BX 5455 .W5 v. 7 
 Whately, Richard 1787 1863 
 Essays on some of the 
 peculiarities of the 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/essaysonsomeofpeOOwhat 
 
'Rlohari. Wh».te.y. ; ,rV^, v. 7 
 ESSAYS 
 
 [FIRST SERIES] 
 
 • ON SOME OF THE 
 
 PECULIARITIES 
 
 OP 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 BV 
 
 RICHARD WHATELY, D.D. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN; 
 LATE PRINCIPAL OF ST. ALBAN'S HALL, OXFORD, AND FORMERLY FELLOW 
 OP ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 LONDON : 
 B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE 
 1837. 
 
 STREET. 
 
PRISTEB, BRF.Ar sTREET HILL. 
 
^""fiv./'^rur Of 
 
 .h£C. DEC 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A NEW edition being called for of the 
 three volumes, 1st, On some Peculiarities 
 of the Christian Religion ; 2d, On some 
 of the Difficulties in the Writings of the 
 Apostle Paul ; 3d, On the Errors of 
 Romanism as traced to their origin in 
 Human Natm-e ; I have availed myself of 
 this occasion to make a small alteration in 
 the form in which they are presented to 
 the Public, so as to exhibit more clearly — 
 as I now think ought to have been done 
 originally — the kind and degree of con- 
 nexion of each Series with the others, and 
 the plan on which each was composed. 
 
 a 2 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 On each of the three occasions on which 
 I was appointed to the office of Select 
 Preacher before the University, I judged 
 it best that the Discourses (usually from 
 six to eight) which it came to my turn to 
 deliver, should be not insulated and un- 
 connected with each other, but a series, 
 confined to some one subject or class of 
 subjects ; which might thus be the more 
 likely to suggest to the hearers a train of 
 profitable reflections. The substance of 
 the Sermons delivered on the first of these 
 occasions I threw into the form of Essays, 
 and published under that title. The 
 favourable reception of that volume led 
 to the subsequent publication of another 
 Series of Essays, containing the substance 
 of Sermons delivered on the second occa- 
 sion of my holding the office. On the 
 third occasion, though I published, as 
 before, the substance of the Discourses 
 delivered from the University-pulpit, I 
 was induced so far to depart — injudiciously, 
 as I now think — from the former plan, as 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 to designate as "Chapters" those portions 
 of the work, which, according to the 
 analogy of the other volumes, would have 
 naturally been called " Essays." This dif- 
 ference, in itself trifling, was not unlikely 
 to lead to the supposition of its being a 
 work of a much more distinct character from 
 the former two than in fact it is. And 
 the title of it also, which I was persuaded, 
 somewhat against my own judgment, to 
 adopt, led some perhaps to conclude that 
 it was one of the many controversial trea- 
 tises which appeared about that time, on 
 what was called "the Catholic-question." 
 
 The title however — ill-chosen as it may 
 have been — it is now too late to alter : 
 but I have taken the liberty of changing 
 the designation of "Chapters" for that of 
 "Essays," and of calling the volume a 
 Third Series of Essays, in order to point 
 out that it has the same kind of analogy 
 to the former two as those have to each 
 other ; each of the three containing, 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 respectively, the substance of a Course of 
 University-sermons; in all of which alike 
 I have carefully abstained from political 
 discussions, and from matters of local or 
 transient controversy ; confining myself to 
 questions purely religious, and w^hich ap- 
 peared to me of intrinsic and permanent 
 importance. 
 
 Besides the alteration just alluded to, 
 I have introduced some slight corrections, 
 chiefly verbal, into the present edition ; 
 adding also, in a few places, such further 
 explanations and illustrations as appeared 
 requisite, — compressing such parts as 
 would admit of it — and omitting whatever, 
 either from its referring to local or tem- 
 porary circumstances, or for any other 
 reason, could without detriment be spared. 
 
 In reference to the various replies, — 
 criticisms — strictures- — &c. directed against 
 what I have advanced, which have ap- 
 peared from time to time, and to which 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 VII 
 
 some of my readers may have expected me 
 to give a formal answer, I take this oppor- 
 tunity of repeating the resolution long 
 since made, to keep clear as much as pos- 
 sible of controversy. 
 
 This resolution does not spring from 
 an arrogant contempt of all opponents, in- 
 discriminately. On the contrary, I have, 
 before now, taken occasion, in subsequent 
 editions of my works, to express more 
 clearly what had been thought liable to 
 misinterpretation, and to supply defici- 
 encies which had been pointed out. And 
 if I shall ever find reason to beheve that 
 any thing I have advanced is unscriptural, 
 or otherwise erroneous, I shall take care 
 to retract it. 
 
 But whenever, on the other hand, it 
 shall appear that my statements have been 
 misrepresented, or the force of my argu- 
 ments underrated, either from careless- 
 ness, intellectual deficiency, or sophistical 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 design, I shall leave to the works them- 
 selves, with the aid of time, the accom- 
 plishment of my vindication in the eyes of 
 candid and intelligent readers; and those 
 of an opposite character I could not hope 
 to convince by any reply that could be 
 framed. At all events, I intend to engage 
 in no paper- war with any one. 
 
 I do not mean to pass any censure on 
 those who are engaged in controversy : but 
 most persons, I imagine, will admit that 
 the prevailing tendency is rather towards 
 an excess than a deficiency of polemical 
 writing ; and that, even when controversy 
 is begun with the best intentions, it often 
 does more harm than good. Men are so 
 constituted, as to feel (whether as parties 
 or as mere spectators) great interest in a 
 contest of any kind, as a contest: and a 
 mind thus occupied is seldom in the most 
 fit state for the calm and sober investiga- 
 tion of truth. As fresh and fresh com- 
 batants enter the field, each generally 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 becomes more solicitous than the last, 
 about victory, and less about truth ; consi- 
 dering rather what may be said in answer 
 to each argument, than how much it may 
 contain that is just and valuable : while 
 most of the by-standers meantime, are be- 
 coming insensibly more like the auditors 
 of one of the ancient school-disputations, 
 or the spectators of a tournament ; more 
 eager to see which party gets the better, 
 than careful to make up their own minds 
 aright, as to the question debated. 
 
 Considerations such as these, besides 
 other reasons, have determined me to ab- 
 stain strictly from all controversy, and (as 
 far as lies in my power, without compro- 
 mising important truths,) from every thing 
 likely to lead to controversy. 
 
 This declaration, though it may perhaps 
 prevent some attacks, may very likely in- 
 vite more. But whether the charges 
 brought against me shall be many or few. 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I shall leave them all unanswered; trust- 
 ing that, if unjust, they will sooner or later 
 fall to the ground of themselves : and 
 earnestly hoping that the same may be 
 the fate of my own doctrines, if they are 
 indeed at variance with right reason or 
 with God's word. 
 
 It may be said, indeed, that my answer- 
 ing some one particular charge, would not 
 necessarily imply my engaging in a course 
 of polemical writing : — that I might put forth 
 a vindication, once for all, and there stop. 
 But such a procedure, I am inclined to 
 think, would be less prudent than to abstain 
 from reply altogether. Should I once begin, 
 I should be expected to answer all, not only 
 of the objections that have been hitherto 
 brought forward, but of the rejoinders and 
 surrejoinders, &c., which, in such a case, 
 are usually called forth ; (since " the be- 
 ginning of strife is like the letting out of 
 water") lest I should appear either to treat 
 with undue contempt those who were left 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xi 
 
 unnoticed, or to be silenced by unanswer- 
 able arguments. I have thought it most 
 advisable therefore, on the whole, to keep 
 clear of anything like the opening of a 
 controversy; always protesting, however, 
 against being understood as casting any 
 censure on those engaged in any contest 
 of this kind ; and only claiming for myself 
 the same liberty of judgment and of action 
 which I am willing to allow to every one 
 else. 
 
 Although however I have neither any 
 wish to excite controversy, nor any inten- 
 tion of engaging in it, still it is not to me 
 a matter of wonder or of mortification that 
 objections should have been raised to some 
 things that I have advanced. Any one 
 who endeavours to inculcate any neglected 
 truths, or to correct any prevailing errors, 
 must be prepared, if he succeed in attract- 
 ing any share of pubhc attention, to en- 
 counter more or less of opposition. It 
 would be most extravagant to expect to 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 convince at once, if at all, every one, or 
 even many, who before thought differently. 
 If therefore, in such a case, he meet with 
 no opposition, he may take that as a sign 
 either that he has excited no interest at 
 all, or that he was mistaken as to the state 
 of the prevailing opinions among others, or 
 that his own have not been fully under- 
 stood. Opposition does not indeed, of 
 itself, prove either that he is right, or that 
 he is wrong : but, at all events, the discus- 
 sion which results, is likely, if conducted 
 with temper and sincerity, to lead to the 
 ascertainment of the truth. 
 
 And it is worth remarking, that in many 
 cases the opposition will appear even 
 greater than it really is. For as the great 
 majority of those who had before thought 
 differently from an Author, will, in general, 
 continue to think so, and of course will be 
 prepared, at once, loudly to censure him ; 
 so, those, whether many or few, who are 
 induced to alter, or to doubt, their former 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xni 
 
 opinion, will seldom be found very forward 
 to proclaim the change, at least till after 
 a considerable interval. Even the most 
 candid and modest, if they are also cau- 
 tious, will seldom decidedly make up 
 their minds anew, except slowly and 
 gradually. 
 
 Hence it often happens, I believe, that 
 while men are led, naturally enough, to 
 estimate the effect produced by any work, 
 from the comparative numbers and weight 
 of those who applaud, and those who cen- 
 sure it, it shall, in fact, have produced little 
 or no effect on either : those whom it may 
 have really influenced, in bringing them to 
 reconsider their former opinions, being 
 rather disposed, for the most part, to say 
 little about it. 
 
 Such as have maintained notions at 
 variance with mine, in Christian meekness 
 and candour, may be assured of my perfect 
 good-will towards them, and of my earnest 
 
xiv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 wish that whichever of us is in the right, 
 may succeed in estabhshing his conclusions. 
 As for any who may have assailed, or who 
 may hereafter assail me, with unchristian 
 bitterness, with profane flippancy, or with 
 sophistical misrepresentation, much as I, of 
 course, lament that such weapons should 
 ever be employed at all, I can truly say, 
 that I had far rather see them employed 
 against me, than on my side. There is 
 also this consolatory reflection for any one 
 who is so attacked : that weak or sophis- 
 tical arguments are then the most likely 
 to be resorted to, when better cannot be 
 found ; — that one who indulges in in- 
 vective, affords some kind of presumption, 
 that he at least can find no such reasons 
 as are even to himself satisfactory ; — and 
 that misrepresentation is the natural re- 
 source of those who find the positions they 
 are determined to oppose, to be such, that 
 if fairly stated, and fully understood, they 
 could not be overthrown. Such attacks, 
 therefore, tend rather, as far as they go, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 to support, than to weaken, in the judg- 
 ment of rational inquirers, the cause against 
 which they are directed. 
 
 It may be observed too, that there are 
 some particular charges often brought, 
 without proof, against an Author, which 
 are not only unfounded, but are occasioned 
 by qualities the very reverse of those im- 
 puted. One may hear a Writer censured 
 as "sophistical," precisely because he is 
 not sophistical ; and as " dogmatical," he- 
 cause he is not dogmatical. For with a 
 work that is really sophistical, the obvious 
 procedure is, either to pass it by with 
 contempt, or, if the fallacies seem worth 
 noticing, to detect and expose them. But 
 if men find the arguments opposed to them 
 to be such, that they cannot prove them 
 sophistical, it is yet easy (and it is not un- 
 natural) at least to call them so. The 
 phrase "sophistical arguments," accord- 
 ingly, is often in reality equivalent to 
 " such as I would fain answer, but can- 
 
xvi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 not." Not that in such cases the impu- 
 tation is necessarily insincere, or even 
 necessarily false. One whose reasoning- 
 powers are not strong, may really suspect, 
 though he cannot point it out, a latent 
 fallacy in some argument which leads to a 
 conclusion he objects to; and it may so 
 happen that his suspicion is right, and that 
 a fallacy may exist which he has not the 
 skill to detect. But then, he is not justi- 
 fied in pronouncing the argument sophis- 
 tical, till he is prepared to make good the 
 charge. A verdict without evidence, must 
 always be unjust, whether the accused be, 
 in fact, innocent or guilty. 
 
 Dogmatism again, to speak strictly, con- 
 sists in assertions without proof. But one 
 who does really thus dogmatize, one may 
 often see received with more toleration than 
 might have been anticipated. Those who 
 think with him, often derive some degree 
 of satisfaction from the confirmation thus 
 afforded to their opinion, though not by 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XVll 
 
 any fresh argument, yet by an implied 
 assent to such as have convinced them- 
 selves : those again who think differently, 
 feel that the Author has merely declared 
 his sentiments, and (provided his language 
 be not insolent and overbearing) has left 
 them in undisturbed possession of their 
 own. Not so, one who supports his opi- 
 nions by cogent reasons : he seems by 
 so doing to call on them either to refute 
 the arguments, or to alter their own views. 
 And however mildly he may express him- 
 self, they are sometimes displeased at the 
 molestation thus inflicted, by one who is 
 not content merely to think as he pleases, 
 leaving others to do the same, but seems 
 aiming to compel others (the very word 
 " cogent," as apphed to reasons, seems to 
 denote this character) to think with him, 
 whether they like it or not. And this dis- 
 pleasure one may often hear vented in the 
 application of the title " dogmatical ;" 
 which denotes, when so apphed, the exact 
 reverse of dogmatism ; viz. that the Author 
 b 
 
xvm 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 is not satisfied with simply declaring his 
 own opinions ; (which is really dogmatism ;) 
 but, by the reasoning he employs, calls on 
 others to adopt them. 
 
 I am aware, however, that truth may 
 be advocated, and by sound arguments, in 
 a needlessly offensive form. And it has 
 always been my aim to avoid, as far as may 
 be without a sinful compromise of truth, 
 every thing tending to excite hostile feel- 
 ings, either within or without the pale of 
 my own Church. 
 
 In reference to the works cited or 
 alluded to, with censure, or with appro- 
 bation in various parts of these volumes, 
 and the names of which, in the former 
 case, I have for the most part purposely 
 omitted, I think it right to state in this 
 place my reason for that procedure. No 
 one, either personally, or as an individual 
 writer, is the object of any designed 
 attack. The censure I have at any time 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xix 
 
 thought it necessary to pass, has been 
 always intended for the opinions main- 
 tained, or the arguments adduced. If 
 there are several persons by whom these 
 are admitted, then, the censure is directed 
 against each of these persons, as much as 
 against the Author I may have cited. If 
 on the contrary the opinions alluded to 
 in any case, are obsolete, or have at- 
 tracted little or no notice, that is my 
 mistake; I wish the error and the refu- 
 tation of it to be forgotten together. To 
 call attention to obscure and at the same 
 time erroneous, works, is far from my 
 design. 
 
 When, indeed, I meet with any thing 
 that I deem an important error in the 
 works of some Author on whom I may 
 have thought it right to bestow high 
 praise for some other parts of his writings 
 on the same subject, there seems to be 
 then a sufficient reason for distinctly al- 
 luding to him in the censure of such 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 error, lest his merits in other points should 
 give it currency. And this is the single 
 exception I have thought it right to make 
 to the rule just mentioned. 
 
 On the other hand I have thought it 
 proper to refer (whenever my memory 
 would serve me) to any Author to whom 
 I may have been indebted for a valuable 
 remark. And I have been of course even 
 the more careful to do this when it has 
 happened that such an Author is one not 
 generally known; because in that case I 
 should be desirous, if possible, to call at- 
 tention to his works. 
 
 Some of the works to which I have re- 
 ferred are those of living Authors whom I 
 have the pleasure of knowing personally : 
 and I am not sure that I may not, on that 
 ground, incur censure for citing them with 
 approbation ; as if I must unavoidably be 
 biassed by partial feelings. I would rather, 
 however, incur the suspicion of such par- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xxi 
 
 tiality, than of not daring to do that justice 
 to a friend which would be due to a stranger. 
 And it should in fairness be remembered, 
 that though it is very possible to overrate 
 a friend, yet, as it is also possible that a 
 writer of real merit may possess personal 
 friends, so, it would be hard that this 
 should necessarily operate to his disad- 
 vantage, by precluding them from bearing 
 just testimony in his favour. 
 
 It may be necessary however to add, 
 that whatever writers I may refer to, 
 whether of small or of great reputation, I 
 do not mean to appeal to any as of deci- 
 sive authority, or to adopt them as guides. 
 Some of them may be such as to create 
 more or less of a presumption in favour of 
 their opinions till satisfactorily refuted. 
 Others may supply valuable testimony as 
 to the prevailing opinions in their time ; 
 or may suggest arguments which are to 
 be judged of according to their intrinsic 
 weight. But I have learned to " call no 
 
xxu 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 man Master upon earth ;" and to make 
 a final appeal to nothing but the re- 
 cords of inspiration and the force of just 
 reasoning. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 REVELATION OF A FUTURE STATE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Importance of the doctrine of Man's Immortality, 
 
 p. 13 ; spoken of in Scripture as peculiar to 
 Christianity 16 
 
 2. A future state represented by some as discoverable 
 
 and discovered, by Reason, p. 17 ; inquiry pro- 
 posed whether the Pagans, and the Jews, had, 
 properly, the knowledge of it 19 
 
 3. Popular Mythology of the ancient Heathen re- 
 
 specting this subject, p. 21 ; shadowy and unreal 
 sort of existence attributed to the departed ... 25 
 
 4. Historical proofs that Elysium and Tartarus were 
 
 generally regarded as fabulous 31 
 
 5. Ancient Philosophers not believers in a future state 
 
 of distinct consciousness, p. 41 ; arguments fur- 
 nished by Reason, for and against it, p. 45 ; the 
 immortality of the Soul taught by some of the 
 ancients, amounts, practically, to annihilation . . 51 
 
xxiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 6. Metaphysical arguments not to be fully trasted 
 to, in such a question, p. 54 ; reasons for a 
 future state of retribution, not conclusive as to 
 a future immortality 62 
 
 § 7. Probable cause of the eagerness shown to prove 
 that the doctrine was revealed to the Jews, 
 p. 63 ; manifest inadequacy, for this purpose, of 
 the scanty intimations in the Mosaic Law .... 64 
 
 § 8. Passage in the Law appealed to by our Lord ... 69 
 
 § 9. Unsuitableness of the revelation of a future state, 
 to the Old Dispensation, p. 74 ; mistakes re- 
 lative to the interpretation of the ancient types 
 and prophecies on this subject 83 
 
 §10. Actual belief of the Jews in later periods 87 
 
 §11. Opinion that Man may earn immortal happiness 
 by the practice of virtue, p. 91 ; extravagance 
 of the expectation on any ground but that of 
 express promise 95 
 
 § 1 2. The doctrine of eternal life being a free gift, ex- 
 plained and vindicated 102 
 
 § 13. Importance of perceiving and remembering that 
 Christianity alone furnishes a well-grounded 
 confidence of a future state 106 
 
 Note (A.) Opinions of Aristotle Ill 
 
 (B.) Of Cicero and others 118 
 
 (C.) Bodily identity, and intermediate 
 
 state 120 
 
 (D.) Testimony of Marcus Antoninus 
 
 and Seneca 122 
 
 (E.) Sanctions of the Mosaic Law, 
 
 temporal ibid. 
 
 (F.) Testimony of Episcopius and of 
 
 Grotius 147 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XXV 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 ON THE DECLARATION OF GOD IN HIS SON. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 1 . Peculiar mode of inculcating Piety and Morality in 
 the Christian Scriptures, p. 14^9 ; declaration of 
 God in his Son, not a mere divine commission . 152 
 
 § 2. Caution against expecting to understand the divine 
 counsels, p. 153 ; and against expecting to know 
 all the reasons for each revelation 156 
 
 § 3. Advantages in respect of piety, from the mani- 
 festation of God in Christ 158 
 
 § 4. Difficulty of attaining affectionate devotion in 
 natural-religion, p. 161 ; sympathy combined 
 with veneration, through the union of the divine 
 and human natures 167 
 
 § 5. Jesus a perfect Model, p. 173 ; advantages of this, 
 
 over an imperfect, or an unreal model 176 
 
 § 6. Summary of the argument, and introduction to the 
 
 succeeding Essay 181 
 
 Note (G.) Passage from Archbp. King, p. 184 ; 
 explained and defended 186 
 
 ESSAY III. 
 
 ON LOVE TOWARDS CHRIST AS A MOTIVE TO OBEDIENCE. 
 
 § 1. Appeal to the affections, a characteristic of the 
 
 Gospel 191 
 
 § 2. Opposite errors, of Antinomian enthusiasm, and 
 
 of cold calculation 194 
 
 § 3. Contrast between the reliance on mere prudential 
 
 motives, and the appeal to the heart 201 
 
 C 
 
xxvi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 4. Reference to 'persons, in the Scriptural delineation 
 
 of future happiness 205 
 
 § 5. Superior Expediencj', as well as Dignity, in the 
 
 Scripture-views 210 
 
 § G. Importance of contemplating the above, as con- 
 stituting a peculiarity in the Christian religion . . 216 
 
 ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON THE PRACTICAL CHARACTER OF REVELATION. 
 
 § 1. Statement of the questions, whether a pretended, 
 and whether a true, revelation, be likely to con- 
 tain matters of mere curiosity, p. 2 1 9 ; the former 
 question to be answered in the afHrmative .... 221 
 
 § 2. Confirmation of this, from experience 224 
 
 § 3. A true revelation likely to be the reverse, p. 231 ; 
 and ours accordingly, not speculative but prac- 
 tical 233 
 
 § 4. Modification and explanation of this assertion . . . 235 
 
 § 5. Practical character of Christianity maintained and 
 illustrated, p. 242 ; doctrine of the Trinity, the 
 foundation both of faith and practice 247 
 
 § 6. Backwardness of our sacred writers to indulge our 
 
 curiosity, p. 247 ; this, a proof of their inspiration 249 
 
 § 7- Christianity, and that alone, such as we might ex- 
 pect a true revelation to be, and a false one, not 
 to be 252 
 
 § 8. What we are to look for in revelation ; how to in- 
 terpret ; and how to apply it 254 
 
 Note (H.) Difficulty of finding any thing re- 
 vealed in Scripture that shall even appear 
 to be merely speculative 264 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xxvii 
 
 ESSAY V. 
 
 ox THE EXAMPLE OF CHILDREN AS PROPOSED TO CHRISTIANS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 1. Twofold relations in which the condition of Chris- 
 tians is analogous to that of children ; viz : the 
 relation of children to their parents; and to 
 
 their own future adult state -201 
 
 § 2. Our analogy to children in respect to knowledge, 
 
 p. 270 ; which is a relative, p. 271 ; and also, 
 § 3. A Zzm/ifid knowledge, p. 282; and, lastly, 
 
 § 4. A /)rac<«ca%-usefiil knowledge 291 
 
 § 5. Analogy of Christians to children in respect of duties 294 
 
 § 6. Humility 296 
 
 § 7. Docility, p. 295 ; not consisting in blind credulity . 299 
 § 8. Resignation, p. 308 ; a part of wisdom, not of 
 
 weakness 313 
 
 § 9. Mode of making use of the example of children . . 315 
 
 Note (I.) Illustration from the case of a per- 
 son born blind and couched 319 
 
 (K.) Extract from the Appendix to 
 
 Archbp. King's Sermon 322 
 
 ESSAY VI. 
 
 ON THE OMISSION OF A SYSTEM OF ARTICLES OF FAITH, 
 LITURGIES, AND ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS. 
 
 § 1. The omission not to be explained on the principle 
 
 developed in the Fourth Essay 327 
 
 § 2. Indirect and irregular mode of teaching in the 
 
 existing Scriptures 33) 
 
xxviii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 § 3. Difficulty of explaining, from human causes, why 
 some more systematic instruction was not super- 
 
 added 338 
 
 § 4. Objection against Christianity thence raised, p. 341 ; 
 
 in reality, a proof of its divine origin 344 
 
 § 5. Wisdom of the omission 346 
 
 § 6. Mischiefs which would have resulted from the 
 
 existence of inspired Liturgies, Catechisms, &c. . 350 
 § 7. Inspired Compendium of Faith, not desirable . . . 355 
 § 8. Use of Compositions of this kind by uninspired 
 
 authors, p. 359 ; abuse of them 361 
 
 § 9. Self-distrust distinguished from universal scepticism 366 
 
 §10. Liability to actual, as well as future, error, to be 
 
 acknowledged by those who disclaim infallibility 372 
 
 Note (L.) Self-distrust in respect of moral- 
 conduct 375 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ON THE ABSENCE OF A PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 Christian religion without a priest in the ordinary sense, 
 p. 379; equivocal use of the word, p. 381 ; Romish 
 corruption in this point, p. 382 ; and importance of 
 the peculiarity in question, ibid. Christianity exempt 
 from Priestcraft ; and danger, in practice, of intro- 
 ducing a vicarious religion 383 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The greater part of the substance of the Essays 
 contained in this volume was dehvered in a 
 Series of Discourses before the University of 
 Oxford, on the first occasion of my holding the 
 office of Select Preacher. They were not 
 originally designed for publication ; but I was 
 induced to entertain the idea, at the suggestion 
 of some friends, whose opinions are entitled to 
 deference, and who thought that the views 
 contained in them might have the effect on 
 some minds, — not, indeed, of introducing new 
 doctrines, — but of awakening attention to some 
 important points which are very frequently over- 
 looked : and that the chain of argument would 
 appear to more advantage, and would be likely 
 
Introduction. 
 
 to be more justly estimated, when comprised in 
 a volume, than when delivered, as was necessarily 
 the case, at considerable intervals, from the 
 University-pulpit. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to observe, that I have 
 not entertained the design of noticing all the 
 pecuharities of the Christian religion ; which 
 would indeed amount to little less than a com- 
 plete system of theology ; nor even all the prin- 
 cipal ones ; but those only which appeared to be 
 the most frequently overlooked, or depreciated. 
 That the unbeliever should rank Christianity 
 along with the various systems of superstition 
 which human fraud and folly have produced and 
 maintained, keeping out of sight every circum- 
 stance that forms a distinction between the true 
 coin and the counterfeit, is not to be wondered 
 at ; but to oppose decided infidelity (though it is 
 hoped some of the arguments adduced may be 
 employed with effect for that purpose) has not 
 been made the primary object of these Essays. 
 I have had in view the case of those who regard 
 Christianity with Indifference, rather than of 
 those who reject it. 
 
 It is a more common, and not a less pernicious 
 
Introduction. 
 
 3 
 
 error, to regard Christianity as little else than 
 the Religion of Nature, proclaimed by a special 
 mission, for the benefit, chiefly, of those whose 
 feebleness of intellect, ignorance, or depraved 
 disposition, unfits them for discovering its truths 
 by the light of Reason. The Gospel accordingly, 
 while praised as a beautiful system, and highly 
 extolled for its utility, is praised, in fact, for what 
 does not belong to it, viz. its containing nothing 
 of importance which a philosophical mind might 
 not discover by its own unaided powers : and it 
 is thence regarded as useful only for the less 
 intelligent and less cultivated ; in short, for 
 the vulgar. 
 
 There are others, again, whose veneration for 
 the Gospel is more real, but who erroneously 
 think to honour and support it by laying a foun- 
 dation which, in fact, tends to weaken and 
 degrade the superstructure. Beginning with 
 Natural-Religion, they attribute to that, much of 
 what properly belongs to Christianity, and much 
 that belongs to neither ; and thus often lead to 
 the perversion of some parts of the Gospel, and 
 to the depreciation of others. In fact, the study 
 of natural-religion ought properly to follow, or 
 b2 
 
4 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 at least to accompany, not to precede, that of 
 revelation. Our own speculations ought to be 
 controlled and regulated by a divine revelation, 
 when it is once ascertained that a revelation 
 exists ; they should not be left to range unlimited 
 and unassisted, on a subject on which God has 
 Himself decided that Man is not competent of 
 himself to judge rightly. And if Reason be for 
 some time enthroned as sole judge and lawgiver, 
 she will not afterwards readily resign her seat, 
 and submit her decisions, to Revelation ; but will 
 often exercise an undue interference. It is some- 
 times complained, that the mind is unduly biassed 
 in its judgments, by continual reference to the 
 authority of the Scriptures ; and the complaint is 
 just, when reference is made to them, on other 
 than religious subjects. It is also just to complain 
 of reference to Scripture on religious subjects, if 
 Scripture does not really contain a divine revela- 
 tion. But if it does, there is an opposite and 
 corresponding danger to be guarded against ; that 
 of suffering the mind to be unduly biassed in the 
 study and interpretation of the revealed will of 
 God, by the deductions of unaided reason. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 5 
 
 Respecting the peculiarities about to be noticed, 
 various misconceptions are afloat, according to 
 the diversity both of the several points in ques- 
 tion, and of the habits of mind of different indi- 
 viduals. A circumstance may be either utterly 
 overlooked and disregarded ; — or it may be sup- 
 posed not cofinected with, or not peculiar to, our 
 religion, while in fact it is so ; — or its importance 
 may be under-rated. This variety in the errors 
 to be guarded against, must give rise occasionally 
 to a corresponding variety in the topics dwelt 
 on ; and the necessity of thus shifting the atten- 
 tion successively to different quarters, may, it is 
 feared, give a desultory and interrupted appear- 
 ance to some parts of the work : but the incon- 
 venience is one which cannot be entirely avoided, 
 when it is necessary, within a moderate compass, 
 to maintain and illustrate, with a view to different 
 descriptions of readers, several different positions, 
 all intimately connected with the main object. 
 
 Numerous, indeed, and various are the misap- 
 prehensions which have prevailed (not to advert 
 to heresies which have been formerly stigmatised 
 as such) respecting the pecuharities of the Chris- 
 tian religion : for as, on the one hand, many 
 
6 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 deny to the Gospel much of what belongs to it, 
 or refer to the religion of nature, much that 
 belongs exclusively to Christianity ; so, on the 
 other hand, many, and sometimes even the same, 
 persons attribute to the Gospel-revelation what 
 forms no part of it ; or represent that as peculiar 
 to it, which really does lie within the reach of 
 natural reason. A famihar instance of this last 
 is the representation given by some of the doc- 
 trine of the corrupt nature of Man ; which they 
 represent as a truth resting on revelation, and 
 claiming to be acknowledged as an article of faith 
 not discoverable by reason : whereas, daily ex- 
 perience sufficiently proves it ; and though there 
 are still, and ever will be, some who will not 
 learn from experience, men of sense, in all ages, 
 seem to have fallen little, if at all, short of the 
 truth, in that point. The history, indeed, of the 
 fall of Man is revealed in Scripture ; but the 
 actual condition of Man, though often adverted 
 to, can hardly be said to be revealed m Scripture ; 
 any more than the truths, that the sun shines by 
 day and the moon by night. The origin of evil, 
 again, not a few are apt to speak of, as explained 
 and accounted for, at least in great part, by the 
 
Introduction. 
 
 7 
 
 Scripture-accounts of sin " entering into the 
 world, and death by sin ;" whereas the Scriptures 
 leave us, with respect to the difficulty in ques- 
 tion, just where they find us, and are manifestly 
 not designed to remove it. He who professes 
 to account for the existence of evil, by merely 
 tracing it up to the first evil recorded as occur- 
 ring, would have no reason to deride the absur- 
 dity of an atheist, who should profess to account 
 for the origin of the human race, without having 
 recourse to a Creator, by simply tracing them u[) 
 to the first pair. 
 
 Errors of this class, however, the nature of my 
 design, in the following Essays, will only allow 
 me to notice slightly and incidentally : the prin- 
 cipal object proposed being, to guard against 
 those of the opposite description ; which tend to 
 the depreciation, and ultimately the neglect of 
 Christianity, by keeping out of sight, or under- 
 rating, many of its great and important pecu- 
 liarities. 
 
 Let any one, in company with persons as 
 well-educated and as reflective as a large pro- 
 portion of the higher classes are, give utterance 
 to such opinions and sentiments as the fol- 
 
8 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 lowing : " That all religions teach men to look 
 for future retribution," (see Essay I.) — "That 
 they all inculcate piety toward some Divine 
 Being, and moral conduct," (see Essays II. III. 
 V.) — " That they all profess to furnish reve- 
 lations respecting the Deity, and the world to 
 come," (see Essay IV.) — " That they all are 
 occupied in laying down directions as to what 
 men are required to beheve and to do," (see 
 Essay VI.) — and "that they all have their 
 priests and their priestcraft," (see Appendix) — 
 " That all of them may do some good, in pro- 
 portion as they are framed conformably to 
 the principles of sound philosophy, and pure 
 morality ; but that a man of upright heart 
 and cultivated understanding, need not much 
 trouble himself with examining the pretensions 
 of any of them, because his heart and head 
 will lead him to the knowledge of those most 
 important truths, the immortality of the soul, 
 and the tendency of virtue, and of vice, to 
 insure happiness, and misery, generally, in this 
 life, and certainly in the next : that he will 
 thus have attained all the good, unmixed with 
 the evil, that any religion can convey to the 
 
Introduction. 
 
 9 
 
 less-educated classes; and that whatever truth 
 there may be in the pretensions of any religion 
 to a divine origin, he cannot have any thing 
 to fear in consequence of his want of faith in 
 it, since he will have reached, though by 
 another road, the same point towards which 
 any true religion must tend." And let him 
 conclude by citing some hues from the " Essay 
 on Man," or the " Universal Prayer," of Pope, 
 whose rhymes often supply admirably the de- 
 fects of his reasons ; as, for instance, 
 
 " For modes of faith let senseless bigots fight ; 
 His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right." 
 
 Let such sentiments, I say, be promulgated 
 in such company as one may often meet with, 
 and I am much mistaken if several of the 
 hearers will not readily acquiesce in them. 
 And yet, in every one of the points in respect 
 of which all religions will have been thus 
 indiscriminately thrown together, Christianity 
 does, in fact, stand eminently distinguished 
 from all the rest, by strikingly peculiar features. 
 It bears only that superficial and general re- 
 semblance to them which a genuine coin bears 
 
10 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 to its various counterfeits. To establish and 
 illustrate this conclusion, is the object of the 
 present work. 
 
 Bishop Warburton's " Divine Legation " is 
 a work too well known to require that ^ dis- 
 tinct reference should be made to it in every 
 place in which I have availed myself of his 
 learning and ingenuity. I can hardly be sus- 
 pected of wishing to impose on the public as 
 my own, what I have borrowed from an author 
 who has so long been before them. To have 
 exhibited clearly in a small space, separated 
 from extraneous matter, and from topics of 
 temporary controversy, some of the most im- 
 portant parts of an inestimably valuable, but 
 voluminous, digressive, and incomplete work, 
 may prove advantageous not only to such as 
 have not studied the work, but, in some de- 
 gree, to many also even of those who are 
 familiar with it. 
 
 So general, however, is the tendency in men 
 to enlist themselves under the banner of some 
 leader, and to take for granted that every one 
 does so, in respect of any author he professes 
 to admire, that it may not be unnecessary for 
 
Introduction. 
 
 11 
 
 me to protest against being regarded as a 
 "follower" of Warburton, in the sense either 
 of adopting any conclusion on his authority, 
 or of acquiescing throughout in every thing he 
 may have advanced. 
 
ESSAY I. 
 
 REVELATION OF A FUTURE STATE. 
 
 § 1. The doctrine of man's immortality, 
 when once the mind can be brought to dwell 
 intently on the subject, is certainly the most 
 interesting and the most important that can be 
 presented to him. Other objects may, and often 
 do, occupy more of our attention, and take a 
 stronger hold of our feelings ; but that, in real 
 importance, all those objects are comparatively 
 trifles, no one can doubt. Other matters of 
 contemplation, again, may be, in themselves, not 
 less awful, stupendous, and wonderful ; but none 
 of these can so intimately concern ourselves. 
 Admirable as is the whole of God's creation, no 
 other of his works can be so interesting to Man, 
 as Man himself; sublime as is the idea of the 
 eternal Creator himself, our own eternal exist- 
 ence after death is an idea calculated to strike 
 us with still more overpowering emotions. That 
 
14 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 Man, feeble and shortlived as he appears on 
 earth, is destined by his Maker to live for ever — 
 that ages hence, when we and our remotest pos- 
 terity shall have been long forgotten on earth — 
 and countless ages yet beyond, when this 
 Earth itself, and perhaps a long succession of 
 other worlds, shall have come to an end — we 
 shall still be living ; still sensible of pleasure or 
 pain, to a greater degree perhaps than our pre- 
 sent nature admits of, and still having no shorter 
 space of existence before us than at first — these 
 are thoughts which overwhelm the imagination 
 the more, the longer it dwells upon them. The 
 understanding cannot adequately embrace the 
 truths it is compelled to acknowledge : and 
 when, after intently gazing for some time on 
 this vast prospect, we turn aside to contemplate 
 the various courses of earthly events and trans- 
 actions, which seem like rivulets trickling into 
 the boundless ocean of eternity, we are struck 
 with a sense of the infinite insignificance of all 
 the objects around us that have a reference to 
 our present state alone ; while every the most 
 minute circumstance, that may concern the future 
 life, like a seed from which some mighty tree is 
 
SECT. 1 .] Revelation of a future state. 1 5 
 
 to spring, rises into immeasurable importance, 
 as the awful reflection occurs that perhaps some- 
 thing which is taking place at this very moment 
 may contribute to fix our final destiny. There 
 is no one truth, in short, the conviction of which 
 tends to produce so total a change in our estimate 
 of all things. 
 
 The powerful influence which such a belief is 
 likely to have on the conduct of those who keep 
 it habitually before them, is too obvious to need 
 being insisted on : but it may be interesting, 
 and not unprofitable, to inquire, by whom a doc- 
 trine thus sublime in contemplation, thus im- 
 portant in practice, was first proposed to us; 
 by whom " life and immortality were brought 
 to light :" proposed, I mean, not as a matter 
 of curious speculation, and interesting conjec- 
 ture, but of general, and well-grounded, and 
 practical belief; brought to light, not as an 
 ingenious and pleasing theory, but as an esta- 
 blished truth ; displayed to us, not as a wan- 
 dering meteor that serves but to astonish and 
 amuse us, but as the great luminary which is 
 destined to brighten our prospect, and to direct 
 our steps. 
 
16 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 Now, that " Jesus Christ brought hfe and im- 
 mortahty to light through the Gospel," and that, 
 in the most literal sense, which implies that the 
 revelation of this doctrine is peculiar to his 
 Gospel, seems to be at least the most obvious 
 meaning of the Scriptures of the New Testa- 
 ment. The doctrine in question, which occupies 
 a very prominent place in the preaching of the 
 Apostles, appears in general to be taught by 
 them not as one already well established, rest- 
 ing on sufficient evidence, and which they had 
 only to acknowledge and confirm, but as a part 
 of the revelaiion which they were commissioned 
 to communicate. 
 
 That infidels who admit the doctrine should 
 reject this account of its establishment, is at 
 least consistent; but there are not a few among 
 Christians who seem to regard it as a truth, not 
 only discoverable, but actually discovered, by 
 unassisted human reason ; and who have main- 
 tained, that though debased and perverted in 
 form by ignorant superstition, it has been in 
 substance fully and generally admitted, in al- 
 most all ages and countries. And there have 
 been others, who, though not going the length 
 
SECT. 2.] Revelation of a future state. 1 7 
 
 of making this knowledge a part of natural 
 religion, and ascribing it to the Pagan nations 
 of antiquity, have yet insisted that it is a part 
 of the revelation given through Moses to the 
 Israelites. 
 
 § 2. In favour of the first of these opinions, 
 it is often pleaded, in addition to the direct 
 arguments drawn from the Pagan writers, that 
 to deny the power of reason to establish this 
 truth, is to weaken the foundation of natural 
 religion, and to diminish the support it affords 
 to Christianity : it is even contended by one 
 writer of no small repute, that "the natural 
 revolutions and resurrections of other creatures 
 render the resurrection of the body highly pro- 
 bable. The day dies into a night, and is buried 
 in silence and in darkness ; in the next morning 
 it appeareth again and reviveth, opening the 
 grave of darkness, rising from the dead of night ; 
 this is a diurnal resurrection. As the day dies 
 into night, so doth the summer into winter ;" 
 &c. &c. &c. In favour of the latter also of the 
 above-mentioned opinions, it has been urged, that 
 to acknowledge no revelation of a future state 
 
18 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 in the law of Moses, is " derogatory to God's 
 honour, injurious to the Mosaic dispensation, a 
 very erroneous and dangerous doctrine," &c. &c. 
 and this in a discourse on the very text which 
 asserts that " Jesus Christ brought life and 
 immortality to hght through the Gospel !" To 
 reconcile this passage with such opinions, (which 
 a Christian who entertains them is evidently 
 boupd to do,) has been attempted in a manner 
 which may fairly be designated explaining away 
 those words of the Apostle ; and indeed not 
 those words only, but the general tenor of the 
 whole of the preaching of the Apostles, as far as 
 relates to the point in question ; so as to lay them 
 open to the censure of giving an overcharged 
 representation of the Gospel scheme, when they 
 characterize it as " bringing life and immortahty 
 to light." 
 
 I shall not, however, at present dwell on this 
 inconsistency ; because as long as the notion 
 remains unrefuted, that the doctrine of a future 
 immortality could be known, and was known, in- 
 dependently of the Gospel, any arguments which 
 go to prove that the first preachers of Chris- 
 tianity professed to exhibit the first revelation 
 
SECT. 2.3 Revelation of a future state. 19 
 
 of that truth, would be worse than unserviceable ; 
 would tend only to expose them to the imputa- 
 tion of making groundless pretensions, and thus 
 to give a colour to the cavils of the infidel, who 
 is ready enough to charge them with falsely 
 laying claim to the original announcement of a 
 doctrine already well established. 
 
 It will be advisable therefore to inquire first 
 into the notions entertained on this subject by 
 the ancient Pagans and by the Jews, and into 
 the grounds on which those notions rested ; in 
 order that the questions may be, as far as pos- 
 sible, decided, how far natural Reason, and how 
 far the Mosaic Revelation, are calculated to 
 afford, what I can find only in the Gospel, a 
 rational and a well-established assurance of a 
 future state. I say, " well-established," because 
 if the doctrine were made to rest even on the most 
 decisive evidence, but on such evidence as could 
 not be comprehended by any but profound philo- 
 sophers, the mass of mankind would still need a 
 revelation to assure them of it. On the other 
 hand, I say, " rational," as well as " established," 
 because however general and confident the belief 
 of it might be, if that belief rested on no 
 c2 
 
20 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 " rational" grounds, it would still need to be 
 made known (since conjecture is not knowledge) 
 on sufficient authority. It is important therefore 
 to remember, that there are two points, neither 
 of which should be lost sight of in the present 
 inquiry : in what degree the behef of a future 
 state prevailed among the ancients ; and how 
 far those who did entertain such belief were 
 correct in their notions of it, and warranted in 
 maintaining them : since it is plain, that no 
 opinion deserves to be called knowledge, except 
 so far as it is not only agreeable to truth, but 
 also supported by adequate evidence. 
 
 It ought to be observed, that, in order to avoid 
 vagueness and ambiguity in speaking of the 
 knowledge of a future state, or of any thing 
 else, we should steadily keep in mind the pre- 
 cise signification of the word Knowledge ; which 
 implies, when strictly employed, three things ; 
 viz. Truth, Proof, and Conviction. It is plain, 
 that no one can, properly speaking, be said to 
 know any thing that is not true, however con- 
 fident his belief of it may be : but even if to 
 this confident belief, truth be added, still there 
 is properly no knowledge, unless there is suf- 
 
SECT. 3.] Revelation of' a future state. 21 
 
 ncient proof io justify such confidence : one man, 
 e. g. may feel fully satisfied that the moon is 
 inhabited, and another may feel equally certain 
 that it is not ; and one of them must have truth 
 on his side ; but neither in fact possesses know- 
 ledge, because neither can have sufficient proof 
 to offer. Lastly, both truth and proof are in- 
 sufficient to constitute knovi^ledge in the mind 
 of one to whom that proof is not completely 
 satisfactory : it is true that the angles of a triangle 
 are equal to two right angles; but though Euclid's 
 demonstration of that truth is complete, no one 
 can be said to hnow that they are so, who is not 
 fully convinced by that demonstration, but remains 
 in a state of hesitation. 
 
 § 3. The popular mythology of the Greeks 
 and Romans (to direct our attention in the first 
 place to the Pagan nations) did certainly contain 
 ample descriptions of a fife after this, and of 
 the places prepared for the reward and punish- 
 ment, respectively, of the virtuous and the 
 wicked. And though it might be urged, with 
 truth, that this mythology, resting as it did 
 on no other evidence than that of vague, and 
 
22 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 incoherent, and contradictory tradition, could not 
 afford any rational assurance of a future state/ 
 and also that it did not inculcate the doctrine 
 of a resurrection, and was in many other points 
 greatly at variance with what Christians receive 
 as the authentic and true account ; still it must 
 be admitted, that a system so far correct in 
 its outline as to contain the notion of a just 
 judgment, and a state of retribution hereafter, 
 to be influenced by our conduct during the pre- 
 sent life, would, in some degree, supply the 
 want of the Gospel-revelation on these points ; 
 provided it were (on whatever evidence) fully 
 
 ^ Such, of course, must be the case with the notions of 
 Pagans of the present day on the subject, as well as with 
 those of the barbarous nations of antiquity, of whose my- 
 thology we have no distinct and authentic accounts. How 
 far the doctrine of a future state did or does prevail, and 
 prevail as a matter of serious belief, in those nations, it is by 
 no means easy to determine on sufficient evidence. In those 
 of modern times it is also difficult, if not impossible, to 
 decide, whether, and to what degree, some parts of their 
 religion may have been derived, through a remote and cor- 
 rupt tradition, from the Gospel. The fairest mode of trying 
 the question therefore seems to be, by examining the 
 opinions that prevailed before the promulgation of the 
 Gospel. 
 
SECT. 3.] Revelation of a future state. 23 
 
 and firmly, and generally established among the 
 mass of the community. 
 
 Now that this was not the case with respect to 
 the accounts of a future state current among the 
 ancients, is the conclusion which will present itself 
 to any one who examines the question fully and 
 candidly. I say, fully and candidly, because one 
 whose researches are very limited, will not be 
 unlikely to have met with such passages only in 
 ancient writers as would, of themselves, lead to 
 a contrary conclusion ; and one who is strongly 
 prepossessed in favour of that conclusion, will 
 confine his attention to those passages, seeking 
 only to explain away all that militate against it. 
 The truth is, there are many passages to be 
 found (and that, frequently in the same authors) 
 of each description ; some that seem to imply 
 the general belief, and others the disbelief, of 
 the accounts of a future life. And some have 
 dwelt on the numerical superiority of those 
 passages that favour the doctrine ; as if a book 
 were to be regarded in the same light as a 
 legislative assembly, in which we have only to 
 count the votes on each side, and consider the 
 decision of the majority as that of the whole. 
 
24 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 But it should be remembered, that, in such a 
 case, the expressions which negative the belief 
 are entitled to far the greater weight. For there 
 can be no doubt, that the fables of Elysium and 
 Tartarus were a part of the popular religion, 
 which it was usually thought decorous to speak 
 of with respect ; and the doctrine of a future 
 state was regarded as especially expedient to be 
 inculcated on the vulgar, in order to restrain 
 them in cases beyond the control of human laws; 
 so that a good reason can be assigned for a 
 philosopher's appearing to consider the doctrine 
 as indubitable, though he neither believed it him- 
 self, nor could flatter himself that it was so 
 generally believed as he might think desirable : 
 whereas, on the other hand, no reason whatever 
 can be assigned for any one's treating it as a 
 fable, if he really did believe it. 
 
 When, then, we find Socrates and his disciples 
 represented by Plato as fully admitting, in their 
 discussion of the subject, that " men in general 
 were highly incredulous as to the soul's future 
 existence," and as expecting that " it would, at 
 the moment of our natural death, be dispersed 
 (as he expresses it) like air or smoke, and cease 
 
SECT. 3.] Revelation of a future state. 25 
 
 altogether to exist, so that it would require no 
 little persuasion and argument to convince them 
 that the soul can exist after death, and can retain 
 any thing of its powers and intelligence ;" — when 
 we find this, I say, asserted, or rather alluded 
 to, as notoriously the state of popular opinion, 
 we can surely entertain but httle doubt that the 
 accounts of Elysium and Tartarus were regarded 
 as mere poetical fables, calculated to amuse the 
 imagination, but unworthy of serious belief. 
 
 Those who are not only firm believers in a real 
 state of future existence, but familiar from child- 
 hood with the belief, are apt to understand much 
 too strongly what the ancient poets say of the 
 dream-like, shadowy sort of half-existence which 
 they attribute to Elysium and Tartarus, and to 
 the souls which inhabited those abodes. And 
 there is the more difficulty in avoiding such a 
 misinterpretation, because the more philosophical, 
 clear, and precise our views are, the more we 
 shall be likely to mistake theirs. A man of 
 tolerably clear and cultivated understanding, 
 knows very well, that every thing of which he can 
 form a conception, either has a real existence in- 
 dependent of his mind, or has it not; — that there 
 
26 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 is nothing intermediate between these two — no 
 such state as half existence; — that "substance 
 does not admit of degrees and that, conse- 
 quently, if a man exist at all, he cannot exist 
 more or less than another. And though we may 
 be uncertain whether a particular man, or other 
 Being, does really exist or not, a moment's re- 
 flection shews us that this intermediate, uncertain 
 state appertains only to our minds: the Being itself 
 either has a real complete existence, or none at 
 all. But loose, popular language, which is apt to 
 impart to our thoughts a corresponding indis- 
 thictness, is continually tending to transfer to 
 external objects what in reality belongs to the 
 mind. We may find many, accordingly, even of 
 those who are regarded as philosophical writers, 
 speaking of "contingency" or "uncertainty" as 
 denoting quahties of eveiits themselves whereas 
 the words denote merely the relation in which 
 they stand to our knowledge. Whether a ship, 
 for instance, has arrived, or will arrive, at a cer- 
 tain time, at her destined port in the Indies, is 
 an uncertainty, and might be a fair subject of a 
 Arist. Categ. 
 
 Elements of Logic : Appendix, article " Certain." 
 
SECT. 3.] Revelation of a fukire state. 27 
 
 wager, in England ; though the former is a 
 matter of certainty to those on the spot. Yet 
 how much of the controversy between predesti- 
 narians and their opponents, which has lasted so 
 many ages, has gone on without either party 
 perceiving (and often in consequence of their not 
 perceiving) that the same thing may be both 
 " contingent," and " certain," though not to the 
 same person, at the same time.** 
 
 Universally we are prone to form insensibly a 
 habit of regarding objects and events, as them- 
 selves strictly corresponding with our views of 
 them. Thus, if one of the ancient heathen 
 thought, in his waking hours, or in his dreams, 
 of some deceased friend, he would receive an 
 impression of that person's existence, more or 
 less vivid, but far short of what he had received 
 in a real personal interview. If such a man had 
 reasoned philosophically on the subject, he would 
 have perceived at once that his friend either did 
 really exist, or did not ; and that though he might 
 exist in a thinner and less grossly material sub- 
 stance than formerly, and might be less an object 
 of the senses of the survivors, still if his soul did 
 ^ See Essay on Election, Second Series, § 4. 
 
28 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 exist at all, it must exist as really as ever ; (just 
 as things seen dimly in the twilight, are not in 
 themselves the less substantial ;) and if it did not, 
 could no more be any real thing at all, than the 
 monsters of a feverish dream. 
 
 But the generality were not so likely to reason 
 accurately, as to resign themselves to their ima- 
 gination ; which would suggest the (strictly, im- 
 possible) idea, of attributing to the souls of the 
 deceased a kind of existence analogous to their 
 own indistinct conceptions; — a sort of inter- 
 mediate condition between being, and not being, 
 corresponding to the impression of a dream or a 
 fancy ; which is intermediate between the vivid 
 impression produced by a real present object, 
 and, no impression at all. What our senses or 
 our reason assure us does exist, we regard as 
 something really and properly existing ; what we 
 are in like manner assured does not exist, we 
 regard as absolutely non-existent ; and thence, 
 what we are in doubt about, or have a faint 
 perception of, we are led to regard (without 
 reflecting and reasoning) as almost existing, and 
 not quite. 
 
 And this kind of confused and indistinct notion. 
 
SECT. 3.] Revelation of a future state. 29 
 
 the ordinary expressions, in all languages, rela- 
 tive to dreams, rather tends to foster. We are 
 accustomed to say, indifferently, either, " I saiu 
 so and so, in a dream," or, " I dreamed that I saw 
 it :" and though both expressions are designed to 
 convey the same meaning, the former of them, 
 according to its strict sense, suggests (while the 
 latter does not) the idea of a real object distinct 
 from the mind : for that of which we can, pro- 
 perly, say, I saw it, we conceive to have a real 
 existence. 
 
 That such was the origin, and such the cha- 
 racter, of the ancient popular notions respecting 
 a future state, is abundantly confirmed by the 
 language of the poets ; who perpetually com- 
 pare the souls of the departed to dreams." And 
 the rewards and punishments of the future state, 
 they represent as of the same dreamy and unsub- 
 stantial character : — as " only shadows dealt out 
 to shadows and, what is more remarkable 
 still, as producing only a sort of shadowy and 
 unreal enjoyment. The poet from whom so 
 
 * Thus Virgil's " Volucrique simillima somno," &c. 
 ^ Hinds's " History of the Rise and Progress of Chris- 
 tianity ;" Introduction. 
 
30 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 many were content to derive their creed, repre- 
 sents Achilles, among the shades, as declaring 
 that the life of the meanest drudge on earth, is 
 preferable to the very highest of the unsubstan- 
 tial glories of Elysium. 
 
 BovXoifjitjv K i-irapovpoQ iii)v drjrevefiEy aXX« 
 'Avcpi Trap' d^Xi'/pw w (iiorog ttoXvq e'ir), 
 'H Trdair veKvetrcri Kara(t)QiH(.voienv avaaviiv. 
 
 It is remarkable too that the same poet seems 
 plainly to regard the body, not the soul, as being 
 properly "the man," after death has separated 
 them. We should be apt to say that such a 
 one's body is here, and that he, properly the 
 person himself, is departed to the other w^orld ; 
 but Homer uses the very opposite language in 
 speaking of the heroes slain before Troy ; viz. 
 that their souls w^ere despatched to the shades, 
 and that they themselves were left a prey to 
 dogs and birds. 
 
 IloXXae ^' 'Kpdlfiovc ^YXAS aVci ■Kpo'ia^tv 
 'Yipi)wv, AYTOYS cs tkiipia rtvxe Kvrtffmv.^ 
 
 B A curious instance of that kind of confusion of thought 
 I have been speaking of, is afforded by those theological 
 or ecclesiastical writers who reckon Barnabas among the 
 
SECT. 4 J Revelation of a future state. 
 
 31 
 
 § 4. It may be thought, however, (though the 
 supposition does not seem a probable one,) that 
 the philosophers I have mentioned, mistook, or 
 misrepresented, the opinions of their countrymen : 
 let us turn to the records of matters of fact, as 
 presented to us by an able and faithful historian, 
 who possessed the amplest opportunities for ob- 
 taining information. The testimony of Thucy- 
 dides, not as to the professed belief, but as to 
 the conduct, of the Athenians, under those trying 
 circumstances in which the near approach of 
 death impresses the most forcibly the thought 
 of a future state on the minds of those who 
 expect it — his testimony, I say, as to their con- 
 duct on such an occasion, must alone prove almost 
 
 " Apostolical Fathers," on the ground that an epistle is 
 extant under his name, which is generally suspected, or 
 more than suspected, to be spurious. If they had been 
 quite sure that Barnabas did write it, they would have 
 reckoned it the work, not of an Apostolical Father, but, of 
 an undoubted Apostle ; if again they had been quite sure 
 that Barnabas did not write it, they would not have applied 
 to him any title or description having reference to the work : 
 but their minds being in an intermediate state between the 
 affirmative and negative conclusion, they adopted respecting 
 Barnabas hiiuself a sort of intermediate language, implying 
 at once that he is, and that he is not, the Author. 
 
32 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 decisive of the question. For it will hardly be 
 denied, that those who firmly beUeve in a future 
 state, or even regard it as a thing highly pro- 
 bable, however the pursuits and occupations of 
 this world may have drawn off their attention 
 from it, will be likely, when death evidently 
 draws near — death, not in the tumultuous ardour 
 of battle, but in the calm, yet resistless, progress 
 of disease — to think with lively and anxious in- 
 terest of the life of another world. If they have 
 any apprehensions at all of judgment to come, 
 they will usually wish to " die the death of the 
 righteous," even though they may not have been 
 wilhng to lead the life of the righteous. Even 
 those who have been in some doubt respecting 
 this truth, or who have studied to keep it out of 
 sight, are generally found to believe in it the 
 most firmly at that awful moment, when they 
 would be most glad to disbelieve it ; and then to 
 think most of it, when the thought is the most 
 intolerable. 
 
 It is not necessary for the present purpose to 
 contend, that what has been just said constitutes 
 a rule without exception ; let it be admitted 
 only as applying to the generality, or even to a 
 
SECT. 4.] Revelation of a future state. 33 
 
 considerable portion merely, of mankind ; (and 
 thus far at least we are surely borne out, both 
 by reason and experience ;) and let any one, with 
 these principles before him, contemplate the 
 picture drawn of the pestilence which ravaged 
 Athens during the Peloponnesian war, by that 
 judicious historian who was an eye-witness and a 
 partaker of the calamity. Whether the ancient 
 Poets, or Philosophers, be regarded as the better 
 instructors in the doctrine of a future state, 
 Athens had no deficiency in either : and a plague 
 so wide-spreading, so irresistible, and which 
 brought with it to those whom it seized (as we 
 are expressly told) such an utter despair of reco- 
 very, may be fairly expected to have had the 
 effect, ill some minds at least, of awakening 
 whatever belief, or even suspicion, they might 
 have entertained respecting Tartarus and Ely- 
 sium, and of calling into action their fears and 
 hopes on the subject. We might expect to find 
 some of them at least bewailing their sins, making 
 reparation to those they had injured, and in every 
 way striving to prepare for the judgment that 
 seemed impending. 
 
 The very reverse took place. The historian 
 
34 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 tells us, that " seeing death so near them, they 
 resolved to make the most of life while it 
 lasted, by setting at naught all laws divine and 
 human, and eagerly plunging into every species 
 of profligacy." Nor was this conduct by any 
 means confined to the most vile and worthless 
 of the community ; for he complains of a general 
 and permanent depravation of morals, which 
 dated its origin from this calamity. Nor again 
 does the description apply to such only as had 
 been, either openly or secretly, contemners of 
 the whole system of the national religion ; for 
 we are told, that " at first many had recourse to 
 the offices of their religion, with a view to ap- 
 pease the gods ; but that when they found their 
 sacrifices and ceremonies availed nothing against 
 the disease, and that the pious and the impious 
 alike fell victims to it, they at once concluded 
 that piety and impiety were altogether indiffe- 
 rent, and cast off all religious and moral obli- 
 gations." Is it not evident from this, that those 
 who did reverence the gods, had been accus- 
 tomed to look for none but temporal rewards 
 and punishments from them ? Can we conceive 
 that men who expected that virtue should be 
 
SECT. 4.] Revelation of a future state. 35 
 
 rewarded, and vice punished, in the other world, 
 would, just at their entrance into that world, 
 begin to regard virtue and vice as indifferent ? 
 
 It is but too true, indeed, that men have been 
 found in countries where Christianity is pro- 
 fessed, so hardened, as to manifest, even at the 
 approach of death, no regard to the judgment 
 which is to succeed it ; who have availed them- 
 selves of present impunity for the commission 
 of crimes, or have endeavoured to drown thought 
 in sensual excess : but instances of this kind 
 rather go to prove that such men do not, than 
 that the heathens did, believe in a future re- 
 tribution ; if by belief is to be understood, not 
 a mere unthinking assent, or a mere non-denial, 
 of the doctrine, but a deliberate, firm, and ha- 
 bitual conviction. Such gross and complete 
 ignorance is to be found in not a few of the 
 lower orders in professedly Christian countries, 
 that scarcely any idea whatever of religion has 
 at any time entered their minds. If this assertion 
 should appear, as it probably may to some of 
 my readers, overcharged, or if they should sup- 
 pose that instances of this kind must be, in this 
 country at least, extremely rare, they may convince 
 d2 
 
36 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 themselves but too easily of the deplorable 
 truth either by inquiring of those, who in the 
 discharge of their clerical functions have had 
 opportunity to ascertain it, or by themselves 
 examining such of the least educated among the 
 lower orders (and many, I fear I may add, much 
 above the lowest) who come in their way ; among 
 whom they will, I am convinced, meet with in- 
 stances of persons growing up to maturity with 
 scarcely any more knowledge or thought con- 
 cerning the Christian religion, than the Hindoo 
 mythology. 
 
 Those, again, who have long been hardened in 
 habits of extreme profligacy, may ultimately be- 
 come as blind to all ideas of a future state as if 
 they had never heard of it ; but experience as 
 well as reason forbids us to believe, that, where 
 the Gospel is assiduously preached, such a degree 
 of ignorance, or of depravity, can ever be general, 
 much less universal. 
 
 And, accordingly, it appears, that the great 
 plague which desolated London, produced, on 
 the whole, an effect exactly opposite to that 
 at Athens. Some abandoned wretches, no doubt, 
 took the same advantage as the Athenians did, of 
 
SKCT- 4.] Revelation of a future state. 37 
 
 the calamity ; but the generality seem plainly to 
 have shewn, that their belief of a future state, 
 however it might have lain dormant during a time 
 of apparent security, and however easily it might 
 be thrown off on a return to such a state, was real 
 and deep-rooted. No instances are recorded there 
 of pious men renouncing their piety, when they 
 saw death approaching : on the contrary, serious 
 devotion seems, for the most part, to have 
 prevailed ; and, if not reformation, at least alarm 
 andc ontrition, to have been generally produced 
 among sinners. Many are said, when attacked 
 by the plague, to have even rushed into the 
 public streets, confessing aloud and bewailing 
 crimes long ago committed, and never before 
 imputed to them, and earnestly seeking to make 
 reparation. Now, it may surely be presumed, 
 that instances of this kind, if they occurred at all, 
 atAthens, must have been rare indeed; that no one 
 such took place is the most probable inference ; 
 since none are recorded. The account, indeed, 
 which the historian gives of the general depravity 
 that supervened, is certainly not to be understood 
 without exceptions ; for he tells us, that some 
 good men retained their virtue, and displayed 
 
38 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 their humanity ; but, had any instances occurred 
 of the repentance of bad men — of sinners alarmed 
 into remorse for their guilt, and endeavouring to 
 atone for it — such instances would have presented 
 so striking a contrast to the general case, that we 
 can hardly suppose a writer so accurate and 
 intelligent, living on the spot, would have made 
 no mention of them. 
 
 In Christian countries, on the contrary, how- 
 ever imperfectly Christian, in respect of many 
 of the inhabitants of them, it is well known 
 that instances of this kind are of daily occur- 
 rence, even when the ordinary course of human 
 mortality is not accelerated by any remarkable 
 visitation. 
 
 Can we then, on comparing two such cases 
 together, come to the conclusion, that in each, 
 the notions respecting a future state were the 
 same, or at all similar ? Is not the inference 
 obvious, that, at least the Athenians of that age, 
 considered the accounts of a future hfe as no more 
 than amusing fictions, of whose utter falsity there 
 was no reason even to doubt? And, accordingly, 
 when Pericles is represented, by the same his- 
 torian, as exhausting every topic of consolation, 
 
SECT. 4.] Revelation of a future state. 39 
 
 in his address to the friends of those who had 
 fallen in battle/ he speaks of their glorious me- 
 mory, and of the hope of other sons to be born, 
 who may fill their place, and emulate their worth ; 
 but adds not one word of their future life and 
 immortality. 
 
 And that the prevailing belief, at other times, 
 and in other states, Greek or Italian, was the 
 same as at Athens at the period just spoken of, 
 there is at least a strong presumption, till evi- 
 dence of the contrary is produced. The Athenians 
 were noted for their religious devotion ; the 
 popular mythology which prevailed among the 
 other Grecian states, and, I may add, at Rome, 
 was the same, or nearly the same, with theirs ; 
 and therefore may be presumed, in the absence 
 of all proof to the contrary, to have had the 
 same results in respect of the belief of a future 
 life. Indeed, we find the younger Pliny,' in his 
 account of the eruption of Vesuvius, in which his 
 uncle perished, recording, among the striking 
 events of that scene, the excitement of a feehng 
 not unhke that of the Athenians in the plague ; 
 
 Thucyd. lib. ii. c. 35, et. seq. 
 ' Epist. lib. ii. Ep. 20. 
 
40 Revelation of a future state, [essay i 
 
 viz. a general distrust of divine aid, arising from 
 tiie notion, that the gods themselves were possibly 
 involved in the impending ruin. 
 
 The belief, then, of a life to come, though 
 nominally professed, cannot be considered as 
 practically forming any part of the creed of 
 those ancient nations with whom we are best ac- 
 quainted. Cicero acknowledges, that the epistle 
 of Sulpicius to him, on the death of Tullia, com- 
 prehended every argument for comfort which the 
 case admitted ; yet, we find in it no allusion to 
 the one topic, which would have been uppermost 
 in the mind of a believer. It is no wonder, 
 therefore, that when, at Athens, Paul came to 
 speak of the resurrection of the dead, some of his 
 hearers mocked ; and that, when Festus " heard 
 of the resurrection from the dead," he exclaimed, 
 " Paul, thou art beside thyself." So far, indeed, 
 were the promulgators of Christianity from finding 
 the belief of a future state already well established, 
 that they appear to have had no small diflSculty 
 in convincing of this truth even some of their 
 converts. Some of those who denied a resurrec- 
 tion, may, indeed, with good reason, be supposed 
 to have looked for some other kind of future 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 41 
 
 existence ; but when Paul finds it necessary to 
 urge, " if in this life only we have hope in Christ, 
 we are of all men most miserable — let us eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow we die,'"" it is plain that he 
 must have been opposing such as ex'^ecteHnothing 
 beyond the grave. And when he exhorts the 
 Thessalonians not to sorrow for the deceased, 
 " even as the rest} who have no hope" we have 
 the testimony, if we will receive it, of one who 
 knew better than we can, as to the real senti- 
 ments of the heathen on this point. 
 
 § 5. It may be said, however, (and this per- 
 haps is the most prevailing notion,) that little 
 as the vulgar believed in the doctrine of a future 
 state, it was received and inculcated by many 
 eminent Philosophers. Now that a truth of 
 the highest importance to all mankind alike 
 
 k Thus Catullus : 
 
 Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus, 
 Rumoresque senum severiorum, 
 Omnes unius aestimemus assis, 
 Soles occidere et redire possunt : 
 Nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, 
 
 NOX EST PERPETUA, UNA DORMIENDA. 
 
42 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 should be discovered by a few, and confined 
 to them, would be, even if the fact were fully 
 established, no very great triumph of human 
 reason. But, in reality, the doctrine never was 
 either generally admitted among the ancient 
 philosophers, or satisfactorily proved by any of 
 them, even in the opinion of those who argued 
 in favour of it. On the one hand, not only 
 the Epicurean school openly contended against 
 it, but one of much greater weight than any of 
 them, and the founder of a far more illustrious 
 sect, Aristotle, without expressly combating the 
 notion of a future state, does much more ; he 
 passes it by as not worth considering, and takes 
 for granted the contrary supposition, as not 
 needing proof. He remarks incidentally, in his 
 treatise on courage, that " death is formidable 
 beyond most other evils, on account of its ex- 
 cluding hope ; since it is a complete termination, 
 and there does not appear to be any thing either 
 of good or evil beyond it.'"" And in the same 
 work, in discussing the question whether a man 
 can justly be pronounced happy before the end 
 
 Arist. Eth. Nicom. b. iii. 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 43 
 
 of his life, he proceeds all along (as indeed is 
 the case throughout) on the supposition, that 
 after death a man ceases altogether to exist." 
 And it should be observed, that his incidental 
 and oblique allusion to this latter opinion, im- 
 plies (as I have said) much more than if he 
 had expressly asserted and maintained it ; in 
 that case he would have borne testimony only 
 to his own belief; but as it is, w^e may collect 
 from his mode of speaking that such was the 
 prevailing, and generally uncontradicted, belief 
 of the rest of the world. 
 
 Of those philosophers again, who contended 
 for a future state, it is to be observed, not only 
 that, as Dr. Paley remarks, they did not, pro- 
 perly speaking, effect a discovery ; " it was 
 only one guess among many ; he only discovers, 
 who proves ;" but also, that (as has been said 
 above) their arguments did not fully succeed in 
 convincing even themselves. Those which at 
 one time they bring forward as decisive proof, 
 they seem at another time to regard as hardly 
 possessing that degree of probability, which, now 
 
 " Arist. Eth. Nicom. b. i. See note (A) at the end of 
 this Essay. 
 
44 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 that the doctrine is estabhshed, most are ready 
 to allow to them. Cicero especially, who is fre- 
 quently appealed to on this question, we find 
 distinctly acknowledging, at least in the person 
 of one of his disputants, that though, while he 
 is reading the Phaedo, he feels disposed to assent 
 to the reasons urged in favour of a future state, 
 his conviction vanishes as soon as he lays down 
 the book, and revolves the matter in his own 
 thoughts ; which was the feeling probably with 
 which the author himself had written it.° Many 
 indeed of the deistical writers of modern times 
 have come to much more decisive conclusions, 
 on this, and also on many other points, than 
 the ancients did, and indeed than are fairly war- 
 ranted by any arguments which unassisted reason 
 can supply ; but this only affords a presumption 
 of the powerful, though unacknowledged and 
 perhaps unperceived, influence which the Gospel 
 
 " Not that this inconsisteucy in their writings arose from a 
 corresponding hesitation and vacillation in their opinions ; but 
 evidently from the circumstance that most of them, except the 
 Epicureans, judged it necessary to keep the vulgar in awe, by 
 the terrors of another world ; which accordingly they very 
 gravely set forth and insist on in their popular (exoteric) 
 works. See note (B) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 45 
 
 revelation has exercised even on the minds of 
 those who reject it : they have drunk at that 
 stream of knowledge, which they cannot, or will 
 not, trace to the real source from which it flows. 
 
 Supposing however those of the ancient phi- 
 losophers, who maintained a future state, to have 
 been more fully convinced themselves of the con- 
 clusions they respectively arrived at, than it 
 appears they really were, it is evidently necessary 
 to inquire in the next place, what those con- 
 clusions were, and on what proofs they rested. 
 The arguments commonly employed by them, 
 (and also by such deists of the present day as 
 admit the doctrine,) viz. the distinct nature of 
 the soul from the corruptible body with which 
 it is united — the vigour and energy which the 
 soul sometimes manifests when the body is in 
 the lowest state of exhaustion, &c. led them 
 naturally to the inference, that the soul will 
 continue to exist after death in a separate state, 
 never to be re-united with matter. They re- 
 presented the body as a kind of prison of the 
 spiritual part, from which it was to be released 
 by death ; and the soul accordingly would ener- 
 gize, they supposed, more freely, and enjoy the 
 
46 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 happiness of more exalted contemplation, when 
 freed from its connexion with gross material 
 substance. 
 
 To this it was replied, that the body seems 
 rather the necessary organ of the soul, than its 
 prison ; that the effects frequently produced by 
 external injuries, by the administration of certain 
 drugs, and by several, though not all, bodily 
 diseases, sufficiently shew the dependence of the 
 mental functions on the body ; and that the 
 perceptive powers of the mind, which are the 
 main source of our knowledge, must apparently 
 he dormant, without the intervention of the 
 bodily senses -J^ " how," said they, " can the 
 
 P Some writers are accustomed to adduce instances of 
 great mental energy remaining in the midst of bodily decay, 
 unimpaired even up to the moment of dissolution, as a 
 proof of the mind's independence on the body. But surely 
 this is a very incorrect way of reasoning : especially when 
 the cases brought forward are manifestly exceptions to the 
 general rule. To prove that the mental faculties are not 
 dependent on every part of the bodily organization, does 
 not authorize us to conclude that they are connected with 
 no part of it : a disease may attack a vital part of the bodily 
 system, and yet leave unhurt to the last those parts (sup- 
 posing there are such) which are connected with the exercise 
 of the mental powers. 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 47 
 
 soul enjoy, when the eye and the ear, for instance, 
 are destroyed, those perceptions which are fur- 
 nished by sight and hearing ?" The whole argu- 
 ment is detailed in Lucretius with considerable 
 ingenuity ; and though he goes much too far, 
 in thence concluding that the soul cannot possibly 
 exist in an active and perceptive state without 
 the body — much more, when he contends that 
 it cannot exist at all, (for how can we tell that 
 other means of perception, such as we have no 
 notion of, may not be substituted ?) — still it must 
 be admitted, that he leaves the question in a 
 doubtful state, and reduces the opposite conclu- 
 sion to no more, at the utmost, than a faint 
 probability. At least, nothing more can be fairly 
 claimed for it, till some more satisfactory answer 
 (drawn from reason, independent of revelation) 
 can be given to the above objections, than any 
 that has hitherto appeared. 
 
 A well-known argument by illustration, which 
 has been employed on this subject, will be found 
 on examination to be less sohd than ingenious. 
 If we suppose, it has been said, a person to have 
 been kept from his birth in a dark cave^ which 
 admits a portion of light, and a partial view of 
 
48 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 external objects, only through an aperture in the 
 wall that closes its entrance, would he not, thus 
 accustomed to receive all his perceptions through 
 that aperture, suppose, that this loop-hole is 
 essential to them, and that if it were destroyed, 
 he should be left in total obscurity ? yet we 
 know, that if the wall were pulled down, and 
 the whole cave thrown open, he would enjoy 
 a fuller light and a much wider prospect. Even 
 so, we, it is urged, who are accustomed to re- 
 ceive all our perceptions through the medium 
 of the bodily senses, are apt to suppose, though 
 with no better reason, that the destruction of 
 the body would leave us without the means of 
 perception ; whereas, in fact, the soul might then 
 be released, as it were, from a cave, and enjoy 
 a wider sphere of intelligence and of activity. 
 
 There is a speciousness in this illustration, 
 very likely to captivate a superficial inquirer; 
 but in fact, if it proves any thing at all, it mili- 
 tates against the conclusion drawn from it. The 
 fallacy consists in overlooking, (what is com- 
 monly overlooked in many similar cases, into 
 which much error and confusion of thought are 
 thus introduced,) that an aperture is a Jiegative 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 49 
 
 idea, implying merely the absence of a certain 
 portion of opaque matter. The supposed person 
 in the cave, therefore, would not in reality be 
 at all mistaken in his notions and expectations ; 
 for he supposes, not that the opaque substance 
 of the sides of the cave is necessary to his per- 
 ceptions, but, on the contrary, that the inter- 
 ruption or absence of that opaque body is so ; 
 in which he would be perfectly right: as he 
 would also be, in supposing that the destruction 
 of that aperture would put an end to his per- 
 ception ; since that destruction would be, pro- 
 perly, the closing of the aperture ; not the 
 throwing down of the walls, which would, in 
 truth, be an enlargement of it. 
 
 Now the body and the bodily senses being 
 evidently not merely negative ideas, the destruc- 
 tion of them bears no analogy whatever to the 
 supposed destruction of the cave ; since that cave 
 itself was never imagined to be, to the person 
 enclosed, (as the bodily senses are to us,) the 
 means of conveying knowledge, but, on the 
 contrary, as far as it extends, of excluding it. 
 
 The question then is left, as I have said, by 
 unaided Reason, in a doubtful state. To the 
 
 E 
 
50 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 Christian, indeed, all this doubt would be in- 
 stantly removed, if he found that the immortality 
 of the soul, as a disembodied Spirit, were re- 
 vealed to him in the word of God. He cannot 
 question the power of the great Creator to 
 prolong, in any way He may see fit, the life 
 He originally gave : but this is very different 
 from arriving at the conclusion by the evidence 
 which unassisted reason can supply. 
 
 In fact, however, no such doctrine is revealed 
 to us ; the Christian's hope, as founded on the 
 promises contained in the Gospel, is, the resur- 
 rection of the body a doctrine which seems 
 never to have occurred (nor indeed was likely 
 to occur, from any contemplation of the change 
 from night to day, and from summer to winter) 
 to any of the heathen. Indeed, when any of 
 them are struck by, and notice, any phenomenon 
 in nature that has the appearance of a revival, 
 they are struck by it as a contrast to the sup- 
 posed fate of man. Thus we find a Greek poet, 
 in bewailing a departed friend, lamenting, that 
 while the herbs of the garden, which appear 
 
 See note (C) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 51 
 
 dead, shoot up in the succeeding spring, man, 
 on the contrary, who appears a Being of so 
 much greater dignity, when dead, is doomed to 
 live no more/ 
 
 " The meanest herb we trample in the field, 
 Or in the garden nurture, when its leaf 
 In autumn dies, forebodes another Spring, 
 And from brief slumber wakes to life again : 
 Man wakes no more : Man, peerless, valiant, wise, 
 Once chilled by death, sleeps hopeless in the dust, 
 A long unbroken, never-ending sleep." 
 
 GiSBORNE. 
 
 As, however, even the faintest conjecture of a 
 future existence, though it must not be con- 
 founded with a full assurance of it, is, as far as 
 it goes, an approximation towards the knov>^ledge 
 of truth, so, also, notions considerably incorrect 
 respecting that existence, if they are but such as 
 to involve the idea of enjoyment or suflPering, 
 corresponding with men's conduct' in this life, 
 
 " 'OffTTore Trpara ddviofieg, avaKooi ev ^dovi KoiK<f 
 EiSofies tl fiiXa fiaKpov, ATEPMONA, NHrPETON 
 vTTvov. Mosch. Epit. Bionis. 
 
 ' I mean, virtuous and vicious conduct respectively; else 
 the doctrine may even do harm instead of good. See § 9. 
 
 e2 
 
52 Revelation of' a future state, [essay i. 
 
 have so far something of a just foundation, and 
 of a tendency to practical utihty. This, how- 
 ever, appears by no means to have been the 
 case with the systems of any, as far as we can 
 learn, of those ancient philosophers, who con- 
 tended the most strenuously for the imraortahty 
 of the soul. For not only do they seem to have 
 agreed, that no suffering could be expected by 
 the wicked in another life, on the ground that 
 the gods were incapable of anger, and therefore 
 could not punish;' but the very notion of the 
 soul's immortality, as explained by them, in- 
 volved the complete destruction of distinct per- 
 sonal existence. Their notion was, (I mean, 
 when they spoke their real sentiments ; for in 
 their exoteric or popular works they often incul- 
 cate, for the benefit of the vulgar, the doctrine of 
 future retribution, which they elsewhere laugh 
 at,) that the soul of each man is a portion of that 
 Spirit which pervades the Universe," to which 
 it is reunited at death, and becomes again an 
 undistinguishable part of the great whole ; just 
 
 * Cic. de Ofif. lib. Hi. chap. 28. &c. &c. 
 " See note (D) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 5.] Revelation of a future state. 53 
 
 as the body is resolved into the general mass of 
 matter." So that their immortality, or rather 
 eternity, of the soul, was anterior as well as 
 posterior ; as it was to have no end, so it had 
 no beginning ; and the boasted continuance of 
 existence, which according to this system we 
 are to expect after death, consists in returning 
 to the state in which we were before birth ; 
 which, every one must perceive, is the same 
 thing, virtually, with annihilation. 
 
 Let it be remembered then, when the argu- 
 ments of the heathen Sages are triumphantly 
 brought forward in proof of the soul's immor^ 
 tality, that when they countenanced the doctrine 
 of future retribution, they taught, with a view to 
 political expediency, what they did not them- 
 selves believe : and that when they spoke their 
 real sentiments on the subject, the eternity of 
 existence which they expected, as it implied the 
 destruction of all distinct personality, amounted, 
 practically, to nothing at all. 
 
 ^ " Whatever there is," says Cicero, (Fragm. de Consor- 
 latione,) "that perceives, that exercises judgment, that wills, 
 is of celestial nature, and divine ; and for that reason it must 
 of necessity be eternal." 
 
54 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 § 6. It is not unlikely, that in thus depre- 
 ciating the power of unassisted reason to ascertain 
 the truth of a future life, I shall be suspected of 
 favouring some opinions against which much 
 clamour has been raised, viz. that the Soul is 
 naturally mortal — incapable of an existence con- 
 tinued after our dissolution, except from the 
 express decree of the Creator ; and that it is a 
 Material Substance, or an Attribute of Matter. 
 
 It were to be wished that those who have 
 agitated these questions (and indeed many 
 others) had begun by distinctly ascertaining 
 what they were disputing about ; which nei- 
 ther of the parties appears to have attended to. 
 For my own part, I must frankly acknowledge, 
 that I do not understand the questions. If by 
 " nature " is meant the course in which the 
 Author and Governor of all things proceeds in 
 his works, (which is the only meaning I am 
 able to attach to it,) then, to say that the souls 
 of men, if God has appointed that they shall 
 exist for ever, are naturally immortal, is not 
 only an undeniable, but an identical proposi- 
 tion : it is only saying that the appointments of 
 Omnipotence will surely take effect. If on the 
 
SECT. 6'.] Revelation of a future state. 55 
 
 other hand, when it is said that the Soul is natu- 
 rally mortal, nothing more is meant than that 
 its existence is maintained after death solely by 
 the agency of divine power ; this also I should 
 be disposed not only fully to admit, but to extend 
 to our present existence also ; " for in God we 
 live, and move, and have our being :" I cannot 
 myself conceive what are called physical causes 
 to possess power, in the strict sense of the 
 word;^ or to be capable of maintaining, more 
 
 ^ It is a remarkable circumstance, that both in the Greek 
 and Latin languages, nouns of the neuter gender, i. e. consi- 
 dered as denoting things, and not persons, (for though many, 
 really, inanimate objects were expressed by masculine and 
 feminine nouns, they were personified by the very circum- 
 stance, of sex being attributed to them,) invariably had the 
 nominative and accusative the same ; or rather, may be said 
 to have had an accusative only, employed as a nominative 
 when the grammatical construction required it ; for the 
 nominative, so called, of neuter nouns, corresponds to the 
 accusative (if to any case) of masculines ; e. g. the accusative 
 of "dominus" is -"dominum ;" and accordingly, under the 
 same declension we have " regn-Mwi," both nominative and 
 accusative, A rule of this kind, extending without exception 
 to several declensions, and both numbers, in two languages, 
 can hardly be a mere accident. May it not have arisen 
 from an indistinct consciousness that a person only can really 
 be an agent ; a mere thing, being, in truth, only acted upon ? 
 
56 Revelatioji of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 than of first producing, the system of the uni- 
 verse ; whose continued existence, no less than 
 its origin, seems to me to depend on the con- 
 tinual operation of the great Creator. The Laws 
 of Nature, as they are called, presuppose (as Dr. 
 Paley remarks) an Agent ; since they are " the 
 modes in which that Agent operates ;" they can- 
 not be the cause of their own observance. 
 
 The principles here touched upon (which it 
 would be foreign to the present purpose to ex- 
 plain and defend) may, I am aware, be disputed 
 by many who are far from having any leaning 
 towards atheism ; but that they are at all of a 
 mischievous tendency, even if erroneous, can 
 hardly be contended by any one of the smallest 
 degree of candour. 
 
 The question again respecting the Materiality 
 of the soul, is one which I am also at a loss to 
 
 And may not the same cause have led to the practice, in Greek, 
 of joining a neuter plural with a verb in the singular? 
 
 I throw out this suggestion with a full expectation that 
 by many it will be derided as fanciful ; but they cannot deny 
 that the phenomenon exists, and must have some cause ; and 
 it must be allowed that at least the most decisive objection 
 to any proposed solution of it, is, to offer a better. 
 
SECT. 6.] Revelation of a future state. 57 
 
 understand clearly, till it shall have been clearly 
 determined what matter is. We know nothing 
 of it, any more than of Mind, except its Attri- 
 butes ; and (let it not be forgotten) the most 
 remarkable of these are not ascertained. Whe- 
 ther Gravitation be an essential quality of matter 
 is still a question, and likely to remain so, among 
 natural philosophers ; who accordingly are di- 
 vided in opinion whether those commonly called 
 imponderahle Substances, Heat, Light, and Elec- 
 tricity, are Substances at all, or not. At any 
 rate, let not the truths of Religion be rested on 
 any decision respecting subtle questions which 
 belong to the Natural-philosopher or the Meta- 
 physician, not the Theologian ; nor let our hopes 
 in God's promises be mixed up with debates 
 about Extension, and Gravitation, and Form. 
 The Scriptures in these points leave us just 
 where they found us ; giving no explanation of 
 the nature of the Soul, but giving us instead, 
 what is far more important, an assurance that we 
 are destined to live for ever. That this is impos- 
 sible, and that no revelation is to be received, 
 however attested, which contains this doctrine, 
 we may be assured no metaphysical arguments 
 
58 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 will ever prove : and it is on the other hand, I 
 think, equally out of the power of metaphysical 
 arguments to prove the contrary ; — to establish, 
 without the aid of divine revelation, the certainty 
 of a future immortality : for if otherwise, whence 
 is it that the wisest of men, when fairly left to 
 themselves, never did arrive at the conclusion, 
 by any arguments which were satisfactory even 
 to themselves ? For it should not be forgotten, 
 among other considerations, that none of those 
 who contend for the natural immortality of the 
 Soul, on the ground of its distinct nature from 
 the Body, — its incapability of decomposition, &c. 
 have been able to extricate themselves from one 
 difficulty, viz. that all their arguments apply, 
 with exactly the same force, to prove an immor- 
 tality not only of brutes, but even of plants ; 
 though in such a conclusion as this, they were 
 never wilhng to acquiesce. 
 
 Let it be observed, however, once more, that 
 the full assurance of man's immortahty is what 
 is here spoken of; which must be carefully dis- 
 tinguished from probable conjecture. It is not 
 denied that arguments have been adduced in 
 favour of this conclusion, which may have been. 
 
SECT. 6.3 Revelation of a future state. 
 
 59 
 
 more or less, convincing to many ; some of which 
 are justly regarded as possessing considerable 
 weight ; and others have been reckoned such, 
 though perhaps without sufficient grounds. It 
 must not be forgotten, however, that most men 
 are very incompetent judges of the force of any 
 argument which tends to a conclusion of which 
 they are already well assured; and are prone 
 to consider as perfectly clear and decisive, such 
 a train of reasoning as would never have pre- 
 vailed with themselves, if proposed to them while 
 in a state of doubt. When Columbus had dis- 
 covered the New World, he found men (accord- 
 ing to the well-known anecdote told of him) 
 who thought it easy to prove beyond a doubt, 
 ^ priori, that such a country must exist ; but they 
 forgot that they had not seen the force of these 
 arguments till the discovery had been made. 
 
 Of the arguments just alluded to, that which 
 proceeds on the disorder and irregularity ap- 
 parent in the present world, and the necessity of 
 a future state of retribution, to vindicate the 
 divine justice, would be indeed most satisfac- 
 tory, if it involved a solution of the great and 
 
60 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 perplexing question (intimately connected with 
 it) respecting the origin of Evil : but though it 
 may seem to remove the difficulty one step 
 further off, it does not in any degree explain or 
 lessen it ;^ the expectation that at the day of 
 harvest the tares shall be rooted up and burnt, 
 does not at all explain why they were allowed 
 to be sown among the wheat. That there are 
 wicked men, experience teaches us ; and that 
 they shall be punished, the Scriptures teach us ; 
 nor is there any ground for cavilling at this 
 doctrine, since it involves no greater difficulty 
 than the other, which we cannot but admit ; 
 but it does not explain the fact; nor are we 
 therefore authorized to infer, a priori, indepen- 
 dent of Revelation, a future state of retribution, 
 from the irregularities prevailing in the present 
 life ; since that future state does not account 
 
 ^ The Scriptures, it should be observed, leave the question 
 concerning the origin of evil just where they find it : Reve- 
 lation neither introduces the difficulty, as some weak op- 
 ponents contend ; nor clears it up, and accounts for it, as is 
 imagined by some not less weak advocates. 
 
 I have entered into a fuller discussion of this point in the 
 Appendix, No. 2, to the last edition of Dr. King's Sermon on 
 Predestination. 
 
SECT. 6.] Revelation of a future state. 61 
 
 fully for those irregularities. It may explain 
 indeed how present evil may be conducive to 
 future good ; but not, why the good could not 
 be attained without the evil : it may reconcile 
 with our notions of the divine justice, the present 
 prosperity of the wicked ; but it does not account 
 for the existence of the wicked. 
 
 There is much more weight in the argument, 
 that Man (at least, civihzed and cultivated Man) 
 not only is capable of a continued course of im- 
 provement, which must be cut short by death, 
 but also has a painful apprehension of this, and a 
 disposition to entertain hopes and fears respecting 
 something after death ; and that, consequently, 
 on the supposition of no future state, the Brutes, 
 who enjoy the present moment without any 
 apprehensions and anxieties about futurity, and 
 who arrive at once at the perfection of their na- 
 ture, must be much better off than Man, and 
 much better fitted for their condition than we are 
 for ours, since our Rational Nature thus forms 
 an impediment to our satisfaction. Since, there- 
 fore, such a constitution of things would be a 
 manifest exception to the general course of nature. 
 
62 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 inasmuch as, in all other cases, each Being seems 
 admirably adapted to the kind of existence to 
 which it is destined, the inference drawn is, that 
 the present hfe is not likely to be the whole of 
 man's existence. 
 
 This argument, though it can scarcely be con- 
 sidered as decisive, possesses, as has been said, a 
 considerable degree of probability : but it should 
 be observed, that, allowing the utmost force both 
 to this argument and to the one above mentioned, 
 though they lead to the inference of a future state 
 of existence, yet they have little, if any, force in 
 proving a future immortality. And it is remark- 
 able, that the northern mythology of our Teutonic 
 ancestors (how far it obtained sincere acceptance, 
 we have no sufficient means of judging) repre- 
 sented the glories enjoyed by the brave in the hall 
 of Odin, as of long continuance, indeed, but des- 
 tined to have an end, and to last only 
 
 " Till Lok shall burst his seven-fold chain, 
 And Night resume her ancient reign ;" 
 
 when the gods themselves, with all the heroes 
 who were the objects of their favour, should be 
 overpowered by their adversaries, and finally 
 
SECT. 7.] Revelation of a future state. 63 
 
 annihilated. And the Grecian mythology also 
 represented the happiness of Elysium as of limited 
 duration. 
 
 § 7. The case of the Jews evidently presents a 
 distinct question, inasmuch as they did possess 
 a divine revelation. The supposition that they 
 were acquainted, through that revelation, with 
 the doctrine of a future state, does not militate 
 with the conclusion, that unassisted reason is 
 inadequate to the discovery ; but it certainly is at 
 variance with the full and literal acceptation of 
 the assertion, that "Jesus Christ brought life and 
 immortality to light through the Gospel." 
 
 That the Mosaic law did contain the revelation 
 in question, has been maintained, as is well known, 
 by many learned men ; and the illustrious author 
 of " The Divine Legation " has been assailed by 
 many of them, with much acrimony, for denying 
 that position. It has been contended, that it is 
 "derogatory to God's honour, and injurious to 
 the Mosaic dispensation, &c. to acknowledge no 
 revelation of a future state in the Law:" and 
 expressions like these may, perhaps, afford a clue 
 to the origin of the opinion held by those who use 
 
64 
 
 Revelation of a future state, [essay r. 
 
 them. For it is probable, that it is the cavils, 
 actual or apprehended, of infidels, against so im- 
 portant an omission in the communication made 
 to God's favoured people, that have contributed 
 mainly to suggest a reply which consists in a denial 
 of the fact of such omission : a defence, unfortu- 
 nately, which gives a great apparent advantage 
 to the adversary, by enabling him to cavil, with 
 much better reason, at the very inadequate manner 
 in which this purpose was accomplished — at the 
 few, and scanty, and obscure intimations of the 
 doctrine, which the Law contains, even admitting 
 every text which has ever been adduced on that side 
 of the question, to be interpreted in the manner 
 most favourable to it. 
 
 And this argument, if duly considered, will be 
 found of such weight, as to amount, in fairness, to 
 a decision of the question ; to prove, that is, not, 
 of course, that Moses was an impostor, but that, 
 on the supposition of his wo^ being such — in other 
 words, of his being divinely inspired — he could 
 not have been commissioned to inculcate the doc- 
 trine of a future state. 
 
 For, let it be considered, in the first place, 
 that, as the condition of the departed is unseen, 
 
SF.c T. 7.] Revelation of a future state. 65 
 
 and as the rewards and punishments of a future 
 life are not only comparatively remote, but also 
 must be considered as of a nature very dif- 
 ferent from any thing we can have experienced ; 
 from all these causes, it is found necessary that 
 the most repeated assurances and admonitions 
 should be employed, even towards those who have 
 received the doctrine on the most satisfactory 
 authority. A Christian minister, accordingly, in 
 these days, finds that his hearers require to be 
 perpetually reminded of this truth, to which they 
 have long since given their assent ; and that even, 
 with all the pains he takes to inculcate it, in every 
 different mode, he is still but very partially 
 successful in drawing off men's attention from 
 the things of this world, and fixing it on the 
 " unseen things, that are eternal." Much more 
 must this have been the case with the Israelites 
 whom Moses was addressing, who were so dull 
 and gross-minded, so childishly short-sighted and 
 sensual, that even the immediate miraculous pre- 
 sence of God among them, of whose judgments 
 and deliverances they had been eye-witnesses, was 
 insufficient to keep them steady in their allegiance 
 to Him. Even the temporal sanctions of the Law, 
 
6G Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 — the plenty and famine, — the victory and defeat, 
 and all the other points of that alternative of 
 worldly prosperity and adversity which vv^as set 
 before them — things in their nature so much more 
 easily comprehended by an unthinking and bar- 
 barous people, and so much more suited to their 
 tastes — it was found necessary to detail with the 
 utmost minuteness, and to repeat and remind them 
 of, in the most impressive manner, in a vast num- 
 ber of different passages.^ 
 
 Is not, then, the conclusion inevitable, that, if 
 to such a people, the doctrine of future retribution 
 had been to be revealed, or any traditional know- 
 ledge of it confirmed, we should have found it 
 still more expHcitly stated, and still more fre- 
 quently repeated ? And when, instead of any 
 thing like this, we have set before us a few scat- 
 tered texts, which, it is contended, allude to or 
 imply this doctrine, can it be necessary even to 
 examine whether they are rightly so interpreted ? 
 Surely it is a sufficient reply to say, that if Moses 
 had intended to inculcate such a doctrine, he 
 would have clearly stated and dwelt on it in 
 almost every page. Nor is it easy to conceive, 
 
 3 See note (Ej, at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 7.] Revelation of a future state. 67 
 
 how any man of even ordinary intelligence, and 
 not blinded by devoted attachment to an hypo- 
 thesis, can attentively peruse the books of the 
 Law, abounding, as they do, with such copious 
 descriptions of the temporal rewards and punish- 
 ments (in their own nature so palpable) which 
 sanctioned that Law, and with such earnest ad- 
 monitions grounded on that sanction, and yet can 
 bring himself seriously to believe, that the doc- 
 trine of a state of retribution after death, which it 
 cannot be contended is even mentioned, however 
 shghtly, in more than a very few passages, formed 
 a part of the Mosaic revelation. 
 
 And if any one, from a mistaken zeal to vindicate 
 the honour of God's Law against infidels, persists 
 in maintaining that this was intended, how will 
 he reply to the cavil they will immediately raise, 
 against the glaringly inadequate way of fulfilling 
 such an intention ? Thus it is, that when men 
 rashly presume to distort the plain meaning of 
 Scripture, for the sake of defending our reli- 
 gion against unsound objections, they expose it to 
 more powerful ones, which they have left them- 
 selves without the means of answering. 
 
 An unwise attempt to combat Socinian doc- 
 f2 
 
68 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 trines also, has probably contributed to produce 
 the same bias in the minds of some, whose 
 abilities and learning would else have led them 
 to judge more fairly of the sense of Scripture. 
 When it is urged against Socinians, that on their 
 hypothesis, which explains away the doctrine of 
 the Atonement into a mere figure of speech, the 
 Gospel-revelation would seem to be of little or 
 no importance, they usually reply, that it esta- 
 blished the belief of future retribution. The 
 ready answer to this appears to be, that this 
 behef was already taught in the Old Testament ; 
 an assertion which some of the opponents of So- 
 cinianism have accordingly undertaken to esta- 
 bhsh ; in conformity with the too common 
 practice, of eagerly catching at any argument 
 which seems to bear against an adversary, with- 
 out stopping to inquire first whether it is well- 
 founded. And this carelessness about Truth 
 seldom fails to be in the end injurious to its 
 cause. In the present case, for instance, the 
 Socinian may immediately reply, " you have fur- 
 nished a decisive refutation of the doctrine that 
 eternal life is procured by the Sacrifice of Christ, 
 and is offered us only through faith in his 
 
SECT. 8.] Revelation of a future state. 6.9 
 
 Atonement; since to the Jews, certainly, the 
 efficacious sufferings of the Messiah were not 
 revealed ; at least, not so as to be understood 
 by the mass of the People ; to whom there- 
 fore eternal life must have been held out (if 
 at all, as you contend it was) as the direct 
 reward of obedience. The conclusion therefore 
 is inevitable, that unless what Moses taught 
 was false, your account of the Gospel must be 
 false." 
 
 § 8. Although, however, it has not been deemed 
 necessary here to examine all the passages in the 
 Books of Moses which have been interpreted 
 as relating to a future state, it will be needful 
 to say a few words respecting that one which is 
 cited by our Lord himself against the Sadducees, 
 in proof of the doctrine : " Now that the dead 
 are raised," says He, " even Moses sheweth at 
 the bush," when he saith, I am the God of Abra- 
 ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
 Jacob ; He is not the God of the dead, but 
 
 *' At the bush :" this seems to have been the usual 
 mode of reference to any particular passage of Scripture, 
 before the division into chapters and verses was introduced. 
 
70 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 of the living, for all live unto Him;" and, for 
 not having drawn this inference. He charges 
 them with " not knowing the Scriptures :" whence 
 it has very rashly been concluded, that the Scrip- 
 tures He alluded to were intended to reveal this 
 doctrine. But can any man of common sense 
 seriously believe, that such a passage as the one 
 before us (which we may suppose was selected 
 by our Lord as at least one of those most to the 
 purpose) could be sufficient to make known to a 
 rude and unthinking people, such as the Israelites 
 when Moses addressed them, the strange and 
 momentous truth, that the " dead are raised ?" — 
 that one of the most important parts of the reve- 
 lation given them (which it must have been, 
 if it were any part of it) could have been left 
 to rest on an oblique and incidental implication, 
 while the far simpler and more obvious doctrine 
 of temporal rewards and punishments, was so 
 plainly and so laboriously inculcated But, in 
 fact, our Lord's declaration by no means amounts 
 to this : the Sadducees of his time had heard 
 
 It should be observed that the argument deduced from 
 this passage, seems to have struck our Lord's hearers by its 
 nooehy. 
 
SECT. 8.3 Revelation of a future state. 71 
 
 of the doctrine;'* no matter from what quarter; 
 and their part evidently was, to examine pa- 
 tiently and candidly whether it were true or not ; 
 and this, especially, by a careful study of the 
 sacred books which they acknowledged, in order 
 to judge whether it were conformable to these, 
 or not. 
 
 But a passage, which may be decisive of a 
 certain question, when consulted with a view to 
 that question, may be utterly insufficient for the 
 far different purpose of making known, in the 
 first instance, the truth which it thus confirms. 
 The error of confounding together these two 
 things, gives rise to numberless mistakes in 
 other points besides the one now before us. In 
 fact, it is this very fallacy which has principally 
 misled men throughout, with respect to the 
 general question we are considering, as well as 
 in many other doctrines of our religion.^ Hu- 
 man reason is considered as sufficiently strong to 
 
 ^ See Hawkins on Tradition, p. 66. 
 
 ^ " Nam neque tam est acris acies in naturis hominum et 
 ingeniis, ut res tantas quisquam, nisi monstratas, possit videre ; 
 neque tanta tamen in rebus obscuritas, ut eas non penitus, 
 acri vir ingenio, cernat, si mode adspexerit." Cic. de Oral. 
 lib. iii. c. 31. 
 
72 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 discover the doctrine of a future state, because 
 when the doctrine has been proposed to our 
 behef by revelation, it perceives probabihties 
 in favour of it : and the same W\\h many other 
 doctrines also. And thus it is, that a system 
 of what is called Natural Religion is dressed up, 
 as it were, with the spoils of revelation ; and is 
 made such, as men, when fairly left to them- 
 selves, and actually guided by the light of nature 
 alone, never did attain to. And then, this Na- 
 tural Religion is made by some the standard by 
 which they interpret the declarations of Scrip- 
 ture ; which is, in fact, correcting an original 
 from an incorrect and imperfect transcript. 
 
 It would be tedious, and, after what has 
 been said, 1 trust, unnecessary, to cite, as might 
 easily be done, a multitude of passages from the 
 Old Testament, in which a reference to the 
 expectations of a future state would have been 
 apposite, and almost inevitable, had the belief 
 of such a doctrine prevailed or to examine 
 those few texts in the New as well as the Old 
 Testament which have been brought forward to 
 prove that a future state was revealed to the 
 
 ^ See Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19, &c. 
 
SECT. 8,] Revelation of a future state. 
 
 73 
 
 Jews. The sixth book of Warburton's Divine 
 Legation contains a copious and learned discus- 
 sion of this part of the subject ; but no one can 
 enter into such an examination, with anything Hke 
 a full and fair view of the question, who does not 
 completely embrace, and steadily keep in mind, 
 the argument already adduced, and on which 
 the conclusion mainly rests ; viz. that an unthink- 
 ing and uncultivated people, such as the Israelites 
 whom Moses addressed, must have needed, if 
 it had been designed to reveal to them a future 
 state, (or even to confirm and establish such a 
 doctrine already received,) that it should be per- 
 petually repeated,^ and inculcated in the most 
 
 8 All admit that Moses does hold out, and dwell upon, 
 temporal promises and threatenings : but the frequency and 
 earnestness with which he enforces this sanction (and on that 
 it is that the present argument turns) is often under-rated ; 
 few being accustomed to read the books of the Law straight 
 through ; and those who do so, being of course inclined to 
 pass over slightly, any passage which plainly appears to be 
 merely a repetition of what had been before said ; whereas 
 it is this very repetition that is the most important for the 
 present purpose. I have accordingly subjoined (note (E) at 
 the end of this Essay) all these passages; that the reader 
 may be enabled to estimate the more easily their extra- 
 ordinary number and copiousness. 
 
74 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 copious and the clearest manner; that, conse- 
 quently, since this is not done, it must be con- 
 sidered as, at least, highly improbable that such 
 a revelation to them should have been intended ; 
 and that therefore, in the case of any doubtful 
 passages, which will admit of, but do not abso- 
 lutely require, an interpretation favourable to 
 the affirmative side, (which is the one our own 
 habits of thought would naturally at first sug- 
 gest,) a different interpretation must be allowed 
 to be, antecedently, more probable. 
 
 § 9. Why Moses was not commissioned to 
 reveal this momentous truth, is a question that 
 cannot fail to occur to one who is pursuing such 
 an inquiry as the present ; and it is a question 
 which we are not competent completely to an- 
 swer, because we cannot presume to explain 
 why the Gospel, which "brought life and im- 
 mortality to light," was reserved for that precise 
 period at which it was proclaimed ; but, that 
 inquiry — why a different and more imperfect 
 dispensation was needful to prepare the way for 
 the Gospel, — being waived, as one surpassing 
 man's knowledge and powers, it is easy to per- 
 
SECT. 9.3 Revelation of a future state. 75 
 
 ceive, that the revelation of the doctrine in the 
 Mosaic law, would have been neither necessary 
 nor proper. It was not necessary, for the pur- 
 pose of affording a sanction to the law of Moses, 
 because the Israelites alone, of all the nations 
 of the world, were under an extraordinary pro- 
 vidence, distributing temporal rewards and judg- 
 ments according to their conduct. The necessary 
 foundation therefore of all rehgion, "that God 
 is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," 
 did not require, as it must in all other nations, 
 the behef in a future retribution, to remedy all 
 the irregularities of God's ordinary providence, 
 which, among this peculiar people, did not exist, 
 at least, in the same degree and form as among 
 all others.'' Nor again would it have been proper 
 for Moses, commissioned, as he was to promul- 
 gate, not the Gospel, but the Law, to proclaim 
 that life and Immortality which the Gospel (as 
 had been, no doubt, revealed to Mm) was destined 
 to "bring to light;" much less, to represent 
 eternal happiness as attainable otherwise than 
 through the redemption by Christ, which the 
 
 See a discourse on " National Blessings and Judgments," 
 delivered before the University, and published together with 
 four others, and also separately. 
 
76 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 Gospel holds out as the only efficacious means 
 of procuring it.' 
 
 On this last point, a few observations will be 
 offered presently ; but in the meantime it may be 
 remarked, that the slight hints of this doctrine 
 which the books of the prophets contain, — the 
 faint dawnings, as it were, of a scheme, which 
 was to bring "life and immortality to hght," — and 
 which appear more and more bright as they 
 approached the period of that more perfect reve- 
 lation, are in perfect consistency with the rule I 
 have supposed Moses to have observed ; since 
 it is in proportion as they gave more and more 
 clear notices of the Redeemer to come, and in 
 almost constant conjunction with their descrip- 
 tions of his mission, that the immortal life, to 
 which He was to open the road and lead the way, 
 is alluded to by the prophets ; and also, in 
 proportion as the extraordinary and regular 
 
 > See note (F), at the end of this Essay. Had eternal 
 life been offered as the reward of obedience to the law, so 
 that the mission of Christ served only to relax the terms of 
 the covenant, in favour of those who transgressed the Law, 
 surely the apostle Paul's expression would have been, (the 
 very reverse of what he uses,) " For what then serveth the 
 GOSPEL ? it was added because of transgressions." 
 
SECT. 9.] Revelation of a future state. 77 
 
 administration of divine government in this world, 
 by which the law had been originally sanctioned, 
 and under which the Jews had hitherto lived, 
 was gradually withdrawn. That it was in these 
 writings, and not in those of Moses, that the 
 Jews must have sought for indications of a future 
 state, is strongly confirmed by the opinion of 
 that celebrated and learned divine, Joseph Mede, 
 who declares that he cannot tell on what Scrip- 
 ture-authority the Jewish Church could found 
 their belief in a future state, except the well- 
 known passage in Daniel : (chap. xii. ver. 2.) 
 and even of that it may be observed, that it 
 does not necessarily imply a resurrection of all 
 men. Doubtless it did not escape Mede, that 
 there are in the other prophets many allusions 
 to a future state, which were so understood by 
 the inspired authors themselves ; as they are by 
 us Christian readers ; but it does not follow 
 that the great mass of the people — any besides 
 the studious and discerning few — would be able 
 clearly to perceive such meaning; especially when 
 a different interpretation of those very passages, 
 applicable to temporal deliverances, might, with- 
 out destroying their sense, be adopted. Nothing 
 
78 Revelation of a future state, [rssay i. 
 
 appears to us more evident, than the description 
 in Isaiah, for instance, of a suffering Messiah ; 
 yet we well know, that a prosperous and tri- 
 umphant temporal prince was generally expected 
 by the Jews ; and that the frustration of this 
 hope was the grand stumbling-block of the un- 
 believing among them. 
 
 So also, many passages of the prophets, which 
 convey to Christians, who have enjoyed the Gos- 
 pel-revelation, the intimation of a future state, 
 (at least in their secondary sense,) might very 
 easily be otherwise understood ; or, at least, 
 might appear not decisive, to those who lived 
 before Jesus Christ had " abolished death, and 
 brought hfe and immortality to light through the 
 Gospel." 
 
 It has been however contended that " the doc- 
 trine of a future state was always entertained by 
 the Israelites, though not expressly declared in 
 the Mosaic law ;" — that the silence of Moses 
 would not eradicate their belief; — and that if 
 they had been ignorant of it, they could not have 
 been said with truth to " have much advantage 
 every way " over the Gentiles : but would have 
 been their inferiors in point of religious know- 
 
SECT. 9.] Revelation of a future state. 79 
 
 ledge, inasmuch as the doctrine formed a part 
 of " the universal religion of mankind." But 
 surely, even on the supposition (which I do not 
 maintain) that the whole nation of Israel utterly 
 disbelieved a future state, the Gentiles cannot be 
 said to have had much advantage over them in 
 point of religious knowledge, from believing, if 
 they really had believed, what they seem to 
 have but very faintly suspected, the current 
 fables (for they were no better) respecting an- 
 other world ; viz. that admission into a place of 
 happiness after death was to be procured by 
 piety towards the gods; including under that 
 term, acts of the foulest impurity, and the most 
 infernal cruelty : by due obedience, for instance, 
 to the divine institutions of Cotytto, the Baby- 
 lonish Venus, who sentenced every female with- 
 out exception to become a prostitute for hire ; 
 and by human sacrifices at the tomb of the 
 defunct. Let no one forget, that such notions 
 of piety were not confined to barbarian nations : 
 even Aristotle, in his projected repubhc, in which 
 he wisely prohibits the exhibition of indecent 
 objects to youth, is forced to limit himself to the 
 exclusion of young persons from the temples of 
 
80 Revelation of a future state, [essay r. 
 
 those gods, of whose worship such exhibitions 
 formed a necessary part. And the anecdote of 
 Cato is well known, who withdrew from the 
 theatre, that his presence might not interrupt 
 the sacred impurities of a religious festival. 
 Truly " every abomination of the Lord which 
 He hateth, have those nations done unto their 
 gods ;" and the expectation of future happiness 
 from such gods and such services could hardly 
 have been reckoned either as religious know- 
 ledge, or as an advantage in point of faith. 
 
 On the actual behef, however, of the great 
 mass of the Israelites, we have no means of de- 
 ciding positively ; but if any one should sup- 
 pose most of them to have thought little or 
 nothing, one way or the other, about what 
 should become of them after death, nor conse- 
 quently to have either believed or disbelieved, 
 properly speaking, the doctrine in question, 
 his conjecture certainly would not be at variance 
 with the representations Moses gives of the 
 grossness of ideas, and puerile short-sightedness 
 of the nation ; who, while fed by a daily miracle, 
 and promised the especial favour of the Maker 
 of the universe, had their minds set on " the 
 
SECT. 9.] Revelation of a future state. 81 
 
 flesh-pots of Egypt, and the fish, and the cucum- 
 bers, and the leeks." Christians of these days 
 are not surely more gross-minded and unthink- 
 ing than those Israelites ; but every one, at 
 least every Minister who is sedulous in his 
 duties, must know, that a large proportion of 
 them require to be incessantly reminded, that 
 this life is not the whole of their existence ; 
 though the doctrine be one which is " expressly 
 declared " in their religion ; and that silence on 
 that subject is quite sufficient, if not to eradicate 
 from their minds all belief, at least to put an end 
 to all thought, about the matter. 
 
 There is no doubt, however, that some con- 
 siderable time before our Lord's advent, the 
 belief in a future state did become prevalent 
 (though, as the case of the Sadducees proves, 
 not universal) among the Jews. In the second 
 book of Maccabees, a work of small authority 
 indeed as a history, but affording sufficient evi- 
 dence of the opinions of the writer and his contem- 
 poraries, we find not only unequivocal mention of 
 the doctrine, (though, by the way, not as an 
 undisputed point,) but persons represented as 
 actuated hy the motives which such a doctrine 
 
82 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 naturally suggests ; which doubtless we should, 
 sometimes at least, have met with also in the 
 historical books of the Old Testament, had the 
 same belief prevailed all along. And our Lord 
 himself alludes to the prevailing opinion of the 
 generality of those whom he addresses : " Search 
 the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eter- 
 nal life, and they are they that testify of me :'' as 
 much as to say, the very prophets who allude to 
 the doctrine of eternal life, do likewise foretell the 
 coming and describe the character of me, the 
 Bestower of it ; these two parts of their inspired 
 word hang together; he who is blind to the one, 
 can found no rational hope on the other ; since 
 " I am the way, and the truth, and the life," and 
 " he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath 
 not the Son hath not life." This passage, indeed, 
 as well as the others to the same purpose in the 
 New Testament, though they imply the preva- 
 lence of this tenet among the Jews, and the 
 general sincerity and strength of their conviction, 
 do not by any means imply either that this their 
 confident expectation was well-founded on Scrip- 
 tural evidence, or that their notions respecting a 
 future life were correct. Had these last two 
 
SECT. 9.j Revelation of a future state. 83 
 
 circumstances been superadded (which is evidently 
 impossible) to the general sincere reception of 
 the doctrine, it could not have been said, with 
 any propriety, that " Christ abohshed death, and 
 brought life and immortality to light through the 
 Gospel." 
 
 The truth probably is, that, as the indications 
 of a future state, which are to be found in the 
 prophets, are mostly such as will admit of an 
 interpretation referring them to a promise of 
 temporal deliverance, those persons would most 
 naturally so understand them, in the first in- 
 stance at least, who were so "■ slow of heart" 
 as to the prophecies respecting the Messiah, as 
 to expect in him a glorious temporal ^^xxnce only ; 
 while those who were more intelHgent, and took 
 in the spiritual sense of the prophecies relating to 
 Him, would be led to put the spiritual interpre- 
 tation on the other also. I say, in the first 
 instance, because when the belief of a future state 
 had been introduced, from whatever quarter, and 
 did prevail, all who held it, would naturally 
 interpret in that sense whatever passages in their 
 Scriptures seemed to confirm it. But it does not 
 follow, that such a belief was correct, even when 
 G 2 
 
84 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 supported by an appeal to passages of Scripture 
 which really do relate to the doctrine in question ; 
 for, if one part of a scheme be understood literally 
 and carnally, and another part spiritually, the 
 result will be a most erroneous compound ; if 
 eternal life be understood to be promised, but 
 the character and kingdom of Christ, who was to 
 bring it to light and procure it, be misunderstood, 
 the faith thus formed will be essentially incorrect. 
 
 In fact, all the temporal promises of the Mosaic 
 law have a spiritual signification. The land of 
 Canaan, and the victory and prosperity to which 
 the Israelites were invited, are types of the future 
 glories prepared by Christ for his followers ; but, 
 then, the Law, which they were to observe as their 
 part of the covenant, with all its sacrifices and 
 purifications, had a corresponding spiritual sig- 
 nification also ; being types of the redeeming 
 sacrifice of Christ, and of the faith and holiness 
 of heart required of his followers. Those who 
 understood both parts literally, were right as far 
 as they went ; for the observance of the Law did 
 literally bring those promised temporal blessings 
 as a reward ; and these also are right, and are 
 further enlightened, who perceive the spiritual 
 
SECT. 9.] Revelation of a future state. 85 
 
 signification of both parts : but it is an error to 
 couple the spiritual interpretation of one part 
 with the literal interpretation of the other ; as 
 those of the Jews did, who imagined that eternal 
 life was the promised reward of,obedience to the 
 Law of Moses, and who looked for immortal hap- 
 piness as the sanction of a religion to he propa- 
 gated and upheld by a temporal Messiah. 
 
 This incongruous mixture of part of the shadow 
 with part of the substance, appears to have been 
 an error of the Jews of our Lord's time, which 
 not only prevented most of them from believing 
 in Him, but, in a great degree, clung to those 
 even who admitted his pretensions. The efficacy 
 of the observance of the Law in procuring the 
 blessings of the life to come, blessings which 
 were never promised as any part of the sanction 
 of that Law, was so inveterate a persuasion 
 among them, that they were for super-adding 
 these extinct legal observances to their faith in 
 Christ ; and even persuaded many of the Gentile 
 converts (among the Galatians especially), that 
 their profession of Christianity required them to 
 "be circumcised and keep the Law" as a condition 
 of salvation. 
 
86 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 So far, then, as any of the Jews disjoined the 
 prophetic annunciations of immortahty from those 
 relating to the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and 
 looked for eternal rewards as earned by obedience 
 to the Mosaic L^w, so far their expectations were 
 groundless, their faith erroneous ; even though 
 resting on the authority of such parts of Scripture 
 as, in a different sense, do relate to the doctrine 
 in question. 
 
 An error, not unlike this, prevails among some 
 Christians ; who look for a complete revelation of 
 Gospel-truth in every book of the Old Testa- 
 ment : as if a series of letters from a father to 
 his son, from his childhood to his mature age, 
 were to be confusedly blended together, and it 
 were contended, as necessary to vindicate the con- 
 sistency of the writer, that all, from the earliest 
 to the latest, should contain the very same in- 
 structions. 
 
 It is highly probable, however, that the behef 
 of a future state, as it prevailed among the Jews 
 in our Lord's time, and for a considerable period 
 before, was not, properly speaking, drawn from 
 their Scriptures in the first instance — was not 
 founded on the few faint hints to be met with in 
 
SECT. 10.] Revelation of a future state. 87 
 
 their prophets ; though these were evidently 
 called in to support it; but was the gradual 
 result of a combination of other causes with these 
 imperfect revelations. For otherwise there would 
 surely have been some notice in the books of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah (written after all the most 
 important prophecies had been delivered) of so 
 mighty a revolution having taken place in the 
 minds of the Jews of their time, as a change from 
 ignorance to a full conviction, on so momentous a 
 point, by a supposed decisive revelation. 
 
 § 10. Respecting the details of the rise and 
 prevalence of the doctrine of a future state 
 among the great majority of the Jews, the scan- 
 tiness of historical authority leaves us chiefly to 
 our own conjectures. Without entering at large 
 into a disquisition which must, after all, be 
 obscured by much uncertainty, it may be allow- 
 able to suggest, that the Jews were likely to be 
 much influenced by the probable arguments (for 
 it has been admitted that there are such) which 
 their own reason partly supphed, and which they 
 partly learned from the neighbouring nations, with 
 whom (and with some of the more enlightened and 
 
88 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 intelligent of them) they had much more, and 
 much more extensive, intercourse after the cap- 
 tivity than before. Nor does such a supposition 
 militate, as might, at first sight, be suspected, 
 against what was formerly advanced respecting 
 the prevailing disbelief, among the heathen, of 
 the popular fables of Elysium and Tartarus, and 
 respecting the emptiness of the pretended immor- 
 tality of the soul, held by philosophers ; who 
 thought that it was to be re-absorbed into the 
 substance of the Deity, from which it had been 
 separated, and to have no longer any distinct 
 personal existence. For, whatever their belief 
 might be, they would be likely, in any discussion 
 with their Jewish neighbours, to set forth either 
 such arguments as occurred to them in favour 
 of a future retribution, which undoubtedly was 
 a part of the religion they professed, or such 
 pretended proofs of the natural and necessary 
 immortality of the soul, as their schools sup- 
 plied. And such discussions we cannot but 
 suppose must have been frequent ; since the in- 
 tercourse of the dispersed Jews with the Gentiles 
 was such as to lead to the disuse of their own 
 language, and the consequent necessity of a 
 
SECT. 10,] Revelation of a future state. 89 
 
 translation of their Scriptures into Greek. Now 
 the Jews, who claimed to be favoured with 
 an authentic revelation of God's will, and to be 
 his pecuhar people, could not have been satisfied 
 to rest their pretensions to such superiority, and 
 their boast of its advantages, on the extraordinary 
 providence under which their ancestors had lived, 
 but which seems to have been nearly, if not en- 
 tirely withdrawn from themselves ; but would be 
 likely to set up a rival claim to that of the Pagan 
 religions, and to produce from their Scriptures 
 every thing that might seem to favour the hope 
 of a future reward. And this, not insincerely ; 
 for the very circumstance of the withdrawing of 
 that miraculous providence under which their 
 nation had formerly Hved, would lead them to the 
 expectation of something beyond the grave to 
 compensate the loss. God's moral government 
 of their nation at least, they were assured of, 
 from their own past history ; and if He had 
 formerly been " a rewarder of them that diligently 
 seek him," they would perceive an improbability of 
 his ceasing to be so ; though in this world the 
 "just recompense of reward" was evidently no 
 longer to be looked for. It was to be expected. 
 
90 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 therefore, that they should be more indined to 
 believe sincerely in a future retribution, than the 
 Pagans, who had not the same experimental 
 assurance, that the Deity is, indeed, the moral 
 Governor and Judge of mankind. 
 
 Still, their belief, however confidently held by 
 many of them, must have been, as has been said, 
 fundamentally erroneous, as far as it consisted in 
 " thinking they had eternal life in the Scriptures," 
 held out as the reward of obedience to the 
 Mosaic Law ; which was sanctioned (as was re- 
 marked above) by no such promise. For the 
 only just ground on which immortal happiness 
 can be looked for, whatever some arrogant 
 speculators have urged on the other side, is 
 that of an express promise of it, as a free gift, 
 and not as a natural and merited recompense of 
 virtue. 
 
 This latter notion, indeed, — that immortal 
 happiness after death is the just and natural 
 consequence of a well-spent life, (an error ana- 
 logous to that of the Jews, lately mentioned,) 
 has prevailed to a degree which, considering 
 its utter want of foundation, either in reason or 
 revelation, is truly surprising. A large proportion 
 
SECT. 11.] Revelation of a future state. 91 
 
 of deists, and many who admit the truth of the 
 Gospel, though miserably ignorant of it, have 
 either maintained, or (which is much more com- 
 mon, because much easier) have taken for granted, 
 and alluded to as indisputable, the natural and 
 necessary connexion between a virtuous life on 
 earth, and eternal happiness after death. And 
 this is more especially the case with such as lean 
 towards the opinion that Christianity is a mere 
 republication of the religion of nature ; a cir- 
 cumstance which confirms what has been just 
 said concerning the extreme ignorance of the 
 Gospel scheme under which these professors 
 of Christianity labour : since if Nature taught 
 us to expect a happy eternity as the fair, natu- 
 ral, and well-earned reward of virtue, it would 
 follow, that Christianity, which undoubtedly 
 teaches no such doctrine, nor can be under- 
 stood to favour it, by any one who has even a 
 moderate acquaintance with Scripture, must be, 
 on that very account, essentially different from 
 Natural-religion, and even at variance with it. 
 
 § 11. Not only, however, is Christianity very 
 far from being a republication of natural religion. 
 
92 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 but the notion we are speaking of is (as has 
 been just observed) equally unfounded in reason 
 and in revelation. As the Scriptures speak 
 of eternal hfe as "the gift of God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord," so, reason also shews, 
 that for man to expect to earn for himself, by 
 the practice of virtue, and claim as his just 
 right, an immortahty of exalted happiness, is a 
 most extravagant and groundless pretension. 
 It would indeed be no greater folly and pre- 
 sumption to contend, that the brutes are able 
 by their own efforts to exalt themselves to 
 rationality. 
 
 In the case indeed of some eminent person- 
 ages of antiquity, the arrogant hope seems to 
 have been cherished by themselves or their fol- 
 lowers, that their great exploits and noble 
 qualities would raise them after death into the 
 number of the gods ; and this is precisely the 
 expectation we are now speaking of : for it 
 should be remembered, that by the term which 
 we translate " God," the ancient heathens under- 
 stood, not, as we do, the Author and Governor 
 of all things, but merely, a Being of a nature 
 superior to man, perfect, happy, and immortal ; 
 
SECT. 1 1 .] Revelation of a future state. 93 
 
 such, in short, as the Christian hopes to become 
 after death. Now to pretend that man is natu- 
 rally capable of raising himself to this state — 
 of thus elevating himself into a god — is surely 
 no less extravagant than to suppose that a brute 
 is quahfied to exalt itself into a rational being. 
 Nor did this absurdity escape the more intelligent 
 of the ancient heathen ; their sentiments were 
 probably the same as the Bramin is reported to 
 have uttered, who on being asked by Alexander 
 " what a man should do in order to become a 
 god," is said to have replied, that " he must do 
 something impossible to man." And accordingly, 
 the most judicious writers of antiquity make 
 httle scruple of alluding to the temples erected 
 to those who were canonized as heroes, as merely 
 a more splendid kind of monument; and the 
 sacrifices offered to them, as merely a kind of 
 solemn commemoration, to support their posthu- 
 mous fame. 
 
 Nor does the belief in a Deity who is the 
 Moral-Governor of the Universe, in reality alter 
 the case so much as many seem to suppose ; 
 for if by the practice of virtue man were entitled 
 to claim such a reward from the justice of God, 
 
94 Revelation of a future state, [kssay i, 
 
 he might strictly and properly be said to earn 
 and acquire it for himself, as a labourer his 
 wages. Men are apt indeed to speak of the 
 justice of the Deity as leading him to the re- 
 warding of virtue, as well as the punishing of 
 sin, in the next world, (considering such reward 
 and punishment as the natural consequence of 
 each respectively,) as if the two cases were 
 parallel; whereas in truth they are even incon- 
 sistent with each other : for a man deserves 
 reward only for doing something beyond his 
 hounden duty — something, consequently, which 
 he would not deserve punishment for omitting. 
 This obvious rule of justice every one assents 
 to in human affairs : no positive rewards are 
 proposed to men by legislators for merely ful- 
 filling their engagements, and paying their 
 debts ; though if they fail to do so, punish- 
 ments are denounced ; those, on the other hand, 
 who voluntarily devote their fortunes, their ser- 
 vices, or their persons, to the public good, we 
 consider as worthy to be rewarded by riches, 
 honours, or rank ; while no one ever thought of 
 denouncing punishment for the mere absence 
 of such munificent liberality and generous 
 
SECT. 11.] Revelation of a future state. 95 
 
 public-spirit ; which indeed would lose their very 
 name and character by the attempt to make 
 them compulsory. In no case, in short, does 
 justice dictate reward to be placed on the one side 
 of an alternative, and punishment on the other. 
 
 Now if it be admitted, (and few will go so 
 far as to deny it,) that all obedience to the 
 commands of our Maker is a debt justly due 
 to Him, — a service his creatures are bound to 
 perform, — it follows, that the discharge of that 
 debt, by a life of perfect rectitude, would not, 
 in itself, entitle a man to claim any reward on 
 the plea of merit, except only exemption from 
 punishment. For as a servant (according to 
 the illustration used by our Lord himself) is 
 not thanked by his master for performing with 
 exactness his appointed task of daily labour, 
 so also must his disciples, as He proceeds to tell 
 them, call themselves, even when they have done 
 all that is required of them, " unprofitable ser- 
 vants, who have done but that which it was their 
 duty to do," and who can have consequently no 
 merit to boast. 
 
 It may be said, indeed, and with truth, 
 that the creatures of a benevolent Deity may 
 
96 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 reasonably expect, that He should provide for the 
 enjoyment, or comfort at least, of those He has 
 called into being ; as a father does for his 
 children. And though in this world marks may 
 be perceived of such a provision being made 
 for the enjoyment not only of man, but of the 
 brute-creation also, (to which, be it remem- 
 bered, this reasoning equally applies,) yet, since 
 it is plain, that the goods of this world are not 
 regularly distributed, and the best men fre- 
 quently lead a life of suffering, it may be urged, 
 that this irregularity must be rectified in a 
 future life ; in which such persons shall receive 
 a compensation for the unmerited afflictions they 
 have undergone in this. All this may be ad- 
 mitted; nor need we inquire, how far life is 
 in general a good or an evil ; or what proportion 
 of men's sufferings may be traced to their own 
 misconduct : let us rate, at the very highest that 
 reason will admit, the sufferings in any supposed 
 case, — the innocence of the sufferer, — and the 
 compensation to be fairly expected ; and to 
 what, after all, will this fair and ample com- 
 pensation amount? To an eternity of exalted 
 bliss? The idea is too extravagant to be 
 
SECT. 11.] Revelation of a future state. 97 
 
 entertained for a moment. Surely the fair com- 
 pensation would fall so incalculably below this, — 
 would be such a trifle in comparison, as hardly 
 to be worth noticing in the present argument. 
 We see every day men submitting voluntarily, 
 during a considerable portion of their lives, to 
 no small amount of toil, privation, and danger, 
 not for the certainty, but for a probability only — • 
 a chance dependent on many different contin- 
 gencies — of enjoying, during the latter years of 
 their life, such ease and comfort, wealth, pro- 
 sperity, and glory, as this world has to bestow : 
 and, in most instances, he who refuses to do 
 this, is censured for his indolence and folly. 
 Now it must surely be allowed, that a certainty 
 (instead of a mere contingency) of a life, ap- 
 proaching in length to that of the antediluvians, 
 to be spent in the enjoyment (not of such " good 
 things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nei- 
 ther hath it entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive," but) of such happiness as may be 
 conceived in this world, would be a much fuller 
 compensation for the greatest mass of undeserved 
 afflictions that ever man suffered, than the attain- 
 ment of such objects as men commonly aim at, 
 
 H 
 
98 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 (and which, after all, they are not sure of attain- 
 ing,) can be reckoned, when weighed against the 
 hardships they cheerfully submit to in the pur- 
 suit. If, however, such a compensation as I have 
 supposed should be considered too small, let it, 
 for the argument's sake, be multiplied ten fold ; 
 and still it will be as far as ever from bearing 
 any proportion to that " far more exceeding 
 and eternal weight of glory," which the Gospel, 
 and the Gospel only, holds out to us, as " the gift 
 of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ;" but 
 which man's presumptuous self-sufficiency has 
 pretended to discover and to claim. 
 
 An inconsiderate and hasty objector may, 
 perhaps, contend, that the longest period of 
 enjoyment would be no enjoyment at all, if 
 known to be of limited duration ; that it would 
 be neither attractive in prospect, nor gratifying 
 in possession, from the disturbing reflection that 
 it must have an end. If any one can seriously 
 feel this as an objection, let him try to impress 
 on the generality of mankind, as the Christian 
 minister assiduously, and not very eflfectually, 
 labours to do, the reflection, that this life must 
 have an end, in less than a tenth part of the space 
 
SECT. 11.] Revelation of a future state. 99 
 
 allotted to the antediluvians ; let him endeavour 
 to withdraw men's attention and interest from the 
 perishable goods and enjoyments of this world ; 
 adding, also, the great uncertaintij of them, even 
 during the short period of our abode here ; and 
 dwelling also on the never-ending hfe which 
 awaits man beyond the grave ; and he will find, 
 that, many as are the afflictions of the present life, 
 and short, precarious, and responsible as it is, 
 men are yet so wedded to the things of this world, 
 that, so far are we from being haunted with the 
 thought of parting with them, and from having 
 our delight in them thus destroyed, on the con- 
 trary, it is not without a continual effort that 
 even the best Christian can wean himself from 
 over-attachment to the passing scene, and " set 
 his affection on things above, not on things on the 
 earth." And the result must be an admission, 
 that a limited period of enjoyment, so far from 
 being disregarded, is often even too satisfactory; 
 that the thoughts of its termination are not apt to 
 be even so intrusive as they ought to be. 
 
 The origin of much of the confusion of thought 
 which has prevailed on this subject, and which 
 has led to thd groundless notion of a claim to 
 H 2 
 
100 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 immortal happiness, established by a virtuous life, 
 is probably this ; that we observe some human 
 actions to be really and justly deserving of 
 gratitude and reward from other men: being 
 beyond what they had any right to demand ; and 
 hence many persons are apt to forget that such 
 actions cannot have a similar claim on the 
 Almighty. Any one, for instance, who freely 
 relieves a fellow-creature in distress, or aids him 
 in his pursuits, is justly entitled to gratitude and 
 reward from him ; having done more than that 
 other man had any right to demand of him ; (for 
 which very reason, by the bye, the other could 
 have no right to punish him for not doing it;) but 
 since God has a strict claim upon him for the 
 practice of every duty, no one can, in his sight, 
 set up the plea of merit, or boast of his services. 
 
 Some, however, may urge, that immortal 
 happiness, though not demanded as a right 
 from the justice of God, may reasonably be 
 hoped from his goodness; and that it is agree- 
 able to his attributes to bestow it. Doubtless, 
 this is so far conformable to what we know of 
 the divine attributes, that we need not be sur- 
 prised at his condescending, in any instance, to 
 
SECT. 11.] Revelation of a future state. 101 
 
 bestow it, nor hesitate to believe, on sufficient 
 evidence, (as the Christian does,) in his having 
 done so. But this is far different, not only from a 
 claim, but from a rational expectation, supposing 
 no proof to exist of an express promise to that 
 purpose. If a rich and liberal man freely bestows 
 a bountiful gift on any one, he certainly performs 
 an action suitable to his nature ; but it would be 
 strange to say, that therefore that particular 
 person had, and that any one else has, a fair right 
 to expect it of him. As far as we know, it is 
 nothing inconsistent with God's nature, to confer 
 perfection and happiness, at once, on any of his 
 creatures ; as He, perhaps, has on some others of 
 them : but yet we know, that on Man He has 
 not. The immortal happiness, therefore, of 
 which we are speaking, not only can be no 
 other than a free gift, but a gift which can be 
 reasonably expected on no other ground than 
 that of express promise. 
 
 Such a promise, the Christian thankfully and 
 joyfully recognises, as held out in the Gospel ; 
 in v/hich he finds eternal life uniformly alluded 
 to, not as merely "brought to light" by Jesus 
 Christ, but procured through his means. He 
 
102 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 came not into the world merely that his followers 
 might know of this immortal life, but (as He 
 himself declares) "that they might have life." The 
 Christian Scriptures do not profess to republish, 
 as part of the religion of nature, the doctrine 
 that eternal happiness is the just and legitimate 
 reward of a virtuous life ; but, on the contrary, 
 while they speak of death as the " wages of sin," 
 they represent eternal life, not as the wages of 
 obedience, but as " the gift of God through 
 Jesus Christ :" a reward, indeed, dependent 
 on obedience, but earned and merited by the 
 sacrifice of a Redeemer. 
 
 § 12. The perversion of this doctrine, by those 
 who imagine that they may "continue in sin that 
 grace may abound," is nothing different from 
 the abuse to which almost every other doctrine 
 of Scripture (and, indeed, almost every truth ever 
 taught) is liable. That salvation is a free gift, 
 through Jesus Christ, yet is prepared for those 
 only who obey his commandments and walk in 
 his steps, is in itself no more mysterious or 
 difficult, than a multitude of cases which occur 
 daily, and the nature of which is readily com- 
 
SECT. 12.] Revelation of a future state. 103 
 
 prehended by every man of common sense ; 
 because common sense is usually consulted in 
 the ordinary affairs of life, even by those who 
 lay it aside in religious questions. Every one 
 would judge readily and rightly, in such a case, 
 for instance, as that of a rich and bountiful 
 man placing a poor labourer on a piece of 
 ground, which he is charged to cultivate in- 
 dustriously and carefully ; (receiving for this 
 purpose, a supply of implements also, and of 
 seed-corn, and all other necessary stock) with 
 the promise, that if he does so, for a certain 
 time, the land shall be bestowed upon him in 
 perpetuity ; if not, he shall be deprived of it. If 
 a man placed in this situation should suffer the 
 ground to lie waste, and pass his time in sloth, 
 because he was a dependent on another's bounty, 
 every one perceives that that advantage would 
 of course be withdrawn from him : should he, 
 on the other hand, diligently exert himself in 
 tilling the spot of land, and then claim it, not 
 as a free gift, but as fairly earned by his labour, 
 no one would fail to censure his absurd ingra- 
 titude. Should a case of this kind actually 
 occur, it would probably be thought to present 
 
104 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 no difficulty to any one's mind ; though our 
 Lord's parables of the talents, and of the pounds, 
 which correspond so closely with it, have so 
 often failed to convey, as they were designed, 
 the same lesson. 
 
 It may be urged, indeed, that to those who 
 acknowledge themselves to be .mmers, it is of no 
 practical consequence to determine whether the 
 unsinning obedience of which all men fall short, 
 would, if practised, claim the reward of eternal 
 life from the justice of God. But, in fact, those 
 who erroneously regard human virtue as natu- 
 rally and in itself estabhshing such a claim, and 
 the redemption by Christ as needful for man, 
 only so far as he falls short of his duty, will 
 generally be found, those of them at least whose 
 lives are the most correct, to dislike or under- 
 rate that Gospel, which so plainly teaches us to 
 plead otily the merits of another ; and to con- 
 sider Christianity as less necessary for such men 
 as themselves, than for the multitude. While, 
 on the other hand, such as are more viciously 
 disposed, though they may admit that it is 
 neither allowable nor safe to " continue in sin 
 that grace may abound," will yet be likely to 
 
SECT. 12.] Revelation of a future state. 105 
 
 have less abhorrence of sin, if they conceive, 
 that it is their sins only which give them an 
 interest in the redemption. And though they 
 may acknowledge, that with the utmost care 
 they will not be likely to attain sinless rectitude, 
 yet, when under the influence of temptation, 
 they will be less practically earnest in striving 
 to approach such perfection, from believing, that 
 it would, if attained, supersede the necessity of 
 Christ's sacrifice, and of itself merit salvation. 
 Whereas, when this error is removed, we per- 
 ceive the full value and importance, and also the 
 right use of the Gospel : and our Lord's decla- 
 ration, " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; 
 no man cometh unto the Father, but by me," 
 will be regarded neither as raising an impedi- 
 ment, and limiting, by an arbitrary condition, 
 our just rights ; nor yet as proposing a licence, 
 or an excuse, for sin ; but as holding out a 
 most gracious offer of an unmerited gift ; and 
 thus enforcing virtue by the strongest motives 
 of gratitude and affection, as well as of interest. 
 Those will surely not be the most likely to con- 
 sider the righteousness of Christ as a substi 
 tute for their own, who acknowledge, that the 
 
106 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 benefits they hope for through Him are such as 
 their own righteousness, however perfect, could 
 never have earned. 
 
 § 13. It appears, then, that whatever argu- 
 ments may have been adduced, and with whatever 
 effect, in favour of the natural and necessary im- 
 mortality of the soul ; at least, the natural and 
 necessary tendency of virtue to earn a happy 
 immortality, can never have been discovered by 
 human reason ; because nothing can, properly 
 speaking, be discovered, which is not true. 
 
 But it has been my endeavour to show, that 
 the arguments which human reason actually did 
 or might suggest in favour of a future immor- 
 tality, when fairly considered, as presented to 
 the minds of such as had nothing else to pro- 
 ceed upon — not of such as are already believers, 
 on other grounds — are insufficient to warrant 
 any thing beyond a probable conjecture ; and 
 that, in fact, they very seldom produced even 
 that effect. To bring the doctrine fairly within 
 the list of truths discoverable by unaided reason, 
 it should be shown, first, to have not only ex- 
 isted, but prevailed, as a matter, not of conjee- 
 
SECT. 13.] Revelation of a future state. 107 
 
 ture, but of belief, in some nation destitute of 
 divine revelation ; secondly, to have been believed 
 on sufficient grounds ; and, thirdly, to have been 
 correctly beheved. If any one of these requisites 
 be wanting, it cannot be properly reckoned among 
 the doctrines of Natural-religion. But, in truth, 
 it appears that all three of these requisites were 
 wanting among those enlightened nations of anti- 
 quity, whose supposed knowledge of a future 
 state is commonly appealed to : their notions 
 were neither correct, nor well-founded, nor gene- 
 rally received as a matter of certain behef. And 
 while the Gentiles were thus left in darkness, 
 the only nation who did receive a divine revela- 
 tion, had, in that, but a faint and glimmering 
 twihght, as far as respected the glories of the 
 world beyond the grave, till " the day-spring from 
 on high should visit them" — till Jesus Christ 
 should " bring life and immortality to light, 
 through the Gospel." " For the Law made no- 
 thing perfect, but the bringing in of a better 
 hope, did," Heb. vii. 19. 
 
 To bring forward an elaborate argument to 
 prove that the Gospel did this, considering how ex- 
 pressly it is asserted in the New Testament, may 
 
108 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 have appeared to some readers a superfluous task. 
 Let them, however, but inquire of those around 
 them, and examine the works of those who have 
 written on the subject, — even such as not only 
 admit the truth of Christianity, but are far from 
 professing to regard it, or intending, in the first 
 instance, to represent it, as a mere repubhcation of 
 Natural-religion, — and they will see that there is 
 but too much need for asserting and maintaining 
 the claim of "the Author and Finisher of our 
 faith," as having " brought to light" the doctrine 
 in question. It is a claim which is often over- 
 looked at least, even when not expressly denied; 
 and hence, one main point of evidence for the 
 truth of Christianity is conceded to the infidel : 
 while to the minds of believers, it is presented 
 stripped of one of its most striking peculiarities ; 
 and a most inadequate view given of its im- 
 portance. 
 
 The depreciation of Christianity hence result- 
 ing is, perhaps, not a less evil than heresy, or than 
 infidelity itself; being one more insidious, and 
 less curable. For he who denies any leading doc- 
 trine of Christianity, or even the whole of it, but 
 who yet acknowledges the importance, if true, 
 
SECT. 13.] Revelation of a future state. 109 
 
 of what he rejects, may, at least, be brought to 
 attend to the arguments in favour of it : but, far 
 less corrigible is the error of him, who, regarding 
 Christianity as little more than an authoritative 
 confirmation of the religion of nature, looks upon 
 the whole system with indifference, as a thing 
 needed, perhaps, for the vulgar, but which the 
 educated and intelligent might very well have 
 dispensed with, and about which they need not 
 much concern themselves. 
 
 When it is said that the view which has been 
 taken of the doctrine of man's immortahty affords 
 an evidence for the truth of Christianity, it is not 
 of course meant to take into the account the 
 superior correctness of the Gospel accounts of 
 a future state, as compared with the mytholo- 
 gical fables, and philosophical theories, with 
 which the ancients amused themselves ; that 
 would of course be begging the question ; but, 
 waiving the consideration of the truth of what 
 Jesus taught on this subject, its reception, in 
 spite of men's reluctance to receive it, is un- 
 deniable : and it is this which constitutes the 
 argument I allude to. For let any one but 
 compare the state of men's minds in respect to 
 this point, before, and after, the promulgation 
 
110 Revelation of a future state, [essay i. 
 
 of the Gospel ; let him estimate the opinions of 
 the ancients, not by the hasty conjectures of 
 prejudiced or superficial theorists, but by a 
 careful examination of the testimony they bear 
 to themselves ; and let him then consider the 
 decided belief of a future state which forms a 
 part of every modification of Christianity — of 
 every religious system which has been founded 
 on it, including Mahometism — let him consider, 
 I say, the contrast thus presented ; and he will 
 see strong reason, even from this circumstance 
 alone, for concluding, that the Person, who could 
 bring about this mighty revolution in the opinions 
 of mankind, must have been a far different Being 
 from Confucius or Socrates. 
 
 The arguments adduced, however, as will have 
 been seen, I have principally directed to the 
 believers in Christianity : being anxious to pro- 
 test against the error prevalent among Chris- 
 tians, of unduly exalting Natural-rehgion at the 
 expense of Revelation; — of attributing to reason, 
 discoveries which were made, and could be made, 
 only by the Gospel; and of thus under-rating 
 the value of that Gospel, and dishonouring Him, 
 who, through it, " brought life and immortahty 
 to light." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note (A) page 43. 
 
 I HAVE been surprised to find that an interpretation 
 of some of Aristotle's expressions [Eth. B. 1] which 
 makes him acknowledge a future state of enjoyment or 
 suffering, has gained more currency than I could have 
 conceived possible. And this, though it is universally 
 admitted that in the third book of the same treatise he 
 speaks of death as the complete and final extinction of 
 existence, "beyond which there is neither good nor 
 evil to be looked for:" and though, in the first book 
 itself, he observes that " it would be absurd to speak of 
 a man's being happy after his death, since happiness 
 has been defined as consisting in an active exercise of 
 the faculties" [kvip^uaJ] These different passages, I 
 suppose, are regarded as set off against each other, so 
 as to neutralize Aristotle's judgment on the question. 
 1 cannot but think it, however, a better plan, when an 
 eminent author appears to contradict himself within a 
 few pages, to examine whether one of the passages 
 may not have been misinterpreted ; or whether he may 
 not have been speaking in one place of what appears 
 at first sight, or is thought by the generality; and in 
 
112 
 
 Notes. 
 
 the other, of what, in his own opinion, is the real state 
 of the case : or, in short, whether, in some way or 
 other, he may not be fairly reconciled with himself. 
 
 Aristotle is represented as saying, in one of the pas- 
 sages in question (human happiness being the subject 
 of which he is treating), that men are conscious after 
 death of the transactions going on in the present 
 world ; — that they are affected by the prosperous or 
 adverse fortune of their surviving friends and relatives ; 
 but that they are affected by them in so very faint and 
 slight a degree, that nothing which happens after death 
 can make the difference of a man's being happy or 
 miserable ! 
 
 Now, if I had met with a passage that plainly con- 
 veyed this meaning in a writer of such acknowledged 
 powers of mind, I should have been very strongly in- 
 clined to suspect it of being spurious, by whatever 
 external evidence it might have been supported. For, 
 not to mention its being at variance with a plain pas- 
 sage in the third book, (a passage, too, in which Ari- 
 stotle does not attempt to prove, nor even states, that 
 death is the termination of existence, as if it were at all 
 questionable ; but alludes to it as a truth universally 
 admitted) and even to say nothing of his remarking in 
 the outset of the passage in question, that " it tcould he 
 ridiculous to suppose a man to be happy after he is 
 dead" — to waive all this, and confine myself to the 
 intrinsic absurdity of the supposed doctrine ; he is 
 represented as saying that the deceased are sensible of 
 what is going on in this world, and are affected by it 
 
Notes. 
 
 113 
 
 in a very slight degree. Could he be so absurd as not 
 only to pronounce positively that the dead are in a 
 percipient state, and likevi^ise that they are aware of 
 what is passing among the survivors, but also that they 
 are nevertheless affected only in a very small degree by 
 the good or ill fortune of their friends ? If they know 
 any thing at all of it, how can he tell how much or how 
 little they are affected ? The more reasonable conjec- 
 ture would be the contrary ; e. g. one would suppose 
 that after such a person as Oliver Cromwell had spent 
 what one might regard as a most prosperous life in 
 establishing his own sovereignty, and transmitting it to 
 his son, he would be very miserable at knowing that 
 shortly after his death his son was deposed, his own 
 bones disinterred, the royal family restored, and all 
 the work undone and reversed at which he had been 
 labouring. 
 
 The only supposition on which one could imagine 
 the dead to be, though conscious of the condition of 
 their surviving friends, yet very slightly affected by it, 
 would be the supposition that they are too intently 
 occupied with the affairs of the state they are in ; — 
 with the happiness or suffering belonging to the con- 
 dition of the departed. Is this then Aristotle's account 
 of the matter? On the contrary, he makes not the 
 slightest allusion to any thing of the kind ! The scenes 
 and occupations, whatever they may be, peculiarly 
 belonging to that other life, which is to last either to 
 all eternity, or at least for an indefinite length of time, 
 and all the pains and pleasures thence resulting, are 
 I 
 
114 
 
 Notes. 
 
 totally passed by as not worth noticing by a writer who 
 is treating on human happiness ; and we are left to 
 conclude, it seems, that though the departed care but 
 a very little about what befalls their surviving friends, 
 they care not at all about any thing else : the good or 
 ill fortune of their friends has a small and insignificant 
 influence on their enjoyment or discomfort, but yet is 
 the source of all they have ! 
 
 No doubt eminent philosophers have been guilty of 
 great absurdities ; but there is a limit to all conceivable 
 extravagance : and if any one can believe that Aristotle 
 could be the author of such a tissue of unsupported and 
 self-contradictory absurdities, he can hardly regard him 
 as a philosopher worth studying. 
 
 But in fact, there is no such passage in existence : 
 the whole of this notion has originated in a misinterpre- 
 tation of the author's words, — the result of that oscitancy 
 to which all are more or less subject. 
 
 Those who have an opportunity of consulting the 
 original, I am content to refer to that ; and if an attentive 
 perusal does not convince them that, whatever his mean- 
 ing was, at least it cannot be that which I have been 
 speaking of as attributed to him, they are beyond the 
 reach of any argument I can devise. 
 
 For the benefit of the mere English reader, or of 
 such as have not the treatise at hand, I will attempt a 
 brief explanation of the author's meaning. He is 
 speaking of the notion of Solon, who would not allow 
 that a man should be pronounced happy during his 
 life-time, because there is no saying what reverses of 
 
Notes. 
 
 115 
 
 fortune he may undergo. " Are we then," says Aris- 
 totle, to suppose that a man is then happy when he 
 is dead ? No, this would be too absurd ; especially 
 since we have decided that happiness consists in an 
 energy or exercise of his mental powers." (Why should 
 a man's being happy after death be inconsistent with that 
 doctrine, except on the supposition of the dead having 
 no perception ?) " But this," he continues, " is not even 
 Solon's meaning ; but that one may then safely decide 
 as to a man's happiness, {i. e. that he has been happy) 
 when he is out of the reach of fortune. But then, is 
 he," continues Aristotle, " completely out of the reach of 
 fortune ? since it appears that good or evil may befal the 
 dead, as well as the living who have no perception of it ; 
 such as credit or disgrace, and good or ill success of 
 friends." Now it is from this sentence chiefly, this very 
 sentence in which Aristotle draws a parallel between the 
 dead, and those of the living who have no perception of 
 the credit or discredit accruing to them, that it is in- 
 ferred that the deceased have a perception of what passes 
 after their death ! 
 
 For, it is said, if they know nothing of it, how can it 
 contribute to or impair their happiness ? How it reallt/ 
 can, it would be hard to say; but Aristotle only says 
 that it appears so : and nothing can be more notorious 
 than that many things are regarded as good or evil^ — ■ 
 as things to be desired or deprecated, both prospec- 
 tively by men while alive, and afterwards by their 
 survivors, without any notion that the party can at the 
 time know, or at least care, any thing about it. Is the 
 i2 
 
116 
 
 Notes. 
 
 desire of posthumous fame, which is so common, and 
 the dread of posthumous infamy, which is nearly uni- 
 versal, to be traced to a supposed perception by the 
 deceased of what is said of him ? Does the dread so 
 many entertain of being dissected, or torn by dogs, 
 arise from a supposition that the dead carcases feel, or 
 that their souls at least will at the time be annoyed at 
 the indignity? Did Buonaparte, Oliver Cromwell, and 
 a multitude of others, who have been anxious to make 
 their high station hereditary., suppose that they them- 
 selves should, at the time, be viewing and enjoying the 
 greatness of their posterity I The desire of posthumous 
 fame, and of the greatness and prosperity of one's descend- 
 ants, seems always to have been even the stronger in those 
 who have believed least, or thought least, of a future 
 life. It is difficult for one who has been habituated 
 from infancy to this belief, to imagine himself a person 
 to whom it had never occurred ; but is there any one 
 who will say that if he disbelieved either a future state 
 altogether, or the consciousness of the deceased of what 
 happens on earth, he should be now perfectly indifferent 
 as to what should befal his dearest friends, his kindred, 
 and his country, subsequently to his own death, and 
 should exclaim, " When I am dead, let earth and fire be 
 mingled ?" 
 
 A.nd lastly, would not any one, if Solon's happiness 
 had been spoken of, in having finally succeeded in his 
 great and glorious work of giving Athens a good con- 
 stitution and laws, — would not any one, I say, have 
 been apt to reply, " Ah, but a few years after his death, 
 
Notes. 
 
 117 
 
 Pericles made destructive inroads on the constitution ; 
 the whole State fell soon under the control of a lawless 
 democracy ; and, by their mismanagement, the city was 
 captured, and subjected to the thirty tyrants?" This 
 would not impair Solon's happiness, supposing him 
 insensible ; but it would impair the speaker's idea of his 
 happiness.* 
 
 These delusions of the imagination are productive of 
 real effects on human thoughts and conduct. Aristotle 
 seems to think, it would be too shockiiicf to popular feel- 
 ings (Xi'av a(j)i\ov, Koi toIq So^atf tvavriov) to say that 
 it is nothing to a man's happiness what becomes of his 
 surviving friends : but (proceeding all along on the 
 supposition that he knows nothing of it) decides that it 
 cannot have any weight worth noticing. 
 
 The circumstance that he has used some expressions 
 which, to a learner, familiar himself with the notion of 
 a future state, would seem to convey that idea, as when 
 he speaks of events which, in some degree, concern the 
 dead, or "have something to do with their happiness" 
 
 * The imperfect and confused sympathy we have with others, in 
 respect of their feeHngs towards us, and indeed universally, can be 
 likened to nothing so well as to the mixture of transparency and re- 
 flection in plate-glass. We sympathise, as A. Smith observes, with 
 an idiot or madman ; forming an indistinct idea of being in his situa- 
 tion, and at the same time retaining (which is a contradictory suppo- 
 sition) our present view of his actions. Just as one looks through 
 the window at a tree, e. g., and sees, by an imperfect reflection, his 
 own face as if placed in the midst of the tree ; which, if it were, he 
 could not have that view of the tree. And even so, we cannot ima- 
 gine people talking of us after our death, without the idea presenting 
 iJself of our hearing what they say. 
 
118 
 
 Notes. 
 
 (meaning with our notion of their happiness) — this is 
 to me an additional proof of the total and general dis- 
 belief prevailing in his age and country. His careless- 
 ness of expression (his opinion being such as it clearly 
 was) shows that he never apprehended the slightest 
 danger of any one's supposing him to be speaking of 
 a life after death. None of his readers was likely to 
 suspect him of designing to teach a doctrine so strange 
 and unphilosophical as, in their eyes, this would have 
 appeared. 
 
 Note (B) page 44. 
 
 Cioero, in his epistles to his friends, in which, if any 
 where, he may be supposed to speak his real senti- 
 ments, frankly avows his utter disbelief in a future 
 state, in one sense of the word, i. e. a future state of 
 distinct personal existence percipient of pleasure or 
 pain : " ut mortem, quam etiam beati contemnere de- 
 beamus, propterea quod nullum sensum esset habitura," 
 &c. [Epist. to L. Mescinus Fam. Ep. lib. v. ep. 21.] 
 And in an epistle to Toranius [lib. vi. ep. 3.] he says, 
 " nec enim dum ero, angar ulla re, cum omni vacem 
 culpa; et si non ero, senm omnino careho.'''' This 
 passage will indeed bear another meaning, viz. that he 
 is speaking, not of life or death on earth, but of the 
 state after death ; in which it may be said, he declares 
 his conviction, that if he continues to exist, his inno- 
 cence will secure him from sufTering, and if he has no 
 being at all, he will have no sensation. The former of 
 
Notes. 
 
 119 
 
 these would have been indeed a sufficiently bold 
 assumption : while the latter, " that he who does not 
 exist has no perception," is a truism which I think he 
 would hardly have announced with so much solemnity. 
 Be this as it may however, the passage from the other 
 epistle just quoted, in which the very same expression 
 is used, makes it sufficiently clear that he is speaking, 
 in this also, of existence and non-existence on earth ; 
 and declaring his conviction, that he who is dead has 
 no sensation. He repeats the same sentiment in the 
 same words [lib. vi. ep. 4.] in another epistle ; " si jam 
 vocer ad exitum vitae, non ab ea republica avellar qua 
 carendum esse doleam, praesertim cum id sine tdlo 
 sensu futurum sit." And again, [lib. vi. ep. 21.] " pr«- 
 sertim cum omnium rerum mors sit extiemum." And it 
 is remarkable that he uses the very language of the 
 Epicureans on the subject; the antidote proposed by 
 Lucretius against the fear of death being the very 
 same both in substance and in words : 
 
 " Scilicet haud nobis quidquam, qui non erimus turn, 
 Accidere omnino potent, sensumque movere." 
 
 Nor are these sentiments of Cicero's confined to his 
 Epistles, though, in the characters of a philosopher and 
 of an orator, occasions led him sometimes to speak 
 otherwise. In his oration for Cluentius, he avows, 
 without disguise, a contempt, which it is evident he 
 supposed his hearers to partake, for the notion of a 
 future existence: "quid tandem illi mali mors attulit? 
 nisi forte ineptiis et fabulis ducimur, ut existiraemus 
 
120 
 
 Notes. 
 
 ilium apud inferos impiorum supplicia perferre, &c. — 
 quae si falsa sunt, id quod omnes intelligunt, quid ei 
 tandem aliud mors eripuit, praeter sensura doloris ?" 
 
 The expressions of Seneca on the subject bear a 
 striking resemblance to those of Cicero: "juvabat de 
 seternitate animarum quaereie, imo mehercule credere : 
 credebam enim facile opinionibus magnorum virorum, 
 rem gratissiraam promittentium magis quam proban- 
 tium. Dabara me spei tantae. Jam eram fastidio 
 mihi, jam rehquias aetatis infractae contemnebam, in 
 immensum illud tempus et in possessionem oranis asvi 
 transiturus : cum subito experrectus sum, epistola tua 
 accepta, et tarn bellum somnium perdidi." Epist. 1 02. 
 
 Quotations to the same effect might be multiplied 
 without end ; but these few specimens may suffice to 
 show how rashly the ancient philosophers have been 
 referred to as discoverers of a future state. He who 
 would fain " go back and walk no more with Jesus," 
 will apply to them in vain for such a hope : " Lord, to 
 whom shall we go ?" the sincere Christian will exclaim ; 
 " thou hast the words of eternal life." 
 
 Note (C) page 50. 
 It is to be wished, that those who inculcate this 
 doctrine would be careful not to expose it, as some 
 have done, to the scoffs of the infidel, by insisting on 
 the restoration, at the resurrection, of the very same 
 particles of matter which were united with the soul in 
 this. life. Supposing the doctrine to be true, neither 
 reason nor revelation afford means for ascertaining its 
 
Notes. 
 
 121 
 
 truth, or for replying to the cavils brought against 
 it. The question has been ably and copiously 
 handled by the celebrated Mr. Locke ; it will suffice 
 therefore to observe, that, as far as we can ascertain, 
 all the particles of a man's body are undergoing a 
 perpetual and rapid change during his life ; that which 
 constitutes it, still his body, being, not the identity of 
 its materials, but their union with the same soul, and 
 performance of similar functions. If (to use a familiar 
 illustration) a man's house were destroyed, and a kind 
 benefactor promised to rebuild it for him, and to make 
 it much better than before, (for such is the promise 
 made to true Christians when their " earthly tabernacle 
 shall be dissolved,") he would not surely say that the 
 promise had been violated if the same precise materials 
 were not employed; it would suffice, that he had, as 
 before, a house ; and one that was suitable for all the 
 same purposes. 
 
 As for the state of the soul in the interval between 
 death and the general resurrection, the discussion is 
 unnecessary, and perhaps unprofitable : had know- 
 ledge on this point been expedient for us, it would 
 doubtless have been clearly revealed ; as it is, we are 
 lost in conjecture. For aught we know, the soul may 
 remain combined with a portion of matter less than the 
 ten thousandth part of the minutest particle that was 
 ever perceived by our senses ; since " great" and 
 "small" are only relative. All we can be sure of is, 
 that if the soul be wholly disengaged from matter, and 
 yet shall enjoy consciousness and activity, it must be in 
 
122 
 
 Notes. 
 
 some quite different manner from that in which we 
 now enjoy them ; if, on the other hand, the soul 
 remains inert and unconscious (as it does with respect 
 to the seeing-faculty, for instance, when the eyes are 
 closed, or blinded) till its reunion with matter, the 
 moment of our sinking into this state of unconscious- 
 ness will appear to us to be instantly succeeded by 
 that of our awaking from it, even though twenty cen- 
 turies may have intervened : of which any one may 
 convince himself by a few moments' reflection. 
 
 Note (D) page 52. 
 Tlav TO evv\ov evafaviZeTai raxiceTa t^ twv oXojv 
 ovtriq, Koi irav aiTiov elg rov tu)v oXwv \6yov Ta\ictTa ava- 
 Xa/i^aveTai. Marcus Antoninus, lib. vii. c. 10. 'EyuTTEcrrrje 
 we fiipog. ENA?>ANISeHSH T£2t TENNHSANTI. 
 lib. iv. c. 14. 
 
 So Seneca, in his consolation to Marcia, daughter of 
 Cremutius Cordus. " Mors omnium dolorum et solutio 
 est et finis ; ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt : quae 
 nos in illam tranquillitatem in qua antequam nasceremur 
 jacuimus, reponit." 
 
 Note (E) page 66. 
 Exodus XV. 26.] If thou wilt diligently hearken to the 
 voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is 
 right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, 
 and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases 
 upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians ; for 
 I am the Lord that healeth thee. 
 
Notes. 
 
 123 
 
 Chap. XX. ver. 12.] Honour thy father and thy 
 mother, that thy days may be long, in the land which 
 the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 
 Chap, xxiii. ver. 20.] Behold, I send an angel before 
 thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee unto 
 the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, 
 and obey His voice ; provoke Him not ; for He will not 
 pardon your transgressions: for my name is in Him. 
 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that 
 I speak ; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, 
 and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine 
 angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the 
 Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the 
 Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I 
 will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their 
 gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but 
 thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break 
 down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your 
 God, and He shall bless thy bi-ead and thy water; 
 and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 
 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in 
 thy land : the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will 
 send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the 
 people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all 
 thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will 
 send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the 
 Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before 
 thee. [Ver. 31.] And I will set thy bounds from the 
 Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from 
 the desert unto the river ; for I will deliver the inha- 
 
124 
 
 Notes. 
 
 bitants of the land into your hand ; and thou shalt drive 
 thera out before thee. 
 
 Leviticus xxv. 17.] Ye shall not therefore oppress 
 one another ; but thou shalt fear thy God : for I am the 
 Lord your God. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, 
 and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall 
 dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield 
 her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein 
 in safety. And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the 
 seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in 
 our increase : then I will command my blessing upon 
 you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for 
 three years. 
 
 Chap. xxvi. ver. 3.] If ye walk in my statutes, and 
 keep my commandments, and do them: then I will 
 give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield 
 her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield 
 their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the 
 vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing 
 time : and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and 
 dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in 
 the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make 
 you afraid : and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, 
 neither shall the sword go through your land. And 
 ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before 
 you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an 
 hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thou- 
 sand to flight : and your enemies shall fall before you 
 by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and 
 make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my 
 
Notes. 
 
 125 
 
 covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and 
 bring forth the old because of the new. And I will 
 set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not 
 abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be 
 your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the Lord 
 your God, which brought you forth out of the land of 
 Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and 
 I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you 
 go upright. 
 
 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not 
 do all my commandments; and if ye shall despise 
 my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, 
 so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that 
 ye break my covenant : I also will do this unto you ; 
 I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and 
 the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and 
 cause sorrow of heart : and ye shall sow your seed in 
 vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my 
 face against you, and ye shall be slain before your 
 enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you: and 
 ye shall flee when no man pursueth you. And if ye 
 will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will 
 punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will 
 break the pride of your power ; and I will make your 
 heaven as iron, and your earth as brass. And your 
 strength shall be spent in vain : for your land shall not 
 yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land 
 yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and 
 will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more 
 plagues upon you, according to your sins. I will also 
 
126 
 
 Notes. 
 
 send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your 
 children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in 
 number; and your high-ways shall be desolate. And if 
 ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will 
 walk contrary unto me ; then will I also walk contrary 
 unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your 
 sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall 
 avenge the quarrel of my covenant : and, when ye are 
 gathered together within your cities, I will send the 
 pestilence among you ; and ye shall be delivered into the 
 hands of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff 
 of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one 
 oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by 
 weight : and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if 
 ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk con- 
 trary unto me ; then I will walk contrary unto you also 
 in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for 
 your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and 
 the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will 
 destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and 
 cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and 
 my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities 
 waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I 
 will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I 
 will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies 
 which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I 
 ■will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a 
 sword after you ; and your land shall be desolate, and 
 your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sab- 
 baths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your 
 
Notes. 
 
 127 
 
 enemies' land ; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy 
 her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest ; 
 because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt 
 upon it. And upon them that are left alive of you I will 
 send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their 
 enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase 
 them ; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword ; and 
 they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall 
 one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none 
 pursueth ; and ye shall have no power to stand before 
 your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, 
 and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And 
 they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity 
 in your enemies' lands ; and also in the iniquities of their 
 fathers shall they pine away with them. 
 
 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of 
 their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed 
 against me, and that also they have walked contrary 
 unto me ; and that I also have walked contrary unto 
 them, and have brought them into the land of their 
 enemies ; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, 
 and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity : 
 then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also 
 my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with 
 Abraham will I remember ; and I will remember the 
 land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall 
 enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without 
 them ; and they shall accept of the punishment of their 
 iniquity ; because, even because they despised my judg- 
 ments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And 
 
128 
 
 Notes. 
 
 yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, 
 I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to 
 destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with 
 them: for I am the Lord their God. But I will for 
 their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, 
 whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the 
 sight of the heathen, that I might be their God : I am 
 the Lord. These are the statutes and judgments and 
 laws which the Lord made between him and the children 
 of Israel in mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses. 
 
 Numbers xiv, 20.] And the Lord said, I have par- 
 doned according to thy word : but as truly as I live, all 
 the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 
 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and 
 my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilder- 
 ness, have tempted me now these ten times, and have 
 not hearkened to my voice ; surely they shall not see the 
 land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any 
 of them that provoked me see it : but ray servant Caleb, 
 because he had another spirit with him, and hath fol- 
 lowed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto 
 he went ; and his seed shall possess it. Say unto them, 
 as truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in 
 mine ears, so will I do to you : your carcases shall fall 
 in this wilderness ; and all that were numbered of you, 
 according to your whole number, from twenty years old 
 and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubt- 
 less ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I 
 sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of 
 Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little 
 
Notes. 
 
 129 
 
 ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring 
 in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 
 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this 
 wilderness. And your children shall wander in the 
 wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until 
 your, carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the 
 number of the days in which ye searched the land, even 
 forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your ini- 
 quities, even forty years ; and ye shall know my breach 
 of promise. I the Lord have said, 1 will surely do it 
 unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together 
 against me : in this wilderness they shall be consumed, 
 and there they sliall die. 
 
 Chap, xxxii. 10.] And the Lord's anger was kindled 
 the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the 
 men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old 
 and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto 
 Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob: because they 
 have not wholly followed me; save Caleb the son of 
 Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun : 
 for they have wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord's 
 anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them 
 wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the gene- 
 ration that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was 
 consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fa- 
 ther's stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet 
 the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. For if ye 
 turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them 
 in the wilderness ; and ye shall destroy all this people. 
 
 Chap, xxxiii. ver. 55 ] But if ye will not drive out 
 K 
 
130 
 
 Notes. 
 
 the inhabitants of the land from before you ; then it shall 
 come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them 
 shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, 
 and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. More- 
 over it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I 
 thought to do unto them. 
 
 Deuteronomy \. S5.'] Surely there shall not one of 
 these men of this evil generation see that good land, 
 which I sware to give it unto your fathers. Save 
 Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to 
 him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, 
 and to his children, because he hath wholly followed 
 the Lord. Also the Lord was angry with me for your 
 sakes, saying, Thou shalt not go in thither. But Joshua 
 the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go 
 in thither: encourage him : for he shall cause Israel to 
 inherit it. 
 
 Chap. iv. ver. L] Now therefore hearken, O Israel, 
 unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach 
 you for to do them, that ye may live, and go in 
 and possess the land which the Lord God of your 
 fathers giveth you. For the Lord thy God is a con 
 suming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt 
 beget children, and children's children, and ye shall 
 have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt 
 yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness 
 of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lore 
 thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven ani 
 earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soo 
 utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go ov(' 
 
Notes. 
 
 Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days 
 upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord 
 shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be 
 left few in number among the heathen, whither the 
 Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, 
 the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which 
 neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Thou shalt 
 keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, 
 which I command thee this day, that it may go well 
 with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that 
 thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which 
 the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever. 
 
 Chap. V. ver. 29.] O that there were such an heart 
 in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my 
 commandments always, that it might be well with 
 them, and with their children for ever ! Ye shall 
 observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath 
 commanded you : ye shall not turn aside to the right 
 hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways 
 which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that 
 ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and 
 that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye 
 shall possess. 
 
 Chap. vi. ver. 2.] That thou mightest fear the 
 Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his 
 commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy 
 son, and thy son's son all the days of thy life ; and 
 that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O 
 Israel, and observe to do it : that it may be well with 
 thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 Notes. 
 
 God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land 
 that floweth with milk and honey. And it shall be 
 when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into 
 the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, 
 to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly 
 cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all 
 good things which thou filledst not, and wells digged, 
 which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, 
 which thou plantedst not ; when thou shalt have eaten 
 and be full ; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, 
 which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, 
 from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the 
 Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt sware by his 
 name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods 
 of the people which are round about you ; (for the 
 Lord thy God is a jealous God among you,) lest the 
 anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, 
 and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Ye 
 shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted 
 him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep the com- 
 mandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, 
 and his statutes which he hath commanded thee. And 
 thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight 
 of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that 
 thou mayest go in and possess the good land which 
 the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to cast out all thine 
 enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken. 
 And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, 
 What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the 
 judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded 
 
Notes. 
 
 133 
 
 you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were 
 Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought 
 us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: and the Lord 
 shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon 
 Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, 
 before our eyes : and he brought us out from thence, 
 that he might bring us in, to give us the land which 
 he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord com- 
 manded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord 
 our God, for our good always, that he might preserve 
 us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our 
 righteousness, if we observe to do all these com- 
 mandments before the Lord our God, as he hath com- 
 manded us. 
 
 Chap. vii. ver. 12.] Wherefore it shall come to 
 pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and 
 do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee 
 the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy 
 fathers : and He will love thee, and bless thee, and 
 multiply thee : He will also bless the fruit of thy 
 womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy 
 wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the 
 flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto 
 thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above 
 all people : there shall not be male or female barren 
 among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will 
 take away from thee all sickness, and will put none 
 of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowcst, 
 upon thee ; but will lay them upon all them that hate 
 thee. 
 
134 
 
 Notes. 
 
 Chap. viii. ver. 1.] All the commandments which I 
 command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye 
 may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land 
 which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And it shall 
 be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and 
 walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship 
 them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely 
 perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth 
 before your face, so shall ye perish ; because ye 
 would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord 
 your God. 
 
 Chap. xi. ver. 8.] Therefore shall ye keep all the 
 commandments which I command you this day, that 
 ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land 
 whither ye go to possess it; and that ye may prolong 
 your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto 
 your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a 
 land that floweth with milk and honey. For the land, 
 whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land 
 of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou 
 sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a 
 garden of herbs : but the land, whither ye go to 
 possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh 
 water of the rain of heaven ; a land which the Lord 
 thy God careth for : the eyes of the Lord thy God 
 are always upon it, from the beginning of the year 
 even unto the end of the year. And it shall come to 
 pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my command- 
 ments which I command you this day, to love the Lord 
 your God, and to serve him with all your heart, and 
 
Notes. 
 
 135 
 
 with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of 
 your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter 
 rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy 
 wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy 
 fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 
 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not de- 
 ceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and 
 worship them ; and then the Lord's wrath be kindled 
 against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be 
 no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit ; and lest 
 ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord 
 giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words- 
 in your heart, &c. [Ver. 21.] That your days may be 
 multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land 
 which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, 
 as the days of heaven upon the earth. For if ye shall 
 diligently keep all these commandments which I com- 
 mand you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to 
 walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him ; then 
 will the Lord drive out all these nations from before 
 you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier 
 than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of 
 your feet shall tread shall be yours : from the wilder- 
 ness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphra- 
 tes, even imto the uttermost sea, shall your coast be. 
 There shall no man be able to stand before you : for 
 the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the 
 dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread 
 upon, as he hath said unto you. Behold, I set before 
 you this day a blessing and a curse : a blessing, if ye 
 
136 
 
 Notes. 
 
 obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which 
 I command you this day ; and a curse, if ye will not 
 obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but 
 turn aside out of the way which I command you 
 this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not 
 known. 
 
 Chap, XV. ver. 4.] For the Lord shall greatly bless 
 thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 
 for an inheritance to possess it : only if thou carefully 
 liearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe 
 to do all these commandments which I command thee 
 this day. For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he 
 promised thee : and thou shalt lend unto many nations, 
 but thou shalt not borrow ; and thou shalt reign over 
 many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. 
 [Ver. 10.] Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart 
 shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him ; be- 
 cause that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless 
 thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine 
 hand unto. 
 
 Chap. xvi. ver. 20.] That which is altogether just 
 shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the 
 land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 
 Chap. xvii. ver. 19.] And it (viz. the book of the 
 Law, for the king's use) shall be with him, and he 
 shall read therein all the days of his life : that he may 
 learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words 
 of this law and these statutes, to do them: that his 
 heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he 
 turn not aside from the commandment, to the right 
 
Notes. 
 
 137 
 
 hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong 
 his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the 
 midst of Israel. 
 
 Chap, xxviii. ver. 1.] And it shall come to pass, if 
 thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the 
 Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his command- 
 ments which I command thee this day, that the Lord 
 thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the 
 earth : and all these blessings shall come on thee, 
 and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the 
 voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be 
 in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 
 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the 
 fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the 
 increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 
 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed 
 shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt 
 thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause 
 thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten 
 before thy face; they shall come out against thee one 
 way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord 
 shall command the blessing upon thee in thy store- 
 houses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; 
 and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord 
 thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee 
 an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto 
 thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord 
 thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the 
 earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the 
 Lord ; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the 
 
138 
 
 Notes. 
 
 Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit 
 of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the 
 fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware 
 unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open 
 unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the 
 rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the 
 work of thine hand : and thou shall lend unto many 
 nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord 
 shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou 
 shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath ; if 
 that thou hearken unto the commandments of the 
 Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to 
 observe and to do them : and thou shalt not go aside 
 from any of the words which I command thee this day, 
 to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods 
 to serve them. 
 
 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken 
 unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to 
 do all his commandments and his statutes which I 
 command thee this day ; that all these curses shall 
 come upon thee and overtake thee. Cursed shalt 
 thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in 
 the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 
 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of 
 thy land, the increase of thy kine and the flocks of 
 thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest 
 in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 
 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and 
 rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to 
 do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish 
 
Notes. 
 
 139 
 
 quickly ; because of the wickedness of thy doings, 
 whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall 
 make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have 
 consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to 
 possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a con- 
 sumption and with a fever, and with an inflammation, 
 and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and 
 with blasting, and with mildew ; and they shall pursue 
 thee until thou perish. And the heaven that is over 
 thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under 
 thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of 
 thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come 
 down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The Lord 
 shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies : 
 thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven 
 ways before them : and shalt be removed into all the 
 kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be 
 meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of 
 the earth, and no man shall fray them away. The 
 Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and 
 with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the 
 itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord 
 shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and 
 astonishment of heart: and thou shalt grope at noon- 
 day, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt 
 not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only 
 oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save 
 thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man 
 shall lie with her : thou shalt build an house, and shalt 
 not dwell therein : thou shalt plant a vineyard, and 
 
140 
 
 Notes. 
 
 shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall 
 be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat 
 thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from 
 before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: 
 thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou 
 shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy 
 daughters shall be given unto another people, and 
 thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them 
 all the day long ; and there shall be no might in thine 
 hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, 
 shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up ; and 
 thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: so 
 that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes 
 which thou shalt see. The Lord shall smite thee in 
 the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that 
 cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the 
 top of thy head. The Lord shall bring thee and thy 
 king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation 
 which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and 
 there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. 
 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, 
 and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord 
 shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into 
 tiie field, and shalt gather but little in : for the locust 
 shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and 
 dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor 
 gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 
 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, 
 but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil ; for thine 
 olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and 
 
Notes. 
 
 141 
 
 daughters, but tliou slialt not enjoy them ; for they 
 shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy 
 land shall the locust consume. The stranger that is 
 within thee shall get up above thee very high; and 
 thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to 
 thee, and thou shalt not lend to him : he shall be the 
 head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these 
 curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, 
 and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed ; because 
 thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of tlie Lord thy 
 God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which 
 he commanded thee. And they shall be upon thee for 
 a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever, 
 because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joy- 
 fulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance 
 of all things ; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies 
 which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and 
 in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things : 
 and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until 
 he have destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a 
 nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, 
 as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue 
 thou shalt not understand. A nation of fierce counte- 
 nance, which shall not regard the person of the old, 
 nor shew favour to the young. And he shall eat the 
 fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou 
 be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either 
 corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks 
 of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he 
 shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and 
 
142 
 
 Notes. 
 
 fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, 
 throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in 
 all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord 
 thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the 
 fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and 
 of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given 
 thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith 
 thine enemies shall distress thee. So that the man that 
 is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall 
 be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his 
 bosom, and toward the remnant of his children, which 
 he shall leave : so that he will not give to any of them 
 of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat ; because 
 he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the strait- 
 ness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all 
 thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, 
 which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot 
 upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her 
 eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, 
 and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and to- 
 ward her young one that cometh out from between her 
 feet, and toward her children which she shall bear; 
 for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in 
 the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall 
 distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not observe to 
 do all the words of this law that are written in this 
 book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful 
 name. The Lord thy God ; then the Lord will make 
 thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, 
 even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore 
 
Notes. 
 
 143 
 
 sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he 
 will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which 
 thou wast afraid of ; and they shall cleave unto thee. 
 Also every sickness and every plague, which is not 
 written in the book of this law, them will the Lord 
 bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. And ye 
 shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the 
 stars of heaven for multitude ; because thou wouldest 
 not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. And it shall 
 come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do 
 you good, and to multiply you ; so the Lord will rejoice 
 over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; 
 and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou 
 goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee 
 among all people, from the one end of the earth even 
 unto the other ; and there thou shalt serve other gods, 
 which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even 
 wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou 
 find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have 
 rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling 
 heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and 
 thy life shall hang in doubt before thee ; and thou 
 shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance 
 of thy life : in the morning thou shalt say. Would God 
 it were even ! and at even thou shalt say, Would God 
 it were morning! for the fear of thine heart where- 
 with thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes 
 which thou shalt see. And the Lord shall bring thee 
 into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake 
 unto thee. Thou shalt see it no more again : and there ye 
 
144 
 
 Notes. 
 
 shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bond- 
 women, and no man shall buy you. 
 
 Chap. xxix. ver. 22.] So that the generation to come 
 of your children, that shall rise up after you, and the 
 stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, 
 when they see the plagues of that land, and the sick- 
 nesses which the Lord hath laid upon it; and that the 
 whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, 
 that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth 
 therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his 
 anger and in his wrath : even all nations shall say. Where- 
 fore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? what 
 meaneth the heat of this great anger ? Then men shall 
 say. Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord 
 God of their fathers, which he made with them when he 
 brought them forth out of the land of Egypt : for they 
 went and served other gods, and worshipped them, 
 gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given 
 unto tliem : and the anger of the Lord was kindled 
 against tliis land, to bring upon it all the curses that 
 are written in this book : and the Lord rooted them 
 out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great 
 indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is 
 this day. 
 
 Chap. XXX. ver. 1.] And it shall come to pass, 
 when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing 
 and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou 
 shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither 
 the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and slialt return 
 
Notes. 
 
 145 
 
 unto the Lord tliy God, and shalt obey his voice ac- 
 cording to all that I command thee this day, thou, and 
 thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy 
 soul ; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy cap- 
 tivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return 
 and gather thee from all the nations, whither the 
 Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine 
 be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from 
 thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from 
 thence will he fetch thee : and the Lord thy God 
 will bring thee into the land which thy fathers pos- 
 sessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee 
 good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the 
 Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine 
 enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted 
 thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of 
 the Lord, and do all his commandments, which I com- 
 mand thee this day. And the Lord thy God will 
 make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in 
 the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, 
 and in the fruit of thy land, for good : for the Lord 
 will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced 
 over thy fathers ; if thou shalt hearken unto the voice 
 of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and 
 his statutes which are written in this book of the law, 
 and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine 
 heart, and with all thy soul. 
 
 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, 
 and death and evil ; in that I command thee this 
 day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 Notes. 
 
 and to keep his commandments and his statutes 
 and his judgments, that thou mayest live and mul- 
 tiply : and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the 
 land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine 
 heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt 
 be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve 
 them ; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall 
 surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days 
 upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to 
 go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record 
 this day against you, that I have set before you life 
 and death, blessing and cursing : therefore choose 
 life, that both thou and thy seed may live : That thou 
 mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest 
 obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him : 
 for he is thy life, and the length of thy days : that thou 
 mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto 
 thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to 
 give them. 
 
 Chap. xxxi. ver. 16.] And the Lord said unto 
 Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers ; 
 and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after 
 the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go 
 to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my 
 covenant which I have made with them. Then my 
 anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and 
 I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from 
 them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and 
 troubles shall befal them ; so that they will say in that 
 day. Are not these evils come upon us, because our 
 
Notes. 
 
 147 
 
 God is not among us ? And I will surely hide my 
 face in that day for all the evils which they shall have 
 wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. For 
 I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your- 
 selves, and turn aside from the way which I have com- 
 manded you ; and evil will befall you in the latter days, 
 because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to pro- 
 voke him to anger through the work of your hands. 
 
 Chap, xxxii. ver. 24.] They shall be burnt with 
 hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter 
 destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon 
 them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The 
 sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the 
 young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the 
 man of gray hairs. [Ver. 46.] And he said unto them. 
 Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among 
 you this day, which ye shall command your children to 
 observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a 
 vain thing for you, because it is your life : and through 
 this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither 
 ye go over Jordan to possess it. 
 
 Note (F) jmge 76. 
 In tota lege Mosaica nullum vitas aeternae praemium, 
 ac ne aeterni quidem prseraii indicium vel vestigium 
 extat. Opinionum, quae inter Judasos erat, circa vitam 
 futuri saeculi, discrepantia, arguit promissiones Lege 
 factas tales esse ut ex iis certi quid de vita futuri saeculi 
 non possit colligi. Quod et Servator noster non ob- 
 scure innuit, cum resurrectionera mortuorum colligit 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 Notes. 
 
 [Matt, xxii.] non ex promisso aliquo Legi addito, sed 
 ex general! tantum illo promisso Dei, quo se Deum 
 Abrahami, Isaaci, et Jacobi futurum sposponderat : quae 
 tamen ilia collectio magis nititur cognitione intentionis 
 diviriEe sub generalibus istis verbis occultatae, &c. &c. 
 Episcopius, Inst. Theol. lib. iii. § 1. c. 2. 
 
 Grotius distinctly maintains the same tenet ; " Moses 
 in Religionis Judaicae institutione, si diserta Legis re- 
 spiciraus, nihil promisit supra hujus vitee bona, terram 
 uberem, penum copiosum, victoriam de hostibus, longum 
 et valentem senectutem, posteros cum bona spe super- 
 stites. Nam si quid est ultra, in umbris obtegitur, 
 aut sapienti ac difficili ratiocinatione colligendum, est." 
 &c. 
 
ESSAY II. 
 
 ON THE DECLARATION OF GOD IN HIS SON. 
 
 § 1. That the doctrines of man's immortality, 
 and of the eternal reward reserved for the pious 
 and obedient, were truly " brought to light 
 through the Gospel," I have endeavoured to 
 establish in the First Essay. There are other 
 peculiarities in the Christian religion, closely 
 connected with these, which are still more fre- 
 quently overlooked, (at least, overlooked as 
 peculiarities,) relating to the mode in which the 
 Gospel leads men towards the attainment of 
 its promises, and brings them into that state of 
 piety and of obedience, which is requisite as a 
 preparation for immortal happiness. That piety 
 and obedience are requisite to make man accept- 
 able in God's sight, is indeed no peculiarity of 
 the Gospel : natural religion would teach, that if 
 there be any future state, the most likely means 
 of making that a happy state, must be a profound 
 reverence for the Great Being on whose favour 
 
150 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 all happiness must depend, and a course of life 
 agreeable to those moral principles which He 
 seems to have implanted in our minds, for the 
 regulation of our conduct. And many persons 
 accordingly content themselves with the consi- 
 deration, that piety and virtue are enforced in 
 the Christian religion by stronger sanctions, (the 
 hopes and fears of another world,) than natural 
 religion could establish ; and they notice also, 
 perhaps, the pecuUar purity of the Gospel-mo- 
 rality ; but without observing the peculiarity of 
 the mode in which that piety and morality are 
 inculcated; or rather in which men are led 
 to inculcate on themselves these lessons, and 
 to acquire the requisite dispositions. 
 
 The object of the present and of the succeed- 
 ing Essay will be to point out these distinguish- 
 ing features : and first, that of the mode in 
 which Christians are drawn towards God, and 
 sentiments both of piety and of emulation of the 
 divine goodness, implanted and cherished, by a 
 certain peculiarity in the character of the Gospel 
 revelation. 
 
 It is to be observed, that I am proceeding 
 throughout on the supposition of the truth of 
 
SECT. 1.] Declaration of God in his Son. 151 
 
 that revelation ; and without therefore adducing 
 any direct evidence in support of it ; though, 
 indirectly, it may serve as a confirmation to the 
 believer's faith, and may suggest matter of useful 
 meditation to the sceptic, to find Christianity 
 distinguished, in this and in several other re- 
 markable particulars, both from Natural-religion, 
 and from all pretended revelations ; and distin- 
 guished by such marks as are favourable to its 
 claim of coming from God. 
 
 The vv^ritings of the Apostle John, being com- 
 posed, as is generally beheved, in a great mea- 
 sure, for the purpose of refuting the prevailing 
 heresies of his times, and of asserting and ex- 
 plaining, in opposition to them, as much as is 
 proper or possible for us to know respecting the 
 true nature and character of Jesus Christ, are 
 accordingly those which throw the most light on 
 that peculiarity in the Gospel-revelation which 
 is now under consideration. In the beginning 
 of his Gospel he tells us, [ch. i. 18,] " no man 
 hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten 
 Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He 
 hath declared Him." The first clause of this 
 passage, viz. that " no man hath seen God at 
 
152 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 any time," is an assertion so obvious and indis- 
 putable, that it seeras introduced principally as 
 a reason for the second, " the only-begotten Son, 
 which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath 
 declared Him ;" that is, the necessity of such 
 a declaration arises from the spiritual and stu- 
 pendously exalted nature of the Deity ; who is 
 not the object of any of our senses, and is very 
 imperfectly comprehensible by our understanding. 
 
 Now it is most important to observe, that the 
 declaration which John here speaks of, cannot 
 be understood as merely an authoritative an- 
 nouncement of God's will, such as was made 
 by the prophets ; because the context evidently 
 shews that he is speaking of something peculiar 
 to the only-begotten Son ; eKelvos e^rjji^craTo : 
 "He hath declared him," or rather, with still 
 more [propriety, " it is He that hath declared 
 him :" this declaration therefore does not refer 
 to a mere message sent from God, but to a 
 manifestation of God himself in Jesus Christ : 
 which the Apostle has just above described by 
 saying, "the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us." He came, not merely as a prophet 
 sent from God, but as " Emmanuel, God with 
 
SECT. 2.] Declaration of God in his Son. 153 
 
 us." This view of the declaration or revelation 
 which He made of God, is strikingly confirmed 
 by numerous other passages in the sacred writ- 
 ings : He says of Himself, " he that hath seen 
 me, hath seen the Father." Paul describes the 
 incarnation, by saying, " God was manifest in 
 the flesh and that Christ was the brightness 
 of his glory, airavjaaixa rrjs Zo^rjs, and the ex- 
 press image of his person, '^apaKTrjp r^y virotna- 
 treas. Now that the divine nature of Christ is 
 implied in these passages, though sufficiently 
 clear, it is not my present object to point out ; 
 but that they represent the incarnation as a 
 certain kind of revelation, display, or manifes- 
 tation, to men, of the divine nature. In what 
 manner, and for what purpose, this manifes- 
 tation was effected, is the object of our present 
 inquiry. 
 
 § 2. But in order to keep clear of even the 
 suspicion of that most unchristian and danger- 
 
 The other reading, 'OS instead of eE02, is equally to 
 the present purpose ; since it implies Christ's being at least 
 something more than human : for it would have been nugatory 
 to speak of a Man being "manifest in the flesh." 
 
154 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 ous fault, presumption, it will be necessary to 
 premise two remarks ; first, that we are in- 
 quiring, not why the incarnation took place, but 
 why it was made known to us. Now there is 
 a wide difference between two things, which 
 nevertheless the inattentive are apt to confound 
 together ; I mean, between inquiring into the 
 reasons of the divine counsels themselves, and 
 inquiring into the reasons of their being made 
 known to us : the former is in very many cases 
 both a fruitless and a presumptuous inquiry, 
 because it relates frequently to unknown parts 
 of the creation, and to the attributes and ope- 
 rations of the divine mind, which are beyond 
 our clear comprehension ; whereas, to inquire 
 why certain doctrines are revealed to us, can 
 hardly be a blameable, and will generally be a 
 profitable, often indeed a necessary, inquiry, 
 because this relates to our own minds — to the 
 practical effect intended to be produced on our- 
 selves. For example, why the sacrifice of Christ 
 was necessary for our redemption, is a mystery 
 beyond the reach of our present faculties ; and 
 all attempts fully to explain it have served only 
 to excite a prejudice against the doctrine, and 
 
SECT. 2.] Declaration of God in his Son. 155 
 
 to expose the weakness of arrogant speculation : 
 but to consider why this sacrifice of Christ was 
 announced to mankind, is both allowable and 
 necessary ; it was doubtless for the purpose of 
 exciting our gratitude, confidence, love, and 
 obedience, towards him ; together with a deep 
 abhorrence of sin, which needed so mighty an 
 expiation. 
 
 So also in the present case, we dare not pre- 
 sume to determine why God thought fit to take 
 our nature upon him in Jesus Christ. But why 
 he thought fit to reveal this incarnation — to an- 
 nounce himself as the eternal " Word made 
 flesh" — is what it cannot but behove us to know. 
 
 And it should be added, that since the Scrip- 
 tures were designed for the instruction of man- 
 kind in general, whatever they do reveal, must 
 be understood in the sense which would be likely 
 to strike, not the most learned and most acute 
 metaphysicians, but the generahty (in those 
 times and countries) of readers of plain common 
 sense, and of sufficient candour and diligence. 
 The meaning which one might expect each 
 expression to convey to those, must be what 
 was designed to be conveyed to all. 
 
156 iDeclaration of God in his So?i. [essay ii. 
 
 The other caution to be observed is, that in 
 those cases where we can perceive something of 
 the purposes which God has in view, we are 
 not thence to conclude that we know them all: 
 many great objects may be comprehended in 
 each of God's dispensations ; though but a very 
 small part of these objects be as much as is 
 sufficient, and perhaps possible, for us, in our 
 present state, to understand. We are sure that 
 the sun gives Hght and heat to this world ; and 
 many ignorant savages perhaps conclude from 
 thence, that it was created for no other purpose ; 
 doubtless we are as much called on for gratitude 
 as if the case were so ; but we are well assured, 
 that many other planets partake of the same 
 advantages; and we should be very much to 
 blame, were we to conclude positively that even 
 this is the only, or indeed the principal, purpose 
 for which the sun was created. To have ascer- 
 tained, and to perceive, a reason for any thing 
 that God has done, is far different from per- 
 ceiving ihe reason ; though the two are often 
 confounded. So, in the present case, whatever 
 benefits to mankind we may perceive from the 
 manifestation of God in the flesh, we have no 
 
SECT. 2.] Declaration of God in his Son. 157 
 
 right to infer, that there may not be other, and 
 even greater, objects effected by it, of which, for 
 the present at least, we must remain ignorant. 
 
 With these cautions carefully kept in mind, 
 we may proceed, with due reverence, to inquire 
 for what purposes we are taught by Scripture 
 to beheve in the incarnation of God in Christ 
 Jesus, and to regard that as a manifestation 
 of God to his creatures. We shall find good 
 reason for concluding, that it was designed, in 
 part at least, for the purpose of leading men 
 both to piety and to morality, by a method ad- 
 mirably adapted to that purpose, and which is 
 absolutely peculiar to Christianity ; viz. by first 
 bringing down more to the level of our capacity 
 the moral attributes of the Deity, and thus better 
 engaging our affections on the side of devotion ; 
 and secondly, by exhibiting a perfect and exalted 
 Model of human excellence. Both these objects 
 are effected by the mysterious union of the divine 
 and human Natures ; the divine " Word was 
 made flesh," to lead us to affectionate piety ; 
 and "the manhood was taken into God," to 
 teach us Godlike virtue. 
 
 The few remarks which I propose to offer 
 
158 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 on each of these points, though very far from 
 exhausting the subject, may be sufficient to sug- 
 gest, to such as are disposed to pursue it, a train 
 of pleasing and profitable meditation. 
 
 § 3. First, then, with respect to piety : (or 
 whatever other term may be employed, to denote 
 collectively the sentiments felt or expressed by 
 men towards a Supreme Being :) it is, indeed, 
 undeniable, that the works of creation clearly 
 indicate a Contriver of stupendous power and 
 wisdom, whose observation we can never hope to 
 elude, nor to resist his will : and we cannot but 
 acknowledge his goodness, in bestowing on his 
 creatures all the benefits they enjoy, notwith- 
 standing our inabihty to explain those appearances 
 of evil which present themselves. 
 
 But, though it is easy to say, that we ought to 
 love and worship, as well as reverence and fear, 
 the Supreme Being, yet nothing is, in fact, more 
 difficult, for such a creature as man, surrounded 
 too, as he is, by gross material objects, and 
 necessarily occupied in worldly pursuits, than to 
 lift up his thoughts and affections to God. A 
 Being, whose nature is so incomprehensible, that 
 
SECT. 3.] Declaration of God in his Son. 159 
 
 our knowledge of Him is chiefly negative ; of 
 whom we know, not so much what He is, as 
 what He is not, it is difficult to make even a 
 steady object of thought. Now, we believe that 
 God is a sinrit ; but we have a very faint notion 
 of the nature of a Spirit, except that it is not a 
 body. God is eternal; but we are bewildered 
 with the very idea of Eternity, of vi^hich we only 
 know that it is without beginning, and without 
 end : we say, that the divine attributes are in- 
 finite ; i. e. not bounded, unWrniiedi. And even 
 where our knowledge of God extends beyond 
 mere negatives, we cannot but perceive, on at- 
 tentive reflection, that the attributes assigned to 
 the Deity must, in reahty, be such, in Him, as the 
 ordinary sense of those same terms, when applied 
 to men, can but very faintly shadow out.'' But 
 the difficulty is still greater, when we attempt to 
 set our affections on this awful and inconceivable 
 Being ; — to address, as a tender parent, Him, 
 who has formed out of nothing, and could anni- 
 hilate in a moment, countless myriads, perhaps, 
 of worlds besides our own ; and to whom " the 
 
 ^ See note (G) at the end of this Essay. 
 
160 Declaration of God iti his So)i. [essay ii. 
 
 nations are but as the drop of a bucket, and the 
 small dust of a balance ;" — to offer our tribute of 
 praise and obedience, to Him who can neither 
 be benefited nor hurt by us ; — to implore favour 
 and deprecate punishment, from Him who has no 
 passions, or wants, as we have ; — to confess our 
 sins, before Him who is exempt not only from all 
 sin, but from all human infirmities and tempta- 
 tions; — and, in short, to hold spiritual intercourse, 
 with One with whom we can have no sympathy, 
 and of whom we can with difficulty form any clear 
 conception. 
 
 And this difficulty is not diminished, but rather 
 increased, in proportion as man advances in re- 
 finement of notions, in cultivation of intellect, 
 and in habits of profound philosophical reflection ; 
 and thus becomes less gross in his ideas of the 
 Supreme Being. To the dull and puerile under- 
 standings of a semi-barbarous nation, such as the 
 Israelites at the time of Moses, many of the cir- 
 cumstances just mentioned would be less likely 
 to occur, than to those of a more enlightened 
 people ; and an habitual and practical piety would 
 accordingly have been more easy of attainment by 
 them, while favoured, as they were, with frequent 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his Son. 161 
 
 sensible divine interpositions of various kinds, 
 and continually addressed by prophets in the 
 name of the Lord, Jehovah, the tutelary God of 
 their nation, than for men of more enlarged minds, 
 and more thoughtful habits, not favoured with 
 the Gospel-revelation. 
 
 These impediments to devotion, it is probable, 
 the Apostle John had in mind, w^hen he said, "No 
 man hath seen God at any time ;" and that he 
 conceived the " declaration " of God, by Jesus 
 Christ, was calculated not, indeed, wholly to re- 
 move these impediments, but so far to moderate 
 and lower them, as to leave no insuperable diffi- 
 culty to a willing mind. 
 
 §4. To the causes which have been enumerated, 
 it is to be attributed, that the religion of those 
 who are called philosophers, — whose speculations 
 respecting the Deity have been accounted the most 
 refined and exalted, — has always been cold and 
 heartless in its devotion ; or rather has been nearly 
 destitute of devotion altogether. 
 
 On the other hand, the great mass of mankind, 
 from the same cause, have, in all ages and coun- 
 tries, shown a disposition to address their prayers. 
 
] 62 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 not to the Supreme Creator immediately, but to 
 some angel, demi-god, subordinate deity, or saint, 
 (as is the practice of the Romish Church), whom 
 they suppose to approach more to their own na- 
 ture, to form a sort of connecting link between 
 God and man, and to perform for them the office 
 of Intercessor. Thus, while the one class are alto- 
 gether wanting in affectionate devotion, the other 
 direct it to an improper object ; giving that wor- 
 ship to the creature which is due only to the 
 Creator. 
 
 A preventive for both these faults is provided, in 
 that manifestation of God in Jesus Christ, which 
 affords us such a display of the divine attributes, 
 as, though very faint and imperfect, is yet the best 
 calculated, considering what human nature is, to 
 lead our affections to God. When Christ fed a 
 multitude with five loaves, He made not indeed a 
 greater, or a more benevolent display of power, 
 than He does in supporting, from day to day, so 
 many millions of men and other animals as the 
 universe contains : but it was an instance far 
 better calculated to make an impression on men's 
 minds of his goodness and parental care. I 
 speak not now of this miracle as an evidence of 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his So?i. 163 
 
 his pretensions ; for that purpose would have 
 been answered as well by a miracle of destruction ; 
 but of the peculiar beneficent character of it. So, 
 also, in healing the sick, raising the dead, and 
 preaching to the people ; though these are not 
 greater acts of power and goodness than the crea- 
 tion of the world and all things in it, yet they are 
 what the minds of most men at least, can more 
 steadily dwell upon, and which, therefore, are the 
 most likely to affect the heart. 
 
 Many, it is true, of the qualities which our Lord 
 displayed, such as his patience under provocation, 
 and fortitude against pain and danger, are such 
 as can belong to Him in his human nature alone, 
 and can present us but a very faint shadow of 
 the attributes of God, considered as such ; but 
 still these are attributes of one and the same 
 Person, in whom we believe the Divine and 
 Human Natures to have been united ; though we 
 can no more comprehend that union, than we can 
 that of the human soul and body ; and they are well 
 fitted to fix our affections on that Person. And 
 if any one should contend, by drawing nice meta- 
 physical distinctions, that this is not properly to 
 be called the love of God, it is at least the nearest 
 M 2 
 
164 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 approach to it of which our nature is capable. Or 
 should any one inquire (being led by the ordinary 
 English use of the word, to draw too strong a 
 distinction between the Divine Persons) whether, 
 in this way, love towards God the Father is suffi- 
 ciently inculcated, he may find an answer in our 
 Lord's own words : " If ye had known me, ye 
 should have known my Father also : and from 
 henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him. 
 Philip saith unto him. Lord, shew us the Father, 
 and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him. Have I 
 been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not 
 known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then. Shew 
 us the Father ? Believest thou not that I am in 
 the Father, and the Father in me ? the words 
 that I speak unto you I speak not of myself : but 
 the Father, that dwelleth in me. He doeth the 
 works." John xiv. 7 — 10. 
 
 If we cannot endure steadily to gaze on the 
 sun, but prefer contemplating its brightness as 
 reflected from the objects on the earth, much 
 more may we expect that the splendour of the 
 Divine Being should be too dazzling for mortal 
 gaze ; — that it should be necessary for his bright- 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his Son. 165 
 
 ness to be veiled in flesh, in order to enable us 
 to contemplate it in the best manner that, for us, 
 is possible; and that we should have a better 
 notion of Him, by viewing this radiation of his 
 glory, [AnAYFASMA TH2 A0HH2,] than by 
 straining our weak faculties in attempting to 
 comprehend Him as He is. Our views, indeed, on 
 this awful subject must, after all, be indistinct, 
 confused, and imperfect ; but if they are better 
 than we could otherwise have attained, and are 
 the utmost that we can or need attain, the object 
 is sufficiently accomphshed. And, indeed, if any 
 one had clear, distinct, and complete views of 
 the Divine Being, this would alone be a sufficient 
 proof to me that they were incorrect views. 
 
 If, indeed, as is notoriously the fact, our only 
 notions of the divine attributes, and our terms for 
 expressing them, are, and always must be, bor- 
 rowed from such human qualities as have the 
 most analogy to them, it seems to follow inevitably , 
 that the more excellent man would give us ever 
 the more adequate notion of the divine excellence ; 
 and, consequently, that the life of that Man who 
 was altogether perfect, by union with the God- 
 head, must afford us the very best idea (however 
 
166 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 imperfect that best may be) that we can attain, of 
 the moral attributes of God. 
 
 Moreover, our Lord was subject to all the 
 wants, infirmities, and temptations, incident to his 
 and our human nature ; and suffered on the cross 
 for our redemption. And it should be remem- 
 bered, that we are not exalting the character of 
 Jesus, if we regard Him as naturally destitute 
 of such feelings as ambition, love of glory, pa- 
 triotism, and other such natural propensities, as 
 are not in themselves sinful : nor could it, in that 
 case, have been said with truth, that He " was 
 in all points tempted like as we are." No doubt 
 the offer of temporal dominion, to a descendant 
 of the royal house of David, together with the 
 eager reception this would have ensured Him 
 with his countrymen, who were anxiously looking 
 for such a Messiah, and the glory and pleasure 
 of delivering them from a foreign yoke, consti- 
 tuted a real and strong temptation ; especially 
 when the alternative was rejection by his brethren, 
 insult, persecution, and ignominious death.'' May 
 not this offer have been pressingly renewed just 
 
 * It has appeared to several divines (and I fully coincide 
 with them) more probable, that the plot laid by Judas 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his Son. 1^7 
 
 at the time of his betrayal?"^ and may not this 
 temptation have been the " cup " which He 
 prayed might be removed from Him ? for we are 
 told (Heb. V. 7), that " he offered up prayers 
 and supphcations with strong crying and tears, 
 unto Him that was able to save Him from 
 death, and was heard, in that He feared :" now 
 we know that He was not saved from the death 
 on the cross ; it must have been something else, 
 therefore, from which he prayed for deliverance, 
 and was heard. And the Evangelist tells us, 
 that "there appeared unto Him an angel from 
 heaven strengthening Him." 
 
 All this calls for our sympathy, as well as 
 reverence* and gratitude ; and the affectionate 
 attachment thus so naturally generated, will 
 
 Iscariot (who could not be ignorant of his Master's super- 
 natural powers) was for driving Him to assume a temporal 
 dominion, than that it was directed against his life. See 
 Hinds' "Catechist's Manual," p. 251. 
 
 d For we are told that after the temptation in the wilder- 
 ness "Satan departed from Him, for a season;" {axpi- icaipou, 
 "till a fitting opportunity) ;" and this "season" or "occasion"' 
 our Lord himself points out, in saying, " the prince of this 
 world Cometh," " this is your hour, and the power of dark- 
 ness," &c. &c. 
 
168 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 adhere (if I may so express myself) to the divine 
 nature of the Saviour also. And when we 
 worship Him, though we worship Him not as 
 man, but as God, still it will give an affectionate 
 fervour to our devotions, to have an habitual 
 remembrance, that this very God was also man, 
 deigning for our sakes to be "made flesh, and 
 dwell among us," " taking upon Him the form 
 of a servant, and humbhng himself even unto 
 the death of the cross." 
 
 Undoubtedly, such is the kind of impression 
 which Paul's language, in allusion to the incar- 
 nation, must naturally make on the mind, at 
 least, of a plain simple reader, unskilled in 
 drawing nice metaphysical distinctions ; and this 
 must ever be the description of the great mass of 
 Christians ; for instance, we read in Heb. iv. 15, 
 16, " We have not an high priest which cannot 
 be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but 
 was in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
 without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to 
 the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 
 and find grace to help in time of need." 
 
 When I say, however, that we worship Christ 
 not as man but as God, I mean only, that the 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his So?i. 169 
 
 worship which evidently the Apostles and their 
 immediate disciples paid, and were taught to 
 pay, to Him, was not directed to a mere man, 
 however high in the divine favour, but to God 
 "manifest in the flesh." I am far from supposing 
 that the generality of Christians, that is the 
 unlearned and unphilosophical, were, or can be, 
 capable of making, in their worship, a complete 
 mental separation of the two Natures, abstracting 
 distinctly, and contemplating solely, the divine 
 character, and laying aside all consideration of 
 the Human Nature, of Christ. This may be pos- 
 sible for an acute, and learned, and reflective 
 philosopher, without his adopting the notion into 
 which the attempt seems to have led some of 
 those early heretics, who regarded our Lord as 
 two Persons, — the man, Jesus, and Christ, a dis- 
 tinct emanation of the Deity. The distinction, 
 I say, it may be possible for a profound and re- 
 flective mind so to draw, as yet to keep clear of 
 that heresy ; but the bare description of such an 
 abstractive process of thought, would, I conceive, 
 have as much perplexed the greater part of the 
 early disciples, as it manifestly would the gene- 
 rality of unlearned Christians now. The Apostles 
 
1 70 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 and their hearers would have told us simply, that 
 they addressed their prayers to a Being whom 
 they regarded as both divine and human, — 
 "the man Christ Jesus," in whom "dwelleth" 
 (not some emanation or portion of the Deity, but) 
 "all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily." They 
 addressed Him in their worship by his human 
 name ; as, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," &c. 
 Nor could they, indeed, have invoked Him as 
 their Intercessor and Mediator, by virtue of his 
 meritorious sacrifice, keeping out of their minds 
 the Human Nature which those offices imply/ 
 
 And if such is the impression naturally pro- 
 duced in the generality of simple unphilosophical 
 minds, it cannot be a practically incorrect one ; 
 if, at least, it be true, as has been above re- 
 marked,^ that the Scriptures were designed, by 
 unerring wisdom, for the instruction of such 
 minds. For there is this important difFereiice be- 
 tween these books, and any philosophical treatise, 
 that, in the latter, the most ingenious and best 
 educated may sometimes be the only persons 
 who can ascertain the true meaning; and the 
 
 ^ See Sermon (II.) on the Name Emmanuel. 
 ' In the present Essay, § 2. p. 155. 
 
SECT. 4.] Declaration of God in his Son. 171 
 
 majority of those destitute of these advantages, 
 though not wanting in candour or in diligence, 
 may not only be at a loss to understand some 
 things, but are liable, in the most essential points, 
 utterly to misunderstand the author. Whereas 
 the Scriptures, if really intended for the mass 
 of mankind, though they may contain passages 
 not intelligible to the unlearned, cannot be cal- 
 culated to mislead them as to important matters, 
 by conveying to their minds an obvious sense, 
 which yet shall not be the true one. 
 
 This consideration the Socinians appear to 
 have always overlooked. Admitting that every 
 passage in Scripture would, considered in itself, 
 bear their interpretation, still, if the simple and 
 obvious meaning to plain readers, be the reverse 
 of the truth, how can the Scriptures convey a 
 revelation? If, as they contend, the worship 
 of Christ be idolatry, must not the Scriptures 
 themselves be charged with leading ordinary 
 Christians into idolatry ? The Apostles do, in- 
 deed, direct our worship exclusively to God.; but 
 to " God in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
 Himself :" nor do they dwell on the necessity of 
 making, in our devotions, any mental separation 
 
172 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 of the two Natures of that Person who is the 
 object of our worship. On the contrary, observe 
 how, in the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul 
 presents to our view the divine and the human 
 attributes of the Saviour almost simultaneously ; 
 " in whom," says he, " we have redemption 
 through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ; 
 who is the Image of the invisible God, the first- 
 born of every creature, {TrpwTOTOKOs iraa-rjs Kriaews, 
 
 born before all creatures,) for by Him were all 
 things created, that are in heaven, and that are 
 in earth, visible and invisible." Col. i. 14, 15, 16. 
 That the notions conveyed, by such expressions, 
 to a plain reader, are philosophically correct, I 
 will not undertake to maintain : it is sufficient, 
 that they are scriptural. 
 
 It is not necessary, in an argument addressed 
 to persons who are supposed acquainted with 
 the Scriptures of the New Testament, to dwell 
 as fully as might be done on those innumerable 
 points in the character and conduct of our 
 Saviour, which may be said with literal pro- 
 priety to display divine excellence ; and that, in 
 the most impressive and at the same time in 
 
SECT. 5.] Declaration of God in his Son. 173 
 
 the most amiable form. The contemplation 
 indeed of that character should be an habitual 
 study to every Christian. It will have been 
 sufficient merely to direct the attention of a 
 believer in the Gospel to the point in ques- 
 tion, — the advantage w^ith respect to piety 
 which was intended to accrue from this decla- 
 ration of God in Christ; by its showing us, 
 not indeed the Divine Being as he is, but " the 
 express image," or stamp and impression of 
 
 Him, (j(apaKr'r]p rrjs VTTOcrTacrecos) — by exhibiting, 
 
 though a very imperfect, yet a more impressive 
 and endearing picture of the moral attributes 
 of God than we could in any other way attain ; 
 and thus drawing our whole heart and affections 
 towards Him. 
 
 § 5. II. Another advantage which was stated 
 to have been probably designed in exhibiting 
 to Man the stupendous work of the Incarnation, 
 is, the proposing a perfect model for our imita- 
 tion.^ It is an old and well-established maxim, 
 that men learn better from example than from 
 
 K For some excellent remarks on this subject, see Hinds' 
 " History of the Rise and Progress of Christianity," vol. i. p. 89. 
 
174 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 precept ; but the difficulty is to find an example 
 fit for imitation. Mere human models are all, 
 more or less, imperfect ; and though it is unde- 
 niable, that very great benefit may be derived 
 from them, if we are careful to point out, and 
 warn men against their faults, and by assem- 
 bhng together many different characters of 
 great worth, to provide that the deficiencies of 
 each may be supplied by others ; yet still there 
 must always be a certain degree of danger in 
 copying even the best men. The faults and 
 the virtues of each individual are in general so 
 intimately blended, and, as it were, fit together 
 so readily, that it is not easy to avoid the one, 
 while aiming at the other. The faults of one 
 whom we regard as a great and good man, 
 become endeared and ennobled in our eyes by a 
 union with so much virtue ; we are apt to take 
 such a favourable view of them, as leads us to 
 excuse them in ourselves, if not even to admire 
 and copy them. " Decipit exemplar vitiis imita- 
 bile," is accordingly no less trite a maxim than 
 that which recommends the study of approved 
 models. 
 
 It was probably for this reason that the Stoics 
 
SECT. 5.] Declaration of God in his Son. 
 
 175 
 
 held forth as a pattern their ideal Wise-man. 
 For the Sapiens — the Wise-man, or perfectly 
 good and happy character, whom these philo- 
 sophers delineated — was not one whom they 
 themselves pretended to have ever actually 
 existed. This circumstance, by the way, (though 
 such is undoubtedly the fact,) has been over- 
 looked by many ; who have thence charged 
 them with arrogant pretensions to perfect vir- 
 tue, which it does not appear they ever made. 
 Their object seems to have been, to avoid, on 
 the one hand, the comparative flatness and tedi- 
 ousness of abstract descriptions, and, on the other 
 hand, the errors to be dreaded from the imper- 
 fection of human models. And they certainly 
 judged rightly in thinking, that however in- 
 evitable it may be that men should have 
 defects, the pattern which is proposed to them 
 should have none ; for, far as they will still 
 fall short of perfection, they will thus approach 
 much nearer to it than if they had copied a de- 
 fective model. 
 
 This method, however, of leading men to 
 morahty, though perhaps the best that in their 
 situation they could have devised, laboured 
 
1 76 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 under a very important defect : I speak not of 
 the blemishes in the ideal Wise-man they de- 
 scribed ; though the character which they meant 
 for a perfect one, was, according to the more 
 correct principles now established, very far 
 from perfect; still it is conceivable that it 
 might have been so ; let us then suppose it 
 completely unexceptionable ; still it is ideal; 
 it wants the power of inspiring that interest 
 and sympathy, — that affectionate reverence, — • 
 that emulation, which a really existing person 
 can alone inspire ; and being represented to us 
 only by general descriptions, it takes even less 
 hold of the mind than the fictitious hero of a 
 drama, who is represented as performing dis- 
 tinct individual actions ; though we know that 
 both are ahke creatures of the imagination ; 
 which have therefore but a very faint effect in 
 exciting us to imitation. An ideal model, in 
 short, is but one short step removed from ab- 
 stract moral precept : real human examples, on 
 the contrary, are unsafe, through their imperfec- 
 tion. Both may do some service, but both leave 
 much to be desired. 
 
 But if, while some of the ancient moraUsts 
 
SECT. 5.] Declaration of God in his Son. 1 77 
 
 were employed in recounting the actions, and 
 holding forth the examples, of really existing 
 illustrious men, to stimulate the emulation of 
 their hearers, — and while others were pointing 
 out, in the grave and lofty descriptions of the 
 philosopher, or the vivid representations of the 
 poet, an ideal exemplar of perfect excellence ; — 
 a man exhibited, such as men should be, not 
 such as they are, — what would these sages, 
 I say, have thought, had they been assured on 
 sufficient authority that such a Man had actually 
 appeared on earth ; not, having his virtues tar- 
 nished with defects, like the heroes of their 
 histories : not, a phantom of imagination, like 
 the Persons of their theatre, or the Wise-man of 
 their schools ; but a real, living, sublime, and 
 faultless model of godlike virtue ? Surely they 
 would have acknowledged, with one voice, that 
 such a character, and such a one only, was exactly 
 suited to their wishes, and to the wants of their 
 hearers : if they were at all sincere in their pro- 
 fessions, they would have hailed with rapture 
 the announcement of his existence ; but would 
 have wondered, at the same time, and doubted, 
 how human nature could ever have attained 
 
 N 
 
178 Declaration of God i?i his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 this pitch of excellence. We might have an- 
 swered them, Human nature by itself is indeed 
 far too weak for the task ; but in Christ the 
 Divine nature was united to it ; in Him "dwelt 
 all the fulness of the Godhead bodily :" the 
 Deity was ever present in an especial manner 
 to direct and support his human soul ; and thus 
 presented to his creatures a perfect pattern, 
 which, through the promised aid of the Spirit 
 of Christ, they may copy : that by imitating 
 the divine excellence, as far as it is possible 
 for a creature to do so, we may become, as 
 Christ himself expresses it, " like unto our 
 Father which is in heaven," and be thus fitted 
 for enjoying a more near approach to his pre- 
 sence in a better state : that we also may be 
 more completely than in this life, " sons of God, 
 brethren, and joint-heirs of Christ," and par- 
 takers of his glory. " Beloved," says the Apostle 
 John, " now are we the sons of God ; and 
 it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but 
 we know that when He shall appear, we shall 
 be like unto Him ; for we shall see Him as He 
 is." Behold here, then, (we might exclaim) a 
 truly godlike man, far surpassing your histo- 
 
SECT. 5.] Declaration of God in his Son. 179 
 
 rical or fabulous heroes! Behold here your 
 imaginary Wise-man exemplified in real life ! 
 What you have described, that, and much more. 
 He has performed ; for He has corrected in actual 
 practice, the errors of your description, and has 
 realized a nobler and more lovely picture of vir- 
 tue than even your conceptions ever reached. 
 
 It would be unnecessary, I trust, vi^ere it pos- 
 sible within reasonable limits, to enter into a 
 detailed examination of the virtues of Christ's 
 character. Every Christian who deserves the 
 name, makes it his attentive study ; and those 
 who have learned the most of it, are ever the 
 most desirous and the most capable of learning 
 yet more. Many valuable writers have treated 
 of the subject ; but the Gospels themselves (as 
 those very writers would be the first to admit) 
 will teach more of the imitation of Jesus than 
 all other books together. Each man may do 
 more for himself in this study than the ablest 
 theologian can do for him. He will find in 
 every page such active yet unpretending benevo- 
 lence — such exalted generosity and self-devoted- 
 ness — such forbearing kindness and lowliness, 
 combined with dignity — such earnest and steady, 
 N 2 
 
180 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 yet calm and cpnsiderate, zeal — such quiet and 
 unostentatious fortitude — such inflexible yet gen- 
 tle resolution — that he must acknowledge with 
 the Jewish officers, " never man spake like this 
 man ;" never did man, he will add, act like this 
 man ; " truly," as the Centurion exclaimed, " this 
 was a righteous man ; truly this was the Son of 
 God it was " Emmanuel, God with us." 
 
 And if the student's own heart be not in fault, 
 his character will not fail to receive some tincture 
 from the virtue he is contemplating. Whatever 
 may be our station in life, or peculiar circum- 
 stances, we shall still find, that Jesus Christ has 
 " left us an ensample that we should follow his 
 steps;" because the principle of devoted obedience 
 to God, love towards man, and abjuration of all 
 selfish objects, is one which is called for, and 
 must be put in practice, in every situation. Be- 
 sides which, it is very observable, that while all 
 the illustrious characters which are usually held 
 up to our imitation, are persons who occupied 
 such exalted stations, that their lives afford but 
 little instruction to those in humbler and more 
 private situations, (that is, in fact, to the great 
 mass of mankind), our Saviour's life, on the 
 
SECT. 6.] Declaration of God in his Son. 181 
 
 contrary, though He had so high an office to 
 execute, yet, from the humble station in which 
 He appeared, contains lessons for every descrip- 
 tion of mankind. 
 
 § 6. It appears, then, that Jesus Christ has 
 "declared " God to Man, not as a prophet merely, 
 but as (what Paul calls him in the Epistle to the 
 Colossians) " the Image of the invisible God ;" — 
 not merely by announcing the divine will, but by 
 manifesting, as far as our feeble capacities will 
 permit, the divine glory, and shadowing forth the 
 attributes of the invisible and unsearchable God. 
 And this for two purposes most important to 
 mankind ; first, by a softened and endearing, as 
 well as impressive, manifestation of the Deity, to 
 aid and exalt our piety, engaging our affections 
 in the cause of religion ; and, secondly, by a 
 bright example of superhuman virtue, seconded 
 by the promise of spiritual aid, to instruct and 
 encourage us in our duty — to illuminate and direct 
 our Christian course — to purify and to elevate our 
 nature. The one purpose, in short, may be said 
 to have been, to bring down God to Man ; the 
 other, to hft up Man towards God. 
 
182 Declaration of God in his Son. [essay ii. 
 
 Now, if this view of the subject be correct, it 
 must be admitted, that the method adopted in the 
 Gospel for leading men to piety and to morality, 
 is something altogether pecuhar to Christianity : 
 and it is one of those pecuHarities which, as was 
 formerly remarked, men are too apt to overlook 
 or to undervalue. I speak not now of those who 
 distinctly deny the divinity of our Lord ; but it 
 is, I apprehend, not uncommon for those who 
 assent to the truth of that doctrine, to pass by 
 unheeded the important purposes for which it was 
 revealed ; and thence to lose sight of that striking 
 pecuHarity in the Christian religion which results 
 from that revelation, and which it has been the 
 object of this Essay to point out. 
 
 The Incarnation, as an abstract speculative 
 point, they are aware is taught in the Gospel, 
 and only in the Gospel ; but the Incarnation, as 
 the basis of the Christian's worship, and of the 
 Christian's obedience, they are too apt entirely to 
 disregard. They content themselves with per- 
 ceiving, generally, that all religions whatever in- 
 culcate piety to God, and virtuous conduct ; and 
 fail to observe, that, in the very points which are, 
 thus far, common to all, Christianity is strikingly 
 
SECT. 6.] Declaration of God in his Son. 183 
 
 distinguished from the rest : the mode in which 
 it leads us to that piety and virtue, is altogether 
 peculiar to it. 
 
 Another circumstance of pecuharity, however, 
 in that mode, remains to be noticed. It is evident, 
 that in order to form a virtuous character, it is 
 requisite not only that a perfect standard be set 
 before us, (such as the model which the Gospel 
 holds out for our imitation), but also that adequate 
 motives be supphed. And though the emulation 
 which the contemplation of an admirable model 
 is calculated to inspire, is, to a certain degree, a 
 motive, it is not alone sufficient. The rewards 
 and punishments of the next world, as declared 
 in the Gospel, have been already mentioned as 
 furnishing one most powerful motive ; but there 
 is another besides this — an appeal to the feelings, 
 not merely to the judgment — a motive of affec- 
 tion, not of mere interest — the introduction of 
 which forms a strikingly distinguishing feature of 
 Christianity ; and this peculiarity will form the 
 subject of the next Essay. 
 
N O T E. 
 
 Note (G) p. 159. 
 
 " We ought to remember, that the descriptions which 
 we frame to ourselves of God, or of the divine attributes, 
 are not taken from any direct or immediate perceptions 
 that we have of Him or them ; but from some observations 
 we have made of his works, and from the consideration of 
 those qualifications, that we conceive would enable us to 
 perform the like. Thus, observing great order, conve- 
 niency, and harmony in all the several parts of the world, 
 and perceiving that everything is adapted, and tends to 
 the preservation and advantage of the whole ; we are apt 
 to consider that we could not contrive and settle things 
 in so excellent and proper a manner without great wis- 
 dom ; and thence conclude that God, who has thus con- 
 certed and settled matters, must have wisdom : and 
 having then ascribed to Him wisdom, because we see 
 the effects and result of it in his works, we proceed, and 
 conclude that He has likewise foresight and understand- 
 ing, because we cannot conceive wisdom without these, 
 and because if we were to do what we see He has done, 
 we could not expect to perform it without the exercise of 
 these faculties. 
 
Note. 
 
 185 
 
 " And it doth truly follow from hence, that God must 
 either have these, or other faculties and powers equivalent 
 to them, and adequate to these mighty effects which pro- 
 ceed from them. And because we do not know what 
 his faculties are in themselves, we give them the names 
 of those powers, that we find would be necessary to us, 
 in order to produce such effects, and call them wisdom, 
 understanding, and foreknowledge : but at the same time 
 we cannot but be sensible that they are of a nature alto- 
 gether different from ours, and that we have no direct or 
 proper notion or conception of them. Only we are sure 
 that they have eflects like unto those that do proceed 
 from wisdom, understanding, and foreknowledge in us : 
 and when our works fail to resemble them in any parti- 
 cular, as to perfection, it is by reason of some want or 
 defect in these qualifications. 
 
 " Thus our reason teaches us to ascribe these attributes 
 to God, by way of resemblance and analogy to such 
 qualities or powers as we find most valuable and perfect 
 in ourselves. 
 
 " If we look into the holy Scriptures, and consider the 
 representations given us there of God or his attributes, 
 we shall find them generally of the same nature, and 
 plainly borrowed from some resemblance to things with 
 which we are acquainted by our senses. Thus when the 
 holy Scriptures speak of God, they ascribe hands, and 
 eyes, and feet to Him : not that it is designed that we 
 should believe that He has any of these members accord- 
 ing to the literal signification : but the meaning is, that 
 He has a power to execute all those acts, to the effecting 
 
186 
 
 Note. 
 
 of which these parts in us are instrumental : that is, He 
 can converse with men as well as if He had a tongue and 
 mouth ; He can discern all that we do or say as perfectly 
 as if He had eyes and ears ; He can reach us as well as if 
 He had hands and feet ; He has as true and substantial a 
 being as if he had a body ; and He is as truly present 
 every where as if that body were infinitely extended. And 
 in truth, if all these things, which are thus ascribed to 
 Him, did really and literally belong to Him, He could 
 not do what He does near so effectually, as we conceive 
 and are sure He doth them by the faculties and properties 
 which He really possesses, though what they are in 
 themselves be unknown to us." King's Sermon, § iv. 
 p. 6—10. 
 
 That I do not admit Dr. King's application of his prin- 
 ciples to the explanation of the difficulty of reconciling the 
 divine Prescience with human Freedom, is necessary to 
 be mentioned, for the sake of such of my readers only as 
 have not seen the notes accompanying my edition of his 
 Sermon, and may be led to suppose the contrary, from a 
 statement in a note to one of Mr. Davison's Lectures on 
 Prophecy, in which he attributes to me the adoption of 
 the Archbishop's views on that point. That statement 
 originated entirely in a mistake ; as the author (whom I 
 believed to be incapable of wilful misrepresentation) can- 
 didly acknowledged to me. The fact is, he had omitted 
 to read my publication, and had attributed those opinions 
 to me merely from conjecture, because they were those of 
 Dr. King. That for several years, Mr. Davison's work 
 should have continued on sale with the error uncorrected. 
 
Note. 
 
 187 
 
 is more than I profess to explain. It was in fact rectified 
 only in a subsequent edition. 
 
 My reasons for differing from Archbishop King on 
 the point above-mentioned, are fully stated in the notes 
 to his Sermon. But of the soundness and the import- 
 ance of his general principles, I am the more convinced, 
 because their not having been refuted, certainly does 
 not proceed from their not being thought worth notice. 
 They have been assailed both formerly, and of late, by 
 numerous and zealous opponents ; all of whom have mis- 
 taken entirely either the question itself, or Dr. King's 
 view of it. For instance, advantage has been taken of 
 his expressions, that *' the divine attributes are quite 
 unlike ours," and " altogether different ;" which have 
 been taken to mean (either through very culpable care- 
 lessness, or something worse) that they have no re- 
 semblance at all, — nothing in common ; and " that, on 
 his principles, the infliction of gratuitous misery may be 
 perfectly consistent with the Divine Mercy :" and it 
 might have been added, with equal fairness, that, on his 
 principles, a contrivance so framed as to defeat its pro- 
 posed object, would be equally consistent with the Divine 
 Wisdom : all which, as may be seen even from the above 
 quotation, is the very reverse of what Dr. K. does say. 
 He all along dwells on the agreement in the effects re- 
 sulting, from the divine attributes, and from human ones 
 bearing the same names, as the very ground on which 
 those names are so applied : but the causes of those 
 effects, he maintains, we have no right to consider as 
 necessarily otherwise similar ; inasmuch as the Beings 
 
188 
 
 Note. 
 
 who are the subjects of those attributes are so immensely 
 different. 
 
 This is a mistake (to use the mildest interpretation) 
 of Dr. King's meaning : the question itself has been, if 
 possible, still more mistaken. It has been contended, 
 for instance, that all exhortations to imitate the Deity 
 must be nugatory, if we know not precisely what his 
 attributes are, or regard them as of a different character 
 from the human : as if Solomon's exhortation, " Go to 
 the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise," 
 could not be put in practice unless we were convinced 
 that the proceedings of the insect are directed, not by 
 any incomprehensible instinct, but by mental habits, 
 in all respects agreeing with human prudence, and in- 
 dustry. 
 
 And as for the words " same " and " similar," so often 
 employed in discussions of this point, so great is the 
 confusion of thought resulting from their ambiguity, and 
 from the general laxity with which they are applied, that 
 it may be allowable to extract from the " Elements of 
 Logic" a passage in which I have attempted to dispel 
 this confusion. Chap. v. § 1 . p. 274 — 276. Dr. King, 
 I have there said, " remarked (without expressing him- 
 self perhaps with so much guarded precision as the 
 vehemence of his opponents rendered needful) that "the 
 attributes of the Deity (viz. Wisdom, Justice, <Sfc.) are 
 not to be regarded as the same with those human qualities 
 which bear the same names, but are called so by re- 
 semblance and analogy only." For this he was decried 
 by Bishop Berkeley and a host of other objectors, down 
 
Note. 
 
 189 
 
 .0 the present time, as an Atheist, or little better. If 
 the divine attributes, they urged, are not precisely the 
 same in kind (though superior in degree) with the human 
 qualities which bear the same name, we cannot imitate 
 the Deity as the Scriptures require ; — we cannot know 
 on what principles we shall be judged ; — we cannot be 
 sure that God exists at all ; with a great deal more to 
 the same purpose ; all of which would have been per- 
 ceived to be entirely needless, had the authors but recol- 
 lected to ascertain the meaning of the principal word 
 employed. 
 
 "1st, When any two persons (or other objects) are said 
 to have the "same'' quality, accident, S^c, what we predi- 
 cate of them is evidently a certain resemblance, and no- 
 thing else. One man, e. g., does not feel another's 
 sickness ; but they are said to have the " same" disease, 
 if they are precisely siinilar in respect of their ailments : 
 and so also they are said to have the same complexion, if 
 the hue and texture of their skins be alike. 2dly, Such 
 qualities as are entirely reto2Y-t',— which consist in the re- 
 lation borne by the subject to certain other things, — in 
 these, it is manifest, the only resemblance that can exist, 
 is, resemblance of relations, i. e. ANALOGY. Courage, 
 e. g., consists in the relation in which one stands (iv toI 
 £X£tv TTwc TTjOoe, Arist.) towards dangers ; Temperance or 
 Intemperance, towards bodily pleasures, &sc. 
 
 " When it is said, therefore, of two courageous men, 
 that they have both the sartie quality, the only meaning 
 this expression can have, is, that they are, so far, com- 
 pletely analogous in their characters ; — having similar 
 
190 
 
 Note. 
 
 ratios to certain similar objects. In short, as, in all 
 qualities, sameness can mean only strict resemblance, so, 
 in those which are of a relative nature, resemblance can 
 mean only analogy. 
 
 " Thus it appears, that what Dr. King has been so 
 vehemently censured for asserting respecting the Deity, 
 is literally true even with respect to men themselves ; viz. 
 that it is only by Analogy that two persons can be said 
 to possess the same virtue, or other such quality. 3dly, 
 But what he means is plainly, that this analogy is far 
 less exact and complete in the case of a comparison be- 
 tween the Deity and his creatures, than between one 
 man and another ; which surely no one would venture to 
 deny. But the doctrine against which the attacks hate 
 been directed, is self-evident, the moment we consider 
 the meaning of the term employed." 
 
 This explanation, and the argument founded on it, did 
 appear to me, at the time, perfectly decisive: if however 
 there had been any flaw in the reasoning, I cannot but 
 think (considering the number and the zeal of Dr. King's 
 assailants) that it would before now have been pointed 
 out. Those who remain unconvinced by it, I despair of 
 satisfying by any argument that I am able to devise. 
 
ESSAY III. 
 
 ON LOVE TOWARDS CHRIST AS A MOTIVE TO 
 OBEDIENCE. 
 
 § ]. If the Gospel had merely given us the 
 assurance of a future retribution, teaching us at 
 the same time to look for immortal happiness 
 through faith in the meritorious sacrifice of our 
 Redeemer, (not as the well-earned reward of our 
 own virtue), yet requiring us to practise virtue 
 nevertheless, as an indispensable condition ; and, 
 in addition to moral precepts, holding out a 
 model of superhuman excellence to excite our 
 emulation — it would have been distinguished 
 indeed by many important pecuharities, and it 
 would have contained every incentive to holiness 
 of life that some Christian readers attribute to 
 to it.* But in fact it does much more. The 
 
 * As I have treated in the Second Series (Essay VIII.) of a 
 subject nearly allied both to the one now before us, and also 
 to that of the preceding Essay, and to that of the fifth of the 
 
192 
 
 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 rewards and punishments of the next world do 
 indeed furnish a strong incitement to the practice 
 of duty ; the moral precepts of the Scriptures, 
 and still more the example of Christ, help us 
 to ascertain what our duty is ; and the emula- 
 tion which such a model naturally inspires, 
 affords an additional incentive : but this is not 
 all. It is possible fqr men to emulate the vir- 
 tues of one who is personally an utter stra?iger 
 to them ; and to profit by his example, though 
 he have no connexion with them, — no care or 
 knowledge whether they imitate him or not. 
 But they are much more strongly incited to do 
 
 present volume, it may be worth while briefly to notice in 
 this place the distinction between these and the other. 
 
 I am speaking, in the present Essay, of a peculiarity in 
 the motives employed by the sacred writers for producing 
 moral conduct ; and again, in this, in the preceding, and in 
 the fifth, of a peculiarity as to the examples they propose for 
 our imitation and self-instruction. 
 
 In the eighth of the other series, I am considering their 
 mode of conveying to us the precepts of morality. 
 
 In aU, it is the moral-miiruct/oK of Scripture that I have 
 been treating of; but, distinctly, of the different parts of 
 which it (and indeed all complete moral-instruction) consists ; 
 viz. : 1st, the Motives inculcated ; 2dly, the Examples pro- 
 posed ; 3dly, the Precepts delivered. 
 
SECT. 1.] introduced as a motive. 193 
 
 this, if they know that the person in question does 
 take an interest in their welfare — is their greatest 
 benefactor — and on that ground calls on them to 
 conform to his precepts, and to tread in his steps. 
 
 And this we shall find is the case, in a most 
 remarkable degree, in the religion of Jesus 
 Christ. One of its most striking pecuharities 
 is, its continual appeal to the affections ; its 
 introducing as a principal motive to obedience, 
 love towards our heavenly Master. He appeared 
 as " God with us," and as partaking of our na- 
 ture, with a view both to display to us an exalted 
 and perfect model of goodness, and also to 
 awaken in us more effectually those feelings of 
 pious and affectionate attachment, which it would 
 be less easy to entertain towards God, considered 
 as the invisible Author and Governor of the uni- 
 verse. In beautiful conformity with this plan, 
 these feelings are required to manifest themselves 
 in a duteous regard to his will ; and on these 
 we are taught that the moral regulation of our 
 lives is to be founded. " If ye love me, keep 
 my commandments," -is our Lord's injunction, 
 as reported by John in his Gospel "and this 
 
 ^ Chap. xiv. 15. 
 o 
 
194 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 is love," says the same Evangelist in his general 
 Epistle, " that we walk after his command- 
 ments." Here we have set before us at once 
 the best principle, and the best application of 
 it ; the purest motive, and the most perfect 
 practice : here, in short, we are told both what 
 our conduct ought to be, and from what source 
 that conduct ought to spring. 
 
 It is undeniable that the very best actions 
 are of no value, unless they proceed from a 
 right principle ; and again, that a right prin- 
 ciple is utterly barren and unprofitable, unless 
 it lead us to right practice. The Gospel supplies 
 us both with the motive, and the rule ; " If 
 ye love me, keep my commandments." This 
 precept therefore is to be considered in two 
 points of view : first, that the love of Christ is 
 the proper ground of our obedience — the reason 
 why we ought to keep his commandments : 
 secondly, that the proper effect, and sure test 
 of our love for Christ, is, the keeping of his 
 commandments. 
 
 § 2. On each of these points many have 
 fallen into dangerous mistakes ; and some in- 
 
SECT. 2.] introduced as a motive. 195 
 
 deed have entirely lost sight of both. Persons 
 may be found, who profess a most fervent and 
 zealous love for their Redeemer, yet are so far 
 from giving proof of their love by keeping his 
 commandments, that they seem to consider the 
 very warmth of their feelings — their religious 
 fervour — as an excuse for the carelessness of 
 their practice, and as affording them a kind of 
 licence for indulging their sinful inclinations ; 
 forgetful of the plain warning given by Christ 
 himself, " Not every one that saith unto me. 
 Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Fa- 
 ther which is in heaven." " Ye are my friends 
 if ye do all things that I have commanded you." 
 And this perversion of Christianity by some per- 
 sons has had the effect of inspiring others with 
 an aversion or contempt for all sentiments of 
 affectionate piety ; — of bringing into disrepute 
 altogether the Gospel-motive of love towards the 
 Redeemer, as savouring of dangerous fanaticism, 
 and leading to the substitution of enthusiastic 
 feelings, for a virtuous life. 
 
 But the perversity of man is no ground either 
 for censuring, or for rejecting, or for seeking 
 o2 
 
196 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 to alter and new- model, the word of God ; 
 which sufficiently guards those who will but 
 study it fairly, against such abuse of the doc- 
 trine before us. Indeed, one of the most strik- 
 ing peculiarities of our religion, consists in the 
 strong contrast which the preaching of our Lord 
 and his followers presents, in this respect, to 
 most of the systems of religion, which have been 
 devised by men. Rich offerings could not, with 
 Him, as among the Pagans, make amends for 
 a sinful hfe : neither painful austerities, nor 
 splendid festivals, were by him allowed to com- 
 pensate for the want of purity of heart, and 
 subdued passions ; no zeal in his service, or 
 readiness even to shed their blood in his cause, 
 would excuse his followers, as it would those 
 of Mahomet, from the performance of their mo- 
 ral duties. " Why," says He, " call ye me Lord, 
 Lord, and do not the things which I say ?" and 
 He declares, that even those who had wrought 
 miracles in his name would be disavowed by 
 Him, if " w^orkers of iniquity." 
 
 There are others, on the contrary, driven, 
 probably, (as has just been observed,) by their 
 dread of the extreme above mentioned, into the 
 
SECT. 2.] introduced as a motive. 197 
 
 opposite, who, in the sentiments they utter, or 
 in the conduct of their lives, seem not to con- 
 sider the love of Christ as a motive (or, at 
 least, not as the best and principal motive) for 
 obedience to his commands ; but content them- 
 selves with dwelling on the rewards and punish- 
 ments of the next world, and on the folly and 
 danger of sin. 
 
 Such persons are undoubtedly right as far 
 as they go ; but they do not go far enough : 
 the motives which they urge are not the only, 
 nor the best motives, (though certainly very right 
 and very powerful ones) for the practice of 
 Christian duty. It is true, indeed, that one of 
 the great purposes for which Christ came into 
 the world, was to reveal to men the certainty 
 of a future state of reward and punishment ; 
 and we find Him urging, briefly indeed, but for- 
 cibly, the immense importance of our eternal 
 salvation above all worldly goods — the incon- 
 ceivable happiness of good men hereafter, and 
 the hopeless misery which awaits the disobe- 
 dient : " What shall it profit a man, if he shall 
 gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? 
 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
 
198 Love towards Christ [essay iii. 
 
 soul ?" He encourages us to despise worldly- 
 sufferings for righteousness' sake, by saying, 
 *' great is your reward in heaven and warns 
 us to beware of displeasing that Being, " who 
 hath power to destroy both soul and body in 
 hell." And his followers hold the same lan- 
 guage : they exhort their hearers to strive for 
 " an incorruptible crown ;" they tell them, that 
 " the sufferings of this present time are not wor- 
 thy to be compared with the glory that shall 
 be revealed in us :" and, on the other hand, they 
 profess, that, " knowing the terrors of the Lord, 
 they teach men." Yet still it is to be observed, 
 that this language of promise and threatening — 
 this appeal to the reason and to the interests 
 of men — is not the prevailing character — not 
 the general tone, as it were — of the discourses 
 of Christ and his Apostles : at least, not when 
 they are addressing believers in Christ. 
 
 To those indeed who had any doubts of the 
 nature of Christ's mission, or of the reality of 
 the resurrection, they insisted much (as was 
 manifestly necessary) on the certainty, and on 
 the immense importance, of that future life, 
 which our Lord had revealed : but when they 
 
SECT. 2.] int7'oduced as a motive. 199 
 
 were addressing their own disciples, who were 
 familiar with those first rudiments of Chris- 
 tianity, to them, they chiefly insisted on love 
 towards Christ, not certainly as a substitute for 
 obedience, but as, the great principle on which 
 his followers ought to act — the main-spring of 
 all their conduct. The misery of the bad, and 
 the happiness of the good, hereafter, they all 
 along presuppose and take for granted ; but they 
 seem to have regarded these doctrines as the 
 foundation, not the completion — the beginning, 
 not the end — of their system. To the further- 
 advanced and better-instructed Christian, they 
 held out a nobler and purer motive. " If ye 
 love me," says our Lord, " keep my command- 
 ments." " The love of Christ constraineth us," 
 says Paul ; and he adds, as a reason, " that He 
 died for all, that they which live, should not 
 henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him 
 who died for them, and rose again." And 
 the Apostle John, both in his Epistle and his 
 Gospel, the latter of which, at least, may be 
 supposed, from the lateness of its date, to have 
 
 " 2 Cor. V. 14. 
 
200 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 been more particularly addressed to those who 
 were settled in the Christian faith, exhibits the 
 same characteristics in a still more striking 
 manner. 
 
 In short, almost all the exhortations of the 
 sacred writers are grounded on the infinite mer- 
 cies of our great Instructor and Redeemer 
 towards us, and on the gratitude, love, and re- 
 verence, which we ought to feel towards Him 
 in return. To our hopes and fears, indeed, 
 they appeal incidentally and occasionally ; but 
 the sentiment which they are continually striv- 
 ing to excite and keep alive in us, and which is 
 the main-spring of their whole moral system, 
 is, a strong sense of the greatness and the good- 
 ness of our Saviour, and a fervent zeal in ador- 
 ing and serving Him, who did and suffered so 
 much for us. 
 
 To prove and illustrate what has now been 
 affirmed, as fully as might be done, would be 
 to transcribe the greater part of the apostolic 
 epistles ; the more any one examines them, 
 the more he will perceive that their general 
 tone and character is such as has been de- 
 scribed. 
 
SECT. 3.] introduced as a motive. 201 
 
 § 3. Now let any one compare such language 
 as this with the ideas which some Christian wri- 
 ters seem to entertain, and the language they 
 use, and he will perceive, that, tliough unde- 
 niably just and right, they are very imperfect, 
 and very far from resembhng the model of Scrip- 
 ture. Such men are contented with the consi- 
 derations that life is short, and death certain ; — 
 that all men must hereafter be judged before 
 an all-seeing God, who will not fail to reward 
 the good, and punish the bad ; — that the greatest 
 worldly goods and evils are mere trifles in com- 
 parison of our eternal happiness or misery ; and 
 that therefore it is the height of folly to be 
 negligent in the performance of our duty, or 
 in avoiding temptations to sin ; since these are 
 the points which most deserve our attention, 
 if we have any rational regard for our own wel- 
 fare. Nothing can be more true than all this ; 
 and Christians are intended, no doubt, most 
 seriously to take it to heart, and act constantly 
 in conformity with such principles. But still 
 these, as has been said, are not the only nor 
 the highest principles on which a Christian 
 should act : these arguments are what every 
 
202 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 Christian teacher ought to employ, but to which 
 he should not confine himself; at least, if he 
 would imitate the tone of the Gospel. These 
 topics indeed being almost entirely drawn from 
 what is commonly called " natural religion," (as 
 far at least as that is supposed to hold out any 
 probability of a future state,) it follows of course, 
 that to dwell exclusively on these, is to omit 
 great part of what is peculiar to Christianity ; 
 and thus to lose sight of one very striking and 
 characteristic feature of it ; a feature constituting 
 one of those peculiarities, the neglect or depre- 
 ciation of which is so common, and so carefully 
 to be guarded against. 
 
 Human ethics and natural religion may be 
 sufficient to satisfy the understanding as to the 
 nature and the claims of virtue ; but to engage 
 the feehngs on the same side, belongs in an 
 especial manner to the Gospel. It is necessary 
 indeed to convince men's reason, and to point 
 out to them their true interest ; but Christ and 
 his followers were not satisfied with this; they 
 knew that it is in vain the reason is convinced, 
 if the heart be not warmed ; and that man will 
 not follow his own interests, if all his affections 
 
SECT. 3.] introduced as a motive. 203 
 
 lie the other way. That this should be the 
 case with rational Beings, is the great paradox 
 which we in vain endeavour to explain, though 
 daily experience compels us to acknowledge it. 
 And to find a remedy for this weakness — to in- 
 duce men to pursue the line of conduct which 
 their own sober judgment admits to be the 
 best — has been attempted by all moralists; 
 though not very successfully, and not always 
 judiciously. Our Lord and his followers, who 
 " knew what was in man," were well aware that 
 such a Being could not be practically influenced 
 by an appeal to his understanding alone. They 
 did not therefore make religion a matter of mere 
 prudent calculation, but of affectionate zeal. 
 When Christ was committing to Simon Peter 
 the care of the beloved flock which He had him- 
 self redeemed, He meant him indeed to under- 
 stand, no doubt, that he would be punished if 
 he neglected this charge, and that great would 
 be the reward of diligent obedience ; but these 
 were not the topics He chose to insist upon : 
 " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?" Peter 
 replied, " Lord, thou knowest that I love thee 
 Jesus said unto him, "Feed my sheep." Thrice 
 
204 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 was this injunction given, and thrice was the 
 appeal made, not to the hopes and fears, but 
 to the affections, of the Apostle. 
 
 In like manner, the Apostle Paul, in exhort- 
 ing the Churches, alludes occasionally only to 
 the rewards and punishments of a future state, 
 and the folly of not preparing for it ; but he 
 insists continualhj on the mercies which God 
 has already shown us, and the gratitude we 
 ought to feel for them ; and strives to fill us 
 with an earnest desire of pleasing Him, and an 
 abhorrence of sin, as odious in his sight. For 
 example, when he tells the Colossians " to for- 
 give one another, if any man have a quarrel 
 against any," it is on this ground, "even as 
 Christ forgave you :" and again, " Children, 
 obey your parents in all things, for this is well- 
 pleasing unto the Lord" And again, " Be ye 
 followers of God, as dear children ; and walk 
 in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath 
 given himself for us." 
 
 From these and innumerable similar passages, 
 it is sufficiently evident, that the Christian, if 
 he would listen to and imitate the teaching of 
 Christ and his Apostles, must not be contented 
 
SECT. 4.] introduced as a motive. 205 
 
 to dwell merely on the rewards and punishments 
 of the next world, and the importance of striving 
 for the one, and guarding against the other, 
 (though these should be ever present to his 
 mind ;) but he must also endeavour to " set his 
 affection on things above ;"— to fill his heart 
 with the love of Christ — with admiration for 
 the blended majesty and loveliness displayed in 
 his sojourning on earth — with gratitude not only 
 for that greatest and most prominent work, the 
 Redemption by Him, but also for his conde- 
 scending goodness in visiting his people in the 
 flesh, to declare to them the invisible God; — • 
 and with an active zeal to serve Him as per- 
 fectly as possible, in proof of his reverence and 
 affection. These are the prevailing and prin- 
 cipal motives in the mind of a sincere Christian : 
 these are what our Lord and his followers were 
 the most anxious to instil into the hearts of 
 their disciples. 
 
 § 4. The views (again) which the sacred 
 writers give of the rewards prepared for the 
 faithful in the next life, (dim and imperfect as 
 they are,) correspond in the most natural and 
 
206 
 
 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 striking manner with their mode of inculcating 
 Christian duty. And those persons whose topics 
 of exhortation on this latter point are exclusively 
 addressed to the head, and not to the heart, 
 labour under a corresponding defect in their 
 manner of speaking of future happiness ; their 
 views of which, accordingly, are, as well as their 
 moral precepts, needlessly dry, unattractive, and 
 uninteresting to the feelings. They keep out 
 of sight, throughout, the personal character of 
 our religion, and of every thing connected with 
 it: i.e. its continual reference to persons, and 
 especially to that Great Person who is the Au- 
 thor of it, rather than to mere abstract things. 
 While they dwell, in delineating and enforcing 
 duty, exclusively on the excellence and advan- 
 tage of a virtuous life — of obeying the dictates 
 of a well-regulated conscience — of walking in 
 the path of moral rectitude, and the like — they 
 speak also in a corresponding tone of the in- 
 finite value of an eternity of happiness ; of being 
 freed from the evils and imperfections of our 
 present state ; of escaping the horrors of endless 
 remorse ; and of being exalted into a new and 
 superior condition ; with much of the same 
 
SECT. 4.] introduced as a motive. 207 
 
 kind, that is perfectly true indeed, and deserving 
 of being kept in mind, but which is far less 
 interesting (when such topics are dwelt on exclu- 
 sively) than the continual reference to persons, 
 which we find in the sacred writers. 
 
 As Paul's favourite exhortations (if I may 
 so speak) to personal holiness^ whether he is 
 directing our views to future reward, or to the 
 other incentive just mentioned, consist in a re- 
 ference, of some sort or other, to Jesus Christ ; 
 so, his allusions to that reward itself are of a 
 corresponding character. On the one hand, 
 in the inculcation of virtue, he dwells, as has 
 been just remarked, on the example Jesus left 
 us, that " we should walk in his steps ;" he 
 speaks of " walking in love, as Christ also hath 
 loved us ;" — of " putting on Christ ;" — of being 
 " buried with Him in baptism ;" — of being " risen 
 with Christ ;" — of doing " what is well-pleasing 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ ;" — of our being " fol- 
 lowers of him (Paul) even as he is of Christ ;" 
 and the like : not speaking so often of Chris- 
 tian virtue in the abstract, as he does of it 
 embodied, as it were, exemphfied, represented, 
 personified, in Jesus Christ ; " looking unto 
 
208 
 
 Love towards Christ [essay nr. 
 
 Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith," 
 at every step. And on the other hand, his 
 language in speaking of the Christian's hopes, 
 corresponds with that concerning Christian 
 duties : he does not speak so much of eternal 
 happiness in the abstract, as of the happiness 
 of an intimate union with our great Master ; to 
 die is, with him, to " depart and to be with 
 Christ ;" after " having suffered with Him, to 
 reign also with Him ;" of " the crown of glory, 
 which He, the righteous Lord, has prepared for 
 all that love his appearing:'" and his encou- 
 ragement to the Colossians is, " so shall we ever 
 be with the Lord." And this tone is the more 
 remarkable in the expressions of Paul, from 
 the circumstance that he was not, hke the other 
 Apostles, personally acquainted with Jesus while 
 on earth. 
 
 Thus also the Evangehst John (as well befitted 
 the beloved disciple) places both all Christian 
 perfection in conformity to the pattern, and all 
 happiness and glory in admission to the pre- 
 sence, of our great Master ; " we know not what 
 we shall be ; but we know, that, when He 
 shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall 
 
SECT. 4.] introduced as a motive. 209 
 
 see Him as He is." And our Lord s own lan- 
 guage is of the same tone : as the motive He 
 seeks to implant in the disciples' breast is, as 
 has been said, love, gi'atitude, and reverence 
 for Himself, so the encouragement He sets be- 
 fore them, is the hope, not merely of happiness 
 in the abstract, but of intimate union and close 
 intercourse with Himself : " If ye love me, keep 
 my commandments." " If a man love me he 
 will keep my saying, and my Father will love 
 him, and we will come unto Mm, and make our 
 abode with him." " I will not leave you com- 
 fortless ; I will come unto you.'" " That where 
 I am, there ye may be also," &c. 
 
 All this is admirably suited both to what man 
 is, and to what he ought to be. As emulation 
 is a natural principle, and a good example ac- 
 cordingly is more instructive and more impres- 
 sive than the best general maxims, so, the 
 thought, whom we are to live with — for what 
 sort of society we are to fit ourselves, affects 
 the mind much more strongly than any gene- 
 ral description of what that life itself shall be. 
 That the chief part of the happiness therefore 
 which is prepared for the faithful in a better 
 p 
 
210 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 world, is to consist in a more perfect knowledge 
 of our Redeemer, and closer intercourse with 
 Him, serves on the one hand to interest, and 
 encourage, and delight the right-minded Chris- 
 tian, and to admonish, and warn, and improve, 
 one who is not such. This world being, as we 
 are taught, not merely a state of trial, but also 
 of preparation, no precepts can be so advan- 
 tageous to us with this view, as to be told what 
 sort of society it is for rohich we are required 
 to prepare ourselves. No general rules, how- 
 ever copious and precise, can equal the combined 
 effect of the example of a particular person set 
 before us, together with a notice that for his 
 society we are required to endeavour to qualify 
 ourselves. And accordingly John adds, imme- 
 diately after the passage just cited, " Every 
 one that hath this hope in Him, purifieth him- 
 self even as He is pure. 
 
 § 5. This mode of moral training, adopted 
 by Christ and his Apostles, is among those pe- 
 cuharities of the Gospel system which most 
 demand our admiration. The motives which 
 they inculcated, were both the most effectual, 
 
SECT. 5.] introduced as a motive. 211 
 
 and also the most pure and elevated ; their plan 
 of endeavouring to win over the affections — 
 to gain the hearts — of their converts, was not 
 only the most likely to make men perform their 
 duty, but also made that duty itself more 
 acceptable. 
 
 If it be possible for any one to become what 
 is commonly called " a good moral man," wholly 
 and solely from perceiving that it is his interest 
 to be so, because he will be rewarded if he 
 does right, and punished if he does wrong, still 
 his service will not only be very cold and heart- 
 less, but also very deficient ; he will be wanting 
 in alacrity of duty — in abhorrence of sin — in 
 love for his best friend — in gratitude towards 
 his highest benefactor. No one would much 
 prize a friend (or rather he would be reckoned 
 unworthy of the name) who felt no regard for 
 him, but did him service merely because he 
 perceived it was for his own interest, and that 
 he should be a sufferer if he neglected him. 
 Nor will Christ accept this kind of service from 
 his followers. He requires them to give up their 
 hearts to Him, and to obey Him, not merely 
 as " servants," but as " friends," and as afFec- 
 p 2 
 
212 Love towards Christ [essay iii. 
 
 tionate children. None of their duties, though 
 ever so well performed, are pleasing in his sight, 
 unless they proceed from a love, reverence, and 
 gratitude towards Him, similar to that which 
 we feel for a most excellent parent. "Ye are 
 my friends," says He, "if ye do whatsoever I 
 command you ; henceforth I call you not ser- 
 vants, — but I have called you friends." And 
 again, " Whosoever shall do the will of God, 
 the same is my brother, and my sister, and 
 mother."'' 
 
 In reality, however, it is hardly possible, that a 
 man can be virtuous in other respects who is des- 
 titute of these feelings. Many objects there are 
 in this world which will always engage our affec- 
 tions very strongly : if then none of our feelings 
 are engaged on the side of our religious duties — 
 no part of our affections fixed on our Redeemer — 
 can it be expected, that calm reasoning and cool 
 calculation will alone be sufficient to keep us 
 steady and active in our duty, in opposition to so 
 
 ^ May not this expression of our Lord's, and also another, 
 (Luke xi. 28.) have been intended partly as a warning against 
 the Romish error, of deifying (as it may fairly be called) the 
 Virgin Mary ? See Sermon [IX.] on the Marriage in Cana. 
 
SECT. 5.] introduced as amotive. 213 
 
 many lively emotions, — in preference to so many 
 tempting objects ? No prudent man will trust 
 to such a plan in the education of youth : men 
 are not satisfied with pointing out to a young 
 person the necessity of being diligent in his busi- 
 ness, inasmuch as on that depends his subsistence, 
 and all his hopes of wealth and distinction ; but 
 they strive also to inspire him with a love for his 
 employment — a taste for his profession, whatever 
 it may be. They know that sentiments of this 
 kind will be his best safeguard against the many 
 temptations to indolence and dissipation. Surely 
 the path of Christian duty is not beset with fewer 
 temptations ; nor is it less necessary, in this far 
 greater concern, to engage the feelings on the 
 right side. 
 
 Christ and his Apostles knew human nature 
 too well not to perceive this ; when, therefore, 
 they had convinced the reason of men, their next 
 endeavour was to mend their hearts. Those 
 warm affections which God has implanted in our 
 breasts, and which were never meant to be rooted 
 out, they strove to fix on the most suitable and 
 the noblest objects ; well aware, that when this is 
 accomplished, men will not merely know their 
 
214 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 duty, but practise it with zeal, and spirit, and 
 pleasure. They well knew, that a cold address 
 to the understanding — a mere chain of argu- 
 ments — serves rather to make men acknowledge 
 what they ought to do, than to excite them ac- 
 tually to do it. It may lead them to think rightly 
 about religion, but not to feel and act rightly. It 
 is like the moon-light, clear indeed and beautiful, 
 but powerless and cold ; their preaching, on the 
 contrary, was like the light of the sun, which 
 warms while it illuminates, and not only adorns 
 but fertilizes the earth. 
 
 For it must never be forgotten, (as, indeed, has 
 been already observed,) that it is in vain the 
 affections are excited, if the practice is not im- 
 proved ; it is in vain that the artificer heats and 
 melts his metal, if he neglects to mould it into 
 the proper form. Indeed, those who do not live 
 a Christian life may, indeed, from that very cir- 
 cumstance, be assured, that they have not true, 
 genuine, and steady Christian feelings. Sudden 
 and short bursts of devout fervour will not pro- 
 duce a uniform, careful, and active course of 
 virtue ; but a rational and deep-fixed love of 
 God undoubtedly will. A man may deceive both 
 
SECT. 5.] introduced as a motive. 215 
 
 others and himself by extravagant language and 
 enthusiastic emotions, which may pass for proofs 
 of more than ordinary holiness ; but he cannot 
 so deceive Christ ; who has sufficiently taught us, 
 that He will expect good conduct as the f nut of 
 good sentiments — the keeping of his command- 
 ments, as the p7vof of our loving Him sincerely. 
 
 No man, indeed,would ever be deceived in any 
 other similar case. He would well know how 
 to estimate the pretended affection of one, who 
 should profess the warmest regard for him, yet 
 pay no attention to his wishes, and use no exer- 
 tions in his service ; but act rather like an eneimj 
 than a friend. And as such a person would be 
 regarded by men, so will those be in the sight of 
 God, who profess to love Him, and yet neglect to 
 obey Him. 
 
 To the above considerations it should be added, 
 that the Christian's "reasonable service,"grounded 
 on such motives, is not only more perfect, and 
 also more acceptable, than any others could pro- 
 duce, but likewise (when the habit is in some 
 degree formed) incomparably less burdensome, 
 and more pleasing. Indeed, even in the affairs 
 of this world, the affectionate parent, child. 
 
216 Love towards Christ [essay hi. 
 
 husband, wife, and friend, know, by experience, 
 how greatly Love lightens every task : and those 
 who will "come unto Christ," with such feelings as 
 He merits and demands, will find experimentally, 
 that " his yoke is easy, and his burden light :" 
 they will "find rest unto their souls," if, in answer 
 to that question, which he asks alike of all his 
 followers, " Lovest thou me ?" they can answer, 
 with sincerity and truth, " Lord, thou knowest 
 that I love thee." 
 
 § 6. If the view which has been here taken of 
 this subject be correct, it follows that Christianity 
 stands distinguished from all systems of religion, 
 or of philosophy, which unaided reason can devise, 
 no less by the motives to which it appeals — the 
 frame of mind from which it requires moral con- 
 duct to spring — than by those other peculiarities 
 formerly mentioned. For a rational and firm 
 assurance of a future resurrection to immortality, 
 we must resort to the Gospel ; — for the hopes of 
 eternal happiness, we must look to Him, who has 
 not only announced but purchased it ; — for such 
 a manifestation of the Godhead as may excite us 
 to affectionate Piety ; and for such a model ol 
 
SECT. 6.] introduced as a motive. 217 
 
 human Virtue as may be securely imitated — we 
 shall vainly seek, except in the Gospel ; and it is 
 there also, and there alone, that we find morality 
 inculcated, not only on the ground of those pro- 
 mises and threatenings which it sets before us, but 
 also of those affections which it is so remarkably 
 and peculiarly calculated to excite. 
 
 If mere external acts of duty were all that is 
 required, this kind of precept would still be far 
 superior to a mere appeal to men's reason, and 
 would produce a larger amount of good conduct : 
 much greater, then, will its superiority appear, 
 when we consider how much nobler and more 
 intrinsically valuable is that good conduct which 
 springs from a pious, and grateful, and affectionate 
 heart. 
 
 Let no one, then, lose sight of, or undervalue, 
 these admirable, these divine peculiarities of our 
 religion, which furnish the only effectual means 
 of counteracting the weakness of man's nature. 
 Let no one, under pretence of laying a firm 
 foundation of Natural-Rehgion, render the super- 
 structure of Christianity insignificant, by attri- 
 buting to natural-religion what revelation alone 
 can furnish : and, above all, let us not — carelessly 
 
218 Love towards Christ, {^c. [essay iii. 
 
 blind to those splendid characteristics which 
 distinguish it — confound this religion with the 
 various systems of philosophical speculation, or 
 of popular superstition, which have successively 
 occupied mankind ; but keep our eye steadfastly 
 fixed, as it were, on the Star which stands over 
 the holy Infant at Bethlehem, and which has no 
 fellow in the firmament. 
 
 But though enough is revealed to us in Scrip- 
 ture to instruct us in our duty, and to incite us 
 to the practice of it, there is much also that is not 
 revealed, which many, at least, would be eagerly 
 desirous to know. It suppresses much of what 
 some vainly seek to find in it, or complain of not 
 finding ; — which all pretended revelations pro- 
 fess, and might be expected to profess, to make 
 known ; — and which a true revelation, and none 
 but a true one, might be expected to omit. The 
 peculiarity in our religion, which is here alluded 
 to, will form the subject of the next Essay. 
 
ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON THE PRACTICAL CHARACTER OF REVELATION, 
 
 § 1. That the revelation which our Scriptures 
 afford is, in many points, imperfect and limited, 
 and that they themselves represent it as such, — 
 that we " now know in part," and " see by means 
 of a mirror, darkly," — must be evident even to a 
 careless reader. And scarcely less plain is the con- 
 nexion continually forced on our notice, in Scrip- 
 ture, between knowledge and practice; as, in the 
 reiterated injunctions to the Israelites to make a 
 right use of the revelation which had been granted 
 them, by " doing all the words of this law ;" — in 
 our Lord's comparison of one who " hears his 
 words and does them not" (which plainly implies 
 his teaching to relate to something to be done), to 
 a man building his house on the sand ; — in his de- 
 claration that he had made known to his disciples 
 (John XV. 15) his Father's will, to exalt them from 
 the rank of servants to that of friends, provided 
 
220 Practical character of Revelation, [^essay iv. 
 
 they should do what He commanded; and, in 
 short, in almost every part ofour Lord's discourses, 
 and those of his Apostles. But the combination of 
 these two circumstances, and the important and 
 strikingly characteristic feature of our religion, 
 which, when thus in conjunction, they exhibit, is 
 often, in a great degree, overlooked. The pecu- 
 liar feature which I allude to, consists in this ; 
 that not only, of the designs and attributes of the 
 Almighty, there are some which he has vouch- 
 safed to make known to Man by revelation, and 
 others which he has thought fit to keep secret, 
 but also, those which are revealed, have some 
 relation to Man, — some reference to human con- 
 duct, — and are, in some way or other, of a prac- 
 tical character. 
 
 Now, since it is undeniable that there have 
 been, and are, many systems of false religion in 
 the world, all of which profess to reveal something 
 as to the nature of God and his dealings with 
 his creatures, this circumstance is frequently dwelt 
 upon by those who studiously endeavour to con- 
 found all religions together, with a view to hold 
 up all to equal contempt, as so many various 
 systems of imposture and delusion. And others 
 
SECT. 1.] Practical character of Revelation. 221 
 
 again, though they do not absolutely reject our 
 religion, are yet so far misled by this fallacy, as 
 to regard it with indifference. It will be worth 
 while therefore to examine attentively the point 
 above mentioned ; I mean, the exclusively 'prac- 
 tical character which 1 have attributed to our 
 revelation ; and to inquire more fully whether it 
 is likely to constitute an important and distin- 
 guishing feature in any professed revelation which 
 may possess it : in other words, whether the ab- 
 staining from points of mere curiosity, be a pro- 
 bable mark of a true revelation. 
 
 This inquiry falls naturally under two heads ; 
 first, whether or not a pretended revelation is 
 likely to contain any matters which are interesting 
 to curiosity alone, and have no reference to prac- 
 tice ; and secondly, whether this is hkely to be 
 the case with a true revelation. 
 
 The former of these questions we need not 
 hesitate, I think, to answer in the affirma- 
 tive. 
 
 That the desire of knowledge, for its own 
 sake, is a part of our nature, is a truth so ob- 
 vious, as hardly to need being insisted on. For 
 though it is common to hear men imply the 
 
222 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 contrary, by asking contemptuously, in the case 
 of some pursuit for which they happen to have 
 no relish, " What is the use of learning this or 
 that ? What advantage is to be derived from 
 such and such a branch of knowledge?" yet the 
 very same persons, if some discovery be the next 
 moment announced to them, of a different kind, 
 which may happen to fall in with their own 
 taste, will probably be found to manifest the 
 liveliest interest, and the most eager curiosity, 
 even where they would be at a loss to point 
 out what practical benefit they are likely to de- 
 rive from it. So far indeed is utility from being 
 the sole standard of value in men's minds, that 
 even such knowledge as is useful, is in gene- 
 ral sought more for its own sake, than with a 
 view to utility ; nor are men ever more eager 
 in the pursuit of it, than when they have no 
 further object to occupy them. " Accordingly," 
 as is justly observed by an ancient writer, who 
 well understood human nature, " when we are 
 at leisure from the cares of necessary business, 
 then are we eager to see, to hear, to learn, some- 
 thing; regarding the knowledge of what is 
 hidden, or of what is admirable, as an essential 
 
SECT. 1.] Practical character of Revelation. 223 
 
 ingredient of happiness.'"' He is quite right in 
 the circumstances fixed on as most exciting our 
 interest ; things hidden, and things admirable, 
 being what men especially covet to know. Now 
 nothing can be more hidden, nothing more ad- 
 mirable, than the nature, and the works, of God. 
 The origin and constitution of the world we 
 inhabit — of the rest of that vast system of which 
 it forms a part — and of man himself— the na- 
 ture of various orders of Beings which may 
 exist, superior to man, and of the Supreme Being 
 Himself — each of these subjects suggests innu- 
 merable matters of inquiry, whose grandeur fills 
 the most exalted, and whose difficulty baffles 
 the most intelligent, mind. Is it not then na- 
 tural, that men should eagerly seek for some 
 superhuman means of information on subjects 
 so interesting to their curiosity, and so much 
 beyond their unaided powers? And is it not 
 consequently to be expected, that both the de- 
 vices of an impostor, and the visions of an enthu- 
 siast, should abound in food for this curiosity? — 
 that the one should seek for proselytes by 
 
 " Cicero de Officiis, b. 1. 
 
224 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 professing to communicate what men are so desir- 
 ous of knowing ; and that the other should be al- 
 together occupied with those questions to which 
 the imagination of men is so naturally turned, 
 till a diseased fancy mistakes its day-dreams 
 for a revelation ? 
 
 § 2. Such, I say, is what we might be prepared, 
 from the nature of Man, to expect : and if we 
 consult history, we shall find our conjecture fully 
 borne out by facts. In all those other religions, 
 and in all those modifications of our own, which 
 we attribute to the imagination or to the ar- 
 tifice of Man, the pretended revelations not only 
 abound with matters of speculative curiosity, un- 
 connected with practice, but are sometimes even 
 principally made up of them, so as to appear 
 to have for their chief object the communication 
 of knowledge concerning heavenly things, for 
 its own sake. 
 
 To illustrate this by a full examination of all 
 the various systems of false revelation, would 
 be manifestly both tedious and unnecessary : te- 
 dious, inasmuch as even a brief sketch of them 
 would occupy a considerable volume ; and unne- 
 
SECT. 2.] Practical character of Revelation. 225 
 
 cessary, for most readers, since a few moments' 
 recollection will enable them to recall from their 
 previous knowledge enough to confirm, to a great 
 degree at least, the remark which has just been 
 made. And the conclusion will be more strength- 
 ened, the further the inquiry is pursued. 
 
 Let any one consider, for instance, the Greek 
 and Roman mythology : what is the character 
 of that infinite number of fables, delivered by 
 pretenders either to immediate inspiration, or 
 to traditional knowledge of revelation, respect- 
 ing the genealogies of their deities, — their trans- 
 formations, — their contests, — their adventures 
 on earth ? Our present business is not with the 
 absurdity of these fables, or with their immo- 
 ral tendency, or their want of evidence, or the 
 degree of credit they obtained : let our atten- 
 tion be confined to the single circumstance of 
 their general want of reference to human con- 
 duct — their being principally calculated to attract 
 and amuse an inquisitive mind. It is true, in- 
 deed, that direct practical precepts and examples, 
 (whether correct or not, is a question foreign to 
 the present subject) do form some part of the 
 Pagan religions ; but by no means the greatest 
 Q 
 
226 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 or most prominent part ; and it is speaking far 
 within compass to say, that most of what the 
 ancients were taught respecting their gods, could 
 not even be imagined to be of any practical im- 
 portance, but related merely to the gratification 
 of curiosity. 
 
 If we examine the pretended revelations of 
 the Hindoos and of other modern Pagans, we 
 find the very same principle exhibited in other 
 forms. The names and the achievements of 
 their gods are different, but the general charac- 
 ter is the same ; the leading object, or, at least, 
 one leading object, in both, is to gratify men's 
 curiosity about the nature and the operations of 
 superior agents — about the state of things in 
 another world. 
 
 If we turn from these apocryphal and undi- 
 gested heaps of fabulous tradition, to the more 
 systematic imposture of Mahomet, a man doubt- 
 less of no mean ability, — who had the advantage 
 of borrowing from Judaism and from Christi- 
 anity whatever might suit his purpose, and who 
 certainly understood, as experience has proved, 
 the art of alluring converts, — we shall find 
 our expectations as to the point in question still 
 
SECT. 2.] Practical character of Revelation. 227 
 
 confirmed. Not that the Koran is wanting in 
 moral precept and exhortation ; for it abounds in 
 them to the most tedious minuteness of detail ; 
 but it also abounds with the most elaborate de- 
 scriptions of heaven and of its inhabitants, and of 
 other (pretended) works of God ; with full and 
 circumstantial narratives of the creation of the 
 world, and of various other transactions ascribed 
 to the Deity, all calculated to gratify the prying 
 — one might even say, the impertinent — curiosity 
 of man respecting divine mysteries ; but so utterly 
 unconnected with human duties, that the mere 
 increase of knowledge, for its own sake, as an 
 ultimate end, is made to appear one principal 
 object of this pretended revelation. 
 
 It would be wearisome and disgusting to intro- 
 duce such specimens as would fully illustrate what 
 has been asserted ; though it is scarcely possible 
 adequately to describe in words how forcibly it 
 will be impressed on the mind on actual perusal, 
 that the prevaihng character of the book in ques- 
 tion is such as has been described. But those 
 who will be at the pains to examine this and 
 other pretended revelations, with an express view 
 to the subject of our present inquiry, will meet 
 q2 
 
228 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 with abundant instances to confirm what has 
 been here advanced ; more than they perhaps are 
 aware of, if they have a mere general acquaint- 
 ance with those systems, but have never con- 
 sidered them with reference to the particular 
 point now before us. Such an inquiry, it may be 
 safely affirmed, would be profitable and satis- 
 factory, if fully pursued ; and would communicate 
 a lively interest to the perusal even of the most 
 absurd reveries of heathen mythology, and of 
 the Koran. But it will be sufficient in this place 
 to have suggested some of the principal points 
 towards which the inquiry should be directed. 
 
 In addition to those pretended revelations 
 which have been the basis of distinct religions, 
 we should also turn our attention to those which 
 have been connected with modifications of our 
 own. Not to dwell on the fables of the Jewish 
 Talmud, which may fairly be placed under this 
 head, and which will be found to correspond 
 with the principle originally laid down, — thus 
 proving, among other things, that the Jewish 
 nation had, of themselves, in an eminent degree, 
 the same taste in respect of these matters as the 
 Gentiles, — what a multitude of idle legends do 
 
SECT. 2.] Practical character of Revelation. 229 
 
 we meet with in the Greek and Romish Churches, 
 that have no more reference to practice than the 
 heathen mythology ! I speak not now of the 
 extravagance and impiety of many of them ; nor 
 of the too great reference to conduct of some 
 others, whose tendency is to recommend a Hfe 
 of useless seclusion, or of superstitious self-tor- 
 ture, in preference to active virtue : but a large 
 portion of them have no conceivable reference to 
 conduct whatever, and are fitted merely to amuse 
 the roving imagination, and gratify the presump- 
 tuous curiosity of the credulous. 
 
 Lastly,^ to advert to a more recent instance, 
 look to the visions of the pretended prophet 
 Swedenborg ; himself the dupe, as is generally 
 supposed, of his own distempered fancy. It is 
 well known, that he professed to have been 
 favoured with most copious and distinct revela- 
 tions — to have visited the celestial abodes, and 
 to have conversed with various orders of Beings ; 
 of all which he gives minute descriptions. Yet 
 though his followers insist much on the import- 
 ance of beheving in this pretended revelation, it 
 would, I believe, be difficult for them to state 
 even any one point, in which a man is called upon 
 
230 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 to alter either his conduct, his motives, or his 
 moral sentiments, in consequence of such belief. 
 The system furnishes abundant matter of faith, 
 and food for curiosity ; but has httle or no intel- 
 ligible reference to practice.*" 
 
 ^ I received some time ago a friendly communication from 
 a person of this persuasion, referring to the above passage, and 
 complaining of the current misrepresentations respecting the 
 doctrines of the Swedenborgians. He set forth, in a brief out- 
 line, their fundamental points of faith, and principles of duty ; 
 which were — as he studiously pointed out to me — essentially 
 in agreement with what is held by our own Church. 
 
 From his own account, therefore, it appears, (as I pointed 
 out in reply, ) that the point peculiar to that sect — the supposed 
 revelation to their founder, in which they believe, is entirely 
 of a non-practical character. Now this is precisely what I was 
 maintaining. 
 
 I was not designing any attack on that, or on any other 
 religious persuasion ; nor do I deny its including the funda- 
 mentals of Christianity. I had in view only what distinguishes 
 the followers of Swedenborg from the rest of the Christian 
 world ; viz. their faith in a revelation which the rest hold to 
 be a delusion. The truth or falsity of that revelation — a ques- 
 tion on which, of course, I must differ from them — is one which 
 I had no intention of discussing. But that, whether true or 
 false, it is at least distinguished from the revelation contained 
 in the Gospel, by leading to no practical conclusions, is a 
 point, it seems, on which both parties are agreed. And this 
 is the only point I had in view. 
 
SECT. 3.] Practical character of Revelation. 231 
 
 § 3. Such then being the character of false re- 
 velations, what may we expect from a true one ? 
 Since both reason and experience show, that it 
 is the obvious pohcy of an impostor, and the 
 most natural delusion of a visionary, to treat 
 much of curious and hidden matters, relative 
 to the divine operations, beyond what is con- 
 ducive to practical instruction, it should next 
 be considered whether the case is likely to be 
 the same with a real revelation ; whether that 
 also is likely to be much occupied in minister- 
 ing to speculative curiosity. Now this question 
 we may on good grounds answer in the negative : 
 for the general rule of Providence evidently is, 
 that man should be left to supply his own wants, 
 and seek knowledge, both practical and specu- 
 lative, by the aid of those faculties which have 
 been originally bestowed on him ; a revelation 
 is an extraordinary and miraculous exception 
 to this general rule ; and it seems therefore 
 reasonable to conclude, that it should be be- 
 stowed for some very important purpose. Now 
 the knowledge of our duty, beyond what is dis- 
 coverable by unaided reason — instruction how 
 we are to serve God, and obtain his favour — 
 
232 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 does seem a sufficiently important purpose ; but 
 not so, the mere gratification of curiosity. 
 The desire of knowledge is indeed implanted 
 in us by our Creator ; and the pursuit of it is 
 an innocent, and honourable, and highly plea- 
 surable employment of our faculties : but there 
 is a sufficiently wide field of investigation within 
 the reach of our natural faculties ; there seems 
 no reason why the Almighty should work a 
 miracle for the increase of our mere speculative 
 knowledge : not to mention that our gratification 
 consists more in the pursuit and acquirement, by 
 our own efforts, of such knowledge, than in the 
 possession of it. 
 
 Whatever therefore it concerns us practically 
 to know, with a view to the regulation of the 
 heart and conduct — whatever God requires us 
 to be, and to do, in order to become accept- 
 able in his sight — this, it seems consonant to 
 his justice and goodness to declare to us by 
 revelation, when of ourselves we are incom- 
 petent to discover it ; but that He should mi- 
 raculously reveal any thing besides this for the 
 gratification of an inquisitive mind, there seems 
 no good reason to expect. 
 
SECT. 3.] Practical character of Revelation. 233 
 
 It may be said indeed, that the trial of our 
 faith, humility, and candour, in assenting, on 
 sufficient authority, to mysterious doctrines, is 
 a worthy and fit purpose, for which such doc- 
 trines may be revealed. This is undoubtedly 
 true ; and the purpose may even be fairly 
 reckoned a practical one, since so good a moral 
 effect results from such belief. If therefore 
 none of the doctrines necessary to be revealed 
 for other practical purposes were of such a 
 mysterious character as to serve for trials of 
 faith also, we might perhaps expect that some 
 things should be proposed to our belief, solely 
 and singly for this latter purpose. But if both 
 objects can be fully accomplished by the same 
 revelation — if our faith be sufficiently tried by 
 the admission of such mysterious doctrines as 
 are important for other practical ends also — 
 then, the revelation of any further mysteries, 
 which lead to no such practical end, is the less 
 necessary, and consequently the less to be ex- 
 pected.'^ 
 
 " All religious inquiry, strictly speaking, is directed to 
 the nature of God as connected with man, or again to the 
 nature and condition of man as connected with God. Meta- 
 
234 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 What then is in this respect the character of 
 our rehgion ? It may safely be asserted that it 
 is precisely such as, we have seen, a true reve- 
 lation might be expected to be : that it teaches 
 us what is needful for us to know, but little or 
 nothing besides ; that the information it im- 
 parts is such as concerns the regulation of our 
 character and practice, but leaves our curiosity 
 unsatisfied. 
 
 Those who are sufficiently conversant with 
 the Scriptures, will at once recognise this as a 
 characteristic feature of them. 
 
 physical discussions on the Divine nature, similar to those in 
 •which an attempt is made to analyze or arrange the prin- 
 ciples of the human mind, are sometimes indeed confounded 
 with religious views, but are really compatible with the most 
 complete denial of all religion. Religious obligation arises 
 not from the absolute nature of God, but from its relation to 
 us. Accordingly Epicurus and his followers were content to 
 admit the existence of a divine Being, as a philosophical 
 truth, provided it was granted that he had no connexion with 
 the world. Now much of the speculation of the philosophers 
 was directed to this object, that is, to the absolute nature of 
 God. It was indeed the chief, because it seemed the more 
 scientific inquiry, and the other was only incidental." — 
 Hinds's History of the Rise and Progress of Christianity, 
 Introd. pp. 31, 32. 
 
SECT. 4.] Practical character of Revelation. 235 
 
 To prove the point in question as fully as 
 might be done, would require a detailed exami- 
 nation of the whole Bible : and such an exami- 
 nation diligently conducted with a view to the 
 particular point before us, is one which may be 
 recommended not merely to professed theolo- 
 gical students, but (since it calls for no great 
 ingenuity or learning) to Christian readers in 
 general ; as neither an unprofitable nor un- 
 pleasing inquiry, to him who delights in con- 
 trasting the wisdom and the dignified simphcity 
 of God's word, with the idle and arrogant pre- 
 tensions of human fraud and folly. 
 
 The general practical tendency of the Scrip- 
 ture-revelations, and their omission of every 
 thing that would serve merely to pamper vain 
 curiosity, will not fail to strike any candid reader 
 in the course of such an examination. It will 
 be sufficient in this place to suggest a few hints 
 respecting the principles on which this inquiry 
 should be conducted. 
 
 § 4. 1. In the first place we should bear in 
 mind what parts of the Bible are to be regarded 
 as strictly and properly bearing the character 
 
236 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 of Revelation. A great part of it is historical ; 
 and though we beUeve the sacred historians to 
 have been under the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit to lead them into all necessary religious 
 truth — to guard them against any material er- 
 ror — and, in some few cases, to inform them of 
 what could not be known by human means — 
 yet the very nature of History is such, that it 
 would be unreasonable to expect to find each 
 single event that is narrated to be a matter of 
 high importance. The age and name, for ex- 
 ample, of any one Jewish king, as it is not, so 
 far as we can see, a point of itself necessary to 
 be known as essential to our rehgion, so, neither 
 is it properly a point of miraculous revelation ; 
 it is a part of the history ; and if that history, 
 taken collectively, be, as it is, highly instructive, 
 and illustrative of those divine dispensations in 
 which we are concerned, it must be allowed to 
 possess sufficiently that practical character which 
 we are authorised to expect. 
 
 As for those parts which necessarily imply a 
 supernatural communication made to the writer, 
 such as, for example, the account of the Cre- 
 ation of the World, nothing is more striking 
 
SECT. 4.] Practical character of Revelation. 237 
 
 than their uncircumstantial brevity, which leaves 
 the curiosity of the reader altogether unsatisfied. 
 This circumstance has indeed been sometimes 
 complained of, and even, with a strange perver- 
 sity, urged as an objection against Scripture, on 
 the ground that an inspired writer must have 
 had it in his power to satisfy them as to the 
 detail of these interesting events ; and that con- 
 sequently it was to be expected of him. Now 
 had Moses been an impostor, undoubtedly he 
 would, with such a knowledge of human na- 
 ture as he plainly manifests, have obviated this 
 objection (as Mahomet has done) by inventing 
 abundance of circumstances ; but for a true re- 
 velation to forestall the discoveries of Astronomy 
 and Geology, was neither necessary nor proper. 
 Being no part of Religion, they are altogether 
 foreign from the purposes of revelation. It is 
 indeed of the highest importance in a religious 
 point of view, to be assured that the earth, 
 with its various races of inhabitants, together 
 with the rest of the universe, are neither eternal, 
 nor the work of chance, or of any non-intel- 
 ligent agent, nor of various creative powers ; but 
 that One God is the Author of all : thus much 
 
238 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 accordingly is clearly revealed : but innumerable 
 circumstances, which it does not concern us to 
 know, though they strongly interest our curi- 
 osity, are suppressed. Now this, we contend, is 
 a mark of a true revelation ; since in that, and 
 in that alone, it is to be expected. 
 
 The complaint has indeed been urged, that 
 not only the true account of physical pheno- 
 mena has been suppressed, but also that wrong 
 notions respecting them have been conveyed. 
 But he who can seriously object to the want of 
 philosophical correctness in such passages, for 
 example, as those which speak of the rising and 
 setting of the sun, should recollect, that when 
 occasion called for an allusion to such matters, 
 unless language conformable to the popular 
 ideas had been employed, one of two alterna- 
 tives must have been adopted ; either men must 
 have been fully instructed by revelation in the 
 Newtonian system, or they must have been ad- 
 dressed in a style which, though in itself correct, 
 would have been to them utterly unintelligible. 
 Whether either of these modes of procedure 
 would have been better suited to the object of a 
 revelation than the one adopted, we may leave 
 
SECT. 4.] Practical character of Revelation. 239 
 
 the objector to determine. But if we compare, 
 as to this point, the Bible with the pretended 
 revelation of Mahomet, we shall be struck with 
 the contrast : for he goes out of his way, as it 
 were, to assert gratuitously, and with distinct 
 particularity, many points of the astronomical 
 theory which prevailed in his time ; and thus 
 expressly commits himself as to the truth of an 
 erroneous system.^ 
 
 II. Another circumstance to be kept in view 
 in the proposed examination is, that when we 
 may be at a loss to understand the ultimate 
 purpose of any part of our revelation, still, if we 
 perceive an immediate purpose that is practical, 
 we must be careful not to confound this case 
 with that of a supposed revelation which has 
 no perceptible purpose at all : if, in short, it be 
 plain, that something is to be done in conse- 
 quence of what is revealed, even though we 
 may not understand why that particular duty 
 should be enjoined, still the revelation is evi- 
 
 ^ As, for instance, where he speaks of the East and West 
 as determinate points in the globe, in the same manner as the 
 North and South Poles are. 
 
240 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 dently practical ; and is, therefore, conformable 
 to the principle above laid down. For example, 
 nothing can be more evidently practical than 
 the whole of what was revealed to Moses re- 
 specting the Jewish ritual : for though we may 
 not understand for what reasons the Jews were 
 commanded to perform such and such cere- 
 monies, yet that there was something to be 
 performed, is undeniable. 
 
 III. Lastly, we should consider, that some 
 parts of revelation may have a practical import- 
 ance relative to some particular times, persons, 
 and circumstances, but not to all. For example, 
 many of the prophetic visions and declarations 
 pertaining to the kingdom of the Messiah, must 
 have been very obscure as to their true purport, 
 till they were cleared up by his advent ; but 
 then, they furnished both a proof and an ex- 
 planation of his religion. In like manner also, 
 many similar prophecies, both in the Old and 
 New Testament, may be designed to answer 
 the same purpose hereafter, when the appointed 
 period shall arrive, which is to bring with it, 
 at once their fulfilment, their explanation, and 
 
SECT. 4.] Practical character of Revelation. 241 
 
 their practical use.^ Others, on the contrary, 
 which are now among the most obscure, may 
 have been both intelHgible and edifying to many 
 of the contemporaries of the prophets them- 
 selves, for whose use they may have been (as 
 
 " " From Adam until Christ, the religious knowledge of 
 the world was like the gradual dawning of light which pre- 
 cedes the sunrise, and from which we infer the existence 
 and anticipate the approach of the sun itself. Christ came ; 
 but his coming was as when the sun has risen in mist and 
 cloud, and can scarcely be discerned. And then came the 
 Holy Spirit, like the breath of heaven which blows aside 
 the cloud, and enables us to look upon the source of all the 
 day-light with which we have been gradually blessed. So, 
 also, our present condition as a Church may have some 
 latent connexion with futurity, which we shall then only be 
 qualified to perceive, when God shall again manifest himself, 
 and we * see him even as he is.' " — Hinds's History of the 
 Rise and Progress of Christianity, vol. i. part ii. ch. i. 
 p. 148. 
 
 " The Apostles themselves, perhaps, saw not the full ope- 
 ration and progressive results of their own plans ; and we, 
 at this moment, may be cherishing among the rites and 
 ordinances of Christianity some, the full effect of which it 
 may be reserved to future times, to a period beyond this 
 world, to develop. It is impossible to say, how far we are 
 living by faith and not by sight." — Hinds's History of the 
 Rise and Progress of Christianity, vol. ii. part iii. ch. ii. 
 p. 120. 
 
 R 
 
242 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 in many instances we plainly see they were) 
 principally designed. 
 
 But it is very observable, that in most of those 
 cases where we are least able to perceive the 
 practical advantage of the revelation given, the 
 very obscurity and indistinctness which are com- 
 plained of serve as a confirmation of the point 
 maintained : for these obscure passages excite 
 curiosity indeed, but do not gratify it : the very 
 objection which some bring against them is, not 
 that too much is revealed, with a view to specu- 
 lative knowledge, but that too little is revealed. 
 Now with a false revelation, the case is exactly 
 reversed ; for that will always abound with 
 copious and distinct, though unprofitable, de- 
 scriptions of whatever is marvellous, and calcu- 
 lated to strike the imagination, and to amuse an 
 inquisitive mind. 
 
 § 5. Keeping in mind the considerations 
 which have been here offered, we shall find on 
 examination of the Scriptures, that it is a cha- 
 racteristic of the revelation they contain, to 
 withhold such knowledge as is merely specula- 
 tive — to leave abstract curiosity unsatisfied-r- 
 
SECT. 5.] Practical character of Revelation. 243 
 
 and to inform us of little or nothing except 
 what it concerns us for some practical purpose 
 to know. 
 
 Nothing could have been more interesting to 
 man's curiosity, than a full account of a future 
 state ; and accordingly the Koran abounds with 
 the most copious and high-wrought descriptions 
 of paradise and hell, and of the details of the 
 day of judgment. The writers of our Scrip- 
 tures, on the contrary, while they are perpe- 
 tually enforcing with all earnestness the reahty 
 of this future state, so important in practice, 
 strictly confine themselves to the most general 
 and brief description of it. 
 
 Again, the principles on which different classes 
 of mankind will be judged, and the future fate 
 of those who never heard of revelation, are a 
 highly interesting subject of inquiry, but one 
 from which Scripture carefully abstains, except 
 so far as is needful for us to know : " Strive to 
 enter in at the strait gate," is our Lord's answer 
 to those who inquired as to the number of the 
 saved ; and He scarcely adverts at all to the 
 case of the unenlightened, except to inculcate 
 the heavier responsibility of those who sin 
 R 2 
 
244 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 against revealed knowledge, above those who 
 offended merely against the light of natural 
 reason : " The servant who knew his Lord's 
 will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many 
 stripes." All this, as might be expected, is ex- 
 actly reversed in the Koran, which describes at 
 large the final condemnation of all mankind 
 except Mahometans ; and of these, such as are 
 punished for their sins, so far from being judged 
 more guilty, as having sinned against better 
 knowledge, are described as finally to be re- 
 stored, by their behef in the prophet, and 
 received into paradise. Such certainly is the 
 revelation, and such the doctrine, which a false 
 teacher would naturally deliver. 
 
 There are, however, some things, I am well 
 aware, revealed in the Gospel, which but too 
 many, even of those who assent to them, are in- 
 clined to consider as mere speculative articles of 
 faith ; as, for example, the revelation of God to 
 us, not merely as our Creator and Governor, 
 but also as our incarnate Redeemer, and as the 
 Holy Ghost our Sanctifier. But we may safely 
 affirm, that whoever does not perceive in these 
 doctrines any practical tendency, (including in 
 
SECT. 5.] Praciical character of Revelation. 245 
 
 that expression, as we certainly ought, whatever 
 has a refet-ence to the affections and motives, 
 as well as to mere external conduct,) has not 
 yet gained a just and adequate notion of what 
 the Christian religion is. 
 
 Fully to refute such an error would be to give 
 a complete explanation of the whole system of 
 the Gospel : let it suffice, therefore, to make an 
 appeal to Scripture, and to refer thither both the 
 infidel and the believer, who deny the practical 
 tendency of any of its doctrines, that they may 
 understand what the Gospel really is : the one, 
 before he too hastily rejects it, and the other, 
 before he too hastily builds his hopes on it. A 
 careful and candid perusal of the Bible will suf- 
 ficiently evince, that, at least, the sacred writers 
 themselves were very far from conceiving that the 
 doctrines they delivered were mere speculative 
 matters of faith, unconnected with any change in 
 the heart and conduct. If they inform us, that 
 " the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, 
 hath appeared unto men," it is " to teach us, 
 that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
 present world ;" when they describe to us " God 
 
246 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 manifest in the flesh," they instruct us to look to 
 Him with devout trust, and to shape our lives 
 after the model of his perfection ; " Let this mind 
 be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus :" when 
 they " preach Christ crucified," it is that we, while 
 we " crucify the old man with the affections and 
 lusts," may yet with grateful humility renounce 
 all arrogant confidence in our own merits, and 
 look for salvation to his sacrifice, — his interces- 
 sion, — his spiritual aid : and that while we trust 
 in the Divine mercy for the pardon of sin, we may 
 not attribute this pardon, purchased by such a 
 sacrifice, to his lightly regarding sin, but may be 
 sensible of its deadly nature, and its odiousness 
 in God's sight : when they announce his resurrec- 
 tion, it is that we may be exhorted to rise also 
 from the death of sin to a life of holiness, that, 
 " being risen with Christ, we may set our affection 
 on things above ;" and may be encouraged to look 
 forward to a final victory over the grave : and 
 when the love of God towards us is set forth, it is 
 given as a reason why " we ought also to love one 
 another," and to testify our sense of his goodness 
 by keeping his commandments/ 
 
 f See note (H) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 6.] Practical character of Revelation. 247 
 
 In short, as the doctrine of the Trinity may be 
 considered as containing a summary and compen- 
 dium of the Christian Faith, so, its application 
 may be regarded as a summary of Christian prac- 
 tice ; which may be said to be comprised in this : 
 that as we beheve God to stand in three relations 
 to us, we also must practically keep in view the 
 three cdrresponding relations in which, as is 
 plainly implied by that doctrine, we stand to- 
 wards Him; as, first, the creatures and " children 
 of God ;" secondly, as the " redeemed and pur- 
 chased people" of Jesus Christ ; and, thirdly, as 
 *'the temple of the Holy Ghost"^ our Sanctifier. 
 
 § 6. On such topics, and with such views, the 
 sacred writers dwell with the utmost copiousness, 
 
 s It is remarkable that Christians are never spoken of in- 
 dividually as the " temples," but collectively as " the temple," 
 of the Holy Ghost. The Apostles, in a great number of 
 passages, seem to take pains to preserve this distinction ; 
 speaking of individual Christians as "living stones builded up 
 (or edified) into an holy temple." One single text (1 Cor. vi. 
 19) has been appealed to as conveying the other sense ; and 
 that one, even considered by itself, would much more natu- 
 rally bear the same interpretation as the rest. See 1 Cor. iii. 
 16 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16, &c. See also Hinds's " Three Temples of 
 the One God." 
 
248 Practical cluiracter of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 distinctness, and earnestness ; but as to the mere 
 increase of speculative knowledge, they are scanty, 
 indistinct, and apparently indifferent. Take, as 
 one instance out of many, the allusion which Paul 
 makes in the twelfth chapter of his second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, to the celestial vision with 
 which he had been favoured ; nothing is said of 
 it in any other part of his writings ; nor does it 
 appear whether he had even ever mentioned it till 
 then, though it had occurred fourteen years be- 
 fore : he mentions it then for a practical purpose, 
 viz. to impress the Corinthians (who knew that 
 his own report of a/ac^ was to be credited) with 
 a due sense of his apostolic dignity and authority, 
 which they had been disposed to depreciate : and 
 he speaks with the utmost possible brevity of his 
 being " caught up into paradise," and " hearing 
 unspeakable words," without relating any parti- 
 culars of the vision. It is truly edifying to com- 
 pare this with Mahomet's long and circumstantial 
 description of his pretended visit to heaven, filled 
 with a multitude of needless particulars, calculated 
 to gratify an appetite for the marvellous. That 
 man must be a bad judge of the characters of 
 truth and falsehood, who can peruse the two 
 
SECT. 6.] Practical character of Revelation. 249 
 
 accounts without coming to the conclusion, that 
 the one bears the marks of reahty, as plainly as 
 the other does of fiction ; and that the narrative 
 of Paul, as well as his general tone, is as suitable 
 to a true apostle, as that of Mahomet is to an 
 impostor. 
 
 There is another example, which deserves se- 
 lection, as a very striking one, of the uncircum- 
 stantial and practical character of the Christian 
 revelations : the Apostle Peter, in his second 
 Epistle, adverts to the deluge, and also to the 
 final destruction of the earth : we niay be sure 
 his readers would have been much interested 
 by a circumstantial description of both those 
 events ; and we may be nearly as sure, that had 
 he been a false pretender to inspiration, he 
 would have gratified their curiosity : as it is, 
 however, he despatches the subject in five or 
 six verses, and in such terms as convey little 
 or nothing more than the certainty of the 
 event; and then proceeds at once to a prac- 
 tical conclusion : " Seeing then that all these 
 things shall be dissolved, what manner of per- 
 sons ought ye to be in all holy conversation 
 and godliness ?" 
 
250 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 Paul also, in speaking of the same subject, 
 having told the Corinthians, that at the last day 
 " we shall all be changed," and that the blest 
 shall be " clothed upon" with a body " like unto 
 the glorious body of Christ," proceeds, instead 
 of detailing any of the circumstances of so in- 
 teresting a change, or fully describing the glo- 
 rified bodies of " saints made perfect," to exhort 
 them to " be steadfast and abounding in the work 
 of the Lord, since they know that their labour 
 is not in vain." 
 
 Such passages in the works of these apostles 
 may furnish the most unlearned Christian with 
 " a reason for the hope that is in him," conso- 
 latory to his own mind, and unanswerable by 
 infidels. He may ask them, how it came to 
 pass, that no one of our sacred writers has given 
 a full, minute, and engaging account of all that 
 is (according to him) to take place at the end 
 of the world; of all the interesting particulars 
 of the day of Judgment; — of the new bodies 
 with which men will arise ; and of " the glories 
 that shall be revealed" in heaven ; or has given 
 any account at all, (or at least, any from which a 
 decisive conclusion can be drawn) of the con- 
 
SECT. 6.] Practical character of Revelation. 251 
 
 dition in which men are to remain during the 
 interval between death and the resurrection. It 
 is plain, that nothing could have been more gra- 
 tifying to the curiosity of all who had an in- 
 terest in the subject ; nothing more likely even 
 to allure fresh converts, than a glowing de- 
 scription of the joys of heaven ; it would have 
 been easily believed too, by those who gave 
 credit to the writer, as it is plain Paul sup- 
 posed the Corinthians did ; — it would have been 
 very easy again for an impostor to give a 
 loose to his fancy, in inventing such a de- 
 scription ; and to an enthusiast it would have 
 been unavoidable ; he who was passing off his 
 day-dreams for revelations, on himself as well 
 as on others, would have been sure to dream 
 largely on such a subject. Why then did not 
 Paul do any thing of the kind ? I answer, be- 
 cause he was not an impostor, nor an enthu- 
 siast, but taught only what had been actually 
 revealed to him, and what he was commissioned 
 to reveal to others. Let infidels give any other 
 answer to the question if they can. They have 
 had near two thousand years to try ; and never 
 yet have they been able to explain the dry, brief. 
 
252 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 uncircumstantial, unadorned, unpretending ac- 
 counts which our sacred writers give, of things 
 the most interesting to human curiosity, on any 
 other supposition than that of their being honest 
 and sober-minded men, who spoke only what 
 they knew to be the truth. 
 
 § 7. If there be any weight in that train of 
 argument which has been now sketched out with 
 a view of recommending it to general consi- 
 deration, rather than fully developed, it follows, 
 that those who confound together all religions 
 with indiscriminate contempt, by speaking of 
 them as all ahke making pretensions to some 
 divine revelation, are guilty of suppressing a 
 most remarkable and essential distinction as to 
 the character of those professed revelations. 
 For if there be good ground for maintaining, 
 first, that a false religion may be expected to 
 contain in its pretended revelations superfluous 
 matters, which concern only speculative curiosity; 
 secondly that all religions, except our own, do 
 actually abound in such matters ; thirdly, that 
 a true revelation may be expected to abstain 
 from every thing of the kind, and to contain 
 
SECT. 7.] Practical character of Revelation. 253 
 
 only such things as are practically important, 
 or, at least, nothing to gratify men's curiosity ; 
 and, lastly, that our Scriptures actually do con- 
 form to this rule ; it will be difficult to avoid 
 the conclusion, that they, and they only, do 
 really come from God. 
 
 Let this then not be omitted in the list of 
 those many distinct proofs which combine to 
 establish our faith ; each one of which, besides 
 its intrinsic force, augments (since they all 
 tend to one common point) the strength of all 
 the rest. No one, who judges correctly, and 
 feels rightly, on the subject will ever regard with 
 indifference any valid argument, on the ground 
 that he is already sufficiently convinced : for 
 besides that he cannot tell what occasion he may 
 hereafter find, on account of others, if not on 
 his own, for any and every various kind of ar- 
 gument that can be adduced, (since different 
 minds are influenced by different modes of proof,) 
 it is, moreover, to a well-constituted mind, both 
 profitable and delightful, to dwell on the con- 
 templation of that vast mass of evidence which 
 the Almighty has in this case provided ; and so 
 provided, that it shall not at once strike with 
 
254 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 its full force the most careless observer, but 
 develop itself more and more, the further and 
 the more diligently we pursue our inquiries in 
 various directions. 
 
 In addition to the evidence for our religion 
 which the view we have here taken may afford, 
 there are some other not less important results 
 to which it leads, as to the right use and right 
 interpretation of Scripture ; which it will be worth 
 while briefly to hint at. 
 
 § 8. Let it be considered, then, first, what 
 we ought to expect to learn from revelation ; 
 secondly, how we should understand what is 
 revealed ; and, lastly, what application we should 
 make of it. 
 
 1 . With respect to the first point, it is evident, 
 from what has been said, that we must not expect 
 to learn any thing from revelation, except what 
 is in a religious point of view practically import- 
 ant for us to know. 
 
 Of other inquiries, there are some, (such as 
 those respecting the Laws of Nature,) which it 
 is safe and laudable to pursue by those other 
 means which are within our reach ; by the light 
 
SECT. 8.] Practical character of Revelation. 255 
 
 of reason, aided by observation and experiment. 
 Only let no one seek for a system of Astronomy, 
 or of Geology, or of any other branch of Physical 
 Science, in the Scriptures ; which were designed 
 to teach men, not Natural Philosophy, but Reli- 
 gion : nor let them be forced into the service 
 of any particular theory on those subjects ; nor, 
 again, complained of, for not furnishing sufficient 
 information on such points. Nor let any jealous 
 fears be cherished, lest the pursuits of science 
 should interfere with revelation.*" We may be 
 confident, that a judicious and honest search 
 after truth, conducted without any unfair pre- 
 judice, or insidious design, can never ultimately 
 lead to any conclusion that is really irrecon- 
 cileable with a true revelation : but so totally 
 distinct are the objects respectively proposed, 
 that innumerable varieties of opinion as to scien- 
 tific subjects may, and in fact do, exist, among 
 men who are all sincerely agreed in acknow- 
 ledging the authority of Scripture. 
 
 There are other points again which are not 
 within the reach of our natural faculties, but 
 
 See Essay I. Second Series. § 5. 
 
256 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 which, not being needful for us to know, and 
 consequently not declared in revelation, are to 
 be regarded as those " secret things which be- 
 long unto the Lord our God." As to such 
 points, therefore, we should not only seek for 
 no explanation in Scripture, but should care- 
 fully abstain from the presumption of all inquiry 
 whatever. Many indeed of these inscrutable 
 mysteries may perhaps no longer be such, in a 
 future and higher state of existence; even 
 though the same rule should still be observed, 
 of not miraculously revealing any thing for the 
 mere gratification of curiosity. For, not only is 
 it probable that our faculties may be so far en- 
 larged, as to enable us to understand and discover 
 for ourselves, without direct revelation, things 
 which at present surpass our powers ; but also, 
 it may be, that, in a different state of existence, 
 many things may become of practical importance 
 to us, which are not so now ; and may thus be- 
 come fit subjects of revelation. But in this pre- 
 sent life we should carefully guard against the too 
 prevailing error of presumptuous inquiries, and 
 attempts to explain unrevealed mysteries ; an 
 error which generally leaves men the more 
 
SECT. 8.] Practical character of Revelation. 257 
 
 bewildered and mistaken, the greater their in- 
 genuity and dihgence. 
 
 Little as there is revealed to us of the condition 
 of our first parents in Paradise, thus much (and 
 let Christians never forget it) is plainly taught us, 
 that they fell from their happy state through the 
 desire of forbidden knowledge. It was by seek- 
 ing from men to become " as gods, knowing good 
 and evil," that they incurred that loss, to retrieve 
 which God was made Man, in Christ Jesus ; who 
 " took upon him the form of a servant, and hum- 
 bled himself unto death, even the death of the 
 cross," to redeem us, the children of Adam, whom 
 want of humility had ruined, and to open to us 
 the gates of eternal Hfe, which presumptuous 
 transgression had shut. How then can we hope 
 to enter in, if we repeat the very transgression of 
 Adam, in seeking to be wise above that which is 
 written ? By inquisitive pride was immortal hap- 
 piness forfeited ; and the path by which we must 
 travel back to its recovery is that of patient and 
 resigned humiUty. 
 
 2. With respect to the right understanding of 
 what is revealed, it is evident if the view we 
 have taken be correct, that the most practical 
 
258 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 interpretation of each doctrine that can fairly be 
 I adopted is ever likely to be the truest. Let it 
 be laid down, therefore, as an important general 
 rule, (of which numerous applications may be 
 found by any one who will seek for them,) that 
 if the other reasons be equal, or nearly equal in 
 favour of two different interpretations of any 
 part of Scripture, one of which represents it as 
 conveying a mere speculative point of faith, and 
 the other, as having some tendency to influence 
 1 the heart or the conduct, this latter is to be 
 \ adopted, as the more conformable to the general 
 1 plan of revelation.' 
 
 3. Moreover, if our rehgion be indeed of this 
 practical character — if every thing revealed in it 
 be intended to have an influence on our motives 
 and actions — it behoves the Christian to be 
 careful never to ''put asunder what God has 
 joined together ;" but to make and exhort others 
 to make, a practical apphcation of its doctrines 
 
 ' It is oil this ground, among others, that I have argued 
 against the reception, as a part of revealed religion, of the 
 Calvinistic doctrine of Election and Reprobation ; which, as 
 explained by the most approved divines of that school, is a 
 purely speculative tenet. Essay III. Second Series, § 5. 
 
SECT. 8.] Practical character of Revelation. 259 
 
 to character and conduct. I mean not merely 
 that a virtuous life, as well as a right faith, is 
 necessary ; for though this is very true, it would 
 have been no less true, if faith and practice had 
 been two totally distinct things, both required 
 of us ; — if doctrines purely speculative had been 
 proposed for our belief, and precepts uncon- 
 nected with them, subjoined. But as the case 
 actually stands, it is not enough to say that the 
 faith must be right, and the conduct right also ; 
 the conduct must spring from the faith ; and 
 not from some part of it only, but from all : the 
 doctrines of our religion, not some of them, 
 but all, must exert their influence on the moral 
 character. That which was justly remarked by 
 the Jewish historian, Josephus, of his own na- 
 tion, may be applied with still more propriety to 
 Christians, who are placed under the later and 
 more complete form of the same general system : 
 " While all other people," says he, " reckon 
 religion a part of virtue, the Jews alone account 
 virtue apart of religion.'' 
 
 I speak not now of the errors of those who 
 reject either religious faith or moral duty ; but 
 of those who regard them too much as distinct. 
 s2 
 
260 Practical cJiaracter of Revelation, [essay i v. 
 
 There have, indeed, been many in all ages, from 
 the ancient Peripatetic, down to the modern 
 Deist, who have aimed at virtue without reli- 
 gion ; and there have been many more, from 
 the Pagan with his hecatombs and purifications, 
 down to the Antinomian of the present day, 
 who have aimed at religion without virtue. 
 But there are also some, it is to be feared, who, 
 though they acknowledge the necessity of both, 
 are not sufficiently careful to keep in mind, and 
 to exhibit, their close and intimate connexion; 
 but (to use the illustration of the Apostle James) 
 separate from each other, as it were, the soul 
 and the body, and yet think to preserve both. 
 Else, we should not find so strong a distinction 
 frequently drawn, between doctrinal and prac- 
 tical discourses; as if the two subjects were, 
 neither of them indeed to be neglected, but kept 
 apart and independent. Whereas, in truth, 
 every doctrinal discourse should lead the Chris- 
 tian hearer to its proper moral results — every 
 practical precept be referred in his mind to its 
 true foundation in the Gospel doctrines. It is 
 not enough that the inward works of a clock 
 are well constructed, and also the dial-plate and 
 
SECT. 8.] Practical character of Revelation. 261 
 
 hands ; the one must act on the other ; the 
 works must regulate the movements of the 
 hands. 
 
 Such being, then, the practical character of 
 Christianity, let it be observed, in the last place, 
 that all to whom the doctrines of Revelation 
 have been taught, and those more especially 
 whose attention has been more peculiarly di- 
 rected to them by a course of theological studies, 
 if they are not the better for their religious 
 knowledge, will assuredly be the worse for it. 
 It is not merely that, having failed to derive due 
 advantage from the light of the Gospel, they 
 will be heavily accountable for the neglect of so 
 great a blessing ; but, moreover, by long fami- 
 liarity with the doctrines of religion, while they 
 neglect its duties, they will acquire a habit of 
 insensibility to all moral impressions from that 
 quarter : and by thus becoming hardened against 
 the influence of the strongest of all motives, 
 they will have shut the door against all hopes of 
 reformation. For as those who have been long 
 accustomed, for example, to encounter dangers, 
 or to witness sufferings, without giving way to 
 the corresponding emotions of fear or pity, are 
 
262 Practical character of Revelation, [essay iv. 
 
 far more callous to such emotions, than those 
 who have not been conversant with scenes of 
 that kind ; so, those who have been long fami- 
 liarised to the thoughts of religion, without 
 applying it to their lives, are far more incurably 
 hardened, than if they had never heard or 
 thought any thing on the subject.'' 
 
 Let the Christian, then, never lose sight of 
 that every-way awful responsibility under which 
 the Gospel-revelation places him ; abstaining 
 from all unprofitable and presumptuous inquiries 
 as to religious subjects, let him earnestly seek 
 such knowledge as "is able to make us wise 
 unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ 
 Jesus ;" and while in his studies he keeps in 
 mind that we " now know but in part," and see 
 " through a glass, darkly," let his life illustrate 
 
 k " Going over the theory of virtue, in one's thoughts — 
 talking vt^ell — and dravfing fine pictures of it — this is so far 
 from necessarily or certainly conducing to form a habit of it 
 in him who thus employs himself, that it may harden the 
 mind in a contrary course, and form a habit of insensibility 
 to all moral obligation. For from our very faculty of habits, 
 passive impressions, by being repeated, grow weaker, and 
 thoughts, by often passing through the mind, are felt less 
 sensibly." Bishop Butler's Analogy. 
 
SECT. 8.] Practical character of Revelation. 263 
 
 his conviction, that "the things which are re- 
 vealed belong unto us, that we may do all the 
 words of this Law." 
 
 The character of the revelation bestowed on 
 us, in respect of the point which has just been 
 considered, has a reference and a close corre- 
 spondence, to another peculiarity of our rehgion 
 — the proposal of the example of children by 
 our sacred writers, with a view both to the ex- 
 planation, and to the practical application, of 
 what they teach. This pecuHarity, by no means 
 the least admirable in the Gospel-scheme, yet 
 one which is in general very slightly noticed, 
 will form the subject of the next Essay. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note (H) page 246. 
 
 I HAVE known a very intelligent man, and well-read in 
 Scripture, object to (after having at first admitted it) 
 this view of the exclusively relative and practical cha- 
 racter of Revelation, from not liking some consequences 
 to which it leads. He accordingly set himself to find in 
 Scripture some purely speculative revelation respecting 
 the Deity; and the passage he fixed on was in Psalm 
 cxlvii. 5., where it is said that the Lord's " understand- 
 ing is infinite." Now we have no ground, as he ingeni- 
 ously remarked, for concluding that infinite wisdom (only, 
 very great wisdom) is necessary for the government of 
 the world ; or, consequently, that the revelation of this 
 infinity is needful for a practical pui'pose : and here 
 therefore is an instance of something revealed concern- 
 ing God, which is not of a relative and practical cha- 
 racter. 
 
 Now let it be remembered, in the first place, that it 
 evidently is practically needful to impress strongly on 
 
Note. 
 
 265 
 
 men's minds a full conviction that God's wisdom is 
 amply sufficient for all that concerns us ; that in all his 
 dispensations to man, whether natural or supernatural, 
 nothing can have escaped his notice, — no means can 
 have been ill adapted to their ends : and in the second 
 place, that if the divine wisdom he, in fact infinite, it 
 would not have been allowable to say that it is not so. 
 Ought then the sacred writer, after having expatiated 
 fully on the greatness and on the complete sufficiency 
 as far as regards Man, of the divine wisdom, to have 
 added that whether this wisdom is absolutely infinite 
 or not, he is not commissioned to reveal ? Surely it 
 would have savoured of cumbrous and frivolous minute- 
 ness, thus to have gone out of his way, to conceal 
 what there was no reason for concealing. The object, 
 and a most important practical object, was to assure 
 men of the sufficiency of the divine wisdom ; and much 
 the shortest, simplest, and most effectual way of doing 
 this, in the passage in question, was, by declaring its 
 infinity. 
 
 And yet it is very remarkable, that numerous as are 
 the occasions on which the sacred writers set forth the 
 greatness and admirable perfection of God's wisdom, 
 in reference to us, no other passage I believe can be 
 found in which its infinity is distinctly asserted, except 
 this one; which occurs in a Hymn of praise, whose 
 distinct object is to magnify the Supreme Being in our 
 eyes, and to raise in us the highest veneration possible 
 (" for we can never go far enough ") of every thing 
 that is glorious in Him. So that in respect of this 
 
266 
 
 Note. 
 
 purpose, the declaration, after all, has a practical 
 object. 
 
 I have mentioned this instance, to show how difficult 
 (not to say impossible) it is, for the utmost ingenuity 
 and diligence combined, to find any one passage of 
 Scripture even seemingly at variance with the principle 
 I have been maintaining. 
 
ESSAY V. 
 
 ON THE EXAMPLE OF CHILDREN AS PROPOSED 
 TO CHRISTIANS. 
 
 § 1. The allusion to the state of childhood, 
 as illustrative of the condition and of the duties 
 of Christians, occurs repeatedly in the sacred 
 writings, and is dwelt on with an earnestness 
 which may be regarded as one of the charac- 
 teristic marks of the Gospel system of instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Accordingly, many of our divines have occa- 
 sionally alluded to the subject, and suggested 
 it from time to time to the attention of their 
 readers ; but the idea is not perhaps in general 
 sufficiently expanded and dwelt on in detail, 
 to engage Christians to make it an habitual 
 study, and resort continually for instruction to 
 the example which is thus held out to them. 
 And yet unless this be done — unless we dwell 
 very fully and frequently on the case of chil- 
 dren with a view to the better understanding 
 
268 
 
 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 of our own condition, and our own duties — we 
 lose what is in fact one principal advantage of 
 the example proposed to us, viz. its common- 
 ness. Instead of selecting examples of rare and 
 extraordinary virtue, or seeking to contemplate 
 human nature under any peculiar and uncom- 
 mon circumstances, we have only to look back 
 to what we were ourselves when children, and 
 to look around us to observe what children are. 
 Neither learning nor genius are required for 
 the study; and though the ablest man may 
 derive from it such instruction as nothing else 
 can supply, the plainest Christian may do the 
 same, if he be but a sincere and candid and 
 attentive inquirer. 
 
 The analogy now under consideration may 
 be regarded as twofold : first, as children are 
 in regard to their parents, so, in some respects, 
 are we in relation to God : and, secondly, as 
 children are in comparison of what they will 
 be hereafter, so, in some respects, is the Chris- 
 tian in this present life, compared with what he 
 hopes to be in the world to come. I say, in 
 some respects, because it is not to be expected 
 that whatever analogy may be presented to 
 
SECT. 1 .] Example of children. 269 
 
 us should hold good throughout; and it is an 
 important rule, never to press a comparison too 
 far, nor to suppose that things which correspond 
 in some points, must therefore correspond in all. 
 Thus, in the present instance, there is this im- 
 portant point of distinction between the two 
 cases, that while children may expect to become 
 hereafter what their parents are now, we, on the 
 contrary, though in a certain sense the children 
 of God, must always, even in the most exalted 
 and glorified state to which we can attain in the 
 next world, remain at an immeasurable distance 
 from our Creator. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding this, our case is suffi- 
 ciently analogous to that of children, to furnish 
 us with most valuable instruction, if we will 
 but duly attend to the correspondence that 
 does exist. 
 
 On many mysterious subjects, though man 
 be unable to attain- complete knowledge, he 
 will thus, at least be brought to understand the 
 true nature and full extent of his own igno- 
 rance; and many of his duties will be most 
 clearly pointed out and forcibly inculcated, by 
 the example of children. 
 
270 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 § 2. The subject is thus naturally divided into 
 two branches; first, our analogy to children 
 in respect of the knowledge we possess ; and, 
 secondly, in respect of duties — of the rules of 
 conduct we may derive from contemplating the 
 condition of childhood. On each of these points 
 it is proposed not so much to offer instruction 
 to the reader, as to lead him to instruct him- 
 self; not so much to enter into copious details, 
 explaining what should be the Christian's judg- 
 ment and what his conduct, in each case, as to 
 suggest matter for his own private meditation 
 and habitual observation. For the very object 
 contemplated in holding out the example of 
 children, is, that men, by being referred to that 
 example, may frame for themselves precepts 
 more abundant and minute, and more exactly 
 adapted to each particular case, than any that 
 could be delivered to them by another. 
 
 I. In treating of the analogy of our situation 
 to that of children in respect of knowledge, the 
 circumstances to be noticed as most worthy of 
 attention in the notions which they form, are 
 these three ; first, that their knowledge is, in 
 kind, relative ; i. e. that they know little more 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 271 
 
 of any thing than the relation in which it stands 
 to themselves : secondly, that in degree^ it is a 
 scanty and imperfect knowledge ; and, thirdly, 
 that it is nevertheless practically sufficient for 
 them, if they are but careful to make a good use 
 of it. 
 
 1. First then, with respect to the kind of 
 knowledge which children possess : a few mo- 
 ments' consideration may convince us, that it 
 is, as has been said, almost exclusively relative ; 
 i. e. that they know the nature of scarcely any 
 thing, as it is in itself, but as it is relatively 
 to them. A child soon becomes acquainted in 
 some degree with its parents and other kin- 
 dred — its nurses, teachers, and other friends; 
 but as to the nature of this knowledge, is it 
 not manifest that it is merely relative ? He 
 knows little or nothing of what these persons 
 really are, except so far as he himself is con- 
 cerned with them ; he perceives in some mea- 
 sure what they are to him ; but beyond this, 
 he is nearly in the dark : the very words " pa- 
 rent," "kinsman," "friend," &c. are, all of them, 
 relative terms ; and the notions belonging to 
 these, and such as these, are the very earliest 
 
272 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 a child can form — these are the very first terms 
 he is able in any degree to understand and 
 apply. 
 
 Suppose the child's father to be some mighty 
 sovereign, or an eminent statesman, poet, phi- 
 losopher, or warrior — one whose life perhaps is 
 of importance to millions, or whose fame spreads 
 over half the globe ; of all this the child him- 
 self has but a very faint, if any, conception ; this 
 Being, so great in station, or so remarkable in 
 character, he regards merely as Ms father; this 
 is but a relation ; and is but one out of the many 
 relations in which the same person stands to those 
 around him. It is, however, the circumstance 
 which is of the most consequence to the child 
 himself; and it is, therefore, for a considerable 
 time at least, the only one that he ever thinks 
 about, or is at all capable of comprehending. 
 As he grows older, fresh and fresh light is con- 
 tinually breaking in upon him, and he is con- 
 tinually gaining increased knowledge respecting 
 the persons and the things that are around him ; 
 but still the main part of that knowledge, and 
 all the earlier part of it, is relative, and relative 
 to himself. 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 273 
 
 Now we account it a mark of silly presump- 
 tion in a child to pretend to understand fully, 
 and pronounce upon positively, the nature of 
 any thing as it is in itself; or to suppose that 
 every thing is of greater or less importance in 
 proportion as it affects himself. A child is in- 
 deed extremely apt to fall into this error ; but we 
 never fail to check it, and to endeavour to repress 
 such a disposition, by explaining to him, as well 
 as we can, how partial his knowledge is, even 
 respecting those things of which he is not utterly 
 ignorant, and how many there are which he can- 
 not at present understand at all. We teach him 
 and strive to impress on his mind, that his friends 
 have many other concerns to attend to besides 
 what relates to him, — that he is not to measure 
 the magnitude, or judge of the nature, of every 
 thing, merely with reference to himself, — and 
 that even of those things which do principally 
 concern him, and which are done for his sake, 
 his knowledge and powers are so limited, that 
 he must not reckon himself a competent judge 
 of the fitness or unfitness of the measures that 
 are taken. And we expect that a docile and 
 well-disposed child will carefully listen to these 
 
 T 
 
274 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 admonitions, and will be so far sensible of his own 
 weakness, as to perceive the propriety of com- 
 plying with them. 
 
 Now Christians are surely called on to apply 
 all this to themselves : especially when it is con- 
 sidered, that children approach incomparably 
 nearer to an equality with their parents, than 
 the creature can to the Creator ; and that their 
 knowledge of the character and transactions of 
 grown persons is infinitely fuller and more per- 
 fect than we can have of the nature and dealings 
 of God. Our knowledge of Him, like that of 
 children, is almost entirely relative : the sacred 
 writings, which hold out to us the condition of 
 childhood as an illustration and as a pattern, 
 these very Scriptures, with admirable consis- 
 tency, reveal God to us, not as He is in Himself, 
 but, chiefly, as He is in relation to ourselves. 
 They tell us, that He is our Creator, Preserver, 
 and Governor ; that " in Him we hve, and move, 
 and have our being ;" that " He is a rewarder 
 of them that diligently seek Him," and a Judge 
 that will punish those that disobey Him ; that 
 He took our nature upon Him in Christ Jesus to 
 effect our salvation ; and that He dwells in, and 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 275 
 
 sanctifies, the hearts of his faithful servants. 
 Now all this, and much more such knowledge, 
 which the Scriptures supply to us respecting 
 God, is evidently relative to ourselves. The 
 very words, "Creator," "Governor," "Judge," 
 " Redeemer," " Sanctifier," are altogether rela- 
 tive terms. And understanding imperfectly and 
 indistinctly as we do this which is revealed, we 
 may well expect to be utterly lost and bewil- 
 dered when we attempt (going beyond revelation) 
 to comprehend, by our own unaided pov^^ers, what 
 God really is. 
 
 How, indeed can our finite minds embrace 
 infinity ? The very words Omnipresence, and 
 Eternity, overpower our faculties, the more, in 
 proportion as they are dwelt upon ; and yet we 
 cannot conceive that God should not be present 
 in every part of the universe which He created 
 and maintains in its estabUshed order ; wherever 
 we go, we find traces of his agency ; yet we 
 cannot either suppose Him to exist in any such 
 relation to Space, that we and every thing 
 around us has ; nor, again, conceive what that 
 Being can be, who thus pervades all Space, and 
 occupies none. " In truth, omnipresent is a 
 t2 
 
276 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 relative term. God is said to be omnipresent 
 because all things are present to Him, not because 
 He is present to all things. The original error 
 consists in assigning Him any place at all, — in 
 attributing locality to a Being who cannot be 
 affected, as we are, by the distinctions of space. 
 The same may be observed of eternity, as appUed 
 to the Divine nature. We can only judge of 
 time by a succession of impressions on the mind ; 
 and it is usually by supposing an infinite suc- 
 cession that we arrive at our notion of eternity. 
 But why should we presume to say, that any such 
 succession is requisite for the Divine mind ? A 
 savage would instruct a traveller in his route, by 
 a successive enumeration of point after point, and 
 line after hne in his course ; a civilized man 
 would do the same at once, by placing a map 
 before him. If then human nature exerts itself 
 so differently, as it is cultivated or neglected, 
 how cautious should we be in framing analogies 
 between the energies and capacities of the most 
 perfect mind, and of God who formed it." ^ 
 We cannot, indeed, understand what it is to 
 
 * Hinds's History of the Rise and Progress of Christianity, 
 vol. i. ch. V. note to p. 29G. 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 
 
 277 
 
 exist without any relation to Time ; yet we can- 
 not but conclude, both from reason and reve- 
 lation, that with Him, the Great I AM, there 
 can be no distinction of Past, Present, and 
 Future, but that all things must be eternally 
 present; since all our notions of time may be 
 clearly traced up to the succession of ideas or im- 
 pressions on our own minds ; which succession 
 cannot be supposed to take place with an om- 
 niscient Being. So that the couplet of the poet 
 Cowley, which has been, by some, laughed to 
 scorn as absurd, will be found, if we duly con- 
 sider it, to be the most appropriate expression 
 possible of such imperfect and indistinct notions 
 as alone we can entertain on such a subject : 
 
 " Nothing there is to come, and nothing past, 
 But an eternal now does ever last." 
 
 Unfortunately, however, when men have affixed 
 names to these indistinct and imperfect notions 
 of theirs, and when, by long and frequent use, 
 they have grown familiar with these names, they 
 are thence apt to forget, how little they know 
 of the thmgs themselves. It is indeed a conve- 
 nience to employ such names, provided we do 
 not suffer ourselves to fancy that the familiar 
 
278 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 use of them makes the things spoken of become 
 intelligible. It is an advantage in algebraical 
 calculations to employ a letter of the alphabet 
 as a symbol to denote some unknown quantity ; 
 only let it not be supposed, that by this means 
 it becomes at once a hnown quantity. 
 
 Moreover, besides the imperfect and indistinct 
 knowledge which we have of those divine attri- 
 butes whose existence we believe in, there may 
 be others also, for aught we know, of which we 
 have never had any suspicion, and which we 
 should be as incapable of understanding with 
 our present faculties, as a blind man is of form- 
 ing any idea of colours. Is it not then some- 
 thing even worse than childish, to reason upon 
 and discuss boldly, and pronounce upon dog- 
 matically, the attributes and the acts of God ? 
 as if we had means of ascertaining the real 
 nature of that stupendous Being, instead of 
 knowing merely, in some degree, what He is 
 with respect to ourselves. 
 
 It is true, that every one is ready to admit, in 
 general terms, that the nature of God is not 
 comprehensible by the human faculties ; but how 
 few are there that duly follow up this maxim in 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 279 
 
 practice ! how few writers, that, after having 
 distinctly made the admission, do not, even 
 within a few pages, shde imperceptibly into such 
 a presumptuous style of assertion and of reason- 
 ing, as shews them to have completely forgotten 
 that our knowledge of the Almighty is relative ! 
 
 How great must be the errors arising from 
 men's overlooking, or not carefully attending to, 
 this circumstance, it is hardly necessary to point 
 out. The rustic, who persists in maintaining 
 that the sun itself actually moves, because he sees 
 it rise and set, i. e. sees that it is in different 
 positions relatively to himself; and the child, who, 
 while he is sailing in a ship, fancies that the 
 land flies from him, or advances towards him ; 
 are not more completely mistaken in their no- 
 tions, than those theologians who reason upon 
 the accounts which the Scriptures give us of the 
 Deity, as if these were intended to explain to 
 us what He is, absolutely, in Himself, and not, 
 merely what He is in relation to ourselves. 
 
 And the liability to error is greatly increased 
 by this circumstance ; that even the relations in 
 which God stands to his creatures are so im- 
 perfectly comprehensible by our understandings. 
 
280 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 that it is necessary to explain them by analogical 
 language, and by the use of such types and com- 
 parisons, as may furnish to our minds a kind 
 of picture or image of heavenly things, whose 
 correspondence with the original cannot of 
 course be in all points complete ; any more than 
 a picture can,"" in all respects, resemble the solid 
 body which it is designed to imitate. If there- 
 fore we extend this analogy further than was 
 intended, and conclude, that the things which 
 are represented as corresponding in some points 
 must needs correspond throughout, — or if, again, 
 we conclude, that the things must be alike, be- 
 cause they are analogous, and bear similar re- 
 lations to something else,"^ — we shall fall into 
 the grossest absurdities ; such as we often see in 
 children, when they interpret literally the ana- 
 logical explanations which are given them. 
 
 If any one will be at the pains to collect in- 
 stances for himself (both from recollection of his 
 own infancy, and from what he has observed 
 
 ^ See Archbishop King's Sermon on Predestination, already 
 referred to. See also note (I) at the end of this Essay. 
 
 See Bishop Copleston's remarks on analogy, in the notes 
 to his Discourses on Predestination, p. 122. 
 
SECT. 2.] Example of children. 281 
 
 in other children) of the mistakes which are in 
 this way continually committed by every child, 
 and will carefully reflect on these, not as a mere 
 source of amusement, but with a view to his 
 own instruction, they will serve as a mirror to 
 shew what sort of mistakes he himself also has 
 to guard against, in the notions he forms re- 
 specting the Almighty. 
 
 To take one out of innumerable instances ; 
 how many there are who speak and reason con- 
 cerning the glory of God, (that being a phrase 
 which occurs in Scripture,) as if they supposed, 
 that the desire of glory did literally influence 
 the divine mind, and as if God could really covet 
 the admiration of his creatures : not considering, 
 that the only intention of this expression is to 
 signify merely, that God's works are contrived in 
 the same admirable manner as if He had had 
 this object in view ; and that we are bound to 
 pay Him the same reverent homage, and zealous 
 obedience, as if He were really and literally 
 capable of being glorified by us. And yet it is 
 chiefly from a literal interpretation of this phrase 
 of " the glory of God," that some Calvinistic 
 divines have undertaken to explain the whole 
 
282 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 system of divine Providence, and to establish 
 some very revolting and somewhat dangerous 
 conclusions. 
 
 § 3, The considerations which have just been 
 adduced, lead naturally to a second point that 
 is worthy of notice in the condition of children : 
 not only is their knowledge almost entirely re- 
 lative, but even of things relating to themselves 
 they have a very limited knowledge ; and what 
 they do know, they know but imperfectly, par- 
 tially, and indistinctly. It has been remarked 
 above, that of their parents and kindred, and 
 other friends, they know little or nothing except 
 the relation in which these stand to themselves ; 
 but it is observable also, that this very relation 
 they are far from adequately comprehending, so 
 as to understand wherein it consists : and in this 
 and every other part of their knowledge, those 
 will usually appear to them the most essential 
 circumstances, which, in fact, are accidental, or 
 subordinate ; so that even where they are not 
 mistaken, their knowledge is still very scanty and 
 imperfect. For example, they will often learn 
 accurately to distinguish from one another per- 
 
SECT. 3.] Example of children. 
 
 283 
 
 sons of diflferent professions, by the colour of 
 their clothes, or by some such external mark ; 
 which they are apt to regard as the real and 
 essential characteristic of each, respectively. But 
 as their faculties and knowledge improve, they 
 come to perceive gradually, that what they had 
 before considered as the most important cir- 
 cumstances, are subordinate, and comparatively 
 trifling; and that their former notions, though 
 not altogether erroneous, were extremely defec- 
 tive, from their not being aware of, or perhaps 
 even able to comprehend, those points which 
 are in reality the most essential. 
 
 " It must strike every one who will please to 
 review the ideas and imaginations of his youth, 
 what was then his notion of many things which he 
 now looks at, and has long looked at, as so many 
 vain and foolish baubles — how eager he was in the 
 pursuit of them, how impatient of being disap- 
 pointed. He is at a loss now to conceive where, 
 or in wliat, the value or pleasure of them could 
 consist, so much to engage his affections, to 
 agitate his passions, to give him such anxiety in 
 the pursuit, and pain in the loss. Now some- 
 thing very like this will probably take place in 
 
284 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 the judgment we shall hereafter form of many 
 of the articles which at present compose the 
 objects of our care and solicitude. When we 
 come, in the new state of our existence, to look 
 upon riches, and honours, and fortune, and pre- 
 eminence, and prosperity — how like the play 
 and pursuits of children, their little strifes, and 
 contests, and disturbances, will these things ap- 
 pear! When the curtain is drawn aside, and 
 the great scene of our future existence let in 
 upon our view, how shall we regard the most 
 serious of our present engagements and suc- 
 cesses, as the toys and trifles of our childhood, 
 the sport and pastime of this infancy of our 
 existence!'"* 
 
 Now let Christians but remember, that in this 
 respect we are still children, in comparison of 
 what Christ's faithful servants may hope to be- 
 come in a future state ; and that this process 
 of not only rectifying errors, but clearing, and 
 extending, and perfecting knowledge, is by no 
 means yet completed, nor ever will be, in our 
 present state. " When I was a child," says the 
 
 ^ Paley's Sermons. 
 
SECT. 3.] Example of chiidren. 285 
 
 Apostle Paul, " I spake as a child, I thought as 
 a child, I understood as a child ; but when I be- 
 came a man, I put away childish things." " We 
 now," he adds, "see by means of a mirror 
 darkly;^ but then face to face : now I know in 
 part ; but then shall I know even as also I am 
 known." When then, on the one hand, pre- 
 sumptuous objections are brought against the 
 received accounts, of the fall of man, for in- 
 stance — of the redemption by Christ — of a future 
 judgment — and every part of the divine dispen- 
 sations ; and when, on the other hand, no less 
 presumptuous explanations are offered of the 
 same ; let him, who would derive wisdom from 
 the source which God has pointed out, instead 
 of listening either to such objections, or to such 
 answers, occupy himself in reflecting on the 
 absurd mistakes which children commit, when 
 they imagine themselves to have a full and cor- 
 rect notion of any thing that has been partially 
 explained to them, and suffer themselves to fancy 
 (as soon as any glimmering of knowledge has been 
 
 ^ This is evidently the true sense of the original, and pro- 
 bably what our translators meant to convey ; but their version 
 of it is, to say the least, ambiguous. 
 
286 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 afforded them) that they understand completely 
 the transactions and situations of grown persons. 
 
 And if any one would attain the best idea 
 he is capable of forming on that most im- 
 portant point of wisdom, the nature and extent 
 of his own ignorance, let him seek it by analogy, 
 and have recourse to a child for his instructor. 
 Let him endeavour to convey to a very young 
 child as full and correct a notion as possible, of 
 civil-government, and legal institutions — of com- 
 mercial transactions, and various arts and sci- 
 ences — of the past history and present condition 
 of various nations ; and let him carefully observe 
 how utterly unintelligible many points will re- 
 main to the infant mind, after all the expla- 
 nations that can be given ; — how uninteresting 
 many subjects will prove, which hereafter will be 
 regarded as the most important ; — how imper- 
 fect and inadequate will be the notions that are 
 formed on others, and what strange mistakes 
 will be continually arising ; especially if the child, 
 through conceit and presumption, is not aware 
 of his own incompetency to judge, and does not 
 perceive that he is out of his depth. And then 
 let the instructor apply the lesson to himself: 
 
SECT. 3.] Example of children. 287 
 
 let him learn from the example of the child, what 
 is likely to be the imperfection of his own know- 
 ledge and of his own faculties ; and let him no 
 longer presume that he understands, or can 
 expect to discover, the whole, or even the greater 
 and more essential part, of any one of the divine 
 dispensations, merely on the ground that some 
 part of God's designs has been declared to him ; 
 nor flatter himself, that because he is assured 
 of the truth of something, therefore there is 
 nothing that is concealed from him. " We can 
 seldom review what passed in our minds when 
 we were children, without being surprised with 
 the odd and extravagant notions which we took 
 up and entertained — how wildly we accounted 
 for some things, and what strange forms we as- 
 signed to many other things — what improbable 
 resemblances we supposed, what unlikely effects 
 we expected, what consequences we feared. I 
 can easily believe, that many of the opinions and 
 notions we now erroneously entertain, especially 
 concerning the place, condition, nature, occu- 
 pation, and happiness of departed saints, may 
 hereafter appear to us as wild, as odd, as unlikely 
 and ill-founded, as our childish fancies appear to 
 
288 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 us now. Like the child, we take our ideas from 
 what we see, and transfer them to what we do 
 not see ; hke him, we look upon and judge of 
 things above our understanding, by comparing 
 them with things which we do understand ; and 
 they bear afterwards as Httle resemblance, as 
 little foundation for comparison, as the most 
 chimerical and fantastic visions of a childish ima- 
 gination. And this I judge to be what Paul 
 had particularly in his thoughts when he wrote 
 the words of the text : ' Now we know in part ; 
 but when that which is perfect is come, then, 
 that which is in part shall be done away;' even as 
 ' when I was a child, I understood as a child, I 
 thought as a child ; but when I became a man, 
 I put away childish things.' Our apprehension 
 of futurity may, it is true, be in many respects 
 childish, but still they may be innocent, so long 
 as we are not over anxious, nor over positive, 
 to insist upon others receiving them, and too 
 much inclined to make difficulties, or start at 
 those which we meet with, from an opinion that 
 we are able to guess and find out the whole of 
 such subjects."* 
 
 f Paley's Sermons, last vol. pp. 223, 224. 
 
SECT. 3.] Example of children. 289 
 
 A child perceives that the sun gives Hght 
 and heat to the spot which he inhabits ; so far 
 he judges rightly ; but he is not unlikely to 
 conclude, that the sun was created for that pur- 
 pose ; he is ignorant of its conferring the same 
 advantages on distant parts of the world ; and 
 he supposes its real magnitude to be nearly 
 the same as it appears to be ; by degrees his 
 knowledge is enlarged, and he comes to under- 
 stand, that the same sun shines upon the whole 
 earth ; he now perhaps looks back with con- 
 tempt on his former ignorance, and imagines 
 that he understands fully the whole use and 
 importance of the sun ; whereas he still knows 
 but a very small part of it : in time, if he is in 
 the way of scientific instruction, and is diligent 
 in profiting by it, he will come to learn, that the 
 earth is only one out of many planets — several 
 much larger than our own — that are warmed and 
 enlightened by the same sun, which is a far larger 
 body than all of them together ; and we should 
 be very presumptuous were we to conclude, that 
 even this purpose is the only, or even the prin- 
 cipal one, for which the sun was created. 
 
 Most arrogant then must he be, who dares 
 u 
 
290 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 conclude, that when he knows something of God's 
 attributes and dispensations, he fully understands 
 either the whole, or even the most essential part, 
 of them. We know certain relations in which 
 the Almighty stands towards us ; but there may 
 be other relations besides these, of which we 
 know nothing. We are instructed in some degree 
 how far we are interested in the fall of Adam, 
 in the redemption through Christ, and in other 
 of God's dispensations ; but we know not that 
 this is all ; nor have we any reason for supposing, 
 that even the greater part has been revealed to 
 us. The fall of our first Parents may, for aught 
 we know, have been of consequence to different 
 orders of Beings, whose very existence we are 
 ignorant of ; the death of Christ may, in some 
 unknown way, be the means of salvation to mil- 
 hons who never heard of Him ; his coming to 
 judge the world may affect other planets be- 
 sides our own. 
 
 Is this vast extent of ignorance revolting to 
 any one ? let him then recollect the time when 
 he was a child, and refresh his memory by the 
 observation of other children. Let him remem- 
 ber how strange many things seemed to him. 
 
SECT. 4.] Example of children. 291 
 
 which are now perfectly cleared up ; — how utterly 
 ignorant he was of matters, which are now familiar 
 to him ; — how far he was from being able to com- 
 prehend the nature, and even from suspecting the 
 existence of many things, which now principally 
 occupy his thoughts ; — and, above all, how sure 
 he was to be mistaken, whenever he presumed to 
 fancy that his own notions were adequate, and his 
 knowledge perfect. This habitual study of the 
 infantine mind will prepare us to go any lengths 
 in the confession of our ignorance, and the due 
 distrust of our faculties : we shall thus become 
 learned in human nature, as to that most impor- 
 tant part of it, its imperfections ; and where full 
 and accurate knowledge is not to be attained, we 
 shall at least keep clear of presumptuous error. 
 Where the darkness cannot be removed, it is 
 a great point to be aware that it is darkness, 
 instead of being deceived and misled by false 
 lights and delusive appearances. 
 
 § 4. It was mentioned as a third point in 
 which the knowledge possessed by children is 
 worthy of consideration, that, scanty and imper- 
 fect as it is, it is yet fully sufficient for all practical 
 u2 
 
292 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 purposes ; a child knows, indeed, but little of 
 the friends that surround him ; but he knows 
 enough to understand that they are friends, and 
 that he may profit by their instructions, and rely 
 on their protection. Children soon learn to 
 distinguish, in a great degree, what things are 
 agreeable, and what, painful ; what profitable, 
 and what, mischievous ; and if they are patient 
 and docile, they rapidly improve in this kind of 
 knowledge. They learn also very early, what 
 sort of conduct will gain them the approbation 
 and goodwill of their parents and their play- 
 fellows; and what will subject them to displeasure, 
 ridicule, or punishment. Almost all the know- 
 ledge, indeed, that is early and easily acquired by 
 children, is of a practical nature. For example, 
 a child, as has been above remarked, understands 
 very little of the real nature of the sun ; but he 
 very soon comes to understand its efficacy in en- 
 lightening — in warming — in drying — in altering 
 the colours of several substances — in expanding 
 flowers — in ripening fruits. This sort of know- 
 ledge it is, universally, that is the most essential 
 to be early acquired ; and it is of such know- 
 ledge consequently, that, by the appointment of 
 
SECT. 4.] Example of children. 293 
 
 Providence, children are the most capable. That 
 which they can best learn, as children, is pre- 
 cisely such as is best calculated to lead them 
 on to a more advanced state, and to qualify 
 them for their future conduct in the world as 
 men. 
 
 Such, likewise, is our state in this present life ; 
 we can attain abundant knowledge for practical 
 purposes ; in the midst of all our ignorance and 
 weakness, that which we can best understand is 
 our duty : and if we are diligent and patient in 
 acquiring such knowledge as is suitable for us, 
 and in practically applying it, instead of boldly 
 prying into mysteries beyond our reach, we shall 
 be undergoing the best preparation for that supe- 
 rior state of existence, in which God's faithful 
 servants will, through his mercy, obtain an en- 
 largement of their faculties, an increase of their 
 knowledge, and a nearer view of his adorable 
 perfections. On the other hand, the evils which 
 are brought upon the man by presumptuous dis- 
 obedience, by carelessness, and by indocility, — in 
 the child, may warn us what those have to expect, 
 who, in what concerns religion, copy the example 
 of such perverseness. 
 
294 Example of children. [essay, v. 
 
 § 5. II. This reference of knowledge to prac- 
 tice, leads naturally to the consideration of that 
 which was laid down as the second branch of the 
 present inquiry, viz. the advantages to be derived 
 from a comparison between the condition of 
 Christians and that of children, in respect of con- 
 duct ; their example being often held out for 
 imitation by Jesus and his followers ; whose man- 
 ner of teaching is, in this respect, hardly less 
 peculiar, than in the others formerly mentioned. 
 In treating of the former branch of the subject 
 before us, the object proposed may be described 
 as being to show how far men necessarily are 
 like children : how far they ought to be 50— what 
 instruction they may derive in respect of duty, 
 from following the example of children— is our 
 present matter of consideration. 
 
 The disciples, we are told in the Gospel, came 
 unto Jesus, saying, " Who is the greatest in the 
 kingdom of heaven ? and Jesus called a little child 
 unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and 
 said. Verily I say unto you, except ye be con- 
 verted, and become as little children, ye shall not 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever 
 therefore shall humble himself as this httle child. 
 
SECT. 5.] Example of children. 295 
 
 the same is the greatest in the kingdom of hea- 
 ven." Our Lord's most immediate object seems 
 to have been, to check the pride of his disciples ; 
 we may presume therefore that the point in which 
 He was more especially holding out children to 
 our imitation, is their lowliness of mind, modesty, 
 and self-distrust. 
 
 To this must be added, in the second place, 
 their docility ; i. e. a disposition to listen with 
 candour, and singleness of heart, and patience, 
 to the instruction that is imparted to them. It 
 is thus that the Apostle James reasons from the 
 Jilial relation in which we stand to God : " of his 
 own will," says he, (ch. i. 18 — 21.) " begat He us 
 with the word of truth, that we should be a kind 
 of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my 
 beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, 
 slow to speak, slow to wrath ; (for the wrath 
 of man worketh not the righteousness of God.) 
 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity 
 of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the 
 engrafted word, which is able to save your 
 souls." 
 
 Lastly, another point in which the example of 
 children is most profitable for the imitation of 
 
296 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 Christians, is that which may be called their 
 resignation ; i. e. an undoubting and affectionate 
 confidence in parental care and kindness; ac- 
 companied with a cheerful submission and ready 
 obedience, even where they cannot understand 
 the reasons of the commands given, and of the 
 restrictions imposed. 
 
 § 6. I. First then, with respect to the humi- 
 lity of children : though we do indeed frequently 
 find in them the seeds of arrogance, as well as 
 of every other evil propensity to which our frail 
 and corrupt nature is liable; it will hardly be 
 denied, that, as a general rule, childhood is 
 characterised by modesty, self-distrust, conscious- 
 ness of weakness, and readiness to acknowledge 
 faults : they are qualities also peculiarly suitable 
 to that age ; and we are accordingly especially 
 careful to warn children against presumption 
 and self-confidence, and to impress them with 
 a due sense of their own ignorance, and inex- 
 perience, and feebleness. Now if it be true, 
 as has been above pointed out, that the Chris- 
 tian's condition in this present life is closely 
 analogous to that of children — that we are still 
 
SECT. 6,] Example of children. 297 
 
 in the infancy of our being, compared with 
 what we hope to become hereafter — and that 
 we are, and ever must be, children, and much 
 less than children, in respect of our Creator — 
 it is evidently the part of one, who would profit 
 by this most important branch of knowledge, 
 to exemplify in himself that conduct which he 
 most commends in them, and to apply to him- 
 self the precepts he inculcates. If humility is 
 especially becoming in a child, it must be so 
 also in a Christian, who is made in a pecuhar 
 manner " a child of God ;" thus placed in the 
 relation of sonship towards a Being infinitely 
 more above him than an earthly parent. If a 
 child is exposed to the greatest mischiefs both in 
 his present state, and in his future life, by arro- 
 gant presumption, and conceited confidence in 
 his own feeble judgment, let man, weak and 
 short-sighted as he is, remember, that the same 
 faults in him will endanger his eternal salvation. 
 
 Having already dwelt at greater length, per- 
 haps, than some may think requisite, on the 
 imperfection of the human faculties, and the 
 scantiness of man's knowledge in his present 
 state, it is unnecessary to insist strongly in 
 
298 
 
 Examjile of children. [essay v. 
 
 this place on the importance of that humble 
 self- distrust, consciousness of ignorance, and 
 lowliness of temper, which are called for in 
 consequence. But there is one point most im- 
 portant to be kept in view, which many men are 
 apt to overlook ; those, viz. who imagine them- 
 selves to be not at all deficient in humility, pro- 
 vided they abstain from over-rating their own 
 talents as compared with those of other men : 
 whereas it is evidently possible for a man to pos- 
 sess this personal humility, as it may be called — 
 to think very modestly of himself in comparison 
 of those around him, and yet greatly to over- 
 rate the human faculties in general ; and without 
 giving himself credit for acuteness and profun- 
 dity beyond the rest of his Species, to be guilty 
 of rashly prying into the mysteries of the Most 
 High, and of speculating boldly on subjects 
 which are out of the reach, perhaps, even of the 
 faculties of angels. No cautions against personal 
 arrogance will guard a man against this (if I 
 may so speak) generic arrogance — this over- 
 estimate of the human faculties.^ No man must 
 
 s On the opposite error to this, — the confidence which some 
 feel of having attained personal humility, from their thinking 
 
SECT. 7.] Example of children. 299 
 
 be satisfied with thinking modestly of himself, 
 individually, as compared with others, unless 
 he also form as sufficiently humble estimate of 
 human nature itself; recollecting that the whole 
 race of mankind are in a state of ignorance and 
 weakness analogous to that of childhood. 
 
 § 7. II. The second point which was men- 
 tioned, as deserving the imitation of Christians, 
 is the DociHty of children ; the docihty which 
 we always find, at least in those of them who 
 are the best disposed ; and which we always 
 commend them for possessing, and studiously 
 inculcate. It is not enough for a child to ac- 
 knowledge his imperfections, if he has no wish 
 to improve ; or to be conscious of his ignorance, 
 unless he is willing to learn. In fact, as there 
 is no greater obstacle to improvement — no 
 worse impediment to learning — than arrogant 
 self-conceit, so there is no better proof of mo- 
 desty, than an eagerness to receive instruction. 
 If we inculcate humility, it is as a step — the 
 first and most important step — towards the 
 
 meanly of the whole human race, I have olFered some remarks 
 in the note appended to the next Essay. 
 
300 Example of children. [essay v, 
 
 attainment of excellence: those children who 
 conceitedly over-rate themselves, and show no 
 deference for the precepts bestowed on them, 
 are often the least ambitious, and always the 
 least likely, to make great advancements. 
 
 Now if the Christian acknowledge himself 
 to be at all in the condition of children, he 
 should learn in this point also most carefully 
 to take pattern from them, and to practise what 
 he recommends to them ; for while they have 
 to learn what will qualify them for the state of 
 manhood — for that short and precarious life 
 which they will have to spend on earth — the 
 Christian has to learn, according to the views 
 which the Gospel presents, what may fit him 
 for eternity. On the use he makes of the short 
 time of probation allowed him here, in acquiring 
 a knowledge of the will of God, and in applying 
 that knowledge in his practice — on this it is, 
 that his condition, his final and unalterable con- 
 dition, in the next world, is represented in the 
 Scriptures as depending. 
 
 He then who is taught such a lesson by a 
 Master to whose authority he bows, must admit 
 that the example of children, and the advice 
 
SECT. 7.] Example of children. 301 
 
 men are perpetually inculcating on them, will 
 rise up against him in the day of judgment 
 and condemn him, if his conduct in this his 
 state of infancy, be such as he would, in his 
 own children, censure as most culpable folly. 
 How strongly, for example, and how justly, 
 does every one blame a child who refuses to 
 learn or believe any thing that does not suit 
 his own inclinations; who will not take any 
 thing upon trusty even when he is incompetent 
 at present to understand the reasons of it; nor 
 believe implicitly what he cannot fully com- 
 prehend, even though assured of it on the 
 safest authority : and who arrogantly denies 
 and rejects every thing that carries with it an 
 appearance of difficulty, unless that difficulty 
 be instantly and satisfactorily solved. 
 
 This example is well calculated to warn the 
 Christian to beware, lest he lie open to the 
 same blame in a far more important concern ; 
 remembering, that as Jesus Christ himself 
 teaches him, " if he receive not the kingdom 
 of heaven as a little child, he shall in no wise 
 enter therein." 
 
 There are, indeed, many Christians, who, (not. 
 
302 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 certainly, for want of having an instructive 
 model recommended to their imitation in Scrip- 
 ture, but for want of studying that model,) 
 instead of this childlike simphcity, and single- 
 ness of heart, and candour, are perpetually 
 striving to fashion the word of God according 
 to their own imaginations : perverting and ex- 
 plaining away every passage which does not 
 suit their preconceived notions, and pressing, 
 to the utmost extreme, every one that seems 
 to support these ; rejecting this doctrine be- 
 cause it appears to them unreasonable — and 
 that, because it is, on their views, unworthy of 
 the Deity — and another, because it is attended 
 with some inexplicable difficulty ; or insisting 
 with uncharitable vehemence on the importance 
 of some particular explanation, founded on the 
 deductions of their own reason, and forming 
 an essential part of their own theory; making 
 no allowance even for one who substantially 
 agrees with them, if it happen that he does 
 not employ precisely the same form of expres- 
 sion ; or if he contentedly believes, without being 
 able to comprehend, what they profess to have 
 explained. 
 
SECT. 7.] Example of children. 303 
 
 ** What then," it may be said, " is all em- 
 ployment of reason to be abandoned, and are 
 we to teach, with the Romanists, the virtue of 
 implicit and unenquiring faith ? Are we to learn 
 from children boundless credulity, and contented 
 ignorance?" A child himself can answer the 
 objection, and remove whatever difficulty it in- 
 volves. Ask an intelligent child whether his 
 parents exhort him to remain contented in ig- 
 norance — to believe implicitly every thing that 
 every one tells him, whether on good authority 
 or not; to abstain from all inquiry — to re- 
 press all curiosity — and to use no endeavours 
 for improving in knowledge, and attaining truth. 
 He will tell you, that, so far from this, they com- 
 mend him for nothing more than for being pro- 
 perly inquisitive, and eager after information ; 
 that they exhort him to take nothing upon trust 
 that he is capable of sifting thoroughly, and 
 examining and proving satisfactorily to himself; 
 and that they assiduously warn him against 
 being over-credulous, and hasty in admitting on 
 slender proofs what he hears from persons unde- 
 serving of credit. He will tell you, however, 
 that they nevertheless caution him against an 
 
304 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 indiscriminate, and presumptuous, and prying 
 curiosity ; that they assure him there are some 
 points of knowledge unsuitable to his age ; and 
 many which are beyond the reach of his present 
 faculties: which it would be unprofitable, and 
 even mischievous, for him to pry into unsea- 
 sonably; that he must wait with patience till 
 his reason is matured ; since there is enough 
 of what is necessary and useful for him to learn, 
 to occupy all his attention in the mean time ; 
 and that even of what he has to learn at pre- 
 sent, there are many parts which he cannot, as 
 yet, fully comprehend ; and which therefore he 
 must be content to believe implicitly, on the 
 authority of his instructors, in whose veracity 
 and judgment he has the best reason to con- 
 fide. 
 
 Is not this the system of instruction which is 
 adopted by the most judicious teachers ? and is 
 there any thing inconsistent in this ? Is it not 
 possible at once to encourage profitable, and 
 to repress impertinent curiosity; to check in- 
 discriminate credulity, yet to require implicit 
 faith, (on sufficient authority,) in subjects be- 
 yond the reach of the learner's faculties— and 
 
SECT. 7.] Example of children. 305 
 
 to encourage inquiry about such as are not 
 beyond his reach ? Now if this be the wisest 
 and best way of instructing children, can we 
 doubt, or can we wonder, or can we complain, 
 that our great Master, " our Father which is in 
 heaven," has adopted this same method in the 
 instruction of us, in our present state of child- 
 hood here on earth ? 
 
 The Christian is taught in the Scriptures he 
 receives, and most wisely taught, to make it his 
 careful and constant study to distinguish what 
 subjects are, and what are not, within the reach 
 of his faculties ; that while he avoids presump- 
 tuous inquiries, he may at the same time be 
 diligently pursuing such knowledge as is attain- 
 able and profitable. 
 
 There have been indeed sceptical philosophers, 
 who have perversely inferred, from the limited 
 and imperfect nature of the human faculties, 
 that all inquiries after truth are vain ; and have 
 thought, or pretended to think, that since we 
 understand so little of any subjects on which we 
 may speculate, we ought to sit down contented 
 in universal doubt, and universal indifference, 
 respecting all. But it is surely something even 
 
306 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 beyond a childish absurdity to conclude, that be- 
 cause we cannot do all we wish, we therefore 
 should do nothing at all ; that because we are 
 aware of the hmits of our faculties, therefore 
 we should not employ them as far as they extend. 
 A man who is compelled to travel in the twi- 
 light, may wish indeed that the sun would rise ; 
 but in the mean time makes the best use he can 
 of the light that is afforded him ; he still employs 
 his eyes, and still is able to see with them, to a 
 profitable purpose ; though he cannot see so far 
 as in broad day-light. Only, if he is prudent, 
 he will take heed not to forget how faint a glim- 
 mering it is that he now enjoys, lest he incur 
 danger by heedlessly running too far from the 
 path ; nor will he allow himself to form too hasty 
 a judgment concerning the prospect around him, 
 while viewed by this imperfect light. 
 
 The Christian then, though warned not to 
 attempt to be "wise above what is written," is 
 yet excited by the very same example, diligently 
 to study and strive to improve in the knowledge 
 of that which God has thought fit to reveal 
 in this life ; hoping to attain a more perfect 
 knowledge in a better state. And if he would 
 
SECT. 7.] Example of children. 307 
 
 resemble, in all that is worthy of imitation, such 
 a child as he would wish his own children to be, 
 he will come to the study with a disposition 
 meekly and candidly to receive the word of God, 
 whatever he shall find it to be : not searching 
 the Scriptures for arguments to confirm his 
 preconceived opinions ; but honestly forming his 
 opinions j'rom what he reads ; and cheerfully 
 acquiescing in whatever he may find to be re- 
 vealed, however repugnant to the prejudices, and 
 galling to the pride of human nature. That 
 faith, without which the Scriptures tell us " it is 
 impossible to please God " — which they uniformly 
 represent as of the nature of a moral virtue, and 
 as the first step in the Christian's progress — 
 does not consist (as the unthinking scoffer pre- 
 tends) in assenting to a proposition without suffi- 
 cient evidence, but in a disposition candidly and 
 fairly to weigh the evidence — in a due distrust of 
 the human faculties — and in a readiness to admit 
 whatever shall appear to be clearly taught by 
 our divine Instructor, even though it be such as 
 we should never have expected, nor can clearly 
 comprehend. Such is the docility which men 
 require of children, and which they approve and 
 x2 
 
308 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 commend in them ; and such also is the docility 
 which they must require of themselves, if they 
 would attain the approbation of their heavenly 
 Father. 
 
 § 8. III. The last and not least important point 
 in which the example of children is to be imitated, 
 is that which has been called their resignation : 
 I mean, the entire, devoted, contented, and affec- 
 tionate submission of a well-disposed child to his 
 parent's will ; his ready and cheerful obedience, 
 even to commands of which he cannot under- 
 stand the reason ; his full and contented confi- 
 dence in parental care and kindness, even in 
 cases where his father's conduct is unintelligible 
 to him. 
 
 Every one knows how many things it is ne- 
 cessary for children to do, and to submit to, 
 of which they cannot at the time understand the 
 necessity : and we should not much commend 
 the dutiful obedience of that child, who should 
 then only submit to his parent's will, when he 
 comprehended the reasons of his commands : nor 
 should we think well of a child's disposition, whose 
 affections were alienated from a tender parent. 
 
SECT. 8.] Example of children. 309 
 
 and who distrusted that parent's kindness, merely 
 on the ground of his being obhged to practise 
 some irksome duties, and submit to some trouble- 
 some restraints, whose importance could not as 
 yet be explained to him. Let any one but con- 
 sider, which of the two would be regarded as the 
 more amiable, and the more sensible child — such 
 an one as this last, or the one before described, 
 as full of confidence, love, and submission. And 
 if the Christian feels no hesitation in deciding 
 this question, let him next consider, which of the 
 two it behoves him to resemble. 
 
 Placed as Man is at an immeasurable dis- 
 tance from the stupendous Author of our being, 
 and in a state of infancy, compared with the 
 future hfe he looks forward to, it may well be 
 expected that he should be incapable of under- 
 standing the reasons of all God's commands, 
 and the whole system of his dealings with his 
 creatures. But enough may surely be under- 
 stood, to convince those who are well disposed, 
 that they may safely trust to his fatherly care 
 and goodness — that He deserves our sincere 
 affection and devoted obedience — and that " all 
 things work together for good to them that love 
 
310 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 Him." It is therefore man's duty, as well as 
 interest, cheerfully to comply with his will, even 
 when he neither knows the reason of his com- 
 mands, nor understands why that knowledge is 
 withheld from him. 
 
 Thus much however all may clearly under- 
 stand : that if this life be a state of probation, 
 as every thing around us declares that it is, we 
 might even antecedently expect, that, among 
 other moral qualities, a trial should be made 
 of our humility also, — of our patience, — of our 
 devotion to God, — and firm trust in Him ; a 
 trial which could not take place, if men could 
 in every instance fully understand the wisdom 
 of the Almighty Ruler's designs, and perceive 
 the fitness of his injunctions. The Christian 
 then is evidently called upon in this point also, 
 to pursue the same conduct himself which he 
 recommends in children ; resigning himself with 
 affectionate devotion into the hands of God; 
 not presuming to find fault with any thing he 
 does not understand, nor giving way to distrust, 
 wherever he perceives a difficulty.'' 
 
 " A child meets with perpetual difficulties, which appear 
 to its then comprehension unconquerable, which yet, when it 
 
SECT. 8.] Ed'amjde of children. 
 
 311 
 
 Some, however, find means practically to evade 
 the force of that lesson, which the example 
 of children is intended to convey. That a 
 child is right in showing filial affection, and in 
 submitting to parental authority, they see and 
 
 becomes a man, clear up and vanish of themselves. It 
 cannot be made to understand the reason or the meaning of 
 half the things which its parents and its masters make it do 
 
 or suffer 
 
 "How is this to be reconciled, a child will naturally ask, 
 with that kindness, and love, and goodness, which it is told 
 to expect from its parents. Now as the child advances in 
 reason and observation, all these difficulties solve themselves. 
 He remembers with gratitude what he suffered with com- 
 plaint 
 
 " Look to the whole of our existence, and the wisest and 
 
 oldest of i/s are yet but in our infancy We know in 
 
 part : a certain portion of our nature, existence, and destiny 
 we do see ; but it is a portion bounded by narrow limits; — a 
 term out of eternity. Now all such partial knowledge must 
 be encumbered with many difficulties ; it is like viewing the 
 map of a district, or small tract of territory, by itself, and 
 separated from the adjacent country : we see rivers marked out, 
 without any source to flow from, and running where there is 
 nothing to receive them. In like manner we observe events 
 in the world, of which we trace not either cause or origin, and 
 tending to no design or purpose that we can discover. If the 
 child have patience to wait, many of these difficulties will in 
 due time be explained. And this is our case. It was not 
 necessary to the child's happiness and well-being, that it should 
 
312 E.vample of children. [essay v. 
 
 acknowledge, on the ground that they themselves 
 perceive that this is for his benefit ; whereas 
 they do not perceive how God's designs tend 
 to their benefit : not considering, that neither 
 can the child himself fully understand this at 
 the time ; but implicitly takes it for granted. 
 Now if we are in a condition analogous to child- 
 hood, we must put ourselves in the place of the 
 child himself, not of a bye-stander, whose know- 
 ledge of the circumstances is more complete : 
 we must consider, not merely whether the con- 
 duct of the child does, in fact, tend eventually 
 to his own benefit, and is such as a person would 
 direct, who knew better than the child himself 
 can know, wherein the benefit consists ; but we 
 must also consider, whether the child himself, 
 even with the imperfect knowledge which he 
 now possesses, does not act wisely in submitting 
 and trusting to his parent ; and if it be decided 
 that he has good reason for so doing, it is in- 
 
 have, from the first, the understanding of a man ; nor is it to 
 ours, that we should possess the faculties of angels, or those 
 which are in reversion for us in a higher and more advanced 
 state of existence." Paley's Sermons. 
 
 He is indebted, however, to Tucker's " Light of Nature," 
 for the admirable illustration cited in this passage. 
 
SECT. 8.] Example of children. 313 
 
 cumbent on those who are in a correspond- 
 ing condition, and have the same imperfect 
 knowledge, to follow his example. For if man 
 in his present state could fully perceive and 
 understand that what is commanded him is 
 for his good, his case would not, then, be ana- 
 logous to that of children ; since they cannot, 
 while children, understand the designs of their 
 parents. 
 
 The question is, therefore, is it a mark of 
 folly in children to be dutiful, affectionate, and 
 submissive ? Shall we say that such children 
 are right indeed, but right only by accident, in 
 thus trusting to their parents ; and that they 
 have, at the time when they do so, no just 
 ground for reposing such confidence in them ? 
 No one would surely maintain such an opinion. 
 If then we acknowledge the conduct of dutiful 
 children to be wise — wise, that is, in them, 
 under the circumstances in which they are 
 placed — it is for us to make it the pattern of 
 our own. An amiable, and well-disposed, and 
 intelligent child never reasons in this manner : 
 " My father's designs are inscrutable to me, and 
 therefore I cannot tell whether the steps he 
 
314 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 may next take will be for my benefit, or the con- 
 trary : he may have very good reasons for all he 
 does ; but since I cannot understand his reasons 
 for occasionally subjecting me to pain and pri- 
 vation, I cannot tell but that he may hereafter 
 see sufficient reasons, equally unintelligible to 
 me, for devoting me undeservedly to misery and 
 destruction ; and therefore I have no ground for 
 trusting to his kindness :" such, I say, are not 
 the reasonings which pass through the mind of 
 a well-disposed child ; who, notwithstanding his 
 incapacity to explain to himself the reasons of 
 his being sometimes exposed to pain and in- 
 convenience, feels, nevertheless, an undoubting 
 confidence (and surely it is not an unreason- 
 able and ill-grounded confidence) that his father 
 loves him, and seeks his real benefit, and under- 
 stands how to promote it far better than he 
 does himself. 
 
 The disciple of Christ, then, is taught to profit 
 by such an example ; and, without being dis- 
 mayed by his inability to explain the evils which 
 appear in the creation,' to trust fully (as he has 
 good reason) in the loving-kindness of God 
 ' See note (K) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 9.] Example of children. 315 
 
 towards those who diligently serve Him, who 
 conform cheerfully to his commandments, and 
 who rely firmly on his promises. 
 
 § 9. And let it not be forgotten, that that 
 feature in the Gospel-system of instruction 
 which has been here noticed, the proposal of 
 such an example for man's imitation in his pre- 
 sent state, is one of the circumstances peculiar 
 to Christianity — strikingly characteristic of it — 
 and strongly confirming its divine origin, its 
 importance, and its excellence. 
 
 As it is obviously a great advantage to teach 
 not merely by precept, but by example, so, that 
 advantage is much enhanced, if the example 
 employed be one which is always at hand : nor 
 could a more suitable pattern, than the one in 
 question, have been presented to the imitation of 
 creatures, standing in such a relation as we do to 
 the Creator ; and whose present life is designed 
 as a preparation for a more perfect and exalted 
 state hereafter. Yet, the best heathen moralists, 
 even those who taught, and professed to believe, 
 a future state, had not recourse to, or at least 
 
316 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 did not usually employ, this mode of instruction. 
 They spoke much of the beauty of virtue — of 
 the dignity of human nature — of the heroism of 
 striving to rise above the vulgar mass of mor- 
 tals : but they did not enough consider that the 
 first step to elevation is HumUity ; that though 
 the palace of Wisdom be indeed a lofty struc- 
 ture, its entrance is low, and it forbids admission 
 without bending. They knew not, or at least 
 taught not, that our Nature must be exalted by 
 first understanding and acknowledging the full 
 amount of its weakness and imperfection. " Je- 
 sus called unto Him a little child, and set him 
 in the midst :" what other teacher ever did the 
 like ? What other teacher, indeed, ever com- 
 pletely "knew what was in man," and under- 
 stood thoroughly how to remedy the defects of 
 his Nature, and to fit him for a better state ? 
 
 While this admirable peculiarity of our great 
 Master's system of instruction is gratefully ac- 
 knowledged by the Christian, let him be careful 
 also to take advantage of it, and not to lose 
 the benefit of the example which Christ has 
 proposed for our imitation. It is not enough 
 
SECT. 9.] Example of children. 317 
 
 to acknowledge in general terms that man's 
 condition on earth is analogous to that of chil- 
 dren, in the scantiness of his knowledge, and 
 the imperfection of his faculties ; and that we 
 ought to take pattern from their humble doci- 
 lity, and cheerful confidence, and implicit obe- 
 dience : he who would actually profit by this 
 pattern, must make their character and conduct 
 his habitual study — a study which no one can 
 ever want opportunities of pursuing. We must 
 "call a little child, and set him in the midst 
 of us :" we must carefully and frequently exa- 
 mine into all the details of the condition, the 
 character, and duties, of children : and if we are 
 fully and habitually impressed with the simi- 
 larity of our situation to theirs, in a multitude 
 of particulars, then, and then only, we shall be 
 enabled to profit adequately by the example 
 they afford us. 
 
 By such a moral training will the Christian 
 be fitted, through God's help, for that more 
 perfect, that happy and exalted, state, in which 
 his doubts will be dispelled, — his knowledge 
 cleared up and extended, — his faith swallowed 
 
318 Example of children. [essay v. 
 
 up in certainty, — and his nature purified and 
 elevated so as to approach more nearly to that 
 of his divine Master. " Brethren," says the 
 Apostle John, " we know not what we shall 
 be ; but we know, that, when He shall appear, 
 we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him 
 AS He is." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note (I) page 280. 
 
 The following account of a person born blind, and 
 couched by Mr. Chesselden, (extracted from the Philo- 
 sophical Transactions) affords an interesting illustration 
 of some of ray remarks. 
 
 " Ohsermtions made by Mr. W. Chesselden., on a young 
 gentleman who was born blind, or lost his sight so early 
 that he had no recollection of ever having seen, and was 
 co uched between thirteen and fourteen years of age. 
 
 " When he first saw, he was so far from making any 
 judgment about distances, that he thought all objects 
 whatever touched his eyes, (as he expressed it) as what 
 he felt did his skin ; and thought no objects so agree- 
 able as those which were smooth and regular, though 
 he could form no judgment of their shape, or guess 
 what it was in any object that was pleasing to him ; he 
 knew not the shape of any thing, nor any one thing 
 from another ; but upon being told what things were, 
 whose form he knew before from feeling, he would 
 
320 
 
 Notes. 
 
 carefully observe that he might know them again ; but 
 having too many objects to learn at once, he forgot 
 many of them, and, as he said, at first, learned to know, 
 and forgot again a thousand things in a day. One 
 particular I will relate : having often forgotten which 
 was the cat and which the dog, he was ashamed to 
 ask ; but catching the cat (which he knew by feeling) 
 he was observed to look at her steadfastly, and then 
 setting her down, said, ' So, Puss ! I shall know you 
 another time.' 
 
 " He was very much surprised that those things 
 which he had liked best did not appear most agreeable 
 in his eyes ; expecting those persons would appear most 
 beautiful whom he loved most, and such things to be 
 most agreeable to his sight that were so to his taste. 
 We thought he soon knew what pictures represented ; 
 but we found afterwards, we were mistaken ; for about 
 two months after he was couched, he discovered all at 
 once that they represented solid bodies ; whereas to that 
 time he considered them only as party-coloured planes, 
 or surfaces diversified with variety of paint; but even 
 then he was no less surprised, expecting the pictures 
 would feel like the things they represented ; and was 
 amazed when he found those parts, which by their light 
 and shadow appeared round and uneven, felt flat like 
 the rest; and he asked what was the lying sense, feeling 
 or seeing ? 
 
 " Being shewn his father's picture in a locket at his 
 mother's watch, and told what it was, he acknowledged 
 it a likeness, but was vastly surprised, asking how it 
 
Notes. 
 
 321 
 
 could be that a large face could be expressed in so 
 little room ; saying it should have seemed as impossible 
 to him, as to put a bushel of any thing into a pint. At 
 first he could bear but very little sight, and the things 
 he saw he thought extremely large ; but on seeing 
 things larger, those first seen he conceived less, never 
 being able to imagine any lines beyond the bounds he 
 saw ; the room he was in, he said, he knew to be but 
 part of the house, yet he could not conceive that the 
 whole house could look bigger. Before he was couched 
 he expected little advantage from seeing, worth under- 
 going an operation for, except reading and writing ; for 
 he said he thought he could have no more pleasure in 
 walking abroad than he had in the garden, which he 
 could do very safely and readily. And even blind- 
 ness, he observed, had this advantage, that he could 
 go any where in the dark, much better than those who 
 can see ; and after he had seen he did not soon lose 
 this quality, nor desire a light to go about the house 
 in the night. He said every new object was a new 
 delight, and the pleasure was so great, that he wanted 
 ways to express it ; but his gratitude to his operator 
 he could not conceal ; never seeing him for some 
 time without tears of joy in his eyes, and other 
 marks of affection ; and if he did not happen to come, 
 at any time when he was expected, he would be so 
 grieved that he could not forbear crying at his disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 " A year after first seeing, being carried upon 
 Epsom Downs, and observing a large prospect, he 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 Notes. 
 
 was exceedingly delighted with it, and called it a new 
 kind of seeing. 
 
 " And now being lately couched of his other eye, he 
 says that objects at first appeared large to this eye, 
 but not so large as they did at first to the other; and 
 looking upon the same object with both eyes, he 
 thought it looked about twice as large as with the 
 first couched eye only, but not double, that we can 
 discover." 
 
 Note (K) page 314. 
 The sentiments here expressed, are more fully deve- 
 loped and explained in the Appendix (No. 2.) to Dr. 
 King's Discourse on Predestination; from which I 
 take the liberty of citing one passage, as necessary to 
 illustrate what has been said: "Our notions of the 
 moral attributes of the Deity are not derived (as Dr. 
 Paley contends they are) from a bare contemplation 
 of the created universe, without any notions of what is 
 antecedently probable, to direct and aid our observa- 
 tions. Nor is it true (few indeed would now, I appre- 
 hend, assent to that part of his doctrine) that man has 
 no moral faculty — no natural principle of preference 
 for virtue rather than vice — benevolence rather than 
 malice ; but that being compelled by the view of the 
 universe to admit that God is benevolent, he is thence 
 led, from prudential motives alone,* to cultivate bene- 
 volence in himself, with a view to secure a future 
 reward. 
 
 » See Paley 's Moral Philosophy, book ii. ch. 3. 
 
Notes. 323 
 
 The truth I conceive is exactly the reverse of this ; 
 viz. that man having in himself a moral faculty, or 
 taste, as some prefer to call it, by which he is in- 
 stinctively led to approve virtue and disapprove vice, 
 is thence disposed and inclined antecedently, to attri- 
 bute to the Creator of the Universe, the most perfect 
 and infinitely highest of Beings, all those moral (as well 
 as intellectual) qualities which to himself seem the most 
 worthy of admiration, and intrinsically beautiful and 
 excellent: for to do evil rather than good, appears to 
 all men (except to those who have been very long har- 
 dened and depraved by the extreme of wickedness) to 
 imply something of weakness, imperfection, corruption, 
 and degradation. I say, " disposed and inclined,'''' be- 
 cause our admiration for benevolence, wisdom, &c. 
 would not alone be sufficient to make us attribute these 
 to the Deity, if we saw no marks of them in the crea- 
 tion ; but our finding in the creation many marks of 
 contrivance, and of beneficent contrivance, together 
 with the antecedent bias in our own minds, which in- 
 clines us to attribute goodness to the supreme Being — 
 both these conjointly, lead us to the conclusion that 
 God is infinitely benevolent, notwithstanding the ad- 
 mixture of evil in his works, which we cannot account 
 for. But these appearances of evil would stand in the 
 way of such a conclusion, if man really were, what 
 Dr. Paley represents him, a Being destitute of all 
 moral sentiment, all innate and original admiration for 
 goodness: he would in that case be more likely to 
 come to the conclusion (as many of the heathen seem 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 Notes. 
 
 actually to have done) that the Deity was a Being of a 
 mixed, or of a capricious nature ; an idea which, shocking 
 as it is to every well-constituted mind, would not be so 
 in the least, to such a mind as Dr. Paley attributes to the 
 whole Human Species. 
 
 To illustrate this argument a little further, let us 
 suppose a tasteful architect, and a rude savage, to be 
 both contemplating a magnificent building, unfinished, or 
 partially fallen to ruin ; the one, not being at all able to 
 comprehend the complete design, nor having any taste 
 for its beauties if perfectly exhibited, would not attribute 
 any such design to the author of it ; but would suppose 
 the prostrate columns and rough stones to be as much 
 designed as those that were erect and perfect : the other, 
 would sketch out in his own mind something like the 
 perfect structure of which he beheld only a part; and 
 though he might not be able to explain how it came to be 
 unfinished or decayed, would conclude that some such 
 design was in the mind of the builder : though this same 
 man, if he were contemplating a mere rude heap of stones 
 which bore no marks of design at all, would not in that 
 case draw such a conclusion. 
 
 Or again, suppose two persons, one having an ear for 
 music, and the other totally destitute of it, were both 
 listening to a piece of music imperfectly heard at a distance, 
 or half drowned by other noises, so that only some notes 
 of it were distinctly caught, and others were totally lost, 
 or heard imperfectly : the one might suppose that the 
 sounds he heard were all that were actually produced, 
 and think the whole that met his ear to be exactly such 
 
Notes. 
 
 325 
 
 as was designed ; but the other would form some notion 
 of a piece of real music, and would^conclude that the 
 interruptions and imperfections of it were not parts of the 
 design, but were to be attributed to his imperfect hearing : 
 though if he heard, on another occasion, a mere confusion 
 of sounds, without any melody at all, he would not con- 
 clude that any thing like music was designed. 
 
 " The application is obvious : the wisdom and good- 
 ness discernible in the structure of the Universe, but 
 imperfectly discerned, and blended with evil, leads a 
 man who has an innate approbation of those attributes, 
 to assign them to the Author of the Universe, though 
 he be unable to explain that admixture of evil ; but if 
 man were destitute of moral sentiments, the view of the 
 Universe, such as it appears to us, would hardly lead 
 him to that conclusion." 
 
 It has been maintained that the doctrine here attri- 
 buted to Paley is not really what he designed to convey. 
 I should be happy to see this satisfactorily proved, 
 respecting an author whom I value highly, and never 
 differ from without regret : especially as this would 
 deprive, what I consider as a hurtful error, of the 
 sanction of a deservedly popular name. But still the 
 sense conveyed by his language, to ordinary readers 
 at least, being such as it is, the reason remains the same 
 for controverting the doctrine so conveyed. Against 
 Dr. Paley, either personally or as an author, the objec- 
 tions are not directed ; but against the notions involved 
 in the most natural and obvious construction of his 
 expressions. 
 
326 
 
 Notes, 
 
 It has also been said that to judge of the divine bene- 
 volence, or other attributes, in any degree, from what we 
 find in ourselves, is inconsistent with Dr. King's statement 
 of the dissimilarity between the attributes of God and 
 of Man. 
 
 But this objection is founded on a mistake or a mis- 
 representation, of Dr. King's meaning ; who (as I have 
 endeavoured to shew in the note appended to Essay II. 
 of this volume) represents the divine attributes as being 
 the *' same" with ours, in the only sense (though in a less 
 degree) in which any one mans qualities can be the 
 *' same" as another's. 
 
ESSAY VI. 
 
 ON THE OMISSION OF A SYSTEM OF ARTICLES OF 
 FAITH, LITURGIES, AND ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS. 
 
 § 1. I HAVE dwelt, in the two preceding 
 Essays, on the practicalii/-mstYUctiye character 
 of the revelation which the Gospel furnishes. 
 But there is an omission in the New Testament 
 Scriptures, which from that very circumstance 
 is the more striking, inasmuch as it seems to 
 leave unsupplied a most important practical 
 want. No such thing is to be found in 
 our Scriptures as a Catechism or regular 
 Elementary Introduction to the Christian re- 
 ligion ; nor do they furnish us with any thing 
 of the nature of a systematic Creed, — set of 
 Articles, — Confession of Faith, or by whatever 
 other name one may designate a regular, com- 
 plete Compendium of Christian doctrines. Nor 
 again do they supply us with a Liturgy for 
 ordinary public worship, or with forms of ad- 
 ministering the Sacraments, or of conferring 
 
328 Omission of Articles of Faith, ^c. [essay vi. 
 
 Holy Orders : nor do they even give any precise 
 directions as to these and other ecclesiastical 
 matters ; — any thing that at all corresponds to a 
 Rubric or set of Canons. 
 
 And this omission is, as I have said, of a widely 
 different character from the one before men- 
 tioned ; since all these are things of manifest 
 practical utility, and by no means calculated to 
 gratify mere idle curiosity. 
 
 We are from childhood so familiar with that 
 collection of books which we call the Bible, (I 
 mean, with the drift and general character of 
 each of them) that few Christians probably have 
 ever thought of considering whether these books 
 are (in respect, that is, not of their matter, but 
 of the general purpose of each) precisely such 
 as we should have antecedently expected ; and 
 whether they are all that we should have ex- 
 pected to find transmitted to us, supposing we 
 now heard for the first time of the Christian 
 revelation, and of a collection of writings in 
 which it is recorded. But for this familiarity, 
 every one would, I think, be struck with the 
 circumstance, as something very remarkable, that 
 these writings contain neither Catechism, Creed, 
 
SECT. 1.] in the New Testament. 
 
 329 
 
 nor Rubric, nor any thing answering the pur- 
 pose of any of these. And the more we reflect 
 on the subject, viewing not merely the abstract 
 probabilities of the case, but also what has ac- 
 tually occurred in respect of other religions, the 
 more strongly I think we shall feel, that the 
 first founders of a religion might naturally have 
 been expected to have transmitted to posterity 
 some, more or less systematic, compositions, such 
 as I have been speaking of. 
 
 For if we look, for instance, to the Koran, 
 we find Mahomet, in the midst of much extra- 
 neous matter fitted only to gratify the appetite 
 for the marvellous, inserting however, besides 
 a precise description of the Mahometan faith, 
 minute directions concerning fasts, prayers, ab- 
 lutions, — the amount of alms, — and all other 
 points of the Mussulman's service of God. The 
 same is represented to be the character of the 
 Hindoo Shaster, and other Pagan books pro- 
 fessing to contain a divine revelation of any sys- 
 tem of religion. 
 
 And that there is nothing in the Christian 
 religion considered in itself, that stands in the 
 way of such a procedure, is plain from the 
 
330 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sj'c. [essay vi. 
 
 number of works of this description which have 
 appeared from the earliest times, {after the age 
 of inspiration) down to the present ; — from the 
 writings entitled the " Apostles' Creed," and 
 the "Apostohcal Constitutions," &c. (composi- 
 tions of uncertain authors, and amidst the variety 
 of opinions respecting them, never regarded as 
 Scripture) down to the modern Formularies and 
 Confessions of Faith. 
 
 Nor again can it be said that there was any- 
 thing in the Founders of the rehgion, any more 
 than in the religion itself, which, humanly speak- 
 ing, should seem likely to preclude them from 
 transmitting to us such compositions. On the 
 contrary, the Apostles, and the rest of the earlier 
 preachers of Christianity, were brought up Jews ; 
 accustomed, in their earliest notions of rehgion, 
 to refer to the Books of the Law, as containing 
 precise statements of their Belief, and most mi- 
 nute directions as to religious worship and cere- 
 monies. So that to give complete and regular 
 instructions as to the character and the requi- 
 sitions of the new religion, as it would have 
 been natural, for any one, was more especially 
 to be expected of these men. 
 
siiCT. 2.] ifi the New Testament. 
 
 331 
 
 § 2. Dr. Hawkins, in his excellent little work 
 on "Tradition,"^ (which deserves to be much 
 better known than it is,) has clearly pointed 
 out the fact, that the New Testament does not 
 contain an elementary introduction to the Chris- 
 tian religion, or a compendium of Christian doc- 
 trines : " Why," says he, " are many of the 
 Christian doctrines so indirectly taught in the 
 Scriptures? — is a question sometimes put not 
 merely by those who doubt or disbelieve the 
 doctrines, but by very sincere believers,^ by those 
 even who have ascertained their truth with 
 abundant learning and ability. Why, they ask, 
 are many of the most important articles of faith 
 rather implied than taught? why have we to 
 learn them in great measure from incidental 
 notices of books written upon particular occa- 
 sions, controversies, or heresies, many of them 
 
 a It is entitled "On unauthoritative Tradition," i.e. such 
 Tradition as does not claim that "authority" which is due 
 to the words of inspired and infallible men. Some degree 
 of "authority," viz. such as to produce a prima facie pre- 
 sumption on its side, Tradition does possess. 
 
 On the ambiguity of the word " authority," I have offered 
 some remarks in a Treatise on the Errors of Romanism ; 
 Ch. iv. § 5. p. 193. 
 
332 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 long since passed away, whilst some men have 
 erred through ignorance of these particulars, 
 and some have been at times perplexed al- 
 though they have embraced the truth, and some 
 have missed altogether that faith in which all 
 are most concerned to live ? why this difficulty, 
 they ask, when more direct and systematic state- 
 ments of the main points of faith might have 
 been with equal ease delivered by the same au- 
 thority, and would of course, from believers, 
 have met with implicit veneration?'"" 
 
 Some persons, he goes on to observe, may have 
 failed to notice this indirect and unsystematic cha- 
 racter of the instruction which the New Testa- 
 ment affords, from their having themselves received 
 from other sources, a more regular instruction 
 in Scripture doctrines : " Thoroughly convinced 
 by the authority of Scripture, they may not 
 have attended strictly to the process by which 
 their own conviction of the truth of the Chris- 
 
 ^ See Appendix to Logic, on the ambiguity of the word 
 "Why." In the sense of "from what cause ?" Dr. H. has I 
 think fully answered the question : in another of its senses, 
 " for what purpose?" he has much more slightly touched on 
 it. Now this is the sense I now have in view. 
 
SECT. 2.] in the New Testament, 333 
 
 tian doctrines has been established; although 
 resting them entirely upon Scriptural authority, 
 they may not have Jirst collected them solely 
 and immediately from the Scriptures. Hence 
 they may not have observed, that the various 
 proofs of a given doctrine have been accumu- 
 lated perhaps from the parts of the sacred 
 Volume, the most unconnected apparently with 
 each other ; that one text, occasionally, of the 
 greatest importance towards their conviction, 
 had no force at all in that respect until com- 
 pared with another, and that perhaps with a 
 third, each separately incapable of bearing upon 
 the point in question, but altogether composing 
 an indissoluble argument, of so much the more 
 force indeed, as it precludes the possibility of 
 forgery and interpolation." In this manner im- 
 portant doctrines often receive strong confirma- 
 tion from collations of texts in the New Testa- 
 ment with corresponding passages in the Jewish 
 Scriptures : for example, the glory of Christ 
 spoken of by St. John, (xii. 41.) and the dignity 
 
 This circumstance is very important, and constitutes one 
 of the many advantages (to be noticed hereafter) of the omis- 
 sion I am treating of. 
 
334 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 of the Holy Ghost according to the words of 
 St. Paul, (Acts xxviii. 25.) are signally illus- 
 trated by referring to the passage in the pro- 
 phecies of Isaiah, (Is. vi. 1 — 10.) to which both 
 the apostles allude. Again, in proof of a single 
 doctrine we are accustomed to combine the de- 
 claration of John the Baptist concerning Christ, 
 " he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost," as 
 recorded by the three first Evangehsts, (Matt, 
 iii. 11. Mark i. 8. Luke iii. 6.) with our Lord's 
 assertion in St. John's Gospel, " Except a man 
 be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God," (John iii. 5.) 
 and with the expression of Paul to Titus, God 
 has " saved us by the washing of regeneration 
 and renewing of the Holy Ghost," (Tit. iii. 5.) 
 Another instance of complex proof of doctrines 
 might be the comparison of the following texts : 
 "All Scripture," says St. Paul to Timothy, "is 
 given by inspiration of God," (2 Tim. iii. 15, 16.) 
 and is " able to make thee wise unto salva- 
 tion through faith which is in Christ Jesus" — 
 " of which salvation," says St. Peter, (1 Pet. i. 
 10.) "the prophets have inquired and searched 
 diligently — searching what or what manner of 
 
SECT. 2.3 in the New Testament. 335 
 
 time the Spirit of Christ which was in them 
 did signify — unto whom it was revealed, that 
 unto us they did minister the things which are 
 now reported unto you by them that have 
 preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy 
 Ghost sent down from heaven :" and in this 
 the Apostle confirms the promises in St. John's 
 Gospel, (John xiv. 26. xvi. 13. xv. 26.) whilst 
 in another Epistle he declares the inspiration of 
 the old prophets also to have proceeded from 
 the Holy Ghost ; " For the prophecy came not 
 in old time by the will of man : but holy men 
 of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost." (2 Pet. i. 21.) It is only in combina- 
 tion with each other that these passages throw 
 light upon the inspiration of both the Old and 
 New Testaments by the same supreme Being, 
 and attest at the same time the unity of the 
 three Persons in the Divine nature. 
 
 It is obvious that those who are more accus- 
 tomed to the language of the uninspired advo- 
 cates for the Christian doctrines, than to the 
 study of the Scriptures themselves, may not 
 have observed the complex structure of the very 
 proofs by which their faith was chiefly esta- 
 
336 Omission of Articles of Faith, (^c. [essay vl 
 
 blished. From the same cause they may often 
 suppose particular doctrines to be directly as- 
 serted in texts, which in fact only imply and 
 assume them ; because the commentators, with 
 perfect propriety, so far as the truth and sound- 
 ness of their argument is concerned, but incor- 
 rectly with respect to the form of the original 
 words, quote as direct declarations of a doc- 
 trine the passages which indirectly indicate the 
 sacred writer's behef of it.'' In this manner the 
 fifth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 
 is frequently appealed to with respect to the 
 doctrine of original sin ; and yet throughout 
 the chapter the consequences of Adam's trans- 
 gression are not taught, but rather assumed by 
 the Apostle as already known to his readers, in 
 order to argue from them to the corresponding 
 extent of the gracious consequences of Christ's 
 atonement. 
 
 Dr. Hawkins has not only clearly set forth 
 the fact of this omission of systematic instruc- 
 tion in our Scriptures, but has accounted for it 
 most easily and satisfactorily, as far as regards 
 
 ^ See for example Whitby's quotation of 1 Cor. xv. 22, in 
 his note upon Rom. v. 12. 
 
SECT. 2.] iti the New Testament. 337 
 
 the existing hooks; that is, he has pointed 
 out that the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and 
 the Apostolic Epistles being all of them written 
 to Christians, — all, designed for such as had 
 already received instruction in the rudiments of 
 the Christian faith, and had then embraced it, 
 and after due examination, had been admitted 
 members of the Church, it could not be ex- 
 pected that books addressed to such readers 
 should contain any regular elementary instruc- 
 tion, or compendious Confession of Faith. 
 
 But all this does not at all explain (nor did 
 it come within Dr. H.'s design to explain) why, 
 besides these, there should not have been other 
 books also transmitted to us, which should have 
 supplied the deficiency. It was indeed not at 
 all to be expected that the Gospels, the Acts, 
 and those Epistles which have come down to 
 us, should have been, considering the circum- 
 stances in which they were written, any thing 
 different from what they are : but the question 
 still recurs, why should not the Apostles or 
 their followers have also committed to paper, 
 what we are sure must have been perpetually 
 in their mouths, regular instruction to Catechu- 
 
338 Omission of Articles of Faith, i^c. [essay vi. 
 
 mens. Articles of Faith, Prayers, and directions 
 as to Public Worship, and administration of the 
 Sacraments ? 
 
 § 3. Supposing that the other avocations of 
 the Apostles would not allow any of them lei- 
 sure for such compositions, — though we know 
 that some of them did find time for writing, 
 two of them, not a little, — even this supposi- 
 tion does not at all explain the difficulty ; for 
 the Acts, and two of the Gospels were written 
 by men who were only attendants on the Apo- 
 stles. Nor would such writings as I am speak- 
 ing of have required an inspired penman ; only, 
 one who had access to persons thus gifted. 
 We know with what care the Apostolic Epistles 
 were preserved, first by the churches to which 
 they were respectively sent, and afterwards, by 
 the others also, as soon as they received copies. 
 How comes it then that no one of the Elders 
 (Presbyters) of any of these Churches should 
 have written down, and afterwards submitted 
 to the revision of an Apostle, that outline of 
 catechetical instruction — that elementary intro- 
 duction to the Christian faith — which they must 
 
SECT. 3.] in the Neiv Testament. 339 
 
 have received at first from that Apostle's mouth, 
 and have afterwards employed in the instruc.* 
 tion of their own converts ? Why did none of 
 them record any of the Prayers, of which they 
 must have heard so many from an Apostle's 
 mouth, both in the ordinary devotional assem- 
 blies, in the administration of the Sacraments, 
 and in the "laying on of hands," by which they 
 themselves had been ordained ? 
 
 Paul, after having given the most general 
 exhortations to the Corinthians for the preser- 
 vation of decent regularity in their religious 
 meetings, adds, "the rest will I set in order 
 when I come." And so doubtless he did ; and 
 so he must have done, by verbal directions, in 
 all the other churches also ; is it not strange 
 then that these verbal directions should nowhere 
 have been committed to writing? This would 
 have seemed a most obvious and effectual mode 
 of precluding all future disorders and disputes : 
 as also the drawing up of a compendious state- 
 ment of Christian doctrines, would have seemed 
 a safeguard against the still more important 
 evil of heretical error. Yet if any such state- 
 ments and formularies had been drawn up, with 
 z2 
 
340 Omission of Articles of Faith, S^c. [essay vi. 
 
 the sanction, and under the revision of an 
 Apostle, we may be sure they would have been 
 preserved and transmitted to posterity, with 
 the most scrupulous and reverential care. The 
 conclusion therefore seems inevitable, that either 
 no one of the numerous Elders and Catechists 
 ever thought of doing this, or else, that they 
 were forbidden by the Apostles to execute any 
 such design; and each of these alternatives 
 seems to me alike inexplicable by natural causes. 
 
 For it should be remembered that, when other 
 points are equal, it is much more difficult to 
 explain a negative than a positive circumstance 
 in our Scriptures. There is something, sup- 
 pose, in the New Testament, which the first 
 promulgators of Christianity, — considered as 
 mere unassisted men, — were not likely to write ; 
 and there is something else, which they were, 
 we will suppose, equaily unlikely to omit writ- 
 ing : now these two difficulties are by no 
 means equal. For, with respect to the former, 
 if we can make out that any one of these men 
 might have been, by nature or by circumstances, 
 qualified and induced to write it, the phenomenon 
 is solved. To point out even a single individual 
 
SECT. 4.] in the New Testament. 341 
 
 able and likely to write it, would account for 
 its being written. But it is not so with re- 
 spect to the other case, that of omission. Here, 
 we have to prove a negative; — to show, not 
 merely that this or that man was likely not to 
 write what we find omitted, but, that no one 
 was likely to write it. Suppose we could make 
 out the possibility or probability, of Paul's hav- 
 ing left no Creed, Catechism, or Canons, why 
 have we none from the pen of Luke, or of 
 Mark? Suppose this also explained, why did 
 not John or Peter supply the deficiency ? And 
 why again did none of the numerous Bishops 
 and Presbyters whom they ordained, undertake 
 the work under their direction ? The difficulty 
 therefore in this case exceeds the other, caeteris 
 paribus, more than a hundred-fold. 
 
 § 4. It is not, I think, unlikely that some 
 hasty and superficial reasoners may have found 
 an objection to Christianity in the omission of 
 which I have been speaking. It is certain that 
 there are not a few who are accustomed to pro- 
 nounce this or that supposition improbable, as 
 soon as they perceive that it involves great 
 
342 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 difficulties ; without staying to examine whether 
 there are more or fewer on the other side of 
 the alternative : as if a traveller when he had 
 the choice of two roads, should, immediately 
 on perceiving that there were impediments in 
 the one, decide on taking the other, before he 
 had ascertained whether it were even passable. 
 I can conceive some such reasoners exclaiming, 
 in the present case, " Surely, if the Apostles had 
 really been inspired by an all-wise God, they 
 would never have omitted so essential a pro- 
 vision as that of a clear systematic statement of 
 the doctrines to be believed, and the worship to 
 be offered, so as to cut off, as far as can be done, 
 all occasions of heresy and schism. If the Deity 
 had really bestowed a revelation on his creatures. 
 He would have provided rules of faith and of 
 practice so precise and so obvious, as not to be 
 overlooked or mistaken ; instead of leaving men, 
 whether pretending to infallibility, as the Ro- 
 manists, or interpreting Scripture by the light of 
 reason, as the Protestants, to elicit by a laborious 
 search, and comparison of passages, what doc- 
 trines and duties are, in their judgment, agree- 
 able to the Divine Will." 
 
SECT. 4.] in the New Testament, 343 
 
 You think it was to be expected (one might 
 reply) that God would have proceeded in this 
 manner; and is it not at least as much to be 
 expected that Man would 9 It is very unlikely, 
 you say, that the Apostles would have omitted 
 these systematic instructions, if they had really 
 been inspired : but if they were not, they must 
 have been impostors or enthusiasts ; does then 
 that hypothesis remove the difficulty ? Is it 
 not at least as unlikely, on that supposition, 
 that no one of them, or of their numerous fol- 
 lowers, should have taken a step so natural and 
 obvious ? All reasonable conjecture, and all ex- 
 perience show, that any men, but especially 
 Jem, when engaged in the propagation and 
 establishment of a religion, and acting, whether 
 sincerely or insincerely, on their own judgment 
 as to what was most expedient, would have 
 done what no Christian writer during the age 
 of (supposed) inspiration, has done. One would 
 even have expected indeed, that, as we have 
 four distinct Gospels, so, several different writers 
 would have left us copies of the Catechisms, &c. 
 which they were in the habit of using orally. 
 This or that individual might have been pre- 
 
344 Omission of Articles of Faith, S^c. [essay vi. 
 
 vented from doing so by accidental circum- 
 stances ; but that every one of some hundreds 
 should have been so prevented, amounts to a 
 complete moral impossibility. 
 
 We have here, then, it may be said, a choice 
 of difficulties : if the Christian religion came 
 from God, it is (we will suppose) very strange, 
 and contrary to all we should have expected 
 from the Deity, that He should have permitted 
 in the Scriptures the omission I am speaking 
 of: if, again, it is the contrivance of men, it is 
 strange, and contrary to all we could have ex- 
 pected from men, that they should have made 
 the omission. And now, which do we know the 
 more of, God, or Man ? Whose character and 
 designs is it of which we are the more competent 
 judges, and the better able to decide what may 
 reasonably be expected of each ; the Creator, or 
 our fellow-creatures ? And as there can be no 
 doubt about the answer to this question, so, 
 the conclusion which follows from that answer 
 is obvious. If the alternative were presented 
 to me, that either something has been done by 
 persons with whose characters I am intimately 
 acquainted, utterly at variance with their nature. 
 
SECT, 4.] in tJie New Testament. 345 
 
 and unaccountable, or else that some man to 
 whom I am personally a stranger, (though after 
 all, the nature of every human Being must be 
 better known to us, than, by the light of reason, 
 that of the Deity can be,) had done something 
 which to me is entirely inexplicable, I should be 
 thought void of sense if I did not embrace, as the 
 less improbable, this latter side of the alternative. 
 
 And such is the state of the present case, to 
 one who finds this pecuharity in the Christian 
 Scriptures quite unaccountable on either sup- 
 position. The argument is complete, whether 
 we are able, or not, to perceive any wise rea- 
 sons for the procedure adopted. Since no one 
 of the first promulgators of Christianity did that 
 which they must, some of them at least, have 
 been naturally led to do, it follows that they 
 must have been swper naturally withheld from 
 it ; how little soever we may be able even to 
 conjecture the object of the prohibition. For 
 in respect of this, and several other (humanly 
 speaking, unaccountable) circumstances in our 
 religion, especially that treated of in the Fourth 
 of these Essays, it is important to observe, that 
 the argument does not turn on the supposed 
 
346 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 wisdom of this or that appointment, which we 
 conceive to be worthy of the Deity, and thence 
 infer that the rehgion must have proceeded 
 from Him; but, on the utter improbabihty of 
 its having proceeded from Man ; which leaves 
 its divine origin the only alternative. The 
 Christian Scriptures considered in this point of 
 view, present to us a standing Miracle ; at least, 
 a Monument of a Miracle ; since they are in 
 several points such as we may be sure, according 
 to all natural causes, they would not have been. 
 Even though the character which these writings 
 do in fact exhibit, be such as we cannot clearly 
 account for on any hypothesis, still, if they are 
 such as we can clearly perceive no false pretenders 
 would have composed, the evidence is complete, 
 though the difficulty may remain unexplained. 
 
 § 5. Although however we cannot pretend, 
 in every case, to perceive the reasons for what 
 God has appointed, it is not in the present 
 case difficult to discern the superhuman wisdom 
 of the course adopted. If the Hymns' and 
 
 ^ Pliny's account of the early Christians, derived in part 
 from those who had belonged to the Society, mentions that 
 
SECT. 5.] in the New Testament. 
 
 347 
 
 forms of Prayer, — the Catechisms, — the Con- 
 fessions of faith, — and the Ecclesiastical regula- 
 tions, which the Apostles employed, had been 
 recorded, these would have all been regarded 
 as parts of Scripture : and even had they been 
 accompanied by the most express declarations 
 of the lawfulness of altering or laying aside 
 any of them, we cannot doubt that they would 
 have been in practice most scrupulously re- 
 tained, even when changes of manners, tastes, 
 and local and temporary circumstances of every 
 kind, rendered them no longer the most suit- 
 able. The Jewish ritual, designed for one 
 Nation and Country, and intended to be of 
 temporary duration, was fixed and accurately 
 prescribed : the same Divine Wisdom from which 
 both dispensations proceeded, having designed 
 Christianity for all Nations and Ages, left 
 Christians at large in respect of those points 
 in which variation might be desirable. But I 
 think no human wisdom would have foreseen 
 
 tliey recited a " hymn to Christ, as to a God." This ancient 
 hymn has not been transmitted to us, so as to be recognised. 
 It is not unlikely, however, that it, or some part of it, formed 
 the basis of that which we call the " To Deuni." 
 
348 Omission of Articles of Faith, 8fc. [essay vi. 
 
 and provided for this. That a number of 
 Jews, accustomed from their infancy to so 
 strict a ritual, should, in introducing Chris- 
 tianity as the second part of the same dispen- 
 sation, have abstained not only from accurately 
 prescribing for the use of all Christian Churches 
 for ever, the mode of divine worship, but even 
 from recording what was actually in use under 
 their own directions, does seem to me utterly 
 incredible, unless we suppose them to have been 
 restrained from doing this by a special admoni- 
 tion of the Divine Spirit. 
 
 And we may be sure, as I have said, that if 
 they had recorded the particulars of their own 
 worship, the very words they wrote would have 
 been invested, in our minds, with so much sanc- 
 tity, that it would have been thought pre- 
 sumptuous to vary or to omit them, however 
 inappropriate they might have become. The 
 Lord's Prayer, the only one of general applica- 
 tion that is recorded in the Scriptures, though 
 so framed as to be suitable in all Ages and 
 Countries, has yet been subjected to much 
 superstitious abuse. A superstitious Christian 
 mutters his " paternosters," as a kind of sacred 
 
SECT. 5,] 
 
 in the New Testament. 
 
 349 
 
 charm, on all occasions, however inappropriate. 
 And our reformers, probably in concession to a 
 prevailing feehng that no devotions could be ac- 
 ceptable without it, have introduced it into every 
 one of the services they drew up. And though 
 this admirable prayer is of so general a form 
 that no one more universally appropriate could 
 be devised, I cannot think that, in some of the 
 Occasional Services, such, for instance, as those 
 for Baptism, and for the Churching of Women, it 
 would have been introduced, had it not occurred 
 in Scripture. 
 
 The Apostles' Creed, again, from its acknow- 
 ledged antiquity, together with the title it bears, 
 and the tradition (probably, in part, true*^) of its 
 being the composition of the Apostles, is held by 
 many Protestants (to say nothing of the super- 
 stitions of some Churches on this head) in a kind 
 of veneration which may justly be characterised 
 as superstitious. There are Protestants of the 
 
 ^ If, as there seems good reason for thinking, part of this 
 creed was actually in use with the Apostles, this circumstance 
 renders it the more remarkable that it should not have been 
 recorded by them in their writings. See Sir Peter King's 
 History of the Apostles' Creed. 
 
350 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 lower orders, and some above the very lowest, 
 who are accustomed to recite it in their private 
 devotions as a prayer. 
 
 I am well aware that there must ever be 
 danger of all prayer degenerating into a super- 
 stitious formahsm ; but this danger must evidently 
 be increased in proportion as the words uttered 
 are the less appropriate to the occasion, and to 
 the circumstances of the petitioner: and this 
 must inevitably have been more likely to take 
 place with a Liturgy transmitted to us from the 
 times of the Apostles, as a part of Scripture, 
 
 § 6. How little that scrupulous veneration with 
 which such a Liturgy, had it existed, would have 
 been regarded, is necessarily connected with even 
 an anxious wish to ascertain its meaning, and to 
 make the mind accompany the voice, is evident 
 from the cases above alluded to. It is evident 
 that one who uses a creed as a form of prayer, 
 cannot understand even its general drift. But, 
 besides these persons, how many there are who 
 do not (perhaps I might say, how few that do) 
 understand even the nature and design of that kind 
 of composition which is usually called a creed ; 
 
SECT. 6.] 
 
 in the New Testament. 
 
 351 
 
 viz. that it is a symbol, or confession of faith, in- 
 tended to ascertain the professed orthodoxy of 
 those who adopt it ; and consequently is not to be 
 regarded as, necessarily, containing a summary 
 of the most intrinsically important points of Chris- 
 tian doctrine,^ but such as shall stand opposed to 
 the particular heresies, most to be guarded against, 
 in each age and country respectively.'' 
 
 With respect to catechisms again, — elementary 
 introductions to the Christian faith, — nearly the 
 same reasons will hold good. For though the 
 Christian rehgion is fundamentally "the same 
 yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," it is impos- 
 sible that any one mode of introducing its truths 
 to the mind of the catechumen, can be the best 
 adapted for children and adults, — the civilized 
 and the barbarian, — and for all the other varieties 
 
 8 " It is not, as men have supposed, that the principal heads 
 of our faith were summed up together ; but from the whole 
 of Scripture those parts were selected which were most 
 needful for the occasion." (KAIPmXATA.) Cyril. Catech. 
 cited by Bp. Pearson in his Exposition of the Creed, Art. 1. 
 
 ^ See Sir Peter King's History of the Apostles' Creed, a 
 work characterised by much good sense, extraordinary learn- 
 ing, and a most rare degree of candour. 
 
352 Omission of Articles of Faith, 8fc. [essay vi. 
 
 of station, sex, country, intellectual culture, and 
 natural capacity. 
 
 Each church, therefore, was left, through the 
 wise foresight of Him who alone "knew what 
 is in Man," to provide for its own wants as they 
 should arise; — to steer its own course by the 
 Chart and Compass which his holy Word sup- 
 plies, regulating for itself the Sails and Rudder, 
 according to the winds and currents it may meet 
 with. 
 
 " The Apostles had begun and established 
 precedents, which, of course, would be naturally 
 adopted by their uninspired successors. But still, 
 as these were only the formal means of grace, 
 and not the blessing itself, it was equally to be 
 expected that the church should assume a dis- 
 cretionary power, whenever the means estabhshed 
 became impracticable or clearly unsuitable, and 
 either substitute others, or even altogether abolish 
 such as existed ... It might seem at first 
 that the apostolical precedents were literally 
 binding on all ages : but this cannot have been 
 intended ; and for this reason, that the greater 
 portion of the apostolical practices have been 
 transmitted to us, not on apostolical authority. 
 
SECT. 6.] in the New Testament. 
 
 353 
 
 but on the authority of the uninspired church : 
 which has handed them down with an uncertain 
 mixture of its own appointments. How are we 
 to know the enactments of the inspired rulers 
 from those of the uninspired ? and if there be 
 no certain clue, we must either bring down the 
 authority of apostolical usage to that of the un- 
 inspired church, or raise that of the uninspired 
 church to that of the apostolical. Now the for- 
 mer is, doubtless, what was, to a certain extent, 
 intended by the Apostles themselves, as will ap- 
 pear from aline of distinction by which they have 
 carefully partitioned off such of their appoint- 
 ments as are designed to be perpetual, from such 
 as are left to share the possibility of change, with 
 the institutions of uninspired wisdom. 
 
 " If then we look to the account of the Chris- 
 tian usages contained in Scripture, nothing can be 
 more unquestionable, than that while some are 
 specified, others are passed over in silence. It is 
 not even left so as to make us imagine that those 
 mentioned may be all : but, while some are noted 
 specifically, the establishment of others is implied, 
 without the particular mode of observance being 
 given. Thus, we are equally sure from Scripture, 
 
354 Omission of ' Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 that Christian ministers were ordained by a cer- 
 tain form, and that Christians assembled in prayer ; 
 but while the precise process of laying on of 
 hands is mentioned in the former institution, no 
 account is given of the precise method of church 
 service, or even of any regular forms of prayer, 
 beyond the Lord's Prayer. Even the record of 
 the Ordination Service itself admits of the same 
 distinction. It is quite as certain that, in it, some 
 prayer was used, as that some outward form ac- 
 companied the prayer ; but the form is specified, 
 the prayer left unrecorded. 
 
 " What now is the obvious interpretation of 
 the holy Dispenser's meaning in this mode of re- 
 cord ? Clearly, it is, that the Apostles regulated, 
 under His guidance, the forms and practices of 
 the church, so as was best calculated to convey 
 grace to the church at that time. Nevertheless, 
 part of its institutions were of a nature, which, 
 although formal, would never require a change ; 
 and these therefore were left recorded in the 
 Scriptures, to mark this distinction of character. 
 The others were not, indeed, to be capriciously 
 abandoned, nor except when there should be 
 manifest cause for so doing ; but, as such a case 
 
SECT. 7.] in the New Testament. 355 
 
 was supposable, these were left to mingle with 
 the uninspired precedents ; the claims of which, 
 as precedents, would be increased by this un- 
 certain admixture, and the authority of the whole 
 rendered so far binding, and so far subject to the 
 discretion of the church. They might not be 
 altered, unless sufficient grounds should appear ; 
 but the settling of this point was left to the dis- 
 cretion of the church."' 
 
 § 7. The Apostles themselves, however, and 
 their numerous fellow-labourers, would not, I 
 think, have been, if left to themselves, so far- 
 sighted as to perceive (all, and each of them, 
 without a single exception) the expediency of 
 this procedure. Most likely, many of them, but 
 according to all human probability, some of them, 
 would have left us, as parts of Scripture, compo- 
 sitions such as I have been speaking of; and 
 these, there can be no doubt, would have been 
 scrupulously retained for ever. They would 
 have left us Catechisms, which would have been 
 like precise directions for the cultivation of some 
 
 ' Hinds's History, vol. ii. p. 113 — 115. 
 aa2 
 
356 Omission of Articles of Faith, 8fc. [essay vi. 
 
 plant, admirably adapted to a particular soil and 
 climate, but inapplicable in those of a contrary 
 description : their Symbols would have stood 
 like ancient sea-walls, built to repel the en- 
 croachments of the waves, and still scrupulously 
 kept in repair, when perhaps the sea had retired 
 from them many miles, and was encroaching on 
 some different part of the coast. 
 
 There are multitudes, even as it is, who do 
 not, even now, perceive the expediency of the 
 omission ; there are not a few who even complain 
 of it as a defect, or even make it a ground of 
 objection. That in that day, the reasons for the 
 procedure actually adopted, should have occurred, 
 and occurred to all the first Christians, sup- 
 posing them mere unassisted men, and men too 
 brought up in Judaism, is utterly incredible. 
 
 But besides the reason I have now been speak- 
 ing of, there is another, perhaps not less impor- 
 tant, against the providing in Scripture of a 
 regular systematic statement of Christian doc- 
 trines. Supposing such a summary of Gospel- 
 truths had been drawn up, and could have been 
 contrived with such exquisite skill as to be sufficient 
 and well-adapted for all, of every age and country. 
 
SECT. 7.] in the New Testament. 357 
 
 what would have been the probable result ? It 
 would have commanded the unhesitating assent 
 of all Christians, who would, with deep venera- 
 tion, have stored up the very words of it in their 
 memory, without any need of laboriously search- 
 ing the rest of the Scriptures, to ascertain its 
 agreement with them ; which is what we do (at 
 least are evidently called on to do) with a human 
 exposition of the faith ; and the absence of this 
 labour, together with the tranquil security as to 
 the correctness of their belief which would have 
 been thus generated, would have ended in a care- 
 less and contented apathy. There would have 
 been no room for doubt, — no call for vigilant 
 attention in the investigation of truth, — none of 
 that effort of mind which is now requisite, in 
 comparing one passage with another, and col- 
 lecting instruction from the scattered, oblique, 
 and incidental references to various doctrines in 
 the existing Scriptures ; and, in consequence, 
 none of that excitement of the best feelings, and 
 that improvement of the heart, which are the 
 natural, and doubtless the designed result of an 
 humble, diligent, and sincere study of the Chris 
 tian Scriptures. 
 
358 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 In fact, all study, properly so called, of the rest 
 of Scripture, — all lively interest in its perusal, — 
 would have been nearly superseded by such an 
 inspired compendium of doctrine ; to which alone, 
 as far the most convenient for that purpose, ha- 
 bitual reference would have been made in any 
 questions that might arise. Both would have 
 been regarded, indeed, as of divine authority ; but 
 the Compendium, as the fused and purified metal : 
 the other, as the mine containing the crude ore. 
 And the Compendium itself, being not, like the 
 existing Scriptures, that from which the faith is 
 to be learned, but the very thing to he learned, 
 would have come to be regarded by most with an 
 indolent, unthinking veneration, which would 
 have exercised little or no influence on the cha- 
 racter. Their orthodoxy would have been, as it 
 were, petrified, like the bodies of those animals 
 we read of incrusted in the ice of the polar re- 
 gions ; firm-fixed, indeed, andpreserved unchange- 
 able, but, cold, motionless, lifeless. It is only 
 when our energies are roused, and our faculties 
 exercised, and our attention kept awake, by an 
 ardent pursuit of truth, and anxious watchfulness 
 against error, — when, in short, we feel ourselves 
 
SECT. 8.] in the New Testament. 
 
 359 
 
 to be doing something towards acquiring, or re- 
 taining, or improving our knowledge, — it is then 
 only, that that knowledge makes the requisite 
 practical impression on the heart and on the 
 conduct.'' 
 
 § 8. To the Church then has her all-wise 
 Founder left the office of teaching, to the Scrip- 
 tures, that proving, the Christian doctrines;' to 
 the Scriptures he has left the delineation of 
 Christian principles ; to each Church, the appli- 
 cation of those principles, in their Symbols or 
 Articles of Religion, — in their Forms of Worship, 
 — and in their Ecclesiastical regulations.'" 
 
 Against such compositions (for some of which 
 there must always be need) drawn up by u?iin- 
 
 ^ See the present Essay, § 2. p. 333. note. 
 ' Hawkins on Tradition, p. 52. 
 
 m <i Why may it not have been the general design of 
 Heaven that by early oral, or traditional, instruction, the way 
 should be prepared for the reception of the mysteries of faith ; 
 that the church should carry down the system, but the Scriptures 
 should furnish all the proofs of the Christian doctrines ; that 
 Tradition should supply the Christian with the arrangement, 
 but the Bible with all the substance of divine truth ?" — Haw- 
 kins on Tradition, p. 18. 
 
360 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 spired writers, the objections which would have 
 existed against their forming a part of Scripture, 
 do not he : First, because we need not scruple 
 to alter them from time to time, as occasions 
 may require ; and, secondly, because the very 
 circumstance of their being not inspired, calls on 
 us diligently to search the Scriptures, and affords 
 a wholesome exercise to our minds in comparing 
 the compositions of fallible men with the records 
 of inspiration. How admirable do the provisions 
 of Divine Wisdom appear, even from the slight 
 and indistinct views we obtain of it ! It has sup- 
 plied us by revelation, with the knowledge of 
 what we could not have discovered for ourselves : 
 and it has left us to ourselves precisely in those 
 points in which it is best for us that we should 
 be so left." 
 
 " " In the present instance the want of system in the delivery 
 of the Christian doctrines in Scripture — besides its extreme 
 use, (before insisted upon,) in placing the proofs of those 
 doctrines above the suspicion of corruption — may no doubt be 
 useful as a mode of trying our humility and our faith ; and 
 evidently also answers a great purpose in promoting research, 
 and raising the curiosity of learned men especially, who might 
 have slighted a study less intricate and arduous ; whilst the 
 very disputes and errors consequent upon obscurity have kept 
 
SECT. 8.] 
 
 in the New Testament. 
 
 361 
 
 We may however perversely refuse to take 
 advantage of these wise provisions, by exalting, 
 like the Romanists, (and, I am sorry to say, some 
 Protestants of these days,) the Creeds, Formula- 
 ries, &c. which are sanctioned by Tradition, and 
 by the enactments of a Church, to a level with 
 the Scriptures. Then indeed we incur the evils 
 already spoken of, with the additional one of 
 " teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
 men." Such a system accordingly, tends to foster 
 that neglect of the study of Scripture, — that 
 averseness to labour in the investigation of truth, 
 — that indolent, uninquiring acquiescence in what 
 is ready prepared for acceptance, in the lump, — 
 to which man is by nature so much disposed," 
 and which the structure of the Christian Scrip- 
 tures seems to have been expressly designed to 
 guard against. And all this evil is incurred by 
 
 alive the spirit of Christianity upon the whole ; and, however 
 hurtful frequently to the individuals conversant with them, 
 (through their own fault,) have been eminently instrumental 
 in spreading wider, or rooting more deeply, the great truths 
 of Revelation in other minds." — Hawkins on Tradition, 
 pp. 15, 16. 
 
 ° CtraXatTTwpoc roiz ttoXXoIc ^ i^rjTtfffir rijg aXi'ideiag, icai iiri 
 TO. tToina fiaXkov rpitroyrau — Thucyd, 
 
362 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [kssay vi. 
 
 reliance on an infallibility (either of some parti- 
 cular Church, or of some undefined universal 
 Church,) which after all is only imaginary. When 
 we inquire what we are to receive as sanctioned 
 by the unerring judgment of the Universal Church, 
 the answer usually given, is, "whatever has been 
 believed always, everywhere, and by all" (quod 
 semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus) : but if 
 those who give this answer are requested to make 
 out a list of the Articles of faith which fulfil these 
 conditions, and to prove them to be such, they 
 do not find it easy. They do however often find it 
 easy to make an unlearned Chrisiioxi believe that 
 what their Church and their party hold, is to be 
 received by him as possessing this claim. 
 
 If we would be Protestants, in spirit, and not 
 merely in name, we must be careful to keep each 
 class of compositions to its own proper use : let 
 Catechisms, Homilies, in short, works o{ Christian 
 instruction, be employed for instruction ; — Litur- 
 gies and other devotional works, for devotional 
 purposes ; — Symbols or Articles of Faith, for 
 their proper purpose, to furnish, in conjunction 
 with the others, (for all the authorised Formula- 
 ries of a Church partake, in some degree, of the 
 
SECT. 8.] 
 
 in the New Testament. 
 
 363 
 
 character of these,) a test of any one's fitness to 
 be received as a member, or a minister, of each 
 Church, respectively : and let the Scriptures, and 
 the Scriptures only, be appealed to for a decision 
 on questions of doctrine. It is their peculiar 
 province to furnish proofs. We may call in 
 indeed the aid of learned and judicious, but 
 uninspired authors in cases where doubts have 
 been raised as to the true sense of Scripture ; 
 but we must always appeal to these, along with, 
 in connexion with, and in subservience to, the 
 sacred writings. 
 
 " And whenever we refer, in proof or disproof 
 of any doctrine, to the Articles or Liturgy, for 
 instance, we not only should not appeal to them 
 alone, but we should also carefully point out that 
 we refer to them not as the autJiorised formularies 
 of a Church, but simply as the writings of able 
 and pious men, which would be deserving of at- 
 tention, supposing them to be merely private ser- 
 mons, &c. To refer to them as backed by the 
 Church's sanction, adds to them no legitimate force 
 in respect of the abstract truth of any position. 
 
 " Such an appeal may indeed, in practice, be 
 decisive, (and justly so,) as far as regards members 
 
364 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 of our Church ; but it is, in truth, only an *argu- 
 mentum ad hominem.' If any charge is to be 
 brought personally against an individual, as unfit 
 to be a member or a minister of the Church, the 
 appeal is naturally, and rightly, made to her 
 formularies composed for this very purpose : but 
 when the question is not about a person, but a 
 doctrine — when the abstract truth of any tenet is 
 in question, * to the Law and to the Testimony !* 
 It savours of the spirit of Romanism to refer 
 for the proof or disproof of doctrines, solely, or 
 chiefly, to any, the most justly venerated, human 
 authority — to any thing but the inspired Word 
 of God. For if any one proves any thing from 
 our Articles or Liturgy, for instance, either he 
 could have proved it from Scripture, or he could 
 not : if he could not, he is impeaching either 
 the Scriptural character of the Church's doc- 
 trines, or his own knowledge of the Scriptural 
 basis on which they rest : if he could have 
 proved it from Scripture, that is the course he 
 should have taken : not only because he would 
 thus have proved his point both to those who 
 receive our Articles, and also to those who dis- 
 sent from them ; but also, because it is thus. 
 
SECT. 8.] in the New Testament. 365 
 
 and thus only, we can preserve to Scripture its 
 due dignity and proper office, and avoid the 
 dangerous and encroaching precedent of substi- 
 tuting human authority for divine.''^ 
 
 For it should never be forgotten, that in all 
 probability the habit of making a final appeal 
 to the Decrees, &c. of the Church of Rome, did 
 not in the first instance arise from the admitted 
 claim to infallibility, but, on the contrary, was 
 the cause which led to that claim ; a claim, in- 
 deed, which seems to have been practically 
 admitted long before it was distinctly stated. 
 When men had long been in the habit of 
 making this definitive appeal, on each occasion, 
 to human decisions, their natural reluctance to 
 think that they had been all the while follow- 
 ing a fallible guide, would very strongly tempt 
 them to hope, to be convinced, and to proclaim, 
 that their guide was ^fallible. For the gene- 
 rality are not so much accustomed to pursue 
 this or that course in consequence of their pre- 
 vious conviction that it is right, as to believe 
 it right because they have been accustomed to 
 pursue it. 
 
 p Errors of Romanism, Essay iv. § 7. 
 
366 Omission of Articles of Faith, 8fc. [essay vi. 
 
 In proportion therefore as we accustom our- 
 selves to refer to human compositions of whose 
 orthodoxy and excellence we are satisfied, and 
 to stop there, without thinking it necessary to 
 follow up each question to the fountain-head 
 of Scripture, we are so far on the road to one 
 of the most pernicious errors of Rome ; — on the 
 very road by which, in all likelihood, she her- 
 self travelled towards that error. 
 
 § 9. " But are we then," (most Romanists, 
 and some Protestants would ask) " to be perpe- 
 tually wavering and hesitating in our faith ? — 
 never satisfied of our own orthodoxy ? — always 
 supposing or suspecting that there is something 
 unscriptural in our Creed or in our Worship ? 
 We could but be in this condition, if Christ 
 had not promised to be with his Church, 'al- 
 ways, even to the end of the world ;' — had not 
 declared by his Apostle, that his ' Spirit helpeth 
 our infirmities;' had not taught us to expect 
 that where we are * gathered together in his 
 Name, there is He in the midst of us.' Are 
 we to explain away all that Scripture says of 
 spiritual help and guidance? Or are we to 
 
SECT. 9.] in the Neiv Testament. 367 
 
 look for a certain 'partial and limited help ; — 
 that the Holy Spirit will secure us from some 
 errors, but lead us, or leave us, to fall into 
 others ?" 
 
 Such is the statement, the most plausible I 
 can give in a small compass, of the Romish (but 
 not exclusively Romish) argument, which goes 
 to leave no medium between a claim to Infal- 
 libility on the one hand, and universal hesita- 
 tion, — absolute Scepticism, on the other. An 
 appeal to the common sense which every one, 
 Romanist or Protestant, exercises on all hut 
 religious subjects, might be sufficient to prove, 
 from the practice of those very men who use 
 such reasoning, not only its absurdity, but their 
 own conviction of its absurdity. In all matters 
 which do not admit of absolute demonstration, 
 all men, except a few of extravagant self-con- 
 ceit, are accustomed to regard themselves or 
 those under whose guidance they act, as fal- 
 lible ; and yet act, on many occasions, — after 
 they have taken due pains to understand the 
 subject, to ascertain their own competency, and 
 to investigate the particular case before them, — 
 without any distressing hesitation. There are 
 
368 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 questions in Medicine, in Agriculture, in Navi- 
 gation, &c. which sensible men, well versed in 
 their respective arts, would decide with suffi- 
 cient confidence for all practical purposes ; yet 
 without holding themselves to be infalUble, but 
 on the contrary always keeping themselves open 
 to conviction, — always on the watch against 
 error, — attentive to the lessons which observa- 
 tion furnishes, — ready to stand corrected if any 
 argument shall be adduced (however little they 
 may anticipate this) which will convict them 
 of mistake. 
 
 "Yes," (it may be replied) "all this holds good 
 in worldly matters ; but in the far more impor- 
 tant case of religious concerns, God has gra- 
 ciously promised us spiritual assistance, to " lead 
 us into all truth." It is most true that He 
 has. Christ has declared, " If any man** keep 
 
 1 These expressions of universality are a plain proof, to 
 such as are capable of receiving proof, that these pro- 
 mises were not restricted to the existing generation of 
 disciples. 
 
 I do not doubt, however, that these, and every other 
 passage of Scripture, on whatever subject, may be explained 
 away, in some mode or other, by one who is resolutely bent 
 on doing so. See Essay IX. Second Series, § 1 . 
 
SECT. 9.] in the New Testament. 369 
 
 my saying, my Father will love him, and we 
 will come unto him, and make our abode with 
 him :" — " without Me ye can do nothing :" for 
 *'if any man' have not the Spirit of Christ, he is 
 none of his;" and "as many as' are led by the 
 Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." 
 
 But some distinction there must be, between 
 the spiritual guidance granted to the Apostles, 
 which was accompanied by sensible miracles, and 
 all that has ever been bestowed, since the cessa- 
 tion of miracles. I do not mean a difference 
 as to the evidence for the existence of each ; for 
 both are equally to be beheved, if we have faith 
 in the divine promises : but there must be a dif- 
 ference in the character of the divine assistance 
 in the two cases, arising out of the presence, in 
 the one, and the absence, in the other, of sensibly- 
 miraculous attestation. And this difference evi- 
 dently is, that in the one case, the divine agency 
 is, in each individual instance, known ; in the 
 other, unknown. If an Apostle adopted any 
 measure, or formed a decision on any doctrine, 
 in consequence of a perceptible admonition from 
 Heaven, he knew that he was, in this point, in- 
 
 ' See note in preceding page. 
 BB 
 
370 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 fallibly right. A sincere Christian, in the present 
 day, may be no less truly guided by the same 
 Spirit to adopt a right measure, or form a correct 
 decision ; but he never can know this with cer- 
 tainty, before the day of judgment. It is not that 
 spiritual aid is now withdrawn, but that it is im- 
 perceptible ; as indeed its ordinary sanctifying 
 influence always was.^ It is to be known only 
 by its fruits ; of which we must judge by a dili- 
 gent and candid examination of Scripture, and a 
 careful, humble, self-distrusting exercise of our 
 own faUible judgment. 
 
 It is conceivable, therefore, that an individual, 
 or a church, may be, in fact, free from error ; 
 but none can ever be (either at the present 
 moment, or in future) secure from error. We are 
 not bound to believe, or to suspect, that any of 
 the doctrines we hold, are erroneous ; but we 
 are bound never to feel such a confidence in their 
 correctness, as to shut the door against objection, 
 and to dispense with a perpetual and vigilant 
 examination. Even the fullest conviction that a 
 complete perfection in soundness of doctrine is 
 attainable, has in it nothing of arrogance, — 
 
 * See Essay IX. Second Series, § 7. 
 
SECT. 9.] in the New Testament. 37 1 
 
 nothing of a presumptuous claim to infallibility, as 
 long as we steadily keep in view, that even one 
 who should have attained this, never can, in this 
 life, be certain of it.* We are taught, I think, in 
 Scripture, to expect that the pious and dihgent 
 student will be assisted by the divine guidance ; 
 and that in proportion as he is humble, patient, 
 sincere, and watchfully on his guard against that 
 unseen current of passions and prejudices which 
 is ever tending to drive him out of the right 
 course, — in the same degree will he succeed in 
 attaining all necessary religious truths. But how 
 far he has exercised these virtues, or how far he 
 may have been deceiving himself, he never can 
 be certain, till the great day of account. In the 
 mean time, he must act on his convictions, as if 
 he were certain of their being correct ; he must 
 examine and re-examine the grounds of them, as 
 if he suspected them of being erroneous. 
 
 In this it is that great part of our trial in the 
 present life consists : and it is precisely analogous 
 to what takes place in the greater part of tem- 
 poral concerns. The skilful and cautious navi- 
 gator keeps his reckoning with care, but yet 
 
 * See note (L) at the end. 
 B B 2 
 
372 Omission of Articles of Faith, Sfc. [essay vi. 
 
 never so far trusts to that as not to "keep a 
 look-out," as it is termed, and to " take an ob- 
 servation," when opportunity offers. There is no 
 risk incurred, from his strongly hoping that his 
 computations will prove correct ; provided he 
 never resigns himself to such an indolent reliance 
 on them as to neglect any opportunity of veri- 
 fying them. The belief, again, whether true or 
 false, that it is possible for a time-keeper to go 
 with perfect exactness, can never mislead any one 
 who is careful to make allowance for the possi- 
 bility of error in his own, and to compare it, 
 whenever he has opportunity, with the Dial which 
 receives the light from heaven. 
 
 § 10. Such, then, is the view we must take of 
 the Creeds and Formularies of our Church, and 
 of all human, and consequently fallible, compo- 
 sitions, of that class which the Inspired Writers, 
 guided by super-human wisdom, have omitted to 
 supply. To believe any doctrines to be erroneous, 
 which we sincerely hold, is impossible, and a 
 contradiction in terms ; to suspect them of error, 
 is by no means necessary ; but it is necessary to 
 acknowledge and allow for the possibility of 
 
SECT. 10,] in the New Testament. 
 
 373 
 
 error, — in short, the absence of infallibility, — in 
 every church and in every man. Nor must we 
 be content to acknowledge a liability to error, in 
 the sense which some seem to attach to the 
 phrase ; viz. as applying to the future only, and 
 not to the present : in the same sense in which 
 we speak of a glass vessel as liable to be broken ; 
 i. e. fragile ; though, perhaps, we are confident 
 there is now no flaw in it. Those who admit that 
 their church may possibly hereafter fall into 
 error, but seem to regard it as an impossibihty 
 that she should be in any error now, are, to all 
 practical purposes, setting up the Romish claim of 
 infaUibility ; for, as the Future xvill be the Present, 
 so, their successors are as likely to be confident 
 of the impossibility of present error, as themselves. 
 
 But the self-distrust, and perpetual care, and 
 diligent watchfulness, and openness to conviction, 
 here recommended, are so far from necessarily 
 implying a state of painful and unceasing doubt, 
 that, as they furnish the best safeguard against 
 error, so they afford the best grounds for a 
 cheering hope of having attained truth. The 
 more cautious we are, both as individuals and as 
 a church, to " work out our salvation with feai* 
 
374 Omission of Articles of Faith, 8fc. [essay vi. 
 
 and trembling," the better-founded trust may we 
 entertain that " God worketh in us, both to will 
 and to do, of his good pleasure." As long as 
 all such human compositions as I have been 
 speaking of are left open to inquiry, and are in- 
 cessantly tried by Scripture and by Reason, — as 
 long as we hold ourselves ready to renounce any 
 that shall be proved unscriptural, and to alter in 
 form any that shall be proved inexpedient, — and 
 as long as we keep these compositions to their 
 own proper uses, and make the Scriptures our 
 only standard of appeal for the proof of any 
 doctrine, — so long, we shall have been making 
 that use both of the Bible and of the Church, — 
 of Reason and of Revelation, — of all the advan- 
 tages, natural and supernatural, that we enjoy, — 
 which divine wisdom evidently designed : so long, 
 we shall have been doing our utmost to conform 
 to the will of God ; and so long, consequently, 
 we shall have the better reason for cherishing an 
 humble hope that He, " the Spirit of Truth," is 
 and will be, with us, to enlighten our under- 
 standing, to guide our conduct, and to lead us 
 onwards to that state in which Faith shall be 
 succeeded by Sight, and Hope, by Enjoyment. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note (L) p. 371. 
 
 The same reasoning will apply to the case of Moral 
 conduct; and indeed, to men's judgments and conduct 
 on all other subjects likewise. It is not, in any case, 
 the belief that exemption from error is, either partially 
 or completely, attainable, that leads to arrogance or 
 presumptuous carelessness ; but, the belief of the indi- 
 vidual that he has attained it, or, that one who shall 
 have attained it, may knotc with certainty that he has 
 done so. 
 
 If a man beheves, for instance, that there may be 
 some human actions so performed, under the promised 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, as to be completely virtu- 
 ous, — free from all admixture of sin, — in short, per- 
 fect, — this belief, whether agreeable or not to the fact, 
 can have no tendency to make him conceited or care- 
 less, provided he always maintains that no action, 
 even though it should really be of this description, 
 can be (by Man) known with infallible certainty to be 
 such. 
 
376 
 
 Note. 
 
 On the other hand, one who entertains the opposite 
 opinion, may yet, conceivably, be deficient in humility 
 and in watchfulness. For he may hold, that every, 
 the best, human action, is, and ever must be, alloyed 
 with some mixture of human infirmities ; and yet he 
 may without inconsistency, believe that some part, 
 or even the whole, of his own conduct, is, with all 
 its imperfections, as near an approach to perfection 
 as can possibly be expected of such a Being as man. 
 And whatever he may profess, even with the most 
 sincere intention, he will not really be either mortified 
 or alarmed at the thought of his not having attained 
 a degree of perfection which he holds to be morally 
 impossible. 
 
 Many persons persuade both others and themselves, 
 that they are sufficiently cultivating Christian humility,* 
 by dwelling much on the weakness and depravity of 
 human nature, — on the numerous temptations which 
 beset us, and on the errors and sins which every man 
 must be expected to fall into. And if they are reminded 
 that, according to the Scriptures, provision is made 
 by divine grace for purifying and strengthening our 
 nature, and guarding us against temptation, they will 
 
 a A well-known little book, entitled "Hymns for Infant Minds," 
 (I believe by some of the Taylor family,) contains (Nos. 11 & 12) a 
 better practical description of Christian Humility, and its opposite, 
 than I ever met with in so small a compass. Though very intelligible 
 and touching, to a mere child, a man of the most mature understand- 
 ing, if not quite destitute of the virtue in question, may be the wiser 
 and the better for it. 
 
Note. 
 
 377 
 
 often reply, yes, but after all, every one does fall into 
 many sins. Now however true this may be, and to 
 whatever extent, still the consideration of it does not 
 necessarily produce vigilance and humility. The kind 
 of self-abasement thus generated is the same we feel 
 when acknowledging Man's inability to " add a cubit 
 to his stature," or to " remove mountains," or to foretell 
 future events. No one is much ashamed, or put on 
 his guard, by a consciousness of being no better than 
 what, he is persuaded, the wisest and best of his species 
 must be. 
 
 However far, in point of fact, sinless perfection may 
 be from being attainable, it is not our deficiency in 
 any thing that we regard as ?mattainable, but, in 
 what we regard as attainable^ that tends to make us 
 humble and diligent. The provisions of divine as- 
 sistance which have been made, do, as we see but 
 too plainly, in many instances fail, more or less, of 
 their object, through Man's negligence or perverse- 
 ness : it may be true that they never do, or will, com- 
 pletely succeed in attaining that object : but still, it 
 is not so far forth as we feel assured they will fail, 
 but so far forth as we believe that they may succeed 
 in that object, that our zeal and watchfulness are 
 excited. 
 
 The danger of arrogance then is incurred, not by 
 any one's opinion, generally, on this point, (whether 
 true or false) but, by his confidence respecting him- 
 self: — his belief that he either knows, or may hereafter 
 in this present life, know, that he is perfect. " If we 
 
378 
 
 Note. 
 
 say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," would be 
 not the less true and important, even on the supposition 
 that any one of us actually had completely subdued, by 
 divine help, all sin ; for he would not be enabled to know 
 it, nor authorised to say it. " I know nothing (says Paul) 
 by myself ;" (i. e. against myself : ov^lv efiavru avvoiSa) 
 "yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me 
 is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, 
 until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the 
 hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
 counsels of the hearts ; and then shall every man have 
 [his] praise of God." If one man is confident that the 
 moon is inhabited, and the other, that it is not, though 
 one of these assertions must be in itself true, both of 
 these men would alike " deceive themselves," by pro- 
 nouncing with certainty, where they could have no certain 
 knowledge. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ABSENCE OF A PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 One of the most remarkable and least noticed of the pecu- 
 liarities of the Christian Religion has been omitted in the 
 preceding Essays, as having been treated of in a Discourse 
 delivered at Oxford on the 5th of November, 1821, which, 
 with four others, I subjoined to the second edition of the 
 Bampton Lectures/ A brief notice, hovpever, of the 
 subject and outline of the argument, connected as it is 
 with the object of this volume, may be not unsuitably 
 subjoined to it. 
 
 The peculiarity alluded to is, that the Christian Reli(/ion 
 alone is without a Priest. The ambiguity of language, 
 and also the erroneous practice of some Christian Churches, 
 render it necessary to offer proofs of an assertion, which 
 when distinctly understood, and applied to the religion 
 as taught in Scripture, is at once evident. 
 
 It is well known that certain ministers of religion were 
 ordained by Christ and his Apostles, and have continued 
 in an unbroken succession down to the present day : and 
 it is not to be wondered at, that the name " Priest" should 
 be applied in common to these and to the ministers of 
 every other religion, true or false : but the point to be 
 observed is, that their office is essentially and fundamen- 
 tally different. When the title is applied, for instance, to 
 
 * See also Sermon IV. on the Consecration of a Church. 
 
380 
 
 Absence of a Priesthood. 
 
 a Jewish priest, and to a Christian, it is applied equivo- 
 cally ; not to denote two different kinds of priests, but in 
 two different senses ; the essential circumstances which 
 constitute the priestly office in the one, being wanting in 
 the other. Accordingly there are in Greek, as is well 
 known, two words, totally unconnected in etymology, 
 which are used to denote the two offices respectively ; 
 the Jewish priest, and also that of the Pagan religions, 
 being invariably called Hiereus; the Christian priest, 
 Episcopos, or oftener Presbyteros, from which last 
 our English word " Priest" is manifestly formed. It is 
 remarkable, however^ that it is never rendered " Priest" 
 in our version of the Bible, but always according 
 to its etymology, " Elder and that wherever the 
 word Priest occurs, it is always used to correspond 
 to Hiereus. This last title is applied frequently to Jesus 
 Christ Himself, but never to any other character under 
 the Gospel-dispensation. 
 
 This circumstance alone would render it highly 
 probable, that Christ and his Apostles did not intend 
 to institute in the Christian Church any office corre- 
 sponding to that of Priest in the Jewish: otherwise, 
 they would doubtless have designated it by a name so 
 familiarly known. And if we look to the doctrines 
 of their religion, we shall plainly see that they could 
 have had no such intention. For it was manifestly the 
 essence of the Priest's office (both in the true religion 
 of Moses, and in the Pagan imitations of the truth) 
 to offer Sacrifice and Atonement for the People — to 
 address the Deity on their behalf, as a Mediator and 
 
Absence of a Priesthood. 381 
 
 Intercessor — and to make a Propitiation for them. All 
 these are described as belonging to Christ, and to Him 
 alone, under the Gospel-dispensation; which conse- 
 quently (alone of all religions we are acquainted with) 
 has, on earth, no Priest at all.^ 
 
 The office of the Christian Ministers, the Elders or 
 Presbyters, whom the Apostles by their divine commis- 
 sion ordained, is the administration of such rites (the 
 Christian sacraments) as are essentially different from 
 sacrifice ; and, the instruction of the people ; an office 
 not especially allotted to the Jewish priests, but rather 
 to the whole of the Levites ; and so little appropriated 
 even to them, that persons of any other tribe were 
 allowed to teach publicly in the synagogues. 
 
 It deserves then to be kept in mind, 
 
 I. That Priest, in the two senses just noticed, does 
 not merely denote two different things, but is, strictly 
 speaking, equivocal. The word "house," for instance, 
 is not equivocal when applied to the houses of the an- 
 cients, and to our own, though the two are considerably 
 different; because both are the same in that which the 
 word " house''' denotes, viz. in being " a building for 
 man's habitation :" on the other hand, the word " pub- 
 lican" in its ordinary sense, and in that in which it 
 
 ^ Nearly the same reasonings are applicable to the absence, under 
 the Christian dispensation, of a literal temple, as well as of a Priest. 
 
 For an able development of these views, see Hinds's " Three 
 Temples of the One God." 
 
 As, for instance, Jesus himself, who was of the tribe of Judah, 
 and Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin. 
 
382 
 
 Absence of a Priesthood. 
 
 occurs in our version of the New Testament, is equivo- 
 cal, though in each case it denotes a man in a certain 
 profession in life; because the professions indicated in 
 each case respectively, by that term, are essentially dif- 
 ferent. And the same is the case with the word Priest, 
 in the two senses now under consideration. 
 
 II. That though there is in the Greek, Romish, and 
 some other Churches, a pretended Sacrifice, offered by a 
 pretended Priest, (in the other sense,) this creates no just 
 objection to what has been said ; since their practice in 
 this point is a manifest corruption of Christianity, totally 
 unsupported by any warrant of Scripture, and manifestly 
 at variance with the whole spirit of the Gospel ; and 
 what we are speaking of is the religion as originally 
 instituted, not, as subsequently depraved. 
 
 III. That the peculiarity in question, as well as every 
 other of any consequence, affords a strong presumption 
 of the truth of the religion ; and this, independent of 
 any question as to the excellence of the peculiarity. 
 For either an impostor or an enthusiast would have 
 been almost sure, on such a point, to fall in with the 
 prevailing notions and expectations of men; as expe- 
 rience shows, in the case of such a multitude of different 
 systems of religion which confessedly have emanated 
 from the sources alluded to. If our religion had been 
 devised by Man, it would, in all probability, have 
 been, in this point, (as well as in many others) differ- 
 ent from what it is. And what could not have come 
 from Man, must have come from God. It cannot be 
 deemed therefore an insignificant circumstance that the 
 
Absence of a Priesthood. 
 
 383 
 
 Christian religion should differ from all others^ in a 
 point in which^ amidst their infinite varieties, they all 
 agree. 
 
 IV. That the charge of Priestcraft, so often brought 
 indiscriminately against all religions, by those whose 
 hostility is in fact directed against Christianity, falls 
 entirely to the ground, when applied, not to the cor- 
 ruptions of some Churches, (which certainly do lie open 
 to the imputation,) but to the religion of the Gospel, as 
 founded on the writings of its promulgators. It is a 
 religion which has no Priest on earth, — no mortal Inter- 
 cessor to stand between God and his worshippers ; but 
 which teaches its votaries to apply, for themselves, to 
 their great and divine High Priest, and to " come boldly 
 to the throne of grace, that they may find help in time of 
 need." Nor are the Christian Ministers appointed, as 
 the infidel would insinuate, for the purpose of keeping 
 the people in darkness, but expressly for the purpose of 
 instructing them in their religion. 
 
 V. Lastly, that Christians should be warned, if they 
 would conform to the design of the Author of their Faith, 
 not to think of substituting the religion of the Minister 
 for their own; his office being, according to Christ's 
 institution, not to serve God instead of them, but to teach 
 and lead them to serve Him themselves. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 R. CI-AY, PRINTER, BBEAD-STKEKT HILL. 
 
ADDITION TO THE INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIFTH EDITION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST SERIES OF ESSAYS. 
 
ADDITION, 
 
 The dangers I have been speaking of have been, 
 of late years, not diminished, but greatly increased, 
 by events that have occurred since this Work was 
 first published. A party has arisen witliin the 
 Church whose proceedings are now regarded with. 
 alarm, by many even of those who despised the 
 warnings given by myself and by several others, 
 both before the avowed formation of the party, and 
 during its earlier progress.* But the dangers which 
 appear to me the most formidable are not those 
 which alone are dreaded by some persons. I do 
 not, indeed, doubt that several hundreds, perhaps 
 
 » See Essays (3d Series) on " Romisli Errors ;" " Pastoral 
 Letter from the Pope, &c. ;" " Powell on Tradition ;" and 
 " Index to the Tracts." 
 
 a2 
 
4 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 thousands, comprising the most honest and con- 
 sistent of the party, will have become, through its 
 influence, converts to Romanism ; and that others, 
 and a number probably far greater, will have been 
 driven to join some sects of dissenters. But all who 
 shall have been thus led openly to renounce our 
 Communion for another, will be found, I fear, much 
 fewer than those whom the same causes will have 
 led to, or confirmed in, total infidelity. And a much 
 greater number still, will, I apprehend, have been in- 
 duced to take refuge from troublesome doubt, in 
 apathetic indifference, and uninquiring acquiescence ; 
 considering that they have the authority of eminent 
 Divines for deeming reflection and investigation 
 worse than useless,' — for regarding religion as alto- 
 gether a matter of feeling, — and for concluding that 
 if a man keeps up a decorous outward attention to 
 it, such as will impress the minds of the vulgar 
 with a salutary awe, it matters little what may be 
 his inward belief, or whether he have any at all. 
 For, a strong impression has been produced, and is 
 daily on the increase, that, of that party claiming a 
 special pre-eminence in point of faith, the leaders 
 may perhaps, many of them, have no belief in what 
 they teach, and the multitude of the led, no grounds 
 
Introduction. 
 
 5 
 
 for their belief. Whether this opinion be correct or 
 not, it does exist ; and I cannot see that its exist- 
 ence is to be wondered at, or complained of. 
 
 For 1^/, the writings from which it is derived 
 indicate in their general tone that Christianity will 
 not stand the test of close inquiry. They deride, as 
 absurd, and censure, as profane, and deprecate, as 
 hazardous, all attempts to investigate evidence ; 
 making faith not the result of evidence, but some- 
 thing opposed to it. And going still further, they 
 distinctly declare all the evidences of Christianity 
 that have been put forth by the ablest Divines, to be 
 absolutely inferior to that which satisfies an ignorant 
 clown, who believes just what the Pastor of his 
 parish tells him, and for no other reason ; — for the 
 same reason, that is, which satisfies the Hindoos and 
 the South-sea cannibals. Thus, the strongest evi- 
 dences, be it remembered, that have ever occurred 
 to the minds of the most intelligent Christians, are 
 represented as absolutely weaker than that which 
 is confessedly and notoriously good for nothing ! 
 
 '^dly. The impression thus produced is strength- 
 ened by the circumstance that these writers 
 patronize the system of "Reserve,'"" "Economy," 
 " See Dr. West's Discourse " on Reserve." 
 
6 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 " F/iena/cis?}i," or " Double-doctrine — the allow- 
 ableness, and the duty, of having one Gospel for 
 the mass of the people, and another for the initiated 
 few. Now, he who professes this principle, and is 
 believed in that profession, need not wonder to find 
 that he is thenceforward believed in notldng else. 
 Por when it is known that a man wears a mask, all 
 persons will form their own conjectures as to 
 what is under it. Nor can the ascertainment of the 
 real private opinion of any individual of that School, 
 go one step towards removing the veil that hangs 
 over the School itself ; because, we should remem- 
 ber, the system implies not merely double doctrine, 
 but treble and quadruple, &c., to an indefinite 
 extent. He who teaches for Gospel something dif- 
 ferent from what he secretly holds, may himself be 
 kept in the dark no less by his instructors, as to 
 their secret belief ; and these again may be mysti- 
 fied in the same way by others ; and so on without 
 limit. 
 
 And this disingenuous system is a tree which 
 has, of late, borne fruits that have startled many, 
 even of those who could not see, when first pointed 
 out to them, the natural tendency of the system. 
 The fundamental doctrines of our Reformers have 
 
Introduction. 
 
 7 
 
 been explained away by interpreting their words in 
 a non-natural sense, so as to aUow members of our 
 Church to hold tenets the most opposite. Now, 
 how can any one be sm*e that the application of the 
 principle is arbitrarily stopped short at this point ? 
 Let any one examine, and compare together, these 
 non-natural interpretations, and the language, in re- 
 ference to Christianity, of the foreign Transcend- 
 entalists ; who profess to believe that Christianity 
 came from God, — in the same sense in which 
 every thing comes from God ; — who teach the Incar- 
 nation, — explaining to the initiated that this means 
 the presence of the Diety, i.e., of the " spiritual 
 principle" which pervades the universe — the God of 
 Pantheism — va. man, gener ally, as well as mall other 
 animals ; and who profess a belief in man's immor- 
 tality, — that is, that the human species will never 
 become extinct, &c. Let any one, I say, compare 
 together these two systems, (if indeed they are to 
 be reckoned as tioo,) and say whether there is any 
 
 GREATER VIOLENCE DONE TO THE ORDINARY SENSE 
 OF WORDS BY THE ONE THAN BY THE OTHER; 
 
 whether he who professes himself a churchman 
 according to the one system, may not, with perfect 
 consistency, profess himself a Christian according 
 
8 
 
 IntrodifcHon. 
 
 to tlie other. Even supposing therefore that all the 
 disciples of the School in question do inwardly 
 believe in the truth of Christianity, they cannot 
 give any sufficient assurance that they do so. 
 
 And the exhibition of this disingenuousness is 
 likely to endanger the faith both of those who are, 
 and of those who are not, themselves of an honest 
 and open disposition. Both will perceive that there 
 is reason to doubt the sincere belief of men who 
 are not only professed Christians, — not only cele- 
 brated as able Divines, — but also venerated as men 
 of pure and holy character, even by some who do 
 not adopt their pecuhar views. And this last cir- 
 cumstance, — the Jesuitical tone of morality, which 
 makes pious fraud consistent with Christian virtue, 
 excluding disingenuousness from the list of " vices," 
 — cannot but produce a powerful effect. When 
 men see that the sincerity Avith which a supposed 
 good object is pursued is allowed to excuse insin- 
 cerity in the means employed, — to excuse not only 
 the disguise of one's own sentiments, but also the 
 deliberate misrepresentation of an opponent's, and 
 to justify the bringing forward of heavy charges 
 against a certain Church, which are afterwards 
 admitted not to have been, at the time, believed to 
 
Liiroduction. 
 
 9 
 
 be well-founded, — all this cannot but tend to dis- 
 parage Christianity itself (if the pictnre of it thus 
 presented be supposed a faithful one) in the eyes 
 of the scrupulously honest and guileless, in propor- 
 tion to their abhorrence of all double-dealing. And 
 those, again, of a lower tone of morality, who con- 
 fine the term " vice" to intemperate sensuality and 
 the like, will be encouraged, themselves to make 
 professions of what they do not believe, and of 
 which they suspect their eminently virtuous leaders 
 to believe as little. 
 
 2>dli/. Moreover, the writings in question dis- 
 courage, — indirectly, but in effect, and with great 
 assiduity, — the study of Scripture. In the first 
 place, they labour assiduously to place on a level 
 with Scripture-history the voluminous Legends of 
 the pretended Middle-age-miracles. And they also 
 represent strongly the uselessness, and the danger, 
 of studying Scripture as a guide to the Christian, 
 without constant reference to the interpretations of 
 primitive Tradition." Now the teaching of tJiis 
 guide is to be learnt from the Works of the 
 Fathers ; which are quite as difficult to be under- 
 
 ' See the Articles " Tradition," " Christian," " Church," in 
 the Index to the Tracts. 
 
]0 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 stood, and as liable to variety of meanings, as 
 Scripture itself; Works too, mostly untranslated, 
 and far too voluminous for above one person in a 
 hundred thousand to master. Men are thus taught 
 that they must, at any rate, take their religion on 
 trust, each from the teacher he is placed under ; 
 and must be guided by his report of what certain 
 learned Divines have decided, respecting the opinions 
 of the most orthodox of the ancient Fathers, as to 
 the reports current in their times, of vi^hat was 
 taught by the Apostles. Any one who is thus 
 convinced that his religious faith must, at any rate, 
 rest on the report of a report of a report of a report, 
 will hardly think it worth his while to peruse the 
 Scriptures themselves, except as a matter of curiosity; 
 but will be likely indolently to acquiesce in the 
 whole of what is told him, in the mass : — to ac- 
 quiesce in it, I mean, as a faithful statement of 
 what Christianity is ; either resolving to believe it 
 in the mass, without incurring the risk of examina- 
 tion ; or else, disbelieving it, on the ground of its 
 being confessedly unfit to bear examination. 
 
 Uhhj. — The earnestness again with which these 
 writers deprecate " private judgment," has a similar 
 tendency. For, waiving all considerations as to 
 
Introduction. 
 
 11 
 
 the right, and as to the duty, of private judg- 
 ment, it must be evident to all who are not inca- 
 pable of reasoning, that there is an unavoidable 
 necessity of private judgment on any subject wherein 
 we take any serious interest. The responsibility is 
 one which, however unfit we may deem ourselves 
 to bear it, we cannot possibly get rid of. The fal- 
 lacy^ which often misleads men in this matter, is, 
 that we can refrain from exercising private judg- 
 ment on this or that particular point, by trans- 
 ferring our judgment to some other point. For 
 instance, a man distrusting his own knowledge of 
 Medicine, may refrain from exercising any judgment 
 as to the remedies he should use, and may put 
 himself wholly in the hands of a physician : that is, 
 he judyes that a physician is needful, and that such 
 and such a practitioner is worthy of confidence. Or, 
 supposing he distrusts his owti judgment on this 
 point also, then, he consults some friend whom he 
 judyes to be trustworthy, as to what physician he 
 shaU employ. In one way, or else in another, he 
 cannot hut exercise private judgment. And it is the 
 same in all matters ; except those in which we take 
 no interest, and which do not occupy our thoughts. 
 * See Logic, Book iii. § 11. 
 
12 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 In most of the causes, for instance, that are tried 
 in a court of justice, we do not trouble ourselves 
 to exercise any judgment, simply because we do not 
 know or care enough about either plaintiff or 
 defendant to be interested in the decision. 
 
 When then a man is told by those he looks up to 
 as the ablest Divines, that he ought not to exercise 
 private judgment in religious matters, he will soon 
 perceive, if he possess even a moderate share of 
 intelligence, that this precept can be complied with 
 only in one way ; by witMraicing his attention as 
 much as possible from the whole subject, except as 
 far as regards outward forms and observances, and 
 sedulously refraining from asking of himself the 
 questions, what the Christian religion is, and what 
 truth there is in it. And this state of mind is 
 closely allied to, and immediately leads to, that 
 which it has been my present object to guard 
 against. 
 
 WiJy. There are similar injurious tendencies, 
 again, in the doctrine of " Apostolical Succession " 
 in that sense in which it has of late been the fashion 
 to maintain it ; and which leads to the conclusion 
 that Christianity is mainly a religion of outward 
 ordinances ; Gospel-truth, and the Gospel-character 
 
Introduction. 
 
 13 
 
 being of much less importance. For, men are 
 taught that christian salvation depends on the due 
 reception of certain rites administered by those 
 whose regular Ordination in an unbroken chain 
 from the Apostles gives a sacramental virtue to 
 their ministry ; and that their flocks are to receive 
 Avitli uninquiring deference the " teaching of the 
 Church," that is, of such Ministers. And it is 
 maintained, expressly by some, and impliedly by 
 others, that a special supernatural Providence has 
 ahvays interfered (as indeed would be manifestly 
 necessary) to preserve, in every instance, this chain 
 from being broken by any irregularity, in half- 
 barbarian Ages and Regions, full of ignorance and 
 disorder of all kinds. 
 
 But as for Christian doctrine and practice, in 
 these, it is notorious what gross and wide-spread 
 corruptions have arisen in Christendom, beginning 
 even in the very Apostolic age. Against these 
 corruptions, it is manifest, no such supernatural safe- 
 guard was provided. The "apostolical succession" 
 of right faith and right conduct was not secured by 
 any miraculous interference. And as for endeavour- 
 ing to guard ourselves (as to me appears to have 
 been the design of Providence) against errors and 
 
14 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 corruptions by a devout and diligent study of 
 Scripture, and careful exercise of our own reason 
 thereon, this is prohibited. Men are not — accord- 
 ing to the above system — to exercise any private 
 judgment on the subject, but are bound to acquiesce 
 in whatever their pastors may tell them. Not only 
 therefore was there, on the above principle, no pro- 
 vision made for the preservation of truth, but what 
 amounts to a provision for the inculcation and esta- 
 blishment of error: wliile, on the other hand, a 
 supernatural provision did, it seems, exist, against 
 the nullity of ordinances through the interruption 
 of the chain of apostolical succession of Ministers.^ 
 The conclusion therefore cannot but force itself on 
 every intelligent mind, that Christianity, — if this 
 be a true representation of it, — is mainly a system of 
 outward ordinances ; and that what some regard as 
 its essentials, a christian faith, and a christian heart, 
 are comparatively a small part of it. Those who, 
 in consequence, reject the religion, as on a level with 
 the Brahminical superstitions, and those who receive 
 it as thus represented, will alike have been alienated 
 from true Christianity. 
 
 Let any one but pass in review before his mind 
 
 * See Eden's Theol. Diet. Art. " Apostolical Succession." 
 
Introduction. 
 
 15 
 
 the several points which have been here briefly 
 sketched, (and to which more, of the same kind, 
 might have been added,) and consider in how many 
 different ways the writings alluded to tend to create 
 and to foster irreligion ; and he will see reason, 
 I think, instead of wondering at the amount of it 
 that now exists, to conclude that it might have been 
 anticipated from a knowledge of human nature ; 
 and that there is ground for alarming apprehensions 
 of its increase. Let a man be but once convinced, 
 1st, that Christianity cannot stand the test of 
 inquiry, — 2dly, that he has no ground for certainty 
 as to the real belief of those who teach it, — 3dly, 
 that Scripture need not be studied, — 4thly, that he 
 had better withdraw his thoughts as much as 
 possible from the subject, since otherwise he could 
 not but exercise that private judgment which is for- 
 bidden, — and 5tlily, that Christianity is mainly a 
 system of outward ordinances, — let him but adopt 
 all these notions, and what is there to stand between 
 him and infidelity or indifierentism ? 
 
 Of the points now slightly noticed I have treated 
 more fully in the Essays (4th Series) on the " Dan- 
 gers to the Christian Faith," and in those on the 
 
 Kingdom of Christ." But some mention of the 
 
16 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 subject appeared needful in this place, because there 
 are so many, even of those who do not themselves 
 belong to the school I have been alluding to, who 
 are, even yet, but imperfectly aware of the real 
 tendency of its principles ; — who consider the danger 
 to be merely that of a revival of some obsolete cere- 
 monies, or perhaps, at the utmost, of a few con- 
 versions to Romanism : or who regard it as entitled 
 to a mixture of praise with slight censure, as having 
 called increased attention to Church-architecture, 
 and to rubrical strictness : little dreaming, of com-se, 
 that it is a deep-seated canker eating into the very 
 vitals of christian faith ; and that the " tithes of 
 mint and rue and cummin " are but a set-ofF against 
 the mischief done to the " weightier matters." And 
 others again there are who feel indeed some appre- 
 hensions such as my own, of the spread of infi- 
 delity in consequence of the teaching of that School, 
 but apprehend it as something that may arise in a 
 future generation ; whereas, to me, it appeared from 
 the very first, that the danger was as immediate as 
 it is great ; and inquiry may now convince any one 
 that the tree is already bearing its poisonous fruits, 
 that they are fast ripening all around us, and that 
 "the plague is begun."