3", v\ . u,nnin^hatw

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THE

&t&tt ot tit ®ountv%:

SERMON.

BY

J. W. CUNNINGHAM, M.A.
Hi
LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; VICAR OF
HARROW ; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT
HONOURABLE LORD KORTHWICK.

LONDON :
PRINTED FOR J. HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY ;
T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, STRAND ; AND
L. B. SEELEY, FLEET STREET.
1819.

ElLertOD and Henderson, Printers,
Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, London.

TO THE
RIGHT HON. J. C. VILLIERS.

MY DEAR SIR,
You will, I am sure, excuse me for
wishing to put this Sermon, both written
and printed in part at your request, under
your particular protection. I trust that
your sanction, in common with that of
many other friends, may serve as an apo
logy for presenting it to the Public.
With a deep sense of your many kindnesses,
I am your respectful
and affectionate Friend and Servant,
J. W. CUNNINGHAM.
Harrow, Dee. 20, 1819.

NOT re E.
THIS Sermon was preached, first, in the parish
church of Harrow ; a second time, in London,
with some additions, fdr the benefit of the " Na
tional Schools." It is now printed, at the request
of many friends, nearly in the form in which it
was preached on the second of these occasions ;
and the Author will be sincerely happy, if, accord
ing to the persuasion of those friends it should,
under the Divine blessing, prove in the smallest
degree instrumental in rescuing one individual
either from infidelity, or from a state of doubt, as
to the truth or immeasurable value of the Gospel
of Christ.

SERMON,
fyc. fyc.

ISAIAH viii. 19—22.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that peep, and that mutter : should not a people
seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
To the law and to the testimony : if they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is
no light in them. And they shall pass through
it hardly bestead and hungry : and it shall come
to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall
fret themselves, and curse their king and their
God, and look upward, and they shall look unto
the earth; and behold trouble and darkness,
dimness of anguish ; and they shall be driven
to darkness.
X ROM the remotest period in the history of the
world, the great enemy of man has been employed in
seducing him from his allegiance to his Maker, and
in subjugating him to other teachers and masters.
B

The earliest attempt was on the minds of our
first parents in Paradise. In the Wilderness also
the people were continually incited to lift up the
standard of rebellion against Moses and Aaron,
the delegated ministers of God. In the days of
the Prophets the same conflict was maintained
with the teachers of Divine appointment, and
even with the word and authority of Jehovah
himself. And, especially at the period when the
Prophet Isaiah wrote,' so fierce was the struggle
against the authority of the Most High, ajnd such
the ,effort to substitute even the voice of wizards
or .enchanters, or any other agents pf hell, for the
vpluinp of inspiration, that, amazed and alarmed at
the follies and vices of hjs countrymen, the Pro
phet 'breaks oyt into the striking declaration ofthe
text. 'Words cannot, I conceive^, more powerfully
express both his horror at the intended transfer
©f the allegiance of his countrymen from God to
any other master or teacher, and his own profound
veneration $qt the word of truth. Nor can any
mpcjfi -of ^expressipri convey to us a more awful
picture of \those filial 'and terrible results of apo-
stacy from God, which the glance pf prophecy
enabled him to discover.
But I .baye .not .chosen the te$t onajnly on ac
count of ifli reference to the case of .the Jews.
Unhappily the spirit pf blasphemy has survived
the days of the Prophet. Twenty yearns since, in

the riwd'st Of its triumphs in a neighbouring nation, it
more than oniee endeavoured to extend the lines of
its attack to our own shores. And though Mercifully
repelled a« that period, by the kind1 interference of
God, by the prayers aTid labours1 #f holy men, and
the vigorous exercise of lejgistetivig wisdom, it has
now once more quitted those " dry plalce& * where
it " walks up and down, seeking rest and finding
none," to visit the fair fields and thronged cities of
our country t amd assail the bulwarks' behind winch
out nationa!l morals amd bappmess ha>ve been for
ages: entrenched and secure. It is, toeny chiefly
with refereiice W the sftate of things amongst diir-
selves that the' text has1 beetf sefecteo*; And I
-bopfrtp be> forgiven,- if, with such ati obje'e^, aftd
under such p^eulJatf circumstances, I debate; in
some small degree, froa* tbe ofdfei^' ebiif se Pf
addresses from tbe pulpit, and bfitfg before" you
names and topfes of which yote are accustomed to
hear little in the house of God. in the1 conclusion
of these observations, it wUl be tfiy endea^otir to
shew their connection with1 the mstitetio'ir whose
cause it is my ivish to advocate to-day. Btitj in
tbe meaw titeey I would beg you id cdnsideir,
I. The fai>&% T- EACM-ERs against whom the
Prophet in tbe text warns the deluded
people.
II. The iursiotucToii to wHoni fee directs them.

III. The consequences which he points out,
of substituting, any other instructions for
those of the word of God,
And may that gracious Being, who in the coun
sels of his wisdom has 'provided this text for the
exigencies of his church in all ages, be pleased to
bless the inquiry I

I. In the first place, the Prophet, in the text,
adverts to certain false advisers, to whom the
seducers of the people desired them to listen.
" They shall say unto you, Seek ye unto them that
have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep
and that mutter ; " that is," to those who pretend,
by commerce with infernal spirits, to " peep" or
to dive into unknown events, and who endeavour
to give authority to their predictions by " mutter
ing" deep and mysterious incantations.
nr Instructors of this class were frequently, found
among the Jews. The woman of Endor, con
sulted by Saul, appears to have belonged/to this
number. And the most solemn denunciations of
the law of God are often pointed at those who
gave ear to them.
Nor were teachers who owed their authority to
some supposed supernatural influence, or to some
mysterious commerce with invisible or demoniacal
agents, confined to the Jews. Such, appear ito.have

been the magicians of Egypt. Nor, indeed, had
the boasted learning and philosophy of Greece
and Rome rescued them from the absurd and
monstrous dominion of magic and sorcery. So
crates and Numa had their familiar spirits; the
priestess at Delphi her moments of inspiration ;
and the sages, orators, and generals of Rome
trembled to act without the concurrence of their
augurs. The strong bias of the mind to a belief
in invisible agency, in the existence of some
Power without and superior to ourselves, naturally
leads to superstitions of this kind, where the - true
God is unknown to his creatures.
But, not to dwell upon a topic in some measure
foreign to the object of this discourse, let us con
sider this part of the text with, reference to our
own days.
The. teachers of our own times, to. whom the
seducers of the people would have them listen; in
preference to the Scriptures, have; little resem
blance to those referred to in the text. Although
every one, in examining their writings, can scarcely
fail to be. struck with their assumption- of light, and
intelligence altogether superior, to that of other
men, they make no pretence . to supernatural
agency *. Neither do they1 pretend to any.com-
* Lord Herbert, however (such is the approximation of the
extremes of enthusiasm and infidelity), declares, that he
asked and received a signal from Heaven, directing hira to
publish his tract " de Veritate ! "

merce with infernal spirits* however, in the propa
gation of what I must be permitted to eall " the
doctrines of devils," . they may have been uncon
sciously impelled by that.«iysteri©M^ and terrible
agency. The object, however, which we have in
viewy may be promoted by1 taking a very brief
survgy, first, of some of themkvms? and, secondly,
of the lives, of the chief Pf those Deistical writers
w&ohi' the enemies of the Gospel w6tild have us
substitute for the word of God.
* Lord Herbert, by common eomsentftfae purest
of this class of writers, apblogizeSy iti the eaSe1 of
some men, for anger and lustj as tendetfctes1 not
less irresistible^ and scarcely more' criminal,^ than
quietness in a tethatfgi© habit of body, tfnd tMrst
in a dropsy.— Hobbte contends I&att a man may
deny Christianity if his sovereign commands biin ;
that the natural condition of man is a state of
war Pf ail riten agalmst' all men; l!hat nothing is
good' or evil in hself ; that all things are measured
by wHlilt every man1 ttoiinta fiti—Lord Botikgbf&ki
maintains1 that the* fear of recrimination is the only
strong mdtiv© fPt abstaining from adultery.-^ Mr.
Hfcme termi* " se4£ifeai»l a morikish vattie < "
maintaans' thatv with soifie other like virtues, it
" stopifics' th# oifdierstpidiH^, hardens the heart,
obscures the fancy, and sours the temper." He
* This statement ifc vk a gveat measure collected from Le-
land's ",Filew *f Deistittl Wrttets,'^ and Fuller's" Gospel
its own Witness."

justifies suicide ; and maintains that "¦ female in
fidelity, when known, is a small thing, and when
unknown, nothing." — But why should I further
pollute these walls with such topics or sentiments ?
When did such maxims ever insult my beavers
from the mouths of the Ministers of Revealed Re
ligion? And yet these are the imaxims of men
who, some of them, object to the Scriptures on
account of their impurity J Suppose, for a moment,
the believers in the Gospel to admit the justice of
these allegations, to close the Bible, and to govern
their lives by the maxims of those who had
seduced them from their allegiance to God — what,
judging even from the few maxims stated above,
would be the result? You would destroy the
foundation of morals —you would decide upon
right and wrong, good and evil, simply by your
own taste or that of your neighbour-— you would
barter self-contaoul for licentiousness — you would
practise adultery whenever it could be practised in
sacjret — you would tear down the fence of domestic
confidence and love and joy, trample on all the
charities pf life, «ad' open the flood-gates of
debauchery upon a polluted and ruined world.
" .Choose yef then, this day, which ye will serve."
Will you listen to isuch instructors, or cleave to the
religion which teaches that only " the puireaniheart
shall see God ?"— the religioaa admitted, by many of
these coiners of a new creed, to he the purest

system of morals ever delivered to the world~--the
religion which, whenever its principles have been
allowed fully to operate, has abolished slavery,
erected hospitals and schools and alms-houses,
extinguished unnatural lusts, raised the poor to a
new level in society, restored to one sex the pri
vileges of which brute force had robbed them, ex
pelled idolatry, and soothed1 and gladdened the
contrite,! and terrified soul, with unfading visions of
peace, and pardon, and holy joy.
But look next, for a moment, at the lives of
some of these apostles of Deism and infidelity.
The great body of these writers are guilty of the
vile and dastardly hypocrisy of professing a regard
for ^Christianity, whilst1 they are undermining its
foundations, misrepresenting its doctrines, and
impugning its friends.' Such is the crime of Her
bert and his immediate successors. Nor will the
more modern writers of this class escape from this
imputation. Hume often masks his designs against
the: Gospel itself, by pretending to attack only the
corruptions of the Gospel. Gibbon calls it our
" holy religion;" whilst in almost every page he is
endeavouring to disprove its pretences to holiness.
— But hypocrisy is not the only, or perhaps the
greatest, crime of this body of individuals. Wool-
ston was an open blasphemer. Rochester and
Warton were two of the most debauched men ' of
their, times. Blount formed an attachment to his

sister-in-law ; and because she refused to marry
him, shot himself. Gildon, his infidel biographer,
justifies his suicide. Tindai was notorious for
profligacy. Morgan was an habitual liar. Hobbes
drew up his ¦" Leviathan " to assist our sovereign,
Charles I.; but when the arms of the Parliament
prevailed, he converted it to a justification of the
Usurper.  Hume is not chargeable with the
coarse vices of many of his infidel brethren. But
if scepticism did not seduce his stoical naftire into
gross crime, it did not rescue it from any of its con
stitutional defects. He frequently, in his History;
professes his reverence for a religion which it is his
steady endeavour. to traduce and extinguish. He
displays, especially in his Moral Essays, inordinate
vanity. He treats the .opinions of the" orthodox.
with scorn, acrimony, and malignity. His private
letters contain several examples of coarse swear
ing and • blasphemy. — Rousseau, by his own
" Confessions," stands convicted of theft, lying, de
bauchery, cruelty ; and yet, in his dying moments,
he! thus presumptuously appeals to his Maker:
" Eternal Being, the soul I am now going to give^
thee back is as pure, at this moment, as when it
proceeded from thee !" — Collins and Lord Shaftes
bury, neither of whom had the slightest belief in
Christianity, yet qualified themselves for office: by
partaking' of the holy Sacrament.-^ Voltaire re
quests his infidel friend D: 'Alembert to tell for
c

10
him a palpable lie, by denying him to be the
author ofi the " Philospphical Dictionary;'' and
his friend calmly assures him he has told the lie.
Voltaire was also, even on his own religious
hypothesis, a blasphemer ; and the filth and ob
scenity of many of big; writings fit them only, for
the most impure atmosphere. Count Brandt says
that he had spent on his; travels four days with this
hoary advocate of unbelief, and had heard nothing
from him but what was likely to corrupt the heart
and morals, — The habits of Gibbon appear to
have been licentious. He conducts a masked at
tack upon a faith which he professes to respect ;
and the baseness of his political conduct has been
said, by a distinguished judge, to present the best
illustration of those principles of " decay and fall"
in states which he endeavours in his celebrated
work to develop. -^ That scurrilous assailant of
all truth in religion, of. all order in government,
and aU happiness in domestic life, Thomas Maine,
was an habitual dmunkard, a defrauder of govern
ment, a profane swearer, and lived to become,
from bis filth, passion, blasphemy, and obscenity,
a pest and horror to all around him. We. have
evidence upon oath;, that " religion; was his
favourite topic when he was intoxitiat'ed."-^ And a
writer of the present day, the splendour of whose
genius ought not to shelter him from the indigna
tion of every, friend of religion and decency; who

11
avows Atheism where it suits the purposes of his
verge, or Christianity when any interest is to be
secured byit, has, happily for society, illustrated
the pollution of his principles by the shameless
profligacy of his ilife.
But it is needless r to swell this catalogue of
enormities. If we are to appeal to authority and
example, you have already sufficient evidence as
to the tendency of infidelity to degrade, cor
rupt, and even brutalize the mind. . One of, the
class of writers to whom I have referred, speaking
of himself, points to the " hell within," bis own
breast: and such would appear too often, to be
tbe wretched lot and inheritance of those who
deny: the ?' hell without." And be it remember-
edy my Christian hearers* that there is this
striking contrast between scepticism and Chris-
tiatiity : — professing Christians are moral in the
proportion in which they believe and obey the
Gospel: infidekj on the contrary, appear to
become immoral in proportion to the complete
ness of their infidelityi Lord Herbert, the Deist,
admits the necessity of repentance and contrition s
Spinoza, the Atheist, seoflEs at them. A complete
infidel in religion: would*, if we may judge by
the common parallelism of their opinion and pracr
tice,, scarcely retain- a relic pf virtue, a com
plete Christian would, on the other hand be a
perfect man. — Add to this, the consideration that

12
the individuals to whom yoa have now. been in
troduced were, many of them, the distinguished
teachers, and some even the originators, of their
respective systems ; and, consequently, the men
of all others concerned to vindicate the purity
of their creed by the purity of their conduct.
They stood, in fact, in the same high and inti
mate relation to infidelity, that St. Paul or the
blessed Jesus stood to the GospeL If such was
their character, therefore, what may be expected
from those who hold the same principles with
out any of the same checks? If such were the
guarded teachers of the various infidel systems,
what may be expected from their unbridled dis
ciples? And yetf these are the men whom you
are called upon to substitute for the meek and
lowly Jesus ! — on whose authority you are to count
Him an impostor, and blasphemous usurper of the
throne and rights of God ! These are the men to
whose memory and honour you are to sacrifice
prophets and apostles, and the whole army of
saints and martyrs; for whom you are to forsake
the instructors of your youth, the guardians of
your manhood, and the comforters of your old
age f " By their fruits ye shall know them;"
and where the " fruit" ia blasphemy, debauchery,
suicide, dishonesty, falsehood, the tree must be
rotten at heart, and fit only for the burning.
The deistical idolater may indeed seize the mis-

13
shapen stock, and convert it into a God, and fall
down and worship it; but the man of reason,
to say nothing of the man of God, will trample
it in the dust, — will cast the polluted idol to the
moles and bats, that he may bow his knee and his
heart to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, II. But I come now, secondly j to contemplate
for a moment the Instructor and the lessons
to which the Prophet directs the attention of his
countrymen. " Should not a people,", he says,
" seek unto their God ? " Shall " the living " go
" to the dead ?." that is, to the spirits, of the dead
raised by necromancy. " To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according, to this
word, it is because there is no light in them."
The "Instructor," then, to whom the Prophet
would send you, is God ; and the lessons are those
taught in the only part of the canon of Scripture
then promulgated, the Old Testament—that is,
in the very portion of the sacred Scriptures more
than any other traduced by modern infidels.
But, my brethren, let us take. the whole Scrip
tures, and then inquire, what is .there, that can
commend a book to the head and to the heart,
which is wanting to. this ? .
Is it personal testimony to the facts contained

14
in this volume, which you demand? — To say
nothing of other witnesses, you have, in the writers
of the Gospels and Epistles alone, the concur
ring testimony of eight men, who, though Jews,
were so convinced of the truth of the Gospel that
they sacrificed their lives to it. , It is true, in
deed, that some persons despise their present tes
timony, who, if they had remained Jews, and yet
testified to the genuineness of the volume, would
have agreed in the value of their evidence as being
the testimony of adversaries. But is not this con
trary to all sound reasoning? If they would have
been valuable witnesses to a faith which did not
convert them, are not they still more valuable wit
nesses to a faith which did? .
Or is it collateral evidence to these facts which
you seek ¦? — Leslie has pointed out four marks that
are stamped i on the facts of the Old and New
Testament*, which he challenges: any infidel to
discover on the face of an imposture: and a cele
brated unbeliever is said to have occupied himself
at interval for twenty years, fruitlessly, in detect
ing a single imposture possessed of these macks.
Is it for prophecies you ask ?; — With such pre
cision have some of the prophecies of Scripture
been fulfilled, that infidels have been driven to
the necessity of endeavouring to prove that the
predictions were written after the events. Lord

lfi
Rochester was a convert, under the blessing of
God, to a single chapter of prophecy, the 53d of
Isaiah. Or is it miracles yon require ?— The miracles of
Christianity were of such a character, that one
of its most ardent enemies said, " if we let him
atone; all men will beheve on hhW Lucian, Ju
lian, Hierocles, Prophyry, Celsus, Josephus, and
the Talmud, admit that miracles were wrought;
though, by imputing them to diabolical agency,
or other corrupt sources, they endeavoured to
escape from the force of them. Still, their evi
dence is as valuable as any other to the truth of the
alleged facts.
Is it for the power of the principles contained
in Scripture to convince or convert the world, that
you inquire ? — Such was the conviction wrought by
these principles, that they almost at a blow con
quered the conqueror of the world — Rome, with
all its bands of scholars and soldiery. Nor were
these successes confined to Rome. Clemens says,
that even in his, time Christianity was known
in all nations." Tertullian says, " Christ
reigns every where, and is adored in all places."
" We.are," he adds, " but of yesterday, and have
filled1 all places belonging to you; — your cities;
island's, castles; towns, villages ; your very camps,
tribes, and companies ; the palace;' senate, forum :
we have left you only your temples." :

16
Thus, Ihe then known, world was soon brought
to the outward profession of Christianity. — But
had its principles any further power -to convert
as well as to cpnvince? Much nominal profession,
my Christian brethren, will doubtless, in almost
every instance, combine itself with that which is
real; although this will be less the case in ages of
persecution than in any other. But Christianity
was not without the most decisive evidence, in the
transformation and improvement- of -the. 'bulk of
those who received it.
Look, for instance, , at the change wrought in
the. first followers and disciples of our Lord,,
Where are the men who, even as they trod in
the train of their meek, and lowly Master, ; were
quarrelling for pre-eminence — for the highest seats ;
in his kingdom? wbo denied him in the judgment-
hall? who at the cross " forsook him and fled ?"
Where are they? Those are the very same men
who, after the interval of ,a few months, are
baring their undaunted bosoms to; all the storms
of , the world — whp are jeoparding their hopes, and
interests for their Redeemer — who consent to be
regarded as the; " off-scouring of the world," as a
spectacle to " men and angels," if " only they may
win;, Christ ^nd.be.found in him "—who " count not
their lives, dear unto themselves, if only they may
finish their course with joy, and the] ministry;
they have received of the Lord Jesus." What

17
system of opinions has ever wrought a similar
transformation ? What other principles have ever
given such an impulse to the sluggishness of our
moral nature — raised men to such a new level in
character — restored to such an extent those linea
ments of the Divine Image forfeited at the Fall ?
The Apostles of the Gospel ventured without
alarm to say of their system, " if any man is in
Christ, he is a new creature." Have the teachers
of any other system dared to bring their princi
ples to the same practical test?
Hear also the testimony borne to the power of
the Gospel by its avowed enemies. — The " Legisla
tor of the Christians " (says a heathen magistrate,
a great writer, and keen investigator of the human
character*) " persuades them they are brethren.
They secede from us; they abjure the gods ofthe
Grecians ; they adore their crucified Teacher, con
form their lives to his laws ; they despise riches :
every thing among them is in common: they are
constant in their faith." — The estimate of Pliny is
perhaps still more favourable to the conduct of
Christians. Who, also, is not familiar with the
expression of admiration extorted from another of
their adversaries, " See how these Christians love
one another ! " Celsus, in like manner, bears testi
mony to the moderation, temperance, and in
telligence of the Christian character.
* Lucian: " de Mort. Perigrin."
D

18
But, my brethren, it is wholly unnecessary to
go thus far for evidences of the rjower of Christian
principles. Look at yourselves. — What power, I
would ask, but that of the Gospel, has ever touch
ed or influenced your own hearts ? Where have
you eVer discovered a cure for lusts, and tastes,
and tempers, except at the foot of the Cross? Are
not our own best resolutions in the grasp of our
passions but as the wi'ths in the hand of the
strong man? — And, in like manner, suppose a man
to go forth in order to rescue a tribe of savages
from the dominion of idolatry, and cruelty, and
lust; what, if familiar with the nature of his en
terprise and the history of other times and coun
tries, is the instrument he chooses? Is it riot
the doctrine of the Cross ? Have not repeated ex
periments compelled the missionary to say of
those truths especially which respect the death of
the Redeemer, as David said of the sword' of
Goliah, " There is none like that : give ft me." Is
it not as true at the present moment as in the
first year's of the Gospel, that the revelation Of a
crucified Saviour, though to " the Jews a s'turti-
bling-block arid to the Greeks foolishness," is,
" to them that are saved, Christ the pPwer of
God and the wisdom of God ? "
But possibly, riiy brethren, it is for internal ? evi
dence of the Gospel you seek. — The topic hats
scarcely any limits. I will therefore pass over

19
those numerous marks of genuineness and authen
ticity perceptible in every part of the Sacred Vo
lume, which have been largely noticed by writers
of all elasses, and confine your attention exclu
sively to one : I mean, the ^suitableness ofthe truths
contained vn the Scriptures to the condition, and
necessities of man. It is the argument which
has always the ni°st deeply touched my own heart,
and therefore that from which I naturally effect
the greatest influence on the minds of others.
When we look info the systems either of heathen
philosophers or of modern sceptics, we find no
thing .either to explain our circumstances, or to
quiet our alarm.s aboujt futurity. Why is there in
man sufch a contrariety, such an opposition of
good and evil, of great and little, of folly and
wisdom^, of happiness and misery, of capacity
for the highest pursuits and addiction to the Ipwest
and vilest? Scripture, and Scripture alone, solves
the difficulty, by giving us the history of the crea
tion ,and of the fall " God made man upright,"
but nian fell from his uprightness, and the shades
of corruption now darken the splendour of the
original work. But Scripture is not satisfied with
merely describing the fall pf man, and then qon-
^gnipghim without hope or remedy to its awiul
consequences ; it displays also the means of
restoration and recovery. It says to a ruined
world, " To you is born a Saviour, which is Christ

20
the Lord:" and in this one simple but sublime
Truth it at once reveals all that is essential for
peace, and holiness, and joy. " None but Christ !
none but Christ ! " was the language of the old
martyr as he ascended the stake— and " None
but Christ ! none but Christ ! " is the language of
the soul burdened with sin, and trembling on the
verge of eternity. Had the Scriptures no other
stamp and seal, they have this, That they display,
for the first time, an all-sufficient Redeemer to
a world that is guilty, lost, and wretched without
Him. Strip the book of every other pretension
and ornament — of the depth which astonishes the
profound, of the poetry which enchants the fancy,
of the tenderness which melts the heart, of the
morality which has achieved more in a day for
the reformation of the world than the concentrated
wisdom of all ages and countries — strip it of all
this, yet — it has planted the cross upon Calvary;
it has taught us, that " Christ our passover is sa
crificed for us ; " that " God is able and willing to
save to the uttermost all that come unto Him : "
and, satisfied by this proof ofthe authenticity and
divinity of the Book, I do not hesitate to exclaim,
with the Prophet in the text, " To the law and
to the testimony: if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in
them."

21
III. But it is time we should proceed to notice
the third point to which it was proposed to call your
attention — viz. the consequences, as stated by
the prophet in the text, of listening to these false
teachers, and abandoning the zvord of God.
And here, instead of dwelling on the general
results of an offence such as this, I would rather
direct your eye to the consequences as at present
exhibited in some districts of our own country.
The prophet says, of those who shall listen to
these false teachers, " They shall go through (the
land) hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall
come to pass, that when they shall be hungry,
they shall fret themselves, and curse their king
and their God, and look upward, and they shall
look unto the earth; and, behold, trouble, and
darkness, and dimness of anguish ;• and they shall
be driven to darkness."
It will, I apprehend, be admitted without diffi
culty, that at the present moment unusual efforts
are making to supplant the Gospel by the doc
trines of Deism and Infidelity; — that the poor crea
tures collected under the banners of pretended
" Reform," are, in many instances, largely sup
plied with blasphemous publications ;— that many
of those who are levelling their blow at all the
best institutions of their country, have begun by
casting off all allegiance to their God and Saviour.
Now, observe how awfully the curse of the text is

22
fulfilling in the case of these poor deluded crea
tures. " They shall pass through the land," says
the prophet, " hardly bestead, and hungry." — It
would be unjust to deny that the difficulty of ob
taining work or food preceded, in some districts,
those [tumultuous meetings by which so much
alarm has been excited; and,$iat Jhe passions pf
some who have diere assembled may thus have
been sharpened Jby triaj and .hunger— And may
the distresses pf pur dear fellow-countrymen be
neither forgotten nor undervalued; but may they,
now and ever, awaken the deep synipathy of ajl
who are able, by public measures or private be
nevolence, to mitigate them ! — But it is no less a
matter of fact, that, the greatest sufl/erers in the
country are by no means the pipst factious; and
that it is nearly as often men who refuse to work,
as men who have np opportunity of working, who
are found in the ranks of anarchy and sedition.
And, at all events, whatig the tendency of these
meetings? Evidently this — to convert the previ
ous difficulty of supplying .fppd or labour into an
absolute impossibility ; to disturb all the channels
of trade ; to suspend (the exertipps of ,the manu
facturers ; to destroy commercial copfidence ; to
quickpp the peseptpients of the rich> and so dry
up the stream of individual bounty. These poor
creatures abandon the loom for the hustings ; their

2$
families, for the itinerant apostles of sedition and
blasphemy ; the banner of the Cross, for those of
imprecation, revenge, and blood; and return to
their homes " hardly bestead and hungry," at an in
finitely greater distance than ever from that relief
which was the alleged Object of their assembling.
" And when they are hungry," continues the
prophet, " they fret themselves." — How strictly
applicable is this to the case now before us ! The
calm endurance of unavoidable evils, or success
ful resistance to those which ought to be resisted,
shed at least a temporary satisfaction Over the
mind ; but that resistance to insuperable eVils
which can result only in aggravating the mischief,
cannot fail to harass the mind. And, my bre
thren, I do not hesitate to call many of the evils
now complained of, unavoidable and insuperable.
I would be far from degrading this place into the
arena of political] controversy. But, unless Mi
nisters are more than men, they Cannot open fo
reign markets; or compel distant nation's to sell
at lower prices than Ourselves; or perpetuate to our
own people the unnatural advantages of a period
when the trade of the world Was concentred in
our own ports ; or at once cast off the burdens of
a war, in which this country sustained, for a time
single-handed, the assault of all the nations Pf
Europe. But, if this be true, then tumult arid
insubordination cannot accomplish the end which

24
is now proposed ; and these poor deluded creatures
may well, in the hour of disappointment and de
feat, " fret themselves ; " for they are only deepen
ing the calamities of which they complain ; they
are committing suicide on their own welfare ; they
are filling up the measure of their own wretched
ness and ruin.
But, adds the Prophet, they " curse their king
and their God." — Such is the intimate alliance,
in every age, between irreligion and disloyalty.
The invaders of the altar are commonly the as
sailants of the throne. In the early ages of the
Church, no Christian was ever found in the ranks
of rebellion. On the contrary, there was scarcely
a step in the Revolution in a neighbouring country,
between enthroning an infamous woman as the
" goddess of reason," and butchering their king
and queen. And, in truth, the one species of
crime subserves the cause of the other : a proud
and contumacious spirit, an assumption of extra
vagant and mischievous rights, a contempt of au
thority, of law, of the claims ofthe high and the
duties of the low, are common to both. The con
spirators against the national welfare, at the pre
sent moment, are fully aware of this intimate con
nection ; and are casting into the mine which they
are preparing to spring beneath the institutions of
the country, in almost equal proportions, the in
gredients of sedition and blasphemy. The excla-

35
mations of some, in one quarter, that " there shall
be no king," are answered by the declaration's of
othersi " there is no God."— But let me not be
misconceived, as> though I were the preacher of
passive obedience, or of indifference to the rights
and liberties of our country. There are, doubtless,,
limits to the authority of the magistrate. If that
authority be exercised in opposition to the revealed
will of God, to the obvious principles of the con-r
stitution; to the laws by which the wisdom of our
ancestors have fenced in the privileges of any
order in the state, there is nothing of which I
know, in the principles of Christianity, to prohibit
the calm, and respectful, and legitimate assertion of
our undoubted. rights. Take the example of St.
Paul, when falsely scourged and imprisoned at
Philippi : " They have beaten us openly, uncon-
demned, being Romans, and have cast us into
prison; and now do they thrust Us out privily ?
nay, verily, but' let them come themselves and
fetch us, out." But how different is this spirit of
temperate resistance to despotic power pr criminal
encroachment' upon; established principles of go
vernment, torthe wild; and) licentious straggles of
an infuriated multitude, exasperated by the ha
rangues of demagogues, and^ conspiring to main
tain their own i imaginary rights, by annihilating
the1 undeniable rights and: welfare ofi every other
order inr the Gommuwityf Let persons even ap-

25
proaching to this state of temper and practice
deeply ' consider the text. Observe the alliance
there adverted to between sedition and irreligion.
Religion cannot long live in the turbulent and
polluted atmosphere of faction. Loyalty, in like
manner, will perish with sound religion. Impre
cations against the " king," will be followed by
imprecations against " God." The Athiest will
be his own monarch. Passion, and lust, and
cruelty, escaped from the bondage of religion, will
ascend the throne, and stretch their sceptre over
the guilty land — a sceptre which, like the' wand
Of the Prophet, will shed new curses and plagues
upon us, and turn every stream, which refreshes
and adorns the paths of public or of private life;
into a river of blood.
For look, in conclusion, at the final results (as
traced by the hand of the Prophet) of this rejec
tion of God : " They shall curse their king and
their God, and look upward, and look unto the
earth ; and behold trouble and darkness and dimness
of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness."
— How truly desolate is the picture here sketched
of the condition of these rebels against the throne,
and apostates from God ! They look upward and
downward, but, behold, on every side," trouble
and darkness and dimness of anguish." But are
these colours too gloomy even for the state of our
own country? I have seen, riiy brethren, within a

27
shortperiodja letter, written by a minister of religion
from a quarter of the country. perhaps the most
infected with this moral plague. He was called
suddenly to visit the dying bed of an individual,
who was described to him as lying in a state ofthe
deepest anguish and despair. Having entered
the room, he found him indeed writhing on a
bed of anguish. The account this poor creature
gave of himself was, that he had been seduced into
a club of these self-called Reformers, who. pro
ceeded from step to step in their dreadful career,
till they agreed, as others in the same neighbour
hood had agreed, on a fixed evening, each to
bring his Bible to the club-room, and cast it into
the flames! This impious project they, accom
plished. — A week had scarcely elapsed before this
guilty and miserable wretch. was seized with a
mortal disease; and now,, stung with remorse,
he had. sent for a minister of religion, to see if he
could speak comfort to his troubled soul. The
minister proceeded to. deal with him as the case
seemed :to demand ; to; tell him there was. mercy
even for the worst, if he came with deep penitence
and prostration of soul, to the feet of that Saviour
whose blood cleanse th from all sin. ; But, in the
midst of his ministrations, two of the seducers and
fellow-criminals of this poor creature, entered the
room. . Fired, at the sight, the miserable man, un
moved by the entreaties and warningsof those around

hirhy burst ouifinto the most horrible imprecations
against them: hi "the midst of those impreca
tions he died.— You follow this miserable creature
to His grave : but who can follow him beyond it ?
Who can lift up the awful veil Which now hides
him from every eye but that of his Judge? My
Christian brethren, it is, happily, not our duty to
pry into the eternal destiny of others. Let us feel
for Him* weep for him; and then turn away from
the heart-rending spectacle, to ask whether we
are < not* by our own neglect or contempt of the
¦Scriptures, thrusting, ourselves on the edge ofthe
very same precipice^ and kindling for ourselves the
same bblt of 'ruin.
But here again, my '.Christian brethren, I must
claim not to be mistaken in these statements, as
though it were my intention to impugn one
class of politicans, or justify another; as though
I designed to vindicate all the 'high, or con
demn all the 'law. I condemn none but those
who are endeavouring to substitute anarchy for
rule; rebellion forloyalty ; the folliesJand blasphe
me of unbelief, forthe pure word, andiholy laws,
arid high and blessed promises of the Gospel.
I cdtidemn none but 'those who would substitute
brute ^brce for lawful govern innisflt-^-^hb would
tear to 'pieces the charter of *nyhdpes* sealed and
^temped as it is by the blood and by the name Pf
tfee!ffcedeemer'Pf4the world, atid'givemein'itslrtace

29
the foul lessons of men whose systems could not
sanctify their own souls, and therefore cfennot save
mine. In like manner, I justify none, whatever
be their condition, but those who, taking the Scrip
tures as the rule of their faith and practice, the
Lord as their God, Christ as their Saviour, the
Spirit of God as their teacher and guide, endea
vour to bring the principles they profess to bear
uniformly, consistently, habitually on . their con-
duet, as politicians, as Christians, and as men.
Having now brought these observations On the
text to a conclusion, it is only reasonable to in
quire what are the practical duties which appear
to arise out of a state of things so truly painful
and formidable.~So extensive a question can re
ceive only a very imperfect reply -on such an occa
sion as this, and more especially from such an
adviser as myself ; but, net erthele&s, I must not
altogether leave it unnoticed. And that I may
give yOu the benefit of better counsels than my
own, I would refer you to the conduct of the
Church of 'God in other ages. When the people of
Israel were hemmed in on every side, and their
very existence as a nation threatened, their dis*
tlnguidhed leader and restorer gives us the simple
account of the means of defence adopted. u We
made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch
against them day and -night.'' And, perhaps,

30
under the two heads of " prayer " and " watch
fulness," the most essential duties under our pre
sent circunistances may be reduced,
You are to "pray,'"— As long as the Prophet conr
tinued to elevate his arms in devout supplication
to God, 'the arms of his country prevailed; but
when, exhausted by his labours, he ceased to pray,
the tide of success ipstantly turned. And this
his tory. may serve as a lesson to our own times
and people. The spirit of prayer is, the bulwark
of national prosperity. It bends even the arm of
Omnipotence. It places God, on our side; and
" if God be for us, who shall be against us?" . I
will own, that if I look with less dismay than some
others at. the impending dangers of the country,
and anticipate before long brighter and better
days, it is not merely because I rest in the general
mercy of God ; or merely because I expect, as well
as desire, from the wisdom of Parliament, enact
ments adapted to the exigencies of the state ;
Legislative enactments cannot of themselves secure
the peculiar blessing of God, or change, the hearts
ofthe disaffected. My hope is founded, perhaps,
mainly on the consideration that I see arpund, me
a large body of individuals who carry the wants,
the, dangers, the sorrows pf the nation, in their
prayers to the Throne of Grace — who commit, a
bleeding country to the tender hands ofthe Great
Intercessor and Advocate with the Father.. Ten

31
righteous men would have arrested the ruin of
Sodom : we have thousands, I trust, who " have
not bowed the knee to Baal," and who, on the very
day in which we are assembled, have with one
heart and one mind, as by a common impulse from
the God they serve, come together to implore the
compassion of the Lord on the land of their
nativity. These "stand in the breach;" and, through
the mercy of the Redeemer, they will, I trust, assist
essentially to " stay the plague." Multiply such
prayers, my Christian brethren. By the help of
God, " put the heart into the act." Call upon the
Father " in spirit and in truth." Offer your peti
tions in the compassionate1 name of Him who
" ever liveth to make Intercession for us ;" and the
God who heareth and answerefh prayer shall hear
and answer yours. " O pray for the peace of Je
rusalem : they shall prosper that love" her.
But, again, you are to watch.
Watch, in the first place, against the per
sonal corruptions or carelessness by which, per
haps, you have been assisting to bring-down
the -just judgments of God upon your country.
Have you honoured the Scriptures yourself?
Have you gladly embraced every right means of
disseminating them? Are you labouring to vindi
cate the honour of the Bible by .its sanctifying in
fluence on your own life? Do you practically
receive the great doctrines of the word of God—

32
the corruption of the nature of man* salvation
by grace through faith in a Redeemer, the
change and sanctification of the heart by the Holy
Spirit? And do you illustrate and adorn these
fundamental truths by your own lowliness^ your
unworldliness, your zeal, your obedience? Is
your faith proclaimed by your works? And are
your principles recommended by your temper and
practice ?
Again : " watch " as to your influence upon the
conduct of, others.— r Attempts have been madp to
corrupt the servants pf large families. What are
you doing for your own servants ? Are you calling
them together night and morning to consider the
Scriptures, and to unite in devput supplications to
our God and Saviour ?
Attempts are made to corrupt children* What
are you doing for ypur childrep ? Are the con
sistency, and devotion.., and tenderness of, ypur
character such as to recommend religion to them?
Are ypu educating then*, merely for this wprld, or
disciplining them as; the. heps pf eternal life ?
Attempts* ;alsQ,, are made to>aM§nate.the affec
tions pf the pGQpfofvom their governors. Are, ypu
labouring tpicounteract, the evil—by teaching the
pppr the.dutiespf loyalty arid subroisrioBr^by using
your influence to ijupre&Sithem: with the privileges:
of; their, own lpt-ntthe blessings, qf their cpngtir.
tution in Church and State-^-the virtues pf a

33
sovereign, the suspension of whose mental powers
was a matter of unmixed lamentation till the pre
sent moment, when we are made to: feel that, this
awful visitation is mercifully veiling, to him, in the
land he so dearly loved^ scenes of insurrection and
blasphemy which would have been likely to carry
his. grey hairs with sorrow to the grave ?
And, finally,, are you " watching," so as to
employ every means within ypur pomr to check
the progress of sin, and promote the growth of
real religion? Are you uniting yourselves vigo
rously and efficiently with those various religious
and benevolent societies in which the rich, by
mixing with the poor, and stooping down to the
contemplation of their distresses and infirmities,
convince them of their sympathy and fellow-feel
ing,, and close the wounds of sorrow by pouring
in the oil of tenderness) and love ?
Are you dispersing good books with as much
Eberality as the apostles of infidelity circulate bad
ones ; thus fighting them with their own weapons ;
and shewing the world that reason apd intelli
gence, as well as religion, are on the side Of good
order and submission, and love to God and loy
alty to our rulers ?
*And finally, my brethren, that I may speak
* Shis was. delivered a second time hi the metropolis, as
a charity sermon for the National Schools.
F

34
to the particular object of your coming together
to-day, Are you lending your active and unwea
ried assistance to the National Schools ? Without
designing to disparage other institutions, by which
conscientious men are aiming at the improvement
of national morals, I can solemnly declare, that I
know of no stronger counteractive to the growth
of the evils which we have this day been contem
plating than .this very institution.
Education without religion, is at least a ques
tionable gift to society : for education is power ;
and power is good or bad according to the ele
ments of which it is composed, the objects to
which it is directed, and the hands by which it is
administered. But of this institution it may be
fairly said, that it takes the Scriptures as the
basis of its system; that it endeavours to graft
the fruits of the tree of life on the tree of know
ledge, and to tinge every ray of intelligence it
communicates with the colours of heaven. And,
in so doing, need I say that it secures the friend
ship and the presence of the God of the Scriptures
to the institution, and to the children educated in
it ? It, moreover, gives the best security of which
the case admits for the character and perma
nence of the religious instruction to be communi
cated in these schools, by forming them on the
model of our own church, and adopting, what I
do not hesitate to call its matchless formularies,

35
as the interpreters of the Volume of Inspiration.
Nor is this all. An attempt is now making to
exasperate the poor man against the higher orders
of society, by persuading him of their indifference
to his sufferings and wants. Societies such as this
are calculated to repel such insinuations, by shew
ing the poor man that the rich are disposed at
least to share with him the highest and best of
their privileges — the truths and promises of the
Volume of Inspiration. Next to the direct in
fluence of the Spirit-and grace of God, the syn>
pathy of the rich is the best cure for the irritation
and violence of the poor,
I am aware, however, that some individuals,
not indisposed to allow the general force of these
reasonings, are already beginning to charge a part
of the existing evils in the couhtry on what they
call the " general diffusion of education." Let
us consider for a moment the justice of the allega-,
tion. In the first place, consider how far it is from
the truth that education is general in this country.
Even in the Metropolis alone it is calculated that
some thousands of children are without the means
of education. And look at the consequence of
this state of partial and limited education. This
it is that enables one man, who can read, to exer
cise his talent among twenty who cannot, and
thus to impose upon them facts or reasonings, the

fallacy of which this very power of fading might
enable them to detect. Remember also, that the
only species of education for the expediency of
which we contend, that which combines religion,
with knowledge, is still less general than any other.
Call to mind, moreover, that a spirit like that
which is now abroad in the country, and to a far
greater extent, discovered itself in the midst of
the French Revolution ; that is, at a period when,
it will be admitted, that no scheme oi general edu
cation had even been promulgated. Add to these
reasonings, the fact that few of those educated in
these schools are yet old enough to be found
among the efficient agents of sedition. Nor,
lastly, let it be forgotten, that rebellion is ordina
rily the crime of ignorant, not of instructed coun
tries. It is in Turkey, and Russia, and France,
that the flag of anarchy has been unfurled, and
the hands of the people dyed in the blood of the
prince : and it was in these countries that either
a corrupt religion, or a tyrannical government,
had extinguished every spark of intelligence in
the lower orders. Rebellion is ordinarily the
result of a few wicked men practising on the
weakness of many ignorant ones ; and against such
national circumstances a National School is, under
God, one of ihe best securities.
To these general observations, I will add little as
to the particular school of whose interests I am the

37
humble advocate to-day. I will only remind you,
that you are called upon to sustain a school of
high character, on a very large scale, watched over
with peculiar care, and in which, as I understand,
the improvement of the children is of itself a
sufficient evidence of the excellence of the system
employed. May the blessing of Almighty God
never depart from this institution ! May its con
ductors and teachers constantly remember that its
object is not merely to fit those children for rising
in life, but to bring them to the knowledge of their
God, their Saviour, the truths of religion, the
duties of life, and the way to heaven f May a
solemn sense of their awful responsibility to God,
their country, and their employers, always rest
upon their hearts ; reminding them, at every step
of their career, that the light of knowledge,
without the light of religion, is only a beam which
is conducting themselves, or the children they
teach, to the depths of everlasting perdition !
May these dear children learn not merely to read
the Bible, but to love and obey it! May the
Saviour whom it reveals to us take these " lambs
of his flock " to his compassionate bosom ! May
you yourselves, at the day when you arise to reap
the fruits of your faith in a crucified Redeemer,
see many of them among the redeemed of the
Lord ! And may you not, at that solemn hour,

see one individual, cast out from the presence of
God, who was denied an entrance into these
schools, because you failed to sustain them as you
ought ! The claim is strorig upon you. May He
who " became poor for your sakes " dispose you
to pity and to assist the poor ! ;
I will only add, in conclusion, Let not the state
of the times either, destroy your peace or terrify
you from your duties. Oppose to the noisy effects
of infidelity the quiet energy of institutions such
as these. Oppose to motives for despondency the
high consideration that "He who is for us, is
stronger than they that are against us." Oppose
to the madness of a part of the people the coir
lected wisdom of your rulers. Watch against
individual corruptions. Forget your animosities,
to combine for the common good. Adopt the
language of the Psalmist : " If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning ;
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ! "
Call upon the Lord, " when the enemy cometh
in like a flood," to " lift up a standard against
him." Be thus employed, and then, my Christian
brethren, fear nothing. The " sea and the waves
may roar horribly," and " men's hearts fail them
for fear : " but there is a voice more terrible than
these, which can say to the invading elements,
" Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further ; and

39
here shall thy proud waves be stayed." Clasp
the dishonoured volume of the Lord to your
bosom : dwell upon its glorious promises. Say
to your disquieted heart, " The Lord is King, be
the people never so impatient : He sitteth between
the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet."

FINIS.

Ellerton and Henderson, Printers,
Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, Loudon.

3 9002 00558 6814