- 
 mility, and faith, and heavenly-mindedness. 
 Whatever may be thought by those who 
 know not how to appreciate the motives and 
 *Pliil.iii. ft. 
 
217 
 
 principles of men, we do not hesitate to ap- 
 ply to these parties the distinctive characters 
 assigned them by Solomon, and to say, that 
 ^'•' Wisdom excelleth folly, as much as light 
 excelleth darkness."* 
 
 If now we proceed to the second point of 
 our enquiry, and ask, Why our righteousness 
 must exceed theirs, the text furnishes us 
 with a sufficient answer : If we be no better 
 than they, the Lord Jesus assures us, "that 
 we shall in no case enter into the kingdom 
 of heaven." Under the expression, •' the 
 kingdom of heaven," both the kingdom of 
 grace on earth, and the kingdom of glory in 
 heaven, must be comprehended ; for they 
 are, in fact, the same kingdom; and the sub- 
 jects in both are the same ; only in the one, 
 they are in an infantine and imperfect state, 
 whereas^ in the other, they have attained 
 maturity and perfection ; but from both shall 
 we be alike excluded, if we possess not a 
 better righteousness than theirs ; the Lord 
 * Eccl ii. 13. 
 
 T 
 
S18 
 
 Jesus will no laore acknowledge us as liis 
 tlisciples here, than he will admit us into his 
 beatific presence hereafter. 
 
 We cannot then without this be partakers 
 of ihe^Mngdom of grace. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ has told us plainly, that he does not 
 regard those who merely ^^ say unto him, 
 Lord^ Lord/' however clamorous they may 
 be, or ostentatious of their zeal for him: he 
 iipproves of those only " who do the will of 
 bis Father which is in heaven.*' We may 
 assume the name of his disciples, and be num- 
 bered amongst them by others; we may as* 
 sociate ourselves with them, as Judas did, 
 and be as little suspected of hypocrisy, as 
 he ; we may even deceive ourselves as well 
 as others, and be as confident that we are 
 Abraham's children as ever the Pharisees of 
 old were ; we may like them be quite indig- 
 nant to have our wisdom and goodness cal- 
 led in question ; " Are we blind also ?" '' in 
 €0 saying, thou condemnest us :" But all 
 this will not make us Christians, A sepuL 
 
219 
 
 chreinay be whitened and rendered beauti- 
 ful in its outward appearance ; but it will be 
 a sepulchre still ; and its interior contents 
 will be as loathsome as those of a common 
 grave. It is to little purpose to " have the 
 form of godliness, if we have not the power ;" 
 to " have a name to live, whilst yet we are 
 really dead.'' God will not judge of us by our 
 profession, but our practice : ^*Then are ye 
 my friends, says our Lord, if ye do whatso- 
 ever I command you.'' To this elTect is 
 that declaration also of the Psalmist ; hav- 
 ing asked, "Who shall ascend into the hill 
 of the Lord ? or who shall stand in his holy 
 place ?" he answers, " He that hath clean 
 hands, and a pure heart/' The truth is, 
 that those whom Christ will acknowledge as 
 his disciples, have been ^^ born again ;" they 
 are " renewed in the spirit of their minds ;'^ 
 »^ they are new creatures ; old things are 
 passed away, and all things are become new : 
 they have been taugbt the spirituality and 
 extent of God's law ^ to know, that an angry 
 word is murder, and an impure desire, adul- 
 
tery ; and in that glass they liave seen them- 
 selves guilty, polluted, and condemned 
 sinners : they have been stirred up by this 
 view of themselves to flee unto Christ for 
 refuge, as to the hope set before them in the 
 Gospel : having " found peace with God 
 through the blood of his cross/' tbey devote 
 themselves unfeignedly to his service, and 
 strive to " glorify him with their bodies and 
 their spirits which are his.'' //ere is the 
 true s&cret of their obedience ; " The love 
 of Christ constraineth them ; because they 
 thus judge, that, if one died for all, then 
 were all dead : and that he died for all, that 
 they who live, should not henceforth live 
 unto themselves, but unto him that died for 
 them and rose again." This is conversion ; 
 this is regeneration ; this is what every 
 Scribe and Pharisee must be brought to : 
 even Nicodemus, " a master in Israel," must 
 become a disciple of Christ in this way : 
 for our Lord declared to him in the most 
 solemn manner, that, " unless he should be 
 [thus] born again, he could not enter into 
 t};Le kingdom of G ode" 
 
mi 
 
 The same is true in relation to the Jcing- 
 dom of glory, AVhilst we are in this world, 
 the tares and the wheat which grow toge- 
 ther, may so resemble each other, that they 
 cannot be separated by human sagacity. 
 The Jewish tares, (as I myself know by 
 ocular inspection,) cannot even when full 
 grown, be immediately distinguished from 
 wheat by a common observer:* the differ- 
 ence, however, is soon found by rubbing 
 
 * The learned are not agreed what tlie ^i(x;*x. 
 were. Parkhurst's account of them, in his Lexicon, 
 is. that they were "a kind of plant, in appearance 
 not unlike corn or wheat, having at first the same 
 kind of stalk, and the same viridity ; but bringing 
 forth no fruit, at least none good." Macknight is 
 precisely of the same opinion. Linnaeus, speaking 
 of that very species which the Author here refers to, 
 designates them as the zizania. Later Botanists de- 
 ny that that plant grew in Judea ; and represent it 
 as of American growth. Whether Linnseus was 
 right, is no part of the Author's intention to discuss. 
 He merely mentions the fact, that he has seen (in a 
 Green-house at Bristol.) that plant, which Linnaeus 
 identifies with the zizania of Judea ; which in our 
 translation of the Bible, is called tares ; and which, 
 though to all appearance useless and unproductive^ 
 
S2S 
 
 the ears^ which in the one are nearly empty, 
 and in the other are full of grain. The 
 same may be noticed also in the religious 
 world. Not only common observers, but 
 even those who have the deepest insight 
 into characters, and the best discernment of 
 spirits, may be deceived ; but God can niev- 
 er be deceived: however specious we may 
 be in our outward appearance, he will dis- 
 may easily be mistaken for wheat in full ear. In this 
 view, whatever it be ©ailed, it illustrates his subject : 
 and, if it he the zizanion, it reflects a beautiful li§ht 
 also upon the Parable of the Tares, Matt. xiii. Some 
 indeed think, that because the servants distinguished 
 the zizania from the wheat, there was no resemblance 
 between them. But that argument is by no means 
 conclusive •* for the servants who were constantly 
 habituated to the sight of tares and wheat, might 
 easily discern that they were mixed in the field, whilst 
 yet the difference might not be so great, but ihat a 
 number of persons employed to pull them all up, 
 might make innumerable mistakes, and root up much 
 of the corn with them. The parable indeed mat/ be 
 explained without supposing any resemblance be- 
 tween the two ; but such an interpretation destroys, 
 in the Author's apprehension, much of the force and 
 beauty and impertane'e of the parable. 
 
223 
 
 cern our character through the thickest veil ; 
 '' he searcheth the hearts, and trieth the 
 reins :'' or, as it is yet more strongly ex- 
 pressed, <^ he weigheth the spirits :'' he 
 knows exactly the qualities of whieh every 
 action is compounded, and can separate 
 vrith infallible certainty its constituent 
 parts : and, when we shall stand before him 
 in judgment, he will distinguish the upright 
 Christian from the hypocritical and specious 
 Pharisee, as easily " as a man divideth his 
 sheep from the goats.'^ Then shall the final 
 separation take place ; >^ the wheat shall 
 be treasured up in the garner, and the tares 
 shall be burnt with unquenchable fire." 
 Here then is a further reason for the asser- 
 tion in our text. If an outside religion would 
 suffice, we might rest satisfied with it : but 
 if we have a Judge, '' whose eyes are as a 
 flame of fire," to whom the most secret re- 
 cesses of the heart are ^^ naked and open," 
 just as the inwards of the sacrifices were to 
 the priest appointed to examine them ; and 
 if, as he has told us, ^^ he will bring to light 
 the hidden things of darknesS; and make 
 
SS4 
 
 manifest the counsels of tlie lieart/^ then 
 must we be^ not specious Pliarisees, but 
 real Christians, even " Israelites indeed^ and 
 iVithout guile ;'^ we must not be contented 
 with being '' Jews outwardly, but must be 
 Jews inwardly, and have, not the mere cir- 
 cumcision of the flesh, but the inward cir- 
 cumcision of the heart, whose praise is not 
 of men, but of God.'^* 
 
 The peculiar importance of the subject, 
 we hope, will plead our excuse, if we tres- 
 pass somewhat longer than usual on your 
 time. In our statement we have been as 
 concise as would consist with a clear exposi- 
 tion of the truth. In our application of it 
 we shall also study brevity, as far as the 
 nature of the subject will admit. An audi- 
 ence habituated to reflection, like this, will 
 never grudge a few additional moments for 
 an investigation so solemn, so weighty, so 
 interesting as the present. 
 
 1. The first description of persons, then, 
 to whom our subject is peculiarly applica- 
 
 * Rom. ih 28j 29. ^ 
 
2^5 
 
 ble, and for whose benefit we are desirous 
 to improve it^ is that class of hearers who 
 come short of the r 
 Scribes and Pharisees, 
 
 come short of the righteousness of the 
 
 Many there arc, it is to he feared, who, so 
 far from ^' not being as other men are," can- 
 not at all be distinguished from the gene- 
 rality of those around them : who, instead of 
 " fasting twice a week,'' have never fasted 
 twice, nor even once, in their whole lives 
 for the purpose of devoting themselves more 
 solemnly to God : who, instead of ^^ mak- 
 ing long prayers," never pray at all, or only 
 in so slight, cursory, and formal a manner, 
 as to shew that they have no pleasure in that 
 holy exercise. Instead of keeping holy the 
 Sabbath-day, they ^^ speak their own words, 
 do their own work, and find their own plea- 
 sure" almost as much as on other days ; or 
 if, for decency's sake, they impose a little 
 restraint upon themselves, they find it the 
 most wearisome day of all the seven. In- 
 stead of paying tithes with scrupulous ex- 
 actness, they will withhold the payment 
 
2^Q 
 
 both of tithes and taxes, if tbey can do it 
 without tlanger of detection ; thus shewing, 
 that they have not even a principle of hon- 
 esty to '^ render unto Caesar, the things that 
 are Caesars, and unto God the things that 
 are God's.'' Perhaps they may now and 
 then give away somewhat in charity ; but 
 they do not consecrate a portion of their in- 
 come to God as a religious act, nor even ac- 
 count it their duty so to do, notwithstanding 
 '^ every man'' is expressly commanded to 
 ^^ lay by him in store for charitable uses, 
 according as God has prospered bim.'^ In- 
 stead of being able to appeal to God tha^ 
 they have never been guilty of whoredom 
 or adultery, they stand condemned for one, 
 or both, of these things in their own con- 
 sciences ; or, if they do not, their chastity 
 has proceeded from other causes than either 
 the fear of God, or the hatred of sin. In- 
 stead of honouring religion in the worlds 
 they have been ashamed of it, yea perhaps 
 despised it, and held up to scorn and ridi- 
 cule those who were its most distinguished 
 advocates i thus^ so far from labouring to 
 
227 
 
 proselyte people to righteousness, they have 
 Hsed all their influence to deter men from it. 
 
 What shall we say then to these charac- 
 ters ? Shall we encourage them with the 
 hopes of heaven? Must, we not rather 
 adoptthe Apostle's reasoning, " If the right- 
 eous scarcely be saved, where shall the un- 
 godly and the sinner appear?'' Yes ; If 
 the Pharisees, with all their righteousness, 
 could not enter into heaven, how shall they 
 come thither, who are destitute of their at- 
 tainments ? If every one must perish who 
 does not exceed their righteousness, what 
 must become of those who fall so short of 
 it? O that this argument might have its pro- 
 per weight amongst us ! O that men would 
 not trifle with their souls, on the very brink 
 and precipice of eternity ! " Consider, Bre- 
 thren, what I say ; and the Lord give you 
 understanding in all things !" 
 
 2. Next we would solicit the attention of 
 those who are resting in a pharisaical right- 
 eousness. This is the kind of religion 
 
2S8 
 
 which is held in esteem by mankind at large. 
 An outward reverence for the ordinances of 
 religion, together with habits of temperance, 
 justice, chastity, and benevolence, consti- 
 tute, what the world considers a perfect 
 character. The description which St. Paul 
 gives of himself previous to his conversion, 
 is so congenial witli their sentiments of per- 
 fection, that they would not hesitate to rest the 
 salvation of their souls on his attainments. 
 But what said he of his state, when once 
 he came to view it aright ? " What things 
 were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
 Christ : yea doubtless, and I count all things' 
 but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus my Lord.'^ He saw, that 
 brokenness of heart for sin, a humble af- 
 fiance in the Lord Jesus Christ, and an un- 
 reserved devotedness of heart to his service, 
 Were indispensable to the salvation of the 
 soul. He saw, that, without these, no at- 
 tainments would be of any avail ; yea, that 
 a man might have all the Biblical learning 
 of the Scribes, and all the sanctified habits 
 of the Pharisees, and yet never be approved 
 
2S9 
 
 of the Lord in this woild^ nor ever be ac- 
 cepted of him in the world to come. Is it 
 not then desirable, that those who are in re- 
 pute for wisdom and piety amongst us, 
 should pause, and inquire, whether their 
 righteousness really exceeds that of tlie 
 Scribes and Pharisees ? Would they not do 
 well to study the account which St. Paul 
 gives of himself previous to his conversion, 
 and to examine wherein they surpass him? 
 Alas ! alas ! We are exceedingly averse to 
 be undeceived ; but I would earnestly in- 
 treat every one of my hearers to consider 
 deeply what our blessed Lord has spoken of 
 such characters ; ^' Ye are they which justi- 
 fy yourselves before men ; but God knoweth 
 your hearts ; for that which is highly es- 
 teemed among men, is abomination in the 
 sight of God.'^* 
 
 3. Lastly, we would suggest some profit- 
 able considerations to -those who profess to 
 have attained that superior righteousneiis 
 spoken of in our text. 
 
 * Luke xvi. 15. 
 U 
 
S30 
 
 You need not be tolil^ that the examples 
 of Christ and his Apostles, and indeed of all 
 the primitive Christians, were offensive, 
 rather than pleasing, to the Pharisees of old. 
 The same disapprobation of real piety still 
 lurks in the hearts of those who '^ occupy 
 the seat of Moses ;''* and you must not 
 wonder if your contrition be called gloom ; 
 your faith in Christ, presumption ; your de- 
 light in his ways, enthusiasm ; and your de- 
 votion to his service, preciseness or hypoc- 
 risy. Well, if it must be so, console your- 
 selves with this, that you share the fate of 
 all the saints that have gone before you ; and 
 that your state, with all the obloquy that at- 
 tends it, is infinitely better than that of your 
 revilers and persecutors : you may well be 
 content to be despised by men, whilst you 
 
 * By this expression is meant, Those who profess- 
 ing, like the Pharisees, to reverence the Scriptures 
 as the word of God, expound them as they did, and 
 make use of them to discourage, rather than promote, 
 real piety. But it is not to be limited to any order of 
 men whatever. See the Author's Letter to Dr. 
 Pearson, 
 
231 
 
 are conscious of the favour and approbation 
 of God. 
 
 But take care that " you give no just oc- 
 casion to the enemy to speak reproachfully.'^ 
 The ^yo^ld^ and especially those who re- 
 semble the Scribes and Pharisees, will 
 watch your conduct narrowly, just as their 
 forefathers did that of our Lord himself ; 
 and happy will they be to find occasion 
 against you. As for your secret walk with 
 Grod, they know nothing about it: your 
 hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows, are 
 nothing to them : these are the things which 
 they deride as airy visions and entliusiastie 
 cant. They will inquire into those things 
 which come more under their own observa- 
 tion, and on which they set an exclusive 
 value : they will inquire how you demean 
 yourselves in your several relations of life ; 
 whether you are temperate in your habits, 
 modest in your demeanour, punctual in your 
 dealings, true to your word, regular in your 
 duties, and diligent in your studies. They 
 will point to many of their own followers as 
 
2S2 
 
 highly exemplary in all these partieulara ; 
 and^ if they find you inferior to them in any 
 respect^ they will cast all the blame upon 
 Religion^ and take occasion from your mis- 
 conduct to confirm themselves in their pre- 
 judices. Permit me, then, to say to all my 
 younger Brethren, and especially to all who 
 shew any respect for Religion, that Religion 
 if true and scriptural, is uniformly and uni- 
 versally operative ; and that it is a shame 
 to a religious person to be surpassed by a 
 Pharisee in any duty whatsoever. Though 
 I would be far from encouraging any of you 
 to boast, I would intreat all of you so to act, 
 that you may, if compelled by calumnies, 
 adopt the language of the Apostle ; ^' Are 
 they Hebrews ? so am I : Are they Israel- 
 ites ? so am I : Are they of the seed of Abra- 
 ham ? so am I : Are they ministers of 
 Christ ? I speak as a fool 5 I am more ; in 
 labours more abundant.'^ Thus be ye also 
 prepared to repel comparisons, or to turn 
 them to your own advantage : and shew, 
 that, in all the social and relative duties, 
 and especially in those pertaining to you as 
 
S33 
 
 Students, ymi are, '^ not a whit behind the 
 chiefest among them ;'' but that even in the 
 ihings wherein they most value themselves, 
 " the righteous is more excellent than hie 
 
 neighboui\'^* 
 
 *ProY. xii. 26* 
 
Christ Crucified. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CAjMBMDGE, 
 
 ON SUNDAY, MARCH ±7, 1811. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 HET. chahles simeon, m. a. 
 
 iEULOW OE KI3fG's C01I;EGE. 
 
A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 J Cor. II. S. 
 
 I determined not to know any thing among 
 yoiiy save Jesus Christ and Mm crucijied, 
 
 IN" different ages of the world it has pleas- 
 ed God to reveal himself to men in different 
 ways, sometimes by visions, sometimes by 
 voices, sometimes by suggestions of his Spi- 
 rit to their minds : but since the completion 
 of the sacred canon, he has principally made 
 use of his written word, explained and en- 
 forced by men whom he has called and 
 qualified to preach his gospel. And though 
 he has not precluded himself from conveying 
 again the knowledge of his will in any of the 
 former ways, it is through the written word 
 only that we are now authorized to expect 
 
228 
 
 his gracious instructions. This, whether 
 read by ourselves or published by his ser- 
 vants, he applies to the heart, and makes 
 effectual for the illumination and salvation 
 of men. It must be confessed however, that 
 he chiefly uses the ministry of his servants, 
 whom he has sent as ambassadors to a guilty 
 w^orld. It was thus that he conveyed the 
 knowledge of salvation to the Ethiopian Eu- 
 nuch, who was reading an interesting por- 
 tion of Isaiah's prophecies. He might have 
 opened the understanding of this man at 
 once by the agency of his Spirit ; but he 
 chose rather to send his servant Philip to 
 join the chariot, and to explain the Scrip- 
 ture to him. When the Centurion also had 
 sought with much diligence and prayer to 
 know the way of salvation, God did not in- 
 struct him by his Word or Spirit, but in- 
 formed him where to send for instruction; 
 and by a vision, removed the scruples of 
 Peter about going to him 5 that so the estab- 
 lished ministry might be honoured, and the 
 Church might look to their authorized in- 
 structors, as the instruments, whom God 
 
239 
 
 would make use of for their edification and 
 salvation. Thus it is at this time : God is 
 not confined to means ; but he condescends 
 to employ the stated ministry of his word 
 for the diffusion of divine knowledge : " The 
 priest's lips keep knowledge ;'' and by their 
 diligent discharge of their ministry is know^- 
 ledge transmitted and increased. 
 
 But this circumstance, so favourable to all 
 classes of the community, imposes on them 
 a duty of the utmost importance. If there 
 be a well from which we are to receive our 
 daily supplies, it becomes us to ascertain 
 that its waters are salubrious : and in like 
 manner, if we are to receive instruction from 
 men, who are weak and fallible as ourselves, 
 it becomes us to try their doctrines by the 
 touchstone of the written w ord, and to re- 
 ceive from them those sentiments only, which 
 agree with that unerring standard ; or, to use 
 the words of an inspired iVpostle, we must 
 '' prove all things, and hold fast that which is 
 good." To Preachers also there arises an aw- 
 ful responsibility ; for, as the people are '' to 
 
240 
 
 receive Xiie word at their mouth/'' and their 
 *^ word is to be a savour of life or of death 
 to all that hear it/' it concerns them to he 
 well assured, that they set before their peo- 
 ple " the sincere unadulterated milk of the 
 word ;'' that in no respect they " corrupt 
 the word of God/' or " handle it deceitful- 
 ly ; but by manifestation of the, truth com- 
 mend themselves to every man's conscience 
 in the sight of God."* 
 
 Hence it appears that we all are deeply 
 interested in this one question, What is 
 truth ? what is that truth, which ministers 
 are bound to preach, and which their peo- 
 ple should be anxious to hear ! There will 
 however be no difficulty in answering this 
 question, if only we consult the passage 
 before us ; wherein St. Paul explicitly de- 
 clares what was the great scope of his min- 
 istry, and the one subject which he labour- 
 ed to unfold. He regarded not the subtil- 
 ties which had occupied the attention of 
 
 * See 2 Car. li. 15 — i7. attd iv. 2. 
 
241 
 
 philosophers ; nor did he affect that species 
 of knowledge which was in high repute 
 among men : on the contrary^ he studiously 
 avoided all that gratified the pride of human 
 wisdom, and determined to adhere simply 
 to one suhject, The crucrjioolon of Christ 
 for the sins of men : " I came not unto you,'' 
 says he, " with excellency of speech or of 
 wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony 
 of God : for I determined not to know any 
 thing among you, save Jesus Christ and 
 him crucified." 
 
 To explain and vindicate this determina- 
 tion of the Apostle is our intention in this 
 discourse. 
 
 I. To explain it — 
 
 By preaching Christ crucified, we are not 
 to understand that he dwelt continually on 
 the fact or history of' the crucifixion ; for 
 though he speaks of having " set forth 
 Christ as it were crucified before the eyes'' 
 of the Galatians, and may therefore be sup- 
 w 
 
posed occasionally to have enlarged upon 
 the sufferings of Christ, as the means of ex- 
 citing gratitude towards him in their hearts^ 
 yet we have no reason to think that he eon- 
 tented himself with exhibiting to their view 
 a tragical scene, as though he hoped by that 
 to convert their souls : it was the doctrine 
 of the crucifixion that he insisted on ; and 
 he opened it to them in all its bearings and 
 connexions. This he calls " the preaching 
 of the cross .-'^ and it consisted of such a 
 representation of ^^ Christ crucified, as was 
 to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the 
 Oreeks foolishness ; but to the true believer, 
 the power of God and the wisdom of God."* 
 There were two particular views in which he 
 invariably spoke of the death of Christ ; 
 namely, as the ground ofourhopes^ and as 
 the motive to our obedience. 
 
 In the former of these views the Apostle 
 not only asserts, that the death of Christ 
 was the appointed means of effecting our re- 
 conciliation with God, but that it was the 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 23. 24. 
 
S13 
 
 only means by which our reconciliation 
 could be effected. He represents all, both 
 Jews and Gentiles, as under sin^ and in a 
 state of guilt and condemnation : he states 
 that^ inasmuch as we are all condemned by 
 the laWj we can never l)e justified by the 
 law^ but are shut up unto that way of jus- 
 tification which God has provided for us iu 
 the gospel.* He asserts that '^ God hath 
 set forth his Son to be a propitiation through 
 faith in his blood, to declare his righteous- 
 ness in the remission of sins, that he may be 
 justj and the justifier of them that believe 
 in Jesus. '^t He requires all, Jews as well 
 as Gentiles, to believe in Jesus, in order to 
 the obtaining of justification by faith in 
 him '4 and so jealous is he of every thing 
 that may interfere with this doctrine, or be 
 supposed to serve as a joint ground of our 
 acceptance with God, that he represents the 
 smallest measure of affiance in any thing 
 else as actually making void the faith of 
 Christ, and rendering his death of no avail. || 
 
 * Gal. iii. 32, 23. t Rom. iii. 25, 26. 
 
 \ Gal. ii. 15, 16. !j Gal. v. 2—4. 
 
244 
 
 Nay more, if he himself, or even an angel 
 from heaven, should ever be found to pro- 
 pose any other ground of hope to sinful 
 man, he denounces a curse against him; 
 and lest his denunciation, should be over- 
 looked, he repeats it with augmented ener- 
 gy : " As we said before, so say I now 
 again, If any man preach any other gospel 
 unto you than that ye have received^ let 
 him be accursed.''* 
 
 To the death of Christ he ascribes every 
 blessing we possess. We are " reconciled 
 to God by the blood of his cross ; we are 
 ^' brought nigh to him,'' '^ have boldness 
 and access with confidence" even to his 
 throne ; we '^ are cleansed by it from all 
 sin ;" yea, " by his one offering of himself 
 he hath perfected for ever them that are 
 sanctified." But there is one passage in 
 particular wherein a multitude of spiritual 
 blessings are comprised, and all are refer- 
 red to him as the true source from whom 
 they flow. The passage w^e speak of is in 
 * Gal. i. 8, 9. 
 
2^d 
 
 the first chapter to the Ephesians, where, 
 within the space of eleven verses, the same 
 truth is repeated at least eight or nine times. 
 In order to enter fully into the force of that 
 passage, we may conceive of Paul as main- 
 taining the truth in opposition to all its most 
 determined adversaries, and as labouring 
 to the uttermost to exalt Christ in the eyes 
 of those who trusted in him: we may con- 
 ceive of him, I say, as contending thus : 
 ^^Have we been chosen before the founda- 
 tion of the world ? it is in Christ : Have 
 we been predestinated unto the adoption of 
 children? it is in and hy him: Are we ac- 
 cepted? it is in the Beloved: Have we re- 
 demption, even the forgiveness of sins ? it 
 is in him, through his blood. Are all both 
 in heaven and earth gathered together un- 
 der one head ? it is in Christ, even in him : 
 Have we obtained an inheritance 9 it is in 
 him : Are we sealed with the Holy Spirit 
 of proiiMse? it is in him : Are we blessed 
 with all spiritual blessings P it is in Christ 
 Jesus, When the Apostle has laboured 
 thus to impress our minds with the idea that 
 w 2 
 
246 
 
 our whole salvation is iii^ and by, tlie Lord 
 Jesus Christ, is it not surprising that any 
 one should be ignorant of it ? yet we appre- 
 hend that many persons wjio have even stu- 
 died the holy Scriptures, and read over 
 this jiassage a multitude of times, have yet 
 never seen the force of it, or been led by it 
 to just views of Christ as the Fountain " m 
 whom all fulness dwells,'^ and '^ from 
 whose fulness we must all receive, even 
 grace for grace/' 
 
 But we have observed that there is another 
 view in which the Apostle speaks of the 
 death of Christ, namely, as a motive to our 
 ohedience. Strongly as he enforced the nc- 
 cessityof relying on Christ and founding out 
 hopes of salvation solely on his obedience 
 unto death, he was no less earnest in pro- 
 moting the interest of holiness. Whilst he 
 represented the believers as '^ dead to the 
 law'' and " without law," he still insisted 
 that they were " under the law to Christ," 
 and as much bound to obey every tittle of it 
 as ever :* and he enforced obedience to it 
 *lCor. ix.21. Gahii. 19. 
 
247 
 
 iu all its branches^ and to the utmost possi- 
 ble extent. Moreover, when the doctrines 
 which he had inculcated were in danger of 
 being abused to licentious purposes, he e;x- 
 pressed his utter abhorrence of such a pro- 
 cedure,* and declared, that " the grace of 
 God which brought salvation, taught them, 
 that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 they should live righteously, soberly, and 
 godly in this present world.''f A life of 
 holy obedience is represented by him as the 
 great object which Christ aimed to produce 
 in all his people : indeed the very name, Je- 
 siis^ proclaimed, that the object of his com- 
 ing was ^^ to save liis people from their sins." 
 The same was the scope and end of his 
 death, even to ^^ redeem them from all ini- 
 quity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar 
 people zealous of good works." His re- 
 surrection and ascension to heaven had also 
 the same end in view ; for ^' therefore he 
 both died, and rose, and revived, that he 
 might be the Lord both of the dead and liv- 
 ing." Impressed with a sense of these 
 * Rom. vi.4. ±5' fTit. ii. 11, ±2, 
 
things himself, St. Paul laboured more 
 abundantly than any of the Apostles in his 
 holy vocation : he proceeded with a zeal 
 whicli nothing could quench, and an ardour 
 which nothing could damp : privations, la- 
 bours, imprisonments, deaths were of no ac- 
 count in his eyes; ^'none of these things 
 moved him, neither counted he his life 
 dear unto him, so tliat he might finish his 
 course with joy, and fulfil the ministry 
 that was committed to him.'^ But what was 
 the principle by which he was actuated? 
 He himself tells us, that be was impelled by 
 a sense of obligation to Christ for all that he 
 had done and suffered for him: ^'the love 
 of Christ constraineth us,'' says he, " be- 
 cause we thus judge, that if one died for all, 
 then were all dead : and that he died for 
 all, that they wiio live should not henceforth 
 live unto themselves, but unto him who died 
 for them and rose again,"* This is that 
 principle which he desired to be universally 
 operative, aad endeavoured to impress on 
 the minds of all : "We beseech you; bre- 
 * 2 Cor. V. 14, 15. 
 
249 
 
 thren/^ says he, '' by the mercies of God, 
 that yon present your bodies a living sacri- 
 fice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your 
 reasonable service.'** What mercies he 
 refers to, we are at no loss to determine ; 
 they are the great mercies vouchsafed to us 
 in the work of redemption : for so he says 
 in another place, ^' Ye are bought ^vith a 
 price ; therefore glorify God in your body 
 and in your spirit which are his.'^f 
 
 Now this is the subject which the Apostle 
 comprehends under the term " Christ cru- 
 cified ;'' it consists of two parts ; first, of 
 affiance in Christ for salvation, and next, of 
 obedience to the law for his sake : had either 
 part of it been taken alone, his views had 
 been imperfect, and his ministry without 
 success. Had he neglected to set forth 
 Christ as the only Saviour of the world, he 
 would have betrayed his trust, and led his 
 liearers to build their hopes on a foundation 
 of sand. On the other hand, if he had neg- 
 lected to inculcate holiness, and to set forth 
 * Rom. xii. 1. 1 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 
 
250 
 
 redeeming love as the great incentive to obe- 
 dience^ he would have been justly charge- 
 able with that which has been often falsely 
 imputed to him, an antinomian spirit : and 
 his doctrines would have merited the odium 
 which has most unjustly been cast upon 
 them. But on neither side did he err : he 
 forgot neither the foundation nor the super- 
 structure : he distinguished properly be- 
 tAveen them, and kept each in its place : 
 and hence with great propriety adopted the 
 determination in our text. 
 
 Having explained bis determination^ we 
 shall now proceed, 
 
 II. To vindicate it. 
 
 It was not from an enthusiastic fondness 
 for one particular point, but from the fullest 
 eonviction of his mind, that the Apostle 
 adopted this resolution ; and so the word 
 in the original imports ; ^' I determined as 
 the result of my deliberate judgment, to 
 know nothing among you save Jesus Christ 
 
«51 
 
 and him crucified : I have made it, and will 
 ever make it, my theme, my boast, and my 
 gong/' The reasons why he insisted on this 
 subject so exclusively, and with such de- 
 light, shall now be stated : He did so^ 
 
 1st, Because it contained all that he was 
 commissioned to declare, 
 
 " It pleased God to reveal his Son in the 
 Apostle that he might preach him among 
 the heathen :'' and accordingly St. Paul tells 
 us, that "> this grace was given to him to 
 preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.'^ 
 This I say, was his office ; and this too is 
 the ministry of reconciliation which is com- 
 mitted to ministers in every age ; ^' to wit^ 
 that God was in Christ reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses 
 unto them.''* To the Apostles indeed the 
 commission was to '' go forth into all the 
 world, and to preach the gospel to every 
 creature;" whereas to us is assigned, as it 
 were^ a more limited sphere : but the subject 
 * 2 Cor. V. 18, 19. 
 
S53 
 
 of our ministry is the same with theirs : we 
 have the same dispensation couimitted unto 
 us ; and ^' woe will be unto us, if we preach 
 not the gospel.^' 
 
 But as though men needed not to be evan- 
 gelized now, the term evangelical is used 
 as a term of reproach. We mean not to 
 justify any persons whatsoever in using un- 
 necessary terms of distinction, more especi- 
 ally if it be with a view to depreciate others, 
 and to aggrandize themselves : but still the 
 distinctions which are made in Scripture 
 must be made by us ; else for what end has 
 God himself made them ? Now it cannot be 
 denied that the Apostle characterizes the 
 great subject of his ministry as the gospel; 
 nor can it be denied that he complains of 
 some teachers in the Galatian church as in- 
 troducing another gospel, which was not 
 the true gospel, but a perversion of it.* 
 Here then he lays down the distinction be- 
 tween doctrines which are truly evangelical, 
 and others which have no just title to that 
 * Gal. i. 6, 7, 
 
2.73 
 
 name. Of course wherever the same difler- 
 ence exists between the doctrines maintain- 
 ed, the same terms must he proper to dis- 
 tinguish them ; and a just view of those dis- 
 tinctions is necessary in order to our being 
 guarded against error^, and established in 
 the truth. 
 
 But we beg to be clearly understood in 
 reference to this matter. It is not our de- 
 sign to enter into any dispute about the use 
 of a term, or to vindicate any particular 
 party, but merely to state, with all the clear- 
 ness we can, a subject, about which every 
 one ought to have the most accurate and 
 precise ideas. 
 
 We have seen what was the great subject 
 of the Apostle's preaching, and which he 
 emphatically and exclusively called thegos. 
 j)el : and if only Ave attend to what he has 
 spoken in the text, we' shall see what really 
 constitutes evangelical preaching. The sub-, 
 ject of it must be " Christ crucified ;" that 
 is, Christ must be set forth as the only foun* 
 
 X 
 
25-h 
 
 dation of a sinner's hope : and Holiness in 
 all its branches must be enforced ; but a 
 sense of Christ's love in dying for us must 
 be inculcated as the mainspring and motive 
 of all our obedience. The manner of set- 
 ting forth this doctrine must also accord with 
 that of the Apostle in the text : the impor- 
 tance of the doctrine must be so felt^ as to 
 make us determine never to know any thing 
 else, either for the salvation of our own 
 souls, or for the subject of our public min- 
 istrations. Viewing its transcendent excel- 
 lency, we must rejoice and glory in it our- 
 selves, and shew forth its fruits in a life of 
 entire devotedness to God ; we must call 
 upon our hearers also to rejoice and glory 
 in it, and to display its sanctifying effects in 
 the whole of their life and conversation. 
 Thus to preach, and thus to live, would 
 characterize a person, and his ministry, as 
 evangelical, in the eyes of the Apostle : 
 whereas indiiTerence to this doctrine, or a 
 corruption of it, either by a self-rigbteous 
 or antinomian mixture, would render both 
 the person and his ministry obnoxious to 
 
g55 
 
 his censure, according to the degree in 
 which such indifference, or such a mixture 
 prevailed. We do not mean to say, that 
 there are not different de2;rees of clearness 
 in the views and ministry of different per- 
 sons, or that none are excepted of God or 
 useful in the Church, unless they come up 
 to such a precise standard : Nor do we con- 
 fine the term Evangelical to those who lean 
 to this or that particular system^ as some are 
 apt to imagine : but this we say, that, in 
 proportion as any persons, in their spirit and 
 in their preaching, accord with the example 
 in the iexi^ they are properly denominated 
 evangelical ; and that, in proportion as they 
 recede from this pattern, their claim to this 
 title is dubious or void. 
 
 Now then we ask, What is there in this 
 which every Minister ought not to preach, 
 and every Christian to feel ? Is there any thing 
 in this enthusiastic ? any thing Sectarian ? 
 any thing uncharitable ? any thing worthy of 
 reproach ? Is the Apostle's example in the 
 text so absurd, as to make an imitation of him 
 
S56 
 
 blame-worthy, and a conformity to liim con- 
 temptible ? Or, if a scoffing and ungodly world 
 will make the glorying in the cross of Christ 
 a subject of reproach, ought any who are re- 
 proached by them to abandon the gospel for 
 fear of being called evangelical ? Ought 
 they not rather, like the Apostles, ^^ to re- 
 joice that they are counted worthy to suffer 
 shame, if shame it be, for Christ's sake?" 
 The fact is indisputable, that the Apostle's 
 commission was to preach Christ crucified ; 
 to preach, I say, that chiefly, that constant- 
 ly, that exclusively : and therefore he was 
 justified in his determination to ^' know no- 
 thing else :'' consequently, to adopt that 
 same resolution is our wisdom also, whe- 
 ther it be in reference to our own salvation, 
 or to the subject of our ministrations in the 
 church of God. 
 
 We now proceed to a second reason for 
 the Apostle's determination. He determin- 
 ed to know nothing but Christ and him cru- 
 cified. Because it contained all that could 
 conduce to the happiness of man. There 
 
S57 
 
 are other things which may amuse ; but 
 there is nothing else that can contribute to 
 man's real happiness. Place him in a situa- 
 tion of great distress ; let him be bowed 
 down under a sense of sin ; let him be op- 
 pressed with any great calamity; or let 
 him be brought by sickness to the borders 
 of the grave : there is nothing that will sat- 
 isfy his mind but a view of this glorious 
 subject: Tell him of his good works; and 
 he feels a doubt, (a doubt which no human 
 being can resolve^) what is that precise mea- 
 sure of good works which will insure eter- 
 nal happiness : tell him of repentance^ and 
 of Christ supplying his deficiencies ; and he 
 will still be at a loss to ascertain whether 
 he has attained that measure of penitence or 
 of goodness, which is necessary to answer 
 the demands of God. But speak to him of 
 Christ as dying for the sins of men, as 
 ^» casting out none that come unto him,'' as 
 ^' purging us by his blood from all sin/' and 
 as clothing us with his own unspotted righ- 
 teousness ; yea, as making his own grace to 
 abound not only where sin has abounded 
 
S58 
 
 but infinitely beyond ouv most abounding 
 iniquities ;* set forth to him thus the free- 
 ness and sufficiency of the gospel salvation, 
 and he wants nothing else : he feels that 
 Christ is " a Rock, a sure Foundation ;'' 
 and on that he builds without fear, assured 
 that *^ whosoever believeth in Christ shall 
 not be confounded/^ He hears the Saviour 
 saying, " This is eternal life to know thee the 
 only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou 
 hast sent ;'' and having attained that know- 
 ledge, he trusts that the word of Christ shall 
 be fulfilled to him : he already exults in the 
 language of the Apostle, ^^Wiio is he that 
 condemneth ; it is Christ that died, yea ra- 
 ther, that is risen again, who is even at the 
 right hand of God, who also maketh inter- 
 cession for us."t 
 
 But if a sense of guilt afflict some, a want 
 of victory over their indwelling corruptions 
 distresses others ; and to them also the doc- 
 trine of Christ crucified administers the only 
 effectual relief. The consideration of eter- 
 nal rewards and punishments affords indeed 
 * Rom. V. 20, 21. t Rom. viii. 34. 
 
 I 
 
259 
 
 a powerful incentive to exertion ; but efforts 
 springing from those motives only, will al- 
 ways savour of constraint ; they will never 
 be ingenuous, hearty, affectionate, unreserv- 
 ed. But let a sense of redeeming love oc- 
 cupy the soul, and the heart becomes enlarg- 
 ed, and " the feet are set at liberty to run 
 the way of God's commandments/' We 
 say not that every person Avho professes to 
 have experienced the love of Christ, will 
 always walk consistently with that profes- 
 sion ; for there were falls and offences not 
 only in the Apostolic age, but even among 
 the Apostles themselves : but this we say, 
 that there is no other principle in the uni- 
 verse so powerful as the love of Christ ; 
 that whilst that principle is in action, no 
 commandment will ever be considered as 
 grievous ; the yoke of Christ in every thing 
 will be easy, and his burthen light ; yea, 
 the service of God will be perfect freedom ; 
 and the labour of our souls will be to '^ stand 
 perfect and complete in all the will of God." 
 This the Apostle found in his own experi- 
 ence ; and this he found to be the effect of 
 
S60 
 
 his ministry on the hearts of thousands. 
 What then could he wish for in addition to 
 this? Where this principle was ineffica- 
 cious^ nothing was effectual ; and where 
 this was effectual, nothing else w as wanted : 
 no wonder then that he determined to insist 
 on this suhject, and nothing else ; since, 
 w^hether in the removing of guilt from the 
 conscience, or of corruption from the soul, 
 nothing could bear any comparison with 
 this. 
 
 Further, He determined to know nothing 
 but this subject, Because nothing could he 
 added to it without weakening or destroying 
 its efficacy. The subject of Christ crucified 
 may, as we have before observed, be consi- 
 dered as consisting of two parts, a foundation, 
 and a superstructure. Now St. Paul de- 
 clares, that if any thing whatever be added 
 to that foundation, it will make void the 
 whole gospel. If any thing could have been 
 found which might safely have been added 
 to it, we might suppose that the rite of cir- 
 cumcision might have claimed th^t honour, 
 
261 
 
 because it was of God^s special appointment, 
 and had had so great a stress laid upon it 
 by God himself: but St. Paul says in refer- 
 ence to that rite, that if any person should 
 submit to it with a view to confirm his in- 
 terest in the gospel, " Christ should profit 
 him nothing:" such a person would have 
 " fallen from grace/^ as much as if he had 
 renounced the gospel altogether. Again, if 
 any person who had the foundation rightly 
 laid within him, should build upon it any 
 thing but the pure, the simple, the essential 
 duties of religion, " his M^ork should be 
 burnt up as wood or stubble ;'' and though 
 he should not entirely lose heaven, he should 
 lose much of his happiness there, and be 
 saved only like one snatched out of the de- 
 vouring flames. With such a view of the 
 subject, what inducement could the Apostl 
 have to add any thing to it ? 
 
 e 
 
 But the Apostle speaks yet more strongly 
 respecting this* He tells us not only that 
 the adulterating of the subject by any base 
 mixture will destroy its efficacy, but that 
 
263 
 
 even an artificial statement of the truth will 
 make it of none effect. Ood is exceedingly 
 jealous of the honour of his gospel ; if H be 
 plainly and simply stated^ he v^^ill work hy 
 it, and make it elTectual to the salvation of 
 men : bnt if it be set forth with all the orna- 
 ments of human eloquence, and stated in 
 ^* the words which man's wisdom teacheth," 
 he will not work by it ; because he would 
 have " our faith to stand, not in the wisdom 
 of men, but in the power of God.'' Hence 
 St. Paul, though eminently qualified to set 
 it forth with all the charms of oratory, pur- 
 posely laid aside ^^ all excellency of speech 
 or of wisdom in declaring the testimony of 
 God," and ^^ used all plainness of speech,'^ 
 lest by dressing up the truth " in the en- 
 ticing words of man's wisdom he should 
 make the cross of Christ of none effect."* 
 
 Further vindication than this is unneces- 
 8ary : for, if this subject contained all that 
 he was commissioned to declare ; if it con- 
 tained all that could conduce to the happi- 
 * 1 Cor. i. 17. and ii. 1. 4, 3. 
 
263 
 
 ness of man ; and if nothing could be added 
 to it without weakening or destroying its ef- 
 ficacy ; he must have consented to defeat 
 the ends of his ministry altogether, if he had 
 not adopted and maintained the resolution 
 in the text. 
 
 If then these things be so, we may ven- 
 ture to found upon them the following ad- 
 vice. 
 
 First, Let us take care that we know 
 Christ crucified. Many because they are 
 born and educated in a Christian land are 
 ready to take for granted that they are in- 
 structed in this glorious subject: but there is 
 almost as much ignorance of it prevailing 
 amongst Christians as amongst the heathen 
 themselves. The name of Christ indeed is 
 known, and he is complimented by us with 
 the name of Saviour; but the nature of his 
 office, the extent of his work, and the ex- 
 cellency of his salvation, are known to few. 
 Let not this be considered as a rash asser- 
 tion ; for we will appeal to the consciences 
 
of all ; Do we find that the Apostle^s views 
 of Christ are common? Do we find many so 
 filled with admiring and adoring thoughts of 
 this mystery, as to count all things but loss 
 for the excellency of the knowledge of it ; 
 and to say, like him, ^^ God forbid that I 
 should glory, save in the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ?" Oh the contrary, do we not 
 find that there is an almost universal jeal- 
 ousy on the subject of the gospel : that those 
 who most labour to tread in the Apostle's 
 steps, are often mo^t branded with oppro- 
 brious names ? Do we not find that his views, 
 of the gospel are calumniated now, precisely 
 as they were in the days of the Apostle him- 
 self? Verily, we should be glad to be found 
 false witnesses in relation to these things, 
 and would most joyfully retract our asser- 
 tions, if it could be shewn that they are not 
 founded in truth. We do hope however 
 that there is an increasing love to the gospel 
 pervading the whole land : and I pray God 
 it may prevail more and more, and be em- 
 braced by every one of us, not superficially, 
 partially, theoretically, but clearly, fully, 
 practically. 
 
S65 
 
 Secondly, Let us adopt the ^postle^s de- 
 termination for ourselves. Doubtless, as 
 men and members of society, there are many 
 other things which we are concerned to 
 know. Whatever be our office in life, we 
 ought to be well acquainted with it, in or- 
 der that we may perform its duties to the 
 advantage of ourselves and others ; and we 
 would most particularly be understood to 
 say, that the time that is destined for the ac- 
 quisition of useful knowledge, ought to be 
 diligently and conscientiously employed. 
 But, as Christians J we have one object of 
 pursuit, which deserves all our care and all 
 our labour : yes, we may all with great pro- 
 priety determine to know nothing but Christ 
 and him crucified. This is the subject 
 which even ^^ the angels in heaven are ever 
 desiring to look into,'' and which we may 
 investigate for our whole lives, and yet 
 leave depths and heights unfathomed and 
 unknown. St. Paul, after preaching Christ 
 for twenty years, did not conceive himself 
 yet awhile to have attained all that he might, 
 and therefore still desired to know Christ 
 
 Y 
 
266 
 
 more and more " in the power of his resur- 
 rection, and in the fellowship of his suffer- 
 ings," This therefore we may well desire, 
 and count all things but loss in comparison 
 pfit. 
 
 Lastly, Let us make manifest the nmdom 
 of our determination hjtlie holiness of our 
 lives. 
 
 The doctrine of Christ crucified, ever did, 
 and ever will appear ^' foolishness" in the 
 eyes of ungodly men : so that, if it be preach- 
 ed by an Apostle himself, he shall be ac- 
 counted by them a babbler and deceiver. 
 But there is one way of displaying its ex- 
 cellency open to us, a way in which w© 
 may effectually " put to silence the ignorance 
 of foolish men :" namely, " by well-doing ;" 
 that is, by shewing the sanctifying and 
 transforming efficacy of this doctrine. Sf. 
 Paul tells us, that "by the cross of Christ 
 the world was crucified unto him, and he 
 unto the world:"* and such is the effect 
 * Gal. vi. 14. 
 
2Q7 
 
 that it should produce on us : we should 
 shew that we are men of another world, and 
 men too of '' a more excellent spirit :" we 
 should shew the fruits of our faith in every 
 relation of life : and, in, so doing, we may 
 hope to '' win hy our good conversation'' 
 many, who would never have suhmitted to 
 the preached word. 
 
 But we must never forget where our 
 strength is, or on whose aid we must entire- 
 ly rely. The Prophet Isaiah reminds us of 
 this ; ^^ Surely shall one say. In the Lord 
 have I righteousness and strength:' ' and 
 our Lord himself plainly tells us, that 
 "without him we can do nothing.'' Since 
 then '' we have no sufficiency in ourselves to 
 help ourselves," and " God has laid help 
 for us upon One that is mighty," let us " live 
 by faith on the Son of God," " receiving 
 daily out of his fulness that grace" that 
 shall be '^ sufficient for us." Let us bear 
 in mind, that this is a very principal part 
 of the knowledge of Christ crucified : for, 
 as ^' all our fresh springs are in Christ," 
 
so must we look continually to liim for ^^ the 
 supplies of his Spirit/' and ^* have him for 
 our wisdom^ our righteousness, our sancti- 
 fication and redemption. 
 
 THE END.