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DISCOURSES. 
 
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DISCOURSES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE NATURE OE EAITH, 
 
 AND KINDRED SUBJECTS, 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 WILLIAM H. STAER 
 
 WITH A MEMOIR. 
 
 E>. B. COOK & CO 
 
 1857. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, 
 
 By JOSEPH JOHNSTON, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
 
 for Illinois. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A FEW months before his decease, the ^uthor of 
 the Discourses on the Nature of Faith expressed 
 a hope that he might at some time be able to revise 
 them for publication. Upon consultation with per- 
 sonal and literary friends, it is thought that, without 
 the finish which his own hand would have given 
 them, they will nevertheless be a worthy memorial, 
 and contribute to the knowledge of Christian truth. 
 
 The other Discourses are added, partly as com- 
 pleting the previous discussions, and partly as a por- 
 traiture of evils which he felt more keenly than most 
 persons, and which for Christ's sake he most deeply 
 deplored. 
 
 To those who may suffer as he did from these 
 evils, or who may doubt respecting his views of 
 Christian Faith, the Notes which have been appended 
 may be not without value. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Psgd 
 
 Memoir 9 
 
 The Fugitive : A Poem — Passages from 51 
 
 Discourse I. — Faith — Its Nature — Importance of the Sub- 
 ject 59 
 
 DiscouRse II. — Faith — Definitions Examined 72 
 
 Discourse III. — Faith — True Definition 81 
 
 Discourse IV. — Faith — Its Moral Quality 96 
 
 Discourse V. — Faith — Its General Application 108 
 
 Discourse VI.— Faith— In the Affairs of this World 120 
 
 Discourse VII. — Religious Faith 130 
 
 •Discourse VIIL — Faith in God — Its Nature and Influ- 
 ence 141 
 
 Discourse IX. — Faith in Christ — Regenerating 153 
 
 Discourse X. — Faith in Christ — Justifying 162 
 
 Discourse XI. — Faith in Christ — Sanctifying 174 
 
 Discourse XII. — The Repose of Faith 183 
 
 Discourse XIII. — Repentance 193 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 Paste. 
 
 Discourse XIV. — Evils of Sectarianism 211 
 
 Discourse XV. — Evils of Sectarianism 222 
 
 Discourse XVI. — Evils of Sectarianism 232 
 
 Discourse XVII. — Evils of Sectarianism 246 
 
 Appendix. — Analysis of Faith 260 
 
 Note A. — That Faith is Rational 262 
 
 Note B.— That Faith is Voluntary . 269 
 
 Note C— That Faith is Moral 270 
 
 Note D. — Statements combining the above 
 
 Views 274 
 
 Note E. — Authorities touching Sectarianism. 277 
 
DISCOURSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NATURE OF FAITH, AND KINDRED SUBJECTS. 
 
 MEMOIR. 
 
 William Henry Staer was born in Middletown, Conn., 
 on Sunday, April 27th, 1817. His father, Mr. James 
 Starr, was an ingenious and enterprising man, engaged at 
 one time in the stereotype business, in New-York. His 
 mechanical skill, or constructive talent, was inherited by the 
 son, and displayed in a ready use of tools, as well as, per- 
 haps, in his facility of systematic thinking. His mother 
 was the daughter of the Kev. Henry Ely, who preached in 
 Killingworth, Conn., for a period of twenty years. It 
 was a happy family incident, which seemed to be a little 
 prophetic in its character, that William was called " the 
 Parson," in allusion to the day of his birth. 
 
 When he was about seven years of age, the family re- 
 moved to Boston, and four years after, to Baltimore. In 
 1832, they settled in Alton, Illinois. During the follow- 
 ing summer, which was a season of prevailing sickness, 
 they suffered, in a large measure, the hardships of pioneer 
 life. All were prostrate with 'bilious fever ; help was 
 
 2 
 
10 MEMOIR. 
 
 scarcely to be obtained ; all, by turns, suffered relapses, 
 from undue exertion in caring for the rest. On the 6th of 
 August the father died. In their desolate home the wife 
 
 o 
 
 and children still endured the lingering reaction of the 
 fever, until the autumn of the following year. 
 
 William's opportunities for acquiring an education were 
 limited. For several years, beginning with Christmas of 
 1832, he was mostly employed as a merchant's clerk. A 
 few months of the year 1834 were spent in the High School 
 of Upper Alton, now Shirtliff College, in the study of 
 alsebra and some common Endish branches, but with 
 much interruption by ague. His next school privilege, be- 
 fore he entered college, was a period of about six months 
 spent at Jacksonville, in the year 1839. 
 
 He made his first public profession of religion by unit- 
 ing with the Presbyterian Church of Carlinville, in 1835. 
 His religious impressions and hopes, however, began in 
 earlier life, of which we have an account in his own 
 words : " Among my earliest recollections," says he, 
 " reaching back to the age of two or three years, is that of 
 the pleasure 1 took in saying my prayers very devoutly on 
 going to bed. It seemed to me then that I enjoyed the 
 love of God. For years afterward, though I became care- 
 less and as full of selfish desires as other children, yet on 
 the occasion of any sickness in my father's family, I would 
 fall to praying and confessing, and making ever so many 
 fair promises to God, if the evil might be averted. And 
 while living in Baltimore, in 1830 or 1831, I had lively 
 religious exercises ; and I remember now distinctly the 
 scene where I thought I gave my heart to God, while 
 reading a hymn on the back of a tract. For some time 
 after, I was very conscientious and prayerful. Gnidually 
 
MEMOIR. 11 
 
 I became as before. But for some time previous to the pe- 
 riod of mj- uniting with the Cliurch, having boarded in 
 Mr. Bela VVhite's family, and his wife being a Hving Chris- 
 tian, I made up my mind to be a Christian on the first oppor- 
 tunity (as I then thought). On occasion, therefore, of a 
 series of meetings, held by Mr. Lippincott and Mr. Black- 
 burn, I came forward. My religious exercises at this time 
 were powerful and distinct. After laboring under convic- 
 tion for several days, at last, when engaged in prayer which 
 I had begun with the supplicating cry of an awakened 
 sinner, 1 began to call God, Father. My feelings expe- 
 rienced a great change. I was full of joy and love."* 
 
 Even after this Mr. S. finds himself laboring under false 
 impressions of the nature of religion, as though it lay 
 mostly in certain feelings, rather than the faithful and cheer- 
 ful discharge of Christian duty. His early experience is 
 apparent, we think, in the interest which he felt in chil- 
 dren ; and it may explain certain views of Christian nur- 
 ture which he presented to his people a few months before 
 his death, in which he v/as supposed to deny the need of 
 regeneration as a condition of early piety. If we under- 
 stood his own statements, it was the burden of his arofu- 
 ment on this occasion, to show that children should not be 
 discouraged by theories of conversion which they cannot 
 understand ; that the faults of children need no more prove 
 them unconverted than the faults of adult backsliders 
 
 should prove them unconverted ; and above all, that pa- 
 
 « 
 
 * This account is taken from a journal kept by Mr. S-, of wliica we shall 
 make frequent use. That it was written with no view to a memoir, is clear 
 from his retiring disposition, from the business nature of much of its contents, 
 and from the following note : " I begin this day (Nov, 27. 1850) a journal or 
 memorandum of such things as for any reason I may wish to refer to in my 
 daily history." 
 
12 MEMOIR. 
 
 rents might and should bring up their children to be Chris- 
 tians from their eafliest youth. 
 
 Along with his early religious convictions should be 
 named his ardent love of liberty, and his intense hatred of 
 oppression. He was but a youth, w^hen the martyrdom of 
 Lovejoy occurred ; yet he was one of those who assisted 
 in receiving the printing-press, and in guarding the person 
 of Lovejoy, when he fell. This youthful courage might 
 have been a mere boyish enthusiasm, if it were his only 
 adventure for freedom. But, viewed as part of a life of 
 struggle for freedom, it assumes the dignity of a higher 
 principle of action. 
 
 For two years Mr. S. was engaged as a clerk in Alton, 
 until the summer of 1838, when he fell out of business by 
 the embarrassments of that period. He was absent from 
 Alton for a time, at Bellevue, Iowa, but returned in the 
 winter. From this time he appears to have directed his 
 mind to preparation for college, with a view to the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel. His application was intense, and his 
 progress uncommonly rapid. In May, 1839, 4ie went to 
 Jacksonville, to continue his studies, where he was admitted 
 to college in October of the same year. 
 
 Partly from the necessity of a rigid economy, and partly 
 from the peculiarities of a dyspeptic appetite, he boarded 
 himself during the greater part of his collegiate course. 
 He also suffered much from sickness. Once in particular, 
 in his Junior year, he w^as confined for about six weeks, 
 by a swelling or dropsy of the knee-joint, from which he 
 felt frequent inconvenience in his after life, being some- 
 times unable to leave his bed, and frequently preaching 
 when he could not walk to his church. His privations 
 from these causes were ever borne without complaint. 
 
MEMOIR. 13 
 
 Notwithstanding these hindrances, he ever maintained a 
 high rank in his class. " He was," says Professor Adams, 
 " highly distinguished in college as a scholar. He com- 
 bined, in an eminent degree, the powers oT rapid acquisi- 
 tion and thorough and accurate comprehension. I do not 
 know that he possessed a peculiar taste or capacity for one 
 study more than for another, but he excelled alike in all." 
 Professor Post says of him : "As his teacher in classical 
 literature, I can testify to his brilliant success and rare 
 attainment in that department. I have never taught one 
 who exhibited in classic scholarship such superior excel- 
 lency and promise during his academic course. In this 
 department his mind showed itself patient, severe in its 
 analysis, quick and delicate in apprehension, and rapid and 
 felicitous in combination. Nor is it my impression that 
 there was a disproportionate development of mind in this 
 direction. His mind, I think, was a very symmetrical one, 
 both in the original adjustment of faculties, and in their 
 culture. It could have been, and I think it was, applied 
 with much success to metaphysical truth." And Dr. 
 Edward Beecher writes : "I can truly say that, so far as I 
 knew him, I was very much prepossessed in his favor. His 
 intellectual powers were uncommon, and were in harmony 
 with the other parts of a well-proportioned character." 
 
 His retiring disposition, unfortunately, caused him to be 
 misunderstood by his classmates. '• A sensitiveness almost 
 morbid," says Professor A., " made him often shrink from 
 those intimacies which cement strong friendships between 
 congenial minds. Some thought him unsocial, and even re- 
 pulsive. But such had not learned to know his heart. 
 He was not popular among his fellow-students in college ; 
 but it was rather from the want of those attractive social 
 
14 MEMOIR. 
 
 qualities which are prized by the young, than from any 
 thing which any one could say against him. The worst 
 crime that I ever heard charged against him was want of 
 amiability," He r.dds: "Most, if not all, of those who 
 were alienated from him while in college, became after- 
 wards his warmest friends. Through written correspond- 
 ence and occasional personal intercourse, all unpleasant 
 feelings seem to have been obliterated, and to have given 
 place to cordial friendships. This change was partly at- 
 tributable to a better understanding of his cLaraeter on 
 the part of others, and partly to an actual improvement of 
 character, by the growth of the Christian life within him." 
 
 Mr. S. has said, to those with whom he was most in- 
 timate, that a temper naturally quick and impetuous, added 
 to a nervous sensitiveness, was the great trial of his early 
 life ; that few could understand what labor it had cost him 
 to discipline and restrain his feelings ; and that if he had 
 acquired any habitual self-control, it was due, not to him- 
 self, but to the special grace of God. In his journal, 
 recounting his experience after making a profession of re- 
 ligion, he speaks of a late maturity of Christian character. 
 He says : " Not knowing the necessity of a system of pri- 
 vate devotion, I gradually fell away for several years. I 
 became more and more involved in sin, though never for- 
 saking wholly prayer and the reading of the Bible. After 
 graduating at Illinois College, and while teaching there, 
 the death of a young man alarmed me, and roused me to 
 new effort. My ' assurance ' was gone, and I had now to 
 pray long before I could obtain it again. From that time 
 I trust that, by the Divine Grace, I have been making some 
 progress in the Christian life." 
 
 The following expressions, however, written in the 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 15 
 
 Junior year of his collegiate course, containing, perhaps, a 
 presentiment of the shortness of his own life, show a very 
 active religious feeling. The poetry with which it con- 
 cludes is hardly equal to his subsequent efforts, yet we think 
 it a note-worthy psalm of his life. • 
 
 " This day am I twenty-five years — one quarter of a century — old. 
 Another quarter of a century I do not expect to see. I may consider 
 my life as more than half gone. Were it but half, how vain a thing 
 is life ! What have I done yet ? What have I attained ? How am 
 I pleased with the joys of life, and man's earthly portion ? Is it sat- 
 isfying ? JSTay, emptiness and shadow, if I may judge by the past ; 
 but if by the future, how different ! Oh, God ! have mercy on me 
 for Jesus' sake, and forgive my sins and heal all my backslidings. 
 Give me true wisdom^a heavenly mind ; help me to improve my 
 time as it flies, and to live to Thy glory ; — then, whether long or short, 
 life will not be vain, nor shall I mourn its swift departure. 
 
 " How swiftly fly 
 
 My passing years ; 
 And time gone by. 
 
 How short 't appears. 
 The moments roll, 
 
 The hours speed on 
 Without control ; 
 
 My years are gone ! 
 
 " Those dreams of youth 
 That shone so bright, 
 The Hand of Truth 
 Has quenched in night. 
 
 Yet others shine 
 
 As fair as they ; 
 Nay, more divine — 
 
 Of lovelier ray. 
 
 " Oh, God of Light, 
 
 My footsteps guide ; 
 And in Thy sight 
 
 Let me abide. 
 Let all my powers 
 
 And life be Thine, 
 Till blissful bowers 
 
 Of Heaven are mine." 
 
 Other effusions of his muse show that in a life of ease 
 Mr. S. might have made poetry for poetry's sake. But in 
 a world of suffering humanity this talent was specially de- 
 voted to the cause of the oppressed. Called to deliver an 
 address before the Society of Alumni, in 1845, he gave a 
 Poem relating to the history of one of those heroes whose 
 
16 MEMOIR. 
 
 exploit is to convert themselves from things into men. A 
 few extracts, with an Epilogue written apparently at a 
 later date, are offered to the reader. 
 
 After his graduation Mr. S. spent a year in teaching in 
 Burlington, Iowa. He was then appointed to a Tutorship 
 in his Alma Mater, which he held for two years. His 
 leisure was devoted to preparation for preaching the Gos- 
 pel. During the greater part of this time he enjoyed the 
 intimate friendship of Professor Adams and his family, 
 who recognized in him " a pure and trusting heart, a kind 
 and genial temper, a spirit of rare delicacy and fidelity in 
 all the duties of friendship." They speak particularly of 
 his love for children ; such a love as indicates the finest 
 and noblest traits of character. A daughter, then seven 
 or eight years of age, writes as follows : 
 
 " I remember hearing him frequently spoken of, at the time he "was 
 in college, and also seeing him walk "with crutches. Perhaps I 
 should not remember him in college days at all, but that my sympa- 
 thies were excited by his lameness. 
 
 " I never had a kinder or warmer friend than Mr. Starr, in all my 
 childish years. But he was like no other friend; and even then I 
 saw the dfference as plainly as I do now. He never took it for granted 
 that a child understood onh^ nonsense, or baby-talk, but seemed 
 rather to feel that the soul, unskilled in worldly wisdom, was the 
 more capable of receiving that ' wisdom which cometh from above.' 
 Not that he talked much, or often, to me, of my special obligations 
 to God, taken singly and individually ; but often, very often, when 
 talking to me on various themes, he would lead me to the love of 
 God, His goodness, and our consequent obligation to return so much 
 love, with love. When speaking of the wrongs and suffering which 
 are the lot of many of earth's children, he would gently remind me 
 of all the love and kindness which made my life a blessing and a 
 joy, instead of the burden of woe which it was to others. And when 
 my heart glowed with gratitude to the Giver of all good, he would 
 try to inspire me with the wish and earnest purpose, to live to 
 
MEMOIR. 17 
 
 bless my fello"w men ; to do something towards alleviating human 
 misery. 
 
 '• He was in the habit of frequently walking with me in the college 
 grove, especially in early spring, when the first flowers of the year 
 arose from their snow-covered tombs, and breathed in new life from 
 the cool air; and when the birds were caroling forth their joy to the 
 genial sunbeams, from the half-clad trees. I had always dearly 
 loved birds and flowers, and tinted clouds ; and he sympathized so 
 warmly in all my enthusiasm, that these walks were a peculiar 
 pleasure to me. 
 
 " While he encouraged and stimulated my love of Nature, and her 
 forms of varied loveliness, he ever sought to bring home to my very 
 soul the truth, that all the glorious and beautiful forms of earth 
 were but the visible embodiment of Divine Infinite Love. 
 
 " My eyes fill with tears, when I recall his constant and earnest 
 endeavors to improve, as well as to interest and amuse me. He used 
 to read with me, and to me, generally poetry, thus cultivating and 
 developing a taste for pure and beautiful sentiment, and its fitting 
 expression in language. 
 
 " But with all his earnestness, and this constant recognition of 
 higher and nobler things, Mr. S. was never stern. It was a matter of 
 wonder to me that any should call him cold, reserved and repellent. 
 For he was, as / knew him, in his daily intercourse in our home- 
 circle, ever kind, affectionate, and warmly sympathizing. Although 
 always ready, if there seemed a way, or ra,ther, always yznrfmg- away, 
 to instruct as well as amuse, yet no one could frolic with us as he 
 could. My brother, two years old, always overflowing with life and 
 mischief, was exceedingly attached to ' Mit Tar,' as he called him ,• 
 and there was never a merrier pair than we were at times. ... I 
 never knew a person that seemed to have such ready sympathy with, 
 and could so warmly enter into, the feelings of a child. 
 
 " And I never knew one that seemed to have a more delicate appre- 
 ciation of the slightest kindness. I have often looked with wonder 
 at his manifest emotion, at little kindnesses and attentions which 
 were so trivial that I had never thought them such. . . , My 
 mother knew the peculiarities of his taste, and that oftentimes he 
 went without meals because there was nothing on the table that he 
 could eat, and he would not complain or request a change. So I was 
 
 2* 
 
18 MEMOIR. 
 
 often the bearer of some little home charity -which mother knew 
 ■would be pleasant to him. I have often seen his eyes fill with tears 
 at some such little remembrance. These visits to his room were very 
 pleasant to me ; it was always as nice and orderly as a lady's parlor, 
 and its kind. occupant made it seem to me one of the pleasantest 
 rooms in the world. 
 
 " I saw and appreciated his intense sensitiveness, with a child's 
 quick perception, when first I knew him. I saw that many things 
 which were lightly passed' over by many, distressed him, and that he 
 suffered far more than most persons. Not that he was often gloomy, 
 or sad, or that he complained : but he suffered. I knew it then ; I 
 know now, that with his sensitive and exquisitely delicate nature, his 
 high appreciation and ardent love, of all that is noble and good, and 
 his consequent scorn and loathmg of all that is low and mean, with 
 his intense sympathy with suffering and wronged humanity, and his 
 fearless, his dauntless spirit, which could not quail before the eye of 
 man, — I know that he sufiered while he lived; that he could not 
 cease to suffer while earth was his home ; and I feel that although 
 earth may well mourn to lose such a spirit, yet for him we may not 
 sorrow ; that the celestial gates have opened for him ; that he is where 
 ' there is not any more pain.' " 
 
 The warm emotions which appear in Mr. S.'s love for 
 children, and for humanity, explain two quahties that 
 mio'ht otherwise seem inconsistent — earnestness and charity. 
 Both these he possessed in an eminent degree. " It was a 
 necessity of his nature," says Prof. A., "tor be true to him- 
 self, true to the solemn convictions of his own mind. There 
 was in his nature not the slightest aptitude for any easy 
 conformity to prevaihng fashions of thought or belief. 
 Neither was he " influenced by pride of independence to 
 dissent from prevailing opinions. His points of dissent 
 from the usually received orthodox convictions were few, 
 and in these he was fearless and independent, never cap- 
 tious and quibbling. Plis manner of speaking of others 
 was uniformly kind and charitable, even when he knew 
 
MEMOIR. 19 
 
 them to be inimical to himself. I never knew a person 
 who seemed to take more charitable views of the charac- 
 ter of others, than he did." 
 
 He was licensed to preach in the spring of 1846, and 
 preached his first sermon at Princeton, Illinois, from Luke, 
 xviii. i. : " Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." 
 
 He spent the next academical year in attending theolo- 
 gical lectures at New-Haven. Returning to Illinois, and 
 suffering a short time from sickness, he preached a first 
 sermon in Peoria, October 10, and remained in this place 
 for a year. 
 
 While teaching in Burlington, he had read Punchard's 
 History of Congregationalism, and " found that Congrecra- 
 tional principles were in exact accordance with his own 
 ideas of Chur^ch polity." 
 
 The Church at Peoria became Congregational on his 
 going there, though, he remarks, he had nothing to do with 
 the change. To urge such changes would not in fact accord 
 with his feelings, or with the primary importance which 
 he attached to the distinctive truths of the gospel. 
 
 In July, 1848, he went to Jacksonville to be examined 
 for ordination. And now came his first sore trial, as a 
 lover of Christ's gospel. Suspicions of heresy were enter- 
 tained against him — suspicions most potent, because even 
 Protestants so little understand what heresy is, and are 
 so little agreed respecting what are the fundamentals of 
 Christian truth. We will give the account of the examina 
 tion in JVIr. S.'s own words. 
 
 " Some of the brethren stumbled very hard at me, because I held 
 that the Holy Spirit's influences are of the nature of moral suasion 
 or motion (not directly on the will) : some thinking that I was 'wise 
 above what is written,' and that my mind was of a dangerous tenden- 
 cy ; because I did not believe Christ had a human soul ; because I 
 
20 MEMOIR. 
 
 believed in no supernatural call to the ministry ; and one good bro- 
 ther, because I did not give a full account of religious experience in 
 conversion, &c., but rather stated my ideas of what it is to be a 
 Christian, and that I thus tried to live. 
 
 " My examination on the nature of the Spirit's influence in regen- 
 eration was brief, and was interrupted. I cannot give a fail" state- 
 ment of either questions or answers. I stated in general that it was 
 a moral influence, and endeavored to express this idea of it, that it is 
 man who repents or converts to God, and the Spirit moves him to do 
 
 it; 'just as you, Mr. , if you had prevailed on a drunkard to 
 
 abandon his cups, would say that you had turned him from them — 
 that you had saved him from intemperance. But in comparing the 
 influence which the Spirit exerts, to that which a man may exert 
 over another man, I did not say nor mean that they were in all 
 respects alike, but simply, that they were alike in some important 
 respects, viz : that they were both moraZ m^ZMmces. But being inter- 
 rupted and confused by two or three questioning me before my replies 
 were finished, I do not know whether I fairly completed my explana- 
 tions or not. 
 
 " Question. Can you tell us your experience ? the ground of your 
 hope that you are a Christian 1 Answer. I found myself under God's 
 government a transgressor of His law, and subject, therefore, to its 
 penalty. God offered me mercy through Christ ; I felt that there was 
 my only hope, and that God's words to me were worthy of confidence. 
 I determined to trust myself to them, and to act upon His commands 
 and promises. I did so ; and in doing so I found and do find the as- 
 surance of hope. Question. What is it to be a Christian? Answer. 
 It is to love God, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Question. 
 What is it to love God ? Answer. To obey Him. " He that 
 keepeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me." Ques- 
 tion. What is your object in entering the ministry? Ansiver. 
 To do good. Question. Do you think you can make as much money 
 at it as at some other employment? Answer. I don't know but I 
 can. I should never expect to make money at any thing. I do not 
 by preaching. . . . Question. Do you think that Christians are 
 called of God to t^.e work of the ministry ? That you have a call ? 
 Answer. I do. Question. What is a call ? When is a man called 
 to the ministry ? Answer. When he has reason to think he can do 
 more good in that than in any other way. A call to the ministry is 
 
MEMOIR. 21 
 
 the opportunity and means to do most good in it. To do the most 
 good he can is the duty of every Christian ; and when God shows a 
 man that he can do the most good in the ministry, (or gives him the 
 means to do so.) that is a call. Question. Can you express in the 
 language of Paul what should be the Christian minister's animating 
 principle ? Would you say : ' The love of Christ constraineth us ? 
 Answer. I have long thought that that sentence expresses what was 
 to a most remarkable degree the spirit that animated Paul, and that 
 is the most powerful spring of action that can animate every Chris- 
 tian in doing good. Question. If a Christian should be unwilling to 
 deny himself for Christ, would it be his duty to preach the Gospel ? 
 Answer. Yes ! and to deny himself also. Refusing to do one duty 
 does not remove the other. This is not saying that it does not unfit 
 hiiA for it. Question. But would a man who is thus unwilling be apt 
 to do much good in the ministry ? Answer. No ; he might do more 
 harm than good. But he ought to be willing to deny himself, and also 
 to preach the Gospel." 
 
 Here are views of the Gospel which vindicate Mr. Starr's 
 right to preach it, whatever his errors may have been re- 
 specting the philosophy of it. But, by the most strenuous 
 eiForts of his friends who knew him best, he was barely- 
 saved from rejection, and from all the calamities that might 
 have resulted therefrom, either to himself or in his loss to 
 the Gospel work. His own feelings, on this occasion, are 
 told as follows : 
 
 " I owe it mainly, under God, to Mr. Turner, my good and dear 
 friend, that I was not cast off with a brand upon my name by that 
 council, which, if it had been done, where would I now have been 1 
 It would have had, I believe, a very depressing influence upon me, if 
 it had not utterly turned the current of my life into another channel. 
 My health was poor, my condition necessitous, my sympathies alto- 
 gether with the Orthodox (as they now are, so far as respects vital 
 piety) , and I see not but that a rejection by them would have been 
 very calamitous. But I went to the examination with very little 
 fear, and the only ground on which I thought there was cause of 
 fear was not touched at all. I had doubts about the full inspiration 
 of the Scriptures, or at least about what inspiration implies ; yet on 
 
22 MEMOIR. 
 
 this subject, — it seemed to me, afterward, by the directing Proyidence 
 of God for me, — not one question was asked me." 
 
 Whatever may have been Mr. Starr's view of inspira- 
 tion, it never hindered his most devout and prayerful study 
 of the Scriptures, nor his faith in them as containing the 
 words of eternal life, and the only hope of a fallen race. 
 And his diflS.culties on this subject were only temporary ; 
 such, perhaps, as are felt by multitudes,, when they first 
 discover points of resemblance between the ecstasy of the 
 poet and that of the prophet, and that the various books 
 of the Bible indicate the various mental characters of the 
 inspired penmen. He afterwards expressed himself as sat- 
 isfied with the common view, that the inspiration which 
 gave the Bible to man is special and peculiar. 
 
 His thorough integrity in the gratitude he expresses for 
 the fact that his doubts were not discovered, will appear 
 from subsequent passages of his journal. The dear friend 
 to whom he alludes thus describes the scene : 
 
 " His mother was a poor widow, who went without many necessa- 
 ries of life, (as we deem them,) that she might present this son, an 
 educated offering, to the cause of humanity. He was dutiful, prayer- 
 ful, daily Christian and devout, as well as eminently gifted and tal- 
 ented, almost above all others that ever graduated at his Alma Mater. 
 As son, student, teacher, tutor, and member of the Church of Christ, 
 no one ever knew him to neglect either a filial, or intellectual, or 
 Christian duty, which it was in his power to perform. At all the 
 meetings and prayers of the Church he was always present, inter- 
 ested and active. His sole ambition was to live for knowledge, for 
 truth, and for Christ ; though by these statements I do not, of course, 
 intend to absolve him from those ordinary and universal infirmities of 
 manner or of temperament common to humanity. In other words, 
 I do not mean to say that Mr. S. was perfect as Christ was, but 
 that he was a truly and eminently devoted and gifted Christian man. 
 
 " Well, after this ten long years of prayer and struggle, day and 
 night, of this widowed mother and lier devoted son, his education is 
 
MEMOIR. 23 
 
 completed, and, with a heart full of joy and high hope, this youth 
 presents himself for license and approval — before whom or what ? a 
 Caesar? a Pope? No, but before a so-called Protestant Christian 
 power, that almost every Sabbath, and every prayer-meeting for the 
 whole ten years, had been exhorting him and others to this special 
 service of Christ, deploring the destitutions of the West and of the 
 world, the great want of talented and pious men in the ministry, and 
 urging such poor widows as Starr's mother to consecrate their sons 
 to the work, to contribute their mites, earned by midnight toil, to 
 Education and other Societies, to raise up and educate such men. 
 
 " And now, when this work is done, and God knows as hardly done 
 as it usually falls to the lot of mortals to do it, and this son of this 
 widowed mother was before them, what did this professedly Prctest- 
 and Christian power do ? Why, of course, you will say, it thanked 
 God, praised Christ, blessed the mother and the son, and sent him 
 forth with joy to his field of labor, praying the Father to strengthen 
 all in him that was right, and pure, and good, and His Holy Spirit to 
 purge and dispel whatever there still might be of error or evil, — that 
 great good and manifold glory and blessing might through him come 
 to God and man. Sure, this was all that, as Christian men, they 
 could do in such a case. 
 
 " No such thing. On the contrary, finding his modes of thought 
 and speech differed a little from their own, they endeavored to en- 
 snare him on the dogmas of their creed, about 'substances,' and 
 ' essences,' and ' Trinities,' and ' derivations,' and ' equalities,' and 
 ' substitutions,' and ' decrees,' and ' elections,' and ' perseverances,' 
 and ' outward faiths,' and ' intellectual faiths,' and ' saving faiths,' and 
 no one can tell how many other faiths and follies not found in the 
 Sermon on the Mount, or any other saying of Jesus or His Apostles. 
 And because he proved more than a match for them all on these 
 subtleties, they attempted to send him forth to the world, after his 
 ten years of toil, black-balled and disgraced ; not even in pretence 
 because he was deficient either in learning, talent or piety ,"5^ but, for- 
 sooth, because in these inane dogmas he could not say ' Shibboleth ' 
 exactly with them. They, practically, cared not at all for the ad- 
 mitted fact that Christ had received him, inasmuch as in these 
 dogmas he ' followed not with them.' And in despite of the wants of 
 the Church, and all this outlay foi an education that totally unfitted 
 him for any other business, (even if he could have brought his heart 
 
 * For this question did not remain long unsettled. 
 
^4 MEMOIR. 
 
 into it,) this power Tvould then have turned him out upon the world, 
 virtually blackened, silenced, disgraced and beggared, had it not been 
 for the strenuous exertions of a few personal friends. Yet enough 
 was said and done to make Brother Starr a marked and suspected 
 man. And this same Protestant power did not fail to molest him 
 with its invisible arts, wherever he went, whether far or near. I saw, 
 with great grief, that this practical persecution was acting, and must 
 continue to act, disastrously, if not fatally, upon a nature so frail and 
 sensitive as his, the last time I was at his house, a short time before 
 his death." 
 
 Mr. Starr was ordained on Sunday, July 16th, the right 
 hand of fellowship given by the friend who sympathi2red 
 so deeply with him in his peculiar trials. 
 
 On his return to Peoria he suffered an attack of his old 
 complaint, and, taking cold in bathing his limb in warm 
 water, he was very ill for several weeks. He mentions, 
 with gratitude, the gratuitous services and kindness of Dr. 
 Dickinson and his wife, to himself, and to his mother during 
 a period of sickness. 
 
 Leaving Peoria at the close of the year for which he had 
 engaged, he preached at Griggsville, October 15th, and 
 engaged here for a year. In the middle of January he took 
 cold while visiting his people, and was brought down with 
 typhoid fever. His sickness continued nearly three months, 
 and his hopes of a revival, which seemed to have really 
 begun, were frustrated. 
 
 It was in this place that Mr. S began and completed 
 his series of discourses on " Faith,'" which are here offered 
 to the public. The first was preached September 16, 
 1849, and the last, August 25, 1850. Here also he car- 
 ried out his views of Congr'egational polity, by uniting with 
 the church to which he ministered, November 4, 1849. 
 
 On Tuesday, March 26, 1850, Mr. S. was united in 
 
MEMOIR. 25 
 
 marriage to Miss Lucy Elizabeth Collins, daughter of 
 Captain James A. Collins, of Griggsville. Captain C. 
 had been at this time about six years absent at sea, return- 
 ing in December following. 
 
 The account already given of Mr. S.'s social character, 
 shows that nothing was wanting on his part to make this 
 union a happy one ; and he found in the wife of his choice 
 all that he could desire, to complete the varied joys and to 
 assuage the many sorrows of his life. She sympathized 
 with all his free and independent views, and with all his 
 most rehgious and most delicate feelings. She was the 
 usual companion of his pastoral labors, and was ardently 
 devoted to his personal comfort and welfare. She cheered 
 him by her own courage^ and her unwavering faith in that 
 power which can overrule all events for good to those who 
 trust in Him. - L^^mJu^ 
 
 For reasons which, in their beginnings, would have fe»nd 
 another familiar cliapter of Shady Side literature, but 
 which grew into the dangerous rumor of heresy, Mr. S., 
 after being detained a few months by the entreaties of 
 friends, at length, in April 1851, left Griggsville. The 
 unpleasant feeling that led to this result did not, however, 
 long survive his departure ; and his subsequent visits to 
 the place were occasions of delight. 
 
 In August of the same year, he preached in Elgin, and 
 was engaged for six months. He had been there but a 
 few weeks when rumors of heresy began to be heard ; first 
 by letter to the former pastor of the church, from a mem- 
 ber of the council by which he was ordained, and after- 
 wards by report from a person who assisted him on a Com- 
 munion occasion, to a prominent minister. He was now 
 charged unawares with " Bushnellism," and with "Uni- 
 
26 MEMOIR. 
 
 tarianism." He was apprised of these charges by the 
 former pastor, who became satisfied that they were un- 
 founded. Upon the charge of Bushnellism, Mr. S. remarks, 
 it "is totally false. When I was examined for ordination 
 I had not read a word of Dr. Bushnell's theological views; 
 and now having read them, I do not agree with them." 
 
 The charge of Unitarianism perhaps arose from two 
 facts. First; he supposed that a Unitarian might truly 
 believe in and preach Christ, as the only Saviour of man- 
 kind. In this view he invited the Rev. Ephraim Nute, of 
 Scituate, Massachusetts, to his pulpit in Griggsville, and 
 remarks in his journal that he visited him at his friend's ; 
 "was much pleased ; appears evangelical and truly pious." 
 Again, in preaching on the Atonement, Mr. S. dwelt more 
 than many others on the sutFerings of Christ, as a means 
 of producing repentance. But so far was he from deny- 
 ing the word of Christ to be a ground of Salvation, that 
 on one occasion, the writer recollects his comparing the 
 Atonement, as a ground of pardon, to the light of the sun, 
 without which, repentance could no more avail than the 
 moon can shine by its own light. 
 
 But his notes on the subject of the Atonement, in which 
 he has expressed his views most fully and freely, will vindi- 
 cate the integrity of his faith in Christ beyond question. 
 Remarking that his views on this subject had become some- 
 what modified, or at least more complete," he says : 
 
 " Now it seems to me possible for a Governor (in any and all good 
 governments, divine or human) to grant to one high in dignity and 
 having sufficient claims upon the government, the pardon of a repent- 
 ant subject who has sinned, without at all relaxing the sacredness, 
 the imperativeness of the law as the rule of the government. But 
 Christ, who is sufl&ciently high in dignity, being the eternal and ' only 
 begotten' Son of God, by what he has accomplisJied for the government 
 
MEMOIR. 27 
 
 of God in bringing men to repentance, in making them obedient in- 
 stead of rebellious subjects, and by ivhat he has suffered in so doing, 
 has such a claim upon the government of God, and can plead his 
 own sufferings to take the place of those due to the sinner.'' And 
 again : '• The sufferings "which Christ's work for the government of 
 God involved, entitle Him to the privilege of intercession for such as 
 repent ; and it must have been, in part, because it would do so (it 
 would seem) , that He undertook that work. Perhaps if He had not 
 suffered. His work alone would not so have entitled Him. But having 
 suffered. He is entitled to say : Let my suffering go for the suffering 
 due by the law to the sinner. The sinner now can plead what Christ 
 has done and suffered for the government of God in his behalf. By 
 what Christ has suffered, He has, as it were, paid the penalty of the 
 law, and by what He has done He has gotten the right to plead it in 
 the sinner's behalf. It thus becomes safe for God to pardon for Christ's 
 sake, and in His name, while otherwise it would not have been safe ; 
 the sacredness, the imperativeness of the law as God's rule for His 
 creatures would not have been maintained. Considered in this light, 
 Christ's sufferings constitute His earthly life and death a sacrifice for 
 our sins. God [knew] that they would have this efficacy of aton- 
 ing for sin, and therefore designed that they should so atone. And 
 His death, as the crowning act of all, may be taken to express the 
 w^hole (even as His resurrection is sometimes taken to embrace His 
 whole doctrine, because it sealed it all.) His death, moreover, was 
 designed as being a peculiar appropriate form of his suffering, to 
 stand for the sinner's doom. Thus was His ' blood shed for the remis- 
 sion of sins,' as one and a most important end, though not the whole." 
 
 Of the necessity of Christ's suffering, Mr. S. speaks more 
 fully in the Tenth of the following Discourses, which might 
 alone decide the present question. 
 
 That he discarded all mercantile views of the Atone- 
 ment, by which the very idea of forgiveness is annulled, 
 will hardly be urged as an error. And respecting the 
 opinion once before charged against him, that Christ had 
 not a distinct human soul, it should not be inferred that 
 he denied either Christ's divinity or his humanity. God 
 
28 MEMOIR. 
 
 became Immanuel in Christ, he might say, strictly, in an 
 Incarnation, (John i. 14; Rom. i. 3, 4. 1 Tim. iii. 16.) 
 
 With one of the persons concerned in these rumors, he 
 afterwards had an interview^ in which, sajs Mr. S., "he 
 acknowledged his fault, and I endeavored to remove his 
 prejudices, whereupon our diiFerences were settled, I trust 
 to most hearty good will. " From another person he sought 
 explanation by letter, but received no reply. 
 
 In January, 1852, he applied for admission to the Fox 
 River Conofresfational Union. Here he encountered the 
 rumors we have named, with success ; in that one vote alone 
 was given against him. In his journal he says : — 
 
 " I have reason to acknowledge the goodness of God, who turned 
 aside the minds of my examiners from those points wherein their 
 prejudices or views would have disallowed me; or enabled me, 
 wherein they did touch any of them, to show my essential agreement, 
 without their perceiving the disagreement; and who also, by His 
 grace in me and in them, turned back the prejudices with which 
 they apparently began their examination, and awakened favorable 
 feelings. 
 
 " I was much gratified to learn, on my return, and before the vota 
 of the Union was known, that though there had been some apprehen- 
 sions in the minds of many of the Church, as to how the Union would 
 receive me, there was much disposition to independence of judgment, 
 and to confidence in me in any event." 
 
 On the 14th of April following, he was installed as pastor 
 of the Congregational Church in Elgin, where he remained 
 until his death. The sermon was preached by the former 
 pastor. Rev. N. C. Clark. " The exercises," he says, 
 " interested my feelings deeply, and my heart was much 
 drawn out in love to my brethren in the ministry." 
 
 We have indicated some of the points in which Mr. S. 
 dissented from the prevalent opinions, perhaps all of them. 
 
MEMOIR. 29 
 
 Whatever they were, we know that he regarded himself as 
 dissenting only in speculative matters — forms of divine na- 
 ture, and modes of divine economy and influence, which 
 like the hidden causes of the mind, are no part of man's 
 necessary faith — while his entire theology brought him to 
 the same practical results in which all Christians are agreed. 
 As a thinker, he simply craved the liberty of coming to 
 Christ by the laws of his own mind, compelling no other 
 one to follow the same path, but glad to worship and to 
 learn of Christ, with all his disciples, by whatsoever way 
 they had come to bow before Him. Giving to Christ in 
 all things the preeminence, he hoped that jninor differences, 
 inseparable from the lot of humanity, might be allowed. 
 But he was gi-ieved to find that prevalent theologic methods 
 were deen.ed essential to the integrity of the Gospel, and 
 that the differences which he held subordinate, were con- 
 sidered by others serious, if not fatal. Hence the conflict, 
 of which, under the date of his ordination, he speaks as 
 follows : 
 
 '' My mind has been considerably agitated, for some time past, on 
 the subject of my theological position. When I began my course I 
 had no thoughts of concealment of any of my views, and my frank- 
 ness soon brought me into trouble. By the advice of friends and my 
 own reflections, I became convinced that it was best I should keep 
 to myself, for the present, the views I entertain, which are different 
 from those of my brethren generally, and labor on with those vital 
 truths in which we are agreed, and which are indeed the chief things. 
 These are, the depravity of man, his exposure to everlasting punish- 
 ment, the necessity of a radical change of character to salvation, 
 the Deity and atonement of Christ, and the necessary work of the 
 Holy Spirit. But the fact that my brethren make speculative points 
 on which we differ, of so much importance in their ecclesiastical rela- 
 tions, obliges me to use a sort of craft m the statement of my views, 
 which is not congenial to my heart. I can so present the essential 
 
30 MEMOIR. 
 
 practical elements of my views as to cover the grouni which they 
 think necessary, while yet I do not imply certain other sj^eculative 
 ideas whicL they think I do. The fault of this, or this misconception 
 of my views, is not to te charged to me ; but to them, as having im- 
 properly mingled such speculative elements with the practical, as 
 equally necessary. Still, though I need not blame myself for this 
 matter, the thought that they are mistaken, deceived, as to my agree- 
 ment with them on certain points which they consider essential, 
 (though I feel assured they are not.) troubles me. It pains me to 
 think I am not just what they think I am, and that perhaps they will 
 one day be grieved by discovering it. And there is another source 
 of trouble which has in it some irritating quality. It is the fact that 
 I cannot speak out my thoughts like a man ; that a necessity is 
 cloaked about me, under which it is diflBcult to maintain a true and 
 manly independence of character. It renders more powerful the natu- 
 ral propensity of my emotive character, to lean upon and follow 
 others, and makes much more difficult that which I feel to be duty, 
 and to be demanded by a proper regard for the gifts of mind God has 
 given me ; namely, to be a bold and candid advocate of whatsoever 
 truth I learn. 
 
 '* I know not what to do ; but I trust God will teach me in His 
 Providence. 
 
 " I feel attached to this Church and people, and have great reason 
 for thankfulness concerning the pleasantness of my situation. I have 
 some love, also, for my work here — to labor in the same spirit and 
 with the same great truths with which my brethren labor, for the sal- 
 vation of souls and the honor of Christ. But it is hard to bear 
 the yoke of bondage to ecclesiastical tyranny and to the inventions 
 of men. 
 
 " I record it here, if I should never live to make a louder and more 
 powerful protest to the world, that while desiring to preach the great 
 truth, with all the powers I have, that ' Christ came into the world to 
 save sinners,' I am bound in cruel chains by the intolerance of the 
 Protestant Evangelical Church, which proclaims the right of private 
 judgment as its fundamental principle, but which utterly denies the 
 right to me, and to every one of its members. I can only preach the 
 truth, by submitting to its judgment in other matters; if I do not 
 submit I shall be disallowed in its ranks, and persecuted with all the 
 
MEMOIR. 31 
 
 power it has to exert, — with excommunication, and reproach, as an 
 outcast from the Church of Christ, and an enemy of God. 
 
 " May God help me to be patient, till He shall work deliverance." 
 
 Such feelings, in a heart so buoyant as Mr. S.'s, could 
 not always be expressed in Jeremiads. He afterwards ad- 
 dressed letters to a person of whose sympathy he felt sure, 
 in which he unburdens his heart. This friend writes: 
 
 " "Wiey^eel at liberty to publish them. No biography of a religious 
 man ought to be written which is not thoroughly out-spoken. It is 
 these concealed, half biographies of good men, which have made the 
 world believe the whole matter of religious biography such a sham. 
 No one wants to know Mr. S.. or any other man, as he may be when 
 beatified ; but as he was here^ with his struggles, and doubts, and 
 fears, and all. His letters showed this nobly. As I understood, his 
 doubts were not as to particular doctrines, but as to the general tone 
 of liberality in our Church, he not believing in such close creeds, &c.j 
 as others do." 
 
 Of one of these letters Mr. S. retained the following 
 
 o 
 
 copy: 
 
 " Dear Sir : The reading of your late article in the Independent^ 
 entitled ' Modern Scepticism,' impels me, though a total stranger, to 
 this liberty of addressing you. This is a liberty which, in such cir- 
 cumstances, I never used before with any one, and certainly an act 
 in which I am, constitutionally, indisposed to engage ; but you attract 
 me too strongly for my retiracy of disposition to resist. There is, 
 certainly, some sympathy between us. I was never so drawn before. 
 I feel as if I must have the pleasure of some acquaintance with you, 
 and thus make my suit. 
 
 " From the very first of your communications to the Independent, 
 of which I have any knowledge, I have i'elt this impulse. When I 
 perceived in your ' Pedestrian ^ letters, especially when writing on 
 Germany, the astonishing iact that you believed there could be some- 
 thing good, some piety even (!) outside of Puritan ideas, some religion 
 without Ka&teni orthodoxy, ' my heart leaped up,' as though I did 
 behold • a rainbow in the sky.' ' "Who is this,' you ask, ' that talks 
 
32 MEMOIR. 
 
 thus ? Some Unitarian infidel, or what not V Sir, I am a Congrega- 
 tional minister, believed to be ' sound in the faith ' by the pious 
 people to whom I preach, (who look more at practical Scriptural 
 truth than at the human philosophy of it.) and loved by them, but 
 looked at with suspicion by some of the Reverendi, especially Pres- 
 byterians. Let me go on. 
 
 '•' Well, from time to time, as your breadth of view and the sim- 
 plicity of your Christian idea exhibited themselves to me, my heart 
 was drawn toward you, and my hopes raised. . . . 
 
 " I desire, if possible, some interchange of thought, some consulta- 
 tion. Men who answer to my sentiments as you do, are rare to meet, 
 at least in the ministry. Sectarianism, bigotry, and formalism have 
 their forces combined and organized, and no man single-handed can 
 make head against them. We shall be crushed and trampled under 
 foot in the charge, and the cry of heretic^ infidel^ will be our requiem. 
 If we desire to accomplish any thing for a freer and purer Christi- 
 anity, we must reach out our hands to one another. So at least I 
 begin to feel. I cannot altogether claim likeness to yourself Your 
 peculiar talent for mixing with men, and seeing them and working 
 amongst them, I have not. I am, rather, a student, diffident and re- 
 tired. But my soul beams with a hatred of tyranny, with a love of 
 liberty and man. Liberty for myself I must have, or die self-consumed; 
 and I desire for others no less. My ideas are not cast in the same 
 mould with all the Fathers. I do believe that theology is a legitimate 
 ground for free inquiry. I scorn the assumption that those who came 
 first, in darkness too, had the right to prescribe what is Scripture and 
 truth to all time to come. When inspired by great truths, my soul 
 is bold as a lion, and diffidence is forgot. I long to do battle for 
 freedom, truth, progress — for a pure Gospel ; and this I will do if the 
 Lord point out the way and give needed strength. If it were not for 
 the ardor of my feelings, I should faint sometimes when I see how 
 bigotry is fortified and its bands trained. My hope is sustained only 
 by the belief that Providence is working with a power which cannot 
 be resisted. Our equal institutions, and the ideas of the age, are 
 stronger to educate than human creeds. The hootings of theological 
 owls will not always strike terror to men's hearts. Surely ' the Lord 
 reigns ; let the earth rejoice.' 
 
 " Yet there is reason enough, when looking at the condition of the 
 Church, to groan and weep. But this I must do all alone, for I sel- 
 
MEMOIR. 33 
 
 dom find oue to lament with me. May I not ask sympathy from you, 
 my brother ? And if there are more who feel as I do, can we not by 
 some means know each other, and prepare ourselves to act together 
 and sustain each other? 
 
 " With these sentiments in your last communication — with the great 
 truths here pointed at — I deeply sympathize : ' The curse of the Ameri- 
 can mind, as we believe, has been the aspect presented in a portion 
 of our Theology of Deity.' ' The grand peculiarity of Christ's in- 
 structions, and of Paul's — the elevation of character ... is 
 mostly lost sight of.' ' It is not life, spirit, which tests the Christian, 
 but/orms, days^ ordinances^ creeds.' ' The entangling scientific state- 
 ments — not the expression of the Bible (nor its teachings either, always) — 
 the fabric of the schools, are presented as Christianity, to be sworn to 
 ere one can join those loho love Christy &fc. ; and most of all, before oue 
 can be allowed to preach in His name.' 
 
 '' With views such as these, I find myself painfully situated. Bigotry 
 is all around me. It is thought there is more liberty at the West 
 than at the East. With the people perhaps it is so. Yet with the 
 ministry I should think it the reverse, though I cannot speak from 
 much acquaintance with the East. But the handle of our pap-spoon 
 is at the East, and so we have to turn our faces that way to get the 
 bowl into our mouths. This makes us wonderfully orthodox. We 
 must stand so straight as to lean back. Add to this the cry of loose- 
 ness, from the Presbyterians, and we drive things tight enough. 
 
 "Witness . . . the Albany Convention. 
 
 " Would I had been there. I would have stood up and told cer- 
 tain of them there was one Congregationalist at the West who would 
 not ask their right hand of fellowship if they did not want to give it 
 — but they might glove it from base common air and keep it to them- 
 selves. 
 
 " But how in the world do you expect, my brother, to get license 
 to preach in this free country 1 You are preparing to preach, are 
 you not ? I hope you will not scorn the pulpit, for it needs such as 
 you. How much sympathy do you find East ? Is H. W. B. a man 
 after your heart ? Are there more ? But I must close. I have writ- 
 ten you in confidence, and will so treat any thing you may favor me 
 me with. And do grant me the favor of a reply, if possible. 
 
 " Yours, in the love of Christ, and of the world He has redeemed, 
 
 W. H. S." 
 3 
 
34 MEMOIR. 
 
 The above letter indicates a wish that the creed of the 
 Church should be more brief, and should be expressed in 
 the very words of Scripture. Though he did not join 
 in the cry against all creeds, he did regard the present 
 creed system as pernicious in many ways. His Discourses 
 on Sectarianism were not intended as a warfare against a 
 formal Confession of Faith ; they bear simply against the 
 present system of Confessions, by which the attention of 
 Christians is diverted from the Word of God, and the 
 Lord's Body is rent asunder 
 
 In the discipline of the Church, Mr. S. did regard the 
 creed as of no practical use. It was no test of piety, and 
 hence no just rule for the admission of members to com- 
 munion. And he remarked that it was rarely, if ever, the 
 basis of accusation against disorderly members of the 
 Church ; unchristian conduct, and not doctrinal error, he 
 found to be the actual occasion of the Church discipline. 
 Why, then, should the creed be ostensibly a rule of judg- 
 ment, which in fact it is not ? 
 
 His idea of Christian union is given in his own words. 
 It is not " a mechanical and forced union of those who are 
 determined not to tolerate the free exercise of conscience 
 in each other. By no means. The union for which I 
 look, and long, is to be brought about by a certain change of 
 views among Christians ; not by their coming to a com- 
 mon doctrinal basis, as these words are generally under- 
 stood, but by their coming to see that it is every man's 
 duty to be governed by his own conscience in the fear of 
 God, and therefore, that it is the duty of his brother to 
 allow him to do thus. Sectarianism seems to me to be based 
 on the notion that Christians must insist on other men's 
 adopting their judgments. Do you ask, * Have you no 
 
^ • MEMOIR. 35 
 
 standard, then 1 Yes — implicit faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, (as the very idea of a Christian implies,) proven 
 not by their agreeing to what dogmas you attribute to 
 Christ, but ' by their fruits,' — penitence, love, prayer." 
 
 These views were extended to the relations of the min- 
 isters of the Gospel one to another. He was no Brownist. 
 He did not affect an Independency for Avhich the warmest 
 feeling of his heart, and his entire social being, unfitted 
 him. But he did deprecate those rules of ecclesiastical 
 judgment by which intelligent and devoted followers of 
 Christ might be condemned as unworthy to preach His 
 Gospel. 
 
 These views appear in his earliest public relations to the 
 ministry. Called in the year 1850 to give the charge to a 
 candidate for ordination, he says : " I told him not to hold 
 back his hand of greeting and brotherhood from any who 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; for which he 
 afterward thanked me." 
 
 He tells us that at the same meeting in which he gave 
 the above charge, another brother presented himself for 
 ordination. " But he w^as laboring under some wrong im- 
 pression, and, in his conversation with the Association, be- 
 came embarrassed; while the Association, on the other 
 hand, showed the jealousy of its prerogatives and its dig- 
 nity which place always feels, and abused him. I felt 
 grieved ; for what a discouragement to young men who 
 may be looking forward to the ministry ! . . . Did 
 not join the Association ; could not assent to the basis on 
 which it is founded, viz. : harmony of intellectual views, and 
 avouchment for each other's soundness — a basis which 
 makes separation from many that love Christ necessary, 
 and so makes the Association a cZwsociation ; a basis which 
 
36 MEMOIR. 
 
 fetters my mind by subjecting me to be tried for my views 
 by an original body ; and a basis which requires me to do 
 for other men and to ask from them what I will neither do 
 nor ask, viz., vouch for the soundness in the faith of them 
 or me. That is, I will not do this under the form of a 
 standing organism. Individual vouchers I would not re- 
 fuse to give or ask when it might seem necessary, except, 
 indeed, that I do not wish to ask (if it can be avoided) any 
 man to vouch for my orthodoxy, lest I should be less free 
 to think for fear of injuring him by coming out unorthodox." 
 
 This was written some time before he joined the local 
 Association, as above stated. He afterwards, in April, 
 1852, joined the General Association of Illinois, assenting 
 to the Articles of Faith. " Yet," says he, " my belief 
 on the points touched therein, (or many of them,) is quite 
 different from that of many or most of the Association. I 
 could so interpret the form of words as to make it express 
 my views ; and as this is the fashion, I consented, with 
 reluctance." 
 
 He subsequently, upon occasion, ceased to be a member 
 of the local Association, for the reason that it was more 
 properly a Consociation, and became united with the 
 Association of Chicago, in which he hoped to find the prin- 
 ciples of Congregational polity more strictly maintained. 
 With the brethren of this Association, he held the prayer- 
 ful counstls which his soul craved, as a preacher of Christ, 
 until his death. And, in their estimate of his character, 
 when they came to mourn his loss, they were "saddened 
 with the conviction, that a good man, a true man, and a 
 strong man, whom the churches and the great s'.ruggling 
 "West could poorly afford to spare, had fallen in the midst 
 of his days." • 
 
MEMOIR. 37 
 
 His views of the danger of ecclesiastical powei even in 
 the hands of well-meaning men, are most forcibly stated 
 in the following passage of liis journal. It will show, also, 
 that he was no stranger to prudential views and consider- 
 ations : ^-^ 
 
 ^'-July 20th, 1851. Have to-day been reading the defence of Rev. 
 Theodore Clapp, of New Orleans, delivered in 1832, before the Pres- 
 bytery of ]\Iississippi. It evinces extraordinary and wonderful talent, 
 dignity, self-command, and fearlessness, with, also, great seeming 
 mildness, generosity, and forbearance ; a truly, and, in general, an 
 eminently Christian spirit. I have received from it impressions more 
 vivid than I ever before felt of the power of slander, and of wicked 
 men by it to greatly injure a good man, and with him the cause of 
 Christ. And in seeing how he was slandered and abused, and the 
 grounds of it, I see, too, my danger. Oh, my God ! I see to what I 
 am exposed — what I may be called to suffer. But if this be Thy will, 
 Lord, let Thy will be done. I trust I shall be willing to bear it. And 
 do Thou teach me how to bear it, and to do no ill. 
 
 " Mr. Clapp's defence further shows me, whether true or false, how 
 extremely dangerous it is. for a man of any independence of thought 
 or action, in the ministry of the Gospel, to commit himself to the 
 judicial authority of an ecclesiastical body, not personally cognizant 
 of his daily life and words : but dependent, first, for their hasty opin- 
 ions, and, secondly, for their deliberate judgment, upon the reports of 
 other men, whose lives they cannot corjpare with his, and whose 
 reasons for evil speaking they cannot know certainly ; and bound, 
 also, by their every position to stereotyped creeds and philosophies. 
 Mr. Clapp's defence also teaches me to be very cautious about con- 
 fiding to any man my thoughts about any thing or any body, where 
 there is a possibility of my words being misrepresented or made a 
 bad use of. Yet this caution should not be observed selfishly, or in a 
 cowardly manner. "Where truth needs to be spoken, let me speak 
 boldly ; but let me beware of merely social outpourings in serious 
 matters. 
 
 " As to the merits of Mr. Clapp's case, I can only judge imper- 
 fectly, from a brief glance at the reports of the proceedings of Pres- 
 bytery, but have this opinion : That he was sincere, but in the wrong 
 
38 MEMOIR. 
 
 place ; that the Presbytery meant well, but misunderstood him in 
 part, and, from the very necessities of their views, could not deal with 
 him on what I think Christian principles." 
 
 The invitation of a dlsfellowsliipped minister to preach 
 from his pulpit, which ceased not after his death to be im- 
 plied as a generous indiscretion, should here be noticed, 
 because his own defence may- be permitted to die with 
 him. 
 
 The ret was censured as disorderly, or as injudicious ; 
 hardly as in itself wrong. But it was not disorderly, un- 
 less either the Association had control of the pulpits of its 
 churches, or the advocacy of doctrine condemned as heret- 
 ical was contemplated. But neither of these things was 
 pretended. The person invited to preach had no desire, 
 from the first, to urge any peculiar views ; and that he was 
 not unfitted to exhort or to instruct in the Gospel, was con- 
 fessed in his being invited, directly after the act of disfel- 
 lowship, by a leading member of the Association, to 
 conduct the prayer-meeting of Mr. S's church. 
 
 But it is said this invitation then was injudicious. If 
 the act of disfellowship was considered wrong, there should 
 have been delay until it was reversed. The reply is, the 
 recovery of an ecclesiastical sanction to preach might be 
 late and uncertain. And it was not essential; the opinions 
 of various ministers, reported to the Association before its 
 action, but unheeded, were valid, both as an ex-par te coun- 
 sel, arid as indicating the true import of the act with- 
 drawing fellowship. 
 
 For the real point at issue was this : Was the con- 
 demned opinion heresy, or was it mere heterodoxy ? This 
 distinction was made by the dissenter, in his confession of 
 a changed opinion. For his new opinion he was ready to 
 
MEMOIR. 39 
 
 give his reasons, and had urged his moral right to a full 
 hearing. He did not, however, wish to be a burden to 
 "Western Congregationalism, or to press a discussion which 
 might only end in a divided opinion. In view of all the 
 facts, he might well suppose the Association designed sim- 
 ply to terminate its special responsibility, as he was willing 
 it should do, without assuming the new responsibility of 
 declaring him a heretic, and as nothing less than a heretic 
 could, if at all, condemn him. 
 
 Up6n a subsequent hearing of his views, with his rea- 
 sons, by a vote indecisive because informal, they were pro- 
 nounced not heretical. 
 
 About a year before his death, on the occasion of tran- 
 sient difficulties in his church, he expressed himself as 
 follows : 
 
 " I feel much exhausted and weighed down. Have never had such 
 desponding thoughts and feelings. It seems as if there were no place 
 of labor for me in the world, and no peace : strife and trouble follow 
 upon my heels. The trouble here, combined with my usual grief and 
 trial about the intolerance of Christians, added to my lethargic diffi- 
 culty, make the burden more than I seem able to bear. I have been 
 almost ready to renounce the ministry, at least in the regular way. 
 
 " Have felt sometimes comfort in thinking that my Saviour was 
 ' a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,' and that I should not, 
 therefore, expect a better lot." 
 
 His Discourses on Sectarianism were delivered not long 
 after this time ; and they will show how unselfish were his 
 griefs. In addition to rumors of heresy, he suffered, per- 
 haps, no more than the greater number of pastors, from 
 the tale-bearing which is inseparable from the spirit of 
 sect. Yet his sensitive nature and chafed feelings uttered 
 no unchristian murmur. He alluded to his troubles rarely ; 
 and never except for some purpose of duty — to correct an 
 
4Q MEMOIR. 
 
 error with kindness and truth. On one occasion he urged 
 from the pulpit the "Duty of Not Believing," with refer- 
 ence to the evils we have named, in an effective discourse, 
 without harshness, and without gainsaying. And in pri- 
 vate he never spoke bitterly of those who troubled him. 
 " Many times," says an intimate friend, " I have felt really 
 amazed, when I have been conversing with him in the retire- 
 ment of his pleasant study, and have alluded to the diffi- 
 culties that hedged his toilsome journey down the path 
 of life — and never could induce him to manifest even 
 some faint sign of proper resentment of unmerited con- 
 tumely." 
 
 We should not have told the story of his griefs so fully, 
 if it had not a moral. But we should fail to set forth the 
 lesson to be learned from his life, if we did not make the 
 burden of his life apparent. We honor the prophets un- 
 truly, if we remember not their lamentations ; and we 
 do not hasten " the good time coming," if we seem to 
 say that the present time is well nigh faultless, or that men 
 of progress find these to be days of ease. And we have 
 written the more freely of his sorrows, because he was so 
 void of personal feeling to be gratified, or sinister purpose 
 to be promoted, by such a record ; — and still less, because 
 we would resent, in his b:)half, the injuries which he could 
 only forgive. In so far as he suffered purely for the sake 
 of Christ and the Gospel, a mitigation of the evils which 
 he saw and felt is the only reparation which can be de- 
 sired. But evils, like virtues, become perfect through suf- 
 ferings, whose faithful story is also their dirge. 
 
 And now, having been assured that his home and his 
 study were the abode of peace, let us look in upon him 
 there, and inquire what were his familiar thoughts and ways. 
 
MEMOIR. 41 
 
 His home was the picture of neatness and quiet, where 
 friend and stranger were ever welcome. Time did not 
 permit his hist earthly residence to become what he de- 
 signed ; but its tidy comforts were due, in large measure, 
 to his industrious skill. In person, he was slender, and 
 below middle stature ; his aspect was youthful, often to his 
 disadvantage, when manhood and age seemed alone want- 
 ing to enforce his counsels. His bearing was ever digni- 
 fied ; his look slightly forbidding, as that of one in earnest, 
 or of abstracted thoughts — yet very affable, a pleasant 
 talker, and often full of humor. He loved a hearty laugh. 
 We recollect the delight with which he repeated the story 
 of one of Isaac T. Hopper's boyish freaks, and the 
 roguish sympathy he felt with old Isaac, telling the story 
 himself. He could talk nonsense, but he never trifled. He 
 seemed ever conscious of a Heaven above him and a world 
 around him, between which his being was divided. He 
 entered heartily into the wants and feelings of all ; none 
 could be with him without a quickening of the finer feel- 
 ings and nobler aspirations. 
 
 With his dear companion, he visited freely and affec- 
 tionately with his people. But his loved work was to think 
 of Christ and His truth, in the retirement of his study. 
 As life advanced, all minor pursuits gave way to the study 
 of the Scriptures, which he daily perused, both in the 
 translation and in the orio-inal, with great care and delio^ht. 
 A most intimate friend testifies that " his hfe was a life of 
 earnest, importunate prayer ; and that from this source he 
 derived the suggestion of his best and most profitable pub- 
 lic discourses." His special preparations for the pulpit 
 were rapidly made, and they uniformly possessed unity and 
 energy, showing a vigorous mind and a glowing heart. 
 
 3^ 
 
42 MEMOIR. 
 
 One of the friends who has spoken of his mental quali- 
 ties, thinks his mind could have been, and was directed 
 with much success to metaphysical truth. His Discourses 
 on Faith, will, we trust, confirm this opinion, and none 
 the less because they were designed for the general reader. 
 But his most nice researches in this department of truth 
 were left incomplete. On the subject of mental philosophy 
 he had made voluminous notes, which he hoped at some 
 day to digest into a work for publication. It is interest- 
 ing to observe that in this region where religion so oftea 
 appears lacking, or rathar where the lack of religion so 
 often appears, the piety of Mr. S. seems most natural. '• I 
 wrote this morning," says he, under date of November 
 1850, "my note on the source of the sentiment of right 
 and wrong. Felt grateful to God that, as it seems to me, 
 I have been able to understand and unfold this most im- 
 portant subject, which has been involved in so much dark- 
 ness and caused so much perplexity." 
 
 The notes of Mr. S. on this central question of morals 
 are interesting, not because they are new, though original 
 with him, but as showing the teeming activity of his in- 
 quiries on all connected points. His view on the point 
 named, is, we think, substantially as Dr. Hutcheson's theo- 
 ry of the moral sense. " The feeling of obligation is one of 
 the natural susceptibilities of the mind, just as love or anger 
 is." It is " a moral instinct, strictly emotive in its nature." 
 " The sense of beauty in the mind is a natural sentiment, 
 consisting both of a natural perception and a corresponding 
 or answering feeling. Just so the sense of right and wrong 
 consists of both the moral perception and the answering 
 emotion." But these statements did not begin to exhaust 
 the subject, in the mind of our young philosopher. What 
 
MEMOIR. 43 
 
 is to be said of an external standard of right ? What is 
 the highest good ? If it be happiness, how is the duty of 
 the creature related to the happiness of the Creator ? What 
 is goodness, as distinct from simple justice^!? Is the dis- 
 tinction between these the same in man as in God ? What 
 is the nature and "bound of a creature's right to happiness? 
 Where does benign justice end, and grace begin'? How 
 does authority, or the power to enforce a law, affect its 
 justice? What is the relation of hope and fear, to tlie mor- 
 al character of an act ? It is strictly true that " con- 
 science does make cowards of us all ;" or is that cowardice 
 the better part of heroism ? How is moral action related 
 to influence, either from a fellow-man, or from God ? A 
 human soul, subjected to a certain measure of evil influ- 
 ences, will certainly sin. Is it equally certain that, sub- 
 jected to a given measure of good influences, it will do 
 right ? 
 
 By these and a thousand other like questionings, cher- 
 ished in no idle curiosity, but in view of man's nature as 
 basely fallen from an infinitely glorious destiny and redeem- 
 ed again therefor, Mr. S., we think, fairly challenges the 
 title of Thinker. The form of these notes indicates the 
 habit of the author's mind— evidently penned under the 
 impulse of rapid thought, without present care or method. 
 Sybilline leaves they would be, if the thread of argument 
 and a little after-thought had not connected them. The 
 bent of his mind toward such inquiries was also in perfect 
 keeping with a disrelish for what we may call ecclesiasti- 
 cism. Much as he suffered from that power, and deeply 
 as he deplored, for Christ's sake, the evils it wrought, it 
 was never a favorite subject of his studies. Hence, while 
 on rational grounds, and in the interpretation of the Scrip- 
 
44 MEMOIR. 
 
 tures, he was able to oppose all its claims, he was less pre- 
 pared to answer it from the facts of history, and from its 
 own documents. He knew it mainly as a congeries of mod- 
 ern customs ; of its want of authoritative decisions and 
 precedents he was, like many others, not always aware. He 
 sought, not authorities, but truth ; and while he read much, 
 he thought more. To all externalities, or questions of out- 
 ward order, that can only breed disorder, he preferred no- 
 bler themes of meditation and discourse. Well might he 
 have answered in the words of Leighton, when his friends 
 thought him indifferent to the secular interests of the 
 Church, that " while so many were zealously preaching up 
 the times, it might be permitted to one poor servant of 
 Christ to preach up Heaven and eternity." 
 
 He did not indeed preach up " the times ;" yet he was 
 truly a man for the time in which he lived. In all his 
 studies, he never forgot that he was connected by a thou- 
 sand ties to the race of mankind. His high and religious 
 sense of humanity made him a Preacher ; and he entered 
 the sacred desk, fervid with the prayerful meditations of 
 his study, a preacher of righteousness. 
 
 Holding the Gospel as the only hope of a fallen race he 
 shrunk not from applying its principles to all the relations 
 of human duty. Most of all did he "remember those in 
 bonds, as bound with them," pleading their cause as those 
 whom Christ had redeemed, and protesting earnestly, upon 
 every new occasion, against their oppressions. The last 
 discourse to which he set his hand, and which he never 
 lived to finish, was in view of the passage of the Nebraska 
 Bill, that has since brought the country to the verge of civil 
 war. And whatever human interest he sought to advance, 
 he ever spoke in the name of Him who died for man. His 
 
MEMOIR. 45 
 
 theme, and his manner, found their dignity in the faith of 
 Him who hath in all things the just preeminence. 
 
 Professor Post, from whom the reader has already heard 
 of Mr. S. as a scholar, speaks of him also as a preacher, 
 and an inquirer after truth. He says : 
 
 " Of his general character and success as a minister of the Gospel, 
 others, from nearer and constant observation, can speak more fully 
 than myself I can only say, that all performances by him in the 
 pulpit and on public occasions, to which I bad opportunity to listen, 
 were of high gfade and promise, both intellectual and rhetorical; 
 they were marked with true originality and independence of thought, 
 and yet with great candor and earnestness. He ever impressed me, 
 both in private intercourse and in the pulpit, as a sincere, honest, in- 
 dependent and intrepid thinker — blending much simplicity and godly 
 sincerity with high intellectual power. He seemed to me an earnest 
 seeker after truth, single-minded, resolute and conscientious in its 
 pursuit, and in the utterance of what he supposed it to be. If mis- 
 taken, or impracticable, or one-sided in his views, I felt his Christian 
 ingenuousness, earnestness, and honesty ; and his simple and humble 
 piety gave assurance he would ultimately rectify what was amiss, 
 and complete what was defective. I felt he sincerely sought God's 
 aid. and wished to know and utter His Truth, and that he was one 
 whom God would help. He aimed too, I believe, to do God's will, as 
 well as to know it. Practically, he was an honest, earnest, God- 
 loving man. He knew not how to temporize or conceal. The dan- 
 gers in his case were ever in a tendency to the opposite and nobler 
 extreme. 
 
 '■ I felt, when startled by the sorrowful tidings of his premature 
 death, that one had gone who was ripe for an exchange of worlds, 
 but in whose early decease the cause of Christian truth and man- 
 hood had suffered a great loss." 
 
 A number of the friends who knew him well in Elgin, 
 prominent citizens and members of the church to which 
 he ministered, have borne similar testimony to his viitues. 
 They say : 
 
4:6 MEMOIR. 
 
 " He came among us, a stranger, but his purity of character, and 
 his earnestness in the advocacy of truth in all its relations to the 
 highest interests of mankind, soon won for him the esteem and re- 
 spect of numerous friends, who will never cease to cherish the warm- 
 est regard for his memory. Karely have we met with one possessing 
 so many excellencies of character qualifying him for usefulness — so 
 much gentleness, sincerity, and true piety, combined with uncommon 
 intellectual culture and talents of a high order. 
 
 " In our judgment, it would be doing great injustice to the memory 
 of Mr. Starr, to convey the impression that he was one of the ordina- 
 ry type of ministers who occupy our Western pulpits. He seemed to 
 understand and appreciate the spirit and wants of the age, and took 
 a broad and liberal view of all subjects which relate to the welfare of 
 man. He was unusually free from all bondage to creeds and opinions, 
 and in his public as well as private teachings endeavored to promote 
 and encourage in others the same freedom of thought which he him- 
 self exercised. He believed in progress, and that all men should be 
 free — and hence he was earnestly opposed to the exercise of mere hu- 
 man authority in matters of religion. It may be truly said of him, 
 ' He spake not what men, but what he, thought.' This scented to re- 
 sult from his perfect sincerity, truthfulness, and honesty, and not from 
 any desire of distinction. He was one of those who are willing to be 
 wiser to-day than yesterday. And, like all men of large soul and 
 liberal views, he was tolerant of the opinions of others, condemning 
 no one for his honest convictions, however erroneous. He was bold, 
 free, and untrammelled in the advocacy of whatever he believed to be 
 right ; and though naturally disposed to be at peace with all men, 
 without giving offence to any one, he could not withhold what seem- 
 ed to him important truth, when the occasion demanded that it should 
 be spoken. 
 
 " Temperance, Anti-Slavery, and all other movements for the eleva- 
 tion of humanity, found in Mr. Starr a warm friend and earnest ad- 
 vocate. Practical Christianity was far more important in his view 
 than forms of doctrine ; and hence he was always ready to extend 
 the right hand of Christian fellowship to all who gave evidence of 
 Christian character in their lives, without requiring them to accept 
 his own peculiar views of theology. Although few men possessed 
 more acute and discriminating minds, or were more familiar with all 
 questions of technical theology, yet regarding the simple and practi- 
 
MEMOIR 47 
 
 cal teachings of Christ as containing all that is essential to true re- 
 ligion, he opposed all systems and forms which require conformity of 
 belief in mere theological dogmas and non-essential matters of faith. 
 " This communication can give but a faint conception of his real 
 worth. But enough has been stated to show that he was eminently 
 fitted for usefulness, and that the Church and the world sustained a 
 serious and irreparable loss in his death ; for such men are much 
 needed in the ministry at the present day, and seldom found. While 
 we mourn for his loss, it is gratifying to know that the influence of 
 his teachings and example is still felt for good in the community, and 
 wherever he was known." 
 
 The depressed feelings of Mr. S. in view of the evils of 
 sect, and of the suspicions which annojed him, were renew- 
 ed on the occasion we have adverted to, shortly before his 
 death. His views of Christian liberty were misunderstood ; 
 bis defence seemed to be heard reluctantly; "a heretic has 
 no rights," said he, —and he thought the rule of the civil- 
 ians respecting the ninety and nine guilty and the innocent 
 one, was reversed in ecclesiastical jurisprudence. In a 
 letter to a friend, under date of February 21, 1854, after 
 speaking of his inclination to quit the Church, he says : 
 
 " An expression in your letter has helped me to right myself, how- 
 ever. It is best for me, I suppose, and it is the correct principle, that 
 I should not leave the Church till I am driven out, b lieving it to be 
 indeed of Christ's body ; and, within certain limits, I must submit to 
 every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake. Neither am I bound, 
 as I see, to divulge my philosophical opinions to my brethren (if I 
 can have patience to hold them in) , because they have deceived them- 
 selves about them ; but as long as I can stay in the Church, and work 
 for freer and more charitable principles in it, I ought, perhaps, to do 
 so. It -woxxld he a great deal easier, less trying to the spirit, to leave 
 at once and set up for myself; for then I might obtain tolerance, as 
 of a distinct sect, and be kindly regarded and treated, instead of 
 being watched and waylaid, as a suspicious character in the sect. 
 
 " Many a good man has had to endure hardship, and to wait long 
 
48 MEMOIR. 
 
 for vindication and truth's triumph — yea, many hare closed their eyes 
 upon the world before it came. . . . 
 
 " Dear brother, let us strive, and pray for greater holiness. For our 
 dear Master's sake, let us endeavor to keep -our spirits subdued to 
 the sway of love. . . . ' Rejoice in the Lord alway,' my brother. 
 It is not what we cfo, but what we are, that most concerns." 
 
 These were the beginning of his last words. Death was 
 already on its way, taking, in its course, the spirit of his 
 mother-in-law, Mrs. Jane S. Collins, who had died on 
 the 23d of January. In a hurried visit to the paternal 
 roof, Mr. S. and his sorrowiu'^ companion had looked 
 upon the face of the dead, returning to Elgin on the 10th 
 of February. With the note of this event, and of a mar- 
 riage in his parish, a few days after, his journal closes. 
 The next parting and reiihion were to be his own. His 
 work was done. 
 
 On Friday, the 24th of February, he was quite unwell, 
 and would frequently leave his study, and try to dissipate 
 his feelings by conversation or some light employment. 
 The next morning a physician was called. On Monday, 
 he thought his recovery doubtful, but said to his wife : 
 " Have no fears for me ; it will be well Avith me." The 
 next day his disease proved to be that most dreadful 
 malady, the small-pox. Wednesday morning he desired 
 to look out at the window, and remarked, " How pleasant 
 to see the light of a beautiful morning once more," But 
 at night he became delirious, and continued wandering 
 during the greater part of the day following. On Satur- 
 day he was much better, and dictated to his wife a message 
 to his people, respecting a series of meetings which he had 
 expected would be held. That night his tongue began to 
 falter, and, with the closing hour of Monday, March 6 th, 
 
MEMOIR. 49 
 
 shortly after his last word, that he was " better," his voice 
 was hushed in death. 
 
 "And when I learned, a few daj^s after," says the 
 friend who knew his trials best, " that God had removed 
 him by a sudden and unexpected disease, although I 
 mourned his loss as my dear Christian friend, I, in spite of 
 myself, blessed God that He had taken him away from the 
 evil to come." 
 
 A dear friend offers the following appropriate tribute to 
 his memory : 
 
 Farewell, true heart ! Thou hast found thy rest. A Father's man- 
 sion is opened unto thee. A Saviour's arms are ready to enfold thee. 
 The joyful award, " Well done, good and faithful servant," is 
 already thine. He whose faithful minister thou wast on earth, has 
 released thee early from thy toil, and called thy spirit from its earthly 
 tabernacle to His own blessed abode. 
 
 Thou wast by nature too sensitive long to bear the shock of life's 
 stern battle ; too fearless in urging thy Master's cause, to escape the 
 shafts of bitterness aimed at those who fear not man, but God. A 
 faithful w:ttchman upon the towers of Israel, thou wast a shining 
 mark for the arrows of envy and detraction. An earnest seeker after 
 truth, thou couldst not escape the assaults of bigotry. Self-sacri- 
 ficing and artless, thou couldst not contend against the craft of 
 worldly Avisdom. Frithful and uncompromising, thou couldst not 
 please the time-serving and the fearful. Yet so gentle and winning, 
 that all who loved thy Master, or sought His grace, might take new 
 courage at thy cheering words. 
 
 Th:ni hast left friends — tried and trusty, while thou wert with them, 
 and whose hearts beat more quickly now, as they remember thy labor 
 of love and thy earnest ministry in spiritual things. Thou hast 
 friends who forget not the words of life thou didst speak — nor the 
 bread of life, which, in humble imitation of thy Master, thou didst 
 offer to all who loved Him, serving and obeying Him. Friends and 
 kinilred hast thou left, who love thee truly, who think of thee daily, 
 whcse hope and prayer is to follow thee in thy example, and to meet 
 thee again in thy reward. 
 
50 MEMOIR. 
 
 Many souls there are in which the seed thou didst freely scatter has 
 taken root, and sprung up, and borne fruit abundantly, — choking 
 the foul weeds of sin and error, bringing them out from bondage into 
 the liberty of Christ. These shall be gathered for thee in the Har- 
 vest, and the joy of thy labor shall be full. 
 
 Sleep on then, Brother ! and take thy rest. We sorrow not for 
 thee. Thine is the gain — the loss is ours. And while we grieve for 
 ourselves, we forget not that divine wisdom will jet solve the 
 mystery of thy removal from us : for, our Father doeth all things 
 well ! 
 
 A beautiful monument has been erected bj his beloved 
 congregation, with the following inscriptions : 
 
 REV. WM. H. STARR, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ELGIN. 
 
 Born at Middletown^ Conn.^ April 27, 1817. 
 Died at Elgin, III., March, 1854. 
 
 Translated from the troublous pilgrimage of life, our friend and 
 teacher " sleeps well." Some few of those who revered and appre- 
 ciated the sainted dead, while he traveled the thorny pathway of life 
 uncomplainingly, and full of Christian faith, have erected this mon- 
 umental marble and consecrated it to his memory, securely relying 
 on that blessed promise of Holy Writ which applies to him who has 
 gone before to the unreturning tomb. 
 
 " The teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; 
 and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and 
 ever." 
 
 Call it not vain; they do not err, 
 Who say that when a teacher dies, 
 Religion mourns her worshiper, 
 And celebrates his obsequies. 
 
 "We entertained an angel unawares." 
 
PASSAGES FROM 
 
 "THE FUGITIVE." 
 
 A NARRATIVE POEM. 
 
 " Open thy mouth for the dumb; plead the cause of the poor and needy." 
 
 " 'TwAS evening of a golden summer day. 
 Beyond where rolls Missouri's turbid flood, 
 A scene of nature's vast magnificence, 
 Wilt re heaped her bounties and her beauties lay, 
 Glowed in the sunset flush ; nor earth alone, — 
 But cloud-built piles hung in the liquid blue 
 That arched above, reflecting fulgent hues 
 That made the air a glory and a joy, 
 And lured the eye to gaze, and heaved the heart 
 With gladness and thanksgiving. Is there one 
 Whom Nature moves not with her evening smile? 
 Can any look upon a scene so fair. 
 Nor feel the mantling glow from field and cloud 
 Stealing upon his soul, until it flames 
 With pleasure like their own I And where's a heart 
 
 Could lie in shadows, 'mid a radiance bright 
 
 As this ? Sweet radiance ! that seemed lingering long, 
 
 As it unwilling to forsake or mar 
 
 Such beauty. Who, with sorrow's tones, could bring 
 
 One jar upon the faultless sweet accord 
 
 Of that high hymn of Nature to her God ? 
 
 Alas ! there was a man that moved through all, 
 
 Untouched by one sweet sympathy of joy. 
 
52 PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIV. 
 
 Forest and plain, and mountain- cloud gold-dyed, 
 He heeded not, nor thought of loveliness 
 Or praise ; — and why ? His heart is all too full 
 Of some strange sorrow, shutting in his sense." 
 
 This creature had a human form, and soul, and love for 
 wife and child ; and they 
 
 " Were well — and now of his fast coming steps 
 Expectant smiled. In him, then, why such grief? 
 I said, a man. Yes ! God's hand made him so : 
 But man ! man's laws — oh, Heaven ! — made him a thing ! 
 Not man, nor ox, nor dog ; nay, not a plough, 
 Or hoe ; — but a poor, lone, unclassed something, 
 Without a name but for that one word, slaveP 
 
 He resolves upon escape : 
 
 " I'll go, then, though the way is crowded thick 
 With every danger : freedom is the prize 
 I run for ; they, for blood ; and shall I not 
 Outstrip them in the race ? 
 
 Setting out with wife and child, he crosses the Missouri, 
 and the " Father of Waters," with the help of rude rafts, 
 and begins to feel that he is free. But not yet. Even in 
 a land consecrated to liberty, 
 
 " A law is writ 
 Which says, The man who dares be black, must be 
 A slave, unless he prove that he is free. 
 
 Oh, blasphemy upon the form of man ! 
 The work of God ! Prove that the stars are pure ! 
 Prove that the Heaven is high, and God dwells there. 
 But ask not for the proof that He has made 
 All human souls with human rights, — lest thou 
 Seem not a man, and God deny thy claim 
 To that sweet mercy He for man has wrought." 
 " There is a law, another law, which says — 
 
Passages from the fugitive. 53 
 
 Give not thy hungering brother bread — shield not 
 The homeless stranger — tell him not his way — 
 Nay, rather, if the starving wretch ask help, 
 Chain him, and sell him, for a wandering dog. 
 Great God ! and yet the grass grows green ! and yet 
 How canst Thou see't, and hold Thy lightnings back! 
 
 After a fine paraphrase of Matt, xxv., 34 — 43, the poem 
 advances to a conclusion : 
 
 " There are, who for the right scorn the world's scorn, 
 Despise its threatening wrath, and will not be 
 The truckling minions of tyrannic wrong. 
 And they will help — and thou, brave man, shalt go, 
 "With the dear sharers of thy toils and hopes, 
 Safe to unshackled freedom." 
 
 The epilogue appears to have been added at a later date. 
 We give it entire. 
 
 " Thus, friends and fellow-freemen, thus, 
 The hunted slave appeals to us. 
 Thus Christ's own warning in our ears 
 Is sounded, to assure our fears 
 Of His dread vengeance for the wrong 
 That through the earth has triumphed long. 
 Thus his blest promise pleads, again, 
 To lift the yoke and break the chain. 
 But oh ! Thou God of glory, see 
 Men mock and spurn Thy high decree ; 
 And, with the trump of law, proclaim 
 Their wrathful scorn upon Thy name. 
 A NATION, leagued, now dares defy. 
 Great God, the lightning of Thine eye ; 
 Uses the power which Thou hast given, 
 To rend the statutes of high Heaven, 
 Proclaim Thy law repealed, and those 
 "Who dare obey it, wrath-doomed foes. 
 
 Our tears no more we now must shed 
 O'er pity banished, jnstice dead j 
 
54 PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE. 
 
 No more must feel the prisoner's sigh ; 
 No more must hear the wanderer's cry ; 
 The outcast, hunted and betrayed, 
 By deed, or word, or look, to aid ; — 
 Nay. not to join the onset made^ 
 Is treason now ! and death the doom ! 
 Room for the hangman, freemen ! room ! 
 The law commands, and we must fear, 
 Senates are God's vice-gerents here : 
 Nay, higher than God's throne appear. 
 
 My country, is it thou^ hast dared 
 Defy God's arm of vengeance bared? 
 And shall thy sons the horror crown, 
 And the rebellion make their own ? 
 Say, Christian freemen ! shall we yield 
 Our manhood's arms in such a field ? 
 This law's commands, say ! shall we fear? 
 Are Senates God's vice-gerents here? 
 They may crush the weak, and help the strong, 
 But can they alter right and wrong ? 
 Can they turn God's wrath into a smile? 
 Or make that pure which He made vile ? 
 Can human Senates break His rod? 
 Can Congress change the law of God ? 
 
 Not so our fathers judged, who strove 
 For the freedom they have taught us love, 
 'Gainst king and senate, arms and laws ; 
 Battling 'gainst power, in manhood's cause. 
 
 No human laws can change the right ! 
 Here kings have no power, armies no might. 
 Nay, right and wrong, men once did own. 
 Eternal are, as God's high throne ! 
 Not God Himself can loose their bonds ! 
 In their dread might His kingdom stands. 
 He sways His sceptre by their laws ; 
 Thus Heaven He savos, and hell He awes 
 Provoke not, then, their awful power, 
 Nations, or men : their vengeful hour 
 Ye cannot 'scape, nor fly their doom ; 
 
PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE. 55 
 
 Their strength is resistless, their hour will come. 
 'Tis God who wields their sovereign might ; 
 Ye cannot shun His piercing sight. 
 Repeal the wicked law ! the guilt, 
 The deepening, blackening, gathering guilt, 
 Of blood, in Moloch's conquests spilt, 
 Of justice turned aside for gold; 
 Of freemen into bondage sold; 
 Of prisoners bound, and hurried back, 
 To die on Slavery's lingering rack ; 
 Of sundered ones, 'whom God had joined," 
 Without one farewell word, consigned 
 To life-long severance in the home 
 Of darkness, xvhence no tidings come ; 
 Of weeping girlhood dragged to shame ; 
 Of cruel wrongs without a name ; 
 Of hopeless sorrow, groans and tears, 
 Through the long agony of years ; — 
 This guilt, this dreadful guilt, is yours, 
 My countrymen, while still endures 
 That wicked law by which 'tis wrought ! 
 'Tis yours, unless, remitting not. 
 You lift your voice, and stretch your hand, 
 To drive it from this groaning land. 
 The wicked law you fail to oppose 
 Stands with your virtual assent. "Woes 
 You might, but will not, aid to heal, 
 'Gainst you to Heaven make just appeal. 
 Go ! blot that law from off the page 
 Stained with its record ! Let the age 
 No more such shames and miseries know; 
 Forget all meaner strifes, and show 
 Your first love is fur freedom ! Let 
 Thy freeman's soul be firmly set. 
 That the glad day shall hasten, when 
 Freedom has conquered ! 
 
 And, till then, 
 Go aid the feeble captive's flight ; 
 Give food and shelter ; for the right 
 
56 Passages from the fugitive. 
 
 Dare all things — so, God's hand shall bless 
 Thee^ in thine hour of deep distress. 
 
 Go ! speed the fugitive along, 
 Till Ae, too, shall begin the song, 
 Glad freedom's song, on the strange shore 
 Where slavery's minions chase no more. 
 
 Oh, when shall the children of Africa be 
 
 All thus rejoicing in songs of the free ? 
 
 When, when shall the voice of a loud jubilee 
 
 Roll over the land and over the sea, 
 
 Proclaiming the tyrant's chains everywhere broken, 
 
 And the glad word of brotherhood everywhere spoken? 
 
 When the tears of the slave shall no more wet the sod. 
 
 Nor the billows of ocean be stained with his blood ? 
 
 When the earth shall bear up on its bosom no longer, 
 
 The wretch who shall claim, by the right of the stronger, 
 
 His perishing brother to trample in dust 1 
 
 Oh, God, Thou art holy ! oh, God, Thou art just ! 
 
 Look down on a nation revolted from Thee, 
 
 And that which Thou biddest forbidding to be, 
 
 The ' throne of iniquity ' building ' by law,' 
 
 And binding the poor for grim lust's bloody maw. 
 
 In mercy and truth, let thine arm be made bare; 
 
 The prisoner lead out from the house of despair ; 
 
 ' Break the arm of the wicked ;' ' the rulers ' high born, 
 
 Who • counsel together,' oh, ' laugh them to scorn.' 
 
 Great God, Thou art holy ! great God, Thou art just! 
 
 The friend of the captive — in Thy name we trust : 
 
 The glad day of Freedom — it will come, it must 
 
DISCOURSES 
 
DISCOURSES. 
 
 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 Faith — Its Nature — Importance of the Subject. 
 
 John vi. 29 : ^^ Jesus answered and saidunto them, This isthe 
 work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.** 
 
 This is the answer to a grave question. " What shall 
 we do ?" cried the half-convinced, yet still-doubting Jews, 
 to Jesus, the Holy One of Bethlehem ; " what shall we do 
 that we misht work the works of God ?" and " what shall 
 we do?'' echoes a groahing world in every age. What shall 
 we do to accomplish the great end of our being, to secure 
 its highest perfection, to obtain the favor of Him who 
 made us, to " work the works of God V Tell us, thou 
 Nazarene, thou meek and mighty One, tell us, — ^What 
 shall we do ? 
 
 Believe ! is the reply, from the lips of gi*ace and truth ; he- 
 lieve on Him whom God hath sent," It is the answer for 
 all ages and all climes — the central truth of Christian doc- 
 trine, echoed by Holy Apostles and Martyrs, witnesses for 
 the truth, who sealed it with their blood, and sung its praises 
 with dying lips — " this is the work of God, that ye believe 
 on Him whom He hath sent." 
 
 *^ He tJiat believcth on the Son hath everlasting life;''* he 
 that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath 
 
60 DISCOURSES. 
 
 of God abideth on him." " If ye believe not that I am he, 
 ye will die in your sins." 
 
 What, then, is it to Believe? — If faith in Jesus 
 Chrifit is a matter of such consequence, ivJiat is Faith ? 
 
 The answer- to this question should not be difficult, for 
 the Lord Jesus Christ certainly intended to give a pZam di- 
 rection to those who inquired of Him the way of life. And 
 in other matters men know well enough what it is to be- 
 lieve. But upon the subject of faith in Christ, and reli- 
 gious faith generally, so much obscurity has been cast, 
 that, while nothing is so much written and spoken about, 
 nothing is so little understood, and scarcely anything so 
 misrepresented. Who that has read the hundredth or the 
 thousandth part of what has been printed upon this sub- 
 ject, in sermons, in newspapers, in pamphlets and books, 
 but has deeply and painfully felt how much obscurity rests 
 upon it, and how many absurd things are said about it ; 
 and who that has read with a spirit anxious for its own 
 profit, or its salvation even, or that it might know how to 
 direct the inquiring soul, anxious to learn just what faith 
 is and how the soul cmi believe, but has felt how utterly 
 unsatisfying are the definitions and directions commonly 
 given ; nay, how, as he read, obscurity oft-times grew more 
 obscure, and " confusion worse confounded?" 
 
 The obscurity with which this subject has been invested, 
 or the confusion in which it has been involved, has been 
 productive of evil to the cause of Christ in many ways. 
 
 It has " given occasion to the enemy to blaspheme." 
 Faith has often been spoken of as though it were some- 
 thing altogether separate and apart from reason ; and as 
 if, in believing, a man left behind him the dictates of his 
 understanding and went upon some other basis. How 
 
DISCOURSES. 61 
 
 much occasion has thus been given to unbelievers to sneer 
 at and reproach the rehgion of Jesus, and how often they 
 have acted upon it, few, probably, are aware of. 
 
 " Our religion," says the infidel Hume, in his " Essay on 
 Miracles," " our religion is founded on Faith, not on reason ; 
 and 'tis a sure method of exposing it to put it to a test 
 which it is by no means fitted to endure." " Mere reason 
 is insufficient to convince us of its veracity ; and whoever 
 is moved by faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continual 
 miracle in his own person, which subverts all the princi- 
 ples of his understanding." 
 
 How much mischief this blasphemous sneer has accom- 
 plished by planting the seeds of infidelity in cultivated and 
 superior minds, we cannot estimate ; but we can easily see 
 what occasion has been given for such sneerg by the terms 
 in which faith has been spoken of frequently by professed 
 believers. 
 
 The distinguished Brewster, in his "Life of Sir Isaac New- 
 ton," speaking of the great man's religious belief, says : 
 " The inquiring spirit will explore the history of a mind so 
 richly endowed, and will seek the shelter of its authority 
 on those great questions which reason has abandoned to 
 faith and hope." 
 
 If this is sensible language, — if reason has abandoned the 
 great questions of religious belief, surrendering them to some- 
 thing that is called faith and hope, methinks " the inquir- 
 ing spirit" might naturally ask one question more : of what 
 greater " aathoritif is the mind of Sir Isaac Newton on such 
 matters thdn the mind of an idiot ? And if religious questions, 
 the very highest and most momentous that occupy the mind 
 of man, may be settled by abandoning reason and resort- 
 ing to faith, why may not all other questions be settled in 
 
62 DISCOURSES. 
 
 the same manner, and man define himself to be a credulous 
 animal, whose business it is to believe every thing and 
 prove nothing ! whose highest excellence consists in having 
 the longest creed, embracing the most innumerable beliefs, 
 of things possible and things impossible, things imaginable, 
 and, if there be such things, things unimaginable? How 
 can we wonder, when such language is used by believers, 
 that they are reproached by infidels tvith credulity ? 
 
 But it is not Sir David Brewster alone who speaks after 
 this manner. We hear similar language on every side of 
 us. Upham says, in his " Life of Faith," " if faith did not 
 carry us beyond the reach of our own understanding, be- 
 yond the line of human reason it would not be faith ;" 
 
 and in this way speak many others.* 
 
 It is not to be denied, indeed, that each language is some- 
 times designed to express a real truth ; but such a form of 
 expression is unphilosophical, growing out of an indefinite 
 apprehension of the nature of faith, and leading often to great 
 error. Never, until men understand better what faith is, 
 and so perceive its relations to reason, will they cease to 
 deceive themselves by such expressions, or be able to avoid 
 and refute the sneers of infidels. 
 
 * Bacon. — " The use of reason in spiritual things, and the latitude thereof, is 
 very great and general : for it is not for nothing that the Apostle calleth religion 
 our reasonable service of God; insomuch as the very ceremonies and figures of 
 the old law were full of reason and signification, much more than the ceremonies 
 of idolatry and magic, that are full of non-significants and surd characters. But 
 most especially the Christian Faith, as in all things, so in this deserveth to be 
 highly magnified ; holding and preserving the golden mediocrity in this point 
 between the law of the heathen and the law of Mahomet, which have embraced 
 the two extremes. For the religion of the heathen had no constant belief or 
 confession, but left all to the liberty of argument ; and the religion of Mahomet, 
 on the other side, interdicteth argument altogether ; the one having the ver}^ face 
 of error, and the other of imposture: whereas the Faith doth both admit and 
 reject disputation, with difference," — Advancement of Learning. 
 
DISCOURSES. 63 
 
 There is a class of men at the present day who make 
 great claims to learning and philosophy, that are especially 
 at fault in this matter. The transcendental religionists 
 talk loudly in praise of faith ; they divorce it entirely from 
 the understanding, however, and seem to give up the ground 
 of maintenance of religious truth by appropriate and sub- 
 stantial evidence, laying the basis of faith in an asserted and 
 peculiar constitution of soul itself Faith with them seems 
 to be a distinct sphere of mental action from the exercise of 
 reason and choice, a separate capacity of soul from all 
 others. Its exercise proceeds from itself alone, indepen- 
 dent of all other faculties.* But if this doctrine is true, 
 all reasoning about the great fundamental truths of rehgion 
 must be at once abandoned. Man's understanding must 
 no longer be exercised upon those themes once esteemed 
 the highest objects of mental activity ; and if any man doubt 
 the reality and truthfulness of those objects from not perceiv- 
 ing any such out-goings of faith in his own mind, he 
 must be left to himself with the information that these are 
 not appropriate subjects for investigation and argument ; 
 that " our holy religion is founded on Faith, not on rea- 
 son ;" and that '• it is a sure method of exposing it, to put 
 it to a test which it is by no means fitted to endure." 
 
 We must say, that the man Avho believes such a creed 
 as this, gives some evidence of a faith possessing a peculiar 
 claim to be considered as distinct from the exercise of 
 reason. 
 
 From the errors and absurdities which have now been 
 
 * To this divorce of Faith and Reason applies the remark of Locke, that those 
 who are for laying aside the use of Reason in matters pertaining to Revelation, 
 resemble one who should put out his eyes in order to make use of a telescope. 
 And that of Leibnitz : " H est vrai que de uotre temps une personne de la plus 
 grande elevation disait, qu' en article de foi, 11 fallait se crever les geux pour 
 TOir clair.'' — Nouveaux Essais. — [Ed. 
 
64 DISCOURSES. 
 
 noticed, if they are errors and absurdities, a correct and 
 definite apprehension of the nature of faith would free the 
 minds of men ; and this alone can do it. But these are 
 not the only evils from which men would be delivered by a 
 better understanding;; of the nature of faith. 
 
 The confusion and obscurity which prevail in relation to 
 this subject, work evil also to the sincere inquirer and the 
 true believer. It is not to be supposed, indeed, that men 
 do not -know practically what it is to believe ; but many 
 have heard so much said about Christian faith, and in such 
 sort, that it seems well nigh impossible for them to apply 
 their own practical knowledge to the subject, and to real- 
 ize that it is only that simple thing which it is. 
 
 Penitent seekers of salvation by Christ hare often been 
 told that they must believe, and yet that they could not 
 believe ; — that speculative faith would not answer, but they 
 must exercise a true and heartij faith ; that what such a 
 faith is, however, no one could describe to them, nor could 
 they know or understand it till they had acquired it, with- 
 out knowing how, — like shutting a man up in a horrible 
 dungeon, and telling him there was a way of escape, but he 
 could never find it till he saw it, and could never see it till he 
 had first found it. And in this Avay many a man has been 
 kept for a long time in an agony of suspense and fear, who 
 all that time was virtually a believer and justified before 
 God, having practically all of faith except its peace. 
 
 And if many such a soul has not thus been driven back 
 into rebellion and open iniidelity, it is because the abound- 
 ing grace of God alone has prevented. 
 
 Many inquirers, again, have been told what faith is in 
 such terms, as rendered what was before dim, now wholly 
 obscure. The difficulty is not explained — the precise thing 
 
DISCOURSES. es 
 
 is not pointed out which they must do; and it cannot be, 
 until the nature of faith is analysed and its elements dis- 
 tinctly marked. One of them comes, perhaps, saying : 
 "The doctrine that Christ died for me, my understanding 
 assents to as true, but my heart finds no comfort in it : 
 you say this intellectual assent alone is not true faith ; 
 what more then shall I do to believe ?" " You must go 
 to Christ," is perhaps the reply. "Well, show me where 
 He is," and I will gladly go to Him. " But this is a figure 
 of speech — you must not take my words literally." " Very 
 well, then ; explam your figure of speech — show me hoiv 
 I must go to Him." And here likely enough the reply is, 
 you must go to Him believingli/." That is, " to have faith 
 in Christ," is " to go to Him believingly," — a very intelli- 
 gible definition. 
 
 The want of a clear understanding of what faith is, how- 
 ever, and what are its relations to the Christian system, is 
 not alone a source of difficulty in the case of inquirers ; it 
 is a fruitful source of mischief to thousands of professed be- 
 lievers, and of injury and dishonor to the religion they pro- 
 fess. Something which is called " faith" has been too gen- 
 erally substituted in the Church for true piety and genuine 
 righteousness. Men have thought, that to be worldly-mind- 
 ed, proud, angry, and vindictive in temper, selfish and un- 
 just, though not so well, is still not positively inconsistent 
 with the religion of Jesus, provided they have " faith." 
 They have imagined they might be neglecters of God and 
 not lovers of men, did they only " believe." They have 
 thought that " faith" would suffice instead of meekness, pa- 
 tience, purity, and genuine benevolence of heart, and thus 
 they might sail smoothly into the eternal haven with a 
 righteousness not their own ; a figment of an unholy heart 
 and a disordered brain. 
 
 4* 
 
66 DISCOURSES. 
 
 There are, it is to be feared, many such " believers" at 
 the present day in a certain quarter of the Church, Avhere 
 the highest " orthodoxy" is set up, and where the all-suffi- 
 ciency and the alone-sufficiency of faith are most loudly 
 proclaimed, and where men turn their fellow-men to chat- 
 tels, sell the image of Christ for God, make gain of the 
 sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, — " I believe in Him 
 of Calvary." 
 
 And so in all quarters of the Church are men found, w^ho 
 think they may be on the side of the oppressor ; they may 
 be governed by the maxims of this world instead of the 
 teachings of Christ ; they may be proud, selfish, sensual, and 
 yet their " faith" shall save them. 
 
 " Can faith save them?" "If it hath networks, it is 
 dead :" " the devils also believe, and tremble :" •' by works a 
 man if justified, and not by faith only." So teaches the 
 Apostle James ; and what vaunter of his faith will dare 
 dispute him? 
 
 Such a state of things in the Church as has been spoken 
 of, has naturally arisen, by human depravity, from the im- 
 perfect, partial view of faith which Luther had, in con- 
 nection with the importance he assigned to it in his 
 theological system. Luther had undoubtedly grasped a 
 great truth, and he wrote a mighty work with it. But 
 both he, and theologians generally, since his day, have seen 
 this truth indistinctly and partially, and hence error has 
 been mixed up with their teachings, and mischief has 
 grown out of error.* 
 
 * This censure is warranted by tlie following expressions of Luther : " Ita 
 vides, quam dives sit homo Christiauus ; etiam volens non potest perdere salu- 
 tem suam quantiscunque peccatis, nisi nolit credere. Kulla enim peccata po.-> 
 sunt damnare, nisi sola incredulitas." — De Captiv. Bab., torn, ii., fol.26't. " Esto 
 peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo, qui victor est pec- 
 catl, mortis, et mundi : peccandum est, quamdiu hie sumus. Vita baeo non est 
 
DISCOURSES. 67 
 
 It is not true that the Roman Church, before Luther, 
 did not hold the doctrine of justification by faith. In the 
 early ages of that Church, justification, by faith in Christ, 
 was distinctly maintained. Gradually, however, works of 
 penance were added to the requirements of their doctrine 
 of salvation, and Christ was more and more left out of 
 view. Then the doctrine of purgatory was adopted, and 
 applied to the purification of " believers " who died with 
 
 habitatio justitiae ; sed exspectamus, ait Petrus, coelos novos, et terrain novam 
 in quibus justitia habitat."— -Epis«. arf Melancthon, 1521; Jena, 1556. "Si in 
 fide fieri posset adulterium, peccatum non esset." — Disput. torn, i., p. 523. 
 Cited by J. A. Moehler, Symbolisjn, ch. in., § xvi. " Believe firmly that thou 
 art absolved, and thou art so, whatever be thy contrition." — Senn. cle Indulg. 
 Cited by Bossuet, Variations of Prot., Bk. i., § ix. 
 
 The obvious antlnomianism of these expressions is corrected in the Augsburg 
 Confession, in an article cited by Bossuet; yet it has not failed to give just 
 offence to the Romanists. 
 
 The half-truth contained in the last passage, which Luther has put in the form 
 of a dangerous error, is i-estored to its true connexion in the following beauti- 
 ful passage of Neander, which is pertinent to the difficulty just stated (p. 16) : 
 
 " The law always presents itself as imperative, and makes the salvation of men 
 dependent on the perfect fulfilment of all its commands. ' Do all this, and thou 
 shalt live.' But since no one can fulfil these conditions, the law can only pro- 
 duce despair. But the Gospel addresses the man who despairs of himself, 'Do 
 not give thyself up to the feeling of despair. Ask not howthou canst make the 
 impossible possible. Thou needest only receive the salvation prepared for thee ; 
 only believe, and thou hast with thy faith all that is needed for thy inward life.' 
 Paul admirably illustrates this, by applying to it the passage in Deut. xxx., 12 : 
 i Say not to thyself, Who shall ascend to Heaven, and prepare a path for me 
 thither ? For Christ has descended from Heaven and has prepared such a path. 
 To ask such a que.stion, is to desire that ChrLst would descend again from Heaven 
 for thy sake. But say not. Who shall descend for me to the regions of the dead, 
 and deliver me thence ? Christ has risen from the dead, and has delivered thee 
 from the power of death. To ask this, is to desire that Christ might now rise 
 from the dead for thy sake, as if He were not already risen. Instead of asking 
 suth questions, only let the Gospel be cherished with vital power in thy heart ; 
 believe In Him who descended from Heaven and rose from death, and thus ob- 
 tained salvation for thee. Whoever has this faith is truly pious, and may be 
 assured of salvation.' " — Planting and Training, Bk. vi., ch. i. 
 
 For other instances of the sundering of Faith from Morals, see Appendix, 
 Note 6.— [Ed. 
 
68 DISCOURSES. 
 
 unexpiated sins, while all unbelievers were assigned to eter- 
 nal perdition. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that in the days of Luther the chil- 
 dren of '* the Church " were held to be saved from everlast- 
 ing woe through their '-'' faith^'' though needing works of 
 penance to save them from purgatorial fires, while mibe- 
 lievers were held doomed to inevitable perdition. 
 
 The Romanist's justifying faith, however, at the time, 
 was not generally the right kind of faith. It was faith in 
 the Church, faith in her so-called ' saints" and her " holy 
 Virgin," instead of faith in Christ. Luther preached faith 
 in Christ only, for justification ; and faith in Christ alone, for 
 complete justification. Tiiis was the difference. 
 
 But Luther's position compelled him to lay much stress 
 upon justifying faith ; and in so doing he obscured his 
 view of faith, as a general principle, magnifying the rela- 
 tive importance of one of its activities, and overlooking or 
 failing to see the rest. 
 
 Theologians in Protestant communities, since his day, 
 have been coming out more and more from under the 
 pressure of Romanist ideas which caused this tendency in 
 Luther's mind ; yet for a long time they followed in his 
 footsteps, not having, like the great Reformer, capacity to 
 strike out for themselves a new path adapted to their own 
 circumstances. 
 
 The consequence, in part, has been from the very fact 
 that circumstances have not required so great stress, or 
 rather so much insisting, on the doctrine of justification ; 
 that the continual harping upon it, in some quarters, has 
 caused a still more unequal estimate of its relative import- 
 ance, and a neglect of the other equally essential doctrines of 
 true repentance and a holy obedience. One of the activi- 
 
DISCOURSES. 69 
 
 ties of faith has been insisted on at the expense of the others ; 
 one has been exalted and the others depressed. Hence has 
 arisen that practical mischief of which I have spoken, in 
 which men have substituted justifying faith instead of 
 sanctifying faith — that " faith that works by love and pu- 
 rifies the heart." I knoAv it will be said by some that the 
 faith of such men, who live not according to the Gospel, is 
 not sincere — not true faith ; but I am prepared to show that 
 it is or may be sincere, and a true faith, while at the same 
 time it is an impious presumption before God, and cannot 
 justify, because " faith without works is dead," profitless, 
 and "by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." 
 
 Before closing these remarks, there is another reason, 
 which should be mentioned, for desiring a solution of the 
 question, '* what is faith *?" and that is found in the indis- 
 tinctness which prevails as to the perception of its moral 
 quality, or wherein its moral quality consists. 
 
 Much has been said to explain why God requires faith 
 of His creatures, what is the virtue of it, wherein it is a 
 holy exercise ; and, as far as my knowledge extends, 
 without distinct and perfectly satisfying results. 
 
 But a distinct, analytic knowledge of what faith is, 
 would certainly answer this question, since the knowledge 
 of all its elements and sources involves the knowledge of 
 that element or motive source which constitutes it an exer- 
 cise of virtue. And it is hardly too much to say, that this 
 knowledge cannot be obtained in any other way than by 
 the analysis of faith itself. It will not, surely, be doubted, 
 whether such a knowledge is desirable. How else, except 
 by mere general analogy, can we answer the cavils of a 
 man who demands that God should give him certain 
 knowledge as the ground of His action ? and how else 
 
70 DISCOURSES.. 
 
 can we attain full satisfaction for ourselves, and assign to 
 faith its proper place in the moral system of God's realm ? 
 Analogy may silence our objections ; it cannot satisfy our 
 doubts, or our desires to understand. 
 
 I have now made some allusion to the confusion and in- 
 distinctness in men's ideas, generally, of faith, and endea- 
 vored to present to you some reasons which seem to demand 
 a more thorough and definite analysis of its nature. It 
 is my design, under Providence, to prosecute this subject ; 
 and, in the second place, to test some of the various defini- 
 tions which have been given of faith ; thirdly, to give a 
 new definition of it ; fourthly, to test that definition ; 
 fifthly, to show when and how faith has moral quality ; 
 and, sixthly, to show the various applications of faith, (in 
 other words, the various kinds of faith,) their moral qual- 
 ity, and the character they give to the soul, — including its 
 application to natural and to spiritual things, and the fact 
 that ail religious acts are wholly, or in part, acts of faith ; 
 also, faith in God, His truth and Providence ; and faith in 
 Christ, regenerating, justifying and sanctifying, with spe- 
 cial reference to the doctrine of the text, that Christ is the 
 great object of faith by which the world must be saved. 
 
 I conclude my present remarks with one observation. 
 The view which we have taken of the obscurity and error 
 which prevails on the subject of faith, shows us the import- 
 ance to religion of a true and intelligible philosophy of 
 mind. It is only by understanding the nature of his soul, 
 and its ways of action, that man can settle those great 
 questions which are constantly arising, touching the nature 
 and the ground of obligation, and touching the corres- 
 pondence, therefore, of revelation, to the laws written in 
 the structure of the soul. The fact that all these ques- 
 
DISCOURSES. 71 
 
 lions run back, at last, to the nature and laws of mind, 
 and the fact that man is capable of introspection, and so 
 of learning the nature of those laws, sufficiently demon- 
 strate the need of a true philosophy of mind, at least on 
 the part of all those who would be teachers of religion or 
 morals, and help thoughtful and inquiring spirits onward 
 in their way to glory. Let no timid and narrow-minded 
 believer, then, try to lay his embargo upon thought, and 
 object to the young preacher of the Gospel, that his 
 mind tends too much to philosophy. There is a true phi- 
 losophy, as well as a false ; and if a sincere and honest 
 heart cannot find it, or help to find it, then woe be to this 
 world, for the philosophy of Heaven shall not prevail, but 
 the philosophy of earth shall fight against it, and against 
 the kingdom of our Lord, for ever. May God forbid, for 
 His name's sake ! 
 
DISCOURSE II. 
 
 Faith — Definitions Examined. 
 
 John vi. 29 : " Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the 
 work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.^' 
 
 The inquiry raised in the former discourse upon this text — 
 the inquiry, " IVhat is it to believe f — ought not, as has been 
 stated, to be difficult of reply ; for the direction in the text 
 was intended by our Lord as a plain answer to the mo- 
 mentous question which had been asked Him. Practically, 
 as has also been observed, and naturally, the direction 
 would not be difficult to be understood ; but owing to the 
 peculiar circumstances in which the great doctrine of jus- 
 tification by faith in Jesus Christ struggled into light in 
 these latter days, and the coloring with which that doc- 
 trine became consequently invested, a mystery has been 
 thrown around the simple form of faith, both in theory, 
 and by natural result, in practice. 
 
 Having considered this fact, and the mischiefs resulting 
 from it, and the need consequently arising of a better un- 
 derstanding of the nature of faith, Ave come now, 
 
 II. To examine some of the answers which have been 
 attempted to this question : in other words, to test some of 
 the definitions which various writers have given of faith. 
 
 It should be observed here, that, subjectively considered, 
 or with reference to the mind, two kinds of faith are gen- 
 erally acknowledged, one of which is called *•' historical," 
 
DISCOURSES. 73 
 
 or "speculative," consisting in a bare assent of under- 
 standing to an alleged truth, with or without some corres- 
 ponding emotion ; the other is the kind of faith spoken of 
 in the Scnptures, and with which our present inquiry is 
 wholly concerned. This latter, or Scriptural faith, is of a 
 practical or voluntary nature, as appears from three consider- 
 ations : first, we can conceive of no sort of faith which 
 shall differ at all from a mere ^'historical faith," except one 
 which shall contain a voluntary element ; second, the 
 Scriptures evidently treat the faith of which they speak 
 as a practical matter — as something which men volun- 
 tarily exercise, or refuse to exercise — " this is the work of 
 God, [i. e., what God requires] that ye believe : " if ye be- 
 lieve not. . . .ye shall die in your sins ;" and, thirdly, no 
 otherwise than as a voluntary affection, can faith be a vir- 
 tuous exercise, or a matter of obligation.* 
 
 Scriptural faith, then, or that with which our present 
 inquiry is wholly concerned, is a practical or voluntary 
 faith, as distinguished from a mere historical belief. This 
 being premised, let us notice some of the definitions which 
 have been given of it. These definitions, however, we 
 must here observe, are none of them general definitions of 
 practical faith ; but only, so far as I have seen, definitions 
 of that particular application of practical religious faith, by 
 which a man is justified before God, — variously termed 
 evangelical^ justifying^ or saving faith. This want of a gen- 
 eral definition of practical faith, seems to have given rise 
 to the error, anions:; theoloo!;ical writers, of confoundiig all 
 kinds of religious faith, or all those exercises of faith 
 spoken of in the Bible, with that particular application of 
 it by which is procured the forgiveness of sin. Not see- 
 
 * See ^ few opinions cited in support of this view, Appendix, Note B. 
 
74 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ing distinctly the nature of faith itself, they have failed to 
 see distinctly the nature of its different applications, and 
 their different objective and subjective effects. Not seeing 
 that justifying faith is only one of these applications, and 
 purely objective in its consequences, they have sought to 
 give such a definition of it as would embrace all the exer- 
 cises of religious faith and all its consequences. 
 
 Thus, one says, '"justifying or saving faith is an entire 
 confidence or trust in God's character and declarations, and 
 in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unre- 
 served surrender of the will to his guidance, and depend- 
 ence on his merits for salvation." Another says, " saving 
 faith is a realizing, cordial (or confiding) belief in (or assent 
 to) the entire testimony of God." 
 
 These definitions plainly include almost all the forms 
 and exercises of religious ftiith — faith in the holiness of 
 God, faith in His infinite knowledge and power, and in His 
 Providence, as well as faith in His atoning sacrifice. But 
 though the former are all necessary in the justified soul, 
 just as repentance is necessary, yet it is manifestly faith in 
 .the atonement alone that delivers from the penalty of past 
 transgressions ; and this alone, therefore, is properly called 
 "justifying faith." 
 
 But if the definitions noticed embrace most or all kinds 
 of religious faith, may they not be taken as definitions of 
 religious faith in general, and may we not examine them in 
 this light ? What, then, shall be said to them as such ? 
 " Religious faith is a confiding belief in, or assent to, the 
 entire testimony of God." 
 
 This definition may be correct, but it is of no value, ex- 
 cept to the compiler of a dictionary. It is not philosophi- 
 cal, but lexical. It does not analyze faith, and so show us 
 
DISCOURSES. 7fi 
 
 what it is, by revealing the parts of which it is composed ; 
 it only calls it by another name. It does not reveal to him 
 whose understanding assents to the truth that Christ died 
 for him, but whose heart dees not feel peace in it, how he 
 must obtain that peace — what he ihust do to believe. It will 
 not instruct the believer, nor aid the inquirer, nor answer 
 any religious purpose. 
 
 The other definition is somewhat better, as it makes an 
 attempt, at least, at analysis : " Confidence in God and His 
 Word, and submission of will to His guidance." 
 
 'But there are difficulties with this, also. In the first 
 place, it is not sufficiently analytic, and does not show the 
 relation even of the parts mentioned, to one another* 
 " Confidence," as here employed, denotes, evidently, a com- 
 plex state of mind ; and, supposing it to be easily under- 
 stood, yet the great question is, how does it arise in the 
 mind, and what is the relation between it and the act of 
 the will ? Must one feel perfect confidence before he sub- 
 mits to God ? How, then, shall he feel it ? If he has it 
 not, and it does not come from the act of the will submit- 
 ting to God, how shall he attain it, so as to exercise faith "? 
 If it does come from the act of the will, hoiu ^ and what, 
 in this case, is the act of the will based on ? The defini- 
 tion throws no light on the subject. Indeed, it seems 
 rather to convey the idea that the feeling of confidence 
 must precede the act of the will and be the basis of it, and 
 so makes faith an impossibility where confidence does not 
 first exist. 
 
 Again, this definition does not express the grounds of 
 faith— its relation to reason and to virtue. If it be said 
 that the grounds of faith are implied in the mention of the 
 character and declarations of God, it must be replied, on 
 
76 DISCOURSES. 
 
 what principle are we to believe the evidence for the as- 
 serted character and declarations of God, rather than the 
 evidence against them? There is no hint, in the definition, 
 of the existence of such a principle ; and no hint, there- 
 fore, of the ultimate grounds of faith, or its ultimate rela- 
 tion to reason and to moral excellence. This definition, 
 therefore, is not sufficient. It will not instruct the be- 
 liever, nor help the inquirer, nor silence the infidel. 
 
 It must also be said, that while it is too general for jus- 
 tifying faith, it is not, in strictness, sufficiently comprehen- 
 sive for a definition of religious faith, since it will not ap- 
 ply to faith in the existence itself of God ; which is, in- 
 deed, the corner stone or the sub-stratum of all other ar- 
 ticles of religious faith. 
 
 The same objection applies also to the definition previ- 
 ously noticed, and to several others which may now be 
 given. " Faith," says a distinguished teacher of theology, 
 "is a firm, cordial belief in the veracity of God — or a full 
 and affectionate confidence in the certainty of those through 
 which God has declared, and because he has declared 
 them." Says another, "Faith is an affectionate practical 
 confidence in the testimony of God." 
 
 But, taking these definitions even in the extent to which 
 they are applicable, the saioe objections apply to them as 
 the one first treated. They are not analytic. They merely 
 substitute " confidence" " or belief" for the word "faith," 
 and add a few epithets which distinguish Scriptural from 
 historical faith, without pointing out the elements of that 
 distinction or of the faith so distinguished. They do not 
 tell us what " practical confidence" is, nor how it is more 
 intelligible than practical faith. They do not instruct the 
 
DISCOURSES. 77 
 
 believer, nor direct the inquirer, nor silence the infidel. 
 They are of some use doubless to the lexicographer !* 
 
 "The faith of tlie Gospel," says Dr. Dwight, "is that 
 emotion of the mind which is called trust or confidence, 
 exercised toward the moral character of God, and particu- 
 larly of the Saviour." 
 
 If the word " emotion" is here used in strictness, the 
 definition is not correct, for it excludes the voluntary 
 element which always enters into Scriptural faith. But 
 if the word be taken loosely, to denote a complex state of 
 the mind, the definition, like the others, is only lexical, 
 while it is more faulty than the others in being more re- 
 stricted in its application. 
 
 Another definition of faith is, " an influential helief of the 
 testimony of God." This plainly means a belief which in- 
 fluences the mind to action ; and is the same with the fol- 
 lowing definition, which is also found — " that firm belief 
 of God's testimony which influences the will." Plainly, 
 these definitions entirely exclude any voluntary element 
 from faith itself, holding the volition to be only the result 
 of faith. 
 
 But passing over this error as perhaps only an inaccu- 
 racy of language, the great objection to these definitions is, 
 that they make the determination of the will wholly a con- 
 sequence of the feeling of confidence, and thus cut off all 
 possibility of believing from those who have not that feel- 
 ing ; at least, until in some unknown manner they have 
 obtained it. This is saying to such persons, that their dif- 
 ficulty or their sin does not consist in their not believing, 
 — for they cannot believe ; but in their not doing some- 
 thing else which would make them believe — which is absurd. 
 
 * These -writers and some others define faith as if it were belief only in the tes- 
 timony or in the veracity of a person or persons — which is too narrow. 
 
78 DISCOURSES 
 
 Other definitions of saving faith are, that it is " coming 
 to Christ," "looking to Him," "receiving Him." But 
 these are only lexical definitions, couched in figurative 
 language, and needing explanation at least as much as the 
 thing defined. 
 
 One further definition only will I now notice, and it is 
 one far superior to the others. It is found in Tholiick, in his 
 note on John iii. 36, and is as follows : " Faith is a sub- 
 mission to something which is objectively higher in respect 
 to knowledge and will, and therefore includes obedience." 
 That is, as I understand it, faith is a determination to do 
 the will of one seen to be superior in knowledge and good- 
 ness. The excellence of this definition consists in the fact 
 that it exhibits distinctly the voluntary element of faith, and 
 as proceeding upon a proper ground. It says to that class 
 of inquirers who assent to the wisdom and goodness of God, 
 and yet are not believers, " go, act vpon it, submit to His 
 guidance, and obey him, and you will be believers." Herein 
 it says truly ; and the truth is a most valuable one. 
 
 But it has also some defects. It does not seem, indeed, 
 to be designed as a general definition of religious faith, but 
 only of one form of it — that faith in the Son of God by 
 which we receive the gifts of God's grace flowing to us 
 through him. It is not, therefore, sufficiently abstract to 
 answer the purposes of a general definition, and does not 
 throw such light upon all the questions concerning faith 
 as we desire. It does not exhibit the nature of the connec- 
 tion of faith and reason. In other words, it does not point 
 out the nature and conditions of that intellectual assent 
 which it supposes, nor its exact relation to the act of faith. 
 This intellectual assent is acknowledged to be involuntary ; 
 and behind this fact the unbeliever sometimes shelters him- 
 
DISCOURSES. 7gi 
 
 self, and denies his obligation to believe ; and without a 
 better knowledge of the whole nature of faith we cannot 
 dislodge him. An exact comprehension of the nature of 
 the assent and of the whole ground of faith, as we shall 
 see hereafter, would drive out the unbeliever from this 
 hiding-place, and silence the sneer of the infidel ; but that 
 comprehension this definition does not give, and though 
 it gives the ground of faith, it does not give it analytically, 
 and show us those elements which it is necessary to see. 
 
 The definition is also incomplete, if regarded as a phi- 
 losophical definition, because it gives no account of the 
 feeling of confidence which is an element in religious belief, 
 nor of its relation to the act of faith. 
 
 With these defects, however, the author spoken of is 
 not chargeable, as he had not undertaken to give a general 
 and philosophical definition of faith. 1 speak of them 
 only as things wanting to our knowledge, and which that 
 definition, excellent as it is, does not supply. Let me, how- 
 ever, give it the praise to say, that if I have fallen upon a 
 true account of faith, that definition was one of the steps 
 that led me to it. 
 
 In the discussion of the various definitions of faith which 
 have now been noticed, my remarks have been protracted 
 to a greater extent than was at first designed. But they 
 will not prove without profit, if they have so convinced 
 you of the real need of a better understanding of the sub- 
 ject than has generally prevailed, that you will be prepared 
 truly to welcome any new light which may be thrown upon 
 the subject, and to treasure up in your hearts the truth. 
 For great will be the bearing of that truth upon your des- 
 tiny in this life and in that which is to come. Faith is 
 the foundation-wall of religion, the great totality of godli- 
 
80 DISCOURSES. 
 
 uess. " If je believe not, ye will die in your sins." And 
 yet, notwithstanding the magnitude of this subject, and the 
 many attempts which have been made to elucidate it, a 
 writer of some eminence, who has doubtless read with at- 
 tention most of what has been written upon the nature of 
 faith, uses this language concerning it : " While, by turn- 
 ing the mind in upon itself we know what faith is, [z. e, 
 every man knows practically what it is to believe,] we 
 are nevertheless not able to define it."* 
 
 But the difficulty is, perhaps, not so great in the pre- 
 sent state of knowledge, as this writer has supposed. A 
 definition can be given, I trust, which will silence the infidel, 
 satisfy the philosopher, and be intelligible to a child. For 
 the present, however, I conclude with a single observation. 
 
 In view of our discussion, we see a remarkable illustra- 
 tion of the adaptedness of the Gospel to human wants ; — 
 that while so much (obscurity has prevailed theoretically 
 on the nature of faith, thousands and ten thousands of the 
 simplest minds have been taught of Christ practically to be- 
 lieve," and believing have rejoiced, with joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory." The difficulties which have been thrown 
 in their way may have hindered or obstructed many, but 
 they could not wholly prevent the efficacy of the mighty 
 drawing with which He who was " lifted up" has " drawn 
 all men to Him." Christ is not only the great object of 
 faith, but He is also the great' source of faith, the mighty 
 argument of a God of grace, who careth for the creatures 
 He has made. " Blessed are they that have not seen '• Him" 
 and yet have believed." And to " Jesus, the author and 
 finisher of our faith," be everlasting thanks from innumer- 
 able hosts of His redeemed. Amen ! 
 
 * Upham's Life of Faith, p. 15. 
 
DISCOURSE III. 
 
 Faith — True Definition. 
 
 Hebrews xi. 1 : '^ Noiv faith is the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen^ 
 
 Having noticed, in the two former discourses upon this 
 text, the obscurity which prevails respecting the nature of 
 Faith, and having examined such definitions of it as have 
 been accessible to me, I come now, according to the plan 
 proposed, 
 
 III. To set forth a new definition of it. 
 
 It will be remembered that two kinds of faith have been 
 noticed in the course of this discussion, viz. : (1) historical 
 or speculative faith, consisting of an intellectual assent to a 
 proposed truth, with or without such emotion as such a 
 truth fitly produces in the mind, according to the state of 
 that mind ; and (2) Scriptural faith, which was shown to be 
 a voluntary, practical faith. 
 
 With the latter alone, as was also stated, we are at 
 present concerned. It is Scriptural, practical, voluntary- 
 faith, of which we now seek a definition. 
 
 It is proper here to premise, that the object of faith is 
 always — to speak with philosophical accuracy — some- 
 thing set forth as a truth. It is common, indeed, to speak 
 of beings and entities as objects of faith, and the language 
 is therefore proper, though not designed as philosophically 
 exact. Thus, we speak of faith in God. But by this Ian- 
 
82 DISCOURSES. 
 
 guage we mean some truth set forth or asserted concerning 
 God ; — either Plis existence, or His goodness, or His prov- 
 idence over us, or some other truth ; or, perhaps, all of 
 these. So, too, the sick man may say that he has faith in 
 a certain medicine : by w^hich he means, he has faith in 
 the supposed truth that this medicine has curative power. 
 
 Faith, then, let it be remembered, has always for its ob- 
 ject something set forth as aJruth ; or, to use a more con- 
 venient expression, some proposed truth. 
 
 In defining faith, I propose now to give, in the first 
 place, a complete and philosophically exact definition, which 
 will exhibit the whole subject ; and, after elucidating this, 
 to add a more brief and simple definition, exhibiting the 
 voluntary element perspicuously, or just what one must do to 
 believe ; and this will be intelligible, I trust, to every mind, 
 even that of a child. I observe, then, practical faith is a 
 complex state of mind, consisting of an intellectual assent 
 to the probability of a proposed truth, or of the evidence 
 by which it is supported, with the determination to act upon 
 it, in view of said probability, and of the motives by which 
 it (the truth) is accompanied, and with a corresponding 
 emotion of the heart.* 
 
 ♦ A twelfth Discourse was presented by the Author, on the subject of faith, 
 consisting mostly of recapitulation . In the form of notes, and inserted extracts, 
 it may partly answer the purpose of the revision which he designed. He says : 
 
 '* In addition to what has now been said, it should also be remarked, that when 
 faith in general is spoken of in the inspired writings, it is not faith in general 
 which is meant, nor even, with one or two exceptions, religious faith in general ; 
 "bMX faith in some particular truth 
 
 " The same thing is true, also, in many of the religious writings of our times ; 
 and the fact that the writers generally do not themselves perceive it, that they 
 do not distinguish between the general principle of faith and those forms of it 
 which they have mentioned, is one of the causes of the confusion and obscurity 
 so common in their ideas and language. One man may have faith in the un- 
 varying goodness of God ; another, in the all-disposing providence of God ; 
 another, in Hia ordering all events to carry out perfectly His own desires ; and 
 
DISCOURSES. 83 
 
 In elucidation of this definition, it will be necessary, 
 first, to notice the nature of evidence, and the fact that 
 there may be probable evidence both far and against a pro- 
 posed truth. 
 
 Evidence in behalf of any proposition, consists in an 
 array of facts which necessarily or apparently involve in 
 them the truth of that proposition. If it be seen that that 
 truth is necessarily involved, i. e., that the contrary is im- 
 possible, the evidence is called demonstrative. Such is the 
 evidence by w^hich mathematical propositions are sup- 
 ported. 
 
 But, an array of facts may apparently involve a certain 
 truth ; that is, it may be seen that that truth will, wholly 
 or in part, account for those facts, while no other truth is 
 seen to be certainly the true account of them. This is of 
 the kind called probable evidence, to distinguish it from the 
 other, called demonstrative, and is of the kind upon which 
 most human actions proceed.* 
 
 [Most, if not all, the truths upon which men are called 
 
 another, in His power and purpose to recover this world from sin. All these are, 
 truly enough, men of faith — that is, of a certain kind of faith. But they should 
 not all be spoken of in the same terms, aa though their faiths were identical ; 
 for the faith of one is a very different thing from the faith of the others. 
 
 "Faith may consist in an individual act, or in a continued state of mind; 
 either way, it is composed of three elements : an intellectual assent to the prob- 
 ability of a proposed truth, with a determination to act upon it, and accompany- 
 ing and resulting feeling of assurance therein." 
 
 * " Probability is the very guide of life." This statement of the author of the 
 "Analogy" cannot be objected to if it receive a common-sense interpretation. 
 It can only be abused by utter perversion into the Probabilism of the Jesuits. 
 We are told, indeed, by the author of " Letters from Spain,'' that the Probabil- 
 ioristae, or those who insist on taking the more probable side, are scarcely better 
 than the Probabilistae. "The French proverb, Le mieux est Vennemi du bien, 
 is perfectly applicable to the practical effects of these two systems in Spain." 
 But this results from sheer indifference to truth, or a love of the probable bt- 
 eause it is uncertain.'-[£D. 
 
84 DISCOURSES. 
 
 to act in this world, are probable truths ; that is, they are 
 not necessarily true, to human knowledge ; their contrary 
 is possible. There may be, also, in the case of many, some 
 evidence against their reality ; but there must be, to con- 
 stitute them probable truths, evidence in their favor which 
 the understanding adjudges to be more weighty.] 
 
 But again : there may be several distinct series or classes of 
 facts, each of which apparently involves the proposed truth. 
 In this case, the weight of the evidence is greatly aug- 
 mented, the ratio of probability from the whole being 
 equal to the multiplied ratios of each distinct series. In 
 this way, this kind of evidence, though called "probable," 
 to distinguish it from demonstrative evidence, may become 
 so stronoj as to admit of no doubt in the mind. 
 
 The two opposing probabilities, furthermore, may be of 
 the same, or of different degrees. If of the same, the un- 
 derstanding, looking at them both, will assent to neither 
 conclusion ; but if of different degi-ees, the understanding 
 will assent to the conclusion which has the greater weight 
 of probability in its favor, and with a confidence propor- 
 tioned to the disparity. 
 
 [When, however, the understanding has so adjudged re- 
 specting any proposed truth of a practical nature, it is still 
 a distinct question whether the person to whom it is pro- 
 posed will act upon It, or refuse to act. This he is to de- 
 termine in view of the motives which prompt him. These 
 motives may be derived from what will be the conse- 
 quences of such action, if it shall turn out to be a real 
 truth ; and they may also be derived, in part, from what 
 will be the consequences of such action, even supposing it 
 should not be real. 
 
 Thus, a man may be moved to act upon the truthfulness 
 
DISCOURSES. 85 
 
 of the teachings and claims of Christ, by the eternal re- 
 ward and punishment which are to follow obedience and 
 disobedience, if those teachings and claims are true ; and 
 also by the perceived fact, that by so acting, whatever else 
 may be true of those claims, he will be using the best 
 means which the world affords, to make himself and other 
 men better and happier for this life. 
 
 He may be moved, on the other hand, to reject the claims 
 of Christ, or to act on the supposition of their falsity, by 
 all the inducements which the world can offer to his cov- 
 etousness, or his ambition. And this he may do, likewise, 
 even though his understanding adjudged the evidence to be 
 in favor of those claims. 
 
 But if he does otherwise, if he acts upon the truth of 
 those claims, the more evidence he sees in their favor, the 
 more will the eternal reward have to do with his decision ; 
 and the less evidence he sees, the more will he be left to 
 those motives which come from the righteousness of 
 Christ's commands and the practical tendency of faith 
 in Him. 
 
 The evidence, therefore, in favor of a proposed truth, 
 while it may influence, does not necessarily determine the 
 action which the mind shall take upon it.] 
 
 But, in order to elucidate our definition a second fact 
 must now be noticed. As the mind is a susceptible agent, 
 it must have, while in a sound condition, some degree of 
 feeling, however slight, in view of every probable truth 
 which demands its action. This feelino; is a feelino; of as- 
 surance, called, when directed to pleasing truths, trust, or 
 confidence. From the nature of the case, however, this 
 feeling is not the same before and after the purpose of act- 
 ing on the truth, since its ohject, by such a purpose, becomes 
 
86 DISCOURSES. 
 
 changed. Before the purpose of acting, it is confidence 
 that such and such a thing might be ; after the purpose, it 
 is confidence that such a thing luill be.* 
 
 Concerning this feeling of assurance, trust or confidence, 
 however, four things must be said. (1st.) It may be very- 
 slight, owing to unfavorable habitudes of the mind, and to 
 weakness of intellectual assent or seen probability. (2d.) 
 Other thoughts, attended with much more powerful emo- 
 tions, may so keep crowding into the mind that a man 
 may not be reflectively conscious of having this feeling of 
 confidence in any degree. (3d.) This feeling will increase 
 by acting on the truth to which it is directed. It will in- 
 crease for two reasons — first, because, by acting on the 
 truth, the attention will be more forcibly and exclusively 
 turned toward it ; and, second, because new evidence will 
 be continually presenting itself to the mind, to confirm the 
 probability of the truth. No man, at any time of his life, 
 can say, concerning any important practical proposition or 
 doctrine, that he has seen all the facts, and had all the 
 thoughts, which it is possible to see and to have, that go to 
 establish its truth. When, therefore, he has decided to act 
 upon its truth, and does so act, his attention being turned 
 
 * It is undoubtedly true that there is a certain feeling of confidence often pre- 
 ceding the act of faith, and this feeling is often called faith. But this feeling is 
 always distinguishable from the real feeling of faith ; for it is always a feeling 
 of satisfaction in view of the proposition that such a thing ivould be ; while the 
 feeling of faith is a feeling of satisfaction in view of the proposition that such a 
 thing will be. But a feeling may by many be thought to precede the act of faith, — 
 which it does not; for the act of faith is not necessarily an outward act, btft the 
 purpose of the heart, made, perhaps, long anterior to the outward act, in which 
 it is afterwards to be embodied. 
 
 The habitual feeling of confidence which dwells in the mind of one of fervent 
 faith, is not the primal source of those acts of faith which are exhibited, and 
 which may seem to flow from it alone ; there is in the mind, at the same time, an 
 habitual state of the will, a fixed and general choice, which enables the mind to 
 feel as it does, and from which the individual acts of faith proceed. 
 
DISCOURSES, 87 
 
 to it, new thoughts will be continually arising in his mind, 
 confirming its assent, and so deepening its feeling of confi- 
 dence in its adopted way. (4th.) One thing more must be 
 said concerning this feeling of confidence : it may vary 
 very much at diiferent times, owing to doubts arising from 
 contemplated difficulties, or to different states of suscep- 
 tibilities, and may, indeed, in some cases, never become a 
 full and perfect confidence ; while at the same time, however, 
 tlie heart may never swerve from it, never let go its hold of it, 
 as a principle of action.* 
 
 * In putting fonh. a definition of Scriptural or practical faith, it is not asserted 
 "or implied tliat the word is always used among men, or even in Scripture, in the 
 broad and full sense which is here given to it. Like every othei word express- 
 ive of a mental act or state, its use may be more or less general or specific ; and 
 when specific, it m.ay drop some of those elements which are essential to it in 
 other cases. Thus we sometimes apply the term to a certain arA winch we wit- 
 ness, without any direct reference to any emotion as connected with it ; and at 
 other times we speak of the mere feeling of confidence under the same appel- 
 lation, without thinking at all of any act or purpose as occasioning or follow- 
 ing it. 
 
 So, very commonly among Christian writers or speakers, and sometimes in 
 the New Testament, the term is used to denote the feeling of confidence in God. 
 An expression of this is found in Matt. xvii. 20, where Christ replies to the dis- 
 ciples, who had asked him why they could not cast out the dumb spirit, " be- 
 cause of your unbelief," or want of faith. The act of faith the disciples had 
 evidently performed, by trying to cast him out ; and this act was doubtless at- 
 tended with some degree of conviction. But their preceding and habitual /eeiing' 
 of confidence in God was so feeble, that God saw fit to rebuke them for it, seeing 
 that they ought to have gained a livelier confidence, by more constantly commu- 
 ning with Him and making trial of His goodness. And this feebleness of hab- 
 itual confidence, marking a poverty of spiritual attainment, Christ here terms 
 unbelief. The same use of the word is quite common, also, among Christian 
 writers and speakers of the present day, and will doubtless always be common. 
 
 Again, however, we speak of faith very often with a principal reference to 
 one of its elements, but really embracing them all. When we see a man en- 
 counter a grievous and sore trial accompanied with strong temptation to swerve 
 from the purpose of godliness, and find him holding fast his allegiance and man- 
 ifesting a feeling of firm, and lively, and joyous confidence in God, we may 
 speak with admiration of his /oi^A; and, according lo our own circumstances, 
 or the connection and bent of our thoughts, we shall do so with our attention 
 principally directed to the feeling — or, on the other hand, to the purpose — which 
 
88 DISCOURSES. 
 
 We are now prepared, I trust, to understand and to see 
 the correctness of the definition of faith which has been 
 given. 
 
 When a proposition is presented to the mind of a man 
 as a truth, and as one upon which he must act, either as 
 being true or as being false ; and w*hen his understanding 
 assents to the proposition as a probable truth, or, looking 
 at the evidence, assents to the evidence as probable ; and 
 when, in view of the motives which he sees pointing to such 
 a course, he determines to act upon that proposition as 
 though it ivere true, — this assent of the iinderstanding and 
 this purpose of the heart, with that feeling which must neces- 
 sarily follow such an assent and such a purpose, be it more 
 or less — this assent, purpose and feeling, I say, are faith — 
 practical faith. 
 
 Before the mind forms this determination or purpose, 
 the feeling of assurance or confidence may be so slight, in 
 presence of other and more powerful feelings, as not to be 
 known to exist ; but after the purpose is formed, it will in- 
 crease ; and the longer the mind continues to act upon its 
 adopted truth, the deeper and stronger (other things being 
 equal) will this feeling become. 
 
 The feeling of confidence, therefore, is not directly to be 
 sought for, or to be deemed a pre-requisite to faith. In 
 this, as in all other cases, let the heart do right, and it will 
 eventually feel right. 1 repeat then, practical faith is a 
 
 we witness ; in either case, however, we shall not of necessity wholly exclude 
 from our minds, in using this word, the other idea which is at the same time 
 presented to us. We may think most of the happy confidence which he enjoys ; 
 but we shall not wholly lose sight of his firm fidelity of will ; — or we may think, 
 most of his unwavering obedience ; but we shall not forget the deep and trust- 
 ful peace of his heart. We shall mean by faith all that properly belongs to it, 
 though one of its elements may be prominent in our view. 
 
DISCOURSES. 89 
 
 complex act or state of mind, consisting of an intellectual 
 assent to the probability of a proposed truth or of the evi- 
 dence by which it is supported, with the determination to act 
 upon it in view of the motives which prompt to such a 
 course, and tvith that feeling of assurance, which, in greater 
 or less degree, necessarily follows such assent and determi- 
 nation ; or, to put the definition in a better shape for 
 practical purposes, as putting the voluntary or practical 
 element foremost — 
 
 Practical faith is acting upon a proposed truth in which the 
 mind sees some probability, and of which it has therefore 
 some feeling of assurance ; or, more simple still, and suffi- 
 cient for common purposes — 
 
 Faith in a truth, is acting upon it as true. 
 Is there a child here, old enough to understand any de- 
 finition whatever, who cannot understand this"? 
 
 Let me present here an illustration of faith which is fre- 
 quently employed, which will both illustrate this definition 
 and show its correctness, though the latter I purpose to do 
 more fully hereafter. A little girl was standing by the 
 side of a trap door which opened through the floor of the 
 room into the cellar. She looked down, but as the cellar 
 was dark she could see nothing. Presently, however, she 
 heard a voice speaking to her from out of that dark place, 
 and knew it was the voice of her father. " My daughter," 
 said the voice, " I am here below you — ^jump down, and 
 I will catch you in my arms." 
 
 The little girl hesitated. She looked down again into 
 the darkness, and could see nothing, and she feared to leap. 
 "My daughter," said the voice again, " do you not be- 
 lieve me ? Your father is here— jump down, and you will 
 
 5* 
 
90 DISCOURSES. 
 
 be safe in my arms." She looked again — she sprang — and 
 was caught with delight to the bosom of her parent. 
 
 Now this, we are told, is faith. She believed what her 
 father told her. Unquestionably this is correct. This 
 was certainly faith — but, it was acting upon what her father 
 told her, and neither more nor less. 
 
 She acted upon her father'' s words as true — and this was, 
 believing her father's words. How surprising, that so 
 many have used this or similar illustrations to show what 
 faith is — ^illustrations which do show exactly what it is — and 
 yet have not perceived it to be just that simple thing which 
 they have shown it to be — acting on the truth. 
 
 [We will now briefly consider those passages of Scrip- 
 ture which bear upon our subject. 
 
 Those texts should be first noticed which may seem to 
 some to conflict with the views advanced. Such are the texts 
 which may appear to teach that God is the Author or 
 Giver of faith in the human heart ; and one especially 
 which some understand to deny that it is the act of man 
 himself Says Paul to the Ephesians (ii. 8, 9) : " By 
 grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of your- 
 selves ; it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man 
 should boast." 
 
 But Paul is not speaking o£ faith, but of salvation, when 
 he says " this is not of yourselves, but is the gift of God." 
 This is evident from two facts : first, that the word ren- 
 dered " that" in our common version, but which I have 
 rendered " this," is of a different gender, in the original 
 Greek, from the word " faith," and cannot therefore refer 
 to it, unless a change of style be supposed, for which there 
 is here no reason, and of which there is, I believe, in all 
 the rest of Paul's M^itings, no example ; and, second, that 
 
DISCOURSES. 91 
 
 to suppose it to mean faith, is to make the succeeding clause 
 totally without meaning. What idea can be attached to the 
 words,' as used by Paul, that " faith is not of works, lest 
 any man should boast f when every one knows that these 
 are the two distinct grounds of justificr.tion which he every- 
 where treats of as things confessedly opposite. But, when 
 he has said, " this salvation is not of yourselves — it is the 
 gift of God," that he should add, "it is of faith and not of 
 works, lest any man should boast," is perfectly intelligible. 
 
 Paul does not, therefore, in this passage, deny that faith 
 is of ourselves. 
 
 But even admitting that he does, however, and that 
 other passages also teach that God is the author of faith in 
 the human heart, still all this does not overthrow or attack 
 the principles advanced. God is truly the author of Faith, 
 even as He is the author of all virtue or goodness, by giving 
 all those means and influences by which it is produced. 
 And in this sense, man is not the author of his own faith. 
 Yet is it truly, nevertheless, his own exercise ; the act of 
 his own mind and heart. And the fact that the Scriptures 
 require it of him, as the condition of salvation, implies this, 
 and is proof that they do not intend to deny it. Before, 
 however, leaving this point, it should be noted also, that in 
 several instances of the use of the word " faith" in the New- 
 Testament Epistles, it plainly signifies some miraculous gift, 
 and not that moral exercise which is the subject of our 
 discussion. 
 
 With regard to the Apostle Paul's usage of the term 
 " faith," I next remark, one fact needs to be particularly 
 noticed whenever we inquire into his teachings on this sub- 
 ject. WTiile it is more frequently found in his writings 
 than in any other part of the New Testament, it is seldom, 
 
92 DISCOURSES. 
 
 and I believe never, found in them with the general mean- 
 ing of religious faith, but generally or always as denoting 
 faith in some specific truth. When speaking of faith as 
 justifying the believer in Jesus, he means faith in the aton- 
 ing blood of Christ. But Abraham's faith, to which he 
 also refers, was faith in the truthfulness of God to fulfil 
 His promises. The influence of this faith is parallel to the 
 influence of the Christian's justifying faith, to which he 
 compares it, only in the fact that being both religious faith 
 they possess moral quality, and, according to their extent, 
 secure the approbation of God. 
 
 But now when Paul had taught that penitent sinners 
 are justified, that is, forgiven, by faith in Christ's atoning 
 blood, and when some in that age, overlooking the fact 
 that Paul was speaking only of penitent sinners, began to 
 exercise faith in the doctrine that they could be saved by 
 believing in Christ without repentance, or the forsaking of 
 sin, the Apostle James steps forw^ard and denies that faith 
 alone, that is, such a faith as this, can save men ; and asserts 
 that a religious faith which has not fruits of holiness or 
 works of love, is a dead or spurious faith, without saving 
 influence. While his language, therefore, appears to con- 
 tradict the language of Paul, he is only denying that which 
 Paul never meant to assert. The use which the Apostle 
 John, also, makes of the term, is very different from that 
 of Paul. It has, in his Epistle, its broadest religious sig- 
 nificance, though often applied to Christ as comprehending 
 in himself the whole sum of religious truth. " This is the 
 victory," he says, "that overcometh the world; even our 
 faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that 
 believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?"• 
 
 With the notice of one more text of Scripture we will 
 
DISCOURSES. *93 
 
 close our discussion. Says the writer to tlie Hebrews (xi. 1), 
 according to our version, " Faith is the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." If this trans- 
 lation has any meaning at all, I have never been able to 
 discover it. The Greek word vTroaraGcg- means, that which 
 is laid down as a foundation ; or, next, the act of laying 
 down (something) as a foundation ; i. e., taking something 
 as a foundation, or resting upon it. The word translated 
 " evidence," means rather " conviction." Rightly inter- 
 preted, then, the verse would read thus : " faith is the re- 
 lying upon things hoped for, the conviction of things not 
 seen."* But the writer evidently means, relying in one^s 
 
 * " We must, with the best modem expositions, take VTrdoTaaij, not in 
 the sense of substance, (which is generally assigned,) but of firm covfidence ; 
 (as 2 Cor. ix. 4, xi. 17.) So the Pesch. Syriac well renders : ' Est autem fides 
 persuasio de rebus illis quae sunt in spe, ac si jam esseut actu. .And so Tyndall : 
 * Faythe is a sure confydence,' &c, — "YXsyxog. Firma persuasio. Kuinoel, 
 So also Chrysostom : ttIotis eig rfiv av-riv roTs bpcoiihois (ptpci n\7ipo([)opLav 
 ra lif) opdjyitva. Thustatth is both a disposition and a principle." — Ep.Blcomfield. 
 
 Augustine renders vnoaTaaig by convictio. Tract. 79 in Joan, cited by 
 Aquinas, Summa. ii. 2, q. 4, 1. 'YTrdoraoij and '^'^syXOi are synonymous 
 in this passage, and signify ^r7?ia persuasio. Knapp. Chr. Theol. ^ cxxii. 
 
 " The moral, comprehensive, and universal indication of religious conscious- 
 ness is faith. It is the unity of sensation and perception of susceptibility and 
 spontaneity in matters of religion. It is through Christianity alone that the no- 
 tion of faith has so pervaded science and general culture., as to be regarded as 
 the fundamental character and essential function of religious life ; wherefore 
 faith in its general or philosophical meaning can only be apprehended according 
 to the analogy of its strictly Christian meaning. A trace of the correct gener- 
 alization is to be found in Hebrews xi. 1. Yet not as though vnoaraaK; and 
 tXeyXoi were merely the energies of reflection and intellectual syllogizing. 
 The usual explanation, that faith consists in maintaining as true the super- 
 sensual derived from subjective yet conclusive grounds, does not reach its es- 
 sence. Thus we simply perceive that faith in some way differs from opinion in- 
 adequately grounded, and from knowledge ; but we do not perceive that it is an 
 original, yet at the same time a free act of the subjective spirit; nor that it is 
 a believing with the heart, Kap6ia yap nicrTtvsrai, (Rom. x. 10); nor that 
 v6r]aii 6ia rrlaTEOJi or Trt<TT£i voeiv, k. t. \. (Heb. xi. 3) , is the earlier and more 
 
94 DISCOURSES. 
 
 actions on things hoped for. The verse there is exactly 
 equivalent to the definition given, as applied to the objects 
 of religious faith, that religious faith is acting on the reality 
 of things hoped for and unseen, with a feeling of confidence 
 in the same. It is religious faith in general, as exhibited 
 in the godly man, the somewhat mature Christian, of which 
 the writer is speaking. Abel, Enoch, and Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, all acted upon the reality 
 of those unseen things which God had declared to them ; 
 all lived with a heart-full confidence therein. And such a 
 life is the mark of a sei^ant of God. Such is the aspect 
 which his habitual conduct presents: "relying upon things 
 hoped for ; calmly convinced of things not seen." To such 
 a life also the Gospel conducts. To believe in Jesus is 
 thus to live. And thus shall a man " work the works of 
 God," by learning to "believe on Him whom He hath 
 sent." 
 
 We see from the exhibition of the voluntary nature of 
 faith which we have made, how it is that the duty of ex- 
 ercising faith is consistent with the great principle running 
 through all the pages of Holy Scriptures, which makes 
 WHAT A MAN DOES the grouud of his acceptance with God, 
 or, of his condemnation. " For we must all appear be- 
 fore the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may re- 
 ceive the things done in his body ;" and faith is no excep- 
 tion. 
 
 What a man does, is the activity of his faith ; and the 
 God he believes in, is that God whom in his life he serves 
 
 immediate fact which precedes and lies at the foundation of dialectic and demon- 
 stration ; and in this relation the nature of faith has heen strikingly treated by 
 Dr. David Schultz, in his ' Christian Doctrine of Faith .' " (A New Treatment of 
 the question, What is Faith, and who are the Unbelievers ?) — [A work to which 
 we have not access. — Ed.] Nitzsch, Chr. Doc. ^ 9.— See also Appendix, Note D. 
 
DISCOURSES. 95 
 
 There is faith in a " doctrine according to godliness," 
 and " he that believeth shall be saved ;" and there is a faith 
 in such as seem given over to "believe a lie, that they all 
 might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleas- 
 ure in unrighteousness." From such a faith, dear reader, 
 may God turn off your heart, if it is yours ! 
 
DISCOURSE ly. 
 
 Faith — Its Moeal Quality. 
 Galatians v. 6 : " Faith, which worketh hy love " 
 
 We now propose to test that definition of faith which 
 was given in the previous discourse upon this text, and to 
 show how and when this principle has moral quality. 
 This, it will be remembered, constitutes the fourth and fifth 
 general divisions of the subject we are engaged upon, as 
 announced in the opening discourse. Let us then, 
 
 IV. Test the definition of faith now given. 
 
 It is not proposed, under this head, to enter upon a gen- 
 eral examination of the definition, with reference to its 
 competency to solve all those questions which have been 
 asked concerning faith, and to silence the sneers which have 
 been flung out against it ; all these things will be attended 
 to in their proper places, as we proceed ; and it is hoped 
 that the view given will remove all difficulty from the sub- 
 ject, in all its bearings. Still, however, the question may 
 arise. Is it a true view "? and this question I would first at- 
 tempt to answer. " Faith," I have said, " is the ■purpose of 
 acting upon a proposed truth, in which the mind sees some 
 probability, with more or less of the feeling of confidence in 
 the same." Independently, then, of that evidence which 
 the analysis carries with it, the truth of this definition 
 may be ascertained by applying to it two questions or tests : 
 first, Is there any element in that state of mind answer- 
 
DISCOURSES. 97 
 
 ing to this definition, which does not exist in faith ? and, 
 second, Is there any element in faith which is not found 
 here? 
 
 First, then, is there any element in the state of mind 
 answering to the definition, which does not belong to faith ? 
 
 The chief of these elements is, the purpose of acting 
 upon the truth believed. But this is an acknowledged ele- 
 ment of Scriptural faith. In all that is said of the latter, 
 to distinguish it from historical or speculative faith, this, if 
 not distinctly seen,' is plainly implied. 
 
 As has been already observed, there is no other possible 
 ground of distinction between the two kinds of faith, but 
 that the one has in it a voluntary element, and the other 
 has not. And what else can that voluntary element con- 
 sist in, than in the purpose of acting according to the truth 
 believed ? Nay, even if there were a thousand other pur- 
 poses in a man's mind, respecting a proposed practical 
 truth, and the purpose of acting according to it were not 
 there, it is plain enough he would not be a practical be- 
 liever in the truth. 
 
 As to the other elements of our definition of faith, the 
 assent of the understanding and the feeling of confidence, 
 none will dispute that these are essential parts of a true 
 and full faith. 
 
 But secondly, what has faith in itself which is not found 
 in the elements of this definition, or in the state of mind 
 described by it '? Has faith an intelligent view of the truth 
 proposed, and assent to it '? So has this. Has faith a feel- 
 ing of satisfaction in that truth, a sentiment of repose in 
 if? So has this. And yet it is manifest that as in this 
 state of mind, so in faith, that feeling of confidence may 
 at times be feeble, and much disturbed by opposing emo 
 
98 DISCOURSES. 
 
 tions, while all the time the heart never relaxes its purpose 
 of action. 
 
 And has Scriptural faith, also, a voluntary element ? 
 Is it a practical faith ? a belief that produces correspond- 
 ing results in action ? So is this. And there is in faith 
 no other assignable element, no other activity of the intel- 
 lect, or heart, or will, but these which have been men- 
 tioned. It follows, therefore, if these things are true, that 
 the definition of faith which has been given, having no 
 other element than such as are found in faith, and having, 
 also, all the elements that belong to faith, is a true and com- 
 plete definition. How satisfactory it may be, will be more 
 distinctly seen hereafter, as -has been intimated ; yet it 
 must be evident at a glance, that it is sufficiently analytic 
 to afford materials with which to build up a plain doctrine 
 of faith, and to remove the difficulties, if such a thing 
 be at all possible, with which the subject has been sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 To remove some of these difficulties is our next busi- 
 ness ; or, in the order of our discussion — 
 
 V. To show how and when faith has moral quality ; in the 
 exhibition of which will also be seen its relation to reason, 
 or the place which it occupies among the acts of the soul, 
 considered as a rational power. 
 
 The great facts or principles which lie at the basis of 
 this discussion, are, briefly, these : that men are sometimes 
 (at least) called to act upon proposed truths which are sup- 
 ported only by probable evidence, and which may be op- 
 posed in like manner ; and that their action upon these 
 truths is determined in view of motives lying on one side 
 and on the other. It is plainly to be seen, that some of 
 
DISCOURSES. 09 
 
 these motives may give to the action which is based upon 
 them a moral quality. 
 
 Now in such a case as this : it is evident, that, seeing on 
 the whole a probability of the truth of the proposition 
 that one's family are in danger, even though one may be 
 unable to account for the contrary evidence, — he who re- 
 fuses to exercise faith in the proposition, and remains where 
 he is, acts morally wrong. He refuses to do the good 
 which he sees would be done by his going, whether the 
 proposition should prove true or false, viz. : the good to his 
 neighbors; and he is thus guilty of sin — not sin because 
 he may not feel such and such a degree of confidence in 
 the proposed truth, but sin because he will not act as if it 
 were true, knowing, as he does, that he may accomplish a 
 good purpose by so doing.* 
 
 * In the following remarks the author assigns to repentance a similar relation 
 to faith. — [Ed. 
 
 " The great insisting on faith as the condition of pardon which is often heard , 
 in the case of those who acknowledge the truth of the Gospel, is utterly out of 
 place, and only makes difficulty and darkness. It is repentance which is wanted 
 — faith already exists, except the element of it which is found in obedience,of 
 which repentance is the first step. 
 
 " The sinner who believes that God forgives for Christ's sake, who assents to 
 this as a doctrine of the Scriptures, which he acknowledges to be the Word of 
 God, only needs to repent, and to ask mercy for Christ's sake. He must be told 
 that if he repents, and asks pardon in Christ's name, he is forgiven, and that 
 there is a sense of pardon or forgiveness which he can have — and that he should 
 not cease praying for pardon, imploring God to show him if he has not wholly 
 repented, and lead him [to] repentance — till he feels that his sins are forgiven. 
 He should not be striving after faith, but after repentance, and the assurance of 
 forgiveness. 
 
 "To strive for faith, is like a stubborn and hungry child, who has been told 
 that he shall have bread for asking, but who is unwilling to ask, crying and be- 
 seeching his father to give him a voice, so that he can ask. The voice he ha 
 already got ; what he wants is to use it to ask bread — a submissive heart, to be 
 willing to ask. So what such a sinner wants is not faith, but a penitent heart to 
 use his faith, and make it avail for him." 
 
 See, also, the Note appended to Discourse X. 
 
100 DISCOURSES. 
 
 But suppose, on the other hand, that he exercises faith 
 in the proposition — that he goes to the reUef of his family. 
 Now, so far as he is influenced to this act, by the consider- 
 ation that he can, at all events, do good to his neighbors, 
 so far, at least, it has a virtuous moral quality. 
 
 When the proposed truth before the mind is of a practi- 
 cal nature, i. e., when it is one which requires that the 
 mind should act upon it as true, or act upon the denial of 
 it, — the motives which range themselves upon the opposing 
 sides, are a distinct thing from the two opposing arrays of evi- 
 dence. So true is this, that it may easily be shown that 
 they are by no means always proportioned, even in import- 
 ance or rank, to the iveight of the evidence, nor always 
 wholly dependent on it. 
 
 This will, perhaps, be best seen by an illustration. You 
 are living, we will suppose, in a populous town or city. 
 While at your place of business, which is at some distance 
 from your residence, a fire breaks out in the town, of which 
 you have ample evidence in the smoke which rolls up in 
 the distance, and "the darting flames, and the confused cries 
 that reach you from the spot. Soon you perceive that the 
 flames are making great havoc, and producing a scene of 
 great distress where your help is much needed, in behalf of 
 those who are brought to the brink of ruin. Being told, 
 however, by messengers whom you have sent, that the fire 
 is at some distance from your own house, and moving in 
 the contrary direction, and having some business on your 
 own hands, you conclude, not without some struggles of 
 conscience, to remain where you are. But here comes one 
 of your own neighbors, almost breathless with haste, and 
 tells you that your house is surrounded by the flames, and 
 your family in imminent danger. Now what will you do? 
 
DISCOURSES. 101 
 
 Will you sit at your desk, gravely weighing the evidence 
 as to the fact of the danger of your family, counting up 
 the figures on both sides till you have ascertained the pre- 
 ponderance of probability, and then proceeding accord- 
 ingly ? No ! You will not hesitate a moment, if you are 
 a man. You will run ! And why ? Because the magni- 
 tude of the interests involved outweighs all considerations 
 of the possibility of error, and electrifies you with its im- 
 pulse to action. 
 
 Now let us look at this case a moment, and see how the 
 facts stated a few moments ago are involved in it. Here 
 is a proposed truth before your mind, viz. : the danger of 
 your family ; and it is a proposition upon which you must 
 acty either as being true or false. There is on each side a 
 certain amount of evidence ; we will not now care to say 
 how much, or which preponderates. There are, also, mo- 
 tives on both sides : on the one side, the love of your fam- 
 ily, and the possibility, even if you should find them safe, 
 of helping other distressed families, by going ; on the other 
 side, there is the desire of attending to your business, 
 which you can do by staying where you are. 
 
 Now it is manifest, (1st) that the motives for acting as 
 if the proposition were true, and the motives for acting as 
 if it were false, are distinct matters from the evidence on the 
 two opposing sides ; (2d) that these motives are, by no 
 means, necessarily proportioned, in importance or rank, to 
 the weight of that evidence ; and (3d) that they are not all 
 dependent, in any wise, on that evidence ; for whether the 
 proposition be true or false, you know you can do good 
 by going, and this alone should be motive enough for your 
 acting on it as if it were true. In addition to these prin- 
 ciples, also, another (in the 4th place) is manifest, viz. ; 
 
102 DISCOURSES. 
 
 that it is plainly possible to act on that side of the ques- 
 tion as being true which has the less weight of evidence in 
 its favor. 
 
 And I wiU here so far make an application of these 
 principles, though it be anticipatory, as to add, — that if it 
 be an evident truth that the religion of Jesus Christ, when 
 truly obeyed, is a blessing to mankind, then the act of obe- 
 dience or disobedience — ^in other words, the act of faith or 
 unbelief in the religion — possesses a moral quality alto- 
 gether aside from the question of its truth or falsehood ;* 
 and there is an obligation to believe, which cannot be set 
 aside by doubts and sneers that may be thrown upon it by 
 selfish men. 
 
 Here, then, we see how and when the act of faith has 
 moral quality. That quality arises from the motives which 
 prompt to the act. And whenever those motives are the 
 dictate of righteousness on the one hand, or selfishness on 
 the other, then the act of faith, according as it obeys or 
 disobeys, is right or wrong. 
 
 We see also the relation of faith to reason. Faith is not 
 something severed from reason, but is based upon it. It 
 is an act of the will, founded upon evidence and motive, 
 
 ♦ We should say, rather, during the pendency of this question. If Chris- 
 tianity shall be proven false, it ■will then be our duty to reject it, notwithstand- 
 ing whatever wishes that it were true. We understand the argument of the 
 writer to be simply this — that there should be a prejudice in favor of what is 
 good, and that the religion of Christ is perhaps true, because it ought to be true. 
 That he does not here condescend to the pitiable safe-side argument which is too 
 often advanced, is clear from the following remark in his closing discourse : — 
 "But it must be admitted, however, and urged, that as reason is the light of the 
 soul, by which man must direct his steps or walk in darkness, he is solemnly 
 bound, by the very constitution of his nature, to follow in his action the laws of 
 evidence, unless the higher law of moral rectitude shall, if such a thing be pos- 
 Bible, oppose." — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 103 
 
 which it is the province of reason to scan — a purpose of the 
 heart based on truth, which reason must reveal. 
 
 Whether, also, a man act on the one side or the other 
 of a proposed truth, it being supported by probable evidence 
 and opposed only by the same, his act is equally, in either 
 case, an act of faith : so that there may be a icicked and a 
 selfish faith as well as a holy and a righteous one. 
 
 It was observed in the preceding discourse, that the act 
 of faith, whether accepting or rejecting a proposed truth, 
 is not always put forth in accordance with the just proba- 
 bility in the case ; or in other words, not always in accord- 
 ance with the greater probability of evidence. The indi- 
 vidual may not slwSijs pause to weigh accurately the whole 
 evidence on either side before deciding ; and there are cases 
 where virtue does not require it. If a proposition is seen, 
 by being received as truth, evidently to tend to the good 
 of mankind, and if it is supported by evidence sufficient in 
 itself to give a good degree of probability in its favor, vir- 
 tue requires that a man scan not too particularly whatever 
 opposing evidence there may be, but proceed to act upon 
 it. For, the fact that it does so tend to the good of man- 
 kind, is proof, either that it is true, or, that a lie is better 
 than the truth ; in either of which cases (if indeed the lat- 
 ter is possible) he ought to go forward and act upon it. 
 
 This is the great reason why the believer in Christ feels 
 that he needs not to scan particularly, or inquire minutely, 
 concerning what objections may be brought up against the 
 truth of the Gospel history. He is conscious that his faith 
 in Christ is elevating and purifying his own character, and 
 making him a better man to his neighbor ; and seeing at 
 least sufficient evidence to give, in itself considered, a strong 
 probability of the correctness of his faith, he is resolved to 
 
104 DISCOURSES. 
 
 go forward, feeling that virtue leadeth him by the hand, 
 and having in his soul a peaceful assurance that " in the 
 way of righteousness is life." 
 
 But again, there may be, as indeed there are, cases where 
 men act both against the greater probability and the mo- 
 tives of goodness, either without weighmg the evidence with 
 proper care, or, even seeing it to be against their chosen 
 way. Such, if we mistake not, is the case with the rejec- 
 ters of Christianity. 
 
 Those who reject the claims of Jesus Christ to be 
 their Lord, their Teacher, and their Saviour, do so, not for 
 want of evidence, but, because they refuse to examine that 
 evidence, or, plainly seeing it to be against them, they are 
 not willing to adopt those holy and benevolent principles' 
 which He enjoins. In the latter case, they live " with a lie 
 in their right hand," knowing it to be such and know- 
 ing it to be evil, yet unwilling to give it up and to love 
 righteousness.* 
 
 * When, furthermore, a man has begun to act in one way or the other with 
 regard to a proposed truth, his view of the evidence will seldom continue the 
 same as it first was. 
 
 A man's attainments in knowledge are always very slight compared with what 
 may be known ; and most knowable things affect more or less the probability of 
 most others. The longer, therefore, a person acts upon the truth or falsity of a 
 proposition, looking, as he will look, after all things that will encourage him in 
 it, the more will he find of probable evidence to support him. 
 
 Again, true faith, as has been defined, always includes the intellectual assent. 
 A man may, indeed, act from various motives, on propositions to which his un- 
 derstanding does not assent ; but he has not then faith. After acting on such a 
 proposition for some time, his understanding may come to assent to it in the 
 manner just indicated, and thus his activity may become faith. So sometimes 
 the infidel, who at first does violence to his own understanding in asserting that 
 tlie Gospel is a fable and that there is no hereafter, and who does not believe 
 this doctrine which he professes and acts upon, may come at last to exercise a 
 real faith in his delusion. 
 
 And so, very frequently, evil-minded men will take up a reproach against an- 
 other, and though it has no suitable evidence to substantiate it, but merely be- 
 
DISCOURSES. 105 
 
 The principles of this discussion enable us to see, further, 
 how there may be different degrees of virtue in different 
 men in the same act of faith. When a proposed truth is 
 before the mind, there may be various motives for acting 
 on it : — motives of reward, which depend wholly on its being 
 true, andi motives of piety or virtue, which exist as?(ie from the 
 direct evidence in its favor. If the evidence is very strong, 
 the motives of reward may occupy a large place in the 
 mind, in its resolving to obey : but if the evidence is feeble, 
 the motives of piety or virtue must be the chief reasons 
 upon which the mind proceeds. In the latter case, then, 
 there is more moral excellence in obedience than in the 
 former. This explains the language of our Lord to doubt- 
 ing Thomas. If the heart of Thomas had loved the moral 
 elevation of the character of Christ as it ought, and been 
 as determined to a life of obedience to His teachings as it 
 should have been, he would not have been so hard to con- 
 vince that Christ had set the seal of the divinity of His 
 
 cause it chimes in with their own passions or prejudices, they will act upon it, 
 and soon come to regard it witli no more doubt than the shining of the sun. 
 Who has not heard of people telling lies till they believed themselves ? Thus 
 it was that the Pharisees ascribed the miracles of Christ to the agency of devils. 
 They regard him with so much hate and prejudice that they see in his wonder- 
 ful works of love only the evidence of his alliance with hell. 
 
 Because intellectual belief is directly involuntary, or cannot be bent to this 
 fiide or that by simple choice, many have inferred that the belief with which a 
 man lives is involuntary — that he may practically believe one proposition or an- 
 other without moral quality. But the principles just elucidated show how er- 
 roneous is such an idea. Men may act against the real decisions of reason ; and 
 they may also, by so doing, in process of time, forgetting the probabilities on the 
 one side, and accumulating those on the other, assent to what they once knew 
 to be a falsehood. It is not always, however, that the guilty errorist does such 
 violence to his understanding. The judgment may often be at a loss to decide 
 between conflicting evidence, till the moral choice steps in to influence the 
 investigation. When evidence is seen decidedly to preponderate, of cour.-;e 
 belief must follow; but in many great questions it is not so seen at iirst. and the 
 will has opportunity, by deciding on which side to act, to lead the mind on to & 
 corresponding judgment. 
 
 6 
 
106 DISCOURSES' 
 
 doctrines, by rising from the dead. He would hare re- 
 ceived at once with joy the happy intelligence, and been 
 ready without hesitation to set before him in his 'path of 
 obedience the glad hopes which such an event was calcu- 
 lated to give. But no ; he must have the strongest evidence 
 before he would obey. Therefore, said Jesus unto him : 
 " Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : 
 blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'^ 
 
 I conclude this discussion with one inference from what 
 has been said. 
 
 The faith or faiths ivith which a man lives in this world, 
 depend, other things being equal, on the state of his heart. 
 
 The opinions which men act upon in life depend very 
 much upon their social and moral preferences. Many, if 
 not most, important questions upon which men are called 
 to act, so far admit of two sides that they may take either 
 by an act of choice, deciding by the motives of virtue or 
 indulgence, benevolence or selfishness. 
 
 Thus, one man, traveling with his team on a long jour- 
 ney, will rest on the Sabbath, acting on the doctrine (of 
 the truth of which he has seen some evidence) that he will 
 gain in the end by so doing ; being persuaded so to act, in 
 part by his regard to what he considers religious duty ; and 
 gaining confidence, by so acting, in the truth of his doc 
 trine ; while another man, having precisely the same evi- 
 dence of the truth of that doctrine, will not believe it, will 
 not act upon it, because he has not the same regard for 
 God and righteousness. Here is a diflference of faith, 
 springing not from difference of intellectual views, but from 
 a difiference of the heart. And when I look abroad upon 
 the world and see the different moral creeds (I say not 
 altogether intellectual creeds) upon which men act, I see in 
 
DISCOURSES. 107 
 
 them the index, nor merely of their enlightenment, but of 
 their moral poFition, It is not the creed that forms tJie hearty 
 — at least originally — hut the heart that forms the creed, 
 "When, therefore, a Hume, or any of his class, shall sneer 
 at the believer in Jesus, I will say to him : If the evidence 
 for his faith be so feeble as you assert, then the nobler and 
 the purer is the heart that adopts its self-denying pre- 
 cepts ; but vi^hat does your faith show your heart to be ? 
 no Christ ! no soul ! no holiness ! no Heaven ! nothing but 
 earth, sense, self, — the life and the death of a beast ! 
 
 Dear reader, what creed will you adopt, for your life ? 
 Will you be a follower of a Hume and a Voltaire ? or will 
 you be a believer, a follower of Christ % 
 
DISCOURSE V. 
 
 Faith — Its General Application. 
 
 John hi. 12 : ^^ If I have told you earihJy things, and ye he 
 lieve not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
 things ?"* 
 
 Having noticed that the kind of Faith of which the 
 Sacred Scriptures speak is. generically, a practical, in dis- 
 tinction from a theoretical, faith, we have now seen, in an 
 abstract form, what this practical faith is, and how it may 
 possess a moral quality. We have, for our future task 
 upon this subject, to make an application of the principles 
 elicited in the preceding discussion ; or, according to the 
 general divisions first announced, 
 
 VI. To show the various applications, or the various kinds, of 
 this Faith. 
 
 Under this head I would more distinctly announce five 
 divisions : 
 
 1st. Its general application to human actions, both 
 worldly and religious. 
 
 2d. Its more specific applications to worldly matters, and 
 their influence on the character. 
 
 3d. Its application to religious objects; or, Religious 
 Faith. 
 
 * The strict sense of this texu is given by the author, in the Tenth Discourse, 
 ■where comp. Bp. Blomfield's note. We have prefixed it to this Discourse as 
 implying the doctrine contained in it. 
 
DISCOURSES. 109 
 
 4th. Faith in God, His truth, Providence ; and 
 
 5th. Faith in Christ, regenerating, justifying and sanc- 
 tifying. 
 
 Our subject, in this discourse, will be the first of these 
 divisions ; or, 
 
 1st. The general application of Faith as a characteristic to 
 human actions. 
 
 And here the proposition may be laid dovna, that Faith 
 is applicable as a characteristic to all things that all men 
 do, both as citizens of the world and subjects of the Divine 
 Government ; or, in other words, all human actions, both 
 worldly and religious, are acts of Faith. 
 
 We will consider this proposition in its two divisions : — 
 in reference to man's worldly actions, (by which I mean 
 here, all his actions which have reference merely to this 
 world), and to his religious actions (or those done in ref- 
 erence to the will of God). 
 
 First, All human actions done in reference to this world are acts 
 of Faith.* 
 
 The truth of this proposition may be made manifest by 
 
 * At this point thD olijection is most likely to be urged, that faith is a holy 
 exercise, and is peculiar to regenerate persons. But the reader will recollect that 
 in this discussion the term " faith "' is used in its generic sense, and with reference 
 to the various powers of the soul which it involves. The words of Paul, "What- 
 soever is not of faith is sin," are not inconsi.stent with this view; for in the con- 
 text (Rom. xiv. 22—23.) the term " faith" is manifestly applied to one's opinion 
 of an act in itself indifferent. In the expression, " Hast thou faith ? have it to 
 thyself before God " — it cannot denote an exercise intrinsically holy, but simply 
 in accordance with the laws of our being. 
 
 That '• faith in God " is the noblest sort of faith, and that he who has it is 
 most worthy of the name '■ believer," — is maintained by our author, as it ac- 
 cords with the whole tenor of Scripture. But it is no small advantage to be able 
 to say to the sceptic, that he has some sort of faith in spite of himself; and that 
 in discarding the " faith " of the Scriptures, he restricts himself to dull and 
 earthly prose, and scorns a sublime and heavenly poetry, and narrows down his 
 being to acts of insignificance, while he might sanctify his wasting powers, and 
 " work the work of God."— [Ed. 
 
110 DISCOURSES. 
 
 a sino-le remark : all a man's actions done in reference 
 merely to this world, are done in order to procure for him- 
 self some happiness, which it is always possible, however, 
 they will not procure. If it is in the nature of things pos- 
 sible that a certain act will not procure that happiness 
 which is its aim, then the proposition that it will procure 
 it, is only a " probable truth," whatever may be the force 
 of that probability ; and to act upon it as true, is, there- 
 fore, an act of faith. And who shall say of any earthly 
 action, that there is no possibility in the nature of things 
 of its failing to bring happiness ? Who shall say, when 
 the cup of pleasure is pressed to the very lip, that it can- 
 not be dashed down ere it is tasted, or its taste prove poi- 
 son when it is quaffed ? 
 
 But let us be more specific. All earthly acts may be 
 divided into two sorts : those which have reference to fu- 
 ture results, and those which have reference to what may 
 be called present results. In actions of the first class, it is 
 very readily seen how it is possible that the result should 
 not be attained. When the farmer goes out into the field 
 to plough, and to plant his seed, does he imagine that it is 
 impossible the harvest should fail ? Is it any other than a 
 probable truth, that by care and industry he may secure his 
 crop % When he acts, therefore, upon this probable truth, 
 it is an act of faith : not religious faith, but faith in the 
 truth. When the blacksmith forges a plough, or the car 
 penter builds a house ; when the cabinet-makar makes a 
 bureau, or the shoe-maker a pair of shoes, or the tailor a 
 coat, or the tinner a tea-kettle, he does it in view of the 
 supposed truth that he will obtain a recompense. But, 
 however strong the probability may be that he will, still 
 this is only a probable truth — the contrary is clearly possi- 
 
DISCOURSES. Ill 
 
 ble ; his act, therefore, is an act of faith — it is acting upon 
 a proposed truth in which the mind sees some probability. 
 
 Again, when the capitalist invests his money in any spe- 
 cies of property, or the trader purchases to sell again, he 
 does it with the expectation of a gain which is by no means 
 inevitable. What though he is insured — his insurance 
 companies can fail, and he with them. He is acting upon 
 probable truth — he is exercising faith. 
 
 And when the lawyer makes his plea, he does it in 
 faith that he may gain the cause for his client , or, at least, 
 gain his client's money for himself — a thing not altogether 
 certain, for his client may have no money to be gained. 
 
 When a man steps on board a steamboat, to go a jour- 
 ney, he performs an act of faith — faith that the mighty 
 force of steam which is pent up in its iron heart, and which 
 would work such swift destruction if suffered to break 
 loose, is under the hand of one able to control and skillful 
 to direct it. And so when he lies down at night to sleep 
 quietly in his berth, he puts faith in the man that stands 
 above at the wheel — faith that through the long hours of 
 darkness he will stand there alone, able and willing to guide 
 the boat along the tortuous channel safely and steadily to- 
 ward its port. 
 
 And so the sea-captain, when he steps on board his ship 
 and gives the word of command, and the broad sheet is 
 flung out to the wind, and the helm is braced a-port, per- 
 forms an act of faith. The proposition that by care, and 
 skill he may be able to conduct his vessel safely to her dis- 
 tant haven, is only a probable truth. The contrary is pos- 
 sible. He is not miojhtier than He who " holdeth the 
 winds in the hollow of His fist," neither can he resist His 
 
112 DISCOURSES. 
 
 will. Yet the suppoFition that he can go safely he sees to 
 be probable, and he puts faith in it and sets forth.* 
 
 And so the physician, when he stands over one who is 
 prostrate with disease and seemingly drawing nigh to 
 death, knows very well that it is possible the potion he is 
 administering will not cure. But he sees evidence, also, 
 that it may, — probable evidence of some degree that it 
 will ; and however feeble his confidence may be, his giving 
 it, is an act of faith in the supposition that it will. 
 
 So also the preacher, when he prepares a sermon, does 
 it on the supposition that he will be able to stand up at the 
 appointed time and preach, and that there will be men 
 there to hear him — both of which are truths by no means 
 inevitable. His doing so, then, is an act of faith in those 
 truths. 
 
 And there is still another truth in which all these per- 
 sons spoken of put faith in all these actions, and in which 
 all persons put faith in every thing they do which respects 
 the future ; and that is, that there will he to them a future, 
 or to others for whom they labor. Why do you build a 
 house, and make provision against to-morrow ? Is it be- 
 cause it is impossihle but that there should be a to-morrow 
 
 * " Et quoniam ridere nostram fidem consxiestis, atque ipFam credulitatem 
 facetiis jocularibus lancinare, dicite, o festivi. et meraco sapientia tincti et sa- 
 turi potu, estne operis in Tita negotjosum aliquod atque actuosum genus, quod 
 non fide praeeunte suscipiant, sumant, atque aggrediantur actores? Peregrina- 
 mini, navigatis : non domum tcs credentes peractis negotiationibus remeaturos? 
 Terram ferro scinditis, atque oppletis seminum varietate : non credentes fiugem 
 percepturos esse ricibus temporariis ? Conjugalia copulatis consortia : non futura 
 esse credentes casia, et officiosi foederis in maritos ? Liberorum suscipitis proiem : 
 non incolumen credentes fore, et per gradus aetatis venturam senectutis ad 
 metas? JEgritudines corporum medicorum committitis manibus: non credentes 
 morbos posse mitigata asperitate leniri? Bella cum hostibus geritis: non ricto- 
 riam vos credentes praeliorum successionibus relaturos? Veneratnini deos, et 
 colitis : non credentes illos esse, et propitias aures vestriji supplicationibus accom- 
 modare ?" — Arnobius. Adv. Gentes. ii. 8. 
 
DISCOURSES. 113 
 
 to you ? or because it is probable you will see it ? Cer- 
 tainly, you act upon a probability, knowing that it is wisest 
 for you to do so : and in so doing, you exercise faith — you 
 act as if it were true that you will see to-morrow. 
 
 And so in everything which you do which has reference 
 to an hour beyond the present, you are acting on the prob- 
 able supposition that you are coming to that hour ; and 
 in this respect, if in no other, every such act is an act of 
 faith. 
 
 But again, all those acts of men which have reference 
 to the present, or to immediate results, are in some re- 
 spect acts of faith. 
 
 Look at that noble bark in a storm ; now rocking in the 
 troughs of the sea, and now rising upon its mountain 
 swells, and shaking the spray from her spattered crest like 
 a thing of life. See that gallant tar, as hand over hand he 
 ascends amid the tracery of her ropes and spars, to do 
 some daring deed for her safety. Now the rocking mast 
 has swung him far out over the boiling billows, into which 
 his dangling feet are almost dipped, and there is nothing 
 to save him from that watery burial but the slender rope 
 to which his hands are clinging. How does he know, as 
 he hangs in that fearful position, waiting for a favorable 
 moment to perform his task — how does he know that that 
 rope to which he clings will not break its fastenings, or be 
 snapt in sunder ? Is such a thing impossible % Is it any- 
 thing but a probable truth that it will continue to support 
 him % And shall he, then, let go? No ; he will hold on, 
 and with no landsman's grasp. He puts faith in the rope 
 — and with that grasp of faith he is saved. 
 
 Go down with me, now, into the cabin of that ship. 
 See there the man upon whose skill she depends for her 
 
 6* 
 
114 DISCOURSES. 
 
 safe conduct over the pathless waters and amid the unseen 
 dano-ers. He is bending over a table that is fastened to the 
 floor, AVliat is that which is spread out upon it ? It is a 
 chart, pointing out the hidden rocks and all the dangers of 
 the way. Does he know that it is correct in every partic- 
 ular? Is the coniT2iVj impossible ? No; but he has good 
 reason to regard it as correct, and he acts accordingly — he 
 puis faith in his chart. And so in those numerical tables by 
 which he calculates the position and course of his vessel, 
 containing thousands of figures, traverse tables, logarithms, 
 sines, co-sines, tangents and secants ; it is probable every 
 one of those figures are correct, but the contrary is possi- 
 ble ; and if there is one of them wrong, that one wrong 
 number may be the means of dashing him and his vessel 
 upon inevitable destruction. Yet he uses his tables confi- 
 dently ; he acts as if they vjere true — it is an act of faith. 
 
 And the same principle prevails in every department and 
 in every act of life. When the mechanic lifts his hammer 
 to drive a nail, it is possible that the nail will break and 
 the blow be useless ; but he smites it in faith — faith that it 
 will endure the blow and sink into the wood. And when 
 the seamstress is plying the polished needle, she knows at 
 every stitch that it may snap in her fingers, or the tenuous 
 thread may break, and the stitch be useless — but it is prob- 
 able they will not ; and she acts upon it — and every stitch 
 is an act of faith. 
 
 And when you ate your breakfast this morning, you did 
 it in faith — faith that that which you lifted to your mouth 
 was food, wholesome food, and not some deceptive prepa- 
 ration or poisonous article. And you cannot go to your 
 dinner without faith — faith that you have a dinner to go 
 to. Nav, vou cannot rise from the seat on which you are 
 
DISCOURSES. 115 
 
 sitting without faith. How do you know that that curious 
 chain of nerves and muscles which is wont to communi- 
 cate the impulse from your brain and move your limbs, is 
 now in perlect order and ready to transmit the mandates 
 of your will"? The contrary is possible. Some unseen 
 power may have severed the chain, or palsied the delicate 
 nerve, while you have been sitting there unconscious. Such 
 things have happened. However probable it may be, it is 
 still only a probable, and not a necessary or inevitable 
 truth, that the nerve and muscle will obey your will. If 
 your will, therefore, shall still act as if it were true, and 
 put forth the volition, it wilLbe an act of faith. You can- 
 not rise up from your seat without faith.* 
 
 Enough has now been said to show that all human ac- 
 tions, relating to this world, depend, in some respect, upon 
 faith for their exercise ; and now I observe : 
 
 Secondly, Much more are all human actions, of a religious 
 character, acts of faith. This will easily appear, independ- 
 ently of what has now been said. The actions of men are 
 religious only so far as they are done in reference to un- 
 seen, unworldly things, or, more particularly, the will 
 of God. It is alone their being done in reference to things 
 unseen, or the Divine will, which constitutes actions re- 
 ligious. But to act with such a reference is to act on the 
 
 * It has been affirmed, in the progress of this discussion, that all the acts of 
 men are, in some respects, acts of faith. And they unquestionably are so. To 
 act on a proposition which one does not intellectually believe, is not, indeed, to 
 exercise faith in the proposition ; but there must be some other, at the same 
 time, which is believed and acted on, so that there is still faith. But if a man 
 act on a proposition to which his understanding does not assent, as he may do, 
 whether for some other rea on, or with the idea that he -will try it, either to 
 show its falsity or as a possible resource, such a case may be an exception to 
 eorae of the language of the discussion, which I have not thei-ein taken pains to 
 guard against but it is B'Jll no exception to the principles advanced. 
 
4 
 
 11(3 DISCOURSES. 
 
 supposition that there is a God who has a will — a truth 
 which, though no sane man, except he is utterly perverse 
 and depraved, will deny it, is yet supported only by that 
 kind of evidence which is called probable. The proposi- 
 tion that there is a God, belongs to the same class of truths 
 with the proposition that there was such a man as George 
 Washington, or, that there is such a place as London, or, 
 that the sun will rise to-morrow, viz. : probable truths. 
 The contrary of these propositions is admitted by the hu- 
 man mind to be in itself possible, though no man doubts 
 their truth. Just so the proposition that there is a God 
 cannot, in reality, be doubted by an enlightened and can- 
 did mind ; yet its opposite is to human understanding pos- 
 sible, and it is, therefore, a " probable truth." But, as 
 every religious act is such only as it is based upon it as 
 true, it follows that every religious act is an act of Jaith. 
 
 For example : Christian repentance is an act of faith, 
 since it is exercised upon the supposition that there is a God, 
 who has been offended, but who is ready to forgive ; all of 
 which are probablo truths, though they are no less certain 
 than the probable truth that George Washington was first 
 President of the United States. 
 
 So prayer, and every act of obedience to God, is an act 
 of faith ; proceeding on the supposition that there is a God. 
 So all the Christian Graces, as they are termed, are exer- 
 cises of faith — love to God, gratitude to God, submission to 
 God, humility and meekness before God — all proceeding 
 on the supposition that there is a God, a truth which is an 
 object of faith and not of intuition.* 
 
 * Some tiuths which call for faith are not such as call for any external or visi- 
 ble act, but only some silent exercise of will, which may control the feel- 
 ings of the heart. When a man who has been accu.stomed to exerci.se faith in 
 th« doctrine of God's gracious providence over Hi? children, is placed in a situa- 
 
DISCOURSES. 117 
 
 " Take almost any Christian grace," says one who has 
 written extensively upon faith, " such as the spirit of sub 
 mission, of gratitude, or of prayer, and it will be found that 
 they sustain intimate relations with other states of the mind, 
 particularly with faith; and that "in reality they cannot 
 posssibly exist without faith." 
 
 No, surely ! how can a man pray to God without be- 
 lieving that there is a God ? And yet this writer did not 
 perceive that prayer is an act of faith. His idea is true, 
 tLough the form of it is unphilosophical. A further dis- 
 cussion of the nature and character of religious faith is de- 
 manded, but must for the present be deferred. 
 
 From what has now been said, how^evei-, may be seen 
 the truth of the proposition stated in the commencement 
 of our present discussion, that all human actions, loth 
 worldly and religious, are acts of faith, ^j this it is not as- 
 serted that faith is the only characteristic of human actions, 
 but simply that it is a universal characteristic of them. 
 They may all have many other qualitias, but this one 
 quality they always have. In other respects they may be 
 of various characters and descriptions; but m this one re- 
 spect, that they are all based in part, immediately or re- 
 
 tion of imminent danger or sore trial, he may on the one hand listen to the sug- 
 gestions of fear or despondency, and throw his soul into violent commotion and 
 distress, or he may on the other hand, by a strong exercise of will, turn off his 
 thoughts from the perils and vexations which surround him. and fix his attention 
 firmly on the great truth which is so consoling to the heart, with the fixed re- 
 solve that he will hear only its comforting dictates, and rejoice in the hope 
 which it gives. 
 
 Thus may he control his feelings, and while he looks with open eye at the 
 perils and calamities at which other hearts are quaking around him, he may be 
 calm. And this internal exercise of mind, by which its agitation is controlled, 
 and a feeling of calm confidence is produced in an overruling and directing pow- 
 er of goodness, po3se.-«es all the attributes of faith, as truly as any external action. 
 
118 DISCOURSES. 
 
 motelvj upon some probable truth, and not wholly, at least, 
 upon necessary truth, they are all acts of faith. 
 
 From the subject of the present discussion I have two 
 inferences. 
 
 First. There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that the Bi- 
 ble demands of men Jaith. In doing so it does no more than 
 the world demands continually of those who seek its pleas- 
 ures — no more than every hour's necessities demand of 
 every man from the beginning to the end of life. If it is 
 true that the Christian is called to " walk by faith and not 
 by sight," it is also true that every man walks every step 
 of his earthly way by faith, though it may be a faith far 
 inferior in its objects, its character, and its influence. And 
 a Hume, who sneered at the belief in Jesus for his faith, 
 was himself as much a believer as the Christian, though in 
 a different creed — and he lived all his life by faith, in every 
 act of it, from the beginning to the end, as much as the 
 Christian — only his was faith in different things ; and 
 whether was nobler, his faith or the Christian's, we may by- 
 and-by see. And it is so with all unbelievers, or infidels, 
 as they are called — if they refuse to believe in " things 
 heavenly and Divine," they do yet believe, though it be 
 in things " earthly, sensual, devilish" — nay, they must be- 
 lieve they must live all their lives by faith, of some sort 
 
 or other. The fact then, that the Bible demands faith, is 
 no objection against it. And if it can be shown, as it cer- 
 tainly can, that the faith which it demands is a pure and 
 \ol.j one, then is the mouth of the unbeliever shut up, and 
 his sneer is turned with redoubled force against himself. 
 
 Secondly. We see that much of the language of Chris- 
 tian writers about faith is without sense or propriety. 
 Much is said, in laudatory terms, about faith in the ab- 
 
 I 
 
DISCOURSES. 119 
 
 stract, as though it were in itself a peculiar and rare prin- 
 ciple, and worthy of the highest commendation. Not see- 
 ing that it is a principle of universal prevalence, and that 
 its excellence must be measured by its objects, many have 
 spoken of the principle itself as one of a mysterious and 
 superior merit. But all talk about the excellence of faith 
 is folly, unless you define, or unless it be understood what 
 the truth is, which it is so excellent to believe, or act 
 upon. 
 
 The Scriptures, indeed, say much about the excellence of 
 faith, without always expressly defining it ; but from the 
 very nature of their subject it is understood to be religious 
 faith of which they are speaking — faith in Jesus Christ, or 
 in those realities of the unseen world which He has reveal- 
 ed. And all who speak in praise of faith should be care- 
 ful to define what kind of faith they mean, unless their 
 subject or circumstances define it sufficiently ; or at least, 
 they should not speak as though faith in itself, or faith of 
 every kind, were a thing so holy and exalted. The view 
 taken in this decision will not be found indeed to detract 
 from the excellence of religious faith, but the contrary, as 
 we may see hereafter. It shows, however, the true ground 
 of the excellence — that it consists not in the principle itself 
 but in its object — not in its being faith, but in its beino- 
 faith in " things heavenly and Divine." It takes away all 
 reproach against a man for believing, and shows us that 
 luhat he believes is the test by which to judge him. It shows 
 us that while "devils" may "believe" and be devils still, it 
 is he that believeth in Jesus that " worketh the works of 
 God." And it tells you, reader, not to exult because you 
 have faith, but to inquire, what is your faith ? 
 
DISCOURSE YI. 
 
 Faith — In the Affairs of this World. 
 
 Hebretts XI. 32 — 34 : " And what shall I more say ? for the 
 time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and 
 of Samson, and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, 
 and of the Prophets ; who through faith subdued king- 
 doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
 the mouths of lion's, quenched the violence of fire , escaped 
 the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, 
 waxed valiant in fght, turned to flight the armies of the 
 aliensJ'^ 
 
 In discussing the subject of faith, we have seen that it 
 is the heart's purpose of acting upon a proposed truth in 
 which the mind sees some probability, and of which, there- 
 fore, it feels some assurance. We have seen, also, that it 
 is a characteristic of all human actions, both worldly and 
 religious ; in other words, that all the actions of all 
 men are, in some respects, acts of faith, since they are all 
 based, directly or remotelj'-, upon some probable truth. It 
 remains to discuss more particularly these exhibitions of 
 faith, separating them into their different classes, and point- 
 ing out severally their peculiar character and influence 
 upon the soul. We now propose to consider, under the 
 sixth general division of our subject, 
 
 2d. The application of faith by mankind to the things of this 
 world, as to its inftuence on the human character and condition. 
 
 The various objects which the world presents to human 
 
DISCOURSES. 121 
 
 faith, may be divided into two kinds : those which are 
 proper objects for its exercise, and those which, all things 
 considered, are not proper. 
 
 First. The application of faith to proper worldly objects. 
 
 And I remark here, all those plans or propositions which 
 have for their aim the increase of the eartlily means of 
 human happiness, or the improvement or comfort of one's 
 own condition, and which do not prevent the rendering to 
 others of aught that is their due, are proper objects of man's 
 faith ; provided, indeed, their practicability or truth is suf- 
 ficiently probable. 
 
 The exercise of faith in such objects, and the w^ant of 
 it, is what makes the difference between men of enterprise, 
 progress and perseverance, and men of slack character, 
 idle, irresolute habits, and stationary or retrograde con- 
 dition. 
 
 " He that observeth the wind shall not sow," says the 
 writer of Ecclesiastes, " and he that regardeth the clouds 
 shall not reap." It is only a probable truth that the hus- 
 bandman shall gather the product of his toil, yet if he will 
 not put faith in it, he becomes by his refusal a slack and 
 idle man, and his children shall go hungry and be clothed 
 in rags. And just so, whatever may be a man's occupa- 
 tion in life, if he will not put faith in the prospects of suc- 
 cess which lie before him, or the possibilities of obtaining 
 a reward for his labor — in other words, if he will not act 
 upon the supposition that he may reap if he will sow, a 
 proposition which he sees to be a probable truth, he be- 
 comes by his refusal an idle, irresolute being, whose charac- 
 ter and condition will be continually receding from worse 
 to worse. 
 
 On the other hand, the man who ploughs and sows with 
 
122 DISCOURSES. 
 
 diligence, acting on the supposition that he may reap ; or 
 the man of business, who acts on a similar probable truth, 
 and builds houses and stores, and buys merchandise and 
 produce, and erects mills, and factories, and workshops, 
 and sends to sea his ships, freighted with costly cargoes, 
 and plans rail-roads, and takes and procures subscriptions 
 to the stock, and opens canals, and erects telegraphic posts 
 and wires, and invents and executes improvements in do- 
 mestic and farming utensils, stoves, washers, ploughs and 
 reapers, and in tools and steam-engines, and in house- 
 building, and barns, and fences ; — such a man is a man of 
 enterprise, and a man of progress. And such is the dif- 
 ference which /azV/i, in the proper objects of worldly activ- 
 ity, and the want of faith, makes between one man and 
 another. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, the truth in which the idle man re- 
 fuses to put faith may not be the precise one which 
 has been mentioned ; but the principle is the same. The 
 truth that industry, and the competence which it would 
 secure, would make him a happier man, may be the truth 
 in which he refuses to put faith ; and so he hangs about 
 from door to door, and lounges from store to shop, a lazy, 
 lank, and dirty drone, with his hands slouched down into 
 his eiLpty pockets, and his hat slouched over his empty 
 head, a very picture of miserable imbecility ; — and if he 
 fall not into the devouring jaws of him who Ueth in wait 
 with his liquid fire to catch men, it is well. 
 
 But let him put faith in that truth which he now rejects, 
 and you s^hall see him a cheerful and contented man, and 
 his late neglected family sitting around him in comfort, 
 with gladness in every eye. 
 
 And in like manner, every man who seeks to maintain 
 
 I 
 
DISCOURSES. 123 
 
 himself in comfort, or to better his condition, acts and 
 must act in faith in the proper objects of human activity. 
 The hardy adventurer of the land of gold ; the man who 
 left the home of his sires among the hills of New-England, 
 or on the Atlantic slope, to build his cabin on these prairies 
 of the West ; the emigrant who fled from the old world, 
 where men " grind the faces of the poor," and trample 
 upon the weak, to seek on these occidental shores a home 
 and bread, with liberty of life and conscience ; all these, 
 and all like these, were men of faith. 
 
 So too, it has been by faith that all those great deeds 
 have been wrought in all times by which their actors en- 
 nobled themselves, and blessed mankind. By faith, the 
 philosophic Franklin lifted his kite into the storm, and 
 brought the lightning from the cloud, and so taught men 
 to defend their lives and property from the destructive bolt. 
 
 By faith, a Fulton launched upon the waters, amid the 
 sneers of unbelieving spectators, that grand experiment 
 which was to lay open these broad, rich lands to the emi- 
 grant, make our rivers highways of commerce, bring the 
 choice productions of all climes to our feet ; nay, join all 
 lands in a brotherhood of nations, and bless them with un- 
 numbered gifts. 
 
 By faith, Milton, when he stood a blind old man upon 
 the verge of time, conceived in his mighty heart the thought 
 of somewhat that his countrymen would " not willingly 
 let die," and sung that lofty song which shall echo in every 
 land to stir ihe soul with sublime emotions, and " vindi- 
 cate the ways of God to man." 
 
 By faith, Cromwell, when he told Hampden that the 
 Parliament needed better soldiers than old broken down 
 tapsters and serving men — ^it needed men who feared God» 
 
124 DISCOURSES. 
 
 felt the power of conscience, and hated the devil — by faith 
 he replied to the inquiry whether he could find and train 
 such men, that he verily " tJiought he could do smnewhat^"* 
 and went forth to tiy ; and England felt the tread of his 
 footsteps ; and the world feels it still ! 
 
 By faith, Columbus, amid the scorn of mariners, mer- 
 chants, wise men and princes, and with a sword hanging 
 over his head, launched forth undauntingly upon the wa- 
 ters of the untracked and seemingly boundless ocean, to 
 seek a new world for the adventurous tread of men, and 
 lay open a refuge for the oppressed and needy of all lands. 
 
 By faith he began the perilous voyage, and by faith he 
 prosecuted it ; and w^hen the hearts of the mariners failed 
 them for fear, and in unbelieving despondency they de- 
 manded to be carried back to their far-forsaken homes, and 
 even conspired to cast him into the sea, by faith he stood 
 among them all undaunted and unyielding, bidding them 
 go forward still, till the New World was found ! 
 
 By faith, in after time, when a new people had sprang 
 up in this New World, those brave men, in national coun- 
 cil assembled, on that memorable Fourth of July, pledged 
 *' their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to the 
 maintenance of the Declaration they had made ; and by 
 faith our generals led, and our armies fought, till America 
 was redeemed, the refuge for the poor, and the banner-land 
 of freedom to all nations. 
 
 All these men, we say, acted in faith ; in faith that the 
 objects which they sought could he attained by resolute 
 hearts and well-directed efforts. 
 
 I repeat, then, it is faith in the proper objects of human 
 activity that produces all the enterprise and industry of 
 men, begets all the noble deeds of great souls, causes all 
 
DISCOURSES. 125 
 
 the improvements in man's earthly means of happiness, 
 and is every year adding blessing to blessing and changing 
 the whole face of our world.* 
 
 Second. But there is another kind of worldly faith of 
 which I have spoken, and to this I must now advert. This 
 has already been characterized as faith in improper objects. 
 Such objects are those which tend to degrade or corrupt 
 the man who puts faith in them, or lead him to wrong his 
 fellow. 
 
 The creed of the avaricious man, comes under this denomi- 
 nation. " Wealth is the great good," is the proposition to 
 which he has given his faith: "the more money, the more 
 pleasure." And so, he refuses every avoidable outlay ; he 
 drives hard bargains, not only with those who have means, 
 but also with the poor — yea, even with the widow and the 
 fatherless ; he hires at the very lowest wages, and if pos- 
 sible pays the poor lad when done in worthless trash ; he 
 buys property at hidf its value, because some unfortunate 
 man is forced to sell ; or gets it into his possession by dis- 
 honorable means ; he takes advantage of some station of 
 trust in which he is placed to overreach his neighbor or 
 the public, and yet keep strictly within the letter of the 
 law ; he cheats his neighbor in selling him property or goods, 
 though very careful, perhaps, to cheat him without telling 
 any lies, lest he be confronted with his falsehood ; he shuts 
 his heart close against the calls of benevolence, and will 
 not own that God's poor have any right to God's property 
 in his hands ; nay, though he has enjoyed the benefit of a 
 
 * " Faith is the basis of all great, active enterprises. If a man cannot think 
 well, nor write well, ^vithout faith; so in all difficult enterprises, which imply 
 physical as well as mental efifort, he cannot act well,." ITpAam's "Life of Faith," 
 Part i. ch. ii. The Sermon of Abp. Leighton, on " The BeliCTer a Hero," wiU sug- 
 gest the same thought. [£o. 
 
126 DISCOURSES. 
 
 free, peaceful, and prosperous country, enabling him to ac- 
 cumulate his wealth and to enjoy it in safety, — a benefit 
 procured for him by the toil of others — he will make no 
 return; even his country, the public interest, appeals to 
 him in vain ; with both hands fast upon his treasures he 
 creeps on to old age, every nobler impulse of his nature, 
 day by day drying up, and his moral stature shrinking into 
 a more miserable and hideous decrepitude, as he approaches 
 nearer to the time, when, stript and naked, he shall be hur- 
 ried before his Judge. !Such is the influence of the faith 
 of the avaricious man — a faith in the proposition that riches 
 are his greatest good. 
 
 Another wretched faith is that of the sensualist. The 
 idea upon which he acts is, that his highest happiness is to 
 be found in securing the greatest amount of sensual grati- 
 fication. And so, with such a faith, he quenches all the 
 higher aspirations of his being, — blots out the finger-prints 
 of Deity upon his soul, — assimilates himself to the brute 
 creation, and makes himself viler than they,^lays his pol- 
 luting and destroying touch upon the purity and peace of 
 families, — nourishes in his breast and breathes around him 
 odors of moral pestilence and death, — forgets God and the 
 future, and riots in the present, and is gay in the midst of 
 the ruin that he is, and that he makes, — and " dieth as the 
 fool dieth." Such is the fruit of the sensualist's faith ; the 
 man who mocks at the faith of the Christian. 
 
 Another wicked faith is that of the soldier, the man of 
 blood, who seeks what he calls gloi^, on the field of battle. 
 His creed is, that it is better to hate his enemies, and 
 butcher them by thousands, and prove himself more of a 
 tiger than they, and so gain an illustrious name among 
 men, than to endeavor to overcome evil with good, and 
 
DISCOURSES. 127 
 
 live unhonored in the world ; and so he rushes into the 
 conflict, shoots and stabs with frantic fury, and comes off 
 covered with gory glory ! 
 
 Another vile faith is that of the unprincipled politician, 
 who thinks that the honor and emoluments of office are 
 better than a useful independence, and a virtuous self-re- 
 spect ; and so he barters his manhood for votes and his 
 integrity for office, and lifts his rottenness above our heads 
 to pollute the air we breathe. 
 
 Another dreadful faith is that of the slave-trader. He 
 thinks it probable that if he will man his ship, and set forth 
 to a foreign shore, he may there be able to seize some of 
 his unfortunate fellow beings, transport them to his native 
 land, and sell them for beasts of burden with great gain. 
 Upon this proposition, then, he acts. He sets out on his 
 dreadful errand ; he makes the wretched Africans his prey^ 
 he crowds them into the hold of his ship, he carries them 
 over the burning sea, and sells them to our countrymen, 
 who are willing to buy ! Oh ! he believes there is no God, 
 or if there is a God he cannot hate iniquity, and there is 
 no hell ! 
 
 Such are the fruits, such is the influence upon human 
 character, of an unrighteous worldly faith. And many 
 are the wicked works it has wrought, of which we might 
 tell. It was by such a faith that our rulers, lately, made 
 cruel war upon an unhappy people, thinking to gain their 
 land. It is in such a faith that some of our Southern states- 
 men have threatened to dissolve the Union, — believing they 
 could frighten the haters of iniquity into silence. It was 
 in such a faith that Arnold betrayed his country, — faith in 
 British gold. It was in such a faith that England once 
 sent her armies to murder our countrymen, and ravage our 
 towns, thinking she could reduce us under her yoke. 
 
1-28 DISCOURSES. 
 
 It is by such a faith that Hungary is fallen, and Venice 
 is crushed, and Italy once more enslaved ; the failh of 
 tyrants in their soldiers and cannon. It has been by such 
 a faith that tyrants all over the world have crushed and 
 torn their unhappy subjects — faith in the blessings of pow- 
 er and plunder. It was in sueh a faith that Herod de- 
 stroyed the babes of Bethlehem, thinking to murder Christ. 
 It was in such a faith that Judas betrayed his Master ; 
 hoping for the thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 All these, we say, and all the crimes with w^hich earth 
 has ever been stained, have been the fruits of an unright- 
 eous faith. It is faith in the improper objects of human de- 
 sire, that has produced all the debasement and the guilt of 
 the human character ; that has begotten all the vile and 
 cruel deeds of degenerate souls ; that has caused all the 
 w^retchedness that man has ever inflicted upon man ; and 
 that is every year adding curse to curse, and striving to 
 pollute the whole face of our sinful world.* 
 
 Thus have we seen, the influence of a righteous and un- 
 righteous worldly faith, upon the character and condition 
 of men. We have seen that as their faith is, so are they : 
 industrious, enterprising, progressive, and increasing in 
 the means of enjoyment ; or, idle, vicious, full of shames 
 and crimes, polluted in heart, and debased in mind, gath- 
 ering treasures of wrath for the day when conscience shall 
 assert its power. 
 
 * " The undertakings of Alexander, of Hannibal, of Caesar, did not signify 
 valor like to this; their achievements were but toys in comparison to these; 
 those famous gallants would have found it infinitely harder to conquer the world 
 in this way; to have subdued their lusts, and mastered their passions, would 
 have proved far more difficult than to get advantage in scuffles with armed men." 
 Dr. Barrow, on the Creed. — Sermon I. on Faith. 
 
DISCOURSES. 129 
 
 I remark, finally, if guilty men would soberly look at 
 the faith with which they are living, it would seem enough 
 to turn them to the paths of righteousness. Especially 
 would this seem true of the man, whether professing Christ 
 or not professing, whose understanding assents to the truth 
 of the Gospel, but who lives, notwithstanding, a worldly 
 life. It is better to be a stranger to the love of Christ (is 
 the faith of such a man), it is better to have no treasure 
 in Heaven, it is better to love immoderately this world 
 where I cannot stay, it is better to be an enemy of God and 
 righteousness, it is better to have my own conscience con- 
 demn me, and none justify me when I am judged ! 
 
 Such is your faith, reader, if you are living in sin, yet 
 owning that the word of Christ is true. 
 
DISCOURSE YII. 
 
 Religious Faith. 
 
 2 Corinthians, iv. 18 : " While we look not at the things which 
 are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things 
 which are seen are temporal, hut the things which are not 
 seen are eternal y 
 
 We have seen, in the discussion of our subject, that 
 faith is a characteristic of all human actions ; and we have 
 briefly glanced at the influence of a right and of a wrong 
 worldly faith upon the human character and condition. 
 We are now, therefore, prepared to see that a right reli- 
 gious faith may be a thing, possibly, not unreasonable, and 
 in its influence upon the character of man not altogether 
 without value. To examine this subject is our present ob- 
 ject : that is — 
 
 3d. To show the nature^ the mm^al character, and the injluence 
 of religious faith. 
 
 Religious faith, I will define to be, faith in unseen, un- 
 worldly things : or, expanding one of these terms, it is 
 ACTING — with more or less of the feeling of assurance — upon 
 the reality of unseen, unworldly things. 
 
 It follows, from this definition, that there may be various 
 kinds or species of religious faith, some of which may be 
 wrong and injurious, and others, perhaps, right and good. 
 
 The faith of the blinded pagan in his idol, is a religious 
 faith. It may be an exercise of heart, belonging to a 
 
DISCOURSES. 131 
 
 a false religion ; yet it pertains to a religion, and is, there- 
 fore, a religious exercise. It is faith in an unseen spiritual 
 power, residing in that dumb idol, that block of wood or 
 stone. 
 
 It may be a faith which consists with, or even lies in, 
 acts of selfishness, cruelty, and sensuality ; and so it often 
 is. Such a faith is an impure and guilty religious faith, 
 corrupting and debasing the soul which cherishes it, sink- 
 ing its exalted powers, and spreading around it an aroma 
 of death. The wretched idolater adheres, with worship 
 and obedience, to that pretended God who permits — nay, 
 who commands him to riot in lust and rage in cruelty, and 
 live with his right hand full of lies and all iniquity. So it 
 was with the sensual Greek, and the cruel Roman : offer- 
 ing worship to Venus, to Bacchus, and to Mars ; and so it 
 is now with millions of deluded pagans, bowing before the 
 shrines of vice and cruelty, and filling themselves with every 
 wrong. 
 
 Such a religious faith is but the effort to ob' ain the pro- 
 tection, aid, and favor of wicked supernatural beings, in 
 those dreadful forms of sin which they would otherwise 
 lack opportunity, or would perhaps otherwise fear, to com- 
 mit. It is a faith as vile and as horrible as are the acts to 
 which it prompts, or in which it often consists. 
 
 Again, the faith of the Mohammedan in the doctrines of 
 his Prophet, is a religious faith. It is faith in a cruel and 
 partial God, in an iron fat«, and in a sensual paradise be- 
 yond the vicissitudes of time. It is a faith which, for the 
 most part, allows and dictates the most hardened selfish- 
 ness ; and whose motive is almost all that that selfishness 
 can ask in this world, or hope for in the world to come. 
 Some exception must, perhaps, be made, since even the 
 
182 DISCOURSES. 
 
 Koran has been lately interpreted to prohibit traffic in 
 human flesh, yet it will hardly be disputed that the gene- 
 ral character of that faith, and its general influence on the 
 minds of its recipients, is such as has been described. 
 
 Again, the faith of the Papist in the Virgin Mary, and 
 also in the atoning efficacy of penances and fasts, and the 
 superabundant merits of the saints, is a religious faith. 
 But when the former is exercised, because it encourages the 
 soul in its neglect of God, and the latter is made use of to 
 strengthen the heart in its secret purpose of continuing in 
 sin, such is an unholy faith, which corrupts the soul and 
 will bring down upon it the displeasure of a righteous God. 
 
 And of just such a character and influence is that faith 
 in Jesus Christ, which holds that He will justify by His 
 blood the man who does not abandon sin in his heart, but 
 is purposed to continue in his transgression of the law of 
 righteousness. Any faith that is exercised to encourage 
 the soul in wrong-doing, with promises of Divine forgive- 
 ness and favor therein, is a most vile and wicked belief, 
 since it is an exercise of thought and will proceeding from 
 the guiltiest and basest intentions which it is possible the 
 mind of man should conceive. And such a faith will 
 steep the soul in baseness and iniquity ; and make it, if 
 anything can, a fit inhabitant for the lowest hell. 
 
 Is it not the fact that such is the faith which many seem 
 to cherish toward the Lord Jesus Christ ? And thus are 
 they perverting that which is most holy and most hallow- 
 ing, into that which is most sinful, polluting, and God- 
 abhorred. 
 
 There are, then, or may be, religious faiths whose char- 
 acter and influence are wrong and injurious, and more to 
 be condemned, because more consummately selfish, than 
 
DISCOURSES. 
 
 even the worst forms of the faith which look wholly to 
 this world. 
 
 But it is the nature, character and influence of one hind 
 of religious faith, not yet mentioned, to which I wish 
 mainly to direct attention : this is. Christian faith. Chris- 
 tian faith may be defined to be, faith in the reality of those 
 unseen things taught or affirmed hy Jesus Christ. These things 
 concern God Himself, and a future world, and the rela- 
 tions of man to the whole. Bringing into view, therefore, 
 the nature of faith, the definition may be more fully ex- 
 pressed thus : Christian faith, as an exercise or state of 
 mind, consists in acting — with some feeling of assurance — 
 or being resolved to act, upon the reality of what Christ 
 has taught concerning Himself, concerning God, and a 
 future state, and man's relations to the whole. 
 
 The moral character of such a faith must be determined, 
 evidently, by an examination of the nature of those teach- 
 ings, and the nature and grounds of those actions which 
 are based upon their truthfulness. 
 
 Some of the truths inculcated by Jesus Christ, as will 
 be admitted by those who have read the Gospels, are as 
 follows : That God, the Creator, exercises a constant and 
 particular control over the things of this world and the 
 destinies of men ; that He is a Being of perfect goodness, 
 and commands all men to love Him supremely, and to 
 love one another as they love themselves ; that there is a 
 life beyond the grave, a world to which the souls of men 
 are hastening ; a Heaven, where " the righteous " shall 
 have " life eternal," and a Hell, where the wicked " shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment," " where their worm 
 dieth not and the fire is not quenched ;" that He Himself 
 (Christ) is the Son of God, and that He came down from 
 
134 DISCOURSES. 
 
 Heaven to be the Saviour of men, who had sinned ; and 
 that all who should obey Him should inherit eternal life. 
 Now what kind of action is it, that is based upon these 
 teachings as being true 1 Plainly, it is that kind of action 
 which makes a man " righteous," whatever it may be. 
 Nay, we may be specific : it is doing to all men as one 
 would wish they should do to him ; loving supremely and 
 obeying a Being conceived of as perfect in purity, good- 
 ness and wisdom, and whose commands are all righteous ; 
 and following the example and instructions of One, the 
 purity and excellence of whose life and teachings have 
 wrung the highest praises from the lips even of infidels, 
 the world over. 
 
 Now setting aside the question, How great is the proba- 
 bility of the truthfulness of what Christ has said concern- 
 ing the existence of a God who has commanded these right 
 actions, and will reward and punish in another world ? it 
 is evident that these actions are eminently virtuous, and 
 the faith, of which they are the expression, is an emi- 
 nently righteous faith. 
 
 Nay ! while their probability is still recognized, the 
 more uncertain the reality of those unseen things and those 
 eternal consequences may appear, the more virtuous, as 
 has already been observed, is this faith, since it proceeds 
 the more upon the acknowledged righteousness of the Chris- 
 tian precepts. Christian faith is a surrender of present 
 and certain good where the law of right demands it, 
 hoping for a reward unseen and future. The more un- 
 certain, then, you affirm that reward to be, the purer do 
 you proclaim the Christian's faith, who still obeys the 
 right. And the more you urge that the Christian's faith 
 is unfounded in reason, the more you assert that to be un- 
 
DISCOURSES. 135 
 
 reasonable is right — a conclusion, the stroke of whose ab- 
 surdity your own head must bear.* Will it be said that 
 men may be taught to obey the Christian precepts without 
 the Christian hope "? Prove it ! 1 reply. Show that they 
 ever have, or ever will ; or else acknowledge that those 
 whom you assert to be the most unreasonable of men, are 
 the most righteous, and that their folly has made them so — 
 and so saying, utter your own condemnation. 
 
 The man who obeys the Christian precepts, does it know- 
 ing that they are holy and good ; and he is, therefore, a 
 righteous man. The fact that he enjoys a sense of Divine 
 
 * There is a very interesting phase of skepticism now extensively prevalent, 
 which, from the premise above stated, deduces a different conclusion, viz. : that 
 Christianity makes a future life too certain for the highest style of virtue. It is 
 urged that many professing Christians seem more to rely upon the eternal re- 
 ward of virtue, than to regard the intrinsic loveliness of virtue. The early Chris- 
 tians, who must rest their hopes mainly upon personal conviction, instead of a 
 current and popular faith, gave less occasion for this skepticism, — though the 
 ancients were ready enough to press their principle, that virtue is its own reward, 
 in this waj'. But in the time of Pomponatius, the apparent establishment of 
 the Christian faith gave new occasion for the old objection. This man, who was 
 persecuted while living, and whose opinions are even now sadly misunderstood, 
 did not deny the immortality of the soul, but rather maintained it as a fact 
 proven by the Scriptures, and by them only. And he questioned the meta- 
 physical and moral proofs of a future life, because they were vacated by the prin- 
 ciple that virtue is its own reward. Those who understood this truth could, and 
 would, be virtuous if there were no Heaven to allure them or no Hell to affright 
 them. Endeavoring to show that the principles of Aristotle did not prove im- 
 mortality, he saj's, in reply to an objection, "Virtue requires that we should 
 die for our country or our friends; and virtue is never so perfect as when it 
 brings no dower with it." But he adds — " Philosophers and the learned only, 
 knoAV what pleasures the practice of virtue can procure, and what misery at- 
 tends ignorance and vice ; — but men not understanding the excellence of virtue 
 and depravity of vice, would commit any wickedness rather than submit to 
 death."' (See Warburton's Div. Legat. i. iii., and Bayle's Diet.) 
 
 We may reconcile the difficulties of the skepticism we have named, perhaps, 
 thus: 1. A God of infinite goodness and wisdom may know how to encourage 
 virtue without corrupting it. 2. The truly virtuous disciple of Christ regards an 
 endless life not mainly as a future reward for present virtue, but as a boundless 
 range for the exerci.se of virtue ; i. e.. he would fain live for ever, that he may 
 be for ever virtuous. 3. A certainty of future life can never be attained except 
 
136 DISCOURSES. 
 
 favor, and a hope of future reward, does not take away hig 
 regard for the right, and does not, therefore, destroy his 
 righteousness; it only encourages and confirms him in it, 
 and prompts him to new efforts of obedience. Thus is he 
 preserved from acts of transgression, and by a continued 
 obedience grows stronger and stronger in his love of the 
 right. 
 
 "We say, then, the activity of Christian faith is a righte- 
 ous activity, consisting in virtuous acts ; and Christian faith, 
 therefore, is a righteous faith, or a morally right exercise of 
 mind. 
 
 We come next to the consideration of its influence upon 
 human character. That it is purifying in its influence is 
 involved in what has just been said. It leads the soul to 
 forsake evil and to practice righteousness ; and makes it by 
 so doing strong in its love of the right. It is not, however, 
 merely an external conformity to the law of moral purity 
 that it requires and produces : a true exercise of Chris- 
 tian faith implies an abandonment of that selfishness of the 
 heart which is the essence of all sin. It implies a hearty 
 love for the cliaracter of Jesus Christ, and an effort to be 
 like Him. It implies a choice of those holy joys which are 
 the joys of heaven, and which dwell in the bosom of God 
 Himself. Yes, it is a " faith which works by love, and 
 purifies the heart." So far as it is exercised it destroys all 
 those unholy passions by which man is led to wrong his 
 fellow, and opens the heart to those generous sympathies 
 
 by personal conviction, as distinct from current opinion, and conjoined with an 
 advanced moral experience. This is the " full assurance of hope,'' of which Paul 
 speaks. 4. The probabilities of a future life, found in the history and docunaents 
 of Christianity, or in the wants of man, are eminently fitted to lead the indi- 
 vidual on from selfishness or indifference, to an unselfish love of Christ, and an 
 unselfish desire to dwell with Him in an endless life. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 137 
 
 by which balm and blessing are poured out on the wants 
 and sorrows of the world. It cleanses the soul from all 
 selfish and polluting lusts, and makes it the abode of love 
 Divine. It is a purifying faith. But again, Christian faith 
 is elevating in its influence upon human character.* And 
 this, because it springs from the noblest motives, and looks 
 to the most exalted and far-reaching objects that can em- 
 ploy the mind of man. It is a faith that stops not to busy 
 itself with the present, the finite and the perishing, but 
 looks beyond, unto the future, the infinite and the ever- 
 lasting. The man that lives by this faith is not circum- 
 scribed by the sight of his mortal eyes, but is acting in view 
 of objects eternal and without limit. He is not anxiously 
 inquiring "what shall I eat and what shall I drink, and 
 wherewithal shall I be clothed?" but, when " shall this cor- 
 ruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immor- 
 tality *?" He is seeking, not that " honor which comethfrom 
 men," and which shall soon be forgotten ; but, that " honor 
 which Cometh from God," and shall endure like God Him- 
 self., He is striving, not for a treasure which he shall leave 
 behind him, with groans and tears in this burial place of 
 his mortal body, but for a treasure to which he shall ascend 
 amid the songs of angels, in the dwelling-place of immor- 
 tal spirits, on the banks of the river of life. 
 
 He asks not how he shall please " a man that shall die, 
 and the son of man that shall be made as grass," but re- 
 membereth " the Lord his Maker, that hath stretched forth 
 
 * "What can be more instructive than to trace the one great principle of faith 
 in God, existing in combination with the most different degrees of moral know- 
 ledge, yet always so ennobling the character in which it dwells as to raise it 
 above the standard of its own times; and thus to witness in each generation 
 that it is the true salt of human nature, the main element of its highest perfec- 
 tion ?" Dr. Arnold. Misc. Works, pp. 150, 151. 
 
 7* 
 
138 DISCOURSES. 
 
 the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth." He 
 weeps ever the trials and sorrows of life, not with the 
 despairing cry that his hopes are destroyed, and evil hath 
 overwhelmed him ; but with the soothing and consoling 
 assurance that '' all these things are working together for 
 his good." He rejoices not in a hope whose tomb is in his 
 sight, and darkness beyond it ; but in a hope whose bloom 
 is everlasting, and whose blossoms shall unfold forever be- 
 neath the shining of God's face. He walks life's pathway, 
 not with a groan in his heart that the grave is before him, 
 and that "his pomp and his rejoicing shall descend into it ;" 
 but with the exalting cry ready to break forth from his 
 lips : " O Death, where is thy sting: O Grave, where is 
 thy victory !" Yea, he " lifteth up his eyes to the heavens, 
 and looketh upon the earth beneath," and saith : "The 
 heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall 
 wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall 
 die in like manner ; but the salvation of God shall be for- 
 ever, and his righteousness shall not be abolished."* 
 
 The faith of the Christian is an elevating faith, expanding 
 the soul to the measure of things infinite and everlasting. 
 
 It is also, once more, a faith that confers upon the soul the 
 'purest and most unchanging happiness. 
 
 The feeling of assurance which attends the evidence of 
 the truth may be at first feeble and faltering, and the joy 
 of faith in its fii'st uncertain steps may therefore be small. 
 
 * It is in accordance, also, with the principles now advanced that the fact is 
 found in human experience which is expressed in the maxim that '" faith gives 
 the mind a new perception." So many and so wonderful are the truths which 
 the soul that has, taken the Gospel as the object of its fervent faith is continually 
 getting sight of, that it seems to itself to be endowed with new faculties to per- 
 ceive. The eye of such a soul sees the hand-writing of God throughout all the 
 forms in heaven and earth, uttering the same solemn lesson, and pointing to th» 
 same glorious hope which it has learned from the lips of Christ. 
 
DISCOURSES. 139 
 
 But from the expansive nature of the mind under exercise, 
 and the cumulative nature of moral evidence, that feeling 
 will increase when the truth is acted on, and will continue to 
 increase as obedience continues, until the joy which it shall 
 give to the soul shall be such as no earthly power can dis- 
 turb. 
 
 Let the purpose of faith be strong and unwavering, and 
 God has not so " left Himself without witness," but that its 
 trust, its firm confidence, its holy peace, and its serene joy 
 shall follow : — yea, they shall flow into the soul like life 
 from heaven. Whether the Christian faith is true or not, 
 such are the facts of human experience, as thousands have 
 testified, and can testify. The widowed mourner, in her 
 poverty and loneliness, has felt the consolation of this faith, 
 and lifted her eye, with a tear of peace and gratitude, to 
 those heavens where God her Saviour dwelleth. The 
 " persecuted for righteousness' sake," and the martyr for 
 the Gospel, have felt it, and been strong to sufi*er and to 
 die for Christ. The man of active piety, the preacher of 
 righteousness, and the tried and toiling witness for the 
 " truth as it is in Jesus," have felt it, and though the whole 
 world around was against them, they have toiled on with 
 an energy and hope the world could not overcome. 
 
 And it must be so. When we look at the objects of the 
 Christian's faith, we see that it must be so. The sight of 
 Infinite Glory, such as no created loveliness can compai-e 
 with, no mortal goodness can resemble ! The love of that 
 Glorious Being, unchanging and immeasurable ! The pres- 
 ence of Jesus, the friend of sinners, for ever ! " An inherit- 
 ance among all them that are sanctified," " incorruptible 
 and full of glory !" All, all that a pure heart can wish, 
 or that imagination can conceive, and the promise of even 
 
140 DISCOURSES. 
 
 more ! These are the objects of the Christian's faith, and 
 the joj which comes from hopes like these is the wfiuence 
 of that faith. And the man who lives by it will tell you 
 that he is not left to the opei'ation of merely natural causes 
 for his peace and consolation; but that "the Spirit itself 
 beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
 of God ; and if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and 
 joint-heirs with Christ ;" " whom not having seen we love ; 
 in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving 
 the reward of our faith, even the salvation of our souls."* 
 
 I observe, in conclusion. Christian faith is a right religious 
 faith, and a thing most to be desired for the human character. 
 Until the infidel can find a faith more pure, more elevating, 
 and more blissful in its influence, he should not sneer at this 
 unless he would be found sneering at all that is lovely and de- 
 sirable in the human soul. What is the faith of the men of 
 this world, compared with the Christian's faith ? Faith in 
 things perishable, compared with faith in things imperisha- 
 ble? Faith in things finite, with faith in things infinite? 
 Faith in sensual things,wdth faith in spiritual things ? Faith 
 in joys earthly and transient, with faith in joys heavenly 
 and everlasting ? And what is the faith of the infidel, 
 compared with such a faith ? Faith in darkness, compared 
 with faith in the light I Faith in death compared with 
 faith in life ! Faith in emptiness and nothing, compared 
 with faith in an all-glorious Creator and God, and in all 
 the good which such a Being can bestow ! 
 
 May God save me from the Infidel's faith ! May I live 
 with the Christian's faith in my heart, and die with it burn- 
 ing on my lips in utterances of praise ! and you, dear 
 reader ! 
 
 ♦ The Author in a note here alludes to " the exploits of religious faith," Heb. xi. 
 
DISCOURSE VIII. 
 
 Faith in God — Its Nature and Influence. 
 
 Hebrews, xi. 6 : " He that cometh to God must believe that 
 He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently 
 seek HimT 1 Pet. i. 21 : " That your faith and hope 
 might he in GodP 
 
 In discussing the various applications of the principle or 
 act of Faith — in other words, the various kinds of faith — 
 we have noticed, in general, the nature, character, and in- 
 fluence of worldly, and also of religious faith. The latter 
 we have seen to be of various kinds ; and these kinds not 
 all of one character. Without examining at all into the evi- 
 dence by which they are substantiated, we have seen, from 
 the character of the actions which constitute their activity, 
 that some kinds of religious faith are of a vicious or wrong 
 character, while others are virtuous or right. The various 
 kinds of right religious faith now call for some further and 
 more particular notice. There is faith in God — the God 
 of the Bible ; His government and providential care ; His 
 wisdom, His goodness and accessibility ; and faith in Christ 
 also, as Redeemer, Lord, and Teacher. One of these we 
 propose to discuss at this time ; or, considered under the 
 general head of the various kinds of faith, to consider : 
 
 4tb. Faith in God — the God of the Bible. 
 
 By faith in God is always meant, as was previously no- 
 
 * A note of the author indicates his design, had he lived, to introduce in this 
 Discourse the '' relation of faith to morals, or the ground of obligation to it." 
 
U2 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ticed, faith insoyne truth asserted concerning God;' as, for ex- 
 ample, that He " loveth righteousness ;" or that He "hear- 
 eth the cry of the humble;" or, that His "eyes are open 
 upon all the ways of the sons of men," and " whatsoever 
 pleaseth Him, that doeth He in heaven and in earth, in the 
 seas and all deep places ;" or it is faith in some othe?- great 
 truth respecting His being, character, or will. 
 
 Thus, when it is said, that " by faith Noah, being warn- 
 ed of God . . . prepared an ark, to the saving of his 
 house," or, that " Abraham staggered not at the promise 
 of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith," this 
 disposition, or act, of Noah and of Abraham is called " faith 
 in God." But this expression is elliptical, for it evidently 
 signifies faith in God's power and truthfulness ; in other 
 words, faith in the proposition that God is able and true. 
 
 The various truths asserted in Holy Scripture concern- 
 ing the Lord Jehovah, and commonly denoted or referred 
 to in the phrase " faith in God," may be comprehended 
 under the terms of the providence, tJie goodness, and the acces- 
 sibility of God. 
 
 The word Providence I use here in its most comprehen- 
 sive sense. It is asserted that the knowledge and power of 
 God extend to all human events, and that He is exercising 
 y moral government over men, and directing and control- 
 ing all the actions and issues of life. All the truths em- 
 oraced in these propositions : — the Divine care for His 
 creatures ; the Divine government over men, administered 
 according to an expressed law ; the Divine knowledge 
 witnessing and even foreseeing every act and condition of 
 human life ; and the Divine power, able to control and 
 direct them all, within those limits which Supreme Wis- 
 dom shall direct — all these truths are included under the 
 term " Providence of God." 
 
DISCOURSES. 143 
 
 The "goodness of God," denotes the truth, likewise as- 
 serted bj the Sacred Scriptures, that He is such a Being 
 that all the acts, and the whole scheme and aim of His 
 providence, are directed invariably by the supreme law of 
 love, benevolence, compassion, and kindness toward the 
 whole of His creatures, and toward each one of them, so 
 far as the good of the whole will allow ; that He does so 
 care for the happiness of each and all the inhabitants of 
 this world, from the highest to the lowest, that nothing 
 which His infinite power and all-seeing wisdom can do for 
 their good, consistently with the great principles of univer- 
 sal justice and supreme benevolence, will be left undone. 
 
 And by the " accessibility of God" I mean another truth, 
 equally asserted in Scripture — his accessibility to true sup- 
 pliants ; or the fact that He regards the sincere prayers of 
 His obedient creatures, and will gi-ant their requests so far 
 as the best principles of government will allow. 
 
 In considering, therefore, the subject of faith in God, it 
 is faith in these truths that we speak of : that God has en- 
 acted a certain law for the moral conduct of men, and is 
 administerino: a natural government over all the events of 
 life in such a way as to carry out the principles of this 
 government, and further its ends; that He Himself is gov- 
 erned also in all the administration of this government, Wy 
 the supreme law of love ; and that He will hear and an- 
 swer prayer in accordanee with the dictates of the same 
 law. In considering, therefore, first, the nature of faith in 
 God, or ichat it is, we observe, it is faith in His providence, 
 His goodness and accessibility. And to have faith in these 
 is, io recognize their prohahilitij, and act upon them. 
 
 The first of these elements, the recognition of the proba- 
 bility of these great truths affirmed concerning the Lord 
 
144 DISCOURSES. 
 
 Almighty, is perhaps wanting in but few minds among 
 those who have been permitted to see the light of Divine 
 Revelation. That they are probable, is what we cannot 
 now pause to argue, but what we do, nevertheless, unhesi- 
 .tatingly and loudly afi&rm in the face of all men. And 
 there is one idea touching the proof which I will here merely 
 mention. It is quite commonly said, even among defend- 
 ers of Christianity, that the benevolence of God must 
 first be proved from nature alone, before a revelation from 
 Him can be received as trustworthy. But this is not alto- 
 gether true. The existence^ in this world, of Jesus Christ is 
 a phenomenon that requires to be accounted for ; and it 
 can only be accounted for — we challenge the whole world 
 to maintain the contrary — it can only be accounted for on 
 the supposition that He did truly " come from God," and 
 that God is a Being of infinite goodness, who does care for 
 the happiness of men, and will visit their conduct with 
 righteous retribution. 
 
 The life of Jesus Christ in this world, therefore, is, in all 
 which it comprehends, a moral demonstration of the be- 
 nevolence and providence of God, even supposing there 
 were no other proof. Nay, more ! We afiirm that it is 
 the greatest of all ^ roofs that can be offered ; and the proof 
 tipon which all Christian hearts, the world over, do mostly, 
 and well nigh entirely, rely. 
 
 But to return. The probability of these great asserted 
 truths is seen at some period of their lives by most or all 
 men who have the Bible in their hands, and certainly 
 may be seen by all. It is only obedience to these truths which 
 they lack to the possession of faith. To act upon them 
 would make them true believers. 
 
 To live in this world, as if one saw the hand of God 
 
DISCOURSES. 146 
 
 moving amid all its shifting scenes and events ; raising up 
 one, and putting down another; directing with resistless 
 power the issue of every human plan and effort ; and giving 
 to one prosperity, and to another adversity, as He will, 
 (though not without reference to man's employment of 
 means) ; and to live, therefore, as if it were folly to strive 
 for earthly good out of the line of rectitude ; to act as if 
 it were true that God does govern and decide the mortal 
 and immortal destinies of men, and as if were best, therefore, 
 to obey His righteous laws and endeavor to please Him ; 
 to take no event of life as fortuitous, but seeing in every 
 one a Divine meaning;, or searchino- therefor, to make such 
 use of it as God designed ; to rest upon the care of the 
 Almighty and all-seeing one, and refuse to entertain 
 desponding and anxious thoughts about the future of this 
 life ; to live as if that future were safe, so long as the heart 
 shall keep itself right with God, giving it all up into the 
 keeping and disposal of that unsleeping hand, and striving 
 only to see and follow the pointing of its unerring finger ; 
 to run forward with alacrity upon the shining pathway of 
 God's holy precepts, as if one saw, in very deed, the wreath 
 of immortal glory hung out before him from the opening 
 portals of celestial bliss ; this, this is faith — faith in the 
 Providence of God ! 
 
 To receive all the good gifts of life as the gracious offer- 
 ings of Divine love, answering them back with grateful 
 devotion ; to turn the eye upward in the midst of provo- 
 cation and annoyance, and be calm ; to check the fount of 
 weeping when sorrow cometh, and light up the tearful cheek 
 with smiles, by the thought that, though darkness is writ- 
 ten in gloomy lines upon its front, brightness is behind the 
 cloud — an "exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" and 
 
146 DISCOURSES. 
 
 to bow down under the chastisement without a murmur ; 
 to live as if sure that no evil can happen to the righteous 
 soul, but it shall find life and blessing forever ; to live as 
 if the presence that filleth heaven and earth were a pres- 
 ence of light and love, and the sympathies of infinite emo- 
 tion were on the side of pure and high benevolence ; and 
 as if the hate and cruel wrong of this world were but a 
 dark spot in the far corner of a universe of radiant glory ; 
 and as if the strength of immeasurable might were arrayed 
 against sin, and on the side of holiness ; this it is, to have 
 faith in the Goodness of God. 
 
 To act, as though it were true that the entreating voice 
 of the penitent and obedient heart were heard of God ; to 
 act, as though there were help to be found in time of need, 
 by asking it of the Lord ; to live, as though there were 
 rich treasures of grace and blessing, which God is ready to 
 bestow upon him that maketh request ; to entreat, as 
 though the tide of sin and sorrow, that sweeps over this 
 world, could be rolled back by the voice of supplication, 
 and the dark places of death and misery be made effulgent 
 by the light of life ; to ask, as though men were perishing 
 of need, and as though the infinite and eternal treasures of 
 God's bounty were running over in His hands, and ready 
 to be given to ten thousand souls for the entreaty of one ; 
 to pray, as if prayer would rend the crystal firmament and 
 bring down heaven to earth, and God to dwell in the habi- 
 tations of men ; — this it is to have faith in God's willing- 
 ness to answer prayer. 
 
 If men would thus live, thus worship, and thus pray, 
 then at His coming would the Son of Man " find faith 
 on the earth." 
 
 And it is only in proportion as men do thus live, adore, 
 
DISCOURSES. 147 
 
 and continually pray, that they have " faith in God." And 
 what is Avanting in most men to this faith, is not, as has 
 already been remarked, the intellectual conviction, but the 
 willingness of the heart to act upon it. It is true that by 
 refusing so to act, men may stifle this conviction, and lose 
 it entirely ; but I believe, at some period of their lives, 
 God gives it to most men so as reasonably to demand their 
 obedience. And there are thousands who live all their 
 days with an intellectual belief of the character and gov- 
 ernment of God, who yet never make it a practical. Scrip- 
 tural faith, by lives of obedient holiness. 
 
 It is possible, indeed, to conceive of a being who shall 
 have a icicked faith in the providence and goodness of God. 
 This is when the understanding recognizes these truths, 
 and the heart openly curses and rebels against them. This 
 is acting on them ; but it is acting according to the dic- 
 tates of a Satanic spirit. Such bold and dreadful wicked- 
 ness, it is to be hoped, is never perpetrated in this world : 
 in the dark world of damned spirits it may he. There, it 
 may be, the lost soul casts off all restraint, and exposes its 
 awful wickedness to the gaze of angels and men, acknowl- 
 edging that God is good and doeth good, and cursing Him 
 for it!* 
 
 * In common with multitudes in our day, the author felt the difficulty of re- 
 conciling the Divine goodness with the final and eternal misery of the lost. This 
 was the heaviest burden of his faith, and it prepared him to be astonished at 
 the force of reasoning in certain arguments respecting the nature of the second 
 death, " contrary to his previous convictions," — and made him very anxious to 
 see a new discussion of the subject. 
 
 In the above paragraph he approaches, we think, a true and very important 
 view of the subject, viz. : that tliose who at the last prove unworthy of eternal 
 life, would prefer that God should appear to have been unjust, or even malignant, 
 towards them ; and the vanishing of all their cherished doubts of His goodness 
 will be their bitterest anguish. Just as, to one who has through distrust allowed 
 an alienation of friendship, there is nothing so torturing as the too late discovery 
 that the affection of an injured friend has been ever constant. — [Ed. 
 
148 DISCOURSES. 
 
 But that faith in the providence and goodness of God, 
 which is generally or always found in this world, where 
 there is any faith at all, is the faith which acts upon these 
 truths by obedience and love. Such, at least, is the faith 
 we are considering, which is a righteous faith. 
 
 And speaking of such a faith, we say : he believes in 
 the providential care of God who commits all his interests 
 into the Divine keeping and refuses to think of fear ; he 
 believes that God governs men by a righteous law, who, 
 knowing that it is therefore best to obey that law, acts upon 
 it hy obeying ; he believes in the goodness of God who 
 adores Him for it, nourishes his hopes and allays his griefs 
 by it, and cherishes in his soul the love of goodness by the 
 power of its infinite sympathy and mefisureless attraction ; 
 and he believes that God heareth prayer, who acts upon it 
 with glad and unceasing supplication. 
 
 Such, dear friends, is the nature of faith in God. But 
 let us now notice, 
 
 Secondly, the peculiar influence of such a faith* After such 
 a view of its nature, indeed, it needs not to speak particu- 
 larly of its influence ; yet it may be well for a moment to 
 direct attention to this point alone. I remark, then (first) 
 such a faith enlarges the soul. Man must believe something 
 — must act, as we have seen, upon some probable truth ; 
 and what truth can be proposed to him so high and expan- 
 sive as the doctrine of a God ? What other practical 
 truth can compare with it ? What other practical truth, 
 concerning the affairs of this world, is so expansive to the 
 
 * The following note of the author indicates the changes he would have made 
 in this discussion: "Peculiar influences; — better — 1st, Elevate the soul; 2d, 
 Draw into fellowship with God (i. e., by faith in the doctrine of pra3'er) ; 3d, 
 Nourish, by sympathy, &c., the principle of love; 4th, To give firmness and sta- 
 bility to the character, taking away the fear of man." 
 
DISCOURSES. 149 
 
 thoughts and so ennobling to the heart that believes it, as 
 this truth, that they are all wielded by an Omnipotent 
 Hand, and directed by an Omniscient Eye, to the accom- 
 plishment of the purposes of Infinite Goodness ? that God 
 is in the world, turning the current of its history, leading 
 on His people in the paths of life, overruling the machina- 
 tions of His enemies, bringing order out of its confusion 
 and light out of its darkness, and rolling on the mighty 
 tide of its events to the grand and glorious consummation 
 of " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ?" 
 
 How elevating is the faith of the politician^ or the soldier y 
 compared with such a faith ? The faith of a Napoleon, in 
 the prowess of his own genius, when the hour of dreadful 
 conflict was approaching, may have possessed a seeming 
 grandeur and sublimity ; but what was it to the faith of a 
 Cromwell in the Invisible and Almighty God of battles, 
 who could rule, with a whisper, the raging of His foes, or 
 blow away His enemies with the breath of His mouth '? 
 
 The faith of a Pitt, in the power of his alliances and 
 his financial schemes, to stay the march of the dreaded con- 
 queror, and deliver trembling and bleeding Europe, may 
 seem imposing to the looker-on ; but what was it to the 
 faith of a Washington, who bent his knee in prayer to 
 Him who ruleth the hearts of men, and can " deliver the 
 needy when they cry V 
 
 The faith of a Columbus, in a new world beyond the 
 untravelled ocean, was elevating and inspiring to the soul, 
 and most worthy of a noble genius ; but what was it, in 
 all its greatness, to the faith of every humble Christian in 
 that new and invisible world beyond the flood of death, 
 whose brightness outvies the sun, and where the city of 
 our God sheds the radiance of its jasper walls, day without 
 night, upon the happy bands of the redeemed ! 
 
150 DISCOURSES 
 
 Come here, ye great men, and ye aspiring and proud, 
 come here and learn wisdom of him who has faith in God, 
 though it be but a lowly child. 
 
 Who is the great man ? He who lives as if this world 
 wer5 all — toiling, it may be, with an angel's strength, to 
 master as much as mortal fingers can grasp of its power, 
 or wealth, or fame, to die in a few days and leave it 1 or 
 he who almost forgets this world in his sense of the pres- 
 ence therein of its Almighty and glorious Creator, and 
 who lives borne up continually on the wings of infinite 
 thought, and illumined with all the radiance of eternal 
 truth *? Such is the man who has a living and abiding 
 faith in God ; and such is the expansive influence of this 
 faith upon the soul. 
 
 But (secondly) this faith tends to rectify the character. Its 
 activity consists^ in part, of obedience to the great laws of 
 rectitude which all men acknowledge to be contained in 
 the Christian Scriptures in the utmost purity. And more 
 than this, it places a man at such an elevated position as 
 makes him regard sin as the blindest folly, and uprightness 
 as true wisdom, while it holds also before his eyes a pic- 
 ture of immortal blessedness to animate his upward steps. 
 It is the man who forgets God, and none else, that ima- 
 gines wickedness to be gain, and perversity to be the path 
 of peace. He who has faith in God, has faith in the wis- 
 dom of uprightness. 
 
 But again, this faith nourishes^ hy sympathy and attraction, 
 the principle of love. Man, who is so easily and so power- 
 fully influenced by sympathy, is too often led astray by the 
 sympathies of evil which surround him in this world. But 
 he whose faith is in God, lives under the influence of a 
 greater sympathy for good than all the sympathies for evil 
 
DISCOURSES. 151 
 
 which the whole world can present. He feels, in whatever 
 circumstances, that few are on the side of selfishness ; for 
 God, who is infinitely more than all, is on the side of love. 
 The emotions of an Infinite Mind, and the attractiveness 
 of spotless and immeasurable goodness, are appealing to 
 his sympathies and his affections, and drawing him over 
 more and more to true benevolence. 
 
 How hardening, often, to a young and generous heart, is 
 that selfishness with which it meets on entering actively 
 into life; and how lost is the soul which has lost its faith 
 in goodness. One truly benevolent friend will sometimes 
 save from moral ruin a soul that without him was fast run- 
 ning into this unbelief. It is something to have faith in 
 goodness, even in a human being, imperfect as its manifes- 
 tation must be ; yea, it is much. But how much more to 
 have faith in goodness, infiiiite and without spot, in the 
 person of an omnipresent and Almighty God ! 
 
 But finally, the mjiuence of Jaith in God is to give peace, 
 and hope, and joy. " I have set the Lord always before 
 me," is the language of the possessor of this faith ; " be- 
 cause He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." " I 
 will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me." " My 
 soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, and my 
 moutli shall praise thee with joyful lips ;" " in the shadow 
 of thy wings will I rejoice." "Although the fig-tree shall 
 not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor 
 of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat ; 
 the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be 
 no herd in the stalls, — yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will 
 ioy in the God of my salvation." 
 
 There is no faith like faith in God ! Is yours such a 
 faith, reader % or do you believe in the promises of this 
 
152 DISCOURSES. 
 
 world, and refuse to believe in God? "According to your 
 faith " it will be unto you; hope, joy, and peace, with in- 
 creasing purity and expansion of soul, in this world ; or 
 disappointment, restlessness, and remorse : and in the world 
 to come, if the Bible is true, a difference that tongue can- 
 not speak nor imagination conceive ; and a difference that 
 endures and increases for ever. 
 
DISCOURSE IX. 
 
 Faith in Christ — Regenerating. 
 
 I John, v. 1 : " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, 
 is born of God.'''' 
 
 In our examination of the subject of right religious faith, 
 we have discussed the general topic of Faith in God ; and 
 it now remains, in accordance with our original design, to 
 treat : 
 
 5th. Of Faith in Christ, 
 
 In accordance with what has been previously said, the 
 term " faith in Christ " denotes faith in some truth or 
 truths concerning Him. It is more commonly used, indeed, 
 with reference to some particular truth, or asserted truth : 
 for example, that He procures and bestows the pardon of 
 my sins. But when used in a general and comprehensive 
 sense, it properly denotes faith in the truthfulness and 
 Divine authority of all that Christ- taught, whether con- 
 cerning God, or Himself, or the soul of man ; or, in sim- 
 pler form, Faith in Christ is faith in all the teachings of 
 Christ. 
 
 This, indeed, is the only proper significance of the term, 
 except when the circumstances of its use show the mean- 
 ing to be more restricted. No man has faith in Christ, in 
 the full and worthy sense of the term, who has not faith 
 in all that he hears and sees Christ to teach. 
 
 Now, if I understand aright those teachings, it will be 
 
 8 
 
154 DISCOURSES. 
 
 found that three distinct kinds of faith are involved in this 
 faith in Christ, which may be called by the names, Uegen- 
 erating, Justifying, and Sanctifying Faith, using these terms 
 in their common significance among Christians. 
 
 These three kinds of faith in Christ, I propose to con- 
 sider separately, showing the reality of each in its own 
 proper connection. And, as our present subject of con- 
 templation, let us notice 
 
 First, Regenerating Faith. 
 
 It is the doctrine of Paul, that " God was in Christ, re- 
 conciling the world unto Himself." The Apostle held? 
 then, that men are the enemies of God, and that by Jesus 
 Christ they are, in some manner, changed to friends. But 
 this change, by which they who were enemies become 
 friends of God, must be, in some respect or to some ex- 
 tent, their own act ; and this act must be founded, accord- 
 ing to the declaration of the Apostle, upon something 
 which they have seen or heard in Christ ; and it must, 
 therefore, be an act of faith in Christ. 
 
 But it is my present purpose to show, from Christ's own 
 words, that faith in Him involves this charge : a change 
 commonly called, from the language which he used to 
 Nicodemus, regeneration, or the new birth. Christ taught 
 that when He was " lifted up," He would " draw all men 
 to Him." And why draw to Him? "Come unto me, 
 all ye that labor," He says. Why % " And I will give 
 you rest." " If any man thirst," he says again, " let him 
 come unto me and drink." " He that believeth in me, out 
 of his belly (bosom, heart,) shall flow rivers of living 
 water." " He that cometh to me shall never hunger : he 
 that believeth in me shall never thirst." "Whosoever 
 cometh to me, and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I 
 
DISCOURSES. 155 
 
 will show you to whom he is like : he is like a man who 
 built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on 
 a rock ; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehe- 
 mently upon the house and could not shake it, for it was 
 founded upon a rock." To come to Christ, then, to believe 
 in Him, to hear and do His sayings — in other words, to 
 act upon His teachings as true, which is, to have faith in 
 them, is to find rest for the soul, to satisfy its thirst, to 
 make it overflow with the water of life, and feed upon that 
 bread which causeth it to hunger no more ; yea, it is to 
 build one's spiritual house upon a rock whereon the swell- 
 ing and vehement floods can never overwhelm it. Such a 
 man, surely, is born again, if there is such a thing : by 
 faith in Christ he has become a new creature, if any do. 
 
 But the truth of our present position may be more par- 
 ticularly shoAvn from the words of Christ, and by an appeal 
 to every man's knowledge of the human heart. It will be 
 shown, therefore, in the first place, that Christ taught the 
 necessity of the new birth to man's highest good ; from 
 which it will follow, in the second place, that faith in Plim 
 involves the act or acts by which a man becomes regene- 
 rate, if there are any such acts ; and that there are, will 
 likewise be shown by the nature of Christ's commands, 
 contrasted with every man's knowledge of human kind. 
 
 (1). That Christ taught the necessity of the new birth to man's 
 higliest good. 
 
 He said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." And at another time, 
 to those who were attending daily on his instructions, He 
 said, " Except ye be converted, {eav fii] orpacpTjTe, except 
 ye turn or change,) and become as little children, ye enter 
 not the kingdom of Heaven." " And what shall it profit 
 
156 DISCOURSES. 
 
 a man," he sajs to all, "if he shall gain the whole world 
 and lose his own soul?" Christ, then, does teach man's 
 need of being born again, in order to his highest good. 
 
 But let us now inquire what Christ means by this new 
 birth ; or what, according to His doctrine, it implies. And 
 I observe, it implies (1st) a sense of sin preceding. 
 
 He spake a parable, of a Pharisee who congratulated 
 himself before God for his righteousness, and a publican 
 who " smote upon his breast, saying, ' God be merciful to 
 me, a sinner.' " And " this man," He tells us, " went down 
 to his house justified rather than the other ;" for it is " he 
 that humbleth himself," that "shall be exalted." 
 
 And in the parable of the prodigal son. He represents the 
 wanderer returning to his father and saying, "Father, I 
 have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight, and am no 
 more worthy to be called thy son." 
 
 But again, the new hirth implies repentance from sin. The 
 burden of Christ's preaching, we are told, was, " Repent : 
 for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." The new 
 hirth was the necessary preparation for that Kingdom, as He 
 declared to Nicodemus ; but here kve are told that men 
 must repent, to be ready for it : so that either they are 
 identical, or one must be included in the other. And when 
 men told Him of the Galileans, " whose blood Pilate had 
 mingled with their sacrifices," He answered, " Except ye 
 repent, ye, likewise, shall all perish." 
 
 (3d), The new hirth implies tliat they who have expe- 
 rienced it live in obedience to God. " For," says the Lord 
 Jesus, "not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, 
 shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth 
 the will of my Father who is in Heaven." That new birth, 
 therefore, which prepares the soul for that Kingdom, 
 
DISCOURSES. 157 
 
 brings after it obedience to God ; and must, therefore, itself 
 be the beginning of that obedience. And what is implied, 
 according to the teachings of Christ, in obedience to Godl 
 
 We answer, (first) a new state of spiritual apprehension. 
 Pie represents men as walking in darkness, and stumbling 
 over their own members into perdition. But " if any man 
 will do the will of Him that sent me," He says, "he shall 
 know of my doctrine:" his spiritual understanding shall 
 be renovated and quickened, so that he shall perceive the 
 Divinity that speaks in me, and shall know in whom he 
 has believed. 
 
 It implies (secondly) a new state of the affections. The 
 first and great commandment of God, according to the 
 teaching of Christ, is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart ; and the second is like unto it : Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself That obedience, then, 
 which is implied in the new birth of which Christ speaks, 
 embraces a supreme and controlling love to God, and a love 
 to all the human family, which makes their interests as sa- 
 cred as one's own. 
 
 It implies, therefore, (thirdly) a new mode of treating 
 the Divine instructions. " He that is of God," says 
 Christ, "heareth God's words." To hear God's words, is 
 to have the ears open to receive, and the heart ready to 
 obey them. It does not allow that a man should live in 
 forgetfulness of his Creator, hearkening only to the per- 
 suasive voices of earthly pleasures and enticements ; it im- 
 plies the disposition continually to seek wisdom of Him 
 that " givcth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." 
 
 (Finally), Obedience to God implies a different fruit of 
 the life, from that which was before yielded by disobe- 
 dience. Of one in that former state, Christ says that " he 
 
158 DISCOURSES. 
 
 layed up treasures for himself and was not rich toward 
 Grod ;" and he declares of all men, that " by their fruits ye 
 shall know them. "A good man, out of the good treasure 
 of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man, 
 out of evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things." 
 
 But we come now to observe (2) that faith in Christ, in- 
 volves the act or acts hj which man becomes a new creature. 
 
 To have faith in Him, is, as we have seen, to act on the 
 truth of all his teachings. But one of His doctrines has 
 been shown to be, that the new birth is essential to man's 
 highest good. And this is what every man seeks. Every 
 man's life is a life of faith in some proposition, whether 
 formally stated or not, which claims as its object the high- 
 est good. The ambitious soldier acts on the proposition 
 that honor is the greatest good; the covetous man, that 
 money ; the debauchee, i\i2ii pleasure is the greatest good ; and 
 their lives are lives of faith in these propositions. And, in 
 like manner, he who has faith in Christ is one who acts on 
 Christ's proposition, that to be renewed in heart is essential 
 to man's highest good ; and he is one, therefore, who per- 
 forms the act or acts by which he becomes regenerate, if 
 any such acts there are. 
 
 That there are such acts will be seen as we evolve now 
 more particularly from the nature of the new .birth the 
 great truth now insisted on, that this change is involved 
 in faith in Him. 
 
 Repentance from sin, and beginning obedience to God, 
 as we have already seen, constitute this change. And 
 Christ has declared that except men repent they shall all 
 perish, and that he only who doeth the will of His Father 
 shall enter the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 To have faith in Christ is to act on his teachin<]js as true ; 
 
•DISCOURSES. 159 
 
 and to act on these teachings is to repent and form the 
 purpose of obedience. Faitli in Him, then, involves re- 
 pentance and beginning obedience ; that is, it involves the 
 change or renewal of the heart, which Christ has called 
 the new birth. 
 
 It is in accordance with what has now been said, and is 
 explained by it, that we find so often in the New Testa- 
 ment, the word " believed" used as nearly equivalent to the 
 term "repented." Thus it is said that when some who 
 were scattered abroad upon the persecution which arose 
 about Stephen, preached the Lord Jesus at Antioch, " a 
 great number ' believed,' and turned to the Lord ;" and 
 when Paul and Barnabas preached in Iconium, it is said 
 that '• a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the 
 Greeks, believed ;" and in Corinth, at the preaching of 
 Paul, "many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were 
 baptized ;" and so in many other places. In these pas- 
 sages, the word "believed" plainly includes the idea of re- 
 pe.itance; as we have seen that faith, in its full import, 
 always does. 
 
 I wish now to put it to all my readers, of whatever sen- 
 timents they may be, whether believers in the Divine origin 
 of Christianity or not. I wish to put it to the consciousness 
 of every one, whether true faith in Christ does not involve 
 so great a change from the common and natural character 
 of man, that it may be fitly said of him who exercises it, 
 if such an one there is, "he is a new creatm'e," he is 
 " born again." 
 
 This faith consists, as we have seen, in acting on Christ's 
 teachings a? true. But he has taught that salvation and 
 true happiness, which all desire, are to be found only in 
 obedience to the Divine commands, which, he declares, are 
 
160 DISCOURSES.- 
 
 such as these : — Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, might, mind, soul, and strength ; whatsoever ye 
 Tv^ould that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; 
 resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right 
 cheek, turn to him the other also ; love your enemies, bless 
 them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
 pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute 
 you ; lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, but 
 lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ; be not anxious 
 for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink ; nor 
 yet for your body, what ye shall put on ; seek first the 
 Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things 
 shall be added unto you. 
 
 Is not the man who shall obey these commandments, 
 compared with the general character of mankind, is he not 
 one " born again ?" is he not " a new creature "?" I put it 
 to your own conscience ; and I know that that conscience 
 will sustain the w^ords of Christ as fitly spoken ; and you 
 will say, in the words of his Apostle, " if any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creation." 
 
 But again, let me urge upon my hearers the truth, that 
 no man believes in Christ who is not renewed. 
 
 I will not assert that a man must assent to this or that 
 theological dogma to be a believer in Jesus. IMen may 
 perhaps differ much about many doctrinal propositions with- 
 out knowing, and therefore without virtual disobedience 
 to the will of God ; but practical righteousness and piety 
 is too plain a matter ; they cannot but understand here. 
 
 To love your enemies ; to do good to them that hate 
 you ; to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness ; to obey all the moral precepts of Christ, and thus to 
 be a new creature — this it is to have faith in Him ; and 
 without this obedience and the change of heart which it 
 
DISCOURSES. 161 
 
 involves, in some good degree, you have notjaith in Him I 
 Your faith is only in proportion to your obedience ; only 
 in proportion to the newness of your heart and life. You 
 may admire the character of Christ, and the utterances of 
 his lips. Your understanding may assent to the reasona- 
 bleness of all his claims, as you interpret them, and to the 
 Divine Authority of His words. Nay, you may profess 
 your belief in the highest and the truest interpretation that 
 is ever put upon his language. But if you obey not His 
 Divine commandments, and if you are not thus renewed in 
 heart, you have not a living, a true faith in Him ! 
 
 There are many all over this Christian land, and there 
 are not a few, perhaps, in this congregation, who do as- 
 sent at times, with their understanding, to the teachings of 
 Christ ; they have been educated, thus far, to believe in 
 Him — but they do not begin heartily to act upon them as 
 true. If they would do this, they would be believers ; for 
 obedience is all they lack to faith. They need no more 
 convincing — no more enlightening — they need only to be 
 persuaded to obey ; then would they have Jaith, practical 
 faith. And until they do this they will live with all the 
 guilt of unbelief upon them. 
 
 You, of whom I am speaking, how long will you dis- 
 obey "? Plow long will you refuse to believe in Christ? 
 How long will you believe the deceitful promises of sin, 
 and turn your feet from the way of wisdom ? 
 
 "Come unto me," he says, " all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give jou rest." You will not find 
 it in the world. You will not find it in the way of trans- 
 gression. '• In the way of righteousness there is life ; and 
 in the pathway thereof there is no death." " Blessed are 
 they that hear the word of God, and keep it r 
 
 8* 
 
DISCOURSE X. 
 
 Faith in Christ — Justifying. 
 
 John vi. 29 : "Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the 
 work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.^' 
 
 That there is a faith in Christ which regenerates the 
 soul, and what it is, has ah-eady been a subject of discus- 
 sion. This we have termed regenerating faith. In accord- 
 ance with the plan proposed, we will now consider — 
 
 Second, That kind of Jaith in Christ which I have called 
 Jiistijying Faith, 
 
 The word "justifying " I use here in its common accep- 
 tation among evangelical Christians ; i. e., to denote that 
 faith by the exercise of which a man receives the pardon 
 of his sins, or his release from the penalty of God's law, 
 due to his past transgressions. It is only with the idea of 
 subjection to such a penalty, that pardon, or forgiveness for 
 sin, can be spoken of. And the faith wliich secures this 
 pardon, I have called, in accordance with a very common 
 usage, justifying faith. 
 
 To exhibit the nature of this faith, then, I would say : to 
 exercise justifying faith in Christ, is to act on the siqjposition 
 that God ivill forgive one' s past sins, for the sake of the atoning 
 sacrifice which Christ offered on the Cross. 
 
 If any man use the term to denote anything else than 
 this, I will not deny his right to do so. But I claim at 
 least an equal right to use it in this sense ; and this is the 
 use which I shall make of it ; this is what I mean by it. 
 
DISCOURSES. 163 
 
 Such a faith, I next remark, is possible. It is as possible 
 for a man to act on the supposition that God will forgive 
 his sins, for the sake of Christ's atoning blood, as it is for 
 him to act on the supposition that He will forgive them 
 for any other reason ; or, as possible as it is to act on the 
 supposition that his sins need no forgiveness ; or, that he 
 has no sins to be forgiven. 
 
 And Christ teaches such a proposition. So, at least, I un- 
 derstand Him. The first passage in which He seems to 
 teach it, is found in the third chapter of John. After tell- 
 ing Nicodemus the necessity of the new birth, and hearing 
 him express his surprise and doubt, Christ goes on to say : 
 Yerily, we speak that we do know ; and you believe not. 
 You came to me for instruction, acknowledging me to be 
 from Heaven ; but if you will not believe the earthly part 
 of my doctrine, how will you believe if I tell you of the 
 heavenly part ? 
 
 Now the question arises, what is this Mavenly parti 
 Christ is surely treating, through all this passage, of what 
 is necessary to man's salvation. Repentance, or the new 
 birth. He has affirmed to be necessary, on man's part, 
 (though He has not affirmed it to be all that is necessary,) 
 and Nicodemus's surprise at this He has reproved as unbe- 
 lief of ra errtyeta — the earthly things ; and He must there- 
 fore mean by ra enovgdvca, or the heavenly things, that which 
 is necessary, on God's part, to man's salvation, whatever 
 that may be — necessary, too, when man has already per- 
 formed his part. You come to me for instruction. He says. 
 I tell you that except a man be born again, he cannot enter 
 the kingdom of Heaven. You are amazed at this. But 
 this is not all I have to tell } ou ; and if you stick at this 
 part of my doctrine, the earthly things, how will you believe 
 if I tell you the rest, the hemwily things ? 
 
164 DISCOURSES. 
 
 This is what Christ says to Nicodemus ; and what can 
 be more evident than that Christ meant to teach, that this 
 new birth, hard as the doctrine is, is not all that is neces- 
 sary to salvation ; but when this is done, something more is 
 necessary on the part of God ? 
 
 And now, after asserting that He alone was qualified to 
 teach these truths. He goes on to declare these " heavenly 
 things :" "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted ; that whoso- 
 ever believeth in Him might not perish, but have eternal 
 life." Here is evidently asserted the necessity of His death 
 on the Cross, in pursuance of the Divine plan for giving 
 salvation to man. But we have seen already that this was 
 something necessary on the part of the Divine Being, in ad- 
 dition to what was necessary on the part of man. The 
 death of Christ, then, on the Cross, was necessary to God's 
 forgiveness of the penitent. And with this idea accords 
 the whole stamp of the language. " Just as the serpent 
 was lifted up by Moses, that those who had faith to turn 
 their eyes upon it might be saved temporally, even so must 
 Christ be lifted up on the Cross, that those who have faith 
 in Him might be saved eternally." 
 
 To look to Christ in the manner indicated by such a 
 comparison, implies penitence as already existing in the 
 mind, and seeking some method of escape from wrath. The 
 whole teaching of this passage, then, seems to be, that pen- 
 itence is necessary ; yet it is not enough for salvation — 
 there is no promise given to penitence — but that faith in 
 the Crucified One is also necessary ; and to tliis faith the 
 promise of salvation is given, previous penitence being im- 
 plied. 
 
 Another passage, w hich seems to teach the same great 
 
DISCOURSES. 165 
 
 doctrine, is found in the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew. 
 Giving the cnp to his disciples, at the Last Supper, Christ 
 said to them, " This is my blood of the New Testament, 
 which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." 
 
 The question here to be determined is, Does the phrase 
 " remission of sins " denote the putting away from the soul 
 of its sinful character, or the putting away from it of the 
 penalty of sin ? That the latter is its meaning, seems evi- 
 dent from other Scriptural usage, and from the words of 
 Christ Himself. 
 
 The second chapter of Acts, thirty-eighth verse, literally 
 translated, reads thus : " Then Peter said unto them. Re- 
 pent ye, and let eveiy one of you be baptized in the name 
 of Christ, for the remission of sins." Now repentance is the 
 putting away of sin from the soul ; and this passage teaches 
 that repentance and baptism are, both together, the procur- 
 ing cause of " remission of sins." " Remission of sins," 
 therefore, cannot he " the putting away of sin from the soul." 
 
 But Christ's words also teach the same thing. In His 
 last interview with His disciples, after His resurrection, He 
 told them " that repentance and remission of sins should be 
 preached in His name among all nations." 
 
 Again I say, then, repentance and remission of sins are 
 two things : the one is the putting away of sin from the 
 soul ; the other is the putting away or removal of its pen- 
 alty — the only other possible meaning. 
 
 When Christ, therefore, says, " This is my blood, shed 
 for the remission of sins," He does not mean, shed to make 
 men repent ; but shed to procure them pardon. And this 
 pardon, as is taught in the passage quoted from John, and 
 in many other places, is given to him who believes in Jesus. 
 
 And now I remark, in the next place, there is nothing 
 
166 DISCOURSES. 
 
 unreasonable, or revolting, in the doctrine just deduced. 
 There are m^ny who seem to think there is. They say, 
 it is abhorrent and monstrous to suppose that God would 
 cause His innocent Son to suffer, in order to save guilty 
 men from punishment which must otherwise be inflicted 
 on them, for their sins. These persons will admit, however, 
 that Christ suffered in order to turn men from sin ; and in 
 this way, then, in order to save them frooa the consequences 
 of sin, i. e., from its natural consequences. They, there- 
 fore, and we, both agree that Christ died to save men 
 from the consequences of sin ; the only difference between 
 us is, What is the necessity ft-om which these consequences 
 flow % They say, it is the nature, the necessary nature of 
 a moral being ; by virtue of which, sin must always be 
 followed by suffering. We say, on the other hand, that 
 it is the nature, the necessary nature, of a universe of 
 moral beings, which makes a law, and therefore a penalty, 
 necessary to its highest well-being.* 
 
 Now, let the opponents of our doctrine tell us, if they 
 can, why it is so monstrous that God should cause His in- 
 nocent Son to suffer, in order to meet a necessity for man's 
 
 * To say that the Divine law is the norm of a sanctified happiness, and there- 
 fore cannot be repealed, as the law of the universe, in behalf of moral beings 
 any where, is one thing, and what our author here asserts. To say that the re- 
 demption of man was a crisis in the moral history of the universe, or was de- 
 signed for special effect upon the universe, is quite another thing, which our 
 author denied. In his notes on the Atonement, he says : "I must repudiate, as 
 Dr. Bushnell does, the idea of Christ's atonement being designed for effect upon 
 the subjects of God's government in other worlds; this being not a Scripture 
 doctrine, but merel/ a philosophy of the atonement, and being contrary to all 
 analogy in the knOwn relations of this world to others. I was never able 
 heartily to believe this doctrine, even when I tried." See Dr. B.'s Christ in The- 
 ology, pp. 286 — 288. See also Dr. Chalmers' respect accorded to the view that 
 there may be various redemptive acts in different parts of the universe, in his 
 Astronomical Discourses. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 167 
 
 salvation, growing out of the necessary nature of a moral 
 universe ; while it is not at all monstrous, but very credible, 
 reasonable, delightful, and gracious, that God should cause* 
 His innocent Son to suffer to meet such a necessity grow- 
 ing out of the necessary nature of a moral being ! This is 
 the difference between us, and the only difference ; and we 
 challenge them to show a single good reason why their doc- 
 trine is less shocking than ours ; even when we afiirm, as 
 we do, that Christ endured the stroke that was due to us 
 and suffered in our stead. 
 
 We have seen now that Christ teaches the forgiveness of 
 sins, by faith in Him, and have vindicated this doctrine 
 from the charge of being shocking or unreasonable. To 
 have this faith in Him, as we have noticed also, is to act 
 on the truth of this his doctrine. But I wish to inquire 
 now, more particularly, what it is to act on the proposition 
 that God ivill pardon our sins for Christ's sake. And I reply 
 simply, it is to ask God for Christ's sake to forgive our 
 sins, and then to go forward in the Christian life, rejoicing, 
 praising, and obeying, as though God had actually revealed 
 to us individually that our sins are forgiven. 
 
 In other words, the action in which this faith consists, 
 is not so much outward as inward action. It is the de- 
 cision to accept, and the act of asking pardon, solely on 
 the ground of the atoning blood of Christ ; followed by a 
 turning of the thoughts away from the threatened ven- 
 geance of the law, to the promised mercy of God, and a 
 determined reliance or resting of the mind thereupon ; a 
 refusal any longer to apply the language of terror to one's 
 self, and a committal of the soul to the hope set before it. 
 
 Kegenerating faith, that is, repentance from sin, must 
 come first, indeed ; then by justifying faith, by taking God 
 
168 DISCOURSES. 
 
 at His word, in his oiFer of mercy, the sinner is for- 
 given. 
 
 * To preach the G-ospel, then, to a sinner who has never 
 heard of Christ, and whose heart is still bound in impeni- 
 tence, we must tell him to " repent and believe in Christ," 
 and he " shall be saved." If, however, we should find a 
 repentant sinner, who had never heard of Christ, we need 
 only tell him, " God so loved the world that He gave His 
 only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life ! Wherefore, *' believe 
 in Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
 But such are not the circumstances in which we are 
 called to preach the Gospel in this Christian land. And 
 one cause of the difficulty of inquirers among us, and of 
 those who would direct them, doubtless is, that this fact is 
 not enough considered, and their true position, therefore, 
 not understood ; so that a direction which would be intel- 
 ligible and correct for a man just taught the doctrines of 
 Christianity, is inapplicable and inefficient. 
 
 One whose understanding has long been trained to assent 
 to the doctrine of forgiveness, by the blood of Christ, but 
 who is yet unreconciled to God, needs only to be exhorted 
 to repent ; for it is here that his whole difficulty generally 
 lies. If such a man, however, has been brought to true 
 repentance, he is ready to believe, if he can see what is 
 meant by it ; and if he is in any difficulty in this matter, 
 the proper mode of directing him, is simply to re-affirm to 
 him the great doctrine^ that if he is penitent, God is now ready 
 to forgive him for Chri: t's sake, if he will ask forgiveness 
 solely in His name ; — and to saij not a word more. 
 
 It should, perhaps, be remarked here, however, that bap- 
 tism is generally understood by Christians to be a proper 
 
DISCOURSES. 169 
 
 and needful expression of this justifying faith in Christ, 
 and its consummating act. In accordance with this, is that 
 language of Peter already quoted : " Repent and be bap- 
 tized in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins." 
 
 The great doctrine of "justification by faith in Christ," 
 then, is simply this ; that we are forgiven for Christ's sake, 
 and not for our own works; and in this way, therefore, 
 we must seek forgiveness ; i. e. we must ask forgiveness in 
 His name solely, and not seek to obtain it by observances 
 of our own. 
 
 Justification hy the hlcod of Christ, is a more distinctive 
 and intelligible expression for this doctrine, than "justifi- 
 cation by faith," and one equally scriptural. (See Rom. 
 V. 9; Eph. i. 7; ii. 13; Col. i. 14; Heb. ix. 14; x. 19; 
 1 John i. 7 ; Rev. i. 5 ; v. 9 ; xii. 11.) If it were more 
 used in directing inquirers they would perhaps better un- 
 derstand the directions. 
 
 That this doctrine of justification by faith, or by the blood 
 of Christ, does not exclude the necessity of repentance and 
 holiness of heart to salvation, appears from the very texts 
 by which the doctrine itself is taught ; for this, it will be 
 remembered, was only God's part of the great work of pre- 
 paring for the Kingdom of Heaven ; while man's part or 
 the new birth, was first insisted on. And the same truth 
 is taught in other passages. " Except ye repent,^' says 
 Christ, ye, likewise, shall all perish." '• Forgive, and ye 
 shall be forgiven." And " by works a man is justified," says 
 the Apostle James, " and not by faith only." These show 
 that with justifying faith, obedience is also necessary to jus- 
 tification. That is to say, justification is pardon for past si7iSy 
 given to the penitent. It is not a substitute for present 
 holiness. Obedience is always the only ground of accept- 
 
170 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ance with God for the present ; but past sins repented of, 
 i. e. forsaken, may be pardoned for Christ's sake. For 
 Christ's sake, however, Grod will not accept the man who 
 still says, I will not obey. Speaking in general terms, 
 then, without the limitation of circumstances, justification 
 is not by faith only. He who acts on the proposition that 
 without repentance he can be saved for Christ's sake, acts 
 upon a lie which Christ has never uttered. He may call his 
 faith justifying faith, but it will never justify him. The 
 professed Christian who lives a worldly and selfish life, 
 thinking to be saved by his faith, is deluded. Christ never 
 authorized him to believe in Him on such terms, and He 
 will say to him at that day, " I never knew you. Depart 
 from me, you that work iniquity^ 
 
 Is justification by faith only? Yes, to the penitent, I 
 admit that it is. The true language of the Christian is, 
 my only hope is in Christ. He alone is my justification. 
 In speaking of the Christian, then, I would say, justifica- 
 tion is by faith only. But not so with the impenitent — 
 faith alone — Christ's blood alone, will not save him. Re- 
 pentance 2i\i^ faith are necessary for his justification.* 
 
 The difficulty of the moralist, so called, on the other 
 hand, is not a false doctrine of justification, but the asser- 
 tion of no need of justification. The doctrine of justifica- 
 tion by faith, however, attacks his system, because it im- 
 plies the denial of his system ; and to prove it, therefore, 
 a true doctrine, is to prove his system false. 
 
 A few words now upon the peculiarity of influence of 
 this faith. It humbles the soul before God, and increases the 
 seme of his goodness. To receive the pardon of sin solely on 
 the ground of what Christ has done, confessing one's own 
 
 * See note at the end of this Discourse. 
 
DISCOURSES. 171 
 
 utter inability to satisfy the claims of righteousness, knocks 
 from under the soul as with one blow, all the props of 
 pride and self-gratulation, and compels it to feel that it 
 can boast no more. And by producing this humility in the 
 soul, it lays the best and the only secure foundation, on 
 which it can build up a truly elevated and perfect charac- 
 ter. Christ Himself was " meek and lowly in heart ;" and 
 without this, even He would not have been perfect. And 
 no mere human being, who must begin from weakness and 
 nothing, can ever build up a lovely and symmetrical char- 
 acter, without first learning to be " lowly in heart." Much 
 less can that depraved soul, in which pride seems the primal 
 and foundation sin, ever be cleansed and elevated, without 
 some means which shall continually check this continually 
 swellino; and outburstino; fount of evil. 
 
 But by increasing the sense of God's goodness also, this 
 faith increases joy. It may, indeed, be urged by some, 
 that it is just as gracious in the Almighty to give His Son 
 to suffer in order to save men from the natural^ as it is in 
 order to save them from the 'penally imposed consequences 
 of sin. And that it would be just as gracious, if God 
 should so do, I readily admit. If, however, there are any 
 other means which would answer the former end, this fact 
 must lower our estimate of the greatness and preciousness 
 of that gift which God gave us, even his Son Jesus Christ ; 
 seeing, in such a case, this were the less costly way of re- 
 deeming man. And that there are no other such means, 
 — in other words, that it was necessary for Christ to die 
 in order to bring men to repentance, can hardly be made 
 to appear credible ; at least, to common minds. But that 
 Christ alone could satisfy the claims of justice against the 
 sinner, is a more appreciable doctrine ; and while it exalts 
 
172 DISCOURSES. 
 
 the law of God, it does not lessen the preciousness of the 
 sacrifice. And the greater this preciousness, the more it 
 manifests the goodness of God. By this manifestation the 
 heart of the believer is filled with joy and hope. He adores 
 the unspeakable glory of the Divine compassion, and cries 
 to all who have " obtained like precious faith," with him, 
 " If God be for us, who can be against us ^ He that spared 
 not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how 
 shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" 
 
 Note. — We add here a few comments and other remarks, designed by 
 the author for this discussion. See also Discourse IV. , Note 1. — [Ed. 
 
 The subject of faith has been mystified, and its relation to good 
 ■works — the necessity of them — has been maintained on the ground 
 that ihej prove faith. But it should rather be said that good works 
 are faith, — i. c, real good works, acts of benevolence, done out of re- 
 gard to Christ. 
 
 We see now the consistency of Christ's declaration. Matt. vii. 24 : 
 " He that heareth my ivords. and doeth them^''^ &c., with His doctrine of 
 the necessity of faith. The Church, too, generally eschews and de- 
 nies the first teaching, because of their interpretation of the latter. 
 But surely the former is as decided and plain as the latter. But they 
 are both true. 
 
 Some will answer that no man doeth them (/. e., perfectly) , and so 
 justification by faith is the only way left. That is, they will nullify 
 those teachings of Christ, making it out that they are only a repeti- 
 tion of the law, to drive men to faith for justification. But this 
 plainly is not Christ's design, for He says nothing of faith; and He 
 adds, " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not^ 
 shall be likened unto a foolish man that built his house upon the 
 sand," — in which He evidently speaks to all who profess to be His 
 disciples. 
 
 We are then under the law as a rule of duty, but also under grace 
 as a means of salvation. When Paul says, " We are not under the 
 law, but under grace," he does not contradict this, for he is evidently 
 aflfirming only that we are not under the law as a means of justifi- 
 cation. 
 
DISCOURSES. 173 
 
 Saving faith in Christ consists in so acting upon what Christ 
 says as to be truly a good man — pious toward God and benevolent 
 to men. 
 
 " Acting " includes not merely outward acts, but inward aims and 
 affections of the heart. 
 
 It is not for us to say how far short a man may come in walking 
 according to the purpose of his faith, and yet be saved — yet have 
 faith enough to be fitted for the kingdom of Heaven in a sufiferable 
 degree, and so be accepted of God. 
 
 There are cases, practically, which seem doubtful to us — not be- 
 cause our principle or method of judging is not correct, but because 
 we cannot satisfactorily apply it to the invisible soul of man in every 
 case. But God can apply — and very many cases, perhaps most, we 
 are able to judge. 
 
 This makes plain the Saviour's declaration, " By their fruits ye 
 shall know them." 
 
 Rom. X. 13. : " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved ;^^ i. e., whoever penitently calls on Christ, or asks God 
 for mercy in Christ's name. Penitence is implied because the whole 
 tenor of God's commands requires it. To this another condition is 
 customarily added by preachers, viz. : faith. But I do not add this ; 
 — the text does not. I say, with the text, call on God and thou shalt 
 be saved. Do I then renounce the necessity of faith ? By no means. 
 But whoever so regards Christ's words as to call penitently on God, 
 has faith — so the context, " How shall they call on Him in whom they 
 have not believed?'' 
 
 " That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish^^ &c., (John iii. 
 16) . The faith required here is not faith necessarily in any particu- 
 lar doctrine about the relation of Christ's work to the procurement 
 of pardon, but faith in Christ Himself — "whosoever believeth in 
 Him,''^ i. e., whosoever so believes in Him as to produce by His faith 
 that moral change which is necessary. 
 
 Now a perfect faith in Christ involves, I think, faith in His truth, 
 faith in His atoning work, faith in His ability and willingness to 
 save. But surely a perfect faith is no more essential to salvation 
 than perfect love. Love is not perfected in all — neither is faith ; but 
 if there is faith enough to work the necessary moral change, it must 
 save. 
 
DISCOURSE XI. 
 
 Faith in Christ — Sanctifying. 
 
 John iv. 29 : Jestis answered and said unto them, this is the 
 work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. 
 
 Having in the application of our subject to faith in 
 Christ discussed the nature of Regenerating, and of Justi- 
 fying Faith, we now come to consider : — 
 
 Third, Sanctifying faith. That there is such a faith, 
 and what it is, will be seen, both at the same time, when 
 we apply the principles already elicited in our past discus- 
 sion, to a few well-known sayings of our Lord. 
 
 It will first be remembered, however, that a true faith in 
 Christ was shown to involve a renewal of the heart, — a 
 radical change of character. But, in all that was said con- 
 cerning that change, it was not asserted that the whole 
 character is by it, at once made perfect in righteousness. 
 It must, indeed, comprehend, evidently, a full acknowledg- 
 ment of the claims of God to the perfect love and obedi- 
 ence of His creatures, and a sincere and earnest settling of 
 the heart thereto ; but when a man has done all this, do- 
 ing it, as is generally the case, in an hour of reflection, 
 and to the power of exalted motive, it does not, therefore, 
 follow, that in the hour of busy occupation with the 
 world, and when the power of temptation is let loose upon 
 him, he will hold immovably to his righteous purposes, and 
 never swerve at all from the line of perfect odedience. It 
 
DISCOURSES. 175 
 
 does not follow, either as a law of mind, or as a fact of 
 human experience. Steadfastness in virtue is a result 
 only of effort many times renewed, and long continued ; a 
 result, generally, of many falls and risings again to victory. 
 The change of character, when a man, who has all his 
 life been wholly devoted to his own selfish and worldly 
 interests, turns round and solemnly consecrates all that he 
 has, and himself also, to God, and the interests of humanity, 
 is very great, and well worthy the name of a second birth ; 
 even though he may sometimes falter for a moment from 
 his new-formed purpose, and may need many repentings 
 from unfaithfulness, and many struggles, and prayers, and 
 tears, to make that change complete. And with a heart 
 like that of man, — so easily deceived ; so fond of 
 hearkening to what the Tempter saith, and so prone to 
 obey his voice ; so long habituated too, in most cases, to 
 sin, — with such a heart it has ever been, and, it would 
 seem, will ever be the fact, that when this great beginning of 
 a change has taken place, there is still need that it should 
 go on ; there is still need of continued and renewed ac- 
 tivity, ere it shall attain unto perfection. 
 
 It is this continued process of renewal, — this growth in 
 love and obedience to God, and this progressive subdual of 
 evil tempers and desires, — this gradual bringing of the 
 whole activities of the man into perfect conformity with 
 that first and solemn purpose which belongs to the new 
 birth, — it is this that is called, commonly, among the fol- 
 lowers of Christ, Sanctiiication. And if there is any faith 
 in Christ which operates in the human heart to this effect, 
 which thus purifies the character from the remains of sin, 
 redeems it from imperfection, and raises it more and more 
 to the likeness of God, such may well be called a sancti- 
 fying faith. 
 
176 DISCOURSES. 
 
 That there is such a faith in Christ, and what it is, may j 
 now be seen, as we notice for a moment some of His teach- | 
 ings. ' 
 
 In the first place, it is involved in and illustrated by 
 those teachings already exhibited as requiring a change of 
 character, or a new birth. Let us notice one or two of 
 these. 
 
 " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord ! shall 
 enter into the kingdom of Heaven," saith the Lord Jesus, 
 " but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." 
 
 Now if a man forms the purpose, to begin with, of liv- 
 ing all his life in obedience to God, — and if it shall be 
 found, as it will be, that in many things he falls short, — , 
 that his character does not at once prove wholly pure, — ^ 
 he will yet perceive, that if Christ's words are true, it is 
 not enough that he make a profession and promise of obe- 
 dience, that he say unto Christ, " Lord, Lord !" but that 
 he shall actually cari-y out his profession into obedience ; 
 that he shall, in every deed," do the will of his Father which 
 is in Heaven." 
 
 Faith in Christ, then, or acting upon the truthfulness of 
 His teachings, implies not only the profession and promise 
 of obedience, but the actual carrying out of this promise 
 in the life. To believe in Jesus, is not only to repent and 
 be born again, but it is to endeavor every day to do the 
 will of His heavenly Father. Yesterday to believe in 
 Jesus, was yesterday to obey God and be determined by 
 His grace to obey Him to-day and to-morrow ; and to-day 
 to believe in Jesus, is to-day to strive to obey God, and be 
 determined to go on obeying, to-morrow and for ever. 
 
 If Christ has taught that the perfect law of love to God 
 and man is the law of true blessedness, then every sin is 
 
DISCOURSES. 177 
 
 an act of practical unbelief in Christ. If He has taught 
 that only he who "doeth" the will of God is saved, then 
 only he who Uves with the constant endeavor to do the 
 will of God is a constant believer in Him, unless he is one. 
 who chooses damnation. And such a believer is one who 
 has all that apprehension of spiritual things, all those holy 
 affections for God and man, all that regard for the Divine 
 teachings, and all that fruit of the life " unto righteousness," 
 which we have seen to characterize the true servant of the 
 Most High. 
 
 And again, Christ says "Except ye repent, ye shall all 
 perish." * Unless a man chooses to perish, then, belief in 
 Christ implies repentance. And repentance is not the for- 
 saking of some sins, while others are continued in ; it is not 
 the forsaking of sin to-day and returning to it to-morrow : 
 it is the endeavor to forsake all sin, — the endeavor made 
 to-day, and every day continued. 
 
 From all these truths, then, it does appear that a true 
 faith in Christ involves the purifying of the soul, or that 
 process which we have called sanctijication. 
 
 But, in the next place, there is another truth involved in 
 faith in Christ, which was not mentioned in discussing the 
 subject of Regenerating Faith, though it might appro- 
 priately enough have been, and which we cannot pass over 
 in silence here. 
 
 " If any man taketh not up his cross," says the Lord 
 Jesus, " and cometh after me, he cannot be my disciple." To 
 have faith in Christ, then, it appears, involves the act of 
 following Him ; of setting Him before the mind as our ex- 
 ample, and endeavoring to walk in His footsteps, to pos- 
 sess His spirit, and to be animated by His holy principles. 
 And what like this can redeem a sinful heart from its cor? 
 
178 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ruption, and bring it back to purity and love ? What like 
 this can sanctify the soul of man ? Who that endeavors 
 every day to follow the spotless Jesus, will live insensible 
 to sin, and quietly submissive to its power ? No other in- 
 fluence can be imagined, I fear not to say, so powerful to 
 convince man of sin, and to exalt his apprehension of 
 God's perfect law, so mighty to subdue the heart to a 
 righteous humility, and encourage its efforts for obedience, 
 as the example of Christ to one who endeavors to fol- 
 low it. 
 
 And it is not merely the power of a perfect example to 
 enlighten the conscience and stimulate the heart, which is 
 felt by him who looks to Christ as his leader, efficacious 
 and inestimable as such an influence is to sanctify the soul ; 
 he sees continually more and more, and as no other man 
 can see, the " beauty of holiness " and the hatefulness of 
 sin ; and thus learns to love the one and to loathe the 
 other, not for what sin or holiness will bring to him, but 
 for what they are in their own character, as related to a 
 world of moral beings. Thus are awakened in his soul the 
 purest and loftiest of all motives that can ever move an in- 
 telligent spirit ; and thus the mightiest and most blessed 
 agencies are put to work to cleanse and raise it up, till it 
 shall shine with lustre borrowed from the face of God. To 
 see Jesus Christ, in the mi-dst of the grossest insensibility to 
 His intellectual and moral greatness, His purity and love ; 
 in the midst of ingratiilade, bigotry and hate, answering 
 His inconceivable compassion and goodness with scorn and 
 unsparing cruelty ; to see Him enduring all without re- 
 sentment, except where it touched the honor of Flis Father 
 or the good of men ; — suffering narrow and malicious souls 
 to exult over Him, to smite and spit upon Him ; and press- 
 
DISCOURSES. 179 
 
 incr down the thunders of annihilating; wrath that were 
 throbbing to burst forth beneath His feet, while sorrow and 
 pity blended their holiest light in H is uplifted face ; to see 
 Him enduring and suffering all, yet loving still, yea, la- 
 boring and praying still, and bleeding, too, for their salva- 
 tion, — Oh! to see this, and to see it as will he who tries to 
 follow Jesus, and knows how hard it is, — this it is to see the 
 *' beauty of holiness," the excellence of God's law of love, 
 as mortal eye never saw it beside ! 
 
 And to see, on the other hand, the true seeming of that 
 ingratitude, those lying accusations, that presumptuous 
 scorn, that renderin^j evil for cood, that hate of all that is 
 lovely, that meanness and cruelty and proud hypocrisy 
 that burst, like a burning wave from the mouth of hell, 
 upon the head of the meek and suffering Saviour, — to see 
 this, is to see the hatefulness of sin, as earth, and methinks 
 the regions of the damned, never displayed it before. 
 
 And he who sees these things— who gazes upon them 
 day by day, and finds them growing deeper in coloring and 
 more wonderful continually, as the earnest copier of Christ 
 will find them — he, surely, is the man, of all others, who 
 will most be filled and made alive with a pure and purify- 
 ing love of righteousness, and hatred of all iniquity. 
 
 I repeat, then, a true faith in Christ, a sincere acting 
 upon all His teachings, does sanctify the soul. There is, 
 therefore, a sanctifying faith in Christ ; and that is not a 
 complete faith in Him which does not sanctify. And it is 
 folly and delusion, let me add, therefore, for any man who 
 professes to be Christ's, to expect to be saved by faith in 
 Him, if he is not becoming year by year a holier, a better 
 man. For such a man is not a true believer. He may 
 believe a part of Christ's teachings, but he does not believe 
 
180 DISCOURSES. 
 
 them all. He does not fully and truly believe in Christ, 
 the Son of God ; and to him, as nruch as to any other, is 
 the warning uttered, " he that believeth not the Son, shall 
 not see life, but the wrath of God abid jth on him." 
 
 Let me point you now, for a moment, to one example 
 of true faith in Chri.-t. It is Paul of Tarsus. Gifted with 
 exalted talents, and with almost superhuman energy, and 
 fitted by birth and education for gaining a high place 
 among the honors of his country, behold him casting all 
 at the foot of Jesus' cross ; renouncing worldly pleasure, 
 and all splendor and ease of life ; enduring hardships and 
 distresses innumerable, and toil beyond the seeming strength 
 of man ; burning with a love unquenchable and pure, that 
 led him to spend and be spent for others, and to rejoice 
 therein, though the more abundantly he loved them the 
 less he was loved ; watering with his prayers and tears 
 the Church which Christ had watered Avith His blood ; 
 and giving himself wholly, without reserve, with an energy 
 unparalleled, and a fervor that consumed the frame in 
 which it dwelt, to the cause of God and righteousnes, and 
 the salvation of souls. And what was the secret of a life 
 so pure, so Christ-like in its aims and its activities, so un- 
 changeably and ardently benevolent ^ He has told us him- 
 self. " I am crucified with Christ,*' he says ; " and I live 
 no longer, but Christ liveth in me ; aiid the life which I now 
 live in the flesh, I live hij the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved me and gave himself for me." 
 
 Yes, it is faith in Christ, which is able to change the 
 whole character of man, raise him up from the pit of cor- 
 ruption into which he had fallen, cleanse his defiled gar- 
 ments till the eye of Jehovah shall see no spot thereon, and 
 place him on the mountof Transfiguration, from which, with 
 
DISCOURSES. 181 
 
 the celestial gates in view, he shall run a shining course, 
 with the world beneath his feet, and the wings of angels 
 springing from his side. 
 
 And now, to you, and to all the world, could my voice 
 reach so far, would I sound aloud the great, the blessed 
 truth of our text: behe^e in Christ — believe, and ye shall 
 be saved. " This is the ivork of God, that ye believe on Him 
 whom He hath sent:' To believe in Him will regenerate the 
 soul, will justify it before God, and cleanse it from all un- 
 ri"-hteousness. It is this faith, faith in Christ, which is 
 the great redemption of the human character. Nothing 
 like it beside was ever seen, to remold, to purify and ele- 
 vate the mind of man. We defy the world to point to any 
 other such source — any " other name under Heaven, given 
 among men, whereby we can be saved." This is the great 
 truth declared in the text. This is, indeed, the work of God — 
 the work by which you may become acceptable to God, 
 and be made like Him — that you " believe on Him whom 
 He hath sent." This is the message of heavenly mercy 
 to a ruined race, to a dead and dying world : Believe in 
 Him whom God hath sent. Trust not to your own un- 
 aided powers ; thousands have trusted and perished. Trust 
 not in any fellow-man ; man has every where trusted in 
 man, and the world is not yet saved. None oi the refuges 
 which men have sought out for themselves have sheltered 
 them ; none of the devices which they have invented for 
 themselves have delivered them. The world has tried long, 
 it has trusted in every thing but Christ, and it is yet far 
 from salvation. 
 
 But they that have believed in Jesus have been saved. 
 They have been saved from corruption, from the power of 
 indwelling sin ; they have felt that they were saved from 
 
182 DISCOURSES. 
 
 death, from the powers of evil, and from the wrath to come ; 
 and the world, that has looked on, has never doubted. And 
 the voice of Jesus is yet sounding aloud to all that need, 
 *' come unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth." 
 " This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom 
 He hath sent." Hear it, dying sinner ! Hear it, guilty 
 and perishing soul ! Hear it, child of sorrow and despair ! 
 There is yet redemption, there is yet peace and full salvation 
 for you. You can yet save yourself and others. You 
 can yet work the works of God, the work by which He 
 will forgive you, and you shall be made like Him. Hear, 
 and despise it not, lest your last hope be lost, and an escape- 
 less perdition seize on your soul. Ruin, eternal ruin, will 
 be yours if you heed it not. It is the last accent of mercy, 
 — but the sweetest. It is the last anchor of hope, — but 
 the surest — "TA/s is the work of God, that you believe on Him 
 whom He hath sent." 
 
DISCOURSE XII. 
 
 The Repose of Faith.* 
 Mark v. 36 : " Only believe.''^ 
 
 Fro:m the country of the G-adarenes, where He had cast 
 out the devil into the herd of swine, Jesus had now re- 
 turned across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum, which lay 
 on its nortliwestern shore, and which was at this time, and 
 during, seemingly, the whole of His ministry, the place of 
 His residence. 
 
 While sitting at a great feast in the house of Matthew, 
 surrounded by publicans and sinners, there came one of the 
 rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and fell at His feet 
 beseeching Him for his little daughter, who lay at the point 
 of death. As Jesus went with him, followed and thronged 
 by a great multitude, there came messengers from the 
 ruler's house, who said to him " thy daughter is dead ; why 
 troublest thou the Master any further ?" 
 
 The heart of Jairus at this news, no doubt, sank within 
 him. He had seen, probably, and had heard of many mira- 
 cles which Christ had done, by which the sick had been 
 restored to health, and the crippled to soundness of limb, 
 and those who had been possessed of devils brought back 
 
 * This Discourse was delivered, Elgin, March 27, 1853 ; " given me," says MrS., 
 " in prayer the day previous, with great comfort." It was, of course, no part of 
 his original plan in discussing the nature of faith ; but we insert it, with the 
 above title, that it may give to others like comfort, and because, by the law of 
 all life and health, the highest work consists with the truest repose. 
 
184 DISCOURSES 
 
 to reason ; but the dead ! — that they should be recovered 
 from decay, and brought back to life, was a thhig unheard 
 of and beyond hope. Who does not despair, when death 
 has once taken the spirit away ? All the dread certainty 
 of its power, and the hopelessness of release which the liis- 
 tory of the world had taught him, now came upon the 
 ruler's heart, and caused it to respond with despairing as- 
 sent to the words of his messengers, " Why troublest thou 
 the Master f 
 
 And yet, seemingly, as he turned to look again upon 
 Jesus, some relieving thoughts arose. " He who has done 
 such mighty works among us — has He not power even yet 
 to help me ?" and then began some feeble hope to struggle 
 with strong fears, and agitate his soul. 
 
 Then it was Jesus came to his help, rewarding the faith 
 with which he had at first approached Him. Amid the 
 agitation of his soul, the Master spake, as once after He 
 spake to the waters of that sea that then rolled in their 
 sight: " Be not afraid," He said; " only believed 
 
 Oh, that we could hear, my friends, amid the doubts and 
 fears that struggle with our feeble hopes, as we travel our 
 brief pilgrimage to the grave — Oh, that we could hear the 
 Master's voice saying to us with energizing power, "Be 
 not afraid ! only believe !" This is, indeed, a voice which 
 Christ has spoken to us, with all the sweetness of His life, 
 and all the solemnities of His death. That we should be- 
 lieve in Him, and so in the Father who sent Him. He has 
 reasoned with us by the most moving arguments, and the 
 most solemn, appeals — the arguments of all His kind and 
 wondrous deeds and words, and His whole life of love, 
 and the appeals of His springing tears, and His outburst- 
 ing blood which was shed " for us." 
 
DISCOURSES. 185 
 
 I would, therefore, to-day, present to your thoughts, as 
 well as to my own, amid our many sorrows and tribula- 
 tions, the cheering and glad words of Christ : " only be- 
 lieve." The great lack, my friends, of all those who are 
 trying to live righteously and godly " in this present evil 
 world," is faith — faith in God, and in His Son Christ. 
 
 The great reason why, if we are the children of God, we 
 are so feeble in our obedience and love ; the reason why 
 we enjoy so little the power of rehgion in our hearts ; the 
 reason why we are so easily turned aside by temptations, 
 weighed down by care, and broken by the sorrows which 
 assail us ; the reason why we mourn so much, and rejoice 
 so little, and run so slowly in the Christians race, is, 
 that we have not faith. If we did but yield ourselves up 
 to a hearty belief of the goodness and power of God, of 
 His all-directing Providence and His merciful and gracious 
 designs toward us, we could not be so disturbed, as we 
 too often are, by the sorrows and troubles of this life. If 
 we did heartily admit at all times all that Christ has taught 
 us by His lips, and all that love and care of God which 
 His life displays and proves, and if we abandoned ourselves 
 to Him with the surrender of a perfect faith, we should 
 never fail of peace and strength and joy. And if by such 
 a faith we did but bringdown into our hearts " the powers 
 of the world to come," our lives in this world would be a 
 brighter display of the value and glory of the Gospel, and 
 would tell with a mightier effect upon the kingdom of 
 darkness and death. How morally beautiful and sublime 
 was the life of the Apostle Paul ! A life of indefatigable 
 energy and unceasing toil in doing good ; a life of entire 
 self-denial, as regards all worldly ends ; a life of disinter- 
 ested goodness, "spending and being spent" for others, 
 
186 DISCOURSES. 
 
 though the more abundantly he loved them, the less he 
 was loved ; a*life of great endurance of sufferings, both 
 natural and by men inflicted ; a life of moral splendor and 
 transcendent power, telling with immeasurable effect upon 
 the destiny of men and nations, and laying through many 
 lands the broad foundations of that mighty temple, which 
 is rising, and yet to rise, till the top-stone shall be laid in 
 heavenly glory, amid the sound of many voices hymning 
 the praises of redeeming love. And what was the secret 
 of that transcendent life? It was not inspiration — it was 
 not miraculous power. No, it was simple Christian faith ; 
 a faith working by love ; and such as any man may ex- 
 ercise who will. The Apostle has himself taught us the 
 whole truth concerning it. " The life which I now live," 
 says he, " I live by faith of the Son of God," i. e. by faith 
 in the Son of God, " who loved me and gave Himself for 
 me." 
 
 Yes, the life of Paul was a life founded on a true and 
 hearty faith in the Son of God, and such a life, in its grand 
 essentials, as such a faith must ever produce. 
 
 And with respect to the power of a true faith to an- 
 imate the soul to great deeds, and to sustain it amid great 
 conflicts, in the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 " What shall I more say? For the time would fail me," 
 going back to the history of the ancient Church, *' to tell of 
 Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae, 
 of David also, and Samuel, and the prophets ; who through 
 faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained 
 promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence 
 of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness 
 were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight 
 the armies of the ahens." Nor has the Church, 
 
DISCOURSES. 187 
 
 since Apostolic days, been wanting in examples of equal 
 courage, and endurance, and moral power, produced by 
 this same principle. It was faith in God that sustained 
 Luther, as he trod his dangerous way to the city of Worms, 
 and as he stood there before that august council of kino-s. 
 princes, and prelates, that had summoned him to trial, and 
 proclaimed in their hostile ears his invincible determina- 
 tion to hold fast the truth of God.* It was faith in 
 God that animated and upheld the illustrious company of 
 martyrs, who, in the the days of the Eighth Henry, and 
 of Mary, nurtured the soil of England with their blood and 
 ashes. It is faith in God, which in later times has nerved the 
 converts of heathen Madagascar to suffer death rather than 
 deny their Lord ; and which, even while I am now speak- 
 ing, sustains the soul of that naturally feeble woman, who, 
 in a prison of Tuscany, bids defiance to all the powers of 
 Romish cruelty and superstition, to turn her from the 
 truth. 
 
 And if faith can work these great results, can it not se- 
 cure those which are less '? Can it not sustain us in our 
 inferior trials, and nerve us to our less difficult tasks ? 
 What more, in fact, is wanting to the vigor of our spiritual 
 life, and to the constancy of our peace and joy, than that 
 we should believe truly in God? 
 . It is undoubtedly true that all of us who love Christ 
 
 * Luther's illustration of unbelief will here recur to the minds of many : " I 
 lately saw two miracles. First, as I looked out at the window, I saw the stars in 
 the heavens, and the whole fair dome of God ; yet did I see no pillars on which 
 the Master had placed this dome. Nevertheless, the heavens fell not, and the 
 dome stands yet fast. Now there are some that seek for such pillars. They 
 would fain lay hold of and feel them. And because they can not do this, they 
 struggle and tremble as though the heaven must certainly fall, for no other rea- 
 son than because they cannot seize or see the pillars ; could they lay hold of 
 these, the heaven would stand firm." 
 
188 DISCOURSES. 
 
 have difficulties to meet, and trials to bear. Though we 
 are not martyrs by fire, and at the cost of life, we may 
 sometimes be called to be martyrs by reproach, and at the 
 cost of friends we love, and objects we hold dear ; we have 
 enemies within, which are worse than those without, in 
 our own corrupt propensities, such as are hard to over- 
 come ; we have weariness of the flesh to endure, and clog- 
 ging and feebleness of spirit ; we have wounded affections, 
 and disappointed hopes to bear ; we have corrupt examples 
 to strive against, and superstitious and wicked prejudices in 
 ourselves and others, to contend with ; we have error to 
 ccmbat, and truth to maintain ; and even among those we 
 love — aye, and in our own hearts, also, we have failures to 
 endure, it may be, and reproach and suspicion to suffer un- 
 justly ; we have griefs for souls that are in sin, for the 
 wrongs and woes of many, and for the cause we love ; we 
 have anxieties and cares, vexations, disturbances, and sor- 
 rows without name or number, to meet and to sustain ; for 
 "man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." 
 
 But God has set before us the end of all our griefs, a 
 bright and happy home ; where having once entered, we 
 shall " go no more out." He has made that home a place 
 fit for His own indwelling ; and therefore full of glory and 
 of joy. For " behold ! the tabernacle of God shall be with 
 men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His 
 people, and God Himself with them shall be their God. 
 And He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and 
 theie shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
 neither shall thei-e be any more pain ; for the former things 
 are j)assed away.''' Oh, it is a city that hath " no need of 
 the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory 
 of God hath illumined it, and the Lamb is the light 
 
DISCOURSES. 189 
 
 thereof." But not only has God set before us such an eter- 
 nal home ; Pie has also taught us that while we tarry in 
 this preparatory state, He is full of compassion for us, and 
 looks down on us with unchanging love. Yes, even when 
 you have wandered. Christian, far from Him, and are 
 thoughtless of His goodness, and careless of His will. He 
 does not cease to love, l)ut watches over you by night and 
 surrounds you with His mercies by day, and strives to win 
 you back. Yea, even then, when you care not for Him, 
 He has designs of unspeakable goodness for you, and is pre- 
 paring a shining mansion to which he means to win you, if 
 His grace can do it. And every step you take in this world 
 He watches over, and if you are trying to be faithful. He 
 causes it to bring you nearer home. Every wind of trou- 
 ble and every storm of sorrow that beats upon you, He 
 holds in His hand, and suffers it not to rage to your harm, 
 but rather makes it a means of greater gain at last, if you 
 love Him. He pities all your griefs, as a father pitieth his 
 children ; He cares for all your interests, and concerns 
 Himself continually in your behalf ; He combines His cre- 
 ative and providential goodness with the riches of His grace, 
 to bless you ; He denies you nothing that will be for your 
 good. Nay ! not even the Son of His love. This is the 
 love of God to you and me, Christian. All our interests 
 are safer in His hands than they could be in our own, for 
 He is hindered by no lack of wisdom, and perverted by no 
 selfishness, and changed by no fickleness, and fettered by 
 no lack of power. Wisdom, that discerneth all things, from 
 the beginning to the end ; might, that can accomplish all 
 His will ; understanding, that can devise most glorious 
 things with which to bless His creatures ; benevolent good- 
 ness, that has no bounds towards us but our capacity to re- 
 
190 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ceive, — these are the qualities of God our Father, and the 
 pledges of our safety and our unmeasurable blessedness. 
 It is not merely what God can do, of which He assures us, 
 but that He means to do and imll do for us more than we 
 can ask or think. 
 
 AVhat, then, I ask, is wanting to our comfort and hap- 
 piness in this world, but that we should believe f What 
 else is wanting that we should have quietness under every 
 pelting storm, hope beneath every cloud, and rapture on 
 every wave of life's tossing sea — what else, but that we 
 should open our hearts to the love of God, and put our 
 confidence in Him % 
 
 How great a proof of His concern for us, and His desire 
 to do us good, has He given us in Christ His Son ! It is 
 a proof higher than we could have imagined to ask, and 
 the greatest, it would seem, that Infinite Wisdom could de- 
 vise. And now in all our trials He says to us, " only be- 
 lieve." When we are troubled with doubts and oppressed 
 with fears, He bids us " only believe." When sorrows as- 
 sail us and pains afflict, He exhorts us, " only believe." 
 When the burden of cares presses heavily, and we are 
 anxious for the morrow. His word repeats, " only believe.* 
 When friends are taken from our sight, or when they turn 
 to foes. He instructs us, saying, " only believe." When 
 sounds of threatening are borne upon our ears, His still 
 small voice is saying, above the din, " only believe." When 
 we walk the thorny path of obscurity and want, he utters 
 above our heads His blest encouragement, " only believe." 
 When dangers beset our way and we tremble with fear, 
 He puts into our hands His talisman of peace, " only be- 
 lieve." When difficulties oppose us and we weary of our 
 toil, He gently commands us, " only believe." When fond 
 
DISCOURSES. 191 
 
 hopes are extinguished, and night and darkness settle down 
 around us, He writes upon the heavens with stars, "only 
 believe." When griefs are many and friends are few ; when 
 our life-plans are crossed, and our toils are brought to 
 naught, and our fainting hearts are ready to sink, God 
 lives, and wliispers still, " only believe." " Only believe," 
 and you shall have quietness of soul, and sorrow shall not 
 harm you, nor pains destroy. " Only believe," and you 
 shall cast your cares on Me, and take no thought for the 
 morrow. *' Only believe," for I am your Saviour and your 
 everlasting friend, and no evil shall have power to harm 
 you. " Only believe," and Mine eye shall be upon you, 
 and I will bring you into glory. " Only believe," and 
 though "a thousand fall at thy side, and ten thousand at 
 thy right hand, it shall not come nigh thee." " Only be- 
 lieve," and you shall come oflf conquerors through Him 
 who hath loved you. " Only believe," and you shall ascend 
 where hope is lost in fruition, and there is no more night, 
 and where sorrow and sighing are done away. Let the 
 world assail you — " only believe." Let hopes disappoint 
 you — " only believe." Let friends depart from you — 
 " only believe." Let cares press upon you — " only be- 
 lieve." Let sorrows smite you — "only believe." "Only 
 believe," and your walk upon earth shall be in peace, and 
 in increasing strength and gladness, and its end shall be 
 eternal glory and immeasurable bliss. Believe in the 
 mercy and goodness of God through Christ, and in His 
 providential care. 
 
 And this, my friends, is the grand medicine of life. 
 ^Yhen men are sick, how they will resort to this remedy 
 and to that, to heal them of their ailing. And so in the 
 soul's sickness and cravings, how they will run to one 
 
192 DISCOUB.se S. 
 
 thing and another, to satisfy their longings, and make them 
 blest. Yea, how they run and search on every side in vain, 
 and pass by the simple and all-potent prescription which 
 God has provided for every human sorrow and want — the 
 simple remedy, " only believe." 
 
 And how ivicJced not to believe, my friends ! It is refus- 
 ing to admit the goodness of our God ! And how happy it 
 is reaZZz/ to believe ! "He that believeth, shall not make 
 haste." He can fulfill the exhortation of the Apostle who 
 says, " Let your conversation (or conduct) be without cov- 
 etousness, and be content with such things as ye have ; for 
 He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So 
 that we may both say, the Lord is my helper, and I will 
 not fear what man can do unto me." 
 
 Oh, my hearer ! if you would be peaceful in life, and 
 happy in death, " only believe." 
 
DISCOURSE XIII. 
 
 Repentance. 
 
 Acts xx. 21: '^Testifying both to the Jews and also to the 
 Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord 
 Jesus ChristJ^ 
 
 This was what Paul declared to the Ephesian elders 
 he had done during the two years he had remained at 
 Ephesus. 
 
 During the same period of time, while laboring in this 
 place, I have endeavored, in my humble measure, to testify 
 to this congregation the same great truths. 
 
 And not only have I urged the duty of repentance and 
 faith, but I have endeavored to explain fully the nature of 
 faith, so that none might be left in doubt as to what he is 
 required to do when commanded to believe. The same 
 thing it was in my mind to do concerning repentance — to 
 explain fully its nature — that concerning this duty, also, all 
 might be fully informed, and the way of salvation made 
 plain beyond mistake. 
 
 And though prevented by circumstances from that full dis- 
 cussion of this subject which I would desire to give it, I am 
 happy that in the compass at least of one discourse 1 can, 
 in some measure, present it, and in such a manner, perhaps, 
 that it may be understood, though the exhibition must be 
 comparatively meagre. 
 
 It is not because the true meaning of this word is not, 
 
194 DISCOURSES. 
 
 in some degree, generally landerstood, that I think it need- 
 ful to discuss it ; but because there are some errors con- 
 nected with it in the minds of many, which sometimes hin- 
 der their obedience to the command, or afford them some 
 pretext to put it off; and which lead them, also, to defer 
 it to a time in which there is no repentance. 
 
 In discussing this subject, we must first endeavor to as- 
 certain the meaning of the word. For this we must go to 
 the oriojinal lano;uaore in which the New Testament was 
 written. 
 
 There are two words in the Greek Testament, both of 
 which are translated repent in our version. This verb, in 
 some of its forms, and the noun repentance, occur sixty- 
 three times in the New Testament. I have examined every 
 instance of its use, and find that in fifty-six places it is given 
 as the translation of the Greek word iieravoeo) ; and in 
 seven places it is given as a translation of the Greek word 
 fierafieXofiai ; — and these are all the instances of the use 
 of either of these words in the whole New Testament. 
 
 The word which Paul uses in the text, and which is 
 used in every exhortation to repentance which is found in 
 the New Testament, is fieravoeo). 
 
 Merd denotes change ; vosco is made from voog, which 
 signifies (1st) thought or purpose, (2d) that which thinks or 
 determines, i. e., the mind. 
 
 MeravoEG), then, signifies to change the thought or pur- 
 pose in the heart ; or, to change the mind ; both of which 
 evidently mean the same thing. 
 
 To repent of a thing, then, is, according to the real 
 meaning of the word, to change the mind or purpose con- 
 cerning it. 
 
 But again, from the very nature of the case, this change 
 
DISCOURSES. 195 
 
 of purpose must refer to the future ; for a man cannot 
 change his purpose, ivith reference to the past, concerning 
 anything, but only with reference to the future. In other 
 words, a purpose always refers to time after the present, 
 and not to time past.* 
 
 Repentance for sin, therefore, is a change of mind con- 
 cerning it for time to come ; in other words, it is a solemn 
 purpose to forsake sin from this time forth. And since sin 
 consists in disobedience to God, repentance is the determi- 
 nation henceforth not to disobey God, but to obey Him. 
 
 If this interpretation be correct, then, true Scriptural re- 
 pentance is quite a distinct thing from grief or distress of 
 mind felt in view of past sin, though, as will hereafter be 
 noticed, somewhat of this grief ought to and must go with 
 it. And this interpretation which I have given (and I am 
 not alone in this) is confirmed by the fact that the Scrip- 
 tures very plainly distinguish between repentance and such 
 a feeling of grief, as I will now show. 
 
 Turn to 2 Corinthians, vii. 9, and if fierdvota, the word 
 translated repentance, be supposed to mean sorrow or re- 
 gret, we have this absurdity, that the Apostle rejoices that 
 they were " made sorry unto sorrow," or regret. And the 
 same in the next verse — " godly sorrow worketh sorrow." 
 
 But if it be replied that repentance here is used for re- 
 
 * It is lamentable that what is meant to designate a purpose or principle 
 should be so generally understood in our day to denote merely or principally a 
 feeling, as a purpose always refers to something future. It is implied in a 
 " change of purpose " that there is room for it ; i. e., that that in reference to 
 which the purpose is changed runs on into the future. Strictly, then, a past act 
 cannot be repented of in itself. It may be repented of in ref(3rence to future 
 repetit on or amends, if repetition or amends are possible in the future. If they 
 are not possible in the future, the act cannot be repented of at all — there can be 
 no "change oi purpose''' in reference to it. In accordance with this, see Heb. 
 xii. 17 : *' He found no place of repentance" — he found no room to '' turn from " 
 that which he had done. 
 
196 DISCOURSES. 
 
 pentance for sin, and means, therefore, sorrow for sin, I 
 answer, and so does " godly sorrow " certainly mean "sor- 
 row for sin " (which cannot be disputed) ; and so we have 
 the Apostle saying that "godly sorrow for sin worketh 
 sorrow for sin," 
 
 But now, change the word repent for that which 1 have 
 interpreted it to mean, and the sense is clear and appro- 
 priate. 
 
 It is certain, then, from Scripture, that sorrow or regret 
 for sin already committed is quite a distinct thing from re- 
 pentance. 
 
 I wish now to notice the other word, occurring seven 
 times in the New Testament, and translated (improperly) 
 repent, or repentance. 
 
 This word properly means (as any Greek dictionary will 
 tell you) to feel grief or regret. It occurs three times in 
 the passage just brought before us (2 Cor. vii. 8-10). I 
 will give it its proper translation, and express, also, the 
 idea of repentance more fully, and you will see the clear- 
 ness and propriety of the sense ; 
 
 " For though I grieved {e^vTrrjara) you by the letter, I do not regret 
 it {ixeraixEXofxai) though I did regret; for I perceive that letter did 
 grieve you, though but for a season. I now rejoice, not because you 
 were grieved, but because you were grieved to a change of your pur- 
 pose {jitTavoi av) ; for ye were grieved after a godly manner, that ye 
 might receive damage by us in nothing. For sorrow toward God 
 worketh change of purpose unto salvation, not to be regTetted 
 {aixsTaftsXriToi') ; but the sorrow of this world worketh death."* 
 
 Now the fact that the Apostle is so careful to use 
 lieraiieXoiiai (to regret) in the eighth verse, and fierdvoca 
 
 * The author's translation ■was not written out, and the above is by the Editor. 
 It is supported in the main by Bloomfield, who renders the principal phrase 
 thus : " That ye were [so] pained as to be brought to repentance and reforma- 
 
DISCOURSES. 197 
 
 (change of mind) in the ninth, in their pecuHar connection, 
 shows tliis difference of meaning; for, to suppose they both 
 mean the same thing, either regr-et or change of mind ; or, 
 to suppose their meanings interchanged, is to make non- 
 sense of the three verses. 
 
 Another place where [lerafxeXofiaL (to feel regret or sor- 
 row) is used, is in Matt, xxvii. 3. If fieravoeo) had been 
 used here it would have proved our interpretation false — 
 for Judas could not at this time have changed his purpose. 
 The deed was done, and could not be undone, and there was 
 no possibility now of changing or making any purpose with 
 regard to doing it. But the writer does not use this word. 
 And the fact that he does not, confirms the idea of its hav- 
 ing a different meaning from the one used ; especially, 
 seeing it is a word much more frequently employed in the 
 New Testament (fifty-six times to seven — eight times as^ 
 often), and would, therefore, have been likely to have been 
 used here, had the writer understood it to mean the same 
 thing. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that though Judas seems sin- 
 cerely to have regretted this act of sin, the betrayal of his 
 Master, yet he did not truly repent of sin — " he went and 
 hanged himself." 
 
 The three other places where iieraiieXofxai is used, are 
 Matt. xxi. 29 and 32, and Rom. xi. 29. In all these its 
 proper translation is plainly to regret or feel sorrow for, 
 
 tion,'^ — and says : " Meravoia here signifies such a change of mind as produces 
 reformation in conduct " He cites also Jeremy Taylor, and the following fine 
 passage from Hierocles, in his Aur. Carm. : 
 
 'H 6't fitravoia avrri <pi\oGO(plas apX^ ylvsrat koI tojv dvofJTCOv epywv rfi 
 KoX \f>yoiv <p V Y fJ 1 'fai ^ai rfjj nfierantXrtTOv ^oitiq h npoJir] irapacTX^vfi. 
 
 On the phrase Kara Qeov Aviir} he cites Rosenmiiller: "'arising from causes out 
 of which lie would have it rise, and producing effects such as He would ap- 
 prove." With this we might well compare the view of faith as a " work of God," 
 presented in the discourses on that subject. 
 
198 DISCOaRSES. 
 
 Another passage which confirms our translation of 
 fieravoEG), as meaning to change the mind, is found in He- 
 brews xii. 17. (Read it.) To suppose that to repent 
 means to feel sorrow, makes nonsense of this verse. 
 
 " When he [Esau] would have inherited the blessing, he 
 was rejected ; for he found no place of sorrow, though he 
 sought it carefully with tears." 
 
 But to interpret the word "repent" to mean "change 
 of mind," (as is done in the margin of your reference Bi- 
 bles), and the sense is good and appropriate. Esau found 
 no place or opportunity to change his mind in reference to 
 the foolish bargaining away his birthright. It was a deed 
 already done, and God never offered him the privilege of 
 recalling the past, and deciding again whether he would do 
 it or not. A change of mind always refers to time to come ; 
 but time to come had nothing to do with this decision, ex- 
 cept to bring its consequences. There was, then, no place 
 for a change of mind, no place for repentance, though he 
 sought it carefully with tears. God would not recall the 
 past, and give him an opportunity to decide again. 
 
 Once more I add : every time the word properly signify- 
 ing "repent " is used in the whole New Testament (and it 
 is used fifty-six times), to translate it " change of mind or 
 [,urpose" makes good and appropriate sense of the passage 
 in which it occurs — while to translate it "regret," or 
 "feel sorrow," makes absurdity in many instances, as 
 pointed out. 
 
 / consider it, then, as proved, that the word " repent " signi- 
 Jies, simply to change the mind or purpose, and not, to feel sorrow, 
 or regret, or distress.'^ 
 
 * Chalmers^ in an essay to which Mr. S. refers, and which is published, we think, 
 as a tract, bj the Am. T. Society, takes the same view of the nature of repent- 
 ance. Whately remarks : " There are two words in Greek, both of which we 
 
DISCOURSES. 199 
 
 But this is not all the proof that Scriptural repentance 
 consists in a change of mind or purpose, and not in a feel- 
 ing of sorrow. Thus far we have depended on the word 
 used for our proof. But there is abundant proof, not de- 
 pending at all on the signification of the word " repent," 
 but derived from other pass ges of Scripture, where the 
 same duty is commanded in different language, or where the 
 character of man is so described as to involve this conse- 
 quence. 
 
 Of the former kind are all those passages, and they are 
 numerous, which command men to turn from their idols, or 
 from following after vanity, and to serve the living God. 
 This is plainly the same command as the command to re- 
 pent. To turn from tho world to God is, surely, to repent 
 of sin — and to repent of sin certainly is to turn unto God. 
 But to turn from following idols unto the service of God, 
 is nothing else than to resolve, from this time forth, not to 
 seek the world as the great object of pursuit, but to live in 
 obedience to God. This is, surely, a change of mind, or 
 purpose, with regard to the great object for which a man 
 will live Repentance, then, is a change of mind. 
 
 Again, we are told in the Book of Proverbs, " whoso 
 confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy." But 
 will any man have mercy that does not repent ? Surely 
 not. Then to confess and forsake sin is to repent. But 
 confessing and forsaking sin do not consist in feeling grief 
 or distress about it, but in changing the mind or purpose 
 with reference to it ; i. c, in taking up the solemn resolu- 
 
 translate 'repentance;' one signifying merely 'regret for the past,' the other 
 properly, a ' change of disposition.' It is to this last alone that the promises of 
 Scripture are made, — to Metanoia, not Metameleia.''' — "Scrip. Rev. of a Tut. 
 State," ch. xi. 
 
too DISCOURSES. 
 
 tion or intention henceforth to obey God. Repentance, then, 
 is changing the mind. 
 
 Again, we are told in the same part of the Scriptures, 
 that " as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," i. e., as he 
 meaneth, or intendeth, or purposeth.* This, as I have be- 
 fore observed, applies both to individual, separate actions, 
 and to the whole life. 
 
 The sinner, then, is one whose great intent or purpose of 
 heart is to strive after selfish worldly good — while the godly 
 man, or the Christian, is one whose great ruling intent is 
 to serve God, that he may secure the salvation of his soul. 
 
 The difference between these two, then, is in the great 
 ruling intent or purpose with which they live. And for 
 the sinner, therefore, to forsake his sins and turn to God, 
 is, to change the great ruling intent of his heart — i. e., it is 
 to change his mind or purpose. But, forsaking sin and 
 turning to God, is repenting. Repentance, then, is a change 
 of mind or purpose. 
 
 Another proof of the truth of this doctrine is found in 
 the command of God to Israel by the prophet Ezekiel : 
 ^^Cast away your transgressions, and make you a new heart 
 and a new spirit.^^ This command has reference, plainly, to 
 the change which takes place in a man when he repents. 
 This change is here designated by the term " make you a 
 new heart and a new spirit." Asking you to remember this, 
 I proceed to show that the word " heart " in Scripture is 
 equivalent to the word mind with us ; a word, in its broader 
 sense, embracing all the faculties of the soul, but used 
 often to denote the understanding, and often, also, to denote 
 the state of the will and affections, 
 
 * Prov. xxiii. 7. This passage is often misquoted — "As a man thinketh, so is 
 he," — in support of the notion that opinions in religious matters decide a man's 
 character and destiny. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 201 
 
 We are accustomed to refer the mind to the brain as its 
 seat ; but the Jews were accustomed to refer it to the cen- 
 tral organ of the body, the heart. This was probably be- 
 cause strong emotion, of which simple, uncultivated people 
 are wont to take most notice, does so affect the action of 
 the heart as to give occasion to suppose that the emotion is 
 seated there. For this reason we are accustomed to desig- 
 nate the affections of the soul by this term, heart ; but the 
 Jews, not being accustomed to distinguish so metaphysically 
 between the feelings and the thoughts or purposes of the 
 mind, located the whole mind there, and spoke of all the 
 faculties of the soul under this term.* 
 
 * Proof of this is found in the language of Scripture. 1st, Heart, in the sense 
 of understanding. Job xii. 3 : "I have understanding as well as you " — (correct 
 rendering: see context) . But the Hebrew word here rendered "understanding, 
 is heart. Heart, then, here, is the same as mind, used to denote understanding. 
 
 Deut. xxix. 4: " Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive," &c. ; 
 t. e., a mind or understanding to perceive. 
 
 1 Kings iii. 12 : " I have given thee (Solomon) a wise and an understanding 
 heart;" i. ^., a wise and understanding mind, or, an acute and large under- 
 standing. 
 
 1 Kings iv. 29 : "And God gave Solomon largeness of heart, even as the sand 
 that is on the sea shore " — evidently, largeness of mind or understanding. 
 
 Job xxxiv. 10 : " Hearken unto me, ye men of understanding : Far be it from 
 God that he should do wickedness." — Hebrew, " men of heart.'^ In the thirty- 
 fourth verse the same expression occurs : "Let men of heart tell me ;" i.e., men 
 of mind or understanding. 
 
 Hoseavii. 11: "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without heart;" i.e., without 
 mind or understanding. 
 
 Many more instances might be given, but these must suffice, with one or two 
 from the New Testament. 
 
 Matt. xiii. 1-5 : " This people's heart is waxed gross, . . . lest they should un- 
 derstand with their heart, and should be converted and I should heal them ;■' i.e.., 
 their mind has become stupid, so that they do not understand with their mind. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 25 : " fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the propheta 
 have spoken ;"' i. e., slow of mind to perceive — slow of understanding. This dull- 
 ness of understanding was caused by their proud and selfish prejudices, and was 
 therefore a fit ground of reproach. 
 
 2d. Heart, in the sense of the will and affections, (just as we use the word mind) . 
 
 Deut. T. 29 : "0 that there were such an heart in them (i. e., such a state of 
 
 10 
 
202 DISCOURSES, 
 
 What, then, is meant by the command, "make yon a 
 new heart," or mind? It is to make a wq-w purpose — in 
 other words, it is to change the mind — in other words stilly 
 it is to change the ruling purpose of the soul. This is corrob- 
 orated by what foUoAvs in the words of this command — 
 " make you a new heart and a new spirit ;" /. e., change 
 the great purpose of your soul, and the spring of action 
 which animates you. 
 
 tlie ■will and affections) that they would fear me, and keep my commandments 
 always, that it might he well with them and with their children for ever." The 
 employment of the word mind here would be perfectly accordant with our very 
 common use of it — " Oh that there were such a mind in them," &c. The He- 
 brew word " heart," therefore, in this passage, is exactly equiyalent to our word 
 " mind," used here to denote the state of the will and affections, or the ruling pur- 
 pose of the mind and the affections which go with it. Instances of this sort in 
 the Scriptures are too common to need citation : but I will quote a few. 
 
 1 Kings, viii. 17, 18 : " It was in the heart of David my father to build a house 
 for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David my 
 father, whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst 
 well that it was in thine heart." In all these instances we may substitute the 
 word 9nind, to denote chiefly the will, or that power of the mind which purposes 
 or resolves. 
 
 Jer. V. 23: "This people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart;" i. e., mind 
 or ivill. 
 
 Acts xi. 23: Barnabas "exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they 
 would cleave unto the Lord j" i. e., with purpose of mind, or with a firm piir- 
 pose. 
 
 3d. " Heart " is used, as we use the tvord " mind^' to denote^ principally, the af- 
 fections or etnotions of the mind. 
 
 Deut. xxviii. 47 : " Thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and 
 with gladness of heart." 
 
 Psalms cv. 3 : " Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." 
 
 Psalms Ixxiii. 7 : " They have more than heart could wish." 
 
 Prov. xiii. 12: " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." 
 
 Prov. xiv. 10: " The heart knoweth its own bitterness." 
 
 Prov. XV. 13: "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." 
 
 Here, and in a great many other passages, the word heart is used to denote the 
 emotive faculties of the soul. The word "mind," in our language, would be ap- 
 propriately used in all these instances. It is very common, however, with us, to 
 use the word " heart " when the emotive faculties are designated ; more so, in- 
 deedi.than to employ the other word "mind." Yet this word may always be 
 used in such cases with correctness. 
 
DISCOURSES. 203 
 
 The command, therefore, which God has uttered by the 
 prophet Ezekiel, "make you a new mind," confirms the 
 doctrine which I have proposed concerning the nature of 
 repentance, and shows it to be a change of mind or purpose. 
 
 Once more, this doctrine is confirmed by the doctrine of 
 Paul, when he says " if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is 
 a new creature." This means new in character — new in the 
 great ruling purpose of the heart and life.^ The change, 
 therefore, by which a man becomes a Christian, is a change 
 in his great ruling purpose ; but the change by which a 
 man becomes a Christian is in repentance from sin. Re- 
 pentance^ therefore, is a change of purpose^ or change of mind, 
 
 I have now shown that Scriptural repentance consists 
 in a change of mind or purpose, from two sources of in- 
 formation : first, from the fact that this is the proper mean- 
 ing of the word itself; and second, from the fact that the 
 great change which the Scriptures require in man, in order 
 to salvation, which is the same change denoted by repent- 
 ance, is spoken of in such terms as to manifest that it con- 
 sists in such a change of mind. 
 
 What kind of a change of mind, or purpose, is meant by 
 repentance in the Scriptures, is also manifest from what 
 has been said in our discussion. The command " to re- 
 pent," in the Bible, is generally so connected with other 
 expressions as to show what it is which men are to repent 
 of, and, if we may so express it, what they are to repent 
 
 I have now proved that the usage of the Hebrew word "heart" is exactly 
 equivalent to our usage of the word '' mind;"' saving that it is more often used 
 to denote the emotive faculties, though not more correctly. I have also shown, 
 more particularly, that the word " heart,"' in Hebrew usage, like the word 
 " mind,"" in English u.«age, often denotes the purpose of the mind, or the state of 
 the will and the attending affections. 
 
 * The author here alludes to proof of this view of the passage, given in dis- 
 courae on the Lord's Day previous. 
 
204 BISCOtrRSES. 
 
 to. They are to repent of sin ; and sin^ the same Bible in* 
 forms us, is the transgression of God's law ; and God's 
 law, it also teaches, is briefly expressed in these two com- 
 mands : to love God supremely, and our neighbor as our- 
 selves. To repent, therefore, is to determine no longer to 
 transgress this law — i. e., it is to determine, from this time 
 forth, to live unto God, and for the rights and interests of 
 our fellow men. 
 
 For the mind sincerely to come into such a state, from 
 a state of selfishness in its purposes, from entire worldliness 
 of aim, is surely a great and important change* It is im^ 
 portant for the honor of God, for the happiness of one's 
 fellow-men, and for the purity and goodness of the soul in 
 which it takes place. It is a change so great as to involve 
 an entire change of the character ; a change from utter sel- 
 fishness, the root of every sinful thought, or word, or deed, 
 to the holy nobleness of universal love. 
 
 The relation which those feelings of sorrow and distress, 
 experienced by the mind in view of the nature and conse- 
 quences of sin, sustain to repentance, needs liow to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Repentance itself has been shown to consist essentially 
 in a change of the mind's ruling purpose ; but the human 
 mind is the subject of various powers or faculties, and such 
 a change in it does not take place alone. 
 
 The mind which truly sees the nature of the sinfulness 
 in which it has been living, that it is the transgression of a 
 benevolent law, will Irom its nature unavoidably feel dis- 
 tressed that it has been guilty of such transgression. And 
 this feeling, especially when quickened by a view of the 
 Divine character, tends powerfully to lead the mind to give 
 up its sin, or to repent. It is that "godly sorrow" of 
 
DISCOURSES. 205 
 
 which Paul speaks, that " worketh repentance unto salva- 
 tion, not to be regretted." But this very fact implies that 
 the sorrow which is felt is a distinct thing from the re- 
 pentance itself. 
 
 It cannot be affirmed, however, with certainty, that this 
 godly sorrow always precedes repentance. Some minds 
 may be moved to forsake sin by that distress which, through 
 Divine grace, they are brought to feel, in view of the awful 
 consequences to which it has exposed them. Some minds, 
 again, may be led to determine on obedience to God by a 
 simple view of the excellence of His character and will. 
 In neither of these cases is there any godly sorrow pre- 
 ceding the act of repentance. But in both these cases it 
 will as surely /oZ/oif repentance as that the soul shall con- 
 tinue to live and apprehend the truth. When, in the 
 former case, the soul shall have experienced the sense of 
 pardon, and been relieved of its fears, and when in both 
 cases some experience of obedience is had, and some know- 
 ledge of the Divine goodness, then will follow that godly 
 sorrow which more than anything else deepens the soul's 
 repentance and sets it more fully upon God. 
 
 This is indeed a sorrow not sorrowful ! It is a grief where- 
 in joy has the greater part — for there is mingled with the 
 sad regrets for sin that blissful sense of the Divine good- 
 ness which the soul can in no otherwise feel. 
 
 And this most blessed sorrow for sin, this sorrow most 
 acceptable to God, must always follow repentance, and 
 can never precede it. 
 
 Inferences. 
 
 First. Repentance denotes the same act of the soul with that 
 sometimes expressed hy the terms " being horn again,'* and " con 
 
206 DISCOURSES 
 
 version.'''' It is the act by wliich the soul is changed from 
 a sinful to a holy state. 
 
 But though these terms all denote the same act — there 
 is a reason for the use of each — they do not all have pre- 
 cisely the same meaning. 
 
 Being horn again, expresses simply the fact of a change 
 in the soul's condition. Repentance denotes that change, 
 hut with a reference to that state of sin Jrain ivhich the change 
 was made ; conversion denotes the same chansre, hut with a 
 reference to that state of godliness to which the change is 
 made. And here it should be remarked that to convert, 
 means to turn. The Greek word eTnarpecpcj is properly 
 translated ''turn," in Acts ix. 35; "all that dwelt in 
 Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord ;" Acts 
 xi. 21, "a great number believed and turned unto the Lord ;' 
 and Acts xiv. 15, we " preach unto you that ye should 
 turn from these vanities, unto the living God. '* 
 
 But instead of always rendering e'iTLarge(pG) by the En- 
 glish word turn, our translators have sometimes rendered 
 it by the Latin word convert or he converted, which has ob- 
 scured the subject, and given rise to false ideas. The word 
 always means to turn — and though the name of Him to 
 whom the sinner turns is not always mentioned, it seems, 
 to be always implied. 
 
 This turning to God consists simply in taking upon us 
 
 * We may add as specially pertinent, Acts iii. 36, vii. 39; 2 Cor. iii. 16, and 1 
 Thes. i. 9. In the first of these passages Bloomfield remarks an ambiguity of 
 interpretation, since iirQ<TTpE(peiv may be taken either in a transitive or intransi- 
 tive sense. " The latter view, which is supported by the most eminent, ancient 
 and modern interpreters, seems preferable. And £v rcf may be taken for £is top 
 denoting purpose; or for £ti ; q. d. 'On every one of your turning from his in- 
 iquities,' i. e., if every one of you shall turn. This is confirmed by the words of 
 yeise 19, nsraponaare Kal iTTiarptipars ; and by Isa. i. 16, (which the Apostl 
 seems to have had in mind,) navaaaOs and rojv novrjpiwv i/^cSi'." 
 
DISCOURSES. 207 
 
 His service. It is turning to Him as our God. In other 
 words, it is the forming in our hearts the solemn purpose, 
 henceforth to live supremely unto Him, giving up the love 
 of the world. 
 
 And this is the same change, which, when we have par- 
 ticularly in mind those sins from which we turn in making 
 this change, we call repentance, in imitation of the Scrip- 
 tural usage of this word. 
 
 Repentance and conversion, then, denote the same 
 change ; but one denotes it with reference to what preceded 
 it, the other denotes it with a reference to what comes af- 
 ter it. 
 
 Repentance is turning f>vm sin ; conversion is turning 
 to God; but turning from sin, and turning to God, are both 
 one aiid the same act. 
 
 Second. A long period of distress, in conviction for sin, is 
 no part of repentance. It is caused by the fact that the sin- 
 ner will not repent (either to forsake disobedience or un- 
 belief.) It is wholly unnecessary, for the promise of God 
 to forgive him who repents and believes in Jesus is without 
 any reserve or any further condition. 
 
 Neither should a man say that he cannot repent, be- 
 cause he does not feel deep convictions, or sorrow for sin. 
 This is not what God requires of him. His command is 
 that the sinner turn from his sins unto God. This he has 
 power to do. You have power to do it this moment, im- 
 penitent man. 
 
 Third. The necessity of the Holy Spirifs influences cannot 
 arise from the ivant of power in the sinner. It must 
 arise from the fact that he is so wedded to the world that 
 he will not repent, unless the Spirit of God is given. 
 Hence its influences are properly called gracious, because 
 
208 DISCOURSES. 
 
 they are a pure gratuity. And this truth shows the sin- 
 fulness of men, and the goodness of God. It shows, too, 
 the danger of resisting the Spirit of God. 
 
 Fourth. We see ivho is the true penitent. Not the man 
 who in the hour and place of religious exercise feels trou- 
 bled in view of his sins, and confesses them with much ap- 
 parent humility, but who goes out into the world only to 
 repeat them ; but the man who is found putting away sin 
 in his life. 
 
 We sometimes hear of dishonest professors of religion — yet 
 they seem to pimy in a very penitential and pious manner. The 
 only way in which I can account for their delusion is, to sup- 
 pose that they have mistaken the nature of repentance. A sin- 
 cere purpose ivill produce some fruits in the life. A true repen- 
 i ance will therefore he manifested in the life ; and it matters 
 little how much or how little a man stops to grieve over 
 sins past, provided he is found forsaking sin in the future. 
 Grief for sins past, however, is valuable to the soul so far 
 as it impels it the more earnestly to guard against it in 
 future ; and in a truly penitent soul it has undoubtedly a 
 strong influence in this direction. But it is a wretched 
 mistake when a man measures his repentance by the 
 amount or degree of troubled feeling that visits his bosom 
 in religious hours, rather than by his fidelity in putting 
 away sin in the hour of intercourse with worldly things 
 and of conflict with temptation. 
 
 Fifth. As an ordinary thing, in Christian communities, there 
 can he no repentance upon a death-hed. 
 
 Esau, we have seen, " found no place for repentance, 
 though he sought it carefully with tears." Plis birthright 
 he had sold for a mess of pottage — the deed was done and 
 past, and God took it not back ; He gave him no oppor- 
 
DISCOURSES. 209 
 
 tunity to decide again whether he would sell it for such a 
 price. And just so when the sinner has come to his dying 
 bed, and when he sees that once, when life was before 
 him, God offered him eternal salvation on condition that 
 in faith in Christ he would devote that life to His service, 
 and when he reflects that he rejected that offer, and spent 
 his hfe in seeking the world, oh ! he may wish with many 
 tears that he had the opportunity again to choose ! but he 
 will not find it — there is no place now for repentance — no 
 opportunity to change his mind as to how he will live in 
 this world hereafter, for no such hereafter is his. 
 
 It has been shown that repentance has reference to the future. 
 But sin consists in loving this world more than God — 
 in living for worldly ends rather than to serve and honor 
 God. How then can a man who has come to the end of 
 life change his mind or purpose as to how he will live, re- 
 solving that he will no longer live unto the world, but will 
 live unto God ? He cannot so change his mind — that is, 
 he cannot repent of sin. 
 
 Objection.— Did not the thief on the cross truly repent? 
 The case of this thief was different from that of any of you. 
 You have no evidence that he had ever before in his life 
 been offered salvation on condition of repentance — neither 
 was he offered it now— but without any assurance of sal- 
 vation he freely confessed his sins, and began, so far as he 
 had any opportunity left, to obey God in doing righteously 
 and believing in Jesus. He confessed Christ there on the 
 cross, subject as he was to be insulted and tortured anew 
 by the crucifiers of Jesus, who surrounded him, and humbly 
 prayed that Christ would " remember" him in his King- 
 dom. No wonder that Jesus answered ; " This day shalt 
 
 10* 
 
210 DISCOURSES. 
 
 thou be with me in Paradise."* But the case of the sinner 
 who has all his life been offered salvation on condition of 
 repentance and faith in Christ, and who has now nothing left 
 that he can do to prove that he hates sin and loves the 
 Lord, — such a case is surely very different from the case 
 of the penitent thief. yu^4^^i>^ 
 
 Is this a hard doctrine % No, it is remarkable (and it is 
 a sure doctrine) : the case of Esau who had sold his birth- 
 right for a mess of pottage, and the case of the sinner who 
 has bartered away his title to a heavenly inheritance for 
 the momentary joys of earth, and who has passed by the 
 time of choosing between Ged and the world, are exactly 
 similar. 
 
 * Abp. Whately, in a discussion of the case of the thieves crucified with Christ, 
 after showing that the adage, " one was taken that none might despair, and only 
 one, that none might presume," is not supported by this passage of Scripture, 
 and that the repentance of the believing thief must have occurred before he came 
 to the cross, remarks that his was surely " a most extraordinary instance of faith, 
 especially considering how strongly all the current Jewish prejudices concerning 
 the Messiah set the other way. . . . Yet in opposition to all these preju- 
 dices, this man acknowledged as his Lord and King — as the Supreme Ruler of 
 the unseen world — a person who was nailed to a cross beside him, derided by 
 his enemies, deserted by his friends, and about to conclude a persecuted life by 
 a most ignominious death. . . . Whether any one of us does actually possess 
 equal faith with this man, can be known only to the all-wise God. But we may 
 be sure that no one of us can display equal faith with his ; because the circum- 
 stances are such as can never occur again." Scr. Rev. of a Future State. Chaps. 
 xi. xii. We wish every person could read these chapters. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSE XIV. 
 
 Evils of Sectarianism. 
 
 1 Cor. I. 10 — 13 : ^' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
 and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be 
 perfectly joined together in the samemind, and in the same 
 judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
 brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there 
 are contentions among you. Now this I say,* that every 
 one of you saith, I am of Paul ; and I of Apollos ; and 
 I of Cephas ; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? Was 
 Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name 
 of Paul ?" 
 
 It would seem as if no man could read these words of 
 the Great Apostle, without vividly seeing that party divi- 
 sions among the people of Christ were, in his view, a most 
 astonishing thing, as well as a great evil. " Is Christ di- 
 vided," he says; that ye, who are all His, and who have 
 all been " baptized by one spirit into one body," even " the 
 body of Christ," should be sundered one from the other 
 (1 Cor. xii. 13 — 27,) by party names? And he abjures 
 them in the most solemn manner, he beseeches them by an 
 appeal the most sacred that words could utter, even by the 
 name of the Christ, as it were for His sake, and for His 
 bleeding cause — to forsake these pernicious ways, and to 
 be perfectly joined together in the same mind.* . 
 
 * Or, " this is what I speak of, or refer to."' 
 
212 DISCOURSES. 
 
 In the latter part of this Epistle, also, he bears hard 
 upon the same point, though incidentally. " There are di- 
 versities of gifts," he says, " but the same Spirit ; and there 
 are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which 
 worketh all in all ;" and then he compares the different 
 individuals of the visible church to different members of 
 the same living body, teaching that it was God's design 
 " that there should be no schism in the body." And to 
 sum up all, he says, " now ye are the hody of Christ, and 
 members in particular /" that is, ye all together compose the 
 body of Christ, and each one of you in particular is a mem- 
 ber of that body : as if he W' ould charge them, by their 
 strifes and divisions, with rending the sacred person of their 
 holy Redeemer, and mangling his flesh anew. In the third 
 chapter, also, he urges their divisions as a proof of their 
 carnality, or earthliness of thought and feeling; inquiring 
 with a degree of vehemence, " For while one saith, I am of 
 Paul ; and another, I of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" 
 
 In his Epistle to the Ephesians, he beseeches them to 
 walk worthy of their vocation, " with long suffering ; for- 
 bearing oiiC another in love ; endeavoring to keep the unity 
 of the Spirit in the bond of peace ;" reminding them that 
 " there is one body and one Spirit," " one hope of their 
 calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
 Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you 
 aU." 
 
 By what more impressive and powerful appeal could the 
 Apostle exhort believers in Christ, to unity of heart and 
 action? — One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one 
 faith, one purification, one God and Father, who is above 
 all, and through all, and in you all ! How can ye be di- 
 vided ? how can ye rend and sunder yourselves into many ? 
 
DISCOURSES. 213 
 
 In the fifth chapter of Ephesians he ranks divisions or 
 separations of believers (dLxoGTaolai) with " adultery, for- 
 nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, 
 hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, envyings, mur- 
 ders, drunkenness, revelings and such like," calling them 
 all " the works of the flesh." 
 
 And, as if in allusion to such instructions as these, in 
 the close of his Epistle to the Romans, he says, " I beseech 
 you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and 
 offences, contrary to the instruction which ye have received, 
 and avoid them." 
 
 The testimony which has now been adduced upon the 
 subject presented hy the text, and which might be greatly 
 increased, is certainly of a most decided and remarkable 
 character. The force and bearing of it all upon the Church 
 in our own day cannot altogether fail of being felt, though 
 no more should be said upon it. 
 
 But what adds greatly to its force as applied to the 
 Church in our times, is the fact that the evil which it re- 
 bukes exists now in a degree which renders that which ex- 
 cited the admonitions of the Apostle, in comparison, as 
 light as air. No such divisions as now exist amonoj the 
 people of Christ, were to be heard of then. No sects rent 
 the body of Christ in fragments, and stood casting arrows 
 at each other, while they strove with selfish emulation for 
 the spoils of victory. The Church of Christ was one and 
 indivisible : " many members, but one body." It was not a 
 union in theological opinions : for theology did not then 
 exist as a science, or in speculative forms, but only as em- 
 bodied in practical truth and godliness. It was a union 
 founded upon a simple belief in Christ, implying obedience, 
 and evidenced thereby. All who gave evidence of such a 
 
214 DISCOURSES. 
 
 belief, were at once baptized, and received into the com- 
 pany of believers — in other words, into the Church visible ; 
 and this, without any questioning of their opinions in sec- 
 ondary matters, and even if they were known to be but 
 partially enlightened and delivered from error. The in- 
 structions of the Apostle were expressly given to this effect, 
 Rom. xiv. 1 : where he says, as the margin, in part, cor- 
 rectly renders it, " Him that is weak in the faith receive 
 ye, not in judgment of his doubtful thoughts" (or opinions)* 
 — a reception which is not limited by the Apostle, and 
 which must therefore mean a full reception as a Christian, 
 implying admission to the fellowship, and all the privileges 
 of the Christian Church. Paul had already said (chap. viii. 
 14), " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are 
 the Sons of God ;" which certainly implies that every child 
 of God should receive them altogether as brethren. And 
 the history of the Church, in the days of the Apostles and 
 immediately following, approves the interpretation I have 
 given ; for it shows, as no one disputes, I believe, that they 
 were thus received. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this, there did exist, even in Paul's 
 day, a disposition in some to separate themselves on some 
 pretext into distinct classes in the church — a disposition 
 which was the seed of those sectarian divisions which af- 
 terward arose, and Avhich were swallowed up in part by 
 the Romish Church, to be renewed and multiplied in our 
 times. 
 
 It was this disposition in its incipient forms — in its 
 
 * Bloomfield says : " but not for the purpose of examining and agitating with 
 liim doubtful or disputed points; since, as contempt and harsliness might urge 
 him to apostacy, so to perplex his mind with points which hi:3 Christian judg- 
 ment is not sufficiently mature to enable him to grapple with, might drive him 
 into skepticism." See also Calvin on the passage. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 215 
 
 iirst peepings above the ground in the new garden of 
 Christ — that roused the Apostle's attention, and against 
 which he hurled the lightning of his rebuke, that he might 
 smite it as an evil weed, and destroy it in the beginning of 
 its growth. But if the beginning of this evil called forth 
 such reproofs from his inspired lips, how wo'uld his soul 
 glow, and his words burn, were he commissioned now to 
 look upon and to rebuke the sins of Christ's people. Nay, 
 would not rather his mighty heart break under the burden 
 of this sorrow, and his eloquent lips grow dumb before the 
 mairnitude of the evil? Division carried to its utmost 
 length ; " the body of Christ" rent into scores of frag- 
 ments,* many of them excluding each other, engaged in mu- 
 tual strife, and even denying to one another the name of 
 Churches ; and the great mass of the Church seeming to 
 slumber over the evil, or even loving to have it so ! Oh, 
 that there were a Paul now, to cry aloud with his trumpet 
 voice, and show God's people their transgression, and the 
 house of Jacob their sin ! 
 
 Or, would that the Church of Christ might pause long 
 enoug-h from its sectarian strife, to hear the voice of its 
 Redeemer and Lord, pleading with God in prayer, on that 
 sorrowful night, ere the traitor came — " Holy Father, keep 
 through thine own name, those whom Thou hast given me, 
 that they may he one as we are. Neither pray I for these 
 alone, but for them also which shall beUeve on me through 
 their word ; that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, 
 art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; 
 that the tear Id may believe that thou hast sent me." The pray- 
 ers of Christ were not offered for a light matter, least of all 
 
 * The number of Christian sects in the United States alone, is upwards of fifty, 
 and they are constantly increasing. 
 
216 DISCOURSES. 
 
 that memorable petition which the pen of inspiration has 
 recorded for the Church in all ages to wonder and weep 
 over — the prayer of its dying Lord. The desirableness 
 of that visible union of His people for which Christ prayed 
 as the means of impressing His truth on the world, and the 
 evils of those divisions against which the Apostle so earn- 
 estly exhorts, need to be better understood by the Church ; 
 for sure 1 am, if they were understood properly the lovers 
 of Christ would strive for that unity, and put away those 
 divisions. 
 
 Neither are these things difficult to be seen or under- 
 stood. It is my deep conviction, that sectarianism is a 
 prominent cause of the low state of piety among Christians ; 
 and, including the principles which lie at its base, the 
 greatest single obstacle which exists to the spread and 
 triumph of our religion in the world. It is my design to 
 spread before you briefly the reasons for this conviction, 
 and thus to urge upon you the exhortation of the Apostle 
 in the text ; and I pray Thee, Thou risen and glorified JRe- 
 deemer, be Thou our Intercessor with the Father, that thine 
 own truth may prevail with us, and that thine own prayer once 
 offered in the fiesh may he fulfilled! 
 
 A rapid statement of the reasons for holding the first 
 proposition, will occupy all our remaining time at present 
 — that sectarianism, or the division of the Church into dif- 
 ferent sects, is a prominent cause of the low state of piety among 
 Christians. 
 
 First. Because it gives too great prominence to speculative 
 opinions ; or, in other ivoj^ds, to non-practical truths. 
 
 No true Church of Christ is separated from other 
 churches of different names, on the ground of a difference 
 of view, concerning practical religious duty. It is a fact, 
 
DISCOURSES. 217 
 
 indeed, which deserves particular notice, that all true 
 branches of the Church of Christ recognize the same practi- 
 cal way of salvation, and the same applications of Gospel 
 truth to the relations and duties of human life ; or if there be 
 any difference on this point, as may perhaps exist in rela- 
 tion to the subject of slavery, it does not run parallel with 
 denominational lines. 
 
 The particular ideas, therefore, on which tlie different 
 sects in the Church are distinctively based, do not relate to 
 practical religious duty. The notions which each sect 
 holds up as the banner of its division in the army of Christ, 
 do not refer to practical piety, or the moral requirements 
 of God. It is the theory of election and perseverance in 
 one, the theory of free gi-ace in another, the theory of min- 
 isterial functions in a third, and so on, which are inscribed 
 on their party walls. 
 
 It is, then, the tendency of these divisions to call off at- 
 tention from practical moral truth, from love to God and 
 love to man, from the real essentials of religion ; and to fix it 
 upon non-practical and secondary things. And thus re- 
 sults an immense injury to the cause of religion. The very- 
 state of division holds up constantly the thing about which 
 Christians differ in a prominent hght, and so tends to di- 
 vert their view from the great thmgs about which they are 
 agreed ; and thus these things lose much of their proper 
 influence. We find an illustration of this in the history of 
 the political parties of our nation. 
 
 About the great essential principles of our Government 
 both Whigs and Democrats have ever been agreed ; about 
 minor questions of policy alone, they differ. But who 
 ever thinks of the points whereon they are agreed ? It is 
 the constant tendency of party division, to turn the whole 
 
218 DISCOURSES. 
 
 attention to the things whereon they are at variance. And 
 this, indeed, is one of the dangers which party strife occa- 
 sions to the existence of our institutions — that it will so 
 absorb the attention of the people to secondary matters of 
 mere policy, that cunning and ambitious plotters will trench 
 unheeded upon essential principles, till they shall have 
 gained power to strike down our liberties. 
 
 And just so it is in the Church of Christ. Its party di- 
 visions, we trust, will never destroy its essential truth ; but 
 they tend to keep it out of sight, and to depress it from the 
 position and influence which it ought to have ; and thus 
 they depress the piety of the Church. 
 
 It is necessary for me to guard against one error, by 
 which some might seek to rebut what has been said. There 
 is one sect that separates itself from other Christians, on 
 the ground of the mode of baptism. And some may urge 
 that this is a practical religious duty. Our limits here al- 
 low only a few words on this point. I observe, then : 
 baptism is indeed a practical duty ; but neither the mode 
 of baptism, nor baptism at all, is any part of what we mean 
 by practical religion or piety. To test this : if you were 
 asked which of two men is the best practical Christian, 
 you would try to find out — what? Why, the state of 
 their hearts, by examining their lives and actions ; you 
 would never think of mquiring how this one had been 
 baptized, and how that ; or whether either had been bap- 
 tized at all — and none but a bigot would. However, 
 therefore, any of our brethren may urge the propriety or 
 duty of fulfilling Christ's command just as He gave it, the 
 founding of a religious sect, or the basing of a division of 
 the Church, upon the particular mode of baptism, is an ex- 
 altation of an idea not belonging to practical piety, into a 
 
DISCOURSES. 219 
 
 prominence which tends to obscure the great and essential 
 ideas of religion itself, and so to injure the power and pro- 
 gress of religion in the heart * The proof which I have 
 given can hardly be disputed ; and that it needs to be proved, 
 illustrates the truth I am presenting. And I feel com- 
 pelled to say, as what will impress upon others the truth I 
 am urging, that it is the general conviction of other de- 
 nominations, that those who do thus exalt to undue prom- 
 inence this secondary matter, are injured in their piety by 
 so doing. 
 
 And how much the cause of piety, throughout the Chris- 
 tian Church, is hurt by similar acts in every sect, I believe 
 we are none of us able to estimate. But a great injury is 
 evidently done. The mighty truths of Hfe and death are 
 half hidden from the eyes of Christians, by the party ban- 
 ners which they are flaunting to the wind, and around 
 which they have gathered to contend. The party cry is 
 uttered so frequent and so loud, that the still small voice, 
 which eternity is ever uttering to time, is half unheard. 
 
 I know there are Christians in every sect who are spirit- 
 ually minded, and from whom nothing is able to conceal 
 or cover up the solemn truths of revelation touching the 
 
 * '' I would not'' says Robert Hall, " myself, baptize in any other way than by 
 immersion, because I look upon immersion as the ancient mode ; that it best 
 represents the meaning of the original term employed and the substantial im* 
 port of this institution, and because I should think it right to guard against the 
 spirit of innovation, which in positive rules is always dangerous and progressive ; 
 but I should not think myself authorized to baptize any one who had been sprin- 
 kled in adult age." 
 
 We cite this passage, not in the way of argumentum ex concessis, but as illus- 
 trating what we regard as the principle of toleration and the wisest expediency 
 in things not fundamental, though important. Those who have taken similar 
 ground, have, if we mistake not, been most successful in the propagation of their 
 particular views,— and have thus shown that tolerance, so far, from promoting 
 indifference, is the best means of promoting candid inquiry and the interests of 
 truth it«elf— [Ed, 
 
220 DISCOURSES. 
 
 soul's eternal destiny ; but it is not so, unhappily, with the 
 mass of professed believers ; they are not spiritually in- 
 clined ; and the visible things of their earthly contention, 
 the things about which they differ with other believers, are 
 too prone to exclude the invisible things in which they are 
 all agreed, and when they are made fences of division from 
 other sects, or from the Church universal, they are the 
 more sure to do it. 1 need only appeal to the experience 
 and observation of my hearers to confirm what I am say- 
 ing. You have seen this influence in others, Christian 
 friends ; and if you scrutinize your own religious history 
 you will probably perceive its influence with yourselves. 
 
 The life-truths of God's sacred revelation are too apt to 
 be neglected and obscured in the maze of other truths and 
 interests which demand man's attention ; and nothing, per- 
 haps, so insidiously prevails to this end in the truly Chris- 
 tian heart, as the disproportionate claims of other, yet sec- 
 ondary, religious truths. And when men separate from 
 their Christian brethren, on the ground of any of these 
 secondary truths, their zeal for them is necessarily in- 
 creased by the attitude they assume, to the at least partial 
 neglect of those truths which are primary and essential. 
 
 I say not, my friends, that the sectarian divisions of the 
 Church of Christ destroy the piety of believers ; but they 
 tend to diminish it. Even those whose hearts are bent on 
 spiritual things, and who are truly endeavoring to "seek 
 first," and to promote first, " the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness," — even they are often wounded and irri- 
 tated, to their own spiritual injury, by the sectarian zeal 
 which thrusts its unhallowed hand into the budding vine- 
 yard of Christ, to seize and transplant the just springing 
 germs of grace, at the risk of their destruction, or by some 
 
DISCOURSES. 22l 
 
 other exhibition of this unchrist-Hke zealotry, perhaps still 
 more offensive. 
 
 And though the piety and devotedness of many, in all 
 the Churches, is not to be gainsayed, nor the really great 
 things, in themselves considered, vv^hich Zion is doing for 
 the world, yet compared with the standard of the Gospel 
 and with the means of grace which God has given, it must 
 be said that the piety of the Church is strangely and 
 mournfully feeble, and its progress slow. And who can 
 estimate the difference that would soon be manifested, were 
 all the people of Christ to cast aside their strifes and sepa- 
 rations, and unite on the great central truths of the Gos- 
 pel, the universally admitted and solemn themes of our 
 holy religion ? How much more should we feel those 
 mighty truths, and be influenced by them, did we see them 
 filling all hearts among the disciples of Jesus, and bringing 
 them together, with a willing submissal of secondary 
 things, to testify to their reality and solemn weight. 
 
 It is not my design to attack existing institutions, or to 
 prescribe at present any remedy for the evil. I would 
 rather seek to call the attention of those who love Christ to 
 this subject, and commend it to your Christian considera- 
 tion, and your serious and prayerful inquiry. 
 
 May God grant you a disposition to look the evil fairly 
 in the face ; and when you have scrutinized its features, 
 and ascertained *its true character and influence, may He 
 grant to you, and to all your brethren in the Lord, wisdom 
 and grace to see and to do your duty, for the prosperity of 
 the Church and the honor of our Redeemer ! 
 
DISCOURSE XV. 
 
 Eyils of Sectarianism. 
 
 1 Cor. 1. 10-13: ^' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name 
 of our LordJesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
 and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be 
 perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 
 judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
 brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there 
 are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one 
 of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Ap olios; and I of 
 Cephas; and I of Christ, Is Christ divided ? Was Paul 
 crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of 
 Paul ?" 
 
 In the discussion of this subject I have already stated 
 my deep conviction, that the divisions of the Christian 
 Church, as they now exist, are a prominent cause of the 
 low state of piety among believers ; and, with their foun- 
 dation principles, the greatest single obstacle, which now 
 exists, to the spread and triumph of our religion in the 
 world. 
 
 And for the first of these propositions one reason has 
 been adduced, namely : that these divisions give too great 
 prominence to those ideas or truths which are not necessa- 
 rily involved in practical religion, and so call off atten- 
 tion from the great truths of piety and moral duty. 
 
 Second. A second reason which I will now advance is, 
 that it holds up the idol of party ^ to divide the heart from Christ. 
 
DISCOURSES. 223 
 
 There is something which the French expressively call 
 esprit da C07ps, or the spirit of the body or party, which 
 every man who has looked upon life must have witnessed ; 
 and, indeed, almost every man who has lived, in our coun- 
 try, must have felt. I well remember how — when a mere 
 child, and knowing nothing about politics except the names 
 of party leaders — I joined in the cry of my young asso- 
 ciates, " Hurrah for Jackson !" And when the Democratic 
 party re-elected him to the Presidency, I felt elated at the 
 triumph of "o^^r side,^^ and as really pleased as if / had 
 gained something. The mention of such an incident may 
 make any of us smile ; but, my friends, it furnishes an ex- 
 cellent illustration of the spirit of party. Human nature 
 in the boy and in the man is just the same. The man 
 who attaches himself to a party will feel the influence of 
 the espi'it du corps, the spirit of party ; he becomes, in a 
 measure, identified with it, and rejoices in its triumphs as 
 though they were his own, and this even though he is too> 
 ignorant to know the principles or aims which it cherishes, 
 and has no other reason for it than that it is his party. 
 And this, indeed, is one form of the principle of selfishness 
 — which is the essential principle of all sin. 
 
 Now, the moment you separate the Church of Christ 
 into distinct divisions, you set up the idol of party. Suc- 
 cess or adversity will no longer aiFect the mind simply as 
 they touch the cause of Christ, but they will be felt, also, 
 as affecting " our side,''^ or our Church. When the Church 
 is prosperous, its members will be elated at their gain ; and 
 when others outstrip it, they will be troubled at their hu- 
 miliation and loss. It is not Christ and His cause to 
 which their whole thoughts and desires are now turned ; 
 the idol of party has been set up, and it claims — and rg- 
 
224 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ceives — part of their regard. The man, I think, is almost 
 more than human, that can wholly avoid this influence — 
 at least, after he has been long identified with any particu- 
 lar branch of the Church. And, let it be remembered, this 
 is not an influence which rises up to affect the mind only 
 at particular periods — as of prosperity or adversity ; it is 
 an influence which is all the time at work. The idol has 
 been set up — to divide the heart from the blessed Saviour 
 and His holy service ; and its influence is as ceaseless as 
 the existence of the cause. And this party feeling is, as 
 we have seen, very wickedness ; being a form of selfish- 
 ness, the essence of all sin ; so that a sinful desire is blend" 
 ing continually in the heart with its love to Christ, and 
 polluting the worship which it offers Him. 
 
 Great, therefore, is the injury which is thus done to the 
 piety of Christ's people. It casts a mill-stone round the 
 neck of those who are struggling upwards to the image of 
 their Redeemer. It mingles poison Avith the streams of 
 salvation that flow to the soul through the Church, and 
 casts a blight upon its budding fruit. This is another way 
 in which the divisions of Christ's Church render its love 
 impure, and depress its piety. 
 
 Third. A further reason for the idea I have advanced 
 is found in the fact, that the spirit of party created by secta' 
 rian divisions helps to create or sustain in existence merely fonnal 
 characters^ in which little or no spirit of piety abides, and intro- 
 duces false professors into many other churches, and so debases 
 the standard of religion among me)i. 
 
 To see the first part of this cause in the fullness of its 
 operation, we need, perhaps to go to other lands, where 
 Churches are found from which the spu'it of Christ seems 
 wholly to have departed, but which are kept in existence, 
 in part, at least, by the party feeling of which I have spoken. 
 
DISCOURSES. 225 
 
 But the attentive observer may see enough of this evil 
 in our own country. There are many churches in our 
 land which have too little piety to hold them together or 
 keep them in existence an hour, which yet are sustained 
 in being through the sectarian influence spoken of. If 
 they would only die, if dissolution would seize and an- 
 nihilate them, they would be out of the way, and the chariot 
 of salvation might roll on. But as it is, they block its 
 wheels ; for every Christian knows that a formal religion 
 is a hardener of the heart against the truth. And not only 
 are their own hearts hardened, but by maintaining their 
 existence as professors of religion, while yet they do not 
 exhibit its power, they bring down the standard of religion 
 in the community. 
 
 The same cause also has, in my judgment, helped to 
 create some formal churches in our land to do the same 
 injurious work. 
 
 But whether it has created formal churches or not, it is 
 every day creating foi^mal Christians, and that by hundreds. 
 Individual churches, in their sectarian zeal lest others 
 should outstrip them, are hurrying into their enclosure 
 many who have not yet given sufficient evidence of real 
 piety, and who afterwards show that their hearts have 
 never been moulded by the love of Christ. 
 
 But, it is a great, an unspeakable injury to the cause of 
 religion, when the standard of piety is thus debased by 
 creating unworthy professors. Probably no Christian is 
 aware how much his conscience is hardened to endure 
 quietly his well-known unfaithfulness, by the evil example 
 of others who bear the Christian name. If God should 
 with His lightning smite every hypocrite out of the Church, 
 that His true people might not have them to lean upon in 
 
 11 
 
226 - DISCOURSES. 
 
 their neglect of duty, what an impulse would be given to 
 their earnestness and fidelity ! But the party spirit of sec- 
 tarianism is multiplying false professors continually, to de- 
 base the standard of piety in the Church, and hang as dead 
 weights upon the wheels of its spiritual progress. It is 
 thus making religion, in the eyes of those who look at the 
 Church as its exemplification, mean almost nothing at all, 
 and is casting a shadow of evil, and blowing a blighting 
 wind, upon every Christian's soul. 
 
 Yes, I charge all this mischief, the existence of which 
 you all know, upon the sectarian divisions of the people of 
 Christ ; and let him deny it who can. It is in fact their 
 legitimate fruit ; and never, until men are wholly sancti- 
 fied, will they cease to bud and ripen to the same. 
 
 Fourth. But a fourth reason for the conviction I have 
 stated is, that sectarianism hinders pi^ogress in the truth. That 
 it does hinder Christians from progressing in the truth, I 
 shall here assume, as in some degree a manifest truth, but 
 one which it is my design on another occasion to prove and 
 exhibit. But, hindering as it does progress in the truth, 
 sectarianism necessarily hinders the sanctification of be- 
 lievers, since this must proceed by the truth. If the attention 
 and zeal of the Church had not been so much taken up by 
 other matters, it would, long ere this, have reached such a 
 position in the understanding of Gospel truth, especially as 
 concerns its application to the conduct of life, as would 
 have placed the Church far in advance of its present moral 
 attainments. We have yet much to learn with regard to 
 the bearing and comprehension of the moral precepts of 
 Christ. The bearings of the moral law upon the dealings 
 of man with man, the employment of ihe tongue, and the 
 aims of life, have only begun to be understood. With the 
 
DISCOURSES. 227 
 
 Gospel in its hand, and " the golden rule" upon the front- 
 let that adorns its brow, the Church has advanced but a 
 little way in that course to which it is called, compared 
 with what might have been expected. And it is because 
 it is kept back from progress in the truth, that it has made 
 so little progress out of the corruption of man's natural 
 state. 
 
 Fifth. Another reason for the truth urged, which is one 
 kindred with the last, is, that sectarianism tends to retain cor- 
 ruption in the Church. 
 
 It does so because it creates an unwillingness to weaken 
 the Church in external power or means, by casting it out. 
 
 Some sinful practice exists in a given Church, or some 
 corrupt and corrupting members are found it it. When 
 this is looked at in the light of the Gospel, every Christian's 
 conscience prompts to duty. But now comes in the fear 
 of diminishing the wealth or numbers, and so the influence 
 and rank, of the Church as compared with rival sects, 
 an J so the evil is tolerated — perhaps with the hope of bet- 
 ter times in the future. Is it not so, my friends, with that 
 dreadful corruption that broods and festers in the Churches 
 of the South ? Were there no rival sects there to 
 create the fear of being outdone in wealth and power, would 
 not some of the Churches of Christ do their duty in this 
 matter of slavery, and thereby set a ball in motion whose 
 rolling sound would cause the fetters to snap from millions 
 of wretched bondmen % 
 
 But as it is, I think you may rely upon it, no one de- 
 nomination will begin the work till the rest are ready, or 
 till it shall appear that power and influence will follow the 
 stroke. 
 
 And this, let it be observed, is only an illustration of an 
 
228 DISCOURSES. 
 
 everywhere present and active influence for evil. Secta- 
 rianism causes men to look at the external prosperity of a 
 Church, and to prize it more highly than they should, and 
 so to sacrifice to it the dearer interests of purity and 
 spiritual growth. 
 
 It causes corrupt practices and corrupt men to be re- 
 tained in its bosom, which ought to be cast out, and thus 
 it defiles its garments, and brings leanness upon its mem- 
 bers. 
 
 And if any one Church is free from a participation in 
 this sin, it is not therefore free from the injurious effects 
 which this sin is producing : for by lowering the standard 
 of piety in those Churches where it does exist, it affects 
 all the rest. It is, indeed, unhappily true, among the other 
 unhappy things connected with this subject, that the rivalry 
 which sectarianism produces, does not include a rivalry in 
 spirituality and likeness to Christ ; but looks rather to those 
 matters of external prosperity which are often the greatest 
 sources of moral danger, and spiritual injury. And'as it 
 is more easy in the world to do evil than to do good, so 
 the evil example which sectarian rivalry so ofter begets, 
 is more efficacious upon the Church at large than would 
 be a purer example^ if it were capable of producing it. 
 
 But in addition to what I have said concerning the rea- 
 sons of my conviction, I will present another, which in- 
 creases all the rest ; and which is, 
 
 Sixth. That the sectarian divisions of Christ's disciples grieve 
 the Spirit of God. 
 
 The Holy Spirit of God is most emphatically a spirit of 
 unity and love. The Apostle beseeches the Ephesians to 
 " keep the unity of the Spirit ;" that is, that peaceful and 
 loving oneness of mind to which the Spirit always prompts, 
 
DISCOURSES. 229 
 
 and which it always produces where it is permitted fully 
 to enter and dwell. " With long-suffering,^' says the Apos- 
 tle, ^^ forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the 
 unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'' 
 
 And there is a remarkable example offered us in the 
 Holy Scriptures of this very thing. When the Spirit came 
 down in such mighty power on the day of Pentecost, so 
 that in one day " three thousand souls'* were added to the 
 Church, we are told that all who believed " were together, 
 and had all things common." Such perfect oneness of heart 
 was produced by the mighty effusion of the Spirit, that no 
 believer regarded any of his interests as separate from those 
 of his brother in the Lord. 
 
 And when, after a few days, Peter and John had been 
 imprisoned and threatened, and, being let go, had gone " to 
 their own company and reported all that the chief priests 
 and elders had said unto them ;" and when they, hearing 
 that, " lift up their voice to God with one accord," we are 
 told that " the place was shaken where they were assem- 
 bled together, and they were all filled with the Holy 
 Ghost ;" and as a consequence of this, it is said, imme- 
 diately "the multitude of them that believed were of one 
 heart and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught 
 of the things which he possessed was his own ; but they 
 had all things in common." 
 
 Here, my brethren, was " the unity of the Spirit " in 
 perhaps the most beautiful manifestation which the world 
 has seen. I do not say that this community of goods is a 
 necessary manifestation of Christian unity, or always to be 
 desired. I refer to it here only as showing how perfectly 
 " all that beUeved were of one heart and one soul." 
 
 And you will please notice that this most remarkable 
 manifestation of Christian unity took place when, perhaps, 
 
230 DISCOURSES. 
 
 the mightiest effusion of the Spirit was granted that was 
 ever given to men. You will see, then, the significancy of 
 the Apostle's expression, " the unity of the Spirit." You 
 will see that the Spirit of God peculiarly and powerfully 
 prompts to oneness of heart and soul among the people of 
 Christ. 
 
 And the same thing is manifested wherever the Spirit of 
 God is poured out. Christians of various names forget 
 their dissensions, and mingle together in prayers, and la- 
 bors, and rejoicings ; and young converts are filled with 
 love to all the people of God, and when called on to unite 
 with the Church, hardly know which way to go, because by 
 uniting with one they will be separating themselves from 
 the rest. 
 
 And so it is with every believer. When your heart is 
 filled with the Spirit, my brother, your love begins to flow 
 forth to all your fellow-disciples. You think you never 
 will again indulge in unkind thoughts or feelings toward 
 any of them, but will love them all as brethren. 
 
 But now mark the conclusion from all this. If the Holy 
 Spirit is a Spirit of unity and love, it is grieved away by 
 disunion. Feelings, acts of variance, and rivalry, and 
 strife, repel it from the heart. It cannot dwell with jeal- 
 ousy, or contention, or a spirit of division. 
 
 And such are the fruits of the sectarian rendings of the 
 Church of Christ. You know that it is so, my hearer. 
 And you ought to know, therefore, that the Spirit of God 
 is continually grieved by these divisions. 
 
 There are many good men who are so conscious that the 
 Spirit of God prompts to unity, that they often speak of 
 the duty of loving all the brethren, and try to banish sec- 
 tarian feelings ; yet they at the same time, perhaps, cling 
 fast to every principle of sectarianism, and will let nothing 
 
DISCOURSES. 231 
 
 go. And they will say to me, Cannot we have union of 
 feeling without external union ? (that is, with external dis- 
 union.) I answer, No ! you cannot — except in rare in- 
 stances, and in an imperfect degree. It is vain to be beat- 
 ing off the leaves of the tree while you continually nourish 
 its root. And sectarianism is the " root of bitterness," 
 whose acrid and legitimate fruit of divided hearts, and 
 jealousy, and strife, doth continually grieve away the Spirit 
 of our God and Saviour, and leave our churches in a com- 
 parative poverty of grace and growth, that methinks must 
 make the very heavens groan with sorrow as they look 
 down upon our dying world. 
 
 Up, up ! jNIy brother, my sister in Christ, inquire of 
 the Lord concerning this thing. Why slumber ye here, 
 while Satan has entered the fold of Christ, a wolf in sheep's 
 clothing, and is rendin"; the flock ? 
 
 Oh, cry to God, that He will direct you and all the chil- 
 dren of His grace, till the Church of His holy Son shall be 
 purified and saved. Alas, it is now " a house divided against 
 itsel/r 
 
 Oh, pray that the Lord would unite it, and build it up 
 in the truth ; and that He would show you your duty in 
 the matter. 
 
 The wants of tlie world require a holy and united Church, 
 
 I have not attempted to dictate to you, my brethren, 
 what your duty is. I have attempted, for the present, no 
 prescripdon for the evil I have described. I would only 
 set your minds to thinking, and your hearts to feeling, be- 
 lieving that if you ask wisdom of God, He will give liber- 
 ally and upbraid you not. 
 
 May the Lord direct your minds to the proper under- 
 standing of His truth, to the glory of His grace through 
 Christ. 
 
DISCOURSE XYI. 
 
 Evils of Sectarianism. 
 
 Rom. XVI. 17 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13 ; Ps. cxxxii. 1 ; 1 Cor. iii. 3 ; 
 Eph. iv. 1, 2, 3 ; Phil. i. 4; 5 ; Eph. ii. 13, 20, 21. ''Now 
 I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divi- 
 sions and offences, contrary to the doctrines which ye have 
 learned, and avoid them^ ''For by one Spirit are we all 
 baptized into one body.^^ "Behold how good and how 
 pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together, in unity.'''' 
 " Whereas there is among you envying and strife, and di- 
 visions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?" " I there- 
 fore beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where- 
 with ye are called, forbearing one another in love, endeav- 
 oring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.^"* 
 " In Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off, are made 
 nigh ; and are built upon the foundation, of the Apostles 
 and prophets, Christ Himself being the chief corner stone : 
 in whom all the building, ftly framed together, groweth 
 unto an holy temple in the Lord^ 
 
 We are all well enough acquainted with the condition 
 of the Church of Christ, to know that it has not heeded the 
 beseeching of the Apostle. Instead of " avoiding," that is, 
 turning away from, not listening to, those who cause " di- 
 visions and offences, contrary to the doctrine" of love and 
 forbearance, which is the distinguishing theme and spirit of 
 Gospel instructions, the Church seems rather to have turned 
 with greedy ear to every one who has invented a new shib- 
 boleth of division, and proclaimed a new sword of offence, 
 
DISCOURSES. 233 
 
 with which to smite and sunder the flock of the Great Shep- 
 herd. No longer are we baptized, that is, purified, by one 
 spirit into one body ; but our spiritual baptism or purifi- 
 cation falls far short of this. Separation of heart. Isola- 
 tion of interests, every one for himself, is man's natural 
 condition ; and the work of the Spirit in destroying this 
 separateness only avails to bring a few together, here and 
 there in bunches, leaving them almost equally, and some- 
 times even more, separate from all the rest. 
 
 Instead of the goodness and the pleasantness of brethren 
 dwelling together in unity, is seen the mischief and sad- 
 ness of brethren dwelling apart in variance. And these 
 things are an evidence not so much of zeal for supposed 
 truth, even where they are caused by it, as of carnality, or 
 earthliness of mind : because if the minds of believers were 
 truly and in all things spiritual, they would so see and feel 
 the great and paramount oneness of all that are Christ's as 
 to banish these divisions. 
 
 There is need, then, that in imitation of the Apostle, I 
 should press upon my Christian hearers the duty of mu- 
 tual love and forbearance with all true Chistians, " en- 
 deavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit," not with out- 
 ward disunion and strife, but with that outward allowance 
 and fellowship which is " the bond of peace." For, indeed, 
 when in Christ Jesus men are brought nigh to God, they 
 must, as has been beautifully said by some one, approach 
 each other. And thus, being built upon the foundation 
 which God has laid, of which Christ is the corner-stone, 
 shall ^'- all the building, fitly framed together'^ — not unfitly 
 rent in fragments, rising sharp and jagged here and there, 
 but " fitly framed together," — " grow unto an holy temple 
 in the Lord." 
 
 11* 
 
234 DISCOURSES 
 
 The great and manifold injury done to the piety of the 
 Church by its prevalent divisions, I have, according to my 
 ability, held up to your notice. 
 
 Most of the causes, also, which, from this source ob- 
 struct the piety of the Church, operate additionally and 
 directly to hinder its advancement in the world ; and they 
 do further very powerfully hinder the latter 5?/ injuring the 
 former. 
 
 In addition, therefore, to the injury which has already 
 been pointed out, 1 have expressed it as my deep convic- 
 tion, after long looking at the subject, that sectarianism, 
 with the principles which lie at its base, is — 
 
 II. The greatest single obstacle which now exists to the spread 
 and triumph of Christianity among men. 
 
 If this proposition seem strained and incredible to your 
 ears, my friends, to gain from you a hearing for the proof 
 by which I mean to support it, I need only say — what you 
 will all admit — that the religion of Christ, which is " the 
 wisdom and power of God to salvation," is adequate to 
 save the world, if it were but properly felt, exhibited, and 
 enforced by those who profess it ; and whatever therefore 
 most hinders the people of Christ from such a realization 
 and enforcement of the truth is indeed the greatest obsta- 
 cle to its advancement. That this obstacle is found in sec- 
 tarianism, and the principles which lie at its base, I shall 
 endeavor to show, by the evidences already indicated. 
 And in support of my proposition I observe, sectarianism 
 operates to this end — 
 
 First, By holding up the differences among Christians too 
 prominently before the ivorld, as compared ivith the great truths 
 upon which they are agreed. 
 
 The tendency of Church divisions to give prominence to 
 those secondary ideas which are the grounds of separation, 
 
DISCOURSES. 235 
 
 we have already noticed, and illustrated by the influence of 
 political parties in our nation, where all of every party 
 agree on those fundamental truths of government, which 
 are greater than the questions of policy about which they 
 differ. The prominence thus given to secondary religious 
 ideas tends to obscure, as we have seen, the greater and 
 essential truths of Christianity even to the minds of be- 
 lievers, and so to diminish the earnestness and piety of the 
 Church. But if it has this obscuring and hurtful effect 
 with those who are in some degree lovers of the truth, how 
 much more with those who are not. What Christian in 
 the land, but knows something of the disposition of the 
 natural, unrenewed mind to divert its attention from the 
 great duty of submission to God, — repentance and faith 
 in Christ, — and from the awful truths of eternity by which 
 this duty is enforced, — on any pretext which it can find for 
 this purpose, and especially when it can find some connect- 
 ed but unessential idea at which to boggle and halt ? And 
 sectarianism is forever furnishing such ideas in profusion ; 
 and not only furnishing them, but thrusting them with 
 might and main in the face of every man who hears the 
 truth and turns for a moment to notice it. 
 
 And even where there is an honest desire to seek the 
 truth, this enemy of Christ and ally of the devil is ready 
 at hand, to bawl its great banner cry so loud in the ear, 
 that the voice of eternity cannot be heard. It is becoming 
 a common thing even noAV, for men, who by attendance 
 on protracted religious meetings have had their interest 
 awakened in the great subject, and are beginning to ponder 
 the question of life and death, to get disgusted by the thrust- 
 ing forth of some argument about baptism, or other secon- 
 
236 DISCOURSES. 
 
 dary and unessential matter, so as to turn away from the 
 whole subject of religion with contempt.* 
 
 And this horrible fact is an illustration of the influence 
 which sectarianism, in all its forms, is continually exerting 
 upon the better disposed class of minds that have, under 
 the Gospel, some tendency seriously to consider religious 
 truth. 
 
 And that it has this influence, I appeal to facts. How 
 often does the newly converted man say, that the great 
 thing which has kept him back from religion has been the 
 divisions among Christians ! And how many times have 
 you heard this objection in the mouths of the impenitent, 
 if you have talked with them and urged them to attend to 
 their spiritual concerns. 
 
 I am not saying that this is a just or reasonable plea, or 
 one that will excuse them in God's sight. Our subject is, 
 not what ought to be, but what is. What influence is 
 sectarianism exerting, and calculated to exert, upon the 
 advancement of Christ's Kingdom in the world? 
 
 But there is another influence in the same direction which 
 we have not noticed ; or rather, it is the same influence 
 acting upon a different class of minds. It strengthens in- 
 fidels, and confirms doubters. 
 
 All those, in whose minds doubt or disbelief is fixed, con- 
 cerning the great ideas of judgment and retribution taught 
 by Christianity, find comfort and courage in their unhappy 
 
 * Isaac Taylor, on the supposition that the accomplished author of the trea- 
 tise " On the Sublime" should read a certain letter of Dionysius of Alexandria 
 respecting a point then in dispute, well remarks : " Must we not regard Longinus 
 as almost excused, if he had cast away the epistle of Dionysius with indignant 
 scorn, and have said, 'Is this your vaunted Christianity. Is it to maintain this 
 system of servile frivolity that you die at the stake ? Do you ask me to become 
 a Christian ? a« well turn Jew ; and how much better remain philosopher I' " — 
 Fanaticism ; Of the Symbol. 
 
DISCOURSES. 287 
 
 position by looking at the variant attitudes which believers 
 assume towards each other. 
 
 And, indeed, these opposing attitudes have a voice of lies 
 and mischief, not only to unbelievers but to the whole world. 
 They say, in effect, the salvation of the soul is not a mat- 
 ter of so much importance that we can subordinate our 
 doctrine of baptism, or of Divine decrees, or our claims of 
 authority in the Church, in order to promote it by co- 
 operation. 
 
 And the error and mischief of such a declaration unbe- 
 lievers will not only fully apprehend, but will magnify. 
 And the influence of such a position on the part of Chris- 
 tians, in causing men to reject the truth and demands of 
 Christ, is immense. For, indeed, the number is not small 
 of those who are doubting or denying the solemn teachings 
 of Christianity concerning the future. They abound in 
 every Sabbath congregation in our country, and out of the 
 congregations the whole land is full of them ; and they are 
 encouraged in their doubts and strengthened in their de- 
 nials by the divisions of those who believe. 
 
 It might be thought, indeed, that the divisions of Chris- 
 tians on minor points would render their agreement on the 
 great doctrines of the Bible a more serious and weighty at- 
 testation of their truth. And if those differences were not 
 made so much more of by the Church than this agreement, 
 it would be so. But when Christians themselves thus 
 prominently thrust up the former before men's eyes and 
 subordinate the latter, they need not wonder if men who 
 love not the solemn truth will take advantage of it. 
 
 Closely allied, also, to this influence of which I have been 
 speaking, is the tendency of that party spirit which by these 
 divisions is created in the Church. The existence of such 
 
238 DISCOURSES. 
 
 a spirit I have previously pointed out. If there is any- 
 individual in the Church, who does not perceive its exis- 
 tence and operation, I can assure him that such is not the 
 case with most of those who stand outside. They are 
 abundantly keen-sighted to perceive it, if not also evil-eyed 
 to magnify it. And what a hardening and awful influence 
 it must exert upon them. The wily manoeuvers of secta- 
 rian zeal, the ad captandum appeals, the flattering atten- 
 tions to children and youth, inflating them with the idea 
 that they are wiser than their pious parents and all their 
 other teachers — these works of the devil in the Church, 
 which I have seen — O God ! have not unbelievers seen 
 them too ? and have they not been learning to scorn Thy 
 name. Thou holy Jesus, as if Thou couldst be the author 
 of such things ? 
 
 Who can measure the mischief and the ruin which this 
 spirit of party, which its very selfishness, the essence of all 
 wickedness, thus by the contrivance of Satan brought into 
 the Church, and bringing dishonor upon its truth — who can 
 measure the mischief and ruin it has wrought upon those 
 who have witnessed it, and learned to disbelieve and dis- 
 regard the great realities of Christ's Gospel, if not to con- 
 temn His name? 
 
 But before we dismiss the point upon which we have been 
 engaged, we must look at its bearing in another direction. 
 There is a false Church in the world, calling itself Chris- 
 tian, yet called by the word of God ^^the mother of harlots 
 and abominations in the earth?'' Without raising the ques- 
 tion, how many of its deluded children may yet be accept- 
 ed in the sight of that God, who looks through all the forms 
 of ignorance and error which circumstance have thrown 
 around, to the heart that dwells within, it is a deeply in- 
 
DISCOURSES. 239 
 
 teresting inquiry, How shall they be reached by the pure 
 Gospel of Christ, and their hearts be opened to receive it ? 
 Their number is so great as to make this a momentous 
 question to all true Christians. 
 
 The Pope, who certainly has the best means of judging, 
 is said to estimate* the Avhole number of his church mem- 
 bers at two hundred millions. But deducting one-sixth of 
 this number, or thirty-three millions, for those who are 
 really infidels in the Church, and for errors of calculation, 
 we have remaining one hundred and sixty-seven millions. 
 
 Better to understand how great a multitude this is, let 
 us compare the number of members in the whole Protest- 
 ant Christian Church. The whole number of inhabitants 
 in nominally Protestant countries is set down at about 
 eighty-two millions.* Twenty-one millions of these be- 
 long to the United States. Out of these, however, only 
 about three millions are church members ; but callinor the 
 number three and one half millions, they are one-sixth of 
 the whole. Calculating the proportion of acting church 
 members to the wdiole population the same throughout 
 Protestant Christendom, it gives one-sixth of eighty-two, 
 or tliirteen and two-thirds millions for the whole. Twelve 
 times this number are one hundred and sixty-four millions, 
 or three millions less than our estimated number of Koman 
 Catholics. That is to say, for every Protestant church 
 member throughout the world there are twelve members of 
 the Papal Church. 
 
 The question, then, how they are to be evangelized, is 
 one of immense moment to the Church. We have been 
 considering the detriment done to the spread of Gospel re- 
 ligion in the world by the divisions of Christians, as hold- 
 
 * Baird's Christ. Retros. and Reg. Pages 198 and 197. 
 
240 DISCOURSES. 
 
 ing up too prominently before men the secondary things 
 about which they differ. But the bearing of this evil upon 
 all the efforts that we are making, or can make, to en- 
 lighten the childi'en of the Pope, is incalculable. 
 
 It is the powerful argument of the Romish priest with 
 his followers : " There is no peace or rest out of the bosom 
 of our Holy Mother. Protestants are divided into innu- 
 merable nSects, at war with each other ; and if you leave 
 the Church you cannot tell where to go. All this division, 
 and strife, and danger, are the inevitable result of forsaking 
 the only true and infallible Church of St. Peter."* 
 
 This is an argument, my friends, which it may be very 
 easy to answer to our own satisfaction ; but it is hard to 
 answer it to the conviction of the Papist. 
 
 * The following passage from the most triumphant work of the Komanists, the 
 " Variations of Protestantism," is a fair specimen of their argument. With slight 
 alterations it might be retorted against the Romanists, — but ifc would be only so 
 much the more true as against the Protestants. — [Ed. 
 
 " The perverseness of heretics will be a great and instructing spectacle to the 
 humble of heart. They will learn to despise the knowledge which puffs up, and 
 that eloquence which dazzles ; and the talents which the world admires will ap- 
 pear to them of little value, when they see such vain curiosities, such caprices in 
 learned men, such dissimulation, such artifices in the most polite writers ; so 
 much vanity and ostentation, such dangerous illusions amongst those called men 
 of wit ; and finally, so much arrogance and passion, and consequently so many 
 and so manifest errors, in men that appear great, because they are followed by 
 the crowd. They will deplore the errors of the human mind, and be convinced 
 that the only remedy for these great evils is to break off all attachment to pri- 
 vate judgment, for this it is which distinguishes Catholic from Heretic. The 
 property of the Heretic, that is, of one who has a particular opinion, is, to be 
 wedded to his own conceits: the property of the Catholic, that is, universal, is 
 to prefer the general sense of the whole Church to his own sentiments; this is 
 the grace for which we shall petition in behalf of those that err. We shall, how- 
 ever, be filled with a salutary and holy awe, when we contemplate the danger- 
 ous and slippery temptations with which God tries His Church, and the judg- 
 ments which He exercises on her ; nor shall we cease to pour forth prayers to 
 obtain for her pastors equally enlightened and exemplary, since it is through 
 want of them that the flock, which has been redeemed at so great a price, haa 
 been so universally ravaged." — Preface., § 29. 
 
DISCOURSES. 241 
 
 And it never can be so answered, by proclaiming with 
 our tongues the essential unity of Protestants, while our 
 actions still more loudly proclaim their diversity. 
 
 So much, my friends, as regards the hurtful influence of 
 sectarianism upon the advancement of religion, by dispro- 
 portionately magnifying its secondary ideas. 
 
 But it has a similar effect (secondly) hij dividing the exter- 
 nal means of the Church. 
 
 Obstacles aside, the progress of the Gospel, under God, 
 depends, first, on the piety of the Church ; and second, on 
 the means which it has to employ. Granting that the 
 piety of the Church were in no way injured by secta- 
 rianism, yet are its means divided, and so wasted and 
 weakened. 
 
 Some argue, indeed, that the means of the Church are 
 increased by division ; since individuals are often stimu- 
 lated by it to greater exertion and more liberal giving. But 
 while this latter is true, the inference made from it is 
 not true. 
 
 For, first, in reference to pecuniary means : we must 
 take into account not only how much is raised, but how 
 economically and effectively it is expended. 
 
 Suppose in a certain village all the followers of Christ 
 sufficiently harmonious in Christian purposes and feelings, 
 to unite together for religious worship and mutual edifica- 
 tion. They are able comfortably to build a house of wor- 
 ship ample for all their wants, and competently to support 
 a Gospel laborer in a manner which allows him leisure and 
 means for necessary culture. The pecuniary ability of 
 such a people, we may say, is well directed. 
 
 But suppose another village, similar in all respects to 
 the former, except that the people of Christ are divided, 
 
242 DISCOURSES. 
 
 preferring different names — some being of Paul, others of 
 Apollos. Roused by emulation, they contribute a larger 
 sum than the people of the former place ; but it is not so 
 well expended. Two houses of worship are built, yet bur- 
 dening the two churches with debt, and perhaps imper- 
 fectly finished. Two ministers are employed, yet each with 
 a salary insufficient for his physical and especially for his 
 mental wants, so that he comes to his people, week by week, 
 with the product of a starved and care-burdened mind, to 
 their own intellectual and spiritual loss. 
 
 Now, to say nothing of the comparative inability of such 
 a people to contribute to the Gospel abroad, it is evident 
 that their larger means are ill-spent and wasted, and pro- 
 ductive of less good than was attained in the former case. 
 
 But again, it is not money alone which constitutes the 
 means of the Church ; it is men also — men of piety and 
 talent sufficient to labor well in the Gospel ministry, and 
 in other ways to promote the spread of truth and right- 
 eousness. The cases already supposed will illustrate the 
 waste of the Chm-ch's means in this direction, caused by 
 the spirit of sect. In the first case, the life of one man is 
 well and profitably used by the Church, and the other is 
 spared for another needy field ; but in the latter case, the 
 lives of two men are absorbed, and each half wasted or 
 destroyed. 
 
 And of such cases as this latter, my friends, both as to 
 men and money, this Christian land is full. Only I have 
 not stated the evil half so great as it is. Instead of two 
 churches, there are four, and five, and six, where one 
 would be sufficient, in multitudes of instances, all over the 
 country. Instead of five or six churches in Elgin, one 
 could be built, for less than half the means, amply sufficient 
 
DISCOURSES. 243 
 
 for the use of all ; and two Gospel ministers, laboring to- 
 gether, would be more efficient, both as preachers and as 
 pastors, than five can be, divided — and the rest might go to 
 the heathen. Oh ! the waste, the waste of energy and 
 means, of which the Church is guilty, from this cause, 
 while the world in ignorance and sin is perishing ! 
 
 But I have something else to say, about this alleged in- 
 crease of means which sectarianism produces. Allowing, 
 indeed, the overruling power of God, yet I hold it as a 
 general axiom, that the true prosperity of the Church is 
 only in proportion to the effort which is put forth from 
 pure motives. " My kingdom," said Jesus, " is not of this 
 world ;" and He said to Peter, "Put up thy sword." The 
 use of the civil power by the Church has been one of its great 
 . corrupters in past times. " The weapons of our warfare," 
 said Paul, " are not carnal ;" and when carnal weapons are 
 used, they tend to corruption. But what is sectarian or 
 party zeal, and the money that it contributes, but carnal 
 weapons'? — which cannot promote the cause of pure re- 
 ligion. 
 
 No ! the spirit of sect does but divide and waste the real 
 means of the Church, and long postpone the day of its 
 triumph. 
 
 But before closing, let us notice one more way in which 
 sectarianism operates to this end : 
 
 (Thirdly.) Bij giving power to errorists ; or, those wlw deny 
 or pervert the essential practical truths of the Gospel, 
 
 You will be surprised, perhaps, to hear me say this. It 
 is in order to condemn error, that many good men have 
 thought it necessary to separate from theu* brethren. But 
 this is one illustration of the Apostle's words, that " the 
 foolishness of God is wiser than men." Like Saul of old, 
 
244 DISCOURSES. 
 
 who disobediently spared the cattle of Amalek, that he 
 might offer sacrifice to God, they have disobeyed the Di- 
 vine command to mutual love, forbearance, and unity, that 
 they might preserve His truth, though in non-essential 
 matters ; and in so doing they have done more to encour- 
 age and embolden vital error than all the enemies of God 
 could ever do ; while all that they have done for the truth, 
 or for their distinguishing ideas, is to give them the poor 
 support of their human authority, contradicted by the sim- 
 ilarly rendered human authority of thousands of others, of 
 probably equal moral weight. 
 
 But how is this, you will ask, that they embolden essen- 
 tial errorists? I answer, among the multitude of sects 
 thus created, they stand up with greater holdness and power. 
 
 If all the true lovers of Christ, subordinating minor dif- 
 ferences and putting aside their sectarian array, were " of 
 one heart and of one mind " on the great themes of the 
 Gospel, which are truths of Ufe and death, they would ex- 
 ert a moral power that would be almost irresistible, and no 
 pestilent error could stand before them. But now their 
 moral power is weakened, not only by division, but also by 
 mutual opposition, till scarcely anything of it remains ; and 
 the denier of every fundamental verity of Christ's religion, 
 proclaiming his impunity in sin and the efficacy of his hol- 
 low forms, stands boldly by the side of other sects, and ex- 
 claims, " Lo ! how we apples swim !" 
 
 The Church, by its divisions, has lost the signet which 
 its Master designed it to wear, and its power to testify for 
 Him, and proclaim with authority to the world " the true 
 and living way." It is true that the sects thus seek to do 
 still, but the world cannot so readily distinguish amid the 
 voices, and discern the true. Men of every hue of char- 
 
DISCOURSES. 245 
 
 acter, and of every conglomerate of monstrous ideas, may 
 now stand up and claim the Christian name, and there is 
 no moral power in the Church to cry scorn upon them till 
 the world shall hear. Thus is the cause of our Redeemer 
 kept back, by the power which is given to wicked men to 
 usurp His name and lead souls astray. Thus does the 
 rending of Christ's body destroy its growth, and leave men 
 to perish in their sin. 
 
 Is it not time that the Church should awake to the mis- 
 chief it is doing itself, by its human wisdom, in disobe- 
 dience to the commands of Christ its Lord ? Is it not time 
 it should be willing to sacrifice all unessential things, rather 
 than lose the " unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," 
 and the moral power of a holy and united people ? Is it 
 not time to cease their mutual strife, that so " all the build- 
 ing, fitly framed together^'' may grow " unto an holy temple 
 in the Lord ?" 
 
DISCOURSE XVII 
 
 Evils of Sectarianism. 
 
 1 Cor. XII. 24, 25, 26, 27 ; Eph. vi. 4 ; John xiii. 35 ; Gal. v. 15; 
 1 Cor. iii 4 ; 1 John iv. 21 ; 1 John iii. 18. ^'■God hath tempered 
 the body together, that there should he no schism in the body ; 
 hut that the members should have the same care one for anoth- 
 er. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer 
 vnth it ; or one member he honored, all the members rejoice with 
 it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particu- 
 lar.'''' " There is one body, and one spirit ; even as ye are call- 
 ed in one hope of your calling.''^ " JBy this shall all men know 
 that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.''^ 
 "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be 
 not consumed one of another. ^^ " While one saith, I am of 
 Paul ; and another, I am of Ap olios ; are ye not carnal P^ 
 " This commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth 
 God, loveth his brother also.'''' "My little children, let us not 
 love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.''"' 
 
 Vain, useless — nay, false, is that love which does not 
 manifest itself in love's appropriate action.^ If divisions 
 among the people of Christ are the fruit and the evidence 
 of carnality of mind, and tend to pull down rather than to 
 build up ; if there is one body as well as one spirit, and that 
 the body of Christ, of which all Christians are members in 
 particular ; and if God hath tempered the body together, 
 designing that there should be no schism therein, but that 
 
DISCOURSES. 247 
 
 part should balance pai% with mutual care and sympathy, 
 working together for the greatest results, — then it is plain 
 what the appropriate action of brotherly love is, or at least, 
 involves; and how the people of Christ should evidence 
 to the world that they are His disciples. Thus have the 
 passages of Scripture now read introduced to us a fourth 
 principle, showing, by opposition, how sectarianism keeps 
 back the triumph of the Gospel by hiding and depressing the 
 essential, peculiar spirit of Christ and His religion, and weak- 
 ening its self-evidencing power before the tvorld. 
 
 The spirit of this world is one of selfishness — as all men 
 know — manifesting itself more or less in a spirit of rivalry 
 and contention. At least, these are the legitimate exercise 
 of the natural temper of man's heart. But the spirit of 
 Christ and His Gospel, on the other hand, is a spirit of love, 
 wholly opposed to rivalry or selfish contention in any of 
 its forms. And this spirit of love is the great power of the 
 Gospel to subdue the hearts of men and spread its triumphs 
 among them. It is an evidence of the superhuman char- 
 acter and origin of that Gospel, which appeals at once to 
 every man's conscience, and the most accessible point of 
 his nature. Allow me to relate an occurrence, of which 
 you perhaps have read, as a fitting and needful illustration 
 here. 
 
 During the progress of a revival in one of the villages 
 of our country, an aged Christian called at the shop of a 
 blacksmith, who was known as a confirmed infidel, to con- 
 verse with him on the subject of religion. The hardened 
 man was familiar with all the weapons of his infidel war- 
 fare, and skillful in their use, so that the poor old man, 
 when he reached the shop, after much and earnest prayer 
 for him, trembled and knew not what to do. At last, 
 
248 DISCOURSES. 
 
 standing by the forge, he could only say, while the tears 
 ran down his venerable cheeks, ''Sir, I am concerned for 
 your soul's salvation — I am concerned for your soul's sal- 
 vation." Saying this, he went away, to engage again in 
 prayer in his behalf. The unbeliever felt the force of this 
 appeal, and after the aged Christian was gone he could not , 
 banish it from his mind. And the more he thought upon 
 it the more strange it seemed to him, and unlike anything 
 of man's natural character, as he well understood it. The 
 consciousness of his own utter unlikeness to such a char- 
 acter came upon him, till at last it humbled him in peniten- 
 tial prostration before God ; and in calling upon Christ he 
 found peace. Going now to the place where Christians 
 were assembled for prayer, he stood up among them and 
 told how God had led him to the Saviour, and filled him 
 with joy in believing. And referring to his infidel argu- 
 ments, and how they were all foiled by the old man's sim- 
 ple words : " Oh," said he, " I could answer anything but 
 that man's concern for my soul." 
 
 Yes, he could answer anything, or thought that he could 
 — save the argument of love : but that conquered him ! And, 
 my hearers, it is that argument that is wanting to conquer 
 the world : and it is able to do it ! 
 
 Love, I say, is the great argument and power of the Gos- 
 pel to subdue the world unto itself. Christ said of Him- 
 self, "if I be lifted up" — that is, if I make that exhibition 
 of my love for the world which I propose to do, by dying 
 for it — " I shall draw all men unto me :" all who behold 
 me there will feel the mightiest appeal which can be made 
 to the human heart to come to God. And the whole his- 
 tory of the Church has proved this. It was love that con- 
 quered Paul, and made him such a shining light ; — first 
 
DISCOURSES. 249 
 
 amons the followers of Jesus ! and it has been the great 
 power of the Gospel ever since. 
 
 But we know that in order to bring this spirit of the 
 Gospel to bear upon men, it must be exhil)ited to them in 
 the person of Christ's followers ; as in the case just now 
 related. It is only when the Church possesses and is ac- 
 tuated by this spirit, that it is brought to bear upon the 
 world in any adequate degree, and with adequate force : 
 for few would otherwise know auglit of the love of Christ ; 
 and though all should know it by the hearing of the ear, 
 they need to see His spirit exhibited in a living form 
 before them, fully to feel its power. 
 
 But sectarianism is the greatest foe to its exhibition which 
 God has ever suffered Satan to beget. It hinders brotherly 
 love among Christians, and regard for the souls of men. 
 It is vain for brethren in Christ to talk about the duty of 
 loving one another, and to try to feel love for one another, 
 while they refuse to act as love dictates. Their actions 
 will control their hearts, as men's acts always do in the 
 end. The fences which they set up between them in fact 
 will be fences between them in feeling. And that it is now 
 even so. every Christian knows. 
 
 The fact is, worse than setting up hindrances to broth- 
 erly love, the divisions of Christ's people beget and stimu- 
 late continually that opposite spirit of rivalry and conten- 
 tion which is the spirit of this world ; so that instead of 
 saying of the Church, as was once said in the days of her 
 rapid triumphs, " see how these Christians love one an- 
 other," it is now said, by many who look upon her, " see 
 how these Christians rival and are jealous of each other;" 
 and thus is the light of the Gospel dimned, and its pecu- 
 liar power destroyed, 
 
 12 
 
250 DISCOURSES. 
 
 It is tnie there are some who can and do overcome these 
 tendencies to evil ; but many — not most — do not. But if 
 all did, what advantage would the inward feeling be, while 
 their actions proclaim to the world their variance? I 
 grant that some may not intend variance of feeling by sep- 
 arating themselves from their brethren ; but it is the na- 
 tural languao-e of the act, and so the world read it. And 
 so reading it, were there no greater cause, the peculiar 
 spirit of the Gospel would be hid to them, and its power 
 taken av/ay. But there is a greater cause. That spirit of 
 love is not only in a great measure hidden from the world, 
 but it is in a great measure destroyed. Jealousy and conten- 
 tious strife have been in too many instances, or to too large 
 an extent, brought in to take its place ; so that the religion 
 of Jesus has been wounded in the house of her friends, and 
 the right arm of her strength torn from her bleeding side. 
 And how much is lost to the cause of our Redeemer by this 
 means, we can hardly stretch our thoughts far enough to 
 measure. If all Christians by their mutual love were now 
 commending the Gospel to the world as they did in primi- 
 tive times, I believe we should see the Church advancing 
 with primitive rapidity. And though we should not charge 
 all the deficit to the score of sects, yet there is enough 
 chargeable there to make the account a fearful one. 
 
 But I have said that the exhibition of love to souls out 
 of the Church is hindered by the same cause. It is so be- 
 cause the selfish spirit of sectarianism appeals more pal- 
 pably and powerfully to the depraved heart of man, than 
 does a benevolent love for the unseen and future good of 
 others, and so tends constantly to usurp its place. And 
 so much has that sectarian desire of gaining converts to 
 one's own party manifested itself to the world, that it has 
 
DISCOURSES. 251 
 
 cast suspicion in many places upon the labors of all Chris- 
 tians; and thus, besides taking from them the power of 
 that appeal to man's better feelings which Christian love 
 is calculated to make, it has placed a heavy obstacle in 
 their way. Nor can we wonder at the strength of such 
 suspicions, when we sometimes see the members of a sect 
 more laborious and diligent in proselyting to themselves 
 those who are already Christians, than they ever are in 
 gaining lost souls from sin to holiness, and from death to 
 life. It requires a hard strain, in fact, on any man's charity, 
 ever to give such persons credit for genuine love to man's 
 spiritual interests. And while sectarianism is begetting 
 such fruits in the Church, the peculiar spirit of the Gos- 
 pel, in which its great power lies, must ever be largely hid- 
 den and lost. 
 
 Nor does the evil stop here. Kindred to this, I may per- 
 haps say, is the hindrance which the sectarian sundering 
 of believers causes — 
 
 Fifthly, By grieving the Spirit of God. 
 
 That it does do this has been, I think, sufficiently shown. 
 And this being proved, the conclusion which you will all 
 admit, follows sufficiently plain. Want of time will there- 
 fore lead me to pass hastily over this topic, though it is one of 
 such mighty weight as ought to make the Church of Christ 
 tremble and weep at the good she has destroyed. When 
 she looks abroad over the world, and groans to see the 
 wickedness and misery which the Gospel has not yet reach- 
 ed, and wonders that God's Spirit of power is withheld 
 from the work which it might do, let her remember how 
 that holy and peaceful Spirit has been grieved away, and 
 is yet grieved, by her unholy strifes. But, 
 
 Sixthly, Sectarianism hinders the progress or advancement 
 
252 DISCOURSES, 
 
 of the Church, in the world, hy hindering her progress in the 
 truth. 
 
 It is unquestionable that the slowness of the Church in 
 the latter, is one of the great reasons why she is not more 
 rapid in the former. That there is much error mixed 
 with all our systems of theology, cannot be denied by any 
 one without arrogance : for there are many conflicting 
 systems, so that many errors exist somewhere ; and it would 
 be absurd to charge them all upon one, and equally arro- 
 gant to claim for another exemption from the whole. But 
 error mixed with Gospel truth, obscures its light, and hin- 
 ders its power. 
 
 It remains, then, that we show how sectarianism hinders 
 progress in the truth. This will not be hard to do. It 
 does so, first, by prompting prejudice. In a vast majority 
 of cases, personal influences, or some external circumstances 
 rather than previous doctrinal views, determine the sect to 
 which a convert unites himself. By so uniting, however, 
 he commits himself to the views of that sect, and that be- 
 fore he really understands what they are. His attention 
 is too much occupied with the great truths of Christianity, 
 which have given him hope and life, to think particularly 
 at present on secondary matters. 
 
 But he has committed himself with unquestioning do- 
 cility to receive the instructions of those whom he looks 
 upon as his elders and teachers in the Lord ; and they are 
 all prepared to administer their theological nostrums, in the 
 shape of a creed or in some other way, to his receptive 
 mind. Once swallowed, whether understood or not, it 
 must be stood to against all who impugn, because it is 
 the doctrine of '• our Church." This spirit of party ex- 
 ercises an unresisted influence to mould the mind into all 
 
DISCOURSES. 253 
 
 the peculiarities of the sect, and complete the work of in- 
 doctrination. Henceforth, when the Bible is read and 
 studied, it is not seen with open and natural eyes, but 
 through the spectacles which the mind has put on. Scrip- 
 ture passages have received u stamped interpretation before 
 they are examined in their proper connection in the Scrip- 
 tures themselves ; and the consequence is, a stereotyped 
 Bible and a stereotyped brain. But little new light is to 
 be expected to the Church from minds thus fashioned. I 
 have some knowledge, my friends, of the things of which 
 I have spoken, for I have been put through this mill. 
 
 Again, by the process spoken of, the mind has learned to 
 rest its behef too much on human authority, and too little 
 on evidence ; and this is a habit in itself most destructive 
 to progress. It needs no argument or illustration to show 
 that those who are accustomed to look, for their establish- 
 ment in truth, rather upon what has received the suffrages 
 of many others than upon the evidence which it offers, can 
 add nothing to the stock which the Church possesses. And 
 is not this the case with the great majority of Christians ? 
 I believe it is. And it is largely owing, as has been already 
 shown, to the evil of which I am speaking. 
 
 Again, sectarianism affords its votaries so much to do 
 in defending themselves against rival and opposing sects, 
 as leaves them little opportunity for calm investigation, and 
 so diu-inishes the probability of their clearing their minds 
 of error, and advancing in true knowledge. It promotes 
 discussion, it is true ; but it promotes discussion, not among 
 simple inquirers after truth, as might otherwise be the case, 
 but among defenders of established systems, whose rank, 
 and influence, and emoluments depend on their success in 
 that defense. How much likelihood there is amonor such 
 
254 DISCOURSES. 
 
 disputants of throwing away errors, and gaining new ideas 
 from God's Word, let such as know human kind judge. 
 
 But the great fact concerning the hindrance to progress 
 which the divisions of the Church create, is yet to come. 
 
 Theology is the product, not of the mind of the Church 
 in general — not of the united wisdom of the people of God — 
 but of a few leading minds in the min'stry ; and that greatly 
 in past ages. Certain individuals, favored by circumstances 
 or mental gifts, have issued their systems of Scripture in- 
 terpretation, and established sects. They have found fol- 
 lowers, as every body can in this world ; and very many 
 of them have had sufficient Gospel truth in their systems 
 to convert souls, and do much good. The sect becoming 
 established, it has power. The people in general have lit- 
 tle opportunity or taste for theological investigation, but 
 are attached to their fathers, and teachers in the Gospel, 
 and through them to the tenets which they hold. If any 
 progress is to come, it must come through the ministry. 
 They are dependent, however, on the sect as a whole ; and 
 the sect has power to sustain and honor such as fall in with 
 its established lines. Of all these lines, however, it is from 
 the nature of sects, peculiarly and strictly tenacious. He 
 who departs from them in the least will be cast out. And 
 if cast out, where shall he go ? There are none to take 
 him up and sustain him, for sects are the order of the day ; 
 and because he differs a little from one he will not there- 
 fore be received by others which are still more variant. He 
 must, therefore, either renounce the ministry, and so lose 
 his principal opportunity of advancing the Church, and 
 doing the good which his soul desires, or else he must keep 
 the new truth which God has iriven him to himself. 
 
 There are enough in the ministry who are bigoted sec- 
 
DISCOURSES. 255 
 
 tarists, loving their place and power to watcli all the rest, 
 and cry Heresy ! Heresy ! the moment a new idea is heard, 
 evolved from the Grospel of Christ. 
 
 And whe 1 we see how the ministry are trained, we 
 can expect but little disposition in them, in general, to 
 meddle with existing sectarian fixtures. 
 
 A young man, with his heart filled with the love of 
 Christ, and of his fellow- men, resolves to study for the 
 ministry. He is already the member of a sect, and dis- 
 posed to its particular views. He naturally goes, there- 
 fore, to one of the theological schools of his denomination. 
 He finds there that the law of the Medes and Persians has 
 been laid down — the creed, in all its ramifications and 
 tvvigifications, is graven on steel; and lest the venerable 
 and long established teachers should, by some accident, get 
 a new idea in the progress of time, they are required at 
 stated periods of a year or two (this is actually the cus- 
 tom*) to give a solemn pledge in no wise to depart there- 
 from. 
 
 It is under such training as this, that the ministry in 
 general is formed. This, somewhat, accounts for uniformity 
 within the walls of a sect. 
 
 But after all, the young man may be somewhat indepen- 
 dant in his mind, and not disposed to receive so implicitly 
 the dicta of his teachers — and what then ? 
 
 Why, then he is plied with a cannonade of arguments 
 from those old and practised artillerists ; and if he is still 
 so keen-sighted and strong as to ward the bullets, and stand 
 his ground, he is gravely told, those are the views of the 
 institution and the Church, and he must submit, or there 
 
 * But custom, not only without reason, but almost without authority, as we 
 attempt to show at the close of the volumo. — JEd. 
 
256 DISCOURSES. 
 
 is no proper place for him there, nor will the pulpits of the 
 Church be opened to receive him. I am not supposing a 
 case, my friends. I am relating facts which have occurred. 
 
 Thus it is, my hearei's, that sectarianism does destroy 
 that Christian liberty which is essential to the candid in- 
 vestigation of the Scriptures, and without which, the pro- 
 gress of the Church, in truth, must be slow and difficult, 
 and therefore, its triumph be postponed.* 
 
 Seventh. But the seventh and final reason which I will 
 oiFer, for the detriment done to the spread of religion by the 
 divisions of Christ's people, is the injury which these do to 
 their piety. 
 
 That injury arises, as I have already shown, from many 
 of the same causes which operate directly against the ad- 
 vancement of the Church abroad : — from the too great 
 prominence given to secondary and non-practical truths 
 in the minds of the Church ; from the idol of party thus 
 created, and dividing the heart from Christ ; from the false 
 churches and false professors thus originated or sustained, 
 and debasing the standard of religion by their unworthy 
 example ; from the hindrance to progress in understanding 
 
 * "Factions, moreoyer, benumb the expansive powers of Christianity, and 
 prevent its spread. They create, too, a universal confusion, entanglements, and 
 pervei'sion of religious notions. No inquiry can be calmly prosecuted, no result 
 of solitary meditation can be safely reported, nothing can be looked at in its na- 
 tive form, so long as the jealousies and the interests of eight or ten ancient 
 and corporate factions spread themselves over the field of theology. Even 
 those few insulated articles of Christian belief or speculation, or of abstruse 
 science, which have not been claimed by party zeal, are often found to ahirm the 
 ■wakeful fears of this or that guardian of sectarianism, merely because the meth- 
 od of argument which may have been employed in such instances is fo;e<een 
 to have a bearing upon matters that are held to be inviolable. The opinion in it- 
 self may be innocent enough; but the logic that sustains it is dangerous. Bet- 
 ter then quash at once the suspicious novelty, which, tliough it maybe good 
 and true, is not momentous, than favor it. and so open the door to no one can 
 say what innovations !" — Taylor. Nat. Hist, of Fanaticism j of the Symbol. — [Ed. 
 
DISCOURSES. 257 
 
 the Scriptures, as just treated ; and finally, from doing 
 despite to the Spirit of Grace, grieving the heavenly Dove 
 from the bosoms where rivalry and contention are made 
 to enter. Not only do these causes operate directly against 
 the conquest at which the Church is aiming, but by injur- 
 ing its inety^ they do more perhaps than in any other way 
 to keep back its triumphs. 
 
 It is by their own nearness to God, their own likeness 
 to Christ, that the members of Christ's body must give 
 power to the truth they proclaim to subdue the world unto 
 Him. If the Church itself were as well advanced in 
 piety as it should be, the cause of our Redeemer would 
 roll on with lightning speed. And how incalculable the 
 mischief which the unhappy divisions of Christ's people are 
 doing by operating against this ! Oh ! that the Church 
 might awaken to its error, and strive for some method of 
 deliverance ! 
 
 I have now endeavored — knowing how many prejudices 
 I may assail, but determined to cast from me the fear of 
 man ; for my position in the ministry is not worth to me a 
 straw, unless I can speak forth out of my heart what God 
 puts in it — I have endeavored to show you some of the 
 workings of this giant evil, which I have called Sectarian- 
 ism. I do not mean by this, as is often meant, the spirit 
 of separation, but separation itself. And have I not shown 
 you abundant reasons to substantiate the proposition with 
 which I set out ? IMay we not well conclude, in view of 
 all these mournful facts, that this evil is a mighty injury 
 to the piety of the Church, and perhaps the greatest single 
 enemy to her conquest of the world ; seeing the Gospel of 
 Christ is fitted to save our race unto the uttermost, and 
 
 12* 
 
258 DISCOURSES. 
 
 nothing is wanting but that the Church should adequately 
 exemplify and present it to their minds and hearts ? 
 
 Think not that it has been to me an altogether pleasing 
 task, to speak evil of the Church I love — of the people of 
 Christ to whom I belong. 
 
 My heart has groaned as, pen in hand, I have looked at 
 this subject, arranging my thoughts to present them to you. 
 Is the Church of Christ altogether corrupt and worthless? 
 No, no — no, no! she abounds in holy hearts, and she is 
 doing a mighty and a blessed work. But she has spots on 
 her garments still, And when we turn our eyes to her 
 better traits, we may so hide those spots that they will seem 
 small ; but when we look steadily at them they seem large 
 enough. For, indeed, they are large enough — too large, 
 too large, my friends, to behold without sighing and tears. 
 Oh ! when shall the blessed Spirit of our Master come — that 
 Spirit which is love — and heal our wounds '? When shall 
 He walk upon this tossing sea, and say, " Peace ! be still ?" 
 
 The subject presents matter for the serious inquiries and 
 prayers of every Christian. Thanks to God, there is the 
 beginning of a better spirit abroad in the Churches. The 
 attempted World's Alliance at London a few years ago grew 
 out of it. What though that failed ? the spirit has not 
 failed. Thousands of Christians all over the land feel it. 
 Churches are springing up which reject it — or mean to — 
 though some of them do not see how. Many Christians 
 are holding off from all connection with churches on ac- 
 count of it. (I do not say they should: let them judge.) 
 
 Bible, and Tract, and Sunday School-societies have 
 sprung up, which are living repudiations of it, and gi'cat 
 standing proofs before all the Church, that it is abso- 
 lutely necessary in some degree to depart from it. 
 
DISCOURSES. 259 
 
 But though all these things are true, the evil exists still 
 in prodigious vigor. The better spirit which pervades the 
 Church so largely has not availed in general to change 
 those practices by which it is kept alive, and the instances 
 in which it has availed are lost among the multitude. 
 
 The evil still exists and is multiplying ; and it becomes 
 all those who love Christ and his cause, to study the sub- 
 ject, and pray over it. The Apostle Paul evidently 
 thought such a state of things altoorether needless. He 
 exhorted the Corinthians to be "joined together in the 
 same mind." And he adjured them to this in the most 
 solemn manner — " by the name of our Christ." 
 
 In His name, also, will I adjure you, my Christian friends. 
 
 If in all that I have said, there are some things to which 
 you cannot assent — which would not be strange — yet the 
 reality and the greatness of that evil which I have tried to 
 exhibit, you cannot deny. And though no other reasons 
 could be found for deprecating these divisions among the 
 followers of our common Lord, it is sufficient that they are 
 opposed to the spirit of our holy religion, and a grief (/ am 
 warranted in saying it hy the spirit of His own prayer) a grief 
 to our Divine Redeemer. 
 
 In His name then I beseech you, ponder and pray upon 
 this matter, and away with this evil from your hearts. 
 And see to it that ye love your brethren, " not in word^^ 
 merely, " neither in tongue ; hut in deed and in truihP 
 
 The Lord give us wisdom to direct, and grace to do, in 
 His appointed way. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF FAITH 
 
 Subjectively, Faith or Belief is of three kinds : simple 
 or historical, practical or voluntary, and non-voluntary. 
 
 Tnist or Confidence is of three kinds : simple or emotive, 
 practical or voluntary, and non-voluntary. 
 
 Simple or historical faith or belief is the assent of the un- 
 derstanding, when no action on the subject is possible, or 
 is practically believed to be at present unnecessary (as the 
 unrepenting man's faith in future punishment). 
 
 Simple or emotive trust or confidence is the feeling of the 
 mind which responds to the assent of the understanding .o 
 any truth (generally used, however, in reference to truth 
 in which the mind feels satisfaction or pleasurable emotion). 
 
 Voluntary or practical faith or belief, trust or confidence, is 
 complex ; comprising the assent of the understanding, the 
 act or state of the will corresponding, and the feeling of 
 trust or confidence. But, 2^i'<^ctical faith or belief denotes 
 this idea without prominent reference to either of its ele- 
 ments ; though such a reference may arise from the circum. 
 stances of its use ; and originally the word itself contained 
 a prominent reference to the assent of the understanding 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 Practical trust or confidence denotes this idea with prominent 
 reference to the feeling or emotion. 
 
 By non-voluntai-y Faith, Belief, Trust or Confidence, I 
 denote the use of the words when they are employed in- 
 discriminately to signify the assent of the understanding, 
 and the corresponding emotion. 
 
 A more philosophical division of the above will be : 
 Faith is of two kinds : involuntary and voluntary. 
 
 I. Involuntary, two kinds; (a) simple, [h) compound 
 (/. e. " non-voluntary.") 
 
 II. Voluntary or practical. 
 
 The three main points maintained by our author, and 
 indicated in the above analysis, may be briefly stated thus : 
 Faith, in the sense in which it is a duty and a condition of 
 salvation, is, 1, Rational; 2, it is Voluntary; 3, it is 
 Moral. It is opposed neither to Eeason, Work, nor Emo- 
 tion, bnt includes them all. It is the synthesis of Thought, 
 Feeling and Act. And because it is the harmony of these, 
 it tends, when directed to its proper object, to the highest 
 development of man's being. 
 
 This view of Faith, we think, best meets a triple error 
 that appears in the history of the Church, and a corres- 
 ponding triple scepticism in the world. \ye offer here a 
 few extracts, to show how urgent occasion there has been 
 for the views taken by our author, and at the same time to 
 give them such support as may be found in the opinions of 
 thinking men. — [Ed. 
 
NOTE A. 
 
 THAT FAITH IS RATIONAL. 
 
 How Faith has been opposed to Reason. — Clement of Alex- 
 andria speaks of the faith which " the Greeks do slander, as an 
 empty and barbarian folly." IlWtj U iiv SiaSaWovai Kcvijv xai 
 (iapSapov voixi^ovres "EWrjvzs- — Strom, 1. ii. c. 2. Rufinus says that 
 " the pagans commonly object that our religion, because it seems 
 deficient in reasons, consists in a mere disposition to believe." — 
 Pagani nobis objicere solent, quod religio nostra, quia quasi ra- 
 tionibus deficit, in sola credendi persuasione consistat. — In 
 Symb. 
 
 Origen, in his work against Celsus, alludes to such charges 
 as these : " Do not examine, but believe." " Believe, if you 
 wish to be saved, or be gone." M^ e^cTa^e, dX\a Tricmvaov. nia- 
 TEmov, d aoidfjvai deXeis, ij amdi. And in a work ascribed to Athana.- 
 
 sius : AeX^ff^fj ^^(^l-v, an-Xwj TO. \£y6^i£va, Kol nr)6sls k^eTa^ino ri npsTrou 
 kv avroXi »j H UTrptitEg Kat ttLcttiv dfo/id^ei rriv uSaaavLorov tin roXs dcTarois 
 kcCI dvairoSeiKTOi skirl j3\a6rj avyKardOeaiv. — 0pp. tom. ii,, p. 581, ed. 
 
 Benedict. 
 
 The " certum est quia impossibile est," of Tertullian, is well 
 known. Yet even he, in controverting error, gives faith its 
 proper rational basis. " Aut proba esse quae credis, aut si non 
 probas, quomodo credis?" — Adv. Marc, v. 1. 
 
 Julian, cited by Gregory Nazianzen : 'Htinerepoi, ^rjcriv, ol \6yoi 
 Kol ro kWrjviTeiv, cov koI to aeBtiv Oeovg : Vfidv 6i f] dXoj-ia, Kol ^ dYpoiKiOf 
 Kol ovSif Vntp TO, Jliarevaov, Tfjs VfiCTepai iai\ ao(pias. 
 
 See also Arnobius, cited above, page . Extended replies 
 
 to these cavils were made by Eusebius, Praepar. Evangel. 1. i. 
 Augustine, Ad Honoratum, De Utilitate Credendi ; Theodo- 
 ret, Serm. I. De Fide contra Graecos. 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 The history of the degradation of faith to blind irrationality, 
 during the Middle Ages, would make a volume of itself. This 
 subject is intimately connected with the misapplication of the 
 term " mystery," and the extension and abuse of the idea of 
 mystery ; with the false doctrine of justice, or right, as based 
 upon mere omnipotent will or power ; with the doctrine and 
 practice of the pious fraud, and of compulsion in religious mat- 
 ters, and of ceremonial or irrational devices for salvation ; and 
 with the doctrine of uniformity in opinion, and hence of im- 
 plicit faith, as necessary to salvation. 
 
 This last tenet, which of course subverts all right of private 
 judgment, is thus stated by the most profound of the late Ro- 
 manist divines, Dr. Moehler : " He who establishes his fait^ 
 on Scripture, viz., on the results to which his Biblical researches 
 have led him, has no faith — does not know at all what faith 
 is."— Symbolism, Ch. v.. Art. 39. 
 
 Between this bold Irrationalism, and the Neology which 
 would make God's admitted testimony no better than each man's 
 opinion, nominal Protestantism has furnished every shade of 
 doctrine, simply because under that name the various natures of 
 men have found free scope. It would be strange, indeed, if the 
 example of noble men within the Romish Church, and various 
 motives furnished by its remaining power, had not produced a 
 repetition of its errors beyond its pale. It still remains for 
 Protestants generally to find that just view of faith which shall 
 stand against all objections, either of Romanist or Rationalist. 
 
 Testimonies to Faith as Rational. — Most earnestly did the 
 early Christian writers combat the prejudice that faith was op- 
 posed to reason, though it might be in advance of knowledge. 
 Thus Clement of Alexandria : " Believing in the Logos, whom 
 we term our Master, consists in obedience to His precepts, 
 withstanding Him in nothing ; for how, indeed, can we with- 
 stand God ? Knowledge, therefore, is faith, and faith is knowl- 
 edge ; for by some divine arrangement they mutually lead and 
 are led by each other, in perfect companionship." And then, 
 
264 APPENDIX. 
 
 citing Epicurus' doctrine of np6\n\pis (conjecture, or anticipa- 
 tion,) he says : " If faith, then, be nothing more than this 
 np6\ri\pif of the understanding as to the things spoken, and this 
 be obedience, and if intelligence of the matter be persuasion, — 
 then no one learns without faith, because none can learn with- 
 out this fore-feeling ; and thus what the prophet says (Isa. vii. 
 9) is shown to be true : ' Unless ye believe ye cannot under- 
 stand ;' and thus, too, Heraclitus the Ephesian has paraphrased 
 the same idea, saying, ' Unless a man hopes, he will not find 
 what he did not hope.' " — Stromata, 1. ii., c. 4. In chapter 5, 
 Clement speaks of repentance as " the good work of faith," — 
 of " hope as springing from faith," — and of faith as " the found- 
 ation of love." 
 
 ^ In the "Apostolical Constitutions," even when full-grown and 
 past their early simplicity, we find a blessing for him who be- 
 lieves, not with blind un-reason, but with judgment and full 
 
 conviction : 'O lavra TnaTEwas ovx anXoJs ov6^ a,\6yci3s, dWa Kplcei Koi 
 Tr\ripo(popia Xapiff[ia elXriipev Ik Qsov. — viii. 1, 
 
 Lactantius ridicules the pagans for following the religious 
 customs for which they pretended no better authority than an- 
 cestral example and tradition, {Inst. Div., 1. ii., c. 6,) and con- 
 cludes : " Quare oportet, in ea re maxime in qua vitae ratio 
 versatur, sibi quemque confidere, suoque judicio ac propriis sen- 
 sibus niti ad investigandam et perpendendam veritatem, quam 
 credentem alienis erroribus decipi, tanquam ipsum rationis ex- 
 pertem. Dedit omnibus Deus pro virili portione sapientiam,ut 
 et inaudita investigare possent, et audita perpendere." — C. 7. 
 
 The views of Maximus, in the seventh century, " aman dis- 
 tinguished for acuteness and profundity of intellect," are thus 
 stated by Neander : " The Holy Spirit works not wisdom in 
 the saints without a mind which is susceptible of it ; — it works 
 not knowledge, without a recipient faculty of reason ; it works 
 not faith, without a rational conviction respecting the future 
 and the invisible ; it works not the gift of miraculous healing, 
 without a natural philanthropy ; and, in a word, it produces no 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 charisma whatsoever, without the recipient faculty for each." — 
 Chh. Hist., Trans, by Torrey, vol. iii., p. 173.*^ 
 
 " Duns Scotus was the first who [in the mediaeval times] man- 
 ifested a leaning towards Christian Rationalism, and a union be- 
 tween it and Supernaturalism, by considering true religion and 
 true philosophy as one and the same thing, and by looking for 
 the true source of religious knowledge in him'Self — i. e., in his 
 rational consciousness. But he did not deny the necessity of 
 a positive revelation which has come from without." — Hagen- 
 lach, Hist, of Doc, ^ 158. "He may, in a certain sense, be 
 called the author of Rationalism ; but his Rationalism is very 
 different from, and forms the strongest contrast with, that per- 
 verse form of Rationalism which exists at the present day." — 
 Staudenmaier, cited by Hagenbach. 
 
 " The use of reason in spiritual things, and the latitude 
 thereof, are very great and general ; for it is not for nothing 
 that the Apostle calleth religion our reasonable service of God, 
 insomuch as the very ceremonies and figures of the old Law 
 were full of reason and signification, much more than the cere- 
 monies of idolatry and magic, that were full of non-significants 
 and surd characters. But most especially the Christian faith, 
 as in all things, so in this, deserveth to be highly magnified, 
 holding and preserving the golden mediocrity in this point, be- 
 tween the law of the heathen and the law of Mahomet, which 
 have embraced the two extremes. For the religion of the hea- 
 then had no constant belief or confession, but left all to the lib- 
 erty of argument ; and the religion of Mahomet, on the other 
 
 * Neander says of the -works of Maximus : " The grand features of a coherent 
 system may be discovered in them, together with many fruitful and pregnant 
 ideas, -which, if he had developed himself and acted his part under more favor- 
 able circumstances, [he -was opposed, banished, recalled to be scourged and his 
 tongue cut out, and again banis-hed, for his opinions.] — might have been the 
 means of leading himself and others to an original construction of the Chris- 
 tian system of faith and morals. He -was also distinguished for his zeal in en- 
 deavoring to promote a vital, practical Christianity, flowing out of the disposition 
 of the heart, in opposition to dead faith and outward works." — Page 171. 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 side, interdicteth argument altogether : the one having the very- 
 face of error, and the other of imposture ; whereas the Chris- 
 tian faith doth both admit and reject disputation with differ- 
 ence." — Bacon, Advancement of Learning. 
 
 "As to its nature [faith] doth involve knowledge, knowledge 
 of most worthy and important truths, knowledge peculiar and 
 not otherwise aftainable, knowledge in way of great evidence 
 
 and assurance." " Faith implieth a good use of reason." 
 
 "It was a foul aspersion cast upon our religion by its 
 
 ancient opposer, that it did require \pi\r]v koI aXoyov irLariv, a 
 mere belief, void of reason; challenging assent to its doctrines 
 without any trial or proof." — Barrow, on the Creed ; Sermon 
 I., on Faith 
 
 " Whatever theories may be conceived in regard to the man- 
 ner of inspiration — visions, voices, internal impulses — the rea- 
 son of the individual must be convinced of its reality, else it 
 could not be distinguished from insanity. Every thing not 
 reasonable, either in itself, or by virtue of the ground upon 
 which we accept it, is absurd. Revelation can have no au- 
 thority for a rational being, till reason has recognized it as 
 such." — /. Blanco White, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Letter III. 
 
 " That faith which is counted for righteousness, consists, not 
 in believing without evidence, but in being open to evidence : 
 in candidly and patiently weighing the reasons ; and in resolv- 
 ing to receive and acknowledge whatever there is good ground 
 for believing, however contrary it may be to our expectations, 
 wishes, and prejudices^ — Whately, Scrip. Rev. of a Fut. State, 
 eh. xi. 
 
 " Faith and reason, when the matter is rightly understood , 
 are by no means the opposites of each other True faith and 
 right reason always have harmonized, always will harmonize. 
 Tbe conflict, which from time to time takes place, is in appear- 
 ance and not in reality ; is relative, and not absolute." — 
 JJpham, Life of Faith, P. I., ch. xiv. 
 
 " If to the faith of which the New Testament speaks so 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 much, a peculiar blessing is promised, it is evident from that 
 same volume that it is not a 'faith without reason ' any more 
 than a ' faith without works,' which is commended by the 
 Author of Christianity." — Henry Rogers, Reason and Faith. 
 
 The following, from Dr. Arnold, may well complete this part 
 of the discussion : 
 
 " Faith and reason are often invidiously contrasted with each 
 other, as if they were commonly described in Scripture as an- 
 tagonists ; whereas faith is more properly opposed to sight or 
 to lust, being in fact a very high exercise of the pure reason ; 
 inasmuch as we believe truths which our senses do not teach 
 us, and which our passions would have us, therefore, reject, be- 
 cause those truths are taught by Him in whom reason recog- 
 nizes its own author, the infallible source of all truth. 
 
 " It were better to oppose reason to passion than to faith ; for 
 it may be safely said, that he who neglects his reason, and so 
 far as he neglects it, does not lead a life of faith afterwards, but 
 a life of passion 
 
 " Faith may be described as reason leaning upon God. With- 
 out God, reason is either overpowered by sense and understand- 
 ing, and, in a manner, overgrown, so that it cannot apprehend 
 its proper truths ; or being infinite, it cannot discover all the 
 truths which concern it, and therefore needs a further revela- 
 tion to enlighten it. But with God's grace strengthening it to 
 assert its supremacy over sense and understanding, and com- 
 municating to it what of itself it could not have discovered, it 
 then having gained strength and light not its own, and doing 
 and seeing consciously by God's help, becomes properly faith. 
 
 " Faith without reason, is not properly faith, but mere power- 
 worship ; and power-worship may be devil-worship ; for it is 
 reason which entertains the idea of God — an idea essentially 
 made up of truth and goodness, no less than of power 
 
 " Reason, then, is the means whereby we attain to faith, and 
 escape the devil-worship of idolatry." — Tracts for the Times, 
 Addenda I. Introd. to " Christian Life," &c. 
 
268 APPENDIX, 
 
 Dr. A. in the above passage alludes to Coleridge's distinction 
 between reason and understanding, which he deems important 
 for our defence against Rationalism on the one hand, and Ro- 
 manism on the other. The whole article should be read. 
 
 The TrpoXriipig — " prcsumption " — of Epicurus seems to be the 
 same with the acpoSpa vTr6\riijjig, earnest opinion, or " I would un- 
 dertake to say," of Aristotle. — Topics, iv. 5. Compare with this 
 the expression in the Ethics, vi. 3 : "Otov yap nus wurrevrj, koI 
 
 yvdjpijioi avrtS cjaiv al upXaij kTrtararai. Clement alsO citCS Aristotlc 
 
 as saying that the judgment of a thing as true which is formed 
 on acquaintance with it, is a species of faith. — See Barrow, 
 Serm. TV., on the Creed. 
 
NOTE B. 
 
 THAT FAITH IS VOLUNTARY. 
 
 *' Faith is a spontaneous acceptance, and compliance with 
 
 divine religion." Uicms vp6\r]Xpii Uowios hn, dtoatBuas (TVYKaraOeats 
 
 Clement, Strom. 1. ii., p 265. 
 
 " To be made at first was not of ourselves ; but God persua- 
 deth us to follow those things which Himself loveth, by free 
 choice with the rational faculties which He hath given us, and 
 
 so leadeth us to faith." To niv apxriv ytvtaeai ovx rtnETEpov jj*/. to 6i 
 tlaKo\ov6rivai olg ^i\ov avrtZ aipovuhovs Si uyv aVTds iSwpficraTO XoyiKdv 
 Swifitoiv, neWei ts koI elg nianv ayti f)[ias. JustlTl Mart.., Apol. 11. 
 
 " All faith, therefore, even in common things, may be deemed 
 voluntary, no less than intellectual : and Christian faith is espe- 
 cially such, as requiring thereto more appreciation of soul, 
 managed by choice, than any other. . . . The same is 
 supposed in Holy Scripture ; where of believers it is said that 
 they did uanevws, gladly, or willingly, receive the word, and they 
 received it nera ndaris Trpodvuias, with all willingness, or readiness 
 of mind. 
 
 " And to defect of will, infidelity is often ascribed. John, 
 V. 40; Luke, xiii. 34; Matt. xxii. 3; 2 Pet. iii. 5; 2 Thes. 
 ii. 10, 12. And onriaTos, w (piXov \psv6os eKowiov, says Clement : ' he 
 is the unbeliever, whom a fond delusion has enticed.' " — Barrow. 
 
 " It is the moral duty of the ivill to use the understanding as a 
 mirror, courting in every direction, and by every means in man's 
 power, the rays of divine truth; and endeavoring, by industry, 
 disinterestedness, and sincerity, to remove the soiling breath of 
 the passions and desires, which so frequently distort those rays, 
 and make them diverge from the mind." — /. Blanco White, 
 Heresy and Orthodoxy, Letter U. 
 
NOTE C. 
 
 THAT i'AlTH IS MORAL. 
 
 The Sceptical Vieu\ — '"It lies in the nature of faith, that 
 it be fixed as dogma. Dogma only gives a formula to 
 what faith had already on its tongue or in its mind. That 
 when once a fundamental dogma is established, it gives 
 rise to more special questions, which must also be thrown 
 into a dogmatic form, that thence there results a burdensome 
 multiplicity of dogmas, — this is certainly a fatal conse- 
 quence, but does not do away with the necessity that faith 
 should fix itself in dogmas, in order that every one may know 
 definitely what he must believe, and how he must win salvation." 
 
 " In faith there lies a malignant principle.''^ " Faith is the 
 opposite of love." "Faith condemns, anathematizes ; all the 
 actions, all the dispositions, which contradict love, humanity, 
 reason, accord with faith." 
 
 Thus says the author of the " Essence of Christianity." And 
 aside from various passages of Scripture which he misinter- 
 preted, he finds real occasion of oifence in the theology of men. 
 Thus — " Si quis dixerit . . qui fidem sine charitate habet, 
 Christianum non esse, anathema sit." — Concil. Trid, (Sess. 
 vi., De Justif., can. 28.) " Haereticus usu omnium jurium des- 
 titutus est, ut deportatus." — J. H. Boehmer. " Eos autemmerito 
 torqueri, qui Deum nesciunt, ut impios, ut injustos, nisi pro- 
 fanus nemo deliberat : quum parentem omnium et dominum 
 omnium non minus sceleris sit ignorare, quam laedere." — 
 Minucius Felix, Octav. c. 35. " Faith and love are two things. 
 Faith endures nothing, love endures all things. Faith curses, 
 love blesses : faith seeks vengeance and punishment, love seeks 
 orbearance and forgiveness." — Luther, lom. vi. p. 94. 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 " Phrases equally strong," says Coleridge, speaking of Lu- 
 ther's doctrine of the will, "are no rarities in the writings of 
 Luther; for Catachresis was the favorite figure of speech in 
 that age." 
 
 The various phases of antinomianisra, and the proneness of 
 human nature itself to " lengthen the creed and shorten the 
 Decalogue," are too well known, or at least too much talked of, 
 to call for citations here. Faith became divested of moral 
 quality, we think, briefly, thus : 
 
 In the age of the Reformation, the term faith was generally 
 restricted by the Protestants to denote the act which secured 
 justification. The proposition that man is justified by faith 
 in Christ alone, was confounded with its converse, X\idXfaithin 
 Christ only justifies. Sanctification was made a sequel of jus- 
 tification rather than a work of faith — not a proper fruit of 
 faith, but an indirect result. Hence, faith not only ceased to 
 be meritorious, but it too often lost all moral character, and by 
 the meeting of two extremes, the new doctrine of faith occa- 
 sioned the same lax morality which it had sought to avoid. This 
 ■ iew, we think, is justified by the statements of Hagenbach, 
 Hist, of Doct. ^ 250, 251, 298. 
 
 Statements of the true view. — " Sed cur et Fides dea credita 
 est, et accepit ipsa templum et altare ? Quam quisquis pra- 
 denter agnoscit, habitaculum illi se ipsum facit. Unde autem 
 sciunt illi quid sit fides, cujus primum et maximum officium est, 
 ut in verum credatur Deum 1 Sed cur non suflfecerat virtus 1 
 Nonne ibi est fides? Quandoquidem virtutem in quatuor species 
 distribuendam esse viderunt, prudentiam, justitiam, fortitudinem, 
 temperantiam. Et quoniam istae singulae species suas habent, 
 in partibus justitiae fides est : maximumque locum apnd nos 
 habet, quicunque scimus quid set, quod Justus ex fide vivit^ — 
 Augustine^ De Civ. Dei. Lib. iv. c. xx. 
 
 And while Luther protested against the Romish doctrine of 
 faith as meritorious, and the chief of the virtues, it is worthy of 
 notice that in his distinction between justification by faith and 
 justification by law, he speaks of faith as a species of worship. 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Fides est \aTpua, quae accepit a Deo oblata beneficia ; jus- 
 titia leget est Xarpua, quae ofFert Deo nostra merita. Fide sic 
 vult coli Deus, ut ab ipso accipiamus ea, quae promittit et ofFert." 
 Apol. Conf. p. 69, cf. p. 126. He says also : " Faith is rightly 
 named justification, because it is obedience to the Gospel." 
 Page 125. 
 
 And in the Formula Concordiae, though the distinction be- 
 tween faith and works is still maintained, they are made insep- 
 arable, as heat and light cannot be separated from fire, or as it 
 is the nature of the tree to bear fruit. " Est fides quiddam 
 vivura, efficax, potens, ita ut fieri non possit, quin semper bona 
 operetur." — De Bonis Operibus, iv. 
 
 " In opposition to this Protestant Orthodoxy, that had fallen 
 away from the fundamental principle of the Reformation, and 
 therefore, clung with the greater obstinacy to the letter of its 
 symbolical books, Spener insisted upon a living faith rooted in 
 the regenerate will, and undertook to revivify religion, that had 
 perished in the stiff forms of a mechanical orthodoxy." This 
 passage, from the Memoir of Dr. Moehler, by the translator of 
 SchlegePs " Philosophy of History," is very significant, both 
 as a tribute to the views of Spener, and as showing the most 
 serious difficulty which the pious Romanist finds with Protest- 
 antism. 
 
 " In fine, the embracing Christian doctrine doth suppose a 
 
 mind imbued with all kind of virtuous disposition in some de- 
 gree." — Barrow, Sermon II., on the Creed. 
 
 " Faith pours vigor into the affections, as well as into the 
 will. It gives energy to the action of the heart. It is an enemy 
 of debility ; it makes those who possess it mighty in the power 
 of love." — Vpham, Life of Faith, Part I. ch. ii. " Faith is the 
 source, the parent of all true feeling." — Ch. vi. , 
 
 " The moral government of God as far as we know it, is 
 only a method of training the conscience, and, by means of the 
 conscience, the will of man. For this great purpose, no trial 
 or discipline is of a higher and more powerful nature than the 
 offer of the Gospel. When men are called upon to repent, or 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 change their will from the indulgence of the selfish passions to 
 the habitual determination of embracing that which, on every 
 occasion, the conscience shall approve as best, they cannot an- 
 swer with any show of reason that they are not able to under- 
 stand what is proposed to them." — /. Blanco White, Heresy 
 and Orthodoxy, Letter II. ^ 
 
 These testimonies might, of course, be extended indefinitely, 
 by citations from manifold treatises against antinomiauism. 
 
 13 
 
NOTE D, 
 
 To the testimonies contained in the above notes we here add 
 a few citations to support the three-fold definition, and extend- 
 ed import, of Faith, assigned by our author. 
 
 Dr. ThoKick, in his Commentary on Romans, iv. 3, says : 
 " Among the Jews there are many who appreciate the high im- 
 portance of religious faith, as an inward giving up of self to 
 God. To this purpose, Philo has various beautiful passages. 
 De Abrahamo, p. 386 : ' The one only sure and infallible good 
 is faith, the faith that is fixed upon God ; it is the consolation 
 of life, the fulfillment of hope, the absence of evil, and the price 
 of every blessing ; it is the ignorance of misery, the knowledge 
 if piety, and the inheritance of felicity ; it is that which per- 
 fects every thing, depending as it does upon the great First 
 Cause, who has power to do all things, but who wills only the 
 best.' In the sequel he styles faith, the ' queen of virtues.' 
 More especially, however, in his work, Quis rerum div. haeres ? 
 p. 493 : " Abraham believed in God, and to have done so re- 
 dounds to his praise. Some, indeed, may perhaps insinuate 
 that there is nothing very commendable in that, and may ask, 
 if any one, even the most unjust and impious of men, would not 
 give heed to the words and promises of God, To whom we 
 reply: Beware then of inconsiderately defrauding the wise man 
 of his merited eulogium, — of assigning faith, which is the most 
 perfect of virtues, to the unworthy, or of casting reproach upon 
 our knowledge of this subject. For if you please to search 
 more deeply, and not keep to the mere surface of things, you 
 
APPENDIX. 275 
 
 will readily perceive, that to believe in God alone, and in noth- 
 ing else besides, is by no means an easy matter, etc." 
 
 John of Damascus, the most considerable writer of the eighth 
 century, speaks of faith as two-fold. " For there is a faith 
 which comes by hearing ; for when we hear the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, we give credence to the teaching of the Holy Spirit ; 
 and this [faith] is perfected in all the commands of Christ, a 
 faith that works (I'pyw Triarevovaa), reverently doing the precepts of 
 Him who hath renewed us. And there is also a faith, the con- 
 fidence of things hoped for, the full conviction of things not 
 seen (Heb. xi. 1.), the undisturbed and unshaken hope of the 
 things promised to us by God, and of the answer to our pray- 
 ers. The former is of ourselves, the act of our own will (r^j 
 fjni-epasyvwuris); the latter is a gift of the Spirit." — De Fide Orthod. 
 iv. 10 ; cited by Hagenbach, Hist, of Doc, ^ 186. 
 
 This is a distinction of the objects of faith, (viz., of duty and 
 reward,) rather than of the nature of faith. The first division 
 alone contains all that is given in our author's definition. 
 
 Hugo of St. Victor, of " profoundly spiritual mind," says Dr. 
 Hase, who died a.d. 1141, " looked upon faith, on the one hand 
 as (cognitio) of the intellect, and on the other as (affectus) of 
 the emotions." — Hagenbach, ibid. 
 
 Among the Schoolmen we find the " Master of Sentences" 
 making a distinction between belief in a God, (credere Deum) 
 the belief of God (credere Deo), and trust in God (credere in 
 Deum), and saying that " to trust in God is by believing to love 
 Him, by believing to go to Him, by believing to cleave unto 
 Him, and to become one of the members of His body. By this 
 faith the sinner is justified, so that faith itself thenceforth be- 
 gins to work by love." Again, he says that "love itself is a 
 work of faith."— Sent. 1. iii. dist. 23, D. 
 
 Thomas Aquinas, " the Angelical Doctor," whose writings 
 are commended by such men as Sir William Hamilton and Dr. 
 Tholiick, after defining faith as a " habit of the soul by which 
 eternal life is begun in us, causing the intellect to assent to the 
 
276 APPENDIX. 
 
 existence of things unseen," and remarking that to believe is 
 immediately an act of the intellect, since the object of faith is 
 a [supposed] truth, — proceeds to say, " the act of faith is related 
 to an object of the will, or to something good, as an end. But 
 this good which is the end of faith, (that is, a divine good,) is 
 the proper object [also] of love. And therefore love is called 
 the form of faith, inasmuch as by love the act of faith is formed 
 and perfected." — Summa, P. ii. 2; Quaest. iv 1. 2. 
 
 The " fides formata" is also distinguished by Lombard from 
 "fides informis," or faith without love. — 1. c. 
 
 Jeremy Taylor speaks of faith as including " an act of the 
 will in it as well as of the understanding, as much love in it as 
 discursive power. True Christian faith must have in it some- 
 thing of in-evidence, something that must be made up by duty 
 and by obedience." — ^^A^orthy Communicant, cited by Coleridge, 
 Aids, Aphorisms, on Spiritual Rel. xxii., xxiii. Compare the 
 Bishop's Sermon on " Fides Formata ; or, Faith Working by 
 Love." 
 
 Again he says : " unless faith be made moral by the mixture 
 of choice and charity, it is nothing but a natural perfection ; 
 not a grace or a virtue." — Lib. of Proph. IL 9. 
 
 Baxter says : — Faith is " an act of the moral reason." 
 Dr. Knapp, while he follows the common division of faith as 
 consisting of three parts, knowledge (cognitio, notitia), assent 
 (assensus), and trust or confidence (fiducia), remarks : " But all 
 these parts do not belong to Christian faith as directed to each 
 particular object. They all belong only to faith in promises. 
 Knowledge and assent merely are requisite to the faith in events 
 and doctrines ; and a will and inclination to obey, to faith in 
 the Divine commands. To avoid this inconvenience, faith might 
 be made to consist in two particulars, — knowledge., and a dis- 
 position of heart correspondent to this knowledge, {k-rriyvwaig koI 
 ahdriais : Phil. i. 9,) according to which one would be inclined 
 to obey the Divine commands, and confide in the Divine prom- 
 ises. Many theologians prefer this division." — Christ. Theol. 
 ^ cxxii. Wood's Trans. 
 
NOTE E. 
 
 AUTHORITIES TOUCHING SECTARIANISM. 
 
 The common defence of the present division of the Church 
 into various sects with various creeds, is, that this is necessary 
 in order to maintain purity of Christian doctrine against heresy. 
 The fallacy of this plea lies in the false meaning attached to 
 the word " heresy." It is taken to denote doctrinal error ; 
 whereas it really means " division," or any cause that produces 
 division. It does not refer mainly or properly to doctrinal mat- 
 ters, but to discord and dissension, of which wrong doctrine is 
 only one among many occasions. 
 
 This appears even from the use of the word in the New 
 Testament. In five of the ten passages where it occurs, it sig- 
 nifies " party" or " sect." (Acts V. 17 ; XV. 5 ; xxiv. 5 ; xxvi. 
 5 ; xxviii. 22.) In Acts xxiv. 14, it " properly denotes," says 
 Bloomfield, " only the taking up of an opinion, well or ill found- 
 ed [i. e. as the rallying cry of a sect] ; and Paul means to take 
 exception at the invidious sense which the word admitted, and 
 in which it was used by his opponents ; just as our word new- 
 fangled, which properly denotes only what is newly-taken." 
 
 In 1 Cor. xi. 19, the word plainly signifies divisions, and not 
 doctrinal errors ; for they are not the subject of discourse. 
 Hence, Calvin, commenting on the passage, says, " envy and 
 pride are the source of almost all heresies ;" and compares 
 heresy with schism, defining the latter as a secret grudge or 
 progressive contention, and the former as the open warfare, di- 
 viding men into opposite sects. So likewise Chrysostom and 
 Theodoret. And Suicer, on the word " heresy," says, "it is 
 not to be disguised that the ancients did not understand by it 
 doctrines contrary to orthodoxy, but contentions, etc." 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 These " contentions, etc," are named more particularly by- 
 Paul in Gal. v. 30, as " hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, 
 strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders," and all other 
 v^orks of the flesh. Hence, in 2 Pet. ii. 1, where " damnable," 
 or rather " destructive heresies" (aipeWt? a-wXeiaj) are named as 
 brought in by false teachers, the context shows that " covetous- 
 ness" is their capital error. They " make merchandise" of their 
 heresies, loving, like Balaam, the " wages of unrighteousness." 
 The heresies were such as no pure-minded Christian could fall 
 into. Hence, again, in Titus iii. 10, the disciples are directed 
 to reject the heretic after the first and second admonition, on 
 the ground that he is manifestly such, and cannot himself pre- 
 tend a denial of it ; " knowing that he is such, is subverted, and 
 sinneth, and is condemned of himself." Upon which Jeremy 
 Taylor remarks : " Just so it is in heresy ; if it be a design of 
 ambition, and making of a sect, (so Erasmus expounds St. Paul 
 aiperiKov a:^dp(j3iTov, scctarum autorem,) if it be for filthy lucre's 
 sake, as it was in some that were of the circumcision ; if it be 
 of pride and love of pre-eminence, as it was in Diotrephes 
 h ^i\QiTpcjyTEvoiv, — or out of peevishucss and indocibleness of dis- 
 position, or of a contentious spirit, i. e., that their feet are not 
 shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace — in all these 
 cases the error is just so damnable as is its principle ; but 
 therefore, not damnable in itself, but by reason of its adhe- 
 rency." And again : " Faith being a doctrine of piety as well 
 as truth, that which was destructive either of fundamental verity 
 or of Christian sanctity, was against faith ; and if it made a 
 sect, was heresy ; if not, it ended in personal impiety, and went 
 no further."* 
 
 From this view, that seems to follow which has been often 
 remarked and asserted, that Sectarianism is Heresy. It agrees 
 also with the statement that heresy " is to be accounted accord- 
 ing to the strict capacity of the Christian faith, and not of 
 
 * Lib. of Proph., I. 9., II. 15, cf. Jas. Foster, On Ileresj^, and Dr. Arnold, Life 
 and Corr. Let. Ixx. 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 opinions speculative, nor ever to pious persons.'''"*' It also agrees 
 with the remark of iVugustine : " I may be in error, but I will 
 not be a heretic," 
 
 Another weighty inference seems equally clear. Since heresy 
 is the guilty cause of division among Christians, it may be 
 found, not only in the denial of a fundamental truth, but in the 
 insisting upon that which is not fundamental, as though it were 
 so. For either of these must end in division. There is, then, 
 the heresy of denial, and the heresy of imposition ; each equally 
 germain to the true notion of that much abused term ; and it 
 is hardly a paradox, when we say that those who happen to be 
 most orthodox, if they make their views a test of communion 
 with those Christians who have not yet embraced them, are 
 ipso facto the heretical party. Which accords with what was 
 once said of those who would impose a tenet of their leaders 
 on the consciences of others: "We judge the authors of the 
 opinion to be Catholic, and those who followed in the same 
 opinion to be heretical. We excuse the teachers and condemn 
 the scholars. Those who wrote the books are the heirs of 
 heaven, while the defenders of these very books are thrust 
 down to hell."f And we are told, what in this view would 
 more than any thing else confirm to Athanasius the title of 
 " Father of Orthodoxy," on the supposition that the Creed as- 
 cribed to him were genuine, — that he framed his Confession of 
 Faith, " not with a design to impose it upon others, but to de- 
 clare his own belief."! -^^^ ^^® definition of heresy given 
 by Milton meets only this case, in which one may hold all the 
 cardinal truths, but adds other matters as part of the foundation : 
 " Heresy is a religion taken up and believed from the traditions 
 of men and additions to the Word of God. "^ 
 
 And if heresy is never to be asserted " of pious persons," 
 does it not follow that all Christians do hold the fundamental 
 
 * Lib. of Proph. 
 
 t Vincent of Lerius, Adv. Haere.s, c.ll. See Lib. of Proph., II. 22. 
 + Non per nioduui symboli, sed per modum doctrinje. — Aquinas, Summa^ III- 
 xxiL 1, of I . Tayior, Nat/ Hist, of Fanaticism ; of the Symbol. 
 § Of True Eeligion, etc 
 
280 APPENDIX. 
 
 doctrines of saving faith ? If so, the famous canon of an ancient 
 writer, that so much is cardinal truth as has been held " semper, 
 . ubique, et ab omnibus," at all times, in all places, and by all, 
 if it be not a barren truism, indicates that in fundamental doc- 
 trines. Christians are infallible. And may not this fact meet 
 all that is just in the demand of the Romanist, that there should 
 be " a Church infallible in fundamentals V With this view of 
 the case would agree the statement of Chillingworth, when, de- 
 nying that the Church is " an infallible ^uide in fundamentals," 
 he says, " That there should always be ' a Church infallible in 
 fundamentals,' we easily grant, for it comes tone more but this, 
 ' that there should always be a Church.' "* But how can this 
 be, except on the principle that the individual, however he 
 may err in drawing the line that divides between essentials and 
 non-essentials, or by adding to the fundamentals, — yet in these 
 is truly " taught of God," and cannot err unless by apostasy. 
 And here belong the views of various eminent men respect- 
 ing the difference between points that are, and that are not, 
 fundamental. Thus the younger Turretin, the same who said 
 that " the greatest heresy is a wicked life," remarks that " the 
 essential doctrines of religion are plain, adapted to common ca- 
 pacities, and free from all the subtle and intricate distinctions 
 of the school ;" they are " few in number," they are " very 
 often and various ways repeated and inculcated in Scripture ;" 
 and they are "principles of piety, "f 
 
 And Chillingworth, who was, perhaps, the first to state fairly 
 and fully the principles of Protestantism, or the right of private 
 judgment, says : " Those truths will be fundamental which are 
 evidently revealed in Scripture, and commanded to be preached 
 to all men ; those not fundamental, which are obscure." And 
 when asked whether the Apostle's Creed contains all funda- 
 mentals, as if, believing it alone, we were at liberty to deny 
 all other points of Scripture," he replies very truly : " It was 
 
 * Religion of Protestants, c. 3, § 39. 
 
 t Discourse on the Fundamental Articles in Religion. 
 
APPENDIX. 281 
 
 never alleged to any such purpose, but only as a sufficient, or 
 rather more than a sufficient, summary of those points of faith, 
 which were of necessity to be believed actually and explicitly."* 
 
 James Foster, who maintained for a long time the first place 
 among the most admired preachers of his day, says, a funda- 
 mental doctrine must be " so plainly and distinctly revealed, as 
 that an ordinary Christian, sincere in his inquiries, cannot miss 
 the knowledge of it ;" and " a belief of it must be made an ex- 
 press term of happiness in the sacred writings."! 
 
 And Le Clerc, an eminent French divine, says : " They pro- 
 fess and teach the Christian doctrine in the purest manner of 
 all, who propose those things only as necessary to be believed, 
 practiced or hoped for, which Christians are agreed in." 
 
 The pernicious consequences of adding to the essentials of 
 salvation, have been frequently portrayed. Says Dr. Arnold: 
 " Even truth is not always to be insisted upon, if, by forcing it 
 upon the reception of those who are not prepared for it, they 
 are thereby tempted to renounce what is not only true, but es- 
 sential — a character which assuredly does not belong to all true 
 propositions, whether about things human or things divine. "J 
 And Abp.Whately : " God forbid that the Christian should deny 
 or explain away any thing that is part of his faith, for the sake 
 of moderating the hostility or escaping the scorn that may be 
 directed against it; but as little is he authorized needlessly to 
 expose his religion to that hostility and scorn, by maintaining 
 or allowing to be maintained, as a part of the Christian reve- 
 lation, any tenet {however intrinsically true,) which the Scrip- 
 tures do not warrant. The same authority which forbids us to 
 ' diminish aught' not warranted of God, forbids us also to ' add 
 thereto. ' "^ 
 
 This statement refers, indeed, to the author's distinction, but 
 it applies to the present ; and it authorizes the statement, that 
 
 * Religion of Protestants, c. 1. § 16. 
 
 t Essay on Fndamentals. 
 
 X Life and Corr., Let. Ixxiv., To J. Abbott. 
 
 ^ DifiBcultie.s in the Writingfi of St. Paul. 
 
282 APPENDIX. 
 
 as the truth may be held in unrighteousness, so likewise it 
 may be held heretically. 
 
 Of the evils of this, Chilling-worth has given a lively picture. 
 " Shall it be a fault to straiten and encumber the king's high- 
 ways with public nuisances — and is it lawful, by adding new 
 articles to the faith, to retrench any thing from the King of 
 Heaven's highway to eternal happiness ?" And Jeremy Tay- 
 lor : " If the Church, by declaring an article, can make that to 
 be necessary which before was not necessary, I do not see how 
 it can stand with the charity of the Church to do so ; especially 
 after so long experience she hath had, that all men will not be- 
 lieve every such decision or explication ; for by so doing she 
 makes the narrow way to heaven narrower, and chalks out one 
 more path to the devil than he had before ; and yet the way 
 was broad enough, when it was at the narrowest."* And Bax- 
 ter : " Two things have set the Church on fire, and been the 
 plagues of it above one thousand years : 1, Enlarging our 
 creed, and making more fundamentals than ever God made ; 
 2, Composing, and so imposing, our creeds and confessions in 
 our own words and phrases." f 
 
 We cannot here go fully into the question whether the Church 
 should claim the Divinity of Christ as a fundamental ; or whether 
 it should be allowed that all who accept salvation as procured 
 by Christ, are Christians, with whatever views of His nature. 
 But the practice of the early Church in this matter is signifi- 
 cant. Justin Martyr, speaking of the pre-existence of Christ, 
 says, this question should be entirely separated from that of 
 Jesus being the Messiah. " For there are," he says, "some of 
 us [literally, some of our sort,] who, confessing him to be the 
 Christ, yet declare him to be a man descended from men." | 
 
 *Lib. of Proph. 112. 
 
 t Works, vol. iii.,p. 76. 
 
 X Kal yap dai rivci, cj <pc)^oi, sXeyov, utto tov rjixcTepov yivovs^ S/ioXoyoCjTfs 
 avTdv xpjffrdi/ zivai. avdpoinov 6i el dpdpdonoyv yei'6fitvov dno^aiv6jiEvoi^ oig ov 
 cvvrideiiai, ov6^ av TrXeio-roi ravra fioi So^affovres elirouv. Dial. c. Tryplio. 48. 
 Bp. Bull contends that, instead of nyLtrepov we should read Vntrepov, but without 
 warrant. And the proposed emendation only confirms the Bignifiranoe of the 
 passage. 
 
APPENDIX. 283 
 
 Nor can we fully meet here the objection that liberty in non- 
 essentials will encourage latitudinarian license, and disregard 
 of truth. A single citation must suffice : " Toleration," says 
 Turretin, " is the greatest friend to truth, and the contrary its 
 greatest enemy ; for if the strong will not bear with the weak, 
 neither will the weak bear with the strong ; for every man counts 
 himself strong, and thus all will come to condemn, and to exe- 
 cute one another ; by which means, truth itself will be banished 
 out of many parts of the world." And again : " If improve- 
 ments may yet be made, we ought by all means to bear patiently 
 with those who offer us any thing new ; for otherwise we sup- 
 press all improvements, and stifle the gift of prophecy, and 
 bring in sloth and barbarity ; for who will attempt any thing of 
 this kind, when it becomes dangerous to do it V* And Chil- 
 lingworth : " He that could assert Christians to that liberty 
 which Christ and his Apostles left them, must needs do truth a 
 most heroical service."! 
 
 Of creeds we need say but little. It has often been remark- 
 ed that they should be ever expressed in the very words of the 
 Bible, lest we profanely add to the word of God, or assume to 
 make the sun clearer by the light of our wax tapers. But the 
 history of creeds sufficiently condemns them as unreliable. Not 
 only do they commonly make the easy yoke of Christ heavy, 
 by adding to the essentials, but they omit things that are es- 
 sential. There is a memorable proof of this in the fact that in 
 a Corpus Confessionum, ipiinted at Geneva in 1612, (when and 
 where the very atmosphere was orthodox,) and designed to re- 
 vive the credit of some of the Protestant formularies and to 
 show a substantial harmony against the cavils of the Romanists, 
 eleven out of sixteen of the collected creeds made no mention 
 of the Resurrection of the Dead. 
 
 And when creeds are called " formularies," the name is all 
 too appropriate. " I dislike articles," says Dr. Arnold, " be- 
 cause they represent truth untruly, that is, in an unedifying 
 
 * On Fundamentals, vii. 6, 8. t Rel- of Prots., c. 4, i 13. 
 
284 APPENDIX. 
 
 manner, and thus robbed of its living truth, whilst it retains its 
 mere ethical form."* 
 
 And the famous passage of Chillingworth is, on its very face, 
 an appeal from creeds to the Bible. " By the Religion of Pro- 
 testants I do not understand the doctrine of Luther, or Calvin, 
 or Melancthon ; nor the Confession of Augusta, or Geneva, nor 
 the Catechism of Heidelberg, nor the Articles of the Church of 
 England ; no, nor the Harmony of the Protestant Confessions ; 
 but that wherein they all agree, and which they all subscribe 
 with a greater harmony, as a perfect rule ol their faith and ac- 
 tions ; that is, the Bible. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is 
 the religion of Protestants 4 Whatsoever else they believe be- 
 sides it, and the plain, irrefragable, indubitable consequences of 
 it, well may they hold it as a matter of opinion ; bat as a mat- 
 ter of faith and religion, neither can they with coherence to 
 their own grounds believe it themselves, nor require the belief 
 of it in others, without most high and most schismatical pre- 
 sumption."! 
 
 The objection still remains in the minds of many, that the 
 preacher of the Gospel should certainly be required to subscribe 
 a confession of faith, so that truth may be taught in its purest 
 possible form ; while the laity should be free from this restric- 
 tion. But such a distinction is quite as vicious in principle 
 as that which Romanists have made between the clergy and the 
 laity ; and its tendency is quite as corrupting. The preacher 
 is made the repository and guardian of orthodoxy ; the layman 
 is excused from that care. The defence of truth, or rather of 
 a particular set of opinions, is made the business of a class ; and 
 in this defence, if not in self-defence, the clerical order becomes 
 
 * Life and Corr. Lett. Ixiii. Ixi. 
 
 t Ch. vi. § 56. "At length arose the immortal Chillingworth, who disclaimed 
 the defence of the Protestant religion as it lay in systems and confessions, and 
 appealed to the Bible only. By this means many cavils were cut off at once, and 
 many confessions of systematical doctors rendered of no use to Papists at all; 
 who being well aware of the advantages the Popi.sh cause would lose by this ex- 
 pedient, were extremel}' provoked at it.'" — Archd.Blackburne, The Confessional, 
 c. 1. note. 
 
APPENDIX. 285 
 
 a» hierarchy. Others are left to indulge the indiflference to 
 which fallen nature is too prone, or their inquiries after truth 
 must be guided by a fixed yet fallible standard. Orthodoxy, 
 which is a virtue if it is a duty, becomes the special virtue of a 
 class, like the saintly virtues of the Romish clergy, the lack of 
 which is no sin in the laity. Heterodoxy, or rather, free in- 
 quiry, becomes dangerous ; there is a mutual bondage, and what 
 wonder if there is a common corruption? 
 
 It is true, indeed, that the teacher should know more of the 
 Scriptures than those taught ; not, however, that he may have 
 their consciences in his keeping, but precisely because they 
 should know more than they do. His special qualification is 
 that of more full and illustrative knowledge, directed by Chris- 
 tian prudence, and sanctified by the common piety. And all 
 these things are to the essentials of the faith, what the fully de- 
 veloped symmetry and strengih of manhood is to the organism 
 which just makes the human form. To say that the preacher 
 shall hold a doctrine which the layman need not hold, is as if he 
 must have a bone to his skeleton which another may dispense 
 with. 
 
 This view is not new. Says Archd. Blackburn : " Certain 
 it is, that in so far as the laity are allowed not to be bound by 
 these Church Confessions, the point of right to establish them 
 as tests of orthodoxy is fairly given up, as well for the clergy 
 as for the laity ; since whatever is sufiicient to direct the faith 
 and practice of the laymen, must likewise be sufficient to direct 
 the faith and practice of the clergyman, unless the clergyman 
 may be obliged to teach doctrines, which the laymen is not ob- 
 liged either to believe or to practice."* 
 
 And Chillingworth, making the distinction between fundamen- 
 tals, and non-fundamentals, calls the former " objects of faith 
 in and for themselves, which by their own nature, and 
 God's prime intention, are essential parts of the Gospel; 
 Buch as tlie teachers in the Church cannot without mor- 
 tal sin omit to teach the learners, and such as are in- 
 * The Confessional, c. 3. 
 
286 A P P E N D I . 
 
 trinsical to the covenant between God and man ; and not 
 only plainly revealed by God, and so certain truths, but also 
 commanded to be preached to all men, and to be believed dis- 
 tinctly by all, and so necessary truths." And the non-funda- 
 mentals are " such as pastors are not bound to teach their flock, 
 nor their flock to know and remember ; no, nor their pastors 
 themselves to know them or believe them, or not to disbelieve 
 them absolutely and always ; but then only, when they do see and 
 know them to be delivered in Scripture as divine revelations."* 
 
 And Dr. Arnold : " As to the adhesion of the inner man to 
 any set of religious truths — this, it seems to me, belongs to us 
 as Christians, and is, in fact, a part of the notion of Christian 
 faith, which faith is to be required of all the Church alike, so 
 far as it can be or ought to be required of any one. . . . 
 If they [the Articles] are a burden, all ought to bear it alike ; 
 if they are a fair test of Church membership, they should ex- 
 tend to all alike."! 
 
 Finally, the custom by which the prea'cher of the Gospel is 
 required to assent to articles of faith is a mere usage, unauthor- 
 ized by the original intent of the best established Confessions. 
 The practice is in fact, what the practice of slaveholding in the 
 Southern states is believed by many to be, unconstitutional. 
 
 The view attributed by Aquinas to Athanasius, already cited, 
 is a presumptive proof of this statement. And the Father of 
 Orthodoxy has found his imitators in this matter, and with 
 good reason ; for the greatness that has framed the most en- 
 during creeds, has usually been connected with sagacity to 
 perceive their fallibility, and with the hope that those who came 
 after would enjoy clearer light breaking forth from the Divine 
 Word. So has it been with the best Reformers. The divines 
 of Westminster were very far from expecting their Shorter 
 Catechism, much less their larger Confession, to become a rule 
 of orthodoxy. " When it was proposed by the Scots Commis- 
 sioners that the answers of the Shorter Catechism should be 
 
 * Eel. of Prots., c. 4, § 3, cf. § 22. t Life and Cor., Let. ccxixv. cf. Let. cxvi. 
 
 1 
 
APPENDIX. 287 
 
 subscribed by the members of that body, the proposal was 
 rejected, after discussion, as an unwarrantable imposition ; and 
 not for forty years was subscription made a test of ministerial/ 
 standing."* Though such has been the progress of ecclesias- 
 tical fatuity, that a minister, holding the sentiments of the West- 
 minster Confession, has been arraigned and excommunicated 
 for declaring as that Assembly did, that the Confession was not 
 to be made a test. 
 
 But the American branch of the Presbyterian family design- 
 ed no such thing. The Confession and Catechism were adopt- 
 ed by the Synod is 1729, with the following Proviso, which 
 contains the principle of Protestantism, and is to this day un- 
 repealed : 
 
 " And in case any minister of the Synod, or any candidate 
 for the ministry shall have any scruple, with respect to any ar- 
 ticle or articles of said Confession ; he shall, in time of making 
 said declaration, declare his scruples to the Synod or Presby- 
 tery ; who shall notwithstanding admit him to the exercise of 
 the ministry within our bounds, and to ministerial communion, 
 if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge his scruples not essential, 
 or necessary in doctrine, worship, or government." 
 
 This Proviso was made the basis of the union in 1758, to 
 accommodate differences in doctrine which then appeared. And 
 President Davies, speaking of the practice in his day, says : 
 " We allowed the candidate to maintain his objections against 
 any part of the Confession, and the judicatories judged whether 
 the articles objected to were essential to Christianity ; and if 
 they judged they were not, they admitted the candidate, not- 
 withstanding his objections."! 
 
 The full benefits of this Proviso are not, however, enjoyed, 
 for two reasons. By the Assembly's act of 1811, the Theolo- 
 gical Professor is required solemnly to promise that he will not 
 "inculcate, teach or insinuate any thing which shall appear to 
 him to contradict or contravene, either directly or impliedly, 
 
 * Chas. Beecher's Discourses on " The Bible a Sufficient Creed." 
 t Christian Spectator, March, 1835. 
 
288 APPENDIX. 
 
 any thing taught in the Confession of Faith or Catechism." The 
 Professor is to the Pastor what the Pastor is to the layman ; and 
 a liberty denied to the one is not likely to be taught to the other. 
 Again, this Confession, like most others, combines essentials 
 and non-essentials in the same document ; and the distinction 
 between them is most likely not to be made, just when it is 
 most needed. 
 
 Confessions more brief than that of Westminister are for the 
 same reason more apt to be imposed as tests, with much con- 
 troversy as to the import of subscription to them, and with much 
 occasion of stumbling to the world. From this point of view, 
 we offer two more citations. 
 
 " We may talk," says Dr. Jebb, " of the sufficiency of the 
 Scriptures as we please ; but while the laws establishing sub- 
 scription to human formularies remain, [and there are many 
 Church establishments besides the Anglican], the voice of the 
 Articles shall alone be heard ; the ignorance and superstition 
 of mankind shall for a while preserve the shadow of religion in 
 our land, but its substance shall be nowhere found. Improve- 
 ments in science and the arts shall at length disclose the as- 
 tonishing absurdity of our national [denominational] faith. The 
 Scriptures shall be disbelieved, because their genuine simplicity 
 and excellence are concealed by designing men from human 
 view ; the Articles shall be disbelieved because they are held 
 forth to it."* . 
 
 If this judgment shall appear harsh and transatlantic, the 
 following, from Isaac Taylor, will apply with greater force to 
 our more numerous sects : " The violence of religious strife 
 has, indeed, long died away; or it breaks out only for a mo- 
 ment ; but no relief has as yet been administered to the settled 
 ill consequences of that delirium. So far as we are religious 
 at all, the English people is a nation of sects, and our theology 
 is necessarily the theology of friction. Not a false theology — 
 thank God ; but a theology that is confused, entangled, imper- 
 
 * Letters on Subscription. 
 
APPENDIX. 289 
 
 feet and gloomy; a theology which, while it abundantly breeds 
 infidelity among the educated classes, fails to spread through 
 the body of the population, and but dimly, or only as a flicker- 
 ing candle, illumines the world."* 
 
 The future of our American Christianity is unknown. Let 
 us hope that the spirit of faction will not dash us in pieces, and 
 reduce us to individualism, ere we learn that Christ, and not 
 the best sect, is our strength, and take courage to stand upon 
 the Rcok, They are wise words which the French Protestant 
 and martyr has said : " At the Reformation they did not sys- 
 tematize ; they felt that they lived, and method and form were 
 neglected. Afterward came a season of repose ; the clergy, 
 in certain places, formed an order. Now we have to choose : 
 Catholicism urges us ; we ought to be openly Protestants. We 
 have kept many Catholic rags : we should now decidedly dress 
 ourselves anew."f 
 
 * Nat. Hist, of Fanaticism Of the Symbol. 
 
 t Vinet; Pastoral Theology ; Trans, by Dr. Skinner, p. 47. cf. note D, and the 
 passages there cited from Neander, Memorials of Christian Life ; part i. c. 4. 
 
 THE END. 
 
Or 
 in 
 
 tin