'•y 
 

^ 
 
SERMONS 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LATE REV. JAMES SAURIN 
 
 VOL. I. 
 BT ROBERT ROBIJSTSOM 
 
SERMONS 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LATE REV. JAMES SAURIN, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FRENCH CHURCH AT THE HAGUE. 
 
 BY ROBERT ROBInSON. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 ON THE A TTRIB UTES OF GOD. 
 
 SECOND AMERICAN 
 FROM THE FIFTH LONDON EDITION. 
 
 SCHEMECTABY : 
 PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM J. M'CARTEE. 
 
 E.& E. Hosford— Printers— Albany. 
 
 1813. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST VOL UME. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 Hebrews v. vi. 
 
 Page 69 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 The Eternity of God. 
 2 Peter iii. 
 
 103 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 Tlie Omnipresence of God. 
 Psalm cxxxix. 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 The Grandeur of God. 
 Isaiah xl. 
 
 133 
 
 16' 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON y. 
 
 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, and the Abun- 
 dance of his Power. 
 
 Jeremiah xxxii. 
 
 SERMON YI. 
 
 The Holiness of God. 
 Leviticus xix. 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 The Compassion of God. 
 Psalm ciii. 
 
 Page 195 
 
 227 
 
 255 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 The Incomprehensibility of the Mercy of God. 
 
 Isaiah Iv. 
 
 285 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 The Severity of God. 
 
 Hebrews xii. 
 
 311 
 
CONTENTS. VU 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 The Patience of God. 
 Genesis xv. 
 
 SERMON XL 
 
 The Long-suffering of God. 
 EccLESiASTES viii. 
 
 SERMON XIL 
 
 God the only Object of Fear. 
 Part I. Jeremiah x. 
 
 SERMON XIL 
 
 God the only Object of Fear. 
 Part 11. Jeremiah x. 
 
 SERMON XIIL 
 
 The Manner of Praising God. 
 Psalm xxxiii. 
 
 Page 335 
 
 361 
 
 387 
 
 405 
 
 427 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EEFORM^TIOJ^ IJV FRdJ^CE, 
 
 AND OF 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. JAMES SAURIN. 
 
 The celebrated Mr. Saurin, author of the fol- 
 lowing sermons, was a French refugee, who, with 
 thousands of his countrymen, took shelter in Hol- 
 land from the persecutions of France. The lives, 
 and even the sermons, of the refugees are so close- 
 ly connected with the history of the Reformation 
 in France, that, we presume, a short sketch of the 
 state of religion in that kingdom till the banish- 
 ment of the Protestants by Lewis XIV. will not 
 be disagieeable to some of the younger part of 
 our readers. 
 
 Gaul, which is now called France, in the time of 
 Jesus Christ, was a province of the Roman empire, 
 and some of the apostles planted Christianity in it. 
 In the first centuries, while Christianity continu- 
 ed a rational religion, it spread and supported it- 
 self without the help, and against the persecutions, 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
X Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 of the Roman emperors. Numbers were convert- 
 ed from paganism, several Christian societies were 
 formed, and many eminent men, having spent 
 their lives in preaching and writing for the ad- 
 vancement of the gospel, sealed their doctrine with 
 their blood. 
 
 In the fifth century, Clovis I. a pagan king of 
 France, fell in love with Clotilda, a Christian prin- 
 cess of the house of Burgundy, who agreed to mar- 
 ry him only on condition of his becoming a 
 Christian, to which he consented. The king, 
 however, delayed the performance of this condition 
 till five years after his marriage ; when, being enga- 
 ged in a desperate battle, and having reason to fear 
 the total defeat of his army, he lifted up his eyes to 
 heaven, and put up this prayer, God of Queen Clo- 
 tilda! Grant me the victory, and I vow to be hap- 
 Used, and thenceforth to worship no other God hul 
 thee! He obtained the victory, and at his return, 
 was baptized at Rheims. His sister, and 
 more than three thousand of his subjects 
 followed his example, and Christianity be- 
 came the professed religion of France. 
 
 Conversion implies the cool exercise of reason, 
 and whenever passion takes the place, and does the 
 office of reason, conversion is nothing but a name. 
 Baptism did not wash away the sins of Clovis; be- 
 fore it he was vile, after it he was infamous, prac- 
 tising all kinds of treachery and cruelty. The 
 court, the army, and the common people, who 
 were pagan when the king was pagan, and Chris- 
 tian when he was Christian, continued the same in 
 their morals after theu' conversion as before. When 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xi 
 
 the Christian church, therefore, opened her doors, 
 and delivered up her keys to these new converts, 
 she gained nothing in comparison of what she lost. 
 She increased the number, the riches, the pomp, 
 and the power, of her family: but she resigned the 
 exercise of reason, the sufficiency of scripture, the 
 purity of worship, the grand simplicity of inno- 
 cence, truth, and virtue, and became a creature of 
 the state. A virgin before; she became a prosti- 
 tute now. 
 
 Such Christians, in a long succession, converted 
 Christianity into something worse than paganism. 
 They elevated the Christian church into a temporal 
 kingdom, and they degraded temporal kingdoms 
 into fiefs of the church. They founded dominion 
 in grace, and they explained grace to be a love of 
 dominion. And by these means they completed 
 that general apostacy, known by the name of 
 Popery, which St. Paul had foretold, 1 Tim, iv. 1. 
 and which rendered the reformation of the six- 
 teenth century essential to the interests of all man- 
 kind. 
 
 The state of religion at that time w^as 1515. 
 truly deplorable. Ecclesiastical government, instead 
 of that evangelical simplicity, and fraternal free- 
 dom, which Jesus Christ and his apostles had 
 taught, Avas become a spiritual domination under 
 the form of a temporal empke. An innumerable 
 multitude of dignities, titles, rights, honors, privi- 
 leges, and pre-eminences belonged to it, and were 
 all dependent on a sovereign priest, who, being 
 an absolute monarch, required every thought to 
 be in subjection to him. The chief ministers of 
 
xii Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 religion were actually become temporal princes, 
 and the high-priest, being absolute sovereign of the 
 ecclesiastical state, had his court and his council, 
 his ambassadors to negociate, and his armies to 
 murder his flock. The clergy had acquired im- 
 mense wealth, and, as their chief study was either 
 to collect and to augment their revenues, or to pre- 
 vent the alienation of their estates, they had con- 
 stituted numberless spiritual corporations, with 
 powers, rights, statutes^ privileges, and officers. 
 The functions of the ministry were generally neg- 
 lected, and, of consequence, gross ignorance pre- 
 vailed. All ranks of men were extremely deprav- 
 ed in their morals, and the Pope's penitentiary had 
 published the price of every crime, as it was rated 
 in the tax-book of the Roman chancery. Mar- 
 riages, which reason and scripture allowed, the 
 Pope prohibited, and, for money, dispensed with 
 those which both forbad. Church-benefices were 
 sold to children, and to laymen, who then let 
 them to under tenants, none of whom performed 
 the duty, for which the profits were paid ; but all 
 having obtained them by simony, spent their lives 
 in fleecing the flock to repay themselves. The 
 power of the pontiff was so great that he assum- 
 ed, and, what was more astonishing, was suffer- 
 ed to exercise a supremacy over many kingdoms. 
 "When monarchs gratified his will, he put on a tri- 
 ple crown, ascended a throne, suffered them to call 
 him Holiness, and to kiss his feet. When they 
 disobliged liim, he suspended all religious worship in 
 their dominions ; published false and abusive libels, 
 called bulls, which operated as laws, to injure their 
 
Memoirs of the Reformaiion in France, xiii 
 
 persons ; discharged their subjects from obedience ; 
 and gave their crowns to any who would usurp 
 them. He claimed an infallibility of knowledge, 
 and an omnipotence of strength ; and he forbad 
 the world to examine his claim. He was addres- 
 sed by titles of blasphemy, and, though he owned no 
 jurisdiction over himself, yet he affected to extend 
 his authority over heaven and hell, as well as over 
 a middle place called purgatory, of all which places, 
 he said, he kept the keys. This irregular church- 
 polity was attended with quarrels, intrigues, schisms, 
 and wars. 
 
 Religion itself was made to consist of the per- 
 formance of numerous ceremonies, of Pagan, Jew- 
 ish, and Monkish extraction, all which might be 
 performed without either faith in God, or love to 
 mankind. The church ritual was an address, not 
 to the reason, but to the senses of men : music 
 stole the ear, and soothed the passions; statues, 
 paintings, vestments, and various ornaments, be- 
 guiled the eye ; while the pause which was pro- 
 duced by that sudden attack, which a multitude of 
 objects made on the senses, on entering a spa- 
 cious decorated edifice, was enthusiastically taken 
 for devotion. Blind obedience was first allowed by 
 courtesy, and then established by law. Public 
 worship was performed in an unknown tongue, and 
 the sacrament was adored as the body and blood of 
 Christ. The credit of the ceremonial produced in 
 the people a notion, that the performance of it was 
 the practice of piety, and religion degenerated in- 
 to gross superstition. Vice, uncontrolled by rea- 
 son or scripture, retained a pagan vigor, and com- 
 
xiv Memoirs of the Reformation in F ranee » 
 
 milted the most horrid crimes : and superstition 
 atoned for them, by building and endowing reli- 
 gious houses, and by bestowing donations on 
 the church. Human merit Vvas introduced, saints 
 were invoked, and the perfections of God were dis- 
 tributed by canonization, among the creatures of 
 the Pope. 
 
 The pillars that supported this edifice were 
 immense riches, arising by impost from the sins of 
 mankind ; idle distinctions between supreme and 
 subordinate adoration ; senseless axioms, called the 
 divinity of the schools; preachments of buffoonery 
 or blasphemy, or both ; cruel casuistry, consisting 
 of a body of dangerous and scandalous morality ; 
 false miracles and midnight visions ; spurious books 
 and paltry relics ; oaths, dungeons, inquisitions, 
 and crusades. The whole was denominated the 
 
 HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH, and laid 
 
 to the charge of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Loud complaints had been made of these exces- 
 ses, for the last hundred and fifty years, to those 
 whose business it Avas to reform, and, as bad as they 
 were, they had owned the necessity of reformation, 
 and had repeatedly promised to reform. Several 
 councils had been called for the purpose of reform- 
 ing ; but nothing had been done, nor could any thing 
 be expected from assemblies of mercenary men, 
 who were too deeply interested in darkness to vote 
 for day. They were inflexible against every re- 
 monstrance, and, as a Jesuit has since expressed 
 it, " Theij Kould not extinguish one taper ^ though it 
 were to convert all the Hugonots in France.'' 
 
3Iemoirs of the Reformation in France, xv 
 
 The restorers of literature reiterated and reason- 
 ed on these complaints : but they reasoned to the 
 wind. The church champions were hard driven, 
 they tried every art to support their cause: but 
 they could not get rid of the attack by a polite du- 
 plicity ; they could not intimidate their sensible op- 
 ponents by anathemas ; they would not dispute the 
 matter by scripture, and they could not defend 
 themselves by any other method ; they were too 
 obstinate to reform themselves, and too proud to be 
 reformed by their inferiors. At length, the plaintiffs 
 laid aside the thoughts of applying to them, and, hav- 
 ing found out the liberty/ wherewith Christ had made 
 them free, went about reforming themselves. The 
 reformers were neither popes, cardinals, nor bish- 
 ops : but they were good men, who aimed to pro- 
 mote the glory of God, and the good of mankind. 
 
 This was the state of the church, when Fran- 
 
 1 " 1 < 
 
 cis I. ascended the throne. 
 
 Were we to enter into a minute examination of 
 the reformation in France, we would own a partic- 
 ular interposition of Providence : but we would al- 
 so take the liberty to observe, that a happy conjunc- 
 tion of jarring interests rendered the sixteenth cen- 
 tury a fit aera for reformation. Events that produ- 
 ced, protected, and persecuted reformation, pro- 
 ceeded from open and hidden, great and little, good 
 and bad causes. The capacities and the tempers, 
 the virtues and the vices, the views and the inter- 
 ests, the wives and the mistresses, of the princes 
 of those times; the abilities and dispositions of 
 the officers of each crown ; the powers of govern- 
 ment, and the persons who wrought them; the 
 
XTi Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 tempers and geniuses of the people ; all these, and 
 many more, were springs of action, which, in their 
 turns, directed the great events that were exhibit- 
 ed to public view. But our limits allow no inqui- 
 ries of this kind. 
 
 The reformation which began in Germany spread 
 
 itself to Geneva, and thence into France. The 
 
 French had a translation of the Bible, which hadbeen 
 
 made by Guiars des Moulins. It had been 
 
 In 1224. j.g^jgg(j^ corrected, and printed at Paris, by 
 
 ^^^^' order of Charles VIII. and the study of it 
 now began to prevail. The reigning king, who was 
 a patron of learning, encouraged his valet de cham- 
 bre, Clement Marot, to versify some of David's 
 psalms, and took great pleasure in singing them,* 
 and either protected, or persecuted the reformation, 
 as his interest seemed to him to require. Although 
 he went in procession to burn the first 
 martyrs of the reformed church, yet in 
 the same year, he sent for Melancthon to come in- 
 to France to reconcile religious differences. Al- 
 though he persecuted his own protestant subjects 
 with infinite inhumanity, yet when he was afraid, 
 that the ruin of the German protestants would 
 strengthen the hands of the emperor Charles V. he 
 made an alliance with the protestant princes of Ger- 
 
 * His majesty's favorite psalm, which he sang when he went 
 a huntin^^, was the 42cl. The queen used to sing the 6th, and 
 the king's mistress the 130th. Marot translated fifty, Beza the 
 other hundred, Calvin got them set to music by the best musi- 
 cians, and eveiy body sang them as ballads. When the reform- 
 ed churches made them a part of their worship, the papists were 
 forbidden to sing them any more, and to sing a psalm was a sign 
 of a Luthei-an. 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France. xvii 
 
 many, and he allowed the Duke of Orleans, his se- 
 cond son, to offer them the free exercise of their 
 relig;ion in tlie Dukedom of Luxemburg. He suf- 
 fered his sister, the Queen of Navarre, to protect 
 the reformation in her country of Beam, and even 
 saved Geneva, when Charles Duke of Savoy would 
 have taken it. It was no uncommon thing in that 
 age for princes to trifle thus with religion. His ma- 
 jesty's first concern was to be a king, his second to 
 act like a rational creature. 
 
 The reformation greatly increased in this reign. 
 The pious Queen of Navarre made her court a cov- 
 ert from every storm, supplied France with preach- 
 ers, and the exiles at Geneva with money. Calvin, 
 who had fled from his rectory in France, ^^^^^ 
 and had settled at Geneva, was a chief in- 
 strument, he slid his catechism, and other 
 books into France. Some of the bishops were in- 
 clined to the reformation : but secretly, for fear of 
 the Christians of Rome. The reformation was cal- 
 led Calvinism, The people were named Sacramen- 
 tarians, Lutherans, Calvinists ; and nick-named Hu- 
 gonots, either from Hugon, a Hobgoblin, because, 
 to avoid persecution, they held their assemblies in 
 the night ; or from the gate Hugon, in Tours, where 
 they used to meet ; or from a Swiss word, which 
 signifies a league. 
 
 Henry IL who succeeded his father Fran- 1547. 
 cis, was a weak, and a wicked prince. The in- 
 crease of his authority was the law and the prophets 
 to him. He violently persecuted the Calvinists of 
 
 VOL. T. 8 
 
iviii Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 France because he was taiiorht to believe, that here- 
 sy was a faction repugnant to authority; and he 
 made an alliance with the Gertnan protestants, and 
 was pleased with the title of Protector of the Ger- 
 manic liberties, that is, protector of protestantism. 
 This alliance he made, in order to check the power 
 of Charles Y. He was governed, sometimes by his 
 queen, Catharine de Medicis, niece of Pope Cle- 
 ment VII. who, it is said, never did right except 
 she did it by mistake : often by the constable de 
 Montniorenci, whom, contrary to the express com- 
 mand of his father, in his dying illness, he had pla- 
 ced at the head of administration : chiefly by his 
 mistress, Diana of Poitiers, who had been mistress 
 to his father, and who bore an implacable hatred to 
 the protestants : and always by some of his favour- 
 ites, whom he suffered to amass immense fortunes 
 by accusing men of heresy. The reformation was 
 very much advanced in this reign. The gentry pro- 
 moted the acting of plays, in which the comedians 
 exposed the lives and doctrines of the popish cler- 
 gy, and the poignant wit and humour of the come- 
 dians, afforded infinite diversion to the people, and 
 conciliated them to the new preachers. Be- 
 za, who had fled to Geneva, came backward 
 and forward into Fiance, and was a chief promoter 
 of the work. His Latin Testament, which he first 
 published in this reign, was much read, 
 greatly admired, and contributed to the 
 spread of the cause. The New Testament was the 
 Goliah's sword of the clerical reformers, there was 
 none like if. 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France. xix 
 
 Francis II. succeeded his father Henry. 
 He was only in the sixteenth year of his 
 age, extremely weak both in body and mind, and 
 therefore incapable of governing the kingdom by 
 himself. In this reign began those civil wars, which 
 raged in France for almost forty years. They have 
 been charged on false zeal for religion : but this 
 charge is a calumny, for the crown of France was 
 the prize for which the generals fought. It was that 
 which inspired them with hopes and fears, product- 
 ive of devotions or persecutions, as either of them 
 opened access to the throne. The interests of re- 
 ligion, indeed, fell in with these views, and so the 
 parties were blended together in war. 
 
 The family of Charles the Great, which had 
 reigned in France for 236 years, either became ex- 
 tinct, or was deprived of its inheritance, at the 
 death of Lewis the Lazy. Him, Hugh Ca- 
 pet had succeeded, and had transmitted the 
 crown to his own posterity, which, in this reign, 
 subsisted in two principal branches, in that of Ya- 
 lois, which was in possession of the throne, and in 
 that of Bourbon, the next heir to the throne of 
 France, and then in possession of Beam. The 
 latter had been driven out of the kingdom of Na- 
 varre : but they retained the title, and were some- 
 limes at Beam and sometimes at the court of France. 
 The house of Guise, Dukes of Lorraine, a very rich 
 and powerful family, to whose niece, Mary Queen 
 of Scots, the young king was man'ied, pretended 
 to make out their descent from Charles the Great, 
 and were competitors, when the times served, with 
 the reigning family for the throne, and, at other 
 
sx 
 
 Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 times, with the Bourbon family, for the apparent 
 heirship to it. With these views they directed their 
 family alliances, perfected themselves in military 
 skill, and intrigued at court for the administration 
 of affairs. These three houses formed three parties. 
 The house of Guise (the chiefs of which were five 
 brethren at this time) headed one ; the king of Na- 
 Tarre, the princes of the blood, and the great offi- 
 cers of the crown, the other; the ftueen mother, 
 who managed the interests of the reigning family, 
 exercised her policy on both, to keep either from 
 becoming too strong ; while the feeble child on the 
 throne was alternately a prey to them all. 
 
 Protestantism had obtained numerous converts in 
 the last reign. Several princes of the blood, some 
 chief officers of the crown, and many principal fam- 
 ilies, had embraced it, and its partizans were so nu- 
 merous, both in Paris and in all the provinces, that 
 each leader of the court parties, deliberating on the 
 policy of strengthening his party, by openly espous- 
 ing the reformation, by endeavouring to free the 
 protestants from penal laws, and by obtaining a 
 free toleration for them. At length, the house of 
 Bourbon declared for protestantism, and, of conse- 
 quence, the Guises were inspired with zeal for the 
 support of the ancient religion, and took the Ro- 
 man Catholics under their protection. The king of 
 Navarre, and the prince of Conde, were the heads 
 of the first : but the Duke of Guise had the ad- 
 dress to obtain the chief management of affairs, and 
 the protestants were persecuted with insatiable fury 
 all the time of this reign. 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France. xxi 
 
 Had religion then no share in these commotions ? 
 Certainly it liad, with many of the princes, and 
 with multitudes of the soldiers : But they were a 
 motley mixture ; one fought for his coronet, anoth- 
 er for his land, a third for liberty of conscience, and 
 a fourth for pay. Courage was a joint stock, and 
 they were mutual sharers of gain or loss, praise or 
 blame. It was religion to secure the lives and prop- 
 erties of noble families, and though the common 
 people had no lordships, yet they had the more val- 
 uable rights of conscience, and for them they fought. 
 We mistake, if we imagine that the French have 
 never understood the nature of civil and religious 
 liberty, they have well understood it, though they 
 have not been able to obtain it. Suum cuique would 
 have been as expressive a motto as any that the 
 protestant generals could have borne. 
 
 The persecution of the protestants was very se- 
 vere at this time. Counsellor Du Bourg, a gentle- 
 man of eminent quality, and great merit, was burnt 
 for heresy, and the court was inclined, not only to 
 rid France of protestantism, but Scotland also, and 
 sent La Brosse with three thousand men to assist the 
 queen of Scotland in that pious design. This was 
 frustrated by the intervention of Queen Elizabeth 
 of England. The persecution becoming every day 
 more intolerable, and the king being quite inacces- 
 sible to the remonstrances of his people, the protest- 
 ants held several consultations, and took the opin- 
 ions of their ministers, as well as those of their no- 
 ble partizans, on the question, whether it were law- 
 ful to take up arms in their own defence, and to 
 make way for a free access to the king to present 
 
xxii Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 their petitions ? It was unanimously resolved, that 
 it was lawful, and it was agreed, that a certain num- 
 ber of men should be chosen, who should go on a 
 fixed day, under the direction of Lewis prince of 
 Conde, present their petition to the king, and seize 
 the Duke of Guise, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, 
 bis brother, in order to have them tried before the 
 states. This affair was discovered to the Duke by 
 a false brother, the design w^as defeated, and twelve 
 hundred were beheaded. Guise pretended to have 
 suppressed a rebellion that was designed to end in 
 the dethroning of the king, and, by this manoeuvre, 
 be procured the general lieutenancy of the king- 
 dom, and the glorious title of Conservator of his 
 country. He pleased the puerile king by placing a 
 few gaudy horse-guards round his palace, and he 
 infatuated the poor child to think himself and his 
 kingdom rich and happy, w4iile his protestant sub- 
 jects lay a bleeding through all his realm. 
 
 The infinite value of an able statesman, in such 
 an important crisis as this, might here be exemplifi- 
 ed in the conduct of Michael de L'Hospital, who 
 w^as at this time promoted to the chancel- 
 lorship : but our limits will not allow an 
 enlargement. He was the most consummate poli- 
 tician that France ever employed. He had the 
 wisdom of governing without the folly of discov- 
 ering it, and all his actions were guided by that 
 cool moderation, w4iich always accompanies a su- 
 perior knowledge of mankind. He was a conceal- 
 ed protestant of the most liberal sentiments, an en- 
 tire friend to religious liberty^ and it was his wise 
 management that saved France. It was his fixed 
 
'Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxiii 
 
 opinion, that free toleration was sound policy. 
 We must not wonder that rigid papists deemed him 
 an atheist, while zealous, but mistaking protestants, 
 pictured him carrying a torch behind him, to guide 
 others but not himself. The more a man resembles 
 God, the more will his conduct be censured by ig- 
 norance, partiality, and pride ! 
 
 The Duke of Guise, in order to please and 
 strengthen his party, endeavoured to establish an 
 inquisition in France. The chancellor, being wil- 
 ling to parry a thrust which he could not 
 entirely avoid, was forced to agree to a 1550'. 
 severer edict than he could have wished, to 
 defeat the design. By this edict, the cognizance of 
 the crime of heresy was taken from the secular 
 judges, and given to the bishops alone. The Cal- 
 vinists complained of this, because it put them into 
 the hands of their enemies: and although their 
 Lordships condemned and burnt so many heretics, 
 that their courts were justly called chamhres arden- 
 tes,^ yet the zealous catholics thought them less eli- 
 gible than an inquisition after the manner of Spain. 
 
 Soon after the making of this edict, ma- 
 ny families having been ruined by it. Ad- i^^\ 
 miral Coligny presented a petition to the 
 king, in the names of all the protestants of France, 
 humbly praying that they might be allowed the free 
 exercise of their religion. The king referred the 
 matter to the parliament, who were to consult about 
 it with the lords of his council. A warm debate en- 
 sued, and the catholics carried it against the protest- 
 
 * Burning courts, fire offices. 
 
xxiv Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 ants by three voices. It was resolved, that people 
 should be obliged, either to conform to the old es- 
 tablished church, or to quit the kingdom, with per- 
 mission to sell their estates. The protestants argu- 
 ed, that in a point of such importance, it would be 
 unreasonable, on account of three voices, to inflame 
 all France with animosity and war : that the meth- 
 od of banishment was impossible to be executed : 
 and that the obliging of those, who continued in 
 France, to submit to the Romish religion, against 
 their consciences, was an absurd attempt, and equal 
 to an impossibility. The chancellor, and the pro- 
 testant Lords, used every effort to procure a tolera- 
 tion, while the catholic party urged the necessity 
 of uniformity in religion. At length two of the 
 bishops owned the necessity of reforming, pleaded 
 strenuously for moderate measures, and proposed 
 the deciding; of these controversies in an assemblv 
 of the states, assisted by a national council, to be 
 summoned at the latter end of the year. To this 
 proposal the assembly agreed. 
 
 The court of Rome having laid it down as an in- 
 dubitable maxim in church police, that an inquisition 
 was the only support of the hierarchy, and dreading 
 the consequences of allowing a nation to reform it- 
 self, was alarmed at this intelligence, and instantly 
 sent a nuncio into France. His instructions were to 
 prevent, if possible, the calling of a national council, 
 and to promise the re-assembling of the general coun- 
 cil of Trent. The protestants had been too often 
 dupes to such artifices as these, and, being fully con- 
 vinced of the futility of general councils, they refu- 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxv 
 
 sed to submit to the council of Trent now for sever- 
 al good reasons. The pope, they said, who assem- 
 bled the council, was to be judge in his own cause: 
 the council would be chiefly composed of Italian 
 bishops, who were vassals of the Pope, as a secular 
 prince, and sworn to him as a bishop and head of the 
 church : the legates would pack a majority, and bribe 
 the poor bishops to vote : each article would be first 
 settled at Rome, and then proposed by the legates 
 to the council : the Emperor, by advice of the late 
 council of Constance, had given a safe conduct to 
 John Huss, and to Jerom of Prague, however, when 
 they appeared in the council, and proposed their 
 doubts, the council condenmed them to be burnt. 
 The protestants had reason on their side, when they 
 rejected this method of reforming, for the art of pro- 
 curing a majority of votes is the soul of this system 
 of church-government. This art consists in the in- 
 genuity of finding out, and in the dexterity of ad- 
 dressing each man's weak side, his pride or his io-- 
 norance, his envy, his gravity, or his avarice : and 
 the possessing of this is the perfection of a Legate of 
 Rome. 
 
 During these disputes, the king died 
 without issue, and his brother Charles IX. iseof 
 who was in the eleventh vear of his asfe, 
 succeeded him. The States met at the time ^^* 
 proposed. The chancellor opened the session by 
 an unanswerable speech on the ill policy of persecu- 
 tion, he represented the miseries of the protestants, 
 and proposed an abatement of their sufferings, till 
 their complaints could be heard in a national coun- 
 
 TQL. I, 4 
 
xxvi Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 cil. The Prince of Conde and the King of Navar- 
 re were the heads of the protestant party, the Gui- 
 ses were the headsof their opponents, and the queen 
 mother, Catharine de Medicis, who had obtained 
 the regency till the king's majority, and who began 
 to dread the power of the Guises, leaned to the pro- 
 testants, which w^as a grand event in their favor. 
 After repeated meetings, and various warm debates, 
 it was agreed, as one side would not submit to a 
 general council, nor the other to a national assem- 
 bly, that a conference should be held at Poissy, be- 
 tween both parties, and an edict was made, 
 
 i^eV. that no persons should molest the protest- 
 ants, that the imprisoned should be releas- 
 
 1561. ed, and the exiles called home. 
 
 The conference at Poissy was held, in the pres- 
 ence of the king, the princes of the blood, the no- 
 bility, cardinals, prelates, and grandees of both par- 
 ties. On the popish side, six cardinals, four bishops, 
 and several dignified clergymen, and on the pro- 
 testant about twelve of the most famous reformed 
 ministers, managed the dispute. Beza, who spoke 
 well, knew the world, and had a ready wit, and a 
 deal of learning, displayed all his powers in favor 
 of the reformation. The papists reasoned where 
 they could, and where they could not they railed. 
 The conference ended where most public 
 
 Sept. 29. . 
 
 disputes have ended, that is, where they be- 
 gan ; for great men never enter these lists, without 
 a previous determination not to submit to the dis- 
 grace of a public defeat. 
 
Memoirs of the Heformalion in France, xxvii 
 
 At the close of the last reign, the ruin of protest- 
 antism seemed inevitable: but now the reformation 
 turned like a tide, overspread every place, and seem- 
 ed to roll away all opposition, and, in all probabil- 
 ity, had it not been for one sad event, it would now 
 have subverted popery in this kingdom. The king 
 of Navarre, who was now lieutenant general of 
 France, had hitherto been a zealous protestant, he 
 Lad taken incredible pains to support the reforma- 
 tion, and had assured the Danish ambassador that, 
 in a year's time, he would cause the true gospel to 
 be preached throughout France. The Guises ca- 
 balled with the pope and tlie king of Spain, and 
 they offered to invest the king of Navarre with the 
 iingdom of Sardinia, and to restore to him that part 
 of the kingdom of Navarre, which lay in Spain, on 
 condition of his renouncing protestantism. The 
 lure w^as tempting, and the king deserted, and even 
 persecuted the protestants. Providence is never at 
 a loss for means to ,effect its designs. The queen 
 of Navarre, daughter of the last queen, who had 
 hitherto preferred a dance to a sermon, was shock- 
 ed at the king's conduct, and instantly became a 
 zealous protestant herself. She met wdth some un- 
 kind treatment, but nothing could shake her resolu- 
 tion ; Had I, said she, the kingdoms in m,y hand, I 
 would throw them into the sea, rather than defile iny 
 conscience by going to mass. This courageous pro- 
 fession saved her a deal of trouble and dispute I 
 
 The protestants began now to appear more pub- 
 licly than before. The queen of Navarre caused 
 Beza openly to solemnize a marriage in a noble fam- 
 
xxviii Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 ily, after the Geneva manner. This, which was con- 
 summated near the court, emboldened the ministers, 
 and they preached at the countess de Senignan's, 
 guarded by the marshal's provosts. The nobility 
 thouo^ht that the common people had as good a right 
 to hear the gospel as themselves, and caused the re- 
 formed clergy to preach without the walls of Paris. 
 Their auditors were thirty, or forty thousand peo- 
 ple, divided into three companies, the women in the 
 middle, surrounded by men on foot, and the latter 
 by men on horseback ; and during the sermon, the 
 governor of Paris placed soldiers to guard the ave- 
 nues, and to prevent disturbances. The morality of 
 this worship cannot be disputed, for if God be wor- 
 shipped in spirit and in truth, the place is indiffer- 
 ent. The expediency of it may be doubted: but, 
 in a persecution of forty years, the French protest- 
 ants had learnt that their political masters did not 
 consider how rational, but how formidable they 
 were. 
 
 The Guises, and their associates, being quite dis- 
 pirited, retired to their estates, and the queen re- 
 gent, by the chancellor's advice, granted an edict to 
 enable the protestants to preach in all parts of the 
 kingdom, except in Paris, and in other walled cities. 
 The parliaments of France had then the power of 
 refusing to register royal edicts, and the chancellor 
 had occasion for all his address, to prevail over the 
 scruples and ill humor of the parliament to procure 
 the registering of this. He begged leave to say, 
 that the question before them was one of those 
 which had its difficulties, on whatever side it wae 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxix 
 
 viewed : that in the present case, one, of two things, 
 must be chosen, either to put all the adherents of 
 the new religion to the sword ; or to banish them 
 entirely, allowing thenn to dispose of their effects ; 
 that the first point could not be executed, since tliat 
 party was too strong both in leaders and partizans ; 
 and tho' it could be done, yet as it was staining the 
 king's youth with the blood of so many of his sul> 
 jects, perhaps when he came to age, he would de- 
 mand it at the hands of his governors ; with regard 
 to the second point, it was as little feasible, and 
 could it be effected, it would be raising as many 
 desperate enemies as exiles: that to enforce con- 
 formity against conscience, as matters stood now, 
 was to lead the people to atheism. The edict at 
 last was passed, but the house registered it 
 with this clause, in consideration of the pre- 1552. 
 sent juncture of the times : hut not approv- 
 ing of the new religion in any manner, and till the 
 king shall otherwise appoint. So hard sat toleration 
 on the minds of papists. 
 
 A minority was a period favorable to the views 
 of the Guises, and this edict was a happy occasion 
 of a pretence for commencing hostilities. The 
 Duke, instigated by his mother, went to Yassi, a 
 town adjacent to one of his lordships, and, some 
 of his retinue picking a quarrel with some protest- 
 ants, who were hearing a sermon in a barn, he in- 
 terested himself in it, wounded two hundred, and 
 left sixty dead on the spot. This was the 
 first protestant blood, that was shed in civ- 1562. 
 il war. 
 
XXX Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 The news of this afFau' flew like lightning, and, 
 while the Duke was marching to Paris with a thou- 
 sand horse, the city, and the provinces rose in arms. 
 The chancellor was extremely afflicted to see both 
 sides preparing for war, and endeavored to dissuade 
 them from it. The constable told him, it did not 
 belong to men of the long robe, to give their judgment 
 nith relation to war. To which he answered, that 
 though he did not bear arms, he knew when they ought 
 to be used. After this, they excluded him from the 
 councils of war. 
 
 The queen-regent, alarmed at the Duke's ap- 
 proach to Paris, threw herself into the hands of the 
 Protestants, and ordered Conde to take up 
 
 isel. arms. War began, and barbarities and cru- 
 elties were practised on both sides. The 
 Duke of Guise was assassinated, the king of Na- 
 varre w as killed at a siege, fifty thousand protest- 
 ants were slain, and, after a year had been spent in 
 these confusions, a peace was concluded. 
 All that the protestants obtained, w^as an 
 edict which excluded the exercise of their religion 
 from cities, and restrained it to their own families. 
 
 Peace did not continue long, for the protestants, 
 having received intelligence, that the Pope, the 
 house of Austria, and the house of Guise, had con- 
 spired their ruin, and fearing that the king, and 
 the court, were inclined to crush them, as their 
 rights were every day infringed by new edicts, took 
 up arms aoain in their own defence. The 
 city of Rochelle declared for them, and it 
 served them for an asylum for sixty years. They 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxxi 
 
 were assisted by Queen Elizabeth of England, and 
 by the German princes, and they obtained, at the 
 conclusion of this second war, the revoca- , ^^ 
 
 , 1568. 
 
 lion of all penal edicts, the exercise of their 
 religion in their families, and the grant of six cities 
 for their security. 
 
 The pope, the king of Spain, and the Guises, 
 finding that they could not prevail while the wise 
 chancellor retained his influence, formed a 
 cabal against him, and got him removed. 1558* 
 He resigned very readily, and retired to a 
 country seat, where he spent the remainder of his 
 days. A strange confusion followed in the direct- 
 ion of affairs, one edict allowed liberty, another 
 forbad it, and it was plain to the protestants that 
 their situation was very delicate and dangerous. 
 The articles of the last peace had never been per- 
 formed, and the papists every where insulted their 
 liberties, so that, in three months time, two thou- 
 sand Hugonots were murdered, and the murderers 
 went unpunished. War broke out again. 
 Queen Elizabeth assisted the protestants 
 with money, the Count Palatine helped them with 
 men, the Queen of Navarre parted with her rings 
 and jewels to support them, and, the Prince of Con- 
 de being slain, she declared her son, prince Henry, 
 the head, and protector of the protestant cause, and 
 caused medals to be struck with these words a safe 
 peace, a complete victory, a glorious death. Her majes- 
 ty did every thing in her power for the advancement 
 of religious liberty, and she used to say, that liber- 
 ty of conscience ought to be preferred before honors, 
 
xxxii Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 dignilics, and life itself. She caused the New Tes^ 
 tament, the catechism, and the liturgy of Geneva, 
 to be translated, and printed at Rochelle. She 
 abolished popery, and established protestantism in 
 her own dominions. In her leisure hours, she ex- 
 pressed her zeal by working tapestries with her 
 own hands, in which she represented the monuments 
 of that liberty, which she procured by shaking off 
 the yoke of the Pope. One suit consisted of twelve 
 pieces. On each piece was represented some scrip- 
 ture history of deliverance ; Israel coming out of 
 Egypt, Joseph's release from prison, or something 
 of the like kind. On the top of each piece were 
 these words, rvhere the spirit is there is liberty, and 
 in the corners of each were broken chains, fetters, 
 and gibbets. One piece represented a congregation 
 at JMass, and a fox, in a friar's habit, officiating as 
 a priest, grinning horribly and saying, the Lord be 
 with you. The pieces were fashionable patterns, 
 and dexterously directed the needles of the ladies 
 to help forward the reformation. 
 
 After many negotiations a peace was con- 
 cluded, and the free exercise of religion 
 was allowed in all but walled cities, two cities in 
 every province were assigned to the protestants ; 
 they were to be admitted into all universities, 
 schools, hospitals, public offices, royal, seignioral, 
 and corporate, and, to render the peace of ever- 
 lasting duration, a match was proposed between 
 Henry of Navarre, and the sister of king Charles. 
 These articles were accepted, the match was agreed 
 ^o, every man's sword was put up in its sheath, and 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxxiii 
 
 Ihe Queen of Navarre, her son, King Henry, the 
 princes of the blood, and the principal pro- 
 testants, went to Paris to celebrate the mar- 1572. 
 riage. A few days after the marriage, the 
 Admu'al, who was one of the principal protestant 
 leaders, was assassinated. This alarmed ^^^ ^2 
 the king of Navarre, and the prince of 
 Conde, but, the king and his mother promising to 
 punish the assassin, they were quiet. The * ^ 9. 
 next Sunday, being S. Bartholomew's day, 
 w hen the bells rang for morning prayers, the Duke 
 of Guise, brother of the last, appeared with a great 
 number of soldiers, and citizens, and began to mur- 
 der the Hugonots, the w retched Charles appeared 
 at the w indows of his palace, and endeavored to 
 shoot those w^ho fled, crying to their pursuers, Kill 
 them, kill them. The massacre continued seven 
 days, seven hundred houses were pillaged ; five 
 thousand people perished in Paris, neither age, nor 
 sex, nor even women with child were spared ; one 
 butcher boasted to the king that he had hewn down 
 a hundred and fifty in one night. The rage ran 
 from Paris to the provinces, where twenty five thou- 
 sand more w^ere cruelly slain ; the Queen of Na- 
 varre was poisoned ; and, during the massacre, the 
 king offered the king of Navarre, and the young 
 prince of Conde, son of the late prince, if they 
 would not renounce Hugonotism, either death, mass, 
 or hastile : for, he said, he would not have one left 
 to reproach him. This bloody affair does not lie 
 betw een Charles IX. his mother, Catharine of Me- 
 dicis, and the Duke of Guise ; for the church of 
 VOL. I, 5 
 
xxxiv 3Iemoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 Rome, and the court of Spain, by exhibiting pub- 
 lic rejoicings on the occasion, have adopted it for 
 their own, or, at least, have claimed a share. 
 
 Would any one after this propose passive obedi- 
 ence, and non-resistance, to French protestants ? 
 Or can we wonder, that, abhorring a church, who 
 offered to embrace them with hands reeking with 
 the blood of then' brethren, they put on their ar- 
 mor again, and commenced a fourth civil war ? The 
 late massacre raised up also another party, called 
 Politicians, who proposed to banish the family of 
 Guise from France, to remove the queen mother, 
 and the Italians, from the government, and to re- 
 store peace to the nation. This faction was headed 
 by Montmorenci, who had an eye to the crown. 
 During these troubles, the king died, in 
 the twenty-fifth year of his age. Charles 
 had a lively little genius, he composed a book on 
 hunting, and valued himself on his skill in physi- 
 ognomy. He thought courage consisted in swear- 
 ing and taunting at his courtiers. His diversions 
 were hunting, music, women, and wine. His court 
 was a common sewer of luxury and impiety, and, 
 while his favorites were fleecing his people, he em- 
 ployed himself in the making of rhymes. The 
 part which he acted in the Bartholomean tragedy, 
 the worst crime that was ever perpetrated in any 
 Christian country, will mark his reign with infamy, 
 to the end of time. 
 
 Henry HI. who succeeded his brother Charles, 
 w^as first despised, and then hated, by all his sub- 
 jects. He was so proud that he set rails round his 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxxv 
 
 table, and affected the pomp of an eastern king : 
 and so mean that he often walked in procession with 
 a beggarly brotherhood, with a string of beads in 
 his hand, and a whip at his girdle. He was so cred-i 
 idous that he took the sacrament with the Duke of 
 Guise, and with the Cardinal of Lorraine, his broth- 
 er ; and so treacherous that he caused the assassina- 
 tion of them both. He boasted being a chief advis- 
 er of the late massacre, and the protestants abhor- 
 red him for it. The papists hated him for his ad- 
 herence to the Hugonot house of Bourbon, and for 
 the edicts which he sometimes granted in favor of 
 the protestants, though his only aim was to weaken 
 the Guises. The Ladies held him in execration for 
 his unnatural practices : and the dutchess of Mont- 
 pensier talked of clipping his hair, and of making 
 him a monk. His heavy taxes, which were con- 
 sumed by his favorites, excited the populace against 
 him, and, while his kingdom was covered with car- 
 nage, and drenching in blood, he was training lap- 
 dogs to tumble, and parrots to prate. 
 
 In this reign was formed the famous league, which 
 reduced France to the most miserable condition that 
 could be. The chief promoter of it was the duke 
 of Guise. The pretence was the preservation of 
 the catholic religion. The chief articJes were three. 
 *' The defence of the catholic relioion. The estab- 
 lishment of Henry HL on the throne. The main- 
 taining of the liberty of the kingdom, and the as- 
 sembling of the states." Those who entered into 
 the league, promised to obey such a General as 
 should be chosen for the defence of it, and the 
 
xxxvi 3Icmoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 Tviiole was confirmed by oath. The weak Henry 
 subscribed it at first in hopes of subduing the Hu- 
 gonots ; the queen mother, the Guises, the pope, 
 the king of Spain, many of the clergy, and multi- 
 tudes of the people became leaguers. When Hen- 
 ry perceived that Guise was aiming by this league 
 to dethrone him, he favored the protestants, and 
 they obtained an edict for the free exercise 
 ^ ^' of their religion: but edicts were vain 
 things against the power of the league, and three 
 civil wars raged in this reign. 
 
 Guise's pretended zeal for the Romish religion 
 allured the clergy, and France was filled with sedi- 
 tious books and sermons. The preachers of the 
 league were the most furious of all sermon-mongers. 
 They preached up the excellency of the established 
 church, the necessity of uniformity, the horror of 
 Hugonotism, the merit of killing the tyrant on the 
 throne, (for so they called the king) the genealogy 
 of the house of Guise, and every thing else that 
 could inflame the madness of party-rage. It is not 
 enough to say that these abandoned clergymen dis- 
 graced their oflfice, truth obliges us to add, they 
 were protected, and preferred to dignities in the 
 church, both in France and Spain. 
 
 The nearer the Guises approached to the crown, 
 the more were they inflamed at the sight of it. 
 They obliged the king to forbid the exercise of the 
 protestant religion. They endeavored to exclude 
 the king of Navarre, who was now the next heir to 
 the throne, from the succession. They began to act 
 so haughtil}' that Henry caused the Duke and the 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxxvii 
 
 Cardinal to be assassinated. The next year lie him- 
 self was assassinated by a friar. Reliijion 
 flourishes where nothing else can grow, and 
 the reformation spread more and more in ^^^^• 
 this reign. The exiles at Geneva filled France with 
 a new translation of the bible, with books, letters, 
 catechisms, hymns, and preachers, and the people, 
 contrasting the religion of Christ with the religion 
 of Rome, entertained a most serious aversion for the 
 latter. 
 
 In the last king ended the family of Yalois, and 
 the next heir was Henry IV, of the house of Bour- 
 bon, king of Navarre. His majesty had been edu- 
 cated a protestant, and had been the protector of 
 the party, and the protestants had reason to expect 
 much from him on his ascending the throne of 
 France : but he had many difficulties to surmount, 
 for could the men who would not bear a Hugonot 
 subject, bear a Hugonot king ? Some of the old fac- 
 tion disputed his title, and all insisted on a christian 
 king. Henry had for him, on the one side, almost 
 all the nobility, the w hole court of the late king, all 
 protestant states, and princes, and the old Hugonot 
 troops : on the other, he had against him, the com- 
 mon people, most of the great cities, all the par- 
 liaments except two, the greatest part of the clergy, 
 the pope, the king of Spain, and most catholic states. 
 Four years his majesty deliberated, negociated, and 
 fought, but could not gain Paris. At length, the 
 league set up a king of the house of Guise, and 
 Henry found that the throne was inaccessible to all 
 but papists, he therefore renounced heresy before 
 
XXXV iii Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 Dr. Benoit, a moderate papist, and professed bis 
 conversion to popery. Paris opened its gates, the 
 pope sent an absolution, and Henry became a most 
 christian king. Every man may rejoice that his 
 virtue is not put to the trial of refusing a crown ! 
 
 When bis majesty got to his palace in Paris, he 
 thought proper to conciliate his new friends by 
 shewing them particular esteem, and played at 
 cards the first evening with a lady of the house of 
 Guise, the most violent leaguer in all the party. 
 His old servants, who had shed rivers of blood to 
 bring the house of Bourbon to the throne, thought 
 themselves neglected. While the protestants were 
 slighted, and while those, who had followed the 
 league, were disengaging themselves from it on ad- 
 vantageous conditions, one of the king's old friends 
 said, "We do not envy your killing the fatted 
 calf for the prodigal son, provided you do not sa- 
 crifice the obedient son to make the better enter- 
 tainment for the prodigal. I dread those bargains, 
 in which things are given up, and nothing got but 
 mere words ; the words of those who hitherto have 
 had no words at all." 
 
 By ascending the throne of France, Henry had 
 risen to the highest degree of wretchedness. He 
 had offered violence to his conscience by embracing 
 popery, he had stirred up a general discontent a- 
 mong the French protestants, the queen of England, 
 and the protestant states, reproached hitn bitterly, 
 the league refused to acknowledge him till the pope 
 had absolved him in form, the king of Spain cabal- 
 led for the crown, several cities heldout against him, 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xxxix 
 
 many of the clergy thought him an hypocrite, and 
 refused to insert his name in the public prayers of 
 the church, the lawyers published libels against him, 
 the Jesuits threatened to assassinate him, and actu- 
 ally attempted to do it. In this delicate and diffi- 
 cult situation, though his majesty manifested the 
 frailty of humanity by renouncing protestantism, 
 yet he extricated himself and his subjects from the 
 fatal labyrinths in which they were all involved, so 
 that he deservedly acquired from his enemies the 
 epithet Great, though his friends durst not give 
 him that of Good. 
 
 The king had been so well acquainted with the 
 protestants, that he perfectly knew their principles, 
 and, could he have acted as he would, he would 
 have instantly granted them all that they w^anted. 
 Their enemies had falsely said, that they were ene- 
 mies to government: but the king knew better, 
 and he also knew that the claims of his family w ould 
 have been long ago buried in oblivion, had not the 
 protestants supported them. Marshal Biron had 
 been one chief instrument of bringing him to the 
 throne. The Marshal was not a good Hugonot, nor 
 did he profess to be a papist : but he espoused the 
 protestant party, for he was a man of great sense, 
 and he hated violence in religion ; and there were 
 many more of the same cast. Parties, however, ran 
 so high that precipitancy would have lost all, and 
 Henry was obliged to proceed by slow and cautious 
 steps. 
 
 The deputies of the reformed churches, soon 
 waited on his majesty to congratulate him, and to 
 
xl Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 pray for liberty. The king allowed them to hold a 
 general assembly, and offered them some slight sat- 
 isfaction : but the hardy veteran Hugonots, who had 
 spent their days in the field, and who knew also 
 that persons, who were of approved fidelity, might 
 venture to give the king their advice without an- 
 gering him, took the liberty of reminding him that 
 they would not be paid in compliments for so many 
 signal services. Their ancestors and they had sup- 
 ported his right to the crown, along with their own 
 right to liberty of conscience, and as Providence had 
 granted the one, they expected that the other would 
 not be denied. The king felt the force of these re- 
 monstrances, and ventured to allow them to hold 
 provincial assemblies ; after a while, to convene a 
 national synod, and, as soon as he could, he grant- 
 ed them the famous Edict of Nantz. 
 The Edict of Nantz, which was called 
 perpetual, and irrevocahle, and which contained nine- 
 ty two articles, beside fifty six secret articles, grant- 
 ed to the protestants liberty of conscience, and the 
 free exercise of religion ; many churches in all parts 
 of France, and judges of their own persuasion; a 
 free access to all places of honor and dignity ; great 
 sums of money to pay off their troops ; an hundred 
 places as pledges of their future security, and cer- 
 tain funds to maintain both their preachers and their 
 garrisons. The king did not send this edict to be 
 registered in parliament, till the Pope's legate was 
 gone out of the kingdom, so that it did not get there 
 till the next year. Some of the old party in the 
 house boggled at it very much, and particularly be- 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France. xli 
 
 cause the Hugonots were hereby qualified for offi- 
 ces, and places of trust : but his majesty sent for 
 some of the chiefs to his closet, made them a most 
 pathetic speech on the occasion, and, with some dif- 
 ficulty, brought them to a compliance. It is easy 
 to conceive that the king might be very pathetic on 
 this occasion, for he had seen and suffered enough 
 to make any man so. The meanest Hugonot sol- 
 dier could not avoid the pathos, if he related his 
 campaigns. But it is very credible, that it was not 
 the pathos of his majesty's language, but the power 
 in his hand, that afferted these intolerant souls. 
 
 No nation ever made a more noble struggle, for 
 recovering liberty of conscience out of the rapacious 
 hands of the Papal priesthood, than the French. 
 And one may venture to defy the most sanguine 
 friend to intolerance to prove, that a free toleration 
 hath, in any country, at any period, produced such 
 calamities in society as those which persecution 
 produced in France. ' After a million of brave men 
 had been destroyed, after nine civil wars, after four 
 pitched battles, after the besieging of several hun- 
 dred places, after more than three hundred engage- 
 ments, after poisoning, burning, assassinating, massa- 
 creing, murdering in every form, France is forced 
 to submit to what her wise Chancellor de L'Hospi- 
 tal had at first proposed, a free toleration. Most 
 of the zealous leaguers voted for it, because thei/ 
 had found by experience^ they said, that violent pro- 
 ceedings in matters of religion prove more destructive 
 than edifying, A noble testimony from enemies' 
 mouths ! 
 
 TOL. I. 6 
 
xlii Memoirs of the Heformation in France. 
 
 France now be^an to taste the sweets of peace, 
 the king employed himself in making his subjects 
 happy, and the far greater part of his subjects, en- 
 deavored to render him so. The protestants appli- 
 ed themselves to the care of their churches, and, as 
 they had at this time a great many able ministers, 
 they flourished, and increased the remaining part of 
 this reign. The doctrine of their churches was Cal- 
 vinism, and their discipline was presbyterian, after 
 the Geneva plan. Their churches were supplied by 
 able pastors; their universities were adorned with 
 learned and pious professors, such as Casaubon, 
 Daille, and otliers, whose praises are in all the re- 
 formed churches ; their provincial, and national sy- 
 nods were regularly convened, and their people 
 were well governed. Much pains were taken with 
 the king to alienate his mind from his piotestant 
 subjects : but no motives could influence him. He 
 kneiv the worth of the men, and he protected them 
 till his death. This great prince was ha- 
 
 16^10. ' t^d by the Popish clergy for his lenity, and 
 was stabbed in his coach by the execrable 
 Ravillac, whose name inspires one with horror and 
 pain. 
 
 Lewis XIII. was not quite nine years of age, 
 w^hen he succeeded his father Heiny. The first act 
 of the queen mother, who had the regency during 
 the king's minority, was the confirmation of the 
 edict of Nantz. Lewis confirmed it again at his ma- 
 jority, promising to observe it inviolably* 
 The protestants deserved a confirmation of 
 their privileges at his hands ; for they had taken no 
 
Memoirs of the Reformalion in France. xliii 
 
 part in the civil wars and disturbances which trou- 
 bled his minority. They had been earnestly solicit- 
 ed to intermeddle with government: but ihey had 
 wisely avoided it. 
 
 Lewis was a weak ambitious man, he was jealous 
 of his power to excess, though he did not know 
 wherein it consisted. He was so void of prudence, 
 that he could not help exalting his flatterers into fa- 
 vorites, and his favorites into excessive power. He 
 was so timorous that his favorites became the ob- 
 jects of his hatred, the moment after he had elevated 
 them to authority : and he was so callous that he 
 never lamented a favorite's death or downfall. By 
 a solemn act of devotion, attended with all the farce 
 of pictures, masses, processions, and festivals, he 
 consecrated his person, his dominions, his crown and 
 his subjects to the Yirgin Mary, desiring her to de- 
 fend his kingdom, and to inspire him with 
 grace to lead a holy life. The Popish cler- 
 gy adored him for thus sanctifying their supersti- 
 tions by his example, and he, in return, lent them 
 his power to punish his protestant subjects, whom 
 he hated. His panegyrists call him Lewis the just: 
 but they ought to acknowledge that his majesty did 
 nothing to merit the title, till he found himself 
 a-dying. 
 
 Lewis's prime minister was an ?.rtful, enterprizing 
 clergyman, who, before his elevation, w^as a country 
 bishop, and, after it, was known by the title of Car- 
 dinal de Richlieu : but the most proper title for his 
 eminence is that, which some liistorians give him, of 
 the Jupiter Mactator of France. He was a man of 
 
xliv Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 great ability : but of no merit. Had his virtue been 
 as great as his capacity, he ought not to have been 
 intrusted with government, because all Cardinals 
 take an oath to the Pope, and although an oath does 
 not bind a bad man, yet as the taking of it gives 
 liim credit, so the breach of it ruins all his prospects 
 amono- those with whom he hath taken it. 
 
 The Jesuits, w ho had been banished from 
 1604 France, for attempting the life of Henry 
 
 IV, had been recalled, and restored to their 
 houses, and one of their society, under pretence of 
 being responsible, as an hostage, for the w^hole fra- 
 ternity, was allowed to attend the king. The Jes- 
 uits, by this mean, gained the greatest honor and 
 power, and, as they excelled in learning, address, 
 and intrigue, they knew how to obtain the king's 
 iear, and how to improve his credulity to their own 
 advantage. 
 
 This dangerous society was first formed 
 
 by Ignatus Loyola, a vSpanish deserter? 
 who, being frighted out of the army by a wound, 
 took it into his head to go on pilgrimage, and to 
 form a religious society for the support of the cath- 
 olic faith. The Popes, who knew how to avail 
 themselves of enthusiasm in church government, 
 directed this grand spring of human action to secu- 
 lar purposes, and, by canonizing the founder, and 
 arranging the order, elevated the society in a few 
 years, to a height that astonished all Europe. It 
 was one opinion of their society, that the authority 
 of kings is inferior to that of the people, and that 
 they may be punished by the people in certain ca- 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xlv 
 
 ses. It was another maxim with them, that sove- 
 reign princes have received from the hand of God 
 a sword to punisli heretics. The Jesuits did not 
 invent these doctrines ; but they drew such conse- 
 quences from them as were most prejudicial to the 
 public tranquility: for, from the conjunction of 
 these two principles, they concluded that an heret- 
 ical prince ought to be deposed, and that heresy 
 ought to be extirpated by fire and sword, in case it 
 could not be extiipated otherwise. In co nformity 
 to the first of these principles, two kings of France 
 had been murdered successively, under pretext that 
 they were fautors of heretics. The parlia- ^.^ 
 ment in this reign condemned this as a per- 
 nicious tenet, and declared that the authority of 
 monarclis was dependent only on God. But the 
 last principle, that related to the extirpation of her- 
 esy, as it flattered the court and the clergy, came 
 into vogue. Jus clivinum was the test of sound or- 
 thodoxy ; and this reasoning became popular argu- 
 mentation. Princes may put heretics to death ; there- 
 fore they OUGHT to put them to death, 
 
 Richlieu, who had wriggled himself into power, 
 by publishing a scandalous libel on the protestants 
 of France, advised the king to establish his author- 
 ity, by extirpating the intestine evils of the king- 
 dom. He assured his majesty that the Hugonots 
 bad the power of doing him mischief, and that it 
 was a principle with them, that kings might be de- 
 posed by the people. The protestants replied to his 
 invectives, and exposed the absurdity of his reason- 
 ing. Richlieu reasoned thus. John Knox, the 
 
xlvi Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 Scotch reformer, did not believe the divine author- 
 ity of kings. Calvin held a correspondence with 
 Knox, therefore Calvin did not believe it. The 
 French reformed church derived its doctrine from 
 Calvin's church of Geneva, therefore the first Hu- 
 fi'onots did not believe it. The first Huo-onots did 
 not believe it, therefore the present Hugonots do 
 not believe it. No man, who valued the reputation 
 of a man of sense, would have scaled the walls of 
 preferment with such a ridiculous ladder as this ! 
 
 The king, intoxicated with despotic principles, fol- 
 lowed the fatal advice of his minister, and began 
 with his patrimonial province of Beam, where he 
 caused the catholic religion to be establish- 
 ed. The Hugonots broke out into vio- 
 lence, at this attack on their liberties, whence the 
 king took an opportunity to recover several places 
 from them, and at last made peace with them on con- 
 dition of their demolishing all their fortifications 
 except those of Montauban and Rochelle. Arnoux, 
 the Jesuit, who was a creature of Richlieu's, was, 
 at that time, confessor to Lewis the just. 
 
 The politic Richlieu invariably pursued his de- 
 sign of rendering his master absolute. By one art 
 he subdued the nobility, by another the parliaments, 
 and, as civil and religious liberty live and die to- 
 gether, he had engines of all sorts to extirpate her- 
 esy. He pretended to have formed the design of 
 re-uniting the two churches of protestants and cath- 
 olics. He drew^ off from the protestant party the 
 dukes of Sully, Bouillon, Lesdeguieres, Rohan, and 
 many of the first quality : for he had the world, and 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xlvii 
 
 Its glory to go to market withal ; and he had to do 
 with a race of men, w ho were very different from 
 their ancestors. Most of them had either died for 
 their profession, or had fled out of the kingdom, and 
 several of them had submitted to practise mean 
 trades, in foreign countries, for their support : But 
 these were endeavoring to serve God and mammon, 
 and his eminence was a fit casuist for such conscien- 
 ces. 
 
 The protestants had resolved, in a general assem- 
 bly, to die rather than to submit to the loss of their 
 liberties : but their king was weak, their prime minis- 
 ter was wicked, their clerical enemies were power- 
 ful and implacable, and they were obliged to bear 
 those infractions of edicts, which their oppressors 
 made every day. At length Richlieu determined 
 to put a period to their hopes, by the taking of Ro- 
 chelle. The city was besieged both by sea and 
 land, and the efforts of the besieged were at last 
 overcome by famine,^ they had lived without bread 
 for thirteen weeks, and, of eighteen thousand citi- 
 zens, there were not above five thousand left. The 
 strength of the protestants was broken by 
 this stroke. Montauban agreed now to 
 demolish its works, and the just king confirmed 
 anew the perpetual ^nd irrevocable edict of Nantz, as 
 far as it concerned a free exercise of religion. 
 
 The Cardinal, not content with temporal power, 
 had still another claim on the protestants, of a spirit- 
 ual kind. Cautionary towns must be given up to 
 that, and conscience to this. He suffered the edict 
 to be infringed every day, and he w as determined 
 
xlviii Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 not to stop till he had established an uniformity in the 
 church, without the obtaining of which, he thought, 
 tliat something was wanting to his master's power. 
 The protestants did all that prudence could suggest. 
 They sent the famous Amyraut to court to 
 complain to the king of the infraction of 
 their edicts. Mr. Amyraut was a proper person to 
 go on this business. He had an extreme attach- 
 ment to the doctrine of passive obedience. This ren- 
 dered him agreeable to the court: and he had de- 
 clared for no obedience in matters of conscience, 
 and this made him dear to the protestants. The sy- 
 nod ordered him not to make his speech to the king 
 kneeling, as the deputies of the former synod had 
 done : but to procure the restoring of the privilege, 
 which they formerly enjoyed, of speaking to the 
 king, standing as the other ecclesiastics of the king- 
 dom were allowed to do. The cardinal strove, for 
 a whole fortnight, to make Amyraut submit to this 
 tacit acknowledgment of the clerical character in 
 the popish clergy, and of the want of it in the re- 
 formed ministers. But Amyraut persisted in this 
 claim, and was introduced to the king as the synod 
 had desired. The whole court was charmed with 
 the deputy's talents and deportment. Richlieu had 
 many conferences with him, and, if negociation 
 could have accommodated the dispute betv. een ar- 
 bitrary power and upright consciences, it would 
 have been settled now. He was treated with the 
 utmost politeness, and dismissed. If he had not the 
 pleasure of reflecting that he had obtained the liber- 
 ty of his party, he had, however, the peace that 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, xllx 
 
 ariseth from a consciousness of having used a proper 
 mean to obtain it. The same mean was tried, some 
 time after, by the inimitable Du Bosc, whom his 
 countrymen call a pekfect orator, but alas ! he was 
 eloquent in vain. 
 
 The affairs of the protestants waxed every day 
 woi^e and worse. They saw the clouds gathering, 
 and they dreaded the weight of the storm : but they 
 knew not whither to flee. Some fled to England, 
 but no peace was there. Laud, the tyrant of the 
 English church, had a Richlieu's heart without his 
 head, he persecuted them, and, in conjunction with 
 Wren, and other such churchmen, drave them back 
 to the infinite damage of the manufactures of the 
 kingdom. It nmst affect every liberal eye 
 to see such Professors as Amyraut, Cappel, 
 and De La Place, such ministers as Mestrezat and 
 Blondel, who would have been an honor to any 
 community, driven to the sad alternative of flying 
 their country, or of violating their consciences. But 
 their time was not yet fully come. 
 
 Cardinal Richlieu's hoary head went down to the 
 grave, without the tears of his master, and 
 with the hatred of all France. The king 
 soon followed him, complaining in the ^^^^' 
 words of Job, my soul is weary of my life. The 
 protestants had increased greatly in numbers in this 
 reign, though they had lost their power : for they 
 were now computed to exceed two millions. So 
 true is it, that violent measures in religion weaken 
 the church that employs them. 
 
 VOL. I. 7 
 
1 Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 Lewis Xiy. was only in the fifth year of his age 
 at the demise of his father. The queen-mother 
 was appointed sole regent during his minority, and 
 Cardinal Mazarine, a creature of Richlieu's, was 
 her prime minister. The edict of Nantz was con- 
 firmed by the regent, and again by the king 
 
 I652! ^^ h^^ majority. But it was always the cool 
 
 determination of the minister to follow the 
 
 late Cardinal's plan, and to revoke it as soon as he 
 
 could, and he strongly impressed the mind of the 
 
 king with the expediency of it. 
 
 Lewis, who was a perfect tool to the Jesuits, fol- 
 lowed the advice of Mazarine, of his confessors, 
 and of the clergy about him, and as soon as he took 
 
 , , the management of affairs into his own 
 
 1661. ^ 
 
 hands, he made a firm resolution to destroy 
 the Protestants. He tried to weaken them by buy- 
 ing ofl their great men, and he had but too much 
 success. Some, indeed, were superior to this state- 
 trick, and it was a noble answer which the Marquis 
 de Bougy gave, when he was offered a marshal's 
 staff, and any government that he might make 
 choice of, provided he would turn papist. " Could 
 I be prevailed on, said he, to betray my God, for 
 a marshal of France's staff, I might betray my king 
 for a thing of much less consequence : but I will do 
 neither of them, but rejoice to find that my servi- 
 ces are acceptable, and that the religion, which I 
 profess, is the only obstacle to my reward." Was 
 his majesty so little versed in the knowledge of man- 
 kind, as not to know that saleable virtue is seldom 
 worth buying ? 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, li 
 
 The king used another art as mean as the former. 
 He exhorted the bishops to take care, that the points 
 in controversy betwixt the catholics and calvinists 
 should be much insisted on by the clergy, in their 
 sermons, especially in those places that were most- 
 ly inhabited by the latter, and that a good number 
 of missionaries should be sent among them, to con- 
 vei-t them to the religion of their ancestors. It 
 should seem, at first view, that the exercise of his 
 majesty's power in this w ay would be formidable 
 to the protestants, for, as the king had the nomina- 
 tion of eighteen archbishops, a hundred and nine 
 bishops, and seven hundred and fifty abbots, and as 
 these dignitaries governed the inferior clergy, it is 
 easy to see that all the Popish clergy of France 
 were creatures of the court, and several of them 
 were men of good learning. But the protestants 
 had no fears on this head. They were excellent 
 scholars, masters of the controversy, hearty in the 
 service, and the mortifications, to which they had 
 been long accustomed, had taught them that tempe- 
 rate coolness, which is so essential in the investiga- 
 ting and supporting of truth. They published, 
 therefore, unanswerable arguments for theii- non- 
 conformity. The famous Mr. Claude, pastor of the 
 church at Charenton, near Paris, wrote a defence of 
 the reformation, which all the clergy of France could 
 not answer. The bishops however, answered the 
 protestants all at once, by procuring an edict which 
 forbad them to print. 
 
 The king, in prosecution of his design, excluded 
 the calvinists from his household, and from all oth- 
 
lii Metnoirs of the JReformation in France. 
 
 er employments of honor and profit, he ordered all 
 the courts of justice, erected by virtue of the edict 
 of Nantz, to be abolished, and, in lieu of them, 
 made several laws in favor of the catholic religion, 
 which debarred from all liberty of abjuring the 
 catholic doctrine, and restrained those protestants, 
 who had embraced it, from retm^ning to their for- 
 mer opinions, under severe punishments. He or- 
 dered soldiers to be quartered in their houses till 
 they changed their religion. He shut up their 
 churches, and forbad the ministerial function to 
 their clergy, and, where his commands were not 
 readily obeyed, he levelled their churches 
 Oct 22 "^^'i^h ^^^ ground. At last he revoked the 
 1685. edict of Nantz, and banished them from the 
 
 kingdom. 
 " A thousand dreadful blows, says Mr. Saurin, 
 were struck at our afflicted churches, before that 
 which destroyed them : for our enemies, if I may 
 use such an expression, not content with seeing our 
 ruin, endeavoured to taste it. One while, edicts 
 were published against those, w^ho, foreseeing the 
 calamities that threatened our churches, and not 
 Laving pow er to prevent them, desired only the sad 
 consolation of not being spectators of their ruin. 
 j^ Another w^hile, against those, who, through 
 1669. their weakness,, had denied their religion, 
 ^^ and who not being able to bear the remorse 
 1679. of tlieir consciences, desired to return to 
 their first profession. One while, our pas- 
 tors were forbidden to exercise their discipline 
 on those of their flocks, who had abjured the 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France. liii 
 
 truth. Another while, children of seven June, 
 years of age were allowed to embrace doc- 
 trines, which, the church of Rome says, are 
 not level to the capacities of adults. Noav June, 
 a college was suppressed, and then a church 
 shut up. Sometimes we were forbidden to J^"- 
 
 1 CO o 
 
 convert infidels ; and sometimes to confirm 
 those in the truth, whom we had instructed from 
 their infancy, and our pastors were forbidden to ex- 
 ercise their pastoral office any longer in one j^, 
 place than three years. Sometimes the I685. 
 printing of our books was prohibited, and 
 sometimes those which we had printed were ^^P^- 
 taken aw^ay. One while, we were not suf- 
 fered to preach in a church, and another while, we 
 were punished for preaching on its ruins, and at 
 length were forbidden to worship God in 
 public at all. Now we were banished, J^^*; 
 
 , ^ ^ 1685. 
 
 then we were forbidden to quit the king- i689. 
 dom on pain of death. Here we saw the 
 glorious rewards of those who betrayed their re- 
 ligion ; and there we beheld those, who had the 
 courage to confess it, a haling to a dungeon, a 
 scaffold, or a galley. Here, we saw our perse- 
 cutors drawing on a sledge the dead bodies of 
 those who had expired on the rack. There, 
 we beheld a false friar tormenting a dying man, 
 who was terrified, on the one hand, with the 
 fear of hell if he should apostatize, and, on the 
 other, with the fear of leaving his children without 
 bread, if he should continue in the faith : yonder, 
 they w^ere tearing children from their parents, while 
 
Ivi Memoirs of the Reformation in France. 
 
 king of their fortunes : but we have nothing to do 
 with these private views, the questions are, Was it 
 essential to the general safety and happiness of the 
 kingdom ? Was it agreeable to the unalterable dic- 
 tates of right reason ? Was it consistent with the 
 sound, approved maxims of civil policy ? In these 
 views, we venture to say, that the repeal of the edict 
 of Nantz, which had been the security of the pro- 
 testants, was an action irrational and irreligious, 
 inhuman and ungrateful, perfidious, impolitic, and 
 weak. If respect to religion, and right reason, were 
 to compose a just title for the perpetrator of such 
 a crime, it might call him, a most inhuman tyrant : 
 certainly it would not call him, a most Christian king. 
 It was an irrational act, for there was no fitness 
 between the punishment and the supposed crime. 
 The crime was a mental error : but penal laws have 
 no internal operation on the mind. It was irreli- 
 gious, for religion ends where persecution begins. 
 An action may begin in religion : but when it pro- 
 ceeds to injure a person, it ceaseth to be religion, it 
 is only a denomination, and a method of acting. It 
 was inhuman, for it caused the most savage cruel- 
 ties. It was as ungrateful in the house of Bour- 
 bon to murder their old supporters, as it was mag- 
 nanimous in the protestants, under their severest 
 persecutions, to tell their murderer, that they 
 thought that blood well employed, which had been 
 spilt in supporting the just claim of the house of 
 Bourbon to the throne. It was, to the last degree, 
 perfidious, for the edict of Nantz had been given by 
 Henry IV, for a perpetual, and irrevocable decree ; 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, Ivii 
 
 it had been confirmed by the succeeding princes, 
 and Lewis XIV, himself had assigned in the de- 
 claration the loyalty of the protestants, as a reason 
 of the confirmation. My subjects of the pretended 
 reformed religion, says he, have given me unques- 
 tionable proofs of their affection and loyalty. It 
 had been sworn to by the governors and lieuten- 
 ants general of the provinces, by the courts of par- 
 liament, and by all the officers of- the courts of 
 justice. What national perjury ! Is it enough to 
 say as this perjured monarch did. My grandfather 
 Henry IV, loved you, and w^as obliged to you. 
 My father, Lewis XIII. feared you, and wanted 
 your assistance. But I neither love you, nor fear 
 you, and do not want your services ? The ill poli- 
 cy of it is confessed on all sides. Where is the pol- 
 icy of banishing eight hundred thousand people, 
 who declare that a free exercise of religion ought 
 not to injure any man's civil rights, and, on this 
 principle, support thfe king's claim to the crown, as 
 long as he executes the duty of the office ? Where 
 is the policy of doing this in order to secure a set of 
 men, who openly avow these propositions, " the Pope 
 is superior to all law : It is right to kill that prince, 
 whom the Pope excommunicates : If a prince be- 
 come an Arian, the people ought to depose him ?" 
 Where is the policy of banishing men, whose doc- 
 trines have kept in the kingdom, during the space 
 of tw^o hundred and Miy years, the sum of two hun- 
 dred and fifty millions of livres, which, at a mode- 
 rate calculation, would otherwise have gone to 
 Rome for indulgencies, and annates, and other such 
 
 VOL. T. 8 
 
Iviii Memoirs of the Reformation in France, 
 
 trash ? Who was the politician, the Count d'Avaux",' 
 who, while he was ambassador in Holland, offered 
 -P to prove that the refugees had carried out 
 
 1685 of France more than twenty millions of 
 ^^ property, and advised the king to recall it, 
 by recalling its owners ? or the king, who 
 refused to avail himself of this advice ? Who was 
 the politician, the intolerant Lewis, who drove his 
 protestant soldiers and sailors out of his service ? 
 or the benevolent prince of Orange, who, in one 
 year, raised three regiments of French refugee sol- 
 diers, commanded by their own officers, and man- 
 ned three vessels, at the same time, with refugee 
 sailors, to serve the Dutch, while France Avanted 
 men to equip her fleets? The protestants, having 
 been for some time, excluded from all offices, and 
 not being suffered to enjoy any civil or military 
 employments, had applied themselves either to the 
 manufactures, or to the improving of their money 
 in trade. W^as it policy to banish a Mons. Vincent, 
 who employed more than five hundred workmen ? 
 W^as it policy on the side of that prince, who de- 
 molished manufactories ? or on the side of those 
 who set them up, by receiving the refugee manu- 
 facturers into tlieir kingdoms ? Had England deriv- 
 ed no more advantage from its hospitality to the 
 refugees than the silk manufacture, it would have 
 amply repaid the nation. The memorials of the in- 
 tend ants of the provinces were full of such com- 
 plaints. The intendant of Rouen said that 
 tlie refugees had carried away the manu- 
 facture of hats. The intendant of Poitiers said that 
 
Memoirs of the Reformation in France, lix 
 
 ihey had taken away the manufacture of drug- 
 gets. In some provinces the commerce was di« 
 minished several millions of livres in a year, and 
 in some half the revenue was sunk. Was it policy 
 in Ihe king to provoke the protestant states, and 
 princes, who had always been his faithful allies a- 
 gainst the house of Austria, and, at the same time, 
 to supply them with eight hundred thousand new 
 sul jects ? After ^11, it was a weak and foolish step, 
 for the protestants were not extirpated. There re- 
 mained almost as many in the kingdom as were 
 driven out of it, and, even at this day, though now 
 and then a preacher hath been hanged, and now and 
 then a family murdered, yet the opulent province 
 of Languedoc is full of protestants, the Lutherans 
 have the university of Alsace, neither art nor cruel- 
 ty can rid the kingdom of them, and some of th6 
 greatest ornaments of France now plead for a free 
 
 TOLERATIO.V. 
 
 Tlie refugees charge their banishment on the 
 clergy of France, and they give very good proof of 
 their assertion, nor do they mistake, when they af- 
 firm that their sufferings are a part of the religion 
 of Rome, for Pope Innocent XI. highly approved 
 of this persecution. He wrote a brief to the king, 
 in which he assured him that what he had done 
 ao;ainst the heretics of his kino;dom w ould be im- 
 mortalized by the elogies of the catholic church. 
 He delivered a discourse in the consistory, 
 in which he said, the most Christian king's i^'^g^ ' 
 ^eal, and piety, did wonderfully appear in 
 extirpating luresi/, ojid in cleaning his whole kingdom 
 
Ix Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Saurin, 
 
 of it in a very few months. He ordered Te Deum 
 to be sung, to give thanks to God for this return of 
 the heretics into the pale of the church, which was 
 accordingly done with great pomp. If this perse- 
 cution were clerical policy, it was bad, and, 
 if it were the religion of the French clergy, 
 it was worse. In either case the church procured 
 great evil to the state. Lewis XIV. w^as 
 on the pinnacle of glory at the conclusion 
 of the peace of Nimeguen, his dominion was, as it 
 were, established over all Europe, and was become 
 an inevitable prejudice to neighbouring nations; 
 but, here he began to extirpate heresy, and here he 
 began to fall, nor has the nation ever recovered its 
 grandeur since. 
 
 Protestant powers opened their arms to these 
 venerable exiles. Abbadie, Ancillon, and others, 
 fled to Berlin. Basnage, Claude, Du Bosc, and 
 many more, found refuge in Holland. The famous 
 Dr. Allix, with numbers of his brethren, came to 
 England. A great many families w^ent to Geneva, 
 among which was that of Saurin. 
 
 Mr. Saurin, the father of our author, w as an em- 
 inent protestant lawyer at Nismes, who, after the 
 repeal of the edict of Nantz, retired to Gen- 
 eva. He w^as considered at Geneva as the 
 oracle of the French language, the nature and beau- 
 ty of which he thoroughly understood. He had 
 four sons, whom he trained up in learning, and who 
 were all so remarkably eloquent, that eloquence 
 was said to be hereditary in the family. The Rev- 
 erend Lewis Saurin, one of the sons, was afterwards 
 
Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Saurin. Ixi 
 
 pastor of a French church in London. Saurin, the 
 father, died at Geneva. .James, the author of the 
 follow in o; sermons, was born at JNismes, and 
 
 . 1677. 
 
 went with his father into exile, to Geneva, 
 where he profited very much in learning. 
 
 In the seventeenth year of his age, Sau- 1694 
 rin quitted his studies to go into the army, and made 
 a campaign as a cadet in lord Galloway's company. 
 The next year his captain gave him a pair 
 of colours in his regiment, which then serv- 
 ed in Piedmont: But the year after, the 
 duke of Savoy, under whom Saurin served, ^ 
 having made his peace with France, Saurin Cjuitted 
 the profession of arms, for which he was never de- 
 signed, and returned to Geneva to study. 
 
 Geneva was, at that time, the residence of some 
 of the best scholars in Europe, w ho were in the 
 highest estimation in the republic of letters. Pictet, 
 Lewis Tronchin, and Philip Mestrezat, were pro- 
 fessors of divinity .there, Alphonso Turretin was 
 professor of sacred history, and Chouet, who was 
 afterward taken from his professorship, and admit- 
 ted into the government of the republic, was profes- 
 sor of natural philosophy. The other departments 
 were filled with men, equally eminent in their sev- 
 eral professions. Some of them were natives of 
 Geneva, others were exiles from Italy and France, 
 several were of noble families, and all of them were 
 men of eminent piety. Under these great masters, 
 Saurin became a student, and particularly applied 
 himself to divinity, as he now began to think of de- 
 
Ixii Memoirs o/ the Life of Mr, Saurin, 
 
 votino; himself to the ministry. To dedi- 
 cate one's self to the ministry in a wealthy, 
 flourishing church, where rich benefices are every 
 day becoming vacant, requires vtry little virtue, 
 and sometimes only a strong propensity to vice : 
 but to choose to be a minister in such a poor, ban- 
 ished, persecuted church as that of the French pro- 
 testants, argues a noble contempt of the world, and 
 a supreme love to God, and to the souls of men. 
 These are the best testimonials, however, of a young 
 minister, whose profession is not to enrich, but to 
 save himself and them who hear him, 1 Tim. iv. 16. 
 After Mr. Saurin had finished his studies, 
 he visited Holland, and England. In the 
 first he made a very short stay : but in the last he 
 staid almost five years, and preached with great 
 acceptance among his fellow exiles in London. 
 His dress was that of the French clergy, the gown 
 and cassock. His address was perfectly gen- 
 teel, a happy compound of the affable and the 
 grave, at an equal distance from rusticity and fop- 
 pery. His voice was strong, clear, and harmonious, 
 and he never lost the manaojement of it. His style 
 was pure, unaffected, and eloquent, sometimes plain, 
 and sometimes flowery : but never improper, as it 
 was always adapted to the audience, for whose sake 
 he spoke. An Italian acquaintance of mine, who 
 often heard him at the Hague, tells me that in the 
 introductions of his sermons he used to deliver him- 
 self in a tone modest and low ; in the body of the 
 sermon, which was adapted to the understanding, 
 he was plain, clear, and argumentative, pausing at 
 
Memoirs of the Life of Mr, Saurht, Ixiii 
 
 the close of each period, that he might discover, 
 by the countenances and motions of his hearers, 
 whether they were convinced by his reasoning ; in 
 his addresses to the wicked, (and it is a folly to 
 preach as if there were none in our assemblies, 
 Mr. Saurin knew mankind too well) he was of- 
 ten sonorous, but oftener a weeping suppliant at 
 their feet. In the one he sustained the authorita- 
 tive dignity of his office, in the other he expressed 
 his master's, and his own benevolence to bad men, 
 praying them in Christ's stead to he reconciled to God, 
 2 Cor. V. 20. In general, adds my friend, his 
 preaching resembled a plentiful shower of dew, 
 softly and imperceptibly insinuating itself into the 
 minds of his numerous hearers, as the dew into the 
 pores of plants, till the whole church was dissolv- 
 ed, and all in tears under his sermons. His doc- 
 trine was that of the French protestants, which at 
 that time, was moderate Calvinism. He approved 
 of the discipline of his own churches, which was 
 presbyterian. He was an admirable scholar, and, 
 -which were his highest encomiums, he had an un- 
 conquerable aversion to sin, a supreme love to God, 
 and to the souls of men, and a holy, unblemished 
 life. Certainly he had some faults : but, as I never 
 heard of any, I can publish none. 
 
 During his stay in England, he married 
 a Miss Catherine Boy ton, by whom he had 
 a son, named Philip, who survived him ; but wheth- 
 er he had any more children I know not. 
 Two years after his marriage he returned 
 
Ixiv Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Saurin. 
 
 to Holland, where he had a mind to settle : but, the 
 pastoral offices being all full, and meeting with no 
 prospect of a settlement, though his preaching was 
 received with universal applause, he was preparing 
 to return to England, when a chaplainship to some 
 of the nobility at the Hague, with a stipend, was 
 offered to him. Tlis situation exactly suited his 
 wishes, an*^] he accepted the place. 
 
 1705. The Hague, it is said, is the finest village 
 in Europe. It is the residence of the vStates Gene- 
 ral, of ambassadors, and envoys from other courts, 
 of a great number of nobility, and gentry, and of 
 a multitude of French refugees. The princes of 
 Orange have a spacious palace here, and the chapel 
 of the palace was given to the refugees for a place 
 of public worship, and, it being too small to con- 
 tain them, it w as enlarged by above a half. This 
 French church called him to be one of their pastors. 
 He accepted the call, and continued in his office 
 till his death. He w^as constantly attended by a 
 very crowded and brilliant audience, was heard 
 wuth the utmost attention and pleasure, and, what 
 few ministers can say, the effects of his ministerial 
 labours were seen in the holy lives of great numbers 
 of his people. 
 
 When the princess of Wales, afterward Queen 
 Caroline, passed through Holland, in her way to 
 England, Mr. Saurin had the honor of paying his 
 respects to that illustrious lady. Her royal high- 
 ness was pleased to single him out from the rest of 
 the clergy, who were present, and to say to him, 
 '' Do not imagine that, being dazzled with the glory 
 
Memoirs of the Life of Mr, Saurin, Ixv 
 
 which this revolution seems to promise me, I have 
 lost sight of that God from whom it proceeds. He 
 hath been pleased to distinguish it with so many ex- 
 traordinary marks, that I cannot mistake his divine 
 hand ; and, as I consider this long train of favors as 
 immediately coming from him, to Him alone I con- 
 secrate them." It is not astonishing, if Saurin 
 speaks of this condescension with rapture. They 
 are the kind and Christian actions of the governors 
 of a free people, and not the haughty airs of a 
 French tyrant, insulting his slaves, that attach and 
 inflame the hearts of mankind. The history of this 
 illustrious Christian queen is not written in blood, 
 and therefore it is always read with tears of grate- 
 ful joy. 
 
 Her royal highness was so well satisfied of Mr. 
 Saurin' s merit, that soon after her arrival in Eng- 
 land, she ordered Dr. Boulter, who was preceptor 
 lo prince Frederic, the father of his present majes- 
 ty, to write to Saurin, to draw up a treatise on the 
 education of princes. Saurin immediately obeyed 
 the order, and prefixed a dedication to the young 
 princes. The book w as never printed : but, as it 
 obtained the approbation of the princess of Wales, 
 Avho was an incomparable judge, we may conclude 
 that it was excellent in its kind. This was follow- 
 ed by a handsome present from the princess to the 
 author. His most considerable work was entitled 
 Discourses historical, critical and moral, on the most 
 memorable events of the Old and New Testament, 
 This work was undertaken by the desire of a 
 Dutch merchant, who expended an immense sum 
 
 VOL, I. 9 
 
Ixvi Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Saurin, 
 
 in the engraving of a multitude of copper plates, 
 which adorn the work. It consists of six folio vol- 
 umes. Mr. Saurin died before the third was fin- 
 ished : but iMr. Roques finished the third, and ad- 
 ded a fourth on the Old Testament; and Mr. de 
 Beausobre subjoined two on the New Testament. 
 The whole is replete with very extensive learning, 
 and well worth the careful perusal of students in 
 divinity. The first of these was translated into 
 English by Chamberlayne, soon after its first pub- 
 lication in French. 
 
 His dissertation on the expediency of sometimes dis- 
 guising the truth, raised a furious clamour against 
 our author. He does not decide the question: but 
 he seems to take the affirmative. This produced a 
 paper war, and his antagonists unjustly censured 
 his morals. The mildness of his disposition render- 
 ed him a desirable opponent, for though he was 
 sure to conquer, yet he subdued his adversary so 
 handsomely, that the captive was the better for his 
 defeat. But others did not controvert with so much 
 temper. Some wrote against him, others for him. 
 At length the synod decided the dispute in his fa- 
 vour. 
 
 He published a small, but valuable piece on the 
 state of Christianity in France, It treats of many 
 important points of religion, in controversy between 
 the catholics and protestants. 
 
 There are twelve volumes of his sermons. Some 
 are dedicated to his Majesty George II. and the 
 king was pleased to allow him a handsome pension. 
 Some to her majesty dueen Caroline, while she 
 
Memoirs of the Life of 3Ir. Saurin. Ixvii 
 
 was princess of Wales. One to Count Wassanaer, a 
 Dutch nobleman. Two were dedicated to her Ma- 
 jesty, after his decease by his son. Professor Du- 
 mont, and Mr. Husson, to whom Mr. Saurin left his 
 manuscripts, published the rest, and one volume is 
 dedicated to the Countess Dowager of Albemarle. 
 
 The English seem therefore to have a right to 
 the labours of this great man. 
 
 Mr. Sam in died at the Hague on Dec. 30th, 1730, 
 most sincerely regretted by all his acquaintances, 
 as well as by his chmch, who lost in him a truly 
 primitive Christian minister, who spent his life, in 
 watching over his flock, as one who knew that he 
 must give an account. 
 
 In regard to this translation, it was first underta- 
 ken by the desire of a small circle of private friends, 
 for our mutual edification. If I have suffered my 
 private opinion to be prevailed over by others, to 
 print this translation, it is not [because I think my- 
 self able to give language to Saurin : but because I 
 humbly hope that the sentiments of the author may 
 be conveyed to the reader, by this translation. His 
 sentiments, I think, are, in general, those of the ho- 
 ly scripture, and his manner of treating them well 
 adapted to impress them on the heart. I have en- 
 deavoured not to disguise his meaning, though I 
 have not been able to adopt his style, for which de- 
 fect, though I print them by private subscription, 
 for the use of my friends, on whose candour I de- 
 pend, yet I do not offer to publish them to the world, 
 for the language of Mr. Saurin. I should have 
 been glad to have pleased every subscriber, by in- 
 
Ixviii Memoirs of the Life of Mr, Sauriih 
 
 serting those sermons, which were most agreeable 
 to him, had I known which they were : but as this 
 was impossible, I have followed my own judgment, 
 or perhaps exposed my want of it. The first volume 
 aims to secure the doctrine of a God, against the at- 
 tacks of atheists. In the second we mean to plead for 
 the holy scriptures against deists. In the third, we 
 intend to take those sermons, which treat of the 
 doctrines of Christianity, as we humbly conceive 
 that the New Testament is somethinfj more than a 
 system of moral philosophy. And the last volume 
 we dedicate to moral subjects, because we think 
 Christianity a holy religion, productive of moral 
 obedience in all its true disciples. May the God of 
 all grace bless the reading of them to the weaken- 
 ing of the dominion of sin, and to the advancement 
 of the kingdom of our blessed Redeemer, Jesus 
 Chi'ist. 
 
 R. ROBINSON, 
 
 Chesterton near Cambridge, 
 April 15th, 1775. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 Heb. v. 12, 13, 14,— vi. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 For ivhenfor the time ye ought to he teachers, ye have 
 need that one teach you again, which he the first 
 principles of the oracles of God, and are hecome 
 such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 
 For every one that useih milk is unskilful in the 
 word of righteousness : for he is a hahe. But 
 strong meat helongeth to them that are of fidl agCy 
 even those who hy reason of age have their senses 
 exercised, to discern hoth good and evil, — Therefore 
 leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let 
 us GO ON UNTO PERFECTION, uot laying again the 
 foundation of repentance from dead works, and of 
 faith towards God, of the doctrine of haptisms, and 
 of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the 
 dead, and of eternal judgment. And this jvill we 
 do if God permit. 
 
 I HAVE put two subjects together which are 
 closely connected, and I intend to explain both in 
 this discourse. The last part of the text is a con- 
 sequence of the first. In the first, St. Paul reproves 
 some Christians for their little knowledge ; in the 
 
70 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 
 
 last, he exhorts them to increase it : and the con- 
 nection of both will appear, if you attend to the 
 subject under his consideration. The epistle to the 
 Hebrews, which may be considered as the apostle's 
 principal w ork, treats of the most difficult points of 
 divinity and morality. In particular, this is the 
 idea that must be formed of Melchisedec's priest- 
 hood, as a prefiguration of Jesus Christ's. This 
 mysterious subject the Apostle had begun to dis- 
 cuss, but he had not proceeded far in it before he 
 found himself at a stand, by recollecting the char- 
 acter of those to whom he was writing. He de- 
 scribes them, in the text, as men who were grown 
 old in the profession of Christianity indeed, but 
 w^ho knew nothing more of it than its first princi- 
 ples : and he endeavors to animate them with the 
 laudable ambition of penetrating the noblest parts 
 of that excellent system of religion, which Jesus 
 Christ had published, and which his apostles had 
 explained in all its beauty, and in all its extent. 
 
 This general notion of St. Paul's design, in the 
 words of my text, is the best comment on his mean- 
 ing, and the best explication that we can give of 
 his terms. 
 
 By the first principles of the oracles of God, to 
 which the Hebrews confined themselves, the apos- 
 tle means the rudiments of that science of which 
 God is the object ; that is. Christian divinity and 
 morality : and these rudiments are here also called 
 the principles of Christ,^ that is, the first principles 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 71 
 
 of that doctrine which Jesus Christ had taught. 
 These are compared to milky which is given to chil- 
 dren incapable of digesting strong meat ; and they 
 are opposed to the profound knowledge of those 
 who have been habituated by long exercise to study 
 and meditation, or, as the apostle expresseth it, 
 " who by reason of use have their senses exercised 
 to discern both good and evil." 
 
 In this class St. Paul places, first, repentance from 
 dead works, and faith towards God. These were the 
 first truths which the heralds of the gospel preached 
 to their hearers : to them they said, Repent and be- 
 lieve the gospel. 
 
 St. Paul places in the same class, secondly, the 
 doctrine of baptisms, that is, the confession of faith 
 that w as required of those who had resolved to pro- 
 fess Christianity and to be baptized. Of such per- 
 sons a confession was required, and their answers to 
 certain questions were demanded. The formularies 
 that have been used on this occasion, have been ex- 
 tremely diversified at difierent places and in differ- 
 ent times, but the most ancient are the shortest and 
 the most determinate. One question that was put 
 to the catechumen, was, " Dost thou renounce the 
 devil ?" to which he answered, " I renounce him." 
 Another was, " Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ?" 
 to which he replied, " I believe in him." St. Cy- 
 prian calls these questions the baptismal interroga- 
 tory ; and the answers are called by Tertullian /Ae 
 answer of salvation : and we have a passage upon 
 this article in an author still more respectable, I 
 mean St. Peter, who says, " Baptism doth also now 
 
72 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 save us, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, 
 but the answer of a good conscience towards God," 
 1 Peter iii. 21. that is, the answer which w^as given 
 by the catechumen before his baptism. 
 
 Thirdly, Among the rudiments or first principles 
 of Christianity, St. Paul puts the laying on of hands, 
 by which Ave understand the gift of miracles, which 
 the apostles communicated by imposition of hands 
 to those who embraced the gospel. We have sev- 
 eral instances of this in scripture, and a particular 
 account of it in the eighth chapter of Acts, verses 
 11, 12, 14, 17. It is there said, that Philip, having 
 undeceived many of the Samaritans, whom Simon 
 the sorcerer had of a long time bewitched, baptised 
 both men and women, and that the apostles, Peter 
 and John, laid their hands on them, and by that cer- 
 emony communicated to them the gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 The resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment^ 
 two other articles which St. Paul places in the same 
 class : Articles believed by the weakest Christians, 
 received by the greatest part of the Jews, and ad- 
 mitted by even many of the heathens. Now the 
 apostle wishes that the Hebrews, leaving these prin- 
 ciples, would aspire to be perfect. Let us go on unto 
 perfection, says he, let us proceed from the catechu- 
 men state to a thorough acquaintance with that re- 
 ligion, which is wisdom among them that are perfect ; 
 that is, a system of doctrine which cannot be well 
 understood by any except by such as the heathens 
 call perfect. They denominated those perfect, who 
 did not rest in a superficial knowledge of a science, 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 73 
 
 but who endeavored thoroughly to understand the 
 whole. This was the design of St. Paul in writing 
 to the Hebrews ; and this is our's in addressing you. 
 
 We will endeavor, first, to give you as exact and 
 adequate a notion as we can of Christian divinity 
 and morality, and from thence to infer, that you 
 can neither see the beauty, nor reap the benefit of 
 either of them, while you confine yourselves, as 
 mosl of you do, to a few loose principles, and con- 
 tinue unacquainted with the whole system or body 
 of reliction. 
 
 Secondly, We will enquire, why so many of us 
 do confine our attention to these first truths, and 
 never proceed to the rest. 
 
 Lastly, We will give you some directions how to 
 increase your knowledge, and to attain that perfec- 
 tion to which St. Paul endeavored to conduct the 
 Hebrews. This is the whole that we propose to 
 treat of in this discourse. 
 
 I, It is evident from the nature of Christianity, 
 that you can neither see its beauties, nor reap its 
 benefits, while you attend only to some loose prin- 
 ciples, and do not consider the whole system : for 
 the truths of religion form a system, a body of co- 
 herent doctrines, closely connected, and in perfect 
 harmony. Nothing better distinguisheth the accu- 
 rate judgment of an orator, or a philosopher, than 
 the connection of his orations or systems. Uncon- 
 nected systems, orations, in which the author is de- 
 termined only by caprice and chince, as it Avere, to 
 place the p oposition which follows after that which 
 precedes, and that which precedes before that which 
 
 VOL. I. 10 
 
74 The Perfection of Christian Knorvledge, 
 
 follows ; such orations and systems are less worthy 
 of rational beings, than of creatures destitute of in- 
 telligence, whom nature has formed capable of pro- 
 ducing sounds indeed, but not of forming ideas. 
 Orations and systems should be connected: each 
 part should occupy the place which order and accu- 
 racy, not caprice and chance, assign it. They 
 should resemble buildings constructed according to 
 the rules of art; the laws of which are never arbi- 
 trary, but fixed and inviolable, founded on the na- 
 ture of regularity and proportion : or, to use St. 
 Paul's expression, each should be " a body fitly 
 joined together, and compacted by that which eve- 
 ry joint supplieth," Eph. iv. 16. 
 
 Let us apply this to the subject in hand. No- 
 thing better proves the divinity of religion, than 
 the connexion, the harmony, the agreement of its 
 component parts. I am aware that this grand char- 
 acteristic of Christianity hath occasioned many mis- 
 takes among mankind. Under pretence that a re- 
 ligion proceeding from God must harmonize in its 
 component parts, men have licentiously contrived 
 a chain of propositions to please themselves. They 
 have substituted a phantom of their own imagina- 
 tion, for that body of doctrine which God hath giv- 
 en us in the holy scriptures. — Hence so much ob- 
 stinacy in maintaining, after so much rashness and 
 presumption in advancing such phantoms. For, my 
 brethren, of all obstinate people, none excel more 
 in their dreadful kind, than those who are prejudi- 
 ced in favour of certain systems. A man who does 
 not tiiink himself capable of forming a connected 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 15 
 
 system, can bear contradiction, because, if he be 
 obliged to give up some of the propositions which 
 he hath advanced, some others which he embraces 
 w^ill not be disputed, and what remains may indem- 
 nify him for what he surrenders. But a man pre- 
 possessed with an imaginary system of his own has 
 seldom so much teachableness. He knows, that if 
 one link be taken aw ay his chain falls to pieces ; 
 and that there is no removing a single stone from 
 his building without destroying the whole edifice : 
 he considers the upper skins which covered the tab- 
 ernacle, as typical as the ark in the holy place, or 
 the mercy-seat itself. The staff with which Jacob 
 passed over Euphrates, and of which he said, " with 
 my staff I passed over this river," seems to him as 
 much designed by the Spirit of God to typify the 
 cross on which Jesus Christ redeemed the church, 
 as the serpent of brass w hich was lifted up in the 
 desert by the express command of God himself. 
 
 But if infatuation with systems hath occasioned 
 so many disorders in the church, the opposite dis- 
 position, I mean, the obstinate rejection of all, or 
 the careless composition of some, hath been equal- 
 ly hurtful : for it is no less dano;erous, in a svstem 
 of religion, to omit what really belongs to it, than 
 to incorporate any thing foreign from it. 
 
 Let us be more explicit. There are two sorts of 
 truths in religion; truths of speculation, and truths 
 of practice. Each truth is connected not only w itli 
 other truths in its own class, but truths of the first 
 class are connected with those of the second, and 
 of these parts thus united is composed that admi' 
 
76 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 rable body of doctrine which forms the system of 
 religion. 
 
 There are in religion some truths of speculation. 
 There is a chain of doctrines. God is holy : this is 
 the first truth. A holy God can have no intimate 
 communion with unholy creatures: this is a second 
 truth which follows from the first. God, who can 
 have no communion with unholy creatures can have 
 no comnumion with men who are unholy creatures : 
 this is a third truth which follow^s from the second. 
 Men, who are unholy creatures, being incapable 
 as such of communion with the happy God, must 
 on that very account be entirely miserable : this is 
 a fourth truth which folio avs from the third. 
 
 Men, who must be absolutely miserable because 
 they can have no communion with the holy, happy 
 God, become objects of the compassion of that God, 
 w^ho is as loving and merciful as he is happy and 
 holy : this is a fifth truth w hich follows from the 
 fourth. This loving and merciful God is naturally 
 inclined to relieve a multitude of his creatures, 
 who are ready to be plunged into the deepest mis- 
 eries : this is a sixth truth which follows from the 
 fifth. 
 
 Thus follow the thread of Jesus Christ's theolo- 
 gy, and you will find, as I said, each part that com- 
 poseth it, depending on another, and every one giv- 
 ing another the hand. For, from the loving and 
 merciful inclination of God to relieve a multitude 
 of his creatures from a threatening abyss of the 
 deepest miseries, follows the mission of Jesus 
 Christ ; because it was fit that the remedy chosen of 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 77 
 
 God to relieve the miseries of men should bear a 
 proportion to the causes which produced it. From 
 the doctrine of Jesus Christ's mission follows tlie ne- 
 cessity of the Spirit of God : because it would have 
 been impossible for men to have discovered by tlieir 
 own speculations the way of salvation, unless tliey 
 had been assisted by a supernatural revelation, ac- 
 cording to that saying, *' I'iiings whicli eye hath 
 not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
 the heart of man, God hath revealed unto us by his 
 spirit," 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. From the doctrines of the 
 mission of the Son of God, and of the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit, follows this most comfortable truth, 
 that w^e are the objects of the love of God, even of 
 love the most vehement and sincere tliat can be im- 
 agined : for " God commended his love towards us, 
 in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," 
 Rom. V. 8. And, as we are objects of that love 
 which God hath commended to us in his Son, it fol- 
 lows, that no bounds can be set to our happiness, 
 that there is no treasure too rich in the mines of the 
 blessed God, no duration too long in eternity, no 
 communion with the Creator too close, too intimate, 
 too tender, w hich we have not a right to expect ; 
 according to that comfortable, that extatic maxim 
 of St. Paul; God, who "spared not his own Son, 
 but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not 
 with him also freely give us all things ?" Rom. 
 Tiii. 32. 
 
 This is a chain of some truths of the gospel. We 
 do not say that it might not be lengthened ; we do 
 not pretend to have given a complete system of the 
 
78 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge* 
 
 doctrines of the gospel ; we only say that the doc- 
 trines proposed are closely connected, and that one 
 produceth another in a system of speculative gospel 
 truths. 
 
 In like manner, there is a connection between 
 practical truths. The class of practical truths is 
 connected with the class of speculative truths, and 
 each practical truth is connected with another prac- 
 tical truth. 
 
 The class of practical truths is connected with the 
 class of speculative truths. As soon as ever we are 
 convinced of the truth of the doctrines just now 
 mentioned, we shall be thereby convinced that we 
 are under an indispensible necessity to devote our- 
 selves to holiness. People, who draw consequen- 
 ces from our doctrines injurious to morality, fall 
 into the most gross and palpable of all contradic- 
 tions. The single doctrine of Jesus Christ's mis- 
 sion naturally produceth the necessity of sancti- 
 fication. Ye believe that the love of holiness is 
 so essential to God, that rather than pardon crimi- 
 nals without punishing their crimes, he hath pun- 
 ished his own Son. And can ye believe that the 
 God to whom holiness is so essential, will bear 
 Avith you while ye make no efforts to be holy ? 
 Do not ye see that in this supposition ye imagine 
 a contradictory God, or rather, that ye contradict 
 yourselves ? In the first supposition, ye conceive 
 a God to whom sin is infinitely odious : in the 
 second, ye conceive a God to whom sin is infi- 
 nitely tolerable. In the first supposition, ye con- 
 reive a God, who, by the holiness of his nature, 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 7^ 
 
 exacts a satisfaction : in the second, ye conceive a 
 God, who, by the indifference of his nature, loves 
 the sinner while he derives no motives from the sat- 
 isfaction to forsake his sin. In the first supposition, 
 ye imagine a God who opposeth the strongest bar- 
 riers against vice : in the second, ye imagine a God 
 who removeth every obstacle to vice : nothing being 
 more likely to confirm men in sin than an imagina- 
 tion, that, to what length soever they go, they may 
 always find, in the sacrifice of the Son of God, an 
 infallible way of avoiding the punishment due to 
 their sin, whenever they shall have recourse to that 
 sacrifice. Were it necessary to enlarge this article, 
 and to take one doctrine after another, you w ould 
 see that every doctrine of religion proves what Ave 
 have advanced concerning the natural connection 
 of religious speculative truths with truths of prac- 
 tice. 
 
 But, if practical truths of religion are connected 
 with speculative truths, each of the truths of prac- 
 tice is also closely connected with another. All 
 virtues mutually support each other, and there is 
 no invalidating one part of our morality, without, 
 on that verv account, invalidatino; the whole. 
 
 In our treatises of morality, we have usually as- 
 signed thr^e objects to our virtues. The first of 
 these objects is God : the second is our neighbor : 
 and the third ourselves. St. Paul is the author of 
 this division. " The grace of God that bringeth 
 salvation, hath appeared to all men ; teaching us, 
 that denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
 
80 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 present world," Titus ii. 11, 12. But all these are 
 connected together : for we cannot live godly with- 
 out living at the same time righteously and soberly : 
 because to live godly is to perform what religion ap- 
 points, and to take that perfect Being for our exam- 
 ple to whom religion conducts and unites us. Now 
 to live as religion appoints, and to take that perfect 
 Being for our pattern to whom religion conducts 
 and unites us is to live righteously with our neigh- 
 bour, and soberly with ourselves. Strictly speak- 
 ing, we have not one virtue unless we have all vir- 
 tues; nor are we free from one vice unless we be 
 free from all vices: we are not truly charitable un- 
 less we be truly just, nor are we truly just unless 
 we be truly charitable : we are not truly liberal but 
 as we avoid profuseness, nor are we truly frugal 
 but as we avoid avarice. As I said before, all vir- 
 tues naturally follow one another, and afford each 
 other a mutual support. 
 
 Such is the chain of religious truths : such is the 
 connection, not only of each truth of speculation 
 with another truth of speculation, but of specula- 
 tive truths with the truths of practice. There is 
 then a concatenation, an harmony, a connection in 
 the truths of religion : there is a system, a body of 
 doctrine in the gospel. This is the article that we 
 proposed to prove. 
 
 But, a religion in which there is such a chain, 
 such an harmony and connection ; a body of doc- 
 trine so systematically compacted and united ought 
 not to be taken by bits and parts. 
 
The Perfeclion of Christian Knowledge. 81 
 
 To illustrate this we may compare spiritual with 
 natural things. The more art and ingenuity there 
 is in a macliine composed of diverse wheels, the 
 more necessary it is to consider it in its whole, and 
 in all its arrangements, and the more does its beau- 
 ty escape our observation when we confine our at- 
 tention to a single wheel : because the more art 
 there is in a machine the more essential is the minu- 
 test part to its perfection. Now deprive a machine 
 of an essential part and you deface and destroy it. 
 
 Apply this to spiritual things. In a compact sys- 
 tem, in a coherent body of doctrine, there is no- 
 thing useless, nothing which ought not to occupy 
 the very place that the genius who composed the 
 whole hath given it. What will become of religion 
 if ye consider any of its doctrines separately ? What 
 becomes of religion if ye consider the holiness of 
 God without his justice, or his justice without his 
 mercy ? 
 
 II. Let us then proceed to enquii*e why so many 
 of us confine ourselves to a small number of reli- 
 gious truths, and incapacitate omselves for examin- 
 ing the whole system. The fact is too certain. 
 Hence, our preachers seem to lead us in obscure 
 paths, and to lose us in abstract speculations, when 
 they treat of some of the attributes of God, such 
 as his faithfulness, his love of order, his regard for 
 his intelligent creatures. It is owing to this that we 
 are, in some sense, well acquainted with some 
 truths of religion, while we remain entirely igno- 
 rant of others, which are equally plain, and equal- 
 ly important. Hence it is that the greatest part of 
 
 VOL. I. 11 
 
82 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge* 
 
 our sermons produce so little fruit, because sermons 
 are, at least they ought to be, connected discours- 
 es, in which the principle founds the consequence, 
 and the consequence follows the principle: all 
 which supposes in the hearers an habit of meditation 
 and attention. For the same reason we are apt to 
 be offended when any body attempts to draw us out 
 of the sphere of our prejudices, and are not only 
 ignorant, but, (if you will pardon the expression) ig- 
 norant with gravity, and derive I know not what glo- 
 ry from our own stupidity. Hence it is that a preach- 
 er is seldom or never allowed to soar in his sermons, 
 to rise into the contemplation of some lofty and 
 rapturous objects, but must always descend to the 
 Jirst principles of religion, as if he preached for the 
 first time, or, as if his auditors for the first time 
 heard. Hence also it is that some doctrines, which 
 are true in themselves, demonstrated in our scrip- 
 tures, and essential to religion, become errors, yea 
 sources of many errors in our mouths, because we 
 consider them only in themselves, and not in con- 
 nection with other doctrines, or in the proper pla- 
 ces to which they belong in the system of religion. 
 This might be easily proved in regard to the doc- 
 trines of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, the sac- 
 rifice of the cross, the necessity of the Holy Spirit's 
 assistance : doctrines true, demonstrated, and essen- 
 tial; but doctrines which will precipitate us from 
 one abyss to another, if we consider them as our 
 people too often consider them, and as they have 
 been too often considered in the schools, in an ab- 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 83 
 
 stract and detached manner. The fact then is too 
 certain. Let us attend to the principal causes of it. 
 
 Four principal causes may be assigned : 1 . A 
 party spirit. 2. The choice of teachers. 3. A hur- 
 ry of business. Above all, 4. The love of plea- 
 sure. As we shall take the liberty of pointing out 
 the causes of this malady, we shall also prescribe 
 the remedy, whether our most humble remonstran- 
 ces regard the people, the pastors, or even the sove- 
 reign, whose noblest office, as well as most sacred 
 and inviolable duty, it is to watch for the support 
 of the truth, and the government of the church. 
 
 1. The first cause that we have assigned is a 
 Party-spirit, This is a disposition that cannot be 
 easily defined, and it w ould be difficult to include 
 in a definition of it even its genus and species : It is 
 a monstrous composition of all bad genuses and of 
 all bad species: It is an hydra that reproduceth 
 while it seemeth to destroy itself, and which, w hen 
 one head hath been cut off, instantly produceth a 
 thousand more. Sometimes it is superstition, w^hich 
 inclines us to deify certain idols, and, after having 
 formed, to prostrate first before them. Sometimes 
 it is ignorance which prevents our perceiving the 
 importance of some revealed truths, or the dreadful 
 consequences of some prejudices that we had em- 
 braced in childhood. Sometimes it is arrogance, 
 which rashly maintains whatever it hath once ad- 
 vanced, advanced perhaps at first inconsiderately, 
 but which will afterw^ards be resolutely defended 
 till death, for no other reason but because it hath 
 been once asserted, and because it is too mortify- 
 
84 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 
 
 ing to yield and ^dij I am wrong, I was mistaken. 
 Sometimes it is a spirit of malice and barbarity, 
 which abhors, exclaims against, persecutes, and 
 would even exterminate all who dare contradict its 
 oracular propositions. Oftener still it is the union 
 of all these vices together. A party-spirit is that 
 disposition which invenoms so many hearts, sepa- 
 rates so many families, divides so many societies, 
 which hath produced so many excommunications, 
 thundered out so many anathemas, drawn up so 
 many canons, assembled so many councils, and hath 
 been so often on the point of subverting the great 
 work of the reformation, the noblest opposition 
 that was ever formed against it. 
 
 This spirit, which we have faintly described, 
 must naturally incapacitate a man for considering 
 the whole of religion : it must naturally incline him 
 to take it only by bits and shreds. On the one hand, 
 it contracts the mind : for how can a soul that har- 
 boureth and cherisheth all the phantoms, which a 
 party-spirit produceth, how can such a soul study 
 and meditate as religion requires ? On the other 
 band, a party-spirit depraves the heart and eradi- 
 cates the desire of knowing religion. A man ani- 
 mated with the spirit of party directeth ail his at- 
 tention to such propositions of religion as seem to 
 favour his erroneous opinions, and irregular pas- 
 sions, and diverts it from all that oppose them : his 
 system includes only what strengthens his party, it 
 is exclusive of every thing that weakens or oppo- 
 ses it. 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knoivlcdge. 85 
 
 This is the first cause of the malady. The remedy 
 is easiJy discovered. Let us divest ourselves of a 
 party-spirit. Let us never determine an opinion, 
 by its agreement or disagreement with what our 
 masters, our parents, or our teachers have inculca- 
 ted, but by its conformity or contrariety to the doc- 
 trine of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Let us never 
 receive or reject a maxim because it favours or op- 
 poses our passions, but as it agrees with or opposes 
 the laws of that tribunal, the basis of which are jus- 
 tice and truth. Let us be fully convinced that our 
 chief study should be to know what God deter- 
 mines, and to make his commands the only rules of 
 our knowledge and practice. 
 
 2. The second cause of the evil that ^ve ^vould 
 remove is The choice of teachers. In general, we 
 have three sorts of teachers. The first are cate- 
 chists, who teach our children the principles of re- 
 ligion. The second are ministers. The third pre- 
 pare the minds of young people for the ministry it- 
 self. 
 
 The carelessness that prevails in the choice of 
 the first sort of teachers cannot be sufficiently la- 
 mented. The care of instructing our children is 
 committed to people more fit for disciples than mas- 
 ters, and the meanest talents are thought more than 
 suflScient to teach the first principles of religion. 
 The narrowest and dullest genius is not ashamed to 
 profess himself a divine and a catechist. And yet 
 what capacity does it not require to lay the first 
 foundations of the edifice of salvation ! What ad- 
 dress to take the different forms necessary to in sin- 
 
86 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 
 
 ilate into the minds of catechumens, and to concili- 
 ate their attention and love! What dexterity to 
 proportion instruction to the different ages and 
 characters of learners ! How much knowledge, and 
 how many accomplishments are necessary to dis- 
 cern what is fundamental to a youth of fifteen years 
 of age ! What one child of superior talents cannot 
 be ignorant of without danger, and what another of 
 inferior talents may remain innocently unacquaint- 
 ed with! Heads of families, this article concerns 
 you in a particular manner. W hat account can 
 ye render to God of the children with whom he hath 
 intrusted you, if, while ye take so much pains, and 
 are at so much expense to teach them the liberal 
 arts, and to accjuaint them with human sciences, ye 
 discover so much negligence in teaching them the 
 knowledge of salvation ? Not only in a future state 
 ought ye to fear the punishment of so criminal a 
 conduct ; ye will be punished in this present world. 
 Children ignorant of religion will but little under- 
 stand their duty to their parents. They will be- 
 come the cross, as they will be the shame and infa- 
 my of your life. They will shake off your yoke 
 as soon as they have passed their childhood, they 
 Avill abandon you to the weaknesses, infirmities, and 
 disquietudes of old age, Avhen you arrive at that dis- 
 tasteful period of life, which can be rendered agree- 
 able only by the care, the tenderness, and assiduity 
 of a well-bred son. Let us unite all our endeav- 
 ours, my dear brethren, to remove this evil. Let 
 us honour an employment which nothing but the 
 licentiousness of the age could have rendered con- 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knorvledge. 87 
 
 temptible. Let us consider that, as one of the most 
 important trusts of the state, one of the most res- 
 pectable posts of society, which is appointed to in- 
 still religious principles in our children, to inspire 
 them with piety, to guard them against the snares 
 that they will meet with in the world, and, by these 
 means, to render them dutiful in childhood, faithful 
 in conjugal life, tender parents, good citizens, and 
 able magistrates. 
 
 The pastors of our churches are our second class 
 of teachers. I know that all our siifjUdency is of 
 God, 2 Cor. iii. 5. that though Paul may plant, and 
 Apollos water, God only giveth the increase : that 
 holy men, considering the end of the ministry, have 
 exclaimed. Who is siifficient for these things ? 1 Cor. 
 iii. 6. Yet the ordinary means which God useth 
 for the conversion of sinners are the ministry of thq 
 word, and the qualifications of ministers, for faith 
 cometh hy hearing, Rom. x. 17. Now this word, my 
 brethren, is not preached with equal power by all ; 
 and, though the foundation which each lays be the 
 same, it is too true that some huiM upon this foun- 
 dation the gold and precious stones of a solid and 
 holy doctrine, while others build with the ivood, hai/y 
 and stuhhle, 1 Cor. iii. 12. of their own errors, the 
 productions of a confused imagination and a mis- 
 taken eloquence. And as the word is not preached 
 with the same power, so it is not attended with the 
 same success. 
 
 But when the word proceeds from the mouth of 
 a man whom God hath sealed, and enriched with 
 extraordinary talents, when it proceeds from a man. 
 
88 The Perfection of ChrisUan Knowledge. 
 
 who hath the tongue of the learned and the wisdom of 
 the wise, as the scripture speaks, Isa. 1. 4. When 
 it proceeds from a Boanerges, a son of thunder, 
 from a IVloses, mighty in words and in deeds, Mark 
 iii. 17. Acts vii. 22. who maintains the dignity of 
 his doctrine by the purity of his morals, and by 
 the power of his good example, then the word is 
 heard with attention ; from the ear it passeth to the 
 mind , from the mind to the heart, from the heart 
 to the life : it penetrates, it inflames, it transports. 
 It becomes a hammer breaking the hardest hearts, a 
 two-edged sword, dividing the father from the son, 
 the son from the father, dissolving all the bonds of 
 flesh and blood, the connections of nature, and the 
 love of self. 
 
 What precaution, what circumspection, and, in 
 some sort, what dread ought to prevail in the choice 
 of an office, which so greatly influences the salva- 
 tion of those among whom it is exercised ! There 
 needs only the bad system of a pastor to produce 
 and preserve thousands of false notions of religion 
 in the people's minds : notions, which fifty years la- 
 bours of a more wise and sensible ministry will 
 scarcely be able to eradicate. There needs only a 
 pastor sold to sordid interest to put up, in some sort, 
 salvation to sale, and to regulate places in paradise 
 according to the diligence or negligence with which 
 the people gratify the avarice of him who distri- 
 butes them. There needs only a pastor fretted with 
 envy and jealousy against his brethren to poison 
 their ministry by himself, or by his emissaries. 
 Yea sometimes, there needs onlv the want of some 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 89 
 
 less essential talents in a minister to give advantage 
 to the enemies of religion, and to deprive the truths 
 which he preaches of that profound respect which 
 is their due ; a respect that even enemies could not 
 withhold, if the gospel were properly preached, 
 and its truths exhibited in their true point of view. 
 
 It would be unreasonable perhaps to develope 
 this article now. How many of our people would 
 felicitate themselves if we were to furnish them 
 Avith pretences for imputing their unfruitfulness to 
 those who cultivate them ? But, if this article must 
 not be developed, what grave remonstrances, what 
 pressing exhortations, what fervent prayers should 
 it occasion ? Let the heads of families consider the 
 heinousness of their conduct in presuming to offer 
 impure victims to the Lord, and in consecrating 
 those children to the holy ministry, in whom they 
 cannot but discover dispositions that render them 
 unworthy of it. May ecclesiastical bodies never 
 assemble for the election of pastors without making 
 profound reflections on the importance of the ser- 
 vice in which they are engaged, and the greatness 
 of the trust which the sovereign commits to them: 
 May they never ordain without recollecting, that, 
 to a certain degree, they will be responsible for all 
 the sad consequences of a faithless or a fruitless 
 ministry : May they always prostrate on these oc- 
 casions before God, as the apostles in the same case 
 did, and pray. Lord shew whom thou hast chosen. 
 Acts i. 24. May our rulers and magistrates be af- 
 fected with the worth of those souls whom the pas- 
 tors instruct ; and may they unite all their piety, all 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
90 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 
 
 their pity, and all their power to procure holy 
 men, who may adorn so eminent, so venerable a 
 post. 
 
 What hath been said on the choice of pastors still 
 more particularly regards the election of tutors, 
 who are employed to form pastors themselves. 
 Universities are public springs, whence rivulets 
 flow into all the church. Place at the head of these 
 bodies sound philosophers, good divines, wise ca- 
 suists, and they will become seminaries of pastors 
 after God's heart, who will form the minds, and reg- 
 ulate the morals of the people, gently bowing them 
 to the yoke of religion. On the contrary, place men. 
 of another character at the head of our universities, 
 and they will send out impoisoned ministers, who 
 w ill diffuse through the whole church the fatal ven- 
 om which themselves have imbibed. 
 
 3. The third cause which we have assigned, of 
 the infancy and noviciate of most Christians in reli- 
 gious knowledge, is the multitude of their secular 
 affairs. Far be it from us to aim at inspiring you 
 with superstitious maxims. We do not mean that 
 they who fill eminent posts in society should devote 
 that time to devotion which the good of the com- 
 munity requires. We allow, that in some critical 
 conjunctures, the time appointed for devotion must 
 be yielded to business. There are some urgent oc- 
 casions when it is more necessary to fight than to 
 pray : there are times of important business in 
 which the closet must be sacrificed to the cares of 
 life, and second causes must be attended to even 
 when one Avould wish to be occupied only about 
 
The Pcrfeclion of Christian Knoivledge, 91 
 
 the first. Yet, after all, the duty that we recom- 
 mend is indispensable. Amidst the most turbulent 
 solicitudes of life, a Christian desirous of being sav- 
 ed, will devote some time to his salvation. Some 
 part of the day he will redeem from the world and 
 society, to meditate on eternity. This was the 
 practice of those eminent saints, whose lives are 
 proposed as patterns to us. The histories of Abra- 
 ham, Moses, Samuel, and David, are well known, 
 and ye recollect those parts of their lives to which 
 we refer, without our detaining you in a repetition 
 now. 
 
 The last cause of the incapacity of so many 
 Christians for seeing the whole of religion in its con- 
 nection and harmony: the last cause of their ta- 
 king it only by bits and shreds, is their love of sen- 
 sual pleasure. We do not speak here of those gross 
 pleasures at which heathens would have blushed, 
 and which are incompatible with Christianity. We 
 attack pleasures more refined, maxims for which 
 reasonable persons become sometimes apologists : 
 persons who on more accounts than one, are wor- 
 thy of being proposed as examples : persons who 
 would seem to be the salt of the earth, the flower of 
 society, and whom we cannot justly accuse of not 
 loving religion. How rational, how religious soev- 
 er they appear in other cases, they make no scruple 
 of passing a great part of their time in gaming, in 
 public diversions, in a round of worldly amuse- 
 ments ; in pleasures, which not only appear harm- 
 less, but in some sort, suitable to their rank, and 
 which seem criminal only to those who think it their 
 
92 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 duty not to float on the surface of religion, but to 
 examine the whole that it requires of men, on whom 
 God hath bestowed the inestimable favour of re- 
 vealing it. We may presume, that if we shew peo- 
 ple of this sort, that this way of life is one of the 
 principal obstacles to their progress in religion, and 
 prevents their knowing all its beauties, and relish- 
 ing all its delights, we shall not speak without suc- 
 cess. In order to this, pardon me if I conjure you 
 to hear this article, not only with attention, but with 
 that impartiality which alone can enable you to 
 know whether we utter our own speculations, or 
 preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Recollect here 
 that general notion of religion which we have laid 
 down : it contains truths of speculation, and truths 
 of practice. Such sensual pleasures as we have 
 just now mentioned, form invincible obstacles to the 
 knowledge of both. 
 
 I. To the knowledge of speculative truths. 
 How is it possible for a man to obtain a complete 
 system of the doctrines of the gospel while he is a 
 slave to sensual pleasures ? 
 
 1. To obtain a complete system of the doctrines 
 of the gospel there must be a certain habit of think- 
 ing and meditating. In vain ye turn over whole 
 volumes, in vain ye attend methodical sermons, in 
 vain ye parade with bodies of divinity, ye can nev- 
 er comprehend the connection of religious truths 
 unless ye acquire a habit of arranging ideas, of lay- 
 ing down principles, of deducing consequences, in 
 short of forming systems yourselves. This habit 
 cannot be accj[uired without exercise, it is unattaina- 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 93 
 
 ble without serious attention, and profound appli- 
 cation. But how can people devoted to pleasure 
 acquire such a habit ? Sensual pleasure is an inex- 
 haustible source of dissipation : it dissipates in pre- 
 paring, it dissipates in studying, it dissipates after 
 the study is at an end. 
 
 2. To counterbalance the difficulty of medita- 
 tion and study there must be a relish for it. Those 
 who make study a duty, or a trade, seldom make 
 any great progress in knowledge : at least a prodi- 
 gious difference has always been observed between 
 the proficiency of those who study by inclination, 
 and those who study by necessity. But nothing is 
 more capable of disgusting us with the spiritual 
 pleasures of study and meditation than the love of 
 sensual pleasures. We will not intrude into the 
 closets of these persons. But is there not a prodi- 
 gious difference between their application to study 
 and their attention to pleasure ? The one is a vio- 
 lence offered to themselves, the other a voluptuous- 
 ness after which they sigh. The one is an intolerable 
 burden eagerly shaken off as soon as the time ap- 
 pointed expires : The other is a delicious gratitica- 
 tion, from which it is painful to part when nature 
 exhausted can support it no longer, or troublesome 
 duty demands a cessation. In the one, hours and 
 moments are counted, and the happiest period is 
 that which terminates the pursuit : but in tlie oth- 
 er, time glides away imperceptibly, and people wish 
 for the power of prolonging the course of the day, 
 and the duration of life. 
 
94 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 3. To acquire a complete knowledge of religious 
 truths, it is not enough to study them in the closet, 
 in retirement and silence ; we must converse with 
 others w^io study them too. But the love of sen- 
 sual pleasure indisposes us for such conversations. 
 Slaves to sensual pleasures have but little taste for 
 those delicious societies, whose mutual bond is utili- 
 ty, in which impartial inquirers propose their doubts, 
 raise their objections, communicate their discov- 
 eries, and reciprocally assist each other's edifica- 
 tion : For deprive those who love sensual pleasures, 
 of gaming and diversions, conversation instantly 
 languishes, and converse is at an end. 
 
 But secondly, if the love of sensual pleasure 
 raise such great obstacles to the knowledge of spec- 
 ulative truths, it raise th incomparably greater still 
 to the truths of practice. There are some scripture- 
 maxims which are never thought of by the persons 
 in question, except it be to enervate and destroy 
 them, at least, they make no part of their system 
 of morality. 
 
 In your system of morality, what becomes of 
 this scripture-maxim, evil communications corrupt 
 good manners ? 1 Cor. xv. 33. Nothing forms con- 
 nections more intimate, and at the same time, more 
 extravagant than an immoderate love of pleasure. 
 Men who differ in manners, age, religion, birth, 
 principles, educations, are all united by this bond. 
 The passionate and the moderate, the generous and 
 the avaricious, the young and the old agree to ex- 
 ercise a mutual condescension and patience towards 
 each other, because the same spirit actuates, and 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 95 
 
 the same necessities haunt them ; and because the 
 love of pleasure, which animates them all, can on- 
 ly be gratified by the concurrence of each indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 In your system of morality, what become of those 
 maxims of scripture, which say that we must con- 
 fess Jesus Christ before men^ that whosoever shall he 
 ashamed of him before men, of him will he be asham- 
 ed when he cometh in the glory of his father ? Mat. x. 
 32. Mark viii. 38. A man w ho is engaged in the 
 monstrous assembly which the love of pleasure 
 forms, must hear religion disputed, the morality of 
 the gospel attacked, good manners subverted, the 
 name of God blasphemed : and he must hear all 
 these without daring to discover the sentiments of 
 his heart, because as I just now observed, patience 
 and compliance animate that body to which he is 
 attached by such necessary and intimate ties. 
 
 In your system of morality, what become of those 
 scripture-maxims, which threaten those with the 
 greatest punishments who injure others ? The love 
 of sensual pleasure causeth offences of the most 
 odious kind ; I mean, it betrays your partners in 
 pleasure into vice. Ye game without avarice ; but 
 do ye not excite avarice in the minds of those who 
 play with you ? Ye do not injure your families ; 
 but do ye not occasion other men to injure theirs ? 
 Ye are guilty of no fraud ; but do ye not tempt 
 others to be fraudulent ? 
 
 What become in your moral system of those 
 maxims of scripture that require us to contribute to 
 the excision of all wicked doers from the city of the 
 
96 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 Lord, Psal. ci. 8. to discountenance those who com- 
 mit a crime as well as to renounce it ourselves ? 
 The love of sensual pleasure makes us countenance 
 people of the most irregular conduct, whose snares 
 are the most dangerous, whose examples are the 
 most fatal, whose conversations are the most per- 
 nicious to our children and to our families, to civil 
 society and to the church of God. 
 
 In your system of morality, what become of 
 those maxims of scripture which expostulate with 
 us, when the Lord chastiseth us, to be afflicted and 
 mourn, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of 
 God J to enter into our chambers, and shid the doors 
 about us, to hide ourselves until the indignation be 
 overpast ; to examine ourselves before the decree bring 
 forth ; to prepare ourselves to meet our God ; to hear 
 the rod and 7vho hath appointed it, James iv. 9. 1 Pet. 
 V. 6. Isa. XX vi. 20. Zeph. ii. 1, 2. Amos iv. 12. Mi- 
 cah vi. 9. to mourn in sackcloth and ashes ; and 
 while we feel present miseries, to remember those 
 that are past, tremble for those that are to come, 
 and endeavor by extraordinary efforts to avert the 
 anger of heaven ? The love of sensual pleasure 
 turns away people's attention from all these max- 
 ims, and represents those who preach them as wild 
 visionaries, or dry declaimers. The people of 
 whom we speak, these pious people, these people 
 who love their salvation, these people who pretend 
 to the glory of being proposed for examples, can 
 in times of the deepest distress, when tlie church is 
 bathed in tears, while the arm of God is crushing 
 our brethren and our allies, when the same terrible 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 97 
 
 arm is lifted over us, when we are threatened with 
 extreme miseries, when the scourges of God are at 
 om' gates, when there needs only the arrival of one 
 ship, the blowing of one wind, the wafting of one 
 blast, to convey pestilence and plague into our 
 country ; these people can . . . * . O God ! 
 open their eyes that they may see ! 2 Kings vi. 17. 
 
 In your system of morality, what become of 
 scripture exhortations to " redeem the time, to 
 know the time of our visitation, to do all that our 
 hands find to do, because there is no work, nor de- 
 vice, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whith- 
 er we go ?" The love of pleasure inclines mortals, 
 who may die in a few days, people who perhaps 
 have only a few days to bid their last adieus, to em- 
 brace their families, to settle their temporal affairs, 
 to examine the neglected parts of religion, to re- 
 establish the injured reputation of a neighbour, in a 
 word, to prepare themselves to appear before that 
 terrible tribunal to- which death cites them : the 
 love of sensual pleasure inclines these poor crea- 
 tures, who have so short a time to live and so great 
 a task to perform ; the love of sensual pleasure in- 
 clines these people to waste a considerable part of 
 this fleeting life in amusements, that obliterate both 
 the shortness of life, and the necessity of death. 
 
 How often have we seen old age as greedy of 
 pleasure as youth ? how often have we seen people 
 bowing under the weight of age, how often have we 
 seen them, even when then* trembling hands could 
 scarcely hold the cards, or the dice, make their fee- 
 ble efforts to game ; and, when their decayed eyes 
 
 VOL. I, 13 
 
98 The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 
 
 were incapable of distinguishing the spots, assist 
 nature by art, their natural sight with artificial glas- 
 ses, and thus consecrate the remains, those precious 
 remains of life to gaming, which God had granted 
 for repentance. 
 
 All these causes of the infancy and noviciate of 
 Christians in regard to religion, unite in one, which, 
 in finishing this discourse, we cannot but lament, 
 nor can we lament it too much. We do not under- 
 stand our own religion : we are, most of us, inca- 
 pable of perceiving the admirable order, the beau- 
 tiful symmetry of its component parts. Why ? It 
 is because we have so little zeal for our salvation ; 
 it is because we form such languid desires to be sav- 
 ed. 
 
 Indeed I know, that, except some unnatural crea- 
 tures, except some monsters, to whom this discourse 
 is not addressed, every body professes to desire to 
 be saved, yea, to prefer salvation to Avhatever is 
 most pompous in the universe, and most pleasant 
 in this life. But, when the attainment of it in God's 
 way is in question, in the only way that agrees with 
 the holiness of his nature to direct, and with our 
 happiness to obey, what a number of people do we 
 meet with whose desires vanish ? I desire to be sav- 
 ed, says each to himself, I desire to be saved, but 
 not by such a religion as the gospel prescribes, 
 such as Jesus Christ preached, such as the apos- 
 tles and ministers of the gospel preach after him ; 
 but I desire to be saved by such a religion as I have 
 conceived, such an one as gratifies my passions and 
 caprices, I desire to be saved, but it is on condi- 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge, 99 
 
 tion, that, while I obey some of the precepts of 
 Jesus Christ, he will dispense with my obedience 
 of others. I desire to be saved : but not on con- 
 ditioji of my correcting my prejudices, and subiiiit- 
 ting them to the precepts of Jesus Christ, but on 
 condition that the precepts of Jesus Ciirist should 
 yield to my prejudices. I desire to be saved : but 
 on condition of retaining my prepossessions, tlie 
 system that I have arranged, tl«e way of life that I 
 pursue, and intend to pursue till I die. To desire 
 salvation in this manner is too common a disposition 
 among Christians. But to desire salvation in saying 
 to God, with a sincere desire of obeying his voice, 
 Lordy what wilt thou have me to do ? Acts ix. 6. 
 Lord, what wilt thou have me to believe ? Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to love ? Lord, what incli- 
 nations wilt thou have me to oppose, to mortify, to 
 sacritice ? To be willing to be saved in receiving, 
 without exception, all the practical truths, which 
 compose an essential part of that religion which 
 God hath given us : Ah ! my brethren, how rare is 
 this disposition among Christians ! 
 
 Without this disposition however, (and let us not 
 be ingenious to deceive ourselves) without this dis- 
 position there is no salvation. It implies a contra- 
 diction to say that God will save us in any other 
 way : for as it is contradictory to say that he will 
 give to an equal number the qualities of an unequal 
 number, or to bodies the properties of spirits, or to 
 spirits the properties of bodies ; so also is it a con- 
 tradiction to say that vice shall reap the rewards of 
 virtue, that the highway to hell is the path io para^ 
 dise. 
 
100 The Perfection of ChrisUan Knowledge. 
 
 So that nothing remains in concluding this dis- 
 course but to ask you, what are your intentions ? 
 What designs have ye formed ? What projects do 
 ye resolve to pursue ? What are your aims ? H ave 
 ye any thing more precious than your souls ? Can 
 ye conceive a nobler hope than that of being saved ? 
 Can ye propose a more advantageous end than your 
 own salvation ? Can ye persuade yourselves that 
 there is a greater felicity than the fruition of God ? 
 Will ye destroy yourselves ? Do ye renounce those 
 delightful hopes that are set before you in the gos- 
 pel ? And shall all the fruit of our ministry be to 
 accuse and confound you before God ? 
 
 Young man, thou mayest live fiiiy or sixty years: 
 but at the expiration of those fifty or sixty years, 
 time finishes and eternity begins. People of ma- 
 ture age, your race is partly run ; ten, fifteen, 
 or twenty years more, through the dissipations 
 and employments inseparable from your lives, 
 w ill vanish with an inconceivable rapidity ; and 
 then, time finishes and eternity begins with you. 
 And ye old people, a few years, a few months, 
 a few days more, and behold your race is at an 
 end; behold your time finishes and your eternity 
 begins. And can we resist this idea ! Alas ! what 
 hearts ! what Christians ! what a Church ! 
 
 Grant Almighty God that our prayers may sup- 
 ply the defect of our exhortations ; may we derive 
 from thy bosom of infinite mercies what we despair 
 of obtaining from the insensibility of our hearers ! 
 O thou Author of religion, thou divine Spirit, from 
 whom alone could proceed this beautiful system 
 
The Perfection of Christian Knowledge. 101 
 
 which thou hast condescended to reveal to us, im- 
 press it in all its parts on our minds. Pluck up 
 every plant which thy good hand hath not planted. 
 Triumph over all the obstacles that our sins oppose 
 to thine empire. Shut the gulfs of helL Open the 
 gates of heaven. Save us, even in spite of our- 
 selves. Amen. 
 
 To the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Ghost, 
 be honour and glory, dominion and power for ever. 
 Amen. 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 The Eternity of God. 
 
 Preached in the French Church at Rotterdam on the first Lord's 
 Day of the Year 1724. 
 
 2 Peter iii. 8. 
 
 Beloved, he not ignorant of this one thing, that one 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a 
 thousand years as one day, 
 
 W E could not meditate on the words which you 
 have heard, my brethren, without recollecting that 
 miraculous cloud which conducted the Israelites 
 through the desert. It was all luminous on one 
 side, and all opake' on the other.^ The Jews say 
 that it was the throne, or the triumphal chariot of 
 that Angel who marched at the head of the camp 
 of Israel ; of that Angel whom they call the Prince 
 of the world, the Shekinah, the presence of the divine 
 Majesty, the IJeity itself. It is not needful to ex- 
 amine this opinion. I do not know >vhether the 
 pillar of a cloud were a throne of God, but it was a 
 beautiful symbol of the Deity. What is the Deity 
 in regard to us ? If it be the most radiant of all 
 light, it is at the same time the most covered w^ith 
 
 * See Rabbi Menachem in Parasch. Beschalec. Exod. xiv. 19. 
 fol. 63. edit.de Venise5283, S. 
 
104 The Eternity of God, 
 
 darkness. Let the greatest philosophers, let the 
 most extraordinary geniusses elevate their rnedita- 
 tations, and take the loftiest flights of which they 
 are capable, in order to penetrate into the nature of 
 the divine essence, the stronger efforts they make 
 io understand this fearful subject, the more will 
 they be absorbed in it : the nigher they approach 
 the rays of this sun, the more will they be dazzled 
 with its lustre. But yet, let the feeblest and most 
 confined genius seek instructions, in meditating on 
 the divine grandeurs, to direct his faith, to regulate 
 his conduct, and to sweeten the miseries that imbit- 
 ter this valley of t^ars ; he shall happily experience 
 what the prophet did : does he look to him 1 he shall 
 he lightened, Ps. xxxiv. 5. 
 
 God presents himself to your eyes to-day, as he 
 once presented himself to the Israelites in that mar- 
 vellous phenomenon. Light on one side, darkness 
 on the other. " A thousand years are w^ith the Lord 
 as one day, and one day as a thousand years." Let 
 the greatest philosophers, let those extraordinary 
 beings in whose formation God seems to have uni- 
 ted an angelic intelligence to a human body, let 
 them preach in our stead, let them fully explain the 
 words of my text. From what abysses of exist- 
 ence does the perfect Being derive that duration, 
 which alike overspreads the present, the future, and 
 the past ? how conceive a continuation of existence 
 without conceiving a succession of time ? how con- 
 ceive a succession of time, without conceiving that 
 he who is subject to it acquires what he had not be- 
 fore ? how affirm that he who acquires what he had 
 
The Ekrnity of God. 105 
 
 not before, considers " a thousand years as one 
 day, and one day as a thousand years ?" So many 
 questions, so many abysses, obscurities, darknes- 
 ses for poor mortals. 
 
 Eut if ye confine yourselves to a conviction of 
 the truth of the words of my text ; particularly, if 
 ye desire to consider them in regard to the influ- 
 ence which they ought to have on your conduct, 
 ye will behold light issuing from every part, nor is 
 there any one in this assembly who may not ap- 
 proach it with confidence. This has encouraged us 
 to turn our attention to a subject, which, at first 
 sight, seems more likely to confound, than to edi- 
 fy us. 
 
 St. Peter aims to rouse the piety of Christians by 
 the idea of that great day wherein the world must 
 be reduced to ashes; when new heavens and a 
 new earth shall appear to the children of God. 
 Libertines regarded that day as a chimera. WherCy 
 said they, is the promise of the Lord's coming : for 
 since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as 
 they were from the beginning of the creation ? 2 Pet. 
 iii. 4. ^'C. The words of my text are an answer 
 to this objection ; an idea which we will presently 
 explain, but which ye must, at least in a vague man- 
 ner, retain all along, if ye mean to follow us in this 
 discourse, in which we would wish to include all 
 the different views of the Apostle. In order to 
 which three things are necessary. 
 
 I. We will examine our text in itself, and endea- 
 vour to establish this proposition, That one day is 
 
 VOL. I. 14 
 
106 The Eternity of God. 
 
 with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand 
 years as one day, 
 
 II. We will prove what w^e have advanced : 
 That is, That St. Peter's design in these w ords was 
 to answer the objections of libertines against the 
 doctrine of the conflagration of the world : and we 
 will shew you that they completely answer the 
 purpose. 
 
 III. We w^ill draw from this doctrine, secured 
 against the objections of libertines, such motives to 
 piety as the Apostle presents us with. 
 
 In considering these w^ords in this point of light, 
 we will apply them to your present circumstances. 
 The renewal of the year, properly understood, is 
 only the anniversary of the vanity of our life, and 
 thence the calls to detach yourselves from the 
 world. And what can be more proper to produce 
 such a detachment than this reflection, that not only 
 the years which we must pass on earth are consum- 
 ing, but also that the years of the world's subsist- 
 ence are already consumed in part, and that the 
 time approaches, in w hich it must be delivered to 
 the flames and reduced to ashes ? 
 
 Let us first consider the words of our text in 
 themselves, and let us prove this proposition, " one 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a 
 thousand years as one day." 
 
 The notion which I have of God is my principle: 
 The w^ords of my text are the consequence. If I 
 establish the principle, the consecjuence will be in- 
 contestible. 1. Eternity, — 2. Perfect KnowledgCy 
 and, in some sort, the sight and presence of all 
 
The Eternity of God. 107 
 
 that has been, of all that is, and of all that shall 
 be. — 3. Supreme happiness: are three ideas which 
 form my notion of the Deity : this is my princi- 
 ple. " A thousand years" then " are as one day, 
 and one day as a thousand years with the Lord :" 
 this is my consequence. Let us prove the truth of 
 the pi'inciple, by justifying the notion which we form 
 of the Deity. 
 
 1. God is an eternal being. This is not a chime- 
 ra of my mind; it is a truth accompanied with all 
 the evidence of which a proposition is capable. I 
 exist, I speak, you hear me, at least you seem to 
 hear me. These are facts, the certainty of which 
 all the philosophers in the world can never destroy, 
 I am not able to new mould myself, nor can I help 
 the perception of truths, the knowledge of which 
 (if I may be allowed to say so) is as essential to me 
 as my own existence. It does not depend on me 
 not to regard Pyrrho and Academus, those famous 
 defenders of doubt and uncertainty, as fools who 
 extinguished the light of common sense, or rather 
 as impostors, who pronounced propositions Avith 
 their mouths, the falsity of which it was impossi- 
 ble their minds should not perceive. I repeat it 
 again, the most subtle objections of all the philoso- 
 phers in the world united, can never diminish in 
 me that impression which the perception of my own 
 existence makes on my mind, nor hinder my evi- 
 dence of the truth of these propositions ; 1 exist, I 
 speak, you hear me, at least (for with the people 
 whom I oppose, one must weigh each expression, 
 and, in some sort, each syllable) at least I have the 
 
108 The Eternity of God. 
 
 same impressions as if there were beings before my 
 eyes who heard me. 
 
 If I am sure of mv own existence, I am no less 
 sure that I am not the author of it myself, and that 
 I derive it from a superior Being. Were I alto- 
 gether ignorant of the history of the world ; if I 
 had never heard that I was only of yesterday^ as the 
 Psalmist speaks, Psal. xc. 4. if I knew not that my 
 parents, who were born like me, are dead ; were I 
 not assured that I should soon die ; if I knew no- 
 thing of all this, yet I should not doubt whether I 
 owed my existence to a superior Being. I can 
 never convince myself that a creature so feeble as 
 I am, a creature whose least desires meet with in- 
 surmountable obstacles, a creature who cannot add 
 one cubit to his stature, Mat. v. 27. a creature who 
 cannot prolong his own life one single instant, one 
 who is forced to yield, willing or unwilling, to a 
 greater power which cries to him, Dust thou art, 
 and to dust thou shalt return. Gen. iii. 19. I can 
 never convince myself that such a creature existed 
 from all eternity, much less that he owes his exist- 
 ence only to himself, and to the eminence of his 
 own perfections. It is then sure that I exist : it is 
 also certain that I am not the author of my own 
 existence. 
 
 This certainty is all I ask, I ask only these two 
 propositions : I exist, I am not the author of my 
 own existence, to convince me that there is an eter- 
 nal Being. Yes, though a revelation emanating from 
 the bosom of Omniscience had never given me this 
 idea of the Divinity ; though Moses had never pro- 
 
The Eternity of God. 109 
 
 noiinced this oracle, before the mountains ivcre hrovghl 
 forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the 
 world, even from everlasting thou art God, Psa. xc. 2. 
 though the four and twenty Elders, who surround 
 the throne of God, had never rendered homage to 
 his eternity, or, prostrating before him, incessantly 
 cried. We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, nhieh 
 art, and wast, and art to come, Kev. xi. 17. though 
 the eternal Being had never said of himself, / am 
 Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Rev. i. 8. 
 Yea, though the eternal Being had never convinced 
 me of his grandeur by the works of his hands, if I 
 had been all alone in the nature of beings, I should 
 have been forced to admit an eternal Being. And 
 this proposition. There is an eternal Being, natu- 
 rally flows from those, I exist, and I am not the au- 
 thor of my own existence ; for if I be not the au- 
 thor of my own existence, I owe it to another Be- 
 ing. That Being to whom I owe my existence, de- 
 rives his from himself, or, like me, owes it to anoth- 
 er. If he exist of himself, behold the eternal Be- 
 ing whom I have been seeking; if he derive his ex- 
 istence from another, I reason about him as about the 
 former. Thus I ascend, thus I am constrained to 
 ascend, 'till I arrive at that Being who exists of 
 himself, and who hath always so existed. 
 
 Let such of you, my brethren, as cannot follow 
 this reasoning, blame only themselves. Let not 
 such people say, these are abstruse and metaphysic- 
 al reflections, which should never be brought into 
 these assemblies. It is not fair that the incapacity 
 of a small number, an incapacity caused by their 
 
110 The Eiernity of God. 
 
 voluntary attachment to sensible things, and (so to 
 speak) by their criminal interment in matter ; it is 
 not right that this should retard the edification of a 
 whole people, and prevent the proposing of the first 
 principles of natural religion. Eternity enters then 
 into the idea of the creative Being ; and this is what 
 we proposed to prove. 
 
 2. " Omniscience, intimate acquaintance, and, in 
 a manner, the presence of all that is, of all that has 
 been, of all that shall be," is the second idea which 
 we form of the Deity. The more we meditate 
 on the essence and self-existence of the eternal 
 Being, the more are we convinced that omniscience 
 necessarily belongs to eternity ; so that to have pro- 
 Ted that God possesses the first of these attributes, 
 is to have proved that he possesses the second. 
 But, as I am certain, that a great number of my 
 hearers would charge those reflections with obscu- 
 rity, of which they are ignorant only through their 
 own inattention, I will not undertake to prove, by a 
 chain of propositions, that the eternal Being knows 
 all things : that, as author of all, he knows the na-^ 
 lure of all ; that, knowing the nature of alJ, he 
 know s what must result from all. It will be better 
 to give you this subject ready digested in our holy 
 Scriptures, than to oblige you to recollect it by 
 your own meditation. Recall then on this article 
 these expressions of the sacred writers : " O Lord, 
 thou knowest all things," John xxi. 17. — " The 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked, who can know it? I the Lord search the 
 heart and try the reins/' Jer. xvii. 9, 10. — " Known 
 
The Eternity of God. 1 1 \ 
 
 unto him are all his works from the beginning,'* 
 Acts XV. 18. — " The word of God is quick and pow- 
 erful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, pier- 
 cing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
 and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of 
 the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is 
 there any creature that is not manifest in his sight," 
 Heb. iv. 12, <X*c. Some interpreters think, that by 
 the ivord of God, we must understand here, not the 
 gospel of .Tesus Christ, as the phrase is generally 
 understood, but his person. If this be St. Paul's 
 idea, he uses, methinks, the same metaphysical rea- 
 soning which we have proposed : that is, that he 
 who created all, knows all. Observe how this rea- 
 soning is followed and developed in the Apostle's 
 words. The word of God, or, as it is in the Greek, 
 the logos, the word of God is quick and powerfid; 
 that is to say, that as Jesus Christ, as God, hath a 
 fund of life and existence, he hath also freely and 
 effectually communicated life and existence to oth- 
 ers. In this sense it is elsewhere said, that " by 
 him were all things created, that are in heaven and 
 that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they 
 be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or pow- 
 ers," Col. i. 16. And in St. John's Gospel, " In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. All things were 
 made by him, and without him was not any thing 
 made that was made," .John i. 1, 3. But tliis Word, 
 ^idck and powerful, who hath given being to all, 
 perfectly knows all ; " sharper than any two-edged 
 sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul 
 
1 1 2 The Eternity of God, 
 
 and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
 discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; 
 neither is there any creature that is not manifest in 
 his sight, but all tilings are naked and opened unto 
 the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Om- 
 niscience, intimate knowledge, and, as I said be- 
 fore, the presence of all that is, of all that ^vas, of 
 all that shall be, are as essential to God as eternity. 
 This also, we hope, is sufficiently proved. 
 
 3. Supreme felicity is the third idea which we 
 have formed of God ; it flows immediately from the 
 two first. Every intelligent being is capable of 
 happiness, nor can he regard happiness with indif- 
 ference ; he is inclined by his very nature to render 
 himself happy. He cannot love misery as misery ; 
 he never suffers a present misery but in hopes of a 
 future pleasure ; or else he supports a misery be- 
 cause it appears to him more tolerable than the 
 means proposed to deliver him. Even those who 
 have wilfully plunged themselves into the gulfs of 
 hell, in a fit of black melancholy, ^vould not have 
 taken that dreadful step, had they not revolved this 
 melancholy imagination in theu* distracted minds, 
 that the assurance of being plunged into hell is less 
 tolerable than hell itself. It implies a contradiction, 
 thai an intelligent being, capable of being happy or 
 miserable, should be indifferent to his own happi- 
 ness or misery. If any thing be wanting to the feli- 
 city of God, the defect must not be attributed to 
 his will, the cause must be sought in his weakness, 
 that is, in his want of power. 
 
The Eternity of God. 1 1 3 
 
 But who can conceive that a Being who existed 
 from all eternity, who gave existence to nil things, 
 and who knows all things, hath only a finite and 
 limited power ? I am well aware of the difficulty 
 of following the attributes of the Deity, and that, 
 in the greatest part of our reasonings on this grand 
 subject, we suppose what ought to be proved. But 
 as far as we are capable of penetrating this pro- 
 found subject, we have grounds for reasoning in 
 this manner : God hath given being to all things, 
 and he saw what must result from them ; it depend- 
 ed then entirely on him to form the plan of the 
 world or not to form it ; to be alone or to impart 
 existence : It depended on him to form the plan of 
 such a world as we see, or to form another plan. 
 He hath followed, in the choice which he hath made, 
 that which was most proper for his own glory. If, 
 to these feeble speculations, we join the infallible 
 testimony of revelation, we shall find a perfect 
 agreement with our ideas on this article ; that the 
 Creator is the happy God by excellence, 1 Tim. i. 
 11.* and that because he is eternal and omniscient, 
 he must for those very reasons be infinitely happy. 
 This article also is sufficiently proved. 
 
 These three ideas of the Deity are three sources 
 of proofs, in favour of St. Peter's proposition in 
 the words of my text, '' a thousand years before 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 11. bienheureux dieUy /^UKx^iog ©eo$. /tcaxee^ia;, 
 quasi usyoc X'*'?^^) ^^ ^^h fnultum ct valde gaudcns : bcatus 
 Deus^ qui sibi sufficiens erat ad beatitudinem. Vide Nov. Test. 
 Grace, cum notis, Londini, 1768. 
 
 VOL. I. 15 
 
1 1 4 The Eternity of God. 
 
 the Lord are as one day, and one day as a thousand 
 years." 
 
 God is an eternal Being. Then " a thousand 
 years with him are as one day, and one day as a 
 thousand years ;" that is to say, " a thousand years 
 and one day" are such inconsiderable measures of 
 duration, that, whatever disproportion they have 
 to each other, they appear to have none when com- 
 pared with the duration of eternity. There is a 
 great difference between one drop of water and the 
 twenty thousand baths which were contained in that 
 famous vessel in Solomon's temple, which, on ac- 
 count of its matter and capacity, was called the sea 
 of brass, 1 Chron. xviii. 8. but this vessel itself, in 
 comparison of the sea, properly so called, was so 
 small, that when we compare all it could contain, 
 with the sea, the twenty thousand baths, that is, 
 one hundred and sixty thousand pounds weight, ap- 
 pear only as a drop of water. The extreme differ- 
 ence between that quantity of w^ater and a little 
 drop vanishes when compared with the ocean. One 
 drop of w ater with the sea is as twenty thousand 
 baths, and twenty thousand baths are as one drop 
 of water. There is a great difference betw een the 
 light of a taper and that of a flambeau ; but expose 
 both to the light of the sun, and their difference 
 wull be imperceptible. The light of a little taper 
 before the sun is as the light of a flambeau, and the 
 light of a flambeau as that of a little taper. In like 
 manner, eternal duration is so great an object, that 
 it causeth every thing to disappear that can be com- 
 pared with it. A thousand years are no more be 
 
The Eternity of God. 1 15 
 
 fore this than one day, nor one day than a thousand 
 years ; and these two terms, so unequal in them-^ 
 selves, seem to have a perfect equality when com- 
 pared with eternity. We, minute creatures, we 
 consider a day, an hour, a quarter of an hour, as a 
 very little space in the course of our lives ; we lose 
 "without scruple a day, an hour, a quarter of an 
 hour : But we are very much to blame ; for this 
 day, this hour, this quarter of an hour, should we 
 even live a whole age, would be a considerable por- 
 tion of our life. But, if we attend to the little 
 probability of our living a whole age ; if we reflect 
 that ttiis little space of time, of which we are so 
 profuse, is the only space we can call our own ; if 
 we seriously think that one quarter of an hour, that 
 one hour, that one day is perhaps the only time 
 given us to prepare our accounts, and to decide our 
 eternal destiny; w^e should have reason to acknow- 
 ledge, that it was madness to lose the least part of 
 so short a life. But God revolves (if I may ven- 
 ture to say so) in the immense space of eternity. 
 Heap millions of ages upon millions of ages, add 
 new millions to new millions, all this is nothino in 
 comparison of the duration of the eternal Being. 
 In this sense, " a thousand years are as one day, 
 and one day as a thousand years." 
 
 2. God knows all. Then, a thousand years are 
 with him as one day, and one day as a thousand 
 years ; because he sees no more in a thousand years 
 than in one day ; because he sees as much in one day 
 as he can see in a thousand years. Ignorance and 
 uncertainty are the principal causes that make U5? 
 
116 The Eternity of God, 
 
 think a sliort space of time a lon^ duration ; espe- 
 cially, when our ignorance and uncertainty respect 
 things which we ardently desire to know : Hope de- 
 ferred maketh the heart sick, (Pro v. xiii. 12.) is a 
 saying of the wise man. The very time in which 
 we are in suspense about an apprehended evil, is 
 insupportable to us. It seems to us, while we ex- 
 pect a fatal sentence, that we are every moment 
 suffering its execution. 
 
 God knows all. He sees all that was, all that is, 
 all that ever will be. The moment which he assign- 
 ed for the formation of this universe, is as present 
 to his mind as that Avhich he hath determined for its 
 destruction. He knows the success of the various 
 plans which at present exercise the speculations of 
 the greatest geniusses, and which occasion an infi- 
 nite number of different opinions among politicians. 
 He knows to what lengths that tyrant, who is the 
 scourge of the whole earth, shall carry his rage. 
 He knows how long that empire shall maintain its 
 dignity, w hich at present subsists with so much glo- 
 ry. He knows during what space Antichrist shall 
 yet oppose the dominion of the king Messiah ; and 
 when the king Messiah shall make him lick the 
 dust. He knows when the air shall resound with 
 that comfortable exclamation, " Babylon the great 
 is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of 
 devils, and the hold of every foul spirit !" Rev. 
 xviii. 2. 
 
 3. In fine, God is supremely happy. Then, " a 
 thousand years with him are as one day, and one 
 day as a thousand years." In the enjoyment of per- 
 
The Eternity of God. 1 17 
 
 feet happiness, the duration of time is impercepti- 
 ble. Placed, as we are, my dearest brethren, in this 
 valley of miseries, tasting only imperfect and imbit- 
 tered pleasures, it is very difficult for us to conceive 
 the impression wliich felicity makes on an intelli- 
 gence supremely happy. If the enjoyment of some 
 small good make us conceive to a certain degree, 
 a state in which ages appear moments, the miseries 
 inseparable from our lives presently replunge us in- 
 to a state in which moments appear ages ; in which 
 sorrows of the body, and sorrows of the mind, fre- 
 quently less tolerable than those of the body, so 
 powerfully apply our minds to each indivisible space 
 of time spent in pain, that we think our sufferings 
 have been long, when we have scarcely begun to 
 suffer. But God is always happy, and always su- 
 premely happy ; he always enjoys that perfect feli- 
 city, which makes a thousand years, ten thousand 
 millions of years, vanish with an inconceivable ra- 
 pidity. It would be unhappy not to enjoy this kind 
 of felicity more than ten or twelve millions of years, 
 because the impression which that felicity would 
 make on the soul would be so pow erful and lively, 
 that it would render him who enjoyed it insensible 
 to time j time would expire, and he would hardly 
 perceive that he had enjoyed any thing, even when 
 he had possessed happiness as long as I have sup- 
 posed. God would be unhappy (allow me this ex- 
 pression) if his felicity were not eternal. But this 
 is one of the subjects which must intimidate a 
 preacher through the difficulty he meets with in 
 furnishing matter. We must have ideas beyond 
 
118 The Eternity of God. 
 
 human. We must have terms which mankind have 
 not yet invented. We ourselves must have parti- 
 cipated the felicity of God ; we must speak to men 
 who also had partaken of it; and afterwards, we 
 must have ao;reed together on a new language to 
 express each idea excited by the happiness, of which 
 we had made so blessed an experience. Represent 
 to yourselves a Being, or rather think, think, my 
 dear hearers, on the difficulty of representing a Be- 
 ing, who, having in the prodigious capacity of his 
 intelligence all possible plans of this universe, hath 
 preferred that which appeared to him the wisest, 
 the best, and the most conformable to the holiness 
 of his attributes ; represent a Being who hath exe- 
 cuted this plan, a Being who hath created in this 
 vast extent which our imagination fancies, in that 
 which our whole mind, more capable still of con- 
 ceiving grand objects than our imagination alone, or 
 our senses admires ; represent to yourselves a Be- 
 ing who hath created whatever is most capable of 
 contributing to perfect felicity ; represent a Being 
 who loves, and who is beloved by objects Avorthy of 
 his love ; a Being who knows how to repress the 
 madness of those who rebel against his empire ; a 
 Being who shares his felicity with spirits, whom he 
 esteems, and by whom he is esteemed above all 
 things ; a Being who hath the pleasure of render- 
 ing the objects of his esteem happy, and who ac- 
 knowledge that all their happiness comes from him ; 
 
 ■ spirits who continually praise the author of 
 
 their felicity, and who, casting their crowns at his 
 feet, incessantly cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of 
 
The Eternity of God. 119 
 
 Hosts ; the whole earth is full of thy glory," Isa. vi, 
 3. Represent to yourselves a Being who is approv- 
 ed by intelligences skilful in virtues, in grandeurs, 
 in objects worthy of praise; a Being who loves only 
 order, and who hath power to maintain it; a Being 
 who is at the summit of felicity, and who knows 
 that he shall be so forever. O ages ! O millions of 
 ages ! O thousands of millions of ages ! O duration 
 the longest that can be imagined by an intelligence 
 composed (if I may speak so) of all intelligences, 
 how short must ye appear to so happy a Being! 
 There is no time w ith him ; there is no measure of 
 time. One thousand years, ten thousand years, 
 one quarter of an hour, one instant, is almost the 
 same. " A thousand years are with him as one 
 day, and one day as a thousand years." 
 
 We have considered our text in itself; we will 
 now shew the end of the Apostle in proposing it, 
 and that it was very proper to answer that end. 
 This is our second part. 
 
 St. Peter, as we said before, St. Peter meant io 
 refute the odious objections of some profane per- 
 sons of his own time, wiio pretended to make the 
 doctrine of an universal judgment doubtful, and 
 who said, in order to obscure its truth, or enervate 
 its evidence, " Where is the promise of his coming, 
 for since the fathers fell asleep all things remain as 
 they were?" 2 Pet. iii. 4. I am aware that this 
 comment is disputed, and some have thought that 
 the destruction of .Jerusalem was the subject of this 
 whole chapter, and not the end of the world ; but, 
 how^ever averse Ave are to the decisive tone, we will 
 
120 The Eternity of God. 
 
 venture to demonstrate that the apostle had far 
 greater objects in view than the fatal catastrophes of 
 the Jewish nation. This I think clearly appears, 
 
 1. By the nature of the objection which libertines 
 made. " Where is the promise of his coming, for 
 since the fathers fell asleep all things remain as tiiey 
 were ?" These libertines did not mean that from 
 the beginning of the world the commonwealth of 
 Israel had suffered no considerable alteration ; they 
 did not mean from that false principle to draw this 
 false consequence, that Jerusalem would always re- 
 main as it then was. How could they be such no- 
 vices in the history of their nation, as not to know 
 the sad vicissitudes, the banishments, and the plun- 
 derings, which the Jews had undergone? They 
 meant, that though some particular changes had 
 happened in some parts of the world, the generality 
 of creatures had always remained in the same state ; 
 thence they pretended to conclude that they would 
 always remain so. 
 
 2. This appears farther by the manner in which 
 the Apostle answers them in the verses preceding 
 the text. He alleges against them the example of 
 the deluge. 2'his, says he, " they are willingly ig- 
 norant of, that the world that then was, being over- 
 flowed with water, perished," ver. 5, 6. To this 
 he adds, " the heavens shall pass away with a great 
 noise, the elements shall melt w ith fervent heat, the 
 earth also and the things that are therein shall be 
 burnt up," ver. 10. On which we reason thus: 
 The world, that was formerly destroyed with wa- 
 ter, is the same which shall be destroyed by fire; 
 
The Eternity of God. 121 
 
 but the world that was destroyed with water, was 
 not the Jewish nation only : St. Peter then pre- 
 dicts a destruction more general than that of the 
 Jews. 
 
 3. This appears farther by this consideration. 
 The people to whom St. Peter wrote did not live 
 in Judea, but were dispersed through Pontus, Ga- 
 latia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These peo- 
 ple could have but little to do with the destruction 
 of Jerusalem. Whether Jesus Christ terminated 
 the duration of that city suddenly or slowly, was 
 a question that regarded them indirectly only ; but 
 the day of which St. Peter speaks interests all 
 Christians, and St. Peter exhorts all Christians to 
 prepare for it, as being personally concerned in it. 
 
 4. Add a fourth consideration, taken from what 
 follows our text, ver. 15. 16. ''Even as our belov- 
 ed brother Paul also speaks of these things, in which 
 are some things hard to be understood, which they 
 that are unlearned and unstable, wrest unto their 
 own destruction." What are these things hard to he 
 understood? Many interpreters, ancient and mod- 
 ern, have thought that the doctrine of justification 
 was intended ; a doctrine established by St. Paul, 
 and wrested by many to their own destruction, as 
 from thence they concluded that good works were 
 useless. But, methinks, it is more probable that St. 
 Peter designs some parts of the first epistle to the 
 Thessalonians, where the Apostle had spoken as if 
 the day of judgment was very nigh, 1 Thess. iv. 13, 
 &c. and V. 1, &c. and from which many concluded 
 that it would immediately appear, and the mistake 
 
 VOL. I, 16 
 
122 The Eternity of God. 
 
 caused a general subversion of society. Since theoy 
 St. Paul had spoken of the day of judgment, and St. 
 Peter speaks of the same things, it follows, that St. 
 Peter designed to establish the truth of a general 
 judgment, against those infidels who endeavoured 
 to subvert it. 
 
 But how is what the Apostle says, " one day is 
 with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand 
 years as one day ;" how is such a proposition pro- 
 per to refute the odious objection of infidels, who 
 said, " Where is the promise of his coming ?" If a 
 man who possesseth 2;reat riches promise a small 
 sum to an indigent person, if he defer the fulfilment 
 of his promise, in vain ye endeavour to exculpate 
 him by saying, the promiser is so opulent that a 
 small sum with him is as great riches, and great 
 riches are as a small sum. 
 
 In like manner, to say that "a thousand years 
 with God are as one day, and one day as a thou- 
 sand years," is tliat to answer the objection ? The 
 question is not w hat the time of delay is to the eter- 
 nal Being ; the question is, what that time is to poor 
 mortals, who are confined to the earth, loaded with 
 miseries, and to whom one day is as a thousand 
 years, and not a thousand years as one day. 
 
 This difficulty is solved by the connection of our 
 text with the following verses: "Beloved, be not 
 ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the 
 Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
 one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his pro- 
 mise, as some men count slackness, but is long suf- 
 fering to US-ward, pot willing that any should per- 
 
The Eternity of God, 123 
 
 isb, but that all should come to repentance." This 
 answer is conclusive, as ye will more fully perceive 
 by the following paraphrase. The delay of the day 
 of judgment may be considered either in relation 
 to men who must be judged, or to God himself who 
 will judge them. If ye consider it in regard to 
 men who must be judged, they have no room to 
 complain that God defers tliis important period ; on 
 the contrary, they ought to consider the pretended 
 slackness of which they complain, as an eifect of 
 the adorable love of their judge, who invites theni 
 to conversion. The manner in which God ordi- 
 narily takes men out of this life, is much more pro- 
 per to incline them to conversion than the terrible 
 retinue of his coming to judgment. How terrible 
 will his appearance be ! What eye will not be daz- 
 zled ? Whose conscience will not be alarmed ? EJere 
 blow the trumpets, the dreadful sounds of which 
 proclaim the approach of the Judge of diis universe. 
 There, the heavens, which once opened to receive 
 the Son of God, open again that he may return to 
 the earth, to execute his threatenings on rebellious 
 men. Here, earth and sea restore the bodies which 
 they have devoured. There, those thousand thou- 
 sands, those ten thousand times ten thousand, who are 
 continually before God, Dan. vii. 10. offer their min- 
 istry to him, and are the witnesses, admirers, and 
 executors of his judgment. Here, open the eter- 
 nal books, in which so many unrighteous thoughts, 
 so many unprofitable words, so many criminal ac- 
 tions have been registered. There, sentences are 
 preparing, destinies determining, final decrees just 
 
IM The Eternity of God. 
 
 pronouncing. Who then could have presence of 
 mind enough to recur to genuine repentance^ even 
 supposing there were yet time for repentance ? Men 
 then have no reason to complain that the day of 
 judgment is not yet come. " The Lord is patient 
 towards all men, not willing that any should perish, 
 but that all should come to repentance." 
 
 If ye consider the pretended delay of judgment 
 in regard to God, as ye have considered it in regard 
 to men, ye will readily acknowledge that what ap- 
 pears delay to you, does not appear so to him. 
 Why ? Because " a thousand years are with him as 
 one day, and one day as a thousand years ;" be- 
 cause this long term that offends you is but as an 
 instant to the perfect Being. 
 
 It seems to me that this reasoning is conclusive. 
 This shall suffice for the present. Let us conclude, 
 and let us employ the few moments which remain, 
 to infer from the doctrine of the general conflagra- 
 tion, secured against the objections of libertines, 
 such motives to piety as the Apostle intended we 
 should draw from them. " Beloved, be not igno- 
 rant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord 
 as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
 day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, 
 as some men count slackness, but is long suffering 
 to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but 
 that all should come to repentance. But the day of 
 tlie Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the 
 which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
 and the elements shall melt with ferv ent heat ; the 
 earth also and the works that are therein shall be 
 
The Eternity of God. 125 
 
 burnt up." This is the doctrine that the Apostle 
 establisheth. " vSeeing then that all these things 
 shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought 
 ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 
 looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day 
 of God ?" This is the consequence which he dedu- 
 ces; the justness of which inference will appear by 
 five descriptions, which the general confiagration 
 traces before your eyes: 1. A description of the 
 power of our Judge : 2. A description of the hor- 
 rors of vice : 3. A description of the vanity of the 
 present W'Orld : 4. A description of the beauties of 
 the world to come: 5. A description of the excel- 
 lence of piety. This is the third part, and the con- 
 clusion of this discourse. 
 
 1. The destruction of the universe affords us a 
 picture of the power of our Judge. How power- 
 ful, my brethren, is this judge! "Who can resist his 
 will?" Rom. ix. 19. Once there was no sea, no 
 earth, no firmament; one frightful night covered the 
 whole face of the universe. He said, (Gen. i. 3.) 
 and all these beings appeared: Now we behold a 
 sea, an earth, and a firmament. He will say, and 
 the sea shall be dry, and the earth shall be consum- 
 ed, the stars sliall disappear, the firmament shall be 
 found no more. Such is the God whom the sinner 
 attacks. A God " who taketh up the isles as a very 
 little thing," Isa. xl. 15. A God "who removeth 
 the mountains and overturneth them in his anger, 
 who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pil- 
 lars thereof tremble. A God, who commandeth 
 the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars ; 
 
126 The Eternity of God. 
 
 who doth great things past finding out, yea, and 
 wonders without number," Job ix. 5, 6, 7, 10. This, 
 sinner, is the God whom thou attackest. But doth 
 the idea of a God so powerful never excite terror in 
 thy rebellious soul ? " Do we provoke the Lord to 
 jealousy?" 1 Cor. x. 22. are we stronger than he? — 
 Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath 
 prospered ? — Can any resist my power?" Job ix. 4. 
 " Who would set the thorns and briars against me 
 in battle ? 1 would go through them, I would burn 
 them together. O let them make peace with me, 
 and they shall make peace with me," Isa. xxvii. 
 4, 5. 
 
 2. The conflagration of the universe affords us a 
 picture of the horrors of vice. Behold how far 
 God carries his resentment against sin. It is not 
 enough to condemn to eternal flames, and to con- 
 fine in chains of darkness, those who have fled 
 from his justice. It is not enough to pour out his 
 wrath upon those who have committed the crime, 
 he detests even the instruments of the crime ; he de- 
 signs that all things that have served sin shall bear 
 the marks of his anger. If, under the law, a man 
 had defiled himself with a beast, he must die with 
 the brutal object of his passion, Lev. xx. 15, 16. 
 Thus God not content to punish the avaricious 
 with unquenchable fire, will destroy even objects 
 of avarice, and dissolve the gold and silver with 
 which the miser committed idolatry. INot content 
 to punish the ambitious, he will destroy even the 
 instruments of ambition, and overturn those thrones 
 and palaces which have caused it* Not content to 
 
The Eternity of God, J 27 
 
 punish tlie voluptuous, he will destroy even objects 
 of voluptuousness, and consume the heavens, the 
 earth, and the elements, which have afforded mat- 
 ter for concupiscence. Heavens, earth, elements, 
 are ye guilty ? But If ye be treated with so much 
 rigour for having been the unconscious instruments 
 of the crime, what must the condition of the crimi- 
 nal be ? 
 
 3. In the burning of the universe we find a re- 
 presentation of the vanity of the present world. 
 What is this world which fascinates our eyes ? It is 
 a funeral pile that already begins to burn, and will 
 soon be entirely consumed ; it is a w orld which 
 must end, and all that must end is far inferior to an 
 immortal soul. The thought of death is already a 
 powerful motive to us to place our affections on 
 another world ; for what is death ? it is to every in- 
 dividual what one day, the final ruin will be to the 
 generality of mankind ; it is the destruction of the 
 heavens, which pass away with a great noise ; it is 
 the dissolution of elements ; it is the entire confla- 
 gration of the world, and of the works which art 
 therein. Yet vanity hath invented refuges against 
 this storm. The hope of an miaginary immortality 
 hath been able to support some men against the fear 
 of a real death. The idea of existing in the minds 
 of those who exist after them, hath in some sort, 
 comforted them under the miserable thought of be- 
 ing no more. Hence pompous buildings, and state- 
 ly edifices; hence rich monuments, and superb 
 mausoleums ; hence proud inscriptions and vain- 
 glorious titles, inscribed on marble and brass. But 
 
128 The Eternity of God. 
 
 bebold the dissolution of all those bonds. The de- 
 struction of the world deprives us of our imaginary 
 beinc^, as death deprives us of our real existence. 
 Ye will not only be shortly stretched in your tombs, 
 and cease to use the houses and fields, and palaces 
 which ye inhabit ; but these houses, these palaces, 
 these fields will be consumed, and the memory of 
 all that is fastened to the world w ill vanish with the 
 world. Since then, this is the condition of all sen- 
 sible things, since all these sensible things must per- 
 ish ; immortal man, infinite spirit, eternal soul, dost 
 thou fasten thyself to vanity and instability ? Dost 
 thou not seek for a good more suitable to thy nature 
 and duration ? seeing all these things must he dissol- 
 ved, what manner of persons ought ye to he in all holy 
 conversation and godliness 1 
 
 4. The conflagration of the universe furnisheth a 
 description of the w^orld to come. Ye often hear 
 us declaim on the nothingness of earthly things; 
 we frequently diminish the w^orth of all that is great 
 and glorious; w'e frequently cry with Solomon, 
 Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ; Yanity in plea- 
 sures, vanity in grandeurs, vanity in riches, vanity 
 in sciences, vanity in all. But yet, my brethren, 
 how^ substantial w^ould this vanity be, how amiable 
 would this nothingness appear, if by a happy as- 
 semblage of all that the wo rid hath of the beautiful, 
 we could acquire the reality of a life, of w hich it 
 is easy to form to one's self the idea! Could I ex- 
 tract the choicest dignities and fortunes ; could I 
 inhabit the most temperate clime, and the most plea- 
 ?!ant countrv ; could I chuse the most benevolent 
 
The Eternity of God. 1 29 
 
 hearts, and the wisest minds ; could I take the most 
 happy temper, and the most sublime genius ; could 
 I cultivate the sciences, and make the fine arts flour- 
 ish ; could I collect and unite all that could please 
 the passions, and banish all that could give pain. 
 A life formed on this plan, how likely to please us ! 
 How is it that God who hath resolved to render us 
 one day happy, doth not allow us to continue in 
 this world, and content himself with uniting all 
 these happy circumstances in our favour ? It is good 
 to be here, Mat. xvii. 4. O that he would allow us 
 here to build our tabernacles. Ah ! my brethren, a 
 life formed on this plan might indeed answer the 
 ideas of happiness which feeble and finite geniusses 
 form : but such a plan cannot even approach the de- 
 signs of an infinite God. A life formed on this 
 plan, might indeed exhaust a terrestrial love, but it 
 could never reach the love of an infinite God. No, 
 all the charms of this society, of this fortune, and 
 of this life ; no, all the softness of these climates, 
 and of these countries; no, all the benevolence of 
 these hearts, and all the friendship of these minds ; 
 no, all the happiness of this temper, and all the sub- 
 limity of this genius ; no, all the secrets of the sci- 
 ences, and all the discoveries of the fine arts ; all 
 the attractions of these societies, and all the pleas- 
 ures of the passions, have nothing, I do not say 
 w hich exhausts the love of God in Jesus Christ, I 
 do not say which answers, I venture to say which 
 approaches it. To accomplish this love there must 
 be another world ; there must be new heavens and 
 a new earth ; there must be objects far more grand. 
 
 VOL. I. 17 
 
130 The Eternity of God, 
 
 Finally, the destruction of the universe displays 
 the excellence of piety. O that I could represent 
 the believer amidst fires, flames, winds, tempests, 
 the confusion of all nature, content, peaceable, un- 
 alterable! O that I could represent the heavens 
 passing away, the elements dissolving with fervent 
 heat, the earth and tlie things which are in it burn- 
 ing up, and the believer, that man, that inconsidera- 
 ble man, little by his nature, but great by the privi- 
 leges with which piety endows him, without suspi- 
 cion, rising fearless above all the catastrophes of the 
 universe, and surviving its ruins! O that I could 
 describe the believer, while all the tribes of the earth 
 mourn and smite their breasts, Mat. xxiv. 30. while 
 the wicked shall be as if they rvere giving up the 
 ghost, Luke xxi. 26. while their despair exhales in 
 these dreadful bowlings. Mountains fall on us, hills 
 cover us from the face of him rvho sits on the throne^ 
 and from the face of the Lamb! Rev. vi. 16. O 
 that I could describe the believer assured, trium- 
 phant, founded on the rock of ages hasting unto the 
 coming of the day of God, 2 Pet. iii. 12. as our A- 
 postle expresseth it ; aiming with transports of joy 
 which we cannot express, (O may we one day ex- 
 perience these transports !) aiming to approach the 
 presence of Jesus Christ, as his tenderest friend and 
 deliverer, literally proving the truth of this promise, 
 when thou passest through the waters they shall not 
 overflow thee, when thou walkest through the Jire thou 
 shalt not be burnt, Isa. xliii. 2. O that I could re- 
 present him crying, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 
 Rev. xxii. 20. come, receive a creature once defiled 
 
The Eternity of God. \m 
 
 with sin; sometimes even rebellious, yet always 
 having at the bottom of his heart principles of love 
 to thee ; but now ravished with transports of joy, 
 because he is entering an economy, in which he shall 
 be always submissive and always faithful. 
 
 AYhat shall I say lo you, my dear brethren, to in- 
 cline you to piety, if all these grand motives be 
 "without success ? if the words of my text, if the 
 voice of an Apostle, — what do I say, the voice of an 
 Apostle ? " If the sun darkened, if the moon chang- 
 ed into blood, if the stars fallen from Heaven, if the 
 powers of heaven shaken, if the heavens passing 
 away with a great noise, if the elements dissolving 
 with fervent heat, if the earth consumed with all 
 that is therein," if the universal destruction of na- 
 ture and elements be incapable of loosening and de- 
 taching you from the present world. 
 
 It is said, that some days before the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, a voice was heard proceeding from 
 the holy place, and crying. Let us go hence, let us go 
 hence,^ My brethren, such a voice addresses you. 
 
 We ground our exhortations to-day, not on the 
 destruction of one people only ; we preach (if I 
 may be allowed to say so) in sight of the ruins of 
 this whole universe : Yes, from the centre of the 
 trembling world and crashing elements, a voice 
 sounds. Let us go hence ; lei us quit the world ; give 
 our hopes more solid bases than enkindled worlds, 
 which will shortly be burnt up. And then, pass 
 away heavens with a great noise, consume elements, 
 
 * Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 3L 
 
132 The Eternity of God. 
 
 burn earth with all thy works, perish universe, per- 
 ish nature, our felicity is above all such catastro- 
 phes, we cleave to the God of ages, to God who is 
 the source of existence and duration, to God before 
 whom " a thousand years are as one day, and one 
 day as a thousand years." " O Lord, of old hast 
 thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the hea- 
 vens are the work of thine hands. They shall per- 
 ish, but thou shalt endure ; yea, all of them shall 
 wax old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou 
 change them, and they shall be changed. But thou 
 art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The 
 children of thy servants shall continue, and their 
 seed shall be established before thee," Psa. cii. 26, 
 ^c. God grant we may experience these great 
 promises ! To him be honour and glory. Amen. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 >»« 
 
 Psalm cxxxix. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 
 
 Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I 
 Jieejrom thy presence ^ If I ascend up into heaven, 
 thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold 
 thou art there. If / take the wings of the mornings 
 and divell in the uttermost parts of the sea : even 
 there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand 
 shall hold me. If I say. Surely the darkness shall 
 cover me : even the night shall be light about me. 
 Yea the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the 
 night shineth as the day : the darkness and the 
 light are both alike to thee. 
 
 fjOULD I have one wish, to answer my proposed 
 end of preaching to-day with efficacy, Christians, 
 it should be to shew you God in this assembly. 
 Moses had such an advantage, no man therefore 
 ever spoke with greater success. He gave the law 
 to the people in God the legislator's presence. He 
 could say, This law which I give you proceeds 
 from God ; here is his throne, there is his lightning, 
 yonder is his thunder. Accordingly, never were a 
 people more struck with a legislator's voice. Mo- 
 ses had hardly begun to speak, but at least for that 
 
1 3i The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 moment, all hearts were united, and all Sinai echo- 
 ed with one voice, ciying. All that thou hast spoken 
 we will do, Exod. xix. 8. 
 
 But in vain are our sermons drawn from the sa- 
 cred sources ; in vain do we say to you. Thus saith 
 the Lord : ye see only a man ; ye hear only a mor- 
 tal voice in this pulpit ; God hath put his treasure 
 into earthen vessels, 2 Cor. iv. 7. and our auditors 
 estimating the treasure by the meanness of the ves- 
 sel, instead of supporting the meanness of the ves- 
 sel for the sake of the treasure, hear us without re- 
 spect, and generally, derive no advantage from the 
 ministry. 
 
 But were God present in this assembly, could we 
 shew you the Deity amongst you, authorizing our 
 voice by his approbation and presence, and examin- 
 ing with what dispositions ye hear his word, which 
 of you, which of you my brethren, could resist so 
 eminent and so noble a motive ? 
 
 Christians, this idea is not destitute of reality: 
 God is every where ; he is in this church. Yails of 
 flesh and blood prevent your sight of hun ; these 
 must fall, and ye must open the eyes of your spirits, 
 if ye would see a God who is a Spirit, John iv. 24, 
 Hear our prophet ; hear his magnificent descrip- 
 tion of the immensity and omnipresence of God. 
 " Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither 
 shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into 
 heaven, thou art there. If I make by bed in hell, 
 behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the 
 morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
 sea : even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy^ 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 135 
 
 right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the 
 darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be 
 light about me. Yea the darkness hideth not from 
 thee ; but the night shineth as the day : the dark- 
 ness and the light are both alike to thee." 
 
 In a text less abundant in riches, we might make 
 some remarks on the terms spirit, and presence ; 
 but we will content ourselves at present with indi- 
 cating what ideas we affix to them, by observing, 
 that by the spiiit and presence of God, we under- 
 stand God himself. I know, some divines discover 
 great mysteries in these terms, and tell us that there 
 are some passages in scripture where the word pres- 
 ence means the second person in the most Holy 
 Trinity, and where the term spirit is certainly to be 
 understood of the third. But as there are some 
 passages where these terms have not this significa- 
 tion, it is beyond all doubt, that this, which we are 
 explaining, is precisely of the latter kind. But 
 however, if any dispute our comment, we shall leave 
 them to dispute it ; for it would be unjust to con- 
 sume that time which is dedicated to the edification 
 of a whole congregation, in refuting a particular 
 opinion. The other expressions in our text, heaven, 
 hell; the wings of the morning, a figurative expres- 
 sion denoting the rapidity of the light in communi- 
 cating itself from one end of the world to the oth- 
 er ; these expressions, I say, need no comment. 
 The presence of God, the spirit of God, signify then 
 the divine essence : and this assemblage of ideas, 
 ** whither shall I go from thy spirit ? whither shall 
 
136 The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 I flee from thy presence ?" means, that God is im- 
 mense, and that he is present in every place. 
 
 But wherein consists this immensity and omni- 
 presence ? If ever a question required developing, 
 this certainly does ; not only because it presents to 
 the mind an abstract subject, which does not fall 
 imder the observation of the senses, but because 
 many who have treated this matter (pardon an opin- 
 ion which does not proceed from a desire of oppos- 
 ing any individual, but only from a love to the 
 truth) many who have handled the subject, have 
 contributed more to perplex than to explain it. We 
 may observe in general, that unless we be wholly 
 unacquainted with the history of the sciences, it is 
 impossible not to acknowledge, that all questions 
 about the nature of spirits, all that are any way re- 
 lated to metaphysics, w^ere very little understood 
 before the time of that celebrated philosopher, v»hom 
 God seems to have bestowed on the world to purify 
 reason, as he had some time before raised up others 
 to purify religion.^ 
 
 What. heaps of crude and indigested notions do 
 we find among the schoolmen of the immensity of 
 God ? One said that God was a point, indivisible in- 
 deed, but a point however, that had the peculiar 
 property of occupying every part of the universe. 
 Another, that God was the place of all beings, the 
 immense extent in which his power had placed 
 them. Another, tliat his essence was really in hea- 
 ven, but yet, repletiveli/, as they express it, in every 
 
 * The philosopher intended by Mr. S. I suppose, is his coim- 
 trj'-man De-scartes^ born in 1596. Vie de Desc. par Baillct. 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 137 
 
 part of the universe. In short, this truth hath been 
 obscured by the grossest ignorance. Whatever 
 aversion we have to tlie decisive tone, we will ven- 
 ture to affirm, that people who talked in this man- 
 ner of God, had no ideas themselves of what they 
 advanced. 
 
 Do not be afraid of our conducting you into these 
 wild mazes ; do not imagine that we will busy our- 
 selves in exposing all these notions for the sake of 
 labouring to refute them. We will content .iur- 
 selves with giving you some light into the omnipre- 
 sence of God : 
 
 I. By removing those false ideas, which at first 
 seem to present themselves to the imagination ; 
 
 II. By assigning the true. 
 
 I. Let us remove the false ideas, w^hich at first 
 present themselves to the imagination ; as if, when 
 we say that God is present in any place, we mean 
 that he is actually contained there ; as if, when we 
 say that God is in every place, we mean to assign to 
 him a real and proper extension. Neither of these 
 is designed ; and to remove these ideas, my breth- 
 ren, two reflections are sufficient. 
 
 God is a Spirit. A spirit cannot be in a place, 
 at least in the manner in which w^e conceive of place. 
 
 1. God is a Spirit. What relation can ye find 
 between wisdom, power, mercy, and all the other 
 attributes which enter into your notion of the di- 
 vinity, and the nature of bodies ? Pulverise matter, 
 give it all the different forms of which it is suscept- 
 ible, elevate it to its highest degree of attainment, 
 make it vast, and immense ; moderate, or small ; 
 
 VOT,. T. 18 
 
13S The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 luminous, or obscure ; opake, or transparent ; there 
 will never result any thing but figures, and never 
 will ye be able, by all these combinations, or di- 
 visions, to produce one single sentiment, one single 
 thought, like that of the meanest and most contract- 
 ed of all mankind. If matter then cannot be the 
 subject of one single operation of the soul of a me- 
 chanic, how should it be the subject of those attri- 
 butes which make the essence of God himself? 
 
 But perhaps God, who is spiritual in one part of 
 his essence, may be corporeal in another part, like 
 man, who, although he hath a spiritual soul, is yet 
 united to a portion of matter ? No ; for, however 
 admirable in man that union of spiritual and sensi- 
 ble may be, and those laws which unite his soul to 
 his body, nothing more fully marks his weakness 
 and dependence, and consequently nothing can less 
 agree w ith the divine essence. Is it not a mark of 
 the dependence of an immortal and intelligent soul, 
 to be enveloped in a little flesh and blood, wiiich, 
 according to their differeut motions, determine his 
 joy or sorrow, his happiness or misery ? Is it not a 
 mark of the weakness of our spirits to have the 
 power of acting only on that little matter, to which 
 we are united, and to have no power over more ? 
 TV ho can imagine that God hath such limits? He 
 hath no body ; he is united to none ; yet he is uni- 
 ted to all. That celebrated philosopher, shall I 
 call him ? or atheist,^ who &aid that the assemblage 
 
 * Mr. S. means, I should suppose, Spinoza : whose system of 
 atheism, says a sensible writer, is more gross, and therefore less 
 dangerous than others j his poison carrying- its antidote with it- 
 
The Omnipresence of God. 139 
 
 of all existence constituted the divine essence, who 
 would have us consider all corporeal beings as the 
 body of the divinity, published a great extrava- 
 gance, if he meant that the divine essence consist- 
 ed of this assemblage. But there is a very just 
 sense, in which it may be said that the whole uni- 
 verse is the body of the Deity. In effect, as I call 
 this portion of matter my body, which I move, act 
 and direct as I please, so God actuates by his will 
 every part of the universe : he obscures the sun, he 
 calms the winds, he commands the sea. But this 
 very notion excludes all corporiety from God, and 
 proves that God is a spirit. If God sometimes re- 
 presents himself with feet, with hands, with eyes, he 
 means in these portraits, rather to give us emblems 
 of his attributes, than images (properly speaking) 
 of any parts which he possesseth. Therefore, when 
 he attributes these to himself, he gives them so vast 
 an extent, that we easily perceive, they are not 
 to be grossly understood. Hath he hands ? they 
 are hands which " weigh the mountains in scales, 
 and the hills in a balance, which measure the wa- 
 ters in the hollow of his hand, and mete out the 
 heavens with a span," Isa. xl. 12. Hath he eyes? 
 they are eyes that penetrate the most unmeasu- 
 rable distances. Hath he feet ? they are feet which 
 reach from heaven to earth, for the " heaven is his 
 throne, and the earth is his footstool," Isa. Ixvi. I. 
 Hath he a voice ? it is as " the sound of many wa- 
 ters, breaking the cedars of Lebanon, making Mount 
 Sirion skip like an unicorn, and the hinds to calve," 
 Ps. xxix. 3, 5, 6, 9. 
 
140 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 This reminds me of a beautiful passage in Plato. 
 He says that the gods, particularly the chief good, 
 the ineffable beauty, as he calls him, cannot be con- 
 ceived of but by the understanding only, and by 
 quitting sensible objects ; that in order to contem- 
 plate the divinity, terrestrial ideas must be sur- 
 mounted ; that the eyes cannot see him ; that the 
 ears cannot hear him. A thought which Julian the 
 apostate, a great admirer of that philosopher, so 
 nobly expresses in his satire on the Caesars. Thus 
 every thing serves to establish our first principle, 
 that God is a Spirit. 
 
 2. But to prove that God is a Spirit, and to prove 
 that he occupies no place, at least as our imagin- 
 ation conceives, is, in our opinion, to establish the 
 same thesis. 
 
 I know how difficult it is to make this conse- 
 quence intelligible and clear, not only to those who 
 have never been accustomed to meditation, and who 
 are therefore more excusable for having confused 
 ideas ; but even to such as, having cultivated the 
 sciences, are most intent on refining their ideas. I 
 freely acknowledge, that after we have used our 
 utmost efforts to rise above sense and matter, it will 
 be extremely difficult to conceive the existence of 
 a spirit, without conceiving it in a certain place. 
 Yet, I think, whatever difficulty there may be in 
 the system of those who maintain that an immate- 
 rial being cannot be in a place, properly so called, 
 there are greater difficulties still in the opposite 
 opinion : for what is immaterial hath n > parts ; what 
 hath no parts hath no form ; what hath no form 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 141 
 
 liafb no extension ; what hath no extension can have 
 no Situation in place, properly so called. For what 
 is it to be in place ? is it not to fill space, is it not to 
 be adjusted with surrounding bodies ? how adjust 
 with surrounding bodies without parts ? how consist 
 of parts, without being corporeal ? But if ye as- 
 cribe a real and proper extension to a spirit, every 
 thought of that spirit would be a separate portion 
 on that extension, as every part of the body is a 
 separate portion of the whole body : every opera- 
 tion of spirit would be a modification of that exten- 
 sion, as every operation of body is a modification of 
 body ; and, were this the case, there would be no ab- 
 surdity in saying that a thought is round, or square, 
 or cubic, which is nothing less than the confounding 
 of spirit with matter. Thus the idea which our im- 
 agination forms of the omnipresence of God, when 
 it represents the essence of the Supreme Being fil- 
 ling infinite spaces, as we are lodged in our houses, 
 is a false idea that ought to be carefully avoided. 
 
 11. V\ hat notions then must we form of the im- 
 mensity of God ? in what sense do we conceive that 
 the infinite spirit is every where present ? My breth- 
 ren, the bounds of our knowledge are so strait, our 
 sphere is so contracted, we have such imperfect 
 ideas of spirits, even of our own spirits, and for a 
 much stronger reason, of the Father of spirits, that 
 no genius in the world, however exalted ye may 
 suppose him, after his greatest eflbrts of meditation, 
 can say to you. Thus far extend the attributes of 
 God ; behold a complete idea of his immensity and 
 omnipresence. Yet, by the help of sound reason^ 
 
142 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 above all, by the aid of revelation, we may give 
 you, if not complete, at least distinct ideas of the 
 subject : it is possible, if not to indicate all the sen- 
 ses in which God is immense, at least to point out 
 some : it is possible, if not to shew you all the 
 truth, at least to discover it in part. 
 
 Let us not conceive the omnipresence of God as 
 a particular attribute (if I may venture to say so) of 
 the Deity, as goodness or wisdom, but as the extent 
 or infinity of many others. The omnipresence of 
 God is that universal property by which he com- 
 municates himself to all, diffuses himself through 
 all, is the great director of all, or, to confine our- 
 selves to more distinct ideas still, the infinite spirit 
 i« present in every place. 
 
 1. By a boundless knowledge. 
 
 2. By a general influence. 
 
 3. By an universal direction. 
 
 God is every where, because he seeth all, because 
 he influenceth all, because he directeth all. This we 
 must prove and establish. But if ye would judge 
 rightly of what ye have heard, and of what ye may 
 still hear, ye must remember that this subject hath 
 no relation to your pleasure, nor to your policy, 
 nor to any of those objects >vhich occupy and fill 
 your whole souls ; and consequently, that if ye 
 would follow us, ye must stretch your meditation, 
 and go, as it were, out of yourselves. 
 
 1. The first idea of God's omnipresence is his 
 omniscience, God is every where present, because 
 he seeth all. This the prophet had principally in 
 view. " O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 143 
 
 me. Thou knoAvest my down-sitting and mine up- 
 rising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. 
 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and 
 art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not 
 a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou know- 
 est it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and 
 before. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; 
 it is high, I cannot attain unto it," verses 1, 2, 3, &;c. 
 Then follow the words of our text : " Whither shall 
 I go from thy spirit ?" and so on. 
 
 Let us not then consider the Deity, after the ex- 
 ample of the schoolmen, as a point fixed in the uni- 
 versality of beings. Let us consider the universali- 
 ty of beings as a point, and the Deity as an immense 
 eye, which sees all that passes in that point, all that 
 can possibly pass there; and which, by an all-an- 
 imating intelligence, makes an exact combination 
 of all the effects of matter, and of all the disposi- 
 tions of spirit. 
 
 1. God knows all the effects of matter. An ex- 
 pert workman takes a parcel of matter proportion- 
 ed to a work which he meditates^ he makes divers 
 wheels, disposes them properly, and sees, by the 
 rules of his art, w hat must result from their assem- 
 blage. Suppose a sublime, exact genius, knowing 
 how to go from principle to principle, and from con- 
 sequence to consequence, after foreseeing what 
 must result from two wheels joined together, should 
 imagine a third, he will as certainly know what 
 must result from a third, as from a first and second ; 
 after imagining a third, he may imagine a fourth, 
 and properly arrange it w ith the rest in his imagin- 
 
144 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 ation ; after a fourth a fifth, and so on to an endless 
 number. Such a man could mathematically de- 
 monstrate, in an exact and infallible manner, wlsat 
 must result from a work composed of all these dif- 
 ferent wheels. Suppose farther, that this workman, 
 having accurately considered the effects which 
 would be produced on these wheels, by that subtil 
 matter Avhich in their whirlings continually sur- 
 rounds them, and which, by its perpetual action and 
 motion, chafes, wears, and dissolves all bodies ; this 
 workman would tell you, with the same exactness, 
 how long each of these wheels would wear, and 
 when the whole work would be consumed. Give 
 this workman life and industry proportional to his 
 imagination, furnish him with materials, proportion- 
 al to his ideas, and he will produce a vast, immense 
 work, all the different motions of which he can ex- 
 actly combine ; all the different effects of which he 
 can evidently foresee. He will see, in what time 
 motion will be communicated from the first of these 
 wheels to the second, at what time the second will 
 move the third, and so of the rest ; he will foretell 
 all their different motions, and all the effects which 
 must result from their different combinations. 
 
 Hitherto this is only supposition, my brethren, 
 but it is a supposition that conducts us to the most 
 certain of all facts. This workman is God. God 
 is this sublime, exact, infinite genius. He calls into 
 being matter, without motion, and, in some sense, 
 without form. He gives this matter form and mo- 
 tion. He makes a certain number of wheels, or ra- 
 ther he makes them without number. He disposes 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 14^5 
 
 them as he thinks proper. He communicates a cer- 
 tain degree of motion agreeable to tlie laws of his 
 wisdom. Thence arises the world which strikes 
 our eyes. By the fore-mentioned example, I con- 
 ceive, that God, by his own intelligence, saw what 
 must result from the arrangement of all the wheels 
 that compose this world, and knew, with the utmost 
 exactness, all their combinations. He saw that a 
 certain degree of motion, imparted to a certain por- 
 tion of matter, would produce water; that another 
 degree of motion, communicated to another portion 
 of matter, would produce fire ; that another would 
 produce earth, and so of the rest. He foresaw, 
 with the utmost precision, what would result from 
 this water, from this fire, from this earth when join- 
 ed together, and agitated by such a degree of mo- 
 tion as he should communicate. By the bare in- 
 spection of the laws of motion, he foresaw fires, he 
 foresaw shipwrecks, he foresaw earthquakes, he 
 foresaw all the vicissitudes of time, he foresaw 
 those which must put a period to time, when " the 
 heavens shall pass away with a great noise, when 
 the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the 
 earth with all the works that are in it shall be burnt 
 up," 2Peteriii. 10. 
 
 2. But, if God could combine all that would re- 
 sult from the laws of motion communicated to mat- 
 ter, he could also combine all that would result from 
 intelligence, freedom of will, and all the faculties 
 which make the essence of spirits ; and, before he 
 had formed all those spiritual beings which compose 
 the intelligible world, he knew what all their ideas^ 
 
 VOL. I. 19 
 
14& The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 all their projects, all their deliberations would for 
 0ver be. 
 
 I am aware, that a particular consequence, which 
 follows this doctrine, hath made some divines ex- 
 claim against this thesis, and, under the specious pre- 
 tence of exculpating the Deity from the entrance of 
 sin into this world, they have affirmed that God 
 could not foresee the determinations of a free 
 agent ; for, say they, had he foreseen the abuse 
 which man v;ould have made of his liberty, in re- 
 solving to sin, his love to holiness would have enga- 
 ged him to prevent it. But to reason in this man- 
 ner is, in attempting to solve a difficulty, to leave 
 that difficulty in all its force. 
 
 All that they say, on this article, proceeds from 
 this principle, that a God infinitely just, and infinite- 
 ly powerful, ought to display (if it be allowable to 
 say so) all the infinity of his attributes to prevent 
 sin. , But this principle is notoriously false. Wit- 
 ness that very permission of sin which is objected 
 to us. Ye will not acknowledge that God foresaw 
 man's fall into sin : acknowledge, at least, that he 
 foresaw the possibility of men's falling, and that, in 
 forming a creature free, he knew that such a crea- 
 ture might choose virtue or vice ; acknowledge, at 
 least, that God could have created man with so much 
 knowledge, and could have afforded him so many 
 succours ; he could have presented such powerful 
 motives to holiness incessantly, and discovered to 
 him the dreadful consequences of his rebellion so 
 effectually; he could have united obedience to his 
 commands with so many delights, and the most dis- 
 
The Omnipresence of God. 147 
 
 lant thought of disobedience with so many disgusts ; 
 he could have banished from man every temptation 
 to sin, so that he Avould never have been a sinner. 
 Yet God created man in another manner ; conse- 
 quently it is not true, even in your system, that God 
 hath exerted all the power he could to prevent sin's 
 entrance into the w orld. Consequently it is false, 
 that a being, who perfectly loves holiness, ought to 
 display the whole extent of his attributes to prevent 
 sin, and to establish virtue. Consequently, the 
 principle on which ye ground your denial of God's 
 comprehension of all the dispositions of spirits, is 
 an unwarrantable principle, and to attempt to solve 
 the difficulty, in this manner, is to leave it in all its 
 force. 
 
 But, if ye consult revelation, ye will find that 
 God claims an universal knowledge of spirits. He 
 says that he searcheth and knoweth them, .Ter. xvii. 10. 
 Rev. ii. 23. Gen. xv. 13. Exod. iii. 19. He fore- 
 saw% he foretold, the afflictions Avhich Abraham's 
 posterity w^ould endure in Canaan, the hardening of 
 Pharaoh, the infidelity of the .Tews, the faith of the 
 Gentiles, the crucifixion of the Messiah, the com- 
 ing of the prince or leader, that is of Vespasian, or 
 Titus, w^ho would destroy the city and the sanctuary ^ 
 Dan. ix. 25, 26. And consequently, we have a 
 right to affirm that God knows all the thoughts of 
 the mind, and all the sentiments of the heart, as 
 well as that he knows all the motions of matter. 
 
 Perhaps ye w^ish, my brethren, that our specula- 
 tions were carried farther ; perhaps ye would have 
 us disentangle the subject from all its difficulties ; 
 
148 The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 perhaps ye wish we could make you comprehend, 
 in a clear and distinct manner, how it is possible that 
 such immense objects can be always present to the 
 Supreme Intelligence ? but what mortal mouth can 
 express such sublime truths, or what capacity is able 
 to conceive them ! On this article, we are obliged 
 with our prophet to exclaim, " such knowledge is 
 too wonderful for me, it is high: I cannot attain 
 unto it !" verse 6. In general, we conceive that 
 the sphere of divine knowledge is not contracted 
 by any of the limits that confine the spirits of man- 
 kind. 
 
 The human spirit is united to a portion of mat- 
 ter. Man can perform no operation without the 
 agitation of his brain, without the motion of his an- 
 imal spirits, without the help of his senses. But 
 the brain wearies, the spirits dissipate, the senses 
 are blunted, and the minutest alteration of body 
 clogs the most penetrating and active genius. But 
 God, as we have represented him, thinks, under- 
 stands, meditates, without brain, without spirits, 
 without any need of senses ; not participating their 
 nature, he never participates their alteration, and 
 thus hath intelligence immediately from the treasure 
 of intelligence itself. 
 
 The spirit of man owes its existence to a superi- 
 or spirit, to a foreign cause, to a Being who gives 
 him only such ideas as he thinks proper, and who 
 hath been pleased to conceal numberless mysteries 
 from him. But God, God not only does not owe 
 his existence to a foreign cause, but all that exist 
 derive their existence from him. His ideas were 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 149 
 
 the models of all beings, and he hath only to con- 
 template himself perfectly to know tliem. 
 
 The spirit of man is naturally a finite spirit ; he 
 can consider only one circle of objects at once, ma- 
 ny ideas confound him ; if he would see too much 
 he sees nothing, he must successively contemplate 
 ■what he cannot contemplate in one moment. But 
 God is an infinite spirit ; with one single look 
 he beholdeth the whole universe. This is the first 
 idea of the omnipresence of God. As I am ac- 
 counted present in this auditory, because I see the 
 objects that are here, because I am witness of all 
 that passes here ; so God is every where, because 
 he sees all, because veils the most impenetrable, 
 darkness the most thick, distances the most im- 
 mense, can conceal nothing from his knowledge. 
 Soar to the utmost heights, fly into the remotest cli- 
 mates, wrap thyself in the blackest darkness, eve- 
 ry where, every where, thou wilt be under his eye. 
 *' Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither 
 shall I flee from thy presence ?" 
 
 But, 2. The knowledge of God is not a bare 
 knowledge, his presence is not an idle presence ; it 
 is an active knowledge, it is a presence accompani- 
 ed with action and motion. We said, just now, that 
 God was every where, because he iitftuenced all, as 
 far as influence could agree with his perfections. Re- 
 mark this restriction, for, as we are discussing a 
 subject the most fertile in controversy, and, as in a 
 discourse of an hour, it is impossible to answer all ob- 
 jections, which may be all answered elscAvhere, w^e 
 would give a general preservative against every mis- 
 
150 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 take. We mean an influence which agrees with the 
 divine perfections ; and if, from any of our general 
 propositions, ye infer any consequences injurious to 
 those perfections, ye may conchide, for that very 
 reason, that ye have stretched them beyond their 
 due bounds. We repeat it then, God influenceth 
 all things, as far as such influence agrees with his 
 perfections. 
 
 When new beings appear, he is there. He in- 
 fluences their production. He gives to all life^ mo- 
 Hon, and being, Acts xvii. 28. Neh. ix. 6. " Thou, 
 even thou art Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, 
 the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth 
 and all things that are therein, the seas and all that 
 is therein, and thou preservest them all, and the 
 host of heaven worshippeth thee. — O Lord, I will 
 praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully 
 made ; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul 
 knoweth right well," Ps. cxxxix. 14, 15, 16. "My 
 substance was not hid from thee, when I was made 
 in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts 
 of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet 
 being unperfect, and in thy book all my members 
 were written, which in continuance were fashioned, 
 when as yet there was none of them. — Thine hands 
 have made me, and fashioned me together round 
 about. Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, 
 and hast fenced me W'ith bones and sinews," Ps. 
 xxxvi. 5, 6. When beings are preserved, he is there. 
 He influences their preservation. " Thy mercy, O 
 Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reach- 
 eth unto the clouds. Thou preservest man and 
 
The Omniprestnct of God, 151 
 
 beast. When thou openest thy hand they are filled 
 with good : thou hidest thy face they are troubled, 
 thou takest av/ay their breath they die, and return 
 to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they 
 are created, and thou renevvest the face of the 
 earth," Ps. civ. 28, 29, 30. 
 
 When the world is disordered, he is there. He 
 influenceth wars, pestilences, famines, and all the 
 vicissitudes which disorder the world. If nature 
 refuse her productions, it is because he hath " nictde 
 the heaven as iron, and the earth as brass," Lev. 
 xxvi. 19. If peace succeed war, he makes both. 
 If " lions slay the inhabitants of Samaria," it is 
 " the Lord who sends them," 2 Kings xvii. 25. 
 When tempestuous winds break down those im- 
 mense banks which your industry has opposed to 
 them, when a devouring fire reduceth your houses 
 to ashes, it is he who " makes the winds his messen- 
 gers, and his ministers flames of fire," Ps. civ. 4. 
 
 When every thing succeeds according to our 
 wishes, he is there. He influenceth prosperity. 
 " Except the Lord build the house, they labour in 
 vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, 
 the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for 
 you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread 
 of sorrows. It is God who giveth his beloved 
 sleep," Ps. cxxvii. 1, 2. 
 
 When our understanding is informed, he is there. 
 He influenceth our knowledge. For " in his light 
 we see light," Ps. xxxvi. 10. " He lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world," John. i. 9.^ 
 
152 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 When our heart disposeth us to our duties, he is 
 there. He influenceth our virtues. It is he who 
 " worketh in us, both to will and to do of his own 
 good pleasure," Phil. ii. 13. i. 29. It is he who 
 *' giveth us not only to believe, but to sutler for his 
 sake," Phil. i. 29. It is he who " giveth to all that 
 ask him liberally, and upbraideth not," James i. 5. 
 
 When the grossest errors cover us, he is there. 
 He influenceth errors. It is God who " sends strong 
 delusions that men should believe a lie," 2 Thess. ii. 
 31. "Go make the heart of this people fat, and make 
 their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they should 
 see w^ith their eyes, and hear with their ears," Isa. 
 vi. 10. 
 
 When we violate the laws of righteousness, he is 
 there. He influenceth sins, even the greatest sins. 
 Witness Pharaoh, whose "heart he hardened," Ex- 
 od. iv. 21. Witness Shimei, whom " the Lord 
 bade to curse David," 2 Sam. xvi. 11. Witness 
 what Isaiah said, " the Lord hath mingled a per- 
 Terse spuit in the midst of Egypt," Isa. xix. 14. 
 
 W^hen magistrates, our earthly gods, consult and 
 deliberate, he is there. He influenceth policy. It 
 is he who "hath the hearts of kings in his hand, and 
 turneth them as the rivers of water," Prov. xxi. 1. 
 It i§ he who " giveth kings in his anger, and taketh 
 them away in his wrath," Hos. xiii. 11. It is he 
 who maketh " the Assyrian the rod of his anger," 
 Isa. x. 5. " tierod and Pilate, the Gentiles and the 
 people of Israel did what his hand and his counsel 
 determined before to be done," Acts iv. 27, 28. 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 153 
 
 When we live, when we die, he is there. He in- 
 fluenceth life and death. " Man's days are deter- 
 mined, the number of his months are with him, he 
 has appointed his bounds that he cannot pass," Job 
 xiv. 5. " To God the Lord belong the issues from 
 death," Ps. Ixviii. 20. " He bringeth down to the 
 grave, and bringeth up," 1 Sam. ii. 6. 
 
 He influences the least events as well as the most 
 considerable. Not being fatigued with the care of 
 great things, he can occupy himself about the small- 
 est without prejudice to the rest ; " number the hairs 
 of our heads," and not let even " a sparrow fall 
 without his Avill," Matt. x. 29, 30. 
 
 But, 3. When God communicates himself to all, 
 when he thus acts on all, when he diffuseth himself 
 thus through the whole, he relates all to his own de- 
 signs, and makes all serve his own counsels : and 
 this is our third idea of his immensity and omni- 
 presence. God is present with all, because he di- 
 rects all. 
 
 Doth he call creatures mto existence ? It is to man- 
 ifest his perfections. It is to have subjects on 
 whom he may shower his favours; it is, as it were, 
 to go out of himself, and to form through the whole 
 universe a concert resounding the Creator's exist- 
 ence and glory. " For the invisible things of God, 
 even his eternal power and Godhead are understood 
 by the things that are made," Rom. i. 20. " The 
 heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
 ment sheweth his handy-work. Day unto day ut- 
 tereth speech, night unto night sheweth knowledge. 
 
 VOL. I. 20 
 
154 The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 There is no speech nor language where their voice 
 is not heard, Ps. xix. 1,2, 3. 
 
 Doth he preserve creatures ? It is to answer his 
 own designs, the depth of which no finite mind can 
 fathom ; but designs which we shall one day know, 
 and admire his wisdom when we know them, as we 
 adore it now, though we know them not. 
 
 Doth he send plagues, wars, famines ? It is to 
 make those feel his justice who have abused his 
 goodness, it is to avenge the violation of his law, 
 the contempt of his gospel, the forgetting and the 
 forsaking of the interest of his church. 
 
 Doth he afford us prosperity ? It is to draw us 
 with the bands of love, Hos. xi. 4. it is to reveal him- 
 self to us by that love which is his essence ; it is to 
 engage us to imitate him, who never leaves himself 
 without witness in doing good, Acts xiv. 1 7. 
 
 Doth he impart knowledge to us ? It is to discov- 
 er the snares that surround us, the miseries that 
 threaten us, the origin from which we sprang, the 
 course of life that we should follow, and the end 
 at which we should aim. 
 
 Doth he communicate virtues ? It is to animate 
 us in our race ; it is to convince us that there is a 
 mighty arm to raise us from the abyss into which 
 our natural corruption hath plunged us; it is that we 
 may " work out our own salvation with fear and 
 trembling, knowing that God worketh in us to 
 will and to do of his own good pleasure," Phil, ii* 
 12, 13. 
 
 Doth he send us error ? It is to make us respect 
 that truth which we have resisted. 
 
The Omnipresmce of God. 155 
 
 Doth he abandon us to our vices ? It is to punish 
 us for some other vices which we have committed 
 voluntarily and freely ; so that, if we could com- 
 prehend it, his love for holiness never appears more 
 clearly, than when he abandons men to vice in this 
 manner. 
 
 Doth he raise up kings ? It is always to oblige 
 them to administer justice, to protect the widow 
 and the orphan, to maintain order and religion. 
 Yet, he often permits them to violate equity, to 
 oppress their people, and to become the scourges of 
 his anger. By them lie frequently teacheth us how 
 little account he makes of human grandeurs ; seeing 
 he bestows them sometimes upon unworthy men, 
 upon men allured by voluptuousness, governed by 
 ambition, and dazzled with their own glory ; upon 
 men who ridicule piety, sell their consciences, ne- 
 gociate faith and religion, sacrificing the souls of 
 their children to the infeimous passions that govern 
 themselves. 
 
 Doth he prolong our life ? It is because he is long 
 suffering to us, 2 Pet. iii. 9. it is because he opens 
 in our favour the riches of his goodness, and forbear- 
 ance, to lead us to repentance, Rom. ii. 4. 
 
 Doth he call us to die ? It is to open those eternal 
 books in which our actions are registered ; it is to 
 gather our souls into his bosom, to hind them up in 
 the bundle of life, 1 Sam. xxv. 29. to mix them with 
 the ransomed armies of all nations, tongues, and 
 people, Rev. vii. 9. 
 
 Such are our ideas of the omnipresence of God. 
 Thus God seeth all, influenceth all, diiecteth alL 
 
1 56 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 In this sense we are to understand this magnificent 
 language of scripture. " Will God indeed dwell 
 on the earth ? Behold the heaven, and heaven of 
 heavens cannot contain thee," 1 Kings viii. 27. 
 Thus saith the Lord, " The heaven is my throne, 
 and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house 
 that ye build unto me ? Do not I fill heaven and 
 eavih, saith the Lord ?" Isa. Ixvi. L " Am I a God 
 at hand, and not a God afar off? Can any hide him- 
 self in secret places that I shall not see him?" Jer. 
 xxiii. 23, 24. This is what the heathens had a 
 glimpse of, when they said, that God was a circle, 
 the centre of which was every where, and its cir- 
 cumference no where — That all things were full of 
 Jupiter — That he filled all his works — That, fly 
 whither we would, v» e were always before his eyes. 
 This is what the followers of j\iohammed meant, 
 when they said, that where there were tw^o persons, 
 God made the third : where there were three, God 
 made the fourth. Above all, this was our prophet's 
 meaning throughout the Psalm, a part of which we 
 have explained. " O Lord, thou hast searched me 
 " and known me. Thou know est my down-sitting 
 " and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought 
 " afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying 
 " down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For 
 " there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, 
 " thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me 
 " behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 
 " Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, I can- 
 " not attain unto it. Wliither shall I go from thy 
 " spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? 
 
The Omnipresence of God. 1 57 
 
 *" if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I 
 " make my bed in hell, beliold thou art there. If I 
 " take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 
 " uttermost parts of the sea ; even there shall thy 
 " hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 
 " If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; 
 " even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the 
 " darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night shi- 
 " neth as the day : the darkness and the light are 
 " both alike to thee," ver. 1. and following:. 
 
 But perhaps, during the course of this medita- 
 tion, ye may have murmured at our presenting an 
 oliject, of which all the preaching in the w^orld can 
 give you but imperfect ideas. Suspend your judg- 
 ments, we are going to shew^ you whither this dis- 
 course, all glimmering as it is, ought to conduct 
 you. Ye are going to see what salutary conse- 
 quences follow our efforts, even the weak efforts 
 that we have been making to explain the grandeur 
 and omnipresence of God. Let us pass to the con- 
 clusion, the chief design of this discourse. 
 
 1. Our first reflection is on the difficulties that we 
 meet with in fixing our minds on such subjects as 
 we have been hearing. Ye have doubtless expe- 
 rienced, if ye have endeavoured to follow us, that 
 ye are weary, and wander w hen ye would go be- 
 yond matter. Our minds find almost nothing real, 
 where they meet with nothing sensible. As if the 
 whole essence of beings were corporeal, the mind 
 loseth its way when it ceaseth to be directed by bo- 
 dies, and it needs the help of imagination to repre- 
 sent even those things which are not susceptible of 
 
158 The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 images ; and yet whatever is most grand and noble 
 in the nature of beings is spirit. The sublimest ob- 
 jects, angels who are continually before God, sera- 
 phims who cover their faces in his presence, cheru- 
 bims who are the ministers of his will, thousand 
 thousands which minister unto him, ten thousand times 
 ten thousand ?vhich stand before him j Isa. vi. 2. Dan. 
 vii. 10. What is most glorious in man, what elevates 
 him above other animals? A soul made in the image 
 of God himself; the Being of beings, the Sove- 
 reign Beauty : All these beings are spiritual, ab- 
 stract, free from sense and matter. Moreover, what 
 pleases and enchants us in bodies, even that comes 
 from a subject abstract, spiritual and incorporeal. 
 Without your soul, aliments have no taste, flowers 
 no smell, the earth no enamel, fire no heat, the stars 
 no brilliancy, the sun no light. Matter of itself is 
 void, and gross, destitute of all the qualities with 
 which our imagination clothes it, and which are 
 proper to our souls. What ought we to conclude 
 from this reflection ? My brethren, have ye any idea 
 of your dignity, and primitive grandeur ? Have ye 
 yet some few faint resemblances of beings formed 
 in the Creator's image ? ye ought, feeble as ye are, 
 confined as ye are in a manner to matter, ye should 
 deplore your misery, ye should groan under that 
 necessity, which, in some sort, confounds your soul 
 with a little dust, ye should sigh after that happy 
 state in which your rapid, free and unclogged souls 
 shall meditate like themselves. This is the fiirst du- 
 ty that we would prescribe to you. 
 
The Omnipresence of God^ 159 
 
 2. Our next reflection is on the majesty of our re- 
 ligion. That must certainly be thought the true re- 
 ligion which gives us the grandest ideas of God. 
 Let our religion be judged by this rule. Where do 
 we see the attributes of the Supreme Being placed 
 in so clear a light ? what can be more noble than 
 this idea of God ? what can be conceived more sub- 
 lime than a Being whom nothing escapes, before 
 whom all things are naked and open, Heb. iv. 13. 
 who, by one single look, fully comprehends all be- 
 ings past, present and to come, all that do exist, all 
 that possibly can exist ? who thinks, in the same in- 
 stant, with equal facility on bodies and spirits, on 
 all the dimensions of time and of matter ? What 
 more noble can be conceived than a Being who im- 
 parteth himself to all, diffuseth himself through all, 
 influenceth all, giveth life and motion to all ? What 
 can be conceived more noble than a Being who 
 directeth the conduct of the whole universe, who 
 knoweth how to make all concur to his designs, 
 who knoweth how to relate alike to the laws of 
 order and equity,' the virtues of the righteous, 
 the vices of the wicked, the praises of the happy, 
 the blasphemies of the victims sacrificed to his 
 vengeance in hell ? When we find in any heathen 
 philosopher, amidst a thousand false notions, a- 
 midst a thousand wild imaginations, some few 
 leaves of the flowers with which our Bibles are 
 strewed, we are ready to cry a miracle, a mir- 
 acle, we transmit these shreds of the Deity (if I 
 may be allowed to speak so) to the most distant 
 posterity, and these ideas, all maimed, and all de- 
 
160 The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 filed as tliey are, procure their authors an immortal 
 reputation. On this principle, what respect, what 
 veneration, what deference ou^lit we to have for 
 the Patriarchs and the Prophets, for the Evangelists 
 and the Apostles, who spoke of God in so sublime a 
 manner ! But be not surprized at their superiority 
 over the great pagan geniusses ; if the biblical writers, 
 like them, had been guided only by human reason, 
 like them they would have wandered too. If they 
 spoke so nobly of God, it w^as because they had 
 received that " spirit who searcheth all things, yea 
 the deep things of God," 1 Cor. ii. 10. It was be- 
 cause " all Scripture was given by inspiration," 2 
 Tim. iii. 16. It was because " the prophecy came 
 not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of 
 God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 
 2 Pet. i. 21. 
 
 3. Make a third reflection. This grandeur of 
 God removes the greatest stumbling-blocks that 
 sceptics and infidels pretend to meet with in reli- 
 gion. It justifies all those dark mysteries which are 
 above the comprehension of our feeble reason. AVe 
 would not make use of this reflection to open a 
 way for human fancies, and to authorise every 
 thing that is presented to us under the idea of the 
 marvellous. All doctrines that are incomprehensi- 
 ble are not divine, nor ought we to embrace any 
 opinion merely because it is beyond our knowledge. 
 But when a religion, in other respects, hath good 
 guarantees, when we have good arguments to prove 
 that such a revelation comes from heaven, when we 
 certainly know that it is God who speaks, ought we 
 
The Omnipresence of God. 161 
 
 to be surprised if ideas of God, which come so ful- 
 ly authenticated, absorb and confound us ? I freely 
 grant, that, had I consulted my own reason only, I 
 could not have discovered some mysteries of the 
 gospel. Nevertheless, when I think on the gran- 
 deur of God, when I cast my eyes on that vast 
 ocean, w^hen I consider that immense all, nothing 
 astonishes me, nothing stumbles me, nothing seems 
 to me inadmissible, how incomprehensible soever 
 it may be. When the subject is divine, I am ready 
 to believe all, to admit all, to receive all ; provided 
 I be convinced that it is God himself who speaks to 
 me, or any one on his part. After this, I am no 
 more astonished that there are three distinct persons 
 in one divine essence ; one God, and yet a Father, 
 a Son, and a Holy Ghost. After this, I am no more 
 astonished that God foresees all without forcing 
 any ; permits sin without forcing the sinner ; ordains 
 free and intelligent creatures to such and such ends, 
 without destroying their intelligence, or their 
 liberty. After this, I am no more astonished, that 
 the justice of God required a satisfaction pro- 
 portional to his greatness, that his own love hath 
 provided that satisfaction, and that God, from the 
 abundance of his compassion, designed the mystery 
 of an incarnate God ; a mystery which angels ad- 
 mire while sceptics oppose ; a mystery which ab- 
 sorbs human reason, but which fills all heaven with 
 songs of praise ; a mystery which is the great mys- 
 tery, 1 Tim. iii. 16. by excellence, but the greatness 
 of which nothing should make us reject, since reli- 
 gion proposeth it as the grand effort of the wisdom 
 
 VOL. I. 21 
 
1 62 The Omnipresence of God, 
 
 of the incomprehensible God, and commandeth us 
 to receive it on the testimony of the incomprehen- 
 sible God himself. Either religion must tell us no- 
 thing about God, or what it tells us must be beyond 
 our capacities, and, in discovering even the borders 
 of this immense ocean, it must needs exhibit a vast 
 extent in which our feeble eyes are lost. But what 
 surprises me, w hat stumbles me, what frightens me, 
 is to see a diminutive creature, a contemptible man, 
 a little ray of light glimmering through a few fee- 
 ble organs, controvert a point with the Supreme 
 Being, oppose that Intelligence who sitteth at the 
 helm of the world ; question what he affirms, dis- 
 pute wliat he determines, appeal from his decisions, 
 and, even after God hath given evidence, reject all 
 doctrines that are beyond his capacity. Enter into 
 thy nothingness, mortal creature. What madness 
 animates thee ? How durst thou pretend, thou who 
 art but a point, thou whose essence is but an atom, 
 to measure thyself with the Supreme Being, with 
 Him who fills heaven and earth, with Him whom 
 "heaven, the heaven of heavens cannot contain?'* 
 1 Kings viii. 27. " Canst thou by searching find out 
 God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfec- 
 tion ? high as heaven what canst thou do ? deeper 
 than hell what canst thou know ?" .Job xi. 7. " He 
 stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and 
 hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up 
 the waters in his thick clouds, the pillars of heaven 
 tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. Lo, these 
 are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is 
 heard of hhn ; but the thunder of his power who 
 
The Omnipresence of God. 163 
 
 can understand ?" Job xxvi. 7, 11, 14. "Gird up 
 now thy loins like a man ; for I will demand of thee, 
 and answer tliou me. Where wast thou when I laid 
 the foundations of the earth ? Declare, if thou hast 
 understanding. Who hath laid the measures there- 
 of? who hath stretched the line upon it ? where- 
 upon are the foundations thereof fastened ? who laid 
 the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars 
 sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
 joy ? Who shut up the sea with doors, when I made 
 the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a 
 swaddling-band for it ? when I brake up for it my 
 decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, 
 " Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther : and here 
 shall thy proud waves be stayed ?" Job xxxviii. 3, 4, 
 5, &c. " He that reproveth God let him answer 
 this. O Lord, such knowledge is too wonderful for 
 me : it is too high, I cannot attain unto it !" Job 
 xl. 2. 
 
 4. But my brethren, shall these be the only in- 
 ferences from our text ? shall we reap only specu- 
 lations from this discourse ? shall we only believe, 
 admire, and exclaim ? Ah ! from this idea of God I 
 see all the virtues issue which religion prescribes ! 
 If such be the grandeur of the God whom I adore, 
 miserable wretch! what ought my repentance to be! 
 I, a contemptible worm, I, a creature whom God 
 could tread beneath his feet, and crush into dust by 
 
 single act of his will, I have rebelled against the 
 
 great God, I have endeavoured to provoke him to 
 
 jealousy^ as if I had been stronger than he, 1 Cor. x. 
 
 22. I have insulted that majesty which the angels 
 
 of God adore ; I have attacked God, with madness 
 
164 The Ommpresence of God. 
 
 and boldness, on his throne, and in his empire. Is 
 it possible to feel remorses too cutting for sins which 
 the grandeur of the offended, and the littleness of 
 the offender, make so very atrocious ? 
 
 5. If such be the grandeur of God, what should 
 our humility be ! Grandees of the world, mortal di- 
 vinities, who swell with vanity in the presence of 
 God, oppose yourselves to the immense God. Be- 
 hold his eternal ideas, his infinite knowledge, his 
 general influence, his universal direction ; enter his 
 immense ocean of perfections and virtues, w^hat are 
 ye ? A grain of dust, a point, an atom, a nothing ! 
 
 6. If such be the grandeur of God, Avhat ought 
 our confidence to be ! " If God be for us, who can 
 be against us ?" Rom. viii. 31* Poor creature, toss- 
 ed about the world, as by so many winds, by hun- 
 ger, by sickness, by persecution, by misery, by na- 
 kedness, by exile ; fear not in a vessel of which God 
 Himself is the pilot. 
 
 7. But above all, if such be the grandeur of God, 
 if God be every where present, what should our vi- 
 gilance be ! and, to return to the idea w ith which 
 we began, what impression should this thought make 
 on reasonable souls ! " God seeth me. When thou 
 wast under the fig-tree," said Jesus Christ to Na- 
 thaniel, " I saw thee," John i. 48. See Eccle. ii. 23, 
 24, 25. We do not know^ what Jesus Christ saw 
 under the fig-tree, nor is it necessary now to en- 
 quire : but it was certainly something which, Na- 
 thaniel was fully persuaded, no mortal eye had seen. 
 As soon, therefore, as Jesus Christ had uttered these 
 words, he believed, and said, " Rabbi, thou art the 
 Christ, the son of the living God." My brethren, 
 
The Omnipresence of God, 165 
 
 God useth the same language to each of you to- 
 day : " when thou wast under the fig-tree I saw 
 thee." 
 
 Thou hypocrite, when, wrapped in a veil of re- 
 ligion, em])ellished with exterior piety, thou con- 
 cealedst an impious heart, and didst endeavour to 
 impose on God and man, I saw thee, I penetrated 
 all those labyrinths, I dissipated all those darknes- 
 ses, I dived into all thy deep designs. 
 
 Thou worldling, who, with a prudence truly in- 
 fernal, hast the art of giving a beautiful tint to the 
 most odious objects ; who appearest not to hate thy 
 neighbour, because thou dost not openly attack 
 him ; not to falsify thy promise, because thou hast 
 the art of eluding it ; not to oppress thy dependents, 
 because thou knowest how to impose silence on 
 them : / saw thee, w hen thou gavest those secret 
 stabs, when thou didst receive bribes, and didst ac- 
 cumulate those wages of unrighteousness, which cry 
 for vengeance against thee. 
 
 Thou slave to sensuality, ashamed of thine exces- 
 ses before the face.of the sun, I saw thee, when, with 
 bars and bolts, with obscurity and darkness, and 
 complicated precautions, thou didst hide thyself 
 from the eyes of men, " defile the temple of God, 
 and make the members of Christ the members of a 
 harlot," 1 Cor. vi. 15. 
 
 My brethren, the discourses, Avhich we usually 
 preach to you, absorb your minds in a multitude of 
 ideas. A collection of moral ideas perhaps confound 
 instead of instructing you, and when we attempt to 
 engage you in too many reflections, ye enter really 
 into none. Behold an epitome of religion. Behold 
 
16& The Omnipresence of God. 
 
 a morality in three words. Return to your houses, 
 and every where carry this reflection with you, God 
 seeth me, God seeth me. To all the wiles of the dev- 
 il, to all the snares of the world, to all the baits of 
 cupidity, oppose this reflection, God seeth me. If, 
 clothed with a human form, he were always in your 
 path, were he to follow you to every place, were 
 he always before you with his majestic face, with 
 eyes flashing with lightning, with looks inspiring 
 terror, dare ye before his august presence give a 
 loose to your passions ? But ye have been hearing 
 that his majestic face is every where, those spark- 
 ling eyes do inspect you in every place, those ter- 
 rible looks do consider you every where. Particu- 
 larly, in the ensuing week, while ye are preparing 
 for the Lord's supper, recollect this. Let each ex- 
 amine his own heart, and endeavour to search into 
 his conscience, where he may discover so much 
 weakness, so much corruption, so much hardness, 
 so many unclean sources overflowing with so many 
 excesses, and let this idea strike each of you, God 
 seeth me, God seeth me, as I see myself, unclean, 
 ungrateful, and rebellious. O may this idea pro- 
 duce contrition and sorrow, a just remorse and a 
 sound conversion, a holy and a fervent communion, 
 crowned with graces and virtues. Happy, if, after 
 our examination, we have a new heart! a heaii, 
 agreeable to those eyes that search and try it ! Hap- 
 py, if, after our communion, after a new examina- 
 tion, we can say with the prophet, " O Lord, thou 
 hast proved mine heart, thou hast tried me, and 
 hast found nothing," Ps. xvii. 3. So be it. To 
 God be honour and glory for ever. Amen. 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 The Grandeur of God, 
 
 *SS.®<— s.^ 
 
 Isaiah xl. 12 — 28. 
 
 Who hath measured the rvaters in the hollow of his 
 hand 1 a)\d meted out heaven with a span, and com- 
 prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and 
 weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a 
 balance ? Who hath directed the spirit of the Lordj 
 or being his counsellor hath taught him 1 With 
 whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and 
 taught him in the path of judgment, and taught 
 him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of un- 
 derstanding ? Behold, the nations are as a drop 
 of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of 
 the balance : behold, he takcth up the isles as a ve- 
 ry little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to 
 burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt- 
 offering. All nations before him are as nothing, 
 and they are counted to him less than nothing, and 
 vanity. To whom, then will ye liken God? or 
 what likeness will ye compare unto him ? the work- 
 man melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith 
 spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver 
 chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath 
 no oblation, chooseth a tree that will not rot; he 
 sceketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a 
 
16S 2Vie Grandeur of God. 
 
 graven image that shall not he moved. Have ye 
 not known ? have ye not heard ? Hath it not been 
 told you from the beginning ? Have ye not under- 
 stood from the foundations of the earth ? It is he 
 that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the in- 
 habitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; that stretch- 
 eth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth 
 them out as a tent to dwell in : that bringeth the 
 princes to nothing ; he maketh the judges of the 
 earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted^ 
 yea, they shall not be sown, yea, their stock shall 
 not take root in the earth : and he shall also blow 
 upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirl- 
 wind shall take them away as stubble. To whom 
 then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal ? saith 
 the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and 
 behold who hath created these things, that bring- 
 eth out their host by number : he calleth them all 
 by names, by the greatness of his might, for that 
 he is strong in porver, not one faileth. Why say- 
 €st thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel; 3Iy 
 way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is 
 passed over from my God ? hast thou not known ? 
 hast thou not heard that the Lord is the everlast- 
 ing God? 
 
 The words, the lofty words of the text, require 
 two sorts of observations : The first are necessary 
 to explain and confirm the prophet's notions of 
 God ; the second to determine and to enforce his 
 design in describing the Deity with so much 
 pomp. 
 
The Grandeur of God. 169 
 
 The prophet's notions of God are diffused through 
 all the verses of the text. " Who hath measured 
 the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meied out 
 heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of 
 the earth in a measure ? Who hath weighed the 
 mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? Be- 
 hold the nations are as the drop of a bucket. Behold 
 he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. It is he 
 that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the in- 
 habitants thereof are as grasshoppers." 
 
 The prophet's design in describing the Deity 
 with so much magnificence is to discountenance 
 idolatry, of which there are two sorts. The first, 
 I call religious idolatry, which consists in rendering 
 that religious worship to a creature, which is due 
 to none but God. The second, I call moral idola- 
 try, which consists in distrusting the promises of 
 God in dangerous crises, and in expecting that assist- 
 ance from men which cannot be expected from God. 
 In order to discountenance idolatry in religion, the 
 prophet contents himself with describing it. " The 
 workman melteth a graven image, the goldsmith 
 spreadeth it over with gold." 
 
 For the purpose of discrediting idolatry in mor- 
 als, he opposeth the grandeur of God to the most 
 grand objects among men, I mean earthly kings. 
 " God, saiih the prophet, bringeth the princes to no- 
 thing, he shall blow upon them, and the whirlwind 
 shall take them away as stubble. Why sayest thou, 
 O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel ; My way is hid 
 from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over 
 from my God ?" and so on. 
 
 VOL. I. 22 
 
170 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 This subject may seem perhaps too copious for 
 one discourse, however, it will not exceed the lim- 
 its of this ; and we will venture to detain you a mo- 
 ment, before we attend to the matter, in remarking 
 the manner, that is, the style of our prophet, and 
 the expressive sublimity of our text. It is a com- 
 position, which not only surpasses the finest pas^ 
 sages of the most celebrated profane authors, but 
 perhaps exceeds the loftiest parts of the holy scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 " Who hath measured the waters in the hollow 
 of his hand ? Who hath meted out heaven with a 
 span ? Who hath comprehended the dust of the 
 earth in a measure ? Who hath w^eighed the moun- 
 tains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? All na- 
 tions before him are as the drop of a bucket. He 
 taketh up the isles as a very little thing. He sit- 
 teth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabit- 
 ants thereof are as grasshoppers." What loftiness 
 of expression ! The deference that we pay to the 
 sacred writers is not founded on the beauty of their 
 diction. They do not affect to come to us with the 
 enticing words of man's wisdom^ 1 Cor. ii. 4. We 
 cannot help observing, however, in some of their 
 writings, the most perfect models of eloquence. 
 God seems to have dispensed talents of this kind, 
 in the same manner as he hath sometimes bestowed 
 temporal blessings of another kind. Riches and 
 grandeurs are too mean, and too unsatisfying, to 
 constitute the felicity of a creature formed in the 
 image of God. Immortal men, who are called to 
 participate felicity and glory with their God, are 
 
The Grandeur of God, 171 
 
 indifTerent to the part which they act, during their 
 short existence on the stage of time. To them it is 
 a matter of very little importance, whether they oc- 
 cupy the highest or the lowest, the most conspicu- 
 ous or the most obscure posts in society. It signi- 
 fies but little to them, whether they ride in sumptu- 
 ous equipages, or walk a-foot. To them it is a 
 matter of very little consequence, whether superb 
 processions attend their funerals, or their carcases 
 be laid in their graves without pomp or parade. 
 Yet, when it pleaseth God to signalize any by gifts 
 of this kind, he doth it like a God, if ye will allow 
 the expression, he doth it so as to shew that his 
 mighty hands hold all that can contribute to enno- 
 ble, and to elevate mankind. Observe his munifi- 
 cence to Solomon. " I have given thee riches and 
 glory, said the Lord to him, so that there shall not 
 be any among the kings like unto thee, neither af- 
 ter thee shall any arise like unto thee," 1 Kings iii. 
 12, 13. In virtue of this promise, God loaded Sol- 
 omon with temporal blessings : he gave him all. In 
 virtue of this promise, silver was no more esteemed 
 than stones in Jerusalem, (the capital of this favour- 
 ite of heaven) nor the cedars of Lebanon than the 
 sycamore trees of the plain, 2 Chron. ix. 27. 
 
 God hath observed the same conduct to the her- 
 alds of religion, in regard to the talents that form 
 an orator. The truths which they teach are too se- 
 rious, and too interesting, to need the help of or- 
 naments. The treasures of religion, Avhich God 
 committed to them, are so valuable, that it is need- 
 less for us to examine whetlier they be presented to 
 
173 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 us in earthen vessels, 2 Gor. iv. 7. But when the 
 Holy Spirit deigns to distinguish any one of his 
 servants by gifts of this kind, my God ! witli what 
 a rich profusion hath he the power of doing it ! He 
 fires the orator's imagination with a flame altogether 
 divine : he elevates his ideas to the least accessible 
 region of the universe, and dictates language above 
 mortal mouths. 
 
 What kind of elocution can ye allege, of which 
 the sacred authors have not given us the most per- 
 fect models ? 
 
 Is it the style proper for history ? A historian 
 must assume, it should seem, as many different 
 forms of speaking, as there are different events in 
 the subjects of his narration. And who ever gave 
 such beautiful models of this style as Moses ? Wit- 
 ness these words, which have acquired him the elo- 
 gium of a pagan critic ^ : " God said, let there be 
 light, and there was light," Gen. i. 3. Witness these^ 
 " Isaac said. My father ; Abraham answered, Here 
 am I my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the 
 wood ; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ? 
 And Abraham said. My son, God will provide him- 
 self a lamb for a burnt-offering," ch. xxii. 7, 8. Wit- 
 ness these words, " Then Joseph could not refrain 
 himself before all them that stood by him, and he 
 cried. Cause every man to go out from me : and 
 there stood no man with him, while Joseph made 
 himself known unto his brethren. And he lifted 
 up his voice and wept, and said unto his brethren, 
 
 * Longinus, sect. ix. 
 
The Grandeur of God, 173 
 
 I am Joseph : doth my father yet live ? Come near 
 to me, I pray you, I am Joseph your brother, 
 whom ye sold into Egypt," ch. xlv. 1. 
 
 Is it the tender style ? Who ever gave such beau- 
 tiful models as the prophet Jeremiah ? Witness the 
 pathetic descriptions, and the aifecting complaints 
 in the Lamentations : "The ways of Zion mourn, 
 because none come to the solemn feasts: All her 
 gates are desolate: her priests sigh : her virgins arc 
 afiiicted : and she is in bitterness. Is it nothing to 
 you all ye that pass by ? behold and see, if there 
 be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. For these 
 things I weep, mine eye, mine eye runneth down," 
 ch. i. 4, 12, 16. 
 
 Is it a style proper to terrify and confound ? Wlio 
 ever gave more beautiful models of this style than 
 Ezekiel ? Witness, among many others, these ex- 
 pressions: "Bow weak is thine heart, saith the 
 Lord God, seeing thou dost all these things : the 
 work of an imperious whorish woman ? A wife that 
 committeth adultery, which taketh strangers in- 
 stead of her husband ! They give gifts to all whores : 
 but thou givest thy gifts to all lovers, and hirest 
 them, that they may come unto thee on every side 
 for thy whoredom," ch. xvi. 30, 32, 33. 
 
 Above all, is it the lofty, noble, and sublime 
 style ? W^hose models are comparable to the prophet 
 Isaiah's ? Christian preacher, thou who studiest to 
 convince, to persuade, to carry away the hearts of 
 the people to whom God hath sent thee, neither 
 make Cicero nor Demosthenes thy models : inves- 
 tigate the ideas, and appropriate tlie language of 
 
174 The Grandeur of God, 
 
 the inspired writers. — Heat thine imagination at the 
 fire which inflamed them, and with them, endeavor 
 to elevate the mind to the mansions of God, to the 
 light which no man can approach unto, 1 Tim. vi. 16. 
 Learn of these great masters to handle the sword of 
 the spirit, and to manage the word of God quick and 
 power fid, even to the dividing asunder of soul and 
 spirit, and of the joints and marrow, Heb. iv. 12. 
 
 But when I propose my text as a pattern of elo- 
 cution, far from your minds be the idea of a trifling 
 orator's fraudful art, whose ambition it is to exceed 
 iiis subject, and to lend his hero the virtues that he 
 wants. The portrait drawn by the prophet is infi- 
 nitely inferior to his original. Ye will be fully 
 convinced of this, if ye attend to the four follow- 
 ing considerations of the grandeurs of God. 
 
 1. The sublimity of his essence. 2. The in> 
 mensity of his works. 3. The efficiency of his 
 will. 4. The magnificence of some of his migh- 
 ty acts, at certain periods, in favour of his church. 
 
 First. The sublimiti/ of his essence. The pro- 
 phet's mind was filled with this object. It is owing 
 to this that he repeats the grand title of Jehovah, 
 The Lord, which signifies 1 am by excellence, and 
 wliich distinguisheth, by four grand characters, the 
 essence of God, from the essence of creatures. 
 
 1. The essence of God is independent in its cause. 
 God is a self-existent Being. We exist, but ours is 
 only a borrowed existence, for existence is foreign 
 from us. There was a time when we were not, and 
 our origin is nothing : and as we should cease to be 
 if God were only to give the word, so his word was^ 
 
The Grandeur of God. 175 
 
 necessary to give us existence at first. But God 
 exists of himself: Existence is his own: and he 
 owes it only to himself, and to the eminence of his 
 own perfections. An idea, in which it is difficult 
 not to lose one's self, and which is incomprehensi- 
 ble to us, l>ecause it relates to an infinite attribute, 
 and because all that is infinite absorbs a finite mind: 
 but an idea, however, as true as it is incomprehensi- 
 ble. The existence of a mite, or of a grain of dust, 
 or even of the most diminutive being in nature, is 
 sufficient necessarily to conduct us to the indepen- 
 dent, self-existent God. 
 
 Even the atheist is obliged by his ow n principles 
 to agree with us in this article : I mean the atheist 
 of some knowledge : the modern atheist. Let us 
 thankfully own, my brethren, that the improvements 
 which a sound philosophy hath produced in the sci- 
 ences, have been communicated even to atheism. 
 Formerly, atheists could digest such propositions as 
 these : the world hath not always subsisted ; it was 
 made of nothing. Now these propositions are too 
 gross for any to hazard his reputation on the advan- 
 cing of them. Indeed to affirm, that nothing hath 
 made the world, is not only to advance an absurdi- 
 ty, it is to advance a contradiction. To say that 
 nothing hath created the world, is to say that no- 
 thing hath not created the world, and to say that 
 nothing hath not created a \vorld which actually ex- 
 ists, is to deny the existence of tlie world. No rules 
 of reasoning require us to answer people, who con- 
 tradict themselves in so glaring a manner : and on 
 this article, we rank them with idiots. Modern 
 
1 76 The Grandeur of God, 
 
 atheists admit, as we do, a self-existent being. All 
 the difference between them and us is this ; they at- 
 tribute this eminent perfection to matter : but we at- 
 tribute it to God. The atheist derives his existence 
 from a collection of atoms, which a blind chance 
 had assembled : we ascribe our existence to a Being 
 possessed of all possible perfections. The atheist 
 discovers his God and Creator in a confused con- 
 junction of bodies destitute of reason : w^e find our 
 God and Creator in the Supreme Being, the foun- 
 tain of all existence. But both we and the atheist 
 are obliged to own an uncreated, self-existent Being. 
 And as it is easy for a reasonable person to decide 
 the question, w^hether this perfection agree to God 
 or to matter, it is easy for him also to comprehend 
 that God is a self-existent Being. 
 
 2. The Essence of God is universal in its extent 
 God possesseth the reality of every thing that ex- 
 ists. A celebrated infidel, educated in your provin- 
 ces, ^ (would to God none were educated here still!) 
 This infidel, I say, invented a new way of publish- 
 ing atheism, by disguising it. I am mistaking in 
 saying neiv : for it would be easy to prove, that the 
 miserable Spinoza had not the glory of inventing it ; 
 he only revived a pagan notion, f He says, that 
 there is a God, but that this God is only the univer- 
 sality and assemblage of creatures : that every being 
 is a modification of God ; that the sun is God, as 
 
 * Benedict cle Spinoza was born at Amsterdam, and was educa- 
 ted in the same city mider Francis Vander Ende. Him Mens. 
 Saurin mieans. 
 
 t See Dr. Clarke on the Attributes. Vol. L prop. 3. 
 
The Grandeur of God, 111 
 
 giving li^^ht, that aliments are God, as affording 
 nourishment ; and so of the rest. What a system ! 
 What an abominable system! But this syslem, all 
 abominable as it is, hath, however, some truth, or 
 some foundation. God is not diffused through all 
 these different beings : God is not divided : but he 
 possesseth all the perfections of the universe, and it 
 is by this notion of God, that the true religi n is dis- 
 tinguished from superstition. The superstitious, 
 struck with the beauty of some particular being, 
 made that being the object of theh* adoration. One, 
 struck with the beauty of the stars, said, that the 
 stars were Gods. Another, astonished at the splen- 
 dor of the sun, said that the sun was God. Demo- 
 critus, surprized at the beauty of fire, said, that God 
 was a material fire. Chrysippus, amazed at the 
 beauty of that necessity, which causeth every 
 thing to answer its destination, said, that God was 
 fate. Parmenides, affected Avith the beautiful ex- 
 tent of heaven and earth, said, that God was that 
 extent. 
 
 But God is all this, because he eminently posses- 
 seth all this. An ancient heathen said of CamilJus, 
 that li^ was the whole Roman republic to him: and 
 Toxaris,. when he had procured /Vnacharsis the ac- 
 quaintance of Solon, said to him : " This is Athens, 
 this is Greece ; thou art no longer a stranger, thou 
 hast seen the whole." Let us sanctify this tliought 
 by applying it to God. God is all the Roman re- 
 public, all Greece, the whole world and all its in- 
 habitants. Yes, he is the beauty of the stars, the 
 briglitness of the sun, the purity of fire, the subtil- 
 
 TOL. I. 23 
 
ryg The Grandeur of God', 
 
 ty of ethereal matter, the expanse of heaven and: 
 tl]e law of fate ; he is the sagacity of the poiitican^ 
 the penetration of the philosopher, the bravery of 
 the soldier, the undaunted courage, and the cau- 
 tious coolness of the general. If, among these 
 qualities, there be any incompatible with the purity 
 of his essence, and therefore inapplicable to him, 
 yet in this sense they belong to him, all are subject 
 to his empire, and act only by his will. He is, as 
 an ancient waiter expresseth it, a boundless ocean 
 of existence. From this ocean of existence all cre- 
 ated beings, like so many rivulets, flow. From this 
 ocean of light proceeded the sun with its bright- 
 ness, the stars with their glitter, along with all the 
 brillianciesof other beings that approach their nature. 
 From this ocean of v^isdom came those profound 
 politicians, who penetrate the deepest recesses of 
 the human heart; hence those sublime philosophers,^ 
 who explore the heavens by the marvels of diop- 
 trics, and descend into the bowels of the earth by 
 their knowledge of nature ; and hence all those 
 superior geniusses, who cultivate the sciences, and 
 the liberal arts, and who constitute the beauty of 
 the intelligent world. " In him we live, and move, 
 and have our being," Acts xvii. 28. We breathe 
 his air, and we are animated by his spirit ; it is his 
 power that upholds, his knowledge that informs, and 
 his wisdom that conducts us. 
 
 3. The essence of God is michangeahle in its ex- 
 trcise. Creatures only pass from nothing to exist- 
 ence, and from existence to nothing. Their exist- 
 ence is rather a continual variation than a perma- 
 
The Grandeur of God. 179 
 
 nent stale; and they are all carried away with the 
 same vicissitudes. Hardly are we children before 
 we become men : hardly are we arrived at manhood 
 before we become old ; and as soon as we become 
 old we die. We love to-day what we hated yester- 
 day, and to-morrow we shall hate what to-day we 
 love. David hath given us a just definition of man. 
 He defines him a phantom, who only appears, and 
 who appears only in a vain show, Ps. xxxix. 6. But 
 *' I the Lord change not : the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and for ever," Mai. iii. 6. Heb. xiii. 8. He is, 
 as it were, the fixed point, on w hich revolve all the 
 creatures in the universe, w ithout the partaking him- 
 self of their revolutions. 
 
 4. Finallv, the divine Essence is eternal in its du- 
 ration : " Hast thou not known, (saith our prophet,) 
 that he is the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator 
 of the ends of the earth ?" When we attempt to 
 measure the duration of God, by tracing it beyond 
 the first periods of this universe, we lose ourselves 
 in the unfathomable depths of eternity : we heap 
 ages upon ages, millions of years upon millions of 
 years ; but no beginning of his existence can we 
 find. And when we endeavour to stretch our 
 thoughts, and to penetrate the most remote futuri- 
 ty, again we heap ages upon ages, millions of years 
 upon millions of years, and lose ourselves again in 
 the same abyss, perceiving, that he can have no end, 
 as he had no beginning. He is " the ancient of 
 days, the alpha and omega, the first and the last," 
 Dan. vii. 9. " He is, he was, he is to come," Rev. 
 i. 8. " Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 
180 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 before the earth and the world were formed, even 
 from everlasting to everlasting he is God," Ps. xc. 2. 
 And, when the mountains shall be dissolved, when 
 the foundations of the earth shall be destroyed, 
 when all sensible objects shall be folded up like a 
 vesture, he will be the everlasting God, Heb. i. 12. 
 will be, when they exist no more, as he was before 
 they existed at all. 
 
 Secondly, Having judged of the grandeur of 
 God by the sublimity of his essence, judge of it by 
 ihe imjnensity of his works. The prophet invites us 
 to this meditation in the words of my text. " It is 
 lie that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and 
 spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Lift up 
 your eyes on high, and behold who hath created 
 these things. It is he who bringeth out their host 
 by number, he calleth them all by names. By the 
 greatness of his might, for that he is strong in pow- 
 er, not one faileth." But who can pretend to dis- 
 cuss in a single article of one sermon, a subject, 
 which whole volumes could not contain ? For if 
 there be a subject, in which simple narration resem- 
 bles rhetorical bombast, it is undoubtedly this. 
 
 A novice is frightened at hearing what astrono- 
 mers assert ; that the sun is a million times bigger 
 than the earth : that the naked eye discovers more 
 than a thousand fixed stars, which are so many suns 
 to enlighten unknown systems : that with the help 
 of glasses we may discover an almost infinite num- 
 ber : that two thousand have been reckoned in one 
 constellation ; and that, without exaggerating, they 
 may be numbered at more than two millions : that 
 
The Grandeur of God. 181 
 
 >vhat are called nebulous stars, of which there is an 
 innumerable multitude, that appear to us as if they 
 were involved in little misty clouds, are all assem- 
 blages of stars. 
 
 A novice is frightened, when he is told, that there 
 is such a prodigious distance between the earth and 
 the sun, that a body, moving with the greatest ra- 
 pidity that art could produce, would take up twenty- 
 five years in passing from the one to the other : that 
 it w ould take up seven hundred and fifty thousand 
 to pass from the earth to the nearest of the fixed 
 stars : and to the most distant more than a hundred 
 millions of years. 
 
 A novice is frightened : (do not accuse me, my 
 brethren, of wandering from the subject of this dis- 
 course, for the saints, who are proposed in scripture 
 as patterns to us, cherished their devotions with me- 
 ditations of this kind : at the sight of these grand 
 objects they exclaimed, " O Lord, when we consid- 
 er thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon 
 and the stars which thou hast ordained ; what is man 
 that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man 
 that thou visitest him ?" Psal. viii. 3, 4. And my 
 text engageth me to fix your attention upon these 
 objects : lift up your eyes on high and behold.) A 
 novice is frightened, when he is assured, that al- 
 though the stars, which form a constellation, seem 
 to touch one another, yet the distances of those 
 that are nearest together cannot be ascertained, and 
 that even w ords are wanting to express the spaces 
 which separate those that are the greatest distances 
 from each other : that if two men were observing 
 
182 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 two fixed stars, from two parts of the earth, tire 
 most distant from each other, the lines that went 
 from their eyes, and terminated on that star, would 
 be confounded together ; that it would be the same 
 with two men, were one of them upon earth, and 
 the other in the sun, though the sun and the earth 
 are at such a prodigious distance from each other ; 
 so inconsiderable is that distance in comparison of 
 the space which separates both from the star. All 
 this startles a novice : and yet, what are these bo- 
 dies, countless in their number, and enormous in 
 their size ? What are these unmeasurable spaces, 
 Avhich absorb our senses and imaginations ? What 
 are all these in comparison of what reason discov- 
 ers ? Shall we be puerile enough to persuade our- 
 selves that there is nothing beyond what we see ? 
 Have we not reason to think, that there are spaces 
 far, far beyond, full of the Creator's wonders, and 
 affording matter of contemplation to the thousand 
 ihoiisands, to the ten thousand times ten thousand in- 
 telligences that he hath made ? Dan. vii. 10. 
 
 Here let us pause. Over all this universe God 
 reigns. But what is man even in comparison of this 
 earth ? " Let him reflect on himself," (I borrow the 
 words of a modern author) " let him consider what 
 ^' he is in comparison of the whole that exists be- 
 " side : let him regard himself as confined in this 
 " obscure by-corner of nature : and from the ap- 
 " pearance of the little dungeon where he is lodged, 
 ** that is, of this visible woild, let him learn to es- 
 *' timate tl e world, its kingdoms, and himself at 
 " their real value." Isaiah estimates their real value 
 
The Grandeur of God. 183 
 
 in llie words of my text. Behold, says he, " all 
 nations before him are as a drop of a bucket :" they 
 are of no more value than the small dust that cleaves 
 to the balance : " God sittelh upon the circle of the 
 earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshop- 
 pers :'* yea, they are still less considerable, " all 
 nations before him are as nothing." 
 
 Thirdly, The immensity of the Creator's works 
 lead us to the efficiency of his will: and the idea of 
 the real world conducts us to that of the possible 
 world. There needs no train of propositions to 
 discover a connection between what God hath done, 
 and what he can do. The idea of a creature leads 
 to that of a Creator : for, in supposing that some 
 beings have been created, we suppose an author of 
 their creation. The idea of a creative Being in- 
 cludes the idea of a Beino- whose will is efficient : 
 for as soon as ye suppose a creative Being, ye sup- 
 pose a Being whose will is self-efficient. But a Be- 
 ing, whose will is self-efficient is a Being who, by 
 a single act of his will, can create all possible be- 
 ings : that is, all, the existence of which implies no 
 contradiction ; there being no reason for limiting 
 the power of a will that hath been once efficient of 
 itself. So that as soon as ye conceive a Being who 
 hath once created, ye conceive a Being who can 
 always create. 
 
 Let us then form this notion of God : a Beino: 
 who, by a single act of his will, can create now in 
 empty space, as he hath formerly created. He can 
 say, of light which doth not exist, what he once 
 said of that which doth exist, " Let there be light ;" 
 
184 The Grandeur of God, 
 
 and there shall be light, like that which actually 
 is. He can say, of luminaries which are not, what 
 he hath said of luminaries which already are, " Let 
 there be lights in the firmament of heaven ;" and 
 luminaries, that are not, shall be, as those that 
 once were not are now, and will owe their exist- 
 ence to that will, which is always irresistible, and 
 always efficient ; or, as the prophet saith in the 
 words of my text, to the greatness of his might, to 
 the strength of his power. 
 
 Lastly, To convince you of the grandeur of God 
 I am to remark to you, " the magnificence of some 
 of his mighty acts, at certain periods, in favour of 
 his church." The prophet had two of these pe- 
 riods in view. The first was the return of the Jews 
 from that captivity in Babylon Avhich he had de- 
 nounced : and the second, the coming of the Mes- 
 siah, of which their return from captivity was only 
 a shadow. 
 
 What wonders did God work in the first of these 
 periods! Nebuchadnezzar, the tyrant of the Jews, 
 had obtained universal monarchy, or, as the prophet 
 Jeremiah expresseth it, he was become the hammer 
 of the whole earth, Jer. 1. 23. The inspired writers 
 represent the rapidity of his victories under the em- 
 blem of the swiftness of an eagle. We can hardly 
 imagine the speed Avith which he overran Ethiopia, 
 Arabia, Palestine, Persia, Media, Egypt, Idumea, 
 Syria, and almost all Asia, and with which he con- 
 quered all those extensive countries as he marched 
 through them. Cyrus had been appointed by the 
 fjord, and nominated by the prophets, to stop his 
 
The Grandeur of God. 18.5 
 
 career, and to subdue those Babylonians who had 
 subdued so many nations. But who was this Cy- 
 rus ? Son of a father, whose meanness and obscuri- 
 ty had prevailed with Astyages, king of Media, to 
 give him his daughter Mandana in marriage ; how 
 will he perform such prodigious enterprizes ? This 
 is not all. Astyages was afraid that Mandana's 
 son should fulfil a dream, of which his diviners had 
 given him frightful interpretations. He caused her 
 therefore to reside at court during her pregnancy, 
 and commanded Harpagus, one of his most devoted 
 courtiers, to put the child to death as soon as he 
 should be born. But God preserved the child, and 
 all the power of Astyages could not make one hair 
 fall from his head without the divine permission. 
 Harpagus trembled at his commission, resigned it 
 to the overseer of the king's flocks, and ordered 
 him to expose Mandana's son : But, when he was 
 preparing to obey him, his wife, affected w^ith the 
 beauty of young Cyrus, prevailed with her husband 
 to expose her own son in his stead. 
 
 Thus, by a train of miracles, was this anointed of 
 God preserved, and by a train of greater miracles 
 still, did he stir up the Persians against the Medes, 
 march at the head of them against the cruel Astya- 
 ges, defeat him, conquer Media, and at length, be- 
 siege Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had surrounded 
 that city with a triple w all, and had replaced the 
 bricks of Semiramis with free-stone, w hich contri- 
 buted, says Dion, less to the magnificence than to 
 the eternity of the empire. The w^alls were an hun- 
 dred feet high, and fifty broad, so that it was said 
 
 VOL. I., 24 
 
I8a The Grandeur of God. 
 
 of that great city, it was alike incredible how aii 
 could form, or art destroy it. But what walls, what 
 fortifications, can resist the blows of an arm sup- 
 ported by '' the greatness of the might, the strength 
 of the power" of the omnipotent God! Every tiling 
 submits to the valour of Cyrus : he takes Babylon, 
 and before he hath well secured his conquest, does 
 homage for the victory to the God who had foretold 
 it; and releases the Jews from captivity. These 
 accounts are related by heathen authors, and par- 
 ticularly by Herodotus, and Justin : God having 
 determined that the bitterest enemies of revelation 
 should preserve those monuments which demon- 
 strate the divinity of our prophecies. 
 
 But I said just now, that the return of the Jews 
 fi'om their captivity in Babylon was only a shadow 
 of that deliverance, w^hich the Messiah was to bring 
 into the world : and that the mighty acts, which 
 God wrought in the first period, were only faint 
 images of what he would operate in the second. 
 Accordingly, our prophet had the second of these 
 periods much more in view than the first in the 
 words of my text. It is not a love for the marvel- 
 lous : it is neither a prejudice of education, nor a 
 blind submission to confessions of faith ; (motives 
 that produce so much superstition among Christians:) 
 these are not the reasons of our comment : it is the 
 nature of the thing ; it is the magnificence of the 
 prophecies connected with my text ; it is the au- 
 thority of St. Paul, who, in the eleventh chapter 
 of his epistle to the Romans, ver. 34. and in the se- 
 cond of his first epistle to the Corinthians, ver. 16. 
 
The Grandeur of God. 187 
 
 intei-prets these words of my text of the gospel. 
 Who hath hioivn the mind of the Lord / who hath 
 been his counsellor ? Accordingly, in this second pe- 
 riod, God hath displayed treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge. But we have elsewhere treated this 
 subject at large, and we choose rather only to hint 
 tliis article to-day than to incur the just reproach of 
 treating it imperfectly. 
 
 Such then are the grandeurs of God ; and all 
 that I have lisped out is more properly the title of 
 the subject, upon which I would ^x your attention, 
 than the subject itself well digested. INevertheless, 
 how imperfect soever the sketch may be, it may 
 serve to convince us, that there is no extravagance 
 in the prophet's ideas ; that if his language is lofty, 
 it is not hyperbolical, and that he is always below 
 the truth, even when he uses these sublime expres- 
 sions, " Who hath measured the waters in the hol- 
 low of his hand ? meted the heavens with a span, 
 comprehended the dust of the earth w ith a measure, 
 weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a 
 balance ?" But why doth he describe the Deity with 
 so much pomp ? This remains to be considered in 
 the second part of this discourse, which shall also 
 be the application. 
 
 II. We observed in the beginning, that the pro- 
 phet's design w^as to render two sorts of idolatry 
 odious : idolatry in religion ; and idolatry in morals. 
 
 Idolatry in religion consists in rendering those re- 
 ligious homages to creatures, which are due to the 
 Creator only. To discredit this kind of idolatry, 
 the prophet contents himself with describing it. He 
 
188 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 shames the idolater by reminding him of the origin 
 of idols, and of the pains taken to preserve them. 
 What is the origin of idols ? The workman meltelh 
 an image, saith our prophet, and the goldsmith spread- 
 eth it over with gold. What pains doth the idolater 
 take to preserve his idols ? He casteth silver chains 
 to fasten them, and to prevent thieves from stealing 
 them, or perhaps for fear they should escape through 
 their own inconstancy. The heathens had been ac- 
 customed, when they besieged a city, to evoke the 
 tutelary gods; (Macrobius has preserved a long 
 form of these evocations^) and the besieged, to 
 prevent the effects of these evocations, and, to se- 
 cure their gods from going into their enemies camps, 
 used to fasten their images with chains. Many 
 proofs of this might be alleged, but one passage of 
 Q^uintus Curtius shall suffice. He tells us, that, a 
 citizen of Tyre having publicly declared that he 
 had seen in a dream the image of Apollo quitting 
 the city, the citizens immediately used the precau- 
 tion of fastening it with a chain of gold.f 
 
 * Saturn. III. 9. The following is the form of the incantation. 
 If you be a god^ or a goddess, under whose guardianshiji the 
 people and the city of the Carthaginians is, and you, particularly, 
 nvho have taken upon you the protection of that people and city, 
 I worship you, and humbly beg you would be pleased to forsake 
 the fieople and city of the Carthaginians, to abandon their places^ 
 temples, religious ceremonies and cities, and come away, Sec. 
 Bayle. Soranus Rem. E. 
 
 t L. IV. 3. 21. Metu aurea catena devinxere simulacrum, 
 araeque Herculis, cujus numini urbem dicaverant, inseruere 
 'vinculum, quasi iilo Deo ApoUinQm retenturi. 
 
The Grandeur of God. 189 
 
 But the prophet no less intended to shame idola- 
 try in morals, which consists in distrusting the prom- 
 ises of God in extreme dangers, and in expecting 
 from men a succour that cannot be expected from 
 God. A man is guilty of moral idolatry, when, in 
 dangerous crises, he says, " My way is hid from 
 the Lord ; my judgment is passed over from my 
 God." Be not surprized at my giving so odious a 
 name to a disposition of mind, wliich is too common 
 even among those whose piety is the least suspect- 
 ed, and the best established. The essence of idol- 
 atry, in general, is to disrobe tlie Deity of his perfec- 
 tions, and to adorn a creature with them. There 
 are indeed many degrees of this disposition. He, 
 who renders divine honours to the glimmering light 
 of a taper, is guilty perhaps of a more gross idola- 
 try, than he who worships the sun. The Egyptian, 
 who worships a rat, is perhaps more absurd than 
 the Roman, who ranks a Caesar with the gods. 
 But, after all, there is so small a difference between 
 the meanest insect and the greatest emperor, the 
 glimmering of a taper and the glory of the sun, 
 when compared with the Supreme Being, tliat there 
 can be no great difference between these two sorts 
 of idolatry. 
 
 Let us apply this to our subject. God is the sole 
 arbiter of events. Whenever ye think, that any 
 more pow erful being directs them to comfort you, 
 ye put the creature in the Creator's place ; whether 
 ye do it in a manner more or less absurd : w hether 
 they be formidable armies, impregnable fortresses, 
 and \Yell-stored magazines, which ye thus exalt in- 
 
19Q The Grandeur of God. 
 
 to deities ; or whether it be a small circle of friends, 
 an easy income, or a country-house ; it does not sig- 
 nify, ye are alike idoJaters. 
 
 The Jews were often guilty of the first sort of 
 idolatry. The captivity in Babylon was the last 
 curb to that fatal propensity. But this miserable 
 people, whose existence and preservation, whose 
 prosperities and adversities were one continued train 
 of obvious miracles, immediately from heaven ; this 
 miserable people, whose whole history should have 
 prevailed with them to have feared God only, and 
 to have confided in him entirely; this miserable peo- 
 ple trembled at Nebuchadnezzar, and his army, as 
 if both had acted independently on God. Their 
 imaginations prostiated before these second causes, 
 and they shuddered at the sight of the Chaldean 
 Marmosets, as if they had afforded assistance to their 
 worshippers, and had occasioned their triumphs 
 over the church. 
 
 Thanks be to God, my dear brethren, that the 
 light of the gospel hath opened the eyes of a great 
 number of Christians, in regard to idolatry in reli- 
 gion. I say a great number, and not all : for how 
 many parts of the Christian world still deserve the 
 prophet's reproach? "the workman melteth a gra- 
 ven image, the goldsmith spreadeth it over with 
 gold. Have ye not known ? have ye not heard ?** 
 Blessed be God, we are quite free from this kind of 
 idolatry ! But how many idolaters of the second 
 kind do 1 see ? 
 
 Ye, who, in order to avert public calamities, sa- 
 tisfy yourselves with a few precautions of worldly 
 
The Grandeur of God. 191 
 
 prudence, and oppose provisions to scarcity, medi- 
 cines to mortality, an active vigilance to the danger 
 of a contagion ; and take no pains to extirpate those 
 horrible crimes, which provoke the vengeance of 
 heaven to inflict punishments on public bodies ; ye 
 are guilty of tliis second kind of idolatry, ye stand 
 exposed to this malediction, " Cursed be the man 
 that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm," 
 Jer. xvii. 5. AYere your confidence placed in God, 
 ye would endeavor to avert national judgments by 
 purging the state of those scandalous commerces, 
 those barbarous extortions, and all those other wick- 
 ed practices, which are the surest forerunners, and 
 the principal causes of famine, and pestilence, and 
 war. 
 
 Desolate family, ye, who rested all your expec^- 
 tations upon one single head ; ye, who made one 
 single person the axis of all your schemes and 
 hopes ; ye, who lately saw that person cut down in 
 the midst of his race, and carried away with the tor- 
 rent of human vicissitudes ; ye, who see nothing 
 around you now but indigence, misery, and famine; 
 who cry in the bitterness of your grief. No more 
 support, no more protector, no more father ; ye are 
 guilty of this second kind of idolatry. Ye " trust- 
 ed in man, ye made flesh your arm." Were God 
 the object of your trust, ye would recollect, amidst 
 all your grief, that providence is not inclosed in 
 your patron's tomb : ye would remember, that an 
 invisible eye incessantly watches over, and governs 
 this world ; that God-, " who feedeth the fowls of 
 heaven, and clothes the lillies of the valley," (Luke 
 
192 The Grandeur of God. 
 
 xii. 24, 28.) that a God so i^ood and compassionate, 
 can easily provide for the maintenance and encour- 
 agement of your family. 
 
 And thou, feeble mortal, lying on a sick-bed, 
 already struggling with the king of terrors, (.Job 
 xviii. 14.) in the arms of death ; thou, who trem- 
 blingly complainest, I am undone ! Physicians give 
 me over ! Friends are needless ! Remedies are use- 
 less ! Every application is unsuccessful ! A cold 
 sweat covers my whole body, and announces my 
 approaching death ! Thou art guilty of this second 
 kind of idolatry, thou hast trusted in man, thou hast 
 madefiesh thine arm. Were God the object of thy 
 trust, thou wouldest believe that though death is 
 about to separate thee from men, it is about to unite 
 thee to God : thou wouldest preclude the slavish 
 fear of death by thy fervent desires : thou wouldest 
 exult at the approach of thy Redeemer, Come Lord, 
 come quickly/ Amen. Rev. xxii. 20. How easy 
 would it be, my brethren, to enlarge this article ! 
 
 Dearly beloved, Jlee from idolatry, (l Cor. x. 14.) 
 is the exhortation of an apostle, and with this ex- 
 hortation we conclude this discourse, and inforce 
 the design of the prophet in the text. " Flee from 
 idolatry," not only from gross idolatry, but from 
 that which, though it may appear less shocking, is 
 no less repugnant to the spirit of religion. " Why 
 gayest thou, O Jacob ; Why speakest thou, O Israel ; 
 My way is hid from the Lord ; My judgment is 
 passed over from my God?" The guardianship of 
 you is that part of the dominion of God of which he 
 is most jealous. His love for you is so exquisite. 
 
The Grandeur of God. 193 
 
 that he condescends to charge himself with your 
 happiness. The happiness which ye feel in com- 
 munion with him, is intended to engage you to him: 
 and the noblest homage that ye can return, the pur- 
 est incense that ye can offer, is to say to him, 
 " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? there is none 
 upon earth I desire besides thee. It is good for me 
 to draw near to God," Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 28. 
 
 If ye place your hopes upon creatures, ye depend 
 upon winds, and waves, and precarious seasons : 
 upon the treachery, iniquity, and inconstancy of 
 men : or, to say all in one word, ye depend upon 
 death. That poor man is a self-deceiver, who, like 
 the man in the gospel, saith within himself, " My 
 soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years : 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," Luke 
 xii. 17, 19. But, I expect to find him, yes, I expect 
 to find him, at the sound of that voice, which may 
 this very night require his soul, I expect to find 
 him in a sick bed. There, all pale, distorted, and 
 dying, let him assemble his gods ; let him call for 
 his treasures, and send for his domestics, and ac- 
 quaintances ; in that fatal bed let him embrace his 
 Drusillas, and Dalilahs; let him form harmonious 
 concerts, amuse himself with fashionable diversions, 
 or feast his eyes with gaudy decorations, the vacu- 
 ity and vanity of which, in spite of himself, he 
 will be obliged to discover. 
 
 O give me more solid foundations for my hopes ! 
 May I never build my house upon the sand, endan- 
 gered by every wind and wave ; may the edifice of 
 my felicity be superior to human vicissitudes, and 
 
 VOL. I, 25 
 
194. ^he Grandeur of God. 
 
 " like mount Sion, which cannot be removed," (Ps, 
 cxxv. 1 .) may I build upon the Rock of Ages, and 
 be able, in public calamities and in my private mis- 
 fortunes, above all, in the agonies of death, to ap- 
 propriate those precious promises which God hath 
 made to his church in general, and to every indi- 
 vidual in it : " The mountains shall depart, and the 
 hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart 
 from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace 
 be removed," Isa. liv. 10. 
 
 To this God, of whose grandeur we form such 
 elevated notions, and upon whose promises we 
 found such exalted hopes, be honor and glory for 
 ever, and ever. Amen. 
 
SERMON y. 
 
 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, and the Abundance 
 of his Porver. 
 
 Jeremiah xxxii. 19. 
 Great in counsel and mighty in work. 
 
 X HESE words are connected with the two pre- 
 ceding verses : " Ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast 
 made the heaven and the earth by thy great power 
 and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard 
 for thee. Thou shewest lovino; kindness unto thou- 
 sands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers 
 into the bosom of their children after them : the 
 great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his 
 liame, great in counsel, and mighty in work." 
 
 The text that we have read to you, my brethren, 
 and which though very short, hath doubtless alrea- 
 dy excited many grand ideas in your minds, is a 
 homage which the prophet .Teremiah paid to the 
 perfections of God, when they seemed to counteract 
 one another. To make this plain to you, we will 
 endeavour to fix your attention on the circumstan- 
 ces in which our prophet was, when he pronounced 
 the words. This is the best method of explaining 
 the text, and with this we begin. 
 
 .Teremiah was actually a martyr to his ministry, 
 
196 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 when he addressed that prayer to God, of which this 
 text is only a part. He was reduced to the disa- 
 greeable necessity of not being able to avail himself 
 of the rights of religion, without invalidating the 
 maxims of civil government. This is one of the 
 most difficult straits, into which the ministers of the 
 living God can be brought ; for, however they may 
 be opposed, people always regard them, if not with 
 entire submission, yet with some degree of respect, 
 w^liile they confine themselves to the duties of their 
 own office, and while, content with the speaking of 
 heavenly things, they leave the reins of government 
 in the hands of those to whom Providence hath com- 
 mitted them. But when religion and civil policy 
 are so united that ministers cannot discharge their 
 functions without becoming, in a manner, ministers 
 of state, without determining whether it be proper 
 to make peace, or to declare war, to enter into alli- 
 ances or to dissolve them : how extremely delicate 
 and difficult does their ministry become ? This was 
 our prophet's case. Jerusalem had been besieged 
 for the space of one year by Nebuchadnezzar's ar- 
 my, and it was doubtful whether the city should ca- 
 pitulate with that prince, or hold out against him. 
 God himself decided this question, by the ministry 
 of the prophet, and commanded him in his name to 
 address the Israelites : " Thus saith the Lord ; Be- 
 hold, I will give this city into the hand of the king 
 of Babylon, and he shall take it. And Zedekiah 
 king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of 
 the Chaldeans; but shall surely be delivered into 
 the hand of the king of Babylon . • . . though 
 
and the Abundance of his Power, 197 
 
 ye fight with the Clialdeans, ye shall not prosper," 
 ver. 3, 4, 5. 
 
 A prediction so alarming was not uttered with 
 impunity; and Jeremiah was thrown into prison 
 for pronouncing it: but, before he could well reflect 
 on this trial, lie was exercised with another that w as 
 more painful still. God commanded hhn to trans- 
 act an atfair,' which seems at first sight more likely 
 to sink his ministry into contempt, than to conciliate 
 people's esteem to it. He commanded him to avail 
 himself of the right, which every Israelite enjoyed, 
 when his nearest relation offered an estate to sale : 
 a right founded upon an institute recorded in Levit- 
 icus. God required the Israelites to consider him 
 as their sovereign, and his sovereignty over them 
 was absolute," Lev. xxv. They cannot be said to 
 have possessed any thing as proper ow ners ; they 
 held every thing conditionally, and in trust ; and 
 they had no other right in their patrimonial estates 
 than what tliey derived from the arbitrary will of 
 God. In order to preserve in them a sense of this 
 dependence, they were forbidden to sell the lands 
 which they inherited from their ancestors : " The 
 land shall not be sold for ever, (saith the Levitical 
 law,J for the land is mine, and ye are strangers and 
 sojourners with me," ver. 23. This was not known 
 to the heathens, for Diodorus of Sicily says, that 
 " the Jews could not sell their inheritances.^ 
 
 * The case of the daughters of Zelophedad, related in Numb, 
 xxvii. 8. procured a general law of inheritance. If a man died 
 without a son, his daughters were to inherit : if without children, 
 his brethren were to inherit : if without brethren, his uncle was 
 
198 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 But as it might happen, that a landholder might 
 become indigent, and be reduced by this prohibi- 
 tion to the danger of dying with hunger, even while 
 he had enough to supply all his wants, God had 
 provided, tliat, in such a case, the lands might be 
 sold under certain restrictions, w^hich were proper 
 to convince the seller of that sovereignty, from 
 which he would never depart. The principal of 
 those restrictions were two ; one, that the estate 
 should be rather mortgaged than sold, and, at the 
 jubilee, should return to its first master : and hence 
 it is, that, to sell an estate for ever, in the style of 
 the Jewish jurisprudence, is to mortgage it till the 
 jubilee. The other restriction was, that the near- 
 est relation of him, w ho was obliged to sell his 
 land, should have the right of purchasing it before 
 any others, either more distant relations or stran- 
 gers. 
 
 In virtue of this law, Jeremiah had a right io 
 purchase an estate, which Hanameel, the son of 
 Shalhun, had offered to sale. The land lay at 
 Anathoth, a town in the tribe of Benjamin, where 
 our prophet was born, and was actually occupied 
 by the Chaldeans at that time. Jerusalem was be- 
 sieged, and Jeremiah was fully persuaded, and even 
 foretold, that it would be taken; that the Jews 
 would be carried away into captivity ; and would 
 not be re-established in their own country till their 
 
 to inherit : if without uncle his nearest relation was his heir. 
 Grotius says that this law, which preferred an uncle before a 
 nephew, passed from tlie Jews to the Phenicians, and from the 
 Phenicians into all Africa. Saurin. Dissert. Tom, II. Disc. vii. 
 
and the Abundance of his Porter, 199 
 
 return from Babylon at the expiration of seventy 
 years. What a time to purchase an estate ! What 
 a season to improve a right of redemption ! 
 
 But this command of God to the prophet was full 
 of meaning ; God gave it with views similar to, but 
 incomparably surer than those which the Romans 
 had, when they publicly offered to sell the land 
 where Hannibal was encamped wlien he was besieg- 
 ing the city of Rome. What the prophet was com- 
 manded to do, was designed to be an image of what 
 the Jews should have the liberty of doing after their 
 re-establishment. Ye may ascertain that this was 
 the design of the command given to Jeremiah, if ye 
 attend to the words which he addressed to God him- 
 self, in the twenty-fourth verse of this chapter : 
 *' Behold the mounts, the city is given into the hands 
 of the Chaldeans : and thou hast said unto me, O 
 Ijord God, Buy thee the field for money," ver. 25, 
 27. To this the Lord answers, " Behold, I am the 
 Lord, the God of all flesh, is there any thing too 
 bard for me ? Like as I have brought all this great 
 evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all 
 the good that I have promised them. And fields 
 shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is 
 desolate without man or beast, it is given into the 
 hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for 
 money, and subscribe evidences," ver. 42, 43, 44. 
 
 Jeremiah entered into these views, obeyed the 
 command, and believed the promise : but, to forti- 
 fy himself against such doubts as the distance of its 
 accomplishment might perhaps produce in his mind, 
 he recollected the eminent perfections^ and the mag- 
 
200 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 nificent works of him from whom the promise came* 
 "Now when I had delivered the evidence of the 
 purchase unto Baruch, (says the prophet,) I prayed 
 unto the Lord, saying, Ah ! Lord God, behold thou 
 iiast made the heaven and the earth by thy great 
 power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing 
 
 loo hard for thee Thou art the great, 
 
 the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is thy name, 
 great in counsel and mighty in work." 
 
 The considering of the circumstances that attend- 
 ed the text is a sufficient determination of its end 
 and design. The prophet's meaning, which is quite 
 clear, is, that the wisdom of God perfectly compre- 
 iiended all that would be necessary to re-establish 
 the .Jewish exiles in their own land ; and that his 
 power could effect it. The words are, however ca- 
 pable of a nobler and more extensive meaning, and 
 in this larger view we intend to consider them. God 
 is great in counsel, either, as the words may be trans- 
 lated, " great in designing, and mighty in execu- 
 ting:" or, as the same phrase is rendered in Isaiah, 
 " wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working," 
 xxviii. 29. We will endeavour to give you a just 
 notion of this sublime subject in two different views. 
 
 I. We will consider the subject speculatively. 
 
 IL We will consider it in a practical light. 
 
 We intend by considering the subject specula- 
 tively, to evince the truth of the subject, the de- 
 monstration of which is very important to us. By 
 considering it practically, we intend to convince 
 you, on the one hand^ of the monstrous extrava- 
 gance of those men, thgse little rays of intelligence^ 
 
and the Abundance of his Power, 201 
 
 Avho, according to the wise man, pretend to set 
 their " wisdom and counsel against tlie Lord," Prov. 
 xxi. 30. and on the other, of the wisdom of those, 
 who, while they regulate their conduct by his laws 
 alone, commit their peace, tlieir life, and their sal- 
 vation to the care of his providence. This is what 
 I propose to lay before you. 
 
 I. " O Lord, thou art great in counsel, and migh- 
 ty in work." Let us consider this proposition 
 speculatively. I shall establish it on two kinds of 
 proofs. The first shall be taken from the nature of 
 God : the second from the history of the world, or 
 rather from the history of the church. 
 
 L My first proofs shall be taken from the nature 
 of God; not that it belongs to a preacher to go very 
 deeply into so profound a subject, nor to his audi- 
 tors to follow all the reflections that he could make : 
 yet we wish, when we speak of the Supreme Being, 
 that we might not be alw ays obliged to speak super- 
 ficially, under pretence that we always speak to 
 plain people. We wish ye had sometimes the 
 laudable ambition, -especially when ye assist in this 
 sacred place, of elevating your minds to those sub- 
 lime objects, of the meditation of which, the occu- 
 pations, to which your frailties and miseries, or, 
 shall I rather say, your vitiated tastes enslave you, 
 ye are deprived in the ordinary course of your 
 lives. 
 
 The nature of God proves that he is great in coun- 
 sel. Consider the perfect knowledge that he hath 
 of all possible beings, as well as of all the beings 
 which do actually exist. \^ e are not only incajia- 
 
 voL. I, 20 
 
202 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 ble of thoroughly understanding the knowledge 
 that he h'lth of possible beings ; but we are even in- 
 capable of forming any idea of it. I am not sure that 
 the reduction of all the objects of our knowledge 
 to two ideas is founded in reason^ T do not know 
 whether we be not guilty of some degree of temer- 
 ity in comprising all real existences in two classes : 
 a class of bodies, and a class of spirits. I leave 
 this question to philosophers ; but I maintain, that 
 it argues the highest presumption to affirm, even al- 
 lowing that every being within our knowledge is 
 either body or spirit, that every thing must be re- 
 ducible to one of these classes, that not only all 
 real existence, but even all possible existence, must 
 necessarily be either body or spirit. I wonder how 
 human capacities, contracted as they are within liin- 
 its so narrow, dare be so bold as to prescribe bounds 
 to their Creator, and restrain his intelligence with- 
 in their own sphere. If it were allowable to ad- 
 vance any thing upon the ujost abstract subject that 
 can be proposed, I would venture to say that it is 
 highly probable, that the same depth of divine in- 
 telligence, which conceived the ideas of body atid 
 spirit, conceiveth other ideas without end : it is 
 highly probable, that possibility, (if I may be al- 
 lowed to say so) hath no other bounds than the in- 
 finite knowledge of the Supreme Being. What an 
 vmfathomable depth of meditation, my brethren 1 
 to glance at it is to confound one's self. What 
 would our perplexity be if we should attempt to 
 enter it ? The knowledge of all possible beings, di- 
 versified without end by the same intelligence that 
 
wid the Abundance of his Power. 203 
 
 imagines them : What designs, or, as our prophet 
 expresseth himself. What greatness of counsel dolh 
 it afford the Supreme Being ? 
 
 But let us not lose ourselves in the world of pos- 
 sible beings ; let us confine our attention to real 
 existences : I am willing even to reduce them to 
 the two classes, which were just now mentioned. 
 Let each of you imagine, my brethren, as far as 
 his ability can reach, how great the counsel of an 
 intelligence must be, who perfectly knows all that 
 can result from the various arrangements of matter, 
 and from the different modifications of mind. 
 
 What greatness of counsels must there be in an 
 intelligence, who perfectly knows all that can result 
 from the various arrangements of matter ? What is 
 matter? What is body? It is a being divisible into 
 parts, which parts may be variously arranged with- 
 out end, and from which as many different bodies 
 may arise, as there can be diversities in the arrange- 
 ment of their parts. Let us proceed from small 
 things to great. Put a grain of wheat to a little 
 earth, warm that earth with the rays of the sun, and 
 the grain of wheat will become an ear laden with a 
 great many grains like that which produced them. 
 Give the parts of these grains an arrangement dif- 
 ferent from that w hich they had in the ear, sepa- 
 rate the finer from the coarser parts, mix a few drops 
 of water with the former, and ye will procure a 
 paste : produce a small alteration of the parts of this 
 paste, and it will become bread : let the bread be 
 bruised with the teeth, and it will become flesh, bone, 
 blood, and so on. The same reasoninsf, that we 
 
204: The Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 have applied to a grain of wheat, may be applied 
 to a piece of gold, or to a bit of clay, and we know 
 what a multitude of arts in society have been pro- 
 duced by the knowledge, which mankind have ob- 
 tained of the different arrangements of which matter 
 is capable. 
 
 . But mankind can perceive only one point of mat- 
 ter ; a point placed between two infinites ; an infi- 
 nitely great, and an infinitely small. Two sorts of 
 bodies exist beside those that are the objects of our 
 senses, one sort is infinitely great, the other infinite- 
 ly small. Those enormous masses of matter, of 
 which we have only a glimpse, are bodies infinitely 
 great, such as the sun, the stars, and an endless num- 
 ber of worlds in the immensity of space, to us in- 
 deed imperceptible, but the existence of which, 
 however, we are obliged to allow. Bodies infinite- 
 ly small are those minute particles of matter, which 
 are too fine, and subtile to be subject to our ex- 
 periments, and seem to us to have no solidity, on- 
 ly because our senses are too gross to discover 
 them, but which lodge an infinite number of organ- 
 ized beings. 
 
 Having laid down these indisputable data, let us 
 see what may be argued from them. If the know- 
 ledge that men have obtained of one portion of mat- 
 ter, and a few different arrangements of which it is 
 capable, hath produced a great number of arts that 
 make society flourish, and without the help of which 
 life itself would be a burden ; what would follow if 
 they could discover all matter ? What would fol- 
 low their knowledge of those other bodies, which 
 
and the Abundance of his Power. 205 
 
 now absorb their capacities by their greatness, and 
 escape their experiments by their littleness ? What 
 would follow if they could obtain adequate ideas of 
 the various arrangements of which the parts of bo- 
 dies infinitely great and those of bodies infinitely 
 small are capable ? What secrets ! What arts ! What 
 an infinite source of supplies would that knowledge 
 become ? 
 
 Now this, my brethren, is the knowledge of the 
 Supreme Being. The Supreme Being knows as 
 perfectly all bodies infinitely great, and all bodies 
 infinitely small, as he knows those bodies between 
 both, which are the objects of human knowledge. 
 The Supreme Being perfectly knows what must re- 
 sult from every different arrangement of the parts of 
 bodies infinitely small ; and he perfectly knows what 
 must result from every different arrangement of the 
 parts of bodies infinitely great. What treasures of 
 plans ! What myriads of designs ! or, to use the lan- 
 guage of my text, W^hat greatness of counsel must 
 this knowledge supply! 
 
 But God. knows spirits also as perfectly as he 
 knows bodies. If he knows all that must result 
 from the various arrangements of matter, he also 
 knows all that must result from the different modifi- 
 cations of mind. Let us pursue the same method 
 in this article that we have pursued in the former ; 
 let us proceed from small things to great ones. One 
 of the greatest advantages that a man can acquire 
 over other men with whom he is connected, is a 
 knowledge of their different capacities, the various 
 
206 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 passions that govern them, and the multiform pro- 
 jects that run in their minds. This kind of know- 
 ledge forms profound politicians, and elevates them 
 above the rest of mankind. The same observation, 
 that we have made of the superiority of one politi- 
 cian over another politician, we may apply to one 
 citizen compared with another citizen. The inter- 
 est which we have in discovering the designs of our 
 neighbours in a city, a house, or a family, is in the 
 little, what policy among princes and potentates is in 
 the great world. 
 
 But as I just now said of the material world, that 
 we knew only one point, which was placed between 
 two undiscoverable infinites, an infinitely great, and 
 an infinitely small ; so I say of the world of spirits: 
 an infinite number of spirits exist, which in regard 
 to us, are some of them infinitely minute, and others 
 infinitely grand. We are ignorant of the manner of 
 their existence ; we hardly know whether they do 
 exist. We are incapable of determining whether 
 they have any influence over our happiness, or if 
 they have, in what their influence consists : so that 
 in this respect we are absolutely incapable of coun- 
 sel. 
 
 But God the Supreme Being, knows the intellir 
 gent world as perfectly as he knows the material 
 world. Human spirits, of which we have but an im- 
 perfect knowledge, are thoroughly known to him. 
 He knows the conceptions of our minds, the pas- 
 sions of our hearts, all our purposes, and all our 
 powers. The conceptions of our minds are occa-^ 
 sioned by the agitation of our brains ; God knows 
 
and the Abundance of his Power. 207 
 
 when the brain will be agitated, and when it will be 
 at rest, and before it is agitated he knows what de- 
 terminations will be produced by its motion : Con- 
 sequently he knows all the conceptions of our 
 minds. Our passions are excited by the presence 
 of certain objects; God knows when those objects 
 will be present, and consequently he knows wheth- 
 er we shall be moved with desire or aversion, hatred 
 or love. When our passions are excited we form 
 certain purposes to gratify them, and these purpo- 
 ses w ill either be effected or defeated according to 
 that degree of natural or civil power w^hich God 
 hath given us. God who gave us our degree of 
 power, knows how far it can go ; and consequently 
 he knows not only what purposes we form, but what 
 power we have to execute them. 
 
 But what is this object of the divine knowledge ? 
 What is this handful of mankind, in comparison of 
 all the other spirits that compose the whole intelli- 
 gent world, of which we are only an inconsiderable 
 part ? God know s them as he knows us ; and he di- 
 versifies the counsels of his own w isdom according 
 to the different thoughts, delibei-ations, and wishes 
 of these different spirits. Wliat a depth of know- 
 ledge, my brethren ! What " greatness of counsel ! 
 Ah, Lord God, behold thou hast made the heaven 
 and the earth by thy great pow er and stretched out 
 arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. The 
 great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts is thy 
 name, thou art great in counsel." 
 
 We have proved then, by considering the divine 
 perfections, that God is great in counsel, and we 
 
208 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 shall endeavour to prove by the same method that 
 he is mighty in work. 
 
 These two, wisdom and power, are not always 
 united ; yet it is on their union that the happiness 
 of intelliojent bein:^s depends. It would be often 
 better to be quite destitute of both, than to possess 
 one in a very great, and the other in a very small 
 degree. Wisdom very often serves only to render 
 him miserable, who is destitute of power ; as pow^ 
 €r often becomes a source of misery to him who is 
 destitute of wisdom. 
 
 Have ye never observed, my brethren, that peo- 
 ple of the finest and most enlarged geniusses, have 
 often the least success of any people in the world ? 
 This may appear at first sight very unaccountable, 
 but a little attention will explain the mystery. A 
 narrow contracted mind usually concenters itself 
 in one single object: it wholly employs itself in 
 forming projects of happiness proportional to its 
 own capacity, and as its capacity is extremely shal- 
 low, it easily meets with the means of executing 
 them. But this is not the case with a man of supe- 
 rior genius, whose fruitful fancy forms notions of 
 happiness grand and sublime. He invents noble 
 plans, involuntarily gives himself up to his own 
 chimeras, and derives a p]easure from these ingen- 
 ious shadows, which for a few moments, compen- 
 sates for their want of substance : but when his rev- 
 erie is over, he finds real beings inferior to ideal 
 ones, and thus his genius serves to make him miser- 
 able. A man is much to be pitied in my opinion, 
 when the penetration of his mind; and the fruitful- 
 
and Ike Abundance of fiis Power. 209 
 
 ness of Lis invention, furnish him with ideas of a 
 delightful society cemented by a faithful, solid and 
 delicate friendship. Recall him to this world, 
 above which his imagination had just now raised 
 him ; consider him among men, who know nothing 
 of friendsliip but its name, or who have at best only 
 a superficial knowledge of it, and ye will be convin- 
 ced that the art of inventing is often the art of self- 
 tormenting, or, as I said before, that greatness of 
 counsels destitute of abundance of power is a source 
 of infelicity. 
 
 It is just the same with abundance of power with- 
 out greatness of counsels. What doth it avail to 
 possess great riches, to reign over a great people, to 
 command formidable fleets and armies, when this 
 power is not accompanied with >visdom ? 
 
 In God, the Supreme Being, there is a perfect 
 harmony of wisdom and power: The efficiency of 
 his will, and the extent of his knowledge are equal. 
 But I own I am afraid, were I to pursue my medi- 
 tation, and to attempt to establish this proposition 
 hy proofs taken from the divine nature, that I should 
 lose, if not myself, at least one part of my hearers, 
 by aiming to conduct them into a world, \vith which 
 they are entirely unacquainted. However, I must 
 say, that with reluctance I make this sacrifice, for I 
 suppress speculations, which would afford no small 
 degree of pleasure to those who could pursue them. 
 It is delightful to elevate our souls in meditating on 
 the grandeur of God ; and although God dwelleth 
 in a light which no man can apjfrroach unto, 1 Tim. 
 vi. 16. although it is impossible for feeble mortals 
 
 VOL. I. 27 
 
21Q The Greatness of GocVs Wisdom, 
 
 to have a free access to him ; yet it is pleasing to 
 endeavour to diminish the distance that separates 
 them. I cannot but think, that without presuming 
 too much upon natural reason, any one who habit- 
 uates himself to consult it, may assure himself of 
 finding sufficient evidence of this truth, that the ef- 
 ficiency of God's will is equal to the extensiveness 
 of his ideas, and by close and necessary conse- 
 quence, that he is as mighty in work as he is great 
 in counsel. 
 
 Carry your thoughts back into those periods in 
 which the Perfect Being existed alone. Sound rea- 
 son must allow that he hath so existed. What 
 could then have been the rule or model of beings 
 which should in future exist ? The ideas of God 
 were those models. And what could cause those 
 beings that bad onlv an ideal existence in the intel- 
 ligence of God, actually to exist out of it ? The ef- 
 ficiency of his will was the cause. The will of the 
 same Being then, whose ideas had been the exem- 
 plars, or models, of the attributes of creatures, 
 caused their existence. The Supreme Being there- 
 fore, who is great in counsel, is mighty in work. 
 
 This being granted, consider now the ocean of 
 God's power, as ye have already considered the 
 greatness of his counseL God not only knows what 
 motion of your brain will excite such or such an 
 idea in your mind, but he excites or prevents that 
 idea as he pleaseth, because he produceth or pre- 
 venteth that motion of your brain as he pleaseth. 
 God not only knows what objects will excite cer- 
 tain passions within you, but he excites or diverts 
 
and the Abundance of Ids Poner. 211 
 
 those passions as he pleaseth. God not only knows 
 what projects your passions will produce, when they 
 have gained an ascendency over you, but he inclines 
 you to form, or not to form such projects, because 
 as it seems best to him, he excites those passions, or 
 he curbs them. 
 
 Wliat we affirm of men, we affirm also of all oth- 
 er intellio;ent beings : they are no less the objects of 
 the knowledge of God than men are, and like them, 
 are equally subject to his efficient will : and hence 
 it is that God knows how to make all fuffil his de- 
 signs. It is by this that he makes every thing sub- 
 servient to his glory ; Herod and Pilate, our hatred 
 and our love, our aversions and our desires ; the 
 ten thousand times ten thousand intelligences, some 
 of which are superior to us, and others inferior, all 
 that they are, all that they have, the praises of the 
 blessed and the blasphemies of the damned, all by 
 this mean are instrumental in the execution of his 
 designs, because the determinations of his will are 
 efficient, because to will and to do, to form a plan 
 and to have the power of executing it, is the same 
 thing with the Supreme Being, Avith him whose 
 ideas were the only models of the attributes of all 
 creatures, as his will was the only cause of their 
 existence. 
 
 But perhaps I am falling into what I meant to 
 avoid; perhaps I am bewildering my hearers and 
 myself in speculative labyrinths too intricate for us 
 all. Let us reason then no longer on the nature of 
 God ; this object is too high for us : Let us take 
 another method, (and here I allege the second proof 
 
212 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 of the truth of rny text, that is, the history of the 
 world, or as I said before, the history of the church :) 
 Let us take, I say, another method of proving that 
 God who is great in counsel, is also mighty in rvork. 
 What counsel can ye imagine too great for God to 
 execute, or which he hath not really executed ? Let 
 the most fruitful imagination exert its fertility to 
 the utmost; let it make every possible effort to 
 form plans worthy of an infinite intelligence, it can 
 invent nothing so difficult that God hath not reali- 
 zed. 
 
 It should seem, according to our manner of rea- 
 soning, that greatness of wisdom and sufficiency of 
 •power never appear in greater harmony in an intelli- 
 gent being, than when that intelligence produceth 
 effects by means, in all appearance, more likely to 
 produce contrary effects. This, we are sure, God 
 hath effected, and doth effect every day. And, that 
 we may proportion this discourse, not to the extent 
 of my subject, but to the length of these exercises, 
 we will briefly remark, that God hath the power of 
 making, L The deepest afflictions of his children 
 produce their highest happiness. 2. The contrivan- 
 ces of tyrants to oppress the church procure its es- 
 tablishment. 3. The triumphs of Satan turn to tho 
 destruction of his empire. 
 
 L God hath the power of making the deepest of 
 his children's afflictions produce their highest hap- 
 piness. 
 
 The felicity of the children of God, and, in gen- 
 eral, the felicity of all intelligent beings, is found- 
 ed upon order. All happiness that is not founded 
 
and the Abundance of his Power, 213 
 
 upon order is a violent state, and must needs be of 
 a short duration. But the essence of order, among 
 intelligent beings, is the assigning of that place in 
 their affections to every relative being which is fit 
 for it. Now there is a fitness in having a higher es- 
 teem for a being of great excellencies than for one 
 of small. There is a fitness in my having a higher 
 degree of affection for one of whom I have receiv^- 
 ed more benefits, and from whom I still expect to 
 receive more, than for one of whom I have receiv- 
 ed, and still hope to receive, fewer. But God is a 
 being of the highest excellence, to God therefore 
 1 owe the highest degree of esteem. God is the be- 
 ing of whom I have received the most benefits, and 
 of whom I expect to receive the most ; consequent- 
 ly, to God I owe the highest degree of affectionate 
 gratitude. 
 
 Yet, how often do the children of God lose sight 
 of this grand principle ? I do not speak only of a 
 few absent moments, in which the power of thought 
 and reflection is, in a manner, gone ; nor do I mean 
 only those violent passions Avhich criminal objects 
 excite : I speak of a poison much less sensible, and 
 therefore perhaps much more dangerous. We will 
 give you one example out of many. 
 
 Two pious persons enter into the honourable 
 state of marriage on principles of virtue, and com- 
 pose a family that reveres the Creator by consider- 
 ing him as the only source of all the blessings which 
 they enjoy. Their happiness consists in celebrating 
 the benificence and perfections of the adorable God, 
 and all their possessions they devote to his glory. 
 
214 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 He blesseth their union by multiplying those who 
 compose it, and their children imbibe knowledge 
 and virtue from the womb. The parents taste the 
 most delicious pleasure in the world, in cultivating 
 the promising geniusses of their children, and in 
 seeing the good grain, which they sow in a field fa- 
 voured of heaven, produce in one thirty, in another 
 sixty, in another an hundred fold, and they delight 
 themselves with the hopes of giving one child to the 
 state, and another to the church ; this to an art, and 
 that to a science, and thus of enriching society with 
 the most valuable of all treasures, virtuous and ca- 
 pable citizens. All on a sudden this delicious un- 
 ion is impoisoned and dissolved ; this amiable fond- 
 ness is interrupted ; those likely projects are discon- 
 certed: an unexpected catastrophe sweeps away 
 that fortune, by which alone their designs for their 
 family could have been accomplished ; the child of 
 their greatest hopes is cut down in the beginning of 
 his race ; the head of the family expires at a time in 
 which his life is most necessary to it. A disconso- 
 late widow, an helpless family exposed to every 
 danger, are the sad remains of a house just now a 
 model of the highest human happiness, and, in all 
 appearance, of the purest piety. Is not this the 
 depth of misery ? 
 
 From this depth of misery, however, ariseth the 
 highest felicity. The prosperity, of which we have 
 been speaking, was so much the more dangerous by 
 how much the more innocent it appeared ; for if the 
 persons in question had founded it in vice, they 
 would have quickly forsaken it, as wholly incom- 
 
and the Abundance of his Power. 21.5 
 
 patible with their pious principles ; but, as they had 
 founded it in piety, there is great reason to fear that 
 they had placed too much of their happiness in 
 earthly prosperity, and that it had almost entirely 
 engaged the attention of their minds, and set bounds 
 to the desires of their hearts. But what is it to en- 
 gage the mind too much in temj)oral prosperity ? It 
 is to lose sight of God our chief good in a world 
 where at best we can obtain but an imperfect know- 
 ledge of him. What is it to confine the desires of 
 our hearts to earthly happiness? It is to forget our 
 best interest in a world, where, when we have car- 
 ried that love, which God so abundantly merits, to 
 the highest pitch, we can offer him but a very im- 
 perfect service. Every object that produceth such 
 an effect occupies a place in the heart, which is due 
 to none but God. And while any other fills the 
 seat of God in the heart, we may indeed have a 
 kind of happiness, but it must be a happiness con- 
 trary to order ; it is violent and must be short, f 
 nm aware that the loss will be bitter in the same de- 
 gree as the enjoyment had been sw^eet ; but the bit- 
 terness wall produce ineffkble pleasures, infinitelv 
 preferable to all those that have been taken away. 
 It will reclaim us again to God, the only object W'or- 
 thy of our love, the alone fountain of all our felicity. 
 This may be inferred from many declarations of 
 scripture, and from the lives of many exemplars- 
 saints, as well as from your own experience, if in- 
 deed, my dear hearers, when God hath torn away 
 the objects of your tenderest affection, ye have been 
 so wise as to make this use of your losses, to re-es- 
 
216 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 tablisli order in your hearts, and to give tliat place 
 to God in your souls which the object held of 
 whicli ye have been deprived. 
 
 2. God establislieth his church by the very means 
 that tyrants use to destroy it. But the reflections 
 which naturally belong to this article, ye heard a 
 few weeks ago, when we explained these words in 
 the Revelation, Here is the patience of the saints,^ 
 Rev. xiii. 10. We endeavoured then to prevent 
 the gloomy fears that might be occasioned in your 
 minds by those new edicts, which Rome, always in- 
 tent upon making the kings of the earth drunk rvith 
 her fornication. Rev. xvii. 2. had extorted against 
 your brethren. We exhorted you, in the greatest 
 tribulations of the church, never to lose sight of 
 that Divine Providence which w^atches to preserve 
 it. 
 
 We reminded you of some great truths that pro- 
 ceeded from the mouth of God himself; such as, 
 that the Assyrian was only the rod of his anger, (Isa. 
 X. 5.) that Herod and Pilate did only what his hand 
 and his counsel determined before to be done, Acts iv. 
 27, 28. These truths should be always in our 
 minds, for there never was a time when we had 
 more need to meditate on them. The distresses of 
 our brethren seem to be past remedy. To incorpo- 
 rate our felicity with that of a church, a considera- 
 ble part of which hath been so long bathed in tears, 
 seems as irrational as the conduct of Jeremiah, who, 
 just before the desolation of Judea, purchased an 
 
 * This is the seventh sermon of the twelfth vol. and is entitled, 
 Le J\''ouveaux Malheurs de VEglise, 
 
and the Abundance of his Power* 217 
 
 estate in that devoted country with the money which 
 lie wanted to alleviate his captivity in Babylon. 
 Yet, " O Lord God, the God of the spirits of all 
 ilesh, is there any thing too hard for thee ? Thou 
 liast made the heaven and the earth by thy great 
 power, and by thy stretched out arm. Tliou art 
 the great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts is thy 
 name ; great in counsel, and miglity in work,'* 
 JNum. xvi. 22. 
 
 3. Finally, God turneth the victories of Satan to 
 the ruin of his empire. Here fix your attention 
 upon the work of redemption, for the perfections 
 of God, which we celebrate to-day, are more illus- 
 triously displayed in it than in any other of the 
 Creator's wonders. It is, if I may be allowed to 
 express myself so, the utmost effort of the concur- 
 rence of the greatness of his counsels with the abun- 
 dance of his poller, I resume this subject, not for 
 the sake of filling up my plan, but because my text 
 cannot be well explained without it. Those inspir- 
 ed writers, who lived under the Old Testament dis* 
 pensation, always mixed sofuething of the gospel 
 redemption with the temporal deliverances which 
 they foretold. One of the strongest reasons, that 
 they urged to convince the Jewish exiles that God 
 would restore their country to them, was that their 
 return was essential to the accomplishment of the 
 promises relating to the IMessiah. Jeremiah par- 
 ticularly uses this method in the verses which are 
 connected with the text. Why doth he exalt the 
 greatness of God's counsel, and the abundance of his 
 po?ver I Is it only because, as he expresseth it, " God 
 
 VOL. I. 28 
 
218 llie Greatness of God's Wisdom, 
 
 would gather the Jews out of all countries whither 
 he had driven them in his fury," (Jer. xxxii. 37.) so 
 that men should buy fields in the places about Jerusa- 
 lem 1 No, but it is because he " would make an 
 everlasting covenant with them," (Jer. xxxii. 40.) 
 It is because " at that time he would cause the 
 branch of righteousness to grow up unto David," 
 Jer. xxxiii. 15. Who is this branch? It is he of 
 whom our prophet had before spoken in the twenty- 
 third chapter of his prophecy, ver. 5. " Behold the 
 days come that I will raise unto David a righteous 
 branch." It is he of whom Isaiah said, " The 
 branch of the I^ord shall be beautiful and glorious," 
 isa. iv. 2. It is he whom God promised by Zecha- 
 riah after the captivity, in order to convince the 
 Jews that the promises concerning the branch had 
 not been accomplished by their release : " Behold 
 the man whose name is The Branch, he shall grow 
 Up out of his place, and he shall build the temple 
 of the Lord/* Zech. vi. 12. It is he whom the Jews 
 themselves have acknowledged for the Messiah. It 
 Is the holy seed, who was promised to man after the 
 fall, and who hath been the object of the church's 
 hope in all ages. It is eminently in behalf of this 
 tranch that God hath displayed, as I said before, in 
 all their grandeur, the abundance of his porver, and 
 the greatness of his counsel. I do not speak here of 
 Ihat counsel, which hath been from all eternity, in 
 the intelligence of God, touching the redemption 
 'bf mankind. My capacity is absorbed, I own, in 
 contemplating so grand an object, and to admire 
 and to exclaim seem more suitable to our finite 
 
and the Abundance of his Power. 219 
 
 minds than to attempt to fathom such a prodigious 
 depth : for where is the genius that can form ade- 
 quate ideas of a subject so profound ^ A God, who 
 from all eternity fonried the plan of this universe: 
 a God, who from all eternity foresaw whatever 
 would result from its arrangement : a God, who, 
 from all eternity, resolved to create mankind, al- 
 though he knew from all eternity that they would 
 fall into sin, and plunge themselves into everlasting 
 miseries : but a God, who, foreseeing from all eter^ 
 nity the malady, from all eternity provided the rem- 
 edy : a God, who from everlasting determined to 
 clothe his Son in mortal flesh, and to send him into 
 the world : a God, who, according to the language 
 of scripture, slew, in his design from all eternity, the 
 
 lamb Rev. xiii. 8. But, I repeat it 
 
 again, my brethren, it better becomes such feeble 
 minds as ours to admire and to exclaim, than to 
 attempt to fathom. Let us content ourselves with 
 beholding in the execution of this divine plan, how 
 the victories of Satan have subverted his empire. 
 
 What a victory for Satan, when that Redeemer, 
 that king Messiah, whose advent had been announ- 
 ced with so much pomp and magnificence, appeared 
 in a form so mean, and so inferior to the expec- 
 tations which the prophecies had occasioned, and 
 to the extraordinary work for which he came into 
 the world, when he lodged in a stable, and lay in a 
 manger ! 
 
 What a triumph for Satan, w^hen Jesus had no at- 
 tendants but a few miserable fishermen, and a few 
 publicans as contemptible as their master ! 
 
220 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 What a victory for Satan, when Jesus was appre- 
 hended as a malefactor, dragged from one tribunal 
 to another, and, in fine, condemned by his judges to 
 die! 
 
 What a victory had Satan obtained, when the ob- 
 ject of Israel's hopes was nailed to an accursed 
 tree, and there ended a life, upon which seemed to 
 depend the salvation of mankind ! 
 
 W^hat a triumphant victory for Satan, when he 
 had inspired the nation of the risen Redeemer to 
 treat the report of his resurrection as an impos- 
 ture, and to declare an everlasting war against him 
 in the persons of all who durst declare in his fa- 
 vour! 
 
 But however, the more impracticable the redemp- 
 tion of mankind seemed, the more did God dis- 
 play the greatness of his counsel and the abundance 
 of his poner in effecting it : for he turned all the 
 triumphs of Satan to the destruction of his domin- 
 ion. 
 
 The Branch was lodged in a stable, the king of 
 the universe did lie in a manger ; but a star in the 
 heavens announced his birth, angels conducted wor- 
 shippers to him from the most distant eastern coun- 
 tries, and joined their own adorations to those of 
 the wise men, who offered to him their gold, their 
 frankincense and their myrrh. 
 
 His attendants were only a few fishermen and 
 publicans ; but this served the more effectually to 
 secure his doctrine from the most odious objections 
 that could be opposed against it. The meaner the 
 vessel appears, the more excellent seems the trea?- 
 
and the Abundance of his Power, 221 
 
 lire contained in it : the weaker the instruments 
 employed in buildinor the church appear, the more 
 evident will the ability of the builder be. These 
 fishermen confounded philosophers; these publi- 
 cans struck the Rabbles dumb ; the winds and the 
 waves were subject to their authority ; and to 
 their commands all the powers of nature were seen 
 to bow. 
 
 He was apprehended like a malefactor, and cru- 
 cified ; but upon the cross he bruised the serpent's 
 head while Satan vaunted of bruising his hecly Gen. 
 iii. 15. Upon the cross "he spoiled principalities 
 and powers, and made a shew of them openly, tri- 
 umphing over them in it," Col. ii. 15. 
 
 He was wrapped in burying clothes, laid on a 
 bier, and, with all the momnful funiiture of death, 
 deposited in a tomb ; but by this he conquered 
 death, and disarmed him of his sting, 1 Cor. xv. 
 56. By ttiis he furnished thee. Christian, with ar- 
 mour of proof against the attacks of the tyrant, 
 who would enslave thee, and whose formidable ap- 
 proaches have caused thee so many fears. 
 
 He was rejected by his own countrymen, even af- 
 ter he had risen victorious from the tomb, laden with 
 the spoils of the king of terrors. Job xviii. 14. but 
 their rejection of him animated his apostles to shake 
 oft' the dust from their feet against those execrable 
 men, who, after they had murdered the master, en- 
 deavoured to destroy the disciples, and put them 
 upon lifting up the standard of the cross in every 
 other pail of the universe, and this the heathen world 
 >vas bound to his triumphal chariot, and the whole 
 
222 The Greatness of God's Wisdom^ 
 
 earth saw the accomplishment of those proohecies 
 which had foretold that he should " reign from sea 
 to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." 
 How great the counsel! my dear brethren, how ?nigh' 
 ty the work ! " Ah, Lord God, there is nothing too 
 hard for thee." Thou aii " the great, the mighty- 
 God, the Lord of hosts is thy name, great in counsel, 
 and mighty in work." 
 
 Here we may pause, and very properly come to a 
 conclusion of this discourse ; for, though we pro- 
 posed at first to consider " the greatness of God's 
 counsel, and the omnipotence of his working," in a 
 practical light, after having examined them specu- 
 latively, yet, methinks, the examination of tlie sub- 
 ject in one point of light, is the explication of it in 
 both. When we have proved that God is great in 
 counsel, and mighty hi work, in my opinion, we have 
 sufficiently shown, on the one hand, the extrava- 
 gance of those madmen, who, in the language of 
 the wise man, pretend to exercise " wisdom and un- 
 derstanding, and counsel against the Lord," Prov. 
 xxi. 20. and on the other, the wisdom of those, who, 
 taking his laws for the only rules of their conversa- 
 tion, commit their peace, their lives, and their sal- 
 vations, to the disposal of his providence. Only let 
 us take care, my dear brethren, (and with this single 
 exhoilation we conclude) let us take care, that we 
 do not flatter ourselves into an opinion that we pos- 
 sess this wisdom while we are destitute of it : and let 
 us take care, while we exclaim against the extrava- 
 gance of those madmen, of whom I just now spoke, 
 that we do not imitate their dangerous examples. 
 
 \\ 
 
and the Abundance of his Power. 223 
 
 But what! Is it possil^le to find, among beings 
 who have the least spark of reason, an indivichial 
 mad enough to suppose himself wiser than that God 
 who is great in coimscl, or, is there one who dare re- 
 sist a God miirhtij in working ! My brethren, one of 
 tlie most difficult questions, that we meet with in 
 the study of human nature, is, whether some actions 
 in men's lives proceed from intentions in their minds. 
 To affinn, or to deny, is eciually difficult. On the 
 one hand, we can hardly believe that an intelligent 
 creature can revolve intentions in his mind directly 
 opposite to intelligence, and the extravagance of 
 which the least ray of intelligence seems sufficient 
 to discover. On the other, we can hardly think it 
 possible, that this creature shoidd follow a course of 
 life altogether founded on such an intention, if in- 
 deed he have it not in his mind. I'he truth is, a 
 question of this kind may he either affirmed or deni- 
 ed according to the diiTerent lights in which it is cort- 
 ^idered. Put these cjuestions to the most megular 
 of mankind: Dost thou pretend to oppose God? 
 Hast thou the presumption to attempt to prevail over 
 hhn by thy buperiority of knoAvledge and power ? 
 Fut these questions simply apart from the conduct, 
 and ye will hardly meet with one who will not arn 
 swer No. But examine the conduct, not only of 
 the most irregular men, but even of those who ima- 
 gine that theii' behavior is the most prudent ; pene- 
 trate those secret thoughts, which they involve in 
 darkness in order to conceal the hoiTor of them from 
 themselves ; and ye v>'iil soon discover tliat they, wiio 
 answered so pertinently to your questions when 
 
224 The Greatness of God's IVisdom, 
 
 ye proposed them simply, will actually take the op- 
 posite side when ye propose tiie same questions rela- 
 tively. But who then, ye will ask me, who are those 
 men, who presumptuously think of overcoming God 
 by their superior knowledge and pow er ? 
 
 Who ? It is that soldier, who, with a'brutal cour- 
 age, defies danger, affronts death, resolutely march- 
 es amidst fires and flames, even though he hath ta- 
 ken no care to have an interest in the Lord of hosts, 
 or to commit his soul to his trust. 
 
 Who ? It is that statesman, wiio, despising the 
 suggestions of evangelical prudence, pursues strata- 
 gems altogether worldly; who makes no scruple of 
 committing what are called state-crimes ; who, w ith 
 a disdainful air, affects to pity us, when we aflSrm, 
 that the most advantageous service, that a wise le- 
 gislator can perform for society, is to render the 
 Deity propitious to it ; that the happiest nations 
 are those " whoseGod is the Lord," Ps. xxxiii. 12. 
 
 Who? It is that philosopher, who makes a pa- 
 rade of I know not v. hat stoical firmness ; who con- 
 ceits himself superior to all the vicissitudes of life ; 
 who boasts of his tranquil expectation of death, yea, 
 W'ho affects to desire its approach, for the sake of 
 enjoying the pleasure of insulting his casuist, who 
 hath ventured to foretel that he will be terrified at it. 
 
 Who? It is that voluptuary, wlio opposeth to all 
 our exhortations and thieatenings, to the most af- 
 fecting denunciations of calamities from God in this 
 life, and to the most awful descriptions of judgment 
 to come in the next, to all our representations of 
 hell, of an eternity spent in the most execrable 
 
and the Abundance of his Power, 225 
 
 company, and in the most excrutiating pain ; who 
 opposeth to all these the buzz of amusements, the 
 hurry of company, gaming at home or diversions 
 abroad. 
 
 Study all these characters, my brethren, lay aside 
 the specious appearances that men use to conceal 
 their turpitude from themselves, and ye will find 
 that, to dare the Deity, to pretend by superior know- 
 ledge and strength to resist the w isdom and omni- 
 potence of God, is not so rare a disposition as ye 
 may at first have supposed. 
 
 Let us abhor this disposition of mind, my breth- 
 ren ; let us entertain right notions of sin ; let us 
 consider him who commits it as a madman, who 
 hath taken it into his head that he hath more know- 
 ledge than God the fountain of intelligence, more 
 strength than he beneath whose power all the crea- 
 tures of the universe are compelled to bow. When 
 we are tempted to sin, let us remember what sin is : 
 Let each of us ask himself. What can I, a miserable 
 man mean ? Do I mean to provoke the Lord to jeal- 
 ousy 1 Do I pretend to be stronger than he ? Can I 
 resist his ivill 1 Shall I set briars and thorns against 
 him in battle ? He will go through them^ he will burn 
 them together, 1 Cor. x. 22. Rom. ix. 19. Isa. xxvii. 
 5. Let us seek those benefits in a communion with 
 the great God, of which our fanciful passions can 
 only offer the shadows. Let us not pretend to de- 
 ceive him by the subtilty of our stratagems; but let 
 us endeavour to please him by acknowledging our 
 doubts, our darkness, and our ignorance ; the fluc- 
 
 voL. I. 29 
 
226 The Greatness of God's Wisdom, ^c. 
 
 tuations of our minds about the goTernment of the 
 state, the management of our families, and above 
 all, the salvation of our souls. Let us not appear 
 in his presence boasting of our natural power ; but 
 let us present ourselves before him weak, trembling, 
 and undone. By the greatness of his compassion 
 let us plead with him to pity our meanness and mis- 
 sery. Let our supplies flow from the fountains of 
 his wisdom and power ; this is real wisdom ; may 
 God inspire us with it ! This is substantial happi- 
 ness ; may God impart it to us ! Amen. To him be 
 lionour and glory for ever. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 Tht Holiness of God. 
 
 Leviticus xix. 1, 2. 
 
 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto 
 all the congregation of the children of Israel, and 
 say unto them, Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord 
 your God am holy. 
 
 I ADDRESS io all the faithful, whom the devo- 
 tion of this day hath assembled in this sacred place, 
 the command which Moses by the authority of God 
 addressed to all the congregation of Israel. How- 
 ever venerable this assembly may be, to which I am 
 this day called by Providence to preach, it cannot 
 be more august than that to which the Jewish legis- 
 lator formedy spoke. It was composed of more 
 than eighteen hundred thousand persons. There 
 were magistrates appointed to exercise justice, and 
 to represent God upon eai-th. There were priests 
 and Levites, consecrated to the worship of God, 
 and chosen by him to signify liis will to the church. 
 There were various ranks and degrees of men pro- 
 portional to so great a multitude of people. God 
 had given particular laws before, which were adapt- 
 ed to their different ranks, and to their various cir- 
 cumstances. But this is a general law : a law which 
 
228 Tlie Holiness of God. 
 
 equally belongs to magistrates, priests, and Levites : 
 a law which must be observed at all times, and in all 
 places. This is the law of holiness ; Speak unto all 
 the congregation of the children of Israel^ and say 
 unto them, Ye shall he holy : for I the Lord your 
 God am holy, 
 
 I repeat it again, my brethren, I address to all the 
 faithful, whom the devotion of this day hath assem- 
 bled in this sacred place, the. same precept that God 
 commanded Moses to address to all the congregation 
 of Israel. The law of holiness, which I preach to- 
 day, commands you our supreme governors. Arbi- 
 ters of your own lav/s, ye see no mortal upon earth 
 to whom ye are accountable for your conduct, but 
 there is a God in heaven, whose creatures and sub- 
 jects ye are, and who commands you to be holy. 
 The law of holiness commands you, priests and Le- 
 vites of the New Testament. The sacred character, 
 with which ye are invested, far from dispensing wdth 
 your obligation to holiness, enforceth it on you in a 
 more particular manner. This law commands you 
 all, my dear hearers, of what order, of what profes- 
 sion, of what rank soever ye be. If ye be a chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, ye 
 ought also to be a holy 7iation, that ye may sherv forth 
 the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness 
 into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Whatever pre- 
 rogative Moses had above us, we have the same law 
 to prescribe to you that he had to Israel, and the 
 voice of heaven saith to us now, as it said once to 
 him, Speak to all the congregation of the children of 
 
The Holiness of God. 229 
 
 Israel, and say unto them. Ye shall he holy : for I 
 the Lord your God am holy. 
 
 This discourse will have three parts. The term 
 holiness is equivocal, and consequently, the com- 
 mand ye shall be holy, is so. We will endeavour to 
 fix the sense of the term, and to give you a clear and 
 distinct idea of the word holiness : this will be our 
 fiist point. 
 
 Holiness, which in our text is attributed to God, 
 and prescribed to men, cannot belong to such dif- 
 ferent beings in the same sense, and in all respects. 
 We w ill therefore examine in w hat sense it belongs 
 to God, and in what sense it belongs to men ; and 
 we will endeavor to explain in what respects God is 
 holy, and in what respects men ought to be holy : 
 this will be our second part. 
 
 Although the holiness that is attributed to God, 
 differs in many respects from that which is prescrib- 
 ed to men, yet the first is the ground of the last. 
 The connection of these must be developed, and 
 the motive enforced, ye shall be holy for I the Lord 
 your God amholy : this shall be our thud part. And 
 this is the substance of all that we intend to pro- 
 pose. 
 
 I. The term holiness is equivocal, and consequent- 
 ly, the command, ye shall be holy, is so. Let us en- 
 deavor to affix a determinate sense to the term, and 
 to give you a clear and distinct idea of the meaning 
 of the w ord holiness. The original term is one of 
 the most vague words in the HebreAV language. In 
 general, it signifies to prepare, to set apart, to de- 
 vote. The nature of the subject to which it is ap- 
 
230 The Holiness of God. 
 
 plied, and not the force of the term, must diiTct us 
 to determine its meaning in passages where it occurs. 
 An appointment to offices the most noble, and the 
 most woilhy of intelligent beings, and an appoint- 
 ment to offices the most mean and infamous, are 
 alike expressed by this word. The profession of the 
 most august office of the high priesthood, and the 
 abominable profession of a prostitute, are both cal- 
 led holiness in this vague sease. 
 
 The poorest languages are those in which words 
 are the most equivocal, and this is the character of 
 the Hebrew language. I cannot think with some 
 that it is the most ancient language in the world ; 
 the contrary opinion, I think is supported by very 
 sufficient evidence. However, it must be granted^ 
 that it hath one grand character of antiquity, that 
 is, its imperfection. It seems to have been invent- 
 ed in the first ages of the world, when mankind 
 could express their ideas but imperfectly, and be- 
 fore they had time to render language determinate, 
 by affixing arbitrary names to all the objects of their 
 ideas. 
 
 This remark may at first appear useless, particu- 
 larly in such a discourse as this. It is, however, of 
 great consequence ; and I make it here for the sake 
 of young students in divinity : for, as the writers of 
 the Holy Scriptures frequently make use of terms, 
 that excite seveml ideas, the reasons of their chus- 
 ing such terms will be enquired : and on such rea- 
 sons as the fancies of students assign, some maxims, 
 and even some doctrines will be grounded. I could 
 mention more mysteries than onC;, that have been 
 
The Holiness of God. 23^1 
 
 found in scripture, only because on some occasions 
 it useth equivocal terms. An interpreter of scrip- 
 ture, should indeed assiduously urge the force of 
 those emphatical expressions, which the Holy Spirit 
 sometimes useth to signify, if I may so speak, the 
 ground and substance of the truth ; but at the same 
 time, he should avoid searching after the marvellous 
 in other expressions, that are employed only for the 
 sake of accommodating the discourse to the genius 
 of the Hebrew tongue. 
 
 The force of the tenu holiness, then not being suf- 
 ficient to determine its meaning, its meaning must be 
 sought elsewhere. We must enquire the object, to 
 which he devotes himself, who in our scriptures, is 
 called holy. For, as all those words, ye shall he ho^ 
 ly, for I am holy, are equal to these, ye shall he set 
 apart, or ye shall he devoted, for I am set apart, or 
 devoted, it is plain, that they cannot be well explain- 
 ed unless the object of the appointment or designa- 
 tion be deterirdned. This object is the matter of our 
 present enquiry, and on the investigation of this de- 
 pends our knowledge of what we call holiness. 
 Now, this subject is of such a kind, that the Aveak- 
 est Christian may form some idea of it, while the 
 ablest philosophers, and the most profound divines, 
 are incapable of treating it with the precision, and of 
 answering all the questions that a desire of a complete 
 explication may produce. 
 
 The weakest Christians may form (especially if 
 they be willing to avail themselves of such helps as 
 are at hand) some just notions of what we call holi- 
 ness. It seems to me, that in this auditory at least 
 
232 The Holiness of God, 
 
 there is not one person, who is incapable of pursu- 
 ing the following meditation : to which I entreat 
 your attention. 
 
 Suppose, in a ivorld entirely remote from you, a 
 society, to which ye have no kind of relation, and 
 to which ye never can have any. Suppose that 
 God had dispensed with an obedience to his laws in 
 favour of this society, had permitted the members 
 of it to live as they thought proper, and had assured 
 them that he would neither inflict any punishment 
 upon them for what we call vice, nor bestow any re- 
 wards on an attachment to what we call virtue. Sup- 
 pose two men in this society, making an opposite 
 use of this independence. The one saith to him- 
 self, Since I am the arbiter of my own conduct, and 
 the Supreme Being on whom I depend hath enga- 
 ged to require no account of my actions, I will con- 
 sult no other rule of conduct than my own interest. 
 Whenever it may be my interest to deny a trust re- 
 posed in me, I will do it without reluctance. When- 
 ever my interest may require the destruction of my 
 tenderest and most faithful friend, I myself ^^W\ be- 
 come his executioner, and will stab him. Thus rea- 
 sons one of them. 
 
 The other on the contrary, saith, I am free in- 
 deed, I am responsible only to myself for my con- 
 duct, but however, I will prescribe to myself some 
 rules of action, which I will inviolably pursue. I 
 will never betray a trust reposed in me, but I will, 
 with the utmost fidelity discharge it, whatever in- 
 terest I may have to do otherwise. I will careful- 
 ly preserve the life of my friend, who discovers so 
 
The Holiness of God, 233 
 
 much fidelity and love to me, whatever interest I 
 ma\ have in his destruction. We ask those of our 
 hearers, who are tiie least acquainted with medita- 
 tions of this kind, whether tliey can prevail with 
 themselves not to make an essential diffierence be- 
 tween those two members of the supposed society ? 
 We ask, whether ye can help feelino^ a horror at 
 the first, and a veneration for the last of these men ? 
 Now this conduct, or the principles of this conduct, 
 for which we cannot help feeling veneration and res- 
 pect, although the whole passeth i;i a world, and in 
 a society to which we have no relation, and to which 
 we never can have any, these are the principles, I 
 say, to which he is devoted, whom our scriptures 
 call holi/ : these principles are what w e call virtue, 
 rectitude, order, or as the text expresseth it, holiness. 
 Ye shall be holy : for I the Lord your God am holy. 
 
 Let us proceed a little farther in our meditation, 
 and let us make a supposition of another kind. Ye 
 have all some idea of God. Ye have at least this 
 notion of him, that he is supremely independent, 
 and that none can punish or reward him for the use 
 he makes of his independence. Suppose, as well as 
 ye can without blaspliemy, that he should lavish his 
 favours on the faithless depositary, whom we just 
 now mentioned, and should withhold them from the 
 other : that he should heap benefits upon him, who 
 would stab his tenderest and most faithful friend, 
 and expose the other to indigence and misery. Sup- 
 pose on the contrary, that God should liberally be- 
 stow his favours on the faithful depositary, and re- 
 fuse them to the other. I ask those of my hearers, 
 
 VOL. r. 30 
 
234 The Holiness of God, 
 
 who are the least acquainted with a meditation of 
 this kind, whether they can help making an essen- 
 tial difference between these two uses of indepen- 
 dence ? Can ye help feeling more veneration and 
 respect for the Supreme Being in the latter case 
 than in the former ? Now, my brethren, I repeat it 
 again, the laws according to which the Supreme 
 Being acts, are the laws to which the person is ap- 
 pointed, or set apart, who in the holy scriptures, is 
 denominated holy. Conformity to these laws is 
 what we call virtue, rectitude, order, or as the text 
 expresseth it, holiness. In this manner, it seems to 
 me, that the weakest Christian (if he avail himself of 
 such helps as are offered to him) may form an ade- 
 quate idea of holiness. 
 
 However, it is no less certain that the ablest phi- 
 losophers, and the most consummate divines, find it 
 difficult to speak with precision on this subject, and 
 to answer all the questions that have arisen about 
 it. Perhaps its perspicuity may be one principal 
 cause of this difficulty : for it is a rule, of which we 
 inform those to whom we teach the art of reasoning 
 justly, that when an idea is brought to a certain de- 
 gree of evidence and simplicity, every thing that is 
 added to elucidate serves only to obscure and to 
 perplex it. Hath not one part of our difficulties 
 about the nature of right and wrong arisen from the 
 breach of this rule ? 
 
 From what we have heard, in my opinion, we 
 ^lay infer, that all mankind have a clear and distinct 
 idea of holiness, even though they have no terms to 
 express their ideas of it with justness and precision. 
 
The Holiness of God. 235 
 
 It seems to me that every mechanic is able to de- 
 cide the following questions, although they have 
 occasioned so many disputes in schools. On what 
 is the difference between a just and an unjust action 
 founded ; on interest only ? or on the will of the 
 Supreme Being only, who hath prescribed such or 
 such a law ? For, since we cannot help execrating 
 a man who violates certain laAvs, though the viola- 
 tion doth not at all affect our interest, it is plain, we 
 cannot help acknowledging, when we reflect on our 
 own ideas, that the difference between a just and an 
 unjust action is not founded on interest only. And 
 since we cannot help venerating the Supreme Be- 
 ing; more when he follows certain laws than when 
 he violates them, it is plain, we cannot help acknow- 
 ledging that there is a justice independent on the 
 supreme law which hath prescribed it. 
 
 Should any one require me to give him a clear 
 notion of this justice, this order, or holiness, which 
 is neither founded on the interest of him who obeys 
 it, nor on the authority of the Supreme Being who 
 commands it'; this should be my answer. 
 
 By justice I imderstand that fitness, harmony, or 
 proportion, which ought to be between the conduct 
 of an intelligent being, and the circumstances in 
 which he is placed, and the relations that he bears 
 to other beings. For example, there is a relation 
 between a benefactor who bestows, and an indigent 
 person who receives a benefit; from this relation 
 results a proportion, a harmony, or a fitness between 
 benefit and gratitude, which makes gratitude a vir- 
 tue. On the contrary, between benefit and ingrat- 
 
236 The Holiness of God, 
 
 itude there is a disproportion, a dissonance, or an 
 incongruity, which makes ingratitude injustice. In 
 like manner, between one man, who is under op- 
 pression, and another, who hath the power of ter- 
 minating the oppression by punishing the oppressor, 
 there is a certain relation from which results a pro- 
 portion, a harmony, or a fitness in relieving the op- 
 pressed, which makes the relief an act of generosity 
 and st ice. 
 
 All mankind have a general notion of this pro- 
 portion, harmony, or fitness. If they are sometimes 
 dubious about their duty, if they sometimes hesitate 
 about the conduct that justice requires of them on 
 certain occasions, it is not because they doubt whe- 
 ther every action ought to have that which I call 
 proportion, harmony, oijitness ; but it is because, in 
 some intricate cases, they do not clearly perceive 
 the relation of a particular action to their general 
 notion of ustice. Every man hath an idea of equal- 
 ity and inequality of numbers. Every man knows 
 at once to which of these two ideas some plain and 
 simple num *ers belong. Every body perceives at 
 once a relation between the number three, and the 
 idea of inequality : and every body perceives in- 
 stantly a relation between the number two and the 
 idea of equality. But should I propose a very com- 
 plex number to the most expert arithmetician, and 
 ask hun to which of the two classes this number be- 
 longs, he would requue some time to consider, be- 
 fore he could return his answer : not because he had 
 not very clear ideas of equality and inequality, but 
 because he could not at first sight perceive whether 
 
The Holiness of God. 237 
 
 the number proposed were equal or unequal. The 
 arithirietician, whom I have supposed, must study to 
 find out the relation ; as soon as he discovers it he 
 will readily answer, and tell me whether the number 
 proposed be equal or unequal. 
 
 Apply this example to the subject in hand. All 
 mankind, according to our reasoning, have a general 
 notion of a fitness, that ought to be between the con- 
 duct of an intelligent being and the circumstances in 
 which he is placed, and the relations that he bears to 
 other beings. Always when a man perceives that a 
 particidar action hath such a fitness, or hath it not, 
 he will declare without hesitation that the action is 
 just or unjust. If he hesitate in some cases, it is be- 
 cause he doth not perceive the relation of the action 
 in question to this fitness. It belongs to casuists to 
 solve difficulties of this kind. I perceive at once a 
 relation between him who receives a benefit, and him 
 who confers it, and from this relation I conclude that 
 there is a fitness between gratitude and the circum- 
 stances of the receiver : therefore I declare, without 
 hesitating, that gi'atitude is a virtue, and that ingrati- 
 tude is a vice. But should I be asked whether it 
 were a virtue or a vice to kill a tyrant, I might hesi- 
 tate : because I might not at first perceive what rela- 
 tion there is between the killing of a tyrant and the 
 fitness that ought to subsist between the conduct of a 
 subject and his relation to a tyrant. 
 
 Should any one still urge me to give him clearer 
 ideas of that which I call the proportion, the harmony ^ 
 or the Jltness of an action, I woidd freely own that I 
 rould not answer his enquiry. But, at the same 
 
238 The Holiness of God, 
 
 time, I would declare that my inability did not arise 
 from the obscurity of my subject, but from the all- 
 sufficiency of its e\^dence. I would recur to the 
 maxim just now mentioned, that when a subject is 
 placed in a certain degree of evidence and simplici- 
 ty, every thing that is added to elucidate, serves only 
 to darken and to perplex it. 
 
 Should my enquu*er still reply that he had no idea 
 of that which I call the proportion, the harmony, or 
 the fitness of an action, I should consider him as a 
 being of a species different from mine, and I should 
 not think of conversing with him. There are some 
 common ideas, some maxims, that are taken for 
 granted, even by the most opposite parties : and 
 when those maxims are disputed, and those ideas not 
 admitted, there is an end of conversing and reasoning. 
 
 This is a general notion of holiness. But the ho- 
 liness that is attributed to God, and prescribed to men 
 in the text, cannot belong in the same sense, and in 
 every respect, to such different beings. We are go- 
 ing to examine then, in the second place, in what 
 sense it agrees to God, and in Avhat sense it agrees to 
 man. 
 
 11. What hath been said of holiness in general, 
 will serve to explain in what sense God is holy, and 
 in what sense men ought to be holy. The general 
 principle of holiness is common to God and man. 
 The general principle of holiness, as hath been al- 
 ready shewn, is a perfect proportion, harmony, or 
 fitness between the conduct of an intelligent being 
 and his relations to other beings. The holiness of 
 God is that perfect harmony, proportioi^ or fitness, 
 
The Holiness of God, 239 
 
 that subsists between his conduct (if I may be al- 
 lowed to speak thus of God) and his relations to 
 other beings. The holiness of man consists in the 
 same. But as the cu'cumstances and relations of 
 God differ fiom those of men, the holiness of God 
 and tlie holiness of men are of different kinds. And 
 it is tlie difference of these relations that we must 
 distingiush, if we would give a proper answer to 
 the questions in hand : In what sense, and in what 
 respects is holiness ascribed to God ? In what sense, 
 and in what respects is holiness prescribed to men ? 
 
 The first question, that is. What relations hath 
 God with other beings, is a question so extensive, 
 and so difficult, that all human intelligence united 
 in one mind, could not return a sufficient answer. 
 We have been accustomed to consider our earth as 
 the principal pail of the universe, and ourselves as 
 the most considei-able beings in nature. Yet our 
 earth is only an atom in the unbounded space, in 
 which it is placed : and we are only a very inconsid- 
 erable number in comparison of the infinite multi- 
 tude and tlie endless variety of creatures which the 
 gieat Supreme hath niade. There is an infinite 
 number of Angels, Seraphims, Cherubuns, thrones, 
 dominions, powers, and other intelligences, of which 
 we have no ideas, and for which we have no names. 
 God hath relations to all these beings, and on the na- 
 ture of those relations depends the nature of that or- 
 der, justice, or holiness, which he inviolably main- 
 tains in respect to them. But let us not lose our- 
 selves in these immense objects. Let us only fix our 
 
240 The Holiness of God. 
 
 meditation on God's relations to men, and we shall 
 form sufficient ideas of his holiness. 
 
 What relation doth God bear to us? God hath 
 called us into existence : and there are between us 
 the relations of Creator and creature. But what 
 harmony do we think there ought to be between the 
 conduct of God to us, and the relation that he bears 
 to us of a Creator to creatures ? Harmony, or fit- 
 ness, seems to requue, that God having brought 
 creatures into existence, should provide for theii* 
 support, and, having given them certain faculties, 
 shoidd require an account of the use that is made 
 of them. This is the first idea that we form of the 
 holiness of God. It does not appear to us fit, or 
 agreeable to order, that God, after having created in- 
 tyelligent beings, should abandon them to themselves, 
 and not regard either theu' condition or their con- 
 duct. On this principle we ground the doctrine of 
 Providence, and reject the extravagant system of the 
 Epicureans. 
 
 What relation doth God bear to us ? God hath 
 given us a revelation. He hath proposed some prin- 
 ciples to us. Between God and us there are the 
 relations of tutor and pupil. But what fitness do 
 we think tliere ought to be between the conduct of 
 God and the relation of a tutor to a pupil, that sub- 
 sists between him and us ? It is fit, methinks, that 
 a revelation proceeding from God should be con- 
 formable to his own ideas ; and on this principle we 
 ground the doctrine of the truth, or, as the schools 
 call it, the veracity of God, and maintain with St. 
 Paul, even independently on the authority of St. 
 
The Holiness of God. 241 
 
 Paul, that " it is impossible for God to lie," Heb. 
 vi. 18. 
 
 What relation doth God bear to us? God hath 
 made a covenant with us : to certain conditions in 
 that covenant he hath annexed certain promises. 
 Between God and us there subsists the relations of 
 two contracting parties. What fitness do we think 
 there ought to be between the conduct of God and 
 that relation of an ally,' which he bears to us ? We 
 think that there is a hannony, or a fitness, in his ful- 
 filling the articles of the covenant, and on this prin- 
 ciple we ground our expectation of the accomplish- 
 ment of his promises, and believe that " all the prom- 
 ises of God are yea, and amen," 2 Cor. i. 20. 
 
 What relation subsists between God and us ? God 
 hath given us certain laws. Between God and us 
 there are the relations of a law-giver and subjects. 
 What harmony, do we think, there ought to be be- 
 tween the conduct of God and the relation of a le- 
 gislator to a subject ? We think, harmony requires 
 that the laws prescribed to us should be proportion- 
 al to our ability ; that nothing should be requh'ed 
 of us beyond our natural power, or the supernatural 
 assistances that he affords : and on this principle we 
 reject a cruel system of divinity, more likely to tar- 
 nish than to display the glory of the Supreme Being: 
 on this principle we say with St. .Tajiies, " If any of 
 you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that givcth 
 to all men liberally, and upbraideth not," Jam. i. 12. 
 on this principle we say with St. Paul, that " as 
 many as have sinned witliout law, shall also perish 
 without law : and as many as Jiaye sinned in the 
 
 VOL. I. 31 
 
242 The Holiness of God. 
 
 law, shnll be judged by the law," Rom. ii. 12. Fol- 
 low this train of reasoning, my brethren, reflect on 
 the other relations that God bears to mankind, ex- 
 amine, as far as ye are capable of examining, the 
 harmony that subsists between the conduct of God 
 and those relations, and the farther ye proceed in 
 meditations of this kind, the more just, and the 
 more enlarged will be your ideas of the holiness of 
 God. 
 
 But perhaps some may accuse me of taking that 
 for granted which remains to be proved, and of 
 grounding my whole system of the holiness of God 
 on a disputed principle, the truth of which I have 
 not yet demonstrated : that is, that there doth sub- 
 sist such a perfect harmony or fitness between the 
 conduct of God and his relations to men. Perhaps 
 I may be asked for the proofs of this principle, the 
 ground of my whole s} stem, for if the principle be 
 doubtful, the whole system is hypothetical, and if it 
 be false the system falls of itself. I answer, my 
 brethren, that we have as strong and demonstrative 
 evidence of the holiness of God as it is possible for 
 finite creatures to have of the attributes of an infi- 
 nite Being. We may derive sound notions of the 
 conduct of God from three different sources, each 
 of which w ill prove that a perfect harmony subsists 
 between the conduct of God and his relations to us, 
 and ail together will fully convince us that God pos- 
 sesseth in the most eminent degree such a holiness 
 as V. e have described. 
 
 1. We shall be fully convinced that God posses- 
 seth this holiness if we regulate our ideas of his con- 
 
The Holiness of God. 243 
 
 duct by our notion of his nature. Let me beg leave 
 to remark, to tliose who have been accustomed to 
 arsjue, that 1 do not mean here an imaginary notion 
 of God, like that which some divines and some phi- 
 losophers have laid down as the ground of their ar- 
 guments. They begin by supposing a perfect be- 
 ing : then they examine what agrees with a perfect 
 being : and that they attribute to God. This is 
 their argument ; " Holiness is an attribute of a per- 
 fect being : God is a perfect being : Therefore holi- 
 ness is an attribute of God," VYe do not at present 
 use this method. I suppose myself suddenly placed 
 in this world, surrounded with a variety of creatures. 
 I do not suppose that there is a holy Supreme Be- 
 ing : but I enquire whether there be one : and in 
 this manner I obtain a full demonstration. My 
 knowledge of creatures produceth the notion of a 
 Creator. My notion of a Creator is complex, and 
 includes in it the ideas of a grand, infinite, almighty 
 Being. But the notion of a Being, who is grand, 
 infinite, and almighty, includes in it, I think, the 
 idea of a holy Being. At least, I cannot perceive, in 
 this Being, any of the principles that tempt men to 
 violate the laws of order. Men sometimes trans- 
 gress the laws of order through ignorance : but the 
 grand, the mighty, the infinite Being thoroughly 
 understands the harmony that ought to subsist be- 
 tween the laws of order and the most difficult and 
 most complicated action. Men sometimes violate 
 the laws of order because the solicitations of their 
 senses prevail over the rational deliberations of 
 their minds : but the great, the powerful, the infi- 
 
244 The HMness of God, 
 
 nite Being is not subject to a revolution of animal 
 spirits, an irregular motion of blood, or an inunda- 
 tion of bodily humours. Men sometimes violate 
 the laws of order because they are seduced by a 
 present and sensible interest : But this principle of 
 a violation of the laws of order can have no place 
 in God. The great, the mighty, the infinite Be- 
 ing can have no interest in deceiving such contemp- 
 tible creatures as we. If then we judge of the con- 
 duct of God by the idea that we are obliged to form 
 of his nature, we shall be convinced of his perfect 
 holiness. 
 
 2. We may be convinced of the holiness of God 
 by the testimony that God himself hath given of his 
 attributes. The testimony that God hath given of 
 himself is the most credible testimony that we can 
 obtain. And how doth he represent himself in the 
 Holy Scriptures ? He describes himself every where 
 as a Holy Being, and as a pattern of holiness to us. 
 He describes himself surrounded with happy spirits, 
 ^vho perpetually cry, " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
 of Hosts." 
 
 3. God will appear supremely holy to you if ye 
 judge by his works. Behold the works of nature, 
 they proclaim the perfect holiness of God. Consult 
 that work of nature, your own heart : that heart, 
 all corrupt as it is, yet retains some faint traces of 
 the holiness of God, who created it ; so that in spite 
 of its natural depravity, it still does homage to vir- 
 tue : it resembles a palace, which, having been at 
 first built with magnificence and art, hath been mis^ 
 erably plundered and destroyed, but which yet re- 
 
^he Holiness of God. 245 
 
 tains, amidst all its ruins, some vestiges of its an- 
 cient grandeur. Behold society, tliat work of prov- 
 idence publisheth the supreme holiness of God. 
 God hath so formed society that it is happy or mis- 
 erable in the same proportion as it practiseth, or 
 neglecteth virtue. Above all, behold the work of 
 religion. What say the precepts, the precedents, 
 the penalties of religion ? IMore especially, wliat 
 saith the grand mystery of religion, that mystery 
 which is the scope, the substance, the end of all the 
 other mysteries of religion, I mean the mystery of 
 the cross ? Doth it not declare that God is supreme- 
 ly holy ? 
 
 We have seen then in what respects holiness be- 
 longs to God, and by pursuing the same principles^ 
 we may discover in what respects it belongs to men. 
 Consider the circumstances in which men are placed, 
 and what relation they bear to other beings : Con- 
 sider what harmony there ought to be between the 
 conduct of men and their relations : and ye will 
 form a just notion of tlie holiness that men are com- 
 manded to practise. There is the relation of a sub- 
 ject to his prince, and the subject's submission is 
 the harmony of that relation : in this respect it is 
 the holiness of a man to submit to his prince. There 
 is the relation of a child to his parent, and there is 
 a harmony between the conduct and the relation of 
 the child when he loves and obeys his parent : Love 
 and obedience to the parent constitute the holiness 
 of the child. 
 
 The principal relation of a man is that which he 
 bears to God. Man stands in the relation of a crea- 
 
246 The Holiness of God. 
 
 lure to God, who is his Creator : and the conduct 
 of a creature is in harmony with his relation when 
 the will of his Creator is the rule of his actions : 
 The revealed will of God then must regulate the 
 will of man. Order requires us to submit ourselves 
 to him of whom we have received all that we enjoy : 
 All our enjoyments come from God : from him we 
 derive " life, motion, and existence," Acts xvii. 
 28, It is impossible then to resist his will with- 
 out violating the laws of order. Our future pros- 
 pects, as Avell as our present enjoyments, proceed 
 from God : our own interest demands then, that we 
 should submit to his will, in order to a participation 
 of future favours, which are the objects of our pres- 
 ent hopes. 
 
 We have seen then in what respects holiness be- 
 longs to God, and in what respects it belongs to men. 
 But although holiness does not belong, in the same 
 sense, and in every respect, to beings so different as 
 God and man, yet the holiness of God ought to be 
 both a reason and a rule for the holiness of man. 
 " Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am ho- 
 ly.^'' This is our third part, and with this we shall 
 conclude the discourse, 
 
 III. The holiness of God, we say, is both a rule 
 and a reason for the holiness of man. The words 
 of the text include both these ideas, and will bear ei- 
 ther sense. They may be rendered, " Be ye holy 
 as I am holy :" and, according to this translation, the 
 lioliness of God is a rule or a model of ours. Or, 
 they may be rendered, " Ye shall be holy, because 
 I am holy :" and, according to this, the holiness of 
 
The Holiness of God. 247 
 
 6od is a reason or a motive of our holiness. It is not 
 necessary now to enquire which of these two inter- 
 pretations is the best. Let us unite both. Let us 
 make the holiness of Gocl the pattern of our holiness: 
 and let us also make it the motive of ours. 
 
 1. Let us make the holiness of God the model of 
 GUI'S. " The holiness of God is complete in its parts." 
 He hath all vulues, or rather he hath one vktue that 
 includes all others : that is, the love of order. He 
 is equally just in his laws, true in his language, his 
 promises are faithful, and his thoughts are right. Let 
 this holiness be our pattern, " Be ye holy as God is 
 holy." Let us not confine ourselves to one single 
 virtue. Let us incorporate them all into our system. 
 Let us have an assortment of Christian graces. Let 
 us be, if I may express myself so, complete Chris- 
 tians. Let us " add to our faith vutue, and to vir- 
 tue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and 
 to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, 
 and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly 
 kindness charity," 2 Pet. i. 5, 6, 7. 
 
 2. The holiness of God is infinite in its degrees. 
 Nothing can confine its activity. Let this be our 
 model, as far as a finite creature can imitate an in- 
 finite Being. Let us not rest in a narrow sphere of 
 virtue, but let us carry every virtue to its most emi- 
 nent degree of attainment. Let us every day make 
 some new progress. Let us reckon all that we have 
 done nothing, while there remains any thing more to 
 do. Let each of us say with St. Paul, " I count not 
 myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I 
 do, forgetting those things which are beliind, and 
 
248 The Holiness of God. 
 
 reaching fortli unto those things which are before, I 
 press toward the mark," Phil. iii. 13. 
 
 3. The holiness of God is pure in its motives. He 
 fears nothing, he hopes for nothing ; yet he is holy- 
 He knows, he loves, he pursues holiness. This is 
 the whole system of his morality. Let this be our 
 pattern. We do not mean to exclude the grand 
 motives of hope and fear, which religion hath sanc- 
 tified, and which have such a mighty influence over 
 beings capable of happiness or misery. But yet, let 
 not our inclinations to virtue necessarily depend on 
 a display of the horrors of hell, or the happiness of 
 heaven. Disinterestedness of virtue is the charac- 
 ter of true magnanimity, and Christian heroism. Let 
 us esteem it a pleasure to obey the laws of order. 
 Let us account it a pleasure to be generous, benefi- 
 cent, and communicative. Let us lend, agreeably 
 to the maxim of Jesus Christ, hoping for nothing 
 again, Luke vi. 35. and, in imitation of his example, 
 let us la]/ down our lives for the brethren, 1 John iii. 16. 
 
 4. The holiness of God is uniform in its action. 
 No appearance deceives him, no temptation shakes 
 him, nothing dazzles or diverts him. Let this be 
 our example. Let us not be every day changing 
 our religion and morality. Let not our ideas de- 
 pend on the motion of our animal spirits, the cir- 
 culation of our blood, or the irregular course of the 
 humours of our bodies. Let us not be carried about 
 with every wind of doctrine, Eph. iv. 14. Let us not 
 be Christians at church only, on our solemn festi- 
 vals alone, or at the approach of death. Let our 
 conduct be uniform and firm, and let us say, with 
 
The Holiness of God. 249 
 
 the prophet, even in our greatest trials, Yet God is 
 good to Israel, Ps. Ixiii. 1. However it be, I will 
 endeavour to be as humble on the pinnacle of gran- 
 deur, as if Providence had placed me in the lowest 
 and meanest post. I will be as moderate, when all 
 the objects of my wishes are within my reach, as if 
 I could not afford to procure them. I will be as 
 ready to acquiesce in the supreme will of God, if 
 he conduct me through various adversities, and 
 through " the valley of the shadow of death," as if 
 he led me through prosperities, and filled me with 
 delights. Thus the holiness of God must be the 
 model of ours : " Be ye holy as I am holy." 
 
 But the holiness of God must also be the reason 
 or motive of ours ; and we must be holy because 
 God is holy : " Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord 
 your God arn holy." 
 
 We groan under the disorders of our nature, we 
 lament the loss of that blessed but short state of in- 
 nocence, in which the first man was created, and 
 which we wish to recover : " We must be holy then, 
 for the Lord our God is holy." The beauty and 
 blessedness of man in his primitive state consisted 
 in his immediate creation by the hand of God, and 
 in the bearing of his Creator's image, which was 
 impressed, in a most lively manner, upon his mind. 
 Sin hath defaced that image, and our happiness 
 consists in its restoration : that is, in our being " re- 
 newed after the image of him who created us," Col. 
 iii. 10. 
 
 We wish to enjoy the favour of God : we must 
 be holy then, " because the Lord our God is holy." 
 
 VOL. I. 32 
 
250 The Holiness of God, 
 
 They are " our iniquities that have separated be- 
 tween us and our God :" Isa. lix. 2. And it is lioli- 
 ness that must conciliate a communion which our 
 sins have interrupted. 
 
 We tremble to see all nature at war with us, and 
 wish to be reconciled to all the exterior objects, that 
 conspire to torment us ; we must be holy then, " be- 
 cause the Lord our God is holy." Sin is a hateful 
 object to a holy God. Sin hath armed every crea- 
 ture against man. Sin hath thrown all nature into 
 confusion. Sin, by disconcerting the mind, hath 
 destroyed the body. It is sin that hath brought 
 death into the world, and " the sting of death is 
 sin." 
 
 We w^ish to be reconciled to ourselves, and to 
 possess that inward peace and tranquility, without 
 which no exterior objects can make us happy : we 
 must be holy then, " because the Lord our God is 
 holy." We have remarked, in this discourse, that 
 God, -who is an independent being, loves virtue for 
 its own sake, independently on the rewards that ac- 
 company and follow it. Nevertheless, it is very 
 certain that the felicity of God is inseparable from 
 his holiness, God is the happy God, because he is 
 the holy God. God, in the contemplation of his 
 own excellencies, hath an inexhaustible source of 
 felicity. Were it possible for God not to be su- 
 premely holy, it would be possible for God not to 
 be supremely happy. Yes, God, all glorious and 
 supreme as he is, v/ould be miserable, if he w^ere 
 subject, like unholy spirits, to the turbulent commo- 
 tions of envv or hatred, treacliery or deceit. From 
 
The Holiness of God. 251 
 
 such passions would arise odious vapours, which 
 would gather into thick clouds, and, by obscur- 
 ing his glory, impair his felicity. Even heaven 
 would afford but imperfect pleasure, if those infer- 
 nal furies could there kindle their unhallowed flames. 
 The same reasoning holds good on eaiili ; for, it im- 
 plies a contradiction, to affirm that we can be happy, 
 while the operations of our minds clash with one an- 
 other : and it is equally absurd, to suppose that the 
 Almighty God can teraiinate the fatal war, the tragi- 
 cal field of which is the human heart, without the 
 re-establishing of the dominion of holiness. 
 
 We desire to experience the most close and ten- 
 der communion with God, next Lord's day, in re- 
 ceiving the holy sacrament: Let us be holy then, 
 " because the Lord our God is holy." This august 
 ceremony may be considered in several points of 
 view : and one of them deserves a peculiar attention. 
 The table of the Lord's supper hath been compared, 
 by some, to that which was formerly set, by the 
 command of God, in the holy place : I mean, the ta- 
 ble of shew bread, or bread of the jiresence, Ex. xxv. 
 30. God commanded Moses to set twelve loaves 
 upon the table, to change them every sabbath, and 
 to give those that w^ere taken away to the priests, 
 who were to eat them in the holy place. Lev. xxiv. 6, 
 &-C. What was the end of these ceremonial institu- 
 tions ? The tabernacle at first was considered as the 
 tent, and the temple afterward as the palace of the 
 Deity, who dwelt among the Israelites. In the pa- 
 lace of God, it was natural to expect a table for the 
 use of him and his attendants. This w^as one of the 
 
252 The Holiness of God. 
 
 most glorious privileges that the Israelites enjoyed, 
 and one of the most august symbols of the presence 
 of God among them. God and all the people of 
 Israel, in the persons of their ministers, were ac- 
 counted to eat the same bread. The heathens, strick- 
 en with the beauty of these ideas, incorporated them 
 into their theology. They adopted the thought, and 
 set, in their temples, tables consecrated to their gods. 
 The prophet Isaiah reproacheth the Jews with forsak- 
 ing the Lord, forgetting his holy mountain, and pre- 
 paring a table for the host of heaven, Isa. Ixv. 2. 
 And Ezekiel reckons among the virtues of a just 
 man, that he had not eaten upon the mountains, Ez. 
 xviii. 6. It was upon tables of this kind that idol- 
 aters sometimes ate the remains of those victims 
 which they had sacrificed to their gods. This they 
 called eating with gods; and Homer introduceth 
 Alcinous saying, " The gods visit us, when we sa- 
 crifice hecatombs, and sit down with us at the same 
 table." 
 
 This is one of the most beautiful notions, under 
 which we can consider the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper. There we eat with God. God sitteth 
 down with us at the same table, and so causeth us 
 to experience the meaning of this promise, " Be- 
 hold, I stand at the door, and knock ; if any man 
 hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in 
 to him, and will sup with him, and he with me," 
 Rev. iii. 20. But what do such close connections 
 with a holy God require of us ? They require us to 
 be holy. They cry to us, as the voice cried to 
 Moses from the midst of the burning bush, " Draw 
 
The Holiness of God. 253 
 
 not nigh hither ; put of!* thy shoes from off ihy feet ; 
 for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." 
 Ex. iii. 5. 
 
 God is supremely holy : God supremely loveth 
 order. Order requires you to leave vengeance to 
 God, to pardon your bitterest, and most professed 
 enemies; and what is more difficult still, order re- 
 quires you to pardon your most subtle and secret 
 foes. Would ye approach the table of a holy God 
 gnavvn with a spirit of animosity, hatred, or ven- 
 geance ? 
 
 God is supremely holy : God supremely loveth 
 order. Order requires you to dedicate a part of 
 those blessings to charity, with which Providence 
 hath entrusted you; to retrench the superfluities 
 of your tables, in order to enable you to assist the 
 starving and dying poor. Would ye approach the 
 table of a holy God with hearts hardened with in- 
 difference to that poor man whom God hath com- 
 manded you to love as yourselves ? 
 
 God is supremely holy : God supremely loveth 
 order. Order requires you to be affected with the 
 tokens of divine love. All are displayed at the 
 Lord's table. There the bloody history of your 
 Redeemer's sufferings is again exhibited to view. 
 There the blood, that Christ the victim shed for 
 your crimes, flows afresh. There God recounts all 
 the mysteries of the cross. Would ye approach 
 that table cold and languishing ? Would ye ap- 
 proach that table without returning to Jesus Christ 
 love for love, and tenderness for tenderness ? Would 
 ye approach that table void of every sentiment and 
 
254 The Holiness of God. 
 
 emotion, Avbich tlie venerable symbols of the love 
 of God must needs produce in every honest heart ? 
 Ah ! my brethren, were ye to approach the table 
 of Jesus Christ without these dispositions, ye would 
 come, not like St. John, or St. Peter, but, like Ju- 
 das. This would not be to receive an earnest of 
 salvation, but to " eat and drink your own damna- 
 tion," 1 Cor. xi. 29. This would not be to receive 
 the body of Jesus Christ : this would be to surren- 
 der yourselves to Satan. 
 
 I can hardly allow^ myself to entertain such mel- 
 ancholy thoughts. Come to the table of Jesus 
 Christ, and enter into a closer communion with a 
 holi/ God. Come and devote yourselves entirely to 
 the service of a holj/ God. Come and arranoe the 
 operations of your minds by the perfections of a ha- 
 ll/ God. Come and diminish the grief, that ye feel, 
 because, in spite of all your endeavours to be Ao/y 
 as God is holy, ye are so far inferior to his glorious 
 example. But, at the same time, come and receive 
 fresh assurances, that ye are formed for a more per- 
 fect period of holiness. Come and receive the pro- 
 mises of God, who will assure you, that ye shall 
 one day see him as he is, and he like him 1 .lohn iii. 
 2. May God grant us this blessing ! To him be hon- 
 our and glory forever. Amen. 
 
SERMON ^71. 
 
 The Compassion of God. 
 
 Psalm ciii. 13. 
 
 Like as a father piiieih his children, so the Lord 
 jriticth them that fear him. 
 
 Among many frivolous excuses, which mankind 
 have invented to exculpate their barrenness under 
 a gospel-ministrr, there is one that deserves respect. 
 Why, say they, do ye address men as if they were 
 destitute of the sentiments of humanity ? Why do 
 ye treat Christians like slaves ? Why do ye per- 
 petually urge, in your preaching, motives of wrath, 
 vengeance, the norm that never dies, the fire that 
 is never quenched ? Isa. Ixvi. 24. Motives of this 
 kind fill the heart with rebellion instead of con- 
 ciliating it by love. Mankind have a fund of sen- 
 sibility and tenderness. Let the tender motives 
 that our legislator hath diffused throughout our 
 Bibles, be pressed upon us ; and then every sermon 
 would produce some conversions, and your com- 
 plaints of Christians would cease with the causes 
 that produce them. 
 
 I call this excuse frivolous : for how iittle must 
 we know of human nature, to suppose men so very 
 sensible to the attractives of religion ! Where is the 
 minister of the gospel, who hath not displayed the 
 
256 The Compassion of God. 
 
 charms of religion a thousand, and a thousand times, 
 and displayed them in vain ? Some souls must be 
 terrified, some sinners must be saved hij fear, and 
 pulled out of the fire, Jude 23. There are some 
 hearts that are sensible to only one object in reli- 
 gion, that is hell ; and, if any way remain to pre- 
 vent their actual destruction hereafter, it is to over- 
 whelm their souls with the present fear of it : "know- 
 ing therefore the terrors of the Lord, we persuade 
 men." 
 
 Yet, however frivolous this pretext may appear, 
 there is a something in it that merits respect. I am 
 pleased to see those men, who have not been asham- 
 ed to say that the Lord's yoke is intolerable, driven 
 to abjure so odious a system : I love to hear them 
 acknowledge, that religion is supported by motives 
 fitted to ingenuous minds ; and that the God from 
 whom it proceeds, hath discovered so much be- 
 nevolence and love in the gift, that it is impossi- 
 ble not to be affected with it, if we be capable of 
 feeling. 
 
 I cannot tell, my brethren, whether among these 
 Christians, whom the holiness of this day hath as- 
 sembled in this sacred place, there be many, who 
 have availed themselves of the frivolous pretence 
 just now mentioned; and who have sometimes wick- 
 edly determined to despise eternal torments, under 
 an extravagant pretence that the ministers of the 
 gospel too often preach, and too dismally describe 
 them. But, without requiring your answer to so 
 mortifying a question, without endeavouring to make 
 you contradict yourselves, we invite you to behold 
 
The Compasnon of God. 257 
 
 those attractives to-day, to which ye boast of being 
 go very sensible. Come and see the Supreme Le- 
 gislator, to whom we would devote your services ; 
 behold him, not as an aven2;ing God, not as a con- 
 suming God, not shaking the earth, and overturning 
 the mountains in his anger, .lob ix. 4, 5. not thunder- 
 ing in the heavens, shooting out lightnings, or giving 
 his voice in hailstones and coals of Jive, Psa. xviii. 13, 
 14. but putting on such tender emotions for you as 
 ye feel for your children. In this light the prophet 
 places him in the text and in this light we are going 
 to place him in this discourse. 
 
 O ye marble hearts ! so often insensible to the ter- 
 rors of our ministry; may God compel you to-day 
 to feel its attracting promises ! O ye marble hearts ! 
 against which the edge of the sword of the Almigh- 
 ty's avenging justice hath been so often blunted; the 
 Lord grant that ye may be this day dissolved by the 
 energy of his love ! Amen. 
 
 " Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the 
 Lord pity them that fear him." Before w^e attempt 
 to explain the text, we must premise one remark, 
 which is generally granted, when it is proposed in a 
 vague manner, and almost as generally denied in its 
 consequences : that is, that the most complete notion 
 which we can form of a divine attribute, is to sup- 
 pose it in perfect harmony w ith every other divine 
 attribute. 
 
 The most lovely idea that we can form of the 
 Deity, afid which, at the same time, is the most solid 
 ground of our faith in his word, and of our confi- 
 dence in the performance of his promises, is that 
 
 VOL. I. 33 
 
258 The Compassion of God, 
 
 which represents him as an unifonn being, whose at- 
 tributes harmonize, and who is always consistent 
 with himself. There is no greater character of im- 
 perfection in any intelligent being than the want of 
 this harmony : when one of his attributes opposeth 
 another of his attributes ; when the same attribute 
 opposeth itself; when his wisdom is not supported 
 by his power ; or when his power is not directed by 
 his wisdom. 
 
 This character of imperfection, essential to all 
 creatures, ]s the ground of those prohibitions that 
 we meet with in the holy scriptures, in regard to 
 the objects of our trust. " Put not your trust in 
 princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no 
 help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his 
 earth, in that very day his thoughts perish," Psa. 
 cxlvi. 3, 4. " Cursed be the man that trusteth in 
 man, and maketh flesh his arm," Jer. xvii. 5. Why ? 
 Because it is not safe to confide in man, imless he 
 have such a harmony of attributes, as we have just 
 now described ; and because no man hath such a 
 harmony. His power may assist you, but, un- 
 less he have wisdom to direct his power, the very 
 means that he would use to make you happy, 
 would make you miserable. Even his power would 
 not harmonize with itself, in regard to you, if it 
 were sufficient to supply your wants to-day, but 
 not to-morrow. That man, that prince, that mortal, 
 to whom thou givest the superb titles of Potentate, 
 Monarch, Arbiter of peace, and Arbiter of war; 
 that mortal who is alive to-day, will die to-morrow, 
 the breath that animates him will evaporate, lie 
 
The Compassion of God. 259 
 
 will return to his earth, and all his kind regards for 
 thee will vanish with him. 
 
 But the perfections of God are in perfect harmo- 
 ny. This truth shall guide us through this dis- 
 course, and shall arrange its parts : And this is the 
 likeliest way that we can tliink of, to preserve the 
 dignity of our subject, to avoid its numerous diffi- 
 culties, to preclude such fatal inferences as our 
 weak and wicked passions have been too well ac- 
 customed to draw from the subject, and to verify 
 the prophet's proposition in its noblest meaning, 
 " Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the 
 Lord pity them that fear him." 
 
 Would ye form a just notion of the goodness of 
 God, (for the original term, that our translators 
 have rendered pity, is equivocal, and is used in this 
 vague sense in the holy scriptures.) Would ye 
 form a just notion of the goodness of God ? Then, 
 conceive a perfection that is always in harmony 
 with, 
 
 I. The spirituality of his essence. 
 
 II. The inconceivableness of his nature. 
 in. The holiness of his designs. 
 
 lY. The independence of his principles. 
 
 V. The immutability of his will. 
 
 VI. The efficacy of his power. But above all, 
 YII. With the veracity of his word. 
 
 1. The goodness of God must agree with the spi- 
 rituality of his essence. Compassion, among men, 
 is that mechanical emotion, which is produced in 
 them by the sight of distressed objects. I allow 
 that the wisdom of the Creator is very much dis- 
 
260 The Compassion of God, 
 
 played in uniting us together in such a manner. 
 Ideas of fitness seldom make much impression on 
 the bulk of mankind ; it was necessary therefore to 
 make sensibility supply the want of reflection, and, 
 by a counter-blow, with which the miseries of a 
 neighbour strike our feelings, to produce a dispo- 
 sition in us to relieve him. Nature produceth but 
 few monsters, who regale themselves on the suffer- 
 ings of the wretched. Here, or there, hath been a 
 Phalaris, who hath delighted his ears with the shrieks 
 of a fellow-creature burnin«: in a brazen bull : And 
 some, whose minds were filled with ideas of a reli- 
 gion more barbarous and inhuman than that of the 
 Bacchanalians, have been pleased with tormenting 
 those victims, which they sacrificed not to God, the 
 father of mankind, but to him who is their murder- 
 er : But none, except people of these kinds, have 
 been able to eradicate those emotions of pity, with 
 which a wise and compassionate God hath formed 
 them. 
 
 But this sensibility degenerates into folly, when 
 it is not supported by ideas of order, and when me- 
 chanical emotions prevail over the rational dictates 
 of the mind. It is a weakness, it is not a love wor- 
 thy of an intelligent being, that inclines a tender 
 mother to pull back the arm of him, w^ho is about 
 to perform a violent, but a salutary operation on 
 the child w^hom she loves. It is a weakness, it is 
 not a love worthy of an intelligent being, that in- 
 clines a magistrate to pardon a criminal, whose pre- 
 servation will be an injury to society, and the spar- 
 ing of whose life will occasion a thousand tragical 
 deaths. 
 
The Compassion of God. 261 
 
 This kind of weakness, that confounds a mechan- 
 ical sensation with a rational and intellifrc nt love, is 
 the source of many of our misapprehensions about 
 the manner in which God loves us, and in which, 
 we imagine, he ought to love us. We cannot con- 
 ceive the consistency of God's love in making us 
 wise in a scliool of adversity, in exposing us to the 
 vicissitudes and misfortunes of life, and in frequent- 
 ly abandoning his children to pains and regrets. It 
 seems strange to us, that he should not be affected 
 at hearing the groans of the damned, whose tor- 
 ments can only be assuaged by uttering blasphem- 
 ies against him. Renounce these puerile ideas, and 
 entertain more just notions of the Supreme Being. 
 He hath no body ; he hath no organs that can be 
 shaken by the violence done to the organs of a mal- 
 efactor ; he hath no fibres that can be stretched to 
 form an unison with the fibres of your bodies, and 
 which must be agitated by their motions. liove, in 
 God, is in an intelligence, who sees what is, and 
 who loves what may justly be accounted, lovely ; 
 who judgeth by the nature of things, and not by 
 sensations, of which he is gloriously incapable : his 
 love is in perfect harmony with the spirituality/ of 
 his essence, 
 
 II. Our ideas of the goodness of God must agree 
 with our notions of the inconceivahleness of his na- 
 ture, I oppose this reflection to the difficulties that 
 have always been urged against the goodness of 
 God. There are two sorts of these objections ; one 
 tends to limit the goodness of God, the other to 
 carry it beyond its just bounds. 
 
262 The Compassion of God. 
 
 If God be supremely good, say some, how is it 
 conceivable that he should suffer sin to enter the 
 world, and with sin, all the evils that necessarily 
 follow it ? This is one difficulty which tends to car- 
 ry the goodness of God beyond its just extent. 
 
 Is it conceivable, say others, that the great God, 
 that God, who according to the prophet, " weighed 
 the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance," 
 Isa. xl. 12. that God, who "measured the waters in 
 the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with 
 a span," ver. 22. that God, who "sitteth upon the 
 circle of the earth, and considereth the inhabitants 
 thereof as grasshoppers :" is it conceivable, that he 
 should have such a love for those mean insects as the 
 gospel represents ; a love that inclined him to give 
 his own Son, and to expose him to the most igno- 
 minious of all punishments, to save them ? This is 
 an objection of the second class, which tends to limit 
 the goodness of God. 
 
 One answer may serve to obviate both these kinds 
 of objections. The love of God is in perfect har- 
 mony with the inconceivableness of his nature. All 
 his perfections are inconceivable, we can only fol- 
 low them to a certain point, beyond which it is im- 
 possible to discover their effects. " Canst thou by 
 searching find out God ?" Job xi. 7. 
 
 Canst thou by searching find out his eternity ? 
 Explain an eternal duration : teach us to compre- 
 hend an extent of existence so great, that when we 
 have added age to age, one million of years to an- 
 other million of years, if I may venture to speak so, 
 when we have heaped ages upon ages, millions of 
 
The Compassion of God. 263 
 
 a<^es upon millions of a^es, we have not added one 
 day, one hour, one instant to the duration of God, 
 with whom " a thousand years are as one day, and 
 one day as a thousand years." 
 
 Canst thou by searching find out his knowledge ? 
 Explain to us the wisdom of an intelligence, who 
 comprehended plans of all possible worlds; who 
 compared them altogether ; who chose the best, not 
 only in preference to the bad, but to the less good ; 
 who knew all that could result from the various 
 modifications of matter, not only of the matter 
 which composeth our earth, but of the immense 
 matter, that composeth all bodies, which are either 
 in motion or at rest in the immensity of space, which 
 lie beyond the reach of our senses, or the stretch 
 of our imaginations, and of which, therefore, we 
 can form no ideas. Explain to us the wisdom of a 
 God, who knew all that could result from the vari- 
 ous modifications of spirits, not only of those hu- 
 man spirits, which have subsisted hitherto, or of 
 those which will subsist hereafter, in this world, but 
 of the thou?ands, of the " ten thousand times ten 
 thousands that stand before him," Dan. vii. 10. 
 
 Canst thou by searching find out his power ? Ex- 
 plain to us that self-eflficient power, which command- 
 eth a thing to be, and it is ; wliich commandeth it 
 not to be, and it ceaseth to exist. 
 
 The extent of God's mercy is no less impossible 
 to find out than the extent of his other attributes. 
 We are as incapable of determining concerning this, 
 as concerning any of his other perfections, that it 
 must needs extend hither, but not thither : that it 
 
264 The Compassion of God. 
 
 oii??l]t to have prevented sin, but not to have given 
 Jesus Christ to die for the salvation of sinners. Our 
 not:on of the goodness of God should agree with 
 the inconceivableness of bis nature, and, provided 
 we have good proofs of v/hat we believe, we ought 
 not to stagger at the objections, which an insuffi- 
 cient, or rather, an insolent reason hath the audacity 
 to oppose to it. 
 
 III. Our notion of the goodness of God should 
 agree with the holiness of his designs, I mean, that 
 it would imply a contradiction to suppose that a 
 Being who is supremely holy, should have a close 
 communion of love with unholy creatures, consid- 
 ered as unholy and unconverted. By this principle 
 we exclude the dreadful consequences, that weak- 
 ness and wickedness have been used to infer from 
 the doctrine under our consideration. We oppose 
 this principle to the execrable reasoning of those 
 libertines, w^ho say, (and, alas ! how many people, 
 who adopt this way of reasoning, mix with the saints, 
 and pretend to be saints themselves !) " Let us con- 
 tinue in sin that grace may abound," Rom. vi. 1. 
 With the same principle the propliet guards the 
 text, " Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth 
 the Lord pity," whom ? Them, who establish their 
 crimes on the mercy of God ? God forbid ! " So 
 doth the Lord pity them that fear him." This truth 
 is so conformable to right reason, so often repeated 
 in the holy scriptures, and so frequently enforced 
 in this pulpit, that none but those who wilfully de- 
 ceive themselves can mistake the matter: and for 
 these reasons we dismiss this article. 
 
The Compassion of God. 265 
 
 IV, The love of God is in perfect harmony with 
 ihe indqjendence of his principles. Interest is the 
 spring that moves, and very often the defect that de- 
 stroys, human friendships. It must be allowed, how- 
 ever, that though principles of interest may appear 
 low and mean, yet they often deserve pity more 
 than blame. It would be extremely difficult for a 
 debtor, if he w^ere oppressed by a merciless credi- 
 tor, to love any person more than him, who should 
 be both able and w illing to free him from the oppres- 
 sor's iron rod. It w ould be strange if a starving man 
 were not to have a more vehement love for him who 
 should relieve his necessities, than for any one else. 
 While our necessities continue as pressing as they 
 are in this valley of tears, principles of interest w ill 
 occupy the most of our thoughts, and w ill dkect 
 the best of our friendships. Disinterested love 
 seems to be incompatible with the state of indigent 
 creatures. 
 
 But God forbid that we should entertain similar 
 notions of the Deity ! God is supremely happy. His 
 love to his creatures is supremely disinterested. In- 
 deed, what interest can he have in loving us ? Were 
 this w^orld, which hath existed but a little while, to 
 cease to exist ; were all the beings upon earth, mate- 
 rial and immaterial, to return to then* non-entity ; 
 were God to remain alone, he would enjoy infinite 
 happiness ; in possessing himself he Avould possess 
 perfect felicity. " Every beast of the forest is his, 
 and the cattle upon a thousand hills," Ps. 1. 10. sa- 
 crificial flesh affords no nourishment to him ; clouds 
 of fragTant incense communicate no odours to him ; 
 
 VOL. I. 34 
 
266 The Compassion of God. 
 
 he is not entertained with the harmony of the music 
 that is performed in his honour ; for our goodness ex- 
 tendeth not to him, Ps. xvi. 2. The praises of sera- 
 pbims can no more augment the splendor of his glory, 
 tlian the blasphemies of the damned can duuinish it. 
 
 y. The love of God to his creatures agrees with 
 the immtdahility of his will. There is but little re- 
 ality, and less permanency, in human love. The 
 names of steadiness, constancy, and equanimity, an 
 indelible image, an everlasting impression, a perpet- 
 ual idea, an endless attachment, an eternal friend- 
 ship, all these are only names, only empty, unmean- 
 ing sounds, when they are applied to those senti- 
 ments which the most faithful friends entertain for 
 each other. 
 
 I am not describing now those light and inconstant 
 people only, who are as ready to break as to form 
 connections : I am describing people of another, and 
 a better, disposition of mind. We are ignorant of 
 ourselves when we imagine ourselves capable of a 
 permanent attachment, and, when we think that we 
 shall always love, because we are assured that we 
 love at present, we are the first to deceive ourselves. 
 This man, who only at certain times discovers senti^ 
 ments of tenderness, is not a hypocrite. That wo- 
 man Avas very sincere, when, weeping over a dying 
 husband, and in some sense more agonizing than he, 
 she just gathered strength enough to close the eyes 
 of her departing all, and protested that she should 
 never enjoy another moment, except that in which 
 the great Disposer of all events should appoint her 
 to follow her beloved partner to the grave : the wo- 
 
The Compassion of God. 267 
 
 man expressed what she then felt, and what, she 
 thought, she should always feel : but, however, time 
 brought forward new objects, and other scenes have 
 calmed the violence of her passions, and have placed 
 her in that state of tranquility and submission to the 
 will of God, which all the maxims of religion had not 
 the power of producing. 
 
 People are not always to be blamed for the slight- 
 ness of tlieir friendships. Our levity constitutes, in 
 some sort, our felicity, and our imperfections apolo- 
 £jize for our inconstancy. Life would be one con- 
 tinned agony, if our friendships were always in the 
 same degree of activity. Rachel would be infi- 
 nitely miserable, if she were always thinking about 
 " her children, and would not be comforted because 
 they are not," Mat. ii. 18. I only mean to observe, 
 that a character of levity is essential to the friend- 
 ships of finite human minds. 
 
 God alone is capable, (O thou adorable Being, 
 who only canst have such noble sentiments, enable 
 us to express them !) God only, my dear brethren, 
 is capable of a love, real, solid, and permanent, free 
 from diversion and without interiaiption. What de- 
 lineations, what representations, what purposes, re- 
 volved in the infinite mind, before that appointed 
 period, in which he had determined to express him- 
 self in exterior Avorks, and to give existence to a 
 multitude of creatures? Yet throughout all these 
 countless ages, through all these unfathomable abys- 
 ses of eternity, (I know no literal terms to express 
 eternity) yet through all eternity he thought of us, 
 my dear brethren ; then he formed the plan of our 
 
268 The Compassion of God. 
 
 Salvation ; then he appointed the victim that procur- 
 ed it ; then he laid up for us the felicity and glory 
 that we hope for ever to enjoy ! What care and ap- 
 plication are required to inspect, to order and ar- 
 range the numberless beino:s of the whole earth ? The 
 whole earth, did I say ? The whole earth is only an 
 inconsiderable point : but what care and application 
 are required to inspect, to order and arrange tlie 
 worlds which we discover revolving over our headvS 
 with other worlds, that we have a right to suppose 
 in the immensity of space ? Yet this application doth 
 not prevent his attention to thee, believer ; thy 
 health he guards, thy family he guides, thy fortune 
 and thy salvation he governs, as if each were the on- 
 ly object of his care, and as if thou wert alone in 
 the universe ! AYhat an immensity of happiness must 
 fill the intelligence of God, who is himself the source 
 of felicity ; of a God, who is surrounded with an- 
 gels, archangels, and happy spirits, serving him day 
 and night, continually attending round his throne, 
 and waiting to fly at a signal of his will ; of a God, 
 who directeth and disposeth all ; of a God, who ex- 
 isting with the Word, and the Holy Spirit, enjoys in 
 that union inconceivable and ineffable delights ; and 
 yet the enjoyment of his own happiness doth not at 
 all divert his attention from the happiness of his crea- 
 tures ! If a Said persecute his church, he is persecu- 
 ted with it. Acts ix. 4. and when profane hands touch 
 liis children, they touch the apple of his eye, Zech. ii. 
 8. In all her affliction he is afflicted, Isa. Ixiii. 9. lo I 
 he is with us always, even unto the end of the worlds 
 Matthew xxviii. 20. 
 
The Compassion of God. 269 
 
 VI. The goodness of God must harmonize with 
 the efficiency/ of his will. The great defect of human 
 friendships is their inefficacy. The \mavailing emo- 
 tions that men feel for each other, their ineffectual 
 wishes for each other's happiness, we denominate 
 friendship. But suppose an union of every heart in 
 thy favour, suppose though without a precedent, 
 thyself the object of the love of all mankind, what 
 benefit couldst thou derive from all this love in some 
 cuTumstances of thy life? What relief from real 
 evils ? Ah ! my friends, ye are eager to assist me in 
 my dying agonies ; Alas ! my family, ye are distres- 
 sed to death to see me die ; ye love me, and I know 
 the tears that bathe you, flow from yom' hearts ; yes, 
 ye love me, but I must die ! 
 
 None but the infinite God, my dear brethren, 
 none but the adorable God hath an efficient love. 
 If God be for us, who can be against us / Rom. 
 viii. 31. Let the ele iients be let loose against my 
 person and my life, let mankind, who differ about 
 every thing else, agree to torment me, let there be 
 a general conspiracy of nature and society against 
 my happiness, what doth it signify to me ? If God 
 love me, I shall be happy : with God to love and to 
 beatify is one and the same act of his self-efficient 
 will. 
 
 VII. But finally, the goodness of God must agree 
 with his veracity, I mean that although the many 
 scripture- images of the goodness of God are imper- 
 fect, and must not be literally understood, they must, 
 however, have a real sense and meanmg. Moreo- 
 ver, I affirm, that the grandeur of the original h 
 
270 The Compassion of God, 
 
 not at all diminished, but on the contrary, that 
 our ideas of it are very much enlarged, by purifying 
 and retrenching the images that represent it ; and 
 this we are obliged to do on account of the eminence 
 of the divine perfections. And here my brethren, I 
 own I am involved in the most agreeable diffi- 
 culty that can be imagined, and my mind is absorb- 
 ed in an innumerable multitude of objects, each of 
 which verifieth the proposition in the text. I am 
 obliged to pass by a world of proofs and demonstra- 
 tions. Yes, I pass by the firmament with all its 
 stars, the earth with all its productions, the treasures 
 of the sea and the influences of the air, the symme- 
 try of the body, the charms of society, and many 
 other objects, which in the most elegant and pa- 
 thetic manner, preach the Creator's goodness to us. 
 Those grand objects which have excited the aston- 
 ishment of philosophers, and filled the inspired wri- 
 ters with wonder and praise, scarcely merit a mo- 
 ment's attention to-day. I stop at the principal idea 
 of the prophet. We have before observed, that the 
 term which is rendered pity in the text, is a vague 
 word, and is often put in scripture for the goodness 
 of God in general. However, we must acknowledge, 
 that it most properly signifies the disposition of a 
 good parent, who is inclined to shew mercy to his 
 son, when he is become sensible of his follies, and 
 endeavours by new effusions of love to re-establish 
 the communion that his disobedience had interrupt- 
 ed : this is certainly the principal idea of the pro- 
 phet. 
 
The Compassion of God. 271 
 
 Now who can doubt, my brethren, whether God 
 possess the reality of this image in the most noble, 
 the most rich, and tlie most eminent sense? Wouldst 
 thou be convinced, sinner, of the truth of the decla- 
 ration in the text ? Wouldst thou know the extent 
 of the mercy of God to poor sinful men ? Consider 
 then, 1. The victim that he hath substituted in their 
 stead. 2. The patience which he exerciseth to- 
 wards them. 3. The crimes that he pardons. 4. 
 The familiar friendship to which he invites them. 
 And 5. The rewards that he bestows on them. Ah ! 
 ye tender fathers, ye mothers who seem to be all 
 love for your children, ye whose eyes, whose hearts, 
 whose perpetual cares and affections are concenter- 
 ed in them, yield, yield to the love of God for his 
 children, and acknowledge that God only knows 
 how to love ! 
 
 Let us remark, 1. The sacrifice that God hath 
 substituted in the sinner's stead. One of the live- 
 liest and most emphatical expressions of the love of 
 God, in my opinion, is that in the gospel of St. 
 John. God so loved the norld, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son, ch. iii. 16. Weigh these words, my 
 brethren, God so loved the world, that he gave his on- 
 ly begotten Son, Metaph} sic^il ideas begin to grow 
 into disrepute, and I am not surprized at it. Man- 
 kind have such imperfect notions of substances, they 
 know so little of the nature of spirits, particularly, 
 they are so entirely at a loss in reasoning on the In- 
 finite Spirit, that we need not be astonished if peo- 
 ple retire from the speculative track in which the 
 indiscretion of some hath made great mistakes. 
 
272 The Compassion of God. 
 
 Behold a sure system of metaphysics. Convin* 
 ced of the imperfection of all my knowledge, but 
 particularly of my discoveries of the being and 
 perfections of God, I consult the sacred oracles, 
 which God hath published, in order to obtain right 
 notions of him. I immediately perceive that God, 
 in speaking of himself, hath proportioned his lan- 
 guage to the weakness of men, to whom he hath 
 addressed his word. In this view, J meet with no 
 difficulty in explaining those passages in which God 
 saith, that he hath hands or feet, eyes or heart, that 
 he goeth or cometh, ascendeth or descendeth, that 
 he is in some cases pleased, and in others provoked. 
 
 Yet methinks, it would be a strange abuse of this 
 notion of scripture, not to understand some con- 
 stant ideas literally ; ideas which the scriptures give 
 us of God, and on which the system of Christiani- 
 ty partly rests. 
 
 I perceive, and I think very clearly, that the 
 scriptures constantly speak of a being, a person, or, 
 if I may speak so, a portion of the divine essence, 
 w^hich is called the Father, and another that is cal- 
 led the Son. 
 
 I think, I perceive with equal evidence in the 
 same book, that between these two persons, the 
 Father and the Son, there is the closest and most 
 intimate union that can be imagined. What love 
 must there be between these two persons, who have 
 the same perfections and the same ideas, the same 
 purposes and the same plans ? What love must sub- 
 sist between two persons, whose union is not inter- 
 rupted by any calamity without, by any passion 
 
The Compassion of God, 273 
 
 Tvitliin, or, to speak more fully still, by any ima- 
 gination ? 
 
 AYith equal clearness I perceive, that the man 
 Jesus, who was born at Bethlehem, and was laid in 
 a manger, was in the closest union with the Word, 
 that is, with the Son of God ; and that in virtue of 
 this union the man Jesus is more beloved of God 
 than all the other creatures of the universe. 
 
 No less clearly do I perceive in scripture, that 
 the man Jesus, who is as closely united to the eter- 
 nal Word, as the Word is to God, was delivered 
 for me, a vile creature, to the most ignominious 
 treatment, to sufferings the most painful, and the 
 most shameful, that were ever inflicted on the mean- 
 est and basest of mankind. 
 
 And when I enquire the cause of this great mys- 
 tery, when I ask, W^hy did the almighty God be- 
 stow so rich a present on me ? Especially when I 
 apply to revelation for an explication of this mys- 
 tery, which reason cannot fully explain, I can find 
 no other cause than the compassion of God. 
 
 liCt the schools take their way, let reason lose it- 
 self in speculations, yea, let faith find it difficult to 
 submit to a doctrine, which hath always appeared 
 with an awful solemnity to those who have thought 
 and meditated on it; for my part, I abide by this 
 clear and astonishing, but at the same time, this 
 kind and comfortable proposition, God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son. When 
 people shew us Jesus Christ in the garden, sweating 
 great drops of blood ; when they speak of his trial 
 before Caiaphas and Pilate, in which he was interro- 
 
 VOL. I. 35 
 
274 The Compassion of God, 
 
 gated, insulted and scourged ; when they present hinfi 
 to our view upon mount Calvary, nailed to a cross, 
 and bowing beneath the blows of heaven and earth ; 
 when they require the reason of these formidable 
 and surprizing phoenom.ena, we will answer. It is be- 
 cause God loved mankind ; it is because God so loved 
 the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 
 2, The patience that God exerciseth toward sin- 
 ners, is our second remark. Here, my brethren, I 
 wish that as many of you as are interested in this 
 article would allow me to omit particulars, and would 
 recollect the histories of your own lives. 
 
 My life, says one, is consumed in perpetual indo- 
 lence. I am a stranger to the practice of private 
 devotion, and to speak the truth, I consider it only 
 as a fancy. I attend public worship, only because I 
 would conform to example and custom. I hear the 
 sermons of the ministers of the gospel as amusive 
 discourses, that treat of subjects in which I have no 
 interest. I take no part in the prayers that are ad- 
 dressed to God in behalf of the sick or the poor, the 
 church or the state. 
 
 I, saith a second, ever since I have been in the 
 world, have cherished one of the most shameful and 
 criminal passions ; sometimes I have been shocked 
 at its turpitude, and sometimes I have resolved to 
 free myself from it : in some of my sicknesses, 
 which I thought, would have ended in death, I de- 
 termined on a sincere conversion : sometimes a ser- 
 mon, or a pious book, hath brought me to self-ex- 
 amination, which hath ended in a promise of refor- 
 mation : sometimes the sight of the Lord's Supper, 
 
The Compassion of God. 275 
 
 an institution properly adapted to display the sinful- 
 ness of sin, hath exhibited my sin in all its heinous- 
 ness, and hath bound me by oath to sacrifice my un- 
 worthy passion to God. But my corruption hath 
 been superior to all, and yet God hath borne with 
 me to this day. 
 
 A third must say, As for me I hare lived thirty 
 or forty years in a country where the public pro- 
 fession of religion is not prohibited, and I have pass- 
 ed all the time without a membership to any church, 
 without ordinances, without public worship, and 
 without the hope of a pastor to comfort me in my 
 dying illness; I have seduced my family by my 
 example ; I have consented to the settlement of my 
 children, and have suffered them to contract mar- 
 riages without the blessing of heaven ; my luke- 
 warmness hath caused first their indifference, and 
 last their apostacy, and will perhaps cause .... 
 and yet God hath borne with me to this day. 
 
 Why hath he borne with me ? It is not a conni- 
 vance at sin, for he hates and detests it. It is not 
 ignorance,, for he penetrates the inmost recesses of 
 my soul, nor hath a single act, no, not a single act, 
 of my rebellion, eluded the search of his all-piercing 
 eye. It is not a want of power to punish a crimi- 
 nal, for he holds the thunders in his mighty hands, 
 at his command hell opens, and the fallen angels 
 wait only for his permission to seize their prey. 
 Why then do I yet subsist ? Why do I see the light 
 of this day ? Why are the doors of this church once 
 more open to me ? It is because he commiserates 
 
276 T^he Compassion of God, 
 
 poor sinners. It is because he pitieth me as a fa- 
 ther pitieth his children, 
 
 3. Let us remark the crimes which God pardon- 
 eth. There is no sin excepted, no, not one, in the 
 list of those which God hath promised to forgive to 
 true penitents. He pardoneth not only the sins of 
 those whom he hath not called into his visible church, 
 who, not having been indulged with this kind of 
 benefits, have not had it in their power to carry in- 
 gratitude to its height : but he pardoneth also crimes 
 committed under such dispensations as seem to ren- 
 der sin least pardonable. He pardoneth sins com- 
 mitted under the dispensation of the law, as he for- 
 giveth those which are committed under the dis- 
 pensation of nature ; and those that are committed 
 under the dispensation of the gospel, as those which 
 are committed under the law. He forgiveth, not 
 only such sins as have been committed through igno- 
 norance, infirmity, and inadvertency, but such also 
 as have been committed deliberately, and obstinate- 
 ly. He not only forgiveth the sins of a day, a week, 
 or a month, but he forgiveth also the sins of a great 
 number of years, those which have been formed in- 
 to an inveterate habit, and have grown old with the 
 sinner. Though your sins he as scarlet, they shall he 
 as white as snow ; though they he red like crimson^ 
 they shall he as wool, Isa. i. 18. 
 
 But what am I saying ? It is not enough to say 
 that God forgiveth sins, he unites himself to those 
 who have committed them by the most tender and 
 affectionate ties. 
 
 4. Our next article therefore regards the familiar 
 
The Compassion of God. 211 
 
 friendship to wliich God invites us. Wiiat intimate, 
 close, and afreetionate relation canst thou imagine, 
 which God is not willing to form with thee in reli- 
 gion ? x\rt thou affected with the vigilance of a shep- 
 herd, who watcheth over, and sacrificeth all his care, 
 and even his life for his flock? This relation God 
 will have with thee : " The Lord is my sheplierd, I 
 shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green 
 pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters," Psa. 
 xxiii. 1, 2. Alt thou aff*ected with the confidence 
 of a friend, who openeth his heart to his friend, and 
 communicates to him his most secret thoughts, divi- 
 ding with him all his pleasures and all his pains ? God 
 will have this relation with thee : " The secret of 
 the Lord is with them that fear him," Psa. xxv. 14. 
 " Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ?" 
 Gen. xviii. 17. "I call you not servants ; for the ser- 
 vant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have 
 called you friends ; for all things that I have heard 
 of my Father, I have made known unto you," John 
 XV. 15. Art thou touched with the tenderness of a 
 mother, whose highest earthly happiness is to suckle 
 the son of her womb ? God will have this relation 
 with thee : " Can a woman forget her sucking child, 
 that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not 
 forget thee," Isa. xlix. 15. 
 
 Hast thou some good reasons for disgust with 
 human connections ? Are thy views so liberal and 
 delicate as to afford thee a conviction that there is 
 no such thing as real friendship among men ? And 
 tliat what are called connections, friendships, affec- 
 
278 The Compassion of God, 
 
 tions, unions, tendernesses, are generally no other 
 than interchanges of deceit disguised under agreea- 
 ble names ? Are thy feelings so refined that thou 
 sighest after connections formed on a nobler plan ? 
 God will have such connections with thee. Yes, 
 there is, in the plan of religion, an union formed be- 
 tween God and us, on the plan of that w^hich sub- 
 sists between the three persons in the godhead, the 
 object of our worship : that is, as far as a similar un- 
 ion between God and us can subsist without contra- 
 diction. God grants this to the intercession of his 
 Son, in virtue of that perfect obedience which he 
 rendered to his Father on the cross. This Jesus 
 Christ requested for us, on the eve of that day, in 
 which, by his ever-memorable sacrifice, he reconcil- 
 ed heaven and earth : " I pray not for the world, 
 but for them which thou hast given me, for they are 
 thine," John xvii. 9. "Neither pray I for these 
 alone, but for them also which shall believe on me 
 through their word : that they all may be one, as 
 thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they al- 
 so may be one in us," ver. 20. 21. Do not enquire 
 the possibility of this union, how w^e can be one 
 Avith God and with Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ and 
 God are one. Our hearts, as defective in the pow- 
 er of feeling as our minds in that of reasoning, have 
 no facuhies, at present, for the knowedge of such 
 things as can be known only by feeling. But the 
 time will come when both sense and intelligence 
 will be expanded, and then we shall know, by a 
 happy experience, what it is to be one w ith God and 
 with Jesus Christ. 
 
The Compassion of God, 279 
 
 This leads us to our 5th and last article, That is, 
 the felicity that God reserveth for his cliildren in 
 another world. A re-union of all the felicities of 
 this present world would not be sufficient to express 
 the love of God to us. Nature is too indigent : our 
 faculties are too indigent : society is too indigent : 
 religion itself is too indigent. 
 
 Nature is too indigent : it might indeed afford us 
 a temperate air, an earth enamelled with flowers, 
 trees laden with fruits, and climates rich with de- 
 lights : but all its present beauties are inadequate to 
 the love of God, and there must be another world, 
 another oeconomy, " new heavens and a new earth," 
 Isa. Ixv. 17. 
 
 Our faculties are too indigent ; they might indeed 
 admit abundant pleasures, for we are capable 
 of knowing, and God could gratify our desire of 
 knowledge. We are capable of agreeable sensa- 
 tions, and God is able to give us objects proportion- 
 al to our sensations ; and so of the rest. But all 
 these gratifications would be too little to express 
 the love of. God to us. Our faculties must be re- 
 newed, and in some sense, new cast ; for this corrup- 
 tible body must put on incorruption ; this natural bo- 
 dy must become a spiritual body, 1 Cor. xv. 53. 44. 
 so that by means of more delicate organs we may 
 enjoy more exquisite pleasures. Our souls must be 
 united to glorified bodies, by laws different from 
 those which now unite us to matter, in order to ca- 
 pacitate us for more extensive knowledge. 
 
 Society is too indigent, although society miglit 
 become an ocean of pleasure to us. There are men 
 
280 The Compassion of God, 
 
 whose friendships are full of charms ; their conver- 
 sations are edifying and their acquaintance delight- 
 ful ; and God is able to place us among such amia- 
 ble characters in this world : but society hath no- 
 thing great enough to express the love of God to us. 
 We must be introduced to the society of glorified 
 saints, and to thousands of angels and happy spirits, 
 who are capable of more magnanimity and delicacy 
 than all that we can imagine here. 
 
 Religion itself is too indigent, although it might 
 open to us a source of delight. What pleasure hath 
 religion afforded us on those happy days of our 
 lives, in which, having fled from the crowd, and 
 suspended our love to the world, we meditated on 
 the grand truths which God hath revealed to us in his 
 word ; when we ascended to God by fervent prayer ; 
 or renewed at the Lord's table our commimion with 
 him ! How often have holy men been enraptured in 
 these exercises ! How often have they exclaimed du- 
 ring these foretastes, Our souls are " satisfied as with 
 marrow and fatness," Psa. Ixiii. 5. " O how great is 
 thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that 
 fear thee," xxxi. 19. A¥e are " abundantly satisfied 
 with the fatness of thy house : w^e drink of the river 
 of thy pleasures," ch. xxxvi. 8. Yet even religion 
 can afford nothuig here belo^v than can sufficiently 
 express the love of God to us. We must be admit- 
 ted into that state, in which there is neither temple nor 
 sun, because God supplieth the place of both. Rev. 
 xxi. 22, 23. We are to behold God, not surroun- 
 ded with such a handful of people as this, but with 
 ihousand thonsandSj and ten thousand times ten thou- 
 
The Compassion of God, 28i 
 
 stind, Dan. vii. 10. who stand continually before him* 
 We must see God, not in the displays of his grace 
 in our churches, but in all the magnificence of his 
 glory in heaven. We are to prostrate ourselves be- 
 fore him, not at the Lord's table, where he is made 
 known to us in the symbols of bread and wine : (au- 
 gust symbols indeed : but two gross to exhibit the gran- 
 deur of God) but we are to behold him upon his 
 throne of glory, w orshipped by all the happy host of 
 heaven. What cause produceth those noble effects I 
 From what source do those rivers of pleasure flow 1 
 Ps. xxxiv. 8. It is love which lays up all this good- 
 Qiess for us, Ps. xxxi. 19. "I drew them with cords 
 of a man, with bands of love," Hos. xi. 4. 
 
 Let us meditate on the love of God, who, being 
 supremely happy himself, communicateth perfect 
 happiness to us. Supreme happiness doth not make 
 God forget us ; shall the miserable comforts of this 
 life make us forget him? Our attachments to this 
 life are so strong, the acquaintances that we have 
 contracted in this world so many, and the relations 
 that we bear so tender ; we are, in a word, so habit- 
 uated to live, that we need not wonder if it cost us 
 a good deal to be willing to die. But this attach- 
 ment to life, which, when it proceeds only to a cer- 
 tain degree, is a sinless infinnity, becomes one of 
 the most criminal dispositions when it exceeds its 
 just limits. It is not right that the objects of divine 
 love should lose sight of theu' chief good, in a world 
 where, after then- best endeavours, there will be too 
 many obstacles between them and God. It is not 
 j-ight that rational creatures, who have heard of the 
 
 VOL. I. 36 
 
282 The Compassion of God. 
 
 pure, extensive, and munificent love of God to them, 
 should be destitute of the most ardent desires of a 
 closer union to him than any that can be attained in 
 this life. One single moment's delay should give us 
 pain, and if we wish to live it should be only to pre- 
 pare to die. We ought to desire life only to mortify 
 sin, to practise and to perfect virtue, to avail our- 
 selves of opportunities of knowing ourselves better, 
 and of obtaining stronger assmances of our salva- 
 tion. No, I can never persuade myself that a man, 
 who is wise in the truths of wliich we have been dis- 
 coursing, a man, in whom the love of God hath been 
 " shed abroad by the Holy Ghost given unto him," 
 Rom. V. 5. a man, who thinks himself an object of 
 the love of the great Supreme, and who knows that 
 the great Supreme will not render him perfectly hap- 
 py in this life, but in the next, can afford much time 
 for the amusements of this. I can never persuade 
 myself that a man, who hath such elevated notions, 
 and such magnificent prospects, can make a very se- 
 rious affair of having a great name in this world, of 
 lodging in a palace, or of descending from an illus- 
 trious ancestry. These little passions, if we consider 
 them in themselves, may seem almost indifferent, 
 and I giant, if ye will, that they are not always at- 
 tended with very bad consequences, that, in some 
 cases, they injure nobody, and, in many, cause no 
 trouble in society : but, if we consider the principle 
 from which they proceed, they will appear very mor- 
 tifying to us. AVe shall find that the zeal and fer- 
 vor, the impatient breathings of some, " to depail, 
 and to be with Christ," Phil. i. 23. the aspiiing of a 
 
The Compassion of God. 283 
 
 soul after the chief good ; the prayer, " Come, Lord 
 Jesus, come quickly," Rev. xxii. 20. the eager wish, 
 " When shall I come and appear before God," Ps. 
 xlii. 2. We shall find that these dispositions, which 
 some of us treat as enthusiasm, and which others of 
 us refer to saints of the first order, to whose perfec- 
 tions we have not the presumption to aspire ; we shall 
 find, I say, that these dispositions are more essential 
 to Clu'istianity than we may have liitherto imagined. 
 
 May God make us truly sensible to that noble and 
 tender love which God hath for us ! May God kin- 
 dle cur love at the fire of his own? May God enable 
 us to know religion by such pleasures as they expe- 
 rience who make love to God the foundation of all 
 vktue ! These are our petitions to God for you : to 
 these may each of us say. Amen ! 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 The Incomprehensibility of the Mercy of GotL 
 
 Isaiah Iv. 8, 9. 
 
 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
 your ways my rvays, saith the Lord. For as th^ 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
 higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
 thoughts. 
 
 \jO, " these are parts of his ways, but how little a 
 portion is heard of hiin !" Job xxvi. 14. This is one 
 of the most sententious sayings of Job, and it ex- 
 presseth, in a very lively and emphatical manner^ 
 tlie works of God. Such language would produce 
 but very little effect indeed in the mouth of a care- 
 less unthinking man : but Job, who uttered it, had a 
 mind filled with the noblest ideas of the perfections 
 of God. He had studied them in his prosperity, in 
 order to enable him to render homage to God, from 
 whom alone his prosperity came. His heart was 
 conversant with them under his distressing adversi- 
 ties, and of them he had learnt to bow to the hand 
 of him who was no less the author of adversity than 
 of prosperity, of darkness than of day. All this ap- 
 pears by the fine description which the holy man 
 gives immediately before : " God/' saith he, " stretch- 
 
286 The Incomprehensihilily 
 
 eth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth 
 the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up his waters 
 in his thick clouds ; and the cloud is not rent under 
 them. He hath compassed the waters with bounds. 
 The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at 
 his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and 
 by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. 
 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens." But 
 are these the only productions of the Creator ? Have 
 these emanations wholly exhausted his power ? No, 
 replieth Job, " These are only parts of his ways, and 
 how little a portion is heard of him !" 
 
 My brethren, what this holy man said of the won- 
 ders of nature, we, with much more reason, say to 
 you of the wonders of grace. Collect all that pagan 
 philosophers have taught you of the goodness of the 
 Supreme Being. To the opinions of philosophers 
 join the declarations of the prophets. To the decla- 
 rations of the prophets, and to the opinions of phi- 
 losophers, add the discoveries of the evangelists and 
 apostles. Compose one body of doctrine of all that 
 various authors have written on this comfortable sub- 
 ject. To the whole join your own experience ; your 
 ideas to their ideas, your meditations to their medi- 
 tations, and then believe that ye are only floating on 
 the surface of the goodness of God, that his love 
 hath dimensions, a breadth, and length, and depth, 
 and height, Eph. iii. 18. which the human mind can 
 never attain : and, upon the brink of this ocean, say, 
 " Lo, these are only parts of his ways, and how lit- 
 tle a portion is heard of him !" 
 
of the Mercy of God. 287 
 
 This Incomprehensibility of the fijoodness of God, 
 (and what attention, what sensibility, what gratitude 
 have we not a right to expect of you !) This incon- 
 ceivableness of the goodness of God we intend to 
 discuss to-day. The prophet, or rather, God him- 
 self, saith to us by the prophet, " My thoughts are 
 not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways : 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
 my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts." 
 
 Three things are necessary to explain the text. 
 
 I. The meaning must be restrained. 
 
 II. The object must be determined. 
 
 III. The proofs must be produced. And this is 
 the whole plan of my discourse. 
 
 I. The words of my text must be restrained. 
 Strictly speaking, it cannot be said, that God's 
 thoughts are not our thoughts, and that his rvays are 
 not our ways : on the contrary, it is certain, that 
 in many respects, God's ways are our ways, and his 
 thoughts are our thoughts. I mean, that there are 
 many cases, in which we may assure ourselves that 
 God thinks so and so, and will observe such or such 
 a conduct. The doctrine of the incomprehensibili- 
 ty of God is one of those doctrines which w^e ought 
 to defend with the greatest zeal, because it hath a 
 mighty influence in religion and morality : but it 
 would become a subversion of both, were it to be 
 carried beyond its just bounds. Libertines have 
 made fewer proselytes by denying the existence of 
 God than by abusing the doctrine of his inconceiva- 
 bleness. It makes but little impression on a ration- 
 
258 The IncomprehensihiKty 
 
 al man, to be told, that matter is eternal ; that it ar- 
 ranged itself in its present order ; that chance spread 
 the firmament, formed the heavenly orbs, fixed the 
 earth on its basis, and wrought all the wonders in 
 the material world. It makes but little impres- 
 sion on a rational man, to be informed, that the in- 
 telligent world is to be attributed to the same cause 
 to which libertines attribute the material world ; 
 that chance formed spirit as well as matter, gave it 
 the power, not only of reflecting on its own essence, 
 but also of going out of itself, of transporting itself 
 into the past ages of eternity, of rising into the hea- 
 vens by its meditation, of pervading the earth, and 
 investigating its darkest recesses. All these extrav- 
 agant propositions refute themselves, and hardly find 
 one partisan in such an enlightened age as this, in 
 which we have the happiness to live. 
 
 There are other means more likely to subvert the 
 faith. To give grand ideas of the Supreme Being ; 
 to plunge, if I may be allowed to say so, the little 
 mind of man into the ocean of the divine perfections ; 
 to contrast the supreme grandeur of the Creator 
 with the insignificance of the creature; to persuade 
 mankind that the great Supreme is too lofty to con- 
 cern himself with us, that our conduct is entirely 
 indifferent to him; that it signifies nothing to him 
 whether we be just or unjust, humane or cruel, hap- 
 py or miserable : To say in these senses, that God's 
 ways are not our rvays, that his thoughts are not our 
 thoughts, these are the arms that infidelity hath 
 sometimes employed Avith success, and against the 
 attacks of which we would guard you. For these 
 
of the Mercy of God. 289 
 
 reasons, I said, that the meaning of the text must be 
 restrained, or that it would totally subvert religion 
 and morality. 
 
 We have seldom met with a proposition more ex- 
 travagant than that of a certain bishop,^ who, hav- 
 ing spent his life in defending the gospel, endeav- 
 oured at his death to subvert it. This man, in a 
 book entitled, The Imperfection of the Human Mind, 
 and which is itself an example of the utmost degree 
 of the extravagance of the human mind, maintains 
 this proposition, and makes it the ground of all his 
 scepticism : that before we affirm any thing of a 
 subject we must perfectly understand it. From 
 hence he concludes, that we can affirm nothing 
 of any subject, because we do not perfectly un- 
 derstand any. And from hence it naturally fol- 
 lows, that of the Supreme Being we have the least 
 pretence to affirm any thing, because we have a less 
 perfect knowledge of him than of any other subject. 
 W hat absurd reasoning ! it is needless to refute it 
 here, and it shall suffice at present to observe in 
 general, that the ignorance of one part of a subject 
 doth not hinder the knowing of other parts of it, nor 
 ought it to hinder our affirmation of what we do 
 
 * Peter Daniel Huet, bishop of Avranches, a countryman of 
 our author's. He was a man of uncommon learning, and, in jus- 
 tice to Christianity, as well as to his lordship, it ought to be re- 
 membered, that he wrote his demonstratio evangelica in the vig- 
 our of his life ; but his traite fihilosofihique de la foiblesse de l*es'_ 
 prit humaine^ of which Mons. Saurin complains, was written more 
 than forty years after, when he was ninety years of age, and was 
 superannuated. Father Castell, the Jesuit, denies that it was 
 written by Huet at all. 
 
 VOL. I. 37 
 
290 The Incomprehensibility 
 
 know. I do not perfectly understand the nature of 
 liffht; however I do know that it differs from dark- 
 ness, and that it is the medium by which objects be- 
 come visible to me. And the same may be affirmed 
 of other subjects. 
 
 In like manner, the exercise of my reasoning pow- 
 ers, produceth in me some incontestible notions of 
 God, and, from these notions, immediately follow 
 some sure consequences, which become the im- 
 moveable basis of my faith in his word, of my 
 submission to his will, and of my confidence in his 
 promises. These notions, and these consequences, 
 compose the body of natural religion. There is a 
 self-existent Being. The existence of all creatures 
 is derived from the self-existent Being, and he is 
 the only source of all their perfections. That Be- 
 ing, who is the source of the perfections of all other 
 beings, is more powerful than the most powerful 
 monarchs, because the most powerful monarchs de- 
 rive only a finite power from him. He is wiser than 
 the most consummate politicians, because the most 
 consummate politicians derive only a finite wisdom 
 from him. His knowledge exceeds that of the 
 most knowing philosophers, or of the most trans- 
 cendent geniusses, because the most transcendent 
 geniusses and the most knowing philosophers derive 
 only a finite knowledge from him. And the same 
 may be said of others. There are then some incon- 
 testible notions, which reason gives us of God. 
 
 From these notions follow some sure and neces- 
 sary consequences. If all creatures derive their be- 
 ing and preservation from him, I owe to him all that 
 
of the Mercy of God. 291 
 
 I am, and all that I have, he is the sole object of my 
 desires and hopes, and I am necessarily engaged to 
 be grateful for his favours, and entirely submissive 
 to his will. If creature-perfections be only emana- 
 tions from him, the source of all perfections, I ought 
 to have nobler sentiments of his perfections, than of 
 those of creatures, how elevated soever the latter 
 may be. I ought to fear him more than I ought to 
 fear the mightiest king, because the power of the 
 mightiest king is only an emanation from him. I ought 
 to commit myself to his duection, and to trust more 
 to his wisdom than to that of the wisest politician, 
 because the prudence of the wisest politician is only 
 an emanation from him : And so of the rest. Let it be 
 granted, that God is, in many respects, quite incom- 
 prehensible, that we can attain only a small degree 
 of knowledge of this infinite object, or, to use the 
 words of our text, that his thoughts are not our 
 thoughts, nor his ways our ways : yet it will not fol- 
 low, that the notions, which reason gives us of him, 
 are less just, or, that the consequences, which imme^ 
 diately foUoAv these notions, are less sure ; or, that 
 all the objections, which libertines and sceptics pre- 
 tend to derive from the doctrine of the incomprehen- 
 sibility of God, against natural religion, do not eva- 
 porate and disappear. 
 
 If reason affords us some adequate notions of 
 God, if some necessary consequences follow these 
 notions ; for a much stronger reason, we may derive 
 some adequate notions of God, and some sure con- 
 sequences, from revelation. It is a very extrava- 
 gant and sophistical way of reasoning to allege the 
 
292 The Incomprehensibility 
 
 darkness of revelation upon this subject, in order 
 to obsure the light that it doth afford us. These 
 words, my thoughts are not your thoughts^ neither art 
 my ways your waysy do not mean, then, that we 
 can know nothing of the divine essence ; that we can- 
 not certainly discover in what cases he will approve 
 of our conduct, and in what cases he will condemn 
 it : they only mean, that finite minds cannot form 
 complete ideas of God, know the whole sphere of 
 his attributes, or certainly foresee all the effects that 
 they can produce. Thus we have endeavoured to 
 restrain the words of the text. 
 
 II. We are to determine their object. The pro- 
 phet's expressions would have been true, had they 
 been applied to all the attributes of God : however, 
 they are applied here only to one of them, that is, 
 to his goodness. The connection of the text with 
 tlie preceding verses proves this. " Seek ye the 
 Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while 
 he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
 unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him retm-n 
 unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; 
 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," ver. 
 6, 7. The text immediately follows : " For my 
 thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
 ways my ways, saith the Lord." It is clear, I think, 
 that the last words, " my thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," directly 
 relate to the preceding clause, " the Lord will have 
 mercy upon him, and our God will abundantly par- 
 don." AVherein do the thoughts of God differ from 
 om's ? In this sense they differ : In God there are 
 
of the Mercy of God. 293 
 
 treasures of mercy, the depth of which no finite 
 mind can fathom. In him goodness is as inconceiv- 
 able as all his other attributes. In God, a sinner, 
 who seems to have carried his sin to its utmost ex- 
 travagance, and to have exhausted all the treasures 
 of divine grace, shall still find, if he return unto the 
 Lord, and cast himself at the foot of him, who abun- 
 dantly pardoneth, a goodness, a compassion, a love 
 that he could not have imagined to find. 
 
 When we speak of the goodness of God, we mean, 
 not only that perfection which inclines him to com- 
 municate natural benefits to all creatures, and which 
 hath occasioned the inspired writers to say, that All 
 creatures wait upon him, that he may give them their 
 meat in due season, Psa. civ. 27. that he left not him- 
 self without witness in doing good, Acts xiv. 17. But 
 we mean, m a more especial manner, the grace of 
 the gospel, of which the prophet speaks in the be- 
 ginning of the chapter ; " Ho, every one that thirst- 
 eth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 
 money, come ye buy and eat ; yea, come buy wine 
 and milk v»ithout money, and without price. In- 
 cline your ear, and come unto me : hear, and your 
 soul shall live : and I will make an everlasting cov- 
 enant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 
 Behold I have given him for a witness to the peo- 
 ple, a leader and commander to the people," ver. 
 1, 3, 4. Who is this leader whom God gave to be a 
 witness to the people, that is, to manifest his attributes 
 to the Gentiles ? What is this everlasting covenant? 
 W^hat are these sure mercies of David ! Two sorts 
 of authors deserve to be heard on this article, though 
 
294 The Incofnprehensihility 
 
 on different accounts, the first for their ignorance 
 and prejudice, the last for their knowledge and im- 
 partiality. The first are the Jews, who in spite of 
 their obstinate blindness, cannot help owning that 
 these words promise the advent of the Messiah. 
 Rabbi David Kimchi gives this exposition of the 
 words : " The sure mercies of David, that is the 
 Messiah, whom Ezekiel calls David. They shall 
 dw^ll in the land that I have given them, tliey, and 
 their children, and their children's children for 
 ever ; and my sei^ant David shall be their prince 
 for ever," Ezek. xxxvii. 25. 1 purposely pass by 
 many similar passages of other Jev>^ish Rabbies. 
 The other authors whom we ouo^ht to hear for their 
 impartial knowledge, are the inspired writers, and 
 particularly St. Paul, whose comment on this pas- 
 sage, which he gave at Antioch in Pisidia, deter- 
 mines its meaning. There the apostle, having at- 
 tested the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
 affirms that the prophets had foretold that event; 
 and among other passages, which he alleged in 
 proof of what he had advanced, quotes this, " I will 
 give you the sure mercies of David," Acts xiii. 34. 
 From all which it follows, that the object of our text 
 is the goodness of God, and in an especial manner, 
 the love that he hath manifested unto us in the gos- 
 pel : and this is what we undertook to prove. 
 
 Such vicAvs of the grandeur of God are sublime 
 and delightful. The divine perfections are the most 
 sublime objects of meditation. It is glorious to sur- 
 mount the little circle of objects that surround us, 
 to revolve in a contemplation of God, in whose in- 
 
of the Mercij of God. 295 
 
 finite perfections intelligent beings will for ever find 
 matter sufficient to employ all their intelligence. 
 Behold the inspired writers, they were fond of los- 
 ing their capacities in this lovely prospect. Some- 
 times they stood on the borders of the eternity of 
 God, and viewing that boundless ocean, exclaimed, 
 " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
 thou hadst formed the earth and the world: even 
 from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. A thou- 
 sand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when 
 it is past, and as a watch in the night," Psa. xc. 2, 
 4. Sometimes they meditated on his power, and 
 contemplating the number and variety of his works, 
 exclaimed, " O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is 
 thy name in all the earth ! who hast set thy glory 
 above the heavens. When w^e consider thy hea- 
 vens, the work of thy fingers : the moon and the 
 stars which thou hast ordained ; What is man, that 
 thou art mindful of him ? and the Son of man, that 
 thou visitest him ?" Psa. viii. 1, 3, 4. Sometimes 
 theii' attention was fixed on the immensity of God, 
 and contemplating it, they exclaimed, " Whither 
 shall we go from thy spirit ? or whither shall w^e flee 
 from thy presence ? If w^e ascend up into heaven, 
 thou art there, if we make our bed in hell, behold 
 thou art there : If we take the wings of the morn- 
 ing, and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea ; even 
 there shall thy hand lead us, and thy right hand 
 shall hold us," Psal. cxxxix. 7, 8, 9, 10, But, how- 
 ever agreeable these objects of meditation may be, 
 there is something mortifying and distressing in 
 them. The more we discover the grandeur of the 
 
296 The Incomprehensibility 
 
 Supreme Being, the greater distance we perceive 
 between ourselves and him. We perceive him in- 
 deed: but it is as an inhabitant of "light which no 
 man can approach unto," 1 Tim. iv. 16. and from 
 all our efforts to know him we derive this reflec- 
 tion of the prophet, " Such knowledge is too won- 
 derful for me : it is high ; I cannot attain unto it," 
 Psa. cxxxix. 6. 
 
 But the meditation of the goodness of God is as 
 full of consolation as it is of sublimity. This ocean 
 of the Deity is an ocean of love. These dimensions 
 that surpass your knowledge, are dimensions of love. 
 These distances, a part only of which are visible to 
 you, are depths of mercy, and those words which 
 God hath addressed to you, " my thoughts are not 
 your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," 
 are equal to these : As far as heaven is above the 
 earth; or more fully, as far as ye finite creatures 
 are inferior to me the infinite God, so far are your 
 ideas of my compassion and love to you inferior to 
 my pity and esteem for you : Try : " Let the wick- 
 ed forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts ;" let not the multitude, or the enormity 
 of his crimes terrify him into a despair of obtaining 
 the pardon of them : " Let him return unto the 
 Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and to 
 our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my 
 thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
 ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens 
 are higher than the earth, so are my ways high- 
 er than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
 thoughts." Having thus determined the object, 
 
of the Mercy of God, 297 
 
 and restrained the meaning of tlie text, we shall pro- 
 ceed to adduce the proofs. 
 
 III. The prophet addresseth himself to two sorts 
 of people; first, to the heathens, who knew no more 
 of the goodness of God than what they had discov- 
 ered by the glimmering light of nature : next, to 
 some Jews, or to some Cluistinns, who, indeed 
 knew it by the light of revelation, but who had not 
 so high a notion of it as to believe it sufficient to 
 pardon all their sins. To both he saith on the part 
 of God; " My thoughts are not your thoughts, nei- 
 ther are your ways my ways." " My thoughts are 
 not your thoughts," ye Gentile philosophers. Ye 
 know^ my goodness only by your speculations on 
 the nature of the Supreme Being : but all that ye 
 discover in this way, is nothing in comparison of 
 what the Messiah will teach you in the gospel. 
 " My thoughts are not your thoughts," ye timorous 
 consciences, ye gloomy and melancholy minds. Be- 
 hold, I yet open to you treasures of mercy, which 
 ye thought ye had exhausted : " My thoughts are 
 not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways : 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
 my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts." 
 
 First, The prophet addresseth heathens, who had 
 no other knowledge of God than a few specula- 
 tions on the nature of the First Being; and who 
 were never able to discover three mysteries of di- 
 vine love. 
 
 1. The mean by which God conciliated his justice 
 with his love. 
 
 VOL. I. 38 
 
298 The Incomprehens^ibilUy 
 
 2. His patience with those who abuse this mean. 
 
 3. His intimate union with those who fall in with 
 the design of his patience. 
 
 1. The first mystery of love, wliich the wisest pa- 
 gan philosophers could never discover, is the mean 
 that God hath chosen to conciliate his justice with 
 his love. 
 
 Let us carefully avoid the forming of mean no- 
 tions of God ; let us not imagine that the attributes 
 of God clash : No, God is perfectly consistent with 
 himself, and his attributes mutually support each 
 other. When we say that the love of God resisted 
 his justice, we mean that, according to our way of 
 thinking, there were some inconveniences in deter- 
 mininfc the fate of mankind after the entrance of sin. 
 In effect, what must become of this race of rebels ? 
 Shall God execute that sentence on them, which he 
 hath pronounced against sin ? But chains of dark- 
 ness, a lake burning with fire and brimstone, weep- 
 ing and wailing through an endless eternity, excite 
 the compassion of a merciful God : Shall he then al- 
 low these unworthy creatures to live under his pro- 
 lection ? Shall so many idle words, so many crimi- 
 nal thoughts, so many iniquitous actions, so much 
 blasphemy, so many extortions, the shedding of so 
 much innocent blood, shall all these go unpunish- 
 ed ? But, were these allowed, his love of order and 
 his veracity would be blemished. These are diffi- 
 culties which all the universe could not solve. This 
 is the book, of which St. John speaks in his Revela- 
 tion, the book scaled with seven seals ; I wept miichy 
 saith St. John, because no man was found ivorthy to 
 
o/ the Mercy of God. 299 
 
 open and to read the book : hut rvorthy is the Iamb to 
 take the book, and to open the seeds, Rev. v. 4, 9. 
 
 From the depth of divine mercy proceeds a plan 
 for the solution of all these difficulties. The son of 
 God clothes himself with mortal flesh. He saith, 
 from his infancy, In sacrifices for sin thou hast no 
 pleasure ! Heb. x. 6. No, neither burnt-offerings nor 
 thousands of rams ; neither altars overflowing witii 
 blood, nor ten thousands of rivers of oil ; neitlier the 
 Jirst born for the transgression, nor all the fruit of 
 the body for the sin of the soul : (IMicah vi. 6, 7.) no, 
 none of these is an offering wortliy of being pre- 
 sented to thy justice: Lo, I come to do thy will, O 
 God : (Heb. x. 7.) J^o, I come to do that will which 
 requires the punishment of sin and the salvation of 
 the sinner. Lo, I come to be led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, and to be dumb as a sheep before her shearers, 
 Lo, I am coming to suffer the a ery men for whose 
 salvation I come, to treat me as a malefactor ; yea, 
 moreover, I am coming to suffer the hidings of that 
 adorable face, which hath always hitherto afforded 
 me di fulness of joy, Psal. xvi. 11. I am coming to 
 suffer a suspension of that love, which is all my de- 
 light, and to cry under excessive sorrows, My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me ! JMat, xxvii. 46. 
 VYe must necessarily sink under the Aveight of this 
 subject, my brethren, and we must be content to see 
 only par/5 of the ways of love. We must determine 
 only to take a slight survey of the breadth and length, 
 and depth and height of the love of God, we must own 
 that it passeth knowledge, Eph. iii. 18, 19. and that 
 these are things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. 
 
300 The IncompreJiensihiliiy 
 
 neither have entered into the heart of man, I Cor. ii. 9v 
 We must confess that if we were not able to oive 
 this general answer to the objections that are made 
 against the mysteries of religion, that is, that the 
 attributes of God are infinite, and that it doth not 
 belong to such finite minds as ours to limit the in- 
 finite God, we should be overwhelmed with the dif- 
 ficulties to which the marvels of redemption are li- 
 able to be exposed. Let us rejoice in the prospect 
 of that happy period, in which our faculties will be 
 expanded, and in which we shall make a more rapid 
 progress in the study of the love of God. In the 
 present period of infirmities let us be content with 
 the solution in our text ; " My thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the 
 Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
 so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
 thoughts than your thoughts." 
 
 2. But in what manner have these miserable sin- 
 ners, (and this will explain the second mystery of 
 love, which reason could never have discovered) 
 in what manner have these miserable sinners, whom 
 the justice of God condemns to eternal torments, 
 received the declaration of their pardon? With 
 what eyes have they considered the miracle of an 
 incarnate God? How have they regarded that al- 
 tar, on which such a noble victim was sacrificed for 
 thek salvation? Have thek eyes been fountains of 
 tears, to lament the crimes that brought down such 
 a deluge of punishments upon the head of the Re- 
 deemer of mankind? Have they received the Re- 
 deemer with such tenderness and gratitude as the 
 
of the Mercy of God. 301 
 
 wonders of his love requked ? No : The unbeliev- 
 ing synagogue, the Jews, or, to pass the Jews, 
 Christians, we, my brethren, who profess to be- 
 lieve the mystery of the cross : we, wlio every day 
 say, We believe in Jesus Chfisty who ivas horn of the 
 virgin Mary, who was crucified, dead, and buried, ^ve 
 can hear of tliose great mysteries with indifference ; 
 we can persist in the very sins that brought our 
 Redeemer to the cross ; we can refuse to give up 
 a few inches of earth, a small sum of money, the 
 playing of an idle game, or the gratifying of an ab- 
 surd passion, to him who sacrificed for us his per- 
 son and his life ; we can " do despite unto the Spir- 
 it of grace, and count the blood of the covenant 
 an unholy thing," Heb. x. 9. God is witness of all 
 these things ; God holds the thunders in his migh- 
 ty hands ; wars and plagues, and earthquakes, wait 
 only for the first signal of his will to avenge those 
 numerous indignities : Yet God, who beholds those 
 indignities, bears with them. This man, saith the 
 love of God, is precipitated by the heat and vigour 
 of youth, perhaps he may reflect when he arrives 
 at the tranquillity of mature age ; he shall be spar- 
 ed then till he arrives at maturity : or, perhaps he 
 may recollect himself in the coolness of old age, 
 he shall be spared then till the grave coolness of old 
 age comes. That man hath been a rebel in his 
 health, perhaps he may submit when he is sick; 
 be shall be spared till sickness comes ; and he shall 
 be sought, exhorted, conjured ; I will say to him, 
 " O that thou hadst hearkened unto me !" Psal. Ixxxi. 
 13. " Be thou instructed, lest my soul depart from 
 
502 The IncomprehensibilUi/ 
 
 thee !" Jer. vi. 8. " O thou who killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how of- 
 ten would I have gathered thee, even as a hen gath- 
 ereth her chic kens under her wings, and thou would- 
 est not !" Mai. xxiii. 37. And it is the great God, 
 who speaks in this manner to his ungrateful crea- 
 ture, who is insensible to such tender language ! 
 
 3. The third mystery of love, which the wisest 
 philosophers could never have discovered, is the un- 
 ion that God forms with man in religion. What 
 tender relation canst thou imagine, which God hath 
 not determined to form with thee in religion ? Art 
 thou sensible to the vigilance of a shepherd ? " The 
 Lord is thy shepherd, thou shalt not want," Psa. 
 xxiii. 1. Art thou sensible to the confidence of a 
 friend ? " I call thee not a servant, but a friend ?" 
 John XV. 15. Art thou sensible to the tenderness 
 of a parent ? " Behold what manner of love the fa- 
 ther hath bestowed upon thee, that thou shouldest 
 be called a son of God !" 1 John iii. 1. I should 
 allege many other images of the love of God to be- 
 lievers, if I could flatter myself, that the imagina- 
 tions of my hearers would be as pure as those of the 
 sacred authors who have described them. 
 
 Art thou disgusted with human connections? Are 
 thine ideas of friendship so refined that they render 
 thee superior to human unions, and make thee wish 
 for a friendship formed on a nobler plan ? God hath 
 determined that thou shalt be united to him as Jesus 
 Christ and he are united: an union at present incon- 
 ceivable, but which we shall happily experience in 
 the enlarged sphere of an immortal life, John xvii. 
 
ef the Mercy of God. 303 
 
 20, 21. Let us acknowledge then, that all the pene- 
 tration of the wisest philosophers could never have 
 discovered the extent of the love of God in the dis- 
 pensation of the gospel. " My thoughts are not 
 yourthouglits, neither are your ways my ways, saith 
 the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the 
 earth, so are my ways higl^er than your ways, and 
 my thoughts than your thoughts." 
 
 Secondly, Let us address the text to the gloomy 
 mind of a melancholy person, who, having failed in 
 the courage necessary to resist temptations, fails 
 again in that which is necessary to bear the thought 
 of having fallen into them. But, before we oppose 
 or describe this weakness, let us grant that there is 
 something in it which deserves respect. The great- 
 est part of those who treat it as an extravagance, 
 seem to me far more extravagant than those who 
 fall into it. Yes, the utmost excess of grief that 
 can be occasioned by the remembrance of sin, seems 
 to me incomparably less blameable than the exces- 
 sive tranquillity of some other people's minds. Who 
 (think ye ?) is most extravagant, he wiio is too much 
 affected with the enormity of his sins, or he who is 
 not affected enough ? Is it he who, notwithstanding; 
 his sorrows and regrets, dare not venture to believe 
 himself an object of divine compassion; or he who, 
 having no contrition, nor shedding any tears of re- 
 pentance, presumes on that cotnpassion ? Is it he, 
 whom the bare probability of being punished for his 
 sins, of being eternally laden w ith chains of dark- 
 mesSy of being an eternal prey to the worm that never 
 diith, 2 Pet. ii. 4. and of becoming fuel for that fire 
 
304 The Incomprehensihility 
 
 which shall never he quenched^ Mark ix. 44, 45. de- 
 priveth of his rest, of a relish for the sweets of soci- 
 ety, and of all inclination to enjoy the most insinua- 
 ting pleasures ; or, is it he who, in spite of so many 
 reasons to fear his dangerous state, eats, drinks, di- 
 verts himself, runs from company to company, from 
 ciide to circle, and employs the moments, that are 
 given him to avoid his miseries, in inventing the 
 most effectual means of forgetting them ? I repeat it 
 again, a melancholy, that is occasioned by the re- 
 membrance of sin, hath something respectable in it, 
 and the greatest part of those who treat it altogeth- 
 er as an absurditv, are more absurd than those who 
 fall into it. 
 
 I intend, however, in this part of my discourse, 
 to oppose this melancholy gloom. And thanks be 
 to those divine mercies, the grandeur of w^hich I 
 am this day commending, for furnishing me with so 
 many means of opposing this disposition, independ- 
 ently on the words of my text. What a multitude 
 of reflections present themselves beside those which 
 arise from the subject in hand ! 
 
 What madness possesseth thy melancholy mind ? 
 The Holy Spirit assures thee, that though thy sins 
 he as scarlet he will make them as white as snow ; 
 that though they he red as crimson he will make them 
 as white as 7Vool,'' Isa. i. 18. and dost thou think that 
 thy sins are too aggravated to be pardoned in this 
 manner ? 
 
 The Holy Spirit gives thee a long list of the most 
 execrable names in nature ; a list of idolaters, mur- 
 derers, extortioners, adulterers, persecutors, high- 
 
of the Mercy of God, 305 
 
 way robbers, and blasphemers, who obtained mercy 
 when they desired and sought it : and art thou ob- 
 stinately bent on excluding thyself from the num- 
 ber of those sinners, to whom mercy is promised ; 
 and, because thou dost not believe it attainable, dost 
 thou obstinately refuse to ask for it? 
 
 The Holy Spirit hath lifted up an ensign for the 
 nations, Isa. xi. 12. or, to speak without a figure, 
 the Holy Ghost hath lifted up a cross, and on that 
 cross a Redeemer, who is " able to save them to the 
 uttermost that come unto God by him,'* Heb. vii, 
 25. and who himself saith to all sinners, " Come un- 
 to me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, I 
 will give you rest, and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls," Mat. xi. 28, 29. And dost thou flee from 
 this cross, and rather choose to sink under the 
 weight of thy sins than to disburden them on a Re- 
 deemer, who is Avilling to bear them ? 
 
 But, passing all these, let us return to the text. 
 " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
 your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the 
 heavens are . higher than the earth, so are my ways 
 higher than your ways, and my thouglits than your 
 thoughts." This is sufficient to refute, this is enough 
 to subvert, and to destroy, the whole system of a 
 despairing mind. The perfections of God are infi- 
 nite : By what rule then dost thou pretend to " lim- 
 it tlie holy one of Israel," Ps. Ixxviii. 41. " Canst 
 thou by searching find out God," Job xi. 7. Canst 
 thou find out the eternity of him, with whom " a 
 thousand years are as one day, and one day as a 
 thousand years," 2 Pet iii. 8. Canst thou find out 
 
 VOL. I. 39 
 
306 The IncompreJiensihility 
 
 the extent of his wisdom ; a wisdom that first hr- 
 \ented, then created, that governs now, and will 
 for ever govern, both the material and intelligent 
 worlds ? Behold, " his understanding is infinite," 
 Ps. cxlvii. 5. Canst thou find out the power of him 
 who " weighed the mountains in scales, and the 
 hills in a balance," Isa. xl. 12. who " taketh up the 
 isles as a very little thing ?" ver. 15. 
 
 The mercy of God is no less inconceivable than 
 the rest of his attributes. The nature of the thing- 
 proves it ; reason declares it ; revelation places it in 
 the clearest light; experience confirms it; and of 
 his mercy God saith in the text, " My thoughts are 
 not your thoughts, neither are your ways ury ways. 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
 my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts." 
 
 Your thoughts have formed a gloomy system, and 
 ye think that God can pardon a first, or a second, 
 or perhaps a third sin, but ye cannot believe that he 
 can forgive the hundredth, or even the fortieth of- 
 fence : But God's thoughts are, that he can abund- 
 antly pardon ; that he can forgive the hundredth of- 
 fence, yea the thousandth and the ten thousandth, 
 as well as the first and the second, if ye be sincere- 
 ly willing to renounce them, and seriously endeav- 
 our to reform them. 
 
 Ye think, agreeably to your gloomy system, that 
 God doth indeed pardon some crimes, but that there 
 are some which he will not pardon ; that he some- 
 times pardoneth hatred, but that he will never for- 
 give murder; that he sometimes pardoneth sins of 
 
^f the Mercy of God, 307 
 
 infirmity, but that he will never forgive sins of ob- 
 stinacy ; that he pardoneth idle words, but that he 
 will never forgive blasphemies : But God's thoughts 
 are that he \v\\\ abundantly pardon j that he will par- 
 don murder as well as hatred ; and sins of obstinacy 
 as well as sins of infirmity ; provided ye be sincere- 
 ly willing to renounce them, and seriously endeav- 
 our to reform them. 
 
 Ye think, consistently with yoiu' melancholy sys- 
 tem, that God may perhaps pardon the sins of a few 
 days, or of a few months, or of a few years ; but 
 that he cannot forgive the sins of ten, or twenty 
 years, or of a whole life : But God thinks that he 
 can abundantly pardon ; that he can forgive the sins 
 often years, or of twenty, or of a w^hole life, as well 
 as the sins of one day, or of one month, or of one 
 year; if ye be sincerely willing to renounce them, 
 and seriously endeavour to reform them. 
 
 Your thoughts are that God pardoneth the sins of 
 those whom he hath not called into church-fellow- 
 ship, nor distinguished by particular favours : But 
 the thoughts of God are that he will abundantly par- 
 don; that he will forgive sins committed under the 
 Mosaic dispensation as w^ell as those that have been 
 committed under the dispensation of nature, those 
 that have been committed under the gospel as well 
 as those that have been committed under the law, 
 or before the law ; if ye be sincerely willing to re- 
 nounce, and seriously endeavour to reform them. 
 It is not I, it is the prophet, it is God himself, by the 
 prophet, who attests these truths : " Seek ye the 
 Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him 
 
308 The Incomprehensihility 
 
 while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, 
 and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him 
 RETURN UNTO THE LoRD, and he will have mercy up- 
 on him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly 
 PARDON. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
 neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
 my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts." 
 
 If ye sincerely /or5aA:e, and seriously reform them. 
 Have ye not been surprised at the frequent repeti- 
 tion of this clause ? This clause, however, is the 
 ground of all the promises, that we make to you on 
 God's part. The chief design of the prophet is to 
 produce obedience to God, and in this we w ould 
 wish to unite this whole assembly. Deprive the 
 text of this clause, and the rest of the w^ords are not 
 only false and unwarrantable, but contradictory to 
 themselves, and injurious to that God, whose mercy 
 we have been publishing. We have no consolation 
 for a melancholy man, w ho is resolved to persist in 
 his sins. We have no remedy against despair, w hen 
 the despairing man refuseth to renounce those crimes, 
 the remembrance of which causeth all his distress 
 and despair. 
 
 Ye slanderers, ye false accusers, ye pests of so- 
 ciety, " God will abundantly pardon you." Yea, 
 though ye have been wickedly industrious to poison 
 the purest words, the most harmless actions, the ho- 
 liest intentions, yet ye ought not to despair of the 
 mercy of God; for his thoughts are not as your 
 thoughts, nor his ways as your ways. He will for- 
 
of the Mercy of God. 309 
 
 give all your sins, if ye sincerely forsake, and seri- 
 ously reform them ; if ye do justice to the innocence 
 that ye have attacked, and repair the reputation that 
 ye have damaged. 
 
 Ye unjust, ye oppressors, ye extortioners, ye 
 who, as well as your ancestors, have lived on the sub- 
 stance of the wretched, and who are about to trans- 
 mit an accursed patrimony to your posterity, God 
 will abundantly pardon you: yea, though ye have 
 made a sale of justice, negociated the blood of the 
 miserable, betrayed the state, and sold your country, 
 yet ye ought not to despak of the mercy of God, 
 for '' his thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
 his ways your ways." All these sins he will forgive, 
 if ye endeavour seriously to amend them ; if ye lay 
 aside those equipages, and retrench those sumptuous 
 festivals, which are the fruits of your own, and of 
 your parents, oppressions and extortions. 
 
 Ye sick, ye dying people, who cannot think of 
 your momentary life without thinking of those sins, 
 which ye have been perpetually committing, and in 
 the multitude and magnitude of which your thoughts 
 are lost, " God will abundantly pardon you." Though 
 no other time remains to conciliate your souls to God 
 than the last days of a dying illness, the slight re- 
 mains of a departing life, yet ye ought not to despair 
 of the mercy of God, for " his thoughts are not as 
 your thoughts, neither are his ways as your ways." 
 He will forgive all your sins, if ye sincerely forsake, 
 and seriously reform them ; if ye be animated not 
 only with the fear of death and hell, but with a sin- 
 cere desire of returning unto the Lord; if ye do not 
 
310 The Incomprehensibility, S{c, 
 
 make your pastor an accomplice in your sins ; if ye 
 do not forbid him the mentioning of some of your 
 sins ; if ye do not prevent the removal of that vail, 
 which yet hides a great part of your turpitude from 
 you ; in a word, if ye willingly fall in with all the 
 ways of repentance and reparation, that may be 
 opened to you. 
 
 I conclude with the clause, that I have so often 
 repeated, and which I repeat again, (and wo be to 
 him who forgets it ! wo be to him who, by his per- 
 severance in sin, rendereth his compliance impossi- 
 ble !) if ye sincerely forsake, and seriously endeav- 
 our to reform and i^epau' them. I give you a sub- 
 ject to meditate for the conclusion of this discourse, 
 (a very terrible and alarming conclusion for those 
 who have the madness to turn the grace of God into 
 lasciviousness,) Jude 4. this subject, which I leave 
 with you to meditate, is, what degree of punisliment 
 in hell will be inflicted upon such men as despise the 
 mercy that we have been describing ? God grant that 
 ye may never be able to answer this by your own 
 experience ! Amen» 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 The Severity of God, 
 
 >®< 
 
 Hebrews xii. 29. 
 For our God is a consuming Jire, 
 
 JLT is a very deplorable thing, that your preachers 
 can never expatiate on the goodness of God, with- 
 out having just grounds to fear that ye infer danger- 
 ous consequences from their doctrine. That good- 
 ness, of which God hath made such tender declara- 
 tions ; that goodness, of which he hath given us such 
 astonishing proofs; that goodness, which seems so 
 proper to make us love him above all things ; that 
 goodness, through our abuse of it, contributes the 
 most, to rivet our infidelity, and to increase our mis- 
 ery. We freely acknowledge, therefore, that with 
 fear and trembling we endeavoured last Lord's day 
 to display its greatness, and, though all our portraits 
 were infinitely beneath the original, thougli we es- 
 teemed it then our happiness, and our glory, not to 
 be able to reach our subject, yet Ave have been afraid 
 of having said too much. When, to prevent the fa- 
 tal effects of despau*, we assured you, that, though 
 ye had trafiicked with the blood of the oppressed, or 
 betrayed the state, or sold your country, yet ye 
 might derive from the ocean of divine mercy a par- 
 
3J2 The Severity of God, 
 
 don for all these crimes, provided ye were enabled 
 sincerely to repent, and thoroughly to reform them ; 
 when we said these things, we revolved in our minds 
 these discouraging thoughts: Perhaps some of our 
 hearers may poison our doctrine : Perhaps some 
 monster, of which nature produceth an example in 
 every age, actually saith to himself; I may then, 
 without despairing of my salvation, traffic with the 
 blood of the oppressed, betray the state, sell my 
 country, and, having spent my life in these Avicked 
 practices, turn to God on my death-bed. Ye will 
 allow, Ave hope, that the bare probability of our hav- 
 ing occasioned so dangerous a Avound ought to en- 
 gage us to attempt to heal it, by contrasting to-day 
 the goodness of God Avith his severity. 
 
 The text that Ave have chosen, is the language of 
 St. Paul, " Our God is a consuming fire ;" and, it is 
 AA^orthy of observation, that we haA^e scrupulously 
 imitated the apostle's example in making this sub- 
 ject immediately succeed that Avhich Ave explained 
 last Lord's day. The gospel of last Lord's day Avas 
 a passage in Isaiah, " God will abundantly pardon, 
 for his thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our 
 ways his Avays : for as the heavens are higher than 
 the earth, so are his Avays higher than our Avays and 
 his thoughts than our thoughts," Isa. Iv. 7. The 
 gospel of this day is, " Our God is a consuming 
 fire." St. Paul hath made a similar arrangement, and 
 him we have imitated. In the verses which precede 
 our text he hath described, in a very magnificent 
 manner, the goodness of God in the dispensation of 
 the gospel. He hath exalted the condition of a 
 
The Severity of God, 313 
 
 Christian, not only above that of the heathens, who 
 knew the mercy of God only by natural reason, but 
 even above that of the Jews, who knew it by revela- 
 tion, but from whom it was partly hidden under vails 
 of severity and rigour. " Ye are not come, said he, 
 unto the mount that might be touched, and that 
 burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, 
 and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the 
 Toice of words, which voice they that heard, intreat- 
 ed that the word should not be spoken to them any 
 more. But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and un- 
 to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- 
 lem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to 
 the general assembly and church of the first-born, 
 which are written in heaven, and to Jesus the me- 
 diator of the new covenant, and to the blood of 
 sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of 
 Abel," ver. 18, <kc. But what consequences hath 
 the apostle drawn from all these truths ? Are they 
 consequences of security and indifference, such as 
 some Christians draw from them, such as some of 
 you, it maybe, drew fn-m the prophet's doctrine 
 last Lord's day ? No ; they are consequences of 
 vigilance and fear : " See that ye refuse not him 
 that speaketh : for if they escaped not who refused 
 him that spake on earth, much more shall not 
 we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh 
 from heaven : For our God is a consuming fire," 
 ver. 25. 
 
 Our God is a consuming Jire, These words are 
 metaphorical ; they include even a double metaphor. 
 God is here represented under the emblem of fire, 
 
 T0T<. T. 40 
 
314 The Severity of God. 
 
 agreeably to what the psalmist saith. Shall thy wrath 
 hum like fire ? Ps. Ixxxix. 46. There is no difficul- 
 iy in this first metaphor. But the second, which 
 representeth the conduct of God towards impenitent 
 sinnei-s as wrath, vengeance, anger, is very difficult, 
 and requires a particular explication. In order to 
 which we will attempt three things. 
 
 J. We will endeavour to harmonize our text with 
 other parallel passages, and to give you distinct ideas 
 of that which is called in God wrath, anger, ven- 
 geance, and which occasioned our apostle to say, 
 God is a consuming fire, 
 
 II. We w ill prove that this attribute agrees to God 
 in the sense that we shall have given. 
 
 III. We w ill endeavour to reconcile the doctrine 
 that we preach to-day with that which we preached 
 last Lord's day ; the justice of God with his good- 
 ness ; and by this mean to engage you to love and 
 adore God as much w hen he threateneth as when he 
 promiseth, as much when he presents his justice as 
 when he displays his mercy. This is the w4iole plan 
 of this discourse. 
 
 I. We will endeavour to give you distinct notions 
 of that which the scripture calls the wrath, the anger^ 
 the vengeance of God. 
 
 Recollect a remark which w^e have often made, 
 that is, that when the scripture speaks of the perfec- 
 tions and operations of God it borroweth images 
 from the affections and actions of men. Things that 
 cannot be known to us by themselves can be under- 
 stood only by analogy, as it is called, that is, by the 
 resemblance which they bear to other things, with 
 
The Seventy of God, 315 
 
 which we are better acquainted. Divine things are 
 of this kind. 
 
 From this remark follows a precaution, which is 
 necessary for the avoiding of error whenever we 
 meet with an emblem of this kind descriptive of God 
 in the Holy Scriptures ; that is, that we must care- 
 fully lay aside every part of the emblem, that agreeth 
 only to men from whom it is boiTosved, and apply 
 only that part to the Deity which is compatible with 
 the eminence of his perfections. 
 
 Sometimes the part that ought to be laid aside is 
 so obvious that it is impossible to mistake it. For 
 example: When the scripture attributed to God 
 hands, or feet, sorrow, or tears, or jealousy, it is very 
 easy, methinks to separate from emblems of this sort 
 all that can only agree with the natures 9f frail, or 
 with the conditions of sinful men. 
 
 But sometimes it is not quite so easy. The dif- 
 ficulty may proceed from several causes, of all which 
 I shall mention but one at present, and to that I in- 
 treat your attention. Some men have false notions 
 of grandeur,- and none are more likely to entertain 
 such notions than those divines, who have breai;hed 
 only the air of the study, and trodden only the dust 
 of the schools. Such divines, having never sweet- 
 ened their manners by a social mtercourse with ra- 
 tional people in the world, have often contracted in 
 that way of life a sour morose disposition, and their 
 tempers have tinged their ideas of grandeur and 
 glory. I am greatly inclined to believe that some 
 ideas, which several school-men have formed of the 
 liberty and independence of God, have arisen from 
 
316 The Seventy of God, 
 
 this disposition. Divines, who have sweetened their 
 manners by associating with rational people in the 
 world, would have attributed to God a noble and 
 magnanimous use of his liberty and independence. 
 They would have said, God is free and independ- 
 ent, then he will always do justly and equitably ; 
 then he will require of mankind only that which 
 bears a proportion to the talents that he hath given 
 them ; then misery will be the consequence of no- 
 thing but vice, and felicity will always follow virtue. 
 If the scriptures sometimes represent God by em- 
 blems, which seem opposite to these notions, sensible 
 men would have considered that one part of them 
 ought to have been cautiously separated from the 
 other, because it was incompatible with the eminence 
 of the perfections of God. But these scholastic di- 
 vines have attributed to God such a conduct as their 
 own savage tempers would have observed, had they 
 been vested with divine power. To each of them 
 the prophet's reproach may be very properly ap- 
 plied, These things hast thou done, and thou thought- 
 est that I was altogether such a one as thyself, Ps.l. 21. 
 They said, God is free, therefore he may appoint 
 men, who have done neither good nor evil, to eter- 
 nal flames. God is free, therefore he may create 
 men on purpose that they may sin, and that he may 
 display his wrath in their punishment. 
 
 II. Here let us stop, and let us keep to the sub- 
 ject in hand, by observing that those emblems of 
 w rath and vengeance, under which God is represent- 
 ed to us, have one part that cannot be attributed to 
 him, because it is not compatible with the eminence 
 
The Severity of God. 317 
 
 of bis perfections, and another, that must be applied 
 to him because it is. 
 
 1. It is a consequence of the frailty or of the de- 
 pravity of men, that their anger inclines them to 
 hate those whom they ought to love, and in whose 
 happiness they ought to interest themselves, as far 
 as they can without violating the laws of equity. 
 Such a hatred cannot be attributed to God; he loves 
 all his intelligent creatures, and when we are told 
 that "the Lord hateth a proud look, a lying tongue, 
 and hands that shed innocent blood," Prov. vi. 17. 
 when he is represented as refusing some real bless- 
 ings to mankind, as "hardening their hearts, as 
 sending them strong delusions, that they should be- 
 lieve a lie," Exod. iv. 21. 2 Thess. ii. 11. all these 
 descriptions mean that he dislikes sin, and all those 
 who commit it; that it is not always consistent with 
 the eminence of his perfections to work miracles 
 for their conversion : and that it is not fit to reform 
 by a physical power, w^hich would destroy the na- 
 ture of vice and virtue, men who refuse to be re- 
 formed by a moral power, which is suited to intelli- 
 gent beings. 
 
 2. It is a consequence of human frailty or depra- 
 vity that men's ivrath, makes them taste a barbarous 
 pleasure in tormenting those who are the objects of 
 it, and in feasting, as it were on their miseries. This 
 is incompatible with the eminence of the perfec- 
 tions of God. When he saith to impenitent sinners, 
 " I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when 
 your fear cometh," Prov. i. 26. when he saith, "Ah, 
 I will ease me of mine adversaries," Isa. i. 24. when 
 
318 The Severity of God. 
 
 Moses saith to the Jews, " It shall come to pass, that 
 as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so 
 the liord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and 
 to bring you to nought," Deut. xxviii. 63. all the 
 meaning of passages of this kind is, that the wisdom 
 of God approveth the judgments that his justice in- 
 flicts ; that the punishments of sinners cannot affect 
 his happiness ; and that when he hath not been glori- 
 fied in thek conversion, he will be glorified in then* 
 destruction. 
 
 3. It is a consequence of the frailty or of the de- 
 pravity of men, that their anger disorders their bo- 
 dies, and impairs their minds. See the eyes sparkle, 
 the moutii foams, the animal spirits are in a flame ; 
 these obscure the faculties of the mind, and prevent 
 the weighing of those reasons that plead for the guil- 
 ty oflender j anger prejudge th hun, and in spite of 
 many powerful pleas in his favor, his ruin is resolv- 
 ed. All these are incompatible with the eminence of 
 the perfections of God. God is a spirit, John iv. 24. 
 he is not subject to revolutions of sense ; reasons of 
 punishing a sinner never divert his attention from 
 motives of pardoning the man, or of moderating his 
 pain. When, therefore, God is represented as " shak- 
 ing the earth, and moving the foundations of the 
 hills, because he is wroth ; when we read, that there 
 went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of 
 his mouth," Psa. xviii. 7, 8. when he who is called 
 the Word of God, is described as treading " the wine- 
 press of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God," 
 Rev. xix. 13, 15. we understand no more than that 
 God knoweth how to proportion the punishment to 
 
The Severity of God. 319 
 
 the sin, and that he Avill inflict the most rigorous pen- 
 ahies on the most atrocious crimes. 
 
 4. It is a consecjuence of the frailly and depravity 
 of men, that their anger makes tliem usurp a right 
 which belongs to God. An individual, who aveng- 
 etli himself, assumes the place of thr.t God who hath 
 said, Vengeance is mi.ie, Rom. xii. 19. at least, he 
 assumes the place of the magistrate, to whom God 
 hath committed the sword for the preventing of 
 those disorders, which would subvert society, if each 
 w^ere judge in his own cause. This is incompatible 
 w ith the eminence of the divine perfections. God 
 useth his own right when he punisheth sin, agree- 
 ably to the doctrine of St. Paul, " Dearly beloved, 
 avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto 
 wrath ; for it is written, vengeance is mine ; I will 
 repay, saith the Lord." What is this wrath, to which 
 we are recjuired to give place ? It is the anger of 
 God. Avenge not yourselves, hut give place unto 
 wrath y that is, be not hasty in revenging injuries, 
 your self-love may magnify them, and the punish- 
 ment which ye inflict may exceed the offence ; leave 
 vengeance to God, who knoweth how to weigh the 
 injuries that ye have received in an impartial scale, 
 and to inflict such punishments on the guihy as their 
 crimes deserve. 
 
 5. It is a consequence of the frailty and depravi- 
 ty of men, that time doth not abate their resent- 
 ment, and that the only reason, which prevents the 
 rendering of evil for evil, is a want of opportunity ; 
 as soon as an opportunity offers they eagerly em- 
 brace it. This is incompatible with the eminence 
 
520 The Severity of God. 
 
 of the perfections of God ; he hath at all times the 
 means of punishing the guilty. When we are told, 
 therefore, that he " sets our iniquities before him, 
 our secret sins in the light of his countenance," Ps. 
 xc. 8. when, having reprieved the Israelites at the 
 request of Moses, he told him, " in the day when I 
 visit, I will visit their sin upon them," Exod. xxxii. 
 34. we only imderstand, that time never removes an 
 idea fi'om his mind ; and that if a sinner do not im- 
 prove the time, which is granted to him for his re- 
 pentance, he will be punished when that period ex- 
 pires. 
 
 6. In fine, it is a consequence of the frailty and 
 depravity of men, that their anger puts them upon 
 considering and punishing a pardonable frailty as an 
 atrocious crime. This is incompatible with the emi- 
 nence of the divine perfection. If we imagine that 
 God acts so, in any cases, it is because we have false 
 notions of sins, and think that a pardonable frailty 
 which is an atrocious crime. Sometimes an action 
 that appears tolerable to us, is an atrocious crhne, 
 on account of the motive from which it proceeds. 
 Such was that of Hezekiah ; he shewed his treasures 
 to the Babylonian ambassadors, and although this 
 may seem very pardonable, yet it was an atrocious 
 crime, which appears by the following passage, 
 " Hezekiah rendered not again according to the ben- 
 efit done unto him : for his heart was lifted up ; there- 
 fore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and 
 Jerusalem," 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. An action that may 
 appear to us very tolerable, is sometimes a heinous 
 crime;, on account of the singularity of the favour 
 
The Severity of God. 321 
 
 which preceded it. Such was the conduct of Lot's 
 wife ; she looked back toward Sodom, w^hich al- 
 though it may seem very pardonable was yet a hein- 
 ous crime, because she disobeyed the express coirn 
 mand of her benefactor, who had just delivered her 
 from the destruction of Sodom; and therefore she 
 was instantly petrified. An action that may seem 
 very tolerable to us, is sometimes a very atrocious 
 crime, on account of the little temptation which the 
 offender had to commit it. Such Avas the action of 
 that man who gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-dai/y 
 Numb. XV. 32. and although this may seem very tol- 
 erable to us yet it was a heinous offence, because it 
 was very easy to abstain from it, and therefore he 
 was stoned. An action, that may seem very pardon- 
 able to us, may be a heinous crime, on account of 
 the dignity of the offender. Such w^as that of Na- 
 dab and Abihu ; they offered strange fire to the Lord, 
 and although it may appear very pardonable to us 
 yet it Avas an atrocious crime, for Nadab and Abihu 
 w^ere ministers of holy things, and they ought to have 
 given examples of exact and scrupulous obedience, 
 accordingly they were consumed with fire from hea- 
 ven. Lev. X. 1, 2. 
 
 Thus w^e have gone through our first article, and 
 have endeavoured to give you distinct ideas of that 
 which the scripture calls in God, wrath, anger, con- 
 suming Jire, 
 
 Moreover, in explaining the meaning of tlie pro- 
 position in the text, we have collected several passa- 
 ges, and alleged several examples, which prove the 
 truth under our consideration. The explication of 
 
 VOL. I. 41 
 
322 The Severity of God. 
 
 this proposition, our God is a consuming fire, proves 
 its truth in the sense in which we have explained it. 
 "V^^e leave the enlargement of this article to yom- 
 meditation, and proceed to the next. 
 
 III. We are to conciliate what the scripture saith 
 of the goodness of God with what it saith of his an- 
 ger or vengeance ; the gospel of last Lord's day with 
 the gospel of this day : and, as the two subjects never 
 appear more irreconcileable than Avhen, having used 
 all our endeavours to terrify people who defer their 
 conversion till a dying-illness, we actually take pains 
 to comfort those who have deferred it till that time, 
 we wjll endeavour to harmonize the goodness and 
 justice of God in that particular point of view. 
 
 First, Let us endeavour, in a general view, to re- 
 concile the goodness of God with his justice, by lay- 
 ing down a few principles. 
 
 1. To speak properly, there are not several per- 
 fections in God ; but there is one single excellence, 
 inclusive of every other, that ariseth from all his 
 perfections, but of which it is not possible that we 
 can either form any complete ideas, or easily ex- 
 press by any name : in general, it may be called or- 
 der, or love of order. Order, in regard to finite 
 and dependent beings, is that disposition, which 
 induceth them to act agreeably to their relations 
 to other intelligent beings; to the faculties which 
 the Creator hath given them ; to the talents that they 
 have received; and to the circumstances in which 
 they are placed. Order, in regard to God, who is 
 an inlinite and an independent intelligence, is that 
 disposition, which induceth him always to act agTee- 
 ably to the eminence of his perfections. 
 
The Severity of God. 323 
 
 2. Although God hath only a general excellence, 
 yet it is necessary for us to divide it into several par- 
 ticular excellencies, in order to the obtaining of some 
 knowledge of an object, the immensity of which will 
 not allow us to comprehend it at once. We are obli- 
 ged to use this method in studying finite objects, 
 whenever their sphere extends beyond the comprehen- 
 sion of a single act of the mind : And, if finite ob- 
 jects can be known only by this method, for a much 
 stronger reason we must be allow^ed to use the same 
 method of obtaining the knowledge of the great and 
 infinite Being. 
 
 3. The general excellence of God being thus di- 
 vided in parts, each part becomes what we call a per- 
 fection, or an attribute of God, as vengeance or jus- 
 lice, and goodness : but each particular attribute w ill 
 be still mistaken unless w^e subdivide it again into 
 other, and still more contracted spheres. Thus, 
 when God sendeth rain and fruitful seasons, w^e call 
 the blessing simply bounty. When he delivereth us 
 out of our afflictions, w^e call it compassion. When 
 he pardoneth our sins, we call it mercy. But as all 
 these particular excellencies proceed from tliat gen- 
 eral attribute w hich w^e call goodness, so that attri- 
 bute itself proceedeth, as well as his justice, from an 
 excellence more general still, w^hich we have denom- 
 inated order or love of order. 
 
 4. Perfections that proceed from the same perfec- 
 tion, or rather, which are the same perfection appli- 
 <^d to different subjects, cannot be contrary to 
 each other. Strictly speakinir, God is no n^ore 
 just than good, no more good than just. His good- 
 
324 The Seventy of God. 
 
 iiess is restrained by his justice, bis justice by bis 
 goodness. He deligbteth as much in the exercise 
 of bis justice, when order requires it, as in the ex- 
 ercise of bis goodness, when order requires him to 
 exercise it : or, to express the same thino^ more plain- 
 ly, that which is goodness, when it is applied to one 
 case, woukl cease to be goodness, were it applied to 
 a different case, because, in the latter, goodness 
 w ould not be restrained by justice : or, to express 
 myself more plainly still, because order, wliich al- 
 low eth the exercise of goodness in the first case, doth 
 not allow the exercise of it in the last, so tiiat wlmt 
 would be fit, or agreeable to order, in the fust case, 
 would be unfit or disorderly in the last. 
 
 To conclude. God is as amiable and adorable 
 when he exerciseth his justice, as when he exerciseth 
 his goodness. That which makes me adore God, be- 
 lieve his word, hope in his promises, and love him 
 above all things, is the eminence of his perfections. 
 Were not God possessed of such an eminence of 
 bis perfections, he would not be a proper object of 
 adoration. I should be in danger of being deceived 
 were I to believe his word, or to trust his promise, 
 and I should be guilty of idolatry, were I to love 
 him with that supreme afiection, which is due to 
 none but the Supreme Being. But, the goodness 
 and justice of God being equal emanations of the 
 eminence of his perfections, and of his love of or- 
 der, I ought equally to adore and love him when 
 he revv ardeth, and when he punisheth, when he ex- 
 erciseth his justice, and when he exerciseth his 
 goodness; because, in either case, he alike dis- 
 
The Severily of God 325 
 
 playeth that general excellence, that love of order, 
 which is the ground of my love and ol)edience. 1 
 ought to adore and love hiin, as much when he 
 drowns the world, as Vv hen he promiseth to drown 
 it no more ; when he unlocks the gates of hell, as 
 when he openeth the doors of heaven ; when he 
 saith to the impenitent, "Depart, ye cursed, to 
 the devil and his angels," Mat. xxv. 41. as when 
 he saith to his elect, " Come ye blessed of my Fa- 
 ther, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world," Mat. xxv. 34. 
 
 The justice and the goodness of God, then, are 
 in perfect harmony ; the gospel of last Lord's-day, 
 and the gospel of this day, entirely agree ; the pro- 
 phet and the apostle preach the same doctrine, and 
 the two texts rightly understood, God is a consum- 
 ing Jire; the Lord will ahundantly pardon: both 
 these texts, I say, present the same object to us, the 
 eminence of the divine perfections, God's love of 
 order. This is wdiat we proposed to prove. 
 
 Let us now apply this general harmony of the 
 goodness and severity of God, to the removing of 
 a seeming inconsistency in the conduct of your 
 preachers and casuists, who first use every effort to 
 alarm and terrify your minds with the idea of a 
 death-bed repentance, and afterward take equal 
 pains to comfort you, when ye have deferred your 
 repentance to that time, and when your case appears 
 desperate. 
 
 Why do we not despair of a man who delays his 
 conversion till the approach of death ? Why did we 
 tell you last Lord's-day, that God pardoneth not 
 
326 The Seventy of God, 
 
 only the sins of months and years, but of a whole 
 life ? Because that order which constitutes the emi- 
 nence of the divine perfections, doth not allow that 
 a sincere conversion, a conversion that reforms the 
 sin, and rene\\s the sinner should be rejected by 
 God. Now we cannot absolutely deny the possi- 
 bility of a sincere death-bed conversion for the fol- 
 lowing reasons, 
 
 1. Because it is not absolutely impossible, that a 
 violent fit of sickness, or an apprehension of death, 
 should make deeper impressions on the mind, than 
 either sermons, or exhortations, or books of devo- 
 tion could ever produce. This reflection is the more 
 solid, because the phrase, an unconverted man, is ex- 
 tremely equivocal. We call him an unconverted 
 man, who profanely rusheth into all sorts of sins, 
 and who never made one sacrifice to order ; and we 
 also, with great reason, call him an unconverted man, 
 who hath renounced all sins except one. Now the 
 idea of death may finish, in the souls of people of 
 the latter sort, a w ork which they had indeed neglect- 
 ed, but which however was actually begun. 
 
 2. Because we are neither so fully acquainted with 
 other people's hearts, nor indeed with our own, as 
 to determine whether sin have so entirely depraved 
 all the faculties of the soul, that it is past remedy ; 
 or, whether it have arrived at that precise degree of 
 corruption, to which the eminence of the divine per- 
 fections doth not allow a display of that efficacy, 
 w^hich is promised to those who desire the grace of 
 conversion. 
 
The Severity of God. 327 
 
 3. Because we find, in the Holy Scriptures, that 
 some have obtained mercy, after they had commit- 
 ted the very crimes, the remembrance of which, we 
 have said, ought not to chive any to despair. We 
 meet with, at least, one example, which affords a 
 probability, (I do not say a demonstration) that the 
 eminence of the divine prefections doth not always 
 require, that a man, who hath spent his life in rob- 
 beries, should be excluded from the mercy of God. 
 We find there a thief who was condemned to be cru- 
 cified, and who said to the companion of his iniqui- 
 ties and miseries, we receive the due rewards of our 
 deeds y Luke xxiii. 41. but who, notwithstanding all 
 the misery of his case, applied to Jesus Christ, and, 
 from his adorable mouth, received this comfortable 
 promise, " Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou 
 be with me in paradise," Luke xxiii. 43. 
 
 4. Because we still see people, who, having lived 
 thirty, yea fifty years in sin, have been converted 
 in a time of sickness, and who, being restored to 
 health, give full proof of the reality of their conver- 
 sion. Such, examples, I own, are rare, and almost 
 unheard of, yet we could, perhaps, mention two 
 or three, out of twenty thousand sick people, whom 
 we have visited, or of whom heard, in the course 
 of our ministry. Now the examples of two or three, 
 who have been converted on a sick-bed, out of 
 twenty thousand who have died without conversion, 
 are sufficient to prevent our saying to one dying 
 man, who should have put off his repentance to 
 the last hour, that it is impossible for him to be 
 converted. 
 
:328 The Severity of God, 
 
 5. Because God worketh miracles in religion as 
 well as in nature, and becaiise no man hath a suffi- 
 cient knowledge of the nature of God's perfections 
 to enable him to affirm that a miracle cannot, or 
 ougljt not to be wrought in behalf of such a sinner. 
 
 6. Because we cannot find, that your pastors 
 have any authority from their Bibles to say to a 
 penitent sinner, at any time, there is no more hope 
 for thee ; thou hast exhausted the mercy of God; 
 thou art gotten to that period, in which we have no 
 other morality to preach than this, he that is unjust, 
 let him he unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him 
 he filthy still, Rev. xxii. 11. On the contrary, all 
 the directions in the Holy Scriptures, that relate to 
 the exercise of our ministry, engage us to pray for 
 a sinner, as long as he hath a spark of life ; to en- 
 deavour to convince him as long as he is capable of 
 reasoning ; and, till he is past feeling the force of 
 motives to conversion, to do every thing, that is in 
 our poAver, to convert him. But doth not all this 
 conduct suppose that which we have been endeav- 
 ouring to prove? That is, that to what degree soev- 
 er a sinner may have carried his sin, how long so- 
 ever he may have lived in it, there will always be a 
 sufficiency of pardon, where there is a certainty of 
 conversion ; agreeably to the gospel that we preach- 
 ed to you on the last Lord's-day, "Seek ye the 
 Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while 
 he is near : Let the wicked forsake his way, and the 
 unrighteous man his thoughts : And let him return 
 unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; 
 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon :" 
 
The Severity of God. 329 
 
 For iny thoughts of grace and mercy must not be 
 measured by the ideas of the finest reasoning pow- 
 ers; much less by those of a gloomy desponding 
 mind, "My thoughts are not your tlioughts, neither 
 are your ways my ways, saith the Lord : For as the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
 higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
 thoughts." This was the gospel of last Lord's-day. 
 
 The gospel of this day is, our God is a consuming 
 Jire, But these two gospels entirely agree, and 
 our endeavours to comfort you, after ye have de- 
 ferred your conversion to a death-bed, are not in- 
 consistent with our endeavours to terrify and alarm 
 you, when we perceive that ye obstinately deter- 
 mine to defer your repentance to that time. More- 
 over, the same reasons which prevail with us to com- 
 fort you in that sad period, prevail with us to give 
 you a salutary alarm before the fatal moment comes. 
 
 It is true, Gods thoughts are not our thoughts ; and 
 it is possible that the approach of death may make 
 deeper impressions on you, than either sermons or 
 pious books have made: But yet our God is a con- 
 suming Jire. What a time is a dying illness for the 
 receiving of such impressions! I omit those sudden 
 and unexpected deaths, of which we have so many 
 yearly, or rather daily, examples. I omit the sud- 
 den deaths of those, who, while v/e were convers- 
 ing and transacting business v>'ith thefn, were seiz- 
 ed with violent pains, turned pale, and died, and 
 were instantly stretched on a bier. I pass those, 
 who went to bed healtiiy and u ell, who quietly fell 
 asleep, and whom we have found in tlie mornmg 
 
 VOL. I. 42 
 
330 The Severity of God. 
 
 dead and cold. All these melancholy examples we 
 omit, for one would imagine, considering your con- 
 duct, and hearing your conversation, that each of 
 you had received a revelation to assure him of an 
 exemption from sudden death. But what a time is a 
 dying illness for renovation and conversion ! Would 
 not one suppose, that those, who hope to be convert- 
 ed then, have always lived among immortals, and 
 have neither heard of death, nor seen a person die ? 
 Ah ! What obstacles! What a world of obstacles op- 
 pose such extravagant hopes, and justify the efforts 
 of those who endeavour to destroy them! Here is 
 business that must be settled ; a will, which must be 
 made ; a number of articles that must be discussed : 
 there are friends, who must be embraced ; relations, 
 that must be dissolved ; children, who must be torn 
 away ; the soul must be writhen, and rent, and riven 
 asunder with sighs and adieus. Here, arise frightful 
 ideas of death, which have never entered the mind 
 but amidst numberless hurries of necessary business, 
 or countless objects of deceitful pleasures ; ideas of 
 a death, that hath been always considered at a dis- 
 tance, though so many voices have announced its 
 approach ; but the approach of which now astonish- 
 es, benumbs, and i^enders motionless : There, the ill- 
 ness increaseth, pains multiply, agonies convulse, 
 the whole sou], full of intolerable sensations loseth 
 the power of seeing and hearing, thinking and re- 
 flecting. Here are medicines more intolerable than 
 the malady, operations more violent than the agonies 
 which they are designed to allay : There, conscience, 
 for the first time, enlightened, awaked, and alarmed. 
 
The Severity of God. 331 
 
 rolls in tides of remorse ; the terrible remembrance 
 of a life spent in sin ; an aiTny of irrefragable wit- 
 nesses, from all parts arising, prove the guilt, and 
 denounce a sentence of death, on the departing soul. 
 See now, whether this first re fleet ion, which authoriseth 
 our endeavours to comfort and invigorate your souls, 
 when ye have defen-ed your conversion to your last 
 hour, be inconsistent with those which we use to ter- 
 rify and alarm you, when ye obstinately put off your 
 repentance to that time ? 
 
 It is true, " God's thoughts are not our thoughts," 
 and we have neither a sufficient knowledge of other 
 people's hearts, nor of our own, to affirm with cer- 
 tainty when their faculties are entirely contamina- 
 ted : But yet, " our God is a consuming fire." We 
 know men, to whom the truth is become unintelli- 
 gible, in consequence of the disguise in which they 
 have taken the pains to clothe it ; and who have ac- 
 customed themselves to palliate vice, tiii they are 
 become incapable of perceiving its turpitude. 
 
 " God's thoughts are notour thoughts," it is true; 
 and we have seen some examples of people, who 
 have proved, since their recovery, that they were 
 truly converted in sickness, and on whose account 
 we presume that others may possibly be converted 
 by the same mean : But yet " our God is a consum- 
 ing fire." How rare are these examples! Doth this 
 require proof ? Must we demonstrate it? Ye are 
 our proofs : ye, yourselves, are our demonstrations. 
 Who of you, (I speak of those who are of mature 
 age) Who of you hath not been sick, and thought 
 himself in danger of death ? Who hath not made 
 
332 The Severity of God. 
 
 resolutions in that distressing hour, and promised 
 God to reform ? The law of these exercises forbids 
 certain details, and prohibits the naming of my 
 hearers : but I appeal to your consciences, and, if 
 your consciences be asleep, I appeal to the immor- 
 tal God. How many of you have deposited your 
 resolutions with us, and have solemnly engaged to 
 renounce the world with all its sinful maxims ? How 
 many of you have imposed upon us by appearan- 
 ces of conversion, and have imposed upon your- 
 selves too ? How many of you should we have al- 
 leged as new examples of death-bed conversions if 
 God had not granted you a recovery ? Are ye con- 
 verted indeed ? Have ye renounced the world and 
 its maxims? Ah! were we to judge by the con- 
 duct of those who have recovered, of the state of 
 
 those who are dead My brethren, I 
 
 dare not examine the matter, but I leave it to your 
 meditation. 
 
 Itistrue, " God's thoughts are not our thoughts;" 
 and God worketh miracles in religion as well as in 
 nature : But yet, " our God is a consuming fire." 
 Who can assure himself, that having abused com- 
 mon grace, he shall obtain extraordinary assist- 
 ances ? 
 
 It is true, " God's thoughts are not our thoughts;" 
 and tliere is nothing in the Holy Scriptures, which 
 impowers us to shut the gates of heaven against a 
 dymg penitent ; we have no authority to tell you, 
 that there is no more hope for you, but that ye are 
 lost without remedy : But yet, " our God is a con- 
 suming fire." There are hundreds of passages in om- 
 
The Severity of God. 33^ 
 
 Bibles, which authorise us to declare what I am say- 
 ing : there are hundreds of passages that command us, 
 under the penalty of suffering all the punishments 
 that belong to the crime, not to conceal any thing 
 from the criminal : there are hundreds of passages 
 which empower and enjoin us to warn you, you, 
 who are fifty years of age ; you, who are sixty ; 
 you, who are fourscore ; that still to put off the 
 work of your conversion, is a madness, an excess 
 of inflexibility and indolence, which all the flames 
 of hell can never expiate. 
 
 To conclude. This is an article, of which we, 
 your pastors, hope to give a good account to God, 
 however unworthy w^e are of his approbation. 
 How often have we represented the danger of your 
 procrastinations? Ye walls of this church! were ye 
 capable of giving evidence, we would take you to 
 witness. But we appeal to you, ye sermons, that 
 have been preached in this assembly ! ye shall be 
 recollected in that great day, in which each of our 
 hearers shall give an account of the use that he hath 
 made of you'. Ye consciences, that have heard our 
 duections! ye shall bear witness. Ye gainsay ers ! 
 ye yourselves shall bear witness, ye who, by revers- 
 ing those ideas which the gospel giveth us of the 
 mercy of God, have so often pretended to obscure 
 those w^hich we have endeavoured to give of his jus- 
 tice and vengeance : " We are pure from your 
 blood, we have not shunned to declare unto you all 
 the counsel of God," Acts xx. 26, 27. When we 
 stand at his tribunal, and, under a sense of the weak- 
 ness with which our ministry w^as accompanied, say 
 
334 The Severity of God. 
 
 to him, " Enter not into judgment with thy ser- 
 vants, OLord!" Ps. cxliii. 2. Each of us will ven- 
 ture to add, with a view to the importunity that had 
 been used to prevail with you to improve your pre- 
 cious moments, " I have preached righteousness in 
 the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained 
 my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. Withhold not thou 
 thy tender mercies from me, O Lord," Ps. xl. 9. IL 
 " I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain ; 
 yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my 
 work with my God," Isa. xlix. 4. 
 
 O ! may God animate us with more noble motives! 
 God grant, not that the eternal misery of our hear- 
 ers may be the apology of our ministry, Phil. iv. I. 
 but that ye may be our joy and crown in the day of 
 Christ! Amen, ch. 1. 10. 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 The Patience of God with wicked Nations, 
 
 Genesis xv. 16. 
 The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full, 
 
 XT is a shocking disposition of mind, which Solo- 
 mon describes in that well known passage in Ec- 
 clesiastes : Because sentence against an evil work is 
 not executed speedily ; therefore the heart of the sons 
 of men is fully set in them to do evil, ch. viii. 11. It 
 seems, at first sight, as if the wise man had rather 
 exceeded in his portrait of the human heart ; or 
 that, if there were any originals, they could only be 
 a few monsters, from whose souls were eradicated 
 all the seeds -of religion and piety, as well as every 
 degree of reason and humanity. God is patient to- 
 ward all who ofl'end him; then, let us offend him 
 without remorse, let us try the utmost extent of his 
 patience. God lifteth over our heads a mighty hand, 
 armed with lightnings and thunderbolts, but this 
 hand is usually suspended a while before it strikes ; 
 then let us dare it while it delays, and till it moves 
 to crush us to pieces let us not respect it. What a 
 disposition! What a shocking disposition of mind is 
 this mv brethren ? 
 
336 The Patience of God. 
 
 But let us rend the vails with which we conceal 
 ourselves from ourselves ; let us penetrate those se- 
 cret recesses of our consciences, into which we nev- 
 er enter but when we are forced ; let us go to the 
 bottom of a heart naturally deceitful above all things, 
 and desperately wicked, and we shall find that this 
 disposition of mind, which at first sight inspires us 
 with horror, is the disposition : of whom ? Of the 
 greatest part of this assembly, my brethren. Could 
 we persist in sin without the patience of God ? Dare 
 we live in Ihat shameful secur^y, with which the 
 ministers of the living God so justly reproach us, if 
 God had authorized them to cry in our street, Yet 
 forty days, yet forty days / Jonah iii. Had w^e seen 
 Ananias and Sapphira fall at St. Peter s feet, as 
 soon as they kept back part of the price of their pos- 
 session, Acts V. 1, 2. in a word, could we have the 
 madness to add sin to sin, if we were really convin- 
 ced, that God entertained the formidable design of 
 bearing with us no longer, but of precipitating us 
 into the gulfs of hell on the very first act of rebel- 
 lion ? Why then do we rebel every day ? It is for 
 the reason alleged by the wise man : It is because 
 sentence against an evil work is not executed spee- 
 dily : Because sentence against an evil work is not ex- 
 ecuted speedily j therefore the heart of the sons of men 
 is fully set in them to do evil, 
 
 I intend to-day, my brethren, to endeavour to 
 dissipate the dark clouds, with which your security 
 obscures the designs of a patient God, who hath 
 been patient tow ards you, long suffering towards all, 
 2 Pet. iii. 9. and who is exercising his patience to- 
 
The Patience of God. 337 
 
 ward you this day. But who can tell how much 
 lonoer he intends to bear with you ? Let us enter 
 into tlie matter. I design to consider our text prin- 
 cipally with a view to the riches of the forbearance, 
 and long-snjfering of God, Rom. ii. 4. for it treats of 
 a mystery of justice which interests all mankind. 
 God bears with the most wicked nations a long 
 while, and, having borne a long while with the re- 
 bellion of ancestors, bears also a long while with 
 that of their descendants ; but, at length, collecting 
 the rebellion of both into one point of vengeance, 
 he punisheth a people w ho have abused his patience, 
 and proportioneih his punishments to the length of 
 time which had been granted to avert them. 
 
 All these solemn truths are included in the senten- 
 tious w ords of the text : " The niiquity of the Amo- 
 rites is not yet full." I hasten to explain them in or- 
 der to employ the most of the precious moments of 
 attention, with which ye deign to favor me, in de- 
 riving such practical instructions from them as they 
 afford. Promote our design, my dear brethren. Let 
 not the forbearance, which the love of God now af- 
 fords you, *' set your hearts fully to do evil." And 
 thou, O almighty and long-suffering God ! whose 
 treasures of forbearance perhaps this nation may 
 have already exhausted ! O thou just avenger of sin ! 
 who perhaps mayest be about to punish our crimes, 
 now ripe for vengeance, O suspend its execution till 
 we make some profound reflections on the objects 
 before us! O let the ardent prayers of our Abra- 
 hams, and of our Lots, prevail with thee to lengthen 
 the forbearance which thou hast already exercised to- 
 
 voL. I. 43 
 
33a The Patience of God. 
 
 wards this church, these provinces, and every sinner 
 in this assembly ! Amen. 
 
 " The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." 
 These words were addressed to Abraham by God 
 himself. He had just before given him a victory 
 over five kings, and had promised him blessings more 
 glorious than all those which he had received before. 
 He had said to him, " Fear not, I am thy shield, and 
 thine exceeding great reward," Gen. xv. 1 , 2, 4, 5, 1 3. 
 But the Patriarch thou2::ht that these great promises 
 could not be accomplished, because he had no pos- 
 terity, and was far advanced in age. God relieves 
 hi)ii frojn this fear, by promising him not only a son, 
 but a posterity, which should equal the stars of hea- 
 ven in number, and should possess a country as ex- 
 tensive as their Avants : but at the same time he told 
 him, that, before the accomplishment of these prom- 
 ises, his seed should be either strangers in the land of 
 Canaan, the conquest of which should be reserved 
 for them, or subject to the Egyptians for the space 
 of four hundred years : that, at the expiration of that 
 period, they should quit their slavery, laden with 
 the spoils of Egypt : that, " in the fourth genera- 
 tion," they should return into the land of Canaan, 
 where Abraham dwelt, when the Lord addressed 
 these words to him ; that then they should conquer 
 the country, and should be the ministers of God's 
 vengeance on the Canaanites, whose abominations 
 even now deserved severe punishments, but which 
 God would at present defer, because the wretched 
 people had not yet filled up the measure of their 
 crimes. 
 
The Patience of God. 339 
 
 This is a general view of our text in connection 
 with the context. " Know of a surety, that thy seed 
 shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and 
 shall serv^e them, and they shall afHict them four 
 hundred years. And also that nation whom they 
 shall sen^e, will I judge ; and afterward shall they 
 <^ome out Avith gieat substance. And thou shall go 
 to thy fathers in peace ; thou shalt be buried in a 
 good old age. But in the fourth generation they 
 shall come hither again ; for the iniquity of the Am- 
 orites is not yet full." 
 
 If ye would understand these words more particu- 
 larly, attend to a few remarks, which we shall only 
 mention in brief, because a discussion of them would 
 divert our attention too far from the principal design 
 of this discourse."^ 
 
 We include in ihe four hunched years, mentioned in 
 the context, the time that the Israelites dwelt in Ca- 
 naan from the birth of Isaac, and the time which they 
 dwelt in Egypt fiom the promotion of Joseph. In- 
 deed, strictly speaking, these two periods contain 
 four hundred and Jive years. But every body knows 
 that authors, both sacred and piofane, to avoid frac- 
 tions, sometimes add and sometimes diminish, in 
 their calculations. In tlie twelfth chapter of Exo- 
 dus, ver. 40. Moses saith, " The children of Israel 
 dwelt in Egypt four hundred and thirty years;" 
 but it is beyond a doubt, tliat he useth a concise 
 way of speaking in this passage, and tliat the Se- 
 venty had reason for paraphrasing the words thus: 
 
 * This whole subject is treated at large in Mons. Saurin*s 
 xivth Dissertation on the Bible. Tom. Prem. 
 
340 The Patience of God, 
 
 " The sojourning of the children of Israel, in the 
 LAND OF Canaan, and in the land of Egypt was 
 four hundred and thirty years." If the reasonable- 
 ness of tliis paraphrase be allowed, there will still 
 remain a difference of thirty years between the time 
 fixed in Genesis by the Lord for the conquest of 
 Canaan, and tlie time mentioned by Moses in Exo- 
 dus, but it is easy to reconcile this seeming differ- 
 ence, for the calculation in Genesis begins at the 
 birth of Isaac ; but the other commences at Abra- 
 ham's arrival in Canaan. The reckoning is exact, 
 for Abraham dwelt twenty five years in Canaan be- 
 fore Isaac was born, and thei^e were four hundred 
 and five years from tlie birth of Isaac to the depar- 
 ture out of Egypt. This is the meaning of the 
 passage quoted from Exodus, and, as it perfectly 
 agrees with our context, we shall conclude that this 
 first article is sufficiently explained. 
 
 Our second regards the meaning of the word gen- 
 eration, which is mentioned in the context. This 
 term is equivocal : sometimes it signifies the whole 
 age of each person in a succession ; and in this sense 
 the evangelist says, that " from Abraham to Uavid 
 are fourteen generations," Mat. i. 17. Sometimes 
 it is put for the whole duration of a living multi- 
 tude; and in this sense Jesus Christ useth it, when 
 he saith that this generation, that is, all his cotem- 
 poraries, shall not pass away, till his prophecies con- 
 cerning them were fulfilled. Sometimes it signifies 
 a period of ten years ; and in this sense it is used in 
 the book of Baruch, ch. yi. 2. ; the captivity in Bab- 
 
The Patience of God. 341 
 
 ylon which continued we know, seventy years, is 
 there said to remain seven generations. 
 
 We understand the word now in the first sense, 
 and we mean that from the arrival of the Israelites 
 in Eg} pt, to the time of their migration, tliere were 
 four successions: The first was the generation of 
 Kohath, the son of Levi : the second of Amram the 
 son of Kohath ; the tiiird was that of Moses and 
 Aaron ; and the fourth was that of the children of 
 Moses and Aaron, Ex. vi. 16, 18, 20, kc. 
 
 Our third observation relates to tlie word Amo- 
 rites in our text. The iniquity of the Amorites is not 
 yet full. The word Amorites hath two significations 
 in scripture ; a particular and a general meaning. 
 It hath a particular meaning when it denotes the 
 descendants of Hamor, the fourth son of Canaan, 
 wdio first inhabited a mountainous country westward 
 of the .dead sea, and afterward spread themselves 
 eastward of that sea, between the rivers Jabbok, 
 and Arnon, having dispossessed the Amorites and 
 Moabites. Sihon and Oo;, two of their kin2:s were 
 defeated by Moses, Gen. x. 16. and Josh. xii. 23. 
 
 But the word Amorites is sometimes used in a 
 more general sense, and denotes ail the inhabitants 
 of Canaan. To cite many proofs would divert our 
 attention too far from our principal design, let it 
 suflBce therefore to observe that we take the word 
 in our text in this general meaning. 
 
 But what crimes does tl^e Spirit of God include 
 in tlie word iniquity ? The iniquity of the Amorites 
 is not yet full. Here my brethren, a detail would 
 be horrid, for so great were the excesses of these 
 
342 The Patience of God. 
 
 people, that we should in some sense, partake of 
 their crimes, by attempting to give an exact list of 
 them. So excessive was the idolatry of the Canaan- 
 ites, that they rendered the honors of supreme adora- 
 tion not only to the most mean, but even to the most 
 impure and infamous creatures. Their inhumanity 
 was so excessive that they sacrificed their own chil- 
 dren to their gods. And so monstrous was their sub- 
 version, not only of the laws of nature, but even of 
 the common irregularities of human nature, that a 
 vice, which must not be named, was openly practi- 
 sed : and, in short, so scandalous was the depravation 
 of religion and good manners, that Moses, after he 
 had given the Israelites laws against the most gross 
 idolatry, against incest, against beastiality, against that 
 other crime, which our dismal circumstances oblige 
 us to mention, in spite of so many reasons for- avoid- 
 ing it ; Moses, I say, after having forbidden all these 
 excesses to the Israelites, positively declares that 
 the Canaanites were guilty of them all: that the 
 earth was weary of such execrable monsters; and 
 that for these crimes, God had sent the Israelites to 
 destroy them. Dejile not yourselves, says he in the 
 book of Leviticus, xviii. 24, 25. (after an enumera- 
 tion of the most shameful vices that can be imagin- 
 ed) " Defile not yourselves in any of these things, 
 for in all these, the nations are defiled which I cast 
 out before you. Therefore I do visit the iniquity 
 thereof, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabi- 
 tants," ver. 30. And again in the twelfth chapter 
 of Deuteronomy, "Take heed to thyself, that thou 
 be not snared by following them, after that they be 
 
The Patience of God. 343 
 
 destroyed from before thee, and that thou enquire 
 
 not saying, How did these nations 
 
 . . . . even so will I do likewise." Such were 
 the iniquities that God forbore to punish for many 
 ages, and at last punished with a severity, in appear- 
 ance contrary to liis equity : but there is nothing 
 astonishing in it to those who consult the foremen- 
 tioned maxim, that is, that it is equitable in God to 
 proportion the punishments of guilty nations to the 
 time granted for their repentance. 
 
 We observe lastly, th^at, though God in his infinite 
 mercy had determined to bear four hundred years 
 longer with nations, unworthy of his patience, there 
 was one sin excepted from this general goodness, 
 there was one of their iniquities that drew down tlie 
 most formidable preternatural punishments upon 
 those who committed it, and forced divine justice to 
 anticipate, by a swift vengeance, a punishment, 
 which, in other cases, was deferred for four whole 
 ages. 8t. Paul paints this iniquity in the most odi- 
 ous colours in the first of Romans, and it was con- 
 stantly punished with death by the Jews. Read 
 with a holy fear the nineteenth chapter of Genesis. 
 The inhabitants of the cities of the plain were pos- 
 sessed with a more than brutal madness. Two an- 
 gels in human forms are sent to deliver Lot from 
 the judgments which are about to destroy them. 
 Tl e amiable borrowed forms of these intelligences 
 strike the eyes of the inhabitants of Sodom, and ex- 
 cite their abominable propensities to sin. A crowd 
 of people, young and old, instantly surround the 
 house of Lot, in order to seize the celestial messen- 
 
344 The Patience of God 
 
 gers, and to offer violence to them, and though they 
 are stricken blind they persist in feeling for doors 
 Avhich they cannot see. Sodom and Gomorrah, Ad- 
 ma and Zeboim, being inhabited by none but peo- 
 ple of this abominable kind, are all given up to the 
 vengeance due to their crimes. The Lord rained 
 Jire and brimstone from the Lord, Gen. xix. 24. The 
 brimstone enkindled penetrates so far into the veins 
 of bitumen, and other inflammable bodies of which 
 the ground is full, that it forms a lake, denominated 
 in scripture the dead sea ; and, to use the words of 
 an apocryphal writer, the naste land that smoketh, 
 and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness^ 
 are even to this day a testimony of the wickedness of 
 the Jive cities. Wis. x. 7. In vain had Lot vexed 
 his righteous soul from day to day ; 2 Pet. ii. 8. In 
 vain had Abraham availed himself of all the inter- 
 est that piety gave him in the compassion of a mer- 
 ciful God; in vain had the abundance of his fervent 
 benevolence said, " Behold now, I have taken upon 
 me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and 
 ashes : \Yilt thou also destroy the righteous with 
 the wicked ? Peradventure there be fifty righteous 
 within the city; peradventure forty; peradven- 
 ture twenty ; peradventure ten :" Gen. xviii. 27, 23. 
 kc. The decree of divine vengeance must be exe- 
 cuted. Be ivise now therefore, O ye kings ; be in- 
 structed, ye judges of the earth. Ps. ii. 10. God grant 
 that ye may never know any thing more of these 
 terrible executions than what ye learn from the his- 
 tory just now related ! 
 
The Patience of Goi, 345 
 
 I return to my subject, except to that part of it 
 last mentioned, the sin of the cities of the plain. 
 The iniquities of the Canaanites were suffered for 
 more than four hundred years; so long would God 
 defer tlie destruction of the Amorites by Israel, be- 
 cause till then their iniquity would not have attain- 
 ed its heiglit. And why would he defer the destruc- 
 tion of these miserable people till their iniquities 
 should have attained their height? This, as we said 
 in the beginning, is the subject upon which we are 
 going to fix your attention. God exerciseth his 
 patience long toward the most wicked people, hav- 
 ing borne with the rebellion of ancestors, he bears 
 with the rebellion of their posterity, and whole ages 
 pass without visible punishment : but, at length, col- 
 lecting the rebellions of parents and children into 
 one point of vengeance, he poureth out his indigna- 
 tion on whole nations that have abused his patience ; 
 and, as I advanced before, and think it necessary to 
 repeat again, he proportioneth his vindictive visita- 
 tions to the length of time that had been granted to 
 avert them. / mill judge that nation whom thy de- 
 scendants shall serve, but it shall be in the four tu gene- 
 ration, because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet 
 full. 
 
 The remaining time with which ye condescend 
 yet to favour me, I shall employ in considering, 
 
 I. The nature of this economy. 
 
 II. The goodness and justice which characterise it. 
 
 III. The terrors that accompany it. 
 
 ly. The relation which it bears to our own dis- 
 mal circumstances. 
 
 VOL. I. 44 
 
346 The Patience of God, 
 
 Let us consider, I. The nature of this economy. 
 Recollect an observation that hath been made by 
 most of those who have laid down rules to assist us 
 in reasoning justly. That is, that we are sometimes 
 to consider a nation in a moral light, as a person, 
 consisting of a body, a soul, and a duration of life. 
 All the people w ho compose this nation are consid- 
 ered as one body : the maxims which direct its con- 
 duct in peace or in w ar, in commerce or in religion, 
 constitute what we call the spirit, or soul of this bo- 
 dy. The ages of its continuance are considered as 
 the duration of its life. This parallel might be ea- 
 sily enlarged. 
 
 Upon this principle, we attribute to those w ho 
 compose a nation now, what, properly speaking, 
 agrees only with those who formerly composed it. 
 Thus we say that the same nation was delivered 
 from bondage in Egypt in the reign of Pharaoh, 
 which was delivered from slavery in Babylon in the 
 reign of Cyrus. In the same sense, Jesus Christ 
 tells the .Jews of his time, Moses gave you not that 
 bread from heaven, John vi. 32. not that the same 
 persons who had been delivered from Egypt were 
 delivered from Babylon ; nor that the Jews to whom 
 Moses had given manna in the desert were the same 
 to whom Jesus Christ gave bread from heaven : but 
 because the Jews who lived under the reign of Cy- 
 rus, and those who lived in the time of Pharaoh, 
 those who lived in the time of Moses, and those 
 who lived in the time of Jesus Christ, were consid- 
 ered as different parts of that moral body, called the 
 Jewish nation. 
 
The Patience of God, 347 
 
 On this principle, (and this has a direct view to 
 onr subject) we attribute to this whole body, not 
 only those physical, but even those moral actions, 
 which belong only to one part of it. We ascribe 
 the praise, or the blame of an action to a nation, 
 though those who performed it have been dead ma- 
 ny ages. We say that the Romans, who had cour- 
 age to oppose even the shadow of tyranny under 
 their consuls, had the meanness to adore tyrants un- 
 der their emperors. And what is still more remark- 
 able, we consider that part of a nation which contin- 
 ues, responsible for the crimes of that which subsists 
 no more. 
 
 A passage in the gospel of St. Luke will clearly 
 illustrate our meaning. " W^o unto you : for ye 
 build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fa- 
 thers killed them; and ye say. If we had been in 
 the days of our fathers, we would not have been 
 partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 
 Truly ye bear witness, that ye allow the deeds of 
 your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye 
 build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wis- 
 dom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, 
 and some of them they shall slay and persecute : 
 that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed 
 from the foundation of the world, may be required 
 of this generation ; from the blood of Abel, unto 
 the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the 
 altar and the temple : verily I say unto you. It shall 
 be required of this generation," Luke xi. 47. Mat. 
 xxiii. 30. 
 
34S The Patience of God. 
 
 We will not enquire now what Zacharias is here 
 spoken of. Interpreters are not agreed. Some say 
 it is the same person who is spoken of in the second 
 book of Chronicles, w4io was extraordinarily raised 
 up to stem that torrent of corruption with which the 
 Jews were carried away after the death of the high 
 priest .lehoiada, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. He succeed- 
 ed his father Jehoiada in his zeal, and fell a victim 
 for it, for he was stoned to death in the porch of 
 the temple, by those whom he endeavoured to re- 
 form. Others say that it is a Zacharias, mentioned 
 by the historian .Joseph us,* whose virtue rendered 
 him formidable to those mad-men, who are knoAvn 
 by the name of zealots ; they charged him unjustly 
 w^ith the most shocking crimes, and put him to death 
 as if he had actually committed them. A third 
 opinion is, that it is he w^hom we call one of the 
 lesser prophets. But, not to detain you on this sub- 
 ject which perhaps may not be easily determined, 
 we may observe in our Saviour's words the manner 
 of considering a nation as a moral person, w ho is 
 responsible at one time for crimes committed at an- 
 other, w^io hath been borne w^ith, but hath abused 
 that forbearance, and, at length, is punished both 
 for committing the crimes, and for abusing the for- 
 bearance that had been granted. " Yerily I say un- 
 to you, upon you shall come all the righteous blood 
 shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous 
 Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, whom ye slew 
 between the temple and the altar." 
 
 * Bell. Jud. iv. 19. 
 
The Patience of God, 349 
 
 The Amorites in my text must be considered, in 
 like manner, as a moral person, whose life God had 
 resolved, when he spoke to Abraham, to prolong 
 four hundred years; who, during that four liundred 
 years, would abuse his patience; and at last would 
 be punished for all the crimes which should be com- 
 mitted in that long period. And thai nation whom 
 they shall serve will I judge : But in the fourth gene- 
 ration they shall come hither again j for the iniquity 
 of the Amorites is not yet full. This is the nature 
 of this economy of Providence. We shall see, in 
 a second article, the perfections of God which shine 
 in it, and, in particular, that goodness, and that jus- 
 tice, which eminently characterise all his actions. 
 
 II. It is extremely easy to distinguish the good- 
 ness of this economy, and, as we are under a ne- 
 cessity of abridging our subject, we may safely 
 leave this article to your own meditation. To ex- 
 ercise patience four hundred years toward a people 
 who worshipped the most infamous creatures; a 
 people who sacrificed human victims; a people 
 abandoned to the most enormous crimes ; to defer 
 the extinction of such a people for four hundred 
 years, could only proceed from the goodness of 
 that God, who is long-suffering to us-ward, not wil- 
 ling that any should perish, hut that all should come 
 to repentance, 2 Pet. iii. 9. 
 
 It is more difficult to discover the justice of God in 
 this economy. What ! the Jews, Avho lived in the 
 time of Jesus Christ, could they be justly punished 
 for murders committed so many ages before their 
 biiih? What! Could they be responsible for the 
 
350- The Patience of God, 
 
 blood of the prophets, in which their hands had never 
 been imbrued 1 What ! Could God demand an ac- 
 count of all this blood of them ? How ! The Canaan- 
 ites of Joshua's lime, ought they to be punished for 
 all the abominations of four himdred years ? What ! 
 Ought we to terrify you to-day, not only with your 
 own sins, but with all those that have been commit- 
 ted in your provinces from the moment of their first 
 settlement ? 
 
 I answer, If that part of a nation which subsists in 
 one period hath no union of time with that which 
 subsisted in another period, it may have an union of 
 another kind, it may have even four different unions, 
 any one of Avhich is sufficient to justify Providence : 
 there is an union of interest ; an union of approbation ; 
 an union of emulation ; and (if ye will allow the ex- 
 pression) an union of accumulation. An union of 
 interest, if it avail itself of the crimes of its prede- 
 cessors ; an union of approbation, if it applaud the 
 sliameful causes of its prosperity ; an union of einu- 
 lation, if it follow such examples as ought to be de- 
 tested ; an union of accumulation, if, instead of mak- 
 ing amends for these faults, it reward the depravity 
 of those who commit them. In all these cases, God 
 inviolably maintains the laws of his justice, when he 
 uniteth in one point of vengeance the crimes which a 
 nation is committing now with those which were com- 
 mitted many ages before, and poureth out those judg- 
 ments on the part that remains, which that had de- 
 served Avho had lived many ages ago. Yes, if men 
 peaceably enjoy the usurpations of their ancestors, 
 they are usurpers, as their predecessors were, and 
 
The Palitnce of God, 351 
 
 the justice of God may make these responsible for 
 the usurpations of those. Thus it was >vitli the Jews, 
 who lived in the time of Jesus Christ : Thus it was 
 w ith the Amorites who lived four hundred years af- 
 ter those of whom God spake to Abraham : and thus 
 we must expect it to be with us, for we also shall 
 deserve the punisliments due to our ancestors, if we 
 have any one of the unions with them which hath 
 been mentioned. Your meditation will supply what 
 is wanting to this article. 
 
 It sometimes falls out in this economy, that the in- 
 nocent suffer while the guilty escape : But neither 
 this, nor any other inconvenience that may attend 
 this economy, is to be compared with the advanta- 
 ges of it. The obligation of a citizen to submit to 
 the decision of an ignorant, or a corrupt judge, is 
 an inconvenience in society : however, tliis incon- 
 venience ought not to free other men from submit- 
 ting to decisions at law ; because the benefits that 
 society derive from a judicial mode of decision, will 
 exceed, beyond all comparison, the evils that may 
 attend a perversion of justice in a very few cases. 
 Society would be in continual confusion, were the 
 members of it allowed sometin^es to resist the deci- 
 sions of their lawful judges. Private disputes would 
 never end ; public quarrels would be eternal; and 
 the administration of justice would be futile and use- 
 less. 
 
 Beside, Providence hath numberless ways of rem- 
 edying the inconveniences of this just economy, and 
 of indemnifying all those innocent persons who may 
 be involved in punishments due to the guilty. If, 
 
352 The Patience of God, 
 
 when God sendeth fruitful seasons to a nation to re- 
 ward their good use of tlie fruits of the earth, an in- 
 diAddual destitute of viilue, reap the benefit of those 
 who are viilueus, an infinitely wise Providence can 
 find ways to poison all his pleasures, and to prevent 
 his enjoyment of the prosperity of the just. If an 
 innocent person be involved in a national calamity, an 
 infinitely wise Providence knows how to indemnify 
 him for all that he may sacrifice to that justice which 
 requires that a notoriously wicked nation should be- 
 come a notorious example of God's abhorrence of 
 wickedness. 
 
 Having established these principles, let us apply 
 them to the words of Jesus Christ, which were just 
 now quoted, and to the text. 
 
 The Jewish nation, considered in the just light of a 
 moral person, was guilty of an innumerable multi- 
 tude of the most atrocious crimes. It had not only 
 not profited by the earnest exhortations of those ex- 
 traordinary men, whom heaven had raised up to rec- 
 tify its mistakes, and to reform its morals : but it 
 had risen up against them as enemiesof society, who 
 came to trouble the peace of mankind. When they 
 had the courage faithfully to reprove the excesses of 
 its princes, they were accused of opposing the regal 
 authority itself; when Ihey ventured to attack er- 
 rors, that were in credit with the ministers of reli- 
 gion, they were taxed with resisting religion it- 
 self; and, under these pretences, they were frequent- 
 ly put to death. Witness the prophets Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah, the apostle St. James, and Jesus Christ 
 himself. 
 
The Patience of God. 353 
 
 God had often exhorted that nation to repent, and 
 had urfi^ed tlie most tender and the most terrible mo- 
 tives to repentance : one while he loaded it with be- 
 nefits, another while he threatened it with punish- 
 ments. Sometimes he supported the autliority of 
 his messages by national judgments ; sermons were 
 legible by lightning, and thunder procured atten- 
 tion, doctrines were reiterated by pestilence and fa- 
 mine, and exhortations were re-echoed by banish- 
 ment and war. All these means had been ineffectu- 
 al ; if they had produced any alteration, it had been 
 only an apparent or a momentary change, which 
 had vanished with the violent means that produced 
 it. The .Jewish nation was always the same ; always 
 a stiff-necked nation ; alw ays inimical to truth, and 
 infatuated with falsehood ; always averse to reproof, 
 and athirst for the blood of its propliets. What the 
 Jews were in the times of the prophets, that tliey 
 were in the times of Jesus Christ and his apostles ; 
 they were full as barbarous to Jesus Christ as to 
 Zechariah the son of Barachiah. 
 
 A time must come in which divine justice ought to 
 prevent the fatal consequences of a longer forbear- 
 ance ; a time in which the whole world must be con- 
 vinced that God's toleration of sinners is no appro- 
 bation of sin ; a time when general vengeance must 
 justify Providence, by rendering to all ti e due re- 
 ward of their deeds. Such a time was at hand when 
 Jesus Christ spoke to the Jews ; and, foreseeing the 
 miseries that would overwhelm .ludea, he told them 
 that God would require an account, not only of the 
 blood of all the prophets which they had spilt, but 
 
 TOL. I. 45 
 
354 The Patience of God, 
 
 of all the murders that had been committed on the 
 earth from the death of Abel to the slaughter of 
 Zechariah. 
 
 Thus it was with the Amorites : and thus it will 
 be with your provinces, if ye avail yourselves of the 
 crimes of your predecessors, if ye extenuate tlie 
 guilt, if ye imitate the practice, if ye fill up the 
 measure of their iniquities; then divine justice, col- 
 lecting into one point of vengeance all the crimes 
 of the nation, will inflict punishments proportional 
 to the time that was granted to avert them. Thus 
 we have sufficiently proved the justice of this econ- 
 omy. 
 
 III. Let us remark the terrors that accompany this 
 dispensation. But where can we find expressions 
 sufficiently sad, or images sufficiently shocking and 
 gloomy to describe those terrible times ? The soul 
 of Moses dissolved in considering them; "by thy 
 wrath we are troubled ; thou hast set our iniquities 
 before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy coun- 
 tenance," Psal. xc. 7, 8. Every thing that assuag- 
 eth the anger of the Judge of the w orld is useless 
 here. The exercise of prayer, that exercise which 
 sinners have sometimes used with success to the sus- 
 pending of the anger of God, to the holding of his 
 avenging arm, and to the disarming him of his 
 vindictive rod, that exercise hath lost all its efficacy 
 and power; God "covereth himself w^ith a cloud 
 that prayer cannot pass through," Lam. iii. 44. The 
 intercession of venerable men, who have sometimes 
 stood in the breach, and turned away his wrath, can- 
 not be admitted now ; " though Moses and Samuel 
 
The Patience of God. 355 
 
 stood before God, yet his mind could not be toward 
 this people," Jer. xv. 1. Those sanctuaries which have 
 been consecrated to divine worship, and which have so 
 often afforded refufijes in times of danger, have lost 
 their noble privilege, and are themselves involved 
 in the direful calamity ; " The Lord casteth off his 
 altar, abhorreth his sanctuary, giveth up into the 
 hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces, and 
 they make a noise in tlie house of the Lord as in 
 the day of a solemn feast," Lam. ii. 7, The cries 
 of children which have sometimes melted down the 
 hearts of the most inflexible enemies, those cries 
 cannot now excite the mercy of God, the innocent 
 creatures' themselves fall victims to his displeasure; 
 " the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city, 
 they say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine ? 
 The hands of pitiful women seethe their own chil- 
 dren, they are their meat in the destruction of the 
 daughter of my people," Lam. ii. 12. iv. 10. The 
 treasures of grace which have been so often opened 
 to sinners, and from which they have derived con- 
 verting power, in order to free them from the exe- 
 cutions of justice, these treasures are now quite ex- 
 hausted ; God saith, " I will command the clouds 
 that they rain no rain upon my vineyard : Go, make 
 the heart of this people fat, and make their ears hea- 
 vy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their 
 eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with 
 their hearts, and convert, and be healed," Isa. v. 6. 
 vi. 9, 10. O God! thou consuming fire! O God, 
 " to whom vengeance belongeth, how fearful a 
 ihim is it to fall into thy hands !" Deut. iv. 24. P?aL 
 
356 The Patience of God, 
 
 xciv. 1. How dreadful are thy footsteps, when, in 
 the cool fierceness of thine indignation, thou com- 
 est to fall upon a sinner! " The blood of all the 
 prophets, which was shed from the foundation of 
 the world, shall be required of this ^enerati^m : 
 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zecliarias; 
 verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this 
 generation," Heb. x. 31. 
 
 IV. To conclude. We have proved that there is 
 a fatal period, in which God will unite the sins of a 
 nation in one point of vengeance, and will proportion 
 the punishments, Avhich he used to exterminate them, 
 to the length of time that he had granted for prevent- 
 ing them. And from this principle, which Avill be the 
 gi'ound of our exhortations in the close of this dis- 
 course, I infer, that as there is a particular repent- 
 ance imposed on every member of society, so there 
 is a national repentance, which regards all who com- 
 pose a nation. The repentance of an individual dotji 
 not consist in merely asking pardon for his sins, and 
 in endeavouring to correct the bad habits that he had 
 formed ; but it requires also, that the sinner should 
 go back to his first years, remember, as far as he can, 
 the sins that defiled his youth, lament every period 
 of his existence, which, having been signalized by 
 some divine favour, was also signalized by some marks 
 of ingratitude ; it requireth him to say, under a sor- 
 rowful sense of having offended a kind and tender 
 God, " I was stiapen in iniquity : and in sin did my 
 mother conceive me. O Lord, remember not the 
 sins of my youth. Wilt thou break a leaf driven to 
 and fro ? Wilt thou piu:sue the dry stubble ? Thou 
 
The Patience of God. 357 
 
 makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth !" 
 Psal. li. 5. Job xiii. 25, 26. In like manner, the re- 
 pentance of a nation doth not consist in a bare atten- 
 tion to present disorders, and to the hixury that now 
 cry to the Judg^e of the world for vengeance : but it 
 requheth us to go back to the times of our ancestors, 
 and to examine whether we be now enjoying the wa- 
 ges of their umighteousness, and whether, while we 
 flatter ourselves with the opinion, that we have not 
 committed their vices, we be not now relishing pro- 
 ductions of them. Without this we shall be respon- 
 sible for the very vices which they committed, though 
 time had almost blotted out the remembrance of them; 
 and the justice of God tliieatened to involve us in the 
 same punishments : " The blood of all the prophets, 
 which was shed from the foundation of the world, 
 shall be required of this generation : from the blood 
 of Abel to the blood of Zecharias : verily I say un- 
 to you, it shall be required of this generation." 
 
 Dreadful thought ! my brethren. A thought that 
 may very justly disturb that shameful security, into 
 which our nation is sunk. I tremble, when I think 
 of some disorders, which my eyes have seen during 
 the course of my ministry among you. I do not mean 
 llie sins of individuals, which would fill a long and a 
 very mortifying list : I mean public sins, committed 
 in the face of the sun ; maxims, received, in a man- 
 ner, by church and state, and which loudly cry to 
 heaven for vengeance against this republic. In these 
 degenerate times, I iiave seen immorality and infi- 
 delity authorised by a connivance at scandalous books, 
 which are intended to destroy the distinctions of vice 
 
358 The Palience of God. 
 
 and virtue, and to make the difference between just 
 and unjust appear a mere chimera. In these degen- 
 erate days, I have seen the oppressed church cry in 
 vain for succour for her children, while the reforma- 
 tion of the church was sacrificed to the policy of the 
 state. In this degenerate age, I have seen solemn 
 days insolently profaned by those, whom worldly 
 decency alone ought to have engaged to observe them. 
 In these days of depravity, I have seen hatred and 
 discord lodge among us, and labour in the untoward 
 work of reciprocal ruin. In these wretched times, I 
 have seen the spirit of intolerance unchained with all 
 its rage, and the very men, who incessantly exclaim 
 against the persecutions that have affected themselves, 
 turn persecutors of others : so that, at the close of a 
 religious exercise, men, who ought to have remem- 
 bered what they had heard, and to have applied it to 
 themselves, have been known to exercise their ingen- 
 uity in finding heresy in the sermon, in communica- 
 ting the same wicked industry to their families, and 
 to their children, and, under pretence of religion, in 
 preventing all the good effects that religious dis- 
 courses might have produced. In this degenerate 
 
 age. 
 
 But this shameful list is already too long. Doth 
 this nation repent of its past sins ? Doth it lament 
 the crimes of its ancestors ? Alas ! far from repent- 
 ing of our past sins, far from lamenting the crimes 
 of our ancestors, doth not the least attention per- 
 ceive new and more shocking excesses ? The wretch- 
 ed age in which Providence hath placed us, doth it 
 not seem to have taken that for its model, against 
 
The Patience oj God, 359 
 
 which God displayed his vens;eance, as we have 
 been describing in this discourse ? Were Sodom and 
 Gomorrah, AdmahandZeboim destroyed by fire from 
 heaven for sins unknown to us ? And God knows, 
 God only knows, what dreadful discoveries the for- 
 midable but pious vigilance of our magistrates may 
 still make. O God, " Behold now I have taken up- 
 on me to speak unto thee, altliough I am but dust 
 and ashes. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous 
 with the wicked ? peradventure there be fifty right- 
 eous among us ? peradventure forty ? peradventure 
 thirty ? peradventure twenty ? peradventure ten ?" 
 Gen. xviii. 25, &c. 
 
 My brethren, God yet bears with you, but how 
 long he will bear with you, who can tell ? And do 
 not deceive yourselves, his forbearance must pro- 
 duce, in the end, either your conversion or your de- 
 struction. The Lord grant it may produce your 
 conversion, and so iniquity shall not he your ruin^ 
 Ezek. xviii. 30. Amen. 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 The Lorig-Siiffering of God with Lidividucds, 
 
 EccLESiASTES viii. 11, 12. 
 
 Because sentence against an evil work is not excctifed 
 
 speedih/, therefore the heart of the sons of men is 
 
 fully set in them to do evil. For the sinner doth 
 
 evil an hundred times, and God prolongeth his 
 
 dajs.^ 
 
 JL HE wise man points out, in the words of the 
 text, one general cause of the impenitence of man* 
 kind. The disposition to which he attributes it, I 
 own, seems shocking, and ahuost incredible : but if 
 we examine our deceitful and desperately wicked 
 hearts, Jer. xvii. 9. we shall find, that this disposi- 
 tion, which, at first sight, seems so shocking, is one 
 of those, with which we are too well acquainted. 
 '* The heart of the sons of men is fully set to do 
 evil." Why ? " Because sentence against an evil 
 work is not executed speedily." 
 
 This shameful, but too common, inclination, we 
 wuU endeavour to expose, and to shew you that the 
 long-suffering, which the mercy of God grants to 
 sinners, may be abused either in the disposition of 
 
 * We have followed the reading of the French Bible in this pas- 
 sage. 
 
 VOL. T. 46 
 
362 The Lotig'Suffering of 
 
 a devil, or in that of a beast, or in that of a philoso- 
 pher, or in that of a man. 
 
 He, who devotes his health, his prosperity, and 
 his youth, to offend God, and, while his punish- 
 ment is deferred, to invent new ways of blasphem- 
 ing him ; he, who followeth such a shameful course 
 of life, abuseth the patience of God in the disposi- 
 tion of a devil. 
 
 He, who enervates and impairs his reason, either 
 by excessive debauchery, or by worldly dissipations, 
 by an effeminate luxury, or by an inactive stupidi- 
 ty, and pays no regard to the great end for which 
 God permits him to live in this world, abuseth the 
 patience of God in the disposition of a beast. 
 
 He, who from the long-suffering of God infers 
 consequences against his providence, and against his 
 hatred of sin, is in the disposition, of which my text 
 speaks, as a philosopher. 
 
 He, who concludes because the patience of God 
 hath continued to this day that it will always con- 
 tinue, and makes such a hope a motive to persist in 
 sin without repentance or remorse, abuseth the pa- 
 tience of God in the disposition of a jnan. As I 
 shall point out these principles to you, I shall shew 
 you the injustice and extravagance of them. 
 
 I. To devote health, prosperity, and youth, to of- 
 fend God, and to invent new ways of blaspheming 
 him, while the punishment of him who leads such a 
 shameful life is deferred, is to abuse the long-suffer- 
 ing of God like a devil. 
 
 The majesty of this place, the holiness of my min- 
 istry, and the delicacy of my hearers, forbid preci- 
 
God with Individuals. 363 
 
 sion on this article, for there would be a shocking 
 impropriety in exhibiting a well-drawn portrait of 
 such a man. But, if it is criminal to relate such ex- 
 cesses, what must it be to commit them? It is but 
 too certain, however, that nature sometimes produ- 
 ce! h such infernal creatures, who, with the bodies of 
 men, have the sentiments of devils. Thanks be to 
 God, the characters, which belong to this article, must 
 be taken from other countries, though not from an- 
 cient history. 
 
 I speak of those abominable men, to whom liv- 
 ing and moving would be intolerable, were they to 
 pass one day without insulting the author of their 
 life and motion. The grand design of all their ac- 
 tions is to break down every boundary, that either 
 modesty, probity, or even a corrupt and irregular 
 conscience hath set to licentiousness. They bitter- 
 ly lament the paucity of the ways of violating their 
 Creators laws, and they employ all the power of 
 their wit, the play of their fancy, and the fire of 
 their youth, to supply the want. Like that impious 
 king, of whom the scripture speaks, Dan. v. 2. they 
 carouse with the sacred vessels, and them they pro- 
 fanely abuse in their festivity : them did I say ? The 
 most solemn truths, and the most venerable myste- 
 ries of religion, they take into their polluted mouths, 
 and display their infidelity and impurity in ridicul- 
 ing them. They hurry away a life, which is be- 
 come insipid to them, because they have exhausted 
 all resources of blasphemy against God, and they 
 hasten to hell to learn others of the infernal spirits, 
 their patterns and their protectors. 
 
364 The Long-suffering of 
 
 Let us throw a vail, my brethren, over these 
 abominations, and let us turn away our eyes from 
 objects so shameful to human nature. But how 
 comes it to pass, that rational creatures, having 
 ideas of right and wrong, arrive at such a subver- 
 sion of reason, and such a degree of corru[)tion, as 
 to be pleased with a course of life, which carries its 
 pains and punishments with it ? 
 
 Sometimes this phenomenon must be attributed to 
 a vicious education. We seldom pay a sufficient 
 regard to the influence that education hath over the 
 whole life. We often entertain false, and oftener 
 still inadequate notions of what is called a good ed- 
 2ication. We have given, it is generally thought, a 
 good education to a youth, when we have taught 
 him an art, or trained him up in a science ; when 
 we have instructed liim how to arrange a few dry 
 words in bis head, or a few crude notions in his fan- 
 cy ; and we are highly satisfied when we have intrust- 
 ed the cultivaiijii of his tender heart to a man of 
 probity. We forget that the venom of sin impreg- 
 nates the air that he breathes, and communicates it- 
 self to him by all that he sees, and by all that he 
 hears. If we vvould give young people a good edu- 
 cation, we must forbid them all acquaintance with 
 those who do not delight in decency and piety : we 
 must never suffer them to hear debauchery and im- 
 piety spoken of without detestation: we must fur- 
 nish them with precautions previous to their travels, 
 in which, under pretence of acquainting themselves 
 with the manners of foreigners, they too often adopt 
 nothing but their vices: we must banish from our 
 
God with Individuals. 365 
 
 universities those shocking irregularities, and anni- 
 hilate those dangerous privileges, which make the 
 means of education the very causes of corruption 
 and ruin. 
 
 Sometimes these excesses are owing to the conni- 
 vance, or the countenance of princes. We have nev- 
 er more reason to predict the destruction of a state 
 than when the reins of government are committed to 
 jnen of a certain character. It Avill require ages to 
 heal the wounds of one impious reign. An iireli- 
 gious reign emboldens vice, and muhiplies infamous 
 places for the commission of it. In an UTeligious 
 reign scandalous books are published, and it becomes 
 fashionable to question whether there be a God in 
 heaven, or any real difference between virtue and 
 vice on earth. In the space of an irreligious reign 
 offices are held by imworthy persons, who either 
 abolish, or suffer to languish, the laws that policy 
 liad provided against impiety. Histories, more re- 
 cent than those of Tiberius and Nero, would too ful- 
 ly exemplify our observations, were not the majesty 
 of princes, in some sort, respectable, even after they 
 arc no more. 
 
 Sometimes these excesses, which offer violence to 
 nature, are caused by a gratification of those which 
 are agreeable to the corruption of nature. Ordinary 
 sins become insipid by habit, and sinners are forced, 
 having arrived at some periods of corruption, to en- 
 deavour to satisfy their execrable propensities by 
 the comiuission of those crim.es, which once made 
 them shudder with horror. 
 
366 The Long-suffering of 
 
 To all these reasons add the judgment of divine 
 Providence; for God giveth those up to itnckanness, 
 Rom. i. 24. who have made no use of tJie means of 
 instruction and piety which he had afforded them. 
 
 I repeat my thanksgivings to God, the protector 
 of these states, that among our youth, (thou,«:h, alas ! 
 so far from that piety which persons, dedicated to 
 God by baptism, ought to possess) we have none of 
 this character. Indeed, had we such a monster 
 among us, we should neither oppose bim by private 
 advice nor by public preaching : but we should 
 think that the arm of the secular magistrate was a 
 likelier mean of repulsing him than the decision of a 
 casuist. Let none be offended at tins. Our ministry 
 is a ministry of compassion, I grant ; and we are 
 i=«ent by a master who willeth not the death of a sin- 
 ner : but, if we thought that compassion obliged us 
 on any occasions to implore your clemency, my 
 Lords, for some malefactors, whom your wise laws, 
 and the safety of society, condemn to die, we would 
 rather intercede for assassins, and highway robbers, 
 yea for those miserable wretches, whose execrable 
 avarice tempts them to import infected commodities, 
 which expose our own and our children's lives to the 
 plague ; for these we would rather intercede, than 
 for those, whose dreadful examples are capable of 
 infecting the minds of our cliildren with infernal 
 maxims, and of rendering these piovinces like Sodom 
 and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, first by involv- 
 ing them in the guilt, and then in the fiery punish- 
 ment of those detestable cities. 
 
God with Individuals. 367 
 
 Where the sword of tlie maj^istrate doth not pun- 
 ish, that of divine ven2:eance will : but, as it would 
 be difficult for imagination to conceive the greatness 
 of tlie punishments tliat await such sinners, it is need- 
 less to adduce the reasons of them. Our first notions 
 of God are vindictive to such, and as soon as we are 
 convinced that there is a just God, the day appears 
 in which, falling upon lliese unworthy men, he will 
 address them in this thundering language : Depart, 
 depart, into tlie source of your pleasures ; depart in- 
 to everlasting Ji re with all your associates; do for 
 ever and ever what ye have been doing in your life- 
 time ; having exhausted my patience, experience the 
 power of my anger ; and as ye have had the disposi- 
 tions of devils, suffer for ever the punishments pre- 
 pared for the devil and his angels, JVIat. xxv. 41. 
 
 II. A man may be in the disposition, of which the 
 wise man speaks in the text, through stupidity and 
 indolence, and this second state confounds the man 
 with the hcast. There is nothing hyperbolical in 
 this proposition. What makes tl e difference be- 
 tween a man and a beast ? These are the distinguish- 
 ing characters of each. The one is confined to a 
 short duration, and to a narrow circle of present 
 objects ; i\\e other hath received of his Creator the 
 power of going beyond time, and of penetrating 
 by his meditation into remote futurity, yea even 
 into an endless eternity. The one is actuated only 
 by sensual appetites ; the other hath the faculty of 
 rectifying his senses by the ideas of his mind. The 
 one is carried away by the heat of his tempeiament ; 
 the other hath the power of cooling temperament 
 
368 The Long-guff'ering of 
 
 with reflection. The one knows no argument nor 
 motive but sensation ; the other hath the power of 
 making motives of sensation yield to the more noble 
 and permanent motives of interest. To imitate the 
 first kind of these creatures, is to live like a beast; 
 to follow the second, is to live like a man. 
 
 Let us apply this general truth to the particular 
 subject in hand, and let us justify what we have ad- 
 vanced, that there is nothing hyperbolical in this 
 proposition. If there be a subject that merits the 
 attention of an intelligent soul, it is the long-suffer- 
 ing of God: And if there be a case, in which an in- 
 telligent creature ought to use the faculty, that his 
 Creator hath given him of going beyond the circle 
 of present objects, of rectifying the actions of his 
 senses by the ideas of his mind, and of correcting 
 his temperament by reflection, it is certainly the 
 case of that sinner with whom God hath borne so 
 long. 
 
 Miserable man ! ought he to say to himself, I 
 have committed, not only those sins, which ordina- 
 rily belong to the frailty and depravity of mankind, 
 but those also which are a shame to human nature, 
 and which suppose that he who is guilty of them 
 Lath carried his corruption to the highest pitch! O 
 miserable man ! I have committed not only one of 
 the sins, which the scripture saith, deprive those who 
 commit them o^ inheriting the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 
 vi. 10. but I have lived many years in the practice 
 of such sins; in the impurity of effeminacy and 
 adultery, in the possession of unjust gain, in the 
 gloomy revolutions of implacable hatred! Misera- 
 
God with Individuals, 369 
 
 ble nian ! I have abused, not only the ordinary means 
 of conversion, but also those extraordinary means, 
 which God grants only to a few, and which he seems 
 to have displayed on purpose to shew liow far a God 
 of loA'e can carry his love ! Miserable man ! I was 
 not only engaged as a man and a professor of Chris- 
 tianity to give an example of piety, but I was also 
 engaged to do it as a minister, as a magistrate, as a 
 parent; yet, in spite of all my unworthiness, God 
 hath borne with me, and hath preserved me in this 
 world, not only while prosperity was universal, but 
 while calamities were almost general, while the 
 sword was glutting itself with blood, while the de- 
 stroying angel was exterminating on every side, as 
 if he intended to make the whole world one vast 
 grave ! All this time God hath been showering his 
 blessings upon me ! upon me the chief of sinners ! 
 me his declared enemy ! blessings that he promised 
 to bestow as privileges on his favourites only ! / 
 dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, I abode 
 under the shadow of the Almighty I Psal. xci. 1. 
 
 I ask, my brethren, whether if there be a state in 
 which an intelligent creature ought to meditate and 
 reflect, it be not the state of the sinner ? If I prove 
 then, that there are men in this state, who neither 
 think nor reflect, because they confine their atten- 
 tion to the circle of present objects, abandon them- 
 selves wholly to sensuality, and give themselves up 
 entirely to their constitutional vices; shall I not 
 have proved that there are men, who like beasts are 
 indifferent to the riches of the forbearance and long- 
 suffering of God ? Rom. ii. 4. But where shall we 
 
 VOL. I. 47 
 
370 The Long-suffering of 
 
 find such people ? Shall we search for them in fa- 
 bulous history, or look for them in ancient chroni- 
 cles? Slmll we quote the relations of those travel- 
 lers, wIjo seem to aim less at instructing^ us by pub- 
 lishinoj true accounts, than at astonishing us by re- 
 portinor uncommon events? Alas! Alas! my dear 
 biethren, I fear I have tern too confident, and had 
 not sufficiently propoitioned my strength to my 
 courage, when I engaged at tie beginning of this 
 discourse to confront certain portraits with the 
 
 countenances of some of my hearers , 
 
 But, no, the truth ought not to suffer 
 through the frailty of him whose office it is to pub- 
 lish it. 
 
 Tell us then, what distinguisheth the man from 
 the beast, in that worshipper of Mammon, who hav- 
 ing spent his life in amassing and hoarding up 
 wealth, in taxing the widow, the orphan, and the 
 ward, to satiate his avarice ; having defrauded the 
 state, deceived his correspondents, and betrayed his 
 tenderest friends; having accumulated heaps upon 
 heaps, and having only a few days respite, which 
 Providence hath granted him for the repentance of 
 his sins, and the restitution of his iniquitous gains ; 
 employs these last moments in offering incense to his 
 idol, spends his last breath in enlarging his income, 
 in lessening his expenses, and in endeavouring to 
 gratify that insatiable desire of getting which gnaws 
 and devours him ? 
 
 Tell us what distinguisheth the man from the beast, 
 in that old debauchee, who thinks of nothing but vo- 
 luptuousness ; who to sensuality sacrificeth his time, 
 
God with Individuals, 371 
 
 his foi-tune, his reputation, his health, his soul, his 
 salv^ation, alonoj with all his pretensions to iinniortal- 
 ity ; and wlio would willingly comprehend the whole 
 of man in this definition, a being capable of wallow- 
 ing in voluptuousness? 
 
 Tell us what distinguisheth the man from the beast, 
 in that man, who not l^eing able to bear the remorse 
 of his OAvn conscience, nor the idea of the vanity of 
 this world, to which he is wholly devoted ; drowns 
 his reason in wine, gives himself up to alt the exces- 
 ses of drunkenness, exposeth himself to the dan- 
 ger of committing some bloody murder, or of per- 
 ishing by some tragical death, of which we have 
 too many melancholy examples ; not only unfits him- 
 self for repenting now, but even renders himself in- 
 capable of repenting at all ? What is a penitent re- 
 conciliation to God ? It includes, at least reflection 
 ^nd thought, the laying down of principles and the 
 deducing of consequences : but people of this kind, 
 Ihrough their excessive intoxication, generally inca- 
 pacitate themselves for inferring a consequence, or 
 admitting a principle, and even for reflecting and 
 t! inking ; as experience, experience superior to all 
 our reasoning, hath many a time shewn. 
 
 But is it necessary to reason in order to discover 
 the injustice of this disposition ? Do ye really think 
 that God created you capable of reflection that ye 
 should never reflect ? Do ye indeed believe that God 
 gave you so many fine faculties that ye should make 
 no use of these faculties ? In a word, can ye serious- 
 ly thiiik that God made you men in order to enable 
 you to live like beasts ? 
 
372 The Long-suffering of 
 
 III. I said, in the third place, that the disposition 
 of which the wise man speaks in tlie text, sometimes 
 proceeds from a principle of grave folly. So I call 
 the principle of some philosophers, who imagine 
 that they find in the delay of the pimisliment of sin- 
 ners, an invincible argmiient against the existence of 
 God, at least against the infinity of his perfections. 
 
 We do not mean by a philosopher, that superficial 
 triiler, who not having the least notion of right rea- 
 soning, takes the liberty sometimes of pretending to 
 reason, and with an air of superiority, which might 
 impose on us were we to be imposed on by a tone, 
 saith, " The learned maintain such an opinion : but 1 
 affirm the opposite opinion. Casuists advance such 
 a maxim : but I lay down a very different maxim. 
 Pastors hold such a system ; but, for my part, I 
 hold altogether another system." And who is he 
 who talks in this decisive tone, and who alone pre- 
 tends to contradict all our ministers, and all our 
 learned men; the whole church, and the whole 
 school ? It is sometimes a man, whose whole science 
 consists in the casting up of a sum. It is sometimes 
 a man, who hath spent all his life in exercises, that 
 have not the least relation to the subject which he 
 so arrogantly decides ; and who thinks, if I may be 
 allowed to say so, that arguments are to be com- 
 manded as he commands a regiment of soldiers. In 
 a word, they are men, for the most part, who know 
 neither what a system, nor a maxim is. Let not 
 such people imagine that they are addressed as 
 philosophers ; for we cannot address them without 
 
God with Individaals, 373 
 
 repealing wliat Lath been said in the preceding arti- 
 cle, which is tlieir proper place. 
 
 We mean, wlien we speak of men who despise 
 the long-sufiering of God as philosophers, people who 
 have taken as much pains to arrive at infidelity, as 
 they ought to have taken to obtain tlie knowledge 
 of the truth : who have studied as much to palliate 
 error, as they ought to have studied to expose it: 
 who have gone through as long a course of reading 
 and meditation to deprave their liearts as they 
 ought to have undertaken to preserve tbem from 
 depravity. Among the sophisms which they have 
 adopted, that which they have derived from the de- 
 lay of the punishment of sinners, hath appeared the 
 most tenable, and they have occupied it as their fort. 
 Sophisms of this kind are not new, they have been 
 repeated in all ages, and in every age there have 
 been such as Celius, (this is the name of an ancient 
 atheist) of whom a heathen poet saith, Celius says 
 that there are no Gods, and that heaven is an uninhab- 
 ited place j and these are the chief reasons that he 
 assigns ; he continued happy, and he had the pros- 
 pect of continuing so, while he denied the existence 
 of God. 
 
 As the persons, to w horn we address this article, 
 profess to reason, let us reason with them. And ye, 
 my brethren, endeavour to attend a few moments to 
 our arguments. One chief cause of our erroneous 
 notions of the perfections of God, is the considering 
 of them separately, and not in their admirable as- 
 sortment and beautiful harmony. When we medi- 
 cate on the goodness of God, we consider bis good- 
 
^74 The Long-suffenng of 
 
 ness alone and not in harmony with his justice. 
 When we meditate on his justice, we consider it in 
 an abstract view, and without any relation to his 
 goodness. And in the same manner we consider 
 his wisdom, his power, and his other attributes. 
 
 This restriction of meditation (I think I may ven- 
 ture to call it so) is a source of sophistry. If we 
 consider Supreme justice in this manner, it will 
 seem as if it ought to exterminate every sinner : and 
 on the contrary, if we consider Supreme goodness 
 in this manner, it will seem as if it ouglit to spare 
 every sinner ; to succour all the afflicted ; to pre- 
 vent every degree of distress ; and to gratify every 
 wish of every creature capable of wishing. We 
 might observe the same of power, and of wisdom, 
 and of every other perfection of God. But what 
 shocking consequences would follow such views of 
 the divine attributes! As we should never be able 
 to prove such a justice, or such a goodness as we 
 have imagined, we should be obliged to infer, tiiat 
 God is not a Being supremely good ; that he is not 
 a Being supremely just ; and the same may be said 
 of his other perfections. 
 
 Persons who entertain such notions not only sink 
 the Supreme Being below the dignity of his own 
 nature, but even below that of mankind. Were we 
 to allow the reasoning of these people, we should 
 increase their difficulties by removing them, for tiie 
 argument would end in downright atheism. Were 
 we to allow the force of their objections I s^y, we 
 should increase their difficulties and instead of ob- 
 taining a solution of the difficulty which attends our 
 
God with Individuals. 375 
 
 notions of a divine attribute, we should obtain a 
 proof that there is no God : for, could we prove 
 that there is a Bein^ supremely good, in their ab- 
 stract sense of goodness, we should thereby prove 
 that there is no Being supremely just; because su- 
 preme goodness, considered in tl:eir abstract man- 
 ner, destroys supreme justice. The same may be 
 said of all the other perfections of God, one per- 
 fection of the divine nature would destroy another, 
 and to prove that God possessed one would be to 
 prove that of the other his nature was quite desti- 
 tute. 
 
 Now, if there be a subject, my brethren, in which 
 people err by considering the perfections of God in 
 a detached and abstract manner, it is this of which 
 we are speaking ; it is when people raise objections 
 against the attributes of God from his forbearance 
 with sinners. God seems to act contrary to some of 
 his perfections in his forbearance. AYhy ? Because 
 the perfection, to which his conduct seems incongru- 
 ous, is considered as if it w^ere alone, and not as if 
 it were in relation to another perfection : because, as 
 I have already said, the divine attributes are consid- 
 ered abstractly and not in their beautiful assortment 
 and admirable hamiony. 
 
 I confine myself to this principle to refute the ob- 
 jections w^hich some, who are improperly called phi- 
 losophers, derive from the delay of the punishment 
 of sinners, to oppose to the perfections of God. I 
 do not, however, confine myself to this for want of 
 other solid answers : for example, I might prove that 
 the notion, which they form of those perfections, to 
 
376 The Long-suffering of 
 
 which the delay of divine vengeance seems repug- 
 nant, is a false notion. 
 
 What are those perfections of God ? They are, ye 
 answer, hmth, which is interested in executing the 
 threatenings that are denounced against sinners: wis- 
 dom, which is interested in supplying means of re- 
 establishing order : and particularly justicey which is 
 interested in the punishing of the guilty. 
 
 I reply, your idea of truth is opposite to truth : 
 3'oiu- idea of wisdom is opposite to wisdom : your 
 idea of justice is opposite to justice. 
 
 Yes, the notion that ye entertain of tj^uth, is op- 
 posite to truth, and ye resemble those scoffers, of 
 whom the apostle speaks, who said, " Where is the 
 promise of his coming V What Jesus Christ had said 
 of St. John, " If I will that he tarry till I come,^ 
 what is that to thee?" had occasioned a rumour 
 concernhig the near approach of the dissolution of 
 tlie w orld : but there was no appearance of the dis~ 
 solution of the world : thence the scoffers, of Avhom 
 St. Peter speaks, concluded that God had not fulfil- 
 led his promise, and on this false supposition they 
 said, '* Where is the promise of his coming ?" Ap- 
 ply this reflection to yourselves. The delay of the 
 punishment of sinners, ye say, is opposite to the 
 truth of God : on the contrary, God hath declared 
 that he would not punish every sinner as soon as he 
 had committed an act cf sin. " The sinner doth evil 
 an hundred times, and God prolongeth his days." 
 
 The delay of the punishment of sinners, ye say, 
 is opposite to the wisdom of God : on the contrary, 
 it is this delay which provides for the execution of 
 
God with Individuals. 377 
 
 that wise plan, which God hath made for man- 
 kind, of placing them for sometime in a state of pro- 
 bation in this world, and of re^^ulating their future 
 reward or punishment according to their use or abuse 
 of such a dispensation. 
 
 The delay of the punishment of sinners, ye say, is 
 repugnant to the justice of God. Quite the contrary. 
 What do ye call justice in God ? What ! Such an 
 impetuous emotion as that which animates you against 
 those who affront you, and whom ye consider as en- 
 emies ? An implacable madness, which enrageth you 
 to such a degree that a sight of all the miseries into 
 wdiich ye are going to involve them is not able to 
 curb ? Is this what ye call justice ? 
 
 But I suppress all these reflections, and return to 
 my principle, (and this is not the first time that we 
 have been obliged to proportion the length of a dis- 
 course, not to the nature of the subject, but to the 
 impatience of our hearers.) I return to my princi- 
 ple ; the delay of the punishment of sinners will not 
 seem incompatible with the justice of God unless ye 
 consider that perfection detached from another per- 
 fection, by which God in the most eminent manner 
 displays his glory, I mean his mercy. An explica- 
 tion of the last clause of our text, " the sinner doth 
 evil an hundred times, and God prolongeth his days," 
 will place the matter in a clear light : for the long- 
 suffering of God with sinners flows from his mercy. 
 St. Peter confirms this when he tells us, " The Lord 
 is not slack concerning his promise, but is long-suf- 
 ering to us-ward, not willing that any should per- 
 
 ToL. I. 48 
 
378 The Long-suffering of 
 
 ish, but that all should come to repentance," 2 
 Pet. iii. 9. 
 
 It is with the same view that Jesus Christ calls 
 the whole time, during which God delayed the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, the time of the visitation of 
 that miserable city, Luke xix. 44. And for the 
 same reason Si, Paul calls the whole time, which 
 God puts between the commission of sin and tlie 
 destruction of sinners, riches of forbearance, and 
 long-suffering, that Itad to repentance, Rom. ii. 4. 
 And who could flatter himself with the hope of es- 
 caping devouring Jire, and everlasting burnings, Isa. 
 xxxiii. 14. were God to execute immediately his sen- 
 tence against evil works, and to make punishment 
 instantly follow the practice of sin ? 
 
 What would have become of David, if divine 
 mercy had not prolonged his days after he had fal- 
 len into the crimes of adultery and murder ; or if 
 justice had called him to give an account of his con- 
 duct, while his heart, burning with a criminal pas- 
 sion, was wishing only to gratify it ; while he w as 
 sacrificing the honour of a wife, the life of a hus- 
 band, along with his own body, which should have 
 been a temple of the Holy Ghost, to the criminal 
 passion that inflamed his soul ? It was the long-suf- 
 fering, the patience of God, that gave him time to 
 recover himself, to get rid of his infatuation, to see 
 the horror of his sin, and to say under a sense of it, 
 " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy 
 loving kindness : according unto the multitude of 
 thy mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me 
 thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from 
 
God with Individuals, 379 
 
 my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions : and 
 my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only 
 have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : that 
 thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and 
 be clear when thou judgest," Ps. li. 1, 2, 3, 4. 
 
 What would have become of Manasseh, if God 
 bad called him to give him an account of his admin- 
 istration while he was making the house of God the 
 theatre of his dissoluteness and idolatry ; while he 
 was planting groves, rearing up altars for the host 
 of heaven, making his sons pass through the fire, 
 doing more wickedly than the Amorites, making 
 Judah to sin with his dunghill gods, as the Holy 
 Scriptme calls them ? It was the long-suflering of 
 God that bore with him, that engaged iiim to hum- 
 ble himself, to pray fervently to the God of his fa- 
 thers, and to become an exemplary convert, after 
 he had been an example of infidelity and impu- 
 rity. 
 
 What would have become of St. Peter, if God 
 had called him to give an account of himself, while, 
 frightened and subverted at the sight of the judges 
 and executioners of his Saviour, he was pronounc- 
 ing those cowardly words, / know not the man ? It 
 was the long-suffering and patience of God, that 
 gave him an opportunity of seeing the merciful 
 looks of Jesus Christ immediately after his denial 
 of him, of fleeing from a place fatal to his inno- 
 cence, of going out to weep bitterly, and of saying 
 to Jesus Christ, " Lord, thou knowest that I love 
 thee: Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest 
 that I love thee," John xxi. 16, 17. 
 
380 The Long-suffering of 
 
 What would have become of St. Paul, if God had 
 required an account of his administration, while he 
 was " breathing out threatenings and slaughter 
 against the disciples of the Lord," Acts ix. 1. while 
 he was ambitious of stifling the new born church in 
 her cradle, while he was soliciting letters from the 
 high priest lo pervert and to punish the disciples 
 of Christ ? It was the long-suffering of God, that 
 gave him an opportunity of saying, " Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do ?" Acts ix. 6. It was the 
 patience of God, which gave him an opportunity of 
 making that honest confession, " I was before a blas- 
 phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: But I ob- 
 tained mercy," 1 Tim. i. 13. 
 
 IV. But why should we go out of this assembly, 
 (and here we enter into the last article, and shall 
 endeavour to prevent your abuse of the patience of 
 God in the dispositions of men,) why should we go 
 out of lliis assembly, to search after proofs of di- 
 vine mercy in a delay of punishment ? What would 
 have become of you, my dear hearers, if vengeance 
 had immediately followed sin ; if God had not pro- 
 longed the days of sinners ; if sentence against evil 
 works had been executed speedily ? 
 
 What would have become of some of you, if God 
 had required of you an account of your conduct, 
 while ye were sacrificing the rights of widows and 
 orphans to the honour of the persons of the mighty^ 
 Lev. xix. 15. while ye were practising perjury and 
 accepting bribes ? It is the long-suffering of God 
 ihd^i prolongs your days, that ye may make a restitu- 
 tion of your unrighteous gain, plead for the orphan 
 
God with Individuals, 381 
 
 and the widow, and attend in future decisions only 
 to the nature of tlie cause before you. 
 
 What would have become of some of you, if God 
 had called you to give an account of your conduct, 
 while the fear of persecution, or, what is infinitely 
 more criminal still, while the love of ease, prevail- 
 ed over you to renounce a religion which ye re- 
 spected in your hearts while ye denied with your 
 mouths ? It is the patience of God which hath af- 
 forded you time to learn the greatness of a sin, the 
 guilt of which a w hole life of repentance is not suf- 
 ficient to expiate : it is the patience of God which 
 hath prolonged your days, that ye might confess 
 that Jesus w hom ye have betrayed, and profess that 
 gospel which ye have denied. 
 
 Let us not multiply particular examples, let us 
 comprise this whole assembly in one class. There 
 is not one of our hearers, no, not one, who is in 
 this church to-day, there is not one who hath been 
 engaged in the devotional exercises of this day, who 
 would not have been in hell with the devil and his 
 angels, if vengeance had immediately followed sin ; 
 if God had exercised no patience toward sinners ; 
 if sentence against evil works liad been executed speed- 
 ily. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not con- 
 sumed ! Lam. iii. 22. The delay of punishment is 
 a demonstration of his mercy; it doth not prove 
 that he is not just, but it doth prove that he is good. 
 
 I could wish, my brethren, that all those who 
 ought to interest themselves in this article, would 
 render it needless for me to enter into particulars, 
 by recollecting the history of their own lives, and 
 
382 The Long-suffering of 
 
 by remembering the circumstances to which I re- 
 fer. One man ought to say to himself; In my 
 childhood, an upright father, a pious mother, and 
 several worthy tutors did all that lay in their power 
 to form me virtuous. In my youth, a tender and 
 generous friend, who was more concerned for my 
 happiness, and more ambitious of my excelling, 
 than I myself, availed himself of all the power of 
 insinuation that nature had given him to inclme 
 my heart to piety and to the fear of God, and to 
 attach me to religion by hands of love. On a cer- 
 tain occasion, Proiddence put into my hands a re- 
 ligious book, the reading of which discovered to 
 me the turpitude of my conduct. At another time, 
 one of those clear, affecting, thundering sermons, 
 that alarm sleepy souls, forced from me a promise 
 of repentance and reformation. One day, I saw 
 the administration of the Lord's supper, which, 
 awaking my attention to the grand sacrifice that di- 
 vine justice required for the sins of mankind, af- 
 fected me in a manner so powerful and moving, 
 that I thought myself obliged in gratitude to dedi- 
 cate my whole life to him, who in the tenderest 
 compassion had given himself for me. Another 
 time, an extremely painful illness shewed me the 
 absurdity of my course of life ; filled me with a 
 keenness of remorse, that seemed an anticipation of 
 hell ; put me on beseeching God to grant me a few 
 years more of his patience; and brought me to a so- 
 lemn adjuration that I would employ the remaining 
 part of my life in repairing the past. All these have 
 iDeen fruitless ; all these means have been useless ; 
 
God 7vith Individuals. 383 
 
 all these promises have been false; and yet I may 
 have access to a throne of grace. What love! 
 What mercy! 
 
 This long-suffering of God with impenitent sin- 
 ners will be one of the most terrible subjects that 
 they can think of when the avenging moment 
 comes; when the fatal hour arrives in which the 
 voice of divine justice shall summon a miserable 
 wretch to appear, when it shall bind him to a 
 death-bed, and suspend him over the abyss of hell. 
 
 But to a poor sinner, who is awaking from his 
 sin, who, having consumed the greatest part of his 
 life in sin, would repair it by sacrificing the world 
 and all its glory, were such a sacrifice in his power : 
 to a poor sinner, who, having been for some time 
 afraid of an exclusion from the mercy of God, re- 
 volves these distressing thoughts in his mind. Per- 
 haps the days of my visitation may be at an end ; 
 henceforth perhaps my sorrows may be superfluous, 
 and my tears inadmissible: To such a sinner, what 
 an object, what a comfortable object, is the treasure 
 of the forbearance and long-suffering of God that 
 leadeth to repentance. My God, saith such a sinner, 
 / am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies ! Gen. 
 xxxii. 10. My God, I am tempted to think that to 
 doubt of my interest in thy favour is the rendering 
 of a proper homage to thy mercy, and my unbelief 
 would arise from my veneration for tliy majesty ! 
 But let me not think so ; I will not doubt of thy 
 mercy, my God, since thou hast condescended to 
 assure me of it in such a tender manner! I will lose 
 myself in that ocean of love v»hich thou, O God, in- 
 
384 The Long-suffering of 
 
 finitely good ! still discoverest to me. I will persuade 
 myself that thou dost not despise the sacrifice of a 
 broken and contrite heart, and this persuasion I will 
 oppose to an alarmed conscience, to a fear of hell 
 that anticipates the misery of the state, and to all 
 those formidable executioners of condemned men, 
 whom I behold ready to seize their prey ! 
 
 My brethren, the riches of the goodness and for- 
 bearance, and long-suffering of God, are yet open to 
 you : they are open, my dear brethren, to this 
 church, how^ ungrateful soever w^e have been to the 
 goodness of God ; how much insensibility soever 
 we have shewn to the invitations of grace: they are 
 open to the greatest sinners, nor is there one of my 
 hearers who may not be admitted to these inex- 
 haustible treasures of goodness and mercy. 
 
 But do ye still despise the riches of the long-suffer- 
 ing of God ? What ! because a space to repent, (Rev. 
 ii. 21.) is given, will ye continue in impenitence? 
 Ah ! were Jesus Christ in the flesh, were he walking 
 in your streets, were he now in this pulpit preach- 
 ing to you, would he not preach to you all bathed 
 in sorrows and tears ? He would w eep over you as 
 he once wept over Jerusalem, and he would say to 
 this province, to this town, to this church, to each 
 person in this assembly, yea to that wicked hearer, 
 who affects not to be concerned in this sermon, O 
 that "thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this 
 thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" 
 Luke xix. 42. What am I saying ? he would say 
 thus ! He doth say thus, my dear brethren, and still 
 interests himself in your salvation in the tenderest 
 
God with Individuals. 385 
 
 and most vehement manner. Sitting at the right 
 hand of his Father, he holds back that avenging arm 
 which is ready to fell us to the earth at a stroke ; in 
 our behalf he interposeth his sufferings and his 
 death, his intercession and his cross ; and from the 
 top of that glory to which he is elevated he looks 
 down and saith to this republic, to this church, to all 
 this assembly, and to every sinner in it : O that 
 "thou hadst known, €ven thou, at least in this thy 
 day, the things which belong unto thy peace !" 
 
 My brethren, the patience of God, which yet 
 endures, will not always endure. The year which 
 the master of the vineyard grants, at the intercession 
 of the dresser, to try whether a barren fig-tree can 
 be made fruitful, will expire, and then it must be cut 
 down, Luke xiii. 6. Do not deceive yourselves, my 
 brethren, the long-suffering of God must produce in 
 the end eitlier your conversion or your destruction. 
 O may it prevent your destruction by producing 
 your conversion ! The Lord grant you this favour! 
 To him, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be 
 honour and glory for evei\ Amen. 
 
 TOL, I. 49 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Jeremiah x. 7. 
 
 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations ? For to 
 thee doth it appertain. 
 
 X HE prophet aims, in the words of the text, to in- 
 spiie us with fear, and the best way to understand 
 his meaning is to affix distinct ideas to the term. 
 To fear God is an equivocal phrase in all languages ; 
 it is generally used in three senses in the Holy Scrip- 
 tuves. 
 
 I. Fear sometimes signifies terror; a disposition, 
 that makes the soul consider itself only as sinful, 
 and God chiefly as a being who hateth and avengeth 
 sin. There are various degrees of this fear, and it 
 deserves either praise, or blame, according to the 
 different degree to wliich it is carried. 
 
 A man, whose heart is so void of the knowledge 
 of the perfections of God, that he cannot rise above 
 the little idols which worldlings adore ; whose no- 
 tions are so gross, that he cannot adhere to the pu- 
 rity of religion for purity's sake ; whose taste is so 
 
388 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 vitiated that he hath no relish for the delightful un- 
 ion of a faithful soul with its God ; such a man de- 
 serves to be praised, when he endeavoureth to re- 
 strain his sensuality by the idea of an avenging God» 
 The apostles urged this motive with success, know- 
 ing there/ore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, 
 2 Cor. V. ] 1. Of some have compassion, saith St. .lude 
 to the ministers of the gospel, making a difference; 
 and others sate ivith fear, jmlling them out of the 
 Jire, ver. 22, 23. Such a disposition is, without 
 doubt, very imperfect, and were a man to expect 
 salvation in this way, he would be in imminent dan- 
 ger of feeling those miseries of which he is afraid. 
 No casuists, except such as have been educated in 
 an infernal school, will venture to affirm, that to fear 
 God in this sense, without loving him, is sufficient 
 for salvation. JNevertheless, this disposition is al- 
 lowable in the beginning of a work of conversion, 
 it is never altogether useless to a regenerate man, 
 and it is of sinofular use to him in some violent 
 temptations, with which the enemy of his salvation 
 assaults him. When a tide of depravity threatens, 
 in spite of yourselves to carry you away, recollect 
 some of tlie titles of God ; the scripture calls him 
 the mighty, and the terrible God; the furious Lord ; 
 a consuming fire, Neh. ix. 32. Nah. i. 2. Heb. xii. 
 29. Remember the terrors that your own conscien- 
 ces felt, when they first awoke from the inchant- 
 ment of sin, and when they beheld, for the first 
 time, vice in its own colours. Meditate on that 
 dreadful abode, in which criminals suffer everlast- 
 ing pains for momentary pleasures. Tne fear of 
 
God the only Object oj Fear. 389 
 
 God^ taken in this first sense, is a laudable disposi- 
 tion. 
 
 But it ceaseth to be laudable, it becomes detesta- 
 ble, when it goeth so far as to deprive a sinner of a 
 sight of all the gracious remedies which God hath 
 reserved for sinners. " I heard thy voice„ and I 
 was afraid, and I hid myself," Gen. iii. 10. said the 
 first man, after his fall : but it was because he tvas 
 naked, it was because he had lost the glory of his 
 primitive innocence, and must be obliged to pros- 
 trate himself before his God, to seek from his infi- 
 nite mercy the proper remedies for his maladies, to 
 pray to him, in whose image he had been first form- 
 ed. Gen. i. 26. to renerv him after the image of him that 
 created him. Col. iii. 10. and to ask him for raiment, 
 that the shame of his nakedness might not appear. 
 Rev. iii. 18. Despair should not dwell in the church, 
 hell should be its only abode. It should be left to 
 the devils to believe and tremble. Jam. ii. 19. Time is 
 an economy of hope, and only those, whom the day 
 of wrath overwhelmeth with horrible judgments, 
 have reason to cry " to the mountains and rocks. 
 Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb." 
 Rev. vi. 16. Too great a degree o^ fear, then, in 
 this first sense of fear, is a detestable disposition. 
 
 Fear is no less odious, when it giveth us tragical 
 descriptions of the riglits of God, and of his designs 
 on his creatures : when it maketh a tyrant of him, 
 whom the text calleth the king of nations. Rev. xix. 
 16. of him, who is elsewhere described as having on 
 his thigh the stately title of King of kings ; of him, 
 whose dominion is described as constituting the fell- 
 
390 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 dty of his subjects, " The Lord reigneth, let the 
 earth rejoice," Psa. xcvii. 1. Far be such descrip- 
 tions of God fiom us! They represent the Deity as 
 a merciless usurer, who requireth an account of tal- 
 ents that we have not received ; who requireth an- 
 gelical know^ledge of a human intelligence, or phi- 
 losophical penetration of an uninslructed peasant. 
 Far from us be those systems, which pretend to 
 prove, that God will judge the heathens by the same 
 laws by which he will judge the Jews, and that he 
 will judge those who lived under the law, as if they 
 had lived under the gospel ! Away with that fear of 
 God, Avhich is so injurious to his majesty, and so 
 unw^orthy of that throne, w hich is founded on equi- 
 ty ! What encouragement could I have to endeavor 
 to know what God hath been pleased to reveal to 
 mankind, were I prepossessed with an opinion, that, 
 after 1 had implored, with all the powers of my 
 soul, the help of God to guide me in seeking the 
 truth ; after I had laid aside the prejudices that dis- 
 guise it; after I had suspended, as far as I could, the 
 passions that deprave my understanding ; even af- 
 ter I had determined to sacrifice my rest, my for- 
 tune, my dignity, my life, to follow it; I might fall 
 into capital errors which would plunge me into ev- 
 erlasting woe ? No, no, we have not so learned Christ, 
 Eph. iv. 20. None but a refractory servant fears 
 God in this manner. It is only the refractory ser- 
 vant, who, to exculpate himself for neglecting what 
 was in his power, pretends to have thought that God 
 Vi^ould require more than was in his power: Lord, 
 ^aith he, " I knew thee that thou art an hard man, 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 391 
 
 reaping where thou hast not sown, and gatherincr 
 w^iere thou hast not strewed," Mat. xxv. 24. T knew I 
 And where didst fhou learn this? What infernal 
 body of divinity hast thou studied ? What demon 
 was thy tutor? Ah ! Thou art " a wicked servant," 
 and, at the same time, " a slothful servant ;" sloth- 
 ful, ver. 26. not to form the just and noble resolu- 
 tion of improving the talent that I committed to 
 thee : wicked, to invent such an odious reason, and 
 to represent me in such dismal colours. " Thou 
 oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, 
 and then! should have received mine own with usu- 
 ry," ver. 27. Thou oughtest to have improved tlmt 
 ray of light, with which I had enlightened thee, and 
 not to have forged an ideal God, who would require 
 that with which he had not intrusted thee. Thou 
 oughtest to have read the books that my providence 
 put into thy hands, and not to have imagined that I 
 would condemn thee for not having read those 
 which were concealed from thee. Thou oughtest 
 to have consulted those ministers, whom I had set 
 in my church, and not to have feared that I wouW 
 condemn thee for not having sat in conference 
 with angels and seraphims, with whom thou hadst 
 no intercourse. Thou hadst but one talent : thou 
 oughtest to have improved that one talent, and not 
 to have neglected it lest I should require four of 
 thee. " Thou wicked servant ! Thou slothful ser- 
 vant! Take the talent from him. Give it unto him 
 who hath ten talents," ver. 28. 
 
 These are the different ideas, which we ought to 
 form of that disposition of mind w hich is called fear 
 
392 God Ihe only Ohjeci of Fear* 
 
 in this first sense. To fear God in this sense is to 
 have the soul filled with horror at the sight of his 
 judgments. 
 
 2. To fear God is a phrase still more equivocal, 
 and it is put for that disposition of mind, which in- 
 clines us to render to him all the worship that he i^e- 
 quires, to submit to all the laws that he imposeth, to 
 conceive all the emotions of admiration, devoted^ 
 ness, and love, which tlie eminence of his perfections 
 demand. This is the usual meaning of the phrase. 
 By this Jonah described himself, even while he was 
 acting contrary to it, " I am an Hebrew, and I fear 
 the Lord the God of heaven," Jonah i. 9. In this 
 sense the phrase is to be understood when we are told 
 that " the fear of the Lord prolongeth days, is a 
 fountain of life, and preservetli from the snares of 
 death," Prov. x. 27. xiv. 27. And it is to be taken 
 in the same sense where " the fear of the Lord" is 
 said to be " the beginning of wisdom," Psal. cxL 10, 
 The fear of the Lord in all these passages includes 
 all the duties of religion. The last quoted passage 
 is quite mistaken, when the fear that is spoken of is 
 taken for terror : and a conclusion is drawn from 
 false premises when it is inferred from this passage 
 that fear is not sufficient for salvation. This false 
 reasoning, however, may be found in some systems 
 of morality. Terror, say they, may, indeed, make 
 a part of a course of wisdom, but it is only the be- 
 ginning of it, as it is said, " the fear of the Lord is 
 the beginning of wisdom :" but, neither does fear 
 signify terror in tliis passage, nor does the beginning 
 mean a priority of time ; it means the principal point. 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 393 
 
 " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ;" 
 that is, the principal point ; that without whicli no 
 man is truly wise, that is, obedience to the laws of 
 religion, agreeably to the saying of the wise man, 
 " Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this 
 is the whole duty of man," Eccl. xiv. 1 3. 
 
 It seems needless to remark what idea we ought to 
 form of this fear: for, it is plain, the more a soul is 
 penetrated Avith it, the nearer it approacheth to per- 
 fection. It seems equally unnecessary to prove that 
 terror is a very diflerent disposition from this fear : 
 for, on the contrary, the most effectual mean of not 
 fearing God in the first sense is to fear him in the last. 
 " Fear not," said Moses formerly, " for God is come 
 to prove you, that his fear may be before your faces. 
 Fear not, that ye may fear ;" this is only a seeming 
 contradiction : The only way to prevent fear, that 
 is, horror, on account of the judgments of God, is 
 to have " his fear before your eyes," that is, such a 
 love, and such a deference for him, as religion re- 
 quires. Agreeably to this, it is elsewhere said, per- 
 fect love, (and perfect love, in this passage, is nothing 
 but the fear of which I am speaking) perfect love cast- 
 eth out fear ; that is, a horror on account of God's 
 judgments : for the more love we have for him, the 
 stronger assurance shall we enjoy, that his judgments 
 have nothing :n them dangerous to us. 
 
 3. But, beside these two notions of fear, there is 
 a third, which is more nearly allied to our text, a 
 notion that is neither so general as the last, nor so 
 panicular as the first. Fear, in this thii'd sense, is a 
 disposition, which considers hurr who is the object of 
 
 VOL. I. 50 
 
394 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 it as alone possessing all that can contribute to our 
 happiness or misery. Distinguish here a particular 
 from a general happiness. Every being around 
 us, by a wise disposal of Providence, hath some de- 
 gree of power to favour, or to hinder a particular 
 happiness. Every thing that can increase, or abate, 
 the motion of our bodies, may contribute to the ad- 
 vancement, or to th« diminution, of the particular 
 happiness of our bodies. Every thing that can elu- 
 cidate, or obscure the ideas of our minds, may con- 
 tribute to the particular happiness or misery of our 
 minds. Every thing that can procure to our souls 
 either a sensation of pleasure, or a sensation of pain, 
 may contribute to the particular happiness, or mis- 
 ery of our souls. But it is neither a particular hap- 
 piness, nor a particular misery, that we mean to 
 treat of now : We mean a genaral happiness. It 
 often happens, that, all th'ngs being considered, a 
 particular happines j, ccns'dered in the whole of our 
 felicity is a gene^ al misery : and, on the contrary, 
 it often happens, t'lat all iLings being considered, 
 a particular misery, in the v/hole of our felicity is a 
 general happiness. It was a particular misfortune 
 in the life of man to be forced to bear the ampu- 
 tation of a mortified arm : but weighing the whole 
 felicity of the life of the man, this particular misfor- 
 tune became a good, because had he not consented 
 to the aiuputation of the mortified limb, the mor- 
 tification would have been fatal to his life, and 
 would have deprived him of all felicity here. It 
 was a particular calamity, that a believer should 
 be called to suffer martyrdom: but in the whole 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 395 
 
 felicity of llmt believer, martyrdom was a happiness, 
 yea, an inestimable happiness : by suffering tlie pain 
 of a few moments he hath escaped those eternal tor- 
 ments which would have attended his apostacy ; the 
 bearing of a light affliction, which was hut for a mo- 
 ment, hath wrought oid a far more exceeding and eter- 
 nal weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 Let us sum up these reliections. To consider a 
 being as capable of renc'^ring us happy or miserable, 
 in the general sense that we have given of the words 
 happiness and misery, is to fear that being, in the 
 thii'd sense which we have given to the term /ear. 
 This is the sense of the w^ord fear, in the text, and 
 in many other passages of the Floly Scriptures. 
 Thus Isaiah useth it, " Say ye not a confederacy, to 
 all them to w^iom this people shall say a confedera- 
 cy : neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanc- 
 tify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your 
 fear, and let him be your dread," ch. viii. 12, 13. 
 So again, " Who art thou, that thou shouldst be 
 afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man 
 that shall be made as grass?" ch. li. 12. And again 
 in these well known words of our Saviour, " fear 
 not them which kiil tlie body, but are not able to 
 kill the soul : but rather fear him which is able to de- 
 stroy both soul and body in hell," Mat. x. 28. To 
 kill the body is to cause a particular evil ; and to fear 
 them which kill the body is to regard the death of the 
 body as a general evil, determining the whole of our 
 felicity. To fear him vMch is able to destroy the soul, 
 is to consider the loss of the soul as the general evil, 
 and him who is able to destroy the soul as alone able 
 
396 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 to determine the whole of our felicity or misery. 
 In this sense we understand the text, and this sense 
 seems most agreeable to the scope of the place. 
 
 The prophet was endeavoming to abase false gods 
 in the eyes of his countrymen, while the true God 
 was suffering their Avorshippers to carry his people 
 into captivity. He was aiming to excite the Jews to 
 worship the God of heaven and earth, and to de- 
 spise idols even amidst the trophies and the triumphs 
 of idolaters. He was trying to convince them fully 
 that idols could procure neither happiness nor mis- 
 ery to mankind ; and tliat, if thek worshippers should 
 inflict any punishments on the captives, they would 
 be only particular evils permitted by the provi- 
 dence of God : " Be not dismayed at the signs of 
 heaven because the heathen are dismayed at them. 
 One cutteth a tree out of the forest with the ax /o 
 make idols ; another decks them with silver and with 
 sold, and fastens them with nails and with hammers 
 that they move not. They are upright as the palm- 
 tree, but speak not. They must needs be borne, 
 because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for 
 they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do 
 good," ver. 2, &c. Remark here the double mo- 
 tive of not fearing them : on the one hand, they can- 
 not do evil ; on the other, neither is it in them to do 
 good. This justifies the idea that we give you of 
 fear, by representing it as tliat disposition, which 
 considers its object as having our happiness and our 
 misery in its power. Instead of fearing that they 
 should destroy you, announce ye their destruction, 
 and say unto them, in the language of the Babyloni- 
 
God the only Ohject of Fear. 397 
 
 ans who worship them,^ "the gods that have not 
 made the heavens, and the earth, even they shall 
 perish from the earth, and from under tlie heavens," 
 ver. 11. Having thus shewn that heath.en gods 
 could not be the object of that fear, which consider- 
 eth a being as able to procure happiness and mise- 
 ry; the prophet represents the God of Israel as 
 alone worthy of such an homage, " He hath made 
 the earth by his power, lie hath established the 
 world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the 
 heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his 
 voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, 
 and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends 
 of the earth : he maketh lightnings with rain, and 
 bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Mol- 
 ten images are falsehood and vanity. The portion 
 of Jacob is not like them : for he is the former of 
 all things, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance ; 
 the Lord of hosts is his name," ver. 12, <fcc. The 
 prophet, his own mind being filled with these noble 
 ideas, supposes that every other mind is filled with 
 them too; and in an ecstacy exclaims, " Who would 
 not fear thee, O King of nations ? for to thee doth 
 it appertain !" 
 
 Fear, then, taken in this third sense, is an homage 
 that cannot be paid to a creature without falling in- 
 to idolatry. To regard a being, as capable of de- 
 termining the happiness or misery of an immortal 
 soul, is to pay the honours of adoration to him. As* 
 it can be said of none but God, it is my happiness to 
 draw near to him : so of him alone can it be truly 
 
 * These words are in the Chaldean language in the original. 
 
398 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 said, it is my misery to depart from him, Psal. Ixxiii. 
 28. Moreover, this homage belongeth to him in a 
 complete and eminent manner. He possesseth all 
 without restriction that can contribute to our felici- 
 ty, or to our misery. Three ideas, under which we 
 are going to consider God, will prove what we have 
 affirmed. 
 
 I. God is a being, whose will is self-efficient. 
 
 II. God is the only being, who can act immedi- 
 ately on spiritual souls. 
 
 III. God is the only being, who can make all crea- 
 tures concur with his designs. From these three 
 notions of God follows this consequence, Who 
 would not fear thee, O King of nations ? 
 
 I. God is a being, whose will is self-efficient. We 
 call that will self-efficient, which infallibly produ- 
 ceth its effect. By this efficiency of will we distin- 
 guish God from every other being, either real, or 
 possible. No one but God hath a self-efficient will. 
 There is no one but God of w hom the argument from 
 the will to the act is demonstrative. Of none but 
 God can we reason in this manner : he willeth, there- 
 fore he doth. Every intelligent being hath some 
 degree of efficiency in his will: my will hath an 
 efficiency on my arm; I will to move my arm, 
 my arm instantly moves. But there is as great 
 a difference between the efficiency of the will of a 
 creature, and the efficiency of the will of the Crea- 
 tor, as there is between a finite and an infinite be- 
 ing. The will of a created intelligence, properly 
 speaking, is not self-efficient, for it hath only a bor- 
 rowed efficiency. When he, from >vhom it is deri- 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 399 
 
 ved, restrains it, this created intelligence will have 
 only a vain, weak, inefficient will. I have to-day a 
 will efficient to move my arm : but if that Being 
 from whom I derive this will, should contract, or re- 
 lax, the fibres of this arm, my will to move it Avould 
 become vain, weak, and inefficient. I have a will 
 efficient on the whole mass of this body, to which it 
 hath pleased the Creator to unite my immortal soul : 
 but were God to dissolve the bond, by which he hath 
 united these two parts of me together, all that I might 
 then will in regard to this body would be vain, weak, 
 and destitute of any effect. When the intelligence, 
 who united my soul to my body, shall have once 
 pronounced the word return, Psal. xc. 3. that poiiion 
 of matter to which my soul was united will be as free 
 from the power of my will as the matter that consti- 
 tTites the body of the sun, or as that which constitutes 
 bodies, to which neither my senses, nor my imagina- 
 tion, can attain. All this comes to pass, because the 
 efficiency of a creature is a boiTowed efficiency, 
 whereas that of the Creator is self-efficient and unde- 
 rived. 
 
 Farther, the efficiency of a creature's will is finite. 
 My will is efficient in regard to the portion of mat- 
 ter to which I am united: but how contracted is 
 my empire ! how limited is my sovereignty ! It ex- 
 tends no farther than the mass of my body extends ; 
 and the mass of my body is only a few inches broad, 
 and a few cubits high. What if those mortals, who 
 are called kings, monarchs, emperors could by for- 
 eign aid extend the efficiency of theii' wills to the 
 most distant places ; what if they were able to ex- 
 
400 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 tend it to the extremities of this planet, which we 
 inhabit ; how little way, after all, is it to the extrem- 
 ities of this planet ? What if, by the power of sul- 
 phur and saltpetre, these men extend the efficiency 
 of their will to a little height in the air ; how low, 
 after all, is that height ? Were a sovereign to unite 
 every degree of power, that he could procure, to ex- 
 tend his efficiency to the nearest planet, all his efforts 
 would be useless. The efficiency of a creature's will 
 is finite, as well as borrowed : that of the Creator is 
 independent and universal ; it extends to the most re- 
 mote beings, as well as to those that surround us, it 
 extends alike to all actual and to all possible beings. 
 My brethren, are ye stricken with this idea? Do ye 
 perceive its relation to our subject ? Who would not 
 fear thee, O king of nations 1 
 
 Our low and groveling minds, low and groveling 
 as they are, have yet some notion of the grand and 
 the marvellous ; and nothing can impede, nothing 
 can limit, nothing can equal our notion of it: when 
 we give it scope it presently gets beyond every 
 thing that we see, and every thing that exists. Re- 
 ality is not sufficient, fancy must be indulged ; real 
 existences are too indigent, possible beings must be 
 imagined ; and we presently quit the real to range 
 through the ideal world. Hence come poetical fic- 
 tions, and fabulous narrations; and hence marvel- 
 lous adventures, and romantic enchantments. A 
 man is assuredly, an object of great pity, when he 
 pleaseth himself with such fantastic notions. But, 
 the principle that occasioned these fictions, ought to 
 render the mind of man respectable : it is the very 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 401 
 
 principle which we have mentioned. It is because 
 the idea, that the mind of man hath of the grand and 
 marvelJous, finds nothing to impede, nothing to lim- 
 it, notliing to equal it. The most able architect 
 cannot fully gratify this idea, although he employs 
 his genius, his materials, and his artists, to erect a 
 superb and regular edifice in a few years: All this is 
 far below the notion which we have of the grand 
 and tha marvellous. Our mind imagines an inch. int- 
 er, who, uniting in an instant all the secrets of art, 
 and all the wonders of nature, by a single word of 
 his mouth, or by a single act of his will, produceth 
 a house, a palace, or a city. The most able me- 
 chanic cannot fully gratify this idea, although with 
 a marvellous industry he build a vessel, which re- 
 sisting winds and waves, passeth from the east to the 
 west, and disco vereth new worlds, which nature 
 seemed to have forbidden us to approach, by the im- 
 mense spaces that it hath placed between us. Our 
 mmd fancies an inchantment, which giving to a bo- 
 dy naturally ponderous the levity of air, the activi- 
 ty of fire, the agility of flame; or of ethereal matter, 
 passeth the most immeasurable spaces with a rapidi- 
 ty SNV ifter than that of lightning. It is God, it is God 
 alone, my brethren, who is the original of these 
 ideas. God only possesseth that which gratifies and 
 absorbs our idea of the grand and the marvellous. 
 The extravagance of fable does not lie in the imagin- 
 ing of tliese things; but in the misapplication of 
 them. Must an edifice be formed by a single act 
 of the will ? In God we find the reality of this idea. 
 He forms not only a palace, a city, or a kingdom, 
 
 VOL. I. 51 
 
402 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 but a whole world by a single act of bis will ; be- 
 cause his will is always efficient, and always produ- 
 ceth its effect. God said^ let there he light, and there 
 was light, Gen. i. 3. He spake and it was done : he 
 commanded and it stood fast, Psal. xxxiii. 9. Must 
 the immense distances of the world be passed in an 
 instant ? In God we find the reality of this idea. 
 What am I saying ? we find more than this in God. 
 He doth not pass through the spaces that separate 
 the heavens from the earth, he fills them with the 
 immensity of his essence. " Will God indeed dwell 
 on the earth ? Behold, the heaven, and heaven of 
 beavens cannot contain thee !" 1 Kings viii. 27. 
 " Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, 
 and the earth is my footstool : where is the house 
 that ye build unto me ? And where is the place of 
 my rest ? For all those things hath mine hand made, 
 saith the Lord," Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2. 
 
 Were it necessary to prove that this idea is not a 
 freak of our fancy, but that it ariseth from an ori- 
 ginal which really exists : I would divide, the bet- 
 ter to prove my proposition, my opponents into two 
 classes. The first should consist of those Avho al- 
 ready admit the existence of a perfect Being : To 
 them I could easily prove that efficiency of will is 
 a perfection, and that we cannot conceive a Being 
 perfect, who doth not possess this perfection. It is 
 essential to the perfection of a Being, that we should 
 be able to say of him, Who hath resisted his will I 
 Rom. ix. 19. Could any other being resist his will, 
 that being a\ ould be free from his dominion ; and 
 w^ould subsist, not only independently on him, but 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 403 
 
 even in spite of him: and then we could conceive a 
 being; moie perfect than he, that is, a being from 
 whose dominion nothing could free itself. 
 
 In the second class I would place those who deny 
 the existence of a Supreme Being ; and to them I 
 would prove that the existence of beings, who have 
 a derived efficiency of will, proves the existence of 
 a Being whose will is self-efficient. Whence have 
 finite beings derived that limited efficiency, which 
 they possess, if not from a self-efficient Being, who 
 hath distributed portions of efficiency among sub- 
 ordinate beings? 
 
 But it is less needful to prove that there is a Be- 
 ing who hatli suc{] a perfection ; tlsan it is to prove, 
 that he who possesseth it merits, and alone merits, 
 such a fear as .^e have described: that he deserves, 
 and that he alone deserves to be considered as hav- 
 ing our felicity, and our misery, in his power. Who 
 would not Jear thee, O king of nations 1 to thee doth 
 it not appertain? And who would not consider thee 
 as the only object of this fear ? To whom beside doth 
 it appertain ? The efficiency of a creature's will pro- 
 ceeds from thee, and as it proceeds from thee alone, 
 by ttiee alone does it subsist : one act of thy vv ill 
 gave it existence, and one act of thy will can take 
 that existence away ! The most formidable creatures 
 are only terrible through the exercise of a small 
 portion of efficiency derived from thee ; thou art 
 the source, the soul, of all ! Pronounce the sentence 
 of my misery, and I shall be miserable : pronounce 
 that of my felicity, and I shall be happy: nor shall 
 any thing be able to disconcert a happiness that is 
 maintained by an efficient will, which is superior to 
 
404 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 all opposition : before which all is nothing, or ra- 
 ther, which is itself all in all, because its efficiency 
 communicates efficiency to all ! Who would not fear 
 thee, O king of nations ? Doth not fear appertain to 
 thee alone ? 
 
 Perhaps the proving of a self-efficient will may 
 be more than is necessary to the exliibiting of an ob- 
 ject of human fear. Must such a grand spring move 
 to destroy such a contemptible creature as man ? 
 He is only a vapour, a particle of air is sufficient 
 to dissipate it : he is only a flower, a blast of wind 
 is sufficient to make it fade. This is undeniable in 
 regard to the material and visible man, in which we 
 too often place all our glory. It is not only, then, 
 to the infinite God, it is not only to him whose will 
 is self-efficient, that man owes the homage of fear : 
 it may be said that he owes it, in a sense, to all 
 those creatui^es, to which Providence hath given a 
 presidency over his happiness or his misery. He 
 ought not only to say, " Who would not fear thee, 
 O king of nations ? for to thee doth it appertain !" 
 But he ought also to say, Who would not fear thee, 
 O particle of air ? Who w^ould not fear thee, O 
 blast of wind ? Who would not fear thee, O crush- 
 ing of a moth? Job iv. 15. Because there needs 
 only a particle of air, there needs only a puff of 
 wind, there needs only the crushing of a moth, to 
 subvert his happiness, and to destroy his life. But 
 ye would entertain very different notions of human 
 happiness and misery, were ye to consider man in a 
 nobler light ; and to attend to our second notion of 
 God, as an object of fear. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 God the only Object of Fear, 
 PART II. 
 
 Jeremiah x. 7. 
 
 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations 1 For 
 to thee doth it appertain, 
 
 ItOD is the only being who hath a supreme domin- 
 ion over the operations of a spiritual and immortal 
 soul. The discussion of this article would lead us 
 into observations too abstract for this place ; and 
 therefore we make it a law to abridge our reflections. 
 We must beg leave to remark, however, that we 
 ought to think so highly of the nature of man as to 
 admit this principle : God alone is able to exercise 
 an absolute dominion over a spu'itual and immortal 
 soul. From this principle we conclude, that God 
 alone hath the happiness and misery of man in his 
 power. God alone merits the supreme homage of 
 fear. God alone not only in opposition to all the 
 imaginary gods of paganism, but also in opposition 
 to every being that really exists, is worthy of this 
 part of the adoration of a spiritual and immortal 
 creature. " Who would not fear thee, O King of 
 nations?" 
 
406 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 Weigh the emphatical words which we just now" 
 quoted, " AVho art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid 
 of a man that shall die ?" Who art thou, immaterial 
 spirit^ that thou shouldst be afraid of a man ? Who 
 an thou, immortal spirit^ that thou shouldst be afraid 
 of a man that shall die ? 
 
 Who art thou, immaterial spirit, that thou shouldst 
 be afraid of a man ? Man hath no immediate power 
 over a spirit ; he can affect it only by means of body. 
 It is only by the body that a tyrant can cause a little 
 anguish in the soul. It is only by the body as a 
 mean that he can flatter some of the propensities of 
 the soul, and propose himself to it as an object of its 
 hope and fear. But, beside that this power is infi- 
 nitely small while the soul is subject to it; beside 
 that the soul is capable of a thousand pleasures and a 
 thousand pams, during its union to the body, which 
 man cannot excite ; beside these advantages, it is be- 
 yond a doubt, that this power of a tyrant can en- 
 dure no longer than the union of the soul to the body 
 doth, by the mean of which the tyrant affects it. If 
 a tyrant exercise his power to a certain degree, he 
 loscth it. When he has carried to a certain degree 
 that violent motion which he produceth in the body, 
 in order to afflict the soul, which is united to it, he 
 breaks the bond that unites the soul to the body, and 
 frees his captive by overloading him with chains. 
 Tlie union being dissolved the soul is free ; it no 
 longer depends on the tyrant, because he communi- 
 cates with it only by means of body. After the de- 
 if«truction of the organs of the body, the soul is su- 
 perior lo every effort of a despof s rage. Death re- 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 407 
 
 moves the soul beyond the reach of the most poAver- 
 fiil monarch. After death the soul becomes invisi- 
 ble, and a tyrant's eye searcheth for it in vain : it 
 ceaseth to be tangible, his chains and his fetters can 
 hold it no more : it is no more divisible, his gibbets 
 and his racks, his pincers and his wheels can rend it 
 no more : none of his fires can burn it, for it is not 
 combustible ; nor can any of his dungeons confine it, 
 for it is immaterial. 
 
 Would to God, my brethren, that we were well 
 acquainted with our real giandeur, and, perceiving 
 our own excellence, were above trembling at those 
 contemptible worms of the earth, who fancy that 
 they know how to terrify us, only because they have 
 acquired the audacity of addressing us with insolence 
 and pride. There is no extravagance, there is not 
 even a shadow of extravagance, in what we have ad- 
 vanced on the giandeur of an immaterial spirit. We 
 have not said enough. It is not enough to say that 
 a soul can neither be disordered by chains, nor racks, 
 nor gibbets, nor pincers, nor fires ; it defies the uni- 
 ted power of universal nature. Yea, were all the 
 w^aters that hang in the clouds, and all that roll in the 
 sea, were every drop collected into one prodigious 
 deluge to overwhelm it, it would not be drowned. 
 Were mountains the most huge, were masses the 
 most enormous, were all matter to compose, if I 
 may speak so, one vast ponderous weight to fall on 
 and to crush it, it would not be bruised, yea, it would 
 not be moved. Were all the cedars of Lebanon, 
 with all the brimstone of Asphaltites, and with eve- 
 ry other infianiiiiable matter, kindled in one blaze to 
 
408 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 consume it, it would not be burnt. Yea, when " the 
 heavens pass away with a great noise, when the con- 
 stellations of heaven fall, when the elements melt 
 with fervent heat, when the earth, and all the works 
 that are therein, are burnt up," 2 Pet. iii. 10. when 
 all these things are dissolved, thou human soul ! shalt 
 surmount all these vicissitudes and rise above all their 
 ruins! Who art thou? Immaterial spirit! Who art 
 thou to he afraid of a man 1 
 
 But if the soul, considered in its nature ; if the 
 soul as a spiritual being, be superior to human tyran- 
 ny ; what homage, on this very account, what sub- 
 mission and abasement, or to confine ourselves to the 
 text, what fear ought we not to exercise toward the 
 Supreme Being ? " Who would not fear thee, O King 
 of nations ?" God alone hath the power of destroy- 
 ing an immaterial soul ; God alone hath the power of 
 preserving it. God is the only father of spirits. 
 " Fear not them which kill the body : but fear him 
 which is able to destroy the soul. Yea, I say unto 
 you, fear him," Heb. xii. 9. God alone can act im- 
 mediately on a spiritual creature. He needs neither 
 the fragrance of flowers, nor the savour of foods, nor 
 any of the mediums of matter, to communicate agree- 
 able sensations to the soul. He needs neither the ac- 
 tion of fire, the rigour of racks, nor the galling of 
 chains, to produce sensations of pain. He acts im- 
 mediately on the soul. It is he, human soul ! It is 
 he, who, by leaving ihee to revolve in the dark void 
 of thine unenlightened mind, can deliver thee up to 
 all the torments that usually follow ignorance, uncer- 
 tainty, and doubt. But the same God can expand 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 409 
 
 ihine intelligence just when he pleaseth, and enable 
 it to lay down principles, to infer consequences, to 
 establish conclusions. It is he, who can impaii new 
 ideas to thee, teach thee to combine those which tliou 
 hast already acquired, enable thee to multiply num- 
 bers, shew^ thee how^ to conceive the infinitely various 
 arrangements of matter, acquaint thee with the es- 
 sence of thy thought, its different modifications and 
 its endless operations. It is he, who can giant thee 
 new^ revelations, develope those which he hath alrea- 
 dy given thee, but which have hitherto lain in obscu- 
 rity ; he can inform thee of his pui-poses, his coun- 
 sels and decrees, and lay before thee, if I may ven- 
 ture to say so, the whole history of time and eterni- 
 ty : For nothing either hath subsisted in time, or will 
 subsist in eternity, but what was preconceived in the 
 counsels of his infinite intelligence. It is he, who 
 alone, and for ever, can excite infinite sensations of 
 pleasure or pain within thee. It is he, who can ap- 
 prehend the soul of a tyrant, amidst the most gay and 
 festive objects, among the most servile flatteries of a 
 court, and, in spite of a concourse of pleasures, pro- 
 duce such horrors and fears, and exquisite tonuents, as 
 shall change even a Belshazzar's " countenance, trou- 
 ble his thoughts, loosen the joints of his loins, and 
 smite his knees one against another," Dan. v. 6. And 
 it is he also, w ho is able to diveit a sensation of pain, 
 amidst the greatest torments, yea, to absorb a strong 
 sensation of pain in a stronger sensation of pleasure. 
 He can make a madyr triumph, all involved in fire 
 and flame, by shedding abroad effusions of love in 
 
 VOL. T. 52 
 
4 iO God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 his heart : the peace of God which passeth all under- 
 standing, and which keeps the senses,^ Rom. v. 5, 
 Phil. iv. 7. that is^ a peace which is superior to the 
 action of the senses, and not to be interrupted by the 
 exercise of them. It is he, who can enable him to 
 celebrate a victory during an apparent defeat : who 
 can overflow in a sufferer's heart, the pains of mar» 
 tyrdom with the pleasures of paradise, and fill the 
 mouth with shouts of triumph and songs of praise. 
 
 Speak, ye martyrs of Jesus Christ, tell us what 
 influence the infinite God hath over the soull Be ye 
 our divines and philosophers. What did ye feel, 
 when, penetrating through a shower of stones, ye 
 cried, " Behold, we see the heavens opened, and the 
 Son of man standing on the right hand of God ?"^ 
 Acts vii. 56. What did ye feel, when experiencing 
 all the rage of cruel Nero, ye exulted, " We rejoice 
 in hope of the glory of God ?" Rom. v. 2. But 
 this is not the whole of the believer's joy. The ex- 
 pectation of arriving at great happiness by means of 
 tribulations may naturally produce a patient suhmis- 
 sion to tribulations. But here is something more. 
 " We rejoice," saith St. Paul, *' in hope of the glory 
 of God. And not only so," adds he, (weigh this 
 expressive sentence, my brethren,) " not only so ;" 
 
 * Our author uses the common readmg of the French bible, 
 which is, garde les sens. The original word is used in the holy- 
 scriptures for rejlection, Rom. vii. 25. and for sensation. Jam. i. 
 23. The reason of our following the French reading in this 
 place is obvious. Where the same reason does not oblige us, 
 we have made it a law, in quotations of scripture, scrupulously 
 to adhere to our English text. 
 
God the only Ohjcct of Fear. 411 
 
 it is not only "the hope of the glory of God" that 
 supports and comforts us; "not only so; but we 
 glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation 
 worketlj patience, and patience experience, and ex- 
 perience hope : and hope maketh not ashamed, be- 
 cause the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, 
 by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." What 
 -did ye feel, when your executioners, not being able 
 to obtain your voluntary adoration of their idols, 
 endeavoured to obtain it by force ;" when, refusing 
 to offer that incense which they had put into your 
 hands, ye sang, " Blessed be the Lord, who teacheth 
 our hands to war and our fingers to fight ? Ps. cxliv. 
 1. What did ye feel, when, wrapping your heads 
 in the few rags that persecution had left you, ye 
 refused to look at the worship of idols, and patient- 
 ly submitted to be bruised with bastinadoes, con- 
 demned to thegallies, and chained to the oars ? What 
 did ye feel, when, in that painful situation, ye em- 
 ployed the remainder of your strength to look up- 
 w^ard and to adore the God of heaven and earth ? It 
 is God who supports his creature amidst all these, 
 torments, and he alone can infinitely diversify and 
 extend his sensibility. None but he can excite in 
 the soul those ineffable pleasures, of which we have 
 no ideas, and which we can express by no names : 
 but which will be the objects of our eternal praises, 
 if they be the objects of our present faith and hope. 
 It is God, and only God, who can communicate hap- 
 piness in this manner. None of this power is in the 
 hand of man. JVho art thou, spiritual creature, to 
 be afraid of a man ? 
 
412 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 But we add farther, Who art thou, immortal crea- 
 ture, to he afraid of a man that shall die ? Tlie im- 
 mortality of the soul elevates it above a mortal pow- 
 er, and renders supreme fear a just homage to none 
 but to that Being whose dominion continues as long 
 as the soul continues to exist. Can we be such no- 
 vices, I do not say in the school of revelation, but in 
 that of the most superficial reason, as to confound the 
 duration of the soul with the duration of life ? Or 
 rather, are we so expert in the art of going from 
 the great to the little, from the little to the less, from 
 the less to the least divisible parts of time, or of mat- 
 ter, as to assign an atom of matter so minute, or an 
 instant of time so inconsiderable, that either of them 
 would express the shortness of a mortal life in com- 
 parison of the duration of an immortal soul ? The 
 most accurate teachers of logic and metaphysics for- 
 bid the use of the terms, length, duration, period, in 
 speaking of eternity. We may say a length, a du- 
 ration, a period, of a thousand, or of ten thousand 
 millions of ages : but if we speak accurately and 
 philosophically, we cannot say the duration of eter- 
 nity, the length of eternity, the periods of eternity s 
 because all the terms that are applicable to tirne, are 
 inadequate to eternity. No, no, ye would attempt 
 difficulties altogether insurmountable, were ye to 
 try to find a quantity so small as to express the 
 shortness of a mortal life in comparison of the dura- 
 tion of an immortal soul. Not only the most ex- 
 pert mathematician is unequal to the attempt : but 
 it implies a contradiction to aflfirm, that the infinite 
 spirit can do this ; because contradiction never is an 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 413 
 
 object of infinite power, and because it implies a 
 contradiction to measure the existence of an immor- 
 tal soul by the duration of a mortal life. It can 
 never be said that a hundred years are tlie thou- 
 sandth, or tl e ten thousandtli, or the hundred tliou- 
 sandth part of eternity. The inspired writers, whose 
 language was often as just as their ideas were pure, 
 have told us, that life is as the ni the ring grass ; as a 
 failing Jlower ; as a declining shadow; snifter than 
 the rapid and imperceptible motion of a weaver's 
 shuttle. They call it a vapour, that is dissipated in 
 the ail'; a dream, of which no vestige remains when 
 the morning is come; a thought^ that vanisheth as 
 soon as it is formed; a phantom f which walketh in 
 a vain shew, Isa. xl. 7. Ps. cii. 11. Job vii. 6. James 
 iv. 14. Ps. Ixxiii. 20. But by all these emblems they 
 meant to excite humility in us ; but not to give us 
 any ideas of a proportion between tiie duration of 
 withering grass, fading flowers, declining shadows, 
 the time of throwing a weaver's shuttle, of the dissi- 
 pation of a vapour, of the passing of a dream, of the 
 forming and losing of a thought, of the appearance of 
 a phantom, and the eternal existence of an immortal 
 soul. Such is the life of man 1 and such the dura- 
 lion of the dominion of a tyrant over an immortal 
 soul ! a duration which is only a point in eternity. 
 A tyrant is mortal, his empire expires with his life, 
 and were he to employ the whole course of his life 
 in tormenting a martyr, and in trying to impair his 
 felicity, he would resemble an idiot throwing stones 
 at the ligiitning, while, in an indivisible moment, and 
 * Psal. xc. 9. Heb. t Psal. xxxix. 5, 6. Hcb. 
 
414 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 with an inconceivable rapidity, it caught his eye as 
 it passed from the east to the west. 
 
 But God is the king immortal, 1 Tim. i. 17. and 
 the eternity of his dominion is sufficient, my dear 
 hearers, to demonstrate the truth of the text, and to 
 fix all the possible attention of your minds on this 
 question, Who would not fear thee, O king of na- 
 tions ! The immortal king is the only fit object of 
 the fear of an immortal soul. There is no empire 
 immortal but that of God, no dominion unchangea- 
 ble but his. AVhen the soul enters eternity it will 
 be subject only to the God of eternity : " O my God, 
 of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth ; 
 and the heavens are the work of thy hands : They 
 shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of 
 them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture 
 shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. 
 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no 
 end !" Ps. cii. 24. We must, of necessity, take up 
 again the words space, duration, period, which 
 we just now discarded for their impropriety, 
 when applied to eternity. During the periods 
 of eternity, through all the duration of the ex- 
 istence of him, who is the same, and whose years 
 shall have no end, the immortal God will for ev- 
 er produce the happiness, or the misery of an 
 immortal soul. His dominion over it will be eter- 
 nally exercised in rendering it happy or miserable. 
 The reprobate soul will eternally be the object of 
 the avenging power of this God, for it will eternally 
 be under the hand of its judge. The faithful soul 
 will eternally be the recipient of the beneficence of 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 415 
 
 the immortal God, who is the worthy object, the on- 
 ly object of solid hope and supreme fear. Fear not 
 them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
 sold : bid rather fear him nhich is able to destroy both 
 soul and body in hell : yea, I say unto you, fear him. 
 Who nould not fear thee, O king of nations ? Doth 
 not fear appertain to thee alone ? 
 
 III. Here, my brethren, could I think that I had 
 been preaching to marbles, and to rocks ; could I 
 think that I had been discoursing to men, who at- 
 tended on the preacher without hearing the sermon, 
 or who heard without understanding it ; I should 
 think other proofs needful to demonstrate, that God 
 alone merited the hofnage of supreme fear. Could I 
 think that I had been preaching to men, who were 
 all absorbed in sense and matter, and who could form 
 no ideas in theii' minds unless some material objects 
 w^ere presented to their senses, or some imagery ta- 
 ken from sensible objects were used to excite them ; 
 I would insist on the third part of this discourse. If 
 the idea of a Being, whose will is self-efficient and 
 who can act immediately on a spiritual soul, w ere not 
 sufficient to incline you to render the homage of fear 
 to God, I would represent him under the third nor 
 tion, which we gave you of him, as making all crea- 
 tures fulfil his will. If tyrants, executioners, pris- 
 ons, dungeons, racks, tortures, pincers, caldions of 
 boiling oil, gibbets, stakes, were necessary ; if all 
 nature, and all the elements were wanted to inspire 
 that sold with fear, which is so far elevated above the 
 elements, and all the powers of nature : I would 
 prove to you that tyrants and executioners, prisons 
 
416 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 and dungeons, racks and tortures, and pincers, cal- 
 drons of boiling oil, gibbets and stakes, all nature 
 and all the elements fulfil the designs of the king of 
 nations ; and that, when they seem the least under 
 his direction, they are invariably accomplishing his 
 will. 
 
 These are not imaginary ideas of mine ! but they 
 are taken from the same scriptures that establish the 
 first ideas, which we have been explaining. What do 
 our prophets and apostles say of tyrants, execution- 
 ers, and persecutors ? In what colours do they paint 
 them ? Behold, how God contemns tlie proudest po- 
 tentates ; see how he mortifies and abases them. " O 
 Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the stafi* in your 
 hand is mine indignation : howbeit, thy heart doth 
 not think so. The Lord hath broken the staff* of the 
 wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. Thy pomp is 
 brought down to the grave, the worm is spread un- 
 der thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou 
 fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! 
 How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst 
 weaken the nations. Thou hast said in thine heart, 
 I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne 
 above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the 
 mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. 
 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will 
 be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought 
 down to hell. Because thy rage, against me, and 
 thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will 
 [ put uiy hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, 
 and I will turn thee back by the way thou earnest,'* 
 Isa. X. 5. 7. ch. xiv. 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. ch. xxxvii. 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 417 
 
 29. O! how capable Avere our sacred authors of 
 considerins: the grandees of the earth in their true 
 point of light ! O ! how well they knew how to teach 
 us what a king, or a tyrant, is in the presence of 
 him, by whose command kings decree justice^ Prov. 
 viii. 15. and by whose permission, and even di- 
 rection, tyrants decree injustice ! The last words 
 that we quoted from Isaiah, relate to Sennacher- 
 ib. And who is this Sennacherib, whose general, 
 Rabshakeh is come up nith a great host to over- 
 whelm Jerusalem ! AYhere is this great king of 
 Assyria 1 What is this insolent mortal, who saith. 
 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? 
 Where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? Hath any of the 
 gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of 
 mine hand / Shall Ihr Lord deliver Jerusalem oid of 
 mine hand? 2 Kings xviii. 17. 34. 33. What is this 
 Sennacherib ? And what are all those who tread in 
 his arrogant steps ? They are wild beasts ? but wild 
 beasts in chains, conducted whither an almighty arm 
 pleiseth to lead them. The power of this arm is a 
 hook in the noses of these animals, a bridle in their 
 lips ; it turneth them by the hook to the right or to 
 the left, and it straiteneth or looseneth the bridle 
 as it pleaseth. By tfiis hook, by this bridle, God led 
 the Assyrian beast \^ itliout his knowing it, and when 
 his heart did not think so : he led him from Assyria 
 to Judea, from Judea to Assyria, as his wisdom re- 
 quned his presence in either place. 
 
 The prophets meant to inspire us with the same 
 notion of insensible and inanimate beings, so tl-at 
 e\fv\ X\ ing which excites iear might lead us to fear 
 
 VOL. T. 53 
 
418 God the only Ohject of Fear. 
 
 the king of nations, who hath all things in his poweiv 
 and moves all according to his own pleasure. We 
 will not multiply proofs. The prophet, in the chap- 
 ter out of which we have taken the text, mentions 
 an object very fit to inspire us with the fear of the 
 king of naiions, who disposeth inanimate beings in 
 such a manner : he describe th a tempest at sea. 
 The gravity of this discourse, the majesty of this 
 place, and the character of this auditory will not al- 
 low those descriptions which a sportive fancy in- 
 vents. We allow students to exercise their imagina- 
 tions in an academy, and we pass over their glaring 
 images in favour of their youth and inexperience : 
 but sometimes descriptions supply the place of ar- 
 guments, and a solid logic, not a puerile rhetoric, 
 requires them. We are now in this case. In order 
 to humble nian in the presence of the king of na- 
 tions, we tell him that this king can make all crea- 
 tures fulfil his will. With the same design, our pro- 
 phet gives a sensible example of the power of God, 
 by transporting man to the ocean, and by shewing 
 bim " the works of the Lord, and his wonders in 
 the deep. God uttereth his voice," saith he, in a 
 verse that follows the text, " and there is a noise of 
 a multitude of waters in the heavens. He causeth 
 the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. 
 He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth 
 the wind out of his treasures," Ps. cvii. 24. 13. 
 Thou dull stupid man ! who art not stricken with 
 the idea of a God, whose will is self-eificient, and 
 Vv'ho alone can act immediately on an immaterial 
 sou], come and beliold some sensible proofs of thai 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 419 
 
 kifinile power of which inetapliysical proofs can 
 give thee no idea! And Ihou, proud insolent man • 
 go aboard the best built vessel, put out to sea, set 
 the most vigilant watch, surround thyself with the 
 most formidable instruments; what art tliou, when 
 God uttertth his voiced What art thou, when the 
 noise resounds ? What art thou, wlien torrents of 
 rain seem to threaten a second deluge, and to make 
 the globe which thou inhabitest one rolling sea? 
 W^hat art thou, when lightnings emit tlieir terrible 
 flashes ? Wliat art tliou, when the winds come roar- 
 ing Old of their treasures ? What art thou llien r Ver- 
 ily, thou art no less than thou wast in thy palace. 
 Thou art no less than when thou wast sitting at a 
 delicious table. Thou art no less than thou wast 
 ^vhen every thing contributed to thy pleasure. Thou 
 art no less than when, at the head of thine army, 
 thou wast the terror of nations, shaking tiiC earth 
 with the stunning noise of thy warlike instruments : 
 for, at thy festal board, within thy palace, among 
 thy pleasures, at the head of thine armies, thou 
 wast nothing before the king of nations. As an im- 
 material and immortal creature, thou art subject to 
 his immediate power: but, to humble and to con- 
 found thee, he must manifest himself to thee in sen- 
 sibk objects. Behold him then in this formidable 
 situation : try thy power against his : silence the 
 noise of the multitude of waters : fasten tlie vessel 
 that reeleth like a drunken man ; smooth the foaming 
 waves that mount thee up to heaven; fill up the hor- 
 rible gulfs whither thou goest down to the bottoms of 
 the moiujitains, Psal. cvii. 27. 26. Jonah ii. 7. di^si- 
 
420 God the only Object of Fear. 
 
 pale the lightning that flasheth in thy face ; hush the 
 bellowing thunders; confine the winds in their cav- 
 erns ; assuage the anguish of thy soul, and prevent 
 its melting and exhaling with fear. How diminu- 
 tive is man ! my brethren. How many ways hath 
 God to confound his pride ! " He uttereth his voice, 
 and there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the 
 heavens. He causeth the vapours to ascend from 
 the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with 
 rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treas- 
 ures. Who Avould not fear thee, O king of na- 
 tions ?" 
 
 In this manner the prophets represent all beings, 
 animate and inanimate, material and immaterial, as 
 concurring in tlie Creator's will. This is not a truth 
 which requires the submission of faith, but every 
 branch of it proceeds from reason,and is supported by 
 experience. When God willeth the destruction, or 
 the deliverance of a people, all creation executes his 
 design. When he is angry, every thing becomes an 
 instrument of vengeance. A cherub, brandishing a 
 flaming sword, prevents the return of guilty man to 
 paradise. The air infected, the earth covered with 
 noxious plants, the brute creation enraged, wage war 
 with the rebel. Grasshoppers become the Lord's 
 great army, io^Wi, II. flies swarm, waters change 
 into blood, light turns to darkness, and all besiege 
 the palace and the person of Pharaoh. The heavens 
 themselves, the stars in their courses, Jight against Si- 
 sera, Jud. V. 20. The earth yawns, and swallows up 
 Dathan and Abiram in its frightful caverns. Fire 
 consumes Nadab and Abihu, Korah and his compa- 
 
God the only Object of Fear, 421 
 
 iiy. A fish buries alive the prevaricating Jonah in 
 his wide mouth. But on the contrary, when God 
 declares himself for a people, there is nothing in the 
 universe wliich God cannot make a mean of happi- 
 ness. The heavens unfurl theu' beauties ; the sun 
 expands his light ; the earth adorns herself w ith flow- 
 ers, and loads herself with fruits, to entertain the fa- 
 vourite of the king of nations ; while the animals 
 become teachable, and offer to bow to his service. 
 " All things work together for good to them that love 
 God. All things are yours, whether Paul, or Ce- 
 phas, or the world. Behold, I will do a new^ thing. 
 Tbe beasts of the field shall honour me, the di agons 
 and the owls : because 1 give waters in the wilder- 
 ness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my peo- 
 ple, my chosen. Ye shall go out with joy, and be led 
 forth w ith peace : the mountains and the hills shall 
 break forth before you into singing, and all the trees 
 of the fields shall clap their hands. Drop down, ye 
 heavens from above, let the earth open and bring 
 forth salvation ! Rom. viii. 28. 1 Cor. iii. 22. Isa. xliii. 
 19, 23.lv. 12. xlv. 8. 
 
 Thus, my brethren, hath God proportioned him- 
 self to our meanness and dullness, in order to inspire 
 us with fear. Is it necessary, to make us fear God, 
 that we should see bodies, various parts, and prodi- 
 gious masses of matter, march at his word to fulfil 
 his will ? Well, behold bodies, in various parts and 
 in vast masses ! Behold ! universal nature moving at 
 his word, and fulfilling his will. Let us fear God in 
 this view of him, if our minds enveloped in matter 
 cannot conceive an idea of a being, whose will is 
 
422 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 self-efficient, and who alone can act on immaterial 
 souls. But, my brethren, a mind accustomed to 
 meditation hath no occasion for this last notion : the 
 first absorbs all. A God, every act of whose will 
 is effectual, is alone worthy of the homage of fear. 
 A just notion of his power renders all ideas of means 
 useless. Tlie power of God hath no need of means. 
 Were I existing alone with God, God could make 
 me supremely happy, or supremely miserable : one 
 act of his will is sufficient to do either. We do not 
 mean to enlarge the idea, when, speaking of an all- 
 sufficient Creator, who is superior to the want of 
 means, we treat of a concurrence of creatures : we 
 only mean to level the subject to the capacities of 
 some of our hearers. 
 
 Let us sum up w hat has been said. To consider a 
 creature as the cause of human felicity is to pay him 
 tl e homao-e of adoration, and to commit idolatry. 
 TLe avaricious man is an idolater; the ambitious 
 man is an idolater ; the voluptuous man is an idola- 
 ter : And to render to a creature the homage of fear 
 is also idolatry ; for supreme fear is as much due to 
 God alone as supreme hope. He who fears w ar, 
 and doth not fear the God who sends war, is an 
 idolater. He who fears the plague, and who doth 
 not fear the God who sends the plague, is an idola- 
 ter. 
 
 It is idolatry, in public or in private adversities, 
 to have recourse to second causes, to little subordi- 
 nate deities, so as to neglect to appease tlie wrath of 
 the Supreme God. To consult the wise, to assem- 
 ble a council, to man fleets, to raise armies, to build 
 
God the only Object of Fear. 423 
 
 forts, to elevate ramparts, and not to consider the 
 succour of heaven, which alone is capable of giving 
 success to all such means, is to be guilty of idolatry. 
 Isaiah reproveth the Jews in the most severe manner 
 for this kind of idolatry. In that day, saith the pro- 
 phet, speaking of tlie precautions which they had 
 taken to prevent the designs of their enemies ; " In 
 that day, thou didst look to tlie armour of the house 
 of the forest. Ye have seen also the breaches of 
 the city of David : and ye gathered together the 
 Avaters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered 
 the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye 
 broken down to fortify the wall. Ye have made 
 also a ditch between the two walls, for the w^ater 
 of the old pool : but ye have not looked unto the 
 maker of this Jerusalem, neither had respect imto 
 him that fashioned it long ago. And in that day 
 did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to 
 mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sack- 
 cloth : and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen 
 and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking Avine ; 
 let us eat and drink, for to-morrow^ we shall die. And 
 it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts. 
 Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, 
 till ye die, saith the Lord of hosts, Is. xxii. 8, 9, 10, 
 11, 12, 13, 14. Do we deserve less cutting reproach- 
 es ? In that day, in the day of our public and pri- 
 vate calamities, we have consulted wise men, we 
 have assembled councils, we have fitted out fleets, 
 and raised armies, we have pretended by them to 
 secure these provinces from impending dangers and 
 Ave have "not had respect unto him that fashioned 
 
424 God the only Object of Fear, 
 
 them long ago." But what are wise men ? What 
 are councils? What are navies? What are armies 
 and fortifications, but subordinate beings, which God 
 directs as he pleaseth ? Ah ! ye penitential tears, ye 
 days of sackcloth and ashes, ye solemn humiliations, 
 ye sighs that ascend to God, ye fervent prayers, ye 
 saints who impart your souls in fervour; and, above 
 all, ye sincere conversions to the king of nations, 
 love to his laws, obedience to his commands, sub- 
 mission to his will, tenderness to his people, zeal for 
 his altars, devotedness to his worship ; if ye do not 
 prevail with the king of nations to favour our de- 
 signs, what must our destiny be? And ye tragical de- 
 signs, black attempts, shameful plots, impure associ- 
 ations, criminal intrigues, execrable oaths, atrocious 
 calumnies, cruel falsehoods, with what oceans of 
 misery will ye overflow us, if ye arm the king of na- 
 tions against us ? 
 
 To conclude. There is much imbecility, if no 
 idolatry in us, if, while we fear God, we stand in too 
 much awe of second causes, which sometimes appear 
 terrible to us. No, no, revolution of ages, subver- 
 sion of states, domestic seditions, foreign invasions, 
 contagious sicknesses, sudden and untimely deaths, 
 ye are only the servants of that God, whose favourite 
 creature I am. If, by his command, ye execute some 
 terrible order on me, I will receive it as a comfortable 
 order, because it is executed only for my good. 
 Trouble my peace : perhaps it may be fatal to me. 
 Turn the tide of my prosperity, which seems to con- 
 stitute my glory : perhaps it may be dangerous to 
 me. Snap the silken bonds that have so much influ- 
 
God the only Object oj Fear, 425 
 
 ence on the happiness of my life : perhaps they may 
 become my idols. Pluck out my eyes, cut off my 
 hands ; perhaps they may cause me to offend, Mat, 
 xviii. 8. and may plunge me into the bottomless 
 abyss. Bind me to a cross : provided it be my Sav- 
 iour's cross. Cut the thread of my life : provided 
 the gates of immortal happiness be opened to me. 
 
 Christians, let us satiate our souls with these med- 
 itations. Let us give up our hearts to these emo- 
 tions. Let us fear God, and let us fear nothing else. 
 " Fear not thou worm Jacob. Fear thou not, for I 
 am with thee ; Be not dismayed, for I am thy God ; 
 I Avill strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I 
 will uphold thee with the right hand of my right- 
 eousness. Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men 
 of Israel ; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy 
 Redeemer, the holy One of Israel. Who will not 
 fear thee, O king of nations ? for to thee doth it ap- 
 pertain," Isa. xli. 10, 14. May God inspire us with 
 these sentiments I To him be honour and glory for 
 ever! Amen. 
 
 vol.. I. «01 
 
SERMON Xni. 
 
 The Manner of Praising God. 
 
 Preached after the administration of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Psalm xxxiii. 1. 
 Praise is comely for the upright. 
 
 JL HERE is something very majestic, my brethren, 
 in the end for which we are now assembled in the 
 presence of God. His Providence hath infinitely 
 diversified the conditions of those who compose this 
 assembly. Some are placed in the most eminent, 
 others in the most obscure posts of society. Some 
 live in splendour and opulence, others in meanness 
 and indigence. One is employed in the turbulence 
 of the army, another in the silence of the study. 
 Notwithstanding this infinite variety of employments, 
 ranks, and ages, we all assemble to-day in one place ; 
 one object occupies us ; one sentiment animates us ; 
 one voice makes the church resound, praise ye the 
 Lord., for his mercy endureth for ever, Psa. cxxxvi. 1. 
 If there be an object that can give a mortal any ideas 
 of the first impressions which are made on a soul, at 
 its first entering the glorious palace of the blessed 
 God in heaven, it is this. The first objects that 
 strike such a soul, are the multitudes of aU nations, 
 
428 The Manner of praising God, 
 
 tongues, and people, concentered in a meditation on 
 the beneficence of God, prostrating themselves be- 
 fore his throne, casting their crowns at his feet, and 
 crying, out of the abundance of their hearts, which 
 contemplate the perfections of a being worthy of 
 their profoundest praise, " Amen, blessing and glo- 
 ry, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and 
 power, and might, be unto our God, for ever and 
 ever. Amen. We give thee thanks, O Lord God 
 Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come ; 
 because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and 
 hast reigned. Great and marvellous are thy works. 
 Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, 
 thou King of saints ! Unto him that loved us, and 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath 
 made us kings and priests mito God and his Father ; 
 to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
 Amen." Rev. vii. 12. xi. 17. xv. 3. i. 5, 6, This is 
 the employment of the blessed in heaven: this is 
 what we are doing to-day on earth. 
 
 But what a contradiction, what a contrast appears, 
 when, lifting up the exterior habit of piety that cov- 
 ers some of us, we examine the inward dispositions 
 of the heart. The psalms, which are uttered with 
 the voice, are contradicted by the tempers of the 
 heart. The mouths that were just now opened to 
 bless the Creator, will presently be opened again to 
 blaspheme and to curse him. The praises which 
 seemed so proper to please hhn in whose honor they 
 were offered, will incur this reproof, Thou ivicked 
 man ! What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy 
 mouth 1 Psal. 1, 16> 
 
The Manner of praising God, 429 
 
 My brethren, if we would join our voices with 
 those of angels, we must have the sentiments of 
 angels. We must, (at least, as far as the duty is 
 imitable by such frail creatures) we must, in or- 
 der to worship God as those happy spirits praise 
 him, love him as they do, serve him as they do, 
 devote ourselves to him as they devote them- 
 selves to him ; and this is the manner of praising 
 God, to which I exhort, and in Avhich I would en- 
 deavour to instruct you to-day, agreeably to the pro- 
 phet's exalted notions of it in the words of the text. 
 What day can be more proper to inspire such a no- 
 ble design ? What day can be more proper to engage 
 you to mix your worship with that of glorified in- 
 telligences, than this, on which we are come " unto 
 the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 to an innumerable company of angels, and to the 
 church of the first-born which are written in hea- 
 ven ?" Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 
 But, who are we, to be admitted into a society so 
 holy? Great God! Thou dost appear to us to-day, 
 as thou didst formerly to thy prophet, " sitting upon 
 a throne, high and lifted up, and thy train filling the 
 temple," Isa. vi. 1. Aroimd thee stand the sera- 
 phim, covering themselves with their wings in thy 
 majestic presence, and crying one to another, "Ho- 
 ly, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth 
 is full of his glory," ver. 3. We are stricken as 
 thy prophet was, with such a tremendous vision, 
 and each of us cries, with him, "Wo is me! I am 
 undone! 1 am a man of unclean lips! and yet, mine 
 eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts," ver. 5. 
 
430 The Manner of praising God. 
 
 O great God ! command one of thy seraphim to fly 
 to us as he flew to him ; bid him touch our mouths, 
 as he touched his, with " a live coal from off' thine 
 altar," ver. 6. and in this day of grace and mercy, 
 let him say to each of us, '"■ Lo, this hath touched 
 thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy 
 sin purged ! Amen," ver. 7. 
 
 Praise is comely for the upright. The praising of 
 God is a duty of which we may form two diff*erent 
 notions : a general, and a particular notion. By a 
 general notion of praise, I mean, the exercise of a 
 man, who, being capable of examining sublime ob- 
 jects, and of comprehending grand subjects, fixeth 
 his attention on the attributes of God, feels the force 
 of those proofs which establish the truth of them, is 
 delighted with them, to a certain degree, and is hap- 
 py in publishing their praise. I mean, by a partic- 
 ular notion of praising God, the exercise of a man, 
 who, having received some signal favour of God, 
 loves to express his gratitude for it. 
 
 Each of these exercises of praise supposeth reflec- 
 tions and sentiments. To praise God in the first 
 sense, to reflect on his attributes, to converse, and 
 to write about them, without having the heart affec- 
 ted, and without loving a being, who is described as 
 supremely amiable, is a lifeless praise, more fit for 
 a worldly philosopher than for a rational Christian. 
 To praise God in the second sense, to be affected 
 with tlie favours of God, without having any dis- 
 tinct notions of God, without knowing whether the 
 descriptions of the perfections that are attributed to 
 him be flights of fancy or real truths, is an exercise 
 
The Manner of praisijig God, 431 
 
 more fit for a bigot, who believes without knowing 
 why, than for a spiritual man, who judgeth all things, 
 1 Cor. ii. 15. If we distinguish the part that these 
 two faculties, reflection and sentiment, take in these 
 two exercises of praise, Ave may observe, that the 
 first, I mean the praise of God taken in a general 
 sense, is the fruit of reflection, and the second of 
 sentiment. The first is, if I may be allowed to speak 
 so, the praise of the mind : the second is the praise 
 of the heart. 
 
 It is difficult to determine which of these tw^o no- 
 tions prevails in the text, whether the psalmist use 
 the word praise in the first, or in the second sense. 
 If we judge by the whole subject of the psalm, both 
 are included. The praise of the heart is easily dis- 
 covered. Whether the author of the psalm were 
 Hezekiah, as many of the fathers thought, who say 
 that this prince composed it after the miraculous de- 
 feat of Sennacherib : or whether, as it is most likely, 
 David w^ere the composer of it, after one of those 
 preternatural deliverances, with which his life was 
 so often signalized : what I call the praise of the 
 heart, that is, a lively sense of some inestimable bles- 
 sing, is clearly to be seen. On the other hand, it is 
 still clearer, that the sacred author doth not cel- 
 ebrate only one particular object in the psalm. 
 He gives a greater scope to his meditation, and 
 compriseth in it all the works, and all the perfections 
 of God. 
 
 Although the solemnity of this day calls us less 
 to the praise of the mind than to that of the heart; 
 although we intend to make the latter the principal 
 
432 The 31anntr of praising God, 
 
 subject of this discourse ; yet it is necessary to at- 
 tend a little to the former. 
 
 I. The praise of the Lord, taking the word praise 
 in the vague sense that we have affixed to the term, 
 is comely for the upright : and it is comely for none 
 but for them. 
 
 " Praise is comely for the upright." Nothing is 
 more worthy of the attention of an intelligent be- 
 ing, particularly, nothing is more worthy of the 
 meditation of a superior genius, than the wonder- 
 ful perfections of the Creator. A man of superior 
 genius is required, indeed, to use his talents to cul- 
 tivate the sciences and the liberal arts : but, after 
 all, the mind of man, especially of that man to 
 whom God hath given superior talents, which assim- 
 ilate him to celestial intelligences, was not created 
 to unravel a point in chronology, to learn the dif- 
 ferent sounds by which different nations signify their 
 ideas, to measure a line, or to lose itself in an alge- 
 braic calculation ; the mind of such a man was not 
 created to study the stars, to count their number, 
 to measure their magnitude, to discover more than 
 have yet been observed. Nobler objects ought to 
 occupy him. It becomes such a man to contem- 
 plate God, to guide the rest of mankind, to lead 
 them to God, who " dwell eth in the light which no 
 man can approach unto," 1 Tim. vi. 16. and to teach 
 us to attenuate the clouds that hide him from our 
 feeble eyes. It becomes such a man to use that su- 
 periority which his knowledge gives him over us, 
 to elevate our hearts above the low region of ter- 
 restrial things, where they grovel with the brute 
 
Tlie Manner of praising God. 435 
 
 beasts, and to help us to place tliem on the bright 
 abode of the itnrnortal God. The praise of the 
 Lord is comely for uprio;ht men. 
 
 But praise is comely only for upright men. I be- 
 lieve it is needless now to explain the word upright- 
 ness. The term is taken in the text in the noblest 
 sense : this is a sufficient explication, and this is suf- 
 ficient also to convince us, that the praising of God 
 is comely for none but upright men. I cannot see, 
 without indignation, a philosopher trifle witli the im- 
 portant questions tliat relate to the attributes of 
 God, and make them simple exercises of genius, in 
 w hich the heart hath no concern, examining wheth- 
 er there be a God, with the same indifference with 
 which he enquires whether there be a vacuum in 
 nature, or whether matter be infinitely divisible. 
 On determining the questions w hich relate to the di- 
 vine attributes depend our hopes and fears, the plans 
 that we must form, and the course of life which we 
 ought to pursue : and with these views we should 
 examine the perfections of God : these are conse- 
 quences that should follow our enquiries. AVith 
 such dispositions the psalmist celebrated the praises 
 of God, in the psalm out of which Ave have taken 
 the text. How comely are the praises of God in 
 the mouth of such a man ! 
 
 l^et us follow the holy man a moment in his med- 
 itation. His psalm is not composed in scholastic 
 form, in which the author confines himself to fixed 
 rules, and scrupuh)usiy following a philosophical 
 method, lays down principles, and infers consequen- 
 ces. However, he establisheth principles, the most 
 
 VOL. I. 55 
 
434 The Manner of praising God, 
 
 proper to give us sublime ideas of the Creator; and 
 he speaks with more precision of the works and at- 
 tributes of God than the greatest philosophers have 
 spoken of them. 
 
 How absurdly have philosophers treated of the ori- 
 gin of the world ? How few of them have reasoned 
 conclusively on this important subject? Our prophet 
 solves the important question by one single princi- 
 ple, and, what is more remarkable, this principle, 
 which is nobly expressed, carries the clearest evidence 
 with it. Tlie principle is this : By the word of the 
 Lord, were the heavens madt j and all the host of them 
 hy the breath of his mouth, ver. 6. This is the most 
 rational account that was ever given, of the creation 
 of the world. The w orld is the work of a self-effi- 
 cient Avill, and it is this principle alone that can ac- 
 count for its creation. The most simple appearan- 
 ces in nature are sufficient to lead us to this princi- 
 ple. Either my will is self-efficient, or there is some 
 other being whose will is self-efficient. What I say 
 of myself, I say of my parents, and what I affirm of 
 my parents, I affirm of my more remote ancestors, 
 and of all the finite creatures from whom they deriv- 
 ed their existence. Most certainly, either finite 
 beings have self-efficient wills, which it is impossi- 
 ble to suppose, for a finite creature with a self-effi- 
 cient will is a contradiction : either, I say, a finite 
 creature hath a self-efficient will ; or there is a first 
 cause who hatli a self-efficient will ; and that there 
 is such a being is the principle of the psalmist ; By 
 the word of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all 
 the host of them hy the breath of his mouth. 
 
The Manner of praising God. 435 
 
 If philosophers have reasoned inconclusively on 
 the origin of the world, they have spoken of its 
 government with equal uncertainty. Tiie psalmist 
 determines this question with great facility, by a 
 single principle, which results from the former, and 
 ^vhich, like the former, carries its evidence with it. 
 The Lord looketh from heaven : he considereih all 
 the works of all the inhabitants of the earthy Psalm 
 xxxiii. 13, 14. This is the doctrine of Providence. 
 And on what is the doctrine of Providence founded ? 
 On this principle : God fashioneth their hearts alike, 
 ver. 15. Attend a moment to the evidence of this 
 reasoning, my brethren. The doctrine of Provi- 
 dence, expressed in these words, God considereih the 
 works of the inhabitants of the earth, is a necessary 
 consequence of this principle, God fashioneth their 
 hearts cdike, and this principle is a necessary conse- 
 quence of that which the psahnist had before laid 
 dow n to account for the origin of the world. Yes ! 
 from the doctrine of God the Creator of men, fol- 
 lows that of God the inspector, the director, reward- 
 er, and the punisher of their actions. One of the 
 most specious objections that hath ever been oppo- 
 sed to the doctrine of Providence, is a contrast be- 
 tween the grandeur of God and the meanness of 
 men. How can such an insignificant creature as 
 man be an object of the care and attention of such a 
 magnificent being as God? No objection can be 
 more specious, or, in appearance, more invincible. 
 
 The distance between the meanest insect and the 
 mightiest monarch, w^ho treads and crushes reptiles 
 to death witlwut the least regard to them, is a very 
 
436 The Manner of praising God, 
 
 imperfect image of the distance between God and 
 man. That Avhich proves that it would be beneath 
 the dignity of a monarch to observe the motions of 
 ants, or worms, to interest himself in their actions, 
 to punish, or to reward them, seems to demonstrate, 
 that God would degrade himself were he to observe, 
 to direct, to punish, to reward mankind, who are 
 infinitely inferior to him. But one fact is sufficient 
 to answer this specious objection : That is, that God 
 bath created mankind. Doth God degrade himself 
 more by governing than by creating mankind ? Who 
 can persuade himself, that a wise Being hath given 
 to intelligent creatures faculties capable of obtain- 
 ing knowledge and virtue, without willing that they 
 should endeavour to acquire knowledge and virtue? 
 Or who can imagine, that a wise Being, w ho wilieth 
 that his intelligent creatures should acquire knowl- 
 edge and virtue, Avill not punish them, if they neglect 
 those acquisitions ; and w^ill not shew by the distribu- 
 tion of his benefits that he approves their endeavours 
 to obtain them ? 
 
 Unenlightened philosophers have treated of the at- 
 tributes of God with as much abstruse ness as they 
 have written of his w orks. The moral attributes of 
 God, as they are called in the schools, were myste- 
 ries w hich they could not unfold. These may be re- 
 duced to two classes : attributes of goodness, and attri- 
 butes of justiee. Philosophers, who have admitted 
 these, have usually taken that for granted which they 
 ought to have proved. They collected together in 
 their minds all perfections, they reduced them all to 
 one object, which they denommated a perfect being ; 
 
The Manner of praising God. 437 
 
 and supposino;, williout proving, tliat a perfect Be- 
 ing existed, they attributed to liim, without proof, 
 every thing that they considered as a perfection. 
 The psalmist shews by a surer w ay that there is a 
 God supremely just, and supremely good. It is 
 necessary, in order to convince a rational being of 
 the justice and goodness of God, to follow such a 
 method as tl^at wliich we follow to prove his exist- 
 ence. Wlien we would prove the existence of God, 
 we say, there are creatures; therefore, tliere is a 
 Creator. In like tnanner, when we would prove, 
 that a creature is a just, and a good being, we say, 
 there are Cjualities of goodness and justice in crea- 
 tures ; therefore, he, from whom these creatures 
 derive their existence, is a Being just and good. 
 Now, this is the reasoning of the psalmist in this 
 psalm : The Lord loveth righteousness and judgment, 
 the earth isfidl of the goodness of the Lord, ver. 5. 
 that is to say, it is impossible to consider the works 
 of the Creator, without receiving evidence of his 
 goodness. And the works of nature, which demon- 
 strate the goodness of God, prove his justice also : 
 for God hath created us with such dispositions, that 
 we cannot enjoy the gifts of his goodness without 
 obeying the laws of his righteousness. The happi- 
 ness of an individual, who procures a pleasure by 
 disobeying the lavss of equity, is a violent happi- 
 ness, which cannot be of long duration : and the 
 prosperity of public bodies, when it is founded in 
 iniquity, is an editice, which with its basis will be 
 presently sunk and gone. 
 
438 The Manner of praising God. 
 
 But what we would particularly remark is, that 
 the excellent principles of the psalmist, concerning 
 God, are not mere speculations : but truths from 
 which he derives practical inferences ; and he aims 
 to extend their influence beyond private persons, 
 even to legislators and conquerors. One would 
 think, considering the conduct of mankind that the 
 consequences, which are drawn from the doctrines 
 of which we have been speaking, belong to none 
 but to the dregs of the people ; that lawgivers and 
 conquerors have a plan of morality peculiar to 
 themselves, and are above the rules to which other 
 men must submit. Our prophet had other notions. 
 What are his maxims of policy ? They are all in- 
 cluded in these words: "Blessed is the nation whose 
 God is the Lord ; and the peopie whom he hath 
 chosen for his own inheritance," ver. 12. What 
 are his military maxims? They are all included in 
 these words : " There is no king saved by the mul- 
 titude of an host ; a mighty man is not delivered by 
 much strength : An horse is a vain thing for safety ; 
 neither shall he deliver any by his great strength," 
 ver. 16, 17. Who propose th these maxims? A her- 
 mit, who never appeared on the theatre of the world? 
 or a man destitute of the talents necessary to shine 
 there ? No : one of the wisest of kings ; one of the 
 most bold and able generals ; a man, whom God has 
 self elected to govern his chosen people, and to com- 
 jnand those armies which fought the most obstinate 
 battles, and gained the most complete victories. 
 W^ere I to proceed in explaining the system of the 
 psalmist; I might prove, that as he had a right to in- 
 
The Manner of praising God, 439 
 
 fer the doctrine of providence from tlie works of na- 
 ture, and that of the moral attributes of God from 
 the works of creation ; so, from the doctrines of the 
 moral attributes of God, of providence, and of Ihe 
 works of creation, he had a right to conclude, that 
 no conquerors or lawgivers could be truly happy 
 but those who acted agreeably to the laws of the 
 just and good Supreme. But I shall not enlarge on 
 this article. 
 
 Permit me only to place in one point of view the 
 different phrases by which the psalmist describes 
 the Deity in this psalm. " The eartli is full of the 
 goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord 
 were the heavens made : and all the host of them 
 by the breath of his mouth. He gatherelh the wa- 
 ters of the sea together, as an heap : he layeth up 
 the depth in storehouses. The Lord looketh from 
 heaven : he beholdeth all the sons of men. From 
 the place of his habitation he looked upon all the 
 inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts 
 alike; he considereth all their works," Psal. xxxiii. 
 .5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15. From these speculative ideas of 
 God, he derives the following rules of practice, 
 " Let all the earth fear the Lord : let all the inhabit- 
 ants of the world stand in awe of him. Our soul 
 waiteth for the Lord : he is our help and our shield. 
 For our heart shall rejoice in him : because we have 
 trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercv, O Lord, 
 be upon us according as we hope in thee," Psal. 
 xxxiii. 8, 20, 21, 22. How deliglitful it is, my breth- 
 ren, to speak of God, when one hath talents to speak 
 of him in such a noble manner, and when one intends 
 
440 T'he Manner of praising God, 
 
 to promote the fear and the love of him, with an 
 universal obedience to him, from all that is said! 
 How well it becomes such a man to praise God ! The 
 praise of the Lord is comely in the mouths of upright 
 men. 
 
 11. Let us now apply the subject more immediate- 
 ly to the service of this day. To praise God is a 
 phrase, which is sometimes taken in a particular 
 sense, for the exercise of a person, who, having re- 
 ceived singular favours of God, delights in expres- 
 sing his gratitude to him. This praise is comely in 
 the mouth of an upright man for four reasons. 
 
 First, Because he arrange th them in their true or- 
 der, highly estimating what deserves a high esteem, 
 and most highly estimating what deserves the highest 
 esteem. 
 
 Secondly, Because he employs all his benefits in 
 the service of his benefactor. 
 
 Thirdly, Because, Avhile he recounts his blessings, 
 he divests himself of all merit, and ascribes them 
 only to the goodness of God from whom they pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 Fourthly, Because he imitates that goodness and 
 love, which inclined God to bless him in such a man- 
 ner. 
 
 I will affix to each of these reflections a single 
 word. Praise, or if you will, gratitude, is comely 
 for the upright, because it is wise, real, humble, and 
 magnanimous : In these four respects, /?m?5f is come- 
 ly for the upright. These are the sentiments with 
 which the august ceremony of which we have par- 
 taken this morning, should inspire us. These are 
 
The 3Ianricr of praisins^ God, 441 
 
 the most important reflections with wiiich we can 
 close this discourse. 
 
 1. The o^ratitude of upright men is nise. The 
 praise of the Lord becomes them well, because, ^vhile 
 they bless God for all their mercies, they arrange 
 them in their proper order; they prize each accord- 
 ing to its real worth, and that most of all which is 
 of the greatest value. It is a very mortifying re- 
 flection, my brethren, that the more we study our- 
 selves, the more clearly we perceive, that the love 
 of the world, and of sensible things, is the chief 
 spring of all our actions and sentiments. This dis- 
 agreeable truth is proved, not only by the nature 
 of our vices, but even by the genius of our virtues ; 
 not only by the offences that we commit against 
 God, but by the very duties that we perform in his 
 service. 
 
 A person so ungrateful, as not to discover any 
 gratitude to God, when he bestows temporal bless- 
 ings on him, can scarcely be found. We praise 
 God, when he delivers us from any public calamity, 
 or from any domestic adversity ; when he recovers 
 us from dangerous illnesses ; when he raiseth us up 
 an unexpected friend, or a protector, who assists us; 
 when he sends us some prosperity, w hich renders 
 life more easy. In such cases as these, we render 
 an homage to God, th*at cannot be refused without 
 ingratitude. 
 
 But we are extremely blameable, when, while we 
 feel the value of these blessings, we remain insen- 
 sible of the w^orth of other blessings, which are in- 
 finitely more valuable, and which merit infinitely 
 
 VOL. T. ,16 
 
442 The Manner of praisinsr God. 
 
 more gratitude. A blessing that directly regards the 
 soul, is more valuable than one which regards only 
 the body. A blessing, that regards our eternal hap- 
 piness, is of greater worth, than one which influenceth 
 only the happiness of this life. Whence is it then, 
 that, being so sensible of blessings of the first kind, 
 we are so little affected with those of the last ? How 
 comes it to pass, that we are so full of gratitude, 
 when God gives the state some signal victory ; when 
 he prospers its trade ; when he strengthens the bonds, 
 that unite it to powerful and faithful allies ; and so 
 void of it, while he continues to grant it the greatest 
 blessing that a society of rational creatures can en- 
 joy, I mean a liberty to serve God according to the 
 dictates of our own consciences ? Whence is it, that 
 we are so very thankful to God for preserving our 
 lives from the dangers that daily threaten them ; and 
 so little thankful for his miraculous patience with 
 us, to which it is owing, that, after we have harden- 
 ed our hearts against his voice one year, he invites 
 us another year ; after we have falsified our promi- 
 ses made on one solemnity, he calls us to another 
 solemnity, and giveth us new opportunities of being 
 more faithful to him ? Whence comes this difference? 
 Follow it to its source. Does it not proceed from 
 what we just now said ? Is not love of the world, 
 and of sensible things, the* grand spring of our 
 actions and sentiments ? The world, the world ; 
 lo! this is the touchstone by which we judge of good 
 and evil! 
 
 An upright man judgeth in another manner : he 
 will, indeed, bless God for all his benefits ; but, as 
 
The Manner of praising God. 443 
 
 he knows how to arrange them, so he knows how to 
 prize each according to its worth, and how to ap- 
 portion his esteem to the real value of them all. 
 
 According to such an estimation, what ought not 
 our gratitude to God to be to-day, my dear brethren! 
 we may assure ourselves with the utmost truth, that 
 had the Lord united in our hoiises to-day pleasures, 
 grandeurs, and dignities ; had he promised each of us 
 a life longer than that of a patriarch ; a family as 
 happy as that of Job, after his misfortunes ; glory 
 as great as that of Solomon ; he would have bestow- 
 ed nothing equal to that blessing which he gave us 
 this morning. He forgave those sins, which, had 
 they taken their natural course, would have occasion- 
 ed endless remorse, and would have plunged us in- 
 to everlastmg misery and woe. A peace was shed 
 abroad in our consciences, which gave us a foretaste 
 of heaven. He excited hopes, that absorbed our 
 souls in their grandeur. Let us say all in one word : 
 he gave us his Son. " He tiiat spared not liis own 
 Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
 all things?" Rom. viii. 32. 
 
 2. The gratitude of upright men is real. The 
 praise of the Lord becomes them, because, while 
 they praise God for his benefits, they live to the 
 glory of their benefactor. Every gift of God fur- 
 nisheth us with both a motive and a mean of obedi- 
 ence to him. It is an excess of ingratitude to make 
 a contrary use of his gifts, and to turn the benefits 
 that we receive against the benefactor from whom 
 we receive them. What gifts are they by which 
 God hath most distinguished us ? Thee he hath 
 
444 The Manner of praising God. 
 
 distinguished by a penetrating genius, which ren- 
 ders the highest objects, tlie deepest mysteries, ac- 
 cessible to thee. Wo be to thee ! if thou employ 
 this gift to invent arguments against the truths of 
 religion, and to find out sophisms that befriend in- 
 fidelity. An upright man devotes this gift to the 
 service of his benefactor ; he avails himself of his 
 genius, to discover the folly of sceptical sophisms, 
 and to demonstrate the truth of religion. On thee 
 he hath bestowed an astonishing memory. Wo be 
 to thee ! if thou use it to retain the pernicious 
 maxims of the world. An upright man dedicates 
 this gift to his benefactor ; he employs his memory 
 in retaining the excellent lessons of equity, charity, 
 and patience, which the Holy Spirit liath taught him 
 in the scriptures. To- thee he hath given an author- 
 itative elocution, to which every hearer is forced 
 to bow. Wo be to thee ! if thou apply this rare ta- 
 lent to seduce the minds, and to deprave the hearts, 
 of mankind. An upright man devotes this blessing 
 to the service of his benefactor ; he useth his elo- 
 quence to free the minds of men from error, and 
 their lives from vice. Towards thee God hath ex- 
 ercised a patience, which seems contrary to his usu- 
 al rules of conduct towards sinners, and by which he 
 hath abounded towards thee in forbearance and long- 
 suffering. W^o be to thee ! if thou turn this bless- 
 ing to an opportunity of violating the commands of 
 God ; if thine obstinacy rim parallel with his pa- 
 tience, and if, " because sentence against an evil 
 work is not executed speedily," thy heart be fulhj 
 set in thee to do evil, Eccl, viii. 1 1 . An upright man 
 
The Manner of praising God. 44.'} 
 
 devotes Ibis blessino; to bis benefactor's service. 
 From tbe patience of God be derives motives of re- 
 pentance. How easily mio;bt tliis article 1>e enlarg- 
 ed! bow fruitful in instruction would it be on tbis 
 solemnity ! But we proceed. 
 
 3. Gratitude to God well becomes an uprigbt man, 
 because it is Immhle ; because an upriglit man, by 
 publisbing tbe gifts of God's grace, divests bimsclf 
 of bimself, and attributes tbem wbolly to tbe good- 
 ness of bim from whom tbey came. Far from us be 
 a profane mixture of tbe real grandeurs of tbe Cre- 
 ator witb tbe fanciful grandeurs of creatures! Far 
 be tbose praises, in wbicb be wbo offers tbeui always 
 finds, in bis ow n excellence, tbe motives tbat indu- 
 ced tbe Lord to bestow his benefits on bim ! 
 
 Two reflections always exalt tbe gifts of God in 
 tbe eyes of an uprigbt man: a reflection on his mean- 
 ness, and a reflection on bis unwortbiness ; and it is 
 with tbis comeliness of humility, if I may venture to 
 call it so, tbat I wish to engage you to praise God 
 for tbe blessings of tbis day. 
 
 1. Meditate on your meanness. Contrast your- 
 selves with God, who gives bimself to you to-day in 
 such a tender manner. How soon is tbe capacity 
 of man absorbed in the works and attributes of God ! 
 Conceive, if thou be capable, tlie grandeur of a Be- 
 ing, wbo " made tbe heavens by his word, and all 
 the host of tbem by tbe breath of bis mouth." Think, 
 if thou be capable of thinking, of the glory of a Be- 
 ing, wlio existed from all eternity, whose understand- 
 ing is infinite, and whose power is irresistible, w hose 
 will is above controul. Behold bim filling the whole 
 
446 The Manner of praising God, 
 
 universe with his presence. Behold him in the pal- 
 ace of his glory, inhabiting the praises of the bless- 
 ed, surrounded by thousand thousands, and by ten 
 thousand times ten thousand angels, who excel in 
 strength, and who delight to fly at the first signal of 
 his will. Thou human soul ! contemplate this ob- 
 ject, and recover thy reason. What art thou ? What 
 was thine origin ? What is thine end ? Thou dimin- 
 utive atom ! great only in thine own eyes ; behold 
 thyself in thy true point of view. Dust ! Ashes ! 
 Putrefaction ! glorious only at the tribunal of thine 
 own pride; divest thyself of the tawdry grandeur in 
 w^hich thou lovest to array thyself. Thou vapour ! 
 Thou dream ! Thou exhalation of the earth ! evap- 
 orating in the air, and having no other consistence 
 than what thine own imagination gives thee; behold 
 thy vanity and nothingness. Yet this dream, this 
 exhalation, this vapour, this dust and ashes and pu- 
 trefaction, this diminutive creature, is an object of 
 the eternal care and love of its God. For thee, con- 
 temptible creature ! the Lord stretched out the hea- 
 vens : for thee he laid the foundation of the earth : 
 let us say more, For thee, contemptible creature ! 
 God formed the plan of redemption. What could 
 determine the ^reat Jehovah to communicate him- 
 self, in such a tender and intimate manner, to so con- 
 temptible a creature as man ? His goodness, his 
 goodness alone. 
 
 Although a sense of our meanness should not ter- 
 rify and confound us, yet it should exclude arro- 
 gance, and excite lowly sentiments : But what will our 
 humility be, if we estimate the gifts of God's grace 
 
The Manner of praising God. 4 47 
 
 by an idea of our unworthiness 1 Let each recollect 
 the mortifying history of his own life. Reineml>er, 
 thou! thy fiery youth, in which, for«:ettino; all tlic 
 piinciples, that thy pious parents liad taught thee, 
 thou didst acknowledge no law but thine own pas- 
 sionate and capi'icious will. Remember, thou ! that 
 period, in which thy heart being infatuated with one 
 object and wholly employed about it, thou didst 
 make it thine idol, and didst sacrifice to it thine hon- 
 our, thy duty, thy God. Recollect, thou ! the cruel 
 use, that for many years thou didst make of thy cred- 
 it, thy riches, thy rank, when, being devoured with 
 self-love, thou wast insensible to the voice of the 
 widow and the orphan, and to a number of distres- 
 sed people, w ho solicited relief Remember thou ! 
 that fatal hour, the recollection of which ought to 
 make thy head, waters, and thine eyes a fountain of 
 tears, Jer. ix. 1. that fatal hour, in which, God hav- 
 ing put thee into the fiery trial of persecution, thou 
 couldst not abide the proof. Like Peter, thou didst 
 not know a disgraced Redeemer ; thou didst coward- 
 ly abandon a persecuted church, and wast just on the 
 point of abjuring thy religion. Let each of us so 
 consider himself as he seems in the eyes of a holy 
 God. A criminal worthy of the most rigorous punish- 
 ments ! Let each of us say to himself. Notwithstand- 
 ing all this, it is I, guilty I, I, wliose sins are more in 
 number than the hairs on my head ; it is I, w ho have 
 been admitted this morning into the house of God ; 
 it is I, who have been invited this morning to that 
 mystical repast, Avhich sovereign wisdom itself pre- 
 pared ; it is I, Avho have been encouraged against the 
 
448 The Manner of praisino: God, 
 
 just fears, wliich the remembrance of my sins had ex- 
 cited, and have heard the voice of God, proclaiming 
 in my conscience, " Fear not thou worm, Jacob," 
 Isa. xli. 14. It is I, who have been " abundant! v 
 satisfied with the fatness of the house" of God, and 
 have " drunk of the river of his pleasures," Ps. xxxvi. 
 8. What inclines God to indulge me in this manner ? 
 Goodness only ! O surpassing and inconceivable good- 
 ness ! thou shalt for ever be the object of my medi- 
 tation and gratitude ! " How excellent is ihy loving- 
 kindness, O God !" ver. 7. These are the sentiments 
 that ought to animate our praise to-day. Such praise 
 is comely for the upright. 
 
 Finally, the gratitude of an upright man is nohle 
 and magnanimous. The praise of God well becomes 
 the mouth of an upright man, because he takes the 
 love of God to him for a pattern of his behaviour to 
 his fellow creatures. St. Paul hath very emphatical- 
 ly expressed the happy change w^hich the gospel 
 produceth in true Christians. " We all with open 
 face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
 are changed into the same image, from glory to 
 glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 
 18. Some commentators, instead of reading vje all 
 heholding as in a glass, as the expression is rendered 
 in our translation, render the words, we all becoming 
 mirrors. I Avill not undertake to prove that this is 
 the meaning of the term : it is certainly the sesise 
 of the apostle."* He means to inform us, that the 
 
 * The idea of rejiecting, while one contemplates, the attributes 
 of God,, is a very fine thought, and fully expressive of the be- 
 nevolent effects which Christianity produceth in its disciples : But 
 
The Manner of praising God, 449 
 
 impression, which the evangelical display of the per- 
 fections of God makes on the soUls of believers, en- 
 graves them on their minds, and renders them like 
 minors, that reflect the rays, and the objects which 
 are placed opposite to them, and represent their 
 images. " They behold the glory of the Lord with 
 open face. They are changed from glory to glory 
 into the same hnage, even as by the Spirit of the 
 Lord." I wish, my brethren, that the impression, 
 which was made on you by the generosity and mag- 
 nanimity of God, who loaded you this morning 
 with his gracious benefits, may transform you to-day 
 " into the same image from glory to gloiy." I w ould 
 animate you w^ith this, the most noble, the most sub- 
 lime, the most comfortable, way of praising God. 
 
 What gave you so much peace and pleasure this 
 morning, in what God did for you ? Was it the par- 
 don of your sins ! Imitate it ; pardon your brethren. 
 
 Mr. Saurin, whose busino.ss as a Christian minister was not with 
 the fine ^ but the true^ only meant, by what he had said above, that 
 it was agreeable to the general design of the apostle. Erasmus 
 was the first who translated St. Paul's term tcujcTrl^i^of^evot in 
 speculo reprxsentantes. Beza renders it, in speculo intuentes^ 
 and the French bibles have it, nous contemfilons comme en un 
 miroir. Our author was delighted with the ingenuity of Eras- 
 tnus, however, he could not accede to his translation, because, 
 1. He could meet witli no Greek author, cotemporary with St. 
 Paul, who had used the term in the sense of Erasmus. 2. Be- 
 cause he could not perceive any connection between that signifi- 
 cation and the phrase ivith ojien face. He abode therefore by the 
 usual reading. See Serm. Tom. ix. S. viii. My idea of an ob- 
 ject pleases me, therefore it is a true idea of it, is contemptible 
 logic : yet how many pretended articles of religion have arisen 
 from this way of reasoning I 
 TOL. I. 57 
 
450 The Manner of praising God, 
 
 Was it his past forbearance with you ? Itiiitate it ; 
 moderate that impatience which the ingratitude of 
 your brethren excites in your minds. Was it that 
 spirit of coiumunication, which disposed a God, who 
 is all sufficient to his own happiness, to go out of 
 himself, as it Avere, and to communicate his felicity 
 to creatures ? Imitate it ; go out of those intrench- 
 ments of prosperity in which ye lodge, and impart 
 yom- benefits to your brethren. AVas it the contin- 
 ual watchfulness of God for the salvation of your 
 souls ? Imitate it ; exert yourselves for the salvation 
 of the souls of your brethren ; suffer not those, who 
 are united to you by all the ties of nature, society, 
 and religion, to perish through your lukewarmness 
 and negligence. While ye triumphantly exclaim, 
 on this solemn festival, " Let us make a joyful noise 
 to the Rock of our salvation," Ps. xcv. 1. remem- 
 ber your persecuted brethren, to whom God refuseth 
 this pleasure ; remember the ways of Zion, that 
 " moiu'n because none come to the solemn feasts," 
 Lam. L 4. 
 
 My brethren, how pleasing is a Christian festival ! 
 How comfortable the institution, to which we were 
 this morning called ! But, I remember here a saying 
 of Jesus Christ to his apostles, " I have other sheep, 
 w hich are not of this fold : them also I must bring, 
 and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd," John 
 x. 16. Alas! we also have sheep in another fold. 
 When shall we have the comfoii of bringing them 
 into this ? Ye divided families ! who are present in 
 this assembly, when will ye be united ? Ye children 
 of the reformation I whom the misfortunes of the 
 
The Manner of praising God. 451 
 
 times have torn from us ; ye dear paiis of ourselves ! 
 when will ye come to us ? AVhen will ye be re-gath- 
 ered to the flock of the great Shepherd and bishop of 
 our souls ? When will ye shed in our assemlilies tears 
 of repentance, for having lived so long without a 
 church, Avithout sacraments, without public worship I 
 When will ye shed tears of joy for having recovered 
 these advantages ? 
 
 Great God ! Thou great God ivho hidest thyself! 
 is it to extingiush, or to inflame our zeal, that thou 
 delayest the happy period ? Are our hopes suspend- 
 ed or confounded? God grant, my dear brethren, 
 that the praise, which we render to the Lord for all 
 his benefits, may obtain their continuance and in- 
 crease ! And God grant, while he giveth us our lives 
 for a prey, Jer. xxi. 9. that those of our brethren 
 may be given us also ! To him be honour and glory 
 forever! Amen. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
I 
 
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