:/»■ ll-^i-v< »■ LIBRARY PPaNCETON, N. J. No. Case, ^jjs / \ ^ - ^R A5 "-:- B 3 5 17 97 Bampton lectures THE OBJECTIONS OF INFIDEL HISTORIANS AND OTHER WRITERS AGAINST CHRISTIANITY, CONSIDERED IN EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED AT THE BAMPTON LECTURE AT OXFORD, IN THE YEAR MDCCXCVII. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SERMON Preached before the Univerfity, on Sunday, OSi. i8, 1 795. By WILLIAM FINCH, LL. D. RECTOR OF AVINGTON, BERKS, AND OF TACKLEY, OXFORDSHIRE J ONE OF THE CITY LECTURERS AT ST. martin's, oxford J AND LATE FELLOW OF ST. John's college. OXFORD: at the university press, for the author ', SOLD BY MESSRS. FLETCHER AND CO. AND J. COOKE; AND BY F. AND C. RIVINGTON, IN ST. PAUL's CHURCH-YARD ; AND MR. BGERTON^ OPPOSITE THE ADMIRALTY, LONDON. *75>7. TO LADY JONES, OF RAMSBURY MANOR, IN THE COUNTY OF WILTS: THESE SERMONS ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY HER LADYSHIP'S MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT, W. FINCH. jf^TY OF ^^S^T R A (S T -llB. GXO %'^. F&O] LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE LATJE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY. — " I give and bequeath my Lands and Eftates to the Chancellor, Mailers, and Scholars of the Univerfity of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and iingular the -faid Lands or Eflates upon truft, and to the intents and purpofes hereinafter men- tioned ; that is to fay, I w^ill and appoint that the Vice- Chancellor of the Univerfity of Oxford for the time being fliall take and *' receive ( vi ) " receive all the rents, iflues, and profits " thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, " and neceiTary deductions made) that he " pay all the remainder to the endowment " of eight Divinity LeClure Sermons, to be " eftabliflied for ever in the faid Univer- ** fity, and to be performed in the manner ** following : *' I dired and appoint, thai, upon the firft ** Tuefday in Eafter Term, a LeAurer be " yearly chofen by the Heads of Colleges '' only-, and by no others, in the room ad- *' joining to the Printing-Houfe, between ** the hours of ten in the morning and two *' in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity " Lefture Sermons, the year following, at St. *' Mary's in Oxford, between the commence- ** ment of the lail month in Lent Term, and " the end of the third week in A61 Term. *' Alfo I dire6l and appoint, that the eight " Divinity Lecture Sermons ihall be preached *' upon either of the following fubjed;s — to *' confirm and eftabiifh the Chriftian Faith, *' and ( yn ) " and to confute all heretics and fchifmatics " — upon the divine authority of the Holy " Scriptures — upon the authority of the " writings of the primitive Fathers, as to " the faith and prad:ice of the primitive " Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord " and Saviour Jefus Chrift — upon the Di- " vinity of the Holy Ghoft — upon the Ar- " tides of the Chriftian Faith, as compre- *' hended in the Apoftles* and Nicene " Creeds. " Alfo I direct, that thirty copies of the *' eight Divinity Lecture Sermons Ihall be " always printed, within two months after " they are preached, and one copy fliall be " given to the Chancellor of the Univerfity, " and one copy to the Head of every Col- " lege, and one copy to the Mayor of the " city of Oxford, and one copy to be put " into the Bodleian Library ; and the ex- " pence of printing them fhall be paid out " of the revenue of the Land or Eftates given " for eftablilliing the Divinity Ledure Ser- '' mons ; and the Preacher fliall not be paid,, '■ nor ( viii ) " nor be entitled to the revenue, before they *' are printed. '* Alfo I direft and appoint, that no per- ** fon Ihall be qualified to preach the Divi* " nity Ledlure Sermons, unlefs he hath taken " the Degree of Mafter of Arts at leaft, in " one of the two Universities of Oxford or ** Cambridge ; and that the fame perfon *' Ihall never preach the Divinity Ledure " Sermons twice." S E R M O N..''L "^"^fwi^^;^^^'"'' 2 Tim. iii. 15. And that from a Child thou haft known the holy Scriptures, which are able to ?nake thee wife unto Salvation \ through Faith, which is in Chrift fefus, SALVATION ! that is the efFed of wif- dom here, to the produd:ion of happlnefs hereafter, affording an excellent rule of con- dudl, and an infinite reward ; of this the Scriptures, and they alone are capable. Writ- ings merely human may thus far vie with them, in that they likewife poffefs the power of making us wife, but not in general unto Salvation. This happens, not from any de- fed: to which hiftory, for inftance, as a fpecies of compofition, is neceffarily liable, but from the almoft univerfal fault of the writers. It were to be wiflied, faith a certain author". Guy Patln. B that 2 SERMON I. that an hiflorian were, if pofTible, of no party, country, or religion. . As to the laft, the Vv ifh is, in many inftances,accomphfl:ied, particularly among us of this nation ; the moft favourite hiftorians are of none. — The effed: of which is far different from what the before*mentioned author intended, fince there is a general con- federacy among fuch writers againft it. And is Salvation fo unimportant, fo undefirable an objed:, as to warrant fuch negled, contempt, and rejedion of it ? No ! Yet the diftindion arifing from literary eminence is too frequently accompanied with imjiity ; never fo much gratified as when it can appear divefled of common prejudices, and averfe from eftab- liflied opinions. The children of this world, as far as that is concerned, are wafer than the children of light ; a life of vice is often one of diftrefs, the acknowledged parent of inge- nuity j and fhould that be engaged in a lite- rary career, it will be no wonder if a vicious imagination fliould give free courfe to the ef- fufions of a corrupted heart. Nay, fuch as are the writers, fuch the readers alfo : in a wealthy and luxurious nation, the generality w^ill rather wiili that their vices Ihould be nurfcd and encourac'ed, than checked and era- dicated, that they fliould be reprefented not as defedts. SERMON I. 3 defeds, but as excellencies. Now amons" fuch, immoral and irreligious writings muft not only gain a free admittance, but alfo be highly acceptable and agreeable. Thofe too who live by -printing will, as far as it depends upon them, admit only fuch works as occafion them moft employment; fuch then as coin- cide with the public tafte will befl anfwer this purpofe, and that being generally depraved and vitiated, writin^-s of this defcription will com- monly obtain the moft rapid fale, and be mcft frequently edited. But this is not the cafe with the Scrip- tures. The authors fucceeding one another at confiderable intervals, and relating a fome- what interrupted feries of events, from the very creation down to the time in which they wrote, cannot be conceived capable of any joint or preconcerted plan to advance their own interefts ; or to have had any other de- f]G-n, than fuch as all good men muft cherifh and encourage, that of introducing virtue, by means of a purer religion, into more extcnfive practice, and of thus promoting greater happi- nefs. They had no inducement to fcreen, or flatter the vices of any : their writings were intended only for the edification of thofe for whofe ufe they were compofed, and to whom B 2 they 4 SERMON I. they were particularly addrefledj and though fubfequent councils gave them greater publi- city by fpreading them among all nations, yet this only proves their wifdom, and excellence^ that could thus recommend them to all ages and conditions, after the writers themfelves had become extind:, and were no more. They lived too at a time when the art of printing was not yet invented, and relied on other means of fupport than book-making ; a pro- feflion now fo extenfive, yet when abufed fo dangerous, efpecially to the interefts of virtue and religion. The ftudy of hiftory then is able to make us wife; and fince there is no event entirely different from all that ever be- fore happened, it records fuch fads as will in a great degree be fure, at future periods, to be repeated : their confequences therefore in the former inftances will enable us to prognofti- cate what they v/ill be in the latter ; and as the beft part of wifdom is conftituted by ex- perience, fo the fludy of hiflory renders us wife by encreafing it. But if that of a parti- cular country produces fuch an effed, much more does that of the world in general. Scarcely a new opinion or pradice becomes prevalent in one nation, but it excites imi- tators in another. Now he that has fuch ge- neral SERMON I. 5 neral knowledge, derived from this fource, will be as much fuperior to him who is defi- cient in it, as the extenfive traveller is to him, who has been all his life confined at home. Nay remarkable events, wherever they hap- pen, have the fame effed; on contiguous coun- tries, as a pebble thrown into the water : the at firft narrow circle expands itfelf more and more over the furface, and at lafl reaches its utmoft limits. What an opportunity then does the fludy of general hiftory afford of acquainting ourfelves with thofe confpicuous fad:s which have illuftrated the annals of the world ! How enriched the undcrilanding that is abundantly ftored with the knowledge of them ! How delighted the attention that is frequently employed in meditating upon them ! For if to have an intimate acquaint- ance with the phaenomena of nature is highly agreeable, much more fo is it to have a clear comprehenfion of thofe events which gave rife to kingdoms and empires, or accelerated their fall J which influenced the founder of a fiate, or weighed with the legiflator ; wdiich eftab- .lifhed the reputation of the conqueror, or pre- cipitated the ruin of his rival. Indeed this fpecies of hiftory, ftiied general, has at length become fo acceptable, as to have given birth B 3 to 6 S E R M O N I. to another kind, not entirely diffimilar, which pretends not merely to relate fads, but to af- lign their caufes ; which, as far as it fucceeds, mult be highly agreeable to the reader, as well as honourable to the writer ; fmce to know fadls themfelves is an eminent degree ol know- ledp-e; but to be acquainted likewife v/ith their caufes, renders it at once both fatisfad:ory and complete. The Scripture is in part, and in fome re- fpeds, a general hiftory. It i elates events moft important ; the creation, deftrudion, and renovation of the world : it predids the final fate that is to confume it, and announces the new heavens and the new earth which are af- terwards to fucceed. Its firft book contains the hiftory of the antediluvian world, and the tranfadions of mankind ere they were diflin- guifhed into tribes, or difperfed, as nations, over the face of the earth ; and though it prin- cipally confifls of the hilfory of a particular people, yet were tl)ey, by fome way or other, as allies, fubjeds, or captives, conneded with all the moft confpicuous nations that have appeared from the beginning of time. Nay, if affigning the caufes of the moft material events renders it fo, it is likewife a philofophi- cal hiftory ; ftnce it is copious in dwelling on caufes SERMON I. 7 caufes not only fuch as are human, but alfo fuch as are divine. It reprefents the fupreme Being as the remote, if not the immediate caufe of all events i defcribes him as intent upon this end, the punlfhment of the wicked, and the remuneration of the righteous j and de- clares that he combines all events in this world, fo that they may tend to the introduc- tion of a better, and of an heavenly flate, for which the prefent fufFerings of his eled: but the more effeftually prepare and qualify them. Well were it if all other hiftories were em- ployed in inveftigating, and in defcanting upon the fame caufes, and in exemplifying their ap- parent effed;s. What encouragement to vir- tue would thence enfue ! What abafhment of vice ! But this v/ould not be gratifying to the rich, the powerful, the luxurious. The gene- ral cry againft fuch a writer would be, *' In " thus faying thou reproved us j" nay, the authors being, as they commonly are, vicious and depraved, by writing in the caufe of vir- tue and religion, they would reprove them- felves. It were indeed lefs blameable in them, and attended with lefs injury to mankind, were they to content themfelves with paffing over, unnoticed, what is againft their prefent intereft or inclination 5 but having felt the re- B 4 Araints 8 S E R M O N L ftraints of Revelation difagreeable and bur- thenfome to themfelves, and knov/n that they were fo to others, they are led to imagine, that if negledting it would in fome degree pro- mote their profit and popularity, reviling, con- temning, and mifreprefenting it, would ad- vance them more. Hence they combine in attacking the writ- ings which contain it, in the mofl impious and illiberal manner ; and take advantage of the loweft and moft fpecious arts to degrade them. Being clothed and conveyed in a ilile and manner different from modern, and profeffedly hiflorical works, they accufe it of not attending to rules which it never pre- fcribed to itfelf; and which, when many parts of it were coniigned to writing, were not yet invented. They attribute errors to the original, which can only be afcribed to the tranilation -, being delivered down in a lan- guage not generally underftood, they mifquote, mifapply, and garble pafTages as it beft fuits their purpofe ; and from inattention to the cuftoms, or manners, of the times in which thefe books were written, they reprefent things zs ridiculous, which only appear fo becaufe different from prefent ufage and modern prac- tice. As to the affignment of caufes, far from recurring SERMON I. 9 recurring to the firft and fupreme, their prin- cipal pains are employed in entirely excluding all conlideration of him. Inftead of invefting him with an irrefiftible controul over fccond caufes, they never fcem fo highly gratified, as when they can reprefent them as independent of, and entirely efFeeing to be found, fomewhat disiigured in- deed, almoft throughout the univerfe, as well atteft the truth of the doctrine that all man- kind are defcended from a fingle individual, as fpeak the extenfive and nearly univerfal diffe- mination of thefe traditions j which, like the grand properties of magnetifm and eledlricity in nature, pervade the v/hole mafs of human intelledl, efpecially when it is poliihed by at- trition, as it were, and its energies are awak- ened by fociety and civilization. The Jews were feled:ed by the Almighty for the exprefs purpofe of preferving, for a time, among themfelves, the records of divine Revelation, and that afterwards they might be the means of communicating them to man- kind in general. Their being at length ren- dered fubjeds to the Romans, muft have fuf- ficiently acquainted that great and renowned people with their tenets and pretenfions. The hiftory of the Roman, together with that of the latter Greek or Conftantinopolitan empire, ere it was fubdued by the Turks, comprehends a period of above two thoufand years ; a por- tion of time equal to a third part of the age of the SERMON I. n the world. Records fo copious, fo antient, Co extenfive, conftitute of themfelves a kind of general, as well as a confiderable fliare of par- ticular hiftory, fmce the Romans were, by fome means or other, connedled with moft of the then difcovered nations ; nay, but for the conquefts of the former, the latter had been fcarcely known beyond the limits of their own country. But the Roman empire, in its rife and decline, as well witneifed as partook in moft of the important and interefting events that appeared on the theatre of the univerfe ; it faw the fun of fcience flowly attain its me- ridian, and afterwards rapidly fet in the long night of barbarifm and ignorance : as it ad- vanced, it obferved the birth of the Chriftian Religion, its eftablifhment, its corruption ; and thofe who fled from that empire when tottering tO its fall, partly contributed, by their fuccefsful labours, in the revival and more extenfive communication of learning, to its fubfequent reformation. Here then, namely in the hiftory of that nation, and particularly of its decline, was a wide field for infidel wri- ters to difieminate their doubts, and infinuate their fufpicions ; fupporting them from au- thors, many of whofe works are by this time nearly antiquated, and in reading which few would 14 SERMON I. would pollefs the patience and application necefTary to pnrfue and confute them. Yet fome, animated by a laudable zeal, have fol- lowed them, and with confiderable effed: ; and whoever fliall afterwards fucceed them in the fame career, will continue to deferve well of mankind, and of our common Chriftianity, and they may fairly promife themfelves that their labours will be equally ufeful ; for the errors already deteded afford a fair prefumption that thofe which yet remain are capable of as eafy a folution. Ecclefiaftical hiftory, likewife, is infinitely involved with the other fpecies ; but the writers partaking of the difadvantages of the times in which they lived, and being moflly fecluded and fequeftered from the bufier fcenes of life, are not to be compared either in mat- ter or ftile with thofe of civil hiflory. Indeed if the latter contains the vices or crimes of mankind, the former is fweiled with the re- cords of their folly and madnefs : fo diligent, however, is evil, that accufations againfl Chrif- tianity are eagerly fought after, and produced from thence, yet with what (liew of reafon may appear from refie<5ting that few are ca- pable of eflimating their force, and fewer, if they could, are likely to be at the trouble of rendering SERMON I. 15 rendering themfelves completely maflers of the fubjed:. Until we are fo, we muft be content to believe thofe who have made it the fole and immediate objed: of their ftudies, when they inform us, that the objections againft Revela- tion, as drawn from Eccleliaftical hiftory, are fuch as very unfairly attribute the vices of Chriftians to Chriflianity itfclf j that it is charged with enormities which it never au- thorized, but conflantly condemned ; and that that is required from its commencement, and from its progreflional ftate, which can only be expefted at the period of its completion ; namely, that folly and wickednefs fhould be no more, and that unerring wifdom and per- fect virtue fhould immediately appear. When treating on general, and particularly on Ecclefiaftical hiftory, what fliall we fay of thee, Hypatia ? The paragon of Heathen virtue and excellence, the conftant theme of all fucceeding writers, when defirous of de- grading and of depreciating Chriflianity ; v/hom the mob of Alexandria, in their blind zeal, cruelly and inhumanly deftroyed. Such as thou waft, we lament that thou waft not ours : if thou canft at prefent be fuppofed fenfible of revenge, thou haft it in the inde- jible ftain fixed bv a few ferocious individuals on 16^ SERMON L on our profeflion ; if forgivenefs can be yielded to fuch an atrocity, and oblivion be fufFered to bury it for ever, furely it might be granted in confequence of the grief, regret, and remorfe of every fympathizing Chriftian who reads the dory. Our rehgion may perhaps boaft of daughters equally virtuous, but of none fo ac- compliihed, and at the fame time fo unfortu- nate. Yet thy unhappy fate is a proof, that the charadler of a religion is not to be taken from a fmgle inflance or two, but from its general effect in improving the manners and in promoting the happinefs of mankind. It evinces theneceiiity of fomething more than hu- man to fiibdue corruptions fo rooted, and difpo- fitions fo depraved ; it difcourages allprofpeds of perfedlion here, and teaches us to exped: it only when God fhall finally fele6l his jewels, rejecting fuch as are falfe and fid:itious, and referving only thofe of pure and genuine luftre. To refcue then the Scripture and our com- mon religion from the cavils and mifreprefent- ations of fome popular writers, is my defign in thefe LecSlures ; in which, as to fucceed, is moll; honourable, fo to fail would perhaps not be entirely difgraceful, fince the intent would in fome degree apologife for the execution. It were likcv/ife defirable that the minds of the younger SERMON I. 17 younger part of the prefent audience efpecially were rendered duly fenfible of the dangerous defigns of fuch authors -, and to this nothing could more contribute than a fuitable expofure of their various errors, fubterfuges, and incon- fiftencies. Be it farther obferved, that thofe evils are thus flated in the only place capable of effectually remedying them ; for our fitua- tion naturally exempts us from the tempta- tious which tend to produce vain, frivolous, and irreligious writings. Enjoying from the liberality of others a limited, yet philofophi- cal, competence, the improvement of reafon being one principal end of our fludies, trained and nurtured from our very youth to the hopes and expectations afforded by religion, we can have no inclination to feduce, deceive, or to corrupt others, and undermine, at the fame time, their temporal and eternal inter- efts. Nay, it is incumbent on us not only to difcourage the defigns of thofe who are bufy in depriving men of the hopes of falvation, but alfo to exert ourfelves to the utmoft in oppofmg and counterad;ing them, as well by confirming thofe in their pious refolutions, who adhere to the Gofpel, as in recalling thofe to it who have miferably departed from and deferted it : t/jis, love to our fpecies, refpedt C for i8 SERMON I. for our religion, and gratitude to our benefac- tors, moft loudly demands from us. And, in- deed, this place has never been deficient in producing advocates in the caufe of Truth. The moft learned of our members have al- ways been moft religious. * One particularly is alluded to, that others may follow ; an ex- ample in all refpedts fo confpicuous, who died as a Chriftian fliould, in the adt of devotion, on his knees, and with his face towards hea- ven ', who, after having been tinctured with all fcience, and having acquired almoft every language, antient, modern, particularly the oriental, was known to declare, that, after ail his moft extenfive refearches, he found the Bible the beft book, moft inftrucftive, moft important, moft worthy of the attention of mankind in general, and of fcholars in parti- cular. To excite defenders of thefe writings, as well as opponents to their adverfaries, feems to have been the intent of the pious Founder of this Ledlure ; and being fuch, there is none of fober confideration but muft be fatisfied with its fupport, and rejoice in its continu- ance. * Sir William Jones. SERMON SERMON II. Mark xIv. 59. Buf neither Jo did their witiiefs agree together, A LOVE of lingularity, and a profpecft of advantage, have generally produced im- moral and licentious writers : but whence are mankind fo prone to approve and admire their writings ? Alas ! it is becaufe they coincide with their vicious propenfities, and, for a time at leaft, juftify them to themfelves. Of this none took more advantage than a foreign writer ^ y highly celebrated for his labours in the walk of general hiftory, of which fo much has been faid in the preceding difcourfe ; and though it may feem indecorous to call in quef- tion the reputation of the dead, yet authors may be efleemed alive while their works are ^ Voltaire. C 2 fo; 20 SERMON 11. fo j at leaft, if depraved, the mifchief which they occafion furvives them to a period be- yond all poffible calculation. The flatement then of the errors and mifreprefentations of fuch literary produ6lions as tend to corrupt the morals, and confequently to undermine the happinefs of mankind, though it may be con- fidered as an oblique accufation of the authors, yet is it, in reality, the defence of all that is good, important, and valuable. Nay after all, to a certain degree the me- rits of this extraordinary v^riter muft be ac- knowledged. Few or none ever pofleffed abihties fo various, talents fo engaging, and a vivacity fo inexhauflible. In modern hiftory the pre-eminence to all others would be par- ticularly appropriate to him, were his autho- rities to be depended upon, or his veracity equal to the fertility of his genius, or to the brilliancy of his imagination. An acute reafoner " has reduced to a few proportions, at moft four, all that is neceiiary to evince the truth of Chriftianity, and to re- move the doubts of the fmcere, but fcrupu- lous. Something fimilar is intended with re- fpedt to this fo popular an author ; and if, ' Lefllc. from, SERMON II. 21 from a few fpecimens, it fhall appear that he was remarkably deficient in that which con- ilitutes the charader of a faithful, judicious, and legitimate hiftorian, we may fairly argue from what we know to what we do not, and beftow lefs attention, when we next read them, upon his calumnies againfi: Chriftian- ity J nay very rationally fufped: our judgment, when we fhall be inclined implicitly to con- fide in him, and to honour him with unquali- fied and unlimited approbation. Cruelty is a difpofition incompatible with a juft conception of the Deity ; only the weak and wicked, not the good and powerful, are fo : yet this author has prefumed to infinuate fuch an accufation againfi the Father of Mer- cies himfelf : and this he builds as well on the general ** fpirit of the Jewifh polity, as on fome particular national meafures in obedience to it. The earlier ages of the world, ere fci- ence was matured, and refinement and civili- zation were known, neceffarily fandtioned their laws with greater feverity than thofe who are foftened by long eftablifhed focial intercourfe, humanized by the exercife of mild and cour- teous manners, and who have been trained ^ Vid. Lettres de quelques Juifs, p. 22. C 3 under 22 S E R M O N 11. under the guardian care of a judicious and ap- proved education. The charader of invaders too, in which the Jews were at firft confpi- cuous, rendered them more ferocious, than thofe who have for a confiderable time en- joyed peaceable and uncontcfted poffeffions. But as to the a6ls of feeming cruelty recorded as taking place in confequence of the imme- diate command of God, they muft be refolved into the necelTary meafures of the Theocracy, as well for the prefervation of internal order, as to prevent external dangers. Thus in every wife government cruelty, as it may appear to- wards a few guilty individuals, is mercy to the public at large. Thus the retaliation was juft, when thofe who had contaminated the bofom of the earth with innocent blood, were themfelves to be extirpated : and thus as Agag's fword had rendered women childlefs, the divine Juftice caufed that, by the fignal vengeance infiided on him by the hand of Sa- muel, his mother alfo fliould be childlefs among women. ^ Except in thefe, and perhaps a few other inftances, we may venture to pronounce, that even the Revelation to the Jews is replete ' Ibidem, p. 32. with SERMON II. 2z with mercy, benevolence, and compaffion. They were not enjoined fuch barbarous rites as human facrifices, according to our author's confident aflertion, any more than criminals executed in the prefent day can be faid to be facrificed: fuch offerings indeed are the very crimes for the punifhment of which they were commiffioned by the Almighty to fu- perfede the idolatrous nations of Canaan. Neither is it true that every thing devoted to the fervice of God was facrificed. The cattle certainly might bleed upon the altar ^ : not ib the men and women ; they were only referved for the menial offices of the Temple. Indeed the Jewilh code enjoins the greatefl modera- tion in the ufe of victory ; it ftrengthens and fecures what has fince been confidered as the law of nature and of nations. The manifefto of Jephtha, for inftance, ere he attacked the Midianites, is a model for all who fhould hereafter find themfelves in a fimilar fituation. The reception, particularly, that is command- ed to be given to flrangers; the attention (liewn by the Jewifli law to the very cattle, and even to the trees of a conquered country, are but ^ Ibidem, p. 316. C 4 fo 24 SERMON II. fo many traits of mercy, exhibited in their po- licy j and which fpeak the divine Author patient, benevolent, plenteous in mercy and compaffion. But thofe who enjoy the confelTedly milder revelation through Chrift, cannot complain, becaufe it follows another necelTarily more fe- verc ', fmce as to them the latter is fet alide, and become nearly obfolete ; neither v/ould they have confidered the objections againfl it, as far as the accufation of cruelty is con- cerned, as in any degree affecting them, had they duly attended to the fubjed:, nor been inifled by the defultory and fuperficial remarks of profane and irreligious authors. 2 With his ufual alertnefs the writer at prefent under confideration afks, ** is nature ** changed fince its origin ; or to what elfe ihall *' we attribute the pretended power of magi- " cians to charm even ferpents, as we are told '* they could, in the Jewifh writings ?" No ; nature is not changed, nor are there now wanting thofe that can '* handle any deadly ** things and it Jhall not hurt thejn ;" and that not by divine interference, but through caufes 2 Ibidem, p. 339. merely S E R M O N II. 25 merely natural. It is well known that there is an herb ^ growing in moil quarters of the globe, that, if applied, can endue men with this power. There is therefore no occafion for any change of nature for that purpofe ; and the queftion of our author is as impertinent as it is ill-founded. ' The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, fays he, *' were metamorphofed into a lake of " brimftone j as was the wife of Lot into a ** pillar of fait, and Nebuchadnezar into a ** bull." But were fuch metamorphofes con- fined only to the times of the Scripture ? Do not Africa, Afia, Sicily, Italy, by dreadful to- kens, and more recent examples, Ibew that hurricanes, volcanos, earthquakes, lightning, can convert animals into flones, and cities into Jakes of fire ? As to Nebuchadnezar, it is true, we read that he was deprived of his reafon ; but that he was converted into a bull, we are at a lofs to difcover. This may be ridicule ; but where it is unfuitably introduced, it recoils upon the profane author ; as in this cafe it in- difputably does. * Ariflolochia Anquiceda. ' Lettrcs de quelques Juifs, p. 342, 343. 26 S E R M O N II. ^ " Wilt thou not pojfefs that which Chemojh " thy God gheth thee?" faid Jephtha to the King of the Amorites. Here, obferves our au- thor, is an inftance of a Jewifh leader acknow- ledging another God, befides the true. How fo ? Is it uncommon to argue with a man on his own principles, and for a moment to fup- pofe that true which one knows to be falfe ? This is all that Jephtha does on this occa- fion ; and no great advantage to the caufe of infidelity can be derived from it. Our author in another place proceeds thus: When Naaman the idolater ' demanded of Eli- jah, whether it were allowed him to enter the Temple with his mafler, and to worfhip the idol there with him, the Prophet only an- fvvered. Go in peace. On which flatement we can only obferve, that he could be no longer an idolater, when he entered after this tranfad:ion into the Temple ; lince he is now fuppofed formally to renounce fuch a falfe kind of religion. As to worfliipping the idol, that is fuperadded, no expreffion of that fort being to be found in the Scripture -, and as to the Prophet's per- miffion, that can by no force be extended be- ^ Ibidem, p. 250. ' Ibid. p. 335. yond SERMON II. 27 yond the performance of his duty, as an at- tendant on the royal perfon. " The books of the Jewifh Scripture, being the oldefl extant, have fuffered much from mutilation -, and being written in a language only confined to the learned, are liable to be mifinterpreted. Hear our author's obferva- tion on this fubjed: ! " You ought to know ** that all the books of the Jewiih Scripture ** were neceffary to the world ; for how could ** the fupreme Being infpire ufelefs books ? If ** then they were neceffary, how came they ** to be loll; or mutilated ?" But is one ob- liged to allow that all the books of the Jewifli Scripture were necefiary to the world ? This nobody has ever advanced, or even imagined, except himfelf. Befides, muft books be always neceflary, and to the whole world, to render it probable that God fhould infpire their authors ? May not fome be ufeful at certain times, and to particular perfons, and yet be not unworthy of being dictated by God ? Befides, can any one prove that the writings now loft were not ufeful at the time, and to the perfons for whom they were compofed ? ^ Ibid. p. 379. There 28 SERMON II. There is likewiie a diflirnflion to be made between being ufeful and being neceffary ; being ufeful to the world, and to fome certain perfons. To confound thefe terms is not to reafon accurately j and it had been as well perhaps, had our author pointed out fuch books as are counterfeit. Surely none efteemed canonical are fo, unlefs he affigns to the term counterfeit a meaning very different from the common. " This judgment too of the Jewifh writings is hazarded by one in no degree converfant with the originals ; elfe would he not have made the comment he has upon the prophecy of Malachi, for ° from the rifmg of the fun even to the going down of the fame my name is great among the Gentiles, and incenje is offered to it ; for ?ny name is great among the Gen- tiles. So it runs in mofl tranilations, and our author objedts to it accordingly, as being inconfillent with truth : yet the difficulty is removed in the Englifli Bible, by fubflituting the words JJjail l^e, for the term is; and this is warranted by the genius of the Hebrew language, which often exprefles the future by the prefent. » Ibid. p. 332, • Mai. i. ii. He SERMON II. 29 ^ He revives like wife the flale cybjedion, that the Almighty threatens, in the Jewifh Scriptures, to 'vifit the Jins of the fathers upon the children ; but this has been often defended and vindicated, fince it is not the ordinary me- thod of God's proceeding : he only afts thus when the fon periifts in the father's wicked- nefs ; for, according to the general rule of God's juftice, the wickednefs of the wicked refts in its confequences upon him, as the righteoufnefs of the righteous does upon him. ** I gave them jiatiites that were not good'' — how incompatible this, remarks our au- thor, with the divine clemency, wifdom, or juflice ! But thefe bad flatutes, as they are called, are merely given them becaufe they did not obey the good ; by way of reproach only; as after having forfaken the true God, they are direded to have recourfe for aid to falfe deities. Nor are they literally ftatutes, but figuratively fo : they were really war, famine, peftilence, captivity ; the fevere and awaken- ing leflbns which God may very rationally be fuppofed to introduce after milder and more lenient have failed. P Vide Lettres de quelques Juifs, p, 344. 9 Ibid. p. 346. Ez.ek, xx. 25. Proceed 30 SERMON II. Proceed we now to more extravagant errors, fcarcely compatible with common fenfe, much lefs with fuperior and brilliant abilities j were it not ufual with divine Providence to make foolifh the wifdom of the wife when oppofed to him J to render even diviners mad, and to entrap the wicked in their own wickednefs. ' " The cherubims," fays he, ** are put into ** the arkj" than which what could be a more egregious or ignorant miftake ? How would a iimilar one, in another writer, have excited his fovereign contempt, and his ingenious ri- dicule ! The ark was a cheft two cubits high, and a cubit and an half broad ; but the che- rubims of Solomon were ten cubits high, and meafuring from wing to wing ten cubits alfo wide : they thcvefove JiooJ upon the ark ; but it was impoffible, fuch being their refpe(5tive dimenfions, to put them into it. ^ He likewife taxes the author of the book of Wifdom with a defertion of truth, when he thus wrote with refpedl to Jofeph, and the divine Wifdom that conduced him : ** PF^en "' the righteous was fold y Jhe forfook him not -y *' but delivered hi?7i fro?nfm ; fie went down *' with him into the pity and left him not in ' Ibid. p. 361. ^ Ibidem, p. 367. ** bonds SERMON II. 31 ** bonds till fie brought hhn the fceptre of the ** kingdom '." Here, fays our author, ac- cording to this defcription he muft have fup- planted Pharaoh ; which was not actually the cafe. Now the original mufl mean by the fceptre, no more one appropriated to a king, than an enfign of delegated authority : fuch were common in the Eaft, as they are among us. By fuch a way of reafoning, the fame writer might infer that a provincial magiftrate, becaufe preceded by a mace, was an emperor, or that a judge or chancellor, becaufe attended with the fame emblem of power, was a king. Your patience is requefted, v/hile fome of our author's manifeft and palpable contradic- tions are introduced ". He endeavours to dif- prove the Pentateuch ; that is, denies its being written by the acknowledged author, becaufe the art of writing in his time was not yet known by the Jews, or by any other people ; yet in a different place, fpeaking of Sanchoni- athon, he fays, *' that his age v^^as contempo- ** rary with the latter years of Mofes j but the ** former confefTes one part of his hiftory to be ** taken from Thot, who flourifhed eiglit hun- ** dred years before the time of Mofes." Thus ' Wifdoni'x. 13, 14.. " Ibid. p. 99. he 52 S E R M O N IL he proceeds. " This declaration is one of the *' moft curious that antiquity has left us, fince ** it proves the ufe of alphabets eight hundred- " years before the time of Mofes." What, then, were they known {o long before him, yet unknown at the time he wrote the Penta- teuch ? Was ever contradiction more glaring and obvious ? The writers, whom the fame author quotes in fupport of his objections, affirm, according to him, " that at the time of Mofes they wrote *' on ftone, on lead, and on wood." He himfelf further declares, "that theChaldasans engraved " their obfervations upon brick," apparently while it was yet foft; *' and the Egyptians t^eir *' writings upon marble and upon wood." Ac- cording then to thefe his writers, and according to himfelf in another place, ftone was not the only material on which they wrote. But the cauling of books to be engraved on flone, be- caufe they could not othervvife be made, is a contradiction in itfelf; for if JoHiua, for in- ftance, had dictated to the engravers every word, he mud have been endued with pa- tience fcarcely credible. In that cafe, to have diminifhed the trouble, it had been pi^eferable to engrave them himfelf. That he did this, is not (o much as pretended ; but if the en- gravers SERMON II. 33 gravers worked after a copy, that copy mufl have been imprefied upon fome other mate- rial, contrary to the hypothefis that there was no other. Indeed it is needlefs for him to appeal to other writers to atteft the truth of his afler* tions, fince, whenever he wants authorities, he makes them. Yet one there is, namely, Luit- brand, the licentious Bifhop of Cremona, whofe abominable calumnies he propagates, and whofe ill-founded affertions he flill re- peats (if indeed the works that bear the name of that Prelate are adiaally his), particularly his account of the '*' infamous Marozia, and of the Prelates of theChurch faid tobedefcended froai her. The See of Rome is indeed expofed to reproach enough, and juftly too, for her real errors, and fnameful deviations from the pu- rity of the Gofpel, without loading her with unmerited cenfure. Yet our author has not the ingenuoufnefs to acknowledge the infuf- Jiciejicy of his m.aterials, and that the writer from whom he derived his information vvas held in fuch low efteem, as well by his con- temporaries as by thofe who fubfequentiy treated of the fame fubjed", that they rather '^ Hift. Gen. D chofa 34 S E R M O N II. chofe to negledl, than attend to communica- tions in all refpedts fo little worthy of belief or confidence. His calculations, a fpeclmen or two of which it is intended to exhibit, are as inaccu- rate as his other arguments are inconfiflent and inconclulive. Our author " fuppofes the prey taken from the Midianites, v/hether men or cattle, as mentioned in Scripture, to be more than the country could produce or fupport. But al- lowing his meafure juft, namely about an hun- dred fquare miles, yet the capability of a coun- try to produce corn or cattle, depends more on the Ikill and induftry of the inhabitants than on its extent : befides, both calculation and experience atteft that it is poffible for the fame quantity of land both to exhibit fuch a population, and to m.aintain fuch a flock of cattle, as is attributed to it in Scripture. But that he was probably miftakcn as to the di- menfions, may be inferred from his actually confounding it with another country, of indif- putably larger extent : for thus in a different work he proceeds. How ungrateful was it in Mofes, after having received fignal fervices " Vide Lettres de quelcues Juifs, p. 263. from, S E R M O N IL 55 fi'om the High-prieft of Midlan, after having been admitted to the honour of marrying his daughier, and having been guided through the defart by his fon, in return for fo much kind- nefs to devote the Midianites to deflrudlion ! But the truth is, the Midianites, among whom Jethro was High-prieft, and thofe whom Mo- fes coniigned to plunder, were different peo- ple. One lived near the lake Afphaltites, the other on the Red Sea. Thofe belonging to Jethro defcended from Midian, the fon of Chus ; the other from Abraham, by Ketu- rah. The former retained fome knowledge of the true God ; fince we read of Jethro's offering facrifices to him. This reproach of his, therefore, againft Mofes, is without foun- dation J and from this manifeft miftake with refpec^ to the two countries, we may judge of his calculations in other inftances, and may be convinced that, notwithftanding his cavils, the affertion of the Scripture, with refpe(fl to the population and number of cattle, is accu- rate and juft. ^ The wealth left by David to Solomon, the immenfe profit returned from the merchandize fent to Ophir, all in their turn fall under our y Ibid. p. 292. D 2 author's 36 S E R M O N II. author's critical farcafm. According to modern, or rather European ideas, fuch profits may in- deed appear extraordinary ; but not under an abfolute or Afiatic government. It is well known, that commerce at its infancy, or where a new fource of it is opened, is attended with returns moft aftoniiliing j and this was pro- bably the cafe in antient, as it certainly is in modern times. Ere we part from this celebrated writer, it will be neceiiary to revive one accufation to which he is particularly obnoxious, which is moil: fubverfive of his own reputation, moft prejudicial to his readers, and in its confe- quences moft alarming to the caufe of mora- lity and religion ; namely, his frequent, and indeed difgufting violation of decency and de- corum. Providence feems to have fixed on this author, and his too numerous imitators, fuch an obvious and apparent ftigma, that all of any dignity of charadter, or purity of fen- timent, might thence difcern how much their writinj^s tend to debafe human nature, and might avoid them accordingly. Thofe who read frivolous and licentious writings for amufement only, and to beguile the time which they find opprefTive, are lefs to be la- m.ented, if through them they become the vidtims of corruption ; though it might be vs iihed. SERMON IL d>l wiflied, that, even in this inftance, innocence might be preferved. But when thofe whofe aim is intelie(flual improvement, and who feek it in the deUghtful walks of general hiftory,find thofe reptile fentiments of impiety and inde- cency crofs their way, even fhould they efcape their venom, the circumflance muft flrike them \vith horror and difmay. For to this our author, it is principally to be afcribed, that fucceeding writers, feemingly remote from the tempta- tion, are not fitisiied with being imm.oral and profane, unlefs they are likewife indecent and licentious ; fo that purity of manners, the firft and befl effedt of education, is never fuffi- ciently fecured, fince the very books recom- mended to the riling generation, for promoting and preferving it, only tend to debauch and corrupt them more. To follow this celebrated author through all his publications, vv^ould require works of equal magnitude and multiplicity Vv^ith his own J not that a portion of an hour, but that a whole life were devoted to that purpofe. However it is hoped that enough has been faid to evince that he is what himfelf has pro- nounced concerning a rival writer, *' one who " quotes faifely, whofe authorities are not to " be depended upon, and who is ready, with D 3 " equal 38 SERMON 11. *' equal fmcerity, to take either fide of the *' queftioiii" and that not the vvitnelTes againfl our Saviour were, in their atteftations, more inconiiftent with each other, than is that eminent writer, in his attacks upon the Scrip- tures, at variance with himfelf. Nor let it be objeded, that not all that has been produced on this occalion is for the firfl: time urged and in fi Tied upon. The aim here is not oftentation, but ufe. New arguments, like green wood, may yield and ftart^ but the old, like feafoned rafters, as well flrengthen as fupport the building. Yet perhaps it has not been before obferved how very differently the latter part of the life of an hero of his own time and country, is defcribed by our author and by his biographer. By the former, the decline of that extraordinary man is reprefented as marked with no remains of the once illuf- trious Conde% but what muft have occafioned regret at the ruin of fo great a man. By the latter he is defcribed as fpending the evening of his life in the bofom of frienddiip, amidft the comforts and confolations of domedic and literary converfation, and as clofing his career or earthly fame with hopes of more peniia- ■'' Hiftoirc Gentra'e. nent SERMON ir. 59^ nent glory in the heavens which fadcth not away. The exemplary death of fuch extra- ordinary men inftrufts, convinces, confirms poflerity in exhibiting conftancy in the faith, particularly in the laft and mofi: trying hourj and had our author concluded his exigence vv'ith an exit fo refigned, fo dignified, v/ith ex- pectations fo full of immortality, even his im- pious dodlrines had been fomewhat counte- nanced by it. But the reverfe was adually the cafe ; for if the accounts are true, of ail the horrid departures from life, none were ever equal to that of Voltaire j in fearful appre- henfion of judgment, and in extreme defpair. But at that time he only could reflect on the fpeculative, not practical confequences of his published opinions. Could he have imagined but half the evils that have fmce refulted from their being adopted as a rule of conduft, to the fubverfion of all law, order, and religion, it muil have fharpened the thorns with which his death-bed was planted, and added tenfold to the agonies of his alarmed and diflradled confcience. The pernicious confequences of thefe writings, then, are fufficient to warrant us in making them the particular fubjed: of our animadverfion, and to vindicate the Mi- nifters of the Gofpel as well in expofing the D 4 weaknefs 40 S E R M O N II. weaknefs and wickednefs of the principles which are built upon them, as in pointing out the malignity and malevolence of thofe who are bufy in encouraging and diffeminating them ; left they who have turned the 'whole- world upfide down^ ihould haply be induced, in the plenitude of fury and devaftation, to come here aljo^ SERMON SERMON III. 2 Cor. iii. 4. For while one faith, I am of Paid, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal ? ST. Paul afks the queflion ; and if it might be addrefled to thofe who were in fome fort fpiritual; to thofe who followed really evangelical teachers, yet who rather chofe to be called after them, than after Chrift, much more is it applicable to thofe who betray flronger fymptoms of being carnal, and who are feduced and deceived by falfe ones. For the vain, the intemperate, the ambitious, have always been as eager to enilave the mind as the body ; fince influence on the former ge- nerally leads to complete empire over the latter, and the pofleflion of all that belongs to it. But to promote fuch wicked purpofes, it is often expedient to oppofe long eftablifhed opinions, and to fubvert antient ufages by the introdudion 42 SERMON III. introdudion of ftrange and novel do(flnne&. Thus various alterations are propofed in bo- dies politic, and new modes even of religion are fuggeiled, feemingly for the general good, but really to anfvver particular interelled views. In purfuance of the fame plan it is, that faith itfelf is combated by opinion, and reafon and revelation are fet at variance. But if any doc- trine more than others affords a field for fuch attempts, it is that of the Trinity. Being confeiTedly abflrufe and myfterious, the gene- rality think themfelves unconcerned in its de- fence : it is therefore moft expofed to the at- tacks of adverfaries ; in weakening and mifre- prefenting it lefs oppofition is expedted -, and impious and malevolent defigns incur lefs danger of deted:ion. Yet notwithftanding all attempts, ftill it maintains its ground ; and the feemingly capital objections have been fo ably anfv/ered, that, if what has been faid by its learned defenders fliall be generally retained in niemory, there is no fear of any furmifes being encouraged as to the certainty of its truth, or that we £hould fuffer our faith to be fhaken with refpedt to it. =i St. Jolin wrote his Gofpel a confiderable * Bifliop Horfley's Trads, p. 17. time SERMON III. 43 time after the other Evangelifts had completed theirs ; that he might remedy their defedts, and fupply their omiffions. He fays, that Jefus Chrift is come m the flefli. A modern Socinian ^ of no ordinary fame, fuppofes it fhould be ^the flefh ; but this is an altera- tion entirely his own, nor fupported by the authority of any manufcript whatever. And who fees not the abfurdity of St. John's inlift- ing fo ftrongly on Jefus Chrifl's coming in the flefh, had it not been in his power, as a divine perfon, to come in another way, and had not his coming in this manner been en- tirely voluntary .? Such an expreflion, there- fore, was with great propriety applied to him, inafmuch as he diverted himfelf of the glory which he had with the Father ages before the world began ; but his amazing condefcenfion gave grace to the a(ft, and infinitely enhanced- the value of it. *" ** There are three that bear record in *' heaven," though a queftionable text, yet is not fo abfolutely necellary to eftablifh the dodlrine of the Trinity, but that it is fuffici- cntly fupported from other parts of Scripture •> Priellley. ^ ' I Jchn v. 7. without 44 SERMON IIL without it. Although it be not found in all the exifting manufcripts, yet its authority can- not be entirely done away, till we are fure that the majority of manufcripts, as well loft as preferved, were without the obnoxious paiTage. In the mean time, the triumph attendant on expunging this verfe from the facred writings muft be very incomplete, amidft fuch a cloud of other witnefies that concur in fupporting this important and myfterious dod:rine. It is further objected to this fundamental article of our faith '^, that it is but a revival of Platonifm. But if a fimilarity in this refpecS exifl; between the Gofpel and that philofophy, it muft refult from the remains of antient tra- dition, as originally derived from Revelation, concerning the triple union in the divine na- ture. Though the doctrines are fimilar, yet they are by no means the fame; the ^ons de- rived from the fupreme Being, according to Plato, being inferior to him, whilft the fcrip- tural fcheme, on the contrary, reprefents the Son equal to the Father as touching bis God^ head. Whoever therefore defcribes Platonifm, particularly as far as this doctrine is concerned, •^ Ibidem, p. 213. as SERMON IIi; 4j as correfponding with Chriilianity, betrays an ignorance of both ; and as well expofes liis inability in letters, as his inflability in faith. The interpretation of the word Logos ^ m St. John's Gofpel, as contended for by this op- ponent^ to the Trinity, is built upon his mif- conception of Platonifm. To detedt there- fore this error, it would be neceffary to dwell longer in explaining that metaphyfical fydem. But he has rendered this unneceffary, by in- troducing, very unfortunately for himfelf, The- ophilus, Bi{hop of Antioch, thus fpeaking : " It is clear that when God faid, Let us make *' naan, he fpake to nothing but to his own " Logos, or Wifdom ;" that is, according to our opponent, to nothing but himfelf. The original palTage in the Greek is, that he fpake to his Logos, and to his Wildom j the fub- ftitution therefore of the disjunctive er, for the conjunClion mid, is, though entirely in his manner, yet unauthorifed, and the paflkge, far from being an argument againfl, diredily proves what it was intended to difprove ; fiiice the Father, foeakin? to his Loo;os and to his Wifdom, can mean nothing elfe than to his Son and to his Holy Ghoft. ^ Ibid. p. 228. Thefe 46 SERMON 111. Thefe are fome of the direct objedlons ; others more obHque are fuch as the follow- ing; " What is eafieft to be underftood, is " n:iofl ufefuli therefore likelieft to be re- " vealed by God, and to be moft attradive of *^ human regard." But if God be, as he cer- tainly is, of an infinitely fuperior nature to man, is it not probable, that queftions relating to him fhould be more myfterious than thofe in which only ourfelves are concerned ? Nay, there are properties belonging to humanity, and even to feemingly mofl inconfiderable ob- jects, beyond the power of the mofh exalted underftanding among men entirely to explain. ]f fuch difficulties accompany the confidera- tion of earthly things^ how much more are they to be expected in heavtiil: I True there are fome acknowledged obfcurities attending the dodrine of the Trinity ; but furely not all things are fo. Its moral purpofes are fuf- ficiently obvious, and the pre-eminent value of the fufferings of the divine nature, to atone for human offences, is too manifefl to be in- fifled on. It is further obferved, that fuch myfteries are incompatible with the very idea of a reve- lation J nay render it an abfardity in terms — " For how can that be faid to be difcovered, ** which SERMON III. 47 *' which ftill remains concealed ?" But the Gofpel is a revelation not folely in refpedt of the Trinity, but in relation to thofe other im- portant do(ftrines, which before its appearance had fo long continued to be concealed from mankind 3 among the reft, a refurrediion to a future flate either of happinefs or mifery, cor- refpondently to the merit or demerit of our adtions in this life. Such doctrines, and the duties refulting from them, are fo clearly re- vealed in Scripture, that he who tnms may read them. It is therefore according to the majority of its difcoveries that the Scripture is faid to contain a revelation ; though there may be one or tvv'o tenets, perhaps, to which that name may not be fo flridly and properly applicable. Athanalius, according to the author at pre- fent under confideration, does not deny that the firfl: Chriftians were Unitarians. Agreed; but does this prove they were fo ? By no means. Beiides, the faith of the primitive Church enters not at all into his prefent quef- tion. He is fpeaking of the unbelieving Jews ; and the reafon affigned for their reject- ing the Melfiah, is their being fo grofs as to look for no more in him whom they exped:ed, than a mere man ; but as to the Je\vi£l:i con- verts^ 48 SERMON III. verts, they were not at all in the view of the alledged author. The omijGion, therefore, to aflert that they believed in the Trinity, far from proving the firft Chriftians Unitarians, affords a furmife in favour of the contrary opinion : for if the Jews were to be con- demned, before they were converted, for ex- peding in Chrift but a mere man, they muft have been equally fo, had they entertained fuch a degrading opinion of him after they were fo. Another argument is taken from Epipha- nius's omitting to affirm that the Nazarenes, who, according to our author, ** conftituted " in a great meafure the primitive Church," believed the doctrine of the Trinity. Now after obferving that the Nazarenes, of whom Epiphanius fpeaks, were not the firll converts to Chriftianity, but a fed: half Jew, half Chriftian, that appeared immediately after the deilrudion of Jerufalem, and whofe opinion could be of no weight as to the primitive doc- trine, let us examine what Epiphanius remarks concerning them. *' I cannot fay whether they ** think him a mere man, or whether they " affirm, according to the truth, that he was *' begotten of Mary by the Holy Ghoft:" if he could, he v^ould have done fo j as he did not, there SERMON IIL 49 there is a prefumption that they were rather of the latter and orthodox opinion, than the contrary; at leaft we may as rationally infer the one as the other : the liience therefore of Epi- phanius, and the fuppofed opinion of the Na- zarenes, are either irrelevant, or prove juft the contrary of that which they are adduced to eftabliOi. Thefe Nazarenes, adds our author, were Ebionites : poffibly the latter Nazarenes were fo, but not thole that in part compofed the primitive Church ; and that the latter were fo called is an abfurd alfertion, lince the Ebi- onites were not then known as an heretical fe(5t, whofe diftinguifhin^ dodtrine was the unity of the divine nature, in contradid:ion to the Trinity. The Apoftles, it feems, taught this dodrine with great caution and circumfpecflion ; but this is likevvife an argument againft all the mod approved modes of teaching, which al- ways proceed from the elementary to the more abflrufe ^xvls^Jrom milk to Jlrong meat : but the appreheniion of being detecfted in a falfe- hood, or convinced of art or cunning, was as far from the Apoftles, as it is apparent in the adverfaries of their do6trines. No ; they feem throughout to have been plain and {iw^ E cere 50 SERMON III. cere men ; yet they had been unfit for their commiffion, had they been unacquainted witk the properefl method of executing it. But what fay the opponents, particularly the grand and principal one ? " What can be " a clearer proof of the fenfe of the Scrip- " tures, than the pradice of the Church ? ** No fuch thing as the Trinity was believed *' in the firil: or early ages of it ; the fenfe ^' therefore of the Scriptures muil be per- ** verted, which in after-times have been pro- *^ duced in its favour." In another place he argues otherwife. ** The *' Scriptures, when properly explained, do not ** fupport the dodlrine ; it could not therefore ** be the faith of the primitive Church." Firfr, then, becaufe it was not the do(flrine of the Church, he infers that it could not be fup- ported by Scripture ; fecondly, becaufe it is not, as he fays, fupported by Scripture, he aflerts that it could not be the dodtrine of the Church. Both proofs afford the cleareft in- fliance of that falfe way of reafoning, which is called arguing in a circle. In the fame way the Papifls prove the authenticity of their Scriptures, from the fupremacy of the Church, as they like wife fupport the fupremacy of their Church by the authority of the Scriptures. An SERMON III. 51 An author of this perfuafion triumphantly afks, ** V'/hat political view could be more ** anfwered by tranfubftantiation, than by the «* Trinity ^?" The queftion might at firft perplex us, did not general hiflory ftep in to our aid ; for the papal pretenfions to Invejii- tiire fufficiently (hew the ftate effects intended to be produced by that abfurd tenet. It was no prefumption in him, who was habitually employed in making a God, occafionally to make a King or Emperor.; and the erecting of the ceremony of marriage into a facrament, at the fame time that the Prieds v/ere reftrained from it, who, if it were really fo, are at lead as much entitled to it as the Laity, can only be accounted for on fimilar grounds, not only as it contributed to the Church a confider- able quantity of gifts and oblations, but alfo greatly tended to increafe its power and influ- ence : the ceremony might be permitted or prohibited, as bed fulted its intered, or the widies of the wealthy, the powerful, and the luxurious. The degrees of confanguinity are often difiicult either to be edabUdied or even to be difproved. Here then was a condant field for appeals, always attended with expence in proportion to the wealth and importance of E 2 the SZ SERMON III. the parties; and here alfo a condu(ft was ihewn, which might as fairly be taxed with worldly- mindednefs as that of the Corinthians in the text ; and, after having been fairly convided of it, the Papifts might with equal reafon be afked, Are ye not cartial? To return to the main fubjed:, the obferva- tion is juft, that in Jcience ive are guided by reafon, in hillo?y by faSls, which, if well af- certained, cannot be invalidated by fubfequent argument ; fince, if the fad:s are once cftab- lilhed, all reafonings againft them are nugatory and fuperfluous. That a writer did not re- prove a profeffed Arian, is no argument that he approved of his opinion ; nor even fJiould he occafionally, on a particular fubjed:, com- mend him, is it a proof that he coincided with him in all refpeds : and if it is clear that The- odotus^ was the firfi Arian, and that he lived at the clofe of the fecond century, it is vain to attempt to prove that the Trinity is a dodtrine that fprung up fubfequently to, and not at the origin of Chriftianity. The truth is, that the writers mentioned as commending Arianifm, will be found on examination flrongly to con- * Eilhop Horfley's Tradls, p. 241, demn SERMON III. 53 demn it. The filence of authors on fubjeds not immediateiy connedted with the Trinity, is abundantly atoned for by the fulleft atteftation in its favour, whenever it enters into the quef- tion. Befides, corruptions from the nature of the things are pofterior to the inftitutions of which they are corruptions. Arianifm being a corruption of the doctrine of the Trinity, could not be prior to it. T'/jat herefy then appeared two hundred years after the firft preaching of the Gofpel, and it proceeded no further than to declare the Son, thoup-h infe- rior to the Father, yet a divine perfon ftill, and a more important facrifice than any human being could have been. It reprefented him at the fame time the deferving objedl of praife and adoration. It was not till many centuries nfter that Socinianifm carried this wickednefs to the greateft length, debafed, as far as it could, the mod holy Melliah, deprived him of his divine nature, and infinitely diminiflied his power either to fuffer for, or to fave us. It may be aflced, whether moral duties are not preferably enjoined to fpeculative doc- trines ? Now, without admitting that of the Trinity to be merely theoretical, there may be a general or particular necefiity for more than ordinarily dwelling upon it. When ob- E 3 jedions 54 SERMON IIL jed:ions againft it are difieminated throughout the whole nation, it Ihould operate as a call upon the Clergy, in a body, to be inftant in feafon and out of feafon in inculcating the belief of it ; and a fimilar neceffity attaches upon the paftors of particular diftridls, in which the fame negligence or contempt fhould unfortunately appear, otherwife our Saviour's injundion?, with refped: to fatisfying fome duties, and om.itting others, hold as to the in- fifting upon dodrinal, to the negled of prac- "tical points: this ought you to have done, and not to leave the other tindone. The dodrine of the Trinity renders the holy Scriptures confident, and removes the neceffity of amicndment or interpolation. Re- ference to the literal fenfe is alone requilite to reconcile all the parts of the Chriftian fcheme. Grace, contrition, atonemient, acceptance, are all well fupported under the idea of a divine Mediator, and of a facrifice more than hu- man. But how is thinking matter confiflent with an immortal foul ? or how is a future judgment admiffible on the fuppofition that the matter which, exclufively of the particle of the divine breath, forms one man, conti- nually and fucccfTively compofes others ? In fuch a cafe, he has as little to do with the matter SERMON III. 55 matter that formed himfelf, as with that which formed others ; for deny the feparate exiftence of the foul, and every principle of individuation is loft ; and you might as well judge a multitude for the faults of one, as an individual for his own. Befides, what mere man can perform an uniinning obedience ? can juftify himfelf, much lefs others ? Under fuch an incomplete idea, we (liould be at a lofs for that perfediion that fupplies our deficien- cies, and for that unfinning obedience which flamps a value on our otherwife imperfed: fer- vices. If then the dodlrine of the Trinity has its difficulties, ihe Arian or Socinian fcheme has more ; as is manifeft from the pains taken to fupport and give it currency, and from the aftonifhing perfeverance of its advocates, who engage with wonderful audacity in the caufe, and who, v/hen according to every impartial judgment they fliould be perfectly convinced, then appear to be leaft fo. ^ ** If the obnoxious dodtrine of the Tri- '* nity," fays its inveterate opponent, *' were *' removed from the Gofpel, it would more " eafily recommend itfelf to Infidels and Ma- ^ Bifhop Horfley's Trads, p. 264. E 4 ** homctans." 56 SERMON III. «' hometans." What then would he, who charges us with art and prevarication in the defence of it, advife us for any fecondary pur- pofe whatever to abandon it ? We fhould then indeed be the proper objects of his fcorn and reproach, and, which is more, incur the an- ger of our divine Mafler ; befides, the com- mands of God are exprefs againft handling the Scripture deceitfully. If we muft omit this doctrine to ingratiate ourfelves with one fet of men, and that to accommodate another, we might at length be brought by piece-meal to give up the whole Gofpel. The refurredlion from the dead, and an heaven affording fuch pure and refined joys as Chriftianity promifes, would probably be as repugnant to the incli- nations of a Mahometan, as the dodrine of the Trinity is to his preconceived notions of the divine Unity. As to infidels, indeed, the preaching of Chrlfl to them under the defcription of a mere man, and inculcating upon them the docftrine of the Unity, would be only teaching them what they knew, or might have known before ; fince Theifm was the firft and tradi- tional religion of all mankind, ere idolatry and the Jewifli revelation commenced ; yet it an- fwered no purpofes of virtue or reformation. When SERMON III. 57 When therefore the world, by retaining this apparent wifdom, knew not God, it plealed him to fave it by iht foolifinefs of preaching. True he might, as poiTejSing infinite power and knowledge, have faved us in any other way 'y but it is right to fuppofe, that, as he is all perfed:, the ad:ual is the befl poffible way; at leaft he has not made us judges of his coun- cils. In this, as in many other refped;s, all we have to do is to accept the gracious favour, without objeding to the terms, or canvaffing the grounds of it : and as to infidels, it ap- pears that if the knowledge of one God, while they retained it, could not preferve them true to their duty, the defertion of the doctrine of the Trinity, to introduce that of the Unity, is a meafure that is neither expedient, nor likely to be fuccefsful. And indeed great is this myftery of our re- ligion, which human intelled: is not able en- tirely to comprehend, nor accurately to ex- plain ; and if the three Perfons in the God- head are adually one, it muft be in a manner of which we can form no idea j neither is it liable to the objedion fo frequently urged again ft it, '* thd.t pro JiiSI ion is neceflarily prior " to the thing produced, and that caufe and •* effect can never be cotemporary ;" fince we know 58 SERMON III. know that mind and thought exift together and at the fame time, fire and hght, and the object of ifght and the perception of it \ But hold, left, in our endeavours to explain this al- moft inexplicable myftery, we fliould be found prefumptuous in the fight of the divine Ma- jefi;y, by endeavouring to intrude into his more immediate prefence, nay, to pry into his mod augufi: and infcrutable nature ; nor let us in- cur the condemnation of attempting to be wife above what is written. And as to the doc- trine of the Trinity, as far as it is an objedt of reafon, let us admire and revere it ; and as far as it is affirmed to be contained in the Scrip- ture, let us aflent to it in proportion to the fupport it derives from thence, which, though continually queftioned and attacked, yet has never been effedually fet afide. Indeed arguments, or feeming arguments for that purpofe, mufi: be brought from re- mote antiquity, from hiflorians profane or ec- clefiafiiical, who wrote in languages now be- come either dead or nearly obfolete. The adverfaries therefore of our faith have this ad- vantage, that few will have the patience or diligence, and fewer ftill the abilities, to af- i BiHicp Horfiey's Trafts. certain SERMON III. 59 certain the juftnefs of their remarks, and fol- low them through writings at beft unintereft- iiig, generally unprofitable, and often diiguft- ing. They are fure therefore of a temporary triumph, and that their adherents will not fail to eive them credit for uncommon literature and fuperior erudition : yet, thanks be to God, our eftablilhment, in which all are not confined to the province of preaching, has al- ways produced thofe, who have mofl honour- ably to themfelves, and moil ufefiilly to the 'caufe of Chriftianity, devoted their labours to the vindication of fuch dodlrines as might oc- cafionally be queilioned by the wickednefs and prefumption of the age ; and their debtors the Chriftian world is for many able defences of the feveral im.portant tenets of the Gofpel. As to the Trinity, that in our days has been attempted to be fuperfcded, by one whofe perfeverance, abilities, nay, apparent virtues, might create apprehenfion to the moft confi- dent friends of religion : yet it has pleafed God to raife him up an antagonift, in moral qualifications at leafl his equal, and in litera- ture infinitely his fuperior, who has carried the advantages of vidory even farther than could be expe<5led, having refuted, detected, expofed, filenced him ; and convided him of fuch 6o SERMON III. fuch arts, management, evafion, and fubter- fuges, as mud difgrace any caufe, and effec- tually damp the ardour of all thofe who Ihali in future prefume to attack this moft facred dodrine. From this copious repolitory fome arguments have been fele(5led, which feemed moft fatisfadlory, that thofe who have leil'ure and inclination may perufe the remainder, and that thofe who have not, nay, that the v/hole Chriftian world may concur in the general refolution, that if Paul, or Apollos, or even an Angel from heaven (hould teach any other dodlrine than what has been preached, they will rather rely on the exprefs declarations of the Scripture than on theirs, and that they may reft affured that their teachers have not taught them cunningly devifed fables, but that the dod:rine of the Trinity, in particular, is built upon grounds firm, folid, and hitherto unfhaken. They are therefore, by every tie, moral, rational, and religious, obliged to hold fafl the poffeffion of their faith without waver- ing, to which they were folemnly pledged when they were baptized in the name of ths Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoji, SERMON m -r a m /K i f t f mr SERMON IV. Proverbs xxi. 30. T^here is no IVifdom, nor Underjtaiidhig, nor Council againji the Lord, '^HERE are many devices ^ faith another Scripture, in a fnan's heart ; never t he- lefs the council of the Lord, that f: all J] and. One object of man's device, though not eafily attained, is to reconcile to his confcience the unreftrained indulgence of pafiion : this he has conftantly, but vainly attempted, almoft from the birth of time. With this perverfe pro- penfity all writers, who prefer the gratifica- tion of their ov/n vanity, or the acquifition of filthy lucre, to promoting the caufe of truth and virtue, have generally endeavoured to com- ply. Neverthelefs the di(5lates of confcience, and the according imprefhons of Revelation, have maintained their ground j and notwith- ftanding the wiles of wickednefs, the afTevera- tion 62 S E R M O N IV. tlon of audacity, and the Infinuations of phi- lofophy, falfely fo called, ftill the credibility of miracles, the proofs of Chriftianity for in- ftance, remains unfhaken and unmoved. They are as well attefted as any hiftorical fadl ; and it is very remarkable, that, though at prefent objediions againfl them are eaiily produced and countenanced, yet at the time neareft to that in which they were performed, fufpicions as to their authenticity were never harboured or propagated. Shall v/e then prefer modern doubts to the convidion of tlie antients, who lived nearefl: the time of thofe extraordinary events, and who were confequently beft qua- lified to j udge of them ? We have alfo a more fure word of pro- phecy, that is, which is attended with evi- dence more, if pofTible, to be relied on by poflerity ; w^hich conftantiy accompanies it, and acquires in every fucceeding age greater and greater flrength. If thefe foundations, then, are firni and compad:, they cannot yield to any other weaker and fubfequent fuggeftions. The author of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has unhap- pily united a defire of gratifying the too gene- ral inclination to throw off all moral reftraint, to abilities in other refpeds uncommon, and to S E R M O N IV. 65 to induftry perfevering and unconquerable. But in proportion as his aim leems to have been to depreciate our reHgion and its divine Author, fo has it been to elevate, into unme- rited confequence, a charad:er moft oppofite and inimical to both ; namely, the Emperor Julian, whofe difpofition he has fo long flu- died, that he feems at length in fome degree to have reduced his own to a iimilarlty with it. For that apoftate, when perfecuting the Chriflians, was remarkable on fuch occalions for adding infult to injury * : he deprived them of their property, withal faying, " Be quiet, for " your religion forbids your purfuing legal ** modes of redrefs." '* "Why," added he in the fame fpirit, " do you repine at fufferings .? *'■ Your God, has he not taught you todefpife *' the goods of this world, and to undergo with ** patience afflidions and injuflice ?" And on another occafion he thus joins the mofl ter- rible menaces to a cold and malignant plea- fantry. " What an admirable law is that of *^ the Galilean, which teaches his followers *' to forego advantages on earth to arrive at ** Heaven ! We are determined, as much as is " in our power, to expedite their journey thi- ^ Le Beau, Hiftoire du bas Empire, v. iii, p. 180. ** ther." 64 S E R M O N IV. •* then" In like manner this hiflorian, avoid- ing the plain and diredt road, endeavours to un- dermine all divine revelation, and is lefs ealily to be guarded againft, from his introducing fufpicious furmife and rude raillery, rather than a conliftent charge or open accufation. Language perhaps has hardly a word more equivocal, than the common expreffion, caufey for it may either be partial, or total, material, formal, or final — either principal, co-ordi- nate, or fubordmate -, nor till the precife fenfe ot the word, among fo many, is clearly afcer- tained, can we at all depend on the accuracy of the author's reafoning who ufes it. Caufes too, and thofe eminently effeftual, are often too mean to correfpond with the dignity of hiflory to mention them ; others are fo con- cealed, that, though it may flatter the vanity of the political hiilorian to fuppofe that he has difcovered them, vet, as thev often elude the fearch of contemporaries, we cannot re- pofe great confidence in the pretended know- ledge of thofe, who, in after-ages, conceive that they have rendered themfelves acquainted v/ith them. In a pof^humous publication, indeed, this confefTcdly agreeable writer has endeavoured to atone for the mifchief done by his grand work ; and at lafl declares, that, in his SERMON IV. 6s his alignment of the caufes that produced the fuccefs of Chriftianity, he meant only fuch as were merely human. Yet who fees not that his introdud:ion of human caufes was intended to render lefs neceflary the interference of the divine and fupreme ; without which no hu- man or fubordinate one could poffibly ope- rate. If the former were to combine with the latter for unworthy purpofes, it would dero- gate from its honour j and if by inferior caufes it fliould promote effed:s to which they were of themfelves inadequate, they would then be accidentally and improperly llyled caufes ; but not fo in the true and accurate fenfe of the expreflion. The firft caufe alledged by this author for the extenlive propagation of the Chriftian faith, which took place foon after its appear- ance \ was a Jewifli zeal againfl idolatry pre- vailing among the converts to the Gofpel. But the Apoftles firll introduced it among their countrymen the Jews : how then could their patience and perfeverance be excited by a zeal againft idolatry, in converting a people among whom at the time it was not pradifed ? In this cafe the caufe is applied to an objed i Vide Bilhop Watfon's Apology for Chriftianity, p. 236. F which 66 SERMON IV. which did not exift ; it could not then be truly affigned. Indeed the non-compliance of the firft preachers of Chriflianity, with the cuftoms and opinions of thofe, as well Jews as others, whom they attempted to convert, feems a me- thod rather of eftranging men from, than of reconciling them to, a new dodrine. So thought the Jefuits, and thofe fent out in modern time to propagate the Gofpel in coun- tries yet unconverted, who are generally taxed with accomm.odating too much the precepts of the Gofpel to the cuftoms of the people amongft whom they travelled -, not as not pradiling the heft means for effecting their purpofes, but as deviating from the reditude, and polluting the purity of the Chriftian faith. This they had not done, had they judged, with our author, that a fierce and intolerant 2eal was the beft m.ethod of propagating reli- gious opinions, and of gaining converts to them. ^ Under this head our hiftorian infers, from the recorded difobedience of the Jews, under the very impreffion, as it is faid, of the divine miracles, that they difbelieved both them and ™ Ibidem, p. 248, the S E R M O N IV. 67 the revelation itfelf, in atteftuion of which they were performed. This obfervation, it is to be feared, is hazarded with the maUcious intention of undermining the fupports as well of the Jewidi as of the Chriflian difpenfation, or rather of piercing the one through the lides of the other. But the objecflion will lofe its force with thofe who are fnfficiently acquainted with the deplorable depravity of human na- ture. Alas ! it is no argument that a man difbelieves a religion, becaufe he a6ls in con- tradidtion to it. Among the Jews, as among the Chriftians, there will always be found fuch as believe, yet tremble ; v/ho are obedi- ent only while judgment impends over them, but who are continually abufing that Mercy, to which, at lafl, they mail: have recourfe for pardon, if they would encourage any hopes of falvation ; coniiftently with which expecta- tion, though they may occadonally provoke the patience and long-fuftering of God, yet they can never entirely reje6t and abandon it. The partial or imaginary caufes affigned by this celebrated hiftorian, feem intended to de- preciate, or rather to render unnecefTary the real ones, recorded as the principal means of F 2 the 68 SERMON IV. the fuccefs of the Gofpel ; namely, the mi- racles of -our Saviour, and thofe of his Apo- flles. " Now the fecond caufe, which, independ- ently of them, he introduces, is the dodtrine of a future ftate, and the expectation which was then encouraged of the prefent world being foon to be confumed. But though this appreheniion was, in the fubfequent ages of the Church, applied to the enriching of con- vents, and other religious communities, yet in that light, and to that purpofe, it could not be ufed by the firft teachers of Chriftianity, fmce it made no part of their dodtrine. Of this there can he no greater nor more con- vincing proof, than the pallage of St. Paul in his Epiflle to the TheHalonians : " We be- *' feech you, brethren, by the coming of the " Lord jefus Chriil, anS'by'our gathering to- " gether unto him, that ye be not fhaken, nor ** troubled, neither by fpirit, nor by word, nor *' by letter, as from us, as that the day of judg- ** ment is at hand. Let no man deceive you <* by any means." How could that notion, then, namely, of the near approach of the day Ibid. p. 255. of SERMON IV. 69 of judgment, be a caufe of the extenfive ac- ceptance of Chriftianity, which the Apoilles themfelves difowned and difcountenanced ? ° Nor could the dodrine of the Millen- nium, a fimilar reafon afligned by our author, contribute to the fame purpofe ; fince among the primitive Chriftians it was only partially, and not univerfally entertained. It is a no- tion not lefs contrary to the opinion of many antient, than to that of the moft refpedable modern writers : it refted therefore on too dif- putable grounds, and was confined within too narrow a circle, to be fo extenfively effedual as our author fuppofes it. Neither was it the doctrine of a future ftate, as it is at this day profelfed among Chriflians, that was fufficient of itfelf to produce the wonderful effects that, at its firrt flages, at- tended the Gofpel ; for it promifed not a ftate of blifs hereafter, confident with the indul- gence of impure and irregular paffion here : it required the facrifice of the deareft earthly interefts, to qualify men for that perfecSl ftate to which it was intended to introduce them. It was not a merely fpiritual exiftence which it announced to thofe who were obedient to « Ibidem, p. 271. F 3 it. 70 SERMON IV. it, but one in which the foul was a^ain to be reunited to the body. This was contradidiory as well to the general opinion, as to the refult of conftant experience. It was likewife at- tended, and flrongly charged with circum- ilances of uncommon terror ; fuch as the dif- folution and conflagration of all thing's; con- federations adapted rather to appal, than to conciliate, particularly the wicked, and which lurely nothin? could have engaged them to bcjieve, but a con virion of the authority of thofs W'ho taught fuch a dodtrine, as well as of the conclufivenefs of the proofs by which they evinced it, '' Thefe proofs confining of miraculous powers which, according to cur author, were afcrlbed to the Apoftles, but not aduaily pof- fslTed by them, or by their mere immediate fuccelTors, are mentioned by him as another caufe of its fuccefs. But they are mentioned only to be m.ifre- prefented; and fuch falfe and pretended mi- racles, as ke recounts, were never exhibited by the Apoflks, but were introduced in after-ages by the fubfequent corruptions of the Church. However be it obfcrved, that thofe attributed to p Ibidem, p. 276. our SERMON IV. 71 our Saviour and his Apoftles in the New Tef- tament, are fo connedted with the hiftory of the Old, that they both muft ftand or fall to- gether. Not fo the falfe miracles introduced into other hiftories : they have no natural connexion with each other, or with either of the Teftaments ; nor are they at all concerned in their truth. Yet the forgery of, or pre- tence to miracles, far from fubverting the cre- dit of the true, adlually eftablidi it. Were there none genuine, it never had entered into the mind of man to counterfeit any. In the fame manner we may infer the actual exiftence of numerous virtues, from the many attempts of hypocrites to impofe upon the world by the empty appearances of them. '^ Indeed prefent experience cannot invali- date the teflimony of tradition in favour of miracles : not a man's own, becaufe that is very limited ; not that of his friend, becaufe that is equally fo. But if recourfe is had to the tradition of hiftory, thofe of all nations unite in bearing teftimony to them, which cannot be rejeded without denying as v^^eii their authenticity as that of the facred book, ? Ibidem, p. 285. F 4 which 72 SERMON IV. which the befl judges have always declared to be the moll: genuine of any in the world. The power of attrad:ion in the magnet, ere it was known, was contrary to experience ; but was that a good reafon for denying it ? Later experience has proved it true. Parti- cular experience, therefore, is no more an ob- jection againft the fufpenlions of nature, as is the cafe in miracles, than it would have been againil the difcovery of powers before un- known ', as is the cafe in the attraction of the map;net. ' The next caufe afligned by this popular hiftorian, is the virtue of the firfl: Chrifiians. But what he confers with one hand, he re- fumes with the other j the conilant artifice of this feemingly candid writer : for the Gofpel, according to him, was firft addrefied to wo- men, to the ignorant, ' to the polluted with atrocious guilt ; and it was only from their de- fire of feparating themfelves from the reft of mankind, that the firft Chriftians, like other fects, pretended to extraordinary purity. Now the majority of the converts were not fuch as this author has reprefented them. The Apoftles ' Ibidem^ p. 290, ^ Ibidem, p. 291, might SERMON IV. 73 might have enumerated among them fome of ' the principal men of the then principal ci- ties : they had no fellowship with the works of darknefs, but rather reproved them ; yet wherever a fincere defire of reformation ap- peared, to that they advifed, invited, encou- raged men ; and if their religion afforded comfort and medicine to a few wounded con- fciences, it was rather a recommendation than a difparagement of it. True, many fe(fls, but not all, have pretended to extraordinary piety j yet the purpofe of the Apoftles was not fepa- ration, but to form the whole world into one fociety, or rather to fele(ft out of it a peculiar people zealous of good works. They withdrew from the Jews only as far as they were wicked; and throughout all ages feparation from the profane has never been reckoned a difpoHtion to fchifm or fe<5tarifm. As to the Gentiles, it is manifeft that the Apoftolical invitation to union was particularly addrefled to them j and how the Apoftles could be faid to be defirous of feparating from thofe with whom they were never effectually united, is a queflion which may be left with thofe to determine * Ibidem, p. 295. who 74 S E R, M.O;N IV. who pin their faith upon the lleeve of this author. The lafc caufe by our hiftorian affigned for the fuccefs of Chriflianity, is the wonderful union which he fays fubfiftcd among the firfl Chriftians. But this indeed, though they aimed at it, they could ,never accomphfh : they were early and conilantly fubjed: to be broken into fedls, and to be divided by a variety of opinions ; nay the very perfecutions which they endured tended to difunite them from thofe whofe zeal was not the moll warm, and who therefore, in time of affliclions, fell away. " Not that the diveriity of opinions, which flill exift, can be fairly laid to the charge ei- ther of the primitive Church, or of the Re- formation afterwards, as if they necelTarily gave birth to it. Alas ! it feems inherent in our nature. Truth certainly cannot be but one ; yet wherever there are men, they will difagree, particularly as to its more abftrufe points : in this they are generally determined more by their interefls than their intellect. Ail too are naturally ill-difpofed to whatever awes or reftrains them -, yet fome follow more au- " Ibidem, p. 300. ftere. SERMON IV. . y^ ftere, others more relaxed modes of faith ; and even the former ad: thus confiftently with the before-mentioned hatred of authority, fmce it is often found that the more openly rigid are covertly the more licentious. But God, and he alone has a right to do it, produces good and advantage to the caufe of religion even from evil. The various ftOis are certainly a check upon each other, 2indjalfe teachers on the profeiTors of the original and true dod:rine. Thus, perhaps, virtue and religion, on the whole, derive fome benefit from the energy and emulation which, refped:ively to recom- mend themfelves, the different fedts exhibit. But no merit is due to the authors of thefe di- vifions on that account 3 nor are the advan- tages equal to thofe that would accrue from the whole Chriflian Church's maintaining, as the Gofpel dired:s, an entire harmony, and a permanent and uninterrupted peace, among all its members. It is true, that in every Chriftian congrega- tion a difcipline prevailed, which it were well for the common religion, if it at prefent in a greater degree fubfifted. None but thofe of good characfVer it received, or who fhewed figns of fincere contrition and repentance ; and the 76 SERMON IV. the latter, after baptifm, underwent a fevere difcipline of fafling, watching, prayer, and fe- clufion, ere they could be completely admitted into the bofom of the Church. But thefe fe- verities, by the way, feem, unlefs fupported by the other divine aids which the Apoftles poiTelled, to have been rather difcouragements than allurements to frefh converts to enter into it. ''As to the various regulations of the in- fant Church for the government of its mem- bers, this power of enacting them it poffelTed in common with all other focieties ; and with refped: to them they v/erc left by their divine Mafter to be guided by the dictates of their own prudence ; the Gofpel, as it contains no dire(flions as to them, fo neither is it concerned in the ufe of them. We muft confefs that there have been vicious prieils, and biafled ec- clefiaftical councils, that have enjoined impi- ous and irrational decrees. The Church of Rome too is likewife guilty of abominable er- rors, as well in opinion as practice ; but as religion approves of none of thefe things, but exprefsly forbids them, fo neither is {he at all Ibid, p. 312. chargeable SERMON IV, 77 chargeable with them : let man bear the blame, but let divine Revelation remain fpot- lefs and unimpeached. Yet it feems an unenviable ingenuity to take a mifchievous pleafure in accumulating all that can be faid againfl the firfl Chriftians, and at the fame time to fupprefs all that might be urged in their favour -, to blow into a flame each fpark of calumny againfl them., and at the fame time to extinguidi the fla- grant accufations which then fubfifted againfl: their adverfaries. * The hifliorian dwells with apparent fatisfadion on the difcovery that a re- puted Saint was publickly accufed of fo mean a crime as that of theft, but, for purpofes beft known to himfelf, he conceals the circum- ftance that the charge- was entirely falfe and ill-grounded ; a condu(il this, that by every impartial reader muft be condemned, as a manifefl:ly injurious fuppreflion of a material point in the cafe ; and fuch a charge rather confers reputation than ignominy on the ac- cufed, and on the caufe in which he was en- gaged. Not that his intention or fincerity makes the martyr, as is pretended by *' a writer of a * Gibbon's Mifcellanies, Vol. II. p. J74. >■ Voltnire. feme- 78 S E R M O N IV. fomewhat fimilar flamp, but the abfolute truth of the caufe can alone entitle the fufFerer to that facred appellation. Our hiftorian too, with an equally favourable difpofition towards Chriflianity as ufual, declares, that it firft re- commended itfelf to Conilantine by the doc- trines of paffive obedience and non-refiftance, which it inculcates ; yet thefe were not known till many centuries after, when the Scripture precepts of loyalty to legal fovereigns were flrained, as they always are by the fpirit of party, to an unnatural extreme ; but as to Conftantine, he had none to contend with, who oppofed him under the pretence of fupport- ing the caufe of liberty, except only rival can- didates for the empire. No, that facred flame was extinguifhed with the laft' heroes of the republic ; nor has it ever fmce, to any pur- pofe, revived in Rome pagan or papifllcal ; nor has the latter ever pretended to it, till re- cently fome modern writers of that perfuafion have indeed furprifed us ""^ by attempting to reconcile civil liberty with political flavery, freedom of difquilition with papal infallibi- lity, and the rights of man with the fum^mary proceedings of the inquifition. But of this '■ Vide Hillory of Henry II. and Church and State. more SERMON IV. 79 more hereafter. In the mean time, how could the charge agaiiifl Chriflianity, exhi- bited by the hiftorian of the DecHne and Fall, that it made citizens difobedient to the go- vernment, and foldiers mutinous, be confiftent with what he fays in the accufation juH now mentioned, that its doctrines of paflive obedi- ence and non-refiflance recommended it to the rulers of the prefent world ? Surely thefe two acculations cannot fabfiil together. As to martyrs, there were certainly enough of them, who fufFered fufficiently to eftablilh the truth of their religion ; *but the neediefs pains taken in endeavouring, by a very precarious ^ calcu- lation, to reduce their number, to palliate, if poffible, the cruelty of thofe who coniigned them, though innocent, to fuch fevere tor- ments, betray a mind very manifeilly bialied againft our moil holy faith, and mufl take very much from all that a writer under fuch influence might affert in difparagement of it. What a parade is there made of the virtues, the erudition, the heroifm of Julian, though one abominable method of divination, as prac- tifed by him, is entirely omitted, which yet ^ Vide Gibbon. ** Vide Abridgement of Gibbon, Vol, II. p. 231, is 8o S E R M O N IV. is recorded by an *" author, of whom the hif^ torian of the Decline and Fall has made fre- quent and liberal ufe ; and with refped: to fu-* perftition, though the firil Chriftians are oc- cafionally by this writer abundantly loaded with this accufation alfo, yet how is this re- concileable with the charge made againft them by the fame author, even of atheifm itfelf ? ^hat at lead, and fuperflition, are totally in- compatible. ^ They are accufed likewife of confpiracies againfl the ftate ; yet the very fame author taxes them with meannefs of fpirit, with an idle and philofophical abftrad;ion from worldly affairs, with an Epicurean purfuit of merely felfifh gratification. Men thus difpofed quit not ufually their retirement, to encounter cares of any fort, much iefs to mingle in confpira- cies. •= Muratori Annali d'ltalia. Vol. II. p. 427. Cosi nel celebre Tempio di Carres dedicate alia Luna, per quanto nana Teodoreto*, chiufofi Giuliano un giorno durante ]a fuddeua fpcdizione, non fi leppe cofa ivi facelTe, fe non che ufcito, mile leguardie a quel Luogo, con ordine di non lalciarvi entrar per- fona, fino al Tuo ritorno. Venuta poi la nuova di fua morte, fu apertoil Tempio, e vi fi trovouna dor.na impiccata col ventre aperto, per qualche incantei'imo fatro da Giuliano^ o pure per cercar nelle di lei viicere quel, che gli dovea fuccedcre nella guerra co' Perfiani. ^ Bifhop Watfon's Apology, p. 343. * Lib, > H, c. 21, They SERMON IV. 8i ' They are likewife injurioufly charged with the commiffion of the moft atrocious crimes. How then, according to our author, could they recommend their religion by their appa- rent virtues ? But the falfehood of this accu- fation is abundantly proved, by the yet extant Epiftle of the younger Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, who, fo far from confirming this ca- lumny, declares concerning them, ^ ** that ** they were a defcription of people who bound ** themfelves by an oath not to commit any *' wickednefs, who met periodically, and fang ** hymns unto Chrift as unto God, and after a ** temperate repafl: retired." Here then is the fo much required teftimony of an Heathen to the character of the iirft Chriftians, and, what is more, it attefts their innocence. So weak and inconclulive are the reafonings of otherwife learned men againft the Lord, and againft his anointed ! The few feledled may ferve as fpecimens of the reft ; and doubt- lefs their other councils, were there time or inclination to examine them, would prove equally frivolous and unfounded. Councils did I fay ? It is an abufe of the term : they * Ibidem. Ibidem, p. 247. G are-" 82 SERMON IV. are but the defpicable efFufions of depravity and its ufual attendants, artifice and mifrepre- fen tation. Nor does the whole difcourfe afford a more important inference, than the different effedfs of learning purfued for the purpofe of j unifying ourfelves and others in the pradrice of wickednefs, or for ever efLablifli- ing men in the paths of virtue and righteouf- nefs. In the one cafe, the more we improve in folely human accompliihments, the vainer, and confequently the blinder we are rendered as to all the mofc uiefal and moil: important purpofes of our being : in the latter, the more we know, the more virtuous we are ; and the more virtuous, the more complete we become in all enviable and really profitable fcience, till at length upon the minds of fuch truth beams in meridian fplendour, and the clouds of error and fophiftry no fooner collecSt than they are difperfed : they are reproved of all, they are convinced of all, and falling down and worfhipping, they are enabled to declare of the univerfe, as the devout Chriflian con- cerning the congregation of the faithful. Surely Go J is in this place \ neither is their heart troubled, but believing in the fupreme Being, they are confequently jufiified in be- lieving SERMON IV, 83 Ileving alfo in him, whom he has by fo many irrefragable proofs declared that he has fent. Now upon all that hear me, and particularly upon thofe who regulate their literary pur- fuits according to this plan, peace be upon them^ and upon the IJrael of God^ G 2 SERMON 1 . r mm M II I 1 1 mil iMii m il I III ■! II I Bii iiiwiii m i mii nmn— ■■ n T^^l- ' , . : —-^ ... .^^ SERMON V. Matt. vii. 16, Te fiall know them by their Fruits* THIS criterion, laid down by our Saviour, of the charadlers of men individually, holds equally of them when united in focicty. The proof then of the truth of any religion, Ghriftianity, for inftance, is beft eilabliihed by its utility ; and how a writer, engaged in fuch a fubjed: as the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, could be blind to fuch a re- prefentation of it, which naturally refulted from his fubjedt, is indeed aftonifhing, could it not be accounted for from the uncommon vanity which feems to have accompanied him throughout, and from a defire of rendering his work agreeable to the depraved tafte of the generality, rather than to that of the good and judicious. In the body of his work we are prefented with a concife, yet laborious G 3 fummary S6 SERMON V. fummary of the Roman law, from which we necefTarily infer the prodigious erudition of the writer ; but it had certainly tended more to the enlightening of the reader, had each particular law, under the feveral general heads, been accompanied with the date when it was enad:ed, at leaft during the period that coin- cided with his work. In that cafe the laws had attefted the hiftory, and the hiftory the laws, by {hewing the reafon and occafion of their promulgation. And then it may be conjedlured, that, inftead of feeming objec- tions againft: Chriftianity, many confiderations had been fuggefted in its favour, all tending to advance virtue, to improve manners, and confequently to increafe the general Hock of happinefs among mankind. Together with other advantages, it would have appeared that Chriftianity had intro- duced a more liberal law of nations. The Roman policy of conftantly fupporting the weaker againft the ftronger, the more effec- tually in the end to fubdue both, was dired:Iy contrary to the fpirit of Chriftianity, which has been known to interfere between the vic- tor and the vanquifhed, moderating the extra- vagance of the one, and availing itfelf of every polTible plea in favour of the other : nay, the Roman S E R M O N V. ^7 Roman Prelates themfelves, even in the worfl times of the hierarchy, it muft be owned, have often, where their peculiar interefts were not concerned, fhewn themfelves the patrons of juftice, the defenders of the diftreffed, and the gracious minifters of mercy. They have been known to protedt, by threatening the aggref- fors with the terrible thunders of excommuni- cation, the weaker and opprelled, againft the ftronger and encroaching nation, to fummon to the tribunal of reafon the claims of con- tending m.onarchs, and to determine, by their authority, in favour of the m.ore equitabl;? caufe. The propagation of Chriftianity among the northern nations of Europe, through the aid derived to it from the newly- created em- perors of the Weft, was indeed m.arked with violence. Thofe champions of the faith, marched as it were with the fword in one hand and the Scriptures in the other, the confe- quence was, that the vanquifhed were ob- liged to fubmit as well to the fovereignty, as to embrace the reHgion of their conquerors : perhaps thefe rude nations could not other- wife be brought under its light and eafy yoke. Of this, fince the increafins: ravs of fcience have illumined them, they are at laft con- G 4 vinced. S^ S E R M O N V. vinced.. Inclination has reconciled them to v/hat neccfiity introduced ; and they cannot be infcnfible of advantages which, however communicated, it is infinitely better to poiTefs, than to be entirely deflitute of them. Chriftianity has been by its divine Author compared to leaven : as that pervades the whole lump, fo is the former in a way to accomplifn its intended effeS:, the moral im- provement and reformation of the world ; but though, in conformity to the defigns of Provi- dence, obftacles llowly recede, and more ex- tenlive acceptance is as jQowly obtained, yet evils which have been long in removing are lefs likely to return, and advantages not fud- denly attained are on that account the more prized, and confequently are of longer conti- nuance. When Emperors fat on the throne to decide upon metapbylical queilions, and oppofite parties in the flate took different fides, the queftions at leaft were thoroughly agitated, and the learning of the age was rather increafed than otherwife : but if, under the immediate view of fuch authority, the abfo- lute determination of them was in vain at- tempted, the refult muR be to call our atten- tion to more ufeful fpeculations, and to revive the S E R M O N V„ ^ the genuine fpirit of our religion, which con- fifts lefs m the k?iowledge that pujjeth up, than in the chanty that edifieth, A candid and legitimate hiftorian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, had found a lignal opportunity for difplaying the merits of Chriftianity, as well in the duties of mercy and compaffion that it generally recom- mends, as in its particularly difcouraging thofe fanguinary fports, to which the antient Ro- mans were fo long habituated, and fo fondly attached. If the then moft poliflied nations were thus brutal in their pleafures, thofe def- titute of their advantages mufl have been even more fo. The fuppreffion therefore of fo po- pular and favourite an entertainment, could be attributed to nothing but to the effed: of that mild and humane religion which had taken root, and fpread wide its branches among ft them, at the time thefe amufements were entirely difcontinued. That men Ihould be trained to reciprocal ferocity, ihould for hire either receive or inflid; wounds, and gain applaufe in proportion to their encountering danger with lefs fear, and as they endured the fatal ftroke with greater refolution, to thofe educated in Chriftian fentiments feems afto- nilhing : indeed nothing can be more fo, ex- cept 90 S E R M O N V. cept that there {hould have exifted humari beings, and thofe pretending to high degrees of refinement, who were capable of deriving pleafure from fo difgufting a fpedtacle. The contentions of the blue and green facftions were frivolous indeed, often feditious ; yet, when confidered as fuperfeding the fhews of gladi- ators, their being afterwards exclufively en- couraged may be regarded as an improvement introduced by Chriflianity, thus weaning men from fanguinary fports, and engaging them in thofe of mere amufement ; not fo ufeful as the fcenes of the ferious drama, which it encou- raged, or indeed did not difapprove, as they tended to the purifying of the paffions by holding up a faithful mirror to life, and by enriching with moral fentiments the humara mind. The mitigation of the penal laws might al- fo have been, by an unprejudiced hiftorian, numbered among the many advantages which the Empire received from the eflablirhment of Chriftianity. The mutilated flatues, dug from the remains of ruined cities, were fuppofed to be rendered thus by the hand of time ; but further experience has clearly afcertained that they but too faithfully reprefent the horrid puniHiment ufually iniiicfted on Haves or cap- tives. SERMON V. 91 tives. Surely even the fale of them was pre- ferable to fuch a cruel treatment. Impaling, crucifixion, and other dreadful modes of exe- cution, are now grown obfolete : while atro- cious crimes are committed, capital punifli- ments will be necefTary ; yet even where life is juflly forfeited, the laws fliould be content with depriving the guilty of it in a manner as little as poffible ofFeniive to the feelings of the fpe<5lators, and not unneceiTarily excruciating to thofe who fufFer. The cu flora of cauling criminals to look fledfaflly on burning brafs till their fight was extinguiflied by it ; a pu- nifhment undoubtedly cruel, yet not equal to the abfolute deftrudion of them j the con- iigning to a monaflery, or to the ofHce of the priefthood, which could not afterwards be re- ligned, thofe whofe crimes rendered them dangerous, or abilities fufpicious to the flate ; nay, the afylums afforded by religious inftitu- tions for offenders of all kinds, till the paf- fions of the injured fliould have time to cool ; all feem to fpeak the efforts of Chrillianity to reconcile neceffity with indulgence, punifli- ment with mercy, and even the ftroke of death with an eafy inflidion of it. Our own age may be congratulated for be- ing 92 S E R M O N V. ing infinitely lefs culpable in this refped thah thofe that have preceded it. The enormous cruelties that have accompanied the revolu- tion in a neighbouring nation, have met in ours with almoft univerfal abhorrence: only a few excufed them as necelTary, to counterad: their opponents, and therefore adually afcrib- able to them. But thofe who have been taught as the truth is in Jefus, never think themfelves juftified in returning evil for evil, but endeavour to overcome it with good j per- forming the latter at all events, and at the hazard of all confequences. Lately, too, when a Roman mode of punifhment was re- vived in a part of our ifland, ftill fubjecfl to their laws, the affembled multitude turned away in difgufl: and deteftation of the horrid fight. Here then the manners as it were cor- rected the laws : and this condud: augured well, proving them in no fmall degree tinc- tured with the benevolent principles of our re- ligion ; and whatever legillator fhall fo far comply with her fpirit as to expunge the too fanguinary pages that flill difgrace our flatute book, will deferve well of his country, of hu- manity ; and at the fame time that he llaews by fuch an inftance how much he is concerned for S E R M O N V, 93 for the dignity of human nature in general, he will afford an indifputable proof of the excel- lency of his own. The author of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall has occafion to remark the groffnefs of manners exhibited in common life by the antient Romans. Though reprefented to us, in their national charadler, as conquerors of the world, yet is there nothing amiable or en- gaging in their intercourfe with each other as individuals : the infolence of the rich, the meannefs of the poor, living upon offal regu- larly difpenfed to them at the gates of the higher citizens ; the haughtinefs of the patron towards his client, even when he condefcended to admit him to the fame table ; are quite fo- reign to modern opinions and pradlce. And to what is this owing but to Chriftianity, which fummons to a tribunal before which the higheil muft bend, and which negleds not the claims of the very loweft ? The docflrine, peculiarly its own, of charity, introduces the true and only practicable idea of equality, by which the wants of the many are relieved by the fuperfluities of the few; and its injunc- tion, that the difciples Jhould wafi one an^ other s feet i affords a queftion, whether it im- prove 94 S E R M O N V, prove mofl: thofe who perform the duty, or thofe to whom it is performed ? Hence condefcenfion in fuperiors, and fub- miffion from inferiors ; hence the endearing offices of civility, courtefy, humanity ; hence a participation in the pleafures, as well as a fenfe of the forrows of others ; hence too we increafe our own joys by communicating them, and derive comfort under our fufferings from the pity and compaffion which they excite. Hence our cities become fecial and agreeable habitations, and our ftreets are free from offence or violence ; our couches too are fecure from fufpicion or injury, and, inftead of the folitude and drearinefs that reigns in the dens of favages, our tables afford occafion for amufement and inftrud:ion, for the effufions of the underflanding, or for the infinitely more valuable expanfions of the heart. Thefe ad- vantages were feldom to any extent experi- enced before the eflablilhment of Chriftianity ; and that they are now fo generally felt, muft be reckoned among its morl obvious and pleafing effects. The hiftorian of the Decline and Fall is not to be blamed for not mentioning the influence of Chriftianity on the laws v/hich he has oc- cafion S E R M O N V. 95 cafion to introduce. No ; but the fault lies here, that he allows it not in this particular its full force. The fevere edicts published by the Chriflian Emperors againft adultery, fpeak them fuggefted by a fyftem that requires the mofl exad: and fcrupulous purity of manners. The extremes to which this doctrine was car- ried were natural to a new tenet j and had our author been as defirous of feleding good, as he is of expofing depraved female chara(5ters, he might have found, even amongft the Em- prefTes, fuch as were not lefs exemplary than they were elevated, who were fliining inftances of virtue and piety, and for the forming of whom the world was indebted to Chriflian principles. The Roman law originally inverted the hufband with the fame power over the wife that a father had over his fon ; namely, that of life and death. Divorces were likewife eafily permitted, notwithftanding the frequent exertions of Chriftianity to regulate the infti- tution according to our Saviour's plan, and to confine the caufes of feparation to thofe laid down in the Gofpel : but Juftinian, according to our author, confulted in his famous code the unbelieving Civilians, and his matrimonial law§, all owing in this refped: greater indul- gence. 96 SERMON \\ gence, are influenced by the earthly motives of juftice, policy, and the natural freedom of both fexes. Happy times ! in which, for the improvement of their morals, the works of fuch writers are entrufted to the hands of youth. Surely that fex will no longer be par- tial to an author, whofe licentioufnefs, in the pure times of the republic had been oiFenfive even to the dignity of a Roman matron, and who would deprive Chriftianity of its boafted pre-eminence, that of advancing, on thefurefk grounds, the female charader to its higheil perfedion. It will be needlefs to mention, among other effects which the Romans, and ourfelves after them, have obtained by embracing Chriftian- ity, the total abolition of the horrid cuftom of human facrifices. Oroiius taxes them with it even in the glorious aera of their republic ; and moreover tells them, in commendation of the Gofpel, that though it could not avert misfortunes, it furnifhed, however, the moft eifedual motives for enduring them. Yet there is a point, which, on the prefent fub- jed:, cannot but be mentioned, and which, by .preventing human mifery in the extreme, has proportionally contributed to our happinefs ; namely, the entire difcouragement it Ihows to the S E R M O N V. 97 the before too prevalent cuftom of fuicide. It was that in which Stoicifm principally prided itfelf ; its lawfulnefs or unlawfulnefs was left undetermined by moft of the other fedts ; it was the fancied refuge too often fought by weak, unenlightened, defpairing nature ; yet how little beneficial was it to the fufferer, how fraught with terror to the furvivor ? But the dod:rines of Chriflianity naturally tend to reftrain and compofe the paffions ; and the confiderations it fuggefls, of themfelves refift and prevent this horrid pra6tice. They teach, that, if we fuffer for our fins, it is but juft that we fliould abide by fuch confe- quences as we have brought upon oarfelves ; that if we are opprefied by the divine venge- ance, the fatisfying of his juftice here, is pre-- ferable to enduring the eternal efiecfts of it hereafter : all impatience, diftruft, defpair va- ni{h before the idea of an omnipotent, yet all- gracious Being, who can fuccour us in all for ^ ro ivSj and deliver us from all dangers ^ and who in the midjl of wrath thinketh upon mercy. Another advantage, unqueflionably to be attributed to Chriftianity, and which this- declamatory v/riter had fuch an obvious op- portunity of remarking, was the filence of the H Oracles, 98 SERMON V. Oracles, which took place almoft immediately on its eftablifhment. When the real truth appeared, the fabrications of falfehood in courfe were mute ; for that they were falla- cious engines of deception, we at this time cannot doubt. Yet how long did they ter- rify and enthrall antient Greece, the nurfe of fcience and of the arts ^ and, as if the impo- lition had not profited enough from human ignorance and credulity, the Romans adopted and continued it j whilfl none of the boafted fages and philofophers of either nation was fo kind as to open their eyes upon this fubjed:. Socrates dared not do it, and Cicero, all-ac- complifhed as he was, rather ftraitened than loofened the bands of this inveterate fuperfti- tion. Another, and flill more glorious efFedt of Chriflianity, paffed over with equal inatten- tion by our author, is the total and complete overthrow of idolatry, atchieved in the period of which he treats, and which happened feem- ingly to his infinite regret. Yet what tongue can tell the immoralities of that mode of reli- gion, what fancy but muft be vitiated by its licentioufnefs, what confcience but muft be harrowed up by the atrocities that accompa- nied it ? The mere wprfhippers of the idol had SERMON V. 99 had been rightly enough left to the confe- quences of their weaknefs and folly; but it was to refcue thofe who were difguftcd with the wickednefs that was afTociated with fuch rites, that a revelation was, in the early ages of the world, vouchfafed from heaven : at firft fevere indeed in proportion to the obfti- nacy of the diforder intended to be remedied by it, but which in time was to yield to a milder difpenfation, as m.ore congenial to the infinite mercy of God. How mifapplied then the talents, that could counteract fo gracious a defign ! Our author therefore may be com^ mended for brilliancy of ftyle, may be pro- pofed as a pattern of indefatigable induftry, and of the moft profound erudition, but none that is duly zealous of the dignity of human nature, but muft abhor the defign of apolo- gifing for a religion of fuch indelible infamy and debafement, as is idolatry .; and he muft equally reprobate the attempt (when the fub- jed: naturally led to the dired: contrary) of ca- lumniating the Chriflian inftitution, which, after the former had been rivetted for many ages among the cufi:oms of mankind, was, under God, the happy means of refcuing them from it. H 2 What 100 S E R M O N V. ^ What a triumph did Chriftianity at lafl exhibit in the temple of Jupiter Ammon, in the city of the African i^lexandria ! The fu- perb idol was eredied in a temple, for gran- deur and fublimity worthy of a metropolis, only next to the two capitols of the eaftern and weftern world ; in w^ealth, perhaps their fuperior. A pedeftal fupported it, in heighth above the ordinary human ftature -, but neither the pomp of the place, nor the enraged coun- tenances of its numerous votaries, could abafli the enterprifing zeal of a band of determined Chriftians, collected for the purpofe, who concluded an harangue againft the folly and impiety of fuch a religion, by aimiing, at the hazard of their lives, with fuch weapons as the prefent moment ilipplied, at the interior limbs of the ftupendous ftatue a decifive blow. It came down with a tremendous thundering era ill : the aflonilhed multitude fuppofed the univerfe itfelf would have fallen with it ; they paufed awhile in filent and alarmed expecta- tion, but as neither fun nor ftar, nor even the " Le Beau Kill:, du bas Empire, V. v. p. p. 342. He in- ferts a remarkable circumftance. On abbattit la tete, dont il fortoit une multitude de rats, auxc^uels ce Dieu fervoit de re- traite. moft S E R M O N V, lor moil infignificant objedt in the inanimate cre- ation feemed affeded by the event, the light of fenfe, of reafon, of reflection, in an inftant pierced the accumulated gloom, with which they had been from their infancy enveloped j and they treated their once adored divinity with indignity as extravagant as had been their former adoration. Thus, in about the two thoufand five hundredth year of the world, was it at laft, with fome difficulty indeed, re- ftored to the ufe of its fenfes. Go now, and boaft of the omnipotence of human reafon, doubt, if you can, of the necedity of a difpen- fation of grace, or queilion the power of reve- lation to guide, control, enlighten the human mind, and ftill admire fuch writers, who, though promiling you liberty, yet are them- felves the fervants of corruption, which, fhould they communicate, the confequcnce mufl be, that you will be plunged into errors and enor- mities perhaps as debafing as idolatry itfelf. The papiftical modern writers, hiftorians they would be thought, fuppofe, that, at the firft feparation of thefe kingdoms from the Church of Rome, the facrifice of a few ob- noxious tenets, on the part of the latter, had flill retained the former in their accuftomed obedience to the Holy See j but light once H .^ let 102 S E R M O N V. let in upon a few of their diilinguilliing doc- trines, muft have evinced the abfurdity of all the reft. So it has happened ; and though one of their ^ writers, when treating on a fub- je(5t that naturally leads to it, omits the cir- cumflance, yet it is manifeft, that the tena- cioufnefs of the Latins in favour of image- vvorfhip, was the principal obflacle to their union with the Greek Church. Indeed the fpiritual ilavery of thefe kingdoms had been but half removed, if, when the fupremacy of the Bifliop of Rome had been denied, the fer- vice in an unknown tongue, auricular confef- fjon, and image- worlhip, with all its train of follies, had been retained; and in the prefent enlightened ffcate of the human mind, that fuch a corrupt mode of worfliip ftill continues, can only be attributed to the prevailing opi- nion, that Chriftianity, even under fuch a de- formed appearance, is ftill infinitely preferable to the entire expulfion of it. And we have an opportunity of obferving the truth of thefe remarks, and the effects of Chriftianity being extirpated, in the melan- choly events lately fo frequent in the world around us ; where the mifery arifing from its •- C]m:ch and Str.te. abfence SERMON V. 103 abfence is more than can be exprefTed, and the diftrefs nearly without remedy. But thefe dangerous innovations are particularly de- prived of the advantages pointed out in this difcourfe, as immediately refulting from reli- gion. Perhaps divine Providence intended that the moral effeds produced by revelation, fhould in its later progrefs be as unequivocal arguments of its truth, as the fufpenfion of nature's lav^s were at its commencement : if fo, then the different efFedl of Chriftianity on human conducfl, and that of the novel fchemes, {hould as naturally determine your judgment, as the fire that defcended from heaven at the command of Elijah, which the Priefls of Baal, though challenged to it, could not perform, unalterably convinced the underflandings of the Ifraelites. It is a continued feries of fuch proofs that refults from the fadts recorded in general hiflory, for the neglecft or mifrepre- fentation of which we have ventured to blame the writer of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and it is the cri- terion to which, in conclufion, it is intended to refer you. If you think the atrocities oc- cafioned by the authors of the late revolution fufficiently engaging to induce you to imitation, bid adieu to Chriftianity, and follow them; but H 4 if 104 SERMON V. if the mild virtues, and extenfive bleffings of fociety, produced by the dodlrines of Chrifl, as imperfed:ly fketched out in this difcourfe, evi- dently declare him a teacher fent from God, then immediately, and at all events ftill con-^ tinue to follow him. SERMON SERMON VI. John xix. ii. 'Jefus anfweredy T'hou coiildeji have no power at all againjl met iinlefs it were given thee from above, ^O fpoke the meek Jefus to the infolent Roman governor ; the former, certainly in his perfon concentrating as it were ail fpi- ritual, the latter, reprefenting in his the moil exteniive temporal power. The event which the text records, feems to defcribe the nature of both : in Chrift the power was indifputably divine, to Pilate, according to our Saviour's own affertion, it was given from above. Whe- ther temporal, then, or fpiritual, they are alike derived from the fame fource : though the latter bears more uniform marks of its origin than the former, they are confequently com- patible, and not, as is now the fafliion to re- prefent io6 SERMON Vr. prefent them, entirely inconfiftent with each other. That they fhould always coincide, is no more than could be wifhed ; but that the temporal fliould purfue its prefcribed ends, the praife of the good, and the puni(hment of the wicked, is never fo likely as when it aiTo- ciates with the fpiritual. Even flates unen- lightened by revelation have feen the neceffity of fome kind of religion or other, and there- fore have coalefced with falfe, rather than none ; otherwife their ftay and fpring, as it were, had been languid and loll:. For it is tyranny only that extorts obedience by feve- verity, but judicious legiflatures diftinguifh themfelves as fuch by abrogating gradually, and as they can, fanguinary flatutes ; and by introducing fuch difpofitions, as would in time, were they to become general, render all laws unnecefTary. Intended to reftrain the bad, they are by no means made for the good j and men are naturally rendered fuch by prac- tiOng the precepts of that religion which mofl refines and purifies the mind, and places their afFe(ftions on things above ^ ajid not on things en the earth. Wife flates therefore naturally avail themfelves of fuch principles ; without which all abfolute duties would want a necef- fary fupport, and all relative would become a rope SERMON VI. 107 rope of fand. It is true, laws cannot arraign the thoughts, as the words and adions, but this is becaufe they cannot know them, other- wife they are as proper objeds for their ani- madverfion as the overt ad:; nay, wherever the intention is difcerned, it either aggravates or mitigates the mahgnity of the offence. We are told, that with the falvation of the foul human governments have no concern : with the mind they certainly have ; elfe why did fo many fage nations of antiquity prefcribe an education of their youth, correfpondent to their feveral polities ? It is certain, that if the virtues which all good laws enjoin do not 2iC~ tuallyy^zi^f the foul, ftill they, in an eminent degree, contribute to it. The powers then that be, are ordained of God, as all truly fpi- ritual are, and all falfely fo, pretend to be ; it follows that there is no abfurdity in their co- alefcing, but that there thus exifts a natural ground for their union, alliance, and har- mony. Our Saviour, the Lord of all things, yet acknowledges in the text the heaven-defcended power of Pilate, and accordingly fubmits to it ; pleads to the accufation, nor pretends to appeal from the decifion of the tribunal. In- deed, whatever is received, muft be fo accord- ing io3 SERMON VI. ing to the circumftances of the receiver. Chrift, as a jman, was fubjeft to an human judicature : the fpiritual powers, as they are called, though primarily derived from him, yet, as exercifed by men, mull be fubjedt to it likewife — the Prieft, the Prelate, the Apo- ille muft yield to the preflure of human power. Even at prefent their extraordinary commiiTion cannot exempt them from obey- ing the calls of ordinary prudence -, being, as mortals, incompetent to fccure every defirable end, they mufl therefore red: fatisfied with thofe that are a(ftualiy attainable, and, uoon comparifon of them, mull: often facrifice the lefs advantageous to the more fo — nay, fubmit to inferior, to avoid fuperior evils. The Church, while on earth, is militant, not tri- umphant, advancing towards, but not having yet attained perfection ; its general condudt therefore, particularly its fpiritual powers, muft be limited by its prefent condition. It fliould feem then, even from our Savi- our's celebrated defence alm.oft immediately after the text, my kingdom is not of this iDorldy that it was not his intention that the Ipiritual llioiild aim at being fuperior to the temporal power ; nay, {l:iould they be found in the fame hands, they Hiould be con- fide red SERMON VI. 109 fidered as equally diflind as if they were in the pofleffion of different perfons. For though fpiritual concerns mufl be effeded by tempo- ral means, othervvife they could not be pro- moted by men, yet muft merely temporal in- terefts never be advanced by confiderations folely fijiritual. The latter confer no more title to the former, than what would be va- lid without them : fpiritual power likev/ife trenches not on temporal rights, whether in a fupreme or fubordinate member of fociety. It is indeed a lamentable circumftance, when the temporal oppofes the fpiritual power ', particularly when it regulates not its decrees by reafon and juflice. True, the voice of law, wherever it refides, mull be obeyed ; but if its declarations be fubverlive of generally acknowledged duties, or Ihould it prepofceroufly countenance degrading and de- flrucflive vices, though an outvvard obedience might be paid to it, yet will it not fail of ex- citing inward repugnance. No ; the ftatutes of any nation may enjoin things indifferent to religion, but if they contradid: or oppofe it, a ready and lincere obedience v/ill fcarcely be paid to them. And can fpiritual power ever control or oppofe the didates of right reafon, or iufpend the no SERMON VL the practice of the duties enjoined by that very revelation from which it would be fup- pofed to derive its authority ? Really fpiritual power cannot, but fictitious may. Such has been known to difpenfe with the mofl facred engagements, to commit unjuft violations of property, and to plead divine authority for the perpetration of the mofl horrid atrocities, to keep, y^r fjterely human ends, both body and foul under the mofl opprefiive vaiTalage, and to exceed, in the feverity of the torm.ents they inflid:ed, the mofl fanguinary examples ever exhibited by temporal tribunals. It were eafy to illuflrate this, from the hif- tory of, and meafures purfued by, the Romilh Church ; but nowhere more apparently than in the annals of our own nation, as they coincide with thofe of what are comm.only called the middle ages. This was a period in which we, as well as almofl all Europe, were under de- plorable bondage to the Holy See ; a period that has employed the pen of a noble author now no more, and of a Roman Catholic writer at prefect living. The latter blames the former, and endeavours to undermine his well-earned reputation, even when he would appear mofl to praife him. Indeed to obli- terate the impreffions Juftly conveyed by that valuable SERMON VI. Ill valuable work, feems one principal reafon for the latter publication ; and, probably for a iimilar purpofe, the author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire labours, in a poft- humous produdion, to depreciate a work which, as far as it goes, is fuperior to his own. Suffice it however to obferve, that, while alive, the noble Hillorian was but another name for Virtue, and it augurs ill for any caufe, that it opens with an attack upon ac- knowledged merit ; nay, what may be fup- pofed the efpecial object of that writer, is ra- ther impeded than promoted by it. For, unfortunately, how little fuited to vin- dicate the charad:er of the Roman Catholic religion, is the period he has chofen for the fubjed: of his hiftory. It was the period when the fchifm in the Chriftian world was occalioned by there exifling two infallible Bifhops of Rome at once', the fuccelTors of the FiHierman, treading upon the necks of Kings — when the joys of heaven were pro- mifed as motives to enfure obedience to the commands of the Papacy, while the pains of hell were denounced againft fuch as would not leave their country, their fortune, their * Alexander and Vi^or. family, 112 SERMON VL family, for the vain purpofe of refcuing the holy fepulchre from the hands of Infidels — • when the proud, bigotted, and ungrateful Becket, flew from the authority of his liege Lord, and fheltering himfelf under that of a foreign Prince, defended what he called his fpiritual rights, which were indeed no other than ecclefiafiical ufurpations, forced from the reiud:ant hands of the immediately preceding monarchs — when, after the recent conquefl of the kingdom, favours were to be liberally difpenfed, and the powerful Churchmen were, at all events, to be reconciled to the vidtor, or, when rival claimants of the Crown afforded an opportunity to the ambitious, of felling at the highefl price their afTiftance ; the flrug- gles of virtue and reafon were then unable to refifl fuch encroachments as thofe, which, if after ages had fufFered them to remain, we fliould at this time have had neither fcience nor liberty. " The dreadful vens^eance then taken on fuch well-meant attempts in the perfons of the Albigenfes, whofe miferies were more ter- rible than all that antient hifbory records, and thefe infiivfled immediately by, or at the fug- ^ Vide Berrington's Kiltcry of Henry II. p. 515. gedioDS SERMON VI. 113 geftions of a common parent, who only meant, it feems, by fuch hard treatment, to corred, confole, convert them (yet thefe innocent vic- tims fufFered for no other opinions, than what the Reformation afterwards proved both ra- tional and tenable) : all thefe inflances demon- ftrate this period mofl of all others pregnant with papiftical encroachments. It was then in the full exertion of its moft extravagant pretenfions to power, and then exhibited the mod glaring examples of the abufe of it, as they have indeed been generally efteemed by fuch as have been beft qualified to judge of them. The attempt therefore to reprefent this era as conducive to the reputation of Roman Catholicifm, is not only novel, but betrays as great a degree of caprice as of obftinacy. But this is the age of novelties. Formerly the arguments of Proteftantifm were attelled by the beft Roman Catholic writers : Eraf- mus, Muratori, Thuanus, Giannoni, are as loud in execrating the abufes of the See, falfely called Holy, as the moft zealous Pro- teftants ; nor do they fcreen its infatiablenefs, its impurity, its tyranny, its total inconliftency with civil and religious liberty, its entire want of fupport either in common fenfe or found learning. Far different the purpofes of the I writer 114 SERMON VI. writer at prefent confidered, who prolongs his hiftory two reigns beyond that of the noble author before mentioned, with this view (and an extraordinary one it is), that he may re- prefent the tendency of the Roman Catholic religion, to advance the purpofes of civil and religious liberty. Indeed when the whole realm confided of Catholics, what merit they, as fuch, could derive from exertions in its caufe, is not eafily imagined ; and when ho- mage was performed by our own Monarch, to a foreign ecclefiaftical potentate, for the crown of thefe kingdoms, its political liberty feems not much to have been promoted. But ho- mage, it feems, was a mere formality, an happy expedient to fecure one flate from the depredations with which it was threatened by another : while under the fheltering wing of the Church, invaders dared not aflault it ; and, the danger paft, the protedled might retire again, without lofs or injury as to right, power, and property." So thought not the politic monarchs of thefe days : they never fwore fealty to another, unlefs he had an in- difputable right, or unlefs they were forcibly ^ Vide Eerrington's Hiftory of Flenry II. p. 596. He calls it a nominal eviJ, which we could caft oiFat pleal'urc. compelled SERMON YI. J15 compelled to it. ' The arts too of the Romifh See were too well known, for any to truft it farther than could be avoided. Its moft fa- vourite and nearefl Royal fons would not fuffer any of its decrees to have the force of laws in their dominions, without a previous examina- tion, and an exprefs licence to that purpofe. Thefe fpiritual monarch s, too, were the more dangerous, inafmuch as the life of a fmgle in- dividual is too fhort for any vaft fchemes of ambition j but an ecclefiaflical flate, always exifting, can fupply the deficiency of one of its heads by the expertncfs of his fuccefTor, is contemporary with the longeft plan, and is fure to avail itfelf, in the end, of the infirmity or inability of thofe who, in the courfe of time, might rife to oppofe it. So thought the moft enlightened and nearefl princes even in profcfled fubjed:ion to the Court of Rome. They therefore regarded with reludance her advances towards immoderate power, op- pofed, and fometimes fuccefsfully impeded them ; nay, often fupported one head of the Church againfl another, beiieged the reigning pontif even in Rome itfelf, and more than ' It was called the Exsequatur regium. Vide Giaunoni Jftoria di Napoli, Vol. IV. p. 204. I 2 once ii6 SERMON VI. once expelled him from it, and very delerv- edly ; for they who ferved him moft, were al- ways fure of being the leaft rewarded. Spi- rited and refolute kings they dreaded, but weak and wicked ones they efiediually Tub- dued to their purpofes, by abfoiving fubjeds from their oath of allegiance, by laying whole kingdoms under an interdid, or threatening them with the more dreadful fentence of ex- communication. "" For this afFed:ed civil as well as fpiritual rights : fubjeds were liable to it, not for their own faults, but for thofe of their Sovereigns. Inflead of merely abftaining from the fociety of one under that fentence (which was the only idea of excommunication appointed by the Apoftles), the unhappy fufFerers could neither acquire nor poffefs any increafe of pro- perty : the phyfician v/ould fcarcely approach him, his teflimony was rejeded in a court of juftice, he could fue for no debts, accept no legacy, nor infift upon the performance of any agreement ; and in cafe of death, his laft tef- tament was deprived of validity. After fo many glaring inftances (and hiftory is full of the records of fuch tyranny exercifed by the "* See alfo Berrington's Hlftory of Henry II. p. 163. Romiih SERMON VI. ii; Romlfh Church), (hall we be ary longer told of its elTentiai tendency to favour liberty ? The obtaining of the great charter in the time of King John, was indeed a fignal tri- umph in its caufe; and this our author vaunt- ingly attributes to the Roman Catholics st that time : however, as has been already ob- ferved, the whole nation was fo; they therefore, as fuch, could derive but little merit from it. But for whom was it obtained ? For the no- bility, the knights, and higher order of the clergy : its benefits extended not to the lower orders, who notwithftanding continued, like the cattle, to be transferred from one occupier to another -, nay, one article of the charter ex- prefsly fecures to the mafter the pofTeffion of fuch kind of property. Its influence too was almofl as foon fufpended as obtained. Refo- lute and enterprifing princes fucceeded to the crown of thefe realms, as regardlefs of the rights of their fubje