3 S - t. S'! 4= THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,* $ Princeton, N. J. f’ BT 700 . B7 1830 Boston, Thomas, 1677-1732. Human nature in its fourfold state * < > \ * ISi Pi ’JilBTf TM( QMLL3 '3-Q'8*£ ©ST Mate nn iM £yi,y REV. THOMAS BOSTON, LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, ETTRICK. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY THE REV. DAVID YOUNG, PERTH. GLASGOW: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM COLLINS; OLIVER & BOYD, WM. WHYTE & CO. AND VVM. OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH ; W. F. WAKEMAN, AND WM. CURRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN ; WHITTAKER, TREACHER, & ARNOT ; HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. SIMPKIN & MARSHALL ; BALDWIN & CRADOCK ; AND HURST, CHANCE, & CO. LONDON. MDCCCXXX. . r *r * % ✓ 1-rinteci by VV. Collins & Co, Glasgow. -4f ZniCiiTOfl ©GIC&L INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Amidst the multitude of books with which the reli¬ gious public are now furnished, there are very few constructed on the principle of giving to the ignorant and serious inquirer, a connected or systematic view of his whole circumstances as a sinner,' favoured with a dispensation of the gospel of the grace of God. We h ave systems of divinity not a few, which are easily accessible to the Christian minister: these, however, for the most part, are ponderous and recon¬ dite, requiring a leisure and a scholarship to unlock their treasures, which the multitude can never com¬ mand ; and, if we except the catechisms of our seve¬ ral churches — which are necessarily the organs of party peculiarities, and therefore limited in circula¬ tion — it may be said with truth, that of all the writ¬ ers on Christian godliness, there is but one here and there who takes the bewildered child of trespass fami¬ liarly by the hand, and, descending to the level of his untutored capacity, gives him a clear and conse¬ cutive view of the innocence from which he has fallen ; the misery in which he is involved ; the economy of restoration under which he is situated ; and the hope. VI which, by submitting to that economy, he may war- rantably entertain. One cause of this deficiency, in our times at least, may be a concern on the part of authors to meet the public taste ; for our systems in general are so old, and partake so much of science and controversy, or descend to details so minute and v perplexing, that the general reader has contracted a •dislike, not only to their subtleties and supposed re¬ dundancies, but to the very form in which they are set forth. If he opens a book which calls itself a system, and looks at its size and number of pages, he seldom has courage to proceed with it farther. Thus the writer is strongly tempted to meet the taste as he finds it, instead of attempting the arduous task of making it what it ought to be. He thinks it bet¬ ter to write a book which is likely to be read, than put himself to the useless trouble of writing what will not be read; and thus he holds himself completely vindicated in humouring the current of popular pro¬ pensity. This would be a proper decision if that propensity were right, or if the bias given to it were absolutely incurable ; for it is better to do some good on a bad system, than remain inactive altogether. But our religious authorship should bear in mind, that, so far as the manner of instruction is concerned, they are dictators to the popular taste; and that it can be no¬ thing, at any one time, but what they have made it, or allowed it to become. This is the post of high responsibility, which as a body they necessarily oc¬ cupy ; and we fearlessly say to them, that at this very day, in several important points of view,, they are not judiciously true to their trust. One class of them, Vll we rejoice to think, are giving out treatises on every variety of Christian topic, which are ciear, and solid, and rigidly thought ; but— not to speak of those who are heated even to madness in extravagant aliegoriz- ings, which make religion ridiculous in the eyes of the profane — -another class of them are straining every nerve to keep the public continually occupied with shallow and fugitive periodicals, or snowy and frivolous separate productions, which depend for ac¬ ceptance on scarcely any thing but tales, and anec¬ dotes, and fits of feeling, with semi-fictitious bio¬ graphy, and wildly-written religious romance. W e admit that there is a time of life, and there are states of mind at any time of life, when the flowers of po¬ pular literature, or the vivacity of sober fiction, may be rendered an excellent auxiliary, if suitably applied, to the communication of saving instruction. We admit also, that a portion of fugitive reading, when judiciously got up, and skilfully connected with the current of passing events, is not only allowable, but absolutely necessary to a proper acquaintance with the present state of the religious world. For so inter¬ esting are the times in which we live, that a man cannot conduct himself as the spirit of his age re¬ quires, without a constant communication, not only with his own neighbourhood, but with the regions of religious enterprise, which are so diversified and full of incident throughout the world at large. But if the time shall ever come— -and we fear it is coming rapidly, if not already arrived — when such compositions as are sketched above shall be the staple commodity in the market of printed instruction ; if the Christian, especially in his youth, shall be trained, via or permitted to depend on them, as the sum total of his daily reading; if, just because they are popular, and promise applause to the author, they shall be fur¬ nished to the reader in teeming abundance and attrac¬ tive variety, till his taste for them has become exclu¬ sive, and his dislike to the solid and healthful aggra¬ vated and confirmed, the result will speedily show itself in a woful deterioration of religious character, and a certain exposure to dangers, which may soon turn our present gocdiiness into utter desolation. This conclusion is summary; but we mean to keep sight of it in the few following pages : and what we have to say in its support, may be naturally enough connected with a brief detail of the advantages of systematic reading, as a means of strengthening Chris¬ tian belief, and consolidating Christian character. By systematic reading, however, we do not mean those ponderous accumulations of miscellaneous lore, whe¬ ther crude or digested, which are gathered indiscrimi¬ nately from the field of general theology; nor those treasures of sacred philology, which confirm thefaith of the learned, by clearing and settling the true import of the language of inspiration ; nor the productions of that sagacious metaphysic, which is disciplined to the nicest discrimination, and has elaborated the distinc¬ tion between truth and error out to the very utter¬ most; nor yet those massive structures of systema¬ tized principle, which, although skilfully compacted and justly proportioned, exhibit little else than the dry light of science, or the unadorned mechanism of ratiocination. No, certainly. These are things which we venerate in the departments to which they belong; and the names appended to many of them IX are symbols of durable renown. But we will not frighten the common reader, by so much as seeming to insinuate that his enlightened acquaintance with the Christian economy is necessarily dependent on inquiries so intricate. What we mean by system, in relation to him, is to be found in those books, or that selection of books, which, instead of simply stirring his feelings, or aiming at mere impression, by a desultory eloquence or showy declamation on the one extreme, or teazing him with subtleties on the other, embraces the subject in its entireness, and carries him regularly through it with simplicity and clearness ; explaining the nature of the Christian economy, and the moral condition of the human fa¬ mily, on which it is superinduced; forming it into instructive arrangement, under the guidance of the sacred record ; unfolding its peculiar genius, and the dependence of its parts on each other; tracing up its doctrines and remedial provisions, to that stupendous moral achievement which gives to every one of them its life and efficiency : and thus enabling him to judge of its character from its own intrinsic illuminations — giving him, in short, a system in every thing but bulk and forbidding technicality, but investing the whole with that majesty of scriptural illustration, and imbu¬ ing it with that intensity of holy practical interest, which awes him into submission as he proceeds, and invites him to imbibe the spirit of the economy, while he is led to contemplate its concentrated glories. This is what we mean by system, in the use we at present make of the word; and we should like the reader to go along with us, in devout concern for his Christian well-being, while we proceed in detailing a a 3 X few of its advantages. Before proceeding, however, it is proper to say, that we are very far from suppos¬ ing that a man must be an adept in the knowledge of Christianity, before he can believe it to the saving of his soul. We know its power and sovereignty to be such, that a single statement of its doctrines, or a single promise of its efficacy, may lead him at once to a state of salvation ; while not a few of its essen¬ tial principles may be as yet unknown to him. But what we have chiefly in view is, the education of the man who is already a believer, or the case o 1 the man who is kept from believing, or embarrassed in his belief, by certain intellectual difficulties, which his inattention to the proper means must tend to streng¬ then and multiply; and, in reference to all such, we state the following things in commendation of the kind of reading already described : — I. It is congenial to our rational nature. We are reasoning beings, and irrepressibly prone to reason on all subjects that come before us, whether physical or metaphysical, material or mental. When a statement of good is propounded to us, on evidence which carries our assent, we subject it instantly to a process of reasoning, and turn it by anticipation into a source of immediate enjoyment. Where tidings of evil are propounded, we go to work in the same way, and speedily reason ourselves into the sorrows of which they furnish the materials. And when ob¬ jects of interest are set before us, in which we have no immediate property for either good or evil, our curiosity is awakened : we display a love of specula¬ tion which is altogether gratuitous, and are actually reasoning on their nature and uses, ere ever we are o XI aware. To this we are uniformly addicted, in all climes and countries, from the first opening of our infant faculties up to the extremity of old age. Now this is not to be restrained, but encouraged ; it is not the disease of our nature, but our nature itself acting according to the constitution which the Creator at first imparted to it, although the results of the acti¬ vity are often such as sadly to indicate the moral calamity with which it is afflicted. But to systematize is to reason. It is so to ex¬ ercise our understandings on the objects of our pre¬ vious knowledge, as to adjust and arrange them ac¬ cording to their several properties and affinities, that our view of them, individually and combined, may be rendered distinct and satisfactory. This is an exercise of reason of which we are peculiarly fond, and which begins to be exemplified, without any training, at a very early period of our existence in this world. Present to a child a confused heap of pebbles and sea-shells, or other little objects of curi¬ osity which exhibit sameness as well as diversity, and after making himself acquainted with their resem¬ blances and discrepances in size, form, colour, and so on, he proceeds to arrange them accordingly, put¬ ting each of them in the place which is best fitted to give unity and harmony to the whole; and while he feels a peculiar satisfaction in the result of his labours, he is greatly annnyed by any accident which disturbs the classification, or throws them back into their pre¬ vious confusion. This process, which he seems to be taught by something similar to instinct, improves his view of the objects in question, and yields a de¬ light in the contemplation of them which he could not otherwise have experienced. Well, we have here the elements of system appearing prior to all training ; and nothing can be a clearer proof, that the tendency to such exercises is ours as the gift of our wise Creator, to regulate our efforts, and facilitate our success in the acquisition and use of knowledge. But religion stands pre-eminent among all the subjects of knowledge to which our reason has access. It is for the sake of it, and its felicities and adora¬ tions, that we are made to differ from the beasts that perish, and created capable of thought and reflection. Although its topics be numerous and somewhat di¬ versified, they have all a striking generic resemblance, and must be subjected to skilful arrangement, in order to be seen to proper advantage. They are not like stars in different hemispheres, or independent lumina¬ ries, but one entire constellation, each of them emitting a light which tends to unfold its own glory, while at the same time it illumines the others, and is illumined by the others; thus rendering an intimate acquaintance not with itself only, but with its position and relations, of very great importance to a right understanding of the scheme of truth, of which it forms a part. Religion, in fact, is a system of moral illumination ; and, among all the subjects of methodical study to which man has ever applied his reason, we know not of any one where a knowledge of the affinities and relations of its parts is more imperiously called for, in order to an adequate conception of the whole. If man, then, be prone to system in his ordinary intellectual exercise, and if Christianity requires its aid more than many other subjects, the man who denies himself this auxiliary in the course of his Christian reading, or is virtually XI 11 taught to neglect it by the indiscretion of others, must be subjected to serious disadvantage. His reason must be resisted or contravened in one of its powerful natural tendencies; and it is clear that this resistance must necessarily tend to embarrass and dis¬ concert, and of course to discourage the productive operations of reason in this most interesting depart¬ ment. It is not possible to conceive, that such con¬ travention can do less than prevent the formation of those habits which alone can lead the logical being to a logical hold of religion in the eternal consistency of its truth, and the grandeur of its ultimate principles ; and thus give a sanction, which is indirect but real, to the too common prejudice, that, while the topics of every other subject which man is invited to study, can be gathered up into beautiful series, and opened pro¬ gressively to the view in most instructive combina¬ tion, religion forbids us to be reasoners, and demands to be considered in no other light than as a maze of sublime confusion. We say not that the myste¬ ries of religion are to be explored by reason ; for, just because they are revealed as mysteries, on evidence which proves them true, it is reason’s office to believe them on that ground alone. Nor do we favour the impious tenet, that reason, in her present moral be¬ wilderment, or in any condition whatever, should be raised to the honour of being the test of the truth or untruth of revelation. But what we say is, that the evidence of revelation is proposed by God as a subject for reason’s examination, not only with the view of producing assent, but for rendering that as¬ sent enlightened and steady after it is produced; and that the facts and doctrines of revelation thus become XIV matters of fixed belief, open up a region of most in¬ teresting realities, which reason is required religiously to traverse after her own manner, and in the exercise of her own skill, that, in this way, the truth revealed may have its proper and constitutional place in the soul of the man who receives it. And we know, that where this exercise is ne¬ glected, or in proportion as it is neglected, where religious thinking is undisciplined, capricious, and desultory, flitting from topic to topic, or from book to book, without plan or rational arrangement, reli¬ gious knowledge is ever found to be shallow and su¬ perficial. It may be genuine or pure, or connected with a heart which is exquisitely tender, or deeply devotional, so far as mere feeling is concerned — it may suit a useless retirement, or prosper in the hot-bed of congenial companionship, where the mind is easy and tranquil — but it cannot stand the storms of error and unbelief, which never cease to agitate the exposures of human life. If you keep it in seclusion, it may dream its way to heaven in un¬ profitable ignorance of the state of things around it, but the plan of Providence forbids you to keep it there : and if you place it on the arena of this wide world, where the war of ungodliness is incessantly prosecuted in all its forms of disciplined eagerness, its possessor will speedily find himself to be helpless as a babe. It is this very defect in the mode of re¬ ligious training, which causes many a beautiful morn¬ ing in the history of the rising race to be followed by a dismal noon. Our youth are sent forth on pro¬ miscuous society, with some impressions in favour of religion, and a few incipient habits of piety, but with XV scarcely any armour of defence beyond a few pious counsels, and a multitude of good wishes. They soon come to see what they never saw before, and meet with what they never heard of. Ungodliness sets its fashion, and adduces its ingenious argument, but they have nothing appropriate to reply : and what can they do when worsted in argument, especially when propensity is on its side, but give way to the victor's ruinous conclusions, and fall into the course which he points out to them ? All this, and much more than this, is often the result of resisting reason, or ne¬ glecting to bring it fully into exercise in the details of a youthful education. And what else could be expected from an error so gross and flagrant? Rea¬ son must be owned as the glory of man, the sole pre¬ eminence of his nature, that which raised him up to God through the medium of creation and providence, so long as his nature was innocent, and that which is now to raise him up to the knowledge and enjoy¬ ment of the same blessed object, through the dispen¬ sation of his grace in the gospel. It is at once the instrument and recipient, the residence and the guar¬ dian, of all saving knowledge, without which we are not in any measure susceptible of the religious enjoy¬ ment provided for us; and if this same reason shall be crippled in its energies, or curtailed in the range of its legitimate operations, by any prejudice or inad¬ vertence, a serious injury must be done to our pre¬ sent religious well-being. Let no one take alarm at the latitude of this lan¬ guage. We know the helplessness of unsanctified reason, and the indispensable necessity of spiritual influence, in order to render it productive : but these XVI are not the topics at present before us, and no damage can be done to them by keeping the topic which is before us prominent in its own place, and giving it fearlessly all its due. It is objected, we know, to this view of the sub¬ ject, that the Bible is not a system of divinity even in our sense of the word, and that it ought ever to be regarded, not only as the perfect standard of religious truth, but also as a perfect specimen of the best mode of exhibiting the truth. The first part of this state¬ ment we admit. The Bible is not, in respect of form, a system of divinity; and we can discover some of the reasons, although perhaps not all of them, why its Author chose to give it forth in the form in which we find it. The many ages which were re¬ quired to complete it, and the diversified circumstances of the church and world at the times when its por¬ tions were severally given, must necessarily have in¬ fluenced the form in which it now appears. Besides, the form of a regular system is too like the weak¬ ness of man, and too unlike the mind that is infinite, to be adopted in a revelation from heaven ; and, per¬ haps, it was a chief reason for avoiding this form, that man, being furnished with matter and directions for the work, might enjoy the healthful and much- needed exercise, as prompted by his own necessities, of forming it into system for himself. But while we admit that the Bible is not a system, although it contains one, and while we hold it as indisputably the perfect standard of religious truth, we cannot see that it was ever intended to be a perfect specimen of the best mode of exhibiting the truth to the minds of ignorant men. From this opinion we decidedly dis- I XVII sent, and we go to the Bible itself for our reasons of dissent. It no where claims the kind of perfection which is thus so hastily ascribed to it; and it con¬ tains an express provision, which, by clear and easy inference, is seen to be inconsistent with any such claim. Independently altogether of the inspired men who were raised up each in his day to make additions to its treasures, it contains the appointment, by solemn divine ordination, of an order of uniaspired men, pos¬ sessing certain qualifications which it specifies, and having it for their specific work to go with the Bible wherever it goes, nay, to carry it forth, explain¬ ing and enforcing it, in its spirit and tendency, to the guilty and ignorant children of men. This order of men are set up, and commanded to keep their place, as pastors and teachers, between the Bible and those to whom it is sent: not to keep them away from the Bible, but to conciliate their love to it, by unfolding its truth and excellence; to form and strengthen, and render general, the habit of enlightened intercourse with it. Much might be said of the contents of the Bible, its chronology, its connection with the history of the world, its prophe¬ cies, its abrupt poetic style, its manner of stating doc¬ trines, to show that this order of men was necessary; but we need not go into disquisition when we have the fact before us. The very appointment of these men, and the sphere to which they are assigned, must stand forth till the end of time as an undeniable proof, that the Bible is not, and never was, intended to be sufficient without them, for bringing men gen¬ erally to the knowledge of salvation. The Bible has its place, and it fills that place in the high perfection XV111 of its Author’s purpose ; but they too have then- place in relation to the Bible, which must also be filled, in order to bring it out to the plenitude of its usefulness. But how are they to fill their place? Not by literally following the Bible in the order in which it lies, nor by simply repeating por¬ tions of it, however well selected ; but by copying its order, or deviating from that order as circum¬ stances may require ; by amplifying or abridging its lessons of instruction to suit particular cases, or meet particular necessities, in the progress of their minis¬ trations ; by freely but judiciously modifying the Bible, so far as official dexterity is concerned, into an adaptation to the several stages of ignorance or depravity, or Christian attainment ; and thus making it suitably to bear on the variously modified states of society, in which they may be called to proclaim its tidings. Their commission is to evangelize and feed, by teaching from the Bible, as, in every instance, their guide and text-book — thus holding it forth in its purity and entireness; but they never can teach with any thing like clearness or effective force, with¬ out obeying the dictates of their own educated rea¬ son, and thus adopting the mode of procedure which we are endeavouring to recommend. They must em¬ ploy their own language, as well as that of the Spirit of God. They must exercise their own judgment, and make use of their own experience, and be influenced by their own knowledge of human nature, in its varied circumstances and conditions ; but they must also pro¬ secute their own devices of method and arrangement, in order suitably to fill the sphere which God has marked out for them. This they necessarily must do, just because they are uninspired human beings, ordained to teach their human brethren the knowledge of God in Christ. They cannot elucidate a single topic without digesting it into regular method ; and, in proportion as the digest is clear and consecutive, the better is the topic taught, and the better reason have they to expect the blessing of God on their la¬ bours. Well, this is system ; but if system be thus necessary to elucidate a part of the grand scheme of Christian doctrine, it is yet more necessary to eluci¬ date the whole; for it is obvious to every one who thinks at all, that, in proportion as a subject becomes enlarged and complicated, the inquirer Teels it the more necessary to be rigid in his adherence to logical method, as the only possible means of carrying him correctly through it. It is this which strengthens his weakness, and relieves his conscious helplessness, amidst the mazes of gathering thought; obviating that which is dubious, simplifying that which is complex, reducing to order that which is confused; and thus in- viting him onwards, with confidence and delight, in his career of sacred research. But if the exercise of this faculty be so necessary to the man who is ordained to educate Christians, its advantages ought to be sedu¬ lously cultivated by those who are the subjects of Christian education. They, as well as he, are unin¬ spired, and therefore left dependent on it. It is chiefly as an instrument of good to them that he is bound to use it ; and if they shall allow themselves to dislike it, or to remain incapable of appreciating its use, either in books' or oral instruction, they are chargeable with defeating- the chief end for which he was appointed over them. XX It is foolish, then, to speak of the Bible as in any way forbidding the use of systematic arrangement in the communication of religious knowledge. So far you see from forbidding this, it has assigned a task to a permanent order of uninspired men, which they cannot possibly execute without the aid ol this instrument; thus placing them in circumstances, in which they are not only permitted to bring into ope¬ ration all the resources of their uninspired reason, but absolutely constrained to do so, in order to a pro¬ per fulfilment of their ministry. This is the fact, and the practical result corresponds with it; for it is undeniable, not only that there are many passages of the Bible, which can, by skilful human effort, be brought nearer to the capacities of men, than they are as they lie there; but also, that, by the same means, the whole scheme of its doctrines can be so combined and exhibited to the considerate private Christian, as to give him a clearer insight into the connections of its parts, and a fuller view of its moral grandeur, than he ever could have reached by the unaided study of his Bible. In saying these things, and denying, as they show we do, that the Bible is to be taken throughout as a specimen of the best method of com¬ municating knowledge immediately to ignorant men, we do not disparage that sacred record in any way whatever, but rescue it from the injury which a pious indiscretion has too often done to it, and to the objects which it embraces, by ascribing to it that which it clearly disowns. It is true, that the Bible, without a living instructor, is still an inestimable treasure, and may be the means of salvation to those who faithfully peruse it; but it is also true, that by itself XXI it is only a part, and not the whole, of heaven’s gracious provision for our depraved and darkened world. The best way to judge of any production is, by comparing it with the place it was intended to fill, or with the end it was intended to serve ; and not with any fancy of our own, which its Au¬ thor never contemplated. The Bible is a divine revelation, and it appears in the form which best suits it as a divine revelation; but it is a revelation which was intended not to do its work alone, but to be brought into practical effect by a consecrated hu¬ man agency, acting intermediately between it and the souls of men ; and every thing we can mention about it which tends to give scope for this agency, or to show our need of its operations, so far from de¬ preciating the Bible, does in fact exalt it in the adoring esteem of every enlightened inquirer. Besides, we are far from being entitled to say, whether that form or internal structure which best becomes the Bible as a supernatural revelation, could have been made at the same time compatible with the best mode of instilling its contents into the minds of sinful men. We know that the structure actually given to it is not throughout of this description, and therefore a distinct provision lias been superadded ; but, for any thing we know, it could not have been otherwise, in consistency with the perfection of divine wisdom. The two kinds of excellence — -that which % befits a revelation, and that which best disseminates its doctrines — mav be so distinct, or even different in their nature, as compared with the condition of man, that they could not have co-existed in the same inspired record, without diminishing the effect in- xxu tended by the one and by the other, on hearts and consciences depraved by sin. All this, we say, may be, and more might be said, could we prosecute the theme. But, if it be barely possible, we should be¬ ware of ascribing to the Bible a lower excellence which it does not claim, and which is not necessarily supernatural, even at the possible expense of inter¬ fering with a higher excellence which it does claim, and on which its evidence as a divine revelation to a great extent depends. We know we are here pleading for a latitude of departure from the vicni'iiei of the word of God , which may give offence to some whom we have no wish to see offended. But these persons ought to remember, that the manner of the Bible, so far as it is superhuman and affects the con¬ texture of its revelations, is God’s manner, and not ours; but, being God’s, it is necessarily inimitable, and not intended to be copied by us; for it is human agency, and nothing more than human agency, re¬ ligiously actuated, but proceeding after the manner of man, which God requires in him who teaches his revealed will to human beings. Any thing higher than this, would be above the sphere which he has prescribed to this office; and any thing lower, would be beneath that sphere. These opinions, however, are usually most ob¬ noxious to those persons who are too indolent to exercise their reason, and too’ obstinate to admit con¬ viction, but wish to be hid from merited censure, under a mask of veneration for the example of the word of God : or to the yet more exceptionable class of teachers, whose pampered official vanity, or whim¬ sical eccentricity, has led them presumptuously to I xxiii claim for themselves a kind of demi-inspiration, which entitles them, as they suppose, to construct theories, and enunciate opinions, which they dare not attempt to reconcile with the Bible, and which are utterly irreducible to systematic coherence. The displeasure of these persons we hold very cheap ; and the desire of defeating their mischievous influ¬ ence, we frankly confess to be one of our reasons for wishing to see the love of system revived and propa¬ gated. In the hands of the first class, the office of Christian teaching has sunk into an imbecility which conceals the wisdom, and obstructs the merciful de¬ signs, of Him who ordained it; and in the hands of the second, it would soon produce a medley of theo¬ logical opinion, fortuitous and formless as original chaos, but for the happy circumstance that it is too palpably absurd, and too glaringly ridiculous, ever to come into general currency. They may have their day, and their locality, and their number of votaries — and who has not, that chooses to practise on human simplicity? — but they never can make head against the rigid consistency of revealed truth, and the dis¬ ciplined soberness of sanctified reason. II. It tends to reduce Christian sentiment to the form and power of settled principle. Christianity is obviously a religion of practice ; and the more its spirit comes out into practice, as a spirit of holiness and love, the nearer it reaches to that perfection to which it is destined in the church below. But few, we believe, will dispute the maxim, that, in order to give permanence to any system of practice, whether holy or unholy, we must lay its foundations deep in principle. So long as exertion, whether single or XXIV associated, is the result of mere feeling, however highly excited, or is left to be fostered by casual stimulants applied to the affections rather than the judgment, it is weak and fitful, and easily suppressed. But if you trace it up to ascertained principle, and thus bring it into alliance with our fundamental ele¬ ments of thought, you do as much as can be done to give it identity with our powers of action; you set it on the surest footing, and place it in the fairest atti¬ tude for uniform perseverance. For it is principle, and not passion ; it is the power of inward rooted conviction, and not the glare of plausible appearance, which can so overcome the torpor of our nature, as to render it regularly workable in any assignable line of activity. We cannot propose at present to account for this maxim by any illustration of that tenacity of principle, which is so manifestly a part of the human constitution, and so uniformly shows it¬ self in human practice, according to the varieties of our moral condition, as depraved, or as renovated by the grace of God ; although this we take to be the undoubted origin of the power which principle puts forth to excite or consolidate moral achievement. There is in the mind of man a veneration for prin¬ ciple, a strong disposition to do it homage, which sin itself has not eradicated, although it has greatly de¬ based it; and to this disposition our appeal must be made, in all cases where we wish to keep him steady as the ally of our measures. True indeed, there are seasons amidst the fluctua¬ tions of human affairs, when passion may be rendered available, and when the heavy artillery of principle may move too slowly to be of any use. If the leader XXV of a multitude has a barrier to burst, a solitary point of benevolence to carry, or a single blow of ven¬ geance to inflict, he may address the passions, and work them into a tempest, and attain his object at once by an instant burst of their impetuosity. But if he has a cause to propagate, which depends for its prosperity on acceptance with the public, he must leave the passions asleep, or venture to stir them no farther than may serve, by a gentle swell of emo¬ tion, to ingratiate his opinions. So general is the truth of this maxim, that, so far as mere power is concerned, it does not matter very much whether that which is called principle be true or false, sound or unsound, useful or injurious in its tendencies to action. ^o far as it is taken for genuine principle, it comes with the energy which principle possesses on the mind of the man who embraces it, and binds him to the cause with which you connect it; because it is justified to his understanding, and not mereiv to his momentary feelings. Those who gave establishment to false religions, were acquainted with this secret, and dismally skilful in making use of it. They saw very well, that although the tide of mere feeling might be made to flow in coincidence with their wishes for a time, yet there was nothing in feeling itself to prevent an un¬ timely reflux; and therefore they found it necessary to mould their measures into the form of principles, and plant them in the consciences of men, as the only possible means of gaining them permanent fa¬ vour. So entirely did they feel themselves depen¬ dent on this expedient, that, when their principles be¬ came so monstrous as to expose them to the detection B 56 XXVI even of the most untutored minds, they still pro¬ claimed them as principles solid and essential; but enshrined them in mystery, and raised up around them a mockery of veneration, which awes the deluded votary, and deters him from rational inquiry. The lowest demagogues are aware of the expedient, and without it feel themselves powerless; and a recent statesman was awfully aware of it, when, in taking something like a prophetic survey of Europe s political acrimony, he told Britain, in Parliament assembled, and told the world at large, as the darkest feature of the dreaded conflict, that it was likely to prove itself a war of opinions. A war of passions, like the sweep of the tempest, may expend itself and be gone ; but a war of principles, like the course of nature, is steady and resistless, and settles only in exteimination. Now, this is precisely the footing on which Chris¬ tianity must be placed, in order to deepen its roots, and realize its power, either in the conscience of an individual, or in society at large. That it produces feelings we are aware, and feelings too the most ex¬ alted and pleasurable ; but these feelings are pure and healthful, and acquire the steadiness of nature, only in as far as its sublime doctrines are understood and appropriated, and thus exalted to that ascen¬ dancy which principle alone can maintain. It is pre¬ eminently a matter of principle, containing, not simply a remedy for our nature^ moral disorder, but the es¬ sential and immutable elements of all religious truth ; and it cannot be taken for what it is, nor accomplish the mighty moral revolution for which it is promul¬ gated, except in as far as it holds the place, and ex¬ erts the influence, which belongs to principle of the XXVll highest order. But we are to remember, that, just because it is a system of truth at war with a working system of error, its individual principles, like the con¬ stituents of an army, must be marshalled, in order to be effective. Taken separately, they possess an ex¬ cellence, and display an adaptation to our forlorn con¬ dition, which more or less clearly evince their divi¬ nity ; but, like the members of the human body, we must see them in combination, each filling its own place, and contributing its own part to the symmetry and strength of the whole structure, in order to ac¬ quire an adequate conception of its intrinsic or rela¬ tive efficiency. All the truths in the universe, of whatsoever class or kind, are bound together by reci- piocal relations, the study of which is very serviceable to a suitable acquaintance with their powers or pro¬ perties ; and the eye which can trace their subtile affinities, perceives them all converging towards, and finding their eternal consistency in, the simple unity of the Godhead. But what are called theological truths, especially the truths of the Christian theo¬ logy, are peculiarly of this description ; so obviously and so intimately connected, that the man who looks at any one of them, as isolated from all the rest, and makes it the subject of reflection in this detached form, is in danger, at every step, of carrying it out into con¬ sequences which its place in the system forbids, and which lay a foundation in his own mind for a multi¬ tude of misconceptions. This, we should think, is so clear, that it cannot be seen without being admitted ; but if it be admitted, it brings along with it the other admission, that no- thing but the means of systematic information can B 2 XXV111 give to the doctrines of Christianity that coherence of parts, or concentration of light and power upon the conscience of an individual, which is necessary to its full effect on the formation of his Christian charac¬ ter. Without this, in short, the scheme of Chris¬ tian truth, viewed as a whole, cannot be reduced, in his mind at least, to the form and effectiveness of settled principle. His views of any one topic must be not only crude and impoverished, but in a state of positive discord with his views of other topics ; and what else can be his impression, in such a state of mind, than that there is a schism in the body of truth, as there too often is in the body of those who pro¬ fess it; and that this schism is a good reason for doubting or denying its claims to divinity ? Or, if fear should restrain him from a result so awful, there are other evils entailed by such confusion, which are neither few nor easily defeated. It must interfere with Christian practice, and enfeeble the exercise of Christian virtue, in all its departments, and in all its forms, whether social or individual. It is true that faith, and not mere knowledge, is the origin of evan¬ gelical obedience; and that the Christian whose know¬ ledge is very limited, confused, and incoherent, may yet be most exemplary in his conformity to Christian law, because his heart is really sanctified, and his whole soul influenced by the fear of God. But it is also true, and worthy of deep attention, that this con¬ formity is often estimated at more than it is really worth ; for knowledge is essential to the very exist¬ ence of that obedience which the Christian law re¬ quires. Obedience to God, in any sense that is com¬ petent to man, is the intelligent act of his intelligent XXIX creature; and Christian obedience is just the resuit of sound Christian information purifying the Chris¬ tian’s conscience and regulating his will. Faith is the spring of obedience, and without faith there can be none; but as knowledge is necessary prior to be¬ lief — as the means of perceiving the thing to be be¬ lieved, and of discerning the grounds of its claim to confidence — it is no less necessary after belief, as a means of strengthening the believer’s hold of those rich and precious doctrines, which are thus made the matter of his belief, and which, just because they are so, his mind can now examine as glorious reali¬ ties. But if faith be the spring of obedience, and knowledge the food of faith, the amount of obe¬ dience, as an expression of enlightened homage to the eternal Lawgiver, must in all cases be measured by the extent of the person’s believing acquaintance, not merely with the number, but with the nature and relations, of the doctrines and precepts of that eco¬ nomy under which he presents it. There is not, and there cannot possibly be, a single particle of genuine obedience in any act of conformity to any one precept of God’s revealed will, beyond the point at which he ceases to be really (that is, believingly) dis¬ cerned in that precept, as understood in itself, or il¬ lumined by other parts of the revelation to which it belongs. It is not deeds of conformity to precept, however punctually or gravely performed, but accord¬ ance of soul with the spirit of precept, as expressed by these deeds, which alone can bear the character of genuine obedience. The man, of course, is fittest for obedience, who has imbibed most of the spirit of the law ; but the spirit of the law can only be im- XXX bibed, so far as human moans are concerned, by de¬ voutly digesting its principles, as unfolding the char¬ acter of the Lawgiver. In looking, then, at that obedience which labours its way amidst clouds of igno¬ rance, and much incoherence of religious opinion, we are compelled to pronounce it greatly defective; and have no hesitation in affirming, that, do for it what vou may, its deficiencies must continue, until it be supplied with the light, and vigour, and enlargement of a clear and consecutive course of instruction. It may be sincere, or scrupulous, or uniform ; but it is prompted by fear more than by adoration, and gives to religion an aspect of gloominess which is no part of its nature. Or, even when its spirit is warm and filial, and seems contented and happy, it reminds you of fondness rather than love ; falling greatly short of that reasonable service,55 which is suited at once to the nature of man, and to the claims of those spiritual institutes under which his Creator has placed him. This is one of the prominent evils which result from the indiscretion of pampering the volatile taste of the age, instead of schooling it down to principle; and the man who patiently traces the evil, as it shows itself in the details of life, will not easily convince himself that it can be safely overlooked. There are other evils, however, in some respects of greater mag¬ nitude, which are also very prevalent, and must be traced to the same cause. Christians, in their suc¬ cessive generations, are the trustees of Christian doc¬ trine. It is consigned to them as a sacred deposit, for the preservation and the use of which they are held responsible to its Author: